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helenazbmrskai · 3 years

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Finding Home

▫ Pairing (Cat Hybrid! Yoongi x Reader) ▫ Genre (Hybrid Au, Angst, Hurt and Comfort, Fluff) ▫ Summary (Sometimes the best therapy is the warmth of another person you can share your pain with; and be just two souls trying to find a home.) ▫ Warnings (sad backstories, hurt and comfort, mention of putting down shelter hybrids, trust issues, anxiety, fluffy happy ending) ▫ Rating (pg13) ▫ Word Count (10k) Author note. I decided to put every part into a big one and make it a one shot. It's a repost of my short hybrid series!

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⤷ Part of Animal Lovers Hybrid Collection

Expensive looking houses in a nice neighbourhood with high fences and green gardens, these buildings are no homes, these are just empty shells a form of shelter; that he’s forced to accommodate.

Twenty-seven years ago an odd-looking hybrid was born, his hair was half white and half black but other than that he looked like a regular domesticated cat hybrid with pointy ears and long tail, he was born in a breeding facility and at the young age of seven, he was relocated and registered as a hybrid up for adoption. When he was young he thought that he’s lucky that he got adopted sooner than normally seedlings like him did. The rich family was strict but fair in a sense and the children loved him. He wasn’t discouraged when he got put back into the shelter he thought that someone will give him a chance again and he’ll do better next time – he learned from his mistakes. He wasn’t discouraged even after the second time nor the third time. He wondered why only rich families decided to adopt him - but he wasn’t too concerned he was fine with anyone - or why they lost their interest in him when he behaved as they asked him to and tried to be good to them.

He was filled with concerns and self-doubts by the time he became twelve years old without a permanent home, getting put back to the same room with white walls every time no matter how many times he crossed the front door of the hybrid shelter hoping that this is the one that will be finally different.

After that, he just stopped getting his hopes up. When he turns eighteen and gets returned yet again he starts to sabotage the attempts of potential adoptions he got tried of packing his bags just to come back after a month or even sooner.

He’s nineteen when he overhears as the caretakers talk about him, he always had trouble with sleeping and that night when the employees think all hybrids are fast asleep they mention Yoongi’s name. He recognises the voice of the woman telling her co-worker that rich families try to adopt him for his looks, they find him fascinating but with every unique painting they get tired of seeing it and decides to get rid of the old ones in favour to get something new, rich families work that way; she said.

There’s no mirror in his room because of the simple design, consisting of a bed with a wardrobe placed opposite to it; if he had one he would smash the glass with his fist directing his anger at the worker, at the rich, at the long line of families that adopted him. He doesn’t know where to direct his anger so he gets angry at everyone.

It’s been years anyone saw him smile instead of the significant frown he gets recognised for he never talks unless it’s necessary or ordered and he never converses with another hybrid let alone the caretakers. The cat hybrid isolated himself with a cold exterior to protect his heart from further heartaches; he’s now twenty-seven and he wasn’t adopted since he was eighteen. The shelter labelled him as a lost cause, but being a lost cause goes with its dangers. If he doesn’t get adopted when he reaches the tenth year of staying inside the shelter without adoptions he’ll be put up to euthanization.

There’s only one person inside the facility who dearly cares about Yoongi; His name is Namjoon and he works there as a volunteer he studies to be a hybrid doctor in the future and very passionate about saving lives, he never stopped trying to save his, even though Yoongi never responds to him or show any sign that his efforts are worth it. Namjoon doesn’t want to see him put out like that like his life is worthless and just a waste of space. He believes the hybrid deserves to be happy and doesn’t want to let the shelter to deprive him of the opportunity to find a real home. Somewhere in the world, there’s a person who needs Yoongi as much as he needs her and he believes that this person might be closer than he thinks.

Because Yoongi only tolerates Namjoon’s presence of all the workers he had to tell him the bad news that all he’s left is one year before they’re forced to operate as the protocol states and Namjoon found it disturning that all he did was nod in acknowledgement. He tried to talk to him about it, tried to convince his superiors to change their minds but they said it’s not something they have power over, they didn’t write the protocol they just execute them according to the rules. Namjoon finds the words ironic.

”Joonie, you know that you need his consent to put him up for adoption. I can’t just barge in and take him out.” You pinch the bridge of your nose turning around in circles with your wheeled office chair, it’s been twenty days that you haven’t got a wink of good sleep and you’re tired of falling asleep when you should focus on your online classes. Your parents say that you can’t sleep because you closed yourself off inside your room tried to force you to take a stroll at the gardens or go the grocery store; they use this as an excuse no matter if your head hurts or you feel nauseous.

”It just feels so unfair you know. He’s a good kid.” You snort at that, he emailed you his file hoping that he could convince you to adopt him after you learn about his circumstances and for a fact, this hybrid he refers to as a kid is older than him and as his personal information declares he never talks and always looks like he’s ready to commit murder, but yeah, he sounds like a good kid, indeed.

”I believe you but there’s nothing you can do. Have you tried talking to him about it?” Playing with a pen between your fingers you focus on the conversation looking away from the computer screen, you can feel your headache coming back from staring at it for too long. An exasperated sigh tells you that he has.

”Of course I tried Y/N! He doesn’t listen.” It’s your turn to sigh as you don’t know what else to say to this, it’s not like you could convince him. It’s been a while since you left the house and you don’t feel ready yet to face the world.

”I don’t understand what you expect me to do. I get that you think my house would be good for him but if he doesn’t want to be adopted you can’t go against that.” You sympathise with Joon but there’s nothing you could do for him in this type of situation, out of all the people you know that if someone doesn’t want to get help you can’t force it on them to take it. You can see the reasoning behind why he bothers to tell you this; he thinks similar people could connect to each other in a way no one else can, and you’re not saying that you’re opposed to the idea to get a companion because it gets lonely sometimes.

”Can’t you please just talk to him? I promise I’ll pick you up and drop you off at your doorstep as soon as you talked to him.” Wanting to resist but bending to say yes you’re torn between the two option, after all, it’s a life and death situation. He probably told you the hybrid’s sad life story that he gathered about him to soften your heart and you hate that it’s working, Namjoon is your childhood friend so he knows you better than you know yourself and you wouldn’t admit but he has you wrapped around his pinky finger.

”I don’t know Jonnie, I don’t feel comfortable leaving yet.” Looking outside of your bedroom’s window you watch the tree leaves sway as the wind plays with them and there’s a couple walking their dog nearby, you recognise them as your next-door neighbour and you decide to look away before they could turn in your direction.

It’s been five years since you changed your classes to be online so you don’t have to attend school personally, you had a dog named Lily but she, unfortunately, passed away last year so now you’re mostly alone. Namjoon swings by here and there but he has a busy schedule at the shelter and he’s in his last year writing his thesis so he can’t visit you like he normally would, but that’s ok you’re happy that his life is going well.

You were diagnosed with PTSD five years ago after you witnessed your best friend’s death and you decided it’s easier to deal with your therapy and focus on your studies, you didn’t want your parents to worry about you so you asked for professional help but it seems like after four years of therapy nothing seem to change for the better. You still can’t sleep but most importantly you can’t forget what happened on the day of the accident. You changed majors mid-year to pursue your dream four years ago and become a journalist even if it’s not clear what the future will hold, you wanted to do this for you and for her.

She applied to the same University to fulfil your dreams together, you remember how excited you felt when she told you she applied to the same places as you, but instead of that, life decided that only you could live through that and you use both of your dreams since you were kids to feel closer to her.

”It’s been five years Y/N, you can’t stay inside your room forever. You know I love you and I don’t try to pressure you I just want what’s best for you. I really think that you can talk Yoongi out of this and both of you need some good changes in your lives.” Considering silently his words you slip the pen between your teeth as you contemplate your options. Having another person here wouldn’t hurt right? Maybe Namjoon is right, after all, he’s going to be a doctor soon and you know he wants you to be happy. Things might not work out in the end but there’s a possibility that things could work out, you have your doubts but you have faith in Namjoon’s intuition. If he thinks it could be a great opportunity for the both of you, you’re going to believe him.

”Ok. I’ll talk to him.”

”Good, I’ll leave around one so I could be there in two. Can you get ready within an hour? I don’t know how presentable you are since you’re always inside your bat cave.” Your palm begins to sweat as you place the pen down onto the table, eyes widening for a fraction of moments when you realise he wants you to talk to him now. You’re definitely not ready to face the world right this instant.

”Wait, can’t it wait till tomorrow when I get ready mentally, you can’t just dump this on me what if my seizures comes back when I leave?” You start panicking feeling your heartbeat inside your stomach.

”Hey, it’s alright Y/N take a deep breath, listen to me,” You nod silently and even though he can’t see you he hears the pattern of your breathing slow down gradually and he takes it as a cue to continue.

”You didn’t walk out of your house for five years you won’t be ready tomorrow or after tomorrow or the day after that. You have to do it sometime but I know you and you’ll keep saying to wait till tomorrow. I hate to phrase it like that but please save Yoongi, he’s too young to die and I know you will regret it if you don’t try to talk him out of it.” You bite on your lips and choose this moment to close your eyes and take a deep breath to keep your emotions from overwhelming you. He’s right. You will never be ready.

”Right. She would want me to help him, right?” You hide behind the humourless chuckle to lighten up the mood and Namjoon sees right through you but plays along, he always knows what to do to make you feel better and you’re thankful. Even if you can’t change the hybrid’s mind you could at least say you tried hard to do so.

You scrubbed your body under the shower for forty minutes with your favourite minty scented body wash and combed your hair ten times before you went to stand in front of your wardrobe choosing the most comfortable clothes you own so you could gather all the courage you need from your favourite comforting things, you tell yourself that one step at a time you don’t have to recover today, you just have to make the first step towards a better tomorrow. Your little pep talk works as you’re able to open the door with a smile.

It’s motivational to know you could be someone’s tomorrow and that’s what fuels you to step outside and sit beside Namjoon inside his car, you can’t remember when was the last time you saw this rundown KIA he inherited from his father but it looks like nothing’s changed. Inside the compartment, he still has your favourite candy stocked just for you even though you haven’t been inside his car for five years. He truly is your good friend.

You unwrap one strawberry flavoured candy for old times sake and pop one inside his mouth as well the familiar scent of Namjoon that envelops the place calms you down until the shelter comes into view.

He guides you smoothy between corridors considering he knows this place like the back of his hand and soon a door that’s identical to every door inside this facility that can be said about most things here you assess that this place is depressive as hell. Namjoon knocks on the door three times but he doesn’t get any reply so he motions for you to stand back a little while he creaks open the door to look inside.

Yoongi is laying on his bed face turned to the wall as usually even when Namjoon calls out to him he doesn’t even stir on the bed the only indication that he’s not asleep is his ears twitching every time Namjoon tells him something giving away that he’s listening. With his heightened senses, he smells someone else besides the caretaker but doesn’t bother to turn around. You peek into the room looking over your friend’s broad shoulders that’s when it hits Yoongi’s senses, an anxious smell that doesn’t belong to Namjoon. When Namjoon is around he mostly smells worried but it’s different, this scent smells feminine he realises.

A very anxious one at that. Yoongi turns around this time looking at you with an expression that doesn’t reveal anything, he doesn’t look angry like you thought he just looks emotionless as he fixates his sharp gaze on you and you hide behind Namjoon’s frame shying away from his intimidating look.

”Who is that?”

Namjoon is taken aback that Yoongi cared to ask about his friend and he steps aside so he can take in your features, he’s hopeful that this can work. He’s interested at least that a good start.

”She’s my friend Y/N.” Your friend replies casually and beckons you to step inside the room that you cautiously do. ”The one I talked to you about.” Yoongi’s eyebrows raise at the declaration and he decides to take a closer look, he doesn’t really have anything better to do between these four walls so even if he looks uninterested he always listens to Namjoon’s little stories about his childhood and nowadays he talked a lot about a friend who has been through a lot. At first, Yoongi thought that he’s just trying to gain his trust by telling a sad story he would sympathise with but maybe those stories weren’t fabricated after all.

You looked like someone who has been through a lot he can see it in your body language and your smell is a strong giveaway. Namjoon told him that you haven’t left your room for years, Yoongi tilts his head to the side tail slowly swishing behind his back as he regards you. Why are you here? But then he looks at Namjoon and he could only think there’s one motive that you’re here and he doesn’t like it.

”No.” His voice is deadly serious laced with suppressed anger and you flinch away from the tone he uses, Yoongi’s eyes immediately turn back to look at your form due to the rigid motion he caught. He wants to tell you he’s not going to hurt you but he feels so angry that despite him saying no to Namjoon he still tries to meddle with his business. Why can’t he die as he pleases? There’s nothing left for him here and he can’t live through one more return he doesn’t want to go through that ever again.

”Leave.” He lays down again closing his eyes.

So you leave with Namjoon walking behind you wearing a devastated expression as he sulks behind your back, he really thought that this could work. You stop suddenly as you two reach the entrance that makes him almost collide with you in the process before he raises a brow at you when you turn around absurdly.

”I’ll come back tomorrow so don’t worry too much.” You smile up at him and he can’t even form a reply to that. He’s surprised that you still want to pursue this even though Yoongi clearly intimidated you earlier.

He wants to ask why but he decides to show you his gratitude instead and offers to pick you up every day so you could visit Yoongi until he gives in. Namjoon parts from you with a tight hug and you collapse onto your bed as exhaustion takes over your body. Going out today drained most of your energy.

You wake up feeling tired but you start getting ready anyway as you have a promise to fulfil and Namjoon is already on his way to pick you up so you opt for a quick shower, the two of you decided yesterday that you’ll stay with Yoongi until he finishes his work and after that, he’ll drive you back home until the next day, you don’t think it’s easier to leave even though you did leave yesterday.

You’re afraid that Yoongi won’t let you stay inside his room and tell you to leave, you don’t know what will you do if he really tells you to get out but you try to think positively and hope for the best-case scenario to play out.

It’s the same routine every day, you wake up brush your teeth change into new clothes and wait till Namjoon arrives to pick you up. He always greets you with a cup of coffee and the car rides became one of your favourite moments of the day. The hybrid didn’t tell you to get out but in exchange, he regarded you like you’re not even there, at first it was awkward but you learned to handle it and even find comfort in the silence.

”Good morning Yoongi.” You greet him as usual, your smile grows when you see his ears twitch but nothing besides that greets you. You sit down on the chair that you occupy for these past few weeks and even though he doesn’t even greet you back, you feel closer to him, at least lets you sit near him for a few hours every day and he listens to everything you say although he tries hard to seem indifferent.

You feel a little off today but you didn’t want to skip your routine you’re afraid Yoongi might think you abandoned him even though you never told him verbally that you’ll always show up the next day but that’s exactly what you did for a month now and you can see subtle changes. For example, one day when you were a little late because Namjoon got a flat tire instead of his usual position when he faces the wall he had his eyes fixed on the door when you entered and he seemed relieved that you showed up.

Nothing unusual happened after that though, he still didn’t greet you or spoke to you but you like to think he started to warm up to your presence. He sensed something different in your scent today and your voice sounded a little sore. You tried hard to conceal your sneezes and coughs but you can’t fool him.

Sitting nose deep in your book you don’t catch his gaze looking you over, it would have been wise to drink some warm tea before you left - the thought forms inside your head - when a shiver runs down your spine.

”Leave.” Out of all the things he could have said to you it had to be this. You lower your book to see he already has his eyes on you and he immediately recognises you pouting because of his words, you don’t say anything but doesn’t move to leave either.

You thought that things are going somewhere but maybe you just want to believe that.

”You’re sick so you should leave.” Yoongi sighs your mood dropped significantly since he opened his mouth and he started to regret his words so he tried to tell you differently.

To be honest he thought that you’ll eventually get tired of him not responding and someday your visits will come to a stop but you show up every day and he realised it recently that he doesn’t want your visits to end. He doesn’t want to give in because he’s afraid of another potential rejection but he started to feel fond of you. Will you leave him like the rest? He thinks about this every day.

”I’m fine.”

Turning to another page you try to stop your body from shaking a silent sigh slips from your lips and you decide to let your guards down and speak what’s inside your mind even though you tried to appear in front of the hybrid as someone strong, maybe it’s because you feel ill or he caught you in a vulnerable state of mind but out of all the days, since Lily passed, you miss your dog the most today.

After you started visiting Yoongi a space inside your heart filled out again suddenly and leaving the empty apartment got easy once you thought about that no one is there to welcome you back home.

It became a house you live in but far from a real home, in some extent, you think you can understand Yoongi’s feelings he never had a taste of home either; and a sudden urge to build a home together sounds very nice.

”I would rather stay here, no one waits for me anyway.” Chuckling but the tone of your voice betrays you.

You tell him not sparing him a glance afraid to look him in the eye but your statement is firm and full of meaning as if it’s you leaving is out of the question and a weird feeling begins to bloom inside the hybrid’s chest hearing you say such things, a foreign but nice feeling that warms him up from the inside.

No one ever cared for him truly all they ever did was give him food and the necessities to live, shelter basic needs without emotional attachment, no one considered his feelings for one second and seeing a stranger show him such kindness is starting to mess with his head, doesn’t know how to react other than pushing the attempts and these feelings away. It’s the first time someone tells him that his existence is welcomed, that someone would rather sit on an uncomfortable chair in silence inside a shelter facility than stay at home. Just for the sake to keep him company.

”I don’t want you to be lonely anymore because I know what it feels like.” You continue after a few silent moments, letting both of you think for a while, waiting until you could find the courage to find his visage and look him in the eye.

”Sorry.” You chuckle again it’s a useless defence mechanism on your part as you can’t fool anyone even you could see how fake it sounds every time, you regard his silence as his rejection and it fills you with sadness.

”What are you saying sorry for?” Hearing him speak using his sharply edged baritone tone makes your eyes to open in their own accord; the hybrid always chooses his words wisely and doesn’t bother with replying no matter who is the one asking it’s his clear message that he doesn’t like humans and talking to them is a waste of breath.

”For bothering you.”

You look at him now, wanting to see his expression you need to know if he looks annoyed or neutral like always but today his eyes look vulnerable revealing a fraction of the deeply rooted pain that he so carefully closed inside pandora's box and hid the key.

He doesn’t like the fact that for you maybe he would search for that key to give it to you.

Yoongi promised himself after his eighteenth birthday that he’ll never blindly trust a human again, and he kept his promise for nine long years living in isolation rejecting any form of contact with anyone but today his mind seems like it functions on autopilot as he rises from his position on the bed in favour to stand before Y/N’s form sitting on that plastic chair.

He thinks it’s been like two hours that she knocked on his door like always, politely waiting for a reply no matter if it would be a come in or a get lost, she always waits before entering and when no one responds taking it as a yes, and the silence of an unsaid no really turned into a silent yes over the past few weeks.

She occupies herself with her book like she usually does after she enters, knowing that sitting in silence could be boring so she reads for some time; between breaks, she tells him about her day or complain about her classes, sometimes more cheerful than other times, hearing her speak almost every day except on the weekends when visits are not allowed he learnt to read her mood easily he picks up little details and the smallest changes in her scent. Y/N is unaware that Yoongi pays much more attention to her than she thinks, she doesn’t know that after she starts reading Yoongi turns his head to watch you until you look up only seeing him with his eyes closed. It surprised you the first few times when you saw him turned in your direction and not facing the wall as he does when you normally enter his room but you can’t say you didn’t like it. You don’t know that he keeps a close eye on you but he knows you watch him sleep a little longer every day, he feels your eyes on him as he pretends to be asleep.

There was an incident on your second week visiting him, you saw that his thin comforter slid down exposing his shoulders and you walked closer pulling the material up to rest on him fully afraid that he’ll catch a cold because his room always felt cold, it was a fleeting thought but you touched his hair unthinkingly moving to pat his head.

However, feeling your fingers on his head alerted him, feline eyes glowing a dangerous yellow as he perceived your touch to be hostile. No one dared to touch him and even before no one really touched him so he didn’t know the concept of petting meant as an affectionate gesture and he instinctively grabbed your hand; where he held you in his iron grip deep purple bruises formed on your wrist, it felt like he crashed your bones together and tears immediately formed behind your eyes.

Fortunately, Namjoon was on his way to fetch you so he could take you home leaving a bit earlier than normal because he had an essay to finish so he asked his superiors to leave sooner; found you in that situation before it could escalate further and yanked your arm away from the hybrid looking at you worriedly.

Namjoon was so angry that you were afraid he’ll try to grab him by the collar so you pulled him out of the room before the situation could have been worse and told him what happened, that it was your fault for startling him.

He wasn’t pleased at all but let the matters go as you persuaded him to let you keep visiting him. You promised to never go near him and Namjoon nodded he knew there’s nothing he could tell you to change your mind.

Yoongi can sense the change in your scent, your heart rate picked up as he stood close to you; it’s the closest you have ever been after that incident and you’re worried that you angered him with what you have said.

The hybrid scratched his neck showing a form of nervousness as he sees you cower under his presence he’s hesitant as he finally moves to hold your wrist gently between his long fingers raising your arm to plant a small peck to the inside of your wrist, he didn’t break your arm but it was severely bruised and faintly greenish colourations are still present there. You shivered because of the sensation your eyes widened witnessing the scene before your very eyes, not out of fear but Yoongi’s ears immediately twitched curling downwards guiltily, looking at you like a kicked puppy, there were different emotions, all of them displayed clearly inside his orbs: regret, guilt, fondness?

”Does it hurt?” His tone lacks the sharp edge, afraid to make you fear him so he almost whispers the words into your skin his hand curls around your elbow to support your arm; licking the bruises as a form of apology letting his animal DNA make the first step as his human mind can’t come up with a way to seek your forgiveness and you start furiously blushing as his weirdly textured tongue glides over your skin.

”O-oh not really it’s f-fine.” You stutter in embarrassment trying to reassure him. ”It was my fault anyway..” The excuse leaves your lips hastily, your brain turning completely blank as you’re having a hard time processing all of this. He delivers two more kitten lick on the inside of your wrist before pushing the palm of your hand to his cheek. Without realising it you cup his cheeks with both hands looking at him with a worried expression plastered on your face as you feel his temperature; his skin is so fricking cold.

”You’re so cold. Are you alright?” You ask eyes wide in worry and the hybrid can’t keep the eye contact anymore, he feels shame wash over him, you’re concerned for him even though he hurt you, if Namjoon didn’t come in time he would have probably fractured your bone. You seem too good to be true, humans don’t care about him, so why do you? Are you going to leave him if he starts to trust you? You keep showing him kindness and he’s desperately trying to find a fault in you, anything so he could hate you. So you can’t break his heart. A single tear slides down his cheek and you wipe it away with your thumb, it’s been so long since he cried it comes out unexpectedly and without considering the consequences you pull the hybrid in for a hug.

He goes limp in your arms but doesn’t protest to let him free; instead, he buries his face into the crook of your neck and lets the hot tears slide down his cheeks dampening the clothes you’re wearing.

He’s fragile in your arms even if he could crush you if he really wanted to he’s stronger than you as you experienced his sheer strength before there’s no doubt he could break you, but under his exterior, he’s afraid you’ll be the one to break him.

”It’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you I promise.” You whisper the words; answering to his silent plea, afraid that if you talk louder somehow the moment will end so you keep him close and let him get rid of all the bottled up emotion he suppressed over the years. It’s silent again, wrapped up around each other you ignore the pain in your muscles as you hold his much larger form in an uncomfortable position feeling his weight on you. His sobs subdue after a while, Yoongi is truly enveloped in your scent as your neck is the body part where your scent is the strongest, you’re warm too.

The hybrid reluctant to pull away from your warmth but you cup his cheeks again using your thumbs on both sides to wipe his tears a smile that’s genuine in nature blinds him as he observes the unshed tears in your eyes; you’re crying for him. Yoongi cradles your face in his hand's nose touching as he pulls your foreheads to rest against each other’s his breath fans over your lips.

Namjoon knocks on the door unaware of the events that take place on the other side of the door and turns the doorknob a second after making you and Yoongi separate. He saw you a little groggy this morning so he decided to check up on you bring you some warm tea to help your sore throat.

The hybrid uses inhuman speed to crawl under the quilt - before the door could fully open - facing the walls so he can’t see his tear-stained face; he doesn’t want Namjoon to see his emotions on his face so rawly exposed, he’s embarrassed that you witnessed him in such a vulnerable state, he’s usually not this emotional.

Y/N quickly blinks away the tears and smiles when he sees Namjoon with a cup of tea in his hands, thanking him before taking a long sip.

”Are you feeling alright? I know you said you don’t want to skip a day but I think you should at least leave earlier.” You appreciate his concern for your well being but you have to decline his offer, you’re feeling better already and you’re not even that sick. You’ll be totally fine and there’s no way in hell you’ll let an opportunity like this slide when finally you’re making some progress with Yoongi. He opened up to you a little and you’re afraid he’ll act cold the next day you visit so you want to parlay this opportunity as much as possible.

Yoongi is awkward when giving affection or receiving it; not used to do all these things at all he only watched these kinds of affections when he was around other hybrids in the centre. They are forced to attend the playroom where visitors would pick out hybrids to adopt but he hasn’t been inside the playroom for at least the last five years when the shelter labelled him to be a lost cause.

Namjoon leaves after a short conversation with Y/N taking a few glances in Yoongi’s direction but he doesn’t find anything to be out of the ordinary; he thinks the hybrid is still distant with her unaware of the progress they made.

The man looks at Y/N before leaving, contemplating to tell her the news now where Yoongi could hear him or talk to her in private; he saw inside the lounge room where the workers usually mix, on the office board, there was a post-it note that contained that Yoongi’s euthanization date is set.

***

”What?” Looking Namjoon in the eye your grip on the mug tightens, the coffee shop is busy, however, not even the number of people that you’re surrounded by can make your anxiety grow as much as hearing those words leaving your friend’s mouth. The liquid burns your tongue as you take a distracted sip, not even the taste of coffee could slow down the thumping of your heart.

Spring is near the corner; you can feel it in the temperature rising and seeing nature rebuilt itself, sprig normally has the atmosphere of new beginnings but this time it feels like more something is about to end as the date that Yoongi reaches his tenth year of being unadopted rapidly approaching, your mood darkens with it. It’s been two months that you started visiting him and progress was hardly made.

For the first time, you really were hopeful that Yoongi might accept you but instead, he refused to see you.

”Excuse me, why is the door locked?” Catching a worker walking back to the staff room you grabbed her sleeve out of breath as you tried to stop the woman before entering, hair pulled up to form a messy bun your appearance looked dishevelled, running from the far end to the staff room, you tell the woman the room number when she asks what room are you talking about and she instantly recognises the hybrid that’s resided in there, she looks at you wearing a sad expression suddenly unsure how to explain the situation to you.

You knocked on the door several times and tried to call Yoongi’s name over and over again, but you never got an answer from the other side that wouldn’t alarm you but the door didn’t open when you tried to enter; that was unusual. Namjoon would have told you if he suddenly got relocated, right? Maybe something happened to him? These thoughts filled your mind, afraid that Yoongi got hurt or taken away.

”Ah, that hybrid. He’ll be euthanized. It’s the protocol that we separate him from the others, he’s at the west wing now but no one can visit him I’m afraid.” She sends you a small smile as a form of sombre apology, pulling her hand out of your hold. Bestowing a pitying look to your direction since everyone in the facility knew that a girl came every day to try to convince the hybrid to accept another adoption trying to appeal to his good side but the employees knew he’s not going to cooperate, you’re not the first one to try but definitely the last they whispered things like that behind your back.

”Why no one can visit him? It’s in the protocol as well?”

You’re so confused. Namjoon told you about the set date but you didn’t think things will go this fast, you took a taxi because the way both of you parted bugged you all night so decided to see him despite the ban on visitors on the weekends, Namjoon is not even aware of your visit. It’s supposed to be in two weeks so why is he separated from the other hybrids without allowing visitors? He still has time.

”He asked not to be disturbed. I’m sorry but I have to go, don’t be discouraged there are a lot of hybrids here that you can choose from miss.”

But you don’t want anyone else, although no matter how hard you tried to ask the workers where he is exactly they told you he asked not to have visitors. They didn’t allow you to see him even if you just wanted to see him for at least one last time.

They said he doesn’t want to see anyone.

”I’ll help you see him.” Namjoon repeated his words, that mysterious gleam appeared in his eyes sipping his lemon tea looking at you mischievously like he knew something you didn’t. No one paid that close attention to Yoongi’s habits than him so Namjoon recognised as he appeared different after that day you parted with a weird note he knew he was up to something, Namjoon knew that Y/N became important to him in some way, so afraid of his own feelings that he decided to speed up the process.

He didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he began to hope again in small ways like hoping that she comes early or stays a bit longer, he had all these weird and unsaid thoughts about you that he didn’t want to face.

When you called Namjoon this morning while crying telling him that Yoongi doesn’t want to see you anymore, he wasn’t too surprised there was something in Yoongi’s eyes when he closed the door behind them, he looked sad.

The only emotions he showed for the past nine years were strictly anger or nothing at all, Namjoon knew something happened between the two of you because when he opened the door to bring you some tea he saw your tears.

After he talked with you on the phone he called the shelter and learned that Yoongi attacked one of the male workers that night who brought him food scratching the guy’s face without making any serious damage. Knowing it fully well that hybrids who act violently towards the workers automatically gets separated from the others and he was already on the notice board for euthanization so the superiours thought that it was his attempts of breaking free to avoid his fate not taking it into consideration that the damage was hardly made as his nails missed every vital part of the employee’s face.

They not only labelled him as a lost cause but now they deemed he’s dangerous too. Namjoon told you what he heard from his colleagues and you told him about when Yoongi apologised for hurting you.

Hearing that now Namjoon was one hundred percent sure he’s in denial and tries to end his own life can’t accept the fact that someone has pure intentions and afraid to be disappointed in you.

The continuous givebacks and adoptions messed with his mental health, he was unable to show affection and has low self-esteem and a distorted self-image. He experienced these traumas when his personality was developing and he grew up as an adult who couldn’t deal with his emotions because he wasn’t able to connect with anyone properly and lost the meaning in life when he was still too young. Various doctors, psychiatrists tried to help him - all of them hired by the shelter - hoping that after his mental health tilts in a healthy direction through therapy he’ll be safe to put up to adoptions again but he remained silent throughout all the sessions making no progress in the end.

His experiences with humans made a huge impact on how he views them or the world and it seemed it’s too late as he will not accept the same helping hands who have put him into this situation, to begin with.

Yoongi found it cruel that after what they have done to him he was the one marked as an unstable person who needs help from the same kind that made him be one with scars all over his heart.

They have persuaded him by their actions that something’s wrong with him, healthy people don’t need therapy, he was abandoned numerous times before, indicating that he’s not wanted in their life since he’s someone easily replaceable.

When he was young, he thought that he was the one that made mistakes that he did something wrong that’s why he’s not able to stay for too long so he tried harder and harder but he was eventually placed back under the shelter’s care system. A hybrid’s purpose in life is to integrate into a family and make them happy protect them and meet their needs, that’s what they are thaught.

He thought he cannot provide either of those that he’s a failure and his purpose in life was lost.

Yoongi remembers your words like it were yesterday, it wasn’t a recent conversation but he couldn’t stop thinking about the things you said his memory is so vivid that he could easily picture you saying the same sentences like you’re inside his new room as he’s sitting on the floor staring at the blank walls of his room that look’s exactly the same as his previous one just a little bit darker as he doesn’t have a window now and the only light is provided by a lamp on the nightstand. It was a rainy day and he remembers he could smell the rain mixing in with your natural scent.

After a while, he stopped sensing your anxiousness and it got replaced with something positive you emitted warmth. He could almost feel your happiness. He wasn’t sure why your scent changed so drastically so he asked why you’re being so happy lately. You looked at him shocked that he even knew that piece of information when he was still facing the wall and he told you that he can pick up your emotions through scents because his nose is sensitive to smells, different emotions have slightly different scents. It was the longest sentence he ever spoke to you.

When you didn’t answer right off the bat he turned around to inspect the reason for your silence and saw you smiling looking directly at him with your bright grin. You pulled the plastic chair to the centre of the room and sat down.

”Nowadays I find myself in a good mood I think it’s because I come to see you every day. It feels nice to know someone out there is waiting for me, even though I know you don’t want me to be here. It might sound weird but it’s nice to know there’s someone that would notice if I don’t show up and wonder where I am. Is it weird? I don’t remember when was the last time I slept through the night without having nightmares. I lost my best friend because of a car accident she was an orphan so no one really cared about her beside me, she didn’t have a family. A drunk driver hit her when she was crossing the road and I saw it, she said to wait a minute because she left something in her car so I stood at the sidelines while she crossed the road and saw the accident.”

