#sorry im tiffany shifting

[musedblues]

Always Something There To Remind Me [Part: 3]

summary: Home is where the heart is. You're working on finding yours. After a handful of misfortunes, your old friend Joe helps to unravel life's greatest mystery while adding a bit of extra grief to the mix.

warnings:  A few mentions of panic attacks, and getting sick a but also dare I say a bit of fluff?!

w/c: 6k

a/n: This has been one of my favorite chapters to write so far. Thank you for all the lovely feedback, lads!

taglist: @im-an-adult-ish​ @mrsmazzello​ @lettinggosthehardestpart​ @the-moving-finger-writes​ @imtheinvisiblequeen​

Part 4

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

On the walk across the street with your mother, carrying matching bottles of wine, you worried this Christmas Eve was going to be dramatically different than all others that came before it. That you were too far out of the loop to ever fit back in.

But you were at ease the second you passed through the Mazzellos front door. Joe and his mother were the only people bustling around the kitchen, so early in the evening. You'd expected tonight's reunion with your old friend to be even more sensational than the last, but it wasn't. Joe simply greeted you with a grin, taking the bottle of wine from your clutch and spinning around to find a cork right away. Your mothers began spouting gossip near the already set up table, while Joe poured the two of you a drink.

As you followed your old friend toward the living room, you couldn't help but notice how alarmingly normal this routine seemed. This felt much more like coming home than landing at the airport to your teary-eyed mother had, for some reason.

But lots had changed since the last time you'd spent celebrating with the Mazzellos. And you couldn't wait any longer to hear about the things Joe mentioned being apart of the last you saw him. Not long after you settled on the sofa to the tune of his exciting storytelling, you asked for faces to match the names of his new cast of friends he had yet to stop buzzing over. Joe wasted no time pulling up a group photo of himself mixed in with a pretty bunch of actors.

"Lucy is actually the funniest person I know, besides yours truly of course." Joe boasted about a girl who looked as if she was made of porcelain. You had no reason to doubt she was just as flawless in real life. Before you could ask more of her, Joe was already on a roll. "Ben is the love of my life. I mean, come on, look at the guy." Joe proceeded to ramble for a long time about the blonde, telling you how the man with emerald eyes was a loyal and passionate friend, someone Joe had come to trust and admire. "Rami, well, you know him, don't you?" Joe shrugged, glancing your way as he sipped some wine. Oh yeah, you did. The guy was in another production with Joe, back when he facetimed you weekly. Rami had ended up in the background of enough of those facetimes to give you a few meaningful greetings when you called to check-up. You wondered if the superstar remembered you at all. "And Gwilym is-" "Welsh?" You let out a breath of a laugh. Gwilym. There's a name you'd hadn't even known existed until a few summers ago when some old fella down the road kept getting his mail switched up with yours. Joe matched your unexpected chuckle with one of his own, almost like he wasn't sure if he should have acknowledged your remark. So you just shrugged and offered your friend a small grin "Small world."

Thankfully, Joe's muddled expression softened. As you began to wonder one thousand things, he went on...

"He is the best of us. Heart of gold." Joe's bragged as the pair of you focused on his phone screen. There the five of them were, all dressed up, strutting across a lavish purple carpet. Just when you both polished off your glasses of wine, the doorbell rang. Cousins and aunts and uncles started to show up with dessert trays and gift bags. Most of them remembered your name and hugged you like always. It was almost like no time had ever passed, like this Christmas Eve picked up where the last one you attended left off. The most exciting reunion came just before dinner time as Joe's siblings showed up.

John and Mary arrived together, with their spoused and gaggle of children, all of whom you'd never met. A couple of the more rambunctious kids raced up to their grandmother, while John stopped in his tracks when he noticed you.

Growing up, you went to all of his baseball games. You helped him with his homework and bought him birthday presents. He might as well have been your own little brother. But since you'd graduated, Joe's updates about his kid brother stopped coming when his own did, too.

"Oh my God!" John practically tackled you in a hug that everyone around you chuckled over. "I didn't, why did- when did you come back?" John laughed, clearly surprised by your random appearance at Christmas Eve dinner for the first time in forever.

"Is this really happening?" Mary moved toward you. She was pretty as ever, dark hair and bright eyes. You always looked up to her, and she always looked out for you. She rescued you from bad first dates, taught you how to drive and told you highschool secrets, like your own older sister. Now, she shoved John away and hugged you even tighter. You wondered how you'd gone all this time without seeking Mary's counsel and support.

Both of their spouses watched on in confused glee, happy that everyone else was so happy. John's wife was the first to bite.

"Hi! I'm Eva." The pretty brunette smiled at you but cocked her head, clearly lost to why her husband was so excited to see you. Then she said, "How long have you and Joe been...?" Eva pointed to where your best friend stood in the archway of the kitchen, and your mother let out a chortle in passing.

"Ah yes..." You turned to Joe with a sly smile. Maybe you'd been sipping too much pre-dinner wine.  "I'll never forget the day he untied me from those train tracks!" You reached out to latch onto Joe in a comical way, and even though he winced for show, he held onto you like he might have actually wanted too.

"Who's the actor here, y/n?" Mrs. Mazzello joked, batting your arm with a laugh.

"Joe has just been using me for my many talents all these years. I taught him everything he knows." You shrugged with one arm still looped around your friend's neck.

"Those were the days." Joe reminisced with a snicker, keeping his relaxed hold around you.

John was quick to disperse your make-believe bubble to explain to his wife exactly who you were.

"This is y/n. The girl in all our pictures in the hallway." John gestured toward the corner where dozen of snapshots hung of their family at parties and graduations. A handful of which you and your mother happened to sneak into the background of over the years. "She's practically a Mazzello."

"Oh my God." Eva's face fell, and she turned to you with a serious gaze. "I'm so sorry, I've heard so much about you but never- oh, come here." And she pulled you into a hug all the same. John and Mary gathered their excited offspring and made them each introduce themselves to you, well besides the tiniest babies who couldn't. You barely had time to gush over the families before dinner was served.

Everyone devoured plates full of well-cooked food, laughing over things you somehow still understood. Christmas hadn't felt so warm in years. You and Joe moved through even more wine, sharing glances like a secret code when his weird uncle started rambling about politics. When dinner was over, everyone was still happy to linger around together.

When everyone gathered in the living room, you excused yourself to the bathroom. On your trip back down the hallway, a tiny giggle stopped you from rejoining the party just yet. Mary's littlest babe was clinging to the open doorway of Mr. Mazzello's office, a space with oak bookshelves and a writing desk to match. Joe's father could be found there, working until it was time for dinner.

The baby was babbling, pointing into the dark office. He stumbled into the shadows and turned his head before he shifted and looked at you. The baby screwed his brows together and started to ask a question using the only syllables he knew to use.

And somehow, you realized he was looking for Joe's dad. The little boy spun in the doorway again before he wobbled right toward you. Simultaneously, Mary floated down the hall with a baby bag over her shoulder. She must have been looking for the kid. He was reaching up and pulling on your sweater, now.

"I think he wants to go in there." You spoke softly, watching Mary's baby point back toward the dark office. When you looked back up toward Mary her eyes were glossy. She shared a silent glance with you before she bent down to her boy's level. He kept babbling and waving back toward the office.

"He's not there, sweetheart," Mary whispered, smoothing back her baby's hair and breaking your heart. She lifted the kid to her hip and cocked her head, a signal for you to follow.

The office was warm and smelt like cinnamon, not because of Christmas time, but because it always did. Mary flicked the Tiffany lamp on and the room filled with spots of amber light. There were papers scattered on the desk and a chair filled some costumes in the corner like someone was meant to come in and do work at any moment.

"Dad used to let the kids sit in here while he worked." Mary sniffled, while the baby in her arms reached out to touch the book shelve before him. It was filled with awards and photos and crafts.

"I was always afraid to come in and interrupt business." You breathed a laugh, floating closer to monitor the shelve. Right between a photo of Joe and his father at the grand canyon, and a handpainted candle vase, something caught your eye.

There was a Polaroid. You had a camera for a month before one of your friends stole it. With it, someone had taken a photo of you with Joe's dad at play practice. Joe was away that summer, filming and you needed something to do. Your highschool was putting on a production of Grease, the ancient choir director conveniently passed away a week before your first rehearsal, so Joe's dad stepped in to help, last minute. Somehow you ended up as a Pink Lady, without a name or any lines. Joe's dad let you keep that jacket. You gave the Polaroid to Mr. Mazzello as thanks, during the wrap party. Despite having no lines, you were a shite actor, but Joe's dad took it easy on you. That was just one example of the way he'd always sort of looked out for you, you realized.

Mary noticed the photo your gaze was fixated on and said: "You're family, y/n. And I'm glad you're back home."

You couldn't tell if she knew what you'd been through but above all things, you knew Mary was wise enough to read you like she always had. Her baby had retracted away from curiosity and curled into his mother's arm. She noted that it was probably bedtime for all the kids and started to leave her father's old office. You were left alone to turn the light off. Leaving that room on your own terms was the first goodbye you'd said in months that brought you any kind of peace.

///

Your mother left home in a sequined shaw with a camera around her neck. At midnight, a new year would begin, but someone was getting married before then. She invited you along to help take photos, But just days before, you'd made plans of your own. With Joe. He said there were some people from town throwing a party and he'd been invited long ago. Joe asked you to join him, saying something about how he probably would only go if you came along. Something about that made you agree.

So you slipped into some old dress you'd bought in Wales and made a mental note to go on a shopping spree, soon. Joe showed up at your door, dressed for the occasion too. Tonight felt like more of a step outside of your comfort zone, than a simple New Year's Eve party. But even so, falling back into your old spot at Joe's side was natural, and you didn't have time to dwell on the inner workings of things while he sang along to some old Britney Spears album the entire car ride, begging you to join in. By the time you arrived at the party, you almost forgot that Joe's version of carpool karaoke wasn't the main event of the evening.

He kept one hand steady on your shoulder as you walked from the parking lot and into some modernly styled club. Inside, clear bulbs were strung from one sleek pilar to another. One too many bodies occupied the dance floor while those left behind took up nearly every table and booth insight. Joe directed you toward the bar top where two miraculously free seats called your names.

Just then, someone recognized your friend. A tall man in a dark suit called Joe's name as you eased onto the bar stool. You didn't recognize the guy, and the bartender was asking what you wanted. So you ordered two of the same bourbons and turned back to see Joe rolling his eyes while the stranger was walking away.

"I can never remember his name," Joe admitted, leaning toward you. You chuckled and started to respond when another voice cut through the crowd.

"Joey!" The high pitched squeak hurt your head, and when you turned to see who it belonged to, nothing made sense. Lacy Duval was prancing toward the both of you in a tight sparkly dress. The only thing you knew about Lacy Duval, was that in high school, she was two grades below you, but somehow always ended up mingling with everyone in your class. So it wasn't surprising to see she'd recognized one of you, but it was a bit unsettling to see how excitedly Lacy dashed your way. And it was furthermore of a shock to you to find Joe waving to her with a wide smile, like they'd really known each other.

"I'm so glad you could make it, I've been looking around for you all night!" The girl with silvery blonde hair and a matching bright smile gushed. The bartender slid your drink near your elbow and you grinned his way as thanks.

"Well, it is only 9:30." Joe laughed. Then he reached over and rested a hand on your knee. "You remember y/n right?"

"Of course I do." Lacy turned her smile toward you.

"Hi, Lacy." You smiled back, raising your bourbon for a sip. Another set of faces emerged from the party, and you vaguely recognized them. They knew your name and warmly greeted you. But their interest lied in Joe, of course. They talked him into coming with them to meet someone on the other side of the room.

"Don't worry, I'll save your spot!" Lacy giggled in a way that made you kind of want to leave and go back home. But you just sipped your bourbon and smiled at Joe when he turned to you with a sorry shrug. Lacy slinked past Joe as the strangers pulled him in their tow. Somehow while the only person you knew disappeared into the crowd, you managed to down your bourbon until it was gone. You asked for another.

Then, without prompt or consent, Lacy crossed her silky legs and began to tell you a story you never asked to hear. She explained how a couple of summers ago, Joe was in town filming his very own movie. You knew all about it. You were still in touch with him then. But according to Lacy, she was there. She twirled her hair around a finger while she told you how Joe and his cast would sometimes stop in the all-night diner she worked at back then, and how she would hang around with them when no other customers stopped in. According to Lacy, Joe personally invited her to the wrap party.

"We hung out a lot." Lacy propped her elbow on the bar and her head in her hand. "We didn't see much of each other until his dad got sick, or whatever. We did hang out more when he was home for that."

Your bourbon was gone again. So you asked for a shot of whiskey.

"About time he showed up tonight." Lacy smiled, her teeth sparkling like the glitter her dress was made of. "We've had plans."

"Well, Happy New Year." You smiled. Was she finally done talking?  Someone just as scantily clad and pretty spotted Lacy and hurried up to her for a hug. Your whiskey arrived as the girls scurried into the crowd arm in arm without so much as a goodbye your way. You watched Lacy work the room as she moved through it, keeping that giant smile turned up all the way even when no one was looking. Before you could look away, Joe appeared as if he was making his way back to the bar. Lacy had spotted him too, apparently, and moved like a cheetah to corner him on the dance floor.

So, you were alone now. You could be home alone, but you weren't so, you took your shot of whiskey to try and calm your nerves. This party was way out of your league. You didn't know anyone, not even the people who seemed to vaguely remember you. And the music was pretty obnoxious. But as soon as these thoughts plagued you, a familiar face came into view. Some boy you'd known from high school took Lacy's spot on the barstool at your side. He was your first student, the year you taught your peers to play the piano for some extra cash, freshman year. The guy seemed genuinely glad to see you now, and you had always wondered what happened to him after high school. After catching up for a while, asking a few questions you always wanted to ask him, the guy had one of his own.

"Aren't you married, or something? The last time I saw Joe, he said you were living with some guys in the UK."

Whoa, you were not ready for that one. You sort of hoped everyone had decided you fell off the face of the earth. That thought always eased your mind when it began to wonder what people might ask you, when you moved back home. You hadn't properly prepared an answer for times like these...

"Oh, nope not married." You managed to remain cool under pressure, as the guy nodded in understanding. But of course, he didn't really understand. And he didn't know your throat was going dry at the thought of Kris. You politely excused yourself and headed toward the restrooms.

It wasn't even eleven o'clock, yet but the place was packed with party animals and the only people your recognized were across the floor. Lacy was looping her arm around Joe as she motioned for him to meet someone you couldn't see. The rest of the crowd were blank faces.

