#your company is granted an amount of money that makes your fingers tremble

[harryspet]

his to keep | j.jk

[WARNINGS] dark jungkook x named oc, toxic/abusive relationship, pregnancy, kidnapping, panic attack, super angsty, jungkook being a piece of crap, basically yandere jungkook

A/N: I just wrote this because I was feeling angsty. I also like to imagine Jungkook as if he wasn’t an adorable human lol. If you are triggered by the things about PLEASE DO NOT READ. Most of my fics are smutty but this one isn’t as much and I still like it. I might be able to do a part two with this one if people like it. 

In which she finds out she’s pregnant and decides it’s time to escape her toxic relationship but Jungkook decides he’ll do everything to keep his family together. 

Please like, reblog and let me know what you think!

word count: 3k

Everyone wished they were her. Even if the world didn’t even know she existed, people all around the world love to have what she had with Jungkook. Not the love they say they have for all their fans but passionate and romantic love. Obsessive love. 

Eun-sun had met Jungkook because of a chance encounter. She worked at the counter of the tattoo shop he randomly stopped by one day. He was with a small group of friends and, dressed down, she didn’t immediately recognize him. It wasn’t until one of his friends had said his name that she realized one of the most famous men in the world was standing in the same room as her. 

She played it cool, of course, or at least she tried to. Her heart pounded as she went to retrieve the artist that they had requested. 

He seemed to single her out though and he only looked at her as his friends flipped through a book of designs. He leaned against the counter and asked her coolly, “You don’t have any tattoos?” It was the summer and her arms were completely bare so he could tell. 

She shook her head, her eyes a bit wide, “Not your thing?” He continued and, for a moment. Eunsun thought he was actually interested in her. 

“The permanence … it kind of scares me,” She admitted, trying not to sound nervous, “I suppose that’s not what you want to hear from a person who works at a place like this.”

Jungkook smiled at that and, like the whole world, she was entranced by it. 

She worked here in order to help out her family who were struggling to make it in the city. They owned a small convenience store where she usually worked later at night. 

“No, you make a good point. There has to be some voice of reason here to keep people from getting stupid tattoos,” Eunsun blushed and one of Jungkook’s friends called for him. 

He smiled at me one more time before walking back over to his friends. 

Eunsun didn’t know it but, in that short moment, Jungkook had decided she was worth it. Worth letting her enter his crazy world. 

She initially said no and that it was a crazy idea for her to come with him around the world. She insisted she’d only be a burden to him and that she had responsibilities back in Korea that she couldn’t leave. He only insisted, deciding to make a deal with her, he’d help out with finances if she agreed to give him company on the road. 

She explained that she wasn’t a prostitute and he only laughed, “Of course you aren’t, just trust me, please.”

And she agreed because he was so damn convincing but she insisted he not give her more than the money she was already earning. Jungkook never told her that he had given her parents way more than that. 

Although he didn’t really present himself to the world as powerful, Jungkook was practically a prince. Every moment of his day was planned and his every wish was granted. It had become normal to him at that point but she noticed the craziness of it all. 

Eun-sun had never been on a plane before but now she was traveling everywhere on a private one. She had to wear a mask constantly and soon learned she wasn’t allowed to walk with Jungkook in public. He introduced her to one of his personal assistants and she was to simply act like she was a part of their entourage. All though she became friends with his assistant, she never really felt like she belonged in his world. 

It wasn’t like he could claim her publicly and she wasn’t his girlfriend anyways. 

When Jungkook wasn’t working, he was with her. They talked so much that some of the makeup artists grew frustrated with her because Jungkook could never sit still anymore. 

She met all the members of the famous boy group and it amazed her how naturally they tried to include her in their family. Some of the boys had their own partners and some didn’t seem like they dated at all. 

Things were exciting constantly and Eun-sun loved the workings of his complicated world but there was a moment where things shifted. 

A panic attack. 

She had never seen someone have one and, honestly, she wasn’t sure what to do when she entered his room one night and found him on the floor trembling. His hand clutched his heart and for a moment she thought he was having a heart attack. She ran to him kneeling beside him, “Jungkook-” He was breathing so hard, hyperventilating. 