”I don’t think I ever talked about her after she passed to anyone, you know, she was really smart I met her in high school and we became the bestest friends we even applied to the same University wore matching bracelets. Her mother passed away after she gave birth and her father died fighting in war not knowing that his wife was pregnant with his child. I was her only family.”

”I have Namjoon and I have my parents but still I’m feeling really lonely when I’m alone in my apartment. I know you’re lonely too and maybe I came for the first few times because I felt sorry for you Namjoon said that you’re going to die but I kept coming because sitting here with you feels right it comforts me that I know if I come here you’ll be here. I don’t know if you ever had a place that you considered as your home, but to me, home is not a place but a feeling and you make me feel like I’m at home. I know you’re here so I come to see you and that makes me feel good that’s what I associate with the word home.”

”I like to watch your ears twitch when I’m talking to you it means that you’re really listening to me. There was one time that I kept complaining about how uncomfortable this chair is and the next time I came you placed your pillow on it. I don’t know why but even though you go all out to give the impression you don’t like me by trying to shut me out of your life you made me like you more. I associate home to everything you do or say, you’re far from perfect I know you feel broken but it doesn’t mean broken things cannot be fixed or loved because it doesn’t appear to be perfect. Because no one is.”

”There’s really nothing wrong with you Yoongi.”

”What about you? Won’t you get fired if we get caught?” You want to see Yoongi but Namjoon’s job is on the line so you’re filled with uncertainty, he has to steal the key to Yoongi’s room and if you two get caught he’ll be fired for sure.

”It will be worth it if it means I get to save a life at the end of the day. Yoongi is stupid if he thinks we’re going to give up on him that easily I’m going to nag him on the last day and ask him again when he’s laying on his death bed if I have to.”

So the two of you form a plan.

***

A shiver runs down his spine, weak fingers gripping the thin blanket to seek some kind of warmth but to no avail. He knows this coldness comes from the high fever he developed a few days ago, his hair is damp with sweat restless as he tries to find a good position on the mattress.

It’s hard to decide between the changing state of dream and awake, what’s real and what isn’t. The staff delivers his meals around noon but he lost all sense of time inside the room he got assigned to after scratching that guy’s face.

It wasn’t the fever or the lack of light that makes him miserable. He was sick before so Yoongi knows that he only has to endure it and it will pass, no one was ever there to help him. It angers him that the only thing he can think about is you in this situation, he needs no one to take care of him so why he wants to have you here with him so badly now?

The helpers probably told you already that he attacked a person. You probably find him disgusting now, it didn’t matter that he couldn’t have visitors no one was there to visit him anymore. Yoongi found a pill on his tray, he left the food there untouched only gulped down the glass of water but he didn’t take the pill. He’s just a waste of resources someone out there probably needs this pill more than he does so he doesn’t take it.

The hybrid sometimes hears your voice in his head, telling him sweet lies in his fever dream state, he leans into your touch when you place your palm on his forehead mindful of his ears while you card your fingers through his sweat drenched hair.

The caress of your warm touch soothes him it’s easy to fall back into the familiar unconscious fettle with your melodies voice telling him to rest, soon his eyelids close on their own accord heavy with sleep.

Once you see him in deep slumber you motion for Namjoon to leave the rest to you, changing your position you sit down on the bed manoeuvring the sleeping hybrid’s body to rest his head on your lap, subconsciously recognising your scent in the air his body automatically curls around your form so you can stroke his hair gently while you wait for him to open his eyes again.

Yoongi murmurs something in his sleep but you can’t understand his mumbling, the words are lost against your thighs as he buries his face into your skin. His hand paws at your jeans and normally you would find it adorable a fond look appears on your face as you run your hands through his mismatched hair, wiping the sweat off his forehead you’re worried about how sick he looks, gnawing at your lower lip the only thing you can do is be by his side while he fights with his sickness.

Namjoon comes back after an hour to check up on you two, measuring his temperature with a device and gives you a warm cup of tea, he made some for Yoongi too and gave you a different pill that he can take once he finally wakes up. It takes a while before his temperate can regulate itself, naturally cooling him down his immune system recovers quicker than a human’s.

His head is tucked under your chin, hands delicately holding him against your body limbs intertwined under the blanket. Yoongi feels warm all over, sore and groggy from sleep he opens his eyes slowly, feline features softenings once he realises the extra weight.

You fell asleep after a while changing positions again so you can lay down next to him, the hybrid snakes his hands around your torso protectively nosing along your neckline, he’s still under the impression you’re just an illusion because he’s sick and all he wants is for you to stay with him until everything passes. The thought never crosses his mind that you’re really there in the flesh, holding him like he’s someone precious to you.

Your scent fills the void inside his chest, he feels a lot better now that he got to rest between your arms, your body moulds to his perfectly and he could imagine waking up next to you for the rest of his life. Yoongi starts to have second thoughts about his decision to leave this world behind.

He never scented a human before, he wasn’t allowed but with you, it was easy for him to get carried away, his animal side wanted to make sure you’re his human from now on. Careful not to scratch your face with his long nails as he moved a lock of hair behind your ears, Yoongi looked at your beautiful face and how it filled his chest with blooming flowers that you found a home inside his arms. The word home never ringed truer.

He closed his eyes again, nuzzling his nose to yours trying to calm his beating heart when you sighed in contentment, his tail curled around your upper arm securing his hold on you.

When he woke up again you were not there beside him, it’s a possibility he already knew was coming as reality crashing down on him after the end of his fever dreams about you but it leaves him disappointed to feel the cold sheets where your warm body should be instead. He was the one who pushed you away and now when his time comes to a sad end, he deeply regrets his choice, even you thought now that he’s a lost cause, he should have worked harder, take you up on your offer and get adopted one last time.

A single tear slid down his face, curling into himself on the sheets Yoongi lets his emotions break free for once, he’s sick and pathetic but he doesn’t care right now his eyes don’t register the fresh food and tea with the new pill on his tray because things will end soon anyway.

You left Yoongi’s side reluctantly but Namjoon said it’s urgent so you carefully unwrapped your tangled limbs and stood up. Namjoon was there by the time you opened the door to the main office, a man stood before the circular table his face had scratches on them not deep cuts but they were visible. The man with the scar barely held eye contact before he looked down to the ground.

The man behind the desk introduced himself as Seokjin, the chief caretaker of the shelter, you were a little confused about the situation but obediently sat down when Seokjin asked, motioning to take the seat next to your friend.

Namjoon told his boss about the process you made with Yoongi and even encouraged the man to take a look at the CCTV footage of the day when he attacked the employee and it turned out, Yoongi only got aggressive when the man pulled his ears, it’s a sensitive part for a hybrid no wonder he felt threatened in that type of situation.

Seokjin placed papers in front of you, looking down your eyes grew bigger than ever rereading the letters on the front page that says ’application for hybrid adoption’. You turned to your left side to ask Namjoon if this is real and the biggest smile spread across his face nodding encouragingly to fill out the form. ”It’s an emergency form so we don’t need to consider the hybrid’s consent when there’s a life threatening danger it’s up to the owner to decide. We normally use this when there’s a stray who needs immediate medical attention but we deemed that Yoongi’s case is a different kind of emergency.”

Your hand shook with unsuppressed excitement as you finalized the documents with your signature it feels like a weight rolled off your shoulders now that you don’t have to count the days because Yoongi is not going anywhere.

You sigh in relief that you can still spend some time with him, it was hard to be separated from him this past week and the thought that you couldn’t even say goodbye terrified you. This document stays valid legally for another two years but after that, you need to fill out a permanent form to become his established home provider.

You can work with two more years, you promise to both Seokjin and Namjoon that you’ll make his remaining life a wonderful experience that he never once will entertain the thought of choosing the easy path again. You will call your therapist and fix your life so you can provide the life he deserves.

Both you and Yoongi need help to get better and after meeting him you genuinely want to change the way you live your life, not just for him but for yourself too. Yoongi has to stay for a week before you can take him home, you nod your head knowing already how the protocol works.

The rule was set after a lot of hybrid’s got returned by their owners, the time serves to make sure it’s not a rushed decision on their part because hybrids can develop emotional attachment easily, that’s part of their DNA to be family friendly and tamable.

You take in a deep calming breath before you turn the doorknob in your hand that leads to Yoongi’s temporary room. He faces the wall looking so small in his curled up position you approach him slowly, you don’t want to startle him because you know how skittish he can be sometimes.

You hear subdued sobbing coming from him indicating that he’s crying, the sound gets slightly louder as you come closer and your hand forms a fist on your sides, the sight makes you sad.

”Yoongi. Don’t cry, I’m here now.” Your voice wavers as you whisper the words, it takes a few more call of his name that he realises you’re there.

His body jolts up from the bed caging you between his arms pulling you against him with a force that knocks the air out of your lungs.

You hold each other close, comforting him while he cries into your shoulder you run your hands over his back soothingly. ”It’s ok, I’m here. I’ll never leave you again.”

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mizunetzu · 3 years

Text

Hey! So, I decided to re-write the one female fic on my blog with male pronouns. The reason I had a female fic up in the first place was because I had a mutual who wanted to do a writing trade, but she never held her end of the deal, nor contacted me once the fic was done to my knowledge. She requested this Akaashi fic, so I hope more of you could enjoy it now that it has been male-readerfied. Happy reading!

-Mr. Mizunetzu

P.s. - the old writing makes me cringe.

——————

Akaashi x reader - Where Are You Going? (Male-readerfied)

⚠️Warnings - cringey old writing, Bokuto never saying “Akaashi” right

Pronouns - male, he/him

——————

“Hey hey hey-Where you going, Akaagjnshi?”

The black haired boy froze in his tracks. Bokuto tilted his head slightly to the side, holding a volleyball he was about to spike. Akaashi gripped his volleyball bag tighter.

“...I’m going home. My mom needs me to help with dinner.”

It was such a weak, foolish excuse, Akaashi told himself. But knowing Bokuto, it would suffice.

Bokuto’s smiled quickly returned to his face. “Ah! You should’ve just said so! Tell your mom I said hi!”

“I will,” Akaashi said, dipping out of the gym quietly. Bokuto paid no attention to the small blush Akaashi was harboring, along with the few beads of sweat running down his temple.

————

“You’re gonna be late today, Aakkaggshi?”

“Yes, I...my teacher wanted to review a lesson I didn’t really understand. I can come to practice a bit late though.”

Another dumb excuse. But Bokuto’s stupidly wide grin assured him it worked everytime. Some part of Akaashi felt bad for lying to Bokuto, but the guilt eventually got buried and lost in all of the ‘I’m helping my mother with dinner’ and ‘I have to leave early to study’ excuses.

“All right! But y’know...I can come with you if you want-“

“NO!”

Bokuto stared at Akaashi with a blank face. Akaashi cleared his throat.

I-I mean, you’ll probably just get bored—and it’s gonna be quick, no need, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto blinked. Akaashi almost never got flustered or embarrassed. Was he...hiding something?

Eh, probably not.

“O...kay, I’ll see you later dude...?” Bokuto punched Akaashi lightly on the shoulder before leaving. Akaashi sighed heavily, before walking in the opposite direction of the classrooms, into the second gym.

Weird, Bokuto thought. That’s the boy’s basketball gym.

“I wonder why his teacher wants to meet him there...”

—————

“I’m leaving early, Bokuto-san.”

“Ah-is it you’re mom again? You must be a really good cook or something, if she always wants you to make dinner.”

“Yeah. I’m going now, goodbye.”

“Bye, Ajdjsfjdksjfdjkahshi!”

Bokuto waved absentmindedly at Akaashi, who bowed curtly. It’s been happening every other day, so he kind of got used to him leaving early or showing up a few minutes late.

“Oi Bokuto-don’t you think it’s weird that Akaashi-kun’s always leaving practice early?” Sarukui butted in, watching Akaashi as he hunched over, practically tip-toeing out the door.

“Yeah-why does he get to cut practice but we have to stay the whole time?” Konoha joined in, resting a hand on Bokuto’s shoulder. Bokuto brought a finger to his chin.

“Well-“ Bokuto gestured towards the door. “His mom is always telling him to come home.”

“Why?”

“To make dinner!”

Sarukui and Konoha stared at their captain like a child saying “two plus two is five.”

“You can’t be fucking serious, Bokuto.”

“I am!” Bokuto whined.

“What...what about the times he shows up to practice late?”

“That’s easy!” Bokuto clasped his hands together, eager to have another question he knew the answer to. “He says his teacher wants him to stay behind to teach him stuff he didn’t understand.”

“Bokuto...” Konoha deadpanned. “Akaashi’s in class six-he’s a straight A student.”

Bokuto furrowed his eyebrows. “Well, I-I haven’t thought about tha-“

“And Akaashi’s mom loves to cook-why would she make him do it?”

“Well...” Bokuto choked out, voice cracking a bit. “I did find it strange that he took his extra classes in the 2nd gym...”

Konoha and Sarukui looked at eachother. “....Isn’t that where the boy‘s basketball practice goes on?”

They all stood in silence for a few beats. Bokuto squinted his eyes and knitted his brows together. He still didn’t know what was going on.

A light went off in Konoha and Sarukui’s heads, gasping lightly. Bokuto tilted his head, confused.

“You don’t think he...” Konoha mused, unable to suppress the mischievous smirk growing on his face.

“Akaashi you sly dog.” Sarukui and Konoha shared a knowing smirk between eachother, while Bokuto scratched his neck awkwardly.

“Uh-“

“Bokuto...captain...buddyyyyy....” Sarukui sang. “Can me and Konoha leave practice early tomorrow? Around when Akaashi does? We’ll let you come with us~”

Ah yes, the power of friendship. How could Bokuto possibly refuse?

——————

“I’m heading home, Bokuto-san.”

“Dinner again?”

“...yes.” Akaashi was slipping his bag over his shoulder when Bokuto suddenly piped up.

“Oh! Can me, Sarukui, and Konoha come t-“

A foot was firmly jabbed into Bokuto’s own, earning a yelp from the grey-haired boy. Akaashi looked at Konoha strangely as Sarukui put a hand around Bokuto’s shoulders.

“Don’t mind Bokuto, dude. Tell your mom we said hi.”

Akaashi blinked, suspicious. “Al...right..” he waved it off as them probably going to do something perverted or stupid while he was gone, and bowed curtly once more. “Goodbye then.”

The two chorused out a farewell as Bokuto whimpered in pain and betrayal. Bokuto grabbed hold of his foot as Konoha and Sarukui’s innocent smiles dropped.

“Tail him.”

“I know, I know. Let’s go Bokuto.” Sarukui grabbed Bokuto by the sleeve of his shirt, dragging him out the gym door while they kept a safe distance from Akaashi.

“So he was going to the basketball gym...sneaky bastard.” Konoha smirked. They watched as Akaashi speedwalked to the entrance of the second gym, dusting off any dirt on his volleyball shirt and fixing his already pretty short hair.

The three ducked behind the wall of the gym, dashing towards it when Akaashi turned his back. “What’s he gonna do-he’s just standing there!”

Sure enough, Akaashi was standing idly a few feet from the door of the gym, seemingly waiting for something or someone. He messed with his fingers and tapped his foot anxiously, even though his face was completely calm and relaxed.

After what seemed like forever, the door of the gym opened ever so slightly, wide enough only for someone to slip though. Akaashi’s face lit up-even though he still held his neutral gaze-and he quickly let go of his own hands, letting them drop to his side. Bokuto and Konoha gasped, while Sarukui face held a knowing, shit-eating grin.

Standing in front of Akaashi was a boy wearing the Fukurodani basketball team jacket, and holding a basketball in his hands. He hazily tossed the ball back into the gym, before enveloping Akaashi into a hug.

Akaashi tentatively wrapped his arms around his torso. It looked like they were saying something to eachother, but Sarukui and Konoha couldn’t make out the words from their distance.

“Who would’ve thought Akaashi was dating someone...I for sure thought he was buying drugs or something...” Sarukui mumbled, eyes glued to the scene infront of them.

“Well-I thought Bokuto for sure would’ve known, right Bo? ...Bokuto?” Konoha turned to where Bokuto was standing, to see that he had disappeared. The two boys went pale.

“Oh no...” Sarukui broke into a cold sweat as he saw their loud was captian strutting towards them.

“Bokuto! You dumbass! Get back here!” Konoha whisper yelled, flailing his arms to try and grab Bokuto’s attention. It was too late. Akaashi and the boy took sight of him. Akaashi looked like a deer in headlights, while the boy looked at Bokuto with a nervous smile.

“Hey hey hey! Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend Akkaggshi!” Akaashi said nothing, instead tightening his hold on his (h/c)-haired boyfriend.

Konoha and Sarukui sighed, and stepped out from their hiding spot. Well, it’s not really a hiding spot if you aren’t hiding from something anymore.

“Who’s the guy, Akaashi?” Kohona said, smirking at the (h/c)-haired man next to Akaashi. He stepped forward.

“I’m (L/n) (Y/n), nice to meet you.” (Y/n) said. Akaashi deflated, embarrassed.

“(Y/n), please-“

“AWWW-you guys are on a first name basis?! How cute~!” Konoha made goo-goo eyes at Akaashi, while Sarukui held up a heart with his fingers. Bokuto slung his arm around Akaashi, making him stumble back slightly while he yelled things like “hey hey hey!” or “my man bro Alasshshshi!”

Akaashi looked eyes with (Y/n), practically pleading for help with his eyes while containing the last embers of his neutral collected gaze. (Y/n) just laughed, and booped him on the nose.

“They seem like nice people-why didn’t you introduce me to your team before?” Akaashi freed himself from Bokuto’s grip.

“...We’re gonna be late, let’s go-“ Akaashi linked arms with (Y/n) and tried to usher him away.

(Y/n) planted his feet firm and smirked.

“Noooo...I wanna meet your friends, Keiji-chan~”

“OOHHH HE CALLED HIM KEIJI-CHAN KONOHA THEIR PRACTICALLY MARRIED NOW-“

“Shut up, please” Akaashi begged. He pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling sharply. “(Y/n), that’s Sarukui-san, that’s Konoha-san, and that’s Bokuto-san.” Akaashi gestured to each of the boys standing around them.

“Now that you all are well acquainted, please, can we get going-?“

Akaashis pleads were lost in the sound of questions and conversations being flung at them. All going in one ear and out the other. He sighed in defeat.

After what seemed like forever, (Y/n) pried himself from the volleyball players and interlocked his fingers with Akaashi’s. “Okaaaay, lets go” he said with a chuckle.

“Finally...” thank the heavens.

“Where you guys going?” Bokuto asked. (Y/n) glanced to Akaashi for approval. Akaashi nodded.

“We’re going to grab some dinner at this one ramen place, we do it every Thursday.”

“Oh! Oh! Can we come?” Bokuto cheered. He looked like a puppy clinging to (Y/n’s) side. Akaashi deadpanned while (Y/n) laughed internally.

“But-we-“

“Sure! Let’s go!” (Y/n) said, looking straight into Akaashi’s wilting eyes. The boys clamored past him, (Y/n) in their clutches, heading out of the school to wherever they were going.

“Oh! And, Akaashi?” Konoha said, stopping in his tracks and looking back at Akaashi. He had his feet planted into the ground with a devastated look on his face. Konoha smirked, and Akaashi wished he just stayed at practice.

“That’s what you get for skipping practice so much.”

——————

#akaashi x you #akaashi x male reader #akaashi x reader #akaashi keiji #akaashi oneshot #akaashi imagine #akaashi scenarios #akaashi keiji x reader #poor akaashi #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x male reader #hq x male reader

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 years

Note

raven-san, can we please have a wedding crashing where jade needs to marry this girl from another crime family to consolidate power and become the next head of the leech mob :)) but floyd's like I'M BORED and annoyed that his brother's being snatched up by a random chick, so he asks basketball bros, and azul, to help save jade?

This one is super long, so I added some extra sections and placed the rest of the wedding crashing below the cut!

***Spoilers for Jamil and Floyd’s Unique Magic!!***

"I object to this wedding...!"

Pre-Wedding Jitters

A call comes for the twins in the dead of night, without warning. It’s their parents with exciting news: they’re naming Jade as the next Don Leech. The catch? The Leech mob’s in the middle of a merger with the Worm mob, and he’ll have to marry Don Worm’s daughter to secure the deal.

Jade, ever the dutiful son, is honored by his future title and calmly agrees to the arrangement. On the other hand, Floyd’s annoyed by the idea, and can’t keep quiet about his irritation. He calls out to his twin in the darkness.

“... Ne, Jade.”

“Ee, Floyd?”

“Are you really okay with going through with this? You’re just gonna do what they said? Even though you don’t know the Worms at all? Even if you’ve never met that girl before?”

“It is a request coming directly from father and mother. How could I refuse them? And, furthermore... If I do not undertake this task, then it would fall to you, the next choice to inherit the title of Don Leech. I cannot allow that to come to pass--fufu. You do so enjoy your freedom, yes?”

“... Jade, you’re so dumb sometimes. What’ll happen to your freedom, then? Will you get so busy with being the big boss and being married... that you won’t have time to play anymore?”

“... Perhaps. But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.”

That thought doesn’t sit well with Floyd--not at all.

“I trust that you will make your own fun of the situation,” Jade reassures him. “You always do.”

As the weeks pass, Floyd sees less and less of Jade around, since he has to prepare for the wedding. Jade reassures him that he’s doing just fine, but Floyd can see right through his lies. He can tell that Jade’s more frazzled than usual--there’s a lingering to his words, and a longing in his eyes, savoring every last bit of autonomy he has before his fate is forever sealed.

Floyd hates it. He hates being lied to by his own brother, and he hates feeling powerless to stop the wedding. Floyd’s so angry that he develops this murderous aura in the weeks leading up to the wedding, which makes everyone around him shy away.

One day, he gets sick of being in the water--it’s a reminder of the wedding to come--so Floyd plays basketball on land to vent. He ends up chomping down so hard that he deflates a ball, then dunks another basketball so hard, he breaks the net.

He sprawls out on the ground and angrily shouts at the sky. His basketball bonks him on the head... and that’s when an idea hits him: maybe he can’t stop the wedding alone, but no one said he couldn’t phone some friends.

Assembling the Dream Team

Floyd first dials up Azul, who agrees to help after some whining and signing a contract agreeing to pay Azul handsomely for his services (... although truthfully, the octopus does want to help Jade, but doesn't immediately agree to do it because of his pride as a businessman).

Floyd also calls his old basketball buddies for help! Jamil and Ace are much more adamant than Azul, but Floyd strongarms them into pitching in. ("Umihebi-kun, Kani-chan, if you don't help me rescue Jade, I'll get suuuper mad, you know? I don't think you'll like me when I get mad. Moray eels are strong hunters, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem for me to track you guys down and give you a good squeeze~" "OKAY, OKAY, WE'LL DO IT!!")

Together, the four boys meet up to scheme of a way to disrupt the wedding without jeopardizing the Leech mob's future. Floyd actively leads the discussion, allowing his hidden genius to come to the surface.

Ace doesn’t contribute much to the strategy (laid out by Azul), but he does keep the spirit up with some jokes. Meanwhile, Jamil provides snacks for them when they work late into the night (though he keeps passing semi-glares to Azul whenever the octopus compliments him or tries to be friendly).

In preparation for the crashing, Azul brews some potions to give Jamil and Ace so they can take on temporary merforms. After all, the wedding will be underwater, in the Coral Sea, and they’ll need tail fins.

The date of destiny draws ever closer... and Floyd's never been so excited to cause chaos in his whole life.

The Crashing - Team Azul & Jamil

They split into two pairs on the day of the wedding—Azul and Jamil, and Floyd and Ace. Floyd uses his position as the future son-in-law to Don Worm to arrange a meeting between himself and the don... except Azul and Jamil will show up instead.

Don Worm shows up to the meeting in his finest clothes (which is very little, given that he’s a merman), sounding a bit annoyed the sudden summoning. “Make this quick, I’ve got to go see my baby girl’s big day... Wait. You fellas aren’t the F. Leech boy.”

“No, we aren’t, sir. We are his representatives... Proxies, if you will,” Azul insists, giving his warmest and most welcoming smile. He uses a tentacle to tug on Jamil’s tail, forcing him to smile too. “You see, there is an important business matter we needed to discuss with you on behalf of Floyd.”

“Hoh? And what would that be?”

“I believe my business associate would be better off explaining the matter than myself.” Azul gestures to Jamil, who has his head down.

“Oi, what’s with you? Don’t you know who I am, boy? It’s rude to not look your elders in the eye when they are speaking to you!! Show me the respect I deserve, from one professional to another!!”

“My apologies, sir.” Jamil looks up, locking eyes with the mob boss. “... Is this better?”

“Yes, that’s...”

“Snake Whisper.”

Don Worm suddenly goes glassy-eyed and slack-jawed. Azul claps at the sight, showering his partner with compliments. “As expected of the talented Jamil-san! Even one look from you can bring a mafia lord to his downfall. Truly, your Unique Magic is most impressive!”

“Save your flattery for later.”

Azul’s lips curl into a smirk as he whips out a golden contract from his briefcase and offers it to the don. “Now then, if you wouldn’t mind, sir... sign on the dotted line.”

The Crashing - Team Floyd & Ace

Ace and Floyd rush to the wedding venue, their tails cutting through the water like knives as they swim at a breakneck pace. Ace can barely keep up with Floyd, who surges far ahead.

“H-Hey, should we really be barging in like this?! Don’t mob families have weapons and other dangerous stuff? Is there a backdoor we can take instead? Hello?! Floyd-senpai, are you listening to me?!” (He isn’t.)

The open, underwater comes into view, and Floyd barrels in without any hesitation, tearing right through some decorations and knocking over the wedding cake with his tail. A loud CRASH! echoes through the waters, drawing eyes to him.

Jade stares at his brother from the altar—wide eyed, but a mirthful smile on his lips. Floyd waves to him, and then to his mom and dad in the crowd of guests. “Hiii, Jade! I’m here to pick you up now.”

The Worm girl starts sobbing, wailing something about how her special day’s been ruined, and where is her papa to put an end to this? At her signal, security guards, and some of the rougher looking guests—Worm family associates—lunge at Floyd, claws and teeth out. A few of them have produced wands, and what seem to be guns—loaded with harpoons.

“Bind the Heart!” Objects and stray magic go flying in all directions, hitting both people and wedding decorations. Cloth tears, columns crumble—but it’s one man against many, and he can only bind so many hearts before the blot starts to stack.

Ace makes it just in time, sending their foes and their weapons hurtling through the water with a blast of wind. “This is why I said to be careful, dammit! Your Unique Magic’s such a crapshoot—don’t just use it whenever, or you’ll be sushi!!!”

“Ahahahah! Kani-chan’s being all heroic today! That’s so cute. Don’t worry, I can play my part, too...!!”

Using his tail, Floyd hooks around a drifting merman and chucks him straight into another. They collide with a CRACK!—but Floyd barely registers it. He’s already bolting off, grabbing heads and smashing them together, slicing through others like a knife through butter.

There’s a crazed, frenzied look to him, gleeful laughter cutting through the waters and mixing with the Worm bride’s screeching. I forgot how scary Floyd-senpai can be, Ace realizes. (Jade and Floyd’s parents are cheering for him from their seats.)

Jade looks quite proud of his brother, even laughing along to the brutal slaughterfest. His bride stares at him incredulously. “Stop that brute! He’s ruining MY special day!!”

“No,” Jade replies calmly. “I don’t think I will. This is far too amusing to let it end so soon.”

She lets out a frustrated scream and launches herself at her groom, hands going for his throat. The Worm girl is slammed back with a strong hit to her gut, courtesy of Jade’s tail.

She flies back, slamming into a column—and feels a tail wrapping around her and squeezing tight. Constricting her to the point where it was difficult to breathe. A livid mermaid glares down at her, teeth bared in a snarl.

“No one lays a hand on my children,” Mama Leech declares. “No one.”

From the corner of her eye, the Worm girl can see that Jade has cast off his bow tie and flitted over to Floyd, embracing happily in a battlefield adorned with red ribbons trailing through the water. Her vision is abruptly blocked off by a broad-shouldered merman wearing a grimace.

“Now then, what shall we do with this one?” Papa Leech wonders aloud—though from his tone of voice, he has nothing good in store.

The Aftermath

“You’re all fish bait when daddy hears about this...!” the Worm girl warns, her words raspy. “Th-The merger won’t go through...! There’ll be war between the Leeches and the Worms...!”

A loud throat clearing comes from behind. “Fortunately, that won’t be happening.”

Azul and Jamil make their appearance, the octopus merman smugly showcasing a contract. “Ashengrotto—Azul Ashengrotto, legal and business extraordinaire at your service, Don Leech and Lady Leech.”

Papa Leech grunts. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

“This?” Azul’s smirk widens. “Why, it’s a prenuptial stating that, in the case that an act of violence is enacted by the bride toward the groom, the marriage is considered null and void... and the bride’s family assets are to be claimed by the groom. Signed by Don Worm himself.”

“Wh-What?! Impossible!! How did you get daddy to sign such a stupid deal?!”

“Oh,” Jamil says nonchalantly, “we have our ways.”

“So... Uh, Jade-senpai’s still gonna be the next Don Leech?! And he’s gonna be in charge of an even bigger and richer family... How is that any better than the situation before?! You’re just giving him more resources for committing crimes!”

At that moment, two hands come down on Ace’s shoulders, causing him to freeze up.

“Kani-chaaaaan! Everyone!! Thanks so much for your help~”

“Yes, you have my sincerest thanks, Ace-san, Jamil-san... Azul.”

“It is my pleasure to assist such VIP clients. Ah, but there remains the matter of my promised payment—” (Jamil and Ace internally groan at Azul’s words.)

“Payment?” Don Leech scoffs. “After the ballsy operation you boys pulled off today... I’m more inclined to give you job offers instead of a one time sum. How do you lads feel about being hired as the Leech family’s personal lawyer, interrogator, and... well, whatever the heart one is good at.”

“My, my! Such a generous and lucrative offer—“

“There is no way I’m accepting that, especially if that means working with Azul.”

“Oi, I’ll have you know I’m good at lots of stuff!! I’m the one that saved Floyd’s tail fins, is no one gonna acknowledge that?!”

“You did amazing, sweetie!!” Mama Leech chirps—her tail grip tightening until the Worm girl passes out. Ace leaps back in fright. “As a reward, why don’t you let me give you a hug?”

“S-STAY BACK!!”

“Ahahahah! Everyone’s getting along so well, Jade. Isn’t this fun? You wouldn’t be able to enjoy this if you had gone to get hitched.”

“Fufufu. You are correct, Floyd. How sad it would have been if I were to miss out on touching moments such as this. From the bottom of my heart... I thank you for thinking of me, and for rushing to my aid. I could not have asked for a better brother.”

... What Floyd doesn’t know is that this was all according to keikaku Jade’s own machinations. He would never take the order to marry lying down—but he couldn’t outright defy it without immediate consequences, either.

Thank the Great Seven Jade has reliable puppets friends to help him out of a pinch. I’ll be certain to put the additional funds we have gained to good use... Perhaps to start a little mushroom farm.