Maybe it was the drinks you'd downed so quickly. Or the fact that you still felt like shite at the simple thought of what happened to Kris. You had stopped missing him sometime long before he died; when he skipped town on your last birthday and gave you a present a few months later like an afterthought. That's when you really stopped feeling much for Kris at all. But you never got to end things between the two of you on your own terms. That left a million unimportant arguments burning in the back of your mind. By now, you were just pissed that the situation still had such a massive effect on you. Tonight being no exception at all,

Thank God the restroom was empty. You hurried toward the yellow stalls and prayed no one heard you getting sick. The tile floor was sticky and it hurt your knees. Every moment of this night was more uncomfortable than the last... After some time, you stood to better yourself but felt still felt dizzy as you leaned against the sink counter. The party boomed on and your head pounded. Then the bathroom door creaked open.

"Y/n?" Lacy's shrill pitch echoed through the tiled walls. You felt nauseous again.

"Yeah?" You tried to sound normal, bringing the back of your hand to your lips.

"Did you just...?" She trailed off, and you could only muster a tiny nod before hurrying back to the stall to barf again. Lacy's heels clicked toward the door and it slammed shut. Who would want to watch some girl throw up alone on New Year's Eve? You took your sweet time drinking from the faucet and taking deep breaths in the mirror. You decided that the moment you stepped foot back in the party that you were going to have a good time. Or at least pretend a little harder too.

But after you pushed open the restroom door and started to walk into the crowd, a hand grabbed you and spun you back around. It belonged to Joe, and he was pulling you toward the exit.

"We're going home." Joe decided loudly over the annoyingly loud music.

"Oh no, why?" You pretended to dread. He only pulled you close and guided you through the front doors. A few strangers watched on as you left before midnight. The city streets were empty and quiet, and Joe's car looked warm form the outside.

"Lacy said you got sick?"

"Oh, yeah." You shrugged. Your goal wasn't to ruin the party. "We don't have to leave because of me." You felt sick again.

"First of all yes we do. It wouldn't be fun if you feel bad. Secondly, it was already no fun. They were only playing Katy Perry."  Joe seemed truly disturbed. You had to laugh. The ride back home was quiet.

Joe parked outside your front door and followed behind as you walked up your porch steps. You stalled with your hand on the doorknob and announced that you planned on starting the new year off with a bubble bath. But declaring the peaceful plan didn't make you feel any less horrid. Then Joe softly assured you that he'd be across the street if you need him.

"You aren't gonna go back to the party?" You wondered. Why wouldn't he?

"Why would I?" Joe furrowed his brow, truly confused. You only chuckled and shook your head as you slowly twisted your doorknob and thanked Joe one last time. Then you went inside, even though it looked like Joe had something to say. He could tell you in the morning, you thought.

You felt better in the stillness of your home, surrounded by warm bubbles and candlelight. You changed your sheets and put on an oversized sweatshirt from Australia, one Joe shipped you as a Christmas gift the year he spent filming there. You watched the time on your phone turn to midnight and wondered if Tegan was having a good time. Last year, she helped you throw a party in the pub, and you didn't shut down until five a.m. This year you were snug in bed, high off the scent of your freshly cleaned sheets and relishing the quiet.

You must have succumbed to sleep, but it wasn't long before you shot awake with a tightness in your chest. Sometimes the nightmares faded as quickly as they appeared, leaving you with a racing heart all the while. It was still quiet and you were still alone. Your phone read two in the morning, and there was a text from your mother announcing she booked a room across the city after her wedding shoot. She wished you a happy new year, and that's when everything really started to crumble for you.

Something about being all alone, in a new space and time made your throat close. Your hands buzzed and tears stung your eyes. Every time you tried to close them, the worse your heart sped up. You had no choice but to let yourself cry a little but still couldn't fall asleep when you learned to breathe again. So you scrolled mindlessly through your phone hoping the internet would distract you long enough to fall asleep again.

Your Instagram feed was flooded with photos of friends in new year party hats with drinks in hand. There was a video of someone's baby comically dancing to auld lang syne, and a series of firework boomerangs. Then- a picture that caused your eyes to roll.

You didn't even realize you were following Lacy Duval. But lo and behold, the newest post on your feed was one of her very own. It was a selfie of her and Joe, from tonight. Her arm was tight around his neck, and he looked happy under the red-tinted lights. There were a few hundred likes, and the first comment you saw, read: "You two again! Looking good as ever."

What the hell did that mean? You wondered enough to click on Lacy's profile. Sure enough, between rows of facetuned selfies, there was a slew of photos of Joe on Lacy's feed. One photo of him wearing her bedazzled sunglasses, another of the two of them sharing a booth at the diner Lacy mentioned before.

Your bedroom suddenly felt like a trap, like your mind wasn't the issue. You felt like you did when you'd been grounded as a kid. So you got out of bed and descended the staircase, flipping a lamp on in the living room. Somehow the change of scenery completely changed your mood. You sank into the sofa among decorative pillows and a quilt you'd left behind some days before.

You nestled there, flipping on the tv and decided to play Parks and Recreation in search of a reason to smile. Then your phone buzzed from the coffee table where you tossed it. It was a text, from Joe.

Hey, you still up?

You glanced up to the telly, then back down at your phone, wondering why he was. You had just been on social media. Maybe Joe noticed you were active. Maybe he'd gone back to the party after all.

Yep. You good?

A few minutes passed until he responded again.

Want some company?

A tiny laugh escaped your throat. Why would he want to come over at two in the morning? You couldn't understand how Joe had known to offer his company in this moment when you felt the loneliest you had in a long while. You could help but type back that you were unlocking the door and for him to come in whenever he felt like, if he really did.

You sat back down among the den of comforts that was your old sofa, and watched Parks and Recreation with a wandering mind. You weren't even sure what you'd been thinking of until the front door jostled open, and you snapped back from your zone out.

"Happy New Year!" Joe excitedly boasted. He was dressed in joggers and an old sweatshirt, and he held a paper sack close to his chest as he shut the door behind him.

"What's up your sleeve?" You laughed, stretching your arms as you sat up all the way. You watched Joe cross the room to rest his mysterious bag on the coffee table and sit near you on the edge of the sofa. It wasn't quite like your friend had come over for a visit, but rather like he was finally home after a long day. A warmth bloomed in your chest at the thought of Joe existing back in your orbit, and being happy as always to do nothing together.

"Doctors orders." He spoked as he reached into the paper bag. "We've got some overpriced drug store candy. A bag of ginger cookies. A magazine I found with Bruce Springsteen on the cover, and this." Joe named all the things he revealed from the bag one at a time, ending with a small envelope he handed to you. It was a card with the words "Get Well Soon" scrawled in outlandish cursive. Inside was blank, besides the doodled Joe had drawn of a frowny face wearing a droopy party hat. You laughed out loud, glancing up to your friend who looked quite proud.

"Thank you, Joe. You didn't need to come bearing gifts." You gave him a look as you rested the card on the table in front of you. You hadn't even felt sick since after your bath, anyhow.

"Uh, of course I did. Now shut up and try one of these. This was like, twelve dollars." Joe chuckled, reaching for a golden tin of suckers that came in elaborate flavors like ginseng, lavender, and cinnamon.

"You're out of control." You mocked, shaking your head but peering into the tin all the same. "Simply ridiculous."

"So you're saying you don't want one of these?" Joe jeered, pulling the tin away right as you started to reach in. You scoffed a laugh, moving your hand to shove his shoulder in protest.

"'Course I do! You've truly saved the day." You softened, really meaning it. You were having a really rough go of it until he showed back up. Joe reached in for a sucker and you did too, pulling one that was honey flavored. When you settled back into the sofa, happy with your choice, Joe followed suit. His shoulder pressed against yours and a new episode of Parks and Recreation was starting.

"Sorry the party was so lame." Joe pipped up, pouting as he watched the opening theme play through.

"It's okay." You decided after a beat. You could have assured him it wasn't so bad, but it wasn't great. And you really appreciated Joe's efforts to make your night more enjoyable, whether he realized that's what he was doing or not.

"Do you wanna watch something else?" You offered, suddenly realizing you had nothing left to offer him as thanks for everything. Joe shook his head and stuck in sucker in his mouth like a little kid, and you had to laugh over how much this felt like highschool. Then you settled closer near him, enjoying your candy just as well. Joe's arm fell warmly across your shoulders while a couple of episodes played through with Joe's occasional added commentary and bursts of giggles. You laughed too, but your eyes grew heavier with each passing scene. You hadn't even realized you were falling asleep until you felt Joe take your sucker from you loose grasp. Your head had fallen to his shoulder, and your eyes couldn't stay open one second longer. Parks and Rec’s familiar theme song echoed through the room as you dozed off in a flash, the easiest sleep you'd had in weeks.

///

Your home was quiet again when morning came. You were laying on the sofa with your favorite quilt gently draped over you. Joe was gone. When you stretched into the morning, you noticed a note on the coffee table, where Joe's slew of presents were left from the night before.

"Happy first day of the rest of forever. Thank's for letting me crash for a while. Maybe next week we can have a real party. This has all been an elaborate excuse to use one those fancy quill pens your mom keeps around. x o x o."

You snorted at Joe's thoughtfulness, always going out of his way to let you know how he felt. What had you done to deserve his remarkable friendship after all this time? You dwelled on the thought as you tidied up the living room and went about your day.

///

Your mother had started traveling for work. She was currently somewhere in Denver, taking photos of some happy couple. Leaving you alone to jump over the last of many legal hurdles you faced after coming back home. All you had to do was get from one place to another, delivering some business to the social security office, to confirm you were living back in the states.

The winter's thickets blanket of snow had been reduced to sheets of melting mush, but last night's bitter winds froze the mess to the ground. You waited around the house long enough for salt trucks and rush hour to wear down the roads before you hopped in the jeep your mother left behind. No big deal, you'd driven dozens of times before... just not for a while. You decided your reward for this nerve-wracking mission would be getting dinner from the best pizza place uptown.

You drove down the block with white knuckles, and onto the highway without even thinking. When you realized how far you'd safely made it, you relaxed enough to sing along to Billy Jole as you drove. This was way easier than you'd hoped.

After successfully delivering your paperwork,  you parked in the pizza place lot and ate a piping hot slice behind the wheel while scrolling through social media. Your phone was near dying when you decided to head back home.

Billy Jole was still a great company as you felt your self grow more comfortable behind the wheel. You were in complete control and everything was fine.

Until a loud unsettling POP came from somewhere outside your vehicle. Your car had obviously just blown a tire, slumping to the left in the middle of the highway. As you held your breath and tried to slow down, your remaining tires lost traction on a rouge patch of ice.

"Shitshitshitshit!"

Your car gracefully slid off the road toward a speed limit sign, scraped against the pole and spun around to a halt.

"Damn it!" You cried, tearing your white knuckles from the wheel and covering your face in your hands. Your heart was pounding and your throat closed shut, but a pathetic cry still managed to escape.

A couple of cars breezed by, leaving the highway otherwise empty while you sat trying to pull yourself together.

You weren't hurt. The radio was still blaring Scenes From An Italian Restaurant. It was a little cold, but you were okay. That's what you kept repeating over and over until your hands stopped shaking and you could breathe a little better than before.

"Oh shit." You whimpered, hopping out of the car to monitor the front left tire. The rubber smoking, peeling away from the rim. You hurried back in your car and found your phone was only at nine percent. Who were you even going to call forty minutes away from home? Oh, that's right, no one lived there anymore. Joe was in the city again. Mary was a lawyer and John-

You pulled your phone to your ear as it rang.

"Hello?"

"John? Hey, you live uptown don't you?" He said so at Christmas.

"I do! Stopping by to reminisce?" He laughed.

"I have a really huge favor to ask."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, well, I'm having some car troubles." You explained where you had been left stranded on the highway and how it all happened. How your phone was dying and you needed to call a towing service.

John promised he was right on his way, and you were able to call a service to come and get your car while you waited for a ride of your own.

His blue Buick slowed and eased off the side of the road only fifteen minutes later. John stepped into the frost-covered grass and leaned toward your open driver's window as you collected your things.

"Did you get through to a towing service?" He asked right away.

"They should be here in no time." You assured, and right as you had, a truck came creeping toward you from the other side of the road. By the time everything was sorted out and you eased into John's passenger seat, it was nearly nightfall. He cranked up the heating vents as you glanced around, noticing a car seat in the back, piled with a few bright children's books.

"Man I can't believe baby John has his own baby now." You beamed, turning to face Joe's little brother. He chuckled, stealing a glance your way while pulling back onto the road.

"Almost four, I wish he was still a baby."

"Yeah," You halfheartedly agreed. You wished you could have been around to know the families as they grew. You'd missed out on so much, and for what?

"So what's it like being back? Christmas felt like it always used too." John smiled, easy-going as always. Funny how he saved the day and went on chatting as if it wasn't a big deal, you thought. Weren't you the one supposed to be rescuing him from silly little mishaps like these? Maybe this was an all-new alternate reality.

"I was glad to be there. It had been far too long." You breathed, glancing out the window to the cold grey highway.

"Eva still feels bad for not recognizing you right away." John laughed. You couldn't help but chuckle, too.

"Oh, how could she?" You wondered. You hadn't been around. But you didn't want to dwell on that anymore. "It's not the first time someone thought I was Joe's hot date." You chuckled light-heartedly.

"I'm sure it won't be the last." John rose a brow, like he might have had more to say. But after a beat, he went on rambling about how glad he was that you'd been at the first Christmas his dad was absent from. How things felt less grim than he expected. And how he was glad to know space nor time could keep you from crashing the party.

When John dropped you off back home, you couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. You concluded that the indecision was better than falling into your usual downward spiral, and hoped things would only get better from here...

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

#joe mazello x reader #joe mazzello imagine #joe mazzello fanfic #joe mazzello

[blatherkatt]

Title: The Mockingbird of Whitestone [Critical Role]

Chapter 3: A Very Close Call 

Summary: Twenty years later, Vox Machina–or as much of it as can get to Whitestone at the time–reunite. It’s not their first time doing so, and they don’t plan on it being the last. It should just be another reunion.

But something completely unexpected throws everything into chaos, and leaves Vex’ahlia struggling with emotions she’d thought buried, and Percy trying to piece together the fragments of a very confusing puzzle.

Canon pairings, focusing on Perc’ahlia; warnings for minor blood in a later chapter and a whole lot of ruminating on a canonical major character death.

Author’s Note: The blood starts being a thing in this chapter; the tags on Ao3 will probably be updated to “canon typical violence” starting here, albeit that might be a little overboard but i mean better safe than sorry. also im so sorry this took so long but in my defense this chapter kicked my butt its a behemoth

Rating: T

FIRST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

The next day dawned bright and beautiful, full of sunlight and birdsong and a gentle breeze. What should have been a perfect day for the Spring Renewal festival was quickly soured, however, by a visibly exhausted guard dejectedly relaying the news that they still had no idea where the goblins were.