“Jungkook, please tell me what’s wrong,” She whispered, her voice shaky. 

He was crying, choking on his own sobs as he started to roughly grab at his hair. She grabbed his hands, pulling them away from his face, “Jungkook, it’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay,” She spoke calmly, trying to get him to look in her eyes. She was holding back her own tears after seeing him like this, “Breath, breathe.”

He was still crying but his eyes finally met hers, and he started to breathe. It seemed he would lose his progress every now and then as he remembered whatever was freaking him out. As he began breathing again she said, “You’re doing such a good job. You’re so strong. Just breathe, please. Tell me what you need.”

He looked over to a black bag across the room and she understood. She crossed the room and began to look through the bag. She found a prescription bottle and began reading until she realized it was anti-anxiety medicine. 

She emptied the correct amount onto her hand and found a bottle of water in the mini-fridge. She hurried back to him and got him to put the pills into his mouth. She held the water bottle as he began to sip from it. 

He was still shaking and sweating all over but she held him as he started to calm down, “You’re okay, Jungkook. I know it’s scary but it’s just a feeling. You’re doing such a good job,” They sat on the floor in front of his bed and he rested his head on her lap as he tried to control his breathing. 

She ran her fingers through his hair and he finally got some well-deserved sleep. 

When the doctor came in the morning, he refused to let Eun-sun leave despite the advice of his managers. She was already there for him and he didn’t want to hide this from her. The constant pressure of having to do his best to impress his fans had caused the panic attack. Eun-sun was the one who convinced him to sit out for the next two tour dates. 

She slept in his room from that day on and their bond only grew from there. 

+

Eunsun liked baking, she was actually great at it. Jin had even said that he wanted to open a bakery with her one day. Knowing Jin, that could be a very real thing to happen. She enjoyed when they stayed in houses and not hotels because she could utilize the kitchens. 

She had perfected her Japanese mochi ice cream and she was ready to serve it to the boys for their dinner. Most of them were out on the terrace, having finished their dinners, and were sitting around the fire. She was delicately placing the desserts on a plate when she felt someone brush behind her. 

She was about to lean back into the person until she realized it was Minho, their personal trainer, and she immediately blushed and bowed her head in apology, “I’m sorry, I thought you were Jungkook,” she laughed nervously. 

The muscular man only smirked, leaning against the counter with crossed arms, “You’re very smitten with each other, aren’t you?”

“Uhm,” She opened her mouth, trying to find something intelligent to say, “You could say that.” She felt his eyes burning into her and she moved quicker, trying to get the food onto the platter. 

“Wait, did you check with the nutritionist about those? The boys are on strict diets.”

She turned around to face him, her mouth in the form of an ‘o’. “Oh, I didn’t mean to interfere. It’s fine, I can just-”

“I’m kidding,” His lips pulled into a smile, “They eat whatever they want most of the time.”

It seemed he expected her to laugh so that’s what she did, trying not to create an awkward silence. She lifted the platter and said, “Would you like to try one?” He nodded, plucking one off. 

“Eun-sun,” She turned to see Jungkook staring at them from the screen door that led outside. She had never seen that look before, disgust, and it not was not only directed at Minho but at her, “Everyone’s waiting.”

“Sorry,” She apologized though she wasn’t sure what she had done wrong. She didn’t give Minho another glance as she walked towards Jungkook, “I didn’t know everyone was waiting.” 

Jungkook closed the door behind them, that dark look in his eyes. That night, as she shared her treats with all the boys, Jungkook didn’t say a word. She only noticed how his arm was always snaked around her, like he had to be touching her or she might flow away somehow.

He began drinking too, something that often helped with his anxiety. She noticed that he usually just melted into his own world when he was drunk and that’s what happened that night. 

They stayed up talking and laughing until the fire burnt out and they all realized they had a plane to catch in the morning. Eunsun tried to help Jungkook up to his room but he responded harshly to her, “I can do it, I’m not drunk.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line and she tried not to seem hurt. She watched him stumble up the rest of the steps, “Jungkook, I’m gonna get you some water,” He mumbled some curse word and she turned away from him. 

