#//the fact they maintained her rose earrings means so much to me okay?

[sheactress]

lily edit 3/??

only mutuals can reblog pls

[obeymeluv]

QUICK! KISS ME! [Bros x Reader]

A lead-up blurb before I go to bed.

School is killing me. This has been in the drafts far longer than I wanted.

No offense if your name is Bethany. It’s a name I picked at random.

The follow-up piece will have the kiss scenarios.

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Some of Asmo’s friends may have used you to get into a special makeup event, but it’s okay! They bought you a lip gloss as a thank you! The shade ‘Sealed with a Kiss’ was not what you thought it’d be

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Being one of the first humans in the Devildom could be uncomfortable and sometimes down-right dangerous! It also had its perks. To you, that meant being close with the Seven Lords of Hell (and Diavolo). To other lesser demons and classmates, you were kind of a ‘get out of jail’ free card.

Were they late to class? Oh, just helping the human out!

Caught sneaking in food or drink when they weren’t supposed to? It’s to split with the human, of course! They thought you’d love to try it!

Everyone was keen not to overuse it and you’d actually made good friends this way. It was starting to feel less like an excuse and more of a way to be included. You were the friendly, reliable human that had won hearts and saved some asses. As a thank you, one of your closer friends (a repeat offender for lateness), invited you out to an exclusive makeup release. She was a VIP member and had early access an hour before the store opened to the Devildom public. 

The fact that she chose you, a human, over some LITERAL century-old friends caused a bit of tension but she could care less. “I’ve seen them every day for over a hundred years. You get one year, and we’re going to make it awesome!” Bethany breezed through the store at a dizzying pace, picking through concealers and opening a box of mascara to look at the packaging. She moved at a pace only demons could manage; you thought you saw her by the nail polish display but when you looked again she was throwing sheet masks in her basket. Hooking her arm with yours, she picked up some foundation on the way back to the coveted display of lip glosses and lipsticks.

You weren’t totally versed in the differences between Devildom makeup and human world makeup. In all honesty, there didn’t seem to be a difference. Bethany swatched powdery cream lipsticks on her wrist and followed with ribbons of liquid lipstick. Every now and then she dotted them on your arm; she was adamant about finding a shade the both of you could wear as your thing.  

“This one,” she decided, waving the tube at you and booping your nose with it carefully. “This is our color!” she took you by the hand and joined the checkout line. She had two in her hand but refused to let you so much as hold one, wanting to pay for it first. It wasn’t technically breaking the purchase limit rule; if they tried to nag her she’d just say she was holding onto it so another demon didn’t bully you out of it. You didn’t know if it was her VIP status or the fact that her defense made sense, but you were able to check out without a problem.

A few sour faces and mean glares met you outside but Bethany ignored it all, eager to have a Devilgram-worthy celebratory snack break (snack victory? You know, since you got the makeup?) The plan was to eat, hold down a table at the nearby cafe while her other friends shopped, and have group makeovers (or try-ons) before calling it a day. That plan was interrupted three bites into a croissant sandwich when Lucifer summoned you back to the House of Lamentation. He’d gotten wind of all the girls you’d be with and didn’t feel totally comfortable letting you hang out with them,

Had Barbatos seen something? Did Lucifer feel spurned that you weren’t hanging out with the Seven Lords of the Devildom? He gave no answer, simply asking you to stay put while someone came to escort you back to the house. Bethany was put off by the turn of events but few people dared to complain about the Seven Lords due to their connections with Diavolo (she was no exception). “If we can’t get the full makeover, we’re getting the selfie!” she declared, deftly breaking the seal to her Sealed with a Kiss gloss and swiping it on with help from the front-facing camera on her D.D.D

You busied yourself with opening your tube. Before you could ask for her phone (since the camera was already open), she took the tube from you and tilted your chin up. She dabbed the center of your lips playfully before carefully tracing your lips with the color. The heat rose in your cheeks and she smirked. Being part succubus, she could draw energy from emotions like embarrassment and the feeling of being flattered. Her fingertips pulsed under your chin as she drew on that energy. 

Getting energy sucked could feel like a lot of things -- being light-headed, getting a rush of excitement, all prickly and tingly like your whole body was pins and needles. Whatever it was, it usually faded into drowsiness and kittenish contentment. She probably only touched your chin for seconds but the wash of coziness had you melting against your chair, your cheek cradled in her palm. 

Did she take the pic? What was happening? It felt like Asmodeus had materialized out of thin air, helping you stand and making small-talk with Bethany before pulling you away, out of her aura that was trying to suckle the vestiges of happy energy you offered.

“And what shade did you get on those pretty lips, hm?” the cotton fell out of your head and ears, allowing you to really hear Asmo now that the aura effects had worn off.

“Uh,” you fished around in your bag and looked at the packaging. “Sealed with a Kiss.”

Asmodeus stopped so abruptly it’d almost yanked you back to him. The two of you were barely tangled at the pinkies and now he’d completely laced your hands together. He held your hands captive, drawing them up in surprise and basically dragging you into his torso. You were forced to look up into glittering pink eyes and if you didn’t know any better, they looked a little panicked.

“How long ago did you apply it?”

“I don’t know.” you blinked helplessly at him. That energy suck thing had a way of making your brain tune out and turn to pudding. That aside, who knows how long Asmo stood there and talked to Bethany while you were being siphoned?! “Bethany applied it, not me.”

Asmo clicked his tongue, huffed, resigned himself to only holding one hand. and started scrolling on his D.D.D to find that selfie Bethany posted. You were being dragged along like a child as Asmo’s shoes clicked towards the House of Lamentation. It amazed you how well he could navigate his D.D.D with his long, painted nails. 

Whatever he was looking for, he found it.

Asmodeus tucked his D.D.D into his pants pocket, scooped you up in a way that terrified and amazed you (two people being supported by one set of heels?), and flew to the House of Lamentation. He didn’t always use his wings, as he preferred to decorate them and maintain them with oils, but the fact that he was flying made you nervous.

What had he found? What was the deal?

“Asmo--” you started nervously, the flapping of his wings nearly drowning you out as he pushed himself. Flying against the wind didn’t help. Your hair was a mess and the wind was in your face; the Devildom was always a little chilly but now it was enough to make your face tingly.

“She gave you enchanted makeup. There is a reason humans don’t use enchanted makeup.” Asmo’s pretty brows furrowed as he cut a hard angle and glided over a portion of the square. The tell-tale thicket of trees that lined the winding path back to the House of Lamentation were on the edge of the horizon.

“What’s going to happen?” should you ask that? Did you really want to know?

“You’ll feel something in your lips--some people felt tingling, some people felt pulsing, it can be anything, I think--and then they’ll seal shut.”

“SHUT?!” you yelped. It was enough to make Asmo wince. The startle carried over to his wings; they shuddered and locked; the two of you dropped for a heartbeat or two before he corrected himself.

“If I can’t get some makeup remover on it first.” Asmo panted, tucking his wings in and preparing for a quick descent. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought to teleport first--the panic? Trying to one-up Bethany by walking home and being extra cute with hand-holding?--but a quick touch down could roll into a simple skip teleportation and everything should work out!

“But my lips are already tingly!”

“Ugh, Bethany! I can’t believe you! I mean, I can because it’s you, but really, Bethany?”

“Asmo, focus!” you’d already skipped several feet ahead, clearing the front yard in two teleports. The third put you in the foyer. “I don’t want my lips to seal shut!”

The House of Lamentation was huge but when the occupants had supernatural hearing, that exclamation turned heads. 

“What’s this about your lips sealing shut?” Lucifer appeared at the top of his stairs, his head already shaking.

“DID YOU MAKE A PACT WITH A WITCH?!” Mammon screamed down the hall, clearly not far behind.

Asmo scoffed, lowering his D.D.D with a pout. He was halfway up the main stairs, fingers working at lightning speed. “It’s the lip color!” he explained, stomping his foot. Noisy people were just so annoying! If everyone was talking he couldn’t explain! How rude! 

“All this over some makeup?” skeptical Satan peered over the banister, book and arm casually propped up on it.

“If two people apply the color and kiss, they’re locked in a makeout session until it dries down. When one person applies the lip color, they can use it like a cheat sheet to see who secretly wants to kiss them,” his words tapered out from authoritatively informed to quiet and shy. “It’s from their ‘Liquid Love’ collection.” he muttered into the stunned silence of the room.

You were trying to open your lips and ask why. The magic had already taken hold. Asmodeus could see you trying to move your lips and strain your chin. Luckily, demons could read minds. “It’s because Bethany is stupid.” Asmodeus rolled his eyes. “Ambitious, but stupid.”

“Please explain, Asmo.” even when using the dear nickname Lucifer couldn’t hide the demand. His demon aura was creeping up his body and slowly becoming jagged and suffocating.

“Bethany has had a HUGE crush on our little human here, and wanted to seal it with a kiss, so to speak.” Asmo’s cheeks got pinker and pinker as he explained. Mostly because he was mad he didn’t think about it. His heart did something funny at the thought of you kissing someone else. Lucifer also looked like he wanted to murder someone about now, and Asmo had to remind himself that he was being looked through, not looked at.   

“Just grab a napkin and wipe it off.” Mammon shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Asmodeus shook his head angrily. “It’s too late now. We need to find someone for them to kiss! Someone’s lips will break the seal on theirs...that’s kind of the point of the enchantment.”

“So they just pick someone to kiss?” Levi’s face was turning tomato red. Would it be him?! It would at least be one of them, right? What if your person wasn’t in the House of Lamentation and you NEVER SPOKE AGAIN?!

“Sort of.” Asmo patted your shoulders with his gentle, smooth hands. He started to rub them like he was trying to warm you up. Partly in encouragement and partly to get your attention because he could feel your brain spiraling down into panic. “They basically follow their mouth.”

“So that lip color is like a crush detector?” Satan abandoned his book at the top of the stairs and was now perusing articles on his D.D.D as he sauntered down the steps. It sounded like he’d found the one that sent Asmo flying to the House of Lamentation.

“Basically.” Asmo sighed. It was the stupidest way to confess to someone, he thought. Demon to demon, it was fine. Demon to human?! NO! The whole thing gave him a headache. The fact that Bethany thought she could just steal your little lips and be greedy with them was the biggest annoyance of it all.

“So,” Satan’s green eyes cut sharply from his phone to you. The corner of his lips curled up in a smart little smirk. He knew it was wrong to find your predicament so funny, but this was a very human thing to get mixed up in. “Who do your lips want? Who do you feel yourself being drawn to?”

[olderthanthemorning]

gold rush (bill weasley) part 1

pairing: bill weasley x reader

summary: “everybody wonders what it would be like to love you.” bill weasley is a golden boy, but i don’t like a gold rush. (based on the song “gold rush” by taylor swift)

wc: 3.1k

warnings: none, someone walking in on someone else but nothing dirty, swearing

a/n: hello! so i didn’t mean for this to be so long lol but anyway, there will be more. once again, a song has inspired me to write. i feel like gold rush totally describes bill and so i tried to run with that. as always, i would love comments/feedback. also if you like it please reblog/follow! i want to start taking requests!

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what a cliche it would be to be hopelessly in love with bill weasley. the charming gryffindor was the poster child of his house, his year, and his family. don't get it twisted, it wasn't that he didn't deserve all the praise; he was kind to younger students, witty in his classes, and bloody brilliant in your shared defense against the dark arts class. you just found it a little funny that everyone he met instantly fell in love with him. how could you take someone like that seriously?

"so you really don't think he's cute?" your friend, rose, asked you as you entered the great hall, the smell of fresh bread and pumpkin juice temporarily distracting you.

"no, that's actually not what i said. he's quite fit, it's just think people make too much of a big deal about it. sometimes i think you'll wet yourself when he looks at you in the corridor." you threw yourself down at your table and started reaching for the pile of sandwiches in the middle of the table. if you two wanted to make it to the beginning of the gryffindor vs ravenclaw game, this would have to be a quick lunch.

"well it's not everyday you see an arse like that in the corridor!" rose says. taken aback by her forward statement, you shove her shoulder, "gross, rose." after a few more minutes of conversation and inappropriate comments from rose, you down the last of your juice and pull your companion off the bench and toward the door.

you could hear cheers long before you were close to the game. after finding a spot with your house, you saw madam hooch release the snitch and the players shoot up to start following the quaffel. a flash of red hair passes in front of the stands as another weasley, charlie, flies at lightning speed.

The game was action packed, but not short. your cold muscles ached a bit as you moved them to walk into your dorm and sit on your bed. as if reading your mind, your roommates crowd into the bathroom to start the showers. you groan, knowing that at this rate, it'll be an hour before you can warm yourself with hot water. then a thought crosses your mind. the prefect bathrooms. your sister had been a prefect years before and had told you where they were, something you were silently thanking her for now. you gathered your towel and robe and slipped out of the room before anyone could ask where you were going.

The prefect bathroom was large and dimly lit, something that made it seem even colder when you walked in. on the far wall there was a myriad of knobs, all leading into a large bath that looked like it could hold your entire upper level herbology class. throwing down your stuff on a nearby bench, you rush to turn all the knobs you can, as blue, and green, and sparkling gold liquids splash into the basin along with steaming water. you slid out of your cold clothes and into the tub, hissing at the difference in temperature between your skin and the water. the water was heavenly and you sunk in until your shoulders were under the water, pulling your hair up from the nape of your neck so not to wet it. the room had filled with the scent of lavender and honeysuckle, and you closed your eyes to take it in.

suddenly there was a creak that you immediately recognized as the door opening. 'fuck, fuck, fuck,' you thought. you could chance jumping out and hoping the person didn't see you naked or you could wait to get caught. you decided that your clothes were too far, and started frantically ushering as many bubbles to you as possible, trying to cover your body. you turn your back to the entrance just as you see the shadow of someone begin to round the corner.

"oh, shit, i'm sorry i didn't realize someone was in here." you wanted to curl up into a human ball of embarrassment. not only did the voice belong to a boy, but you knew exactly which boy it belonged to, and it rhymed with will beasley. unsure of how to respond, you just let out a nervous laugh, not wanting to let your voice give you away as someone who was definitely not a prefect.

"okay, well... i'll just come back later." you waited until you could no longer hear footsteps to climb out of the tub. once dry and wrapped in your fluffy robe, you reentered the hallway, but only after sticking your head out to make sure bill wasn't waiting by the door. as you walked back to your dorm, you could only begin to imagine all the teasing rose would give you when she found out he had seen you in the bath. luckily, by the time you cocooned yourself in your comforter, she was already asleep. you would have to tell her in the morning, or maybe you wouldn't.

**

by breakfast the three days later, the bath incident had left your mind. after the first 24 hours, you felt sure bill hadn't suspected anything, and even if he did, there was no way he could tell who the student in the bath was. you had to pause with the spoon of porridge halfway between your bowl and your mouth, because rose's impression of flitwick had made you burst into laughter. an owl fluttered down in front of you, dropping an envelope with your mother's handwriting on the front. you ripped it open and began to read.

"Dear y/n,

Hello love, I hope you're doing well with all of your classes this term. I'm writing to tell you that we'll be spending part of the Easter holiday with one of my friends and her family. Her name is Molly and she has two sons at hogwarts. Be sure to say hello to them, Molly says they're nice boys. The three of you can leave school together to travel home for break. I miss you dearly and can't wait to hear about your term in person.

love always,

mum"

rose put her chin on my shoulder to read the letter. "i didn't know your mum was friends with the weasley's," she giggled, obviously thinking about bill. "yeah, well that makes two of us." to be honest, you never really realized your mum had close friends. there was no reason for her not to, it had just never occurred to you that your parents were people outside of being your parents.

"actually, it makes four of us," you whipped around to see bill and charlie, a letter you assumed was similar to yours grasped in bill's hand. "my mum wrote they met here as kids and ran into each other a few weeks ago in diagon alley." his easy smile was attractive and his hair fell effortlessly into place, with one soft strand too short to be pushed behind his ear. it looked almost like someone had written it in, it was so perfectly placed.

"wicked," escaped rose's lips as a strained whisper. you elbowed her, praying that she would come to her senses and start acting like a real person.

"listen, i got to run to practice, but let's meet in the main entrance tomorrow morning, yeah? 10am?" charlie butt in, reaching around his brother to grab a banana off your table and without waiting for even a nod, turned to catch up with the rest of his team at the other end of hall.

"sorry about him, he's..." bill was suddenly looking down at you with a slightly funny expression, a small grin on his face.

"preoccupied?" you finish his sentence, marking the first words you've said since he approached you.

"yeah," then, he leans down close enough that only you can hear him when he says, "next time you go for a soak, i suggest trying the orange blossom bubbles," maintaining eye contact with you the whole time.

taken aback, you feel yourself get blush and lean back, your brow furrowed, "what? how did you-"

"i didn't realize you were so interested in astronomy, y/n," he says a little louder, standing back to his tall figure and casually tapping the back of his neck.

you mimic his motion and remember the small tattoo of a moon that sat at where your neck met your shoulders. you close your eyes and cover them with one hand. maybe if you shut your eyes hard enough and clicked your heals he would disappear. or even better, you would. "i'll see you tomorrow," he sent another cheeky smile and turned to walk away, hands in his pocket, laughing quietly to himself.

"um... what the fuck," rose spoke, making you realize you were still watching his back. "what was that about? how does he know about your tattoo?"

"he might've walked in on my while i was bathing a few days ago," you said, bracing yourself for the inevitable.

"WHAT?!" it was even louder than you expected. honestly, you loved rose but bringing attention to herself, and by proxy, you, was something she had a knack for, but not in an endearing way.

"would you calm down please? everyone was taking too long in the showers so i went to the prefects' bathroom and he came in. he only saw my back so i didn't think he knew who it was, but i forgot to account for moony back there," you rolled your eyes, how could you forget about something that you had chosen to put on your body forever?

"merlin, that's so not fair, do you know what i would give to be seen naked by bill weasley?" once again, you were slightly horrified by a comment made by your best friend. this is what you didn't understand about everyone's fascination surrounding bill. even as he walked away, you had noticed a handful of other students following him with their eyes. it was a fact that bill was attractive, beautiful even, but the way people would do anything for his attention freaked you out. being treated like that had to go to someone's head eventually.

"okay, that's enough of that. i'm just glad he didn't give me detention or something," you went back to your breakfast, although you were no longer very hungry.

**

the journey to the weasley's cottage by the sea was uneventful. in the morning, you boarded the hogwarts express with charlie and bill. you didn't speak much, but read a book in your shared compartment while charlie talked to bill non-stop about the latest quidditch techniques. "and i've been reading about dragons, and how they fly, and i think it would be really cool to try some of their flying patterns on a broom. it would be really hard and i'd have to make a few adjustments, because obviously i'm not a huge majestic creature, but if it worked, it'd be brilliant!" you looked up to see charlie on the edge of his seat, trying to mark some of the flying patterns, and looking intently at bill, as if waiting for him to be just as excited. "that sounds great, charlie, really. how did you start on about dragons?" bill quickly caught your eye and tried to share some of the amusement his brother brought him. "hagrid gave me a book, they're really something, bill."

your party gets off at king's cross, and you followed the older boy through the station, until he stops in front of a women's toilet. "uh, i think the men's is over there," you said pointing behind you. charlie laughed. "hah," bill faked a monotone laugh, "there's a portkey inside that will take us to shell cottage. dad said it was a," he looked down at a paper in his hand, "toilet brush. lovely. right, we have three minutes until it leaves. ladies first." he gestured and you entered the room. it was somewhat cramped with the three of you and your trunks, but in the corner was a white, and thankfully clean looking, toilet brush. you grabbed it and held it out for the others to hold on too. after about 10 seconds of waiting, you felt your body being pulled up and then like you had just jumped off a high diving board at a pool. falling, but strangely still feeling like you were upright. before long, your feet hit solid ground again, well somewhat solid ground. the sand made your landing shaky, as it moved under your weight. you looked up and saw a cozy house with warm light glowing from the windows.

after lots of introductions and even more hugs, you finally settled yourself in to a guest room. the view was beautiful. the sun was just starting to set over the sea, the orange hues reflecting off the vast water. putting away the last of your things, you walked down the stairs and announced to your mum and molly that you would be going on a walk. they nodded and made you promise to be back for dinner before returning to their conversation. as soon as you got to the beach, you slipped off your shoes and feel the cool sand swallow each of your toes. it was crisp, but not too cold. you walk for a bit and then sit down on a dune, just taking in the picture the world had created for you.

you see a figure walking toward you and, as it gets closer, you notice it's bill. "mind if i join you?" he asked.

"of course not," you watched him as he sat. "it's beautiful here, your family has a really lovely house."

"thanks, mum has a talent for making any place feel like home." he looked out at the water, but for some reason you kept looking at his face, trying to find details. bill felt your gaze and his eyes met yours. normally, you would've looked away, but a new confidence allowed me to hold his eye contact. "so, tell me more about your tattoo." you chuckled, you should've known it would come up at some point or another.

"i got it with rose on holiday using fake muggle IDs," you explained.

"any special meaning behind it?" he asked, his eyes were now flickering from yours to your neck.

"nope, just liked the art," it was true, you knew you wanted to get a tattoo but didn't want something that held too much weight, so you got something that was simply beautiful.

"that's cool," he said, reaching to touch it with his index finger, "did it hurt?" you shivered at the contact and he pulled away, "sorry."

"no, that's okay," you said turning slightly away from him so he could see it better and indicating that he could touch it. he went back to tracing it with his finger, leaning in to get a closer look. "it didn't hurt as much as i thought it would. but now that you've seen it, it's only fair that you tell me if you have any secret tattoos."

you heard him laugh, "obviously, i've just got the gryffindor lion across my chest, nothing crazy," he joked. you smiled and turned back to him.

"seems very fitting for you."

"oh yeah?"

"charismatic prefect, brave older brother, top of our DADA class? if you were any more gryffindor-y you'd be called godrick," you poked fun at him and leaned back to lay down.

"merlin, you make me sound unbearable."

"well–" you start to trail off only to feel a foot hit your knee, just hard enough to show playful anger. "alright, alright, kidding!"

"do you know what you want to do after school?" he asked, also lowering himself to the ground, but staying propped up on one elbow, his body turned to you.

"not exactly, i really like herbology and history of magic, so maybe find a job where i can study how wizards lived in the past? like how they used plants and stuff" it was something you had thought a lot about, but hadn't really found an answer that fit well.

"you'd be great at that." you shot him a skeptical look. "what? it's not hard to notice you're brilliant in herbology. sprout has you practically teaching half the lessons." you felt a blush spread across your cheeks, and felt thankful that the sunlight was starting to dim. you hadn't even realized you two shared that class, you were always more occupied in the nearest plant.

"what about you?"

"something to do with defense against the dark arts, mcgonagall told me about a career in curse breaking that sounds good. i think it'd allow me to travel, which is a plus."

"that sounds amazing," you say, your mind whisking you away to all the places you wanted to see.

"you can come and visit me, wherever i am." bill chuckled, letting another heart-breaker grin fall into place on his lips.

"and what makes you think we'll keep in touch after we leave hogwarts?" the tone turning back to a lighter banter. you push yourself up onto your elbows

"well, for one thing, our mums. but i also just have a feeling." you're betrayed by your cheeks heating up again. you look into his eyes and find sincerity. they're a deep blue, almost like they've been taken from the nearby water. once again you're reminded of his handsomeness, but this time it's a little different. maybe it's because you've talked more and he's shown you the things he's taken time to notice in you. but his beauty feels warmer. like it was only for you, like it could engulf you. you can see he's started to move closer, and you start to mirror his actions. your eyes move from his to his lips and the light stubble that runs along his jaw, and back again to his eyes. "can i...?" you close your eyes and start to nod, anticipating the feeling of his lips on yours, until, "kids! dinner!" and just like that, the moment is ruined. the two of you open your eyes and put space between yourselves. you clear your throat and stand up, brushing sand off of your legs.

"we should get back," you say.

"uh, yeah, totally." he says, also standing and following you back to the house.

on the walk back, you make sure to stay a few steps ahead of bill to allow yourself some time to think. what had just happened? did you like bill? surely it was just a weird moment following a minor existential crisis about the future right? you should just forget about it and try to focus on spending time with you family the rest of the trip.

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

hello laura how each captain would react knowing that his S / O has the mutual feeling? bonus with Mereoleona and Julius, please 💕🔥

Hello! ^_^

I took this in the way that the reader confesses to them, hope that’s okay 🤗 I hope that you enjoy 🥰

Rill

He couldn’t believe it at first and he’d just blink and stare at you with wide eyes

“Really?” He’d ask before smiling wider than you had ever seen and erupting into a laughter

He would almost be at a loss with what to do, but as you were his muse, he’d be inspired to paint.

And with that he’d paint the most beautiful picture that he had ever painted, one that would showcase his love for you.

