Zekirecs - Tumblr Posts
sweets, you already know i been CACKLING reading this teaser!!!
i’m super pumped for the full one-shot to drop ok it’s gonna be so great <3 like i’ve told you before, your sense for comedic flow and timing is just *chefs kiss*
i’ll be here >) waiting!!!
(but also take your time ok this will def be worth the wait)
fic teaser | kim taehyung
pairing ⇝ himbo!taehyung x reader (f. reader)
genre ⇝ college!au; holiday!au; smut; one-shot; humor
summary ⇝ Jungkook suffering a car accident two days before Christmas was honestly so damn inconvenient of him. Now, after months trying to avoid you, Taehyung finds himself having to spend Christmas in the middle of nowhere alone with you.
rating ⇝ +18
teaser warnings ⇝ nothing explicit; profanity; nudity; mentions of sex; mentions of bondage; mentions of puking.
complete work warnings (this might change) ⇝ alcohol consumption; a lot of sexual tension y'all; reader is unwell; taehyung is a menace but wbk; minor parent issues; explicit smut: masturbation, orgasm denial, dirty talk, pet names, soft dom!taehyung, fingering, handjob, nipple play, oral (f. and m. receiving), size kink, Taehyung has a huge dick, unprotected sex (just don't.), praise kink, marking, biting, light spanking, a splash of degradation (Taehyung calls reader a slut once), begging, edging, multiple orgasms, squirt, creampie, cum stuffing, cum eating, aftercare.
release date ⇝ around mid to late january.
tease word count ⇝ 0.8k
notes ⇝ so i had the idea to write a holiday!au for tae’s birthday around three weeks ago and just now finished the outline lol 🤡 i’m still working on it, but i decided to drop a little something so you can have a taste! the teaser happens a couple months before the actual fanfic, so it’s not christmas here yet lol sorry, i promise i’ll plan better the next time (i probably won’t tho). ↳ wanna thank @imakeamess for the BEAUTIFUL BANNER, i know i was all over the place but you were able to create the most amazing art for me, so thank you once again🥺 ↳ special thanks to @uarmymoonlight for helping me come up with the story and patiently listening to me rambling about this fic nonstop, i love you! and @vsualitae for helping me find inspiration and letting me spam his dms with this lol ↳ also, merry christmas for those who celebrate and happy holidays! hope you all have an amazing year ending and an even better new year🎄
if you wanna be added to the taglist just leave a comment 🥰
When Taehyung was eighteen years old, he told a slightly less experienced Jungkook that girls have a secret sweet spot on the back of their knees.
Yeah, pretty shitty, he knows, he knows— but!, in Taehyung's defense, Jungkook was too damn innocent for his own good and he obviously didn't expect that Jungkook would take a whole ass year to google it. How hard is it to differentiate a freaked out face from a fucked out face, really? It was only like, 30% his responsibility.
Clearly, though, the universe wasn't as understanding, because now Taehyung is pretty sure that he’s cursed.
Whenever he’s feeling like he’s hot shit, life finds ridiculous and absurd ways to humble him — being extra careful to guarantee Jungkook front row seats.
Fair enough. Taehyung has no problem owning his stuff, and he didn’t really believe all this karma shit anyway.
Except when it came to you.
“Shit.” Soojin curses, hands stopping in their search for her keys.
“What's wrong, babe?” Jungkook frowns.
“Can we maybe go to your place? My roommate had some work stuff to prepare and asked me to give her some space this afternoon.”
Taehyung groans “Soojin, we live on the other side of campus and I'm starving.” He punctuates this by lifting the food bags in his hands.
“But she's been super stressed lately, I don't wanna add to that.”
“We won't! We can be quiet, baby.” Jungkook reassures.
Soojin chews her bottom lip. “You sure?”
“Promise.”
Taehyung nods. “She won't even notice us.”
Soojin sighs. “Fine.”
“Also, it can be a great opportunity for Tae to finally meet her.” Jungkook turns to Taehyung. “She's painfully your type, man.”
“Don’t even think about it! My roomie is not interested in Taehyung’s fuckboy ways, Kookie, she’s a pure soul.” Soojin protests.
“Baby, that’s slutshaming. Not cool.”
“What? I'm not a fuckboy. I'm just a very good boy who likes to give people what they want, nothing wrong with that.”
Soojin rolls her eyes, then finally opens the door.