#Floyd Leech #Jade Leech #Azul Ashengrotto #Ace Trappola #Jamil Viper #twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #wedding crashing #spoilers

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crystal-moon-101 · 3 years

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So I’ve got three AUs here with The Secret Generator 10 Trio, and I drew them all together because they are all connected based on the same idea. In these AUs, instead of receiving their powers from something, they are what their powers are. Basically, Zak is still Kur reborn, but was born a dragon who disguises himself as human, Rex is the Omega (His design is based off of my sentient Omega AU), and Ben is the Omnitrix who decide to become a living being, choosing a human body as his main form. I’ll go into a little more detail to explain each AU, and I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions about any of these AUs, don’t be shy to ask. 🧡 💙 💚 -Zur AU- In this world, Doc and Drew never had any biological kids, as Drew found she was unable to bare any. This did distraught the pair, as it had been one of their long life dreams, but they stayed strong and decided to focus on their work for a bit, deciding on future family stuff later. Eventually, they came across the Kur Stone with the rest of the secret scientists, and as the story goes Argost snatched it, and the secret scientists rushed into Weird World to retrieve it, losing many of their teammates in the progress. But things take an interesting turn when taking the stone back to base. You see, as the scientists were discussing what to do, now understanding what the stone really was, they all suddenly heard a faint crack...then another, then a few more, and before anyone knew what was happening, the Kur stone slip, breaking open into four pieces as a tiny, baby, serpent-like dragon crawled out. That’s when they realized that the stone was not a stone, but rather an egg, and putting two and two together, the group assumed that this was Kur’s child. Of course, they freaked out, not wanting something tied to the being said to desire to kill all humans to be wandering around the lab, but their panic caused the little infant dragon to panic too, and a chase sparked, with the little dragon rushing around the labs to hide and keep away from these strange people. The young dragon was confused, as it didn’t understand what was wrong, why these people seemed so scared, though one of these people did catch his eye, the woman with white hair. He had seen her first when hatching, and developed this strange attachment to Drew. She ended up being the one to corner the baby, who came up with a...odd idea somehow. Reaching deep within himself, he found the ability to shapeshift into a human form (Albeit with dragon like features), basing features off of Drew and Doc. This caught the two off guard, especially when seeing bits and pieces of themselves in this child. At first they thought he was trying to trick them, but when they started clinging to Drew, something sparked in the two, this need to protect this young one, who had clearly bonded to them so fast (Drew was quick to scoop them up and be ready to tell the other scientist to a back off). It was a longgggg discussion with the others, many having concerned and worries, but eventually it was agreed that they could not place Kur’s blame onto his offspring, as it was unfair, and since Drew and Doc handle cryptids for a living, it was best that they looked after him. So, they gave him the name Zak, and their little family began. Now, Zak is very well aware of what he is and who he is, and is very grateful for his parents for taking him in, despite what he was. The main plot of the series would most likely be the same, with a few differences, like people like the Nagas and Argost eventually thinking that Zak is Kur’s son too. But then the twist eventually comes in that Zak isn’t Kur’s son, he is Kur himself, just reborn like a phoenix. This leads into Zak’s anxiety crises about who he really is and what he could do, just like in season 2. Zak can also switch between his human form, and real dragon form, though he is able to summon parts of his dragon form, like wings or his tail, if that’s better to use at the moment. He’s quite the magpie too, often collecting ores, gems, jewelry and anything that catches his eye. His loves the outdoors quite a bit, and spends a lot of his time out in the woods or grass fields around his home, connecting with the local wildlife too. He’s also known to straight up hiss and growl, even in his human form. -Omega Rex AU- After the failures of the Alpha project, the crew on the nanite project eventually moved onto the Omega project, which was being lead by not only Caesar, but his parents as well this time. Based on Alpha’s designs, tweaking them quite a bit, they eventually made Omega, a much more friendly and kinder version of Alpha. Omega started off as mostly robotic, being tested on and merely hanging around the labs until needed for something. But like all of Caesar’s project, things started to change, and Omega started to become something more. It was little things at first, Omega asking little questions, curious about the world and people in it. Then Omega started mimicking people, copying human mannerism and even style of speech. People caught on quick, and become a little nervous, given Alpha was kind of the same when he started to change and eventually go rouge. They kept an eye on Omega, making sure nothing went down hill, but instead they went an opposite direction, taking a more wonder filled out look on life, wanting to know a lot about life and what it meant to be living. There were mixed responses to this, some telling Omega that they were just a robot and nothing more, others wanting to see where this would go. Omega seemed to follow three people the most, Caesar, Rylander and Van Kleiss, each peeking his interest in different ways, each one seeing and treating him differently. Caesar often regarded him as one of his great inventions, and was enjoying seeing where Omega was going, and how they were growing, and while there were moments that Caesar treated him a little more human they he would admit, he tried to keep it professional and just say Omega was a tool. Rylander was the kindness to Omega, and would be happy enough to answer their questions and let them understand life a little better, often thinking he saw a spark of a soul in Omega’s eyes from time to time. Van Kleiss was intrigued by Omega, especially when Omega seemed unphased by Van Kleiss’s off putting nature. Like Rylander, he was fine to answer him questions about the world and life, though his negative views on life due to past issues made things a little sad for Omega to hear, even trying to ‘comfort’ the man despite Van Kleiss telling him not too. Then, the nanite event happened. It all happened so fast, but that didn’t matter in the end as Omega awoke with no memories...not even their own name. Left wandering the world now being infested with EVOs, he eventually ran into the Hong Kong Gang one by one, where he started to developed a more teen like personality, and even got the name Rex from them. This made that desire to be something more, something alive, stronger, and that feeling stayed with them even after he left the group, lost his memories again, and got picked up by Six and Providence. At first, they had assumed he was an EVO, but once they realized he was something else, a living nanite it seems, they kept him around in hopes he could help, especially after seeing he could cure EVOs and talk to other nanites. Rex is very curious, and still mimics quite a bit, you often seen him copying gestures from Six and Holiday. Not in a mocking way, but more so like a little kid taking after the adults around him. He’s still learning a lot about being ‘human’ so he does stumble quite a bit, doing things like saying a phrasing wrong, not understanding latest trends, and sometimes forgetting the body limits of a normal human. -Omni-Ben AU- While Azmuth was alone, isolating himself in his work for the Omnitrix, he eventually managed to complete it. However, while he was having it do some test runs and look overs to make sure it was ready, he came to find that the AI may have been a little more advance than he was expecting, for the next thing he new, the Omnitrix shapeshifted into the form of a 13 year old human male. Of course, being highly confused, Azmuth questioned his creation, and the Omnitrix explained that, after looking through the DNA is had, seeing all the different speices in the galaxy and seeing how they live, how they work, they wanted to be like that too, wanted to be alive and real. They had picked a human as their man form as they enjoyed the idea of how humans grow, how individualized they are as a species. Azmuth thought about it, but finally agreed to let the Omnitrix try this out. For the next two years, still living in isolation, Omnitrix and Azmuth started up a simple life living together, Omnitrix even calling him father, which Azmuth was fine with and grew accustomed to. However, Azmuth never let Omnitrix out of the lab/base, for he feared what was out there that could try and use his creation for awful things, and with the Omnitrix alive and sentient, it made that fear worse. But, of course, things couldn’t stay the same forever, as one day Vilgax came knocking and demanded the Omnitrix. Azmuth was quick to tell his creation to flee, despite the Omnitrix’s hesitation. But, unable to deny orders from his father, the Omnitrix fleed as Vilgax followed after, taking Azmuth as his prisoner just in case. Needing somewhere to hide or run too, the Omnitrix thought back to some of Azmuth’s stories, recalling the tale about a human called Max Tennyson, who had once defeated Vilgax, and was well known by the Plumbers. Given the Omnitrix had a human form, and knowing Max’s history with the Plumbers and Vilgax, he decided to find him, making his way to earth and crashing there. He had been following Max’s Plumber signal (Which was in the rust bucket), and ended up being found by Gwen, who took him to Grandpa Max. After explaining his situation, Max agrees to help, and after some debate, Gwen could come too. The three begin to travel across the USA, going to old Plumber bases to collected needed weapons as Vilgax was on their tale, and looking for help in the matter. Needing to blend in with humans, Gwen helped Ben get an outfit that could hide him (Not quite the one up above), and used some make up along with an eye contact to cover up anything he couldn’t remove from himself, and eventually gave him the name Ben. Ben is quite...alien, for lack of a better term. Given he was isolated with Azmuth his entire life, there’s a lot he needs to learn and understand. He is quite smart and quick to pick up on things, but does stumble up in the moment. He’s found that the world outside it quite big, bigger than he realized, and now he’s experience so much, even new emotions he thought he never had, but...he does wanna see more of the world and what it has to offer.

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zdux · 3 years

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Genshin Family Headcannons

I've had these Genshin Family Headcannons floating around in my brain for god knows how long now, so I think it's about time I posted them!

On to the details~

Zhongli & Baizhu dated for a while, and after they broke up Baizhu ended up adopting Qiqi. Zhongli did not know this, and nearly had a heart attack thinking that through some insane miracle Qiqi was his biological child and he was late on YEARS of child support.

Zhongli & Ninnguang are siblings. Not Biological, but Ningguang doesn't know that, so he doesn't say anything. My idea is that Zhongli hasn't been using his gnosis for a while, like multiple decades, but he would shift forms. He tried to be a teenager for a while during his mid-archon-crisis, and ended up getting adopted by Ningguang's parents. She was born not long after, so she always saw him as her older brother. After a few years of this, he accepted he couldn't play make believe like this forever, and disappeared one night. Little did he know, his aura was keeping Ningguang's family out of debt, and after he left it all fell to ruin. Ningguang then grew up, spending the rest of her life wondering what happened to her brother & missing him.

Before all that, Zhongli did raise, and is still raising, Xiao and Ganyu. During that time, they were both mentoring under other adepti. They see him as their dad, and have forever. Zhongli recently ended up kind of half adopting Hu Tao, but she doesn't know all of the details of them being adepti & an Archon, but she's just happy to have a family.

Xiao has recently started dating Aether, which was supposed to be his little rebellion at Zhongli for dating Childe, as Xiao hates Childe, but Zhongli is very proud of Xiao and Aether. Though his planned back fired, Xiao is truly happy to be with Aether.

Hu Tao has been dating Yanfei, and while they are happy together, as well as work well as business partners, Zhongli's back is going to go out early if he has to keep supervising the two pyro loverbirds. They have so much energy, and just run him ragged when they are handling a job.

Beidou ended up pretty much completely adopting Kazuha, as he has been on the run a while now, and while she was working with him/the resistance, they both just felt connected like family.

Part of the reason that Kazuha sees Beidou as a mom is because his disapeared a long time ago with is younger brother. He was happy they escaped, but he hadn't heard anything about his brother since, which made him scared.

Thoma, on the other hand, was actually adopted by Beidou. His parents left him in Ritou to suffer, and though Beidou wasn't able to take him with her to be a sailor, she was able to get him set up with Ayaka's family.

Yoimiya is the only blood family he knows of, and her family immediately took him in around age 16 when they found out what his parents did. He continued to work under Ayaka despite them suggesting he learn the fire work trade.

Little does he know, but Razor is Kazuha's brother. Their mom didn't end up making it, as she became fatally ill during the journey from Inazuma to Liyue. She was rushed to Bubu Pharmacy, but it was too late, and she sadly passed away while being treated there. Razor was supposed to be sent to Mondstat to become a knight of Favonious, but the wagon transporting him was taken down by Hillichurls, and then he was found by his Lupical.

Lisa regularly goes into the woods to study, and that's when she ran into Razor and began visiting him to teach him how to speak, to which she sort of became him mom.

Jean technically has no kids, but had ended up raising Klee, Albedo, and Barbara. Klee had been with Albedo pretty much since she was born, as Albedo would take care of them both with Alice coming to check in here and there. But after an experiment gone wrong, Albedo was badly hurt, and carried a small, crying Klee all the way to Mondstat. Once he got there, he was lucky that Jean, Lisa, and Diluc were all having dinner at Good Hunter. They rushed over to him, Jean in the lead, and he handed Klee to her before collapsing on the ground. They brought him to the cathedral where he was healed, and once he was recovering he was taken to the Knights head quarters for questioning. After that, they figured it was better for Klee to be in the Knight's direct care, and Albedo could work with them. Jean ended up becoming quite the mother to the two of them.

As for Barbara, she simply always took care of her. Though they aren't that far apart in age, Jean still always took on a parental role for her.

What Alice forgot to mention, was that she actually has a sister. Said sister is in fact, Mona's mom, and when she saw Mona having magical potential like Alice, she sent her to study under her current Master, Alice's rival. Without knowing it, Mona and Klee are cousins.

Diona was finally able to get over her anger towards Diluc, as she eventually got so fed up with him that she went to Angel's Share just to yell at him. But when she got there, she realized he wasn't drinking alcohol. After sitting her down and talking to her for a while, Diona was finally able to understand Diluc. She started crying, and Diluc sat with her while she did, before she eventually started to fall asleep, so he carried her on his back to the Cat's Tail. When he got there he saw her dad and went to deliver Diona to him but realized just how drunk he was. Diluc then set Diona down on a chair while he went to confront her dad, which lead to a massive yelling match. Diluc realized just how neglectful her dad really was, and had him arrested the next day. He was then charged with Neglect, and has since been cast out of Mondstat for an unknown amount of time as his sentence, as well as not being allowed custody of Diona. The Cat's Tail was closed for a while before another bartender took it up and renamed it. Diona moved in with Diluc and he now raises her on his own. She sees him like a hero and the father she always wanted, but he never asks her to call him "dad" or "father" but instead asks her to call him "Pa" or "Vati" (the german translation of dad.)

Diluc and Venti have also been in a long term relationship for many years. Diluc asks Venti not to drink around Diona, as it still makes her uncomfortable despite being his apprentice. Venti respects this and often will "buy" his drinks from Diluc and make his way over to the old Cat's Tail and drink there instead, or he will just stay at Angel's Share if Diona isn't there/is in bed. The two of them have been dating for nearly 8 years, but aren't married. Everyone always asks why not, but they just don't see the point. Venti is very independent, and Diluc constantly has responsibilities, they don't want their life to be 50/50 but rather they both do what they love and enjoy one and others company while doing so, without labels.

And that's a wrap! I could probably write out exactly how each of these came to be in more detail, but this is quite long as it stands. I hope you all enjoyed!

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nastyburger · 3 years

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public ShortComings right now right now right now right now ri

LMAO I HAVE SUMMONED CONSTELLAJ WITH MY DASH REDEMPTION ARC KLSADJSALKDJALK anyway heres the episode idea under the cut!!!

the premise/start of the episode is similar to its canon counterpart. danny needs to pass an important physical exam and is paired with dash as a fitness buddy to help prepare for it. however, instead of jack just blasting phantom, a ghost, and an innocent bystander outside the house with the shrink ray and promptly fucks off to not deal with the consequences of that, the shrink blaster is introduced early on to danny as a prototype still in the works. it is then left in the lab until it is needed later and the set up for the actual fitness buddy stuff comes into play.

the real deviation from micro management happens when skulker attacks the duo. danny randomly shouts to scatter in opposite directions to throw the ghost off as a thinly veiled excuse to have a place to transform and promptly bolts...... except dash doesnt run in the opposite direction like he was supposed to. danny gets to a secluded area and starts slowing down, like half a second away from going ghost, before being pushed by dash to keep running with skulker following close behind.

while still running for their lives, danny is just like???? why the fuck did you follow me i said scatter????? to which dash promptly says “dude that ghost was definitely chasing you and there’s no way you can out run it, you would’ve been toast.” to further prove the point, danny is unable to shake dash off his tail and actually is struggling to keep up in human form, to the point where dash is practically carrying him while occasionally tossing him ahead to force him to run without falling behind.

danny, realizing that he wont be able to turn into phantom anytime soon, decides “okay change of plans, we’ll do this the human way” and steers dash towards the direction of fentonworks to get ghost weapons instead. they eventually hit the lab and danny starts grabbing ectoguns and starts blasting at skulker who is putting up quite the fight. dash, seeing the struggle, tries to help too. he grabs some guns of his own, but being more unfamiliar with the tech, he grabs a lot of duds or stuff not fully loaded. in his frantic panic, one of the guns dash grabs ends up being the unfinished shrink blaster.

before danny can stop him, the blast goes off but instead of shrinking only the target, it malfunctions and hits everyone in the room and a couple of weapons here and there. the shrink explosion knocks everyone back quite a bit so they’re far away from the gun and idk some bullshit about jack coming in to be like huh that’s weird and taking it somewhere else. shrunken shenanigans ensue.

if danny couldnt get away to transform before, he DEFINITELY cant now (how is he gonna explain disappearing and then having a mini phantom show up lol). so he an dash are stuck together. they grab all the tiny weapons they can and set off, having tiny happenings and that all along the way similarly to canon. the only difference is danny more discreetly using his his powers and covering it up by saying it was fenton tech. it leads to some funny stuff and danny trying to badly lie through his teeth.

this episode builds on both dash’s character and how his view on danny starts to change. this event is sorta the kicker to his whole redemption arc in the nasty reboot timeline, having moments/seeds somewhat sown before this but never full on sprouting until this moment. dash has seen danny hold his own in a fight before, but only in teams, with his friends, and behind weapons (i.e pirate radio) up until this point. as their weapons start to lose ammo and supplies (and, unknown to dash, danny’s powers) dash starts to REALLY see how resourceful and charismatic danny is on his own. all other possible factors are removed here, its just pure, unfiltered, human danny fenton baby!

even when dash has his breakdown similar to canon, the kid he picked on for years still extends a hand and helps him out of it. even when the goal seems so far away like they’ll never make it, danny tells him to press on and keeps moving forward. even when they’re at their wits end and dash cant for the life of him figure out a way out of the situation, danny still!! somehow!!!! does!!!!!!! all these little moments make dash start to fall in love appreciate the skillset and merits danny has all on his own. (theres also like themes of danny learning how to properly balance/maintain both of his lives and learning he has valuable skillsets as fenton too instead of being a useless half in this reboot. dash’s validation is a small part of what encourages danny into realizing his worth. because, hell, if your bully thinks you’re doing alright then thats gotta mean something, right?)

the climax of the episode is when danny is backed into a corner by skulker with no ammo, no powers, and no significant physical strength. but even so, danny decides to go off the deep end by launching himself at skulker and starts smacking the shit out of the ghost with nothing but an empty ectogun and blind gremlin rage.

(exactly like this lol)

in the struggle, danny is doing surprisingly well (which dash absolutely notes in awe) but then at one point, skulker points a weapon in prime position to shoot danny without him noticing. dash panics and rushes to pull fenton off of skulker, but danny, upon realizing what dash is doing, takes opportunity and latches onto skulker’s head trying to pry it off with dash’s combine strength (much to dash’s confusion).

basically, danny manages to rip skulker’s fucking head off (dash is horrified until danny shows him the actual ghost and how his body was just a suit) and sucks up skulker into a spare thermos. the two then use the suit to jet pack them up onto the welding table in the ops center where jack had been tinkering with it.

the shrink blaster had its final fixes implemented in it now, with a reverse switch as well, so danny and dash easily changes back to normal. they share a bit of a moment, similar to phantom and dash in canon. but instead of dash ruining the moment this time, its danny who simply states “well the adrenaline has worn off so i should probably tell you my leg is most likely fractured” before collapsing onto dash. at some point during the tussle with skulker, danny’s leg apparently got scrunched pretty hard to the point of being broken but danny was being too feral in the moment to react right away.

(again, as stated in a previous ask, my shitpost jock protection squad au took various elements from this plotline in the reboot so there will be overlap but its not canon)

because of the broken leg situation, danny is unable to do the test but is allowed to retake it once he recovers. of course, this means dash is still danny’s fitness buddy. this gives an excuse for them to be stuck together for a little longer and so the redemption process begins!!!! (even if danny’s leg technically already healed after a day or so lol)

#WOO THAT WAS LONG hope i didnt bore everyone lol also sorry for posting at ass o' clock i was busy today haha #cant believe this is the first reboot ep im really going into detail but who am i to deny angie their dash content......#danny phantom #nasty reboot #seance #constellaj

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teshamerkel · 3 years

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 19] (26 Pages)

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Tobias and Nia practice their sparring skills under Val’s guidance, and receive a warning about their upcoming trip.

“Begin!” Val calls.

As Tobias expects, Nia takes a defensive stance, so he dashes forward to go on the attack and try to strong-arm her. He swipes at her once, twice, only for her to side-step out of the way each time. Good. Even if she’s upset, at least she’s trying. Wouldn’t be much of a spar if Nia just gave up immediately.

Tobias moves into the riolu’s space and ducks low, spinning and catching her legs with his tail. With a yelp, the riolu trips backwards and falls to the ground. He lunges to pin her, but she rolls out of the way and springs back to her feet. Tobias follows, not letting up on his assault. Nia is struggling to keep up, all her focus on deflecting his scratch attacks, so Tobias switches tactics. He steps closer and blows a puff of white smoke directly into her face, and she falls out of her concentration with a startled yip, stumbling backwards and falling onto her butt. Tobias smirks down at her, victorious.

“Elemental moves,” He reminds her. “An ember would’ve hurt from that close.”

“Ugh, I keep forgetting about that,” Nia huffs, a frustrated frown on her face. “I wish I was a fire type or something too. Maybe then I could figure out my moves easier.”

“You have more options than most fighting types,” Tobias points out.

Nia gets to her feet and gives him a curious look. “How so?”

“…Don’t tell me you forgot about your aura powers.”

“Oh!” Nia’s ears flick back, a sheepish expression crossing her face. “U-Uh. No, but I…might have forgotten they could be used for attacks?”

Tobias gives her an unimpressed look. “Aura’s not just a cool party trick. If you use it right it could be a huge advantage in battle.”

He’s half-expecting Nia to scold him for his harsh tone, but she’s busy looking at her palms with a thoughtful expression. “Huh. That’s…a good point.”

“I’m full of ‘em,” Tobias drawls. “Now come on, we aren’t done and I don’t wanna know what Val’s idea of punishment is for slacking off.”

Nia hurries back into position and they go again. The next round it’s clear Nia’s mind is elsewhere, probably thinking about her aura powers, and Tobias easily knocks her flat.

“Don’t check out mid-fight,” Tobias growls. “That’s why you freeze all the time in battle! Stay focused. Stop thinking so much.”

“How do I stop thinking?” Nia complains.

“Just…let your body do it’s thing. I dunno. Just stop worrying so much.”

“Helpful,” Nia grumbles. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll get right on that.”

Tobias throws his arms up. “I don’t know how to get your head to shut up!”

“Less arguing, more sparring,” Val calls from the sidelines. “Unless you would rather do laps around the training grounds?”

Tobias and Nia fall silent, exchanging a look of dread. The riolu moves back into her starting position and they begin again, quickly falling into their usual pattern of Nia going on the defensive and Tobias attacking non-stop.

“Neither of you can keep that up forever,” Val calls, not so much a hint as a command to switch it up.

Tobias huffs, irritation sparking in his belly. Fine. This isn’t working anyways, now that Nia’s getting into the groove and fending him off more successfully. Val thinks they need to branch out and try different styles of fighting? He’ll show her different.

Still trying to keep up the act of his usual fighting style, Tobias lets a weak smokescreen trail from the corners of his mouth. It’s subtle enough for Nia not to notice immediately, their little bubble of battlefield becoming hazier and harder to see through.

Well, for Nia at least. Tobias’ eyes are better for piercing through smoke, and he notices her movements becoming sloppier and more unsure as her visibility lowers. Tobias fakes a swipe, then darts out his other arm to bop the riolu’s sensitive ear. She yelps and steps back, shaking her head. Tobias takes his chance to step back, into the smoke and out of her field of vision, quietly moving behind her.

Once he’s in position, he lunges. Her ears swivel to his direction, and she spins towards him, eyes wide and arm reaching up to deflect him. For a moment he thinks he sees a flicker of familiar blue light, but then he’s slamming into her, the two of them rolling until he has her pinned to the ground again.

“Was that your aura?” He pants, frowning down at her.

She laughs, a little shaky as she tries to catch her breath. “I-It was supposed to be. Didn’t really do much, though.”

“Were you trying to attack?” Tobias asks, letting Nia up.

Her nose scrunches up into a puzzled expression. “Um, kinda? I guess I don’t really know what I was trying to do with it. I was just thinking about what you said about using aura for battles, so instead of keeping my aura, um…contained, I guess? I just kind of woke it up and, uh…let it do what it wanted?”

“You talk like it’s alive,” Tobias notes, frowning.

“I mean, it kind of is?” Nia asks more than states. “It’s like…my soul or something, right?”

Tobias shrugs, uncomfortable. “I guess.”

“Riolu,” Val calls out, interrupting. “This round, go on the offensive. Charmander, you are on the defensive. No leading the attack.”

Tobias and Nia both slump. Guess Val got tired of waiting for them to switch roles on their own agenda.

“This is dumb,” Tobias grumbles as he faces the riolu once again, falling into a defensive stance, wider and sturdier than usual. It feels unnatural.

Nia doesn’t look any happier. “I-I mean, Val knows best, right? It makes sense for us to mix up our fighting styles.”

Tobias snorts. “Sure.”

Nia ignores the sarcasm in his voice and hesitantly shifts into a stance that leaves her a bit more open than usual, a bit lighter on her feet. She looks just as uncomfortable with the unfamiliar fighting style as Tobias feels.

They wait, one beat. Two. Tobias arches a brow at her. “You going to attack sometime this week?”

“Y-Yeah! Just, uh. Give me a sec.”

After another beat of hesitation, Nia throws a sorry excuse for a punch, and Tobias easily bats it away. An equally weak kick follows, which he catches, yanking the riolu’s leg so her other foot slips and she falls hard on her back.

“What was that?” Tobias growls, glaring down at her. “Luca is a bigger threat and he’s eight.”

Nia sits up, looking uneasy. “It…I don’t wanna hit hard enough to actually hurt you.”

“Oh for—Nia, I can take a hit. You aren’t going all-out anyways! Just put some power behind your attacks!”

The riolu stands, looking torn.

“Did I go easy on you?” Tobias asks, impatient.

“W-Well, no. I don’t think so?”

“I didn’t, because you can handle it. You owe me the same respect. You actually have to try or neither of us are gonna get anywhere and this whole thing is useless.”

Nia looks back at him for a moment, brow furrowed, but Tobias can see the moment her expression hardens with resolve. “Right.”

She falls back into a fighting stance, a bit looser than her previous stiff posture, and Tobias mirrors her with a defensive stance. Quicker than he’s expecting, Nia lunges forward with a jab that Tobias barely manages to dodge. She follows with a kick that actually does catch him in the gut, and he staggers back, surprised. Nia hesitates, a flash of worry on her face, but he doesn’t let her overthink and goes on the counter-attack with a scratch combo. She yelps and wards him off with a messy block, using her forearms to bodily shove him away. She follows it up with a punch that Tobias dodges with a grin.

Finally, she’s actually fighting back! Tobias blows a cloud of smoke at Nia’s face. She ducks under the fake ember attack, sweeping out a leg to trip him up, then tackling him once he’s off-balance. The two go rolling, and Tobias barely manages to pin Nia this time. He relaxes, victorious taunt on his tongue, and Nia takes full advantage of his confidence.

In a flash she bunches her legs close to her chest and kicks him in the stomach hard enough to send him flying. Tobias lands hard on his back, caught off-guard and struggling to catch his breath. He blinks up at the high, root-twisted ceiling of the training floor.

Then Nia’s worried face pops into sight above him, blocking the bright sunlight pouring in from the openings in the walls. “Tobias! I’m so sorry, are you okay?! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, I just got carried away a-and—”

“Shut up, I’m fine,” Tobias rasps, cutting her off to sit up with a slight wince.

Nia looks at him round, wet eyes, like she just punted a baby and not her sparring partner.

“For Entei’s sake, Nia, I’m not made of glass. This is literally the whole point of training.” Grudgingly, he admits, “That was a good hit.”

Nia’s concern is replaced by surprise. “Oh! R-Really?”

Tobias stands, forcing himself not to rub at his sore gut, and waves a hand to urge her to her own feet. “Yeah, but don’t count on it happening again.”

He puts just a smidge of cocky goading into his tone, and Nia rises to the bait, scrambling to her paws with a competitive grin playing at her lips. “We’ll see about that!”

Tobias and Nia face one another again, the riolu starting them off this time. Soon enough they’re back into the rhythm of the fight, trading blows and dodging around one another with increasing ease, and the charmander slowly realizes how annoyingly right Val and Azami have been for weeks now.

Sometimes, all-out attack doesn’t work best, especially when facing an opponent like Nia, who is particularly comfortable with taking the defensive and who is used to his full-frontal tactics. Each time they line up again to battle, Tobias finds himself leaning into his usual aggressive style, only to hit the wall that is Nia’s defenses and having to make up new ideas on the fly. Distracting her with his smoke, surprising her with a feinted move, trying to unbalance her wide-set stance, anything to chip away at her solid footing.

But each time he does, Nia shifts her own fighting style to match him. She’s definitely the more passive fighter of the two of them, but as their sparring continues he notices her adapting more and more to trying out a range of fighting tactics and styles. When Tobias goes aggressive, she goes defensive. When he decides to fall back and try distracting her, she adapts by closing the distance between them, upping her own assault until all he can focus on is fending her off. Despite her brutal kick earlier, Tobias can tell her hits are too light even in training—too weak, lacking that fighting type “power”—but he has to admit that she’s holding her own otherwise. She was apparently raised in a world where she never fought, so it’s a good sign that she’s catching on to the basics so quickly.

It’s not until the two of them break apart for a breath that Tobias realizes he’s grinning. He’s panting and steaming, blood roaring in his ears, his tail flaring bright and his muscles screaming for rest, but he feels…happy, with electricity in his veins and a bubble of something light in his chest.

He’s actually having fun with this.

He meets Nia’s eyes, and the riolu’s serious expression breaks into bright-eyed laughter. For a moment Tobias thinks she’s laughing at him—but no. She looks purely happy, like when she’s rambling to Maggie, paws gesturing wildly because she’s so excited she can’t contain her energy. She’s enjoying this as much as he is.

Before either of them can start again, Val’s voice cuts into their match. “Stop. Time for a break.”

Tobias relaxes, almost reluctant to stop but recognizing that his body needs some time to recuperate. He looks at the medicham’s face as she approaches. She seems...satisfied? Maybe? She’s annoyingly hard to read.

“Good,” Val says. “Riolu, you still hesitate to take advantage of openings in your opponents’ defenses, but you pick up techniques quickly once you pass that mental block. We will work on that.”

Nia nods, and Val turns to Tobias. “Charmander, you are strong and your combat skills are solid, but you still rely too heavily on one style of fighting. Learn to be more fluid and responsive to your opponents and you will be less predictable.”

Tobias swallows back a sharp retort and grunts an acknowledgement.

“Now, take a few minutes to rest. You have visitors.”

Tobias frowns, looking around and catching sight of a dainty green deerling and a sneasel waving at them from the sidelines of the arena. Oh. Great. He rolls his eyes and plops down where he is, but Nia stops, looking down at him hopefully.

“What?” He asks.

“Um. Do you wanna go say hi? Th-They’re really nice.”

“Not even a little bit,” he replies, flopping onto his back and allowing his tender muscles to relax. Nia just sighs in response, and he hears her footsteps pad away to go meet up with the two Pokémon.

The charmander closes his eyes and decides to take the time to stretch out his limbs, one at a time. Before he gets very far, though, he hears Nia call, “Tobias!”

He groans and turns his head her way, cracking an eye open. What does she want? The riolu is waving him over, smiling, and he glares at her in response. “What?” He calls, not wanting to move.

“C’mere for a sec!”

He closes his eyes again. “I’d rather not.”

“Andyn and Ezra brought snacks!”

Right on cue, Tobias’ traitorous stomach growls at the thought of food. Still, he doesn’t move. Is it really worth it?

“They have rawst berries,” Nia says in an almost sing-song tone.

Ugh. This is why he doesn’t want friends: they learn all of your weaknesses. Groaning dramatically, Tobias sits up, drags himself to his feet, and shuffles over to them. Nia’s smile looks suspiciously smug, but the other two Pokémon just seem surprised that he actually came over. He decides to ignore them.

“You’d better not be lying to me,” he grumbles to Nia.

The riolu laughs, shifting the little basket at her hip and showing a rawst berry sitting neatly on top. “Nope! Just as promised.”

Tobias grabs the berry and takes a bite out of it, appreciating the slightly bitter taste as it floods his tongue The deerling and the sneasel are still staring at him, so he glares back and snaps, “Do you always gawk like magikarp or is that pleasure only reserved for me?”

The sneasel holds up his clawed hands in a calming gesture, but the deerling puffs up with self-righteous fury. “You little punk, I—“

“Andyn!” The sneasel is quick to grab her shoulders as if to physically hold the little twig back. Nia shoots Tobias a scolding look. Oh, what, does their partner clause include him being nice to these idiots too?

Tobias finishes his rawst berry in record time and peers into the basket to see if there are any more. Nia holds it out to him, and while he digs through the different types, she speaks up again.

“Uh, s-sorry, he didn’t mean that—“

“I did,” Tobias says.

Andyn makes an angry noise in her throat. “Do you wanna fight or something, flame-brain?!”

Tobias levels her with a narrow-eyed glare. “Bring it, kindling.”