She retrieved a glass for him and returned upstairs to their room. She sat the glass down on his nightstand and turned out the light. Jungkook had already plopped onto the bed tiredly. She went into the bathroom and prepared for bed, putting on a pair of pajamas. He was still wearing his jeans when she walked out of the bathroom, “Don’t you want to change your pants?” She asked as she slipped in the bed. 

He groaned as if she had woken him up, and then he began to undo his belt. She was silent, unsure of what to do because he had never undressed in front of her. She was sure he didn’t care because he was drunk and simply looked away, pulling the comforter over her.

Minutes later, the bed dipped beside her and she felt his body warmth against her. He pressed his front into her back, wrapping his arms around her. He still smelt of soju and it was starting to make her feel nauseous, “Jungkook, go take a shower if you’re going to do that.”

He ignored her and that’s when she felt the soft kisses on her shoulder blade. She flinched, the feeling so foreign, and pretty much nailed him in the nose in the process, “Aigoo,” he cursed, laying back. 

Eun-sun turned quickly, hoping it wasn’t bleeding, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry-” She didn’t have time to worry anymore because he leaned up to kiss her. And she kissed him back. 

He craved more, his fingers beginning to lift the fabric of her nightshirt, “Jungkook . . . you’re drunk and I’ve never even-”

He shushed her, “Let’s make each other feel good, okay? I need that and you’re the only thing that makes me feel happy these days.”

He pressed his lips to hers and, that night, she gave herself to him. 

+

Despite the special night they had, Jungkook was hungover in the morning. They all sat at the breakfast table but Jungkook had his head down. Eunsun tried to encourage him to eat something greasy but he ignored her. 

She was picking at her plate, talking to the boys, when she noticed someone was missing, “Where’s Minho?”

They seemed to go silent at that and all of them looked at Jungkook and then back at me, “I think he’s going home for the rest of the tour,” Namjoon spoke up though he seemed unsure of his words. 

Jungkook lifted his head, grabbing his water, before saying to no one, “I fired him.”

Eunsun stared at him with wide eyes, “What do you mean?”

Jungkook sipped his water, leaning on the table, “I mean that I hope he never works another day in his life.” And the silence in the room was deadly. 

Eunsun gave him an incredulous look but Jungkook didn’t even meet her eyes, “This is because of yesterday?”

“I saw the way he looked at you,” Jungkook sneered, “He should’ve known better, fucking creep.”

“No,” Jungkook snapped his head toward her and she shifted uncomfortably, “Y-You should no better. All he did was talk to me and you’re acting like a child who had his favorite toy stolen.” Eunsun stood suddenly, not wanting to argue anymore in front of everyone. 

She walked away from the dining room, “Eunsun, come back here!” She didn’t and it wasn’t long before she heard glass shattering against the wall. 

+

“Eunsun, please open the door. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for getting so angry.”

“You don’t understand, Eunsun, it’s because I love you. And I’m just stressed from the tour.”

“Please, can we just be alone together and talk?”

“I know it was wrong what I did. You have to forgive me. You have to let me make it up to you . . . I don’t think I’ll make it through this without you”

+

She stayed for happy moments. For getting to watch him perform in front of thousands of people. For seeing him laugh so much in all his American interviews. For the nights spent watching movies. For the photos taken while sightseeing. For the sex when he was sober. For being known as Jungkook’s girl to everyone on the team. 

But it only lasted two months. 

Because of the night he got into a physical altercation with a staff member who had made a snide remark about Eunsun being a whore. The man’s face was unrecognizable after Jungkook released all his anger into him. He defended her but he became a monster when he did. 

He had to be taken to the hospital because of how bad he bruised his knuckles. Eunsun didn’t go with him and he almost started another fight trying to get to her. Luckily, his members convinced him to go without her. She returned to the hotel with a test given to her by one of the makeup artists. 

She took three and each one had those two double lines. 

By the time Jungkook got back to the hotel, she was on a plane back to South Korea. And she and her family had plans to disappear as soon as she landed. 