There’d been a very tense early morning meeting with the town leaders and some particularly concerned visitors about what to do, one which Vex had felt particularly twitchy all through.She wasn’t alone in that much, at least; she could see various shades of nerves and anticipation across faces all around her, even hours later as she carefully patrolled the streets, the kids (all of whom save for Crispin had insisted on going out to the festival) staying close as they’d promised to (for now at least) and Trinket in his full armor bringing up the rear, ever watchful.

The light but tangible weight of Fenthras in her hand was a small comfort as she waited for the other shoe to drop. This time, at least, she’d not be caught off guard.

The day trudged on, each hour with nothing new making her feel more anxious. Her rounds and the whims of the excited kids had brought their group to the street outside the temple of Erathis, where she gave them permission to step away from her side for a while to play some of the games that had been set up along the sides of the road there, so long as they all stayed together and kept Trinket with them.

She leaned herself up against the corner of a building, outwardly resting but inwardly on the highest of alert. Gods damn the blasted goblins, this was supposed to be a time to have some fun after the long winter, not—not all this.

Worst of all, her thoughts kept straying back to that first encounter, and how easily she’d let herself think that—really, it was ridiculous, twenty years went by and the first time a vaguely sneaky stranger showed up, she immediately got her hopes up that somehow he’d be back and everything would go back to a normal that wasn’t normal anymore. It was, she was…

She really wished the damn goblins would just attack already. At least then she could take out her frustration doing something productive, instead of being stuck here just waiting.

All the while, as she thought, her eyes scanned the sparse crowd. Not as many folks were on this road, as most of the attractions would be in the main square, but it was about noon and even out here there was significant enough activity. Off to one side she spotted the three tabaxi from the day before, the one with tufted ears attracting quite a few eyes as he juggled and cajoled; the rust-colored one sat behind with their cart, his body slouched but his single eye and both ears on constant watch. A couple guards were gently escorting a drunken (judging by how heavily he leaned on the guards for support) beggar off of the steps of the temple. A farmer holding a pitchfork and keeping a watch of his own nodded to Vex as her gaze passed over him, whilst two children, likely his own, cheered as they won a prize from a ring-tossing game.

Even with her senses on high alert, however, a human still seemed to almost melt out of the shadows. On a reflex, she jerked to grab an arrow, but relaxed on seeing that it was only Kynan.

He cleared his throat with a nervous smile, still a touch hesitant after all these years.

“Sorry, I’m a bit on edge,” Vex said, taking another moment to quickly scan for her children. They were crowded around a game of some sort, with Tiffany, too short to see over the counter, pouting and demanding to be told what was happening. All safe for now.

“S’alright,” Kynan said. Then, growing more serious, he said, “Anything happened out here?”

Vex shook her head. “It’s all been about as quiet as it can be, during a festival,” she said. “I don’t like it. Anything to report on your end?”

In the two decades that had passed, Kynan had proved himself time and again as very capable, elevated to the council as of five years ago, in charge of law enforcement and wartime movements. He’d been very much on top of things in this particular conflict, for all the frustrations that had come up.

Kynan shrugged. “Nothing violent,” he said, “But there’s been reports of thefts and a few people claiming to have spotted something.”

Vex tapped her fingers restlessly against Fenthras. “Any patterns to the thefts? The first goblin was raiding our larder, after all.”

“Not really. The odd coin here and there, a necklace, a child’s doll. Strangest things to have gone missing is probably a bunch of perfume, but other than that, nothing I’d think worth raising any real alarms over.”

Vex raised an eyebrow. “I think we can safely say that one’s just some thief. What would goblins want with a bunch of perfume?” she asked, dubious. “What would they want with cooking herbs?” Kynan shot back. “Ugh, you sound like Percy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And the sightings? What’s come out of those?”

“Not so much goblins for sure,” he said, shifting his weight. “People are jumpy. We’ve been taking every report seriously, but every time it’s turned out to be someone in a green shirt, or a blanket hung out to dry that someone spotted out of the corner of their eye. Old Jenkins reported that he saw a bunch of them at his trash last night, but that turned out to be a bunch of bears and a badger, which, uh, was pretty weird, but it wasn’t the goblins.”

Vex blinked. “Well, at least we finally worked out what it is that he keeps seeing, I guess. The poor man’s always claiming some monsters are lurking around his house at night.”  

“Tiff?” Crispin’s half-panicked voice rang out over the crowd. Vex stiffened. “Tiffany!! Tiff, you’re supposed to stay close, where are—did anyone see where Tiffany went? I swear I only looked away for a second—” She could see him, drawing Arthur near him, looking frantically around and grabbing at someone’s shirt, could see Trinket rearing up on his hind legs to better see over everyone’s heads.

It was probably fine, Tiffany wandered off sometimes, but now was the worst time to be doing so, gods. She didn’t blame Crispin for a second, not with four siblings to keep an eye on at once, but—fuck it, time to worry about that later, she exchanged a wordless nod with Kynan and stepped forward, looking around herself as Kynan melted into the crowd himself to search for the toddler.

As seconds ticked by, and the little girl didn’t appear, Vex could feel panic welling up inside her, heard it matched by Crispin’s increasingly hoarse shouts. Where was she, where was she, where—There! One of the passerby moved, and Vex spotted her daughter’s dress, saw Tiffany talking to a small, cloaked figure.

One with tattered green ears.

Her hand found an arrow in her quiver on pure instinct. In that same, slowed-down moment, she saw the goblin turn, spot her with those giant, animal eyes, and jerk forward toward Tiffany, reaching out with those terrible clawed fingers toward her daughter—

The arrow was pulled taught against Fenthras’s string as easy as breathing, and with the familiar woosh of wind, sang forward, aimed to take the goblin right through its chest. Time seemed to restart, sound roaring back in as Tiffany wailed, and Vex wasn’t sure if her arrow struck true. Someone screamed, and as the crowd all reacted at once to the goblin’s appearance, someone ran into Vex’s line of sight again as she tried to push forward. She spotted the goblin thrashing in the grip of the vines of the brambleshot, saw Tiffany on the ground, sitting up, howling, saw the goblin somehow manage to wrench itself free of the restraining grip and dash down the alley just as Vex finally got to her daughter.

Fuck the goblin, she’d catch up to it later.

“Tiffany, are you okay? I got you, I got you sweetie, come here,” she said, scooping the crying child into her arms. There didn’t look to be any wounds, thank Sarenrae, she didn’t look to be hurt anywhere, no doubt she was just startled by the shock of getting attacked like that. She’d have the little beast’s hide for this, how dare it lay a hand on her daughter, how dare it invade her city!

Trinket thundered up behind her, nudging her back with his nose as she held Tiffany close, shaking with an intense terror and fury. The bear’s touch brought her back into now.

“Thank you, Trinket,” she said, softly, and then, louder, standing, she pointed down the alley, still hugging Tiffany tightly to her. “It went down that way! Go after it, I’ll be right behind you!”

The bear grunted and raced off after his quarry. For the time being, however, she pulled back. Kynan and a guard were carefully guiding anyone unwilling or unable to fight into the temple of Erathis. She saw Leo, Trissa, and Arthur herded inside, but Crispin was hanging back, still calling out for his sister.  

Vex darted over, shoving Tiffany into his arms—she was still crying, but she was alive, that was what mattered, she didn’t look wounded, no time to freeze right now—and pushed him towards the temple entrance. “Go, get inside, now!” she barked, before running after Trinket.

The trail was easy to follow, she noted with a grim satisfaction; she’d definitely landed a very good hit on the goblin, and a line of blood droplets clearly marked out where it had gone. The trail weaved back and forth, at one point evidently crashing into a corner; here, more blood had splashed down, too, and Vex spotted the back half of her arrow. No doubt the goblin had tried to remove it, and only managed to snap it in half.

Rounding a few more corners, she found Trinket urgently pawing at a wall. Near its base was a cluster of droplets large enough to almost constitute a puddle, and on the wall itself, a few telltale four-fingered handprints were visible on a drainpipe. Vex looked up just in time to see a tail disappear over the roof.

“Good job, Trinket,” she said, and then set about quickly climbing up herself, Trinket boosting her up as best he could.

The goblin was there, cowering by a chimney and hastily wrapping something around the arrowhead, which Vex could see poking out of its shoulder. It heard her climb up, and with a yelp, disappeared around the chimney just as Vex managed to fire off another shot, the arrow shattering against the stone. She swore, and gave chase as the creature dropped off the other side of the roof, somehow catching itself one-handed on a window ledge to slow its fall.

With a whistle, Vex directed Trinket to round the building while she scaled her own way down. The blood trail had been lessened significantly by whatever fabric the goblin had found, but Trinket had its scent now, there’d be no getting away this time. she’d teach the little beast to lay a claw on her daughter—

She didn’t consciously register that the trail was leading right toward the main square until she spotted the Sun Tree. Was there a bigger attack happening there? What else was happening? She couldn’t hear any sounds of a struggle from that direction. She’d lost sight of the blasted goblin, too; she could see people calmly going about their business, could see Percy talking to what must have been a group of visitors looking nervous.

Too late, she spotted the goblin streaking out of the shadows and straight for the big cluster of people talking to Percy. Vex shouted out a warning, but it was quickly drowned out by screams as the group split apart in a panic. People were fighting to get away, raising a small cloud of dust low to the ground, and stampeding in all directions. The chaos was too much for even Vex’s keen eyes to pierce, and by the time everyone had dispersed enough for her to get a good view, the goblin was nowhere to be seen.

Furious, Vex gestured for Trinket to come with her as she raced in—not that she really needed to, the bear was hard on her heels. “Track it,” she said to Trinket, and then, to the crowd, “Which way did it go? Did anyone see?”

“It poured something on the ground as it passed,” she heard Percy say, somewhere behind her, “I didn’t catch which way it ran, but what did—”

Trinket gave a pained bellow and shuffled backwards, pawing at his nose. As he did, as she turned, the smell hit her nose too; a clashing combination of powerful smells, largely floral and all incredibly strong. Unbidden, the memory sprang to mind of Kynan, just before, mentioning reports of stolen perfume, and realized—somehow, the blasted goblin must have been smart enough to realize it could be tracked by scent, and had worked out a way to make a, a scent bomb of sorts; the smell must have been so strong as to almost physically hurt to poor trinket, and with it scattered everywhere from the onslaught of rushing feet as that crowd had split apart in a panic, that overwhelming smell would be everywhere…

There’d be no tracking it after this. Poor Trinket wasn’t going to be in a condition to be tracking anything after this sensory overload.

It had gotten away again, the little bastard!

The scream that tore out of Vex’s throat at this realization was wholly involuntary. Not that she made any attempt to stop it—she swore, and raged, and tore at her hair, a useless font of angry energy with nothing to direct herself against until a pair of arms locked around her. It took her a moment to recognize them—Percy, trying to calm her.

“Vex, Vex, it’s gone, we can’t get distracted running around after just one, we have to brace to protect civilians from the main attack,” he said, his arms tight around her as she struggled. “It might be trying to lead you into a trap, just let it run!”

“It almost got Tiffany,” she gasped, and heard him take a sharp breath himself. “It nearly took Tiffany, Percy, I saw it try to grab her—I’ll fucking kill them, gods damn them, they almost—”

“Oh, Gods,” he said, hoarse. “Is she—?”

“Crispin’s got her, it didn’t get her, but it was so close, Percy,” and she felt the anger fading into horrified tears, and hated herself for how powerless she was to stop them.

“Fuck,” Percy whispered.

The temple to Erathis was a chaotic hive of anxiety. Townsfolk and visitors alike crowded around some of the city leaders, all talking over each other in hysterics and demanding answers. Off by Trinket, as far out of the way as they could get, the kids (minus Tiffany) were talking amongst themselves, looking various shades of excited, bored, and, in Crispin’s face, pensive. Percy, for his part, was trying to help with this, but trying to calm down a horde of anxious townsfolk was hard enough without also trying to soothe a distressed toddler. Maybe it was for the best after all that Vex had insisted on rejoining the hunt for the creature; Percy’d been concerned and argued against it, with how distraught she’d been, but at this point, being left behind was starting to feel like the more stressful option. It took nearly two hours of himself, Cassandra, Keyleth, and some of the priests repeating themselves to regain some semblance of calm. No, we don’t know where they are, yes, we’ve got all the guards and a good number of volunteers out searching, no, no one’s been reported missing yet.

(And what a close call that was—Gods, they’d almost lost Tiffany.)

Keyleth ducked out for a moment, saying she wanted to ask if the Sun Tree knew anything, and Percy, still juggling three very persistent worriers and a fussy child, just waved her off without really listening. He really wished Pike were here; she wasn’t a city leader anymore than Keyleth was, but she was so very good at making people feel more at ease. But she’d joined in the chase, along with Grog and Scanlan, of course. Trinket was the only other member of Vox Machina to stay behind, and that was on account of nursing an apparent headache.

Mercifully, Cassandra ducked in and gently lifted Tiffany out of Percy’s arms, allowing him to spend a few minutes focusing on reassuring the last few stragglers. The rest had settled down into groups clustered about the pews, or had formed larger bands for the sake of safety in numbers before heading off to inns or homes. A sense of unease remained, but at least it was a quiet unease instead of the chaos of before.

(He still kept an eye on Tiffany, even knowing she’d be perfectly safe with Cassandra. Even hearing about how close she’d come to being taken had left him shaken. He couldn’t imagine what Vex must be going through, having seen it happen.)

Finally, sending the last of the worrying folk on their way, he sat down on one of the few empty pews and took a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. Hopefully, the searchers were making some sort of progress—it should not have been this difficult to track down and deal with a bunch of bloody goblins, for heaven’s sake.

The trick that one had used to deter Trinket fascinated him, despite how worried he felt. Somehow, the creature had known to concoct a scent powerful enough to cover up just about everything, and then to drop that scent right where a huge crowd of panicking people would spread it out very quickly, creating a sort of…olfactory smoke screen, and overloading the bear’s nose, to boot. That was a level of thinking he was not used to goblins being capable of.

…Actually, that just made the whole mess more worrying. Trinket had only tracked down the one scout, yesterday, just for one brief instance, but that was enough apparently for the goblins to prepare ways to shake him off, and so quickly, too. Maybe that was why they were proving so hard to find; perhaps Whitestone had been unfortunate enough to attract a particularly shrewd set of goblins.

It’d be right about average for this city’s luck, really. Ugh.

He was shaken from his thoughts by someone plunking into the pew next to him—Keyleth, with the same more laid-back air she always seemed to have after her…conversations with the Sun Tree.

“Did you learn anything new?” he asked.

“Um. No.” Keyleth ran a hand awkwardly through her hair. “He said he didn’t know anything, because he’s a tree. I mean, he did notice a goblin running around a few times, apparently, but only ever one at a time? Which I’m feeling pretty vindicated about, but I guess that doesn’t technically prove that there’s only ever been one goblin, but, still.”

