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Better The Devil You Know - Mystic Messenger - Vanderwood x MC - Chapter 2

Better The Devil You Know

Pairing: Vanderwood x Emsi (MC / OC)

Warnings: Will contain Violence, Smut, Swearing, I’ll add more as they come up!

Summary: Emsi has been a member of the RFA for two whole days when the mysterious Unknown makes his move. Seven races to Rika’s apartment with Vanderwood in tow; Seven hoping to save Emsi, while Vanderwood just wants Seven to get back to work. Four people enter the apartment but only two leave, launching a search that will blow the RFA’s secrets wide open!

Chapter 2

Vanderwood looked across the room from where he was drying his hands, having just finished washing a mountain of coffee cups. Seven’s head was bouncing in time to music through his headphones and he seemed to be getting on with his work, his gaze no longer lingering on the security feed from the apartment. During his cleaning he had glanced at the feed himself but there was nothing to see, just an empty hallway. Shaking his head he took out his phone. No new messages which meant no complaints from the boss about Seven’s work. He must have sent an update to keep them off his back all morning.

‘Madame, I need some chips.’ Seven whined dramatically and slightly too loud due to his headphones.

‘Get off your ass and get them then. I’ve been picking up after you all day!’

‘I can’t hear you! Honey Butter chips please!’

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger Vanderwood #Vanderwood #VanderwoodxMC #better the devil you know

Massive Commissions Posting Day - List One

Massive posting of commissions is underway! I visited my parents for about three weeks, got massively ill at one point and etc. I'll spare you the sob story and simply apologize for my long absence by posting a bunch of commissions I've done and letting you enjoy some goodness. This is probably going to be massive postings over the next few weeks, so bear with me. I’ll try to do one SFW every week, too, for you people who don’t like to leave tumblr lol.

As you know, tumblr’s NSFW terms have changed. I will from here on only be posting SFW writings on my tumblr and moving all of my NSFW ask answers to my website, and all NSFW writings will continue to be posted on my website. As part of this massive postings event I’m doing, I’ll go ahead and list the ones that I cannot post on tumblr. Woo! Getting back into the swing of things. If you have any interest in these, check out my website.

Cherrywood Commissions: (for @chaoticstarblossoms)

Fireman Roleplay

Vanderwood as an Inmate

Overall Public

Cerise in Lingerie

Wilderness

With You

* Asks Masterlist / Patreon / Fanfictions Masterlist / Commissions Info / Ko-Fi

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger fanfiction #mysmes #vanderwood #vanderwoodxmc #cherrywood #commission

Rescue

Hello,due to a mistake I had to post this again, sorry for the trouble

Anyways...

This is my secret santa present for @whisperbinder

I’m sorry for any trouble I might have caused but I hope you like this and that you have a merry christmas (even if it’s early for that)

The music was blasting on Saeyoung’s house making Vanderwood wonder if it had actually been a good idea to listen to the redhead’s invitation for his Christmas party, he should have known that the former agent obnoxious personality only seemed to raise with the ambience the parties provided.

He stood uncomfortable in one corner smoking from his cigarette, from his current spot it was easy to get a general hold at the party, the woman with short hair seemed like she hasn’t gone to a party in her entire life he observed in mild entertainment as she was drinking and dancing. The actor was singing in the karaoke crying how he needed love into his life. 707 was jumping over the blonde boy asking him for a piggyback ride and the blonde boy complained how heavy the former agent was. 707´s brother was in a similar fashion as him observing everything from a corner, and maybe it was just his skills but Vanderwood could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smile on his lips. The CEO was pouring wine on a glass complaining how childish their attitudes were.

Vanderwood wasn’t good with names, everyone had a code name at the agency more often than not composed by number or keywords, he never had the affinity with anyone to actually care about learning their name. Even in missions he stuck with basic nicknames as an alternative most of the time instead of learning the target’s name.

He felt a small tap on his shoulder, with a scowl thinking it was agent 707 who was going to ask him to clean he turned his sight and lowered his cigarette only to see a young woman standing by his side. Her hair tied up, he couldn’t recognize her name either but her could remember she was the one who joined Saeyoung to that cult and impromptu rescue mission.

-Merry Christmas- she smiled, Vanderwood furrowed his eyebrows and stared at her up and down she had another bag now hanging from her elbow as she had her hands busy with a small cheetah printed box

-We were supposed to bring presents? -He asked perplexed, fucking 707, of course he would prank him with something like that.

-No, not at all! -The young girl beamed -But it’s Christmas everyone deserves a present- she pushed the present closer to his face, with a scowl Vanderwood took it from the girl’s hands taking a look at the label with his name and the girl’s in it.

Opening it carefully he found an empty wallet in it. He looked at it with curiosity, opening it to be sure there was nothing inside of it.

-Do you like it? -the girl asked, -I thought that since you are making a new life you’ll probably need a wallet-

-It’s okay I guess- he said as he placed it in the back pocket of his jeans.

He could observe her smile drop for a second, probably because she couldn’t get the reaction she hoped he would have. However, said smile returned in an instant and wished him a merry Christmas. Just as he was going to return the gesture, no matter how useless he thought it was the sound of glass shattering filled his ears and he only saw a flash of red before hearing the blonde one complain about it.

-You should look after your boyfriend- he commented pointing at the redhead who was now hiding in the most stupid place Vanderwood could have thought of.

-Who? Saeyoung?- The girl glanced at Saeyoung laughing for his antics -No, we are just friends. We agreed that would be better- She commented shrugging -I have to give these to the others, happy holidays Vanderwood- She raised the bag and walked towards Jumin who seemed to be the calmest at the moment.

Vanderwood shrugged turning of his cigarette making his way towards the entrance, this was going to be a big mess and he was not going to stay there just so 707 could sleep while he cleaned.

The next time he saw the girl he was quite surprised.

He had gotten a new job in an office and he got bored too quickly of it so by the end of the first week he quitted and went for a job on a bar Saeyoung recommended, at least he would get to kick drunk’s asses.

On his first day he bumped into someone on the way inside, just as he was going to help the new person to standup he saw a pair of eyes staring at him and a soft smile gracing the mouth.

-Vanderwood, hi! You’re the new guy the boss mentioned?- she questioned lifting herself from the ground.

-What are you doing here?- he questioned as she stood in front of him with a purse on her hand.

-I work here- she said with eyebrows furrowing and her lips curving in a smile, he raised an eyebrow -What are you doing here? -she questioned back following his path as he traced towards the manager’s office like his main intention was to get away from her.

-The redhead sent me here, told me this place wouldn’t question my background- MC nodded understanding that, Vanderwood would certainly be appropriate for the job, they needed someone who would be strong and willing enough to take out the drunks during the busy weekend hours.

-Good Luck! -she put her hand on his shoulder and finally exited through the door, he stared at her with furrowed eyebrows as he made his way to the manager’s office with a fake I.D in his hand.

Seeing her became a common occurrence for Vanderwood, whether it was on his way in to his shift at the bar or when she was having a sudden change on schedule and working in the night shift alongside him. Vanderwood discovered she was a entertaining companion for easy conversation, she never pried too much unless he unknowingly gave her the clue that she could.

It was unknown to him when the feelings of comfort and commodity evolved into something more. Something he didn’t dare to admit and had been forbidden ever since he was a teenager. He knew questioning Saeyoung would only bring laugh into him at Vanderwood’s expense, even if he got along better with the redhead it was still something he was unwilling to allow.

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger vanderwood #vanderwood #vanderwoodxmc #mcxvanderwood

Better The Devil You Know - Mystic Messenger - Vanderwood/MC - Chapter 4

Better The Devil You Know

Pairing: Vanderwood x Emsi (MC / OC)

Warnings: Will contain Violence, Smut, Swearing, I’ll add more as they come up!

Chapter 4

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger Vanderwood #Vanderwood #VanderwoodxMC

May I have a headcanon or blurb (whichever is easiest for you!) where it's Christmas time and Cerise decides she wants to do the whole 'Elf on a Shelf' thing but it ends up terrifying their children and Vanderwood is just 1000% done?