+

“You always do this. You’re overreacting. Answer your phone. I love you.”

“This isn’t funny. You’re supposed to be my girlfriend. I love you.”

“I’m just trying to protect you, Eunsun. It’s because I love you.”

+  

She didn’t want him, at first. But as her stomach grew rounder and she felt his kick, she fell in love. Even after she first saw him in the hospital and realized how much he looked like Jungkook. 

Her Junghoon.

The small town they moved to had a bakery and Eunsun made her living in the day by making deliveries. She hoped one day they’d consider giving her a spot in the kitchen, even if it was for washing dishes. Her mother stayed home to watch Junghoon and her father worked most nights. 

She returned home one night with a cake to celebrate Junghoon already being five months old, but, as soon as she walked through the door, the cake fell right to the floor. Her mother was standing in the kitchen weeping, one of his bodyguards’ keeping on her, and Jungkook was sitting in the small living room. Junghoon was in his hands being rocked. 

The baby was silent as if he knew who Jungkook was. 

Eunsun stepped into the dim light of the living room and Jungkook looked up at her, “He’s beautiful. He looks just like his Mommy,” Two of his bodyguards were in the small room too. They seemed to have dark intentions just like their boss. 

“Let me hold him,” Eunsun spoke and then a gun cocked. She eyed the bodyguard across the room and there was a gun in his hand. Jungkook raised a hand to the man as if to say calm down. “Jungkook, let me hold him.”

Her lips were trembling now. 

“I was going to let you go. I was. And then I found out you took a pregnancy test the day you left,” She was so close. So close. “I didn’t know until a month ago. You robbed me of knowing I had a son. I didn’t get to name my own sun. Didn’t get to see him take his first breath. And you were okay with that.”

His voice was laced with venom but he didn’t yell, only because his son was in his arms, “Why would I want him raised by a monster?” She spoke through gritted teeth.

“That’s what you think of me?” She nodded and tears began to swell around his eyes, “All I ever did was love you, Eunsun, and I will be in his life. We’re all going to be a family.”

Her heart stopped, “It’s too late for that.”

“If you want your parents alive then you’ll come with me. And you won’t fight it.”

“You sick fuck-”

“You stole Junghoon away from me, it’s only fair,” Jungkook moved closer to her. They were both crying but Jungkook’s were happy tears, “I’m sorry, Eunsun. We start fresh now. We’ll be a family.”

And they’d be as broken as families come. 

+ 

My request are open! This is my first jungkook fic but I few more works so check out my # masterlist :)

#jungkook fic #dark jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x oc #jungkook x you #bts x reader #bts x you #bts #bts jungkook #jeon jeongguk #namjoon #kim seokjin #jimin x reader #jimin #yoongi #yoongi x reader #trigger warning #dark! #dark!jungkook #yandere #angst #jungkook angst

[avengerscompound]

The Unicorn - Chapter 6

The Unicorn:  A Pepperony Fanfic PREVIOUS

Series Masterlist

Buy me a coffee with Ko-fi Word Count:    1832

Pairing:  Tony Stark x F!Reader x Pepper Potts

Warnings:  sex talk

Synopsis:  Feelings finally come out.

A/N:  Re-uploading from @emilyevanston

The Unicorn

Tony sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee and going over plans for a new green jet engine when Pepper came over and sat in his lap.  He curled an arm around her and looked up into her eyes.

“Well, hello there.”  He said with a smile.

She leaned in and kissed him.  “I’m going to have to go back to LA for a week or two.  Do you want to come with me?”

“Yeah.  Sounds good.  When are we going?”  He asked.

“Couple of days,”  Pepper said rubbing her nose against his.

This was an unusually high amount of affection from Pepper at the start of the day.  It was nice.   It was a level of domesticity he hadn’t really expected to have.  It was never one that he’d ever experienced as a child.  His role models for what made a happy marriage were fairly fucked up, to be honest.

He did like it and as she rubbed her nose against his he nipped at her lips.  She kissed him and ran her fingers through his hair.  “I was thinking,”  She said as she pulled back.  “We could have a little get together before we go.  Maybe our little unicorn can have a go with the harness.”