Percy ran a hand through his hair. “Would it know if they were hiding nearby?”

Keyleth pulled a face. “Um. Probably? Maybe? He’s not super observant, honestly. But he definitely would know if a bunch of goblins passed through the main square at any point, and it seems like that hasn’t happened, so.” Then, looking at Percy’s face, she added, “I’m really sorry, Percy, I wish I could help with this more.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s—everyone’s doing their best, it’s no one’s fault if there’s a few dead end leads. You were a huge help calming people down, anyway. We’re all frustrated and scared, is all. Thank you for trying.”

“What about Tiff?” Keyleth asked. “Have you been able to calm her down enough to get anything out of her?”

Percy was taken aback for a moment, and looked back towards Tiffany, still quiet in her brother’s arms. “She stopped crying finally, but I haven’t tried talking to her about it, no. I hadn’t really thought to. Keyleth, she’s three. She probably didn’t really understand what was happening.”

“Yeah, but it’s still worth a shot, right?” said Keyleth. “I didn’t really think the Sun Tree was gonna know much either, and, I mean, he didn’t, but it won’t hurt to try. If she’s too scared to talk about it we won’t press her.”

“Fair enough.”

Tiffany was still sniffling when Percy took her back from Cassandra’s arms, but had stopped crying at last for the most part. As Percy held her and sat down, she rubbed one tiny fist over an eye and hiccuped. There were some mostly dried droplets of blood across the front of her dress, he noticed, but he had no doubt she’d been looked over very thoroughly and found uninjured. It must have been the goblin’s.

He took a deep breath to steady himself at the thought of how close that had been, and forced a gentle smile. “How are—are you feeling better, Tiff, dear? I know that must have been really scary.”

Tiffany nodded emphatically. “It was!!” she said, eyes wide. “I was jus’ talking to a, the shadow person I seed yesterday a few times, an’ they, an’ all the sudden they pushed me, an’ there were vines, and they were bleeding, an, an’ Mama was scared too!”

Percy blinked, confused for a moment. Right, Tiffany was young enough that perhaps she didn’t realize that the goblin had been dangerous. The arrow had likely frightened her more than her actual attacker. “Right, well, in the future you should…maybe be a bit more cautious about going over to people you don’t know when they call you over.”

“They didn’t do that, tho,” Tiffany sniffled. “They were just sorta hiding over by the wagon. But they—I saw them take a teapot, yesterday, an’ Mama said that, um, that we’d tell the shadow person that it’s not, it’s not nice to take teapots!! So I went to tell them that.”

“That was really dangerous, Tiffany,” said Keyleth, leaning over.

“Why?”

“Because it was…” Keyleth chewed her lip. “Do you know what a goblin is, Tiffany?”

Tiffany nodded. “They’re, um, there’s some in the stories Papa reads to me.” Before Keyleth or Percy could respond, though, Tiffany continued, “But, but they’re always mean an’ stupid, an’ the shadow person didn’t seem either of those things! They were just, um. They were really…um. They didn’t even notice me until I talked to them, and they, and they weren’t even interested in what I said about the teapot or anything, they kept looking all over the place instead! An’ they barely even said anything about the teapot, they just said a buncha other stuff.”

Keyleth tilted her head, but said nothing beyond a quiet, “Huh.”

Percy could think of a few reasons for the goblin to be distracted, and none of them were particularly good, but…perhaps they could work out more as to what the actual intentions of the invaders were, since Tiffany seemed so eager to talk about what had happened. Maybe he could get more of a bead on what sort of plan required goblins to steal herbs and, evidently, a teapot. Hesitantly, he asked, “What did the…the shadow person say to you?”

Tiffany sniffled, and seemed to think for a moment. “Um. They asked if, if I saw a…a weird man.”

That was…entirely unexpected. “…Did they? That’s…What do you mean by weird, Tiff?”

“Um. They said, um, a guy in a…a guy wif a coat, an’, an’ he was messy, they said, an’ that he talked funny.”

Percy looked across at Keyleth, who looked every bit as confused as he felt.

“Did they say why they were looking for this man?”

Tiffany shook her head. “Um! They also said the weird man was on the, was in front of the temple, but he was gone now! They wanted to know if I saw where he went, an’ I didn’t, an’ I said so.”

“And then did the go-the shadow person ask you to lead them to him, or anything?” Keyleth said, sitting down next to Percy. It was exactly what Percy’d been meaning to ask next. It’d make the most sense—maybe the whole thing about some man was a ruse to draw the child away from the watchful eyes of the many armed adults in the area.

“Nuh-uh,” said Tiffany. “They just sorta made a sad noise an’ then they, they said I shouldn’t talk to strangers wifout my parents around.” Percy couldn’t help but slowly turn to make eye contact with Keyleth as the toddler continued on, “An’ I said that my momma was real close so it was okay, an’ they said no it wasn’t, I shouldn’t be talking to them without a, um, an adult I trust, knowing that I’m talking to them. An’ then they asked where mama was, an’ looked around, and then they pushed me!!”

That was…Hm.

“…I mean. That’s. They weren’t wrong about all that, actually, that’s…very good advice, and I’m very conflicted about the fact that—you’re sure that’s what they said, Tiff?” Percy said, feeling completely lost.

Tiffany gave a single, adamant nod. “Yeah!! An’ then they got hit by an arrow, an’ I got real scared, an’ everyone started screaming!” She sniffled. “Why’d they push me like that? We were jus’ talking, an’, an’ they seemed nice!”

“It was…it was trying to grab you,” Percy said, but the words felt…wrong in his mouth, now. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces didn’t make sense. The gears that had looked to fit perfectly were entirely the wrong size, and it was entirely possible that what he’d thought to be a screw was instead a nail. What…what were they dealing with, here?

Keyleth shook her head. “I don’t know, Percy, this is getting weird…” She chewed her lip for a moment, and then, quietly, trying to keep Tiffany from hearing, she asked, “Is it—she is little, maybe she’s remembering wrong?”

“It wouldn’t be like her to make something like this up,” Percy whispered back. “Leo or Trissa at her age, certainly, and in a few days she may have a very embellished version of things, but right after things happen, she tends to be pretty honest.”

“It didn’t feel like a grab,” Tiffany pouted. “It felt like a push. I fell down on my butt afterwards an’ it hurt a lot.”

Percy tried to imagine the scene with the new information. Tried to fit it in with what he knew about goblins, and kept hitting walls. It didn’t fit. So, then, maybe…

He tried looking at it again, but this time, instead of thinking of the individual as a typical goblin invader, he tried just…thinking about their actions in the context of a normal person. And in that context, things started to make sense. They’d been going about their business when a very chatty, particularly bold toddler had demanded their attention. And then they’d…well, he still couldn’t quite make sense of looking for some strange man, but at the very least it told him that Tiffany’s shadow person had something on their mind.

The advice about strangers made a lot more sense, this way; they were very much busy and distracted and likely didn’t have time to be talking to a small child. They’d told her off a bit, and then looked around for the child’s parents. Perfectly normal behavior for someone who wasn’t seeking to kidnap and devour any small child they could get their hands on.

And then…

“So you told this person that Mama was near?” Percy said, to be sure. Tiffany nodded. “And then they looked around to find her…”

…And would have seen an arrow pointed in their direction, wouldn’t they. Ha. Now he was starting to see how the gears were meant to fit together.

It was a bit of a crazy theory, probably. But the truth was, so far, no one had really been attacked, except for perhaps Trinket a couple of times, and both were justifiably self defense. If Tiffany was right in her understanding of what had happened today, then…

“Keyleth,” Percy said slowly, “You don’t suppose it might have been trying to push Tiffany out of the way?”

“Of what?” Keyleth asked, but before he could answer, another commotion broke out. The goblin hunters were back, it seemed. And judging by the grim looks on their faces, they’d been unsuccessful again.

He ought to have been worried by that, but in the moment, his mind was buzzing. He felt at once like he’d worked out the shape of the thing and like he knew less than ever—there were so many pieces that were missing, ones that he didn’t even know how to START with, but even so, it was an explanation that felt like it fit. He needed to tell Vex, she’d be thrilled to hear there was some sort of lead on all this.

Somehow, Keyleth managed to get ahead of him, getting caught up in the knot of people forming around Vox Machina. Percy, with Tiffany still in his arms, couldn’t break through the crowd, but after a couple minutes of worried folk clamouring for news and Grog’s voice booming out his disappointment above it all, he saw Vex push her way out of the throng and make a beeline towards him.

The rest of the kids, who’d been off in a corner with Trinket, ran up as well, gathering in close as Vex took Tiffany from Percy and held her tight to her chest. There was a heartbreaking tension around her face, accompanied by the kind of exhaustion that comes only from great stretches of stress.  

“Did you beat the bad guys, Mama?” Arthur demanded, tugging on Vex’s tunic. Before she could respond, Trissa and Leo both tried to shout over each, asking for details just as loudly.

Crispin had been unusually quiet and withdrawn for quite some time, and now, whatever dam had been holding him back finally broke, the boy nearly in tears as his voice shook. “Mom, I’m so sorry,” he said, frantic, “I was—Trissa and Arthur were arguing, and Leo kept screaming that he was hungry, and I think Trinket was distracted by something else, and I—I’m so sorry, there was so much, I swear I only let her out of my sight for a couple minutes!”

“Kids, stop—Hold on just a second, please!” Vex chided the three middle children. One arm still firmly holding onto Tiffany, Vex stretched out a hand and gently but firmly made Crispin look at her. “Darling, listen to me,” she said, “You didn’t do anything wrong here, alright? A lot happened very quickly, I’m not angry and this isn’t your fault.”

“I’ll try and pay more attention next time, I swear—”

“You did your best,” Percy said, drawing Crispin in close and pressing a kiss to his temple. “Tiffany’s alive, and she isn’t hurt, it’s alright.”

“Yeah, but did you kill them?” Leo piped up.

“No, damn them,” Vex spat. “Couldn’t find hide nor hair of the little—ugh.”

“Aw, what?” Trissa complained. Crispin somehow managed to look even more distressed.

Percy, sensing a potential storm brewing if the conversation continued as it was—Trissa and Crispin would get into an argument over just about anything these days, with Leo egging the former on, and that was the last thing they needed right now—quickly stepped in. “Alright, kids, your mother and I need to talk privately for a moment. You can hear more about how things went later,” he continued over the loud whines of complaint from Arthur, Leo, and Trissa. “For now, just—One of you take Tiff and just…wait over by Trinket, won’t you?”

Thankfully, they did as they were told, albeit with a lot more complaining from most of them. Crispin took Tiffany with a nod, and helped push the rest to follow Percy’s instructions. As they left, Percy heard Trissa say, “You don’t have to be such a goodie two-shoes about it, Crispin,” and let out a deep sigh.

“I’m really starting to worry, Percy,” Vex said, falling heavily back onto a nearby pew and burying half her face in one hand. “The goblins have somehow managed to completely disappear, they shouldn’t be able to just up and vanish like this, and I hate not knowing where or when they’re going to turn up next! By some miracle, no one appears to have been hurt or killed yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Maybe not,” said Percy, sitting next to her. She turned a tired eye towards him. “Keyleth and I talked to Tiffany about what happened, and it’s got me thinking. I know it’s a bit out there, but honestly, what she described didn’t feel like an invader at all, so much as just another visitor to the festival. She certainly never felt that she was in any danger—”

“Percy,” said Vex, but Percy didn’t stop.

“And, if anything, it sounded like the goblin was trying to push her out of danger rather than attack her. And if that’s the case, then it would follow that we may not be in danger at all, that we’re actually dealing with a, a harmless group of goblins. Which would go a very long way in explaining a lot of the weirdness that’s been—”

“Percival!”

Any further elaboration he might have had lined up died in his throat when faced with the hardness in Vex’s eyes. “I’d say that you can’t be serious, but I’d sincerely hate to think you’d make such a thoughtless joke in a time like this,” she said. “They’re goblins, Percival, of course we’re in danger! One of them tried to take our daughter!”

Some other eyes in the temple were looking at them, he noticed out of the corner of his eye. They weren’t quite in a full on shouting match, but Vex wasn’t trying to be quiet, either. He swallowed. “I mean, Tiffany was very sure that—”

“Tiffany is three years old!” Vex hissed. “She probably didn’t understand what was happening! You can’t go basing an entire insane theory on the word of a toddler!” She pressed her face into her hand again. “Gods, Percival, not everything is some bloody puzzle that needs working out, sometimes things just are what they seem on face value! People’s lives are at stake and we can’t afford to risk calling off our defenses based on a complete fantasy!”

“Well, but, I…”

“Well, why don’t you fight them, then, Mr. I Know How To Use A Big Pointy Stick?”

“Yeah, you’re the one with sword lessons, why don’t you use them, you big chicken?”

Vex and Percy’s heads both turned towards their kids at the rising sounds of Trissa and Leo’s voices. Gods, if they were egging on Crispin again—yep, sure enough, Crispin and Trissa had their eyes locked, Leo at her back adding on to whatever she said.

“There’s a world of difference between sparring with Aunt Cass or whatever guard’s on break and being in an actual fight, Trissa!” Crispin shot back.

“Oh, like you’d know,” Trissa said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know even know how you’re my brother, sometimes. How’d Mom and Dad have such a big coward?”

“You want me to end up like our uncle?!” Crispin snapped, and Percy felt Vex tense beside him. “Or did you forget about what happened to him? Our parents weren’t living out some fantasy in a book, they were fighting for their fucking lives, and two of them didn’t survive!”

“Mom and Dad did!” Leo said.

“No they fucking didn’t, they just got lucky and were able to come back!”

Percy swore under his breath and got out of his seat, heading toward the kids. He could feel Vex doing the same.

“They all died, the whole group, at least once!” Crispin went on, “I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad both went down twice! And resurrection ceremonies aren’t a guarantee! I’m pretty sure they were just really fucking lucky—I know you know this, Trissa, you can’t just ignore it! All of them, Mom, Dad, fuck, something even managed to kill Grog, and they were all well fucking trained fighters, what the hell are we supposed to do?!”

Arthur started to wail.

“Stop it right now!” Vex said, getting ahead of Percy and planting herself right in the middle of the three arguing children. Percy knelt down and drew Arthur close to him. Tiffany didn’t look like she’d really understand any of what had been said, thankfully—they’d been careful to wait until each kid was old enough to handle it before telling them certain parts of the stories of Vox Machina’s exploits, and neither of the two youngest had been let in on the details Crispin had just laid out.

Judging by the stricken look on his face, Crispin was well aware of his mistake. The boy stammered an apology, but Vex waved it off and turned toward Trissa and Leo.