But after looking at it for a moment, he’d realize that it didn’t live up to the depth of his feelings

So, you’d take his hand and tell him: “luckily we have time to paint that picture together throughout the rest of our lives”

Nozel

Depending on the situation; he’d either wear an expression of utter surprise or nearly succeed in keeping his cool.

In both scenarios a faint blush would appear over his complexion and he’d try to brush the moment off as his pride wouldn’t quite allow him to do anything else

If it was surprise, then he’d try to get a hold of himself as soon as possible, and try to brush the moment off

But internally, he’d be feeling all fuzzy and warm. So much happiness tumbling inside of him that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it all, to the point that he wouldn’t care if he was seen taking your hand

And that’s what he’d do. He’d take your hand and lead you to a more quiet spot and wrap his arms around you, burying his face to the crook of your neck. He’d be silent, all throughout the moment, but his actions would speak so loud that you wouldn’t need him to say anything

Jack

His expression wouldn’t change from the grin that he always wears, but he’d stay there, just looking at you for a moment

“What?” He’d utter, before letting out a small laugh

He’d casually just tell you that you’d need to go out to dinner, or drinking, some time

The only anxiousness you’d notice in him would be the slight shifting of his eyes when he’d be speaking out the words, but other than that, he’d be playing it cool

Dorothy

She’d be awake once the fact of your mutual feelings reach her, and she’d immediately start grinning. The corners of her mouth nearly reaching her ears

He’d take your hands and spin around you, keeping eye contact all the time

And she’d laugh happily, inviting you to join in with her joy

She’d immediately swoop you to Glamour World where you could spend your first date, unless you opposed of course

Charlotte

She would blush. Very hard

Her blush would be followed by her long internal monologue in which she’d tell herself to essentially “calm down”, but end up failing

She’d have a “small” meltdown, during which you’d have to calm her down. But would probably end up making it worse, until she escapes to actually calm herself down

She’d eventually come back to you, still wearing that prominent blush, clearing her throat and ask you (very formally) on a date

Yami

One day you gathered the courage to tell it to him straight, since he wasn’t taking the little hints you were giving him. Which did make you wonder if he would like you back, but you had concluded that you couldn’t know unless you’d tell it to him as it was.

“Hm?” and a blank expression would be his first reaction, which would then turn into a grin

“Is that right?” He’d smirk at you before taking a few steps closer to you to the point that he’d be towering over you.

“What do you suggest we do about it?” he’d taunt; his face lowering close to yours

If the intensity of the moment wouldn’t make you faint then and there, you’d kiss, and maybe figure out date ideas

But would most likely end up just spending the day together, doing nothing in particular but still enjoying each other’s company

Fuegoleon

He had been thinking about the proper way to approach you on the prospect of a date, so once it came to his knowledge that you like him back, he couldn’t help but smile

If it was you who told him, he’d look at you with the fondest of expressions for a moment, just trying to grasp the joy he was feeling

“I see the feeling is mutual, so may I suggest a dinner?” He’d ask gently, making you blink in surprise as you couldn’t quite believe the fact that your feelings were being reciprocated

Of course, you’d agree to his suggestion, and if you initiated a hug or a kiss, he would answer it, but wouldn’t make the first move just yet. He’d just like to be respectful of your boundaries

Kaiser

In a world where he wasn’t married, you would carefully approach him and tell him of your feelings for him

He’d maintain his composure, but would pause for a few seconds to take in your confession

“It makes me happy to hear that, for I share your feelings,” he’d say, fiddling with his moustache out of nervousness.

Yes, he’d get butterflies in his stomach too, thus he’d be a little bit nervous

He’d still try to upkeep his composure and as you for dinner in the most courteous manner like the gentleman that he is

William

Romance is a new territory for him, so once you confessed to him and he became aware that his feelings for you were mutual, he’d blush and fight back the tears that almost rose to his eyes

“That makes me happy,” he’d begin, taking a moment to swallow and steady his breathing. “You see, I’ve grown fond of you too, and I just haven’t found a way to approach you. And I apologize for that.”

He’d take your hand into his, gently, like he was holding a delicate flower.

“But I would like to repay you, if you allow me,” he’d state, meaning nothing more than to take you on an exquisite date

But as you leaned closer for a kiss, his breath would hitch slightly.

He wouldn’t lean away from you. He’d just be very taken aback, and would thank you for the kiss, making you giggle

Mereoleona

She’d grin. Teeth showing and eyes beaming.

“Took you long enough to say it,” she’d comment and wrap her arm around you before kissing you, there and then

She’s not one to play the dating game. For her it’d just be a simple ‘now we belong to each other’, and that’d be it.

I don’t see her taking you out on traditional dates, unless you ask, but she would be spending a lot of time with you from that point on

Julius

Would flash you a smile, a very cute one to say the least

He wouldn’t be phased in the slightest. Honestly, I can’t see him getting phased by much

“I see,” he’d begin. “Then we should go out on a date, don’t you think?” He’d grin at you, making your heart clench

And as you’d stand there, dumbfounded, he would continue: “because, you see, I like you too” the same smile still present on his face

[kandoesfanfics-writes]

A Song Your Soul(mate) Sings

This is my Maribat Secret Santa for @my-northern-downpour. I hope you enjoy it! This is a soulmate!au based off of a trend on TikTok in which soulmates can hear each other when they sing. I extended this to include humming as well.

-------------

The room was dark by the time he returned to his bed.

It was sparsely decorated, the six-year old boy not wanting much for potential enemies to use to conceal themselves. His eyes scanned the shadows, watching for the slightest movement, trying to see if there was anyone currently in the room. Seeing nothing that tickled his fight or flight instincts, he cautiously walked into the room before locking it behind him. He quietly barricaded himself in the room before walking over to his meager bed. 

His body ached as he laid down to sleep. 

Where there was not gauze or bandages was dark skin decorated with purples and blues of varying colors. The pain was a dull throb in his limbs as compared to the sharp pains in his joints. His stomach ached from the punishing training he'd been put through earlier that day. He hadn't wanted to train, but his mother had smacked him and told him to be grateful that he was chosen as heir.

"Des yeux qui font baisser les miens, un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche, voilà le portrait sans retouche, de l'homme auquel j'appartiens…"

The joyful echoes in his head began again, right on time. The echo sounded child-like, like the singer was someone his age. The echo sounded feminine, and he wondered why such a feminine voice would be echoing in his ears. He wasn't a girl after all so why did it sound like a girl? Why couldn’t he talk to that echo either? He could always have conversations with himself, but the feminine voice never answered him.

"Quand il me prend dans ses bras, qu'il me parle tout bas, je vois la vie en rose, Il me dit des mots d'amour, des mots de tous les jours, et ça m'fait quelque chose…"

It wasn't in a language he knew either. So far Mother had only taught him Arabic and English. The strange foreign vowel sounds and unfamiliar words made no sense to the little boy. Why was he hearing a voice speaking in a strange tongue?

And was he the only one?

Mother and Grandfather had never talked about hearing strange voices in their heads. Neither had any of the others the little boy had met. If they heard the voices too, wouldn't they have talked about them? Why would Mother and Grandfather hide the knowledge from him… unless they didn't share the same experiences.

The little boy did not fear the voice, but he vowed never to speak of it. While he did not believe the voice was a threat, he did not wish to be seen as defective. He saw what had happened to those deemed unworthy of his Grandfather's presence. He did not wish to die…or worse, go through painful procedures to get rid of the voice in his head.

"Il est entré dans mon cœur, une part de bonheur, dont je connais la cause, c'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie, Il me l'a dit, l'a juré, pour la vie, et dès que je l’aperçois, alors je sens en moi, mon cœur qui bat…"

As he curled into a ball, his daggers close at hand, he listened to the cheerful voice. He listened to the way the strange words would roll, and occasionally stutter, through his mind. It wasn’t terrible...if he had to be honest, it was rather relaxing. The sound was more often than not soft and gentle sounding compared to the harsh orders barked at him daily. Sometimes the voice had giggles and laughter interrupting the words, sending a strange warmth through him. He could feel himself relaxing enough to sleep, but he forced his green eyes to stay open as he wanted to hear more.

“Des nuits d’amour à plus finir, un grand bonheur qui prend sa place, les ennuis, les chagrins s’effacent, heureux, heureux à en mourir…”

He could feel sleep overtake him as he listened to the happy voice, glad that at least one thing in his life radiated warmth and was not tinged with fear.

He hoped Mother and Grandfather never found out.

Damian didn’t want the voice to go away.

————————

“Why do you keep singin’ if you can’t hear them, Mari?” a dark skinned boy asked, picking apart the sandwich his mother made him.

“Because Maman explained that some people can’t sing, Nino!” a little girl with paler skin responded. “Maman said that sometimes people are born without the ability to talk, or they get hurt real bad and can’t talk no more. She also said that sometimes people have a hard time hearing or can’t hear at all, so they learn FSL instead of talking with their mouth! What if my soulmate is like that? They’d be real lonely if I didn’t sing to ‘em!”

The little boy adjusted the small red cap on top of his head and said, “I guess that makes sense.”

The little girl nodded, her bob swinging a little with the force of her movements. Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her best friend, Nino Lahiffe, were sitting in her parents bakery, enjoying lunch. Nino was picking apart his food, not feeling very hungry after Chloe Bourgeois called him chubby. Despite Marinette telling Nino he wasn’t chubby, the little boy seemed to be down in the dumps. Marinette had tried to cheer him up by asking about the song he could hear his soulmate singing as Nino was very excited that he was hearing his soulmate more often now.

That had brought them to the conversation of Marinette’s soulmate...who she had never heard before.

Marinette knew her friend wasn’t trying to be mean by asking about it, and that he was worried about her. It wasn’t common that soulmates couldn’t hear one another’s voices so long as both people were alive. If one couldn’t hear their soulmates voice it could mean that they might have died, that they hadn’t been born yet, or that the person didn’t have one. There were also instances where both soulmates were still alive and still couldn’t sing to one another, and that was the type Marinette’s mother had just recently explained to her— people who were unable to verbally communicate due to either issues with hearing or speaking verbally.

Marinette was nibbling on her sandwich too, secretly trying to reassure herself as well.

After all, Chloe liked to tease her that she didn’t have a soulmate. 

Marinette shook her head, kicking her feet back and forth. No! Stupid Chloe was wrong! She did have a soulmate! They just couldn’t sing to her right now! Maybe they couldn’t sing at all, but that didn’t matter! As long as she kept singing, they would eventually find her voice...wouldn’t they?

“Hey Mari, do you wanna go to the park?” Nino asked, interrupting her train of thought. “I got a new football. It’s in my bag.”

Marinette smiled brightly, adjusting the straps on her pink overalls before saying, “Prepare to lose, Nino!”

The little girl jumped out of her seat and raced towards his backpack, the little boy following after her. Neither child noticed the dark haired woman watching them with a soft, sad smile. Her near silver eyes shone with love and concern as she watched her daughter go off to play with her best friend. She looked so happy...and Sabine desperately hoped she would stay like that.

———————-

...things at his father’s house were strange.

His rules were confusing.

No killing. None. In fact, Damian got into more trouble killing while with his father. It just didn’t make any sense to him! Hadn’t Mother told Father anything?! Hadn’t Mother told Father that he was going to be heir of both the cowl and the League of Assassins? He had to know how to kill in order to do that! He had to keep up with his skills to be able to maintain and grow to surpass anyone who would challenge him!

But Father told him that he didn’t want Damian to do any of that.

He told Damian that he wanted different things for him than his mother did.

And that confused him.

The other thing that confused him was his place in his father’s house.

With his mother and his grandfather, the dark haired ten-year old’s position was always clear. He was to be the Heir to the League of Assassins. He was to be stronger, sharper, quicker, and more deadly than anyone else in the League. He was constantly being tested by Mother and Grandfather too. He knew that if he did not perform to their standards then a punishment was in order...and they never let Damian forget how replaceable he truly was at the end of the day. 

He might be considered more important than the other League members, but he had to continuously earn that position.

Richard Grayson didn’t seem interested in fighting him for the cowl...at all. In fact, the young man seemed to want to get to know Damian. He seemed to get over his annoyance at the younger boy’s appearance rather quickly, and he’d started getting into Damian’s space. He asked him questions, trying to learn more about the newcomer. He didn’t appear to be threatened by Damian very much either, which irritated the aforementioned boy severely.

Dick was quick to suss out Damian’s boundaries, and while he’d ultimately respect them, he was also quick to push them too. His excuse was that Damian needed to act like other ten year old boys, and his father had agreed. While Damian had at first hated it...he had to admit he’d grown fond of Grayson, as the second Damian began to feel anxious, the older one would cease his pushing.

Dick was...well he was an older brother, through and through. He loved Damian, but he wasn’t afraid to try and kick the younger boy’s ass either. Damian appreciated someone who could see he had skill but wasn’t scared off by it. Dick was insistent in getting Damian to learn more about ‘normal’ kid stuff. Dick was the one showing him kids’ movies, loudly singing along to the lyrics, making their father groan.

Tim...Tim still wasn’t okay with Damian. Damian wasn’t okay with Tim either. Damian was more willing to overlook Dick as he was his own superhero— Nightwing. Tim was Robin. Tim was the one who had his role, according to his mother. Tim was the one he was supposed to show he was superior too. Tim was the one he had to get rid of.

But that had made father and Dick extremely angry.

Tim fought valiantly for his position, which Damian respected, but he also seemed to be sticking to Father’s no kill rule. It was clear that Father trusted Tim much more than he trusted Damian. Tim was still with the family. Tim hadn’t been replaced by him. Tim still hung out with Dick, though he did it less when Damian was around. Tim also clearly had Dick’s trust as well, while Damian was still on thin ice.

The younger boy couldn’t explain why that upset him so much, but it did.

As Dick had explained it to him, and Alfred re-explained, ranks were based purely on seniority. Alfred was in charge of Bruce, and Bruce was in charge of them. Dick was the next in line because he was the oldest, then Tim, and then Damian. There wasn’t any fighting in order to gain the upper rank...and despite Damian being on the bottom, he was treated with just as much respect as a living person deserved.

He was allowed to point out holes in plans. He was allowed to talk during meetings. He was allowed to offer his opinion. He was allowed to fight with them...he was allowed to fight without fearing death.

For the first time in Damian’s short life...he was allowed to do things without the risk of death constantly hanging over his head. The most his father would do is bench him from patrols, stop him from training, and put him under house arrest. All of these punishments were preferable to the ones his mother would come up with, and he felt so much better about that.

He was freer to be himself here than he ever had been with his mother.

“Here comes the sun, do, dun, do, do. Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right. Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here. Here comes the sun, do, dun, do, do. Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right!”

Damian looked up from his oatmeal, grimacing at his elder ‘brother’ as said man skidded into the kitchen in a tee-shirt, boxers, and his socks.

It had been an entire year since his mother had left him with his father. He was eleven years old now, and he’d told his mother that he was staying with his father. He had thought he’d grow used to his ‘brothers’ antics, but it appeared that there was one thing he still wasn’t used to— Dick’s insistence that he break out in a random musical number anytime he felt like it…

“GRAYSON, would you please shut up! Tt, it’s too early for this nonsense!” the green-eyed boy said with a scowl. “Alfred, please tell him that he’s much too noisy.”

“No can do, lil’ D! I have to let my soulmate know I’m a-okay! And the only way to do that is sing!” Dick said happily. “Good morning, Alfred!”

The elderly man shook his head in fond annoyance before saying, “Good morning, Master Dick. If you eat cereal, please leave some left for Master Tim. That boy hasn’t been eating much, but I have been getting him to eat cereal...and do lower your volume, Master Dick.”

“...what the, and I can’t emphasize this enough, fuck are you talking about, Grayson? Where did you hear such nonsense?”

The kitchen fell silent as both Dick and Alfred looked at Damian in shock. Alfred hadn’t even corrected Damian for cursing, both men clearly fighting back and array of emotions. Dick appeared to recover first. His inquisitive blue eyes focused on Damian before he took a deep breath.

“Dames...you know what soulmates are right?” Dick asked slowly.

“What kind of asinine—”

“Master Damian, have you ever heard a voice in your head?”

Damian froze like a rabbit that had just spotted a predator. Despite the boy’s training, Alfred could see it in his microexpressions that the child was afraid. It looked like he had no idea how to answer the question, so the old butler took pity on him and continued.

“This voice...or echo doesn’t sound like it belongs to you. It sounds like someone else...someone you may not know. It could be in another language, possibly, or it could take form in the sound of humming—”

“Almost everyone has one, Lil’ D...” Dick interrupted, his expression twisted with worry. “My soulmate sings back to me after I sing to him.”

The green-eyed boy’s jaw dropped, looking back and forth between Alfred and Dick in an alarmingly vulnerable way. Dick was about to go get Bruce before Damian let out the softest sound of shock and surprise he’d ever heard. He had to strain to hear what Damian said to Alfred next, hating how small and weak the proud boy sounded.

“I’m...I’m not crazy? She— she’s real?”

“Talia never told you about soulmates, did she?” Alfred said, taking the available seat next to Damian. “Of course you're not crazy, Master Damian. This is completely normal.”

Damian shook his head, looking anxiously at the butler and Dick. He thought the voice was just in his head! She was a real person? She was singing to him? Was he supposed to be singing back? Why could he hear her? Why him?

“Why we don’t explain what soulmates are first,” Alfred said softly. “A soulmate is someone whose soul compliments yours. You are whole as you are, Damian, but a soulmate is someone whose personality will compliment yours. They are the one person in the world who has the chance to know you as well as you know yourself. They’re a blessing to have, not a weakness to exploit.”

“In order to be able to find our soulmates, we have an almost telepathic connection of sorts. When our soulmates sing, we will be able to hear them in our heads. The same goes for when you sing. She’ll be able to hear you,” Dick added. “You will be able to find your soulmate through their singing. You’ll know when you’ve met her...Lil’ D...does your soulmate still sing to you?”

“Everyday...though the time has changed since I got to the states. I’m assuming she’s European due to the timezone difference and what I believe is a Latin-based language,” Damian mumbled, twiddling his thumbs. “Is that good?”

“That’s excellent, Lil’ D. It means she hasn’t given up on you,” Dick said with a grin. “So don’t keep her waiting anymore, okay?”

“Mother and Grandfather never talked about—is it safe? I assumed I was crazy because they never spoke of soulmates and neither did anyone else. I thought—”

“You’re not crazy, Master Damian,” Alfred said, this time firmer. “You are just like any other young man with a soulmate. You hear her voice when she sings to you, and you enjoy it, don’t you?”

“...it is a nice song…very pretty…”

“They probably saw their soulmates as weaknesses to their plans, but what they failed to realize is that soulmates are sources of strength as well. Do not be afraid to answer her now, Master Damian. She’s probably been waiting quite a while to hear your voice.”

Damian still felt like he was going to throw up, but he nodded. He was still tense as a freshly tightened spring as he watched Dick return to his breakfast. The older man started humming a tune that Damian recognized was a song from the movie they’d just watched the night before.

“Dick...what’s the name of that song? The one you’re humming from the movie last night?” he asked, trying to control his voice.

Dick raised an eyebrow, surprised by the use of his first name. He calmly told Damian that he was humming ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ as performed by Elton John. He said nothing further as he watched Damian make a beeline towards the door, clearly not wanting to speak anymore on the subject, and abandoning his oatmeal. He looked towards Alfred to see if he should bring him back to at least finish breakfast, but the butler shook his head.

“Let Master Damian go. This must be overwhelming for him as well as slightly invasive. Let him process.”

Little did Alfred know that Damian had already accepted that the voice was in his head. He had already accepted the voice that lulled him to sleep as a piece of him that he’d protect willingly and viciously. The only change was that he now understood why he was so keen on protecting the intruder in his head.

He wasn’t crazy.

She was real.

That song was real.

Everything she ever sang to him was real.

Damian wasn’t broken.

She was real.

———————

The last thing Sabine Cheng expected was for her daughter to be awake at seven thirty am, no matter how early she and her husband got up.

Her sweet little Marinette had never been a morning person, always sleeping in and making herself late. Sabine had tried to break her daughter of the habit, but she was just as stubborn as her father. Now Sabine simply tried to mitigate how late her daughter got up so that she wouldn’t be as late to things.

She’d gone to wake her daughter up as she had errands to run. Sabine needed Marinette to come with her to help carry some of the items they were picking up for her mother-in-law’s birthday while Tom worked the store. Neither parent expected the shriek that came from their daughter’s room.

Nor the disheveled state she came nearly crashing down in.

“MAMAN! PAPA!” Marinette shrieked, her hair half-in, half-out of her braid. “HE SANG! MAMAN, HE’S THERE! PAPA, MY SOULMATE ANSWERED ME!”

Marinette’s eyes were wide with shock as she spluttered, trying to get words out of her mouth. Her hands were flailing in every direction, trying desperately to articulate the words she couldn’t get out. She was still dressed in her pajamas, looking at her parents helplessly.

“Marinette! Marinette, you have to breathe, little dumpling,” Sabine said, grabbing her daughter’s hands. “Take a few deep breaths.”

Marinette took a deep breath, following her mother’s instructions of in and out. As soon as she had stopped practically vibrating out of her skin, Marinette grabbed her mother’s arms and said, “He sang back, Maman. He was so shy and stuttered a lot, but he sang back. He answered me!”

Tom looked absolutely relieved, his posture relaxing slightly. He had been worried about Marinette’s soulmate never singing back, and how that would affect Marinette. They knew that she’d been bullied by the mayor’s daughter for never hearing her soulmate sing, and they knew how bad that had made her feel. Tom then stiffened back up when he realized that Marinette’s soulmate sang back, and now someone would be trying to find his little girl.

Sabine couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her husband. Their daughter was only eleven, so she doubted that someone was just going to come and steal her away! However, she was very excited for her daughter. She kissed Marinette on the forehead before saying, “That’s amazing, little dumpling. You go get changed, and you can tell me about it while we walk to the store.”

Marinette nodded eagerly before pausing.

“Maman? Do you think we could get some English books? To help me practice and learn? I’m pretty sure my soulmate sang in English,” the dark haired girl said, biting the tip of her thumb.

Tom looked at his wife, waiting for her to give the nod of approval, before telling Marinette that of course she could get some English studying material. While Tom was apprehensive of the soulmate that just started singing (why hadn’t he sang before?), he wanted nothing more than his little girl to be happy. He kissed his wife on the cheek before walking back into the kitchen, continuing to work on the pastries.

Marinette couldn’t stop the smile on her face as she raced back up to her room. 

Her soulmate sang back to her!

She bounced over to her mirror, picking up her hair brush. She pulled out her hair tie, allowing the braid to fall apart completely. As she began to brush her hair, she picked up where her song had left off before her soulmate had tried to sing back.

“Quand il me prend dans ses bras, il me parle tout bas, je vois la vie en rose, il me dit des mots d’amour, des mots de tous les jours, et ça me fait quelque chose, il est entré dans mon coeur, une part de bonheur, dont je connais la cause, c’est toi pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie, il me l’a dit, i’a juré pour la vie,” she sang, carefully braiding her hair.

She paused for a moment, waiting to see if he would try singing again.

Her soulmate sounded male, but it was hard for her to hear him. He sounded uncertain and shy as he stumbled across his words. Then he sounded a little bit upset before changing to humming a tune she was familiar with. He was humming “La Vie en Rose” which was a song Marinette sang very often, and that was another reason she believed he wasn’t French. He clearly knew the tune, but didn’t seem confident to say the words.

A familiar tune timidly filled her head, soft and sleepy.  She felt affection well up in her chest as he continued to hum “La Vie en Rose” to her. Marinette could tell he’d been listening to her every time she sung him that song. He hummed every note perfectly until his voice began to drift off. Marinette wondered for a moment if that means he’d fallen asleep.

She finished getting dressed quickly after that, throwing on her pink sundress and black ballet flats. Blue-grey eyes sparkling with joy and excitement, Marinette practically ran down the stairs, causing her papa to call out to her to be more careful. She told her papa she would as she skipped over towards her mother.

She couldn’t wait to tell her mother about her soulmate humming her song back to her.

——————

It wasn’t until Damian was almost seventeen that he felt comfortable enough actually singing to his soulmate.

At first, he’d attempted a clumsy rendition of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”. He hadn’t been able to remember the words properly, so he’d gotten frustrated and embarrassed. She had been able to hear him messing up! He already hadn’t been singing back to her for years, and now his first attempts were pathetic! He had been worried about how she’d respond to him finally returning her songs, but he’d then begun to worry about what she thought about him screwing it up entirely!

Instead of giving up though, he had decided to hum her song back to her. He knew every note of that song, despite not knowing the words or the name to the song. He had hummed until she answered him back with her own bright cheerful song. She had sung the words, strange and unfamiliar to him, while he hummed the melody, creating the most beautiful sound Damian could have sworn he’d ever heard.

Her voice had sounded even brighter than before, and Damian could tell she was happy. After the first day, he’d noticed an uptick in his soulmate’s humming and singing. The more he’d returned her humming with his own, the happier her voice had sounded. It had warmed his chest in an inexplicable way...almost as if he’d missed her without ever meeting her until he hummed back.