“That could be fun.”  Tony agreed, tapping his fingers on her thigh.  “Can we talk about something though?”

“Of course.  What’s up?”  Pepper said.

Tony had a lot he needed to talk about.  How he didn’t know how to interpret these feelings he was having for you.  How he thought he might be falling for you.  How even if he wasn’t there was something and it was getting mixed up and now he thought you all needed to stop doing this but he also absolutely didn’t want to stop doing this at all.

He started with the thing that was most on his mind though.  “You still want to have kids right?”

Pepper furrowed her brow and looked at him.  Her expression a mix of suspicion and concern.  “Yes.  Of course, I do.  I’m not on my birth control anymore.”

“Yeah, but I have to be,”  Tony said.

Pepper moved from off Tony’s lap and drummed her fingers on the table.  “Do you want to stop?”

“I didn’t say that.  But maybe this,”  He said pointing down at his crotch.  “Might need to be just for you.”

Pepper snort laughed.  “Lucky me.  That’s okay.  Won’t change the harness plan that I had.”

Tony pulled her back into his lap.  “Lucky me.”  He said kissing the side of her neck and running his hand over her soft stomach  “And we’ll start trying?  Really trying?”

She cupped his jaw and kissed him softly.  He hummed at the gentle and tender caress of her lips over his and the way her fingers massaged the back of his neck.  “Yes, we’ll start really trying.  We’ll be parents.  And you will get to be a daddy.”  Tony flinched and Pepper looked at him puzzled.  “What was that?”

“Just that word.  Gave me a PTSD style flashback.”  He brought his mouth up to her ear.  “To the playboy days.”

Pepper hit him playfully in the chest and got up.  “Oh, you’re disgusting.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her down to him for one last kiss.  “Make me a lot of money today.”

“I’ll try.  You behave.”  She shot back and headed out to the elevator

Tony watched her leave and took a large sip of her coffee.  That was one thing down.  Now he had to figure out his damn feelings.

“You’re both really leaving me alone for two weeks?”  You complained and shoved a sushi roll into your mouth.

The sushi had been ordered in.  Yes, it had come from Masa and cost a few thousand dollars.  And yeah, you were shoving it in your mouth like it was popcorn.  It was still technically take-out.  Besides, he had started to find a lot of entertainment into seeing exactly what kinds of food you would just shove in your mouth like you’d bought it at a local carnival and it came served on a stick.

“I know.  Whatever will you do with yourself?”  Pepper teased.

“You got me.”  You shrugged, your mouth still stuffed with sushi.  “Hang out with people my own age?”

“Do they like it when you speak with your mouth full?”  Pepper teased.

You swallowed and started laughing.  “Not really.”  You said.  “And might I say, you’re going to make a wonderful mother.”

“Yes, and about that…”  Tony said.

Your eyes went wide and you dropped your jaw.  “You’re pregnant?  Really?”

“No.  No, no, no,”  Pepper said holding up her hands.

“Not yet.  We just want to get serious about trying.”   Tony added.  “So, because of the whole safe sex issue… the D is off the table.”

You put your hand to your heart and let out a breath.  “Oh man, I thought you were about to break up with me then.  I was starting to mentally tell myself not to start crying.”

Pepper put her hand on your knee.  “You would have started crying?”

You huffed and took a long sip of the brightly colored cocktail you’d been nursing.  “Shit.  Fuck it.”  You whined and rolled your head back on your shoulders.

“What happened?  Did we just break you?  Do we need to install a new operating system?”  Tony asked.

You laughed and shook your head.  “No.  But I’ve done the thing I never do.  There’re feelings.  I have feelings.  I didn’t even think I did that, you know?”  You held out your hand like you were trying to get them to stop talking though Tony was completely dumbstruck anyway.  “I mean, it’s okay.  I know you’re... “  You waved your hands at them.  “And I’m not really part of that.  But I like this a lot.  The whole safe sex thing you do.  With the condoms with each other after me.  You might as well not even bother.  I was tested twice in the past month and both are fine and I’ve only been with both of you.”