Barely they step into the apartment, though, the three of them freeze — somewhat distracted by the sight of a blond man standing in the middle of the living room, covered only by a blue underwear and a trail of purple marks on his neck and collarbone.
And damn, what a fine man that is. Taehyung had never seen such pretty pouty lips before and he can't help the sudden wish to add a couple of purples to that soft skin himself.
“What the hell?” Soojin's question prompts the man to cover his crotch with his hands. Pitty. “Who the fuck are you?”
“So, I found these old ropes in the back of my drawer, but I think they can hold—” you stop talking once you enter the living room, seeing a hell of a lot more people than when you left.
Jungkook snickers, glancing down at the rope still in your hands. “Pure soul my ass.”
When your name drops from Soojin’s mouth, something snaps in Taehyung’s mind. You see, he isn’t dumb by any means, but Taehyung sure sometimes is slow.
To be fair, he’d spent so much time trying to forget everything about you and the day you met that it’s only natural that he would take some time to recognize your face from his days I wish I hadn’t woken up archive.
But the way your fingers tighten around the knots before you hide them behind your back? Shit, how can he forget the way those fingers felt entangled in his hair that night? The way you made him groan against your neck whenever you pulled a bit too strong?
And your thighs? Fuck, they are so much prettier than he fantasized they’d be, barely covered by the oversized shirt you’re wearing. Taehyung almost has to stifle a groan because holy fuck how he wishes he could’ve seem them — felt them under his palms that night.
“Is he your work thing?” Soojin sarcastically points to the man’s general direction.
“Yeah, sorry about that, Soo, I just wanted to— Taehyung?!”
He grimaces, eyes immediately darting away from your form as he clears his throat, letting out a silent “hey.”
“You know each other?” Soojin frowns.
“We uhm… we met at—” you stutter “we met once. At a party.”
Soojin is silent for a moment, before her jaw drops “Wait— is Taehyung the puke guy?!”
The blue underwear man looks at you immediately. “Did you puke on him?”
“No! No, of course not, Jimin, it was him who— I mean, uh” so this is what humiliation tastes like? “Nevermind.”
The sudden sound of Jungkook’s laugh erupts beside Taehyung, and the boy takes his hand to his stomach as he leans forward. Taehyung is sure he’s never seen Jungkook so happy.
It takes around a minute for Jungkook’s laugh to turn into light giggling as he tries to catch his breath.
“She’s the girl you puked on? No fucking way, man.”
Well. Yeah. Karma and shit.
note ⇝ lemme know what you think 🥺 ↳ again, if you wanna be notified when i post the complete work, just leave a comment 💕
YOU ARE LITERALLY SUCH A GOOD WRITER. LEAVE SOME SUCCESS FOR THE REST OF US, GOSH.
i thoroughly enjoyed reading this teaser of yours. i love the emotion you brought to our female lead. i am very excited to see how this story is gonna evolve and how many struggles we’ll see our queen in >) i know you like the pain mwuehehe
also advisor!hoseok better be a stable character, cause he’s so sweet hahah i really enjoyed his presence in this teaser
fortress of the heart ⬪ ksj ╱ preview.
after the fall of your kingdom in a relentless war, you are forced to marry the king of a neighboring country to save the last remains of your empire. kim seokjin’s iron grip is a force which not only provides a fortress to your country’s safety, but a fortress to your heart’s deepest desires.
─ part of the down in history series. ─ back to the menu.
pairing: king!ksj x queen consort!reader.
genre: history au | arranged marriage | (slight) e2l.
rating: 18+
word count: 670+
content warnings: mentions of death, (minimal) depictions of war, some historical inaccuracy (you’ve been warned), themes of politics, famine and rebellion.
─ taglist | request through askbox | @amenjiminsan @raplinesmoon @yoontaethings @dejavujoon @effielumiere @serendipitysingularity5
─ full chapter coming up in february, 2023.
The scarlet hems of your dress as you walk in the counselor’s room seem the only colors of life in this castle. Everything and everyone else is consumed by grief and ashes, the shades of gray in the chambers are intensified by the fire and the deafening silence of your advisors.
“This is madness! Madness! No!”