Damian had reached the point where he could easily recall all of the words to Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, but he’d only hummed it to her. He hadn’t felt confident enough to attempt to sing it out loud again, but he was getting there in small steps. He’d been working on it, speaking the words out loud to ensure he remembered them as to not have a repeat of his first attempt. He had begun singing little bits and pieces to the song, which seemed to get the interest of his soulmate. He had fallen even faster for her when she began to show him what she’d been working on.

Singing in English.

Despite her difficulties, his soulmate had continued to try and sing to him in what she probably assumed was his native tongue. She had learned another language for him! She had learned one of the most difficult languages to learn (the grammar rules could be absolutely atrocious, and Damian hated it) just so he could understand her singing.

The least he could do was actually sing for her.

Especially since his soulmate had grown more somber and sad in the past few years.

Her songs seemed to have changed from the light-hearted melodies about love and life to heavier music, in both genre and topics. She’d never stopped singing the song he’d come to know as “La Vie en Rose” though. It appeared that she only sang it for him now because her voice was always quiet, almost like a whisper as she sang. Some nights she only sang a few words or not at all, which worried Damian greatly. So, he did the only thing he could do.

He hummed to her even when she was silent or didn’t seem to want to sing much.

Damian began to hum to her like she’d sang to him all those days while he still lived with the League. She had dealt with his silence for years, never knowing if she had someone on the other end of her connection. Damian only realized how terrifying that was when she’d gone completely silent for a day, not singing anything at all. He could toughen it out and hum to her until she felt like she could sing again, but it only got worse.

She had begun to sing in the softest, saddest voice Damian had ever heard.

It broke his heart to know she was in pain.

Which led him to his current situation, standing in a busy Parisian patisserie with his father and brother, singing to his soulmate for the first time.

“There's a calm surrender, to the rush of day, when the heat of a rolling wind can be turned away. An enchanted moment, and it sees me through. It's enough for this restless warrior, just to be with you,” he sang softly, ignoring the shocked looks of both Bruce and Tim. “And can you feel the love tonight? It is where we are. It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer, that we got this far, and can you feel the love tonight. How it's laid to rest? It's enough to make kings and vagabonds believe the very best.”

The small Asian woman behind the counter looked concerned until Tim apologized and kindly informed her that Damian had never actually sang to his soulmate before. The woman chuckled before telling Tim that he didn’t need to apologize, and that their order would be out soon. Tim nodded, paying the kind woman before Bruce guided them both off to the side to wait.

The dark haired boy ignored his brother’s insistent questions, listening for her voice. She was still quiet, having stopped singing the previous song that had gotten Damian so concerned to begin with. He continued to sing, wanting his soulmate to know that even if it felt like no one else did, he cared about her. 

He’d have to thank Dick later for his annoying pop music obsession, or he’d never have recognized Sia’s song “Breathe Me”.

“There's a time for everyone, if they only learn. That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn. There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors. When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours,” he continued, ignoring all of the sounds going on around him.

Just as Damian was about to sing the next section, the patisserie door slammed open. A tiny girl(?) with pitch black hair that was falling loose around her face came racing in. He could see tear streaks down her face as if she’d just been crying. Her body posture was defensive. Her arms were crossed tightly against her chest, and her body was hunched over as if she were trying to make herself smaller.

A blond haired guy followed her into the building. He seemed out of breath with his face as flushed as it was. His green eyes reminded Damian of limes or acid, bright and loud. His entire demeanor displayed a nervousness as he tried to reach the girl, whose posture seemed to scream ‘I’m not okay’ the closer he got to her.

“Marinette, listen! It was just a joke! Alya said they didn’t mean it, and Lila already told the class to stop messing up your schedules,” the guy said. “Please, Marinette? Don’t be mad. You’re better than that.”

The young woman, Marinette, stopped dead in her tracks before turning around. With the more composure than Damian had thought she possessed, she simply said, “Adrien, I am allowed to be upset. They destroyed my planner, which had all the events for our class in it. As class president, I’m supposed to have all of those dates written down and available to anyone who needs them. I now have to remake the entire schedule on top of all my other responsibilities. Besides, real jokes don’t normally involve destroying someone’s personal property, now please leave me alone.”

Damian felt his heart drop into his stomach.

He knew that voice like he knew his katana.

He’d never be able to mistake the voice that had lulled him to sleep so many nights.

That was her voice.

He knew her.

“And can you feel the love tonight? It is where we are. It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer that we got this far, and can you feel the love tonight? How it's laid to rest? It's enough to make kings and vagabonds, believe the very best,” Damian continued, needing to be certain it was her.

He watched the young woman’s arms fall to her sides, looking almost startled. Her eyes, which he now noticed were an enchanting slate blue color that reminded him of a storm, were now darting around. Her petal pink lips, which looked so soft, were agape which hinted towards her being alarmed by something. Her posture straightened up as she scanned the room again. Not finding what she was looking for apparently, she slowly began to sing, her eyes searching the room once more.

“Et dès que je l’aperçois, alors je sens en moi, mon coeur qui bat.”

Damian’s heart then decided to make a violent return to his chest as he could hear it pounding in his chest.

It was her.

Those were the last lines to “La Vie en Rose”.

It was her.

——————

Marinette, to say the least, had been having a couple rough years.

At the age of thirteen, she had been given the ladybug miraculous by the former Guardian and became the spotted heroine known as Ladybug.

At around the age of fourteen-fifteen, Lila Rossi had joined her class and the bullying began.

At the age of sixteen, she realized that she had less friends than she thought she did.

And now at the age of seventeen, Marinette was just done.

She hadn’t been able to locate Hawkmoth due to his increasing power, gaining Mayura as an accomplice, and her inability to keep a standard set of heroes. Some people had lost the privilege to wield the miraculous by breaking Marinette’s trust, and others had been compromised by Hawkmoth. This meant that everytime she needed assistance, she either had to combine the miraculous or give a rookie hero a crash course in superhero training.

Add to that Chat Noir’s endless attempts to flirt and get her to sing in front of him, and Marinette was ready to throw herself out a window. 

Being a superhero with little to no training had been hard enough, but now she was the Guardian of the box! Now not only did she have to worry about her Kwami, Tikki, she had to worry about all of them! She would also have to do this with absolutely no training as well except from what the kwamis could remember/tell her. 

And all of that didn’t take into account the Marinette part of her life either.

Her only solace had been her soulmate, who had slowly been learning how to sing. She had been surprised to hear attempts at singing, as he’d been humming almost consistently since his first attempt, but it made the ache in her chest feel lighter. Her soulmate clearly cared enough about her to try and overcome whatever had been stopping him from singing before, and it made her feel good. She had come to find the humming comforting, but she also found she enjoyed his voice while he sang too.

More grown up now, his voice was a deep baritone that settled into her bones and made her relax. She had found herself wishing she could talk to him more, wanting to hear words instead of humming. She had forced herself to be patient though. If her soulmate had had problems singing before, it was a possibility he’d only recently gained the capability to verbally speak. She didn’t want to be rude and push for more if that was the case.

Which was apparently something none of her classmates understood.

Marinette had walked into her classroom, only to find the planner she had painstakingly put together for the class in tatters on the floor. She’d left it for their teacher to use, as the teacher needed to add a few more dates in for school functions that had just gotten approved. She wished she could say she hadn’t been upset, but she was.

They’d stuck her with this thankless job, due to Lila not wanting to have to do anything, and this was how they repaid her?

She found it ridiculous that they were still bullying her over Adrien. Sure, she’d liked him when he’d first arrived. He was handsome and rather nice, and most girls had a crush on him. She knew he wasn’t her soulmate though. While he could speak perfect English (thanks to his aunt and cousin living in England, and his late uncle speaking mainly English), the time zone differences didn’t match up.

Her soulmate hummed at specific times, and Marinette had attributed that schedule to reflect their difference in time zones. If Adrien had been her soulmate, then the humming would have occurred around the same time Marinette was normally singing. Plus, she’d heard Adrien sing before when Nino had pressured him into doing it.

The click didn’t go off in her head and as a result, her crush slowly began to die out. She’d even explained to Alya the situation when she’d told her former best friend that she was giving up on dating Adrien. Alya knew that Adrien wasn’t her soulmate, so she didn’t want to waste her time on him.

So why had she joined Lila in bullying her?

Why had she conveniently forgotten that Marinette was completely over her crush and didn’t want to date him?

Why had she lied to Adrien about Marinette wanting to date her?

Most of all, why had Alya believed Lila over her?

Marinette hadn’t heard anyone apologizing to her when she raced out of the room, overwhelmed and upset. She was doing her damndest to control her emotions so that Hawkmoth couldn’t akumatize her, but she could still feel the tears hot on her cheeks. She ignored everything else, storming back towards the patisserie, considering telling her parents she’d thrown up on the way to school and decided to turn around and come home.

Taking a deep breath, she began to sing an English song she’d found while browsing around online. At first she wanted to listen to English songs to help her learn her soulmate’s language, but she did end up finding music and artists that she liked.

“Help, I have done it again. I have been here many times before. Hurt myself again today, and the worst part is there's no-one else to blame. Be my friend, hold me. Wrap me up, enfold me. I am small and needy. Warm me up and breathe me,” she sang, picking up the pace as she heard Adrien shout out her name.

“There's a calm surrender, to the rush of day. When the heat of a rolling wind can be turned away. An enchanted moment, and it sees me through. It's enough for this restless warrior just to be with you.”

Marinette nearly froze in her tracks.

Her soulmate had sung!

From the sound of his tone, he seemed worried about her. Marinette continued the song she’d been singing, only pausing when he began to sing his song back to her. She had continued walking on autopilot, taking comfort in her soulmate’s voice despite the fact that she could still register Adrien’s shouting in the back of her mind.

She slammed the patisserie door open, too shocked and upset to think about using the private entrance to their home above the bakery. She heard Adrien’s footsteps follow her inside. She had planned on ignoring him, not wanting to have another fight about whether or not Alya and Lila’s latest shenanigans had been ‘friendly teasing’ or not. 

She was going to until Adrien opened his stupid mouth to tell her she was ‘better than this’.

“Adrien, I am allowed to be upset. They destroyed my planner, which had all the events for our class in it. As class president, I’m supposed to have all of those dates written down and available to anyone who needs them. I now have to remake the entire schedule on top of all my other responsibilities. Besides, real jokes don’t normally involve destroying someone’s personal property, now please leave me alone,” she’d told him, firmly.

Before Adrien could respond though, she heard her soulmate sing.

“And can you feel the love tonight? It is where we are. It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer that we got this far, and can you feel the love tonight? How it's laid to rest? It's enough to make kings and vagabonds believe the very best.”

Marinette felt like she’d been struck by lightning as she realized she’d heard an echo, meaning that he was also in the patisserie. He was here! He was here, and he was singing for her!

Her eyes darted around the room, taking in everyone who was present. She saw that her father and mother were swamped with orders, doing their best to keep the line short. There were several regular customers in line with a couple new faces, but no one who stuck out. There was a small trio off to the side, clearly waiting for their order.

They did not appear familiar at all but from the looks of their suits, Marinette wagered they were businessmen. Perhaps they were in the city on business? Or perhaps this wasn’t their normal stop for baked goods, but they came here because it was closer?

Still feeling anxious, she steeled her nerves and began to sing slowly, trying to find the one person who would react in the crowd.

Her eyes were drawn back to the trio, noticing how awestruck the one looked.

He was objectively handsome with a sharp jawline and defined cheekbones. He had tanned skin that made the two men next to him look rather pale in comparison. His hair was jet black and well groomed. He looked strong with broad shoulders, and Marinette was certain he had several inches on her as far as height went.

It was his eyes though that caught her attention.

They were a jade green, a bit darker than Adrien’s, but captivating all the same. They were also looking at her with a look of longing that for some reason didn’t frighten Marinette. He looked like he desperately wanted to come over to her, but he appeared to be waiting for something.

The second he realized she had her eyes on him, he opened his mouth and finished the song.

“It's enough to make kings and vagabonds believe the very best,” he sang, looking at her almost hopefully.

Marinette felt something in her mind click into place.

She also could swear she heard Tikki giggling from inside her purse.

The little kwami had always told Marinette she’d meet her soulmate one day. She’d also told Marinette that she’d meet him when she needed him most. The little red kwami had seemed extremely confident about that fact and about how her soulmate would be able to help her.

Feeling a nudge from her purse, Marinette swallowed before marching over to where the three men were standing. The one whose gaze had been fixed on her also began to step forward, meeting Marinette half-way. He smiled at her, but his eyes told her he was nervous.

“Hello, my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she said, holding out her hand in what she knew was a traditional American greeting.

He took her hand but surprised her by kissing the back of her hand instead of shaking it.

“Hello, I’m Damian. You have a lovely voice.”

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up as she smiled back at him.

“You too...though I’d like to hear it more,” she replied, ignoring the fact he’d yet to let go of her hand.

The grip wasn’t harsh or uncomfortable...but rather warm and reassuring.

“Okay, seriously Demon Spawn,” the shorter man said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “What the hell is going on, and why were you singing to your soulmate? You never sing out loud! Who is she, and why did you kiss her hand? Do you even know her?”

“Shut. Up. Drake,” Damian hissed, his cheeks coloring a bit. “Can’t you and Father give me a moment?”

Marinette could see the tension building, so she asked the question that had been bugging her since she was a child.

“Why didn’t you ever sing to me before we were eleven?”

This made the two men freeze. A look of realization dawned on them as they looked between Marinette and Damian. The younger of the two had the decency to blush a little bit, mumbling a ‘nevermind’. The older of the two seemed almost...relieved? Happy? Ecstatic?

“Terribly sorry,” the older man said with a smile. “My name is Bruce Wayne. I’m Damian’s father. This is his brother Tim Drake, who I adopted, hence the different last name. Damian, we’re going to take our pastries and head back to the hotel. You can meet us there when you’re done.”

With that, Marinette watched as Bruce pushed Tim towards the exit, still feeling a little confused and dazed. She returned her attention towards Damian, who looked very uncomfortable and upset. She almost told him to forget about her question until he said quietly, “...my mother never told me about soulmates. I wasn’t allowed to sing or hum growing up, but my mother never told me why. They never taught me any songs either. I mainly had to learn them myself. I— I didn’t even realize I was hearing another person’s voice until someone explained it to me.”

Damian was looking down at his shoes, but he managed to lift his head to look at her before continuing.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to make you feel lonely or unwanted. I tried singing to you at eleven because I started living with my father around that time.”

Marinette felt relieved and heartbroken all at once.

“You don’t have to apologize just because your mother didn’t tell you about this,” she murmured, getting closer to her soulmate. “I’m just relieved that it wasn’t because you didn’t want me.”

“Excuse me, but Marinette and I were having a conversation! Marinette, you can’t just ignore people! It’s rude! Besides, Alya and Lila are here to apologize.”

The dark haired young woman let out a hiss, making the man in front of her chuckle.

Adrien.

She’d nearly forgotten about him.

Marinette turned around to see that Adrien was glaring daggers at Damian. The blond walked forward and actually had the audacity to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She pushed her arm off of her and stood in front of Damian.

From her new position, she could also see the two harpies from hell waiting at the patisserie door. Alya looked only a little nervous, and Lila had her usual fake sad face on. She could also see the simmering anger in Adrien’s eyes as she chose the stranger over him.

“Oh! Marinette, there you are!” Lila crooned, latching onto Adrien’s arm. “We’re so sorry! We didn’t realize that was your book.”

“I thought you said it was a joke on me though,” she responded, looking between both of them. “If you didn’t know it was mine, why would the joke be on me?”

“We never said that—” Alya began, but Marinette just cut her off.

Reaching into her bag, she took out the little tape recorder she’d been bringing to school to gather evidence. She briefly rewinded it before playing it, the two girls’ voices coming through crystal clear. Her expression did not change as Alya and Lila began to scream about how she couldn’t just record them like that, scrambling to also include how recordings could be taken out of context or misconstrued.

“You’re only mad because Lila won’t let you have Adrien!” Alya shouted, gaining the attention of Marinette’s mother and the other customers. “You’ve had a crush on him forever, and now you’re jealous because you can’t have him because of Lila!”

Marinette could feel a migraine coming on as she bit out, “I. Don’t. Have. A. Crush. On. Him. Seriously? That crush was like a month, two months long before I told you I was over it?”

“Don’t you still love me?” Adrien interjected, looking like a sad puppy.

“Not any more than a friend,” she said bitterly, “but I have no idea if I can consider you even that now.”

“You’re a filthy liar! You so totally have a crush—”

“Excuse me, but could you three kindly fuck off?” a cold voice came from behind her.

Marinette’s head twisted back to see that Damian no longer looked all that shy or vulnerable.

“I’ve waited years to be able to hear her voice in person, as Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng is my soulmate, and I’d really like to get to know her. Without an audience of absolute buffoons,” Damian continued, still coming off cold. “She already asked you to leave her alone, Blondie. My suggestion is take your two bitches and leave before I make you.”

“Ugh, you’re so rude!” Alya snapped. “No wonder you ended up with a cheat like Marinette!”

Marinette felt a twinge in her chest as she looked down at her shoes. She wasn’t surprised Alya had said something like that, but it still hurt deep down. Alya had once been a dear friend of hers, and for her to say such terrible lies about her made her heart break. She went to call out to her mother when Damian let out a snarl.

“You’re the rude ones. You think destroying private property is a joke? You think taking people’s belongings is a joke? You think barging into a place of business isn’t rude? Do you think interjecting on conversations that you’re not a part of isn’t rude? You think what you said isn’t fucking rude? Why don’t you try thinking before you speak? I know that takes up a lot of oxygen, but I can get you a plant if you’re worried about running out. Now, Get. Out.”

Damian cracked his knuckles and slid off his suit jacket, showing off muscled arms that looked a lot stronger than Adrien. He glared at the trio, watching them carefully as they backed off of Marinette. The subtle threat seemed to work as Alya latched onto Adrien’s other arm, both girls pulling him out of the patisserie. They were complaining loudly about how rude he was and continued to say passive aggressive things about Marinette. She thought the situation was going to explode until her mother walked over to them.

“Marinette? What’s going on?” Shouldn’t you be at school? And why were your classmates here?” she asked, gently holding her daughter’s face in her hands.

“I don’t feel well, Maman,” Marinette replied quietly. “It’s getting bad again.”

She watched her mother’s normally gently and friendly face twist into a well concealed look of rage. Sabine’s silver eyes narrowed, slightly worrying Marinette, as she looked at Damian before demanding to know who he thought he was, thinking that he could speak on her daughter’s behalf.

“I’m her soulmate, ‘mam. I wasn’t trying to speak for her, and I apologize if that’s how it was coming off. You see, my mother didn’t allow singing when I was growing up, and I went to go live with my father when I was ten, so for the first ten years of my life, I didn’t know what a soulmate was,” he answered. “It’s been about six years since I learned what a soulmate was, and I’ve been waiting since then to meet the girl who still sings to a silent soulmate.”

Marinette began to blush, stuttering apologies before Damian responded that she had nothing to apologize for. He then smiled at both her and Sabine before asking if they wanted to attend dinner at Le Grand Paris so Sabine could meet his father.

“I’d really like to get to know you, Marinette, but only if that’s what you want too,” he said with a soft smile. “I want this to be your choice as much as it is mine. I don’t want you to think you have to say yes just because we’re soulmates.”

And as she looked into the face of a man who taught himself how to sing just to be able to connect with her when she needed him the most, Marinette actually believed him.

Perhaps this wouldn’t be like Chat Noir and Ladybug…

A hard nudge from her pocket prompted her into answering, “Yes...I’d really like to get to know you too, Damian.”

As he smiled at her, a genuine smile that reached one’s eyes instead of the fake one he’d been using when talking to Lila, she felt her heart skip a few beats. He readjusted his grip on her hand, sending tingles down her arm and making her entire body feel warm. She gently squeezed his hand, receiving an evenly pressured squeeze in return as he talked to her mother about their patisserie shop.

Vaguely in the back of her mind, Marinette wondered if this is what being with your soulmate was supposed to feel like.

If it was...well, Marinette wasn’t going to be trading the warm homey feeling she got watching her mother talk nice with Damian for anything in the world. He seemed to have a quiet sort of charm about him, and he wasn’t easily intimidated by the looks of it, as he didn’t flinch when her father came out to meet him.

No, instead Damian had shook her father’s hand firmly, introducing himself with proud shoulders and confidence. This seemed to make her father happy as he wasn’t frowning as hard when he asked Damian what he did. Her father also seemed satisfied when Damian responded that his father owned a large business, and he was studying to help his older brother take it over once his father decided to retire.

The way he seemed to seamlessly slide into her family, the domestic feeling of it, made Marinette very happy.

Now all she had to do was figure out how to break the news to her soulmate that she was a superhero…

Oh boy.

*Songs in Order of Appearance:

“La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaf

“Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles

“Can You Feel the Love Tonight” as performed by Elton John

“Breathe Me” by Sia

[mythicamagic]

wow! that's an amazing list. “i’ve been falling in love with you since the first day we met”

A continuation of other tumblr prompts I’ve made into a fic - here

Hopefully chapter four will be the end lolol this fic has been far longer than I intended it to be.

---

Kagome stared out at passing scenery beyond her window with a glazed look dulling her eyes. Heavy thoughts carried her attention far away from the mundane train ride. She hadn't visited Kyoto in years, and especially not for such a special reason before.

Shippo's voice had sounded so strange on the phone. Mature, but not overly deep, maintaining its playfulness. He'd invited her over for a visit right away.

A 'bing!' noise roused her enough to check her phone- which showed a picture of Natsuki posing with a spear and fresh kill.

Kagome snorted, resting her chin on her knuckles. There were a few things about Natsuki that she was surprised Sesshoumaru hadn't commented on.

Number one; her boyfriend was a demon.

And number two; he was, specifically, an inuyoukai. A mongrel. She imagined Sesshoumaru felt mighty smug to know she'd found a demon of the same species as him to date. Natsuki being of mixed breeding surely made the Daiyouki feel all the more superior.

But Kagome had never cared about such things. She'd loved Inuyasha once, too.

The short version of their 'getting together' just two months prior was that she'd located a demon bar a few years ago and had been dating youkai ever since, using the place as a means to meet them. The relief of finding the secret den of long-forgotten youkai had been unparalleled. Kagome now knew exactly how to locate and see through glamorous thanks to years of experience.

She'd found out through the process of elimination that humans just kind of...weren't enough for her. Kagome needed the youki, the rush- the bite of claws, talons or fangs.

Natsuki was one of many in a long line of potential 'forever' partners, but Kagome had long since stopped expecting marriage down the line. If they lasted, that was fine. If not, that was fine too.

She had resolved never to fall hard for someone again.

Natsuki left Tokyo a few days prior to go on a hunting trip with his pack in a remote location up in the mountains, a monthly tradition.

'Can you skip it this time?' Kagome had asked. 'I'd just...really like it if you could come to Kyoto with me?'

'But I don't know your fox friend.'

'Doesn't matter- he hasn't seen me in 500 years. I would feel so much better if you were there.'

Natsuki looked as though she'd spat in his breakfast. 'Ah, uh-' he ran an awkward hand through his light-brown hair. 'I guess?'

The hesitancy and look in his eyes- begging to be let off the hook- made Kagome force a smile and drop the subject.

She sighed, figuring they'd probably break up soon. There wasn't really anything wrong with their relationship, just a difference in values and priorities.

It seemed to be the norm. No huge fight. No big dramatic breakup. Usually she even stayed friends with her exes.

Sesshoumaru was the outlier in all things.

She made certain not to tell the Daiyoukai of her impending singleness. If he was irritatingly optimistic now- Kagome imagined he'd be a nightmare to shake off if she were available.

But he'd stop if I outright told him to never speak to me again.

Her lips thinned, stomach turning at the mere thought.

For the rest of the journey, she resolved not to think about him. And failed miserably.

----

Shippo had greeted her at the door with an enormous hug the second she'd arrived at his hilltop home. Brilliant red hair had grown longer, swept back into a ponytail. Since his house perched a little further out from most of the houses, he wore no glamour. The pointed ears and foxtails- five of them- Kagome counted, were on full display.

Tears pricked her eyes, and she hugged him back fiercely.

His wife was pleasant, though a little eccentric for a racoon youkai. She'd made a 'welcome' banner and everything for Kagome's arrival.

Three young kits with dark circle markings around their eyes raced around the house- which had crayon drawings sprawled all over the walls at waist-height. Shippo and his wife seemed to have given up on house maintenance, but they were a happy family.

Blue eyes softened as Kagome sat with him in the relative privacy of his art studio. She was so pleased he'd found happiness. As they talked, she bent down- reaching into her bag for her phone to show him some pictures of her workplace- only for it to tip over.

A small bottle of pills rolled out, stopping by his foot.

Kagome paled. She glanced away from his questioning look as he handed them back to her. "Reiki suppression pills?" he asked.