***Always ready to work with my Cherrywood OTP~ Especially when Cerise is busy traumatizing her husband and their children. God help them all and a Merry Christmas!!! ~Let’s Connect! FFC***

Obvs myversion of Vanderwood as seen in my VanderwoodBackstory Fanfiction and your lovely Cerise – Read about their relationship in their fanfic - Tagged

Cerise thought this was going to be sooo cute!! The kids were 8 and 6 now, and that meant they could totally appreciate the adorableness that was elf on a shelf. (Which she’d only just seen was a trend for parents online and had to try.)

Vanderwood did not like this idea, particularly when he saw her setting up the first scenario for the elf, which was it pouring cereal all over the kitchen table and then making…cereal angels in it.

Fucking shit, his OCD was making his skin crawl at the mess.

Linette thought it was super cute that morning, right up until Cerise explained what the little elf was and how he ‘was always watching so he could report to santa if she was good or bad.’

His precious little girl Linette was a strong and confident young thing, but her face immediately blanched white. “He’s…always watching??”

Merlion was creeped out too, though mostly disinterested, which was nothing new for him.

The next morning, Vanderwood awoke to his son shouting in the bathroom and a crashing sound, his wife not far behind him as they whisked into the room to find Merlion had simply gotten caught by surprise as the little elf had been hanging from the shower head, Cerise thought that was adorable, but the rest of the household just kind of…looked at her like she was fucking nuts.

Linette nearly cried the next day when she walked into the living room to find the elf sitting with popcorn on the couch, its smiling face pointed towards her bedroom.

It was only the third day, but Vanderwood was already ready for this torture to end, so much so, that he called a family meeting, grabbing the little elf thing and laying it face first down on the table they were sitting at, so no one had to look at its creepy little face.

Cerise got all pouty and sad that everyone hated the poor little elf, but…eventually agreed, although she gave the elf a happy little home on the dresser in hers and her husband’s room while she tried to figure out what to do with it, until Vanderwood sees it in the morning as they were about to make love and then refuses to do anything with ‘that creepy thing’ in there.

It had made eye contact, okay?! Even his libido can’t survive that.

Well…guess she just has to donate the little guy to a good home then.

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#vanderwood #cherrywood #mystic messenger #mysmes #vanderwoodxmc #askffc

Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | VanderwoodxOC Cerise - Tagged | Ch. 5 Relief

***Look at this adorable MM gif of Cerise by our official artist and her creator - tumblr's @chaoticstarblossoms~~ Isn't it precious????? No hidden scenes this week, just...*maybe there's a kiss, maybe there isn't*. I just hope Vandy makes up for what he did last chapter. Bad vandy, bad.GO #CHERRYWOOD ~Let's Connect! FFC

Remember, this is a sequel to Vanderwood Backstory, and Cerise has a bio. Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list for access to R-Rated Scenes and my monthly newsletter. You can support my writing on patreon and get access to my VIP Discord Server or other goodies like early chapter releases and hidden scenes. Tagged Chapter Directory***

Cerise wasn’t sure how much time had passed of her staring at the ceiling, when she thought she heard her name from beyond the door. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, walking over to the door, putting her ear to it. Yeah…he was definitely there. “What do you want, Vanderjerk?” Vanderwood made a soft snort at the name.

Even angry, she was the same adorable woman. He was standing there, the door unlocked, but hoping that she would be the one to open it, even though he wouldn’t blame her for not doing so. “I want…to apologize. What I did…I can explain it, but that doesn’t make it okay.” Vanderwood clenched and unclenched his right hand, noting the way that his scars rippled with the motion. “Will you at least let me explain…I guess the explanation doesn’t really matter, because either way I was out of line, but…I’d still like you to know.”

Would she even want to hear it? Vanderwood was having an internal dilemma still. Was he really about to tell her about his past? Yeah…he needed to if he was going to explain what had happened. He just didn’t want her to think it was an excuse. Damn. It was just confusing, and he felt awful on many levels.

She stood there for a moment, contemplating on whether or not she wanted to let him in. At least he realized what he did was shitty and not okay. With a sigh, she unlocked her side of the door and opened it. Cerise would at least let him explain himself, even though she was pretty sure it would just turn into some lecture about how she didn’t know how to handle herself, and he wanted to prove that to her. Without a word, she turned to go and sit on the edge of her bed, grabbing a pillow to hold onto while she prepared to listen to him.

Vanderwood was beyond relieved that she’d opened the door, but his stress wasn’t over yet. He opted for sitting on the floor, not wanting to loom over her. Really, he felt much lighter, but now it was time for a long story, one that might make her dislike him more. At least then he wouldn’t be in some delusional state that things could work between them. “So…guess I’ll start from the beginning…” Her eyes had followed his figure as he moved to sit on the floor. She hugged her pillow tighter when he began to talk, ready to hear whatever dumb excuse he had for acting the way he had towards her.

He sighed, tracing the scars on his hand absentmindedly as he talked. “My father was a drug lord, and my mother…After my mother had my younger brother she got hooked on heroine and left to live with my aunt. Caleb, my brother…” The smallest of smiles crossed his face but it was so bittersweet. “He was a little shit…I raised him for the most part, even though we were only five years apart.” Okay, now time for the real pain. How did a person even brace themselves for that?

His tracing of his scars became more erratic, stopping and starting in strange little starts. Cerise noted the way his fingertip was rubbing over his right hand, but she wasn’t entirely sure why. He was giving her essentially his life story, and she was just trying to figure out how that fit in to the lecture. If he was going to gripe at her, he might as well get it over with already, but she sat patiently.

“When I was eighteen, I moved out, brought Caleb with me. I did some street fighting for money. After a while, he started staying over at his friends’ houses, but he knew he was always welcome at my place. He’d come sometimes, but I didn’t realize…I didn’t realize that he was on heroine.” His voice felt choked, a lump in his throat that was becoming difficult to talk past as memories and images flit through his head. “He…OD’ed in my bathroom at fifteen.” Now he paused, holding up his hand to show her the white gouges. “These scars…I kinda destroyed my living room window. Just to feel something…anything…other than the numbness, the anger, the guilt…” Only now did she really see the crisscrossing white lines, how some were deep and others raised. Somehow Cerise had ended up at the very edge of her bed, hanging on to every word of his story.

Alright, so, he’d gotten to the part that finally related to her. Vanderwood looked up to meet her gaze, her honey-gold eyes beautiful as ever, but gauging her reaction to what he was saying. “I went between feeling nothing and being angry…all the time. So, I just kind of…wandered around, doing street fights. Then I met a hooker at a bar. Sex…made me feel something, so I got addicted to it. I went to parties, messed around with as many women as I could. None of it meant anything to me except the euphoria of the high.” Cerise’s face seemed to be filled with shock, maybe something else too, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “A while later, I tried to pick up an expensive escort, and she turned out to be an undercover agent. She’s the one who recruited me.”

Vanderwood paused to take a breath, rubbing the back of his head for a little while before continuing. “So…they got me under control for the most part. The agency really cleaned me up, but…any time I’m angry or tense, sometimes I just need that fix.” Cerise was just staring open-mouthed now. It explained why he was so rough around the edges. He’d been through so much, and he was still rather young.

She had always lived a rather privileged and cushy life, so she couldn’t even imagine what he’d gone through between losing his brother and dealing with an addiction. The explanation he was giving her was so much different than the one she’d conjured in her head, and she had been totally unprepared. Cerise had gone into this expecting to argue with him, but he was really throwing her for a loop now. There was no way she could claim to understand completely, but she was glad he was sharing this with her…despite the circumstances behind it.

It took Vanderwood a while to realize that she wasn’t about to start talking, and then he realized he hadn’t even truly apologized yet, just told the story. The relief of the weight of that story having been taken off him had gotten him rather confused. Vanderwood bit his tongue and took a breath before he continued. “I was so angry at myself for letting you out on your own, potentially putting you in danger…Cerise, I was panicking. I can’t think straight around you. You’re the only woman in my life who’s ever made me genuinely feel something. I was scared. I was angry. I needed an outlet. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it was all my fault.” The words were coming now, much quicker than he was meaning, just falling like he had no control.

“The way you make me feel about you…I can’t think straight, but I know you don’t deserve that kind of treatment. You deserve to be loved…be held at night and handled with gentleness. What I did to you, it makes me sick to think that I did that to someone I love.” Well shit…Love had just slipped out, but he couldn’t take it back now. He watched as Cerise’s grip on her pillow loosened, really staring at him with eyes wide now, lips slightly parted. This man…loved her? Is that what he had just said? She made him feel something? This tall, perpetually irritated, brooding guy? Her words were caught in her throat. Cerise wasn’t entirely sure how to respond, but she wasn’t mad anymore. She couldn’t be mad after all of that.