“Oh, gladly—“

“Okay!” Nia says loudly, stepping in front of Tobias to block him from the deerling’s view. The sneasel tries to do the same for his partner. “U-Uh, so you guys said you had something important to tell me?”

Tobias nibbles at his second rawst berry, debating on walking back to his previous spot on the ground. But after a few seconds the deerling bites back her anger and sighs. “Yeah. It’s, um...about you being human, actually.”

That news, along with the deerling’s unnerved tone, catches Tobias’ attention. The sneasel seems uncomfortable too. Worried, even?

Nia tilts her head, looking concerned. “What is it?”

“Well...” The deerling shifts on her hooves, exchanging a reluctant look with her partner. “We were pretty far out of the Haven the past few days for a mission. Y’know, the escort one we told you about? And um...we heard something from a traveling ‘mon we ran into out there.”

“And?” Nia presses.

The deerling shoots the sneasel a helpless look, and he picks up where she left off. “I guess he’s been traveling through some bigger cities pretty far from here, and we know you guys are planning on going to Ghatha this week, so. Uh.”

“Would you two just spit it out?” Tobias snaps. Nia doesn’t even give him a look for his tone.

“Well, he said that, uh...a couple Pokémon were really upset with the former humans. Like, a fight broke out and everything.”

Nia blinks, looking startled.

Tobias frowns. “You sure you weren’t talking to some spacey old 'mon like Hadley? Pokemon claiming to be humans have been around for decades, and there haven’t been any actual serious issues before. Just a lot of blame getting thrown around.”

“That we’ve heard of,“ the deerling points out, hardened gaze meeting his own. Her attention shifts back to Nia. “You said you were going to the city because of some...human meet-up thing, right? Like an organized one?”

Nia nods.

“The guy said that that’s what really riled everyone up,” The sneasel cuts in. “I guess that new human organization is causing some tensions between the humans and the rest of the Pokémon.”

“That’s stupid,” Tobias growls, crossing his arms. “Why would they go to the trouble of attacking each other just because the humans are setting up some dumb club?”

“Look, we’re just telling you what we heard,” the deerling snaps, glaring at him. Her gaze softens as she glances at Nia. “We were worried.”

For a moment, no one speaks. The deerling and the sneasel both seem convinced that this is something more serious than it probably is, and Nia looks to Tobias with wide eyes and pinned-back ears.

“So you haven’t heard anything about this before?” She asks him.

Tobias sighs, shaking his head. “No, but I haven’t traveled far from the guild in years. It’s possible, I guess.”

“Maybe you could ask August?” The sneasel proposes. “Surely since he’s the guildmaster he would know something about this.“

“You didn’t report it back to him?” Tobias asks, voice bordering on a growl.

Before the deerling can start shrieking again, the sneasel hurries to add, “Well, he’s out of the Haven right now, so we told Verene, but...”

“She wouldn’t be as likely to know,” Tobias guesses.

“Yeah.”

“You aren’t leaving for another few days, right?” The deerling asks Nia.

“I think we were planning to leave in about four days,” Nia replies, shooting Tobias an uncertain look. “So no.“

The deerling finally seems to relax. “Good. He should be back before then.”

“Would Maggie know anything?” The sneasel asks.

Tobias snorts. “Nah. She probably wouldn’t let Nia step foot outside of the guild if she did.”

The sneasel actually laughs at that. The deerling gives him a betrayed look.

Before the conversation can continue, Val calls out, “Five minutes!” Nia and the sneasel both jump.

The deerling shifts on her hooves, still not looking reassured. “Well, I guess we’d better get going. Just be careful, Nia.”

The sneasel nods, offering a playful smile. “Seriously. You get hurt and Andyn will go all the way to Ghatha herself to chew you a new one.”

“I’m going to chew you out either way if that scarf isn’t fixed next time I see you!” The deerling teases, nodding at the ill-fitting scarf around Nia’s neck. “I’m telling you, a bow is all the rage.” She flicks her ear, where her own pink bow rests.

Nia laughs, some of her tension rolling away. “I know, I know! You told me already! Thanks again for stopping by to let us know, guys. We’ll go see August about it tomorrow.” The riolu looks to Tobias, eyebrows raising encouragingly.

He stares back at her with a flat expression, taking another bite of his rawst berry. He’s not thanking them. He didn’t sign up to be friends with these two.

Nia sighs, then smiles again at the duo. “Thanks for the fruit. You guys be safe too, okay?”

And with that, the sneasel and the deerling head out of the training floor. Tobias finally finishes his second rawst berry, and Nia hurries to scarf down a sitrus berry before their break ends. When Val catches their attention a few minutes later with a loud clap, Nia tries to brush the berry juice off her paws and only looks dismayed when it makes her fur stickier. Tobias barks a laugh and revels in the pout she shoots him.

After that, Val has them continue their earlier mode of sparring for a while longer, reminding them to lean into the styles of fighting they’re less comfortable with and watching as they go through round after round, Tobias winning most but Nia catching him off-guard occasionally. Once or twice Val breaks up the battle in order to correct Nia’s form or demonstrate a new technique to Tobias, patiently answering the riolu’s endless questions and not commenting when Tobias gets frustrated, simply pointing out where he’s leaning his weight wrong or turning too sharply before prompting him to start again. The medicham annoys him, but he has to admit she knows what she’s doing when it comes to fighting, so he silently takes her advice and tries to incorporate it into the practice rounds that follow.

Tobias doesn’t know how long he and Nia spar until Val calls for them to stop, but judging from the late afternoon light filtering into the training floor, it’s been a while. Tobias and Nia both slump with exhaustion, breathing hard as Val walks over to them.

The medicham is holding a few things in her hands, and without a word she hands them over—a wooden thermos for Nia, and a small pouch of berries for Tobias. “I picked these up earlier. Hydrate and catch your breath.”

With that, Val sits cross-legged nearby and closes her eyes, apparently finished with the conversation. Nia sits down and unscrews the cap of her thermos with a curious look, making an excited noise at the discovery of water before tipping it back and taking huge gulps. Tobias snorts and sits as well, digging through the berries to pick out a yache berry before biting into the bright blue skin of it. It’s chilled on his tongue, slightly sour, but juicy and refreshing.

Nia finally lowers the drink with a gasp, chin wet from where she dripped water all over herself. Tobias gives her an openly judgmental look that the riolu misinterprets entirely.

“Oh! Sorry, here! I didn’t mean to hog it all for myself.” She offers the thermos to him, and Tobias leans away from the offering, curling his lip.

“I’d rather not deal with being nauseous all night, thanks.”

Nia blinks at him. “But…aren’t you thirsty?”

“I’m a fire type.”

“Oh.” Nia tilts her head and frowns at him. “Fire types don’t drink water?”

“Have you ever seen me drink anything?”

Nia thinks for a moment, then hesitantly shakes her head. “I…I guess not. I never noticed that before. But how do you stay hydrated? Surely you need some form of water in your system, but I know you don’t absorb it through your skin like a frog since water hurts you so—”

Tobias throws one of his berries at her to get her to shut up. “Why do you think I’m eating these?”

Nia picks the berry up, rolling it between her fingers and squinting at it. “Wait…These look familiar, but I don’t think I’ve eaten one before.”

“You’ve probably seen them on my tray in the cafeteria. They’re usually saved for the few Pokemon around the guild weak to water.”

Nia’s mouth drops open to a fascinated little “o.” “So these keep you hydrated?”

“A lot of different foods do, but yeah. Fire types don’t need a lot of hydration—we’re built for a lack of it. But I still need some greens and berries in my diet to get water in a way that won’t make me sick.”

Nia frowns. “So you can’t drink water at all?”

“I could,” Tobias says around a mouthful of juicy berry. “But I’d feel awful all day. Getting liquids through food doesn’t mess with my stomach the same way. Something about the other nutrients and stuff in it, I think.”

Nia looks absolutely enthralled by this information, still rolling the berry around in her palms. “That’s so cool!”

Tobias shrugs. He doesn’t really see what the big deal is, but he’s mostly used to the riolu’s strange overreactions by now. “’S just normal for us. And don’t ask me fifty questions about it because I don’t really know how it works.”

Nia nods, finally putting the berry aside to sip at her water. “I’ll talk to Alistair before we leave and see if he has any books about it in the archive.”

Tobias rolls his eyes. “Not like we don’t have enough stacks of books where we’re supposed to be sleeping. Also, eat that berry. I’m not going to after your grubby paws were all over it.”

Nia ignores the jab, apparently too excited about getting to try a new food. She stuffs the berry in her mouth without hesitation and her face lights up. “It’s super juicy! Like a watermelon or something!”

“Kinda the point,” Tobias drawls, finishing off another berry. Nia hums and sips at her drink again, paws tapping to some invisible beat as they rest.

After a few minutes, Val opens her eyes, turning to Nia. “Riolu.”

Nia jumps, startled out of her thoughts, “Y-Yes?”

“You attempted to use your aura earlier, when sparring with Tobias. Correct?”

Huh. So Val did catch that. He thought she’d missed the quick flash of blue in the midst of everything.

“Oh!” Nia sets the thermos aside. “Um, yeah. Tobias brought up using my aura in battle so I thought I’d try it, b-but I, um…wasn’t really sure what to do with it. I didn’t want to exhaust myself if it wasn’t even going to work, so I only tried it once.”

Val narrows her eyes at Nia, looking thoughtful. “Are you too exhausted to summon your aura right now? Do not lie.”

Tobias snorts at the subtle scolding, watching as Nia’s posture shrinks with guilt. Overworking her aura and trying to wave off her exhaustion in order to learn more about it sounds exactly like something she’d do.

“I-I’m tired and sore,” Nia admits. “But I could still do some aura stuff! I don’t feel sick or anything yet!”

Val doesn’t look convinced, but after a moment she does continue. “We will not be doing a full lesson on aura. You have done enough physical training for today. I only want to introduce a basic idea, so you can eventually use your aura to cover the blind spots left by your lack of moves.”

Nia perks up. “Wait, really?! Yes, please teach me!”

Val sighs, and for once Tobias relates to her. “We are only practicing this once. Understood? You may practice it on your own time, of course, but only after you have rested.”

Nia opens her mouth, probably to mindlessly agree, but Val cuts her off by looking at Tobias and adding, “Charmander will tell me if you do not follow this guideline.”

Tobias isn’t sure whether to growl at the medicham for implying that he’ll follow her orders or laugh at how Nia looks genuinely offended for needing a chaperone. But if Nia makes herself sick by overworking her aura, that’ll throw a wrench in their team’s development, so he should probably agree this one time.

“Sure,” Tobias says with a shrug, smirking as Nia gives him a betrayed expression.

Val nods and turns back to Nia. “Are we clear, Riolu? You are not to overwork your aura.”

Nia groans, outnumbered. “Fine. I’ll be careful.”

“Good. Now, summon your aura as you usually do.”

Nia nods, eagerly sitting up and holding a paw out in front of her. Almost immediately, a small turquoise flame flickers into existence in her palm. She’s getting a lot quicker at that. It’s strange, to think that according to these two that energy is somehow connected to Nia’s very being, to her soul. That it’s somehow the energy that keeps her alive, and not just an energy granted to her through her typing.

“As we cannot currently practice your moves, we will advance your aura training,” Val says. “The next step is to make your aura a physical, tangible force that you can use in battle, both to attack and defend.”

Nia, bathed in the blue glow of her aura, looks awestruck at the idea. “How do I do that?”

“Like most issues concerning your aura, it is a matter of willing your energy to form a specific way. You know how to summon it. Now you must make it change shape and solidify. Imagine what form you want it to take, how you want it to feel, and learn to balance how much energy is needed for both.”

Well, that sounds like a load of nonsense. Tobias finishes off his last berry and watches idly as Nia glares at the aura in her palm. Either Val’s words made a lot more sense to her or she’s just used to the medicham’s cryptic advice, because she doesn’t ask for clarification. After a few moments, the aura in Nia’s paw wavers, the shape of it twisting and folding into something shorter, more ball-shaped. Then, all at once the flame sputters out of sight and Nia doubles over with a gasp, like she’d been holding her breath.

Tobias shoots Val a questioning frown. The medicham doesn’t look worried, though, simply waiting for the riolu’s breathing to even out again.

Once it has and Nia sits back up, looking even more fatigued but not necessarily in pain, Val says, “That was a good start.”

Nia gives her a weak, skeptical smile. “Really? Felt like I didn’t do much.”

“You have had a long day of training,” Val assures. “And you are trying something entirely new. You will not understand how to do it immediately, but you will figure it out. You are a very fast learner in terms of aura.”

Nia seems stunned into silence, and Tobias can’t really blame her. For Val, that’s some seriously high praise.

Val stands before Nia can stutter out a response, apparently deeming the lesson over for the day. “Once you are rested, feel free to practice on your own. Focus on changing the shape of the aura, and on solidifying the consistency. Eventually, you will be able to use it to form weapons and shields at will.”

Nia nods as she stands, stumbling on her paws and catching herself on Tobias’ arm. He barely resists shaking her off as she steadies herself.

“R-Right!”

Val gives Nia another stern look, pointing a finger at her in a way that feels almost comical for the stoic medicham. “I repeat: do not take that as permission to overwork yourself. You must learn boundaries for your own body. Charmander—” she turns her look onto Tobias. “—You will keep her from overworking her aura, or you both will face punishment.”

Tobias rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’ll make sure she doesn’t knock herself out.”

“Hey! I wouldn’t go that far,” Nia protests weakly.

Val ignores her. “In that case, you are both free to go. Tell Magnolia you did well today.”

Nia beams at the compliment, annoyance forgotten, and bows to the medicham. “Thank you, Val! Have a good night!”

Tobias hesitates, meeting Val’s dark gaze as his earlier frustrations with the medicham fight to resurface. He feels like he should still be angry with her for her stupid training decisions regarding Nia’s moves, but other than that she hasn’t been awful to work with today. Eventually he just gives her a nod before turning away and following Nia as they make their way out of the training floor. The riolu takes a brief detour to scoop up the tiny basket her friends had brought earlier, offering it to Tobias again. He picks a cheri berry out from the meager pile left and nibbles on it as they walk.

Nia tucks the basket against her hip, rolling her free arm and stretching out the muscles there. Then, with a too-casual note to her voice, she says, “So…you aren’t actually going to tell on me if I practice with my aura more tonight, right?”

Tobias snorts. “I will tell Val without an ounce of hesitation.”

“What?” Nia yelps. “Why?!”

“I’m positive Val has some other weird way of finding out if you overwork yourself on my watch, and I am not dealing with whatever punishment she has in mind if I let you go wild.”

Nia pouts. “I wish she’d be less serious about this. It’s not like I’m hurting anyone.”

“You’re hurting yourself, idiot,” Tobias points out. “And when is Val not serious? Look, as long as you don’t overwork yourself to exhaustion and don’t practice your creepy aura powers on me, I don’t really care.”

“They’re not creepy,” Nia objects half-heartedly, turning a curious look onto him. “Does the thought of me reading your aura really bother you that much? I noticed you didn’t seem big on it before, but…”

“If you aren’t exaggerating, you’re literally looking at someone’s soul. How is that not creepy? Did Xander’s freak-out not clue you in to that?”

Nia flinches and murmurs, “Please don’t bring that up.”

Tobias sighs. “It’s just…okay, yeah, for you it’s this cool power, but for someone who really doesn’t want to share the most private thing about them? It sounds terrible.”

Nia goes quiet as they drag their tired bodies up the stairs towards the medical floor, looking down at her paws with an upset expression. Tobias might feel a bit guilty if he didn’t think the riolu was a bit too lackadaisical with her aura reading abilities. Sure, maybe some Pokemon don’t mind sharing literally the most honest portrayal of who they are with Nia, but Tobias is not one of them. Even if he probably shouldn’t have used Xander against her like that, Tobias is relieved that someone else had a negative reaction to having their aura read so he can use them as an excuse. Sometimes you just don’t want other people to know you to such an intimate, vulnerable degree. Don’t want them to know how you really are.

And sometimes you don’t want to know yourself, either.

“Okay. I won’t do it without asking first.”

Tobias looks at Nia. “What?”

The riolu meets his gaze, voice and expression equally serious. “I won’t ever look at your aura without asking you for your permission first. I promise.”

Tobias feels like it’s stupid to take that at face value, but can’t really find it in himself to doubt the riolu at this point. She’s a terrible liar and lays her emotions out for everyone to see without a second thought. Plus, what can he even do to stop her if she wants to break that promise?

“Fine,” he sighs. “Again, I don’t care if you practice your aura when I’m around. It’d be good for you to have those abilities for battles. Just don’t use them to look at my aura.”

“I won’t,” Nia says, with another serious nod.

The two of them continue their slog up the tree, the heavy silence lightened somewhat. Tobias glances over when he sees Nia stretching out her arm again, extending it and bending it as if to work out some soreness. On closer inspection, Tobias realizes it’s the arm her bite wound is on from the outlaw. He frowns. “Did you hurt your arm again today?”

Nia shakes her head. “It’s fine. Just feels a little weird with the scabbing and everything. I’m still trying to get over how fast it sealed up, honestly. It’s only been like two days! Pokemon heal so quickly.”

“How long would it take for a human to heal from that bite?”

Nia hums thoughtfully. “It depends, really. But something this deep? I’d guess at least a week for it to scab over, maybe another two or three for it to fully close up. You’d probably need stitches, actually.”

Tobias gives her an incredulous look. “That long?”

Nia laughs. “Well, we don’t really pick fights as often as Pokémon do, so it kind of makes sense.” The riolu pauses, then adds, “I wonder if it’ll scar? Or if you’ll even be able to see it with my fur.”

Tobias shrugs, hand drifting up to feel the worn fabric of his own scarf. “If it does, you could always tie your scarf around it, like we did to stop the wound when it was bleeding everywhere.”

Nia doesn’t answer for a few moments, looking thoughtful. “I don’t think the scarring would bother me, but I do still need to figure out how to wear my scarf, since I think my neck is out of the equation.”

Tobias snorts and glances at the riolu. She’s fiddling with the scarf buried ridiculously deep in the fluffy collar of fur around her neck. “Yeah, anything is better than the disaster you’re sporting right now.”

“Way too much fluff,” Nia agrees. “I’ll try it out! Would you mind helping me tie it?”

Tobias’ immediate reaction is to not-so-politely decline, but he catches himself. Teamwork. Partners. They’re partners. It’s not like taking thirty seconds to help the riolu with her scarf each morning is going to set them back in any serious way.

He sighs. “You’re hopeless.”

“So...”

“I’ll help you tie the dang thing.”

Nia does a fist-pump with her uninjured arm. “Yes! Thank you!”

Tobias shakes his head, but he can’t manage actual irritation towards the riolu. If Nia finally starts wearing her scarf, they’ll look like an actual team. Real Seekers.

And he has to admit he likes the thought of that.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #riolu #charmander #pmd seekers of soul #tesha draws #tesha writes

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mirror-vicit-omnia · 3 years

Text

Ya know what? F*ck it. DMC Heathers!AU where Dante is Jason Dean but never tries to blow up the school or murder anybody and the reader is Veronica.

Dante has an adoptive jackass dad, Big Blood Dean. Sparda is in hell and Eva is dead. Vergil is a missing person's case no one can solve. Big Blood Dean adopted him for the money and drags Dante all across the map with his shady deconstruction company.

The reader is in the same situation as veronica, it goes to canon. They get an in with the Heathers, there's probably a Martha involved.

Fight For Me. Just imagine Dante kicking ass. Those jocks wouldn't stand a chance in a million years.

I like the West End performance for all this.

Dante doesn't quote Baudelaire (if this was Vergil instead of Dante, yes he would have)

Reader: "Okay, don't just drop a snappy one-liner and then walk away! Excuse me? I didn't catch your name?"

Dante, all devil-may-care swagger: "Well, I didn't throw it."

If you think Jason Dean was a good fighter, you should see dante. He's always finding places to train with his sword and picking fights to keep sharp. Yep, he still has demonic powers and demonic heritage and a demonic sword.

He's been dragged to 10 different high schools. Now, Dante is the kind of guy who can just drop everything, pick up and go, if it weren't for the fact that he's adoptive dad sucks. Yeah, he's asking himself these days why he didn't just bail sooner.

He probably tried to run away when he was younger and the cops found him. Even young little Dante knew not to let anyone know about his demon heritage I guess. I don't know.

Anyway, enough logic!

The reader and Dante do not cause the death of Heather chandler. Maybe they think they did, cuz Dante still made the joke of poisoning Heather, and the mugs still got switched up, but later on after the entire world thinks Heather Chandler died a saint, the reader tells Dante that she doesn't think whatever Heather drank was what killed her.

Of course, the body is gone and so is any evidence that could have told them otherwise.

Meanwhile, Heather Duke rises in red and Kurt and Ram insist that they slept with the reader and did drugs.

Dante picks the reader up when they fall apart crying. He does set up the plan of baiting the jocks to the cemetery at dawn. But he's actually planning to knock them out and do some crazy embarrassing stuff with them, the kind of immature terror that only Young men can conceive of and inflict on one another.

Chloroform is involved. Dante packs his gun for safety. He's not a demon Hunter yet, but he knows what's out there, and there's no way he's walking into a cemetery without one weapon at least.

So, the jocks were probably going to wake up naked and tied up on a monument in the Town square or a landmark for everyone to see. It might even make the papers, since this town is so small. Dante would fleece them for their money, and encourage the reader to do the same.

"Hey, how about we divvy it up? One for you, one for me. One for you, and one, two for me- Ow! Fine, whatever, take what you want!"

But what was meant to be a life ruining prank goes horribly wrong. They got Ram, but Kurt's streaking through the graveyard in his skivvies.

Dante sprints after him. "Don't worry, I'll get him back!"

Funny. Kurt should be here. Dante knows how fast a human can run. He checks behind the tombstones, but the jock simply isn't here. Like he just disappeared.

There's a shift in the air. Dante stands still. Even for a cemetery, it's too quiet. Not peaceful. Tents. Restless. Dante's just trotting back when he knows. The reader feels something, too, that pricking in the hind brain that sets the hairs standing. Dante flicks back the red tails of his duster and pulls out his gun.

Reader: "Woah! Are those guns real?!"

Dante flexes his bicep: "'Course they are, babe!"

Reader: "No! I mean th-!"

Bang! A murder of crows take to the air. The only thing more unnerving than the mist and the gunshot is the cold hard gleam in Dante's eye.

And something in the tombstones growls.

Basically, there's probably some small hellgate in the area. Weak demons are leaking through.

The plot turns away from Heather's and fake suicides and mental illness into an '80s horror slasher flick in which Dante and the reader survive and work together to break the hell gate. Dante's dad might end up dead in the process, not by his hands but just because. Alternatively, Dante decides that he's turning 18 in a couple of months and soon the law won't be able to chase after him. He doesn't know what he's going to do with his life, but he sure as hell isn't letting big blood Dean drag him anywhere anymore.

Either way, it's implied that Dante finds his calling through this story.

And becomes a demon hunter.

Demons might have been possessing people or killing people and making it look like suicides so they can drain the humans of their blood when they're brought to the morgue. A bunch of lesser demons serving a relatively stronger demon.

It serves a similar effect as the sensationalization of fake suicides in the musical's plot. Only now the reader forged the suicide notes and set up the fake suicides in order to protect them both. There's no way the law was going to buy the truth.

The reader still has to deal with Heather duke, Heather mcnamara, the horrors of the hierarchy of the high school. They deal with Miss Fleming and the assembly. Is Heather McNamara from actually committing suicide, but then there's still a demon attack that they have to somehow protect both of them from. And this is taking place in the '80s, so there are no cell phones and the landline is cut.

The hellgate was dormant under the boiler room in the high school.

If Dante got possessed, we could still have some Dead Girl Walking (Reprise) and the reader shoots him but it's Dante so he survives!

Whatever was possessing him was nowhere near as good at fighting as a human.

Cherry flavored slushies. Dante drinks cherry flavored slushies, and when he sings I thought emotional part where he accidentally reveals thoughts of suicide, he tries to brush it off with humor, as always.

Still our favorite chaotic half demon.

Cherry flavored slurpees and pizza and teenage detective work that dpuble as dates. Dante doesn't give a s*** and just wants to be pointed in the direction of the fight. The reader is actually doing research and carefully trying to piece together what is going on. Dante provides whatever he knows on demons. And hell.

Dante: "Yeah, my dad is the legendary demon Sparda. My mom and brother died in a demon attack on our house and that's why I'm in foster care."

Reader: "Okay... Sounds fake, but okay..."

Dante gets shot right in the chest. Reader freaks out, but still manages to blow up the hell gate with a bomb and thermals. To collapse the whole gymnasium, which is empty.

They crawl out of the dust. Shaking, a lot to process all at once.

Then there's a whistle. And impressed whistle. The reader looks up. It's Dante, standing strong and straight and waving at dust like he's not squirting blood out of the hole in his chest. "Now, that was some fireworks! Remind me to invite you to my next birthday party."

And that was when the reader believed that he was actually half demon.

Plot twist a faculty member opened the hell gate and it's Miss Fleming the hippie.

I wanted to feel more 80s than it sounds here, and other than that that's all I've got.

Edit 8/20/21

The reader wears the blue Heathers uniform. Short grey skirt and all.

Or if you don't like skirts, then trousers. Tight, flattering trousers. Dante loves to watch how they pull in all the right places.

The two of you are hanging out upstairs in his room, talking about the deaths. The read is worried, fretting over the mystery, flipping through pages in their notebook; Dante sprawls next to them, half hanging off the bed, head in their lap, yawning. The front door opens and bangs shut. Dante springs out of his seat. Suddenly, he wants to get out if the house.

"Hey, do you want some ice cream? Dairy Queen, strawberry sundae, you and me. C'mon!"

Big Blood Dean stomps upstairs. "Dante! Get yer worthless ass in gear! We gotta a job, you gotta go on a supply run-"

Dean barges right on in. Looks at Dante. Looks at the reader. "You got company."

"S'there a problem?" Dante sounds cool. Too cool. He's on his feet and wandering about the room, like he's bored. The reader tenses. Dean is huge, but he somehow looms beyond his size.

Dante does his careless waltz. The reader can't take their eyes off Dean. Like a frightened animal. How can Dante expose his back like that?!

But by getting up, he's put himself between you and his adoptive parent.

"Get rid of them," orders Dean.

Shrugging, Dante pats your knee. "Alright, c'mon, babe." He leads you by the elbow to the window. You still keep an eye on Dean. He's glaring.

Dante throws open the window and bows. "After you!"

"Um, the front door is...?"

He's not serious.

"Go on!"

He's serious.

Hesitant, you stick a leg through and let him push you the rest of the way out. Then he slips out, too

"You come back here, boy-!"

"See ya, old man!" Dante slams the window shut.

"Is he going to lock you out?" You ask as you shimmy down the drain pipe.

"He can't. You broke my window lock."

Dante buys two Sundaes because he doesn't want to share; after he polishes off his, he's snatching bites of yours.

He used the "Nevada account."

(Update 9-20-21)

And this whole story would be even better with JD!Virgil instead.

Virgil didn't have time yet to harden from the demon attack before Big Blood Dean adopted him.

This is all much the same as with JD!Dante, except that Virgil gets darker (not that Veronica!Reader knows how bad it is; they didn't accidentally murder Heather together) carries a gun and everything.

In the big final fight, Virgil runs out of ammo. Demons have cornered him. It's the house, his Mom, Dante, all over again.

One blink later, the demons are all dead, slashed open. Virgil shakes as he yanks on the handle in his grip, and pulls out the blade from a soft belly.

Yamato. How did it get here? These demons are unrecognizable, like dead carrion at a butchers. Did I do this? He thinks, distant and fuzzy, as he watches his hands like watching a film as they flip his sword.

Humans are weak. Humans are wretched.

The reader's smile passes through his mind.

... Perhaps not all humans are... Deserving of death.

They're just weak. Virgil flicks gore off the sword, and heads to his house, looking for Big Blood Dean.

He didn't like the way Dean had scared you with the "Norwegian in the Boiler Room" talk, anyway.

(Spoilers: Dean doesn't live. And Virgil loves you, but this was mostly for him. It's the tipping point, and afterwards he chooses his demonic heritage over humanity. But less "kill them all" and more "purge those who dare cross our path- but don't tell Reader, they get upset easily." What they don't know can't hurt them- and you have Virgil to thank.)

You two definitely run away together at the end. Off to explore knowledge of demons and Hell and whatever else.

You want to seal off the Hellgates that are being all over the world.

Virgil wants to level-grind.

It's couples-time, really.

#DMC x Heathers #heathers au #dmc #dante dmc #dante x reader #dmc dante #dmc dante x reader #my post #my writing

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lrissa · 3 years

Text

I’m right here

summary: levi and you have grown close in the underground, but when you’re forced to join the Survey Corps and attend your first expedition it all goes south

warnings: vomiting, angst, fluff, all of levi’s ova

this one is long, apologies.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩

Levi, Isabel, Farlan and you flew through the air with the Military Police hot on your tail. Recently you were given information on a secret mission, to kill Erwin Smith.

Happiness tingled in every bone of your body, it was close to the time for you to go to the surface with Levi, to experience the sun together.

“The military police again? Haven’t learnt their lesson have they?” Isabel remarked with a cocky tone, peering back at our pursuers.

“Levi-bro! What I just said was cool, right?” She grinned widely and you smiled at her, already knowing Levi’s answer.

“Are you an idiot?” The raven head answered, Isabels face turned into a frown and she rolled her eyes.

Levi took off with his ODM and spun around before latching his grapples onto a wall, perched there for a moment while the attackers followed him as he jumped off, spinning backwards and joining us again.

“Show off.” You retorted as Levi stayed silent.

“Those movements, they’re not Military Police!” Farlan commented as he stared back at the enemies

“No mistake, its them,” Levi broke through, keeping his eyesight strained forwards “That Wings of Freedom crest.. It’s the Survey Corps.”

You stared wide eyed then looked past your shoulder at them.

“Heh, as people who battle titans they’re as different as expected.” Farlan lightly joked

“You guys... You know, right?” Levi inquired.

“It’s the job, right” You answered, hair whipping behind you as you flew forwards.

Instantly you all released your ODM’s and shot them off in separate directions, splitting up.

Gazing back you examined as one followed you, narrowing your eyes you fixated your eyes straight.

‘Show me how good you really are’ You thought.

Nearing a tunnel you shot your ODM inside, spinning into a ball to gain quicker on it, flattening out once inside.

Exiting the tunnel you noticed someone above you, eyes widening you shot forwards, releasing your gas excessively. Letting one grapple go you swung around on the one, watching as your pursuer anticipatied this they unsheathed their blades and went to strike you, dodging barely you fell back into a crate full of food.

Tumbling backwards you grunted, glaring as he ran after your fleeting figure. Finally gaining ground you straighten up until being thrown onto the floor again by a man.

You yelled and flipped eachother over, throwing punches at the mans face while another hooded figure came from the side. Throwing you off the man as you slid across the floor

Jumping up you gained your ground and pulled out a small dagger whilst they wielded their long blades.

One threw their blade at your knife, unsuspecting this it succeeded and they ran at you. Eyes widening as they kicked down one of your legs, landing painfully onto the hard stone.

Placing your hands behind your back they cuffed you and hoisted you up, struggling against their grip.

“You think you’re so strong.. Well fuck off” You sneered as they smacked the back of your head, furrowing your brows at the surprise.

Levi soon came into view with a blonde man holding a blade to him, anger spiked through every nerve in your body. With your futile attempts to get out the grasp of the handcuffs your wrists began to become red with irritation.

Levi’s eyes locked with yours and his eyes narrowed, the blonde man muttering things to Levi before he opened his palm to release his dagger.

“Levi!” You yelled and tried to break free of your captor.

Levi took steps back as a new Survey Corps came up behind him and placed the handcuffs on him.

Bringing us over they lined us up and made us go on our knees, staring at the ground your hair hung over your eyes.

Levi was to the left of you, turning your head you peered at him, there was a distant look in his eyes as he hyper fixated on the ground beneath him. You frowned and returned your gaze back to the floor.

“I’ll ask a few questions.” The blonde one asserted infront of you all “Where did you get this?”

There was silence as we all kept our mouth shut, why would we fucking tell you, idiot.

“You guys are skilled with 3D Maneuver Gear. Who taught you all that?” The man questioned again.

He walked towards Levi, stopping infront of him. “You’re their leader, right?” he persists “Were you in the Military?”

Suddenly a man grabs the back of Levi’s head, his fists knotting in his hair as he slammed his head into a puddle of mud.