"How'd you know?"

"I've got friends in Tokyo. You're not the only priestess who secretly dates demons," he shrugged, pinning her with a calculating look. "But, it's kind of a shame you feel the need to take them."

Kagome forced a smile, tucking them away, "yeah well- it's because I'm so big and strong," she joked. "I haven't met a demon in Tokyo who could withstand my aura if I really let it out. Taking these is easier. Gives demons the 'flavour' of dating a miko without actually getting burned. It just thins my powers a little."

Shippo nodded in acceptance and swiftly changed topics since it made her uncomfortable. He chattered on about his life, detailing the 500 year gap between when they'd seen each other last. Apparently, after Miroku and Sango had passed, he'd taken to spending more time with Sesshoumaru. When Inuyasha had died, he'd started living with the Daiyoukai permanently.

"You...did?"

He nodded, hands wrapped around his steaming mug of tea. A handmade bracelet clasped around his wrist, and the mug was half-melted, made from clay. Clearly they'd both been crafted by three well-meaning kids. "I guess we were gonna talk about him eventually," he smirked. "I promise not to be biased, okay? Sure, he saved my ass, but you're still my favourite."

Warmth flooded her heart, and Kagome giggled a little despite herself. "You're talking like we're your divorced parents or something," she mused, sobering. Taking a long breath, she stared at her own misshapen mug. "What happened?" she asked quietly. "Why didn't he create a pure-blooded heir?"

Shippo sighed, sweeping a hand through voluminous red hair. "He chased after you pretty much a second after you left through the well. Only he couldn't get through."

Her chest tightened, body stiffening.

"He's told me before though...that regretting what happened wouldn't have been enough, and maybe it was better he didn't stop you. He still felt the same at the time, deep down; that only a pure-blooded heir should take over the Western Lands to ensure he was survived by a long-living heir. He was gonna do it," Shippo muttered. "He was prepared to lay with an inuyoukai to produce an heir, but when the time came he just...couldn't. It frustrated him for a long time."

Kagome took a sip of her lukewarm tea, lips thinning. "He could've taken a mate. It didn't have to be some random woman."

"Heh, yeah but his inuyoukai instincts had already chosen a mate," Shippo winked at her. "And no matter how much he tried to force logic onto himself, his instincts refused to budge. You weren't dead, so in his mind, he couldn't move on. He's remained your captive all this time."

Her eyes widened, swallowing. "That sounds terrible!" she burst, frowning. "What the hell...I'd resent that. Why doesn't he hate me?"

"Hard to explain but...he could have moved on, Kagome," the kit sighed. "If he really wanted to. He's the one who lacked the desire to change how he felt about you. So, despite some relationships, Sesshoumaru has pretty much maintained his bachelor lifestyle."

Kagome stood from her seat, setting down her tea and distractedly looking at Shippo's art pieces, picking up a sketchbook and flipping through it.

Sharp green eyes searched her guarded features. "You're still in love with him, right?"

"Some habits are hard to kick," she said softly, pausing on one sketch. Her vision grew blurry.

Shippo rose and swept the shuddering miko into a hug before she could drop the sketch of Sango and Miroku. He held her for a long time, and they moved on to talking about their friends. About all the things they'd done and the happiness they'd shared.

"M-maybe I...left too quickly," Kagome mumbled, wiping at her wet cheeks.

"Nah, don't get that thought stuck in your head," Shippo rested a hand on her head, gently ruffling the dark strands. "You wanted distance between you and Sesshoumaru. It's not your fault the well shut."

"Why did..." swallowing thickly, she looked up at him, oddly feeling like a child in comparison to his steady, easy-going presence. Like nothing in the world could shock or frighten the little kit anymore. "It took him 6 years to come talk to me, why is that?"

Shippo's smile turned slightly sad. "He wouldn't want me to tell you. In fact, he'd kill me for giving you this-" Shippo reached into his pocket and took out a vial.

Kagome understood what it was almost immediately, accepting the glamour with a perplexed look.

He then scribbled down the name of a random park in Tokyo she hadn't visited before, handing it over with a smirk. "Put that glamour on and visit this park on either Tuesday or Thursday, weather permitting. You'll find him near the duck pond."

She arched a brow, eyeing the vial. "He'll recognise me, even with a glamour on."

"Nah, that's my own creation- and I'm pretty darn brilliant at magic now!" he puffed out his chest, tilting his chin up in a very Sesshoumaru-like manner. Shippo then smiled warmly, taking the sketchbook and tearing out a page. "He's not being honest with you, but it's not outta nefarious purposes. You'll see," he reassured her. "He's changed. Even if he's still an asshole."

Kagome accepted the page, freezing. Her fingers stiffened, emotion clogging her throat at all the implications that came with the picture. She couldn't help but cry again in the safety of Shippo's arms- promptly bursting into tears while on the train ride home too.

Shippo's sketch remained clutched in her hands.

The weight of so much wasted time rested upon her heavily, making the woman bend low in her seat, ignoring the stares of other passengers and letting out several years of loneliness and disappointment. How her skin had ached and burned up with a fever of remembrance- straining for a demon lord to take her wrists and kiss her palms like he once had.

---

Overcast skies blocked out the sunshine that Tuesday, so she wondered if he'd show. The glamour had made her look like a 40-year old, a few grey streaks in her magically short hair. Brown eyes stared back at her instead of blue. She smelled like lavender and home cooking. Kagome sat upon a bench and pretended to read beside the duck pond. An available bench sat further away, nearer to the empty play park.

It was there that a dark-haired man eventually sat, five children having followed him. A lanky teen took a seat next to him, his hair short and grey- eyes milky white with blindness. Kagome squinted from behind her book, sensing he was a snake youkai. Two young hanyous of differing species immediately ran to the play park, squealing. One had concealed horns, the other hiding their leopard spots behind a glamour.

A human girl around the age of 11 carried a toddler to the edge of the duck pond, talking quietly with him and pointing to the ducks.

Kagome held back the hot sting of tears, forcing her gaze to the book in her hands and robotically turning a page.

"Shinto needs to get out of his room," the snake youkai was muttering sourly.

"There is little I can do. Did you wish for me to carry him kicking and screaming to the park with us?" Sesshoumaru snorted, elbows bent to rest on his knees.

Kagome glanced at him furtively from the corner of her eye.

Gone was the easy confidence he'd presented to her during their encounters- the impeccable dress-sense and untouchable air of a bachelor. He looked like a mess. Or rather, a single parent struggling to juggle too much at once. He wore a jacket that had seen better days, hair dishevelled and slight lines under his eyes.

"Maybe that would've been better," his adopted child was muttering, soon sighing and glancing to the side as Sesshoumaru toyed with his phone. "Do you even have her number?"

Sesshoumaru arched a brow, feigning ignorance. "Hm?"

"You know who I am referring to. Just ask for it from Uncle Shippo."

Dark lashes lowered, followed by a rich, silky chuckle that made Kagome's skin warm. "Such underhanded methods, Hiroji," he teased, "no wonder you're not popular with women."

Hazy eyes gazed in his general direction flatly, huffing. "Please refrain from trying to dodge the question. Have you actually asked this 'Kagome' woman out yet?"

"I invited her to coffee."

"Such a cheap date, Papa!" the human girl by the duck pond smiled, carrying her brother back to them. "Couldn't you have invited her ice-skating, or to a fancy restaurant?"

"Or to the park!" one of the Hanyous yelled from the swings.

Sesshoumaru cut his eyes to grey skies fondly, accepting the toddler from his daughter. "The location does not matter. Miss Higurashi is not easily swayed," he uttered, large hands toying with little boots. The toddler giggled, kicking his legs. "Initially, I wished to bury her with gifts, but she would merely see that as an attempt to 'buy' her. No, I sense only a display of humility and regret will soften her opinion of me, however that seems quite impossible."

"Hm? Why's that?" his daughter asked.

"Because I do not wish to use you all as an example of my having 'changed.' It would feel as though you are mere tools for my redemption," brown eyes slid away. "My mindset altered gradually over the centuries. No large thing triggered it. I know of no other way to prove myself other than introducing her to you."

Kagome could tell by the twitching of his fingers and the way he kept brushing them over his jaw absentmindedly that he was itching for a drag of his pipe. She'd wondered if he still occasionally smoked. He must've decided not to around his children.

"Sounds like heavy stuff," the girl hummed, patting his shoulder in consolation. "Can't you just say-" she cleared her throat, voice deepening into a poor imitation of Sesshoumaru's- "Miko, I've been falling in love with you since the first day we met. Fall into my arms~"

Deep brown eyes flattened, and he playfully shoved a hand into her face. "Things are not so easily fixed, Akiko."

"I see. Well, don't worry! If it doesn't work out, we can all go ice-skating instead!"

Sesshoumaru tsked, sinking back into his seat and allowing the toddler to snuggle up on his chest. "How dull. I'd much prefer to go on a date with a beautiful woman than babysit you brats."

Akiko only giggled and whined good-naturedly, calling him a 'meanie' before running off to join the Hanyous on the swings.

Left in silence, the Daiyoukai's brows knitted together, thoughts clearly far away.

Mild concern softened Hiroji's boyish features. "You should try talking to her again," he said quietly, so faintly Kagome could barely hear it.

"Hn, and why is that?"

Shifting, the snake demon glanced sightlessly in Kagome's direction- causing her blood to freeze in her veins. "I suspect she may be more receptive to speaking with you now, that is all. Call it a hunch."

Stiff shoulders slowly relaxed upon realising he wasn't going to expose her. After a few minutes, Kagome rose from her spot and slipped away from the park.

In the comfort of her own apartment, Kagome gazed at the sketch Shippo had given her; Sesshoumaru sleeping without a glamour obscuring his exotic features. Resting on mokomoko, his knees, and the crook of his arm were children, different from the ones at the park, but just as mixed in species.

It implied he'd been adopting them for centuries. What had started with Rin all those years ago- the accidental adoption of his first child, had become a long-enduring habit. And it also gave Kagome the stupid, insidious idea that maybe he wanted hanyou children now. Maybe he wanted them with her.

And that was too dangerous a thought to linger on if she was incorrect.

[nightshade-minho]

-A Single Rose-

Happy birthday Lulu!! I know I'm super late but where I'm from, I just woke up and it's the 14th. :3 Take this mediocre fic anyway hhh im sorry @hardskz 

Warnings: pwp, unprotected sex, soft dom Jisung, size kink, praise, eating out, semi-public sex, light daddy kink.

The street was quiet, and the night air was chilly. Jisung adjusted his jacket, shivering slightly. He glanced at his reflection in the shop's window, running a hand through his hair to make sure he looked alright.

Taking in a deep breath, he tried to ignore the way his heart was pounding, and made his way into the shop. Almost immediately, his eyes landed on you behind the counter, humming as you flipped through your novel.

Ah...

Every time he looked at you, he'd be blown away by your beauty. God, you were breathtaking...literally. He somehow always forgot to breathe around you.

As he walked up to the counter, you looked up, tilting your head. His footsteps came to a halt as he leaned against the counter in an attempt to look cool.

Han Jisung didn't really have to try to look cool, though. With one arm entirely covered in tattoos, jet black hair and a lip piercing, people always tended to find him intimidating...at first glance. Look a little closer, and you would see his toothy grin, his goofy personality and endearing habits. No leather jacket in the world could hide the fact that he was just a big old softie...and his softest spot was for you.

It was a little bit of a cliché, and he was aware of it. He was the stereotypical 'bad boy', and you were the daughter of the flower shop's owner. You wore pale yellow sun-dresses, liked reading novels and sometimes wore daisies in your hair.

How could he not be in love with you?

"Jisung...we're closed."

"Oh...b-but it's an emergency..." He stared at you imploringly, his puppy eyes burning into your head even as you tried to avoid looking at him. Sighing, you shut your novel, turning to face him.

"Don't give me that look..."

He pouted, leaning in a little closer. "Pleaaaase? You only closed like, a second ago. It's really urgent." The truth was, he just didn't wanna leave yet...he'd spent an hour back home psyching himself up in the mirror, and now he was ready to confess to you...more or less.

You pursed your lips. "What's the emergency?"

"Um...I need flowers for....uh..." he gulped, all his brain cells choosing that very moment to bail on him. "M-my...my girlfriend!" He blurted, immediately regretting it as soon as the words came out.

A small frown appeared on your features.

"Oh...you never told me you had a girlfriend." You said, trying to mask the disappointment in your voice. Somehow, though, Jisung still caught it.

Wait...was it possible that you might be interested in him after all? God, why the fuck did he make up that lie? It had come out of nowhere, almost like his lips had a mind of their own.

"I...um, that was because it wasn't official, yet. Yeah. So...I need to get her a rose...a pale pink one, please."

That was your favorite flower, and your favorite color. You stood up from your stool, trying to hold your emotions down as you went off to the side of the counter, pulling out a long-stemmed rose from one of the baskets and handing it to Jisung. Your fingers momentarily brushed against his as you gave it to him, and he tried to ignore the butterflies rampaging in his stomach.

"H-how much will that be?"

"You don't have to pay. I've already closed up for the night, any way."

"But-"

"No, really. It will just mean a lot more work for me...so yeah. Um, have fun with your girlfriend tomorrow...bye." You waved, biting your lip and feeling tears rising up. You knew you were being a little too sensitive, but you couldn't help it.

Jisung had been visiting the little shop for months, now. You'd found him a little scary at first, but had quickly warmed up to him. He was always so kind and awkward around you...and you'd almost let yourself believe that he liked you. Maybe you'd mistaken his friendliness for flirtiness, all along.

"Wait..." Jisung's eyes widened in horror as he took in the way your eyes had gotten a little misty. "Y/n, are you c-crying?!"

"What? No, psh." You mumbled, wiping at your cheek as you looked away.

"Fuck, you are. Why? Is it because...because..."

He swallowed. Was he reading the situation right? Was it the newfound knowledge that he had a non-existent girlfriend that had made you cry? He didn't want to assume anything...

"Hey..." Jisung stepped behind the counter, tilting your chin up to face him. His heart spasmed as he took in your wet cheeks...and he knew he couldn't hold it back anymore.

"This...this is actually for you." He said, thrusting the rose in front of you. You frowned, sniffing as you looked up at him in confusion.

"You...y-you said this was for your girlfriend-"

"Exactly." Jisung said hesitantly. His mind couldn't believe that he was finally doing it. His heart had taken complete control of his body and his actions. He tried to maintain the confidence as you stared at him, your face slowly twisting into one of realization.

"I m-mean, that is, if you want to be. I just r-really like you, but I don't really wanna force you into anything that you don't w-"

He was interrupted as you threw your arms around his neck, tiptoeing as you pressed your lips to his. Eyes widening, Jisung's hands hovered in the air as he tried to get over the initial shock. Slowly, the shock gave way to a buzzing sensation in his stomach as he melted into the kiss, setting the rose down and deepening the kiss slightly, hands resting on your waist.

He pulled away, gazing down at you and letting out a small giggle. You blushed and avoided eye contact, looking at your feet. The sudden confidence that had gripped you a few seconds ago had completely disappeared. He took your chin, trying to make you face him again.

"So, does that mean you want to be my girlfriend?" He said, cupping your cheek and gazing at you, the affection in his eyes overflowing.

"Y-yeah..." you said shyly. His eyes twinkled as he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours again.

This time, the kiss was less chaste...more hungry. The atmosphere in the room changed palpably, as his tongue hesitantly slipped past your parted lips. The once sweet kiss was now turning into something more intimate, and Jisung's hands on your waist slowly drifted downwards. You tangled your fingers in his hair and kissed him back passionately, tugging gently on his locks and prompting a groan from him.

He pulled away, biting his lip as he looked down at you. "Baby...do you want this?"

You nodded desperately. "Yes! P-please..."

"Okay...will you be a good little girl for me, hm?"

You nodded again, and he clicked his tongue.

"Words, sweetheart."

"I'll...I'll be a good girl for you."

He smiled proudly, molding his lips with yours once again and lifting you up. You immediately wrapped your legs around his waist as he set you on the counter.

"Fuck." He bit at your lips, groaning. "Your lips are so soft..." You whimpered in response, sighing as he pressed himself against you, rubbing your clothed crotches together.

"Ah baby...why did I wait so long to do this?"

"I-I don't know...Jisung...please, I need you..."

He hummed. "Patience, princess..." He slid his hands up your sun dress, groping at your soft skin.

"You're like my perfect little doll, aren't you? In your pretty little dresses...you're so adorable."

You blushed, the way he was talking about you affecting you deeply.

"I think you'd look even prettier naked, though."

He kissed all over your face, slowly sliding your dress up. "Tiny and cute. Just how I like it."

"Mm....'m not tiny." You humphed. He pulled away, chuckling as he pet your head.

"You're half my size, sweetie." He pulled your dress up further. "Lift your arms, baby." You obeyed, letting him pull the dress over your head and discard it.

He ran his eyes over your body, biting his lip.

"You're perfect. So perfect..." Slowly, he pulled down the cups of your bra, licking his lips as your boobs were exposed to him.

"Cute tits." He mumbled, leaning forward to take a nipple into his mouth. You arched your back, keening as he swirled his tongue around the sensitive bud.

With his other hand, Jisung quickly pulled down his zipper, freeing his straining cock. Your eyes drifted to it, and you gulped at its size.

Jisung chuckled at your expression, fingers coming down to pull your panties off. He kissed your thighs as he went down, looking up at you with twinkling eyes. "Don't worry doll, it'll fit."

You whimpered as his face came level with your pussy, tongue darting out to lick your clit. You choked back a moan, clutching his hair as he suddenly buried his face in your pussy. Taking a deep sniff, he proceeded to eat you out ferociously, his hands stroking your thighs in a soothing motion, the action diametrically opposed to the sinful ministrations of his tongue.

You threw your head back and moaned, the feeling of his tongue exploring you so thoroughly making you see stars.

"You're so delicious- such a juicy pussy, I love it~" he mumbled against your folds, pulling away and getting to his feet. He pressed his lips to yours slowly, letting you taste your own essence.

When you felt his tip rub against your entrance, you mewled desperately into Jisung's ear. The innocent yet needy sound was the last straw for him. As Jisung drove his length into your pussy, his face scrunched as he tried to adjust to just how tight you were.

"Fuck...what a delicate pussy-" he grunted, going deeper."Stretching out so perfectly to make way for my cock."

You whimpered and buried your face in his neck as he gave you an experimental thrust. Carressing your back, he kissed the top of your head as he set a slow pace, going deeper with each stroke. "Shh, darling...it's okay."

He pulled you away from him to face him, heart clenching as he observed your wrecked face. "Daddy...your cock is too...too big." You sniffed. His eyes widened. "W-what did you just call me?"

You keened in response, clenching around him tightly. "Daddyyy~"

He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, halting his thrusts as he gazed at you in concern.

"Why'd you stop?" You whined, mouth slightly open. "Please...want Daddy to fuck me open."

He exhaled, thankful that you were okay. "Your wish is my command, princess." He began thrusting faster as you clenched around his length repeatedly, making him cry out.

He pulled out suddenly, making you whine in despair. "Shh, baby don't worry..." He moved you over on the counter slightly and climbed onto it himself, crawling over you. Leading his cock back to your pussy, he leaned down to kiss you again.

You felt your heart beat pounding out of your chest as Jisung pulled away, lifting your leg over his shoulder. The new angle let him go deeper, and soon you felt the head of his cock hit your sweet spot.

He kept going, his hands going from your hips to your cheeks, squishing them as he leaned down to plant another kiss on your lips...and then another, and then another.

"I can't get enough of you. I don't think I ever will- oh, fuck-"

You moaned as his thrusts became sporadic, chasing his own high. You felt the flames of arousal lick at you, threatening to turn into a blaze of pleasure. His cock kept rubbing up against your sweet spot, and soon you were clenching tightly, on the precipice of your high.

"Daddy...please, let me cum..."

"Cum, baby-" he choked out, grunting as he felt himself hit his high at the same time you did. He filled you up with his cum, groaning as your walls were painted white. Panting, he continued fucking you through your orgasms, slowing down and collapsing on top of you once the over-sensitivity started setting in.

There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes. It felt almost magical, the way he was holding you so tenderly...the two of you surrounded with beautiful petals and blooms.

"I could stay here forever..."

"I could, too, but we don't want your father finding us like this in the morning, do we?"

"Heh. No..." You paused suddenly, frowning as you remembered something. Slowly, your eyes travelled to the security camera on the ceiling, pointed right at the two of you.

"Ah, fuck."

[yourmidnightlover]

ssa hotchner: chapter 1 - the blazer

TW: harrassment, talk about a case

WC : 5,920 

series masterlist

-----------------------------------

"aaron! hey," you answered the phone after hitting enter on the final file you had to upload to the computer.

"y/n! how are you?" your brother questioned kindly.

"um, i've been better," you started, trying to figure out how to tell him the bad news.

"what happened?" aaron asked as he finished filling out the final file he had before noon. "is it about that promotion?" he rolled his eyes, recalling the events of last time you were up for a promotion.

"yea... it is," you sorrowfully revealed. "i uh... i didn't get it. again," you sighed out as you closed your laptop and put it in your bag. "can you... what are you doing for lunch?"

"well the team and i were gonna go out to a local thai place right around the corner from the bau, you could join if you'd like," he replied, wanting to be there for his sister any chance he could. "you know how much they love you."

"i just don't really think my mood is relative to that of a person who's going out with a crowd of people, y'know?" you placed the device in your bag and closed it, pulling it over your shoulder after grabbing your keys from the bag. "besides, i haven't met all of your team yet. dr. reid wasn't there the last time i saw you at my birthday because he was visiting his mother, remember?" you brought up, hoping he wouldn't feel too bad for you.

"y/n, just come to lunch with us. the last case went well, and everyone's pretty excited about that. maybe that'll help put you in a better mood?" aaron suggested as he gathered his things to go out for lunch. "and reid will actually be there this time so you'll be able to meet him," arron smiled at the thought of you meeting the young genius.

"are you sure? i really don't want to impose on your post-case celebrations, aaron," you rebutted as you walked out of the doors of the office you've been working at for nearly 8 years.

"i'm positive. everyone would love to see you again," emily walked into the office, noticing the smile he was wearing that he only has when he's talking to you.

"is that y/n?" emily questioned with a bright smile as hotch nodded. "tell her i said hi! and that i really miss her! oh wait are you talking her into coming to lunch with us?" her eyes widened at the possibility of seeing you again.

"yea, i'm trying to get her to realize that she won't be imposing on us if she comes," the dark haired man sighed.

"here, give me the phone. you know she can't resist my charm," emily teased, you laughed from hearing the remark over the phone as hotch handed it to her. "y/n hotchner. you are going to go to lunch with us whether you like it or not," emily demanded with a smirk.

"oh, yes. there's that charm i know and love, em," you giggled as you put your keys in the ignition, realization setting in that you should probably just go to lunch with them since you have no other plans and are already in your car. "fine. i'll go. should i meet you there or at the office?"

"just meet us there. we're like five minutes away and with morgan's driving it'll be cut in half," emily scolded.

"okay. i'm on my way now. should be maybe 10 minutes," you announced. "i'll see you guys there," you said before hanging up the phone and beginning to drive.

you had been working at a law firm near the bau for nearly 8 years. in fact, next week would make it officially 8 years. the office was run by a few men, under the US district attorney, who you've come to find out are misogynistic pricks who don't like putting women in positions of authority.

you got hired on about 5 months out of law school, columbia law school to be exact. you have an associates in business and a masters criminology, law, psychology. your original dream was to work at the bau with your big brother, clearly, but those dreams changed since you graduated from columbia.

you pulled into the parking lot of 'thailand eatery,' a bau team favorite, and noticed aaron's car parked in the far corner. you smiled to yourself as you found a spot beside him and got out to make your way inside.

"hi, i'm here with aaron hotchner for lunch," you sweetly announced to the hostess before she nodded.

"right this way, ma'am," you followed her to the table full of fbi agents, noticing their laughter that erupted for some unknown reason.

one seat was open next to aaron and emily. you placed your blazer on your seat and a hand on both of their shoulders to announce your arrival. they looked at you in surprise before realizing who you were, big smiles crossing their faces.

"y/n!" arron excitedly announced before standing to give you a nice bear hug. "it's so good to see you," he whispered in your ear kindly.

"i know. it's been a while since we've been able to do this," you grinned widely as you wrapped your arms around his torso.

"okay, okay..." emily interrupted. "this is sweet and all, but i haven't been able to see you since your birthday last year," she announced before you traded your brother's arms for hers.

"it's good to see you, em" you laughed as she squeezed you tightly.

"where the hell have you been! i've missed you," she pouted as you both unwrapped your arms from each other.

"y'know, working for the usual pricks i do... and that's pretty much it," you shrugged as you made your way around the table to hug penelope.

"what have they been doing to you this time, my little sugar plum?" penelope asked sweetly as you gave her another hug.