The words had spilled from you so fast Tony wasn’t sure how to process them all.  He sat blinking at you as he pulled each part out and tried to figure out where you were going with this.

“You have feelings for us?”  Pepper asked.

You seemed to make yourself smaller and you nodded your head.  You had a look in your eyes that he recognized.  It was the look of a person who had taken it for granted that they didn’t fall in love and now found themselves in love.  “Yes,”  You said in a tiny voice.  “But, look, I mean… I get it okay.  I am okay with just this.  I’m not trying to pressure you both.”

“You haven’t been sleeping with anyone else?”  Tony asked.

You shook your head again.  “I have sex for fun and I’m having fun with the two of you.  Didn’t feel like any point to keep hooking up with strangers when I know I like being here with you guys.”

No one said anything for a long time.  As each second past, you seemed to make yourself smaller and fidgeted more.  It was so unlike you and so out of character that Tony heart started to ache for you, yet he seemed to be frozen in place.  “I ruined this, didn’t I?  I’ll just go.”  You said getting up.

He and Pepper moved as one.  Each grabbing your hand to stop you.  He looked at Pepper and she nodded and he pulled you into his lap.  “Shh… it’s okay.  We can… we’ll…”  Tony babbled.  He wanted to tell you he felt the same.  That the three of you would work this out.  Speaking his feelings was never his strong suit though.

“It’s okay, honey,”  Pepper said taking your hand and running her thumb in soothing circles over the back of your hand.  She looked up at Tony and then to you.  “It’s not just you.”

You looked at her as you trembled in his lap.  “Really?”

She shook her head.  “Yes.  I’ve been trying to tell myself it’s not there.  That we’re just having fun.  And we are.  We’re having fun.  But if it was just fun it would be over by now.  It’s been months of this.  I’m not letting you go for a reason.”  

Tony blinked his eyes.  There was that little jealousy demon.  It was ridiculous because Pepper had basically said exactly how he had been feeling too.  So it was better for him this way.  This way he could have his cake and eat it.  Everyone wins.  So why was it gnawing at him?

“Tony?”  You said looking back at him.  He could see you were fighting the urge to cry.  He had never once seen this side of you and he wrapped his arms around you and held you close, kissing your neck.

“Me too.”  He whispered.

You took a deep shuddering breath he could feel against him and he rubbed your back.  “What now then?”

There was another silence and Tony looked over at Pepper wanting to follow her lead.

“I don’t want this to end,”  Pepper said.  “Can we…”  She let out a huff.  “God, we do not do well at this talking about our feelings thing do we?”

Tony laughed.  “No.  You can say that again.”  He agreed.  “What are you thinking?  An actual relationship.  Like polyamory?”

Pepper nodded.  “I guess?  Yes.  Yeah.”

“I’m really, really bad at relationships.”  You said, yet you curled yourself in against him more.

“Welcome to the club, kid,”  Tony said, tapping your ass.  “I’m good with Pep though, and even then it’s not been smooth sailing.”

“It takes work, honey,”  Pepper said, rubbing your leg.  “And he’s incorrigible.”

You laughed weakly and Tony grinned at her.  “What about the public?”

Tony barked out a loud laugh, earning a glare from you.  “Oh god, sorry you were serious.”  He said.  “I’m Iron Man, honey.  I don’t know there’s anything that could come out about me that the public would blink about these days.”

“We’ll still start quietly though.  And if you’re worried about how people here will look at you.  With work.  We can work it out.”  Pepper said.  “I’ve been in this position.  My boyfriend gave me his company.  I copped a lot of flack but I did the work.”

“So we’re really going to do this?  You really think this is a good idea when you’re about to start trying for a kid?”  You asked.

Tony tilted your face up to his and looked down at you.  “We’ve been doing it for the past month haven’t we?”

You smiled and ran your finger along his jaw.  “Yeah, I guess we have.”

He leaned down and brought his lips to yours and reached over and took Pepper’s hand.  This wasn’t going to be easy, but then when was anything he did ever easy?