“Your brother’s right about one thing, neither of you two are anywhere near ready for a real fight,” Vex said, “Especially if you can’t even recognize that this is not the time or place to be fighting amongst yourselves.”

“But Mom, Crispin—”

“Is trying to protect you, like a good brother, and I’ll not have you antagonizing him over it.”

“We can—” Leo piped up.

“No. We’re going home.” A cry of complaint started, but was instantly cut short by a single look from Vex. “All you’ve accomplished with this is scaring your little brother, and you’re going to march back quietly and really think about what you’ve done, do you understand?”

Arthur, at least, was calming down into sniffles rather than outright sobbing. Percy kept trying to soothe the boy, unable to bring himself to look at Vex until he felt her hand on his shoulder.

“Did you hear me, Percy?” she said, her voice softer than it had been, but not much. “I’m taking the kids and Trinket back up. Are you staying down here?”

Percy swallowed. “Um, yes, I think I…there’s so much to do, you know.”

“I’m not angry at you, you understand that, right?” she said. “I just…I’d love for everything to secretly be fine, too, Percy, but it’s just not feasible. I know what I saw.”

“…Of course,” he said, standing. “Travel safe, all of you. I’ll see you tonight.”

He kissed his wife on the cheek, and stood by, quietly reeling as the rest of his family walked away.

It was funny how many things one could find to do when they were definitely procrastinating. Percy managed to busy himself until the sun had begun to set, helping out with arranging things, answering questions, doing whatever he could think of to keep busy. But as the last few people started heading to beds, and guards started up the first of the evening patrols that had been agreed upon for the time being, Percy begrudgingly had to accept that it was probably time to head home.

He’d thought that maybe his theory was a bit far fetched, sure, but he’d not been ready to be so thoroughly shut down for it. Normally that only happened when he was being dangerously stupid, which—well, alright, the town was in danger, fair.

Maybe it really was overly optimistic. It would be so much easier if this was all just a misunderstanding.

“Hey, Percy!” Keyleth’s voice right behind him nearly made him stumble, so sudden did it seem. “What’s up? I’ve been trying to get your attention for like half a minute,” she said, moving up to keep pace with him.

“Sorry, I’m just…distracted, I suppose.”

“…By the argument with Vex?” Keyleth said, and Percy winced. “Sorry,” she added. “Don’t mean to, um, rub dirt in the wound or anything, I just—things seemed tense.”

“It’s…my fault, probably,” he said. “She’s got every right to be stressed out, anyway. It’s been a bloody stressful day.”

“Yeah.”

A comfortable, if slightly awkward silence stretched between them for a few moments, as they walked. Eventually, Keyleth broke it by asking, “Hey, what were you saying before, anyway?”

“Hm?”

“When we were talking to Tiffany,” Keyleth said. “You were about to say something, and then we got interrupted. It’s been bugging me all day!”

“Oh, it was—I—it was nothing, Keyleth,” he said, hurriedly.

“It didn’t sound like something,” she pressed. “It sounded like you were onto something! Come on, what was it?”

“A lot of wishful thinking, apparently,” Percy mumbled.

“About what? Come on, this whole thing’s super weird.”

“You’ll laugh.”

“Promise I won’t?”

Percy looked sideways at her. She had that earnest look about her that was so very Keyleth, the one that meant she wasn’t going to give up on this. He sighed.

“Alright, alright, fine. I had a…theory, of sorts, that was forming. One which Vex very quickly pointed out the holes in,” he said, taking off his glasses for a moment to nervously clean them.

“Oh?” Yeah, he should’ve known that dropping that hint wouldn’t stop her from pushing on.

“It’s…I was thinking at the time that maybe the goblin pushed Tiffany because it saw the arrow pointed at the both of them and wanted to get her out of the way,” he said, feeling a fool for even saying it aloud again. He slipped his glasses back on, adjusted them on his nose, looking away from Keyleth as he continued, “And following from that, that maybe we’re not dealing with anything malicious. Which is…”

“Makes sense to me,” said Keyleth. “I’m not seeing the problem here, yet.”

Percy felt his jaw drop as his head involuntarily snapped to look at her.

Nope, no humor to her expression, just more of that sincerity.

“That’d explain what it said about strangers, too, actually,” Keyleth said, “because if it cared enough about her safety to try and push her out of the way, it’d wanna make sure she’s with her parents, too, right? Yeah! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense! Plus, no one’s gotten hurt at all, yet, and with this many vulnerable people here that’s super weird!”

“I—but—Keyleth, the idea of an entire tribe of goblins randomly showing up who just happen to be quite possibly the one single tribe of nonviolent goblins is—it’s patently ridiculous!” he stammered. Yet, at the same time, part of him felt vindicated—Keyleth may have been a bit foolish at times, but she was far from stupid, and their years traveling together had brought her much more down to earth. If she thought that he might be on to something…

“I mean, with the stuff we’ve all seen together, friendly goblins doesn’t sound all that weird,” she said with a grin. “But, consider this: maybe it’s not a whole tribe!”

“…Oh?”

“Sun Tree’s only ever seen one, I’ve only ever seen one, has anyone so far reported seeing more than one at a time? I mean, like, any reports that we’ve been able to confirm? I know there’s been a ton of false alarms, but. Actual, for sure sightings.”

“…Now that you mention it, no, not to my knowledge,” Percy said, feeling the gears start turning again.

Keyleth’s smile widened. “Right! And I really was searching the whole city yesterday, too, so I had a really wide view! It might be that it’s just the one that’s here, and it’s a nice one on its own, right? I didn’t get a good look at it the second time, but do you think it might be the same one?”

“I…didn’t get a good look at the one from today,” Percy said. “It ran by very quickly. Although…that in itself might be a sign it’s the same one. The one Vex found in the storeroom was very fast.”

“Okay, so, there’s your theory!” Keyleth said, bouncing on her feet a bit. “We’re just dealing with one goblin on its own that might not want to hurt anyone!”

“Which still doesn’t answer what it is doing here,” Percy said. “We’ve possibly explained what it hasn’t done, and that’s a start. But no matter how I go about it, I haven’t been able to make everything it has done make sense.”

“So maybe next time we see it we just try talking to it?” said Keyleth. “Although that…might be harder now. Vex apparently shot it with Fenthras.”

Percy winced. “Oh, Gods,” he said, “no wonder the thing tore past like a bat out of hell, then.”

“Speaking of Vex, though, it’s super weird that she got mad at you for suggesting this,” said Keyleth.

Percy shrugged. “I don’t know, Keyleth,” he said, “she’s really very certain that she saw the goblin attack our daughter. I’d be pretty peeved in her shoes, too. Honestly, I’m not even entirely convinced that she was wrong. There’s no real proof for this, it’s just one possible explanation. It may well be that we’ve only seen a couple scouts.”

“I guess,” said Keyleth, frowning, “But normally I feel like she’d…consider it.”

Percy stopped. Keyleth followed suit, looking at him intently as he thought. “Now that you mention it, she really didn’t even hear me out all the way. I’d hardly started explaining when she just…shut me down.” His own frown deepened. “She didn’t want to talk about the possibility of the goblins being unusual yesterday, either, and I’d not even considered that they might not be attacking at that point. You…you don’t suppose there’s something wrong, do you?”

Keyleth chewed her thumbnail for a moment. “She has been acting kinda weird since she saw the goblin,” she said.

“I…just attributed that to stress over the situation.” Percy folded his arms.

“Yeah, but I mean, even for that, she’s been…off.”

“Hm. I’ll…I might try talking to her, tomorrow, if I can,” he said. Then he allowed himself a smile. “Regardless, thank you for…taking me seriously on this, I suppose.”

She beamed. “No problem!” she said. “We probably shouldn’t bring this up with the others until we’ve got a little more proof, though, huh? Vex might, uh, not be the only one who reacts…badly…to the suggestion.”

“Scanlan.”

“I’m talking about Scanlan, yes.”

#perc'ahlia #percy de rolo #vex'ahlia #critical role #keyleth #longpost// #VERY long #fanfic #fanfiction #katt does a writing #whitestonemockingbirdfic #this one got sO OUT OF HAND..... #LORT #also fun fact i rolled out damage just for funsies #and like nott had 4 more hit points as of reaching level seven than the averages i gave her but anyway shes down to 26 hit points #shes gonna be feeling that for a whiiiile #double also im sorry if theres typos etc pls dont tell me im so tired

[lunasterial]

title: an elf’s nightmare (before christmas) pairing: myg + pjm length: 6.5k+ words summary:  In which Jimin and Yoongi go on a quest to find Rudolph and, in turn, sort out their own romantic problems. author’s note: part two of the fics i forgot to post here: this isn’t that great ngl, but hey it’s a christmas au... that i posted two days after christmas but we’ll ignore that

read on ao3

“I just think they could be more creative with these Christmas songs.”

Yoongi was in the middle of wrapping yet another teddy bear for a three year old, somewhere in the Caribbean this time, when Taehyung spoke. It catches his attention for a while, setting little Sophie’s gift aside before looking up at Taehyung.

“What do you mean?” he says.

It is exactly three days until Christmas and the elves are as busy as ever. Present wrapping, decorating, pine tree planting, the whole shebang just for that one day. And Yoongi is no exception.

“I’m just saying,” Taehyung says over the music playing, “Santa Baby? Really fluffed up if you ask me. The girl’s downright flirting with the boss! Doesn’t she know Mrs. Claus hears her every year?” Taehyung says, a hand playing around with an unwrapped present, another hand reaching for the wrapping paper with it Rudolph's on it. “And her reasoning is completely absurd! As if the boss would actually agree to give her all of that when she hasn’t even been good all year,” he examines the box in front of him, “I guess she won’t be receiving a Tiffany box this Christmas, again,” he shrugs.

Yoongi moves onto the next doll, this time for Troye in California. “They’re not all too bad. Baby, It’s Cold Outside is really good.”

Taehyung scoffs, “That might be even worse! The man in the song—”

Yoongi just continues to laugh at Taehyung whilst he goes on his tangent, finishing up on Troye’s  present and starting up on Jaehwan in Jeonju. Little Jaehwan asked for his own copy of Peter Pan . Yoongi smiles at the book in his hand; only a few children ask for books every year and Yoongi’s quite fond of reading. It makes his heart swell every time a child asks for a novel for Christmas.

“—and what was in her drink ? If you don’t think that’s fishy, then I don’t know what is!” Taehyung exclaims.

Yoongi rolls his eyes fondy. The novel gets put down on the conveyor belt where it travels to the elves that place the cards on them. The easiest job there is, Yoongi thinks. Maybe next year he’ll ask the boss to put him there. Gift wrapping getting a little boring.

When Yoongi looks up, Taehyung is at his side, hitting the bell attached to his green hat with a stern face. “Do not mock me, Min Yoongi, or so help me I myself will tell Jimin your undying love for hi— ow! ” Taehyung exclaims when Yoongi hits his shoulder.

“Will you ever shut up?” Yoongi says, pulling his hat down to cover his forehead. But Taehyung can’t take him seriously with the red blush on his face.

It makes Taehyung giggle, “Look how red your face is! It matches your green outfit. You look like Christmas” he teases.

Yoongi was halfway through possibly murdering his fellow elf, a fist in the air ready to punch Taehyung to death, when he was interrupted by possibly the purest helper Santa has.

“Am I interrupting something?” Jimin says with only his head peeked into the room, a small hand gripped onto the side of the door.

“Jimin!” Taehyung says with a sly smile. He subtly pulls Yoongi’s hand down from where it was hanging in the air, locking his own hand in them to make sure Yoongi didn’t do anything stupid. “We were just playing nice,” Taehyung says, looking towards Yoongi with a face that said say a word and I’ll kill . “Right, Yoongi?”

Yoongi looks at Jimin whose eyes weren’t exactly looking at the two, but rather looking towards the middle of them where their hands were.

Yoongi immediately lets go of Taehyung’s hand. “Right,” Yoongi assures.

Jimin doesn’t look all too convinced but he nods slowly nonetheless.

“You were about to tell us something, Jiminie?” Taehyung asks.

Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up in realization, “Right!” he says, then turning his attention towards Yoongi. “It’s our turn to feed the reindeer, hyung.”

“Oh,” Yoongi says.

“ Oh, ” Taehyung teases, sending a sly smile towards Yoongi, pushing him towards Jimin using his butt. “Well, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting! I hear Rudolph’s nose gets its light energy from food! Shoo! Shoo!”

☆

“S-Sorry about Taehyung,” Yoongi says, scratching the back of his neck. “He’s acting a bit weird today.”

Jimin chuckles and Yoongi swears he can hear angels sing, “It’s alright. I bet you’re used to it.”

Yoongi scoffs, shaking his head as he grabbed the bucket of reindeer food and smelled it. What was in reindeer food again?

“I’ve learned to live with it,” Yoongi shrugs, opening the gate to stables of the reindeer, decorated ridiculously with Christmas lights, leaving it open for Jimin.

The reindeer squeal in delight at the sight of the food. One of them standing up to greet Yoongi.

“Woah, Dasher. There’s plenty for everyone,” Yoongi smiles, petting the reindeer. It’s funny and also terrifying, as any of these reindeer could easily squish Yoongi if they wanted to.

“I mean, Taehyung is your boyfriend,” Jimin says as he enters the stables.

Yoongi scoffs, rolling his eyes at the thought him being even remotely interested in Taehyung romantically. “Tae isn’t my boyfriend.”

Yoongi proceeds to pour the reindeer food into its container for them to eat, subtly petting them as he moves along the stable.

It’s a few minutes later that Yoongi realizes Jimin hasn’t spoken for a while. He looks for him, finding him frozen still at the front of the stable, door left ajar, his mouth in a similar stance.

Yoongi tilts his head at the view, scratching the back of his head. “Jimi—”

“Go out with me,” Jimin interrupts.

Yoongi eyebrows shoot up so high, his fringe hides them, “What?’

Jimin seems to realize what he said, his entire face turning as red as Santa’s suit. “I-I mean—”

He doesn’t finish his sentence in embarrassment, hiding his face in his hands. “Oh my gosh.”

Yoongi carefully places down the bucket of reindeer food, walking slowly towards Jimin.

“Jimin?” Yoongi calls.

When Jimin reveals his face, he doesn’t look at Yoongi.

“T-The truth is,” Jimin starts, “I’ve liked you for a while. A-And  I’ve always just assumed that you and Taehyung were together so I never acted on it. I guess it was sorta stupid of me to assume. I would’ve asked you sooner had I known…,” his voice trails, realizing what he was saying.  

Jimin shakes his head, “This is really embarrassing…”

“No!” Yoongi exclaims suddenly, shocking Jimin a bit that he flinches away. “I mean… it’s not embarrassing, it shouldn’t be. I-I like you, too.”

