#on going

Tough (pt. 2/6)

Please, do not be like Eve.

Part 1

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Shadows of Desire ---- Masterlist

Pairing: Sung Jinwoo X Female Reader

Genre: Slow Burn, Fluff, AU, Smut (eventually)

Word Count: On Going

Content Warning: Swearing, 18+ content later but will update when needed

Authors Notes: Please don't hate me for the slow burn; I already hate myself enough (😅). I have a general idea where this fic is going but am open to ideas to keep this fic going.

Summary: There is something different about Sung Jinwoo; he's not like everyone else you deall with. But with a new quest from the System you don't have time to contemplate why this man makes you feel, or not feel, the way you do. Even if he is annoyingly persistent and keeps popping up everywhere you go as if he knows your every move.

Come to think of it, is your shadow darker than usual?

But is it the System or the Player that needs extra protection?

Chapter List ---- AO3

Prologue -> AO3

An Interesting Meeting -> AO3

Latte Anyone? -> AO3

An Emotional Date -> AO3

Challenge Accepted -> AO3

Is This The End? -> AO3

Suspicion is Aroused -> AO3

Could it be true? -> AO3

Summary: (Y/N) has always been drawn to forgotten things — old machines, dusty books, broken relics of a world moving too fast to remember them. Fresh from finishing university classes, she visits a newly opened vintage shop, chasing dreams of building something greater than herself. But among the shelves of the past, she finds something far older — and far more dangerous — than she could have imagined.

Today is supposed to be the first step toward her future.

She doesn't know it's also her last day on Earth.

DC x DP Dead on Main (Jason Todd/Danny Fenton) Teen Soulmates AU

Surprise! Danny POV 😈

Teaser:

He can't think of a single fucking thing worth saying to Jason.

"So what happened?" Jason breaks the silence. He looks out the window - late afternoon sun streams in, turning the room a warm golden hue. Jason's beautiful where it shines on his hair, lights up his eyes. It hurts he won't look at Danny. "That day in September four years ago."

That day. That day Danny was remade. Walking into a machine, crawled half a creature, half of something other. As much as Phantom is Danny, and Danny is Phantom, there's always a separation.

Danny is alive.

Phantom is dead.

It hurt. It hurt so much, Danny still dreams about it. It never left his mind, he sees the spark — a bright flash of electricity as the machine abruptly sprung into life around him — in his eyes every time he changes, every time he shrugs on Phantom like a well loved coat. His signature look.

And Jason felt that. The realization hits all over again, the pain and memory of the portal accident suddenly fresh and raw. As if it had just happened instead of years ago. A phantom pain - hah.

Phantom pains.

Jason felt him die and die and die like a record skipping its track. Jason felt him in those first fights, a lesson in how to get his ass kicked. Jason felt him nearly drain himself to a second death in that fucked up ecto-suit as he fought Pariah Dark —.

And some sick little part of him is glad. Because he's never been alone. Not really. There was always someone there, sharing in the hurt. Even if he didn't know about them. Even if Jason didn't know it was Danny on the other side.

Danny can't believe himself. Disgusted he'd be glad for that.

"I," he starts, clears his throat. It's never easier to say, how does he say it? What's the word for 'I'm not sure I'm human anymore' or 'I'm scared of myself sometimes'?

"I had an accident. I died."

Finally, there's an expression on Jason's face that isn't outright resentment or derision. A tilt of surprise. But it smooths out into a blankness that's more remote than the moon.

red blocks in progress, 2025

Mix media: watercolours and coffee on 200g paper

The one thing I relied on the most failed me, well, the two things I relied on the most. I did everything right, yet the thanks I get is waking up in some cabin room, itchy and gasping for air.

“Hey, hey, are you alright?” - [Zhang San]

A man asked me; he must’ve heard me, embarrassing. If I weren’t so out of it, I would’ve questioned why his breath smelled like vomit.

“I-I’m fine, I’ll be fine, sugar.” - [Miss Jones]

I didn’t mean for my voice to be that harsh, but I didn’t linger on any guilt. How could I? Who wouldn’t be irritated in my case? I’m sure this guy would understand that as well.

“Are you sure? I’m no doctor, but—“ - [Zhang San]

“Don’t make me say it a second time.” - [Miss Jones]

There was an awkward silence after that. Sure, that was my fault, but I don’t want some stranger trying to coddle me when my reality was now, me, trapped in a room, now dorming with a stranger, and whoever kidnapped me didn’t even have the decency to run a background check on my allergies. Still, though, he was kind of in the same situation as me, so maybe I was being a little too hard on him.

“Alright, alright, if you’re really that worried, then tell me if you see an EpiPen.” - [Miss Jones] “Oh my… are you going into anaphylaxis!?” - [Zhang San] “Inside voice, sugar… I’m not fully dying yet, just short of breath.” - [Miss Jones]

“And covered in hives!” - [Zhang San]

I sighed as I got up from the bed, much to this guy’s protest. Maybe him bugging me wasn’t too bad, considering I felt like I was gonna go crashing right back down when I stood up. Luckily, two hands gripping my shoulders prevented that from happening. I felt those same two hands trying to push me back down onto the bed, wanting me to lie back down. Despite the silent request being more than reasonable, I rejected it, choosing to gently push past him.

It was subconscious, but I started to soothe the itch on my arm. Unfortunately, I liked to keep my nails long, meaning I eventually created some micro cuts on my skin, which was a later problem; my goal now was to find some medication.