Okay so…she wasn’t saying anything still. Wasn’t turning him away, wasn’t fighting him. Cerise had genuinely listened, and even seemed to…maybe feel for him? The way she was staring at him, well it only made him babble on further. “You’re beautiful, you’re irritating, you’re hilarious, and absolutely adorable when you’re excited. Around you, my heart stops, then it skips…More than anything, I wish I could love you like you deserve…kiss you, hold you…the right way…” What the Hell was he doing? He should have left it as it was, but he was a complete mess around her.

Vanderwood was floundering. How could he fix this? He sure as Hell couldn’t let her just respond to all of that. “But…please don’t say you love me back. If you do, I won’t be able to go back. I’ve already put you in so much danger in the short time I’ve known you…but if you keep letting me be around you, spend time with you…I might not be able to leave you after this is all over.”

Cerise just…the way he was talking had her heart fluttering despite a heavy feeling on her chest. Did she love him? She’d only met him a week ago. She stared at him, her honey-gold eyes trying to search for an answer to her own feelings. Cerise couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him, that she probably had somewhat of a crush…but was it love? What she did know was that despite his demeanor, she did like for him to be around…even poked at his nerves to get a rise out of him, so his attention would be on her. Nobody had ever said they felt that way about her before, not genuinely. Cerise knew that she had never been this confused in her entire life, either.

He really felt he looked pathetic, sitting there on the floor of her hotel room, spilling his feelings and then trying to push her away again. Hell, he was fucking insane. This was the best way. She deserved the honesty, and she’d know why she couldn’t be around him. “But I do want to make it up to you…so just tell me what I can do.” Finally, something normal to say.

Before she could really even realize what she was doing, Cerise lowered herself to the floor in front of him, embracing the much larger man. “…You can stay. Please stay…” She knew that was probably the opposite of what he had wanted to hear, but she couldn’t help herself…not after everything he had told her. At first, Vanderwood tensed up, wanting to run away even as his heart did that now familiar backflip, but he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her as well. Cerise wanted him to stay? “I…don’t think I should…but I will.” He felt like he wanted to kiss her, but strangely it wasn’t like when he’d pressed her against the wall. Vanderwood didn’t understand himself. “Cerise…I think you should let go…”

What even was his life right now? His face was flushed, and it felt like little strings were connecting him to her even more so than before. It really wasn’t a good idea to hold her like this, and yet, he didn’t want to let go. For Cerise, the feeling she had when he said that he would say was indescribable, it felt like she had been holding her breath and had just been able to breathe again. She felt comforted and right sitting there with his arms wrapped around her. As soon as he suggested that she let go of him, her response to that was to only hold him tighter. “Don’t wanna…”

She was so obstinate, and his heart was just a goner at this point. Vanderwood closed his eyes and turned his face towards her, nuzzling into her hair. Cerise smelled like heaven. He held her closer, mumbling softly. “I want to kiss you…” His face filled harshly with red. “Not…like before. I just want to….kiss you, the right way. So really…you should let go.” Why could he never make his words work when he was with her? Even at that, kissing her again, without it being a part of his addiction, that wasn’t a particularly good idea with how attached he already was to her.

Cerise was lost in her own head. He wanted to kiss her again…the right way? What even was the right way to kiss someone? Certainly not what he did before. Her mind was screaming at her, but she pulled away and let go anyways, looking up and into his eyes. “…So, you plan to give me a proper first kiss this time?” She was blushing madly. Why couldn’t she learn to not talk? Her lack of filter was going to be the end of her one day.

They were both flustered now. “Is that a yes?” That just made the blush on her face grow, her heart pounding in her ears. Vanderwood was thinking her eyes were so beautiful, and he couldn’t look away from her. He slid his hand along her cheek, leaning forward, their lips so close they were nearly brushing. What was he doing? He stroked her lower lip with his thumb. “It doesn’t count as a first kiss unless you kiss back anyway…” His heart was doing acrobatics in his chest, and his breath stilled, his voice low and barely above a whisper. Everything in him wanted to kiss her, but he wouldn’t until he had her answer.

Cerise felt like her heart was going to escape her chest with how hard it was beating. He was so close to her again, and it felt so different from before. The way he had slid his hand along her cheek, the way his thumb brushed over her bottom lip, it gave her butterflies in her stomach. It was such a bizarre but not unwelcomed feeling for her. She finally nodded, just a small motion, not trusting her dumb mouth not to say something stupid again.

Vanderwood pressed his lips to hers then, holding her to him by the hand on her cheek and wrapping his other arm around her again. He was taking his time, being slow, gentle, in a way he never had before. This felt right. This was what she deserved, and this was what he wanted. Everything in him felt so alive. Could he ever let her go now. Damn it, he wanted to be with her forever, but he would do everything in his power to protect her and keep her safe. She was the only thing, the only person he needed right now. There was no pain, he needed no cigarettes, no sex, just this kiss.

For Cerise, it just felt so different. She had zero experience to call upon, so she literally had no idea what she was doing or how she was supposed to feel, but the feeling she had as he kissed her gently was nothing short of amazing. What was she supposed to do with her hands? It felt most natural to let them wrap around his torso, so that’s what she did. She had watched people kiss so many times in person or on TV, but never imagined that it would feel this good or this right. She was sure her response to him gave away her blatant inexperience. Cerise talked a big game, but in reality, she had no clue. All she could really do was go with the flow and do what felt right.

She seemed so unsure of herself, which initially made him worry, but Cerise was kissing him back and had wrapped her arms around him once more. Vanderwood slid his hand from her cheek into her hair, forcing himself to keep things from going further, and he found it…surprisingly easy to do. But he couldn’t keep kissing her forever, as much as he wanted to. He didn’t think she was ready for anything more than this simple chaste kiss, so he pulled back and rested his head against hers. “Think I’m forgiven?” Even after he pulled away from her, the fluttery feeling was still there, and she knew she was still probably super red. “…For now. Vanderjerk.” She laughed a little at her own joke, happy she hadn’t completely shut down.

Cerise enjoyed this proximity. She had never gotten this close to anyone before, and it felt nice. Vanderwood thought it had been a really bad idea to kiss her. There was no way he wanted to let her return to her normal life without him. That wasn’t something he could prevent, though, not without massive potential consequences. And yet…Vanderwood didn’t give a shit…He would gladly face those consequences if it meant staying with Cerise. As long as they would go over him and not her. “I don’t think I could ever leave you now…” His voice came out much softer and quiet than he was used to. Was he scaring her? Probably…but he’d decided to be honest with her, so that’s what he was doing.

Her heart was beating faster again. “…Who said I wanted you to?” At this point, she was undeniably attached to this man, in such a short amount of time. Was that how it was supposed to happen? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t complaining. Vanderwood snorted softly, stroking her hair. Was that a normal thing to do? Her blush was so adorable. He kissed her again, soft and slow, though he broke away a little quicker that time as he couldn’t help but graze his tongue along her lower lip.

The second kiss that came was unexpected and sent her into a small daze. He was so gentle and nothing like she had expected, and what did he do there at the end, oh God. It was a pleasant surprise for her though, and the thought of someone who was as rough around the edges as him being gentle and affectionate made her heart melt. She was definitely smitten. There’d been crushes before that had led nowhere, but nothing like this.

His heart was going haywire, and even just a kiss like that felt better than anything he’d ever experienced. But he didn’t want to go too far with her. “I guess you’re stuck with me…And I will take you out somewhere tomorrow. I’ll…teach you something first, but…then we can go wherever you want.” Cerise shifted so she could hug him again, enjoying the warm tingly feeling it gave her. “Guess so, lucky you, huh?” She teased and nuzzled into him slightly. “Teach me something, though? Like what? Neat secret agent stuff?”

“Something like that…yeah.” He tightened his arms around her. What he was going to teach her was for all intents and purposes something she should never have had to learn, but if he was going to keep her safe, it was imperative that she knew how, just in case – especially now. Vanderwood wasn’t exactly sure what the status of their relationship was right now, but any sort of relationship with him meant hurting her would be more fun for Drawl.