Jimin, if it all possible, blushes even more. “What?”

“I like you, too,” Yoongi says, more certain this time. “A-And if you still wanna go out sometime, Tae says The Gingerbread House is open until twelve this Christmas. Maybe, you’d wanna have dinner with me?”

“You… you’re not kidding?” Jimin asks, walking towards Yoongi.

“Of course not,” Yoongi answers.

At that, Jimin smiles, “I… I would love to.”

Yoongi grins, “It’s a date.”

“O-Okay,” Jimin says, still a little dazed. Too dazed, in fact, that when he moves his hand to rest on the wall behind him, he misses by a long shot and ends up falling. Luckily, Yoongi’s reaction time is as sharp as ever, catching Jimin as soon as he slips.

“O-Oh,” Jimin says as he realizes their proximity.

Yoongi blushes profusely, feeling his stomach do a backflips the longer he stares at Jimin. Jimin smells so nice, like those peppermint candy canes he passes by every morning on the way to his shift. Jimin is biting his lips, his sweet, cherry red lips. Yoongi just wants to press his entire face on his.

Yoongi was still contemplating whether or not to go on with his plans, when Jimin’s eyes suddenly look like he lost his soul.

“Rudolph!” Jimin exclaims, getting a hold of himself and pulling himself up.

Yoongi can only stare in shock for a while, eyes following the telltale footprints of the reindeer getting away from the stable until he can no longer see its trail.

“Oh my gosh, we’re gonna die. We’re actually gonna die!” Jimin exclaims.

Yoongi, still a bit shock, comments, “Christmas might not come this year but it’s not like we’ll die , calm down”

“ Calm down ?” Jimin says incredulously, “The boss isn’t gonna be able to fly across the foggy skies because there won’t be a bright red nose to guide him!”

Jimin quickly ran across the stables, checking each one to make sure no one else escaped.

“Uh…,” Yoongi stares im bewilderment, “Maybe it won’t be foggy this year?” he tries.

“ Yoongi hyung !” Jimin whines. “Has there ever been a Christmas where it wasn’t foggy?”

“Um,” Yoongi says. “No…?”

“No! Exactly!” Jimin exclaims. He groans, “What are we gonna do ?”

“Calm down ,” Yoongi says grabbing Jimin’s hand as he approaches him. At that, Jimin freezes.

Yoongi gulps, trying to get his brain to think of a solution. “Okay… okay. First, calm down. Let’s start by following her footsteps, she probably hasn’t gone too far away. We might be able to find her.”

That was good, Yoongi tells himself. He sounded logical and rational despite his entire body telling him to flip the fluff out. Maybe he convinced Jimin to believe him.

“O-Okay,” Jimin says, gulping as he nods. “We… we can do that.”

Jimin doesn’t look towards Yoongi, merely dragging him by his hand. The blush on his face burning brighter.

When they exit the stable, Jimin makes sure to close the door behind them. Yoongi was just about to walk head, eyes following the footprints, when Jimin stops him, taking a hold of his hand.

“Jimin?” Yoongi asks, watching as Jimin fixes his their hands so they’re well interlocked.

Jimin smiles shyly, “L-Let’s go?”

Santa probably won’t be needing Rudolph this year; Yoongi’s blushing face could easily be a substitute.

☆

“ We’re gonna die!”

“Calm dow—”

“Christmas is canceled, and we’re gonna die !”

Yoongi chuckles, wiping the sweat off his forehead and starting to lean on a signboard that said Christmas town here! pointing northward. “We’re probably just gonna lose our jobs.”

“ Hyung !” Jimin draws out the last syllable.

Yoongi doesn’t mean to tease, it’s just that Jimin looks so adorable when he distressed, stomping on the ground like a little child. It’s almost endearing.

“Okay, okay ,” Yoongi says, looking around at where they were. Rudolph’s footprints stopped once they reached the part of town where snow no longer fell.

Yoongi exhales. They’d really fluffed up.

“Well,” Yoongi starts, “We can’t go back. She would’ve left another snow trail if she did. So that means we’re going into—”

“The forest?” Jimin squeaks, looking towards the vast expanse of land in front of them. For miles, it looked like it was just trees and then… just more trees.

“We have no choice,” Yoongi says, already getting a headstart. “I think I might know where she headed.”

Jimin wavers for a while, but he quickly catches up when he notices Yoongi not even sparing him a glance.

“Wait a minute,” Jimin says, catching up and grabbing his hand again, “Where do you think he went?”

Yoongi tries to suppress the blush on his face. He fails.

“The Holiday Doors,” Yoongi says,  “I’ve heard Tae talk about them once. If you go far out enough into the forest, you'll see a bunch trees in a circle that can take you to different worlds. I’m not sure which one Rudolph would go to, though.”

Jimin hums in contemplation, “Has Taehyung ever seem them?”

Yoongi shakes his head, “No, but they’re definitely real. Jack Skellington managed to travel here once and nearly ruined Christmas.”

“The Pumpkin King himself? What made him do that?” Jimin asks.

Yoongi merely shrugs. He doesn’t know the entire story since he only heard it from Taehyung. “Everybody loves Christmas.”

☆

Jeongguk startles awake, hearing a crash just outside his door. Halloween is far from over, what could he ruckus possibly be?

“Jinnie hyung?” Jeongguk calls.

After a few minutes Seokjin comes into view, the ragdoll coming up the stairs to greet him with a loose arm. “You’re awake!” he exclaims.

Jeongguk frowns, “I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for that crash outside. What was that anyway?”

Seokjin shrugs with his one arm, then proceeding sew back the other. “I was just about to check it when you called me.”

Jeongguk makes grabby hands to Seokjin, taking the thread and needle from him and sewing it himself. “I told you to call me when your limbs started to fall.”

Seokjin smiles when he finishes, “But you’re so cute when you’re asleep, Jack,” he coos.

Jeongguk scrunches his nose, “Don’t call me that. Only humans and townsmen call me that.”

The ragdoll giggles, nodding his head and placing a kiss to his forehead, “Whatever you say.”

Jeongguk smiles up at him, a pretty pink blush spreading on his skin. Seokjin loves it when he’s in this form. Don’t get him wrong, seeing him turn into a skeleton on Halloween is always fun, but in this form his emotions are a lot more readable.

He places a small kiss on Jeongguk’s lips for a while, lingering for a second before pulling away to say, “We should probably check what the noise is.”

And as if on cue, another huge bumping sound occurs. It makes Jeongguk turn to look out his window.

“What could it be?” he says, standing up from his bed.

“Beats me,” Seokjin shrugs.

Jeongguk makes his way down the tower with Seokjin in tow, still a little bit sleepy from being rudely awaken.

When they reach the door Jeongguk can hardly believe his eyes. His mouth turns ajar, eyes widening.

“What is that ?” Seokjin exclaims as scans the figure before him.

Jeongguk walks forward, reaching a hand out towards it. “It’s a reindeer.”

There Rudolph was, standing outside the Pumpkin King’s tower, in all his red-nosed glory.

☆

Yoongi scans the trees around them, feeling completely overwhelmed by the choices.

“Independence day… Thanksgiving…,” Jimin mumbles, reaching a hand to tap Yoongi on his shoulder, “Hey, look, they even have Valentine’s Day.”

“Valentine’s… Day?” Yoongi questions.

“You don’t know what Valentine’s Day is?” Jimin says incredulously.

“No, but I’ve heard Taehyung yapping about it, I think,” Yoongi says, trying to recall the last time his friend mentioned it.

“Well it’s—,” Jimin stops himself, getting flustered. “It’s a day dedicated to lovers, I… guess.”

Jimin starts to play with the hem of his green shirt, the bells at the ends of it ringing softly as he does.

Yoongi blushes, “D-Do you think Rudolph might wanna see what that’s all about?”

“Um,” Jimin starts, “Not really? I don't think so. I hear the boss has been talking a lot about another holiday, though. So she might’ve overheard and wanted to see what the fuss was all about.”

Yoongi hums, “I-I see.”

He examines the trees in front of him. Each of them had a different door, each connecting to a different world, a different holiday. Which one would Rudolph go into?

“This one’s cute,” Jimin says, pointing to one of the trees. “It’s an egg.”

Yoongi looks towards where he was pointing, “Easter,” Yoongi breathes. “Should we try to go in it?”

Jimin shrugs, looking at the door with an uncertain face, “We could try?”

Yoongi bites his lips, grabbing Jimin’s hand as he turns the doorknob on the tree. It’s not like he has any better ideas.“It’s worth a shot.”

☆

“It’s an actual reindeer,” Seokjin says in awe. “I’ve only ever seen the ones Dr. Finkelstein made,” he says.

Jeongguk could only stare at the reindeer, presently galloping in the middle of his foyer. What could he possibly be here for?

“A reindeer,” Jeongguk repeats. He moves closer to the reindeer, walking slowly to not frighten it, reaching out a hand to stroke his head. It’s nose suddenly glows red.

“Ah!” he flinches away, frowning at the light.

Then it dawns at him, “It’s Rudolph!”

“Rudolph?” Seokjin repeats.

“Yes! Rudolph!” Jeongguk exclaims, petting the reindeer with glee. “What are you doing here, little guy?”

Seokjin tilts his head at the scene, “Who is Rudolph?” he asks.

“Only the most important reindeer there is! He lights the way for Sandy Claws’ sleigh every Christmas,” Jeongguk informs him.

“For Christmas?” Seokjin asks, “It’s only three days until Christmas, what’s it doing here?”

“Three days?” Jeongguk exclaims, looking back towards Seokjin, “We need to get him back!”

He eagerly looks around for his suit, quickly putting it on once he finds it. Seokjin merely stares at him with wide eyes.

“You… want to bring him back?” the ragdoll asks, scratching the back of his head.

“It’s three days until Christmas, right? If there were a time when they needed Rudolph the most, it’d be now!”

Jeongguk was already halfway through the door when Seokjin stops him, grabbing a hold of his arm. “You can’t just go out with a reindeer without being noticed! You’re the Pumpkin King, for god’s sake, they’re gonna ask questions! They might even try to feed him to Oogie Boogie before you even get to the Hinterlands!”

This seems to get Jeongguk’s attention, pulling the reindeer back in the tower.

“You’re right,” he says, scratching his chin in contemplation. “What do you suppose we do?”

☆

“This is definitely not it,” Jimin says as he stares at the place. “Why would Rudolph even want to be here?”

Easter Town was infinitely different to Christmas town. For one thing, there isn’t an inch of snow even though it’s December, flowers blooming everywhere. Not to mention there are walking eggs as far as the eye can see.

Yoongi picks up a frantic egg, running around as if its family were on fire. “This is really disturbing,” he says, shoving it to Jimin’s face, its feet kicking back and forth “Look, it has legs. You think Tae would want this as a Christmas present? I don’t know what to give him.”

Jimin’s eyes widen, immediately slapping the egg away from him, watching as it runs away from the with its tint legs. “What the heck, hyung!”

Yoongi grins, chuckling quietly, “You’re so cute. I’m gonna die.”

Needless to say, Jimin’s face turns bright pink. Pressing his lips in a thin line to stop a smile from growing. “Well, I won’t be very cute once I catch you!”

Jimin’s words seem to serve as a catalyst, Yoongi immediately running away from him as a knee-jerk reaction. Jimin seems to be determined running at a high speed that Yoongi’s breath starts to hitch after a few minutes of running.

“I’m gonna get you!” Jimin taunts.

Yoongi starts to giggle, his steps growing slower and slower until Jimin catches up to him, miscalculating his own steps and tripping on his own feet.

“Oh!” Jimin squeals as he trips, landing on Yoongi.

Yoongi groans at the impact, his back aching from hitting the solid ground.

“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry! Are you hurt? Oh my gosh, hyung, I’m—”

“I-It’s okay,” Yoongi says slowly. The situation they’re in suddenly dawning at him as his stare goes from Jimin’s eyes to his lips.

“Oh,” Jimin says, subconsciously licking his lips.

Yoongi can feel his face burn, although he’s pretty sure it’s not just because of the exercise he just did.

“Jimi—”

He presses his lips against Yoongi’s, the bell attached to his hat jinggling at the movement, although Yoongi can only hear the rapid beating of his heart in his ears, the rest of the world silent. The kiss is sloppy because of their inexperience, but Yoongi can’t help but feel like this is perfect.

When they pull away, Jimin is still breathing heavily, and he’s still so close Yoongi can feel it bouncing on his chin. Yoongi was just about to kiss him again when a large shadow suddenly loomed in front of them. They look towards it at the same time.

“Oh my gosh,” Yoongi breathes as he takes in the sight.

The actual Easter Bunny right in front of them, looking ready for the kill.

“Run!” Jimin shrieks, pulling Yoongi up before the rabbit can stomp on them.

☆

“Quietly!” Seokjin reprimands when Jeongguk walked too fast.

“I’m sorry!” he whisper-screamed, pulling Rudolph towards him. The reindeer seems to have taken a liking towards Jeongguk, licking his boney head. He decided to turn into his skeleton form in case someone saw them.

It’s been only a few minutes and Seokjin already looks distressed. Most of the townsmen haven’t woken up but Seokjin doesn’t want to take any chances.

Rudolph is happily trotting alongside of them, his red nose absolutely beaming. Jeongguk doesn’t know what he did, but he’s somehow befriended the reindeer. He seems to be liking just walking around town, seeing how horrifying everything is. If Jeongguk can remember right, it must be a huge contrast towards Christmas Town.

“Sally!” a voice exclaims, and Jeongguk immediately panics.

“Hide him! Quickly! Behind that tree!” Seokjin demands, pushing the both of them towards it.

“Mayor!” Seokjin says, side-eyeing the two just to make sure they were hidden well.

Rudolph looks at Jeongguk, tilting his head in confusion. He merely shushes him, places a finger to his lips for emphasis. The reindeer seems to get it, lowering his head and dimming the light his nose.

“Good boy,” Jeongguk whispers, petting Rudolph with a smile.

“Jack?” the Mayor says. If Jeongguk had blood, he would’ve paled right then and there.

He hasn’t seemed to notice Rudolph though so he says,”Stay back, boy.”

“Mayor! What are you doing up this early?” he asks, straightening his suit.

“Well, I’ve been doing my rounds. I’m looking around for some anomalies in town to feed Oogie Boogie. He’s been a right pain in the ass these days, might just be hungry, though,” the Mayor says to them.

“Anomalies, huh?” Jeongguk says. He gulps, letting out a nervous laugh, “Nope, definitely haven't seen anything out of the ordinary here, Mayor.”

His eyes subconsciously move towards Rudolph, hiding obediently as he was told. If he had a heart it would’ve clenched.

That was definitely the wrong move when suddenly the Mayor decides to follow his eyes.