Keep reading
genuinely took me a bit too long to get to this one, but OH MY GOD LUA!!! i don’t know if i should put this under read more but lemme just lol better safe than sorry
OK SO LEMME JUST SAY THIS FIRST:
THIS IS THE FILTHIEST GREATEST SMUT I’VE READ IN A HOT ASS TIME WHAT THE HELL ?? genuinely, i loved the realism of it. it’s really great to see you put emphasis on smell, taste, sight, and damn sweat. i don’t like that “squeaky clean” smut tbh ‘cause it doesn’t feel believable to me. if you swallow cum you’re gonna taste a bit like cum lol ain’t no way around it. so A+++ for the smut!! hella realistic, hella great.
secondly, gosh i LOVE the banter you got going on between taehyung and reader. it’s fun, it’s entertaining, it’s cute! i love that it all comes back around in the end, both with the grinch and the dancing and even the fucking vomiting, like the way they laughed during sex?? listen. when you are able to laugh during sex, you know you found the one ok you know you’re in love at that point, so it was really cute and very in character for both of them to do.
and lemme just note for you that the unsung heroes of this piece are jungkook and soojin! GIRLIE SOOJIN KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING GIVING READER THAT FOR CHRISTMAS OMG AIN’T NOBODY ABLE TO TELL ME OTHERWISE LMAO also honestly??? i rlly love how unphased jungkook was at the end like he just fully expected them to fuck it out haha catching tae and reader on the couch and he’s just un-fucking-phased haha that’s a true friend right there!
i loved the build up, i really appreciated the jokes and the way we got to hear from both tae and reader. ‘cause i was like, damn she’s really just unbothered?? turns out, welp, not as unbothered as i thought haha and i love being proven wrong in literature.
i think the scenes were believable, the bickering and teasing was very charming, and overall honestly a really, really great piece! it was super fun to read lua!!! WELL DONE YAY!!!
ps. also dw cause christmas is all year round when it’s a big dick’ed tae lol
pps. this just left me yearning for christmas :(
Snow Flower | kth (m)
pairing ↠ himbo!taehyung x reader (f. reader)
genre ↠ college!au; holiday!au; smut; humor; fluff; strangers to almost lovers to idiots to lovers; one-shot.
summary ↠ after making some terrible memories together, Taehyung wants nothing more than to never see you again; and he was pretty much succeeding — until he finds himself having to spend Christmas alone with you in the middle of nowhere.
rating ↠ +18
warnings ↠ taehyung is bi y’all; alcohol consumption; sexual tension; taehyung is a menace but he’s also stupid; some religious jokes are made; some kink shaming (tae is lowkey offended by furry kink?? idek); minor accident; very minor parent issues (this is really in the background, but i was going through stuff and writing it helped); a bunch of Christmas movies talk; taehyung is scared of grinch lol (i’m serious 💀); second hand embarrassment; pov switch; explicit smut (the warnings are long as fuck, so beware).
smut warnings 👀↠ mentions of anal; masturbation; orgasm denial; orgasm control; a whole lot of teasing; edging; dirty talk; pet names; soft dom!taehyung; switch!reader; fingering; light pussy slapping; nipple play; oral (f. and m. receiving); choking on cock; tae has a huge dick ‘cus it’s christmas and we deserve it; unprotected sex (pls don’t do it. this is unhinged fiction); praise kink; marking; biting; light spanking; a splash of degradation (he calls reader a slut once); reader has sensitive thighs; tae has stamina for days; so much begging; a bit of overstimulation ‘cus taehyung is a man on a mission; multiple orgasms; squirting; creampie; cum eating; it’s rough but it’s also super silly; they joke during sex, it’s ridiculous; aftercare.
teaser ↠ (wc:0.8k) read it before to make sure this is for you ♡
word count ↠ 22k (7.5k are just smut y'all, i went off 🥴)
estimated reading time ↠ 60 minutes
note ↠ just wanna come out and say that i listened to mistletoe an unhealthy amount of times to get into the mood to write this and i think i’m damaged for life. also, i know it’s march lol, but i went through some shit™️ while writing this and it took some time to get back on track. to be honest, i almost gave up on this fic at least once a week, and it was hard as fuck to finish it. i struggled a lot with the plot until i was actually satisfied, but i’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
note² ↠ if this fic is finished, i have to thank @uarmymoonlight for lowkey bullying me into seeing this story through, always ready to motivate and help me brainstorm and fix plot points. you know i love you, and i hope you get a himbo to yourself one day. also wanna thank @vsualitae for being such a sweet listener, and for helping me through writer’s block. you’re amazing, and i will cherish you forever, please don’t give up on me because i’m terrible at replying.
note³ ↠ thank you again for @imakeamess for the amazing banner!
playlist ↠ this is what i think reader and tae’s playlist would look like
navigation | masterlist | permanent taglist | tell me your thoughts ♡
Jungkook suffering a car accident two days before Christmas was honestly so damn selfish of him.