“Why does it smell like vomit in here…?” - [Miss Jones]

“I get sea sick, okay!?” - [Zhang San]

And my high tolerance wasn’t even rewarded. I pushed forward and searched the bathroom for something, anything, even Benadryl, but it just looked like a hotel in here. It had all the essentials, but it was bare bones; nothing even slightly specific or personalized was in here. Wait…

“Sea sick…? Are you implying that we’re out at sea, sugar…?” - [Miss Jones]

I tried to keep my voice low and calm, but it took so much force to keep it all down. I knew the importance of staying calm in stressful situations, so I had to stay calm, but two things were running through my mind now. One, we’re apparently out at sea, heading to god knows where, and two, how big is this boat? Because if it’s the size of a yacht, we might not be alone.

“Yeah…? Unless I have food poisoning, I’m probably seasick. Plus, I’ve been on a yacht before, and this reminds me of it.” - [Zhang San]

I could see the concern in his eyes when he said that, like it hit him too, like he realized the same two things I realized not too long ago.  The only silver lining in this scenario was that this stranger didn’t want to hurt me, at least it seemed that way. It was still too early to tell, but I need all the help I can get, whether I like it or not. Damn it… my throat’s swelling still hasn’t gone down.

“Do you think it’s safe out there?” - [Zhang San]

“Stay put, I’ll go and see.” - [Miss Jones]

I could see it in his eyes; he didn’t want me to do that, but if he really didn’t want me to do it, he would’ve stopped me, not stayed quiet. Even though I practiced basic caution, standing parallel to the door instead of perpendicular, and planning on opening the door slowly. I even motioned for the other guy to go to the corner of the room.

I cautiously reached for the doorknob, wanting to gently wrap my hand around it. But as soon as my hand made enough contact with the doorknob, it felt like thousands of needles shot right through my hand and traveled all the way up my arm. I quickly jolted my hand back, grabbing myself by the wrist and craddling my red palm. I just got shocked, the doorknob just shocked me…

“What was that about? Are you okay!?” - [Zhang San]

“Just a little sting, sugar, I’m fine.” - [Miss Jones]

I mean, I was fine, but that was far from a little sting, and that was evident with my hand twitching slightly after the shock. I blew on my palm lightly to soothe the stinging.

When I looked up to see what went wrong and what clues I had missed, I noticed a slot next to the door, one where you would scan or swipe a card. I see…

Even after telling him I was alright, he still came over to check on me, his gaze landing on my hand.

“God, you keep getting hurt. Are you okay-?“ - [Zhang San] He stopped. Why did he stop mid-sentence!? Yeah, sure, I probably looked like a mess right now. Swollen, hurt, yet I looked calmer than I should be. I couldn’t help but glance to the side, catching my reflection on the black mirror of the old TV. I didn’t look as swollen as I felt, just a few hives, but my throat was almost swollen shut. He was probably ignoring the wheeze in my voice and the gasps of air I had to take for basically every syllable, and I know my itching didn’t go unnoticed either.

“You seriously need to sit down; you just keep getting hurt.” - [Zhang San]

“Your worry is appropriate, sugar, but-“ - [Miss Jones]

“No. Go sit down.” - [Zhang San]

“Excuse me?” - [Miss Jones]

I honestly expected him to be harder to convince than that, but at least my life is easier. As soon as I had some push back, he just gave me a stern look, but it didn’t move me.

I slowly pulled away from his gaze, taking some steps back before turning around, going towards the nightstand. There was an old TV centered on it. I crouched down to look at myself once more and steal a glance at the man behind me. My gaze soon fell on the drawers. What if they were electrified as well?

I let the back of my hand hover over each handle, nothing. I touched each handle with the back of my hand, nothing. I grabbed the handle of the top drawer and pulled, still, nothing, no tricks.

“What’s that?”  - [Zhang San]

Luckily, the only sign of my surprise was my eyes widening, but that did warrant a flinch. One second, he’s by the door, and now he’s over my shoulder, peeking at the contents of the drawer with me.

“Landyards, with our names on them…?” - [Miss Jones]

“Like the ones teachers have? Are we being trafficked!?” - [Zhang San]

Listen, I understood his concern; that was very plausible considering all the clues we’ve gathered, but he was so eccentric, so the way he said it felt more like a joke than an actual concern.

“That’s actually a very sound theory, sugar…” - [Miss Jones]

“Why are you so calm about it!?” - [Zhang San]

“Why are you wasting your energy on this? We’re technically not in imminent danger right now. Use that energy for a later date.” - [Miss Jones]

I can admit when I sound like an idiot, but only in my head. I still believe that we both should be keeping our cool in a situation like this, but I’ll admit that my word choice could’ve been better.

Hold on… It took me until picking up both landyards to realize I never asked this guy what his name was. The ID card in the pouch of the landyerd said “Xing Xing” and it had his ultimate as well, the “Ultimate Ringmaster”.

Both of our landyards were pink, but his was a light pink, like flango pink, while mine was a darker shade of his pink.

I noticed that he was still over my shoulder, looking at the cards with me; now he knew my name and, ultimate, the “Ultimate Storyteller” as well. But I felt like something was missing on my card.

“Kano?” - [Zhang San] Xing Xing

“Yes, but please call me Ms. Shin, sugar.” - [Miss Jones] Kano Shin