Your head shot up immediately “Let him go!” You yelled and struggled against your cuffs, your gaze deathly as you glared at the man holding Levi.

“I’ll ask one more time. Where did you learn to use 3D Maneuver Gear?”

Your face was in a large scowl as your eyes were trained on the man restraining Levi, if looks could kill he’d be doubled over.

“We learned it by ourselves!” Farlan shouted

“Self taught you say? No.”

“It’s just so we can rise even a bit in this dirty garbage place!” Farlan persisted, shouting “People who’re used to sunlight wouldn’t understand!”

“That’s enough! Let bro go.” Isabel shouted at the blonde giant, “Dont be cocky just because you’re soilders!”

“Take your filthy hands off him.” You seethed at the one gripping Levi’s hair, paying no mind to you.

Eventually he lifted Levi’s head from the dirty mud whilst the man squatted infront of him.

“My name is Erwin Smith. Yours is?”

“Levi.”

“Levi, why don’t we make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“I will let your crimes go unpunished. In return lend me your strength, join the Survey Corps.”

Your eyes widened and you gasped lightly “Levi, no...” You called, the Survey Corps were extremely dangerous and you didn’t want Levi to risk his life by himself.

“And if I refuse?”

“The Military Police will have you, considering all your crimes, you and your friends won’t be treated very nicely.” The man stood and returned to his original placement, “Choose whichever you prefer.”

There was a long pause as Levi considered this, thoughts of you flashed through his mind vaguely. He didn’t want you beaten for his choice, but neither did he want Farlan and Isabel to either.

“Fine.”

You looked down at the floor, a frown evident on your face as you shook your head.

“I’ll join the Survey Corps.”

You were going with him no matter what.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

“Introduce yourselves!” Bellowed a voice as you stood, leaning your weight against one hip as you crossed your arms over your chest.

You all ended up joining the Survey Corps and stood wearing the outfit, atleast it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“The names Levi.”

“Levi.. The first thing you’ll need is some goddamn discipline,” argued the commander “Next.”

“I’m Isabel Magnolia! Nice to meetcha!”

“My name is... Farlan Church.”

With your arms crossed you studied the crowd as they waited for you,

“My name is Y/N.”

“Flagon, these four will be assigned to your squad.” Ordered the Commander.

The introductions ended and Flagon brought them to the barracks, they began to converse amongst eachother as you walked behind Levi.

His hand lifted and rubbed behind the wood, dust falling and sticking to his fingertips. Farlan, Isabel, and your eyes all widened in fear as you quickly noticed what it was.

“I know you all lived in the underground, but try to keep this place paper clean.” Stated the man.

“..Huh?” Levi remarked as he walked towards Flagon, his gaze icy with a glare.

“Why are you looking at me like that? How dare you.”

Farlan rushed forwards and placed a hand between the two, “Sorry! We will keep this place clean.”

Flagon nodded and headed for the door “Training begins to tomorrow,” and left.

You looked back at Levi, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder, gingerly squeezing it.

“Don’t pull anymore tricks like that Levi.” Commented Farlan as he watched him clean the filth off his fingers.

Levi frowned angrily and looked past you to Farlan “Did you not hear what that piece of shit had spouting out of his piece of shit mouth?”

You grinned a bit at that and stepped away from Levi, sitting down on the bed as you let the two argue. Resting your head in your hands whilst you shut your eyes.

You felt the bed dip and removed your hands, looking to see Levi. A disgusted look present on his face as he couldn’t believe he was sitting in such filth.

“Levi, are you worried?” You asked softly. You and Levi’s sides were pressed together as he stared straight on.

“Yes, but we have training tomorrow. Then we can finally see how real this is.” He remarked as you nodded, taking his hand in both of yours. He allowed you to, his gaze staring at your hands.

“I wish you hadn’t come.” Levi added, your eyes snapped to his as you held eye contact.

“What, and let you come here by yourself and get potentially killed. Fuck no.” You snapped at him whilst your grip on his hand tightening.

Levi’s gaze softened at you, he knew these titans were dangerous and he was terrified. Terrified for your safety, but he’d never show it.

Suddenly you released your grip on his hand and instead wrapped them around his neck, pulling him close to you as you put your head in the crook of his neck. He smelt of soap and artificial flowers from a cleaning product.

Levi had stiffened under your touch, his heart beat quickly. His mouth only a fraction open as he registered the human contact. A warm feeling bloomed in his chest and clenched his heart, warmth spreading throughout his body. It lasted mere seconds until his face went back to emotionless. His arms slowly wrapped around your waist and he breathed in your scent momentarily. You smelt of light flowers and vanilla. He loved it almost instantly.

Despite his wishes, his eyes shut and his grip on you tightened. Taking in this moment for he was fearful it’d be the first and last. Pulling back slowly, his hands traced along your waist to your cheeks as he cupped them gently.

Your hand gingerly hovered over his as you two stared at eachother, the tension so strong it gripped your heart and squeezed. His eyes flickered to your lips, his thumb extended from your soft skin to your plump lips, rubbing it tenderly.

Running your hand along his arm you traced it to his hair, your nails going through his silky raven locks until your hand reached the back of his neck where his hair began.

Inching him closer, “Levi..” you whispered delicately. Your noses nearly touching as your eyes fluttered shut, Levi took this as acceptance as his lips neared yours.

BANG

“Levi, Y/N,” Farlan.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

It was the morning after and you stood, unsheathing the blades from your gear, turning and flipping them as you inspected the sharp objects.

“Eh, what do you think your doing?”

Holding the blades you turned to gaze at one of the captains, flipping the blades you gripped them correctly.

“Don’t worry, if I wanted to kill you, I would’ve.” You remarked with a small grin as the captain’s mouth gaped open until his face contoured into one of anger.

“Do not talk to your superior like that—“ Bellowed the captain before you took off into the trees, a laugh following you as it left your lips.

Soaring through the tall trees you kept your eyes honed on any fast approaching objects, gripping your blades tighter as you steadied your breathing.

A large cardboard cutout rose from the trees infront of you, it was bigger than an average human but small when maneuvering above it.

You gasped lightly and faltered momentarily. Leaving your trance you scowled and sent off an ODM on the tree above.

Grappled to the tree you were perched on the tree bark, readying your blades you sent off the ODM on its nape and sliced it through successfully. Grappling away instantly to look for more.

Adrenaline flowed through you, your eyes crazed more as you came across another. Using the nearby trees to swing above and behind the cardboard titan, spinning around you glided above the nape. Grappling the nape and slicing through it perfectly.

The one controlling the cardboard titan stared up at you in shock, how was she so fast?

Continuing this until you made it back to the rest, landing smoothly your eyes scanned the crowd. Spotting Levi you rushed over, grabbing his arm whilst his cold glare turned to look at his grabber.

Levi’s gaze softened realizing it was you and planted a hand on your head, his fingers tangling in your hair before they trailed down your locks and let go.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

“I’ll be going alone.”

Levi’s words echoed in your mind as you stared at him, eyes wide. Tch, who does Levi think he is. A scowl formed on your face and your hands clenched into a fist.

“What?” Isabel and Farlan spoke in unison with shocked expressions.

“You three must make up and excuse to stay behind.”

“But bro, why!?” Isabel exclaimed loudly.

“We haven’t seen a real titan yet and it will be our first time outside the walls. It may take all we have to make it back alive. But if i’m by myself, i’ll manage somehow.”

“But..” You got up off the crate and stood, crossing your arms, “So you’re saying is that we can’t handle it?” You questioned briskly.

“That’s right, or atleast, how I feel.” Levi spoke coldly.

Isabel frowned deeply and walked towards Levi, her hands in fist as she shook slightly, “How can you say that? You won’t know till we tried!” She defended “What’s wrong? This isn’t like you,” She’d add.

Levi frowned and clenched his fist, glaring at you three “If you won’t stay behind, then we’re done talking!” he finalized and walked past you, his painful words attacking your heart as you hung your head.

They yelled for him to stop but you stayed silent, Isabel and Farlan began to argue. Looking up you gazed to where he’d gone, the roof.

Walking towards it, it brought the attention of Isabel and Farlan “Y/N” they began as you gestured your hand to follow.

Reaching the roof you noticed Levi sitting, the door opening had caught his attention, he stared at your nearing figure.

“Levi.” You spoke and walked forwards.

“Bro,” “Levi,” spoke Isabel and Farlan simultaneously.

“I can’t let you go alone.” Farlan demanded, standing confidently.

“You said we’d all go at once, have you forgotten?” Isabel added coldly.

You stopped almost infront of him, crossing your arms “We still have to see the beyond the wall.” Levi’s eyes widened and he lost air for a moment, turning back to the view of the roof.

“It’s the same. When you can’t see the moon or stars, the sky up here is just the same as down below.” Levi said dully, staring straight on.

You three looked up into the dark sky, clouds were clogging the beautiful sky from the stars and the planets beyond.

“The color sure, but..” Farlan began, “But it’s different” Isabel concluded as Levi turned his head to Isabel, “We know there’s no ceiling! It’s completely different.”

“Look,” you pointed into the sky, the gloomy clouds moved to reveal a bright moon. “The moon is so bright!” Isabel exclaimed loudly in an awe tone.

Farlan and Isabel took seats on the edge with Levi, staring up. You walked forwards and took a seat next to Levi, your knees touching as you yourself gazed up at the moon and stars.

“We’ll never go back down there.”

“She’s right bro. The four of us always pulled through, right? It’ll be the same with the titans. Let’s do this together.” Isabel grinned widely as she turned to look at her friends.

“Levi, believe in us.” Farlan spoke and looked to his friend, Levi’s eyes dilated when he heard this. His emotions were powerful but so were his friends determination.

Levi looked to the starry sky and pondered this, memories of his friends passed through his mind. Looking back down a smile had taken his lips “Alright. I’ll believe in you.”

“Yay!” Isabel yelled as she put her arms in the air whooping with joy, “Bro sure is a stubborn one isn’t he?”

Farlan began to chuckle whilst you placed your hand on Levi’s, interlacing eachothers fingers as you looked up to the sky. Levi stared at you with determination and most importantly love, the smile he held never ceased to falter from his face.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

“We will now begin the 23rd Expedition Beyond the Walls!” Bellowed the Commander of the Survey Corps, “Forward, Everyone!”

He whipped the reigns on his horse and took off, yelling loudly. Everyone followed his command and started off behind him. To the right of you was Levi, Farlan, then Isabel.

As you galloped under the wall it opened to reveal the great plains with some strips of trees. Tilting your head up you found the sun belting down on you, it was gorgeous, better than you could’ve imagined. The sunlight stretched as far as you could see, it’s bright rays lighting the beauty of the land.

Along with you, Farlan and Isabel seemed awestruck while they stared at the bright blue sky, “Wow!” Isabel spoke in awe.

“Yeah. Not bad at all.” Levi said from beside you, staring up he saw the sun. He had fulfilled his promise to Y/N, to go beyond the wall together. A faint smile on his usual bored lips.

“Levi, thank you.” You spoke from beside him, turning to look at the girl who grinned broadly, “Thank you for showing me.”

Levi stared at you, impossible to mutter the words he so badly wanted to say ‘I love you’.

He could only muster a nod at you and turn his head straight on, his heart beating wildly in his chest but his face a stoic one.

A girl scolded the four of you for losing focus, exclaiming we’d die before we know it.

“Titan spotted!”

Your gaze cut to look ahead of you, a 15 meter was running straight at your squad. Air hitched in your throat as you stared at it ‘So this is what a titan looks like’ you thought.

“Two 10-meter class titans are heading for us from behind!”

Snapping your head back you saw the other two titans, eyebrows furrowing.

“Prepare to attack! Equip your 3D Maneuver Gear!”

One man went to attack the titan, shooting his gear at it head on. Before the titans mouth gaped open and crunched down on the man.

Flagon quickly shot his ODM at a nearby tree, flying up off his horse and escalating on the titan, flying behind it and turning back to advance on it he striked at the nape, killing it as it tumbled to the ground.

You were shocked but felt the heavy footsteps of the titans behind you gaining, turning you looked to see the two titans.

“You three! Stay in your course!” Flagon shouted from ahead.

Suddenly a green cape flew by, fluttering in the wind as it headed straight for the two titans behind us.

“Levi!” You yelled and spun your horse around, whipping the reigns roughly as you leaned forwards on the horse, gaining speed by the second.

“Y/N! C’mon Isabel we can do this” Farlan called as they both turned their horses around, chasing after you and Levi.

You watched as Levi jumped off his horse and grappling to a tree behind them before grappling the titan and swinging around it until finally slicing its nape clean off. The surface rumbled as the titan fell to the ground, grass and soil flying into the air.

Taking a deep breath you stood on your horse, grappling to a tree. Unsheathing your blades you released the ODM on its leg, striking behind his knees. From above you saw Isabel get grabbed by the titan, fear striking your heart as you shot your ODM to save her.

Luckily, she cut off the fingers holding her and whooped loudly before swinging away. Farlan came from behind and swung at the nape, ending the titan. You were just infront the titan as you saw it begin to fall forwards, eyes widening as you grappled away hastily.

You landed on the ground and felt a gust of wind and dirt hit you heavily, protecting your eyes with your arm.

Dropping your arm you stood infront of the head of the titan, hot steam exiting into the air.

Levi came from behind you on his horse as he held the reigns of your stead, staring at your figure as you stood, nonmoving.

Despite your best efforts your hands shook from post shock, the blades shuddering in your grip as you still held them.

Levi got off his horse and came up from behind you, his arms snaking around your waist while he pulled your back to his chest.

“Levi..” You whispered softly as you felt your hands steady, sheathing your blades and placing your hands on his.

“Thank you..” Taking his hands off your stomach you held one and turned around, he only nodded at you and squeezed your hand before dropping it.

Isabel and Farlan came from ahead whilst you and Levi mounted your horses silently, “Levi! We took down a titan all by ourselves!” “We did it bro! We did it!” Isabel and Farlan said excitedly, huge grins on their faces.

“Yeah... You guys did well.” Levi agreed while you pet the mane of your horse gingerly.

“Indeed,” The sudden voice made you turn to see Erwin Smith, eyes widening a fraction “that was impressive, considering it was your first time. But you used too much gas. You need to be especially conservative out here.”

Farlan scowled and readied to argue before Levi put his hand out to stop him, speaking cooly, “You’re expecting me to take priority of my equipment over the lives of my friends?”

“You’re performing a lot of unnecessary movements. Are you beginning to have doubts?” Erwin challenged as Levi grimaced, “If you are, that’ll be the death of you very soon.”

You stared at Erwins retreating figure while Isabel and Farlan bickered amongst themselves.

Following after him soon after, the clouds beginning to turn a dark gray from above.

Small bullets of water began to rain down on the land, soaking everything it touched and fast.

Pulling your hood up you noticed fog cloud the area around you, your eyes darting to the areas of open land, fearful for a titan to appear.

“I didn’t know rain could be this heavy!” Isabel called

“We can’t even see any titans!” You exclaimed

“This is our chance.” Levi calmly spoke from ahead of you, “We’ll use the rain as cover and get close to Erwin.”

Small gasps left their mouths, they have totally forgotten their mission.

“Levi!” “Are we gonna do it bro?”

“Yeah. But it’d be suspicious if all three of us were to break away at once. I’ll go alone.”

You tsked and turned your head away from him, shaking it. He is so persistent to be independent all the damn time.

“True, it’s best not to carelessly move around.” Farlan stated.

“Alright fine, we’re counting on you bro! Go and secure our citizenship.” Isabel grinned widely, her teeth shining.

A terrible feeling was inside your chest, it was unexpected and hurt terribly. Something was bound to go wrong and you could feel it pierce your soul.

“If anyone asks, tell them I went to survey the terrain.” Levi gazed at you when he ended, noting the discomfort in your face.

“Y/N” The cool tone caught your attention as you looked to Levi, his eyes narrowing as he looked to you.

“Be safe.” Time slowed as he said this, this answered all your fears. Levi himself was terrified and he emitted it from his eyes, his eyes, they were so scared and vulnerable.

Time came back as he whipped the reigns of his horse and rode forwards, no..

“Levi!” You screamed as he turned his head to you.

“I love you!” You yelled as confidently as you could, his eyes and mouth visibly opening wide, his heart clenched with an igniting warmth. He snapped his head back forwards, he’d say those words when he returned, he had faith in your survival.

Levi’s figure disappeared into the fog as Isabel and Farlan gaped at you, a blush rushing to your cheeks when he never reciprocated it.

“Y/N..” You looked to them, they smiled at you “I’m sure bro loves you! How could he not?” Isabel exclaimed happily as you gave her a faint smile.

Minutes later from riding your hands shook lightly, gazing at your friends you sighed.

Then, Isabel was in the air, why was she in the air? But your eyes hadn’t registered the huge fleshy fingers gripping your close friend. Your eyes widened in fear as your mouth opened to scream for her, Farlan was beginning to unsheath his blades as he rose from his horse.

The titan brought your red headed friend to its mouth, why her? She was always so kind and optimistic. Her happiness always giving her hope in the darkness of this shitty world.

Tears pricked at your eyes as you watched it, watched the titan eat her small, fragile body. Blood, her blood, splattering yours and Farlans face.

“Isabel!” Your screams finally broke the trance you were in, unsheathing your blades and jumping off your horse. Tears streamed down your soft cheeks as you saw Isabels head fall to the floor and roll.

You screamed as you went behind the titan, slicing down its nape, slicing its arms, knees, hands, anything that was connected to the titan was gone or bloody.

Farlan fell to his knees with tears flowing down his face, looking down to Isabels mutilated head. Sobs wracked his bodily heavily as he moved the red hair from her bloody face.

A new titan came from where the other titan had come from, running at you. “Farlan!” You shouted madly as you crouched down quickly, shaking his shoulders violently as he sobbed.

“Farlan! We have to survive, for Levi!!” You screamed at him and kept shaking him, removing the hands from his eyes he stared at your confident look, slowly, he’d nod and shakily stand.

You shot your ODM at a tree and stared to the incoming titan, a hard scowl overcoming your features as you jumped up, grappling its arm.

The titan looked to you and his hand stuck out, you gasped and attempted to move out its way. But it’s hand had caught one of your legs, your eyes dilated as you watched your leg get crushed by the hands of a titan.

A scream left and echoed around you, your terrified and fearful screams.

Farlan came from behind the titan and sliced at its nape, stopping any further damage.

Grappling away quickly, fell to the ground as soon as you landed, your face was coated in filth. Mud and blood covered your body.

Sitting up, you groaned in pain as you looked ahead. Farlan was running to you, shouting for you to stay awake.

But, as there always is, was another titan, it was an abnormal as it ran over on its four limbs. Your eyesight was blurry, looking at Farlan infront of you. His worried gray orbs roaming over yours as you saw his mouth shout words at you.

“Titan..” you mustered out as Farlan spun around to see the abnormal, he was scared, upset, but mostly angry. Angry for the death of Isabel and Y/N’s injury, but more furious at his short life. Farlan was smart he knew he wouldn’t survive this one and it pained him but he’d fight for atleast Y/N to survive this.

He grappled off towards the titan, you watched with zero control. Pain sizzled up your leg and ignited your body in a fury of agony.

“Farlan!” You attempted to shout, reaching your hand out towards his retreating figure. He looked back at you and gave a smile, a smile at a time like this. You wailed loudly and slammed your fist into the dirt sobbing.

From the distance you heard the loud sobs and screams of Farlans last moments as the abnormal bit down on his abdomen, ending his suffering. There was silence but for the titan feasting on Farlan.

Your head hung downwards as wind blew through your hair, shutting your eyes as tears streamed down your face.

Clutching the grass around you, you went against your pain and pushed yourself up off the ground, resting your weight in your good leg.

Levi was in the distance, crouched infront of Isabels head. He hadn’t looked up as he stared at his red headed friend. ‘Y/N, Farlan. Where are they?” he thought painfully as he forced himself to look up.

He caught your standing figure staring at the abnormal, Farlans body dangling from its teethy grin. Levi’s eyes dilated and he immediately stood, unsheathing his blades he ran towards you and the titan.

The abnormal began to reach its hand out to you, it’s fingers unclenching and expanding to grab you.

Blood splattered your face, along with the ground thumping. The raven head stood infront of you with mutilated fingers behind him, his glossy eyes looked back at you and he shoved you.

Levi shoved you to the ground as you landed flat on your ass, you stared at him with an awestruck expression.

“Do not stand! I’ll kill it!” Levi yelled at you, your eyes darting to his hands. They shook violently before he ran towards the abnormal and grappled it.

You sat there like he had insisted you do, hair blew over your eyes as you surveyed the battlefield. Blood streaks littered the area and Isabel, oh Isabel. Farlans body was spit from the titans mouth as he thudded against the dirt, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and an intestine hung out his stomach.

Vomit come up your throat as you leaned over and hurled your morning breakfast, your body heaving as you fell onto your back, staring up at the gray sky. ‘Maybe it was like the undergound’ you pondered.

Far away were Levi’s shouts and screams as he sliced the titans whole body, so much so that the titans head flew off and rolled onto the ground, sputtering blood everywhere.

Blood poured out of every slice Levi had inflicted on the titan, he held no remorse for the monster as he sliced its hands clean off. Until finally, slicing its nape.

Levi landed and kneeled down, his black hair covering his eyes as he shook. He felt knees fall to the ground ahead of him and a hand touch his bloodied cheek.

His head snapped up and he was met with Y/N’s eyes, she rubbed his cheek tenderly. Staring at his dull gray eyes with love and vulnerability. Levi’s eyes glossed over as he was flushed with a wave of gratefulness, his true love lived through this hell.

“Levi... I’m here, I’m right here.”

Levi’s hands cupped your face and pulled you in quickly, your lips fusing together as your eyes fluttered shut. Tears leaked down your eyes as you moved your hands to the collar of his shirt, gripping it tightly.

Slowly he pulled back, your lips softly breaking apart as he rubbed away your tears with his thumbs.

“I love you too.”

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sillyguyhotline · 3 years

Note

17. “How is any of this ok?” with Joe and Sara maybe?

dude im gonna be completely honest i havent written anything in like a month so i think the quality isnt gonna be great but here goes nothing

God, Sara missed the feeling of home.

Every semblance of familiarity and comfort she’d once found in the town she’d grown up in, the house she’d spent her childhood running through, now felt chillingly foreign.

Perhaps it was the heavy burden of knowledge weighing fresh upon her shoulders: ASUNARO’s corruption seemed now to peer slyly around every corner, no matter where she went. She still didn’t know how much of the town had rotted away under its grasp, how much of the town its poison had pervaded… but she was probably better off not knowing.

Whatever was left of Midori, that miserable mix of pulsing blood and electronic emotion, had been ground to bits inside that coffin… but Sara couldn’t ignore the creeping fear that his burning, ever-present gaze would appear out of nowhere and terrorize her again.

But he wouldn’t. The death game was over, and they’d promised they would never hurt her or any of her loved ones again.

Most of the loved ones she still encountered day-to-day, gruesomely blood splattered and sitting like corpses propped up hastily in a corner, would be safe no matter if ASUNARO was fresh on her tail or a thousand miles away. What a cruel price to pay for safety, to never be hurt again.

They still lived on if Sara closed her eyes tight enough, if she listened to the twisting words of the hallucinations and let them convince her she was monstrous. But the second she dared to open her eyes, she knew they’d be dead again. Life worked in terrible ways, and that was all there was to it.

Joe’s house had always been a second home to her, ever since the two of them became friends. Joe was the farthest cry from Sara in terms of social interactions- it had taken at least 3 months for Sara to trust Joe enough to invite him over, but Joe had insisted she hang out at his house the very same day they became friendly enough to exchange more than a sentence with each other.

There was a certain sort of comfort to the warmth of his house, the constant scent of cooking food pervading the air and the little trinkets scattered in every corner. No surface of his house went without decoration, in its silly little way. It was full of pictures, too, some carefully framed and some dangling from the wall by pushpins, but Sara got the sense that none of the photos went unloved. Most of them were occupied by an orange-haired man, often carrying a younger Joe (back when he was still sporting that atrocious crew cut). Sara always assumed it was his dad, but thought it would be impolite to ask… particularly when the weeks stretched on and Sara had yet to meet that mysterious orange-haired man.

Eventually, pictures of Sara began to join the collage on the wall- pictures taken as she butchered yet another pop song during karaoke, or when they went out to get food, or when she mistakenly sat down on a traffic cone during gym (after many protests from Sara, he took that one down). As silly as the pictures were, and as obvious as it was that Joe had waited for the most embarrassing moments to take them, it was sort of sweet in a way.

Joe’s mother was always kind to her, though there was a constant weariness in her eyes that Sara always felt a bit uneasy about questioning. Sometimes she’d let the two of them cook things in the kitchen, but more often than not they’d go up to Joe’s room and screw around in there, with video games or music or the 50 times Joe tried to persuade Sara to climb out the window and sit on the roof with him before she finally agreed.

As rare as it was for Sara to agree to sit on the roof, it was even rarer for Joe to agree to study with her, much to Sara’s chagrin. Joe had always walked a fine line between passing and failing, but Sara had to admit he walked it well. When she did manage to convince him to study, though (usually the day before final exams), they’d sit on the cushy couch in his living room and somehow manage to bother each other as much as possible while feigning concentration.

The couch hadn’t changed after several years- Sara could tell that much the minute she sat down on it and avoided the urge to break eye contact with Joe’s mother. It was still well-worn, a couch that likely should have been replaced at least a decade ago but had never really been disposed of. Loose threads were protruding from the cover, drawn out from years of visitors fidgeting with them.

Sara shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the slight motion making her sink deeper into the couch’s soft cushioning. She’d only spent one minute in the house and was already sweating, whether from the heat of the home or the thousand-yard stare of the woman sitting across from her.

Ryoko was there, too, sitting to Sara’s left and gazing listlessly at the well-trodden carpet beneath her feet. …Ryoko.

Sara cast a hesitant glance around the room, duly noting the photos covering the walls. Not a single one of hers had been taken down, but several more photos had appeared with Joe’s beaming face featuring prominently in them. Joe’s presence was always enough to fill a room even when he wasn’t speaking; it took a lot to fill in the gaps left by his absence.

God, she missed him.

The wind whistled against the window-screen; Sara had memorized the familiar creak of the wooden window frame being lifted up to welcome in the mild autumn air. Sara had always thought of autumn as a beginning- she loved summer as much as any other kid, but as the haze of the weather began to wind down she was quick to grow impatient and look forward to the school year, to being productive again. Joe had always disagreed with her.

“Fall is the literal death of fun,” he’d complained once, walking home with Sara after finishing the first week of school. “Couldn’t they have pushed back the first day of school by, like, another week? You think if we got enough people to sign a petition, they’d give us an extra week of summer?”

“Oh, come on, we both know even if you had an extra week of summer you’d just be complaining a week later,” Sara had teased back.

The death of fun. It certainly felt like that, Sara decided. She’d never feared the looming darkness of fall and winter quite so much before. But now, she supposed, there was no sunshine who’d weather it with her.

“Well… Sara?” Joe’s mother spoke up, voice hoarse with the sound of repressed tears in her throat. Sara recognized the sound all too well.

There was no resentment in the woman’s eyes when Sara made eye contact with her. No anger, no frustration, nor had there been any in her measured motions when she welcomed Sara into the home. It didn’t take any words for Sara to tell that there was no blame to be foisted upon her.

She was still Joe’s best friend.

“I’m sorry to have dragged you out here on such short notice.” The woman’s voice was weak. “I don’t know all the details of what happened, of course. Haven’t heard anything, aside from the little tidbits the police told me when I dropped by the station.”

Sara’s shoulders stiffened at the mention of the police, at the idea of them pleasantly answering her questions as though they weren’t just as complicit in that tragedy as ASUNARO had been.

“And…” the woman glanced down at her hands, toughened from a lifetime of working. “I know something terrible happened to you. The circles under your eyes are darker than midnight, I know it’s so selfish of me to be dragging you out here, but… I haven’t slept a wink for weeks. Been so worried about Joe, and about you too.”

She nodded in the direction of the black-haired girl who hadn’t spoken a word the entire time. “Ryoko’s been worried about the both of you, too. Your parents weren’t answering the door, so she went to me. I hope you’ll forgive the two of us for disturbing you, Sara, but… you have the answers the police won’t give us, don’t you?”

God, her gaze was piercing.

“...Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

It was taking everything in Sara’s power not to look at the vacant seat to her right. If Joe was there, he would have been laughing and lightening the mood, completing the circle that had been left so jarringly empty.

But they wouldn’t have been having this conversation if Joe was there.

Ms. Tazuna nodded slowly. “This means the world to me, Sara. Don’t forget that.”

Sara did her best to muster a smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

The woman gave another nod, eyes defocusing as though even now, she wasn’t quite sure why she was there. “Alright. Alright. Well, then…” She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Guess I should get right to the point, yeah? Is he… is… how is he…?”

So she still hadn’t quite let go of that little thread of hope, even after seeing Sara return home safe and alive with no best friend in tow. Who was Sara to judge? When hope was the only thing to cling to, it only made sense to cling to it like a lifeline.

Sara twisted her hands, the same old nervous habit she’d had for years, and wondered briefly if she’d picked it up from Ms. Tazuna. How terrible it was, to carry the news that nobody, much less any mother, ever wanted to hear.

“I… I’m sorry, Ms. Tazuna. He didn’t make it out alive.”

Sara hadn’t expected the hush that immediately fell over the room. She’d expected immediate tears, the grieving cry of a mother in pain. Instead, the room became muffled, still as a painting captured in time.

Slowly, Ryoko looked up from her bitten-down fingers, eyes rimmed red already. Ryoko had always been an emotional person, the only person Sara knew who could fluctuate from full-on sobs to cheerful giggles in less than a minute. Sara was so unused to the look that was now filling her eyes- cold, solid misery. As though there were no tears in her eyes left to cry, no more tragedies to bemoan. Just a deep and horrified comprehension of just how many things in her life had gone wrong.

And, slowly, Ms. Tazuna began to cry.

Tears had become so uncomfortable for Sara to bear witness to. Was it selfish of her to look away? It couldn’t be, not when every raw sob reminded her of the art student seeing her first (and certainly not last) death, of the broken sibling openly weeping over apologies gone unspoken, of the unknowing siblings screaming their throats out with pleas for death so the other could survive.

Especially not now. Not when every tear rang in her mind as a reminder of cold tubes piercing her best friend’s chest, of his corpse slumping and falling in a pool of blood, because oh god he wasn’t supposed to have lost so much blood, how was he supposed to live without it, of the clickclickclickclickclicking rising in volume while her attempts to save him grew feebler and feebler.

Her hands were bloodstained, no matter how many times she tried to scrub them clean. Those dreadful hands of hers had failed her, failed Joe, failed the women sobbing openly in front of her.

She swallowed back the apologies that always rose in her throat as Ms. Tazuna rushed to sniffle back her tears.

“I… god, I… he’s really gone?”

Sara couldn’t bear to look her in the eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Please… please tell me it was a peaceful death. He didn’t… suffer too much, did he?”

The resounding wave of clicks flooded her mind. “It was as peaceful as I could make it. I… he smiled at me, right before he died. I’d… very much like to think that means he was happy when he died.”

“What happened?” Ryoko’s voice came out rough, the first of it Sara had heard in weeks. “Joe told me, after our date, that he was going to walk you home, and then neither of you showed up at school the next day. And now… it’s been three weeks? And Joe… Joe’s dead? What the hell happened, Sara?”

“God,” Sara mumbled, mesmerizing herself with the twisting motions of her own hands. “I’m not sure if you’d even believe me if I told you. I don’t even know if I believe what happened myself.”

“I’d believe anything.” The sentence was firm. “I just want to know what happened.”

Sara nodded wearily. The familiar weight of her bright orange ponytail was notably missing- the day after she’d escaped, she’d demanded the hairdresser cut her hair short and crisp. She shuddered every time she thought about the ponytail brushing against her neck as she spent each argument screaming and protesting for her life. Even worse was the memory of how carefully Joe had styled her hair, forsaking his usual clumsiness to braid every strand with a remarkable tenderness. She didn’t want to remember any of it- even though, as the locks went cascading to the floor, she was reminded starkly of Keiji’s bleach-stained trauma response.