"the usual, pen. just the usual," you sighed into her ear as you began to hug derek. "but let's not get into that know, yea? i heard you guys had a successful case the other day! that's exciting!" you announced as derek wrapped his arms around you, picking you up and swinging you around a bit.

if you're honest, derek is like a second big brother to you. he was there for you when your brother got stabbed in his own home and was in a coma. he comforted you in your home when you were sobbing on the floor because it wasn't safe for you to visit your own flesh and blood.

"hell yea it was," derek smiled into your ear before placing you down and giving you a chaste peck on the cheek. "but if i need to kick some ass at that work place of yours i won't even hesitate," he whispered into your ear as he rose from your cheek.

"now, now, derek," you tapped his chest playfully. "i don't need you kicking my bosses down like you would a door, as exhilarating as that sounds," you chuckled aimlessly.

"bella, care to indulge me in what they're doing at that office of yours?" rossi said as you made your way to hug him.

"it's not that big of a deal, dave. i'm sure i'm just overreacting again," you sighed as you released him from his hug.

"not a big deal?" aaron butted in. "y/n, you deserved that promotion and they looked you over, yet again," he sassed. "i don't think that's overreacting," he rolled his eyes.

"i know i deserved it, but..." you sighed, weighing all the possibilities. "actually there's no buts. i've worked there for 8 years and have gotten two promotions. i guess i'm just really disappointed," you reasoned, trying not to start crying from the anger bubbling up inside of you.

"two promotions in eight years?" rossi questioned, noticing the annoyed look on your face at the thought. "do those assclowns not realize what an amazing worker you are?" david asked in disbelief.

"i don't know... i guess?" you questioned. "i just don't want to think about that right now," you said as you hugged jj in return.

"are you kidding? we've been to a few of your cases," the blond added. "you're amazing, y/n." jj complimented. "rossi's right. they must be absolutely blind if they don't see what a great worker you are."

"thank you, jayge," you smiled at her before realizing there was one more person at the table.

you'd seen him in pictures, and had heard enough about him to remember a few key points. he's a genius with three phd's, three ba's, he has a thing with germs, he's a bit awkward, and absolutely handsome. the pictures you've seen didn't do him justice.

"i'm assuming you're the famous dr. spencer reid?" you asked, not bothering to reach for a hug or handshake.

"i uhm, yes i am. dr. sp-spencer reid. or you can call me spen-spencer," he cleared his throught. "or reid, or basically whatever you'd uh- whatever you'd prefer," he stuttered out, sitting awkwardly in his chair and barely maintaining eye contact.

"how about we just go with spencer?" you asked as you made your way to your seat beside your brother. "my name's-"

"y/n hotchner, yes," he smiled at you as your brother pushed your chair in for you, you muttering a small 'thank you' in return. "i've uhm... i've heard a lot about you," he stammered.

"oh dear, let me go ahead and apologize in that case," you joked, eliciting laughter from your friends at the table.

"actually, there's uhm - there's no need to apologize. everything i heard was," he sniffled, "really good. it was all good," his lips formed into a line as he nodded at his own words.

"well then i guess i have to mention how great everyone's made you out to be. i mean, a three phds and three ba's at only, what? 34? that's beyond incredible, spencer," you complimented the gorgeous man sitting beside your brother.

"oh uhm, th-thank you, y/n," he blushed. cute.

"it's no problem at all. i mean it's not everyday that you meet a genius that's as young and handsome as you are," you laughed, taking a sip of the water that your brother had ordered for you before you arrived, not even realizing the compliment you had payed to his looks. shit. now you realized. you cleared your thought before acting like you didn't even say anything.

"oh! uhm, th-thank you, again. you're uhm - you're very - you too. not that you're handsome, but that you're very..." he trailed off, biting his lower lip to refrain from humiliating himself even more.

"well then, pretty boy, you sure do have a way with words," morgan teased, eliciting a jab in the stomach from penelope.

"derek morgan, if you do not shut up," penelope scowled.

meanwhile, you turned your head to notice your brother staring oddly at 'pretty boy' who was looking sheepishly at you. you nudged your brother's arm playfully, capturing his attention.

"stare any harder at him and he might explode, aaron," you whispered in his ear, being sure not to look at spencer.

"maybe that needs to happen with the way he's looking at you, y/n," he rebutted.

it's true. if anyone else had been looking at you that way, arron probably would've mentioned that he's in the fbi and that he has more than two guns to scare them away. since it was spencer, everything was different.

"shush, it's just a little crush. what's the worst that could happen?" you rolled your eyes at his protectiveness. "he'll be over it by the end of lunch," you announced, not noticing the way aaron rolled his eyes at your assumption.

aaron had seen spencer around girls enough to know that when he got flustered around them it usually meant something more than just a little crush in spencer's mind. that also means that arron knows that spencer would never try to do anything with you because you're his sister.

"fine," he relished, not wanting to bother with the genius's sure infatuation with you when this is the first time he's gotten to see his own sister in a while. "so you wanted to talk to me about something?" he changed the subject.

"right," you twiddled with your thumbs and looked down into your lap. "ikindaputinmytwoweeksnoticeatthefirmoceifoundoutaboutthepromotion," you rambled out, casually taking a sip of your drink as if you didn't just say you quit your job of 8 years.

"you did what?" he asked in confusion, not understanding what you said.

"i put in my two weeks notice once i found out about the promotion," you slowed down so he could understand, his eyes going wide upon the understanding.

"that's... what you wanted to do, right?" he questioned, not wanting to give you the wrong reaction.

"yea, i think so," you started. "i was just so tired of getting looked over just because of my gender, y'know? i've had to prove myself in everything i've ever done. i think i've more than proved myself at the firm," you announced, still trying to find your own confidence.

:you have, y/n. you've more than proved yourself to be an amazing lawyer," he agreed. "sometimes i'm convinced you might work harder than we do," he scoffed.

"there's no way, a," you laughed at the ridiculous statement. "i've just put my all into the firm. all my time, attention, and hard work has gone into that place. the reason that place is where it is right now is because of me," you pouted.

"i remember. i brought the whole team to the case that put the firm on the map. even reid was there," he stated.

"spencer was at that case?" you asked, not remembering him saying hi afterwords.

"yea, he was. he just got pulled away because of troubles with his mom," you 'ohh'ed at the revelation. "but that case was the hardest one i've ever seen a lawyer handle, y/n."

"thank you," you smiled at the compliment.

"no, i mean it," he relished. "i don't even think i would've won that case. that's what brought everyone to the firm. it was a high profile case, one that the bau was on. of course there was going to be a big turnout. you handled the press, and the pressure amazingly."

it was a case the bau had worked on for nearly a week and a half, and they needed you to further convince the jury that who they caught was the right unsub because of the amount of circumstantial evidence. you were able to get the unsub flustered, and admit to his own crime on the stand with the press in the room.

it was possibly the best case you'd ever gotten because the amount of publicity you'd gotten. but with publicity there came quite a few complications that you hadn't told anyone about.

"that's just the big brother in you talking," you giggled, trying to brush the compliment off naturally.

"whatever you say, y/n. whatever you say," he brought his drink up to his mouth to take a sip.

"so, how was the last case you were on?" you asked, quite intrigued by all the cases he would tell you when he had the chance.

"well, how about we start from the beginning since you like hearing about them so much?" he asked with a grin, you nodded eagerly.

"so it started with the unsub taking abducting his victims..."

throughout the case, you found yourself starting to profiling the suspects yourself, something your brother noticed too. i mean, how could you not do that? you had a degree in psychology and criminology so it made since that profiling them would be natural for you.

everyone at the table interrupted at their parts in the story. when david and jj went to the m.e., when aaron, emily, and derek went to the crime scene, spencer and the geo profile. you were fascinated by their work and everything they were able to do.

when you were younger and your brother had first started at the bau, he really enjoyed calling you to tell you about them. he loved your reactions and how enthusiastic you would become when he was talking. that's really when you first started dreaming about being in the bau, with aaron.

"ugh, y'know i used to dream of going on cases with you guys," you admitted after they finished wrapping up the case in words, taking a sip of your drink to wash your food down.

"really?" spencer asked, not stammering while talking to you for the first time all afternoon.

"yea. aaron would always tell me about the cases when you got back, and i could practically just imagine myself working them with him and you guys," you relished, a smile on your face as you recalled the memories of your younger self.

"i think you'd do excellent on the team," spencer suggested. "it's clear that you already work well with everyone, plus you're more than qualified to work with us, other than the fact that you'd need to go through the fbi training."

"actually i've already been through it," you nonchalantly admitted with a shrug.

"you have?" he questioned as his eyebrows raised in shock. "why haven't you decided to work at the fbi then?" you shrugged at his question.

"i guess i just thought i wouldn't fit in enough?" you said, clearly realizing the contradiction to your earlier statement about imagining yourself on the team. "besides, i got a job at the firm as soon as i got out of the academy, so it all worked out fine."

"actually, reid, that's a good idea," aaron said as he turned his attention to you. "would you be interested in working at the bau with us?" he asked with a small grin, the thought of working with his sister already bringing a smile to his face.

"wh-don't-wouldn't you have to ask your boss about that? that's a big change, adding a new member to a team. you guys already work so well together..." you trailed off, trying to come up with an excuse.

"strauss?" derek asked in feigned disbelief. "she loves you, kid. which is kind of odd since it seems as though she doesn't like hotch as much," derek chuckled.

"oh my god! imagine it, y/n!" penny yelled in excitement. "you could see us everyday, and you wouldn't have to deal with those buttmunches you work for!" she announced.

"used to work for, two weeks from now," you laughed. "and it sounds amazing, but aaron already works there. i'm sure that's enough hotchner's for you guys," you shrugged with a smile.

"that's nonsense!" emily disagreed. "two of my favorite people working with me?! an absolute dream, i tell you," she grinned.

"i guess if you talk to erin about it and she's alright with it..." you trailed off with a huff. "how could i say no?" you smiled.

"oh my gosh this is so exciting!" penny announced, jumping up and rushing arounf the table to hug you. "i'm so ready to work with you!"

"let's not get too beyond ourselves, pen," you giggled. "she hasn't approved my addition yet."

"come on, she's gonna approve it, y/n," dave commented.

"whatever you guys say," you laughed.

you all finished eating, and received the check for lunch of which david insisted on paying. you went up to him afterwards and insisted on paying your part of the bill, but he said it was 'his treat for this wondrous occasion.'

you reluctantly made your way back to your office, the lingering stares from your bosses not going unnoticed. you couldn't wait for those two weeks to be over and for you to be able to leave that hell hole behind, whether you got the job at the bau or not.

you sat down in your chair and reached for your blazer only to realize you must've left it back at the restaurant. great. there goes that 50 bucks.

"hey, sweetcheeks," ron, one of your bosses, commented upon his entrance to your office.

"how many times do i have to tell you not to call me that?" you rolled your eyes, finishing up on the transcript you would need for the case you had tomorrow.

"oh, come on. you know you love it," he said, walking further into your office and sitting on the corner of your desk, ignoring the two chairs that remained across from you. you closed your computer and looked into his eyes, shooting daggers at him with your own.

"what do you want?" you spat at him, wanting to get him out of your hair as soon as possible.

"well, you won't be an employee in two weeks," he announced as if you hadn't already known.

"i'm well aware," you sassed back, trying not to slap him across the face at the fact that he was no longer looking at your eyes, rather further south from them. you snapped your fingers to bring his attention back to your face. "what. do. you. want?"

"well, honey pie, i was just wanting to take you out. y'know, after you're done here," he bit his lip, trying to be seductive but massively failing.

the terrible thing about this fool is, he doesn't know what the word 'no' means. he's always made passes at you, and commented on your appearance. it, of course, made you uncomfortable, but you couldn't really do anything about it. the hopes of getting a promotion was greater than your uncomfortability.

"i've seen the way you look at me, it's no secret," he said, getting off your desk and walking closer to you.

"you mean it's no secret that i find you absolutely repulsive?" you snapped. "shocker," you widened your eyes to feign surprise with your remark.

"are you serious?" he said, his 'seductive' smile now turning into a frown.

"are you serious?" you asked in disgust.

you placed your laptop in your bag, taking your keys out of the bag in the process and beginning to walk out of your office to avoid the man standing there. he grabbed your arm, forcing you to face him.

"don't walk away from me," he gritted, his face red with anger. his grip on your arm tightened, surely leaving a bruise in its wake.

"then don't fucking touch me," you said, attempting to yank your arm away from him, only failing to do so. "let go," you demanded.

"sorry, sweetcheeks, i didn't get that," he smirked. that fucker smirked at your struggle.

knock. knock. knock.

you turned to see whoever was at your door. it was none other than dr. spencer reid. holding your blazer in his hand. you furrowed your brows in confusion before ron decided to drop your arm.

"what the hell is going on?" spencer asked, his eyes not leaving ron's defensive stature as he placed the jacket on one of the chairs by your desk.

"nothing, right doll?" ron looked at you, a disgusting grin on his face.

"yea, right," you rolled your eyes.

spencer's eyes trailed back to you and your arm ron was once holding, right where the red mark is. you swore that if looks could kill, ron would've died the second spencer knocked on your door.

"then what's that on her arm?" he questioned, moving closer to you and pushing you behind him defensively. "you hurt her," he accused. you stepped to his side, noting the way he tried to take charge for you.

"spencer," you placed a hand on his arm, forgetting his thing about germs for a second in attempt to calm him down. "i can handle this," he turned to face you. "i've dealt with this asshole for nearly 8 years, isn't that right, ron?" you questioned with a sneaky grin.

"who the hell is this guy, sweetcheeks?" he questioned as if you had an obligation to tell him who he was.

"you don't get to know that. and you don't get to call me that, either," you reminded him, having to bite your lip to try not to explode on the guy.

"are you fucking this guy?" he accused you. you pushed spencer out of the way, and squinted your eyes at him in disbelief.

"you're seriously asking me that?" you asked. "if i was, it's still none of your fucking business, asshole!" you said getting closer to his face in order to make a point.

slap!

the asshole slapped you.

spencer quickly grabbed you and moved you out of the way before pushing the guy into the wall, knocking your fake plant over as well as a few books on the shelf on the wall. ron's face was smashed into the wall, one of his arms twisted behind his back as both were in spencer's grasp.

"don't you dare touch her. ever again," he demanded, twisting his arm even further, ron squirming to get out of his grip. "did you hear me?"

your hand cupped the side of your face, the sting from ron's wedding band hurting more than you would've thought.

"ahh! yes! yes, i heard you!" he squealed.  

"good. now you can apologize to her like a gentleman," he ordered, pushing his arm further up into his back to elicit another groan from the man, you had a hard time keeping a straight face from the scene in front of you.

"shit! ouch! okay! i'm sorry! i'm sorry!" he apologized in a high pitched tone, still trying to get out of spencer's grasp.

"good job," he released him from his grip, a sigh coming from ron at the freedom his arm received. "now go before i change my mind and cuff you right here," he ordered.

"cuff me?" he asked in disbelief. spencer pulled his fbi badge out, flashing it in ron's face, noticing the way his eyebrows shot up. "oh shit."

you moved your hand away from your face, looking at your hand and noticing the patch of blood that remained there. you wiped your cheek, trying to stop the blood flow.

"what did i just say?" spencer asked. "leave. now."

"right," ron said, walking back over towards the door, whispering to you on the way out. "don't bother coming to work tomorrow. or ever again."

"oh that'll be no problem, boss," you scoffed as he made his way out of the door, leaving you and spencer alone in your office.

"i'm uh, sorry about your plant," he pointed at the fake succulent that lay on the floor.

"it was fake anyway," you shrugged as you kneeled down to pick it up as spencer began picking the books up. "thank you, by the way," you smiled at the man.

"it's nothing, really," it was his turn to shrug. "hotch wouldn't have let me on the next case if i didn't intervene in whatever was going on."

oh. so that's why he helped you. of course it was. you were his superior's little sister, nothing else.

"so, what brings you here?" you asked as he offered you his hand to help you stand up, you gladly took it and rose to your feet. "oh sorry, you have a germ... my bad" you grimaced at the thought of making him uncomfortable.

"oh, don't worry about it. and i was actually here to bring you your blazer," he said, retrieving the jacket from the chair and giving it back to you. "i uhm, you forgot it at the restaurant."

"right, i noticed that once i got here. thank you," you thanked him, placing the jacket over your arm and picking up your bag. "you've already saved me twice today and we've only just met," you laughed.

"it seems that way," he smiled, walking with you out of the office. he gently grabbed your shoulder and turned you to face him once you were outside. "your face is bleeding, y/n."

"oh," you reached your hand up to notice the way the blood was still lightly flowing. "oops," you laughed.

"you should clean it up, you don't need to get that infected," he suggested, his hand tracing the outskirts of ron's handprint on your face.

"thanks for the recommendation, doc," you laughed. "i think i have some stuff back at my place that i could use."

"i'm so sorry that happened," he frowned slightly, his hand dropping to his side.

"ehh," you shrugged. "i'm sure you've seen worse. besides, i can handle myself," you said as he began walking with you in the direction of your car.

"let me see your arm?" he asked softly.

you brought it up closer to his eyesight. he gently grasped your arm, nothing like the way he had done to ron earlier in your office. his touch left goosebumps on your skin, the soft way his fingers traced your arm.

"it's already bruising, so i think it's only a subcutaneous bruise, luckily," he diagnosed.

"i'll bet you could pass as a medical doctor if you tried," you noted, nudging his arm gently with yours.

"many people make that mistake already! it's a frequent misconception by a lot of people i meet," he smiled.

"if i hadn't already known what kind of doctor you were, i'm sure i might've fallen into that misconception," you added with a grin as you approached your car. "so, this is me," you smiled and nodded at the tall man.

"oh! right! uhm..." he trailed off. "it was nice to meet you, y/n," he smiled kindly.

his smile's nice. warm. very home-like.

"it was nice to meet you too," you smiled. "thank you, again. for saving me back there."

"of course. anytime. i'm just glad i got there before anything got too bad..." he furrowed his brows at the not so distant memory.

"yea, you and me both, handsome," you joked, noticing the way his cheeks blushed at the compliment. "so where are you parked? the least i could do is give you a ride to your car," you suggested.

"oh, i was actually on my way to the metro. driving isn't really my thing..." he grimaced.

"then how about i drive you home?" you asked, wanting to figure out how to thank the perfect man that stood before you.

"i-i don't want you to be going out of your way..." he shook his head.

"look, spencer, i won't force you to do anything, but i want to do this," you placed a hand on his forearm. "at least as a thank you."

"um..." he looked at his watch, noticing the time. "okay, i guess that'd be nice. besides, i've missed the last ride to where i need to go," he shrugged with a small grin.

"great! just tell me where to, doc," you said as you both got into your car.

"capital plaza apartments," he announced with a grin.

"sounds great," you said as you turned the key in the ignition, backing out of your parking spot and starting the way towards his apartment. "so, you've worked at the bau for 12 years? right?"

"yea. i started when i was 22," he announced.

"right, i remember aaron telling me how you were the youngest member of the team when you got there," you encouraged him to continue.

"right again. they actually had to make an exception to let me into the field," he laughed softly. "they had to waiver basically every physical exam on account of my mental capabilities."

"i mean, whatever works. it's so intriguing that at such a young age you know so much, and your knowledge is only expanding," you shook your head in disbelief.

"well you've accomplished quite a lot and you're only 30. working at a firm for 8 years and being as successful as you are is remarkable," he remarked.

"thank you, spencer," you looked over at the man and smiled before stopping at the red light.

"do you have any tissues?" he asked, you furrowed your brows in question. "your cheek is still bleeding," he informed you.

"oh! there right there in the glovebox," you pointed across his lap as he grabbed the tissue from the compartment and reached across the console himself.

you leaned in across the console yourself, trying to make it easier for him to wipe it off. he cautiously used it to dab the little blood remaining on your cheek off, his hand lingering for a while.

you looked up to meet his eyes, the red from the stoplight illuminating his facial structure in a way that was otherworldly. you were entranced by each others' gaze, not even noticing the light turned green until the car behind you honked their horn, alerting you to step on the gas.

"oh! sorry," you apologized, biting the inside of your lip as you continued to drive him back to his apartment.

"don't be," he swallowed the lump in his throat.

sooner than later, you pulled into his apartment complex to drop him off.

"thank you so much, again, spencer," you placed a hand on his upper arm to emphasize your thanks.

"you don't need to thank me, y/n. i was happy to help," he placed one of his much larger hands on top of yours, squeezing it gently before he made his way out of your car. "goodbye."

"goodbye, spencer," you returned as you watched him walk up to his apartment building, practically gawking at the man that saved you.

you drove back to your house quickly, entering the code for the gate. you noticed yet another piece of paper taped to the front of the gate. you ripped it off the metal, and placed it inside your bag.

upon entering you placed your bag on the hook that remained on your wall after retrieving the sheet of paper from it. you kicked your shoes off beside the door neatly, walking into your kitchen to pour yourself a small glass of wine before tending to your wound.

you walked into your bathroom and gazed at the handprint on your face, noticing the small gash that remained on your cheekbone. after washing your face, you used an antibiotic on the cut, placing a small bandage overtop.

walking into your bedroom, you admired the view from the large window as you changed into your pajamas. you were too tired to eat anything, but you knew you needed to get something into your system.

you walked back into your kitchen and found a granola bar you could eat quickly. you grabbed the sheet of paper and walked back into your living room as you continued to eat.

underneath your sofas, there are storage bins that you keep extra things inside. what also happens to be inside of that bin is a small, old shoebox. inside of that shoebox you placed the note, along with all the others you've received, not bothering to read it this time.

you made your way back into the bathroom, brushed your teeth, and returned to your bedroom.

it was a long day, very eventful. you could only hope the letters would stop if you got the job at the bau. but for now... sleep.

[purple-cat-demon]

Forever Starts Under the Ginkgo Tree P.4

Genre: domestic fluff

Pairing: Gavin x Hazel

Word Count: 1,803

Warnings: ever so slightly suggestive (mild horniness that's immediately squashed 🤣)

Thank you all for being patient with me! Finally, here's part 4! Please enjoy~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Thursday 6:45am~~

If there was anything that Hazel disliked more than going to bed alone, it was waking up alone. No warmth next to her; no soft snores gracing her ears; no mischievous hand unconsciously sneaking up her shirt. The fact that he was still sent on a mission so close to their weekend trip aggravated her as she got ready for the day. Sulkily making herself a small breakfast, she ate in silence; then headed to work.

Though it was tough, Hazel managed to maintain a more pleasant mood at her office than she did yesterday. As she typed up the new report for LFG, Hazel glanced at her phone for any notifications from Gavin. All she got was silence, which made her worry a little bit more.

‘I hope he’s okay,’ she fretted internally. As she waited for the approval from Victor, Hazel wandered to the nearby convenience store to get herself a drink and snack. Mundane thoughts traveled through her mind as she gulped down her milk tea. 

‘Hm, laundry, packing maybe? What to do for dinner tonight,’ her mind chattered on, and before she knew it, she was back in her office. 

The rest of the work day went by without a hitch. A chime from Hazel’s computer made her jump slightly, breaking her stupor. She opened the new email and much to her relief, it was Victor’s approval of the report. She then packed up her stuff and bid her colleagues good night. 

As soon as Hazel got home, she started a load of laundry; she wanted to get as much done as she could before their trip. 

‘I hope this trip is still on,’ she thought as she looked through her phone for anything from her boyfriend. Silence was the response for her futile efforts. 

The dryer went off in the hallway closet and Hazel hopped off the bed to retrieve the contents. She came back to the bedroom carrying a medium sized bundle of their underwear to fold. Once she had finished folding Gavin’s boxers, she opened his nightstand drawer to put them in. Upon opening the drawer, however, she spied a small box half covered by a pair of boxers already in there. As curiosity goes, Hazel picked up the box in pure puzzlement. 

“What the heck is this,” she wondered out loud, hesitating a bit to open it. She set it down on the top of the nightstand itself while she put the clean boxers in the drawer. 

“Hmmm…, do… I open it?”

She contemplated as she folded her underwear and put them in the drawer of her nightstand. She waited until all the laundry was either hung or folded and put away to make her decision; ultimately, curiosity won. Carefully picking up the box, Hazel slowly opened the lid to reveal a beautifully crafted ring. It looked a little bit like the bracelet Gavin had given her; a delicate gold band with a Ginkgo leaf and sitting on the Ginkgo leaf was a solitary diamond.

She closed the lid quickly with an audible gasp; then carefully placed it back in the drawer in a similar fashion that she found it, in hopes that Gavin wouldn't notice. 

“I definitely shouldn’t have seen that,” she guiltily said aloud, “I… better not say anything…”

The fact that Gavin had a ring like that hidden could only mean one thing…

“Oh my God, he’s gonna propose this weekend, p-probably…?”