It was so strange to him, holding her like this, feeling how warm she was in his arms, and the way they were so comfortably chatting now. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, awkwardly, unsure of what was normal or okay. “I am most definitely a lucky man…” They sat like that for a while before he gave her a kiss goodnight and went back to bed, staring at the ceiling for a while, thinking of her with a warm feeling in his chest.

Cerise had enjoyed being there with him so much that she almost hadn’t wanted him to go. That night after he had left, she had trouble going to sleep. She just couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened that day…about him. Cerise brought her hands up to her lips for a second time that day, a blush spreading over her features as she recalled the feeling. Cerise tried to play around with her phone, but not even that could distract her from all the thoughts whirling around in her head. Sleep wasn’t going to come easy, but eventually it did.

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Tagged Chapter Directory

#vanderwood #vanderwood fanfiction #mystic messenger #mystic messenger fanfiction #mysme #mysme fanfic #vanderwood x mc #vanderwoodxmc #vanderwood x oc #vanderwoodxoc #fanfictionconnection #mysme fanfiction #cherrywood

Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | VanderwoodxOC Cerise - Tagged | Ch. 4 Secret Agent Man

***No hidden scenes this week, but....I think you'll enjoy the comedy of this chapter, even if it ends on a bit of a...sour note? ~Let’s Connect! FFC

Cerise had spent the next few days catching up on her favorite telenovela. She couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but she enjoyed it nonetheless, imagining it was a bit like being addicted to crack…except not really. Rarely did she see Vanderwood beyond when he would bring her something to eat, but he would never stay. Cerise had tried inviting him a few times to play a game or watch a movie or just something, but to no avail. It was getting to the point where Cerise was beginning to crave real actual social interaction with actual people, and she felt like she was going to go stir crazy in that room when the evening of the fourth day rolled around. “Hey!” She called out, seemingly talking to a door, if there’d been an onlooker. “Vanderwoooood!” Now she knocked on the door, waiting for a response from him.

The knock and call for him had his heart doing that stupid flip thing again. He’d been trying to keep his distance, as much as he wanted to join her for a game or a movie, it just wasn’t a good idea, not with the way his heart jumped when she talked to him. Mostly, he’d kept to himself, going through intel reports on Jessica and Drawl to brush up on their habits and fighting styles, doing some minor paperwork, and making sure to check in with boss that he’d officially been given the counter-hit job. Of course, only he and Seven knew about Cerise. It wasn’t good to involve a civilian where the agency was concerned. It was really fortunate in this case that Drawl and Jessica had a personal vendetta against him. Vanderwood was planning on killing the two, whether he’d gotten the counter-hit or not anyway, simply because that’s what it would take to keep Cerise safe.

He went to the door, internally groaning at himself and his reactions to her before responding, just another person seemingly talking to a door. “What’s wrong Cerise? Do you need something?” She typically left him alone other than when he brought food, so it was possible something was amiss. The thought wasn’t a comforting one. Vanderwood opened the door for her, eyes quickly sweeping her room for anything, but everything seemed the same, nothing out of place except the beautiful and very petite woman standing there.

Cerise was just happy that he’d come to the door. Not that she’d been expecting him to ignore her or anything. He seemed to be scanning the place over for any trouble, but the only real trouble was that she was so bored. Cerise put on the most pitiful look she could manage and tugged at his shirt. “Yeah…” She started, making sure to sound the part too, so far so good. “I’m really lonely and bored…will you please let me out? I wanna go do something fun.” Cerise wasn’t sure he would fall for her dramatics, but it was certainly worth a try. All for the good of her sanity! She wasn’t above a little trickery.

Vanderwood was…Lord, he was choking on air. It took all of his concentration just to figure out how to talk again with a puppy dog look like that staring up at him. How was he supposed to respond to a look like that, and her tugging on his shirt? What even were words? How even did you use them? He internally slapped some sense into himself, biting his tongue. It simply wasn’t a good idea for her or even him to go out right now, in fact, they should be limiting their contact with other human beings as much as possible. Anyone who saw their faces was at risk of leading Jessica and Drawl right to them, and if they were caught on anyone else’s cameras and posted to the internet, hello facial recognition software and geotags.

She was lucky he was even letting her be on social media, but then again, it was best if no one in her life thought anything was going on and tried to find her at her apartment. By now, it would have been cleaned of any evidence of a struggle, and his blood on the floor, but it would still be a major problem if she had any visitors. Damn…he needed to give her a good answer, puppy dog eyes and all. Vanderwood sighed and leaned his arm against the doorframe. If only they could watch a movie or do something together. Even the thought was overstepping bounds. “I’m sorry, but it’s going to be a while before I let you out. Can’t you find something else to do? Instafram some selfies or something?” Vanderwood didn’t really know what he was talking about. Social media wasn’t something he used personally, especially the picture services.

“A while?” Now she was really pouting, and that really wasn’t good for his heart. “How long is a while? There’s only so much I can post or take selfies about how bored I am before my followers get bored too, ya know?” Cerise sighed and let go of his shirt, still looking up at him. “There’s nothing interesting to do in a hotel room.” I can think of a few things. His internal response was very much an unwanted thought.

Vanderwood just looked at her for a moment before he could find some sort of proper response. “A while is a while. I’m preparing to do a hit, you know. I can’t have our position compromised before I want it to be.” Honesty, as uncomfortable as it was, was what she needed to hear, and what he’d promised himself to give her to make keeping her trust easier, and maybe even hopefully scare her away from him. “Until they’re dead, the likelihood of me taking you out to do anything is pretty slim.” He realized his oversight a little too late, mentally griping at himself that even afterwards he wouldn’t be taking her out to do anything. That wrenched a little at his heart, but he shook his head and pushed off from the door frame. “Start learning another language, or find a game on your phone. I have intel to go through.”

Cerise huffed, clutching her phone in her hand. If he was going to be difficult about it, so was she. It wasn’t like she was asking much, just to wander around the hotel or something. Anything was better at this point than being stuck between the same four walls. When he pushed off from the door frame, she saw her chance. Now she ducked under him and crossed into his room, planting herself on the floor, looking up at him with her arms crossed. By the look of things, all of his work was in here, so it wasn’t like he could just leave. “Guess I’ll just have to hang out here, then.”

God fucking damn it. Her entering his room, well, that was exactly the opposite of what he needed. It was frustrating enough the way he reacted to her whenever he brought her food, even in the simplest of conversation his heart going wild, but now she was in his room. It wasn’t good for him, especially with as long as it had been since his last fix and how irritated he was. That thought didn’t help him any either, because it just made him feel guilty, which irritated him more. Vanderwood had a few choices, pick her up and place her back in her room, potentially making it worse or dissipating what trust they did have between each other, or just dealing with it.

The latter was probably the better option. He was somehow on the road to a recovery thanks to her, not even thinking about grabbing a cigarette anymore. Maybe if he clung to the thought of her long enough he’d be able to kick his bad habits completely. No, probably not. Somehow, he had a feeling that when she went back to her old life, his old life would seem that much more fascinating. Vanderwood closed the door before walking past her to sit on his bed. She was so fucking cute when she was being obstinate, and it honestly made him feel a little angry, certainly tense. He wasn’t angry at her, though, just his own reactions to her. Just don’t touch her, whatever you do. “Find something on the TV then.” At least if she was watching TV, they wouldn’t have to talk much.

Seriously? She was blinking at him in confusion now, tilting her head a bit. Cerise had expected much more protesting from him. Was she disappointed or relieved? At least arguing with him would be something to do. The remote was on the nightstand, seemingly untouched. Did this man not watch TV…? Cerise stood up to retrieve it and then took a place on the floor, at the foot of the bed so it was easier to see the television and have something to lean against.

Shortly after turning on the TV, she found exactly what she wanted to watch. It was a show about a handsome player doctor, a pretty smokin’ lady janitor, and their romance despite all the protests from their families…or at least she thought that was what it was about. Cerise honestly had no idea what anyone was saying, but she watched intently as what appeared to be a cat fight between two women played out on the screen. Even though she was stuck watching TV again, she took comfort in the fact that she wasn’t completely alone.