Keep reading
big fat rec from me!!!!!!! beta reading this has been so fun and i can highly recommend reading this once it drops on sept. 2nd!!!!!!!
fic announcement ♡ lust academia | knj
summary: you were just study buddies. not close enough to be friends, but you not distant enough to be acquaintances. both of you were tied by a single link: the desire to succeed academically.
pairing: knj x f!reader;
genre: pwp | college au | oneshot;
rating: explicit | 18+;
taglist: @vsualitae @axialitae. send me an ask or reply to this post to be tagged!
COMING ON SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2023!
monvante © 2021 - 2023. all rights reserved. do not copy, edit or redistribute my work.
listen.
listen listen listen.
i love every damn thing about this. the way you write, the details of the case, how fast we get into rooting for the characters and their case, how you paint a picture so effortlessly vividly.. i love it!!!
anyone sleeping on this is STOOPID. GIVE IT A READ. IT'S AN ORDER LOL
persona non grata ╱ myg, 𝟏.
per·so·na non gra·ta: unwelcome or unwanted. not popular or accepted by others.
pairing: myg x f!reader
genre: suspense / noir / fbi agent au
rating: mature | 18+
chapter word count: 3,067
content warings: crime, blackmail, missing person investigation, themes of violence and murder, 90's cult references, corrupt cops, mentions of physical fighting, cockroaches, depictions of dementia, substance abuse & addiction, reader is grieving a breakup;
next chapter | series navigation | masterlist
chapter i. goodbye, kanan.
Tuesday night, March 18th @ ViCAP Unit, Missing Persons Dept.
Your hands don’t feel clean. They just never do.
“It’s that same nightmare,” you rub them together, finding comfort in the heat.
Yoongi looks at you. He says nothing, because of course he doesn't. He already noticed the dark circles under your eyes this morning, how you looked at your cup of coffee with a bit more disgust than usual.
He admired your hatred, your devotion to your spiteful heart.
“Cockroaches.” Your sad chuckle is but self-mockery. Your gaze is crestfallen.
He’s left to calculate within the machinations of his mind whatever meaning there is in your nightmare.
Yet, Yoongi finds none whatsoever.
“Have you eaten?”
“Why?”
“Just asking,” he shrugs. “Take tomorrow off,” Yoongi hides his hands inside the pockets of his trench coat. His concern is disguised in his eyes, looking out the foggy windows of the department office. “You need it.”
“I can’t stop thinking about him.”
“Let it go.”
“He was eight years old! He was a child!”
The air tightens in your lungs and your throat thickens with silence. You didn’t mean to sound so exasperated, you didn’t mean to sound like anything, but you’ll have to be the first to face your emotional ties to the cold case of a young boy whose face is ingrained in the back of your mind.
Yoongi gulps ⎯ it’s the first thing he does when the truth’s engulfed in his stomach. You glare at him, but he doesn’t budge. Not for a few seconds at least, taking a few steps back as he still refuses to look you in the eye. All cops are cowards.
“You wanna know why we got this case?”
Your brows perk.
“It’s not because we’re good,” he scoffs. “Last year... I confronted McKinnon about the money. He called me a snitch… I didn’t- I didn’t tell him you were in on it, but I figured he knew. That bastard just.. kept looking at me with those filthy eyes and I- I hit him, okay? I got him good. He deserved it.”
“Is that why you kept avoiding me all those months?”
“Kind of. He said we wouldn’t come out of it alive if the ACU so much as dreamt of it… So I kept quiet. He gave us a case full of dead ends and shit evidence to keep us busy… Said we deserved it.”
The Anti Corruption Unit had been onto the agents’ tail that month. Not that it matters. Nothing was found.
“Why– why didn’t you tell me?”
He runs a hand through his hair, slowing down his breath. In the same second, he fails himself and his fury comes out in full force.
“Fuck’s sake! And risk you being dead? Or worse?!”
There are drops of sweat down his temple. You can see them because the yellow street lights glisten against his skin and you figure he’s telling you the truth. Even if he wasn’t, you’d be inclined to believe him.
No one else in this godforsaken unit has a commitment to the truth like Yoongi.
Thursday morning, March 20th @ ViCAP Unit, Missing Persons Dept.