Now she really felt guilty upon ruining his surprise. Internally flustered, Hazel got up to make herself some tea to calm down. After setting the tea down on the coffee table in the living room, she plopped on the couch, still in a daze. She then checked her phone once more before turning on the TV; again, there weren’t any notifications. She watched a few trailers for new shows that had just come out but ultimately decided to continue a series she had started a month ago; though pretty soon after she started watching, her eyelids were heavy with sleep.

It was 11:45pm when Gavin opened the door to their apartment. Thoroughly exhausted and sporting two new injuries, he quietly closed the door behind him, only to be startled by his sleeping girlfriend on the couch. He carefully walked over and checked the teacup that was still half full.

‘Stone cold, she’s been here awhile…’ he mentally noted. He smiled at the faint snores emanating from her sleeping form. As he bent down to pick her up from the couch, the wound on his right side stung, causing him to lightly hiss. Gritting his teeth slightly, he managed to pick up his sleeping girlfriend and made his way to their bedroom. After carefully setting her down, he lifted her a little in order to get her under the sheets; as soon as he got her settled, he then changed out of his uniform and into pajama pants. The bruise on his left shoulder caused some discomfort as Gavin snuggled closer to Hazel; he winced at the pain but still proceeded to put his arm under her to hold her close. He fell asleep rather quickly after getting settled in.

~~Friday 5:15am~~

Hazel woke up before her alarm to the steady breathing against the back of her neck. She carefully turned to find Gavin out cold next to her. What she didn’t see was the bandage on his right side, hiding underneath the covers; as she went to wrap her arm around his torso, a small, sudden jolt came from her boyfriend along with a muffled groan from the pain. He opened his eyes to the concerned gaze of his girlfriend as she inspected the new wound. Groggily sitting up, he pulled Hazel to his chest; kissed her forehead, then kissed the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.

“I told you I would be home on Thursday.”

Hazel cocked an eyebrow at him, “yeah? What time did you come home?”

“11:45. I found you on the couch, fast asleep, so I brought you to bed.”

“Wait, you picked me up while being injured?”

“Er, yeah…?”

She lightly smacked his right shoulder.

“And what if you reopened your wound? How did you get hurt anyway?”

His hand came up to scratch behind his neck, his signature telling of embarrassment and guilt.

“A bullet grazed me.”

Silence permeated the room for a moment as Hazel processed what he said. 

“You got shot?!”

“Grazed, not shot.”

“You still got hurt…,” she leaned into his hand that caressed her face, “are you gonna be okay for this weekend?”

“Oh yeah, it won’t be a hindrance,” he said as he got up to use the bathroom. Hazel then saw the huge bruise blooming on his left shoulder.

“What happened to your shoulder?!”

Hazel got up and went to the bathroom door, waiting impatiently for it to open again. When it did, she shot in and started examining the bruise that adorned the officer’s body. The tips of Gavin’s ears reddened at her scrutiny of his wounds.

“It looks worse than it is, if that’s any consolation.”

“How did this happen?”

“I slammed into a wall to avoid that bullet from actually going through me,” he explained as he got out his toothpaste and facial cleanser. Hazel wrapped her arms around him tightly, carefully avoiding the wound on his side.

“I wish you wouldn’t get hurt so much,” she said, nuzzling into his back.

“It’s an occupational hazard, my love, whether it’s the STF or Loveland Police, I’m bound to get hurt sometime,” he shifted to face her, “but it’s not like I'm actively looking to get hurt.”

He cupped her face and leaned in to kiss her. Hazel’s arms came up to wrap around his neck, bringing him in to deepen the kiss. Gavin broke off the kiss to stop his girlfriend’s sneaky ministrations.

“Hey now, that’s not fair…,” Gavin pouted, “don’t start something you can’t finish,” he seized her wandering hands that were tugging on the waistband of his pants. 

“But that kiss…,” she trailed off. Gavin lightly chuckled as he kissed her forehead.

“Patience my love, we’ll have the whole weekend to ourselves.”

“Mmm, can’t wait,” she purred, leaving her boyfriend to finish getting ready.

“Wait,” she stopped mid turn, “are you really going to work today? Even with your injuries?”

“Mhm, just to Loveland Police to finish some reports before this weekend. No missions, no special cases, I promise,” he said as he washed off his face and patted it dry.

“Okay,” she winked at him and left to make some coffee for him. Since it was early enough before work, she contemplated on getting breakfast out with Gavin, not that he would need much convincing.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Hazel handed him a cup of coffee, silently marveling at how good he looked in his uniform. She left him in a small rush to get ready herself; when she came back out, Gavin was finishing washing his cup.

“Want to get breakfast together,” she asked, taking the cup from him to dry it and put it back in the cupboard. 

“Sure,” he answered, smiling tenderly at her, “where do you want to go?”

“Oh! There’s a new cafe that opened up close to the subway station. Want to check it out? At least from there, we can part ways to our jobs,” she explained as she got her shoes on and purse together.

“That sounds good. Ready, my love?”

“Yup,” she said as she hopped up from the couch. They made their way down to the parking garage, got on Sparky and sped off to the cafe.

Thankfully, the cafe Hazel spoke of wasn’t too crowded that morning. They got their pastries and drinks, then sat outside to enjoy the atmosphere. It was a nice, clear morning, but it felt like it would get much hotter later that day. 

‘Thank God we have air conditioning in the office,’ Hazel mused while sipping on her rose milk tea. She lit up at the taste of it.

“Is it good?”

Her attention turned from the deliciousness of the tea to her boyfriend next to her.

“Mhm! Wanna try it?”

She held it out to his lips; he took a sip, but immediately made a disgusted look; he swallowed hard.

“Mm, too flowery…”

Hazel giggled, then went back to enjoying the drink. After they finished, Gavin got back on Sparky, and gave Hazel a kiss before putting on his helmet.

“Have a great day but don’t stay there too long, okay?”

“Sure, see you when you get home tonight,” he said before speeding off down the road. Hazel checked the time on her phone, then hurried to the subway station to get the work day started.

[awanderingdeal]

Chapter two of ‘Three of a Kind’ - A Nalexy and O’Knutzy fic. 

Rating: Explicit 

This is the chapter where Logan and Kasey cause a bit of chaos at dinner - all in good fun, of course! There is a little sauciness in this chapter but it’s very mild in comparison to chapter 1, the link to which is here if you need to catch up.

Thank you to @bkfstclubmember for betaing this, you incredible human being.

And as always, @lumosinlove thank you so very much for creating these characters and this universe and for allowing us to run wild with them. 

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Despite the several hours of sleep that Alex had achieved the previous night, he still found himself exhausted as he took a seat at the large dining table.

Finn raised an eyebrow at the yawn that escaped Alex’s mouth. “Boring you already, big brother?” he smirked, uncorking a bottle of wine and placing it on the table. “Help yourselves. Or there’s beer in the fridge if you’d prefer.”

“You, bore me? Never.” Alex bantered, pouring for both Natalie and Kasey before filling his own glass. “These two just wear me out.”

Finn grimaced, almost choking on the sip of wine he had taken. “There are certain things that I do not need to know, thank you very much.” 

“I didn’t mean that!” Alex protested, flashing a glare at Natalie and Kasey as they failed to hide their laughter. “I just meant that we’ve been busy today! Basketball, shopping, helping Nat film her next video…”

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” Leo interrupted as he sauntered into the room. “Food will be ready in ten minutes,” he added whilst placing the stack of plates that he had been carrying into the centre of the table.  

Alex rolled his eyes, a habit that had been happening with increasing frequency since he’d started spending more time with Natalie, “Thanks for the back-up, Knut.” 

Leo grinned at Alex before turning to the other O’Hara, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Stay, catch up with your brother,” he said, pre-empting the offer of help from his boyfriend. 

Before Finn could argue, Kasey had pushed back his seat and stood up, “I can help carry stuff. I’m strong,” he said, sending Alex an entirely indiscreet wink and enjoying the blush that crept over his cheeks.

 “I don’t even want an explanation. Just come and be useful.” Leo raised an eyebrow, leading his fellow goalkeeper back towards the kitchen. 

The conversation fell into a comfortable rhythm; general life updates, small complaints about work, gentle teasing about relationships. Finn tried to avoid the last one because he was outnumbered but he found Leo and Logan’s names constantly falling from his lips. 

He told Natalie about the time that they were on a vacation in France and their parents were frantic because they had lost five year old Alex. They found him in a cupboard eating a baguette that was “as tall as he was.” 

“I don’t know why you have to constantly tell that story?” Alex questioned, his arm slipping from around Natalie’s shoulder as he became more animated. “You would have been...what, six months old? You don’t even remember it happening.”

Finn was about to reply when Leo’s voice from the kitchen grabbed his attention, “ Don’t you dare, Tremz.” 

Finn could just imagine the slow smirk growing across Logan’s face and he couldn’t resist the urge to witness the exchange that was about to happen. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said, expecting Natalie and Alex to stay at the table, but they were right behind him as he hurried to the other room. 

As they arrived, Logan dragged his finger out of his mouth, lips smacking together with a dramatic moan. “It’s so good.” he smirked, his eyes never leaving Leo’s. 

Finn quickly put  together the scene before him.  Leo’s exasperated expression. The dent in the macaroni cheese. Logan’s grin. 

Leo paid no attention to the crowd that had gathered in the doorway. He quietly placed the oven gloves down on the counter, rounded the island, leaned into Logan’s ear and whispered. Finn couldn’t make out the words, but the tap on Logan’s butt gave him a good idea of what had been said and his eyes widened at the thought. Logan, however, didn’t even blush. He just gave a nod before reaching for the dish of macaroni. 

Leo smacked at his hands. “Nope, you can take the salad.” 

He turned to Kasey, “And you, stop encouraging him.” he chastised lightly, placing a bowl of green beans into one of Kasey’s giant hands and the coleslaw in the other. 

“I can take two, as well,” Logan objected.

Leo pushed him gently in the direction of the door. “How about you concentrate on getting to the table without eating all the food first, huh?” 

As the pair made their way out the room, Kasey stopped placing a kiss on Natalie’s lips. “Hey, gorgeous,” he smiled, giving Alex a kiss as well when he whined, dropping a whispered comment that Finn thankfully did not hear. 

Still, he proclaimed loudly, “Lalalala, I can’t hear you,” shuddering dramatically at the end of his words. 

Natalie rolled her eyes at Finn’s dramatics, took Alex’s hand and returned Kasey’s kiss on his cheek, “Come on, troublemaker, you’re supposed to be making Leo’s life easier.”  

Finn returned the stuck out tongue that Alex gave him as he retreated from the room before making his way over to Leo and pulling him into a hug. “Hey Nutter Butter, you okay?”

Leo leaned into the hug, leaning his head on Finn’s, “Yeah, you know Lo. He doesn’t mean any harm. Also, I promised to make it worth his while later if he behaves so you know…” he replied, letting a small laugh slip into his words. 

“You know that is just going to make him worse, right?” Finn snorted, bumping Leo’s chin lightly as he looked up. 

“I do.” Leo nodded, giving Finn a cheeky glance as he reluctantly pulled away from his boyfriend. “Can I trust you with the mac ‘n’ cheese?” he asked jokingly as he placed the dish into Finn’s hands. 

“I don’t know,” Finn chuckled, “It smells fucking amazing.” 

“Always with the compliments.” Leo smiled gently, dropping a kiss to Finn’s hair before picking up the last two serving dishes - bourbon soaked ribs and potato salad. “Go on, before they think we’re up to no good in here.” 

Finn led the way into the dining room, putting his dish down with a grin knowing they had approximately 3 seconds until -

“What the hell?” Logan began, his tone far less aggressive than his actual words. “ So Finn gets to carry the macaroni, but I can’t?” 

Finn was about to chirp back at Logan when Leo added his platters to the table. “Finn doesn’t stick his fingers in the macaroni on the way,” Leo quipped, taking a seat to Logan’s right.

“This is favouritism.” Logan whined.

“Anyway.” Leo started, not letting himself get baited into the argument, knowing that was exactly what Logan wanted, “Let’s eat, shall we. I know it’s far from dietician approved, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

The next few moments were an organised chaos of serving dishes being passed back and forth around the table, eventually falling into a conversation about the Lion’s latest game. 

“Told you it works.” Alex boasted after Finn recalled the new play that he and Logan had tried for the first time. “You two executed it pretty well though,” he admitted with a smile. 

“Excuse me,” Kasey interrupted with a grin. “I got a shutout. Are we just not going to talk about that? I had to listen to you two shower lover boys in praise for weeks after his.” he moaned.

“You did great, sweetcheeks,” Natalie leaned in, wiping a mess of sauce from Kasey’s lips with her napkin, replacing it with a kiss.  

“Did you not get enough praise that night?” Alex hummed, bumping his shoulder against Kasey’s. 

Finn screeched, “ Nope, no, absolutely not. We will have no talk of you sexing my brother at the dinner table.”

 “Wow, O’Hara 2.0,” Natalie placed her wine glass down on the table. “So, that’s how it is, huh? We get to listen to you drone on about your boys for hours at a time, but one mention of Alex’s prowess in bed and all bets are off?”

“See, you get it. This is why you are the brains of the relationship.” Finn replied, before gesturing in Leo and Logan’s direction. “Besides, we are cute.”

“Hmm, I suppose you are.” Natalie cocked her head, “I still think I got the better end of the deal though.”

Suddenly, a piece of bread flew across the table hitting Kasey square in the forehead. “Not such a good goalie, now, huh?” Logan jibbed. 

“That’s not fair!” Kasey whined. “Natalie was being all cute. Do it again.” he encouraged, adjusting his sitting position.

“Absolutely not.” Leo drawled, placing a hand over Logan’s, which was tearing another piece of bread off his roll, “How old are you? Do you need to sit on your hands?” 

Leo realised his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth and Logan’s eyes shined a little brighter. 

“I can sit on my hands, but you’ll have to feed me.” 

Finn bit back a groan, trying to ignore the way his all of his blood seemed to have rushed southwards. He really, really loved the fact that Logan was seemingly shameless sometimes.  

“And we were being inappropriate?” Alex taunted.

“Oh, I can be inappropriate if you want.” Kasey said lowly.

Natalie let out an uncharacteristically high pitched giggle, seconds before Finn felt a brush against his foot. Kasey managed to maintain an expression of perfect innocence for barely ten seconds before a guilty smile replaced it. There might have been a time in previous years where he might have enjoyed the contact a little bit too much, but now any thoughts of Natalie and Kasey were infinitely linked with his brother and it made him feel a little bit nauseous. 

“Are you playing footsie under the table?” Finn groused, lifting the table cloth. 

Leo sat back in his chair and gave a sigh, “How am I the youngest person here and yet the most mature?” 

“Sorry, Leo. The food is great, it really is.” Natalie apologised, sending Kasey and Alex a look. 

“Kasey started it.” Alex grumbled under his breath, but quieted when Natalie’s eyebrow rose. 

“Don’t worry.” Leo waved it off, “I can grab dessert if we’re ready?” he asked the table, receiving a round of nods. “Do you mind getting the plates, Fish?” he asked, smiling at the eager nod that he got in reply. 

“Lo, come help me?” he added, squeezing Logan’s shoulder affectionately as he got up from the table. 

Once Leo was out the room, Natalie waved a hand in Finn’s direction, “Cover your ears if you’re going to get all dramatic.” 

Finn shoved his seat back, grabbing the pile of plates that he had made. “Just give me ten seconds to get out the room, please?” he pleaded. 

“Don’t behave...beg…” Finn only caught a few words as he was leaving, but the quiet groans from Kasey was still too much.

His thoughts of bleaching his brain were dismissed when he reached the kitchen. Logan was pressed up against the counter, Leo’s hand shoved down his pants, their faces inches apart.

“Oh hey, sweetheart.” Leo greeted, his hands playing idly with Logan’s balls drawing a whimper from the shorter boy. “I was just explaining to Logan that what happens later is entirely up to him and that he might want to check his behaviour,” Leo worked a mark into the expanse of skin on Logan’s neck in between words.

“I love my life,” Finn murmured quietly, taking a breath before making himself move. He wasn’t sure how he managed it, but he was able to put the stack down onto a counter without dropping them from his shaking hands. He contorted his features into something resembling relaxed as he leaned his weight against the marble work surface. “I’m sure Logan will be very well behaved from now on. Right, Lo?” 

Logan’s curls bounced at the side of his snapback with his nods, “Yes, I’ll be good. I promise,” Logan gasped out. 

Leo kissed Logan firmly on the lips, did his boyfriend’s pants button up and stepped away. “Let’s try and get through dessert without scaring our guests then, yeah?” 

“I think he’ll have to work a bit harder if that’s the goal. Those three are worse than us.” Finn laughed and then shuddered as he realised that his brother was included in ‘those three’.

“Not helping, Finn,” Leo shot back, grabbing the small glasses of panna cotta out of the fridge. “Allez. Come on,” he added, once he’d checked that Logan and Finn had mostly recomposed themselves. 

The three of them made their way back to the dining room to find Alex sat in Kasey’s lap, lips nuzzling his cheek and Natalie’s eyes crinkling with laughter. 

“I will never unsee this,” Finn groaned, pressing the heel of his palms into his eyes. “Can you make out somewhere that isn’t my house?” 

“We are not making out,” Kasey scoffed, “But maybe we should make that happen? For accuracy’s sake.”

“Who invited you, again?” Finn questioned, automatically reaching to take the tray from Leo, but received a shake of his head and a quiet, “I’ve got it thanks, Fish”

“I’m down for you making out, if we can make out.” Logan piped up, when Leo leaned over his shoulder to place his dessert in front of him. 

“So much for good behaviour,” Leo remarked, taking the final glass for himself and putting the empty tray into the centre with the rest of the empty serving dishes.

 Probably should have cleared those too, Finn thought, but in his own defence he’d been otherwise occupied. 

“This is actually a recipe that Logan suggested, so if it’s disgusting then you can blame him.” Leo started to explain the dessert. “It’s a vanilla panna cotta with a -”

The words were interrupted by a quite frankly obscene groan from Logan who hadn’t waited for the description to be finished before diving into his desert. He looked up sheepishly when he realised that the entire table's eyes were on him. 

“Ok. That was truly an accident,” Logan defended, his accent filtering heavily into the words - a sign that he was actually a bit embarrassed. “The rum jelly is just so good with the vanilla, mon lion.”

Leo coughed a few times, his throat suddenly itchy. “Thanks Lo. I guess that’s the cue for the rest of us to start.”

There was a beat of silence before they all began to eat and the atmosphere relaxed again, the conversation moving quickly between topics. Finn was just getting suspicious of how quiet Logan had become when he began to speak, “Hey! Shall we play truth or dare after we finish? That could be fun with drinks.” 

There was a collective groan followed by a resounding, “No” from everybody except Kasey, whose voice broke through the noise. “I’ll play.” he grinned. “I choose dare.”

“This is how people end up in fountains, Kasey!” Finn waved his hands about, a bit of panna cotta flying off the spoon he was holding and landing on Leo’s t-shirt. He didn’t think it was that funny, but Logan and Kasey practically had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard.

“Sorry,” Finn apologised quickly, picking up his napkin to dab at the offending mark. 

Leo patted his hand against Finn’s, “Hey, it was an accident. Leave it, it’ll come out in the wash.” he reassured before looking up, his eyes meeting Natalie’s, “I don’t think we’ll be playing any games after dinner, I’m afraid. My mama would probably scold me for chucking you out but it’s been a long day. I hope you understand.”

Natalie flicked her hair back off her shoulder, “Of course, darling. That’s not a problem. We should be getting off soon, anyway. Early start in the morning, you know.” she smiled in a way that was somehow both completely innocent and yet menacing. 

Despite the fact that they ate their dessert in record time, every second seemed to drag for Finn. He felt a bit guilty that he wasn’t taking better advantage of the time with his brother but he’d see him again soon enough. Besides, he reasoned with himself, Alex was probably just as eager to get home as Finn was to have them leave. The thought was confirmed later as Alex pulled him into a hug as he was leaving murmuring into his ear, “ Enjoy your evening little brother, I sure will.” 

Finn was sure his face had turned a shade of red that matched his hair as he shoved Alex away but despite all the exasperated sighs and groaning, he was glad that Alex seemed to have found the same kind of love that he had. 

[lifeofkaze]

An Art of Balance #18

Orion Amari x MC

A/N: Fabulous Judith belongs to the even more fabulous @judediangelo75​

Word Count: ~ 2.300

_______________________________________________

Chapter 18: Ambiguity

As she rounded the corner of the hallway where they had held their team meeting, the rest of her team was already coming in her direction. Most avoided looking at her, except for Everett who gave her a smug grin and a wink that made her want to punch him in the face there and then.

Judith was walking behind him, Lizzie’s sentiments mirrored on her own features. Her golden eyes found Lizzie’s and worry crossed her face as she took in the pallid complexion of her friend.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice radiating warmth and comfort. Lizzie nodded curtly; her attention were fixed to the door of the classroom the others had just left; it still stood slightly ajar.

Guessing her thoughts, Judith inclined her head in the same direction. “The captain’s still back in the meeting room if you... want to sort things out, I suppose.” She offered Lizzie another encouraging smile and continued her way back towards their Common Room.

When Lizzie carefully opened the door to the classroom, Orion and McNully were still in front of the teacher’s desk, just where Lizzie had left them what felt like an eternity ago. They were deeply immersed in their discussion; Murphy was talking insistently to Orion while he animatedly gestured with his hands to drive whatever point he had home. Orion, on the other hand, had his head bowed and his face was brooding; he nodded at his friend’s words and only interjected him every now and again.

Lizzie closed the door behind her as quietly as she could; she breathed deeply one last time, trying to ignore her somersaulting stomach and then cleared her throat.

Both their heads perked up at the sudden sound and Lizzie’s eyes quickly dropped to the ground as they fell silent. She could feel the heat rising to her face as she buried her clammy hand in the pocket of her jacket, the other still resting on the door handle as if ready to run from the room at any moment.

She drew a shaky breath. “If this is a bad moment…“ she spoke up hopefully. Her attention was fixed solely on Murphy; she didn’t dare look Orion in the face.

But the blonde commentator shattered her last chance at an escape as he gathered up his playbooks from the desk and stacked them on his lap. “No, not at all; I was, in fact, just leaving.” With a short and sympathetic look at Orion he rolled out of the room. As he passed Lizzie, he gave her a warm, encouraging smile she couldn’t quite reciprocate in her current emotional state. The door falling shut behind him sounded unnaturally loud to her ears and made her jump; the silence it left them in was even more deafening.

Plucking up all of her courage, Lizzie stepped further into the room and raised her eyes to meet Orion’s.

He looked at her apprehensively, the palpable tension hanging between them mirrored in the way he carried himself; although his dark eyes were unwavering as they met her own, his shoulders were squared and his jaw locked.

He said nothing, waiting for her to begin the conversation; much like the habit Lizzie had adopted herself, his fingers were slowly twirling the round pendant of his necklace.

Lizzie walked towards him with shaky knees and sat on the edge of the desk. The way he regarded her was too intense for her to maintain the eye contact; she dropped her gaze to her feet, that couldn’t quite reach the floor and were dangling in the air.

She knew she couldn’t put this off any further, so she ignored her burning wish to just dart out of the door again and turned towards Orion with a sigh.

“Captain, we need to talk.”

He let go of his necklace and pressed his palms lightly together. It was apparent that he was equally as reluctant as she was to have this conversation. “I think we do, Chaser.”

“You need to let Skye play on Saturday.”

Baffled at her unexpected choice of topic, Orion didn’t respond. He tilted his head to one side and watched her curiously as he tried to comprehend her thoughts. Lizzie tried very hard to not let herself get distracted by the way his long, black hair fell into his face.

“That you try to fend for Skye time and time again speaks of your great loyalty towards your friend,” Orion replied eventually, thankful for the more innocuous topic. “But my answer is no. Skye has disrespected me and my decisions from the very beginning.”

He caught her eyes again and Lizzie almost flinched at the hurt they were showing at the realisation his faith in Skye may have been misplaced all along.  

“I have always let her express her doubts without reprimanding her, so as to allow her to unfold her full potential. But even the calmest of waters gets stirred if the storm is only strong enough.” She could hear the change in his voice, showing just how serious he was. “My patience with her has ended; she actively endangers the unity between all of us. If I want the energy of our team to remain undisturbed, I will have to stick to my decision.”

Lizzie hadn’t expected Orion to be so unwavering in his resolve. Apparently, Skye’s punishment hadn’t just been a reaction to what she had said, but rather an issue that had been bothering him for longer than Lizzie had imagined.

“What good is a united team when we lose the last chance we have to reach our common goal?” she asked in return.

Orion slowly shook his head. “I told you before, the ends don’t justify the means.” Her chest tightened at the allusion to their nightly talk in the Common Room after the Christmas break. ”There is more to Quidditch than winning.”

Now it was Lizzie’s turn to shake her head. She had stopped dangling her legs at Orion’s words and gripped the edge of the table. She had to make him understand.