He’d raised an eyebrow at her show choice, but wasn’t saying anything. Did she even speak Spanish? She was watching the show rather intently, so he couldn’t be entirely sure. It wouldn’t be completely surprising if she did, considering she at least spoke Korean and French. Surely, she could speak another language. Vanderwood snorted softly as the doctor character accidentally called the maid fat. Why was he actually getting into this? He stretched and laid across his bed, Cerise right in front of him at the foot of it. Well, he shouldn’t have done that, but it did feel better for his back. Vanderwood broke the silence out of curiosity, having noticed that she didn’t react to the ‘fat maid’ thing at all. “Do you even know what they’re saying?”

She took her eyes off of the TV and peeked her head over the food of the bed to look at him, not having actually expected him to talk. “Nope!” Cerise now laughed a little, realizing how silly it sounded to watch something she didn’t understand, but hey. A guilty pleasure was a guilty pleasure. “…Do you?” He had snorted at something, probably something to do with the show, unless he was having an interesting conversation in his head.

“Maybe about half of what they’re saying…yeah.” Her laugh had his heart twisting. Why was she so perfect? This one girl was the only one who’d ever made him feel this way. Vanderwood bit his tongue before he explained what little he’d gleaned from the show so far. “The doctor guy accidentally called the maid lady fat, who it turns out is pregnant. That other lady is the doctor’s wife, and the maid just told her about the baby.” Really these shows were incredibly dramatic, and he wasn’t sure he understood why anyone would watch it, whether they understood Spanish or not.

The way Cerise was now looking between him and the TV had him starting to translate what the maid was saying next, but then his face filled with color and he just wasn’t able to finish the sentence. “So, she’s telling the wife all about…nevermind.” Cerise frowned at him. “All about what?” Now she was turning to look towards the TV again and try to guess at it. Whatever the maid was telling the wife, she looked really upset and offended. He had begun to tell her and now she was just dying to know, but it looked like he wasn’t talking.

Wait…was…was he not telling her on purpose? Because she forced her way into his room? She hadn’t seen his massive blush thanks to the TV screen, but Cerise pouted again and climbed up to plant herself beside him now, prodding at him with her pointer finger. “Heeey, Vanderwood, you meanie. Tell me!” Jesus Christ. That made him tense up. What the maid had described was bad enough on its own, but having to tell her with her right next to him?…Could he even control his own mind from slipping to thinking about Cerise doing?…Nope. He mentally slapped himself and bit down on his tongue. Maybe he did need a cig…and a hooker…like he needed air. This was far too much for him. Cerise wasn’t going to stop unless he gave her something, so he tried to get his words worked around enough that he didn’t have to directly translate it. “Alright…so…she described….rather specifically…how that baby was conceived.” That wasn’t too direct, and she’d get the picture probably, or so he hoped. Now he scooted a little away from her, but the bed was only so big.

“Oh!” Cerise said it like the entire world suddenly made sense to her. “So that’s why the wife is so mad.” Now she nodded, pleased with his answer, but not moving from her spot. “You know, I didn’t even know until just now that that was even his wife.” She paused as she watched the TV, one woman slapping the other, causing Cerise to unconsciously wince. “I just…kinda figured she was some salty lady who liked him too. Now the jealousy makes sense.”

Vanderwood snorted softly. “Yeah…things tend to make shit ton of sense when you speak the language of the show you’re watching.” So that was a little douchey of a response, but he was rather a douchey guy most of the time. There was something oddly intimate about watching a ridiculous telenovela with her, and it wasn’t helping him with how tense he felt at all. Now he pushed out of bed to stretch. Maybe exercising would relieve him a little bit. “I’m going to work out for a bit, if you want to go back to your room.” Out of habit, he’d started to pull off his shirt before thinking better of it, noticing the way her eyes widened. He’d at least let her decide whether she wanted to leave first.

Her response was quick, moving to make a grab for a pillow and hanging onto it. “And suffer eternal loneliness again? Never.” She had finally achieved some sort of extended human interaction after what seemed like forever, so she might as well make herself comfortable, because she didn’t plan on moving. Vanderwood returned to taking off his shirt again then, and Cerise’s eyes only continued to widen. Was he really taking his shirt off…right now? Oh no….Don’t say something stupid, don’t say something stupid. “Besides, I think I found a more interesting show.” Her sing song voice didn’t give away the internal screaming as she berated herself. Dammit, Cerise, you had one job!

Fuck. He was too busy internally dying to notice that she was too, as his face lit up with blush again. Vanderwood had literally never blushed around any woman before her. Hell, even in high school when he’d gotten kissed by a classmate, nothing. He groaned at himself internally before he tossed his shirt towards his bag, turning his back to her and stretching for the ceiling, revealing his half demon, half angel wing tattoo, the exit wound scar from the bullet he’d taken for Seven marring a few feathers on the right side.

Cerise felt like her brain had just stopped functioning, and she pretty much lost all interest in whatever was going on on the television. He was really muscular, which made sense considering his line of work. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she just kept looking. It was impossible to tear away her gaze really, now noting the various scars he had, which again wasn’t so surprising. Cerise almost wanted to ask how he’d gotten them, but she didn’t think he’d answer her even if she asked.

Was it rude to keep staring? Probably…but she just couldn’t help it! While his back was turned, she snapped a picture, making sure to zoom in slightly to get a good shot of his tattoo. Vanderwood didn’t notice, thinking it was easy enough to reach the ceiling, being as tall as he was in a country that was mostly built for shorter people. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like Seven’s house where he had installed the bar hanging from his ceiling to use for pullups and sit-ups. On the road, he had to do everything on the floor. If there was one thing he missed while on the road, it was that bar. Now, he got on the ground and started doing sit-ups, trying to pretend that a beautiful woman wasn’t watching him.

She fumbled a little with her phone when he went to do sit-ups, hiding that she had just taken a picture of him. It was almost too much now, and she had to bury her head in the pillow she was holding, otherwise he was going to notice how red she was. Probably red enough to put a tomato to shame. Vanderwood was just happy that she wasn’t watching him anymore. Yet, he found that strangely disappointing too. He finished up his sit-ups and switched to push-ups, first both arms and then one handed, needing to do the full reps on each hand. Had he caught a glimpse of her blushing as she nuzzled more into that pillow? She certainly seemed interested in that thing. Did it smell like him? That was a weird thought to have. What kind of a weirdo thought like that? Or was that normal for people who had crushes? Shit fuck. Best not to dwell on the fact that he had a crush…or whatever.

Now Cerise peeked out over the pillow. He was still going at it. She at least admired his dedication to keep his body in shape even while they were stuck in a hotel. Cerise probably wasn’t doing herself any favors by hiding in the pillow...In fact, she was probably being all the more obvious. This was definitely a lot better than being trapped in her room though…Her eyes flickered to where he was again. Yep, definitely a lot better. She couldn’t help but to…take another picture. Her hands moved automatically like it was the most natural thing in the world for her as she quickly, and not so inconspicuously, took another picture of him.

Had she just? Vanderwood stopped and just stared for a moment. Of course she had. He groaned, and sat up, giving her a look. “Didn’t I ask you to stop taking pictures of me?” Vanderwood had only just started to feel better, and now he was irritated again, pushing off the floor to make a grab for her phone. Cerise squeaked and fell backwards when he reached for her phone. Her first instinct was to smack him in the face with the pillow she had been holding, which promptly fell to the floor as soon as she chucked it, but she made sure to hold her phone away from him so that he couldn’t grab it.

He ended up crouched on top of her, having swatted the pillow she’d thrown at him away. Now he’d managed to grab the phone as well as her hand, but then he looked down at her face which was literally only inches from his. Vanderwood’s face heated up quickly, and he let go of her, sitting back on his haunches and holding his hands up like she was pointing a gun at him. The gun, was just how damn attractive she was to him. What the Hell? He dropped his hands and sighed. “Can you please not?”

It took a second for Cerise to recover. He had been so close. Now she sat up and looked at him. Somehow, he looked annoyed, but he was still…blushing…No matter how harshly her brain told her not to, she leaned forward towards him. She was sure her face was red too, but this was just too perfect of a moment. “Not what?” Cerise all but purred, dangerously close to him now. “This?” She waited until she was basically right up on him to take another picture while his blush seemed to be at its maximum. Payback for not letting her out of her room for all that time.