“For some reason, something to do with the mafia, we were kidnapped. And pulled into a death game. There were twenty of us, including me and Joe. I- I’m not going to get into all the specifics. It’s going to make me sick to my stomach if I do. But… they made us play this sadistic fucking game to narrow down the competition. Based on cards. Joe drew a bad card, and… they executed him.” Something in Sara’s throat tightened as she finished speaking, and she fell silent.

“Just like that?” His mother’s voice came out as a hoarse whisper. “How… how’d they kill him?”

“I’d rather not say.” There came the gushing sound of blood pulsing through the tubes. “He didn’t suffer too long” - she hoped - “but it was a gruesome way to die. I don’t want to think about it, please understand.”

It took a moment for his mother to register the words and nod, face still painted with horror.

“Why… how did the two of you even end up there in the first place?” Ryoko spoke up again. “You said something about the mafia? How the hell are you two connected with the mafia?”

“I don’t know how I am,” Sara responded immediately. “It must be something with my family. I couldn’t control any of this, I swear, but… Joe wasn’t meant to end up there at all.”

Ryoko paused. “He… he wasn’t meant to end up there?”

Sara swallowed back the lump in her throat. “The game… it was something that was being prepared for ages. There weren’t just a few ragtag kidnappers behind it, there was an entire organization. Even the police were involved. They ran AI tests, hundreds if not thousands of them, trying to calculate who’d be the most likely to win. And… when all the numbers came back, the person most likely to win… was me.”

She spread her arms wide, baring her sins and her cruelties to the world, and in that moment felt distinctly like the angel of death Keiji had branded her to be.

“They needed something to drag me down, I guess. Make the odds more balanced. So they dragged Joe into this fucking mess. I guess they thought that him being there would keep me steady enough to make everything fair.” A cold hand, dripping with tendrils of phantom blood, caressed her chin with a lethal grip. “...They were right.”

Ryoko’s gaze had gone cold again. “So Joe died just because you cared about him? What the fuck kind of death sentence is that?”

Sara shook her head numbly.

“Why did it have to be him?” The heartbreak in Ryoko’s voice was clearer than day. “So many people love you, Sara, why did it have to be him? Hell, I’m your best friend too, aren’t I? Why couldn’t it have been me? I’m a much worse person than Joe ever was, I deserved to be in his place way more. Couldn’t they have killed me instead?”

Sara winced at the growing desperation in her best friend’s voice, the raw crack she knew all too well. It should have been me, it should have been me, it should have been me. Sara could have almost fooled herself into seeing a crisp aquamarine when Ryoko’s hair flashed into the light.

“Ryoko… it could have been.”

The girl fell silent.

“They had files on you too. They knew how close we were, they knew how much you meant to me… but Joe was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they fucking killed him for it.”

Oh, how she wished she could go back to that balmy early-autumn night, see the smile on Joe’s face and listen to his lighthearted laughter again. The desire to keep one’s friend safe had become a crime deserving of a death sentence.

Ryoko’s eyes remained locked to Sara’s, devoid of any dullness. In the look they exchanged was a deep, sinking understanding, one that had nauseated Sara to the core the first time the realization struck her.

It was by no crafty strategy that Joe had died instead of Ryoko, no favoritism biased against the kindest person either of them would ever know. It was a simple, terrible twist of fate. Ryoko could have taken his place had she done something as inconsequential as offering to walk Sara home instead.

But she hadn’t.

It took everything in Sara’s power to avoid wondering what would’ve changed if she had.

“How is any of this okay?” Ryoko broke the silence weakly. “They killed him- they could have killed me, too. He was seventeen. Seventeen. How did anybody let this happen? How did this happen, Sara?”

“I- I don’t know.” Ryoko’s wrath was simmering; even though Sara knew truly that she wasn’t the subject of the anger, she still felt scalded. “I miss him so much, Ryoko. I watched him die, and nothing in my power let me save him. I miss him, Ryoko, I miss him every waking minute of every day. We were supposed to escape together and get out safe and pretend this never happened, but…” the tears were beginning to well up again. She couldn’t bear the thought of breaking down in front of anyone, especially not over him.

“I’m going to go make some coffee,” his mother interrupted suddenly. She’d been noticeably quiet, but the still-fresh streaks of tears painted down her cheeks told the story she didn’t need to vocalize. “Some coffee, and some snacks. And we’ll keep talking from there, alright? Do you guys have your phones?”

The two girls nodded uneasily.

“Please… find any pictures you have of him. I want to make this wall as bright as possible.”

Without any other words, she hurried out of the room, and it fell to silence once more. Outside the window, the cool autumn breeze began to stir the leaves in the air, gusting forward to brush against Sara’s cheek just as the hallucination had done mere minutes ago.

And the Tazuna household began to feel more like home again.

#is this worth publishing to ao3 #idk #gonna put it in the tags im feelin risky tonight #yttd #joe tazuna #sara chidouin #ryoko hirose #joesara #i guess #i just tag anything joesara at this point even if it's not outright romantic #idc whether it's romantic or platonic honestly #theyre them #and thats all that matters

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sope-and-shine · 3 years

Text

When World’s Collide: Pt. 2

-> Pairing: Moon God!Taehyung x Fate!Reader -> SFW // fluff, angst, humor // enemies to lovers!au, soulmate!au -> Word Count: 20.1k -> Summary: Taehyung has spent most of his life ignored by his peers and alone on his barren planet. So when a lonely King reaches out to him in hopes to bring his love to him, how could he ignore his plea? However, it’s not good to mess with Fate, and it’s even worse to make the same mistake twice. -> Warnings: mild language, the reader is a bad bitch, minor character death, minor innuendos, crying children, Tae gets into multiple fights

a/n: Part 2 is finally done! I wanted everything for part 2 to be perfect before I posted it! We only have one more part to go and then this series will be complete!! I really hope you enjoy!

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Masterlist

When you left the previous night, you didn’t want to think about what could have happened between Taehyung’s projects. For the past 72 hours, you’ve seen at least 49 different ways last night could have gone, and each one was worse than the last. You refused to acknowledge any tugs you felt all night and right now the only thing you want to do is make sure nothing was damaged beyond repair.

Hoseok sits on the chair behind the security desk, eating a breakfast sandwich despite not actually needing sustenance the way the humans do. He insists it’s only to keep up his human appearance, but you both know it’s because he’s become obsessed with the taste and the sensation. You try not to roll your eyes when you think about how many he’d shoved into the fridge at his - and Yoongi’s - apartment.

“Don’t you think we would have heard about something by now?” He asks, “Besides, can’t you just look at your hands?”

You sigh, “I’d rather look at the events and see which path they chose. I’ll worry about everything else later.”

Of course you could just look at your hands, but being able to see the vision clearly can sometimes be far too overwhelming even for you. Just the tugs on your fingers are enough to make you itch constantly. You’ve even gone as far as to buy ‘fidget toys’ - as the humans call them - to distract humans from the constant twitching you’ve become so used to. Though you have to admit that the toys themselves give you a brief moment of relief.

With his mouth full, Hoseok side-eyes you, “Sometimes it worries me just how much you know.”

“Show me the tape.”

Hoseok shrugs and turns to the monitors in front of him. He logs into the system and clicks around, finding the footage from the night before and following every camera Eunha goes through. He rewinds the tape back to a bit after everyone left for the night. It shows Eunha making her rounds and walking to the king’s exhibit. Both of the deities watch as she shines her light through the gate and walks away. As they speed through the footage, it looks like no interaction happened the previous night at all.

Hoseok pauses the footage after Eunha returns to the security room and turns to you, who's just as confused as he is, “That looks like nothing.”

“It isn’t nothing.” You can feel it. You’ve practically already seen it. There is no way the two didn’t meet last night, “Show me his cameras.”

Hoseok does as he’s asked. He finds the set of 4 cameras hidden in the exhibit room and clicks on the widest angle. This camera shows Eunha entering the exhibit and taking a look around, but nothing more. It isn’t until she passes the necklace case that you see the glittering jewels shine within the glass. “There.”

“The spell...” Hoseok’s peaceful demeanor diminishes and an unusual scowl covers his features, “Did he even try to break it?”

You nod, “Even if he didn’t, I did.” You weren’t stupid enough to believe that Taehyung would actually try to get rid of his creation. You’ve been far beyond giving him the benefit of the doubt for quite some time now. However, actually destroying the necklace he designed proved to be much harder than a simple conversation with the Moon God himself.

“We’ll just have to stay on top of them.” You stand up from the chair you’d brought over to the desk and stand, raising your arms up high to stretch before you leave.

Hoseok picks up his office phone and hovers his finger over the keypad, “Should I page Taehyung?”

You wave the security guard off, “No. I’ll find him later. Just let me worry about this.”

You leave Hoseok to get back to work and leave for your own office. Not only do you have your regular responsibilities as a deity to attend to, but your human ones as well. Hours spent at your desk not only speaking to employees as needed, but also looking at your strings and following tugs against them. Most tugs come from your own friends and their daily interactions with museum patrons. You try to ignore them, but it’s hard to just let them interact with mortals when you know how bad the outcomes could be.

Taehyung is your prime example of just how true that can be.

You find the blonde in the children’s exhibit he took over curating, helping the youngest of museum patrons to interact with the activities around them. He’s tucked himself between two young children in front of a LEGO station. He tries to help them recreate the dragon behind the glass, but the children are much more creative then the blueprint laid in front of them.

You approach the group from behind as the young boy on Taehyung’s left turns to him with a smile, “Do you like my dog, Mr. Kim?” He shows him a combination of green and blue blocks, resembling a table more so than a dog but Taehyung still gasps dramatically.

“It’s amazing!” He clasps his hands together in celebration, but you’re still stuck on the child’s inability to realize that the object they’ve created is not a dog.

“That’s a table.”

You watch as Taehyung and the boy turn to you, one confused and the other seeming slightly irritated. With big brown eyes, the young boy pouts, “No, it’s a dog!”

“It doesn’t have a head.”

“Yes it does.” Taehyung interjects, “The head is right here. Isn’t that right, Beomgyu?” He points to the singular blue block that holds the top pieces together, not even close to resembling what he and the boy claim it to be. Even when the boy nods, you’re still left unconvinced.

You bend down to be on their level with furrowed brows, “It doesn’t even have a tail.”

“It doesn’t need a tail!”

“Yes it does.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“It’s not a dog if it doesn’t have a tail.”

“You’re wrong!” At this point, little bubbles of tears are welling in the young boy's eyes. His feelings are hurt, but you’re none the wiser to his discomfort. You’re taken by complete surprise when he stands up and throws his creation back onto the table, “Mom!”

“No, Beomgyu, it’s-” Taehyung tries to reassure him that his creation is perfect just the way it is, but he stops trying as the little boy runs to the next room in disheartened tears, “-okay…”

You’re left ignorant to the scene you created, instead grabbing the pieces the young human boy threw down and putting them back with the pile at the center of the table. You settle onto your knees in front of the work bench to help clear it off for the next children, “Having a good day?” You ask the blonde beside you.

His shoulders fall, utterly defeated, “I was.” He sounds hostile, and you’re left oblivious as to why. To you, the small child is nothing. But to Taehyung, Beomgyu is a sweet, creative little boy with so much potential. And you...you just potentially crushed his dreams. The amount of anger Taehyung is starting to harbor for you is beginning to overshadow his fear, “What can I do for you today, Madame Director?”

There’s malice in his tone, but you don’t register it, “I want to know about last night. Hoseok and Yoongi said you had her touch the necklace.”

“I did.”

“And did you stay to watch?”

As much as Taehyung wanted to stay and watch the long awaited meeting unfold in front of his own eyes, he couldn’t risk messing up again. The last time he interfered, he only made everything worse. When an opportunity came for him to intervene, he was too late. He didn’t understand, and that lack of understanding is what brought him - and everyone else - where they are now. He’d never admit it out loud, and especially not in front of you.

The lack of response from the god beside you is the only answer you need, “So you don’t know either.”

“I wanted them to meet on their own,” He says, not lying but not telling the whole truth, “I was just going to see her in a bit and check in about last night. Did you know she’s been working constantly without a day off since Chanyeol left?”

“Hoseok might have mentioned that. But considering this whole situation is your mess-” Taehyung rolls his eyes,“-checking in sounds like a great idea! I want you to talk to her and update me.” The blonde is quick to turn his head, fearing he’s heard you wrong, but you only stare back at him expectantly. “Agreed?”

“Yeah! I can do that.” To say the god is surprised would be an understatement. From day one of him orchestrating this whole charade, you haven’t wanted any part of it. You haven’t wanted to put up with him. You specifically told him that this was between himself, Hoseok, and Yoongi and that you wanted no part of it. Your sudden involvement has Taehyung beaming with curiosity, “Any reason for the new interest?”

You frown and throw the conjoined lego pieces in his direction, hitting his shoulder and falling behind him. He flinches back, his hands pulling close to his chest before reaching up and over his left shoulder to try and catch the miniature building blocks. You try to hide a smirk, “Don’t read into this, Taehyung. This is my job.”

Taehyung retrieves the pieces you threw at him, “Mhm, sure! Sure…”

“I’m serious, Taehyung. I know a lot more than you do.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to remind me...” Taehyung mumbles.

They way he says it is just as condescending as he usually is when you bring up your job. It seems no matter how many times you try to explain to him what your job entails, it goes in one ear and right out of the other. He never actually listens to you, he just continues to think whatever he’d like.

You sigh, “You know, I don’t act like this to be mean.”

“Then why act like this at all?” He asks.

“You wouldn’t get it.”

“Of course I would!”

You scoff, “Considering you don’t understand it yet, I sincerely doubt you would even comprehend what I’m talking about if I were to tell you.”

And there you go again, telling Taehyung how unintelligent he is just so you can be right. It’s never an off switch with you. Always a vague explanation and a promise that he’ll understand, but he never does. “Oh yeah, it must be so hard looking at your fingers all day.”

And just like that, the both of you have gone back to square one.

You set down what you were picking up and stand. Without so much as a frown you say, “Do what I asked and I won’t make Hoseok follow you around.” And walk away from the activity table, leaving Taehyung just as displeased with your attitude as you are with his.

To Taehyung, you have no right to be angry with him - you have a few rights to be angry with him. Sure, he’s made some mistakes here and there, but there’s no reason to continue to hold it against him! He’s learning. Everyone learns. It’s completely unfair that he should have to face relentless reminders of such a simple fact.

Nevertheless, he does as you’ve asked. He had intended to watch for Eunha to arrive anyway. He wanted to know what had happened the night before just as everyone else did, but he knew he had to wait and be subtle.

When she finally arrives, she looks a bit out of it. She makes a detour around Seokjin when she would normally greet him. Her hair isn’t as neat as she usually keeps it and the bags haphazardly thrown onto her shoulder show she’s in a bit of distress. Her walking is much faster than her normal pace, and Taehyung hopes that’s not a bad sign.

He decides to wait for her upstairs in the king’s exhibit, taking a seat on his favorite bench in the museum. It’s always a nice place to sit and have a rest throughout the day, it let’s him think back to old times when his plan was much simpler. A time where his friend didn’t spend all hours of the day inside of a dusty box waiting for his soulmate to return to him.

It’s moments like this that Taehyung can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he’d left Namjoon alone. If he had just ignored the King’s prayer for help, would he have still fallen ill? Were they destined to meet the same way even if he hadn’t interfered? Would Namjoon and Eunha have been able to meet in this life as well if it hadn’t been for his insistence to give the King a companion? Even worse, what if you’re right?

You told him that if he meddles too much that their strings could knot and burn. If that happens, then everything he’s worked for goes down the drain. Eunha and Namjoon will never get their happy ending and it will all be his fault. If only Yoongi would just make everything easier.

“Damn it!” Taehyung curses, more to himself than anything. He’s working himself up and that won’t do him any good. In moments like this, he takes a page from Namjoon’s book and does something to calm himself. He pulls a small sketch pad out of his bag and throws a leg over his knee, focusing all of his worries and anxieties onto the piece of paper in front of him. Namjoon always wrote in his journals when he was worried about something, but Taehyung has never been great with words. Instead, he draws doodles of patrons and co-workers, even sketches of flowers to ease his ramped mind.

Taehyung hears the clicks of her shoes before he sees her, “Having fun there?”

He wants to lift his head and tell her he’s really worried beyond belief, that he’s the reason she looks so tired. But revealing himself now would ruin everything, so for now he remains a friend in the background.

---

His talk with Eunha went about as well as he expected. She was definitely lying so she wouldn’t worry him - or sound absolutely insane to any normal human. But he could tell just how freaked out she was, and if she wasn’t accepting Namjoon now, then there’s a good chance his plan just took a turn for the worst. He’ll just keep that bit to himself, though. What you don’t know, won’t hurt him.

Hopefully.

He saves himself the hassle of having to unlock and re-lock your door in favor of just appearing inside; however, he didn’t expect to see you sitting at your desk eating a bag of chips. Your one leg is tucked under you while your foot rests on the cushion of your chair. You’re staring at your computer with great interest, so you must be reading something.

You cast a quick glance at your sudden intruder and sigh, but continue your reading, “I did leave the door unlocked.”

Taehyung checks to see if you’re lying, and he’s completely shocked to find you telling the truth, “Why didn’t you lock it? She could come in here!”

“This isn’t an area patrons can enter. Besides, she won’t come here.” You place both legs on the ground and lean over your work to pat your desk, “Have a seat.”

Taehyung is more than hesitant to join you, but he does take a seat. He studies the contents of your desk and finds not one, but two empty chip bags, “Shrimp chips?”

You shrug, “Hoseok. He’s been going overboard with the human food and leaving me gifts every morning. Of all the things he’s left, this one is the most satisfying.”

Taehyung cracks an amused smile, “You’d think Yoongi would want comfort food more than Hoseok.”

“Comfort food?” You ask. You haven’t heard that term before.

“Yeah. That’s what humans would consider chips.” Taehyung explains, “They call them snacks too! They’re things you can enjoy when you get hungry or you just really want to eat something.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Far from it actually.” You give Taehyung a quizzical look and he shrugs, “I don’t understand it yet either. Humans are very confusing.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So what are you doing here? I figured you’d be as far away from the museum as possible.” Taehyung asks, eyeing the high pile of papers that decorate the top of your desk.

You shrug, “I’d rather take care of all the human work I’m supposed to do so I can do my real job when it comes up.”

The blonde leans back in his chair, “And this has nothing to do with Eunha and Namjoon?”

“Oh, it has everything to do with them.” You assure him. You take a moment to sit back and look at what you’ve done so far and let out a heavy sigh, “I can’t sit still knowing that they’re both here alive and-...Well-...together.”

Your eyes stray to your hands and Taehyung takes notice of the blank look that takes over, “What are you so afraid of?”

You close your eyes, shake your head, and smile, “Fear has nothing to do with it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

With that you get back to work, hoping to finish your human duties before the morning so you can spend your day doing your real job. Taehyung remains in front of you, silently watching you work away after brushing him off so easily once again. He doesn’t take any offense to it anymore - though it does annoy him to no end - at this point it’s like your own way of communicating.

However, Taehyung is focused on one thing and one thing only after a long day of stress and hard work.

“Could I have a chip?”

---

It’s been about a week and a half since Taehyung managed to bring Namjoon and Eunha together and despite how optimistic it had seemed, he’s now beginning to realize just how flawed this plan really is.

“She’s not even willing to give him a chance!” The blonde complains, picking at the chicken on his plate instead of eating it.

Jimin - who sits across from him eating his own food - shrugs, “He did scare the living shit out of her.”

“I can confirm that her soul left her body for a solid 7 seconds when they first met.” Hoseok pipes up, his mouth still full with food.

“Why don’t you just go back to fanboying?” Jeongguk asks, taking a sip of his soda, “Wasn’t that working?”

“Not anymore.” Taehyung sighs. He’d been talking non-stop about the dead king since he first landed his job. He’s done nothing but keep up appearances since then in hopes of intriguing Eunha into liking Namjoon just as much as he does, but hopes seem to be quickly going down the drain, “What if (Y/n) is right and this is all just going to bite me in the ass again?”

Hoseok laughs, “I could have told you that.”

The three lower tier gods turn to Death, but only Jimin is bold enough to question him while he gorges himself on human pleasantries, “Why are you here again?”

Hoseok’s ears surprisingly turn red in embarrassment and he swallows the food in his mouth, “You guys said you were getting food here…Ms. Oh gives me extra kimchi when I come here.”

Taehyung can’t help but chuckle, “You really do think with your stomach.”

Hoseok’s brows furrow, “Who told you that?”

“(Y/n).”

Jimin stops eating, “You two have been hanging out?”

The blonde shrugs, “She just wants updates on Namjoon and Eunha and the choices they make. She obviously can’t be bothered to do it herself. It’s not like it isn’t her job.”

Jimin scoffs and Hoseok chews away quietly at his food, but Jeongguk doesn’t seem too convinced with Taehyung’s assumption, “Maybe she’s just trying to make conversation the only way she knows how.”

“She couldn’t ask about my day instead?”

“You give (Y/n) way too much credit.”

Jeongguk shakes his head, “A guy in my philosophy class acts the same way! He’s really bad at making conversation, so he starts talking about class related stuff to drive himself.”

Taehyung thinks back to their most recent meeting where Fate had asked him about Namjoon and if he’d been causing problems. He remembers how the conversation started, but how it digressed into complaining about Yoongi and Jeongguk he’d never know.

“Still-” Taehyung refuses to falter, “-I do a lot with my day.”

“Taehyung. I hate to break this to you, but knowing what happens to Namjoon and Eunha is what you do with your day.” Jimin points out. Taehyung flings a piece of his chicken in the blonde’s direction, and he blocks with the back of his hand before it can hit and ruin his work shirt. He sends Taehyung a glare and cleans his hand with a napkin, “But I do agree, she could try a bit harder if she’s trying to have a real conversation.”

“You guys really don’t get her, do you?” Hoseok asks.

“Of course we do! She’s Fate.” Jimin says, “She holds the strings of the future in her palms and it’s up to her to keep the universe balanced and blah blah blah.”

Hoseok sighs at Jimin’s mockery, “There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with holding the universe in your hands.”

“Yeah, that’s why Hui sits with the others while the rest of us do work.” Jimin scoffs.

Hoseok bites the inside of his cheek, “He has more responsibilities than you. You messed that up on your own.”

Jimin shrugs and takes a sip of his water, “Not everyone wishes to be walked all over.”

Hoseok almost looks offended, “You think we walk over you?”

“What else should I call it? Aggressive advice?” Jimin leans forward like he’s challenging Hoseok. The air surrounding the table goes cold as Hoseok slowly sets his chopsticks on the table with a firm grip. It’s obvious he’s trying to hide his anger.

“Listen-”

“Hoseok~!” The god’s anger disappears completely at the mention of his name. From behind him, sweet Ms. Oh comes right up to him with a small package of extra kimchi. She places a hand on his shoulder and presents the to-go container to him, “I put in a little extra kimchi in there for you.”

Hoseok accepts her offer graciously with both hands, “Thank you, ma’am. I promise to eat it all!” Ms. Oh pinches his cheek and turns to return to her kitchen. Hoseok waits until she’s completely out of ear shot before he lets his frustrated frown return, “Just think about it this way: Maybe it’s not just humans she doesn’t understand.”

Taehyung can’t help but look down to his plate, ‘Had he been too quick to judge Fate because of their own history together?’

Hoseok piles his finished dishes on top of each other and stands from the table, “I’ll see you after your lunch.”

Jimin glares after Hoseok until he leaves, “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t understand much,” He scoffs. He looks at his own plate and wills it all to go away, leaving only the mess so he doesn’t hurt Ms. Oh’s feelings. Leaning back in his chair he sighs, “Maybe I can try talking to Eunha again. What do you think?”

Earth looks to the Moon, but he’s somewhere else in his own space in the universe. He can’t help but rethink his most recent interruptions with Fate again and wonder if her stubbornness - as well as his own - is what’s kept them from seeing eye to eye. If he wants to help Namjoon and Eunha then he’ll have to get Fate’s approval. But how?

Taehyung looks at the guard schedule you handed him, studying the 4 blank days beside Eunha’s name. He looks up to you - still awkwardly typing away on your computer, “Days off?”

You nod, “Yes, Hoseok thinks it’ll be good for her.”

“And do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Do you think it’s a good idea?”

You stop typing, your fingers curling in as you think about what to say, “I think it’ll help her figure things out for herself.” If you were a human and had everything pushed onto you the same way, you’d probably feel as overwhelmed as she looks. Even a few weeks into this whole charade and she still seems too in over her head, “Everything is still very new for her, and the stress might eat her away if she doesn’t get some kind of break.”

Taehyung laughs in disbelief, “When did you become efficient with humans?”

You choose to ignore the blonde and return to your typing, “Efficient? Wow, that’s a big word. I’m impressed.”

“Mocking me doesn’t answer my question.” Taehyung points out, sitting back in his chair and resting one leg over the other.

“Doesn’t it?” You ask, raising a brow in his direction. You shrug your shoulders and look back at your screen, “I’ll have you know that I’ve always been efficient with humans.”

“Really?” He scoffs, “Is that why you told that one lady her love line was doomed if she didn’t stop sleeping around?”

“I had to warn her.”

“She ran out of the bathroom crying.”

“The truth hurts.”

“She hit Seokjin with her purse.”

“And I bought Seokjin a coffee and a donut in return.”

“You know that’s not how you’re supposed to deal with that situation, right?”

You smile, unaffected by your actions, “I’ll consider it a learning experience then.”

“Do you even know what you should do in that situation?” He asks.

That has you pausing. Of course, in an ideal situation you wouldn’t be involved at all. But you’re not acting as a god anymore, you’re parading around as a human. And while you’re confident you know more than Taehyung about humans and their society, you can’t help but wonder if you’re more out of touch than you thought.

Taehyung sits up and moves so he can rest his arms against your desk with his chin resting on his forearms, “Are you sure you really know humans?”

The last time you had been on Earth to associate yourself with the humans was almost 7 years ago, and it was only to warn Taehyung about his own future. You’d only bumped into a few humans on the street, and you didn’t even have to speak to anyone at all. Your knowledge of humans in the last 100 years - at least - has been almost entirely reduced to nothing.

You know for a fact that Taehyung was taught about humans by Jimin himself after the blonde’s first run on the troublemakers planet. It leaves you wondering just what Taehyung has learned and if he’s capable of making better decisions than before.

You turn to the curator and mirror his position, leaning on your desk, “What would you have done?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have had to apologize to Seokjin or the lady because I wouldn’t have said anything.”

You laugh, “Well, yeah. Your lady days are behind you.”

“Once again, mocking me won’t make me wrong.” Taehyung says, tapping you on the nose with a smug grin.

You wrinkle your nose but make no effort to move and show no sign of disgust, “Are you sure?”

Taehyung finds himself staring at you longer than he normally does. You're obviously unimpressed with him, but you still seem happy. It’s like when he talks about Namjoon to Eunha and she pretends she’s not annoyed out of her mind. He thinks back to the other day with Hoseok at Ms. Oh’s and he can’t help but wonder if he could change your mind .

“Why don’t we make a deal?” He asks.

You barely gave him a chance to finish his sentence, “No.” You sit up and return to your working position.

“Come on-”

You hold up a finger to silence him, “We’re in the process of one of your deals, and I don’t like your track record.”

“Just humor me.” He pleads.

You close your eyes in annoyance, “Speak.”

“Eunha gets 4 days off. We don’t have to keep an eye on her or Namjoon. Let’s go out and really experience the human world together.” He pushes your stacks of paperwork aside, “Let me show you what humans are really like.”

“And…?” You ask, knowing he has more up his sleeve than just showing you the humans of today.

“If I prove to you that humans are more than just random strings that come and go, then you have to really help me with Eunha and Namjoon. If they’re not, then I’ll convince them to destroy the necklace on their own.” Taehyung knows he’s risking everything just to prove a point, but he’s confident that if he plays his cards right then he can get you to at least see things from his point of view, “They’re more than you give them credit for, and I think you would change your mind if you saw them in a different light than that of a god.”

“If you’re so confident you can change my mind that you’d give up after 1,000 years, then who am I to deny?” Your response has Taehyung jumping from his seat in glee, almost stumbling over the chair he was sitting in from moving too fast. You hold back a chuckle as he tries to put everything back where it belongs, “I’ll approve your time off for tomorrow.”

“You won’t regret it.” He assures you.

“I’m sure I won’t.” Despite his annoying persistence and his inability to comprehend the simplest of explanations, you can’t deny that he does try his best with everything.

Taehyung is just happy that you actually agreed. He was sure that you’d turn him down and he’d go home to figure out another way to sneak around you, but this will be perfect! All he has to do is win you over. Which may be a bit daunting now, but he’s sure he’ll get over it.

He’s about to leave when you call out to him, “Taehyung-!”

He turns and you smile, “Make sure it’s something really special if you’re going to get me to agree.”

“Trust me, it will be.”

—

“You’re an idiot.”

Not the words Taehyung expected to hear after he told Jimin and Jeongguk about his new plan. He figured they’d have some distaste for his plan, but this was a bit much.

“Come on, Jimin. Do you really have that little faith in me?” Taehyung asks.

“Yes.” The blonde walks away from the living room to go to the kitchen.

“He’s made it pretty obvious.”

Taehyung turns to the youngest deity with a frown and points a finger at him, “You have no room to talk.”

The two follow Jimin to the kitchen where the eldest of the three makes himself a glass of water at the fridge over his usual glass of champagne. When he turns and sees Taehyung again, he heaves a heavy sigh and sets the glass on the island in between them, “If you think you’re going to convince Fate that humans are something special then you have another thing coming to you, Taehyung! (Y/n) has never valued humans and she never will.”

“Like you have? She took them from you for a reason, didn’t she?” Jimin narrows his eyes at Taehyung and the Moon continues on, “Maybe she just forgot how that feels.”

“Or she won’t and this will ruin everything we’ve worked for. Did you think about that?” He asks.

“Of course I did! But I know that won’t happen.” Taehyung leans on the counter and makes himself eye-level with his friend, “You have to trust me.”

“You better not blow this.” Jimin picks up his glass and walks out.

“I won’t!” Taehyung calls after him, but the Earth has already left his orbit.

If someone were to look up the definition of worry and anxiety in a dictionary, they’d find a picture of Taehyung. Asking Fate to make a deal with him had seemed like a great idea when he first thought of it, but now as the blonde stands at the bus stop waiting for her to arrive he’s starting to have second thoughts. As much as he hates to admit it, your track record for being correct is far more superior to his. The chances of him changing your mind are about as high as Yoongi smiling at him without being forced to.

“Taehyung?” You ask, pulling the god out of his thoughts. You’re sitting right next to him and he didn’t even notice you arrived. For once, you look worried, “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, the bus should be here soon.” Taehyug assures you with the best false confidence he can muster. If today is going to go well, then he needs to leave every worry on this bus bench and focus all of his energy on you and what would make you more likely to finally see from his point of view.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” You ask.

He shakes his head, “Not yet. Our outing for today will remain a surprise until we get there. Unless you’ve already looked ahead?”

He’s teasing you and you know it, “I’ve kept my hands to myself, thank you.” You assure him with a light nudge to his side, trying to ignore the amused smile that paints his features.

He nudges you back, “Good. Keep it that way.”

The bus arrives a few moments later, it’s door stopping in front of Taehyung. The both of you get up and approach the doors, waiting off to the side for previous passengers to exit. You’re about to walk around Taehyung when the last one exits, but his arm flies in front of your chest and stops you in your tracks. You have half a mind to snap at the blonde, but your anger disappears when you see why he stopped you.

“Here let me help you.” Taehyung steps forward to grab the front end of a child’s stroller, gently lifting it and helping the mother carefully steps down herself with a little girl right behind her. Taehyung sets the stroller’s wheels on the ground and turns to the little girl with a bow on the top of her head and her hair poking out like a sprout and offers her a gentle hand with a wide smile, “Here you go, baby. Watch your step.”

The young girl takes his hand and jumps off the last step, just barely reaching the sidewalk with a little help from Taehyung. Her mother cheers for her and reaches out a hand for her to come back by her side. With a quick bow she thanks Taehyung and they continue on their way. You can’t help but watch the little girl bounce after her mother, her little feet almost dancing as she toddles on. No doubt Taehyung had just made that mother’s day easier and her child’s day happier.

“Ladies first.” Taehyung motions for you to board in front of him and you climb the steps, scanning your bus pass, and walking to the first available seats close to the back. You slide into the window seat and pull your bag into your lap, Taehyung settling into the seat beside you

The bus starts moving and the two of you are locked into a peaceful silence. Well, as peaceful as it can be for Taehyung. He told himself to leave his worries behind, but he’s still sitting next to you with every worry resting on his shoulders.