Agent Gerwig gives you a warm, tight-lipped smile when you pass her down the hallways. You hurry past the agents down the coffee machine, avoiding small talk and nearly tripping down the stairs on your way to Yoongi’s desk.
The insides of your stomach are twisting and turning as you rush inside, uninvited and breathless, waiting for him to acknowledge you behind his incessant typing and the meaningless emails he reads everyday.
Yoongi seems as still and lifeless as ever, which somehow comes as a comfort to you.
“Days off are supposed to make you look better, not worse. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He types as fast as he comes up with witty remarks.
“That’s because I have!” You spit back, fists closed tightly around the newspaper in your hands.
He quirks up one brow, enough for you to know you’ve got his attention.
“Here,” you toss it onto his desk. “Read it.”
November 27th, 1991. Solved case: Thanksgiving kidnappings linked to man apprehended by police.
“That’s Adam Bowen. He got arrested a night after Kanan went missing,” you huff, catching your breath. “They never considered him a suspect because… the timelines didn’t add up, apparently.”
Yoongi looks up at you from the large frame of his glasses.
“And?”
“Police always suspected he worked with his brother… but they never found enough evidence to prove it. They never even found said brother, the guy disappeared out of thin air and Bowen never told them anything. Not a word.”
He leans back, stretching his arms. His gaze diverts away from you or the paper altogether and he’s staring into space, seemingly at a loss for words.
“They got one brother, huh? Looks like it was enough for them to settle it,” Yoongi clicks his tongue. “Sloppy as all hell.”
In your heart, there’s some feeble hope, but most of it has been filled with despair and a fierce jealousy towards anyone who still maintained a sense of normalcy. Your last seven years have been haunted by nightmares, tainted by the faces of all the missing person reports hanging on your walls.
“We got a second half of the story to figure out.”
Yoongi nods. He closes off his laptop and puts his hands around his gun belt.
Friday night, March 21th @ Agent ___’s home.
Circe’s orange tail swirls around your leg before she’s meowing next to her empty bowl, with cute and threatening eyes glaring into your soul. You can barely catch your breath on the couch ⎯ you got shit to do.
Her paws trail happily after you once you’re pouring the pack of Whiskas onto her tiny plate, making a mental note to throw nearly all the home decor away before Easter comes. The apartment is filled with portraits, vases and candles Yuri generously left you with.
Such courtesy of your ex-fiancée to have abandoned all your memories and stories behind.
You’re running out of coffee, hope and sugar.
Yuri was not a bad man. It’s what you told yourself, once. He wanted the kids and the white picket fence life, away from violent gangs and city lights, where he’d craft the perfect nuclear family, worthy of homemade apple pies and Sunday barbecues.
But you liked the urban loneliness, your shoebox apartment and the green subway lights on your way back home. You liked the comfort of knowing every neighborhood like the palm of your hand, the ins and outs of every highway and the thought of heartless strangers passing you by, not caring for your name.
You missed him. His warm body pressed against yours and his golden, brown skin; you missed him selfishly ⎯ your comfort zone walked away and resentment grew alongside the fondness.
You hoped he was happy without you, but not too much.
When your co-workers asked you about him, a few days after he packed his bags, all you gave them was a shrug and a poor explanation, the kind that everyone does: we were incompatible, it wasn’t meant to be, I wasn’t ready. The list went on and on.
The only one to not probe was good old loyal Yoongi. He was indifferent enough to other people’s personal lives not to ask. When you told him, he patted you on the shoulder awkwardly and placed your coffee by your desk with extra whipped cream.
Saturday afternoon, March 22nd @ Rosefell Nursing Home.
Violet Bowen was not, by any means, what you’d call a reliable witness. She seemed pale beyond human comprehension and her words mostly consisted of hummings or muttering. The moment you saw her, you felt a sting of empathy too strong to ask her of her missing, possibly outlaw brother.
She had no other relatives nor close visitors, except for a caring ex-neighbor who’d bring her flowers every Friday. With nails painted a deep shade of red, she looked to be around eighty, but you couldn’t quite tell. Violet was in poor condition, plagued by dementia and the loneliness of lost loved ones.
Her caretaker is a vibrant, blonde nurse. A blonde Southern belle whose name tag read in big, uppercase letters.
CAROLYN R. NURSING ASSISTANT
It’s Yoongi who interrogates Violet, remaining unaffected by her lost gaze and brown eyes. He flashes her a picture of her brothers back in the 80’s, sporting what looks to be fluffy mullets.