Fucking Hell. It was taking everything in him not to just grab her and kiss her right then, particularly after she took that picture. Of course, then it would have been out of anger, the need for a fix. Wait…would it have not been that way before the photo? All he knew right now was that he couldn’t have Cerise playing around in his room anymore. He took a deep breath before he stood, picking her up over his shoulder and taking her to the door.

Cerise didn’t have time to respond before she was slung over his shoulder. “Hey!” She protested and struggled a bit before he opened her door and set her down. He was quick to close and lock the door then, talking to her through it. “Have a good night, Cerise. Dinner will be soon.” She was probably all sorts of upset with him, which hurt a bit. He just couldn’t be around her right now, not with what he was wanting to do. Vanderwood could hear her complaints through the door. “Vanderwood, you meanie! It’s only six pm!”

She knew that he could hear her, but he wasn’t responding. It wasn’t like she had been asking to roam the city or anything. Now she tried knocking, no answer still. “Ugh.” Cerise huffed and sat on the bed, hugging one of her own pillows as an idea dawned on her. If he was going to be like this, she was going to make his life Hell until he decided to finally let her out. “Let’s see how long you can handle…this!” She pulled up a song on a music app and set it to repeat on the loudest volume setting, putting it by the door. “I hope you like this song, hon~” Cerise laughed, making sure he would be able to hear it through the door. “Oh, who am I kidding, of course you would!’ And that marked the start of a three-hour loop of the song Secret Agent Man.

He ignored her at first, chuckling a little at how cute she was and then grumbling at himself for thinking that. After a few rounds of the song, he was starting to get irritated. Then the first hour passed, and he tried working out again, but that didn’t help. Next, he attempted to listen to music with his earbuds in for the second hour, but that wasn’t working, because now he could still hear the song in his head. Finally, the third hour rolled around, and he unlocked the door, opening it and pointing towards the door to the hotel hallway. “Turn that God damn music off, and you can leave. Please leave.”

Cerise had heard him shuffling around and walked over to the door. Was he finally unlocking it? Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw his figure appear in the doorway, looking incredibly irritated, his eyebrow twitching like crazy. She did feel a little bad, but she’d won her freedom fair and square, mostly. He didn’t have to tell her twice before she scooped up her phone and left out the door with a song songy “See ya, Vandy!” Cerise didn’t trust herself or anyone around enough to actually leave the hotel, but there was a bar attached. Maybe she could go and meander around there? She certainly wasn’t going to that horrible diner restaurant again. It didn’t take her long to find the bar, the ‘bouncer’ seeming to have dozed off, allowing her to easily get in. Much to her delight, the place was lively. This would do well in curing her boredom for now.

It hadn’t taken long before she got multiple requests to buy her a drink, which she rejected. She wasn’t dumb enough to accept a drink from any random person in there. She wandered around the bar area, honey gold eyes sweeping the place. There were men and women everywhere of all shapes and sizes, the rug a slightly different pattern than the one on the floor of the hotel, and the lights much dimmer. It wasn’t a dance bar by any means, which was a little sad, but she didn’t have her dance pants anyway, and she wasn’t about to allow for any accidental up-skirt pictures. The bar itself was your standard type, a hardwood bar top and the typical barstools. There were tables with chairs all around the place too, but for now, she was staying away from that in favor of the bartender who was calling her over to have a seat at the bar.

“I’ll make you something on the house, if you promise not to tell my boss, that is.” He seemed nice enough, and at least she could watch him make the drink too. Cerise gave him her signature wink. “I won’t tell if you don’t!” It was always best not to accept drinks from sleazy guys unless they were buying it for you right at the bar, and it went straight into your own hands. She kept a close eye on him, making sure he wasn’t doing anything fishy. He was decent looking enough and deserved something for his efforts in wooing her, right? “So, are you here with anyone?” The light flirting she was giving him was of course making it easier for him to bring up conversation, and she didn’t falter in coming up with the backstory Vanderwood had given her. “Just a family friend, showing me around Korea. I’ve been in France and only just got back.”

He nodded, and she noted the way his smile seemed to get a little bigger. So, he probably thought he was getting somewhere. Cerise was really only being polite, but she did enjoy the attention, at least when her lack of filter wasn’t making her internally scream. As he handed the drink to her, he was about to ask her for her number, but instead his eyes grew wide as this tiny woman downed the drink with seemingly no effort. Cerise uttered a thanks and was off again, taking in the scenery of the place a little more, the mass of plants that seemed to get thicker and more…foresty, the deeper she walked into the place.

Weaving through the crowd of people, she came across this rather large and burly man who was loudly boasting that nobody would be able to out drink him. Well…they’d see about that, wouldn’t they? “Excuse me?” Cerise approached him with a smile, and the crowd around him stilled from grumbles to incredulous whispers. “I’d like to challenge you.” Instantly the man, along with his buddies, began laughing, obviously thinking that she was joking, causing her to pout. “I’m serious, you know!” Cerise stared the man down, a fierce look in her eyes that actually made him, as well as his buddies, quiet down.

The biker gulped a little. Damn, this tiny lady had a lot of fire in her. He motioned for her to sit down. “Okay, girly. But if I win…” He thought about it for a moment before a chuckle escaped him. “If I win, you have to go on a date with me.” Now it was Cerise’s turn to laugh. “You won’t win though. When I win, you have to buy everyone here a drink.” The man had a twinkle in his eyes, his rosy red cheeks not indicative of blushing, but he had the cash and now the crowd was excited for this little gal to win more than for him. Well then. A good challenge indeed.

For a few minutes, Vanderwood had just lied in bed, praising, for once, whatever God existed for mercy once the song stopped playing in his head. How long had he even been lying there? That’s when he realized what he’d done. He’d let Cerise out without him. Cerise who had a target on her back thanks to him. Cerise who might have been grabbed by a pimp in this very hotel if it wasn’t for him. This was not okay. Vanderwood was immediately panicking, far more than he usually would when he’d made a mistake. He had to find her quickly and make sure she was safe.

As he left the hotel room, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Vanderwood had promised to protect her, and he meant to, no matter how confusing his feelings were for her or how much she annoyed the crap out of him. She didn’t deserve to get hurt just because he was an ass. Granted, her little game had been…still, he shouldn’t have fallen for it. He was supposed to be keeping her safe.

Vanderwood made his way down the stairs of the hotel, trying to gauge where she would go. Hopefully she was still in the hotel. Since she’d mentioned earlier that she didn’t want to leave it, there was a good chance. He figured that she wouldn’t go to the restaurant again, but the only other thing this hotel had was…the bar. The bar. His heart stilled. She could get into a Hell of a lot of trouble in a bar. He was quick to find it, slipping past the ‘bouncer’ and curling his lip in disgust at the sleeping form. What a useless prick, sleeping on the job. Now his eyes scanned the bar area, hard to do thanks to the swathe of other bodies.

Apparently, it was more difficult to find a peach-haired petite shorty in the crowd than he had anticipated. As long as she was here and not out of the hotel…She had to be here. Panic was making his heart race and his body feel colder the more he had to search. Cerise made it so hard for him to think, and it made all the sense in the world to him why you weren’t allowed to be attached to people in the agency. He needed to stop and breathe. A slow and deep breath was hard to take in the midst of panic, but he managed, and once he had, it was much easier to scan the room. That’s when he heard her voice over a throng of people and laughter as he made his way into the more foliaged area of the bar. ‘I’m serious, you know!’

What was she doing? Vanderwood had to push through a crowd of people to finally see her…challenging a man who looked like he was from a biker gang to a drinking match. He was there in a flash, his hand on her shoulder. “We are going back upstairs. Now.” His eyebrow was twitching up a storm and he gave everyone a look, his normally bright brown eyes dark and dangerous as they met the eyes of the burly man who had stood as though to start something with him, the look causing the man to slowly sit back down.

Cerise had jumped at the hand on her shoulder and now turned to look up at him. “Vanderwood?” She thought she had irritated him enough to at least give her a few hours out. Vanderwood wasn’t really paying attention to her as he swept Cerise over his shoulder as effortlessly as he had in the hotel room, taking her out of the bar. Cerise protested, struggling against him to no avail “Hey! This isn’t fair, you said I could go out!” She stopped struggling when she realized it was getting her nowhere and just groaned the entire time until he finally placed her on her feet again once they reached the stairs.