“To you maybe, but not to our team; they burn to win the House Cup and frankly, so do I.” His airy appearance might have fooled others, but she knew him too well. ”And whatever you say, I know you do as well. Don’t take this away from us.”

She jumped off the table and started pacing up and down. “I know Skye overstepped her boundaries today, but please, please, have some more patience with her.”

Orion raised an eyebrow sceptically but didn’t interrupt her; Lizzie took that as a sign to go on.

“She gets a lot of pressure from her family and isn’t thinking straight, but I made some progress with her; she sees now that she shouldn’t have challenged you in front of everyone. I know, this is no excuse for her behaviour but I don’t think you kicked her off solely because she is an annoying little prat,” Lizzie took a deep breath, ready to jump where she didn’t want to take this, ”but because she got personal.”

Her eyes flickered towards him for a moment; his face was unreadable, his steady gaze following her movements as she stopped her pacing, gathered herself and turned towards him. “You are our captain; we respect your decisions and trust you to do what’s best for us, regardless of any personal involvements. The sake of the team should always come first.”

Orion considered her calmly. “I value your defending her with the uncompromising fire inherent to your spirit. Skye can consider herself lucky to call you her friend. But as noble as your intentions are, I must tell you that I disagree. This is for the sake of the team.”

He was wrong; why wouldn’t he see that they wouldn’t stand a chance against Slytherin without Skye beside them?

Lizzie took yet another step towards him. They were now close enough for her to see the stubborn resolution in his eyes.

“Orion, we need her,” she repeated emphatically, her own eyes pleading now. “Please, let her play.”

His features softened; he could see how important the matter was to her as he took in her words. “I won’t promise you anything; but I will take your words into consideration.”

Relieved, Lizzie let out the breath she hadn’t noticed she’d been holding. Only now she realised how close they were standing together. It would have taken only the smallest step on her part to give in to the nagging voice in the back of her head and to close the little distance left between them; to bury her face in his chest and drown all her worries inside his arms.

Shaken by her suddenly unruly thoughts, Lizzie quickly took a step back.

The atmosphere that had grown more relaxed while they had been treading on neutral ground started to charge itself again as neither of them made a move to speak; Orion and Lizzie were both very aware of the unsaid things hanging between them.

It was Orion who chose to break the silence first. With a sigh, he clasped his hands in front of him again.

“I know which thoughts trouble your mind, Chaser. Do you want to talk about them?”

Lizzie could feel his eyes on her; she was careful not to look into their unfathomable depths, or she would have been done for good. She watched how the round pendant of his necklace gently rose and fell with every breath he took, instead. The tips of his fingers rested against each other in front of his stomach as he waited for her answer.

The sensation of how the back of these hands had felt against her cheek flashed up in her mind, how rough the skin of his knuckles had been as her own fingers traced the up and down of them.

With a huge effort, she drove the memories away and shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Her hand had come up to her throat and was playing with her necklace again; she didn’t even notice until the corners of Orion’s mouth twitched into the smallest smile. She dropped it again.

“Is it true?” It was more a whisper than a question.

Orion took his time to pick his words. “I can’t give you an answer to this.” He sounded pensive, as if he had thought about this question before but still hadn’t reached a satisfying conclusion.

“You are a true friend to me and I have always admired you, as a player and even more so as a person. However, I’ve had the fortune to get to know you better than I did before, and I cannot deny that I feel like there might be an unexplored potential for a greater harmony between our spirits.”

Lizzie blinked in confusion as her mind took a moment to decipher the meaning of Orion’s words.

“That is not exactly a ‘yes’,” she replied tentatively.

Orion’s gaze trailed out of the window for a moment where the storm was slowly starting to wear off. The broad, crooked smile that always made Lizzie’s heart stutter was forming on his handsome features as he turned his attention back to her.

“It’s not a ‘no’,” he smiled directly at her.

The dipping feeling in her stomach, that Lizzie had tried to ignore since the moment she had stepped into the room, intensified tenfold, before making room for an overwhelmingly fluttery sensation spreading through her body. She opened her mouth for a reply but her mind had gone completely blank and she couldn’t think of a single word to say.

She leaned against the desk once more, her mind racing with conflicting thoughts. Her emotions jumped from giddy to shocked to elated to terrified.

Seeing her obvious preoccupation, Orion decided to leave her to her thoughts. As he stepped around her on his way to the door, he stopped and put his hand under her chin, raising her head slightly to make her look at him. He could see the emotions raging inside her beautiful eyes, darkening them to the colour of a stormy sea as they met his own, soft brown ones.

“Whatever thoughts are running through your mind, I want you to remember that first and foremost you are my friend,” he reminded her tenderly, “one of the truest and closest friends I’ve ever had. I would never risk losing you over anything, you hear me?”

Something flickered in his eyes as they dropped to her lips for a split second. He immediately let go off her and took a step back. Offering her one last, sincere smile, he went and left her to her thoughts.

Lizzie had no words for what she felt, no thoughts to even remotely describe the chaos he had plunged her into.

The instant Orion had touched her a surge of electricity had been running through her body and she could have lost herself in the endless abyss of his eyes. The urge to throw all caution overboard and just give in to her desire to wrap her arms around him had been close to overwhelming. It had been like when they had been dancing all over again; she could feel the ghost of his gentle touch still lingering on her skin.

Lizzie dropped down on the chair behind the desk and covered her face with her hands. His words were ringing in her ears as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. She shut them tight and took deep, shaky breaths, trying to calm down her racing heart; it was beating against her ribcage so hard it hurt.

She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to think.

But she did know where she had to go to work it out.  

[noel-noa]

Dress this is no one request but my first getting my hands on semi nsfw material

warnings: mentions of sex, swear and harsh words, anxiety implied, semi nsfw

inspired by taylor swift song; dress

Our secret moments in your crowded room They've got no idea about me and you

nobody knows, besides God of course. the stolen glances between you and suna, your little escapades between these parties. no one noticed, no one knew about you and suna. you were a little bit surprised. since everyone seemed to brush off your slightly messy hair and suna's wrinkled suit. or did they? maybe they just didn't talk about it loudly? you wondered, but you didn't care anyway. for now at least, to the public you would be the young and talented lawyer and suna would be that amazing and hot volleyball player. not a perfect match for each other.

There is an indentation in the shape of you Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo

you actually thought so too, for both of your career and future, being with suna attracted more scandals than prospect. it wasn't good, yet you couldn't stay away from him. there was something about him, that made you couldn't take your gaze off him. the way his body shape, his piercing fox like gaze, those skillful fingers of his that roamed on your body each time you were with him or his lips that sinfully good. you didn't know, you didn't care anymore. but one thing you knew, you were dying for suna to leave his marks at the end of this night.

All of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation My hands are shaking from holding back from you (ah, ah, ah)

right now you were dancing with a fine young wealthy business man, one of a man that had many good prospect while suna was dancing with another model across the room. but your gaze maintained with each other rather than focus with your own partner. the gaze burned thickly in the silent air, it was frustating for the two of you. and then suna made a move, he leaned closer to the model figure. leaning closer and closer until his lips brushed with her ears. he seemed going to whisper something but nope, he turned to your direction, smirking with that damned handsome face. like nothing happened at all, he turned his back and twirled his partner around. oh, so he was challenging you huh? for sure you weren't going to back down. he dared to tease your patience that from oh so desperately holding back to touch him. because you knew, when you touched him nothing could stop you from it.

All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting My hands are shaking from holding back from all this (ha, ha, ha, ha)

well, well, now it's game on. you would make sure suna going to regret it later. before you realized it, your nails dug on your partner suit, gripping him hard that he even stopped dancing to ask. "are you okay?" you were a little bit embarrassed, but that was not enough to stop you from putting a show. you turned to him and presented your seductive smile, saying you were okay. oh, his face turned deep red. what a good response, but you needed to up your game if you wanted to beat suna. it was a perfectly coincidence that it was the time for slow dance. you danced more closely this time, one hand on his shoulder and the other wandered around on his back with light feather touches. your partner reaction was quite enjoyable, like no other girls had touch him like this. but you didn't care, the one in your mind was did suna see this? oh, now you were making eye contact with him again. his eyes had that dangerous glint, he definitely saw it. seemed like you were not the only one who desperately waiting. you smirked back at him and turned to your partner, like he did to you before. mission accomplished.

Inescapable, I'm not even gonna try And if I get burned, at least we were electrified

like you predicted, after the dance was over suna came whisking you away from your partner. you didn't know where his partner dissapeared. but you let him, he was inescapable for you anyway. he gave your partner an excuse that an emergency just came up, knowing full well that your dance partner wouldn't stop him or gave him a proper answer when he was surrounded by his peers.

suna dragged you until the both of you were inside his car, slammed the door and off you go, out of the party venue. "where are we going?"

"your place, it's closer" said him nonchalantly, his gaze not moving from the road.

"so, what kind of emergency huh?" you went on teasing him, knowing fully well the reason why.

"fucking you is an emergency" he answered it with his nasty smirk while still roaring on the road, not slowing down a little bit. your face immediately heating up like it was burning, even if he already said this kind of lines a thousand times it still effected you greatly. the damned sly fox beside you just knew what to say to ignite the sparks circled in your lower parts of body, you hated how he could say that confidently. like how when he fucked you he always forgot the fact that the two of you were originally best friends. slipping a small whisper of 'i love you's and then after it was over he pretended that he never said any of that.

I'm spilling wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we're both drunk

"do you remember the first time we did it?" suna asked, putting an end to the unbearable silence between the two of you.

"yeah, didn't we did it in atsumu's bathroom? you were very drunk that night"

"speak for yourself, i wasn't the one who spilled the wine all over his bathub"

"in my defense, it happened because you pinned me over it in such an awkward angle" suna just tsked and you laughed, the mood turned over quickly to playful. your first time happened so quickly on atsumu's bathub, you weren't quite sure how it happened but it became a regular thing between the two of you after that.

Everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about

"why would you bring that up? you wanted some 'distractions' while you were driving?" then your hands reached his thigh, moving very closely around his member area. it wasn't like the two of you never had any fun inside the car. but it was usually very discreet, never did you do it on a wide open road while driving or on the front seat.

"if you want some scandals rose up after you get out of this car, then go ahead" your brains shudder at the thought of scandals, your hands immediately retreated from his thigh.

"of course you couldn't risk your career again" he muttered under his breath. suna glanced over a little to you, then back again at the road. he thought you didn't hear it, but the truth was you heard it all the little things he muttered under his breath. but the both of you were cowards. you never confronted him because you were afraid of making a mistake again. and he on the other hand, never brought it up because he was afraid of losing you.

Say my name and everything just stops I don't want you like a best friend

it was silence all over again between the two of you. the mood was weird today, not like the usual. both of your frustration already reached it peak, but both of you were just stubborn and afraid of the consequences of admitting your feelings to each other.

the air and tension was dominating both of you. neither of you opened your mouth when you get out of the car, even when suna closed the door of your bedroom. suna turned around, looking sexy as hell like usual. but your mind was occupied with much more other things than fucking him, you couldn't concentrate at all.

suddenly suna slammed his hands to the wall, pining you. your head thrown back instinctively, leaned on the wall. his much bigger figure towering your body. with his sharp, slanted eyes stared at you. "are we still gonna fuck or not?" he hissed, frustration you called it but there was something more behind it. your gut was telling you, maybe this was going to be your last 'get together' if you didn't tell your feelings. it was now or never situation. so, just for once. you let yourself acted very carelessly, without any mind games, this was impulsive. you usually didn't like it, but just for once. because losing suna was far more worse than anything that could happen to you because of one or two scandals. both of your hands cupped his face, facing him head on. this time you weren't going to run away anymore, your face was getting closer and closer. just before your lip crashed, you said it loud and clear to his ear.

"i don't want you like a best friend" then your lips collided with suna's, fighting for dominance. of course he won, he always won at this. just how long you managed to call him a best friend then fucked him? you didn't know, fear maybe? but it didn't matter anything right now. well today, for real this time you finally admit the sacred truth you kept away all this time, you didn't want him like a best friend.

Only bought this dress so you could take it off Take it off (ha, ha, ha)

your lips parted after a long fight, gasping for air. you both panting from the lack of oxygen you lost during the kiss. with your still flushed faces, suna stared at you again with an expression you never thought would exists on his face. it was a little bit weird, the mixture of hopeful and pained. suna didn't want to get his hopes up yet. he needed confirmation, he couldn't bear to hope if that was a slip of tongue from you.

"do you really mean it?" his body still towering you from above, you couldn't help but to giggle a little bit.

"like i can lie from you rintarou," you said before crashing your lips to his, his arms on reflects sneaked behind your waist. your bodies pressed against each other.

"then what the hell with this dress?" he tugged the straps of your dress, trying to get off that dress from your body. that dress this entire evening was tempting him to take you on there and then. the dress was gorgeous, even more so when you wore it. it complimented your body, elevating your the appeal of your curves. it was perfect, like it was made only to be worn by you. but the one fact that he disliked was that, you worn this dress and went to dance with another man. that made his blood boil, it was like his sanity being tested.

"i looked good wearing it right?" you answered, your fingers helping him out of his suit and unbuttoning his shirt. you knew suna's preference, that dress was his style and perfect for your body. the truth was you only bought that dress for him, to make him go insane and take it off even better if he was going to rip it off from you during this session. he nibbled your bottom lip, letting out a little yelp from your lips.

"oh, so you want to keep it mysterious huh?" suna growled before moving his head and biting your neck harshly, your head thrown back hitting the wall again. "Ah!" for sure that bite was going to leave purplish mark on your neck. his hands for sure still having trouble with your dress complicated straps while you already thrown his shirt on the floor and proceed to tugging his pants off.

"fuck this shit" his fingers usually are super talented on court and... fingering. but your dress straps were a puzzle his fingers couldn't solve. suna was getting impatient, with his massive strength he teared your dress, ripping it off from your body. you left with the bare essentials covering your body. you opened your mouth to speak, but suna beaten you to it.

"don't worry i will buy you a new one and more" he silenced you then with a kiss before you could even speak. then he moved his lips to your earlobe, brushing it with his lips before tugging it roughly. you mewled at the action, your nails digging deep on his back and scratching his back when he moved to suck your neck. he started to hiss, fingers wandering around to the waistband of your panties.

Carve your name into my bedpost 'Cause I don't want you like a best friend

"fuck, you are wet" he groaned when he dipped his fingers into it. he knew he had enough with all of this opening act. it was time for the main dish. his restrained hard member was the proof to it. he carried you up, it was easy after all your figure is small compared to him. then threw you to the bed.

"rintarou!" you said pissed off that he didn't have the audacity to lay you gently. but suna didn't care, before climbing the bed he slipped of his pants the unfinished work you left earlier. leaving him with his boxer he yet to take off. his figure was on top of you now, he unclipped your bra, freeing your breast for him to touch. then he started to leave trail of kisses from your jawline while his hands stroking your body, and getting lower and lower. until he was in front of your abdomen, he blew it before ripping it off like your dress. it made you shudder and wetter than you ever was. this little shit here was satisfied with your reaction and now looking up to you then grinning like a devil.

"i'm going to make you scream like you never before, that when we're finished you don't remember anything but my name only" with that promise he sealed the deal and kissed your lips once more before freeing himself, out of the brief. you didn't know for sure how the end of this night will be, one thing you knew suna you wouldn't be able to walk for a week.

Flashback when you met me Your buzzcut and my hair bleached Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me

it was 3 am. you woke up suddenly and couldn't sleep. you tried to sleep but all you did was remembering the first meeting between you and suna. the two of you first me on your second year at college. you hair was bleached and he for the first time just got a hair cut, it was bad, very bad. you were a stressed law student who were partying every night to relieve it. It was a wild night, as usual you were partying hard and then you met suna. you talked and instantly clicked, you both got drunk enough to share your problems with each other. fortunately not drunk enough to sleep with each other. during those time he helped you to stand by your feet again, he was the only one who didn't saw you just as a 'party girl'. he saw you more than that, he knew you could be better than that. he cared for you not like others. that was the reason your friendship was still strong when others were drifting away.

Flashback to my mistakes My rebounds, my earthquakes Even in my worst lies, you saw the truth of me

when both of your career took off quickly, sky rocketing. you met a pit, then you almost fell to the bottom if suna was not there to hold on you. you took a case, and you were killing it on the first half. but your rival was someone powerful that didn't like to be beaten, they started spreading numerous rumours and scandals, affecting your reputation. affecting your play on the court, he started to get into your head. you almost back down and drop the case, if suna wasn't there to help you up, guiding you step by step, encouraging you, you wouldn't be here. your name wouldn't recover and you wouldn't won that case. suna was your saviour at your darkest hour when there was no one else there. you were forever grateful to him, but you became paranoid to scandals or rumours, even hearing it made you sick.

And I woke up just in time Now I wake up by your side My one and only, my lifeline I woke up just in time Now I wake up by your side My hands shake, I can't explain this (ha, ha, ha, ha)

well tonight, it be damned because the most important thing was not to lose suna, the one who was beside you through thick and thin. you rolled around, staring at suna who was sleeping peacefully beside you. he was really your only life line, the one who never left, your rock, someone who never gave up on you. you truly were grateful for him. "i love you" you whispered staring at his naked figure in front of you. you didn't know what would happen next? what your relationship would be tomorrow. you didn't have the answer yet, at least you were confessing your love right now. even if he was asleep, ...or not. "i love you too" he rasped, opening his eyes while grinning. that sly fox, how dare he--! you were embarrassed, staying still immediately. he pulled you closer to his chest then tilted your chin with his finger. "...so not to ruin the mood, but that dress wasn't for him right?" you laughed at his question, like ain't that was obvious after you fucked him? now it was his turn to get embarrassed. "only bought that dress for you to take it off" his face was getting redder by your response, you were enjoying this. it was a rare sight after all. then he started to open a conversation. "are we official or not? if you want to back down, i totally get it. it's alright, i'm not mad" well his sayings and expression were contradicting with each other. he might said that, but his face didn't hid his crushed expression if you happened to reject him. "after all those stuff, you still aren't sure? of course we are dummy! if you want it tho, no pressure here" you said mimicking him while poking his chest, his face got brighten up and he smiled tenderly at you. "i want it, i want us" "it settled then, for now i'm getting sleepy" you yawned and he chuckled, not long after you both dozed off to sleep, curling to each other. let the world waited for the other matters in the morning, tonight you were just glad you were in his arms.

[that-rock-chick]

Love Bites

Love sucks. That's pretty much common knowledge. Combine that with addiction, money, fame, and childhood trauma and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Same shit, different fucking day.

Don't ask me how I'm balancing six days a week at my job and band practice three to four days a week, because I truly have no fucking idea. I tried college but once the band formed, I cut that out of my schedule completely.

It's been about a months since the argument with Gwen and Tiffany went down and our band hasn't practiced. I tried to be sympathetic for the longest time, but it's beyond ridiculous now. Veronica, Tiffany, and I have been wanting to do band stuff but Gwen refuses because she's mad that Tiffany is dating a man SHE broke up with. It's not like Tiffany did it intentionally, and the fact that she's letting her own personal stuff interfere with our band is really pissing me off.

We've all got shit going on, but Gwen loves being a drama queen. Veronica has suggested kicking her out of the band a few times and Tiffany has echoed the same sentiment, but I don't think my patience has thinned to that extent just yet.

But it's getting there.

Young musicans aren't hard to come by, but finding someone who fits the band's sound as perfectly as Gwen's adds on a large layer of difficulty that I'm not prepared for. We'd have to start all over, teach our new singer the songs, establish chemistry...it seems exhausting and more trouble than it's worth, at least for the time being.

"Hey Julie." Dylan greeted me as I walked past, something he does whenever we work together. Sometimes it ends up being the best part of my day.

As the day progresses, I find myself smiling a lot more than I usually do. Customers are easier to deal with and a large amount of them were actually friendly. It created a light-hearted atmosphere in the restaurant that we don't get too often, unfortunately. The time seemed to fly by.

"Good luck Dylan." I said goodbye and walked out of the front door. Dylan was always there a hour before I arrived, and an hour before I left. The rest of the staff is pretty cool, but Dylan is the only one I'd consider to be a friend of mine. He's essentially the less musically inclined male version of me.

I head to our rehearsal space for the second time this week. I've extended the invitation to Gwen, as if she needs an invitation to show up to her own fucking band's rehearsal. If she doesn't show up tonight, she's out. Our time is just as important as hers and we're all tired of it being wasted.

I'm usually the first person to show up, but some days that isn't the case, like today.

"Hey." Gwen says shyly.

I give her a blank stare and proceeded to put my things down on a table nearby.

"Nice of you to finally decided to show up." I stated plainly.

"Look, I know I've missed a lot of practice and I totally understand the three of you being pissed at me, but can you please take one second to see this from my perspective?"

I couldn't help but scoff at what was coming out of Gwen's mouth. Has she seriously taken an objective look at the situation and came to the conclusion that she has a leg to stand on.

"Okay fine. You broke up with a guy, he moved onto Tiffany, you were so jealous that he wasn't falling you around like a lost puppy, and you took it out on Tiffany."

Gwen rolled her eyes but before she could speak, Tiffany and Veronica entered the room. Anger was written all over Tiffany's face, while Veronica seemed to be as cool as a cucumber.

That's one thing I've always liked about Veronica. She can keep her cool in some pretty tough situations. That's not all there is to like about her, though. She's utterly gorgeous. Her dark skin and hair that was almost always styled in an afro were truly beautiful features that I couldn't help but admire. She's beautiful, smart, talented, and has an amazing personality. She's the full package.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Tiffany wasted no time begining the screaming match we all knew was about to go down.

"We're in the same band." Gwen managed to maintain her regular tone of voice, but if I know Tiff like I think I do, and trust me, I do, she'll keep going until she sets Gwen off and then everything will go up in flames.

"Clearly the band hasn't been very high on your list of priorities for the past four weeks. Finally make time in your schedule for us, princess?" Tiffany was speaking with her genuine emotions, but part of her wanted to get a reaction out of Gwen. She knows how Gwen feels about being called "princess".

Gwen looks like she wants to say something to Tiffany that would no doubt escalate the situation even further, but she takes a deep breath and regains her composure.

"I'm sorry, okay? For everything. Julie was right, I should've maintained my professionalism above all else...and I shouldn't have put some guy over you and our friendship."

The three of us looked at Gwen semi-shocked. That girl never apologizes for anything. Instead of responding, Tiffany tells Veronica and I that she's stepping out for a smoke.

I'm not sure if we should discuss things further or let bygones be bygones, but it's not exactly my place to make that call.

Tiffany returns just as I finshed tuning my guitar and walked up to Gwen. If I didn't know Tiffany, I'd say she was going to punch Gwen in the face with the speed she was moving.

"That whole situation was fucked up, but I know how hard it is for you to apologize to people, so I forgive you." Tiffany pulls Gwen in for a hug and for the first time in awhile, things seem okay between the four of us.

"I would like to reiterate that Gwendolyn said I was right." I smiled proudly.

"Yeah, don't get used to hearing that from me."

It was nice while it lasted, at least.

Band practice turned out to be super productive, and it hasn't been that way in a long time. We got a lot of work done today and hopefully we can keep this up for awhile. We spent about 7 hours in our rehearsal space and it felt more like 5 minutes. Time really does fly when you're surrounded by positivity.

The girls and I said our goodbyes and parted ways for the night. Tiffany had mentioned that we haven't seen each other this past month like we usually do. Of course I feel bad about that, she's been my best friend for so long. But I've been spending a lot of time with the Guns N' Roses boys...Axl in particular can be a persuasive little shit when he wants to be. I've already told the guys that Tiffany's birthday is this weekend and they can't keep monopolizing my time. I need more feminine energy!

"Julie!" I hear someone call out. I recognize the voice as soon as it hits my ears.

"Hey Slash, what's up?"

Minus Izzy, I'm becoming pretty close with the members of Guns N' Roses. I just wish that man wasn't so goddamn illusive.

Slash and I walk and talk. Clearly he's decided we're hanging out tonight. I don't mind it much since Tiffany's going out with Victor tonight, Gwen is visiting her parents, and Veronica is doing god knows what, like always. So even if I wanted to make plans with someone, it's not like I had anyone else anyway.

"I don't think anyone's at the house, besides Izzy." From the way he phrased his sentence, it was a clear indication that Slash had no interest in staying at the "Hell House" with Izzy, he usually opted to spend his nights the same way he spent his days: completely wasted. It didn't matter if it was alcohol or heroin, if it got him high, he'd take it.

But this isn't about Slash. I want to see Izzy...I might have a slight obsession with a man who has never even said a single word to me, but I mean, he's absolutely gorgeous. There's something about him that keeps me drawn to him and I'm determined to figure out what it is. No matter how long it takes me.

"Then let's go to the house."