// NEXT

#tony stark #pepper potts #iron man #tony stark x reader #pepper potts x reader #tony stark x pepper potts #iron man fanfic #pepperony #pepperony x reader #tony stark x pepper potts x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #smut #fluff #angst #polyamory #the unicorn

[gellavonhamster]

charles remembers

gen || Charles | Kit Snicket || pre-canon, Charles/Sir mentioned

ao3 link || originally posted in Russian

“Do you smoke?” asks the girl seated in the armchair opposite to him. Men’s trousers, a men’s shirt, and men’s cigarettes in a cigarette case. Charles’s eye catches the emblem at the latter: the same eye-shaped insignia is depicted on the stained-glass windows of the club they’re presently in, and the same insignia – he know that for sure – is tattooed on the ankle of his interlocutress. Suddenly back to his senses, he hastily shakes his head:  

“No, thank you.”

“Would you mind if I ruin my health a little?”

“Of course not, go ahead. Oh. I mean…”

He must be looking absolutely helpless at the moment, because the girl offers him an encouraging smile and does not hesitate to assure him that everything’s alright. Charles watches her light a cigarette with a glistening metal lighter, which then disappears down her sleeve. With one hand, the girl puts the cigarette to her lips, while using the other one to readjust the pencil she’s pinned her hair with into a messy bun on the back of the head.    

“Good thing you do not mind. Your future boss,” she lets out a wisp of smoke and watches it float up and dissolve in the half-light, “smokes all the time. Sometimes it’s difficult to make out his face behind those puffs of smoke, seriously. So you’d better get used to it.”  

“Oh,” Charles says again because he has to react somehow, doesn’t he.

“On the other hand, I am still not able to prepare you fully. He smokes not even cigarettes, but cigars. The kind that’s like…” she puts two fingers together to demonstrate how thick, at a rough estimate, those cigars are. “Quite a luxury. That’s why he, to quote my brother – not Jacques, but our youngest – smells like corruption. Those writers,” she throws her hand up with a wry smile. Charles remembers it two days later, having first met his new employer. He doesn’t know what corruption smells like, but soon he comes to terms with the fact that the scent that follows Sir around, that of expensive cigars and equally expensive cologne, is the one he’d love to bottle up and breathe in when no one’s watching.  

A little over half a year ago, Charles was kicked out of his house with a scandal, and found himself on the streets, having in his possession only a briefcase hurriedly stuffed with shirts and underwear, and some pocket money, in an amount that was much larger than in the pockets of many other young men his age but still not enough to rent a decent lodging at least for a month. Crushed not so much by his banishment as by the scandal that preceded it, and even more by the fact that a certain person, implicated in what led to him being kicked out and promised to be written out of the will, broke all ties with him, he was wandering the streets aimlessly when a taxi suddenly drove up to him. The girl in the front seat – the very girl currently smoking in the armchair opposite to him – introduced herself as Kit Snicket, introduced the driver – a young man looking remarkably similar to her, and good-looking even despite the mild case of unibrow – as her brother Jacques, and offered her help. Charles had nowhere to go and nothing to lose, so he got into the taxi.  

From then on, Charles has pondered time after time on what he signed up for, having let the Snicket siblings take him to the other end of the city and fix him up for a job at an insurance company – and having agreed to return the favour when needed. The favours he has had occasion to do for the Snickets and their associates – that was the word they used – over the last half a year included giving some strangers the envelopes he was strictly forbidden to open, and sending a telegram under someone else’s name. Never mind that time when he was tasked with taking a seat at the cinema next to some woman and putting into her bag a parcel (Charles still hopes it was just a trick of his senses) that was moving a little. And now they want him to leave his job at the insurance company and take up a position as a secretary at the lumber mill called…  

“Lucky Smells,” Kit repeats, flipping the ash off her cigarette into a bronze ash tray on the table. “It’s in Paltryville, have you been there?”

“Haven’t had the pleasure.”

“Well, you’ll have it.”

“Miss Snicket… Kit… I actually don’t know anything about the lumber industry. I have never ever held an axe in my hands.”