She smiles then and her shaky hands point at Adam, but nothing else comes out of her aside from a gleam of life in her eyes. Even if she knew where they were, she wouldn’t tell them a word.
Carolyn’s smile grows disconcerted. Her hands lay on Violet’s forearm as she pulls a thick chunk of her blonde hair out of her face in typical Southern charm.
“I think my girl’s had enough here, yes?” She forces a grin, glancing over at Violet. “If you’ll excuse us, it’s tea time.”
Carolyn helps Violet out of her seat and into the cafeteria. You’re not sure if it’s bad timing or a deliberate attempt from the nursing assistant to end this conversation, but you’re leaning on the latter. Off they go, taking slow, mindful steps away from both of you.
You refuse to look at Violet’s way. Something about her made you want to cry your heart out; the thought of loneliness being an imminent threat to you, too.
“It’s pointless, Yoongi,” you mutter in your seat, slouching your shoulders. “She’s not going to remember anything.”
He hates to agree. Yoongi tsks, fiddling with his watch.
“Did you check her records at the reception?” He glances over at you, mind brimming with some sort of nefarious idea.
“Yeah,” you nod. “I mean- I didn’t check if she had any funds… It looks like all her properties and money were confiscated by the government, but I should run a background check on her bank accounts, to be sure.”
Monday afternoon, March 24th @ Tech Unit, Information Management Division.
Jenny’s doodles lie by her desk, making the room feel like a high school classroom. You haven’t spoken to her since December; what was once a blossoming friendship wilted away thanks to your cowardice and the desire to protect her from Deputy McKinnon’s claws. If Jenny found out, she’d jump the gun.
And she didn’t have the best aim.
Her Naruto sketches have improved greatly since you last saw them, a massive improvement for just a couple months. Both of you used to laugh at her poorly drawn stick figures, now it looks like she’s ready to take her comics career seriously. You’re happy for her ⎯ she’ll find a way out of this hellhole.
The air is thick and humid in the early Spring, but filled with an extra layer of awkwardness when she sees you from across the room. Jenny’s strides towards her desk are heavy with grief and resentment, but she holds her gaze your way.
“Have you had enough space from me after not picking up my calls?” She slides onto her chair, scribbling a few notes onto her monthly planner. “Long time no see, idiot.”
You don’t have much to say for yourself, even when your chest pangs with her affectionate, yet sarcastic use of the word idiot.
“A lot happened, is all,” you gesture sheepishly, hands reaching for the insides of your pockets.
“I can imagine.”
“I’m sorry, Jenny… I didn’t mean to-”
She looks up at you, eyes drenched with irony and something.. something which you can’t name. If it’s hatred or love, you can’t tell.
“Wat’cha want?”
You swallow dry and uneasy, unfolding the paper on your hand with Violet Bowen’s name and address. It’s crumpled and a little thorn ⎯ you were ready to throw it away seconds before coming into the Tech Unit.
“I- I need a background check on someone,” you mutter, lowly. “Bank account activity… Credit cards… Anything you can find from the last… thirty years, maybe?”
Your attempt at a chuckle fails, denouncing your regret. Jenny notices the furrow of your brows and how concerned you seem, ripping the paper away from your hands.
“Sure.”
The seconds fill with silence. You stand by her desk, waiting for a snide comment, a spiteful joke, anything. She looks at you like she knows you want to apologize again.
“Nice sketches!” You smile as a desperate invitation to make friendly conversation.
Jenny doesn’t cave in.
“You’re dismissed,” she nods at the doorway and hops onto her laptop. “I’ll text you when I’m done.”
Monday night, March 24th @ Agent ____’s home.
“Hey,” you mutter over the phone. “Just checking up on you and mom.”
“Finally!” Albeit sarcastic, your younger sister’s voice is nothing but chirpy, as it has always been. “We miss you, you idiot. You know that, right?”
Over the phone, you can hear your mom’s laugh and a few unintelligible words. It seems she’s adjusting to your dad’s absence. Somehow, you had stopped calling after the funeral. It’s not that you didn’t miss them back ⎯ you were sick of being flooded with memories every time you’d hear her voice. Like your dad was still there too, right beside her.
“Sorry, sweetcheeks. I’ve just been busy.” The explanations and apologies roll off your tongue.
“You know you can’t avoid us forever, right?” Her voice is so sober, it’s as if she’s older than you by a million years.