You’re more than happy not worrying about the humans around you or the mischievous god to your left. It’s a nice change of pace from the museum, especially with the view of the city right outside of your window. Leisure trips aren’t something you’re often used to. Unless someone needs you or you’re required to intervene, you really don’t go anywhere. It’s almost pleasant, but it’s hard to forget the company you keep when his legs won’t stay still.

“Are you okay?” You ask.

“Huh?”

“Are. You. O-K?” You repeat slowly, “Your leg is shaking like crazy.”

“I’m just excited for our destination, that's all.” He assures you.

You nod, deciding to let it go for now. You’d find out soon enough.

The bus comes to a stop in front of a large, colorful building no Taehyung shoots up, “This is our stop!” He races from his seat down the aisle and you stand up and follow after him. You exit a few people after him and find the blonde staring at the large building in front of you. Dozens of children run freely, their parents rushing after them as teens and young couples parade around hand in hand.

You come to a stop beside Taehyung and give his arm a playful nudge, “Don’t tell me you were excited just to look at a building?”

He shakes his head, “I think you’re really going to enjoy yourself today.”

Without even thinking about it, Taehyung takes your hand and drags you behind him. All the way to the front doors of the building where a small line of people wait. He doesn’t miss a second and pulls out his phone, moving his head close to yours and smiling at his screen. His phone goes dark for a split second before he pulls it back to his chest. He moves on like what he did was nothing, but you’re left confused.

“What was that?” You ask.

Taehyung stops scrolling through his phone, long enough to raise an eyebrow at you. “You aren’t serious.” When you nod his eyes go even wider, “You work at a museum and you don’t know what a picture is?!”

“It’s a painting.”

“That’s a portrait.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Yes. There is, and I’m going to take millions and millions of pictures to prove it!” To make his point, he pulls the hand holding yours away to throw it over your shoulder. He taps relentlessly at his screen, occasionally switching up the angle. You try to throw a hand in front of your face to block his new attack, but he’s quick to adjust his camera to continue his harmless assault. “Why are you hiding? I’m trying to teach you what a real picture is.”

“Taehyung!” You try to push away, but the blonde has a tight grip on you.

“Take pictures with me!” He whines, trying to inch his face even closer to yours.

You can hear the humans snickering around you, but your companion doesn’t seem to care at all. He has no problem keeping you caged against him while he “takes real pictures” in a weak attempt to persuade you. He doesn’t give up in the line or on the escalator going down until you get closer to the front and he has to let you go.

“Have you purchased your tickets already?” The kind woman asks as you attempt to fix your hair from Taehyung’s attack.

Taehyung slaps his thighs with both hands before shoving them inside his far pocket and pulling out folded papers. He hands them to her, “Here you are.”

She unfolds them and takes a quick look over the words on each page, pulling a scanner similar to the ones at the museum to check them both in before handing them back with a smile, “Enjoy your time today.”

“Thank you. We will!”

The both of you move on, walking to the second set of doors beyond the ticket line and walking through to see just how big the building really is. The outside doesn’t do justice to the humans who designed something so beautiful. The entrance gives a great view of the entire park, showing off several buildings and attractions, as well the flora and special decorations placed to appease the humans that visit. Everything is so well cared for, and the glass roof just makes everything look so bright and inviting.

“Do you see anything you’d like to do first?” Taehyung asks.

You’ve heard plenty about amusement parks. Many human’s string’s will entangle themselves in gears and doors, tied to trivial things like rides and children’s games. Their opinions all seem to differ with most of them split in half on how they truly feel about the park.

You shrug, “Why don’t you choose?”

You should not have let Taehyung choose. Especially not what the humans call a rollercoaster. What insane, psychopath designed a high speed death trap that turns you on your side and flips you upside down in a metal cage?! Only one deity is sadistic enough to test the limits of Life and Death like this, and you’re positive Yoongi had something to do with the creation of such a monstrosity. At one point, you were sure Taehyung was going to lose his hands!

Not every ride was as terrible. The pirate ship had seemed gentle enough at first, but then it kept going higher and higher and you started to feel yourself slipping out of your seat. You even wrapped your arm around Taehyungs to ensure you didn’t go flying over the metal bar they’d placed against your lap.

Every ride the two of you climbed onto felt like one death trap after another. There was no way Yoongi himself didn’t come down and design each and every inhumane attraction himself just to create some form of chaos. Anyone who actually enjoyed a near death experience needs to sign themselves up for human therapy.

After your last brush with Death, you sat yourself down on a bench to catch your breath and maybe your sanity as well.

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asks.

“What?”

“Are. You. O-K?” He teases, “You’re looking a little pale for someone that isn’t capable of getting sick.”

“Well, my complexion is all thanks to you and your death traps!” You remind him. You feel like your stomach is in your throat and you don’t even have a stomach! “How could humans actually enjoy these things?”

The blonde shrugs, “You’re just not a thrill chaser. Humans like a rush.”

You look at him astonished and bewildered, “Do they forget they’re mortal?! They could die!”

“That’s the fun of it!”

You groan and lean into the back of your bench, “Oh, you really have lost it.”

Taehyung can’t help but laugh at your misery. This is the first time he’s seen you so out of your element, and it’s almost refreshing. But he reminds himself that you’re supposed to be having fun. “C’mon, we went on some nice rides.”

“Oh, yes! The children’s rides! Those were much safer.” Taehyung laughs again and you give him a quick glare to shut him up, “Why can’t the humans just enjoy simple things?”

“Because YOLO.”

“Bless you.”

“No, it’s a saying. It means ‘you only live once’,” Taehyung explains, “There are quite a few humans that live by that.”

“They would risk the one life they have for a phrase?”

“They would risk it for a chance to have fun and feel alive.” He says, rephrasing the words in a way you could understand, “Most humans have to work to live. There are only a few that don’t need to worry about food or shelter. So, those that can make a point to have as much fun before they can’t anymore.”

“I guess that’s admirable...” You’d never really taken the time to consider why humans do what they do. It all seems pointless when you’re eternal. The concept is nice to think about when you give some thought to it. It almost makes what Taehyung has been trying to do a decent idea.

You stand before you can continue thinking as a human would, “Alright, what death traps are left?”

Taehyung’s smile grows, “I’m glad you asked.”

---

“Where’s the bar?”

“It’s behind you.”

When Taehyung dragged you to the large, circular ride with couches around it’s side, you weren’t sure what to expect. But if there’s one thing you’ve learned about human rides, it’s that they need bars in front of you.

“Excuse me? What about a lap bar?”

“This ride doesn’t have one.”

“Not even a belt?”

“Nope.”

“What do I do if I can’t hold on?”

“Just hold on tight.” As soon as he says this, the ride starts. It just spins around at first, and that isn’t so bad. At least, not until the ride starts to bounce as well. The first one has you falling out of your seat and onto the floor.

Taehyung grabs your hand, having expected this to happen, “I told you to hold on!” He pulls you back into the seat next to him and you grab onto the bar once again. The blonde tries to let go, but you reach for his shirt and hold it like you could actually die if you fell again. He laughs, “You’re not supposed to hold onto me!”

“If I’m going down then so are you!” You yell, gripping the bar behind you and hoping for the ride to be over soon.

Every bump has you edging closer and closer to the moon god and it’s a miracle you aren’t sitting in his lap by the end of the ride. As soon as it stops, you’re finally able to catch your breath. You find yourself praying to Hui, hoping he’ll hear your plea and switch your job with Yoongi’s.

Taehyung, however, is trying not to freak out at your close proximity to him. You’re holding onto his jacket like the kitten he’d visited at the pet store, like falling is only inevitable if you let go of him. Your head is resting under his chin, the hand holding onto your top being the only thing to stop you from hitting him.

“Are you still okay?” He asks.

You pull away slowly, unbothered by how close the two of you had been due to your fear of dying on a human toy, “Fortunately.”

“How about we go on the last ride now?” Taehyung suggests, exchanging the hand he holds you with to take the elbow closest to him.

You don’t bother hiding the frown on your face, “Do we have to?”

“I think you’ll like this one.”

The blonde helps you off of the ride and lets you cling to his arm all the way to the other side of the park where your last ride awaits. Another circular ride, only this one has cars similar to the rolling death trap he’d locked you into only 4 rides into your experience.

You stop in the middle of the walkway, pulling Taehyung back and causing the humans to move around you, “You want me to go on the spinning death wheel? Two in a row?!”

“It’s not what you think.” You give Taehyung a look and he rolls his eyes, “Come on.”

You let him take you through the line, deciding to lift yourself up for the ride instead of letting the fear you have tear you apart. Even as you’re let on the ride and once again locked in next to Taehyung you’re trying to decide if fleeing to the other side of the planet is worth blowing your cover.

“Are you okay?” The worker settling your bar in place asks.

You offer him a weak nod, “Yeah… I’m fine.”

He hands you a small, blue plastic bag with a ring holding it open and smiles, “Just in case then.”

He goes to start the ride and you’re left confused, “What’s this for?”

“How should I know?”

The ride lurches and you grab on tight to the bar, finding yourself going backward a few feet and stopping.

“Just calm down.” Taehyung coos. He places his hand over yours and rubs his thumb over the back of it, “You worry too much.”

Your eyes are locked on his hand over yours, “Why are you doing that?”

“To comfort you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re freaking out.”

“Oh…”

“I can stop if you want.” Taehyung starts to let go, but the ride moves again and you grab onto his hand yourself.

“No!” You cry. Taehyung can’t help but laugh at how different you are in this moment, and you try your best to brush it off, “Just until we get off. That way if this monstrosity breaks you have no choice but to go to.”

Taehyung smiles knowingly, “Whatever makes you feel better.”

You cling to Taehyung as the ride continues to stop and go, squeezing his hand on the occasional tilt the car makes. It isn’t until the ride - starts to actually spin continuously that you really begin to enjoy the ride itself. You somehow manage to actually like this ride, so much so that you convince the ride attendant to let you go around again. Taehyung has no complaints, especially if you’re going to smile the whole time.

You come to a stop near the top and the blonde turns to you, “So, are you enjoying yourself?” He asks with a teasing smile.

You, however, couldn’t care less if you were wrong or not at this moment. Up in the air looking down at the colorful lights of the other rides, you feel free. You have no responsibilities up here. You exist peacefully and happily without any problems holding you back.

You’re no one.

“I’ll give you this, Moon god, this ride is nice.” You lean back in the car, letting your body rest into Taehyung’s, “I think I can understand this.”

“Not the others?” He asks, teasing more than genuine curiosity.

You shrug, “Humans are strange. If they have natural Death wishes then so be it, but I suppose that the thrill could have some appeal to the right people.”

Taehyung sighs and let’s go of your hand, using his arm to wrap around your shoulders, “I was hoping you'd see things my way.”

You smile and poke his nose the way he’d done to you the other day, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Taehyung. We’re not there yet.”

“Yet~” He says with an air of hope.

“We’ll see how you play your cards.” You say. For now, you intend to enjoy the moment while it’s still here.

---

“So, what are we doing here?” You ask.

Taehyung had told you today would be even better than yesterday before the two of you parted last night - and with how terrible those rides had been it should be pretty easy to make a good impression. Anything would be better than getting on those traps again.

“We’re shopping!” He says excitedly, but his enthusiasm has you confused.

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun?”

“But you don’t need to buy things.” You remind him, “You’re a deity. You can make whatever you want.”

“Yeah, but this feels more human.”

You tilt your head in confusion, “Why would you want to feel human?”

He sighs - he won’t get anywhere when you’re like this, “Why don’t I just show you and then you can ask questions?”

You move to the side and extend your hand, presenting the way for him, “Lead the way.”

He takes your outstretched hand and leads you down the sidewalk, walking in front of you with your connected hands behind his back to lead you through the crowd. You begrudgingly walk behind him, looking at the shop windows as you pass.

“This way!” Taehyung squeezes your hand and pulls you to the left, and you unconsciously squeeze back and follow him. He takes you to the entrance of a store with it’s door wide open, a rack full of children’s clothes keeping the door from closing.

The store itself is filled with nothing but clothes of all types and various accessories scattered across the shop. Young women cling together as they scan the racks and some show off their finds near the back. An older gentleman and a boy who looks to be his son stick to the men’s section to the right of the store, the son shaking his head here and there when his father shows him a new item.

Taehyung immediately takes off for the women’s section without you and you’re not really sure why he’s the excited one. You follow him anyways, arms crossed and so far highly unimpressed with his first pick of the day.

“Trying to relive the old days?” You jest as the blonde sifts through the rack.

“Nope.” He says, choosing to ignore you in favor of looking through the clothes. He keeps going for a few seconds until he finds something he deems worthy enough, “Here it is!”

You half expected him to pull out a dress, but you’re surprised when he pulls out a shirt very similar to his. You double take and realize that it is the same shirt before you’re back to being unimpressed, “What is that?”

“A shirt.”

You’re offended that he would think you’re that incompetant, “I know it’s a shirt! Why would I want it?”

“So we can match!” He shakes the shirt out of excitement and almost drops it when he spots something else, “Look! They even have cute little scrunches!” He picks one up, a little, blue hair piece with yellow crescents all over it.

“You mean like this?” You ask, placing your palms flat as if they’re against a table and lifting, flipping them over to reveal the same bow, “Something I can make?”

Taehyung feels deflated and he doesn’t say anything right away. You’re a very to-the-point person, and he knows there’s only one way he can really get through to you.

“Could I see that for a second?” Taehyung asks, pointing to the scrunchie in your hand. You look down at it and shrug, handing it over to him without a second thought. He smiles, “Thanks.”

He takes both your scrunchie and the scrunchie he had picked up and chucks from across the store, one landing on a rack and the other in someone’s hair. You’re stunned by the fact that he - of all people - would even consider such a thing, “Taehyung-!”

Taehyung smiles - as if he hadn’t just done anything wrong - and places his empty hand on your shoulder, “New plan. You don’t get to say no to this.” He turns you around by the shoulder and nudges you in the direction of the exit, “Come on.”

You groan as he leads you to the register. Yesterday was fine, but if this is how the rest of today is going to go, then you want it to end now.

Taehyung stops in front of the register and places both the shirt and the scrunchie in front of the attendant, “We’ll take these, please.”

“Oh! Matching shirts! The both of you are going to look so cute! Here-” The girl scans the shirt, grabs a number placard, and hands both of them to you, “You can use our changing room to put it on before you leave.”

“No, that’s o-” You were perfectly happy denying her help, but the kicked puppy look Taehyung is giving you has you back peddling. You muster the most sincere smile you can, “Yes. Thank you. I appreciate the offer.”

You leave Taehyung to pay the human, begrudgingly walking to the fitting rooms she had so kindly offered you. This was not your idea of fun. This is an unnecessary waste of your time. Why anyone would willingly waste their day just to change clothes you don’t think you’ll ever understand.

Looking at yourself in the mirror, you can at least appreciate the color. It’s simple enough that you don’t have to worry about standing out. But standing next to Taehyung wearing matching shirts isn’t going to help you any.

“(Y/n)? Are you done?” Taehyung asks, his voice echoing from the other side of the door. You sigh, relenting to a fate of your own and open the door, the shirt you were wearing hanging over your arm.

“Well?” You ask. The blonde takes a step back from the door, eyeing you up and down.

“Wow…” His smile is so wide you’d think the action hurts. He looks like a child seeing snow for the first time. He's so excited. His beaming smile - as well as the giggling girls standing in front of the room next to you - has you feeling hot with embarrassment.

You shuffle forward and cross your arms, “Are you happy now?”

“Very.” He assures you. He knew you were pretty, but you just look so cute when you’re all flustered. It’s nice to see you finally being the one grasping for straws. “Come on, we have a lot to do.”

---

“Food?” You ask, eyeing the numerous stalls that line the street in front of you.

Taehyung nods, “You’ve only had a diet of shrimp chips and strawberry milk. I think it’s time you branch out.”

He leads you to the first stall and points to a tray before he hands the man money in exchange for two sticks with something skewered to them. He hands one to you, and you’re left staring at the item in your hand, “And this is?”

“Food. Eat it.” You’re unsure at first, but you agreed(forcefully agreed) to do whatever Taehyung decided to do for the day. You take a hesitant bite, but one bite is all it took to understand. Taehyung must be able to tell by whatever expression you’re making, “Good, isn’t it?”

You turn to the vendor with your mouth still somewhat full, “Can we get 2 more, please?”

He nods and gets you two more, but Taehyung is quick to take them out of his hands before you can. “Don’t fill up! We have a whole street to go through.” He gestures to the other stalls around you, and for once you’re actually excited to listen to the mischievous god.

It takes you almost 2 hours just to get back to where you started, and you’re sure you’d be on the ground if you were a human. You have to give Taehyung credit where it’s due, this was a great idea.

“What’s next?” You ask, turning to Taehyung with a bit more hope for the future.

He shrugs, “I guess we could go around for seconds but that might scare the humans.”

You frown, realizing how reckless you’ve been, “I guess you’re right.”

Your change in demeanor throws Taehyung for a loop. This isn’t the first time you’ve dismissed him - or anything - like this. He knows you’re reluctant to tell him, so he thinks of something that’ll get your attention, “Let’s look at what trinkets are being sold.”

“Trinkets?” You ask curiously.

“Like the things Jimin sells in the gift shop.”

“Merchandise?”

He shrugs, “Sure.”

Taehyung leads you back down the street, passing several food stalls before he reaches a jewelry stand that might catch your attention. He takes a quick look over the items on display before he finds one you might actually enjoy.

He turns around and pulls you closer to the stand, pointing to the simple, silver necklace with a glittering ball charm, “What do you think about this?”

You shrug, “It’s no soulmate necklace, but I guess it’s nice.” Taehyung seems disappointed by your response so you take a closer look. It’s nice in theory, pretty and sparkling. You’d have to guess anyone would enjoy something like this. “The charm is shiny.”

“Well, yeah. It’s supposed to be.” You give him a look, and he chuckles. He gets the vendor’s attention and waves them over, “How much is this?”

“5.”

Taehyung pulls out some money and hands it over, “Here you go.”

You watch him as he puts the money away, “Why’d you buy it?”

“The little things! Now, turn around.” You give in and turn around, waiting for the inevitable push forward to come. But instead, Taehyung’s hands come down over your head and with one end of the necklace in each hand, “There. Now you look even better.”

“Oh? So I was ugly before?” You ask, turning around to face the Moon god with a teasing smile.

Taehyung’s eyes widen, “What? No! That’s not what I meant! You’re beautiful, I just-” He finds it hard to come up with the right words to say, “-I just think this compliments your look.”

“Thank you.” You say, feeling the heat in your cheeks. You’re also at a loss for words, unsure of how to respond. You’ve never been complimented by someone, “Um-...What else did you want to do today?”

Taehyung looks at his watch and sighs, “It’s not time for us to go to our next surprise, so I guess we’ll have to be spontaneous.”

“Spontaneous? What a big word, I’m impressed.” You tease, earning a glare from the blonde. You sigh, “Fine. I’m sorry. Lead the way.”

The two of you were able to find a park. At least this one wasn’t full of death traps like the other had been. This one only had slides, a merry-go-round, swings, and rocking horses. Of course, you were skeptical at first, but Taehyung’s judgement had proved to be good enough. It was simple enough, and far less terrifying than the amusement park. He was right when he said it’d buy you some time, because the two of you spent quite a bit of time enjoying the playsets made for human children until you finally had to leave for your next surprise.

“Next!” The attendant calls out before the family in front of you even moves. Taehyung leads the way around them to the counter, and you follow behind him like you have all day. The human teenager seems less than enthused to be stuck in a box, “For two?”

Taehyung nods, “Yes. We’d like the 7:30 showing of Save Me.”

The boy tells him the price and holds out his hand, accepting the money Taehyung gives him and handing back two tickets in return, “Enjoy the show. Next!”

“I think we just found Yoongi’s twin.” Taehyung says, more to himself than to you, but it has you bursting into laughter. The blonde opens the door for you, amused by your reaction, “Oh, so you do think I’m funny?”

“No!” You stop and wait for him to catch up with you before you relent, “Okay, so maybe you can be funny, but it’s not a common thing for you.”

He scoffs, “Uhuh, sure. Let’s just get some snacks.”

“Comfort food?”

“As much as we can handle.”

And he stays true to that. The two of you put the poor girl behind the snack counter through the ringer with the amount of candies you buy. The tray to hold your hot food is so packed that you have to carry the popcorn and two of the boxes you bought so it all could fit! The humans that you pass on your way to your movie send you judgemental looks, but if you were them, then you probably would too.

Taehyung leads the way to a small, two-seat balcony section over the theater’s entrance, the first row so you don’t have to hold your tray throughout the movie. You both get settled while videos play on the screen - something that the human’s call previews. Taehyung picks up the hot food he had bought first to eat, and you have no complaints eating them while you wait for your movie to start.

When the lights do finally dim and the crowd in the theater begins to hush, you can’t help but turn to Taehyung, “This isn’t going to be scary, is it?”

“Can I be honest with you?” He asks. You nod, “I have no clue.”

---

Thankfully for you, the movie had not been scary. There were some parts that had you jump from the sudden action, but nothing terrible. It was entertaining for something made in the eyes of a human.

“How clever are humans to paint Fate so well? I’m actually impressed with their interpretation!” You rave as you leave the theater.

Your smile is radiant and Taehyung can feel himself relax, “So, does that mean you liked the movie?” He asks.

“It was enjoyable,” You agree. You can’t deny that seeing your job portrayed correctly has taken you off guard. Not only that, but it’s amusing to think that humans understand your duties better than the deity in front of you. “Though, I’m confused as to why Fate was a talking house cat.”

He shrugs, “Humans are innovative. Their creativity doesn’t have any bounds.”

“I suppose you could say that.” The both of you walk around the corner of the building to the alley, out of eyesight from the humans, “Same time tomorrow?” You ask.

Taehyung nods, “Yeah. Wear sneakers.”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you later.” You look around before you disappear, leaving Taehyung to stare at the empty space where you stood.

This is only your second day out and it feels like an eternity. But the feeling isn’t bad at all. Neither of you have really pushed at the other like you normally do and it’s weird. It’s like that line of friend and enemy has been crossed and you don’t have to be Fate or Moon God.

You’re just (Y/n) and Taehyung.

Both you and Taehyung walk down the street, fairly close to the museum. He’d taken you for a late morning-early afternoon bike ride through the park a few blocks over. Taehyung himself has always found bikes to be a bit more exciting than cars, enjoying the feeling of flying through the air and seeing nature’s colors without a shield.

You sigh, “I’ve never realized just how beautiful trees can be.” You’ve never spent much time on Earth - even in the past few weeks that you’ve spent babysitting. But today you both spent a good hour or so just riding around the park - you even biked the path next to the river. Of course, like everything else, it took a moment for you to really get into everything, but today has been the fastest you’ve given in and felt something other than indifference. Not only did you relax, but Taehyung was able to as well.

“It’s a lot nicer when you can feel the wind through your hair. It makes it feel more magical.” Taehyung agrees. He’d never say it outloud, but this version of you has really captured his attention. He’s barely even thought about worrying over Namjoon and Eunha. There’s just something about the time you’ve spent together that just feels right now.

“I guess it does.”

Taehyung smiles and jogs in front of you, stopping in front of a restaurant, pulling open the door, and offering you a deep bow, “Madame~”

You attempt to bite back a smile and give a small nod back, “Thank you.”

Walking into the cozy little restaurant, you are quickly greeted by the middle aged woman at the counter, “Welcome!”

She’s turned around, so she doesn’t see who’s entered, but Taehyung walks up to the counter and greets her back, “Good afternoon, Yuna!”

Yuna turns around and coos when she confirms it’s Taehyung, “Taehyung!” He waves back at her and she nods, turning back around and tapping the window cut into the wall, “Mom! One of your regulars is here.”

“Who is it?” You hear her before you see her, the door to the kitchen opening to reveal Ms. Oh with her hair tucked away in a hair net. She scans her restaurant and a smile breaks out on her face when she sees Taehyung standing at her counter, “Oh! Taehyung, my handsome boy! Give me a hug.” Ms. Oh all but runs around her front counter and holds out her arms, Taehyung wrapping his arms over the elder woman. She squeezes him tight and sways him back and forth, pulling away to look over his shoulder, “Where’s Hoseok and Jimin?”

He shrugs, “They’re working today.”

“Oh, I see...” She nods in understanding. Turning her attention to you, her eyes going back and forth between you and Taehyung before something seems to click in her brain and any confusion she had turns into mischief, “And who’s this lovely lady~?”

You smile, “(Y/n), it’s nice to meet you.”

“We’re here on a date.” Taehyung adds, a mischievous smile of his own.

Ms. Oh gasps, “A date?!” Taehyung nods and poor Ms. Oh looks like she’s going to have a fit. She turns Taehyung around and pushes him towards you, the deity grabbing onto your shoulders to steady himself, “Oh, you sit down and stop talking to a little old lady like me. You have this beautiful young woman next to you and you’re going to waste time talking to some prune?!”

Taehyung adheres to her advice and starts to lead you to a table by the window, Ms. Oh following the two of you with a menu. He can’t stop himself from adding on as you sit down, “Her beauty is only second to yours, Ms. Oh~”

“You’re not getting a discount. Sit.” She taps his shoulder with the menu and he complies, sitting down and accepting her menu with both hands.

She ruffles his hair and walks away, leaving you both amused and confused, “Well, she’s charming.”

“Ms. Oh is full of personality. Hoseok only comes here for her.” Taehyung laughs before adding on, “And her kimchi.”

The two order their food and continue to make small talk as they wait. It’s hard to miss Ms. Oh peeking over the order window, and Taehyung makes a show out of waving at her everytime he catches her. It’s no surprise when she personally delivers their food to them.

“Here we are~ I expect this food to be all gone before you leave, do you understand?” She gives both of you an expectant look.

Taehyung nods, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now-” She grabs a chair from a nearby table, pulls it over, and sits down, “-how did the two of you meet?”

“(Y/n) is actually the owner of the museum.” Taehyung explains, taking a bite of his food.

This seems to impress Ms. Oh, “She is?!” She looks to you for confirmation and you do with a hand covering your mouth. She leans back in her seat with a small, seemingly knowing smile, “Wow, so you’re really hitting it off with the boss~”

You choke on your food and Taehyung chuckles, “You could say that.”

Ms. Oh sighs, “I understand. I was hitting it off with the boss’ son back in my day. It got me this restaurant!”

“Mom! Leave that poor couple alone!” Yuna scolds from across the room.

You wave your hands before you speak up, “No, she’s fine!”

She smiles at you and Taehyung continues the conversation, “So, you took over your husband’s family business?”

“I’m afraid it wasn’t until after he died that I took over, but we did run it together for 45 years.” Ms. Oh looks out the window, most likely reminiscing on old days when her husband was alive and well. You give Taehyung a small kick under the table for bringing up a sensitive topic, and his hiss of pain has Ms. Oh breaking out of her thoughts. She must catch onto what happened, because she puts her hand over yours and laughs, “You sweet thing! Your friend Hoseok reminds me of him when he stops by. He likes my kimchi almost as much as my Changbin did.”

Even with a smile, you can still tell how much pain she went through, “I am so sorry for your loss.”

She sighs, “It was a while ago. That wound has closed over now.”

“Still-...those 45 years must have been wonderful.” Taehyung adds, offering a warm smile.

“I cherish every single moment and memory. I keep my most important one’s close to me.” Ms. Oh looks over to where Yuna hands over a delivery order.

“Is Yuna your only child?” You ask.

She squeezes your hand, “My eldest - Hanbin - died in the car accident with his father. Soobin hasn’t spoken to me since he graduated high school.”

“I’m so sorry…” You’re at a loss for words. Comforting humans - comforting others - is not something you’re used to.

“That’s Fate for you.” She shrugs, unbeknownst to her that she’s holding Fate’s hand. Your eyes widen and you look to Taehyung for help, but he’s keeping his head down. Thankfully, Ms. Oh’s determination and free spirit can’t be stopped by something as trivial as strings, “But Fate has brought me wonderful customers such as yourself.”

You smile, “Thank you.”

“And besides, I get plenty of handsome young men coming into my store everyday. Fate blessed me there.” She looks at Taehyung with another bright smile, but you’re no longer as happy as you were, “Oh, look-! I’ve dampened the mood.” Ms. Oh stands up and puts her chair back where it belongs, “The two of you eat up and enjoy each other’s company. Make the most of it.”

“Thank you.” Taehyung gives her a small bow before she walks back to her kitchen, leaving you to sit and think about this nice human who’s had everything cut short by her own family’s strings.

Your strings.

Taehyung sets his head on the table where your eyes stare at nothing, “You okay?”

You meet his eyes and look past him to watch Ms. Oh hug her daughter, “She’s so happy...yet she’s had so much taken from her.”

Taehyung shrugs, “You haven’t been kind to her.”

You nod in agreement, “I wish I could have been.”

---

After lunch with Ms. Oh, you had to make a quick stop by the museum. You didn’t say what you had to get, but Taehyung was happy to wait for you by the front doors. He made good conversation with Jin, even found out a bit more about the man’s many, many failed relationships. Thankfully, you were back within a few minutes, and the two of you still managed to make it to the mall and window shop before you were called away by the council.

Council meetings always come on like cold chills, and it was hard to miss with how violently your body shook. He could tell you were reluctant to go, especially if he wasn’t going with you. But he let you go, assuring you that the outing for tomorrow would need rest anyway.

Now, he stands in front of his apartment door fiddling with the keys to enter his apartment the correct way for the first time in days.

“Hey, I’m ho-Oh!” Taehyung stumbles back, throwing a hand over his eyes. Jimin takes up the couch, sharing his “time” with someone he can’t see, “Sorry…”

Jimin stands up and sighs, fixing his shirt, “It’s okay. Nothing we can’t get back to.” Jeongguk sits up with his brown mop tousled and bruises all over his neck and chin - As surprised as Taehyung is, he really shouldn’t be. Jimin sits back down and crosses his arms, “I see you’re still alive. I wasn’t sure when you didn’t come barging into my room.”

“Yesterday and today went great!” He explains. He begins to take off his shoes, “I took her to an amusement park the first day - and that probably wasn’t my best decision - she really didn’t like a lot of the rides, but she actually relaxed for once! And then today! I took her shopping and we got matching shirts, and we ate tons of food, and I even bought her this cute little necklace. SHe actually liked it. And we-!”

Jimin holds up his hands, “Woah, woah, woah! Hold on! Slow down for a minute.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re starting to sound like you like her.”

Taehyung shrugs, “So? Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No! If you like her then she can use you!” Jimin hits the coffee table with his hand and stands from the couch, “I should’ve known this would happen.”

Taehyung tilts his head in confusion, “What would happen?”

“You!” Jimin yells, “You’re too soft! Too good. If you keep going like this then she’ll only stab you in the back.”

“I’m just getting to know her!”Taehyung defends, “She’s actually not that bad once you find common ground. She actually does this cute little thing with her nose when she’s scared-”

Jimin crosses the room and grabs Taehyung by the front of his shirt, “-Stop it! Listen to yourself! Friends shouldn’t be cute to you!”

“I think you’re overreacting, Jimin.” Jeongguk pipes up from the couch.

JImin turns around with a glare, “Stay out of this, Kookie!”

Taehyung takes this opportunity to push Jimin’s hands off of him, “I’m just trying to get her on our side.”

“Yeah? Well, don’t forget who dropped everything to help you in the first place.” The blond reminds him.

Taehyung is stunned for a minute, “You could’ve said no.” He’s never shown distaste since the first day he agreed to help him. He’s only used every opportunity to reinvent this new version of him. If Jimin was unhappy, then he had ample opportunity to tell him.

“A good friend would help you!”

“Then why are you so angry?!”

“Because you’re letting Fate blind you!” Jimin pushes against Taehyung’s chest and the Moon god stumbles back into the wall behind him, “You’re letting her get into your head, and before you know it everything we’ve worked for will be for nothing-!”

“-You’re wrong!” Taehyung yells, pushing back against him in retaliation, “You don’t know that!”

Jeongguk tries to grab JImin in hopes of reeling him in, but the Earth god throws his arms out to the side, “She doesn’t care, Taehyung! She doesn’t care about the humans and she doesn’t care about you!”

“Then stay out of it!” Taehyung turns his back to his friend and returns to the door where his shoes are.