“My! Do my eyes deceive me? Is that a Reindeer ?” the Mayor exclaims, walking towards it.

“A-A reindeer?” Jeongguk says, looking towards Seokjin for help. The ragdoll merely shrugs, not knowing what to do either.

“Meat for Oogie Boogie. Perfect ,” the Mayor says as he tries to touch Rudolph. The reindeer seems to realize what was about to happen, standing to kick the Mayor away.

“Woah, Rudolph,” Jeongguk says, coming in between the two. “It’s okay, boy.”

The Mayor widens his eyes at the display, ‘Y-You know this animal?”

“I—,” Jeongguk says, petting Rudolph with a smile, “I guess we’ve become friends, haven’t we?”

Rudolph leans into his touch, his nose beaming brightly.

“My, Jack,” the Mayor stands, dusting off his pants. “Do you know what we do to our dear friends, here in Halloween Town?”

Jeongguk frowns, subconsciously walking in front of the reindeer in a defensive stance, “What?” he asks carefully.

“We feed them to Oogie Boogie, of course!” he exclaims, his head turning to show his scary face.

“Come on little reindeer! Oogie Boogie ain’t gonna hurt you!” he says walking toward the reindeer, trying to reach a hand to grab its antlers, but he’s rejected again.

“No!” Seokjin exclaims, coming in between them. “Why does a poor innocent little reindeer have to be in such a situation?”

“Now, Sally, let’s be sensible. Oogie Boogie’s gonna keep disturbing the whole town if we don’t feed him soon!” he tries again, but is ultimately kicked away.

“I’ll get you!” he taunts, jumping on the reindeer in one fell swoop, making Rudolph stand up in surprise. The Mayor falls to ground from the movement.

That gives Jeongguk an idea.

“Hyung, let’s go!” Jeongguk urges, dragging the ragdoll and climbing on top of Rudolph. He waits for Seokjin to do the same before prompting Rudolph to move.

“Get back here!” the Mayor demands, standing up quickly and running to catch them.

“Faster Rudolph!” Jeongguk prompts, and Rudolph speeds up, not caring about what’s in his way.

The Mayor manages to grab onto Seokjin’s leg, holding onto it as if it were dear life.

“Get off! Get off me now!” Seokjin exclaims, kicking the Mayor off but he doesn’t budge. He only holds his leg tighter.

Seokjin gasps as he notices they were no longer running on land, merely floating a few inches above it until Rudolph properly flies in the air.

“You can fly…,” Jeongguk says, “That’s right! You can fly!” he exclaims, patting the reindeer’s body, “Faster, boy!”

Rudolph zooms through the sky, seemingly leaping from cloud to cloud. It must’ve been quite a sight for whoever saw it on the ground.

“Let go! Let go!” Seokjin struggles, kicking and kicking but he won’t budge. He looks positively scared of the height below him.

While he isn’t looking, Seokjin quickly pulls the thread that kept his leg and thigh together, effectively making the Mayor fall. Seokjin can only stare as he does, his scream growing quieter and quieter the further they go.

“Are you alright, Jinnie hyung?” Jeongguk says in alarm, noticing his leg trailing the Mayor.

“I’m fine,” Seokjin says, “Lost a leg that’s all.”

Jeongguk chuckles at him, squealing into the night as Rudolph takes them to the stars. Seokjin thinks he’s never seen a sight as beautiful as this.

☆

“Nope, nope, nope! Definitely not it,” Yoongi heaves, resting a hand on the tree where the Easter door was.

“We didn’t even get to look for her, she might still be there!” Jimin reminds him, but Yoongi shakes his head.

“I’m not going in there again, Jiminie,” Yoongi says, “Who thought bunnies would be this ferocious?”

“I can’t blame it, though. I hear it doesn’t have very good experiences with other worlds. It once got kidnapped by someone from Halloween town!”

“Kidnapped?” Yoongi repeats, “You don't think Rudolph was kidnapped, do you?”

Jimin’s face pales, “Oh that poor girl! What do you think they’d do to her if she really did get kidnapped?”

Yoongi’s already approaching the pumpkin door, “Let’s hope not anything too bad.”

He turns around once he opened the door, offering a hand towards Jimin, “Let’s go?”

Jimin takes it, and they jump in the door together.

A spiral slide is what they greet, sweeping them off their feet immediately. It seems to be a tunnel of some sort that grows darker and darker the farther they go into it. The only indication Jimin is still there is his screaming, otherwise, Yoongi couldn’t tell whether or not he was there.

“Oomf!” Jimin exclaims as his butt touches the ground.

Yoongi groans as he stands, taking in his surroundings. They seemed to have landed in a graveyard, an ominous gray fog laden upon everything.

“Woah,” Yoongi says. “This is definitely Halloween Town.”

Jimin shudders beside him, “You don’t think a ghost is gonna pop up suddenly, do you?”

“Well, I mean— gah !” Yoongi exclaims, watching as a ghost floats to his vision.

“Oh my gosh!” Jimin squeals as the ghost floats towards him. He notices it has the form of a dog, with a cloak on its body and a bright orange, pumpkin nose. But it seems to stop as he scans Jimin’s face, whimpering when he realizes he’s scared.

“Oh,” Jimin says after a while when the ghost still hasn’t attacked him. “You… you’re a good ghost,” he realizes, reaching out a hand to stroke its head. Although his hand goes straight through him. It feels like a cold breeze passing him.

“And you’re name is…?” Jimin asks. It barks pointing its nose to its grave.

Jimin smiles, “Hello, Zero.”

Yoongi looks in bewilderment from ghost-dog to its grave, chuckling in disbelief. “That’s pretty morbid.”

“Oh shush,” Jimin says, trying to hold Zero in his arms. “He’s a sweetheart, look!”

Zero absolutely beams, barking in delight and twirling in the air.

Yoongi can’t suppress the smile that spreads on his face, “I guess he’s pretty cute.”

Zero tries to lick him but it feels just like a cold breeze. It makes him smile fondly nonetheless.

“Aw, look he likes you,” Jimin exclaims.

Zero zooms around him, barking happily.

“I like you, too, little guy,” Yoongi coos, trying to pet him but as usual, his hand goes straight through. “I gotta get used to that.”

“Hyung, can we keep him?” Jimin pleads, “ Please , he’s too adorable to be in Halloween Town.”

Yoongi braces himself for the worst and as he expected, Jimin is already pouting, showing his puppy-dog eyes.

“Jimin,” he says, “No.”

“But, hyung ,” he draws out the last syllable. “Look at him!”

“He probably has an owner!” Yoongi reasons, “Come on, Jimin. Let’s just find Rudolph and get outta here. There’s only three days left ‘till Christmas,” he reminds him.

Jimin bites his lip in contemplation, watching as Zero starts to catch his own cloaked tail. He whimpers. Why did he have to be so cute?

“Oh, Yoongi hyung,” he pouts, “He’s so—”

“No!” Yoongi says sternly. “We can’t, Jimin. The boss ain’t gonna let us keep a fluffing ghost-dog!”

Jimin huffs, trying his best to collect Zero in his arms. “Well if you’re not gonna let me take him, I’m staying right here.”

Yoongi splutters, “ Jimin ! You can’t be serious.”

“You bet your life, I’m serious,” Jimin says, getting comfortable on a gravestone, crossing his legs as Zero tries to nudge his feet.

Yoongi sighs. Jimin’s definitely not gonna budge that easily.

☆

Rudolph touches the ground softly, a trail of golden dust following them as if he were a fairy.

“You can slow down now, boy,” Jeongguk says, petting his head.

They land on Spiral hill, the land stretching out of its curl as they walk along it. The Mayor seemed to have given up, seeing as he can’t see him trailing after them.

“I think we’re safe,” Jeongguk speaks as they reach the end of the hill. He goes back to his human form when he deems it okay.

Seokjin hums, in the middle of taking Rudolph to the edge, “The Mayor’s gone crazy.”

Jeongguk’s eyes widen at the sight of Seokjin limping, “Jinnie hyung, your leg—”

“It’s alright,” Seokjin smiles, “We can replace it. We always do.”

Jeongguk nods, biting his lip as he approaches Seokjin. He grabs the ragdoll by the waist, hoisting him up to carry him.

“Oh!” Seokjin exclaims as he subconsciously places his arms around Jeongguk’s neck.

Jeongguk suddenly feels drawn to Seokjin’s lips, unable to stop himself from placing a kiss on them, licking into his mouth almost immediately. He tastes amazing.

“You sure you’re not hurt?” he asks once they pull away, resting his forehead on him.

Seokjin chuckles, placing a hand on Jeongguk’s chest. “You worry too much.”

He shakes his head, rubbing his nose on Jeongguk’s lightly. Jeongguk positively blushes, smiling fondly at the ragdoll.

Their little moment is ruined, however, as Rudolph neighs, pointing his bright nose to somewhere.

“What is it, boy?” Jeongguk says, placing Seokjin on the reindeer as he looks down to where Rudolph was pointing at.

“What do you see, Jeongguk?” Seokjin asks.

When Jeongguk looks down, he spots two elves. Both of them dressed in all green, seemingly arguing with each other.

Jeongguk turns to Rudolph, “Do you know them?”

Rudolph nods.

Jeongguk takes one last glance at the bickering elves and sighs. It’s time to say goodbye.

“Let’s get you home, boy.”

☆

Yoongi taps his foot impatiently, “ Jimin ,” he says firmly, “We don’t have time for this. I bet they’re already behind schedule because we’re not there.”

“Having two elves absent won’t hurt them,” Jimin retorts, crossing his arms and looking away from Yoongi.

Yoongi scoffs at the display, “Jiminie, please —”

“No,” he says stubbornly, “No, I am not leaving.”

Yoongi sighs, looking at Jimin and then looking at the town ahead of them. “Jimin, poor little Rudolph’s all alone right now. He must miss being in Christmas Town with all of us.”

The guilt noticeably shows on Jimin’s face, a frown growing on his lips.

“No,” Jimin says, although it sounds halfhearted.

Yoongi sighs, “Come on , Jimin!” he exclaims, “Don’t you wanna go home? I don’t know about you, but I could really use some of Taehyung’s sugar cookies right now,” Yoongi says, tapping his stomach and realizing just how hungry he is.

Something seems to switch in Jimin’s brain, however. His eyebrows furrowing and his eyes starting to glare at Yoongi. What did he say wrong?

“Taehyung’s sugar cookies, huh?” Jimin says, “Well, fine . If you miss him so much, then why don’t you just go ahead and leave me here, hmm?” Jimin taunts.

“Jimin…,” Yoongi says in confusion, “What are you even saying?”

Jimin scoffs, uncrossing his legs and standing up. “Don’t play dumb. All day it’s been Taehyung this, Taehyung that. Gosh, it’s like you can’t spend a second without talking about him!”

Yoongi’s mouth gapes, “No I… don’t.”

Jimin ignores him, however, continuing saying, “Are you sure you don’t like him? ‘Cause I can take a hint, hyung. You don’t have to pity date me. I have a lot more pride than that!” he exclaims.

Yoongi doesn’t even know what to say, “Jimin…”

“Oh, don’t keep him hanging!” Jimin says, grabbing Yoongi’s shoulders and pushing him away. “We wouldn’t want your best friend to be kept waiting, right?”

Zero watches frantically as Jimin continues to push Yoongi away from him.

“Jimin, this is ridiculous,” Yoongi says, chuckling in distress.

“Oh, this is ridiculous? I’m sorry! I must be a really bad boyfriend for being jealous over my boyfriend’s best friend whom he talks about all the time in front of me. Yeah, I’m ridiculous.”

Yoongi’s eyes widen as he realizes what Jimin said, a blush spreading on his cheeks immediately. He latches onto Jimin’s shoulders, making him stop pushing.

“Don’t touch me!”

“We’re boyfriends now?” Yoongi asks in a daze, still unable to comprehend what was happening.

Jimin’s face starts to boil, “I-I mean—D-Did I say that?” he splutters, “I mean, if you want to be, I don’t know. We haven’t even been on a date yet, and I know it’s sorta sudden, but—”

Yoongi doesn’t give him a chance to finish whatever poppycock he was about to say, pressing a kiss against his lips eagerly. Jimin squeals with his mouth closed, eyes wide. But slowly Jimin melts into the kiss, closing his eyes and kissing back, the kiss turning unbelievably sweet.

☆

Jeongguk stands awkwardly as he watches the two elves kiss. He looks towards Seokjin in, asking for help but the ragdoll shrugs, helpless.

In the end, Rudolph helps them, letting Seokjin off him before nudging the two kissing elves until they pull apart.

“Rudolph!” the shorter one exclaims, the bell attached to his hat jinggling. His eyes travels from the reindeer to Jeongguk, and his smile immediately melts like snow.

“You!” he says accusingly, “Are you the one that kidnapped Rudolph?”

Jeongguk’s eyes widen at the thought, “No! I would never!”

The elf doesn’t seem all too convinced, his lips in a thin line as he examines the reindeer in front of him.

“I-I think it’s alright, Jimin. I think they were trying to take him back,” the other elf reasons.

The elf, Jimin, if Jeongguk heard correctly, seems to contemplate what he said, glaring up at Jeongguk.

“Who are you?” he asks.

The question takes Jeongguk by surprise. “I’m Jack—”

“His name is Jeongguk,” Seokjin interrupts him, “You may also know him as Jack Skellington, but Jeongguk’s his real name. They call me Sally, but you can remember me as Seokjin.”

Jimin eyes grow as big as saucers, “The Pumpkin King?”

Jeongguk flinches at the way Jimin seems to subtly move away from him.

Seokjin notices his pout almost instantly, quickly speaking up for him, “He won’t hurt you,” he says, looking towards the other elf, “You’re right, we were trying to bring him back. Now, it’d be nice if you showed at least a little goddamn gratitude.”

Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up, “Don’t swear! You’ll get put on the naughty list. You don’t want to receive coal this Christmas, do you?”

Seokjin looks at him in disbelief, “W-Well I don’t receive Christmas presents.”

“No Christmas?” Jimin gasps, “Why?”

“Well, this is Halloween Town,” Seokjin states, “There’s no Christmas here.”

Jimin frowns, “That’s… awful.”

“What happened to your leg?” the other elf asks.

“Huh?” Seokjin says, forgetting that about his missing limb. “O-Oh,” he says in realization, “Got in an accident, that’s all.”

The other elf hums, staring at Seokjin from his missing leg up to his face, “I see. Well, thank you for escorting our Rudolph here. She’s a very important part of Christmas, you know.”

“I know,” Jeongguk says suddenly, “I mean—,” he gets flustered, “W-Who’s gonna light Sandy Claws’ way without him?”

“It’s Santa Claus ,” Jimin corrects him, “And you’re right. Although I’m pretty sure Zero here could do the trick.”