Vanderwood was the first to speak, his voice rather grim and dark. “I’ll take you somewhere tomorrow. Just. No. Bars.” Everything in him felt tight and angry. How could he have made a mistake like that? He didn’t even want to think about what a bunch of drunk men could have done to her. That had him thinking what he wanted to do to her. Now he was just disgusted with himself in every way a person could imagine. He needed a fuck, and he needed it bad, or he was going to go insane, but he wasn’t going to make it her. Cerise was just glowering at him, feeling mildly irritated herself. The promise of going somewhere the next day hadn’t even seemed to help. He’d begun to start up the stairs, but she was now running up ahead of him, a few steps above him, putting them at eye level. “You know, I could have taken that guy.”

His eyebrow twitched and he bit at his tongue, a sharp and angry inhale before he started to gripe at her, like he’d done on many an occasion with Seven and Caleb, the very few. “And tell me, Cerise, what exactly would you have done when he and his drunk friends decided they wanted to take you home? What would you have done if one of those drunkards decided he wanted to find out what you look like naked?” He lived in a world of scumbags, sociopaths, and murderers. At least two of those categories included himself. Vanderwood was absolutely pissed at himself, and now the flood gates of anger had opened.

It was far too easy to pick her up and press her against the wall. “You cannot tell me, that you can take them, that you would have been fine on your own.” He’d been trying to make a point about her physical strength in comparison to his and to those men, but…even the look of surprise on her face didn’t register for him now. Her face was so close, and he was so done. Vanderwood kissed her hard, the unrelenting and emotionless kind he was used to, not even in control of what he was doing, but just searching for relief.

God fucking damn it. No. No, no no. Guilt and shame flooded him like a dam had broken, and he felt sick to his stomach. This wasn’t what he wanted at all. It took him a moment still before he could break away, and that only made it worse. Now he was just stuck staring at her in disbelief. What had he done? He’d treated her like one of his whores and it felt like his heart was actually collapsing in on itself. She deserved so much more than that, so much more than him. He loved her too much to want that for her. Love? What was even happening right now?

Cerise hadn’t let her glare falter except for just a brief moment of surprise when he’d picked her up. She was pissed, and it only got worse from there. His kiss sent an entire shock through her system that her brain couldn’t quite catch up with. He hadn’t been gentle at all…Was he trying to teach her a lesson? About how easy it would be for someone to just take what they wanted from her? What a shitty way to demonstrate. And now he was just staring at her? What did he want her to say? ‘Oh, you have a point, I see the error of my ways now, please lock me back up?’ When she was finally out of her confused daze, she frowned, speaking in a calm voice, despite how angry she was. “Take me back to my room. Now.” She would have just gone herself, but he was the one with the key card.

Vanderwood didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. He just put her down, walking silently to the room and letting her in. Everything was crushing in on him. More than anything, he wanted to apologize, tell her he hadn’t meant for that to happen, that she deserved better. The words wouldn’t come, and besides that, he needed to get away from her for now, relax, get himself under control, if he even could. Any trust she’d had for him was probably gone now. He realized that he was staring at her closed door. She’d slammed it as she went into the room.

Cerise was curled up hugging the fluffiest pillow she could find, her head buried in it. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she wasn’t going to allow herself to. “What made him think that was okay…” Now she mumbled to herself before flopping onto her back and picking up her phone, trying to occupy herself. She found that even that wasn’t making her feel any better. Sighing, she brought her fingers to her lips…That had been the first time she’d ever been kissed…and it had been wasted on some stupid lesson. “Jerk…”

After he’d finally bothered to enter his own room, Vanderwood just sat on the ground, placing his back against her door. Why couldn’t he control himself? Even with her. She was the most wonderful thing he’d had in his life for years. Cerise made him feel more than he had in years. He’d known he hadn’t had a chance with her, shouldn’t even have thought of the option, knowing what he did of himself. He simply didn’t deserve her and couldn’t have her, but it still hurt beyond reason that he had hurt her. How many hours passed? Maybe it was just minutes? Vanderwood took off his leather gloves, gently tracing the crisscrossing scars along his hand. “Cerise…?” His voice sounded foreign to him after so much silence, but he had to apologize for what he’d done.

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Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | VanderwoodxOC Cerise - Tagged | Ch. 7 Ode to Jessica

*** I'm so sorry I didn't post last week. I was getting a medical procedure done and was in too much pain afterwards that I hadn't been expecting. T_T Good news, posting continues! Also, check out this week's hidden scene Jessica Backstory if you're a patron. =0 ~Let's Connect! FFC

Cerise had made it to the room with no incident, and she made sure that she was quiet, listening for anything that could be out of place. If she were perfectly honest, she was scared and rather worried. Vanderwood had seemed nervous, and that only made Cerise feel all the more worried. Would he be okay? He had to have been trained for this stuff, right? She sat in the corner of the hotel room and waited for him to come up.

In the lobby, Jessica still seemed to be hitting on the desk clerk. Vanderwood approached her from behind carefully, not wanting to clue her in on his position until he spoke, to give himself the edge of being the one to surprise her and not the other way around. "Hey, sweetheart. Don't you wanna come up to my room?"

The redhead spun on her oddly spiked heel and smiled broadly. Vanderwood, just the man she was looking for. It was unfortunate that the girl wasn’t with him, but she could always find that target later. He was the more dangerous target anyway. "Well hello, Korean Casanova." Jessica flicked her hair over her shoulder as she fixed her vibrant green eyes on the brown of Vanderwood’s. He’d been a thorn in her side, always keeping her from completing her missions from the moment they’d met, so Drawl wasn’t the only one who had a grudge. Still, this wasn’t about grudges, it was about winning against him. (Jessica Backstory available as patron.)

Vanderwood snorted at that old nickname she insisted on calling him, even though he’d told her many a time that he wasn’t Korean. He just turned his back to her, tilting his head just enough that he could watch her as she followed him, the clerk she’d been flirting with staring after the two of them with confusion. There was a dark area underneath the stairs, and neither of them wanted to be obvious about what they were doing, so it worked as their battleground. It was better than going outside of the hotel around back where there would be cameras.

Of course, as soon as they were out of sight of any people, Jessica rushed at him. There was a smirk on her face and her heart was racing as she made her first move. Vanderwood was good at what he did, but his major problem was being slow. Still, he had been ready for this kind of attack; she was faster, but he was prepared, dropping off to the side and grabbing for her leg. Fuck. Something pierced through his glove, and his hand started to burn painfully before it began to throb. One of her hidden poison needles. Still, he yanked her to the ground with him and towards him.

Jessica was far too full of adrenaline to even bother with feeling afraid, attempting to catch him with her spiked heel as he pulled her towards him, but he pushed that leg away. "Alright, Jessi." Vanderwood flipped over on top of her, grabbing her wrists and placing them into the now throbbing hand before grabbing her neck with the other. "I have someone to protect. No hard feelings." The redheaded woman was staring up at him, her green eyes going wide as she now attempted to struggle out of his grip. The pin in his hand should have rendered it useless, but it was like he barely felt it. It couldn’t end like this for her could it really? Was she losing?

This was his least favorite part of his job. But Hell. Jessica was a ripe bitch, and her agency was into far worse activities than his was. He just killed scumbags who somehow managed to avoid justice by the law, but they were one of those groups who spent their time creating those organizations and fostering them. Vanderwood was talking himself out of being merciful as he felt her struggling less and less, the lack of oxygen making it impossible for her to stay awake. Once she finally passed out, he let go of her wrists and snapped her neck. God, that sound was the worst, but she was dead. That was one threat to Cerise down, one to go.

He was slow to stand, feeling pretty damn sick to his stomach, like he always did after that sound. His hand was in terrible pain, but he should probably get to Cerise sooner rather than later. Like he’d said, he had someone to protect. It was a relief to him that she would be just that little bit safer now. He shoved Jessica’s body into a dark area nearby, sending a message for cleanup request to Seven before making his way up the stairs. They’d need to get to a new hotel too, since now Drawl’s agency would know this was where he and Cerise had been staying.

“Caleb.” Vanderwood started to pull off his glove as he waited for Cerise to answer the door.

Time had gone by so slowly while Cerise waited for him to return. She had no idea what had happened down there or why it seemed to be taking so long, and she was beginning to panic. Her mind went to the worst-case scenario as though it was the only option, but she tried to quickly push it to the back of her mind. 'He's going to be okay...everything will be okay.' She was repeating that to herself over and over again when, finally, Cerise heard the word she had been waiting for. She got up and ran to the door as fast as she could, pulling it open, and wasting no time to throw herself into his torso, holding onto him in a tight embrace. "Thank goodness...you're okay."