“Where are you going?” Jimin asks, still very angry.

Taehyung picks up his shoes and shrugs, “If you won’t help with my plan then I won’t force you.”

“Taehyung wait-!” Jeongguk tried, but the Moon couldn’t care less. He’s been around people that don’t want to be near him long enough to understand when he should just go.

He finds himself by the river again. Not even 12 hours ago he was here with you and he was smiling and happy and free and now it’s tainted. He can feel his own rays of light shining down to give him warmth, but it’s for nothing. He doesn’t feel it.

At a moment like this, he just wants to feel something.

You’d like to feel less.

Council meetings have never been anyone’s favorite. It’s very rare that every deity is required to attend, and it’s tasked upon the High 6 to meet regularly to maintain balance. You’ve done it since the beginning of the universe and you doubt it wil stop until the very end. The only thing worse than a regular meeting and a full meeting, is a meeting called to discuss the Pillars of Balance.

These meetings are never in your favor.

“Have the 3 of you forgotten how your jobs work?” Seowoo - the Cosmos asks, annoyance dripping from her tongue.

You, Yoongi, and Hoseok stand before the other 3, holding your ground together as they all stare you down. Seowoo is almost livid, while Juhyun looks like he doesn’t care either way. Hui - as always - is almost impossible to read.

“It’s not like we haven’t been trying. You try spending 6 days straight with Taehyung and see if you can tolerate him enough.”

Juhyun sighs, “Why don’t we just strip his powers away? Won’t that fix the problem?” He doesn’t even attempt to hide his boredom.

Seowoo shakes her head, “He needs to be stripped of his powers! We warned him the first time and look where that got us!”

You absolutely disagree, “Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh?” You ask.

She scoffs, “You’re the reason we’re in this position in the first place!”

“Excuse me?”

“We should have taken his powers away years ago, but you just had to baby him!”

You’re offended, “Because it was his first offense and I thought he learned his lesson! You’re the ones that didn’t try to understand him!” You’ve never once shown special treatment to anyone. You definitely aren’t now.

“Oh, I understand him alright. He’s a menace, and you’ve only encouraged his behavior!”

“I tried to do what was best for him!” You argue.

Juhyun pipes up, “What about what’s best for everyone else?”

He makes a valid point, but you know that taking the powers away really won’t be helping anyone, “He’s lonely on his planet. Taking away his ability to visit others won’t fix that.”

“Maybe he’d stop trying to do everyone’s job…” Seowoo mumbles, crossing her arms over her chest and sitting back in her chair.

“This is just a rough patch for him.” You explain. You know Taehyung, and as much as he thinks you’re changing, he’s changing just as much. “He needs to see that this isn’t going to go the way he wants and he’ll stop!”

“Or he’ll do it all over again!” Seowoo argues, completely exasperated.

Juhyun looks to Hoseok and Yoongi on either side of you for some kind of helpful input, “Are the two of you listening to this?”

Hoseok nods, “We stand behind (Y/n)’s decisions.”

Seowoo groans in annoyance and turns to the only other person who can do anything, “Hui, talk some sense into them. Into her.”

“(Y/n)-” He stands from his chair and leaves his platform, extending his arm to you, “Come with me.”

You ignore the pleased smile on Seowoo’s face and take his arm, allowing him to lead you away from the enclosed room. He takes you to a small balcony just off the room, a curtain being the only door between you and the others. The balcony has a beautiful view of the galaxy, showcasing twinkling stars and distant planets. You try to enjoy it, but your nerves are too on edge.

Hui joins you, resting his arms on the railing, “Have you been alright?”

This takes you by surprise, “Of course! What kind of question is that?” You ask.

“You’ve been acting differently for quite some time now.” He explains, “I’d say since Taehyung first started causing trouble.”

You shake your head, “I think you’re wrong. I’m the same person I’ve always been.”

He turns his head to look at you, “I don’t believe you are.”

You sigh, “Look, Seowoo has always been dramatic. I promise you that I am taking this situation seriously.”

“When Jimin severed the humans from their soulmates, you nearly ended his entire career. You didn’t give Taehyung that treatment.” He’s not wrong, but Jimin’s situation was so much different from Taehyung’s.

“Taehyung messed with the fate of 2 individuals, not an entire population...” You remind him.

Hui looks down and back up, sighing, “What are you trying to achieve?”

“Taehyung doesn’t understand. I’m trying to help him come to terms with their future, but it’s just taking a little longer.”

Hui laughs, “He’s a moon. He doesn’t understand, and it’s very likely he never will. He’s not like you.”

“Taehyung has never had anyone call out to him for help.” You explain, “He’s only insistent on doing this because Namjoon came to him and now he feels responsible!”

“So, that’s what’s wrong with him…” The Universe seems to understand.

“I thought after what happened the first time, he would have understood. That he would have given up on something that was so doomed from the start, but he’s determined.” In a way, you really feel for Taehyung. He’s doing what he thinks is right, but his determination is only causing more pain than good. “I’m just trying to help him.”

“I think you and I both know that helping him is no way to help him.”

“I’m hoping to lessen his pain! We stripped Jimin of his powers and now look at him!” After stripping him of his powers, the Earth god became so much more human-like than anyone could have anticipated. He found other ways to play with humans and make them praise him, and his resentment has yet to fully diminish.

Hui tilts his head in confusion, “We?”

You heave a heavy sigh, “I.”

Hui shrugs, “I thought you said he deserved it? You thought it was best.”

“Well I was wrong!” You admit, slapping your hand against the cool marble railing. Watching Jimin over the years try to assimilate has always made you feel terrible. No matter how justified your actions may have been, watching him has always felt wrong, “Let me make this right.”

He sighs, “You know, Fate has no use for Hope.”

You laugh, “Some omnipotent being I am…”

Hui shrugs, “You can’t help that you’ve fallen in love.”

His words have you whipping your head faster than the speed of light, “What?”

“You can’t help that yo-”

“No. I heard you the first time.” You assure him. You heard him loud and clear and he could not be more wrong, “I’m not in love with Taehyung.”

He smiles knowingly, “I never said it was Taehyung.”

“But you implied it was!” He raises an eyebrow as if to challenge you, and you’re astonished. You can feel the heat rising on your cheeks and you find yourself stumbling over your words, “I am not in- In love with Taehyung! He’s a thorn in my side!”

He chuckles and turns his attention to the view in front of you, “You’re lucky.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your job brings you close to humans. You get to experience their emotions far more than the rest of us.” He explains, his gaze locked on the inhabited planet.

You’re completely confused, “Is there a point you’re trying to make? Gods have no use for emotions.”

“Is that so?” He asks. He turns his head to you with a mischievous smile, “Or is that just what we decided was best?”

You pout, “We’ve already seen what human emotions can do to us 1 too many times…”

“And we’ve learned.” He agrees, “Why don’t you give it a shot?”

You shake your head, “How is an emotion like love supposed to help me right now?”

“Let me ask you this: Are you doing this to give Taehyung a second chance? Or is this your 4th?” He asks.

It’s been far too long since you were first created as the Goddess of Fate. In that time, you’ve learned the in’s and out’s of what it takes. Most importantly, you’ve experienced most of your rules first hand. It’s been so long and pushed so far out of your mind, that even you forget about your own shortcomings.

“You’ve made mistakes and you have regrets. You’re not perfect.”

You scoff, thinking of Seowoo, “Perfect is apparently a part of the job...”

Hui sighs and pushes away from the railing, “I’ll tell the other’s that this situation is no longer any of our business and you, Yoongi, and Hoseok will make everything right, just as you always do. But do me a favor and remember what we’ve talked about.”

He walks away, leaving you on the balcony by yourself to think. He’s always such a strange character, and sometimes he’s almost unconventional. He should be a God of Mischief instead of your Universe. But he does leave you with many things to mull over.

Are you projecting your own past regrets onto Taehyung without even realizing it? Are you hoping that by fixing Taehyung, you’ll feel better about all of your past mistakes? Do you really see him as just an acquaintance, or are you actually in love with him? It doesn’t make sense to you. There are many reasons to treat him differently.

You can’t be in love with Taehyung.

You feel a tug on your finger, and it’s very light at first, but it soon gets harder and more urgent. This usually means that someone is doing something they shouldn’t, and if the track records are anything to go off of then the Moon god is the one to blame.

You quickly make the travel from Star 13 to Earth, following your strings to the mischievous god. You’re not surprised to see him flinging rocks into the river, nor are you surprised to see the overturned trash cans and benches along the path to him. Taehyung has always been emotional, and he tends to go overboard when he gets upset. You fix most of his mess and hurry to stop him, hoping to get to him before someone calls the human authorities on him.

“You know-” Taehyung stops mid-throw, “there are easier ways to contact me.”

He’s surprised - and he really shouldn’t be. He knew if he caused a big enough scene then you’d have no choice but to come and see what he was up to. A part of him knew exactly what he was doing, but his irrational side would never let him admit it.

Taehyung lets his arm fall to his side and he lightly tosses the last rock into the water, “When have I ever used a normal means?”

You shrug, “I suppose I should’ve expected something like this.”

Neither of you are sure what to say after that. Taehyung is fighting an inner battle with himself, unsure if he actually wants your help or regrets trying in the first place. And you’re still reeling from the conversation with hUi and what exactly it is that you’re feeling. But either way, you are there and Taehyung does need help.

“So-” You start, coming up next to him and sitting in the grass, “What’s bothering you?”

“Why do you think something’s bothering me?” “Okay, so, maybe something is bothering me.”

“Wanna talk about it?” “You ask, patting the spot next to you, “I promise I’ll try my best to not-...” You hesitate, “-be so me.”

“You aren’t the problem,” Taehyung sighs, “Well-” He sits down cross-legged next to you, “-you are, but you aren’t.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“I know, just bare with me.”

“Okay.”

Taehyung sighs, “Jimin and I got into a fight over the deal you and I made.”

“Why?” You ask.

“He doesn’t think you can change.” He admits.

Knowing your relationship with Jimin, you really can’t blame him for thinking that way, “I guess to someone like Jimin, that would make the most sense. I’ve never really been easy on him.”

“Yeah, but that’s biased!”

“Are you saying you aren’t biased?” You ask. Taehyung opens his mouth, but words don’t come out. You place a hand on his shoulder, “Jimin has his reasons.”

Taehyung sighs and looks to his lap, “I know, that’s what scares me…”

“Well, you kn-Oh!” You feel something cold at your feet and stand up. The water of the river has risen, slowly coming closer to you, “We should move back. The water is really coming in.” You take a few steps back, but Taehyung stays in his spot, “Taehyung?”

The moon god just lays back and looks to the sky where his planet shines bright, “Most of Jimin’s planet is made up of water. I’ve always loved it’s color and how beautiful it looks from my planet. I guess I’m just attracted to it.”

“It’s normal to be attracted to beautiful things.” You rationalize.

Taehyung tilts his head back to look at you, “Did you know that humans are 70% water?” He asks. You shake your head and he positions his so that he can see his planet again. “I think I have an obsession.”

“No.” You move to sit just above his head in the grass and lean over him ever so slightly, making sure the god can see you, “I think you have feelings.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, “Is that really any better? Gods aren’t supposed to have feelings.”

His point is exactly what you had said to Hui, but the Universe had made some fair points as well, “Then why do we have them?”

“We?” Taehyung questions.

“You heard me. We all have them, even Hui and Yoongi do! Why would we have feelings if we aren’t supposed to have them?” You ask. Taehyung looks confused. He reaches his hand up and rests it at your cheek, holding it there for a moment before pinching it between his fingers “Ow!”

You slap his hand and he pulls it away, “Sorry, I just had to make sure you aren’t from Planet 181.” You give him a hard glare and he holds his hands in front of his chest, “It’s just weird that you’re being so positive and-...supportive.” You’re not usually a very supportive person. Of course, he’s been able to see a new side of you these past few days, but it’s still so new. It starts to make him think something else is going on.

He sits up and scoots himself back so he can sit next to you, “Did something happen with the council?”

“They-uh…” It’s hard to meet his eyes. You can only think back to what Hui had said about your own feelings in this moment, and you have to remind yourself that this needs to be a professional moment. You decide to tell him the better news. “Hui is leaving the situation in my hands. They’re going to stay out of it from now on.”

“I honestly can’t tell if that’s good news for me or not.” He jokes. You shake your head, but you find it hard to be mad at him. Over the past few days, you’ve really seen a change in him, and you’d be lying if you said you haven’t noticed your own changes. Maybe you can both win at the end of this.

“Maybe it can be good.” He tilts his head in confusion and you sigh, “I will try to help you from here on out.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen in surprise, “Really?! But we still have one more day!”

“And you can still show me whatever you have left. I just-” You look for the right words to say. You don’t want to give him false hope, but there are ways to trick Fate. You just can’t do it alone, “Maybe there is something more I can do.”

“Really?!” You nod, “Oh! Yes! Thank you!” Taehyung tackles you to the ground with a hug, “You’re amazing! I knew I could change your mind!”

“Yeah, yeah.” You awkwardly pat Taehyung on the back, “Just know I’ll do my best. Now, get off of me!”

Taehyung rolls off of you, but he’s not ready to let go. His hand finds yours and he intertwines your fingers with his, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

He squeezes your hand, “Giving me a chance.”

“Fate isn’t very notorious for letting things just magically fall into place,” You admit. You turn your head to look at him and smile, “But second chances can happen.”

“I promise not to let you down.” He says. He looks back to the sky and sighs, “I just hope Eunha and Namjoon get the opportunity to spend time like this.”

“Like this?” You ask, slightly confused.

“Together.”

He says it so innocently, that you’re unsure if he considers your relationship with him to be similar to theirs or if he enjoys the new dynamic the two of you have. He looks so at peace lying next to you, holding your hand and enjoying the view of his planet. His own rays bathe him in a healthy glow and you can feel a flutter in your chest. You can’t help but think of what he means to you.

Maybe you are in love with Taehyung.

Your weekend with Taehyung made you feel special and light, a bit more free than you’ve felt in a millennia. For once, you’ve haven’t worried over strings or worried about their pull. You only worried about yourself and you got to focus on what it’s like to step outside of the box. You got to be you, and now you’re one step closer to knowing how you feel about Taehyung.

But all good things must come to an end.

There’s a moment in time when a dam breaks that everything seems to slow down. It’s like gravity forgets to pull down and everything is left hanging in the air. Your stomach drops and life just seems to drain out of you knowing the inevitable is coming whether you want it to or not. That’s how it feels looking at your hands and following every last string to it’s end.

“Are you going to tell him?” Hoseok asks.

You shake your head, “No.” You want to more than anything, but you can’t let your feelings cloud your judgement. Even if you did, you know Taehyung’s would guide him, and that has never worked well for anyone in the past. “Telling him won’t help him.”

“But he’s going to be really angry with you when he finds out.” Hoseok - the sweet God he is - picked up on your changes a while ago. He figured out your feelings even before Hui did, and seeing your progress be disrupted by this has him on edge.

“I’ll deal with it when I get there.” You assure him. You can’t worry about the future when you really need to focus on the now, “Did you find him?”

He nods, “It took a while, but Yoongi managed.”

You nod in approval, “Good. Don’t be too hard on him.”

“That’s not fun, (Y/n).” He whines.

You wave him off, “Just take Yoongi and do what I tell you.”

“Fine, but you owe me.” He relents. He turns to leave, but he turns back with a sly smirk, “Maybe we should call you the love god.”

“Goodbye, Hoseok!”

He finally leaves, and you’re left with the possibilities ahead of you.

A happy ending isn’t written, it’s hardly even a good ending as far as humans would be concerned. The string knots and breaks every single time. It’s disappointing to say the least, especially after the promise you made to Taehyung. This will crush him just as much as it will crush Eunha to say goodbye, but you can’t let it continue on any longer. At this point, there’s nothing else you can do but wait for gravity to fall.

And fall it did.

Everything was fine. He was over the moon with the relationship he formed with you. Eunha seemed so happy after her break, especially after taking Namjoon with her. He’d hoped they bonded just like the two of you had. It seemed like all the strings were finally converging nicely, but he never thought something like this could happen.

He storms into your office without so much as a warning, “Did you know this would happen?!”

“Well, hello to you too.” You’re taken aback by his entrance, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t busy.”

“Did you know?” He asks again.

He’s angry, and there’s only two possible reasons why he’s behaving like this. But there’s only one way to be sure, “Did I know what?”

“Stop pretending like you don’t know!” He demands, “Eunha told Namjoon she wants to break the necklace.”

“So she chose that future…” You confirm. You look down at your hands, the faint glow of the strings illuminating them. There’s nothing you can do now, especially now that she’s already begun the process, “That’s her decision Taehyung, I don’t control her free will.”

“Can’t you change something?!” He asks.

“You should already know it’s not that simple.”

“How?! Every time you talk to me, you never talk to me!” He complains.

You’re confused, “What do you mean? I always talk to you.”

“No. You talk at me. There’s a difference.” He explains bitterly, “You don’t think I can handle the truth.”

You shrug, “Well, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.”

“Can you really?”

“Yes!”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like you can because you never seem to get it through your head!” You yell.

Taehyung scoffs, “And whose fault is that?”

“You think it’s mine?!”

“Well, it’s not for lack of communication on my part!”

“Bullshit!” You curse, “I’ve told you multiple, multiple, multiple times exactly what needed to be done and how things would play out and now it’s up to them and you never listen! You think I’m lying and that I’m working against you, but you don’t even understand how my job works!”

“Like looking at your hands is a big deal.”

“It’s a whole lot more than that and you know it!” Every time you think you’re past this argument, he always brings it back around, “I know you want them to be happy, and you want to keep your promise. I get that, but they can’t go on like this anymore. It’s only a matter of time before they break.”

Taehyung feels defeated. You had told him that you might be able to do something, but from where he’s standing you’re not making any effort at all. You’re just letting them both fall victim to their strings, and ignoring his pleas. It’s like you never really cared in the first place.

Of course, you want to do more, but there’s only so much one can do. Controlling Fate isn’t an option, “I really am sorry, Taehyung, but this is out of our hands.”

A scream rings out through the hallways and it catches the both of you off guard. To you, this is the beginning of the end. For Taehyung, this is his last and final chance.

You meet his eyes and you already know what he’s thinking, “There’s nothing you can do for them, Taehyung.”

“Watch me.”

He bolts, knocking a chair over in the process of running out the door. It catches you off guard, but you have far more tricks up your sleeve.

You travel to the main hall, just outside of the cafe, 10 feet in front of Taehyung who insists on running, “Taehyung, please stop and just listen to me for once.”

“I’m not just going to let this opportunity slip away!” He runs around you and you work fast to get in front of him again.

“Kim Taehyung! Don’t make me hold you down, because I will!” You threaten. You hold your hands out in front of you to block him, “You’re not thinking rationally! Stop behaving like a human!”

“Stop acting like a god!” He yells back, “You may be all-knowing, but you really don’t know as much as you think you do! They still have a small chance, and I’m not going to give up and let them slip through my fingers like you do!”

“Then you leave me no choice.”

You place your hands in front of you and pull them apart to reveal the strings that bind them together. You gently pull your pointer finger back, causing the string to tighten. Taehyung trips over it as another scream rings out through the museum.

He tries to get up, but you pull back again, “What are you doing?!” He yells.

“I’m trying to make this as painless as possible for everyone!” You explain, holding him tight in the chaos of your strings.

Another scream rings out and Taehyung struggles to break himself free, “Eunha needs me! Let me go!”

“You’ll just get hurt if I let you go, Taehyung!” You try to explain. You know how this ends, and you know how devastated he’ll be. You can’t do that to him. He’s been through enough, and this needs to end here and now before anyone else gets hurt. “I’m trying to help you!”

“Then stop trying!” He demands, “That’s how you can help me.”

You know he’s hurting, but you can’t pretend you aren’t hurt by his words, “Fine.” You let him go, but you’re not done yet, “But you’ll be too late.”

You make a fist with both hands and tug hard, a cacophony of sounds echoing down the hall. An entire hoard of museum exhibits have been brought to life and freed, and you let them. Taehyung is appalled, “You promised!”

“I promised I would help and do what I can.” You remind him, “This is the best possible outcome.”

You have good intentions, but Taehyung just can’t see it, “Letting them go through with it?! Breaking the spell! Making them say goodbye?!”

“Goodbye’s aren’t forever.” You know firsthand that this isn’t their end. Their paths most likely will never cross again, but that doesn’t mean they never will. Breaking the spell is the best chance they have at saving any connection they have, “Taehyung, you just have to trust me-”

“I’m done trusting you!” He yells, “Jimin was right, I never should have made that stupid deal! It was all for nothing.”

He feels stupid and used, but most importantly, he feels betrayed. You promised him, but it was to play against him. He thought you changed, but you’re the same person you’ve always been. Uncaring, cold, and a god.

You’re Fate.

You try not to take his words to heart, but you can’t help it, “Was it really all for nothing?” Taehyung doesn’t say anything, and you feel the uneasiness in the pit of your stomach. You’re both silent.

And so is the museum.

Taehyung’s heart drops when he realizes that the once noisy hall is now bathed in silence, “No-”

He looks to you for confirmation, and you can’t deny him the truth, “I’m sorry.”

“Eunha!” Taehyung takes off down the hall and disappears into thin air, no doubt to the King’s exhibit. He leaves you standing alone, wondering why doing the right thing has to hurt.

Taehyung never came back down from the 3rd floor exhibit. After Namjoon was officially gone and Eunha was left with the remains of their bond, Taehyung took off to mourn yet another loss. You never saw him leave, and Eunha didn’t say anything on the way out. You can only hope that she doesn’t let this affect her.

You really hope Taehyung will be forgiving.

“He hasn’t come back to the apartment since our fight.” Jimin confirms.

You stare out the window of your office, arms crossed as you scan the street for any sign of the Moon. It’s been 11 days since anyone has seen Taehyung, and you’re really starting to worry about him.

“Did you check his planet?” You ask.

“He’s not there.” You turn to look at him, ready to ask if he checked the whole planet, but Jimin is 2 steps ahead of you, “I checked both sides.”

“Dammit!” You curse. You raise your hand to hold onto the shining necklace he’d bought you on your outing. You haven’t taken it off since he put it on you, and you’ve found yourself holding onto it to ground you when your strings start to pull you. “Please keep me updated.”

“Yeah…” Jimin looks you over. You’re nervous. Which is strange because the only emotion you ever usually show is anger. He’s seen plenty of humans act this way, and you seem to be genuinely worried about Taehyung. “You really care about him, don’t you?”

“Is that a problem?” You ask, glaring at him.

He shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets, “I didn’t peg you for someone with emotions.”

You sigh, “You’ve never had any reason to.” You sit down in your chair and lean back, “I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“I don’t think it was all that bad. I got to expand my knowledge of humans, experience their cultures, and their unique qualities.” He explains, “Even the pleasurable ones.”

You close your eyes and choose to ignore that last part, “Well, at least you had something good come from it.”

“Hey-” He gets your attention, “I deserved it. You don’t have to regret it. Just promise me you’ll make this up to Taehyung.”

“I will.” You promise.

Jimin nods in approval and turns to leave. On his way out, he bumps into Yoongi, “Well, hello Yoongi~”

“Hi Jimin.” Life greets, unamused by his presence.

You wait for Jimin to leave before you sit up and get to business, “Have you found him?”

“Which one?”

“Taehyung.”

“No.” Your shoulders fall and Yoongi sighs. He sits down across from you, “Give him some time to process this.”

You shake your head, “This is exactly what I was afraid of.”

“You did the right thing.” He assures you.

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

“Just hold out a little longer.”

“Fine.” You agree. Yoongi has never steered you wrong, so you don’t see why he would now. Holding out a bit more hope won’t hurt you.

“Hoseok and I are almost ready, by the way.” He adds.

“And you’re sure it’ll work?” You ask. Yoongi shrugs, not a very good sign for what you have planned. “Yoongi!”

“There’s a first time for everything!” He argues, “We put our faith in you, now you do the same.”

You really don’t want to chance this blowing up in your face - you know Seowoo would never let you hear the end of it - but this may be the only way to fix everything. You can only hope Yoongi and Hoseok can actually pull it off, “Please don’t make me regret this.”

Yoongi seems to be able to read you mind, “I don’t want to deal with Seowoo just as much as you don’t want to.”

A knock comes from the door, “Excuse me?” Both you and Yoongi turn to see Seokjin standing in your doorway. He seems very apologetic as he looks between the both of you, “Sorry to interrupt, but I was told to come and see you.”

“No problem at all! We’re just finishing up.” You assure the human.

Yoongi stands and brushes off his pants, “I’ll let you know what happens later.” He says goodbye to Seokjin and the greeter bows as he leaves.

“Have a seat, Seokjin.” You offer, pointing to the chair in front of you. He accepts your offer and you pull open your desk drawer to grab the file you made specifically for him, “I just wanted to start off by saying thank you so much for continuing to be such a hard worker. Every time I see you, you’re engaging our patrons with a smile on your face, and I have received numerous compliments from others about what a wonderful greeter I have at my front door.”

He smiles, “Thank you, ma’am. I really try my best to make our guests happy and feel welcome.”

He’s so humble, and that’s one of the things you like the most about him, “I know, and that’s why I wanted to offer a promotion to you.”

“A promotion?”

“You’ve worked well with us for a few years now, I think a promotion is appropriate. You’re very familiar with Ms. Kang, yes?” You ask, knowing very well that he knows his supervisor.

“Of course! She’s a wonderful supervisor.”

“Well, she wants to retire, and I want you to fill her role.” You explain, “You’re still more than welcome to maintain your position as a greeter with your promotion, but entrance maintenance and customer satisfaction will be left to you.”

“Oh wow...I don’t know what to say.” He admits, taking in the new information.

You nod in understanding, “I don’t need an answer now. Her retirement is a few months away, but I want to put it on the table.”

“Yes! Of course! Thank you!” He struggles to find the right words to express his gratitude, “I would love to take over when she steps down!”

“I’m glad to hear that.” You hand him the file you made, all of the information he’ll be needing tucked away inside, “You’ll be working closely with our curators and our security, so I would start to build those relationships if you haven’t already. But I’m sure you already have.”

He nods, “Yes, ma’am. I’m good friends with a lot of the museum staff.”

“If you need someone to help you, check with Kim Taehyung. He’s very much a people person.” You suggest.

“I will!” He agrees, “I know he’s not here today, but I’ll ask him when he’s done at the river.”

“The river?” You ask.

“He called in again today. He said he hasn’t been feeling himself.” Seokjin explains, “I sent him a text just to check in and he said he just needed some time to think in his favorite spot. His favorite spot is by the river.”

“Yes. I see.” You hum. As much as you’d like to continue your conversation with him, you want - more than anything - to go find Taehyung and talk to him. You fake checking your watch and smile, “I look forward to seeing how you grow, Seokjin, but I’m afraid I need to be on my way to a meeting with a few sponsors.”

“Of course!” He stands and so do you, extending a hand to congratulate him. “Thank you again for this opportunity.”

You nod, “Anything I can do.”

He leaves and you quickly pack your things, walking out of the building to keep up appearances. You make it around the corner to a section of sidewalk completely unlit by streetlights before you travel to the river in search of the moon god. The last time he was here, he’d caused havoc and quite literally trashed whatever was in his path. Your hope is that you’ll find him exactly where you had last time.

You don’t see him in the grass when you first pass by, but taking a second look, you do find him with the water up to his chest and his legs floating in front of him. His eyes are closed and he looks to have blocked out everything around him. He just lays in the quiet, in the water, under the stars.

“Taehyung…” You approach him slowly, coming to the edge of the water, and hesitantly taking a seat. You bring your knees to your chest and wrap your arms around them, “If you’re not careful, then you’ll drift away.”

He sighs, “I’d rather drift away than feel nothing anymore.”

You don’t know what to say to that. He’s in mourning, and you understand that this all must be hard for him. Especially dealing with a loss for a second time. You want to comfort him, but comfort isn’t something you really know how to do.

Of course, Taehyung knows you don’t know what comfort is. That’s all he’s been able to think about since that night at the museum. You tried so hard to keep him away from what was happening to protect him, and he refused to listen. You weren’t lying when you said you were doing what was best for him.

You weren’t lying about a lot of things.

“Why am I cursed to be the moon? Why must I be so lonely and powerless compared to others?” He asks aloud. You don’t have an answer, and he doesn’t expect one, “Dwarf planets aren’t required to stay with their planets, they don’t require attention. So, why do I have to stay with mine when I have nothing to offer?”

“I don’t know...”

“I’m just the Moon. There’s nothing special about me. I’m just a hopeless romantic ruining the lives of others for my own personal enjoyment.” He’s defeated. He tried so hard. He did everything he possibly could and it still wasn’t enough. “I’m the exact thing I told you I wasn’t.”

Of course, you’ve known how this would inevitably end from the beginning. Whether you were on his side from the start or not, you knew that trying to bring Eunha and Namjoon would end in goodbye for everyone. Of course, there were multiple bad and good outcomes, but this was luckily one of the better ones.

Is he a hopeless romantic? The biggest one you’ve ever seen.

But was he wrong? You’re not entirely sure. However, if there’s one thing you know for sure, it’s that Taehyung deserves to know the truth.

He deserves to know everything.

“That first time you tried to bring them together-” He turns his head to look at you, “Namjoon still would have died from sickness. It wouldn’t have gone away.” You’d hoped that maybe for once, you wouldn’t be right. If you were lucky, then his necklace would work and he’d feel proud and he’d go home. But you couldn’t let it work just for Namjoon to die. “That’s why I sent the guards in.”

“Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“I thought that if I told you then, that you would’ve tried again.” You say. Thinking about it makes you laugh considering where you are now, “I guess you would’ve tried anyways.”

He sits up in the water and scoots back, “Yeah...I probably would have.”

“Do you remember when Namjoon died and I came to present you to the counsel?” You ask. He nods, “You told me that maybe if I had an ounce of compassion that people would like me better?”

“Yeah...” He had said that to you. It was out of anger and sorrow, and he never did get the chance to apologize for it.

“I think I’d like myself better too.” You admit, “When I was younger and more naive, I always thought I could pull my strings how I pleased. I thought I could do whatever I wanted, and that ended with ruined lives and the deaths of thousands.”

“You? Ruining lives and causing death?” He asks, almost in disbelief.

You nod, “Hui had to stop me before it got too bad, and he introduced me to Hoseok and Yoongi. He had us learn together how to keep balance, and he told me that I couldn’t allow myself to get caught up with one measly human or I’d never treat any of them fairly.” He was right in a way, but he himself has grown more too. “That’s why I’ve been so terrible.”

Taehyung shakes his head, “You’ve been doing your job.”

You scoff, “Some job I have.”

“No one ever said it was easy to do what you do.” He says. You’re shocked to say the least, he’s the last person you would have expected to back you up. But he’s had time to think everything over. “I shouldn’t have said it was. I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“We all have to learn. It’d be easier if it stuck quicker for some.” You tease, earning a laugh from the Moon. He didn’t pick up on the severity of the situation quite as quickly, but maybe he would have if you had been more honest with him. “Actually, you’re familiar with Seokjin, right?”

“Of course! He’s a good friend.”

“He’s one of the first and last strings I ever knotted.”

“Wait, really?” You nod, “Is that why he can never keep a date?”

“It was very early on, humanity had just been created and I was figuring everything out. At the time, I was much more compassionate towards humans.” You explain. You were very much like Taehyung when you first started, but you didn’t stay like that for long. “He liked this girl, and I thought if I just pulled a few strings then they would come together and live happy for the rest of their lives, but-”

He gasps, “Their strings knotted.”

“I tried to fix it. I thought I could tie them back together, but I couldn’t.” You still remember watching Seokjin say goodbye to his destined lover. He was devastated and it was all your fault. He hasn’t run into them since, and you don’t know that he ever will. “I ruined their lives because I couldn’t do my job.”

“You did what you thought was right.” Taehyung assures you, placing a hand on your shoulder to comfort you.

You smile, “So did you.” You lean against his side and rest your head on his shoulder.

Taehyung rests his head on top of yours and sighs, “What are we going to do about Eunha?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” He asks, surprised, “But she knows.”

“She won’t tell. She’s too busy mourning to worry herself over us.” You seriously doubt she’ll risk telling everyone about the two of you. But still, everything she’s going through right now can’t be easy. “I guess it really isn’t easy to be in love.”

“Love?”

“Love.”

~ Read: Finale ~

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