“It’ll be other people who shall hold axes. What you shall be required to do is to use a typewriter, answer the phone, make coffee – all the things you can do perfectly well. As well as…” Kit puts the cigarette into the ash tray, turns to Charles, and looks into his eyes closely, “to make sure that Sir – your boss – accepts the orders of our organization and declines those of… some undesirable persons and entities. You shall receive a list of those who there should be no business dealings with.”  

“To make sure,” Charles repeats with a frown. Throughout their conversation he has kept rocking his teacup in his hands anxiously, but presently he puts it on the table, having nearly spilled the tea on his trousers. “But you’ve said it yourself that he’s got a difficult disposition. That he’s stubborn and incompliant and used to relying on himself only.”

Charles remembers it two days later, having first met his new employer, and a month later and a year later and fifteen years later, when the arrival of three children to the lumber mill makes him try again to hold sway over Sir – what if after all this time he’d still be able to do this?  

“You got that right,” Kit affirms. “That’s why you’ll have to become irreplaceable, Charles. A model employee. You have to make him arrive at the conclusion that your opinion should be reckoned with.”  

“In other words, I have to bring him to heel.”

“He won’t let you. You’ll have to… guide him gently in the right direction. Ideally so that he would be sure he’s making all the decisions on his own.”

The members of VFD (that’s the name of the organization that Kit and Jacques and their younger brother and many other strange people Charles has made acquaintance with over the last half a year belong to) receive special training since childhood. Charles does not know exactly what kind of training it is but he’s positive that people who can shoot and spy and identify the cup with the poisoned drink by smell – the latter was done for entertainment at a private party he once had a chance to attend – are much more skilled in everything related to manipulating others than he is. He’s… ordinary. He doesn’t feel comfortable in the limelight, and he’s not good at debates. He’s not endowed with the looks of Gustav Sebald or the charm of Doctor Montgomery or the bravado of Captain Widdershins, yet perhaps the matter at hand requires something the VFD members do not possess – such as the skill of being ordinary.  

“All right,” he agrees. Granted, this conversation could not have ended in a different way, because deep down in his heart, Charles is afraid. He’s afraid of Kit and her brothers and each and every VFD member, their intellectual refinement and handsome manners notwithstanding. He still doesn’t understand completely the nature of activities of their organization, and he isn’t sure he wants to, but he owes them his job and money and the roof over his head. Besides, he’s got no one else: he has lost touch with his few college friends; he was betrayed by the person he trusted more than anyone else in the world; his father died in a fire a couple of months after kicking Charles out of the house. Charles remembers it years later, having suddenly realized how many people he knew, VFD and non-VFD alike, have died in fires lately.

What else is there for him to do, anyway?

“All right,” he repeats. “I’ll do everything I possibly can.”

Kit nods amicably.

“I’ve never doubted you, Charles. Some more tea?”

“I still have some, thank you.”

“There’s still plenty in the pot, just so you know. And as to bringing him to heel …” Kit gives him another attentive look, and Charles gets uneasy because he realizes she knows much more about him than he knows about her. “He likes women – hasn’t stopped ogling my cleavage all the while we talked – but he likes handsome young men no less. Use this information as you may think fit.”    

Kit Snicket knows much more about him than he knows about her – including the reason his father banished him. Charles shrinks under her gaze.  

“I don’t think that shall be necessary,” he says crisply. He certainly wouldn’t make much of a seducer, of all things. Charles remembers it three months later, down on his knees for Sir in his study, after locking the door himself. Then again, it’s up for debate which one of them was the seducer in that case.    

“That’s up to you,” Kit shrugs her shoulders and takes her cup. “Well, let’s drink to success, shall we? It’s not champagne, of course, but I am convinced that good tea is just as appropriate for such purpose as alcohol.”

“Yes, sure,” Charles forces a smile and raises his cup. His hand is trembling slightly, and a dark stain ends up spreading on his light-grey trousers. “Ah, damn it…”

“Don’t you fret so,” Kit says friendly, offering him a napkin. “You’ll make it.”

Charles remembers it many, many times over the following years – every time he finds anew that he hasn’t made it, not anywhere near.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #charles #kit snicket #snicketverse #my fic #gella talks snicketverse #i don't see kit as such a menacing person it's poor charles who does