Vanderwood instantly relaxed into her embrace, even though his hand felt like it was on literal fire. "Of course I'm okay, shortcake. I had to come back to you." It was strange for him, how he could smile after something like that, but it simply felt good that she had seemingly been so worried about him. He ran his good hand through her hair before making a soft grunt as his other hand cramped painfully. His glove was off now, and he could see that the fleshy portion of his hand had turned completely purple. Holy Hell it hurt. The first aid kit was in the bag he'd sent her into the room with, so he'd need to clean this off and bandage it until it healed. "I need to take care of this..." Vanderwood showed her his hand "And then we need to pack up and head for another hotel, since this one's compromised."

When he showed her his hand, she audibly squeaked at the sight. Cerise didn't think a purple hand was a good sign at all. "Oh my god, what happened?" Cerise pulled him into the bathroom before he could object, turning on the faucet and telling him to put his hand under it. Vanderwood was confused as he responded. “I just nicked myself on one of Jessica’s poison pins is all. It’ll go away in a day or two.” Just as quickly as she’d pulled him into the bathroom, she was gone and searching for the first aid kit, Vanderwood staring after her stunned. The squeak sound had caught him off guard, as adorable as it was, but her trying to take care of him? That was just as shocking to him. No one in his life ever really took care of him and it had his face feeling hot as his heart grew wings like it was going to fly off.

Cerise found the first aid kit in the bag he had sent her up with, so she grabbed it and emptied the contents onto the bathroom counter. There were some things to clean his hand and some bandages, and honestly, she had no idea what she was doing. All Cerise knew really, was that he was clearly in pain, and something needed to be done about it. She'd seen these things on her telenovelas and did her best to mimic what she had seen with a gentle touch. It looked right, but she wasn't sure if she actually did everything she needed to. Oh God, she sucked at this. Good thing she had no plans to become a doctor. "I...guess I did this right?"

Vanderwood had watched her fumble around with the bandages and other items, a little bit of blush appearing in his cheeks as she worked. Cerise was doing the best she knew how, and even though he could have done it much more quickly and easily himself, it just felt so good to let her do it. Her questioning remark had a smile spreading wide across his face as he bent to give her a quick and soft kiss.

Getting kisses for when he approved of something she did was quickly becoming one of her new favorite things. The show of affection gave her the fluttery feeling in her stomach again. She wanted to argue and fuss over him that his hand didn't look like he had gotten 'just a nick' from a pin, but she didn't want to stress him out further after he’d just dealt with God knows what. All that mattered was that he was safe and in one piece, especially if it was one of those nasty people from the first day. Cerise would prefer not to have to deal with them again.

He broke the kiss with a sigh. That wasn't nearly satisfying enough with all the stress he'd just been through. Vanderwood wanted to hold her closely and float on the idea of her being just that much safer and his good fortune in finding this person who seemed to be the only truly beautiful thing he'd ever had in his life. Still, he resigned himself to making the kiss a short one. It was safer for her that way with his addiction and the current situation, it was definitely far safer. They didn't have much time, since they needed to switch hotels before anyone else showed up. His hand was certainly out of commission, so that would make Drawl showing up much more difficult to deal with.

"We need to get going...Pick an expensive hotel from your phone for me, please." Why expensive? Usually he stayed in hovels, this had been a mid-ranked hotel, so luxury it was. "An...expensive one? If you say so..." Cerise gave his now bandaged hand a gentle kiss before she pulled out her phone and began to search, that simple little kiss making Vanderwood’s heart go crazy. Cerise was too busy looking through her phone to notice the look on his face. What did he even consider an expensive hotel? She came across one that had the word luxury in the name. The pictures her phone provided certainly looked nice.

Vanderwood had gone to grab his bag and anything he'd left in his room as she searched before grabbing things from hers. As he finished, Cerise came up to him to show him her phone with the hotel she’d decided on. “This one.” He did a brief skim of the information before nodding at her. "Perfect. Make sure I grabbed everything, we won't come back for anything that's left behind."

He was almost going to add 'Even your phone' but who was he really telling that to? Something told him that if she left her phone, at this point, he'd risk it to bring it back just for how happy she would be. He was seriously going insane. So that's why getting attached was so dangerous. Vanderwood snorted at himself.

Cerise scoured the room to make sure nothing was being left. Luckily, she had kept all of her things together...which wasn't much besides the clothes he had bought her before. If she had had time to pack, she would probably have brought tons of unnecessary things. First and foremost, she made sure she had her phone and charger. Leaving her phone would have been disastrous for her. Just to be sure, she gave the place another look before she was satisfied that she didn't leave anything. "That's it, I think we have everything. " She gave him a worried glance as they were leaving the room, the fact that he had come in contact with any sort of poison not sitting well with her.

Every time she threw him a worried glance, it made him feel like the luckiest man on Earth. Vanderwood offered her his bandaged hand to hold as he kept the bags in the other, slinging them over his shoulder. Cerise hadn’t thought that he was the type to hold hands, but she was also starting to realize that Vanderwood was full of surprises. She still took his hand slowly, careful not to squeeze the injury.

The desk clerk was surprisingly fast at checking them out of the hotel, probably helped along by the fact that Vanderwood was being so business only. Any attempt for more was met with a blank look, although he did occasionally squeeze Cerise's hand gently, not minding the sting it gave his palm. Every time he would squeeze her hand, it was like he was squeezing her heart just a little, and she liked it. Cerise would try to give a slight squeeze back but was worried about his hand. It was purple for God's sake. Purple. Nobody's hand should be that color! She was thankful for his swift handling of the desk clerk, though, wanting to get out of that place as soon as possible

Once they were in the car, Vanderwood bit at his tongue, the memory of how she’d kissed his bandaged hand, bandaged by her playing in his head now that he was sure they were on their way to safety. The drive to the other hotel would go pretty quickly, and the added bonus was that it wasn't far from where they had been staying. That was even more reason why it wouldn't make sense to stay there. "Thank you...for worrying about me. I hope I didn't scare you too badly." He felt a little awkward, but it seemed like that was the right kind of thing to say.

Cerise felt like she could finally breathe again as they were in the car and on their way to the new hotel, his attempt at thanking her not quite breaking her free of her thoughts, though. "Your hand was purple." That was all she could manage to say. For whatever reason, her mind just kept looping back to that. Her lack of filter normally let worse things through, so she was happy that something relatively normal was said this time. Well...normal for her.

She seemed to be pretty disturbed by the color of his hand, which made him snort softly. "Yeah...I've had worse." All his comment did was make her scrunch up her face. There was no doubt in her mind that he'd had worse, but it wasn't something that she particularly wanted to think about unless she wanted to stay in a perpetual state of worry.

Based on her reaction…was that really a smart thing to say right now? God, he sure was good at this whole calming her down thing. "I'm fine, Cerise. Everything is fine." He brought her fingers to his lips pressing a gentle kiss against her knuckles. "Because I'm with you." That sounded so cheesy. Oh Lord, he was really cheesy. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing to be? He sure as Hell didn't know. The expression on her face softened at his words, being replaced by an impressive blush at the kiss to her hand. She was pretty sure that he was trying to kill her, because she never got this flustered before, not even by her own doing.

Once they were at the new hotel, she would be able to get a look at his hand again, and everything would be alright, or as alright as they could be with still being chased by another agent. The woman had that partner. Cerise shivered just thinking about the man and the way he’d handled her before Vanderwood had shown up to rescue her.

He furrowed his brow as he noticed her little shiver, running his thumb over her knuckles as he drove one-handed still. Vanderwood hadn’t been able to get himself to let go of her hand yet. The situation with Jessica had left him tense, but just her care and presence had been helping him calm down. Drawl was still out there after them, so their status as on-the-run was still in effect, but he would take care of that idiot too.

Just thinking about Drawl made Vanderwood’s eyebrow twitch. He and Cerise weren’t exactly together, but he loved her, and he wasn’t about to let anyone hurt her. Anyone or anything threatening her would be met with a swift end. Whether they were anything to each other after this experience or not, he would make sure she was safe.

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