When you gaze out the window, loneliness overcomes you. The years spent playing hide and seek in your childhood home are long gone, replaced by miles of distance between you and your family ⎯ how you became so caring and so bad at expressing it like your father. You hate how much of you is made of all the people you love. And miss.
“You there?”
“Y-yeah, yeah I’m sorry.”
“I swear to God, you gotta stop doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“This.” She pauses. “Acting like we don’t exist. Seriously. We miss you.”
A pang of guilt flashes through your chest.
“I know.” Your voice is small through the phone again. In between the anxiety and the seconds, you fiddle with your bracelet. “I’m sorry.. It’s been hell.”
“I promised you I wouldn’t tell mom about your breakup, but she keeps asking me. It wouldn’t hurt if you opened up for once.” She sounds more hurt than angry, vindicating your mother after all the months you spent avoiding calls and texts under the pretense of your busy adult job.
Even in the softness of her voice, her words feel harsh. You gulp down a threatening tear, staying silent on the phone. She was still right, though.
“Listen, we love you, okay? I don’t know what kind of shit you’re going through because you won’t tell me everything.. but dude, please, seriously just come visit us sometime. I know you’ve got your job and all, but act human for once. Please?”
“Okay, okay. I’ll try. I promise.”
“Good. I gotta go now. Mom wants to go grocery shopping for some french-whatever-pie and I promised her I’d help. Give Circe my love!”
You chuckle, sadly.
“Yeah… Yeah, it’s okay. I’ll see you guys soon.”
When the call ends, silence deepens. It’s your own doing, you know, but that doesn’t make it any less suffocating. Even when you crave solitude, you’re just plagued by loneliness.
Wednesday morning, March 26th @ Java café.
Today, Yoongi thinks you look a little better. And by better, it means rested. Of course, your gaze is still very much zombie-like, with glimpses of terror in your eyes when you look away.
But in this line of work, it ain’t all rainbows and sunshine.
It’s never rainbows and sunshine, he realizes.
“So,” you sigh.
“So.” Yoongi punctuates, giving you room to breathe.
Your eyes are distant, watching children play in the puddles from last night’s rainstorm. The weather has been cruel to this city, punishing sinners and saints alike with a dreadful fog in the mornings and plenty of humidity to drive your hair follicles to the brink of insanity.
“Bowen’s alive, Yoongi. There’s a big chance he just… got away with it.”
Your words aren’t met with so much enthusiasm. You suppose it’s the skepticism in this field ⎯ even the good news don’t feel like good news. Before his questioning and theorizing begins, Yoongi brings up a valid concern.
“Why didn’t his brother spill his whereabouts, though? It’s not like Adam had any reasons to protect his brother any longer.”
“Unless he did.” You counter-argue.
“Why, though? It doesn’t make sense. In ninety percent of the cases, you know what happens. So-called partners in crime turn against each other. It’s good ol’ politics.” Yoongi leans back in his chair, nodding at the waitress for more coffee.
“Maybe he had something to lose,” you purse your lips. The biting of your inner cheeks is such an instinctive habit of yours that it barely stings until you realize how much tension you’re holding in. “Or someone, you know?”
“Several someones.” Yoongi blinks. “Do you remember the Mormon Heritage cult?” His eyes narrow as he scrapes the top of his head.
Your back and forth is interrupted by the local waitress pouring hot black coffee onto Yoongi’s cup. He seems like he’s on a roll today ⎯ it’s his third cup. That you know of.
“Uhhh, kind of. They were a thing in the nineties, weren’t they?”
“Yeah.. well… the Satanic panic might’ve contributed to that,” Yoongi nods, slipping his mobile out of his pocket. His fingers are hasty, typing up a Google search so he can word vomit every single fact possible. “But we know that the Jesus believers can somehow always be worse.”
He sounds so snarky, it earns a laugh out of you.
“The Bowens were around that time,” he says. “I mean ⎯ the connection seems unlikely, but with these people, you never know.”
You sigh.
“McKinnon didn’t give us this case for nothing, huh?” Even with half a smile on your face, you can’t help but feel defeated.
“Cheer up, buttercup. I think we got a lead.” He smiles with his teeth for once in a lifetime, raising his eyes from his phone to meet yours. You know he is up to no good ⎯ and that can only be a good thing.
“Buttercup?”
monvante © 2021 - 2024. all rights reserved. do not copy, edit or redistribute my work.