The ghost-dog suddenly jumps at Jeongguk, licking his chin as a greeting.

“Zero!” Jeongguk exclaims, “Boy I missed you!”

He grabs the ghost-dog, twirling him around. When he finishes he notices Jimin staring at him.

“You… you own him?” he asks.

“Yes,” Jeongguk replies. “Although he is quite independent.”

Jimin nods, looking like he was in deep thought. “I see.”

The other elf sighs, placing a hand on the back of Jimin as he says, “We should head back now, Jiminie.”

Jimin nods, grabbing Rudolph softly. “Okay,” he says.

“Happy Christmas you two!” Jimin says with a smile as they walk away.

Jeongguk was raising a hand to wave goodbye when Rudolph turned to look back. Her little red nose beaming brightly at him.

“Happy Christmas,” Jeongguk echoes, sending a smile as Rudolph’s figure grows smaller and smaller.

“I didn’t know Rudolph was a girl,” Seokjin states.

Jeongguk chuckles at the ragdoll, shaking his head in disbelief. “Come on, let’s go home.”

☆

“You’re back!” Taehyung exclaims as they come  into view with Rudolph in tow, immediately latching himself onto Yoongi.

“Um,” Jimin coughs.

Taehyung looks between Yoongi and Jimin. Jimin starting to glare daggers at Taehyung and Yoongi sporting a pretty pink blush.

“Oh,” he says in realization. “Sorry!” he exclaims moving away from Yoongi and grabbing Jimin’s hands.

“Where have you been ?” Taehyung demands, “The boss nearly went crazy when he found out two of his elves and Rudolph went missing.”

Jimin chuckles sheepishly, “Oh, um, about that—”

“It’s a long story,” Yoongi tries to explain, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah,” Jimin agrees, sending a knowing smile to Yoongi. It makes him burst out in laughter, Yoongi following not too far behind.

“ What ? What happened ?” Taehyung bounces, the bells attached to his clothes making noise.

Jimin just continues to laugh at Taehyung, telling him to calm down and assuring him that he’ll get the full story soon.

Yeah , Yoongi thinks as he watches the display in front of him, this is gonna be a great Christmas .

#writing #ff: y+j #yoonmin #fanfics #yoonmin fanfics #jimin #yoongi #bts fanfics #christmas au

[divinitykittty]

Get to know Kit

It’s the question(s) on nobody’s mind: who is divinity kittty?

Well let me just start by saying I have A LOT of time on my hands, like too much, like enough to find and fill all of this out for no other reason than because I felt like it. & with that being said, here’s some light public self reflection; hope it’s as good for you guys as it was for me!

1.    Full Name

Im gonna stick with “Divinity Kittty” but you can call me Kit, Kittty or Divinity.

2.    Zodiac sign

Gemini sun Aries Moon

3.    3 fears

dying with regrets, dying unfulfilled, living as a slave or vegetable.

4.    3 things I love

warm desserts served with icecream, debates and/or theory discussions, new experiences

5.    My best friend

is it wrong to say, myself ...?

6.    Last song I listened to

Changes / A$AP Rocky

7.    4 turn ons

sense of humor, witty come backs, strong/toned back/shoulder, intimacy that isn’t awkward or asking for something, that V line cut thing people get sometimes

8.    4 turn offs

bad breath and body odor in general! being mean to animals, being mean to servers and people who are just doing their jobs, greasy skin/hair, cowboy boots.

9.    How many tattoos/piercings

I currently have 8 piercings and 9 tattoos. Actually just took out 2 rings though (not sure if ill put them back in before they close), and working on getting another tattoo or 2 soon... so ask me again in about a month lol.

10.  The reason I joined tumblr

I joined tumblr like forever ago when it was fresh and new, immediately fell into the hole because I was a big dr.who, supernatural fan... didn’t really decide to actually “run my blog” until recently, because I just feel like it’s a cool platform to like be vulnerable and be myself without worrying about like local bs or anyone texting me or seeing me in public wondering “what was that post about.” Also, like I said, I’ve been here a while kind of just lurking in the shadows of my main acct, so I feel comfortable being myself here. Everyones weird and intellectual, it’s cool.

11.  How I feel right now

Satisfied. I just had 2 black bean burgers and some homemade fries so.. can’t complain really.

12.  Something I really really want

To RV or renovate a camper or van and just explore a couple parts of america before headed into south america via mexico+panama, into brazil for carnival, and then as far down as i can make it before catching a plane to (Australia first, and then) the East. Never to return!

13.  Current relationship status

Dating a cishet man.. pray for me.

14.  Meaning behind my URL

Honestly, it’s nothing really that deep. I’d say I relate to the feline community, domestically house cats, but also panthers and lions. I also practice divination in the form of Tarot and Astrology.... I Am a Divine Feline. Divinity Kittty. the 3 Ts represent Trinity - which closely relates to perfection or completion. I also Love the number 3, for creation and manifestation (Trinity again). Idk, I guess it was that deep after all, lol

15.  Favorite movies

Ok so it’s somewhere between spirited away and Princess Mononoke... but also like maybe Bug or Teeth... Breakfast at tiffany’s too though, and Heathers.. Have to mention fight club of course, for the culture. and Cloud Atlas!!!! oh man. Apocolypto?? like hello! I don’t know, I’ve seen so many great movies. I really enjoy watching film actually.

16.  Favorite songs

Really depends what mood I’m in but right now F Q-C and Spiral by Wilough are both greatttt on soundcloud. Never skip.

17.  Favorite bands

I don’t listen to many bands anymore but I’d say maybe Tame Impala if he counts, or Cigarettes after sex.. the beatles will always hold a place in my heart too. And muse... and coldplay oh god. Sorry mom!

18.  3 things that upset me

People who don’t pay attention when I’m trying to share or express something, bills, capitalism in general.

19.  3 things that make me happy

helping/being useful, holding hands, inside jokes

20.  Relationship with my parents

My dad kind of tries, but its one of those “too little too late” kind of deals. My mom is great, a bit negative and anxious, but my biggest regret is maybe I’m not expressing as much Love as I’d like to sometimes, due to my own traumas. I love her, I’m just a very casual lover. We try though.

21.  My pets

At my mom’s theres 2 wiener dogs, Mocha and Lulu who sleep in my room when I’m there. My bf and I also care for a Pit named Nomu, a cat named Ashes, and her fresh little month old cubs who don’t all have names yet but theres 5 of them... for adoption btw. Please.

22.  Do I smoke or drink?

Social drinker, I don’t really just like sit at home and drink for fun but I like going out for a drink and some dancing every now and then. Or wine nights. I don’t smoke... cigarettes.. haha ;)

23.  Celebrity crushes

Donald Glover. Scott Mescudi. Beyonce & Rihanna (duh). Jaden Smith. Willow Smith. 

24.  What I did yesterday

Yesterday I made some sales, hung out with my boyfriend, saw my cousin who’s in from out of town, and pretty much just vibed for the rest of the night.

25.  Something I’m talented at

Movement. I don’t know if that’s a real talent, but why wouldn’t it be. I’m really good at moving my body, like dancing, yoga, posture, flexibility, balance... I just like to move.

26.  Number of kids I want

One day, maybe like 2. Really I only want 1 but I’d have 2 just so they won’t be lonely growing up.

27.  3 habits I have

If I’m not careful I can easily spend an entire day in bed, I smoke at least 1 spliff almost every day.. especially before bed, spending more than I should.

28.  A lie I’ve told

The most recent lie I told was actually today, to my boss.. hear me out though, I just got this new job & she scheduled me but never gave me a log in for the schedules, so she calls me 2 hrs before my shift (opening) and I was just like oh yea “ I have to pick up my cousin at the airport so I can only come for like an hour while you find a replacement.” mind you my cousin got in yesterday... and she drove.. but whatever, I got a free day lol.

29.  Something I fantasize about

Civil and/or Spiritual Revolution, my role in the war+the new world

30.  My idea of the perfect date

Something outside, preferably in the sun and grass. Some kind of activity, either a game or like something where we get to create but also get to know each other better. Maybe some art or music is involved some how... last date I went on we kayaked out to a little private island and tripped half a tab, that was pretty perfect.

31.  Something currently worrying me

MONEY! omg, I’m a broke ass college kid man. And im not even in school right now, can you imagine the distress. I need my bills paid, and fast!

32.  Something that’s constantly on my mind

How I can be better than I’ve been.

33.  A photo of myself

This is the most recent (quality) photo I have of myself, except my hairs black now... hi.

#about me #get to know me #random questions #newtumblr #newpost #divinity

[ecotone99]

[RF] The Watch Part II

The Watch Ep 2

Today was a semi-gloomy day at The Watch..... As the day began with maybe 56 alarms and all of a sudden jumping up to 257 in a matter of moments. It was partly cloudy. Alicia started her day with an access call.

“Hello sir. How can-” “I need to get in the building my car is under the building.” he blurted out cutting her off. “OK, one moment.” “Huh?” “One moment sir.” Alicia was checking what the instructions were. “Sir, it says to use the outside elevator.” The man starts in a whine,”But I know my car is under THIS building. If I go that way it will take HOURS to find my car.” “Well sir the building is locked for the day.” The man must of walked away because she couldn’t hear him anymore. Alicia shrugged. Tiffany smiled. “The hard knock of the watch.” They both laughed. Nathan at that moment got an incoming call, “Hello how can I help you?” “WE’RE TRAPPED!!” a small child like voice said. “Hello? Are you in the elevator?” “Yes we’re scared. “ the child states in a mild manic. “It's OK. How many are with you?” Nathan asked “Me and my brother. PLEASE GET US OUT!” "Stay calm, OK? I will call for someone to get you? I promise!” he told the boys “Ok....ok...thank you!” the boy said. Nathan put them on hold and called out the alarm. Rochelle jumped in. “Want me to call the property management?” “Yes, please. “ Nathan said while dialing fire & rescue. Rochelle was calling property management.

Meanwhile, Tylisha is kindly was calling on the oldest alarms. “Hello how can I help?” “I'm returning a call about a door prop?” the woman said “Yes, I show its has not restored.” “OK, um, well what does that mean exactly ‘door prop’” “That something is holding it open.” “Oh OK. So, what am I supposed to do?” Tylisha’s eye narrowed as she said,”It's a notification ma’am. Would be suggested to have that door closed.” “Oh OK, thanks!!” the woman said and hung up. Tylisha shook her head,”I don’t get these people...”

Just them Albert walks in. Always checking in like a celebrity. He has moved to the Technical department. Does his usual walk through and stops by Alicia desk. Ever since she responded to his ‘how are you’ in Spanish he now always says it in Spanish. “Como esta?” he said with a velvet voice. Alicia response,” Bien y tú?” He smiled enjoying her elementary school Spanish skills. Alicia couldn't help it, Albert was cute but he was young. With the high school hot boy swag that is cute for like a day and then gets repetitive. She also found her assistant manager, Wesley, attractive. He was tall, very tall with long hair. She was sad the day he cut it but was still attractive. “Girl what are you doing?” Rochelle asked Alicia which snapped her out of daydreaming. “Shut up.” Alicia replied. Rochelle laughed at her. Alicia rolled her eyes. Fiona was new and got an unusual access call. “Hello How can I help?” “Can you let me in please!!” shouted the woman.” “OK give me one moment.” “CAN YOU OPEN THE DOOR!! I don’t want to wait out here!!!” The phone timed out. She calls back and got Alicia. “Hello how ca-” “WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP HANGING UP. PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!!” “Ma’am I am working on it and the phone has a time limit. No one is hanging up on you.” Finally she is let in. Rochelle calls out on an alarm. She has two suitors as guards at different location, officers Thompson and Bradshaw. Constantly getting excited to talk them. Officer Thompson answers. “Why hello operator.” She laughed and said, ”Well hello officer Thompson. How are you?” Alicia turned around, ”Your ‘boyfriend’ again?” Rochelle muted the line, ”You know it girl!” Officer Thompson worked at one of the monitored properties and Rochelle usually got the alarms for that building. Officer Thompson was always sweet over the phone and flirtatious. Rochelle enjoyed it, maybe too much.

With so many alarms in queue some of the morning shift stayed a bit later. Robell usually worked in the morning and sometimes as OIC. Ricardo also stayed a bit later. Alicia had trained him for a little when he first came. Ricardo got an incoming alarm. "Hello how may i help?" he asked. "Hello there. Well I got a call about an alarm but i no longer work there." she stated. "Oh ok. I'm sorry about that i can have your name removed?" "No, no. I will call back tomorrow to fix the contact list. But for now they should be calling me." she added. "Ok." he says but she kept going. "I rather them call me than the whole list for now. It's fine. I just will need to update the list tomorrow. Did the alarm restore? she questioned. "Yes it has." Ricardo replied. "Oh ok yea leave the account as it is and will try to fix it tomorrow. Thanks." the woman hung up. Ricardo looked stuck, wasn't sure what to say to that. That was usual with unusual calls at the Watch.

Social circles are social circles at work or not. As the alarms slowed down, Albert popped in over on the other side. He was trying to make moves on Rochelle. Goes up to her," Hey hey!" he shouted."Hey whats up?" Rochelle said he but underneath she was uninterested in him just being friendly. Alicia sat and giggled to herself. "Whats so funny you in the corner!?" he said which mad her laughed more. Alicia rolled her eye and went back to work. Albert and Rochelle talk about the text he just got, "So what? She is wearing the same color." she replied. "Yea whatch'a point?" he said. They went back a forth for a bit. Alicia thought Albert tried to hard. Was an unattractive trait in males. "Nothing, just asking....." Rochelle replied. Alicia rolled her eyes. As Albert went back to his station, Rochelle turns to Alicia. "HE be thinking it's gonna work and its not." Rochelle shook her head. Alicia timed in. "Who knows, he just would want to show you some-" Rochelle cut her off. She did not want to think or know what she was going to refer to. "Heck no. I don't think so." Rochelle sneered. Alicia shrugged. She wasn't worried about the young blood trying to attract anything that walks. It's it was Wesley that she was curious about. Mostly quiet but seems there was more to him that met the eye.

Jasmine was quieter than usually on this shift until she got this call; "Hello how may I help?" "Im trying to get in." the lady replied. "Ok were are you going?" "Dr Chang, demetologist on 3rd floor." Indeed there was a Dr Chang on the 3rd floor but no contact number. There was a guard on site. "Ok. Unfortunately I have to contact security to let you in there is-" "Goddamn it!! I come here all the time just open the damn door!!" she shouted. "MA'AM you will have to speak with the doctors office to let you in." Jasmine said with a wicked tone. "Goddamn it. Fuck you." Line goes dead. Rochelle glances toward her. Jasmine rolled her eyes, "Is it time to go yet?"

As alarms slowed down, and the end of the day grows near... This concludes the end of today's Watch.

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