Before Slash can process what I said so he could say no, I grab him by the arm and run as fast as I possibly can while dragging a grown man behind me. It only takes about 15 seconds of running before I realized, Slash in tow or not, I'm very out of shape. I'm running out of breath, determined to get to the band's house. I'll be wheezing all the way down Sunset Boulevard and trying to convince myself it's worth it by the time we get there. But knowing me, it won't.

We enter the house and lo and behold...

Izzy isn't there. Despite me struggling to breathe, the look of defeat plasters my face and Slash starts laughing his ass off.

"Izzy's out working, I just wanted to see how you'd react. Sure didn't think you'd go runnin to our house, though." Slash manages to get out through his fit of hysterical laughter.

"Slash! Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I know you like him. I got the confirmation I needed. Just wait until I tell Duff!" Slash heads for the stairs, but I grab his arm before he starts his ascent.

"You cannot tell Duff." I tell him seriously.

"He can't tell Duff what?" Duff appears from the kitchen

"And why are you out of breath? And why are you holding Slash's arm?"

"She totally likes Izzy, dude. I told her that he was here and she dragged me through the streets. We almost got hit by like, 5 cars."

My shocked face slowly twists into a look of confusion as Duff rolls his eyes, pulls out his wallet, and hands Slash a 20 dollar bill.

"Dude, you guys bet on whether I liked Izzy or not?" I was part shocked, part confused, and part mortified that my crush on Izzy was that obvious. Izzy seems like a smart man, so I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of him knowing and not talking to me because I'm a weird chick who likes him without even knowing anything about him.

"Yeah, and now I'm out 20 bucks because you can't control your goddamn hormones." Duff says in mock frustration. I ignore his joke as the overthinking sets in further.

"Does...does he know?"

"Nah. The man's pretty oblivious, plus he doesn't pay much attention to anything except drugs, work, and music. It's fine." Duff reassures me.

Then Izzy walks in. The three of us get quiet when he shuts the door behind him. He looked at the guys then looks me up and down. He then looks back up at my face like he's done several times before, but this time he doesn't look away when our eyes meet, not immediately, at least. I feel my heart start beating a mile a minute at the momentary eye contact and feel myself longing for it again when it breaks.

He nods his head and walks up the stairs. I guess his first words to me will have to wait another day.

"What does Izzy do for work?" I ask, to no one in particular.

"He's a drug dealer." Duff replies nonchalantly.

I don't know how to respond to that, so I don't. Slash and Duff have their own conversation and I find myself wondering what kind of person Izzy is. I don't know what to think. All I know is he's a damn good musician, an equally gifted writer, and a drug dealer.

Who the hell is Izzy Stradlin?

[dailybeastarsthings]

Chapter 6 - A Wind Of Change

The Grim Reaper and a distressed mistress were running quickly through the dark forest. As they were moving, branches and leaves kept brushing them wildly as if they were trying to hold them captive until the chasers would eventually reach and capture them both.

‘Why are they chasing me, Grim Reaper?’ the mistress asked.

‘Because you were supposed to have died three days ago” the Reaper said without even looking back.

Suddenly, the Reaper flung his sword and cut one of their chasers in half. The poor soulless demon let out a lifeless sigh before its death.

‘Water, Wind, Fire… The forces of nature all want you dead.’

‘Then… These entities are a part of them?’

‘Yes… This is a fight against fate.’

Our heroes were cornered. As the demons were closing in, the Reaper hid the mistress behind his cape to protect her. He took out his sword and looked their enemies in the eye.

‘Stay behind me. Killing you… is my job. Until then, I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you.’

And with that the Reaper lunged out to fight!

‘Okay, that’s it for Scene 15. We will now take a break’ said Sanu, the president of the Drama Club, shattering the tension into a million pieces. Sanu was a third-year Pelican student in Cherryton Academy. He was elected to be president just as he became a second-year but has known many of the members from way before. He used to be a background actor in many plays but never appeared again after becoming president. He always made sure to let the creativity and emotions flow freely in the club while maintaining its integrity and improving the relationships of the members.

‘What? Why, Sanu?’ Louis asked with audible dismay in his tone. ‘We’ve never taken a break in a rehearsal before.’

‘Oh… Well, it’s just going to be 30…’ he swallowed his words after seeing Louis’ expression ‘I… I mean 15 minutes.’

Sanu walked up on stage to Louis. He leaned close to him and started whispering.

‘You know, Louis, we’ve known each other for a long time now. I can tell that your movements are... how should I put this… a bit stale. Are you feeling well?’

‘Quit whispering Sanu. I’m perfectly fine.’ Louis replied. He then turned to the other members present on stage. ‘This performance is the most important part of the New Student Welcome Event. We need to show all of the new students the importance of the Drama Club, so we have no time to worry about our physical condition’ he said while he wiped the sweat off his forehead and neck with his towel.

Louis hanged his towel on his antler then bent over a bit, to rest a little. He turned his head towards the other students on the stage and glared at them with flaming irritation in his eyes.

‘Next time attack me like you mean it. I’m a deer as Adler, and you’re all carnivores, attacking Adler with the intent to kill. That’s what we are going to portray when we get on stage, so we need to be as fierce as we possibly can.’

Taking advantage of the break, Louis walked backstage to relax his foot a little. It was still sore and while the medications were certainly helping, the fact that he didn’t put on his bandages in order to avoid any awkward questions definitely didn’t help. He was in a lot of pain. He could feel his ankle pulsating, radiating the pain from the injury to nearby areas as well. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t.

‘Sanu is right… My movements are not perfect this time. I can’t put too much weight on my leg if I want to avoid any further problems. However, a perfect performance is expected from me, so I’ll give them just that. Even if it means that I’ll hurt my leg even more!’ he thought.

He suddenly heard Sanu’s voice.

‘All right everyone, break is over, we’re beginning from Scene 16!’

And with that, Louis put on his act of being completely fine and went back on stage to play his other part, Adler, the Grim Reaper.

***

Meanwhile, the stage crew was busy making the finishing touches on the costumes backstage.

‘What? A break from rehearsal? We’ve never had a break before!’ Dom said with surprise in his voice.

Dom was a third-year peafowl student. He was the leader of the Drama Club’s stage crew. Although he was a long-time member, he never had any ambitions on becoming an actor nor the president of the club. He was always perfectly fine with sewing costumes. He had great talent at it. His costumes always turned out to be vibrant and lively – and yet, comfortable. He had aspirations on becoming a fashion designer in the future.

‘Well yeah, but I haven’t heard all the details. Kibi hurried me because the boxes we were carrying were really heavy’ Legoshi said.

‘Yeah, but Louis is always excited when the performance is coming close. I can’t even imagine how frustrated he must have been’ Kibi, an ant eater member said.

As the conversation was going on, Kai’s face – who was directed to be part of the stage crew instead of the acting crew – became more and more red by the second. Deep down he was still sure that he should’ve been approved as Tem’s replacement as he knew the script by heart and had way more practice in acting than Zoe.

‘Damn it!’ he yelled ‘I was supposed to be rehearsing with all of them, not sewing in this dark place!’

‘Oh, Kai, I think you have a good sense of design. I’m happy that you’re part of the stage crew’ Dom said with a soft smile on his face.

‘Oh… Really? Do you mean it?’ Kai asked excited.

‘Of course!’

In the meantime, Legoshi was digging for some extra yarn in a box next to him, when he suddenly found a white and gold vest, which was part of Tem’s costume.

‘This is Tem’s costume’ he said. The others looked at him in surprise. ‘What should I do with it?’ he continued.

‘Well…’ Fudge, the red panda began ‘We can’t just keep it here forever, you know.’

‘Look, Legoshi, Tem is dead so it’d be creepy if we still kept it around!’ Kai yelled at him in frustration. Legoshi’s ears drooped.

‘Tem was killed and devoured by one of the carnivore students in this school’ Legoshi thought. ‘That is the biggest taboo an animal can commit in this world. That’s why none of the others want to dwell on that incident. There’s a bottomless pit of darkness lurking in this world. Now I understand the meaning of what Louis said. The meaning of why he is acting so fiercely as Adler. He must be the one, who is confronting the reality of that incident the most. He has the ambition to be the next Beastar, so he needs to take center stage in the world of carnivores and herbivores. I can’t even imagine the pressure he must…’ his thought was interrupted.

‘Legoshi! Legoshi!’ Dom yelled at him. ‘Were you listening?’

‘Oh! Umm… Yeah!’

‘You were spacing out again, weren’t you?’

‘Maybe…’ Legoshi said, while looking to the side. His ears drooped a little, too.

‘All right, well, we were talking about bringing flowers from the Gardening Club. I want to use roses as the motif for the final act and decorate the assembly hall and entrance, too. Look.’

Dom held up a drawing of what he imagined. It was beautiful. Large bouquets of red and white roses – ones with only a singular color, others mixed together to symbolize the two sides of the play, good and evil. It looked wonderful and grand – and Legoshi believed that it would’ve smelled amazing, too!

‘There should be plenty of roses in the Gardening Club, and I want you to help’ Dom said.

‘You mean… with decorating?’ Legoshi asked.

‘That and with getting the roses from the Club.’

‘Are you sure that I should go? I mean, this whole incident and all… I don’t want to scare anyone…’

‘I think you should’ Kibi said. ‘You’re a second-year high school student, so you ought to improve your social skills.’

‘Well, okay then. But you’ll have to come with me, too.’

The Gardening Club was a long walk from the Drama Club, since it was on the rooftop of a building at the other end of the school. While Legoshi had no problem walking such distances at high speeds, Kibi had to jog alongside him, if he wanted to keep up with him. By the time they were climbing the steps to the rooftop, Kibi was already exhausted.

‘Was it absolutely necessary for me to come with you?’ Kibi asked almost breathless.

‘Sorry, but I think the members would be scared to see a lone wolf asking for flowers’ Legoshi said.

There were only a few steps until the end. When they got to the top, they were greeted by a large green iron door. It had rust around the frame and near the doorknob. The building definitely had to face water damage a good few times.

‘I never knew there was a garden on the rooftop’ Legoshi said, while reading the sign on the door, which said ‘Gardening Club’.

‘It’s probably not well-known among carnivores. It’s a pretty plain club anyway. They rarely appear publically. They only sell flowers at events and festivals.’

As Legoshi was reaching for the doorknob, he became aware of a very familiar smell. But how did he know it? Why did he notice it? It suddenly sparked the memory in his mind. The smell belonged to the student he almost devoured just yesterday!

‘I have to get out of here, quick!’ he thought.

‘Wait, that smell is…’ Legoshi said but he was interrupted by Kibi.

‘Probably the flowers. Pretty amazing isn’t it! Well… let me just go ahead and open the door.’

As the door opened, a beautiful view of a thousand colorful flowers of all shapes, kinds and sizes greeted them. Under an arch near the entrance, a small white rabbit was holding a hose, watering the plants around the area. Legoshi recognized her at an instant. It was the rabbit girl he attacked. It was Haru. When she heard the steps, she closed the water and looked at her visitors.

‘Hello. Do you need something?’ Haru asked, smiling softly.

Legoshi was still in shock. His heart was beating fast and he began to sweat. He couldn’t believe that their paths crossed once again. But one thing was sure: he entered a place, which he should have never gone to. It was heaven… in hell…

[emachinescat]

Title: Of Concussions and Incorrigible Cons | Fandom: Psych

Summary: AU of the pilot episode. After being reprimanded by the interim chief, Head Detective Carlton Lassiter bites off more than he can possibly chew after attempting to apologize to a concussed Spencer for the less than gentle arrest at the end of the McCallum case. Spoilers for "Domestic Pilot." Part 1 of my whumpy episodic AU series, "AU that Glitters."

Words: 1,951

TW: None

AO3 Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Episode AU: s01e01: Domestic Pilot, Whump

Year Published: 2017

Full story here or on AO3!

Head Detective Carlton Lassiter stood in front of the interim chief's door, fist poised to knock and foot tapping an anxious rhythm on the floor. Vick had been rather short with him when she'd asked him to come to her office as soon as the paperwork for the McCallum case had been taken care of. It wasn't the "I'm busy, so make it quick" kind of short, either… she was agitated about something.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked.

Her voice rang out from inside, dead serious as could be. Yeah, she was pissed about something.

He entered, and opted for the ignorant approach, which was just as well, because he really had no idea what this was about. After all, he'd already been given a stern-talking to about inter-department romance and Lucinda was in the process of being transferred. A little swell of fury rose at the thought of the man – the so-called "psychic" who had so carelessly ruined one of the only positive things he had going for him.

"Detective Lassiter. Please sit."

He sat stiffly in the proffered chair, refusing to let the cushy trappings lull him into a false sense of security. He maintained eye contact with the chief, letting her know that he was completely comfortable in the situation that he found himself in, and that he had nothing to hide. Never mind the fact that he wasn't all that comfortable with the cloak and dagger business, being left in the dark about why he was here in the first place. "Chief. What can I do for you?"

Vick's eyes may have softened the tiniest bit at his cordial greeting, but she still did not look like a happy camper.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Detective," she said bluntly. "This could have turned out much worse. As it is, I am going to have to give you an informal reprimand and warn you to be very careful in the future."

Lassiter blinked. "Uh, Chief… What…?"

"Detective, you cannot be physically aggressive toward civilians who are in your custody, unless they are resisting arrest or are posing a threat to you or others around you."

Still trying to work through the confusion, Lassiter was both offended and relieved that there had been a mistake like this, that Vick actually thought that he'd attack a non-resisting civilian. Whatever she'd heard, it was all a big mix up. "Chief, let me assure you that I would never—"

"Shawn Spencer. McCallum residence. Yesterday afternoon. Ring any bells?"

Lassiter blanched. "Spencer hardly counts as a civilian. He's a hindrance to real police work, a distraction, and at the time, he was trespassing. I had to take him in." He left the bitter, At least, until he solved my damn case, left unspoken.

"Be that as it may, Detective, your shoving him head-first into the frame of the car was a bit overboard, don't you think?"

Wait, this was what this was about? Seriously?

"He was resisting arrest, Chief. He was… flailing and pretending to have 'visions' and acting like a crazy person!"

A delicate but ferocious eyebrow lifted. "Not when you shoved him into the car. And may I remind you, he did solve the case?"

"Did he tell you this? That little…"

"Detective!" the chief cut him off before he could say anything to get himself into any more trouble, which, although he didn't appreciate at the time, he was begrudgingly thankful for after the fact. "Mr. Spencer didn't tell me anything. I was there, remember? I saw the whole thing… whatever it was."

Oh. Right. Damn that Spencer for getting into his head like this!

"He's fine, Chief," Lassiter responded, much more calmly this time. "Don't let him take advantage of you. This country is crawling with people faking injuries just to get a few thousand dollars from a lawsuit."

"I told you, Mr. Spencer said nothing to me. His father, on the other hand, called me this morning in a rage. Thankfully, I was able to calm him down and help him to see reason, but it wasn't easy."

"So he went and told his daddy that he got a boo-boo at the crime scene?" Lassiter couldn't keep the disgusted contempt out of his voice this time. "I thought they hated each other, anyway?"

"They have a… complicated relationship, and it really isn't our place to bring that under speculation. However…" She sighed. "It is my job to make sure that my officers are not allowing their emotions or anger, no matter how warranted said anger might be, to get the better of them. Especially after what Henry told me this morning. Apparently, Mr. Guster had to take Shawn to the emergency room last night after his headache peaked and he lost consciousness briefly. Mr. Spencer is being treated for a concussion, Detective, and that is why we're having this talk."

"Oh." Lassiter wasn't sure what to say beyond that, but he slapped away the little niggle of guilt that tried to burrow into him at the news. He hadn't meant to hurt Spencer, certainly not that badly. The man was being difficult, had lost Lassiter his girlfriend, his respect… had mocked him by acting like an idiot and still managing to solve the case first…

"Shawn himself is not going to press charges or file a report, though I was obligated to contact him about the matter. He said – and these are his words – that 'Mr. Grumpy Detective-Face is emotionally stunted and is just trying to express how much he likes me in the only way he knows how.'" Vick looked marginally amused as she read Spencer's response off the sheet in front of her. A muscle in Lassiter's neck twitched. "Now, those exact words could be because of the concussion…"

Lassiter fought the urge to roll his eyes. "They're not, Chief. Trust me."

Now appearing to be fighting a smile, the chief said, "Consider this your unofficial reprimand and warning to control your irritation when you are faced with a particularly difficult witness… or consultant. Because once he is feeling better, I do believe the department will be calling on Mr. Spencer again."

This time, Lassiter couldn't stop the eye roll. Or the groan. Vick smiled. "You're dismissed, Detective."

"Yes, ma—uh, I mean, Chief."

***

Shawn was woken when the doorbell rang, the sound slicing through his aching head like a butter knife through steak... or however that saying went. Without bothering to get up from where he was sprawled on the couch, he called out, "It's open."

Damn, concussions sucked. It was bad enough that Gus had practically dragged him to the hospital after he'd had some sort of dizzy spell last night, but then he'd called his dad to boot? Was this now Gus with his mom for additional parental torture? Not that he would mind seeing his mom… but he was so over worried hovering. Gus played the part of a worried mother exceptionally well, and Shawn couldn't handle two of them… Which was made irrelevant when the door opened to reveal not his mother, but…

"Detective Lassiter?"

Lassiter stepped into Shawn's apartment, keen blue eyes taking the coffee table littered with empty pudding cups, icepacks, water bottles, and prescription bottles. "You just leave your front door unlocked for anyone to come waltzing in? You're just begging to be robbed." Upon taking another look around at the untidy living space, his lip curled and he added, "Or maybe not."

Shawn struggled to sit up past the monkey playing cymbals in his head. "Your contempt for my apartment aside, what are you doing here?"

The detective hesitated. "I was just in the neighborhood and I…" Shawn watched knowingly as the detective's gaze shifted to the rather impressive bruise on his head.

"You wanted to check on me? Oh, Detective, you shouldn't have!"

"I didn't," growled Lassiter. He paused. "This was a mistake. I'll just—"

"Wait!" Shawn shifted, patting the sofa seat beside him. "Come in. Sit down. Rest your rumpus. Put your feet up. Slow your roll. Chillax your—"

With an irritated grunt, the detective passed the threshold and sat in the chair farthest away from Shawn. "Look. I didn't exactly… yesterday, when I…"

"I know, I know. You were just expressing your love for me in the only way you know how, like that little boy in school who pulls the little girl's pigtails because he thinks she's cute."

"Absolutely not."

"Okay, you got me—" Shawn winced as a particularly painful wave shot through his poor, abused noggin. "I was that kid in school. Her name was Melinda, and she had the cutest, bounciest set of—"

"Dear Lord, please stop talking."

"I was going to say pigtails, dude. Mind. Gutter. Get it out."

"This is a monumental waste of my time," the detective spat, standing up so abruptly it almost gave Shawn vertigo… Or wait, he might have already had vertigo, wasn't that a concussion symptom ? And what was vertigo, anyway? Besides an Alfred Hitchcock flick?

Past the pounding in his skull, Shawn heard footsteps stomping away, toward the door. Despite the telltale ringing in his ears, Shawn scrabbled to his feet, ignoring the dark spots dancing wildly in front of his eyes. His pulse hammered, his breath felt short and stunted, and the dizziness spiked. He knew what was going to happen seconds before it did. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

***

When the world swam back into focus, Shawn was surprised to find that he was back on the couch, not in a heap on the floor. He noticed blearily that his hands tingled like he'd been sitting on them for a couple of weeks, and his ears were still ringing like a high school band had paraded between them and accidentally left the triangle player behind. With a groan against the horrible pounding that had overtaken his skull – the procession of drummers must've gotten left behind, too – he rolled over to see Head Detective Carlton Lassiter kneeling next to the couch.

"You passed out," the detective stated helpfully.

"I did not," Shawn argued, mostly out of obligatory need to irritate whoever was in his general vicinity. "I fell asleep, suddenly and quickly, in a very manly and not wimpy way."

"Sure you did. Just be glad I got to you before you hit the ground. You would have a matching bruise on the other side of your head."

Shawn feigned shock. "So you dashed to my side, caught me before I hit the ground, gently placed me on the sofa, and lingered over my prone body until you knew I wasn't on death's door? Detective, I'm touched."

Lassiter half-sneered, half-smirked. "You were only out for a handful of seconds. I was hoping you'd stay out of it long enough for me to escape, but of course you had to ruin that plan, too."

Shawn winced, only partly out of pain. "Look, man, I'm sorry about your girlfriend. I just—"

The detective stood hastily, popping up from the ground like a Jack-in-the-Box with a strong Irish hairline and lots of pent-up aggression. "We don't talk about that. Ever."

Shawn lifted both hands up in mock surrender. Lassiter's face softened, just the tiniest, miniscule bit. "You're okay, though? Do I need to call your father or someone—?"

"No! I would rather you leave me here to die."

Lassiter shrugged. "Works for me." He strode for the door.

Shawn hesitated, licked his lips, and then offered, "Detective? Thanks."

"Just take it easy," the detective advised.

It was as close to an apology as Shawn was going to get, and, though Shawn might not have shown it through his next words, he did in fact appreciate it.

"Lassie," Shawn said, testing out the new nickname he'd been considering since he'd met the detective. He watched with glee as the man bristled in agitation.

"What?" the detective ground out through gritted teeth.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

The head detective had fled the apartment and slammed the door before Shawn could blink. Shawn settled back into the couch cushions and tried to will his head to stop raging against him. Or at least a plain but not drop-dead-ugly working tolerance, he amended in his head, before he drifted off to sleep.

[myaekingheart]

141. Intuition

read the scarecrow and the bell on ao3 index | from the beginning | < previous | next >

               Smoke billowed up from the tip of a lit cigarette as Sekkachi took a long, hungry drag. The village was quiet for a Monday, the sky inching up central overhead. Dust clouded up around her ankles with each pad of her feet. She turned a corner, trampled through the same pathway she had already forged on another street. Rei surely would not mind her running late. It wasn’t like they were on a tight schedule and Rei likely needed the extra time anyway. After all, it wasn’t called morning sickness for nothing.

               As she strolled, Sekkachi pressed a hand to her toned, bare stomach and deliberated. It was still so hard to wrap her brain around the fact that her best friend was having a baby. Deep down, Sekkachi knew this would happen eventually. She had made her peace with it but that didn’t mean she had fully comprehended it yet. Life was moving so fast and things were changing so quickly. Their youth was slipping ever rapidly through their fingers and there was not a damn thing they could do about it.

               Sekkachi cursed herself as she suddenly heard her name shouted from down the street. All those thoughts of youth had apparently summoned him, the true power of youth connoisseur: Might Guy. He waved at her widely before running to catch up with her, a determined grin spread across his face. “Sekkachi! I didn’t expect to see you out and about this early” he greeted.

               “It’s not that early” Sekkachi grumbled under her breath, taking another drag. But then again, being out and about any time before noon was evidently suspicious behavior. “Besides, I’ve got plans with Rei.”

               Guy nodded knowingly. “What youthful activities are you doing today? A sparring match in the training grounds? Shopping spree? Or perhaps a trip to the dango shop? Hmm?”

               Shaking her head, Sekkachi finished off her cigarette and toed the butt into the dirt. “No, we’re heading over to see her parents. Rei’s got big news to share and besides, she’s been freaking out about everything so she wanted to look into some books on pregnancy.”

               Might Guy stood stock still in the middle of the street, his mind lingering on the word pregnancy. And it was then that Sekkachi realized she had made a terrible mistake. “Sekkachi!” he shouted, taking her by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes. “Do you mean to tell me that Rei and Kakashi are pregnant?”

               “I-I thought you knew…” Sekkachi stammered. Her hands grew clammy as she willed Guy to release her from his grip. She watched as he began to seemingly vibrate with excitement, something welling up deep within his chest before almost combusting. “Guy…don’t you dare. G-Guy, I swear to god! Don’t you—”

               And then he was off in a flash, racing down the street and skidding around corners fast as a bullet toward Rei and Kakashi’s apartment. He needed to confront his eternal rival on this wondrous news once and for all. Sekkachi dropped her head back with a groan before chasing after him. The pit of her chest tightened with regret and the fear of the impending confrontation. At least she knew Guy would likely take this far better than Rei’s parents would.

               Kakashi rested a gentle hand on his fiancée’s lower back as she leaned over the toilet, vomiting profusely yet again. She seemed to be so sick so often, he wondered how her body even managed it. He had watched the way her hands shook as she had stood over the sink that morning and brushed her hair slowly, methodically, as if the tangles were a tricky math problem that required focus and precision. The way her nose twitched and her face paled, the way she tried to swallow it back to no avail. He had skidded to her side the minute she spun and fell to her knees, scooting her closer to the toilet for extra security. She clung to the toilet seat with a white-knuckle grip, her body cold and clammy and her chest heaving monstrously. Once the expulsion was complete, she fell back into his lap gasping for breath, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

               “I’m so sorry, ‘Kashi” she gasped, shaking her head and raking her fingers through her hair.

               “Don’t apologize” he replied, leaning forward to flush the toilet for her. “I know you can’t help it.”

               “I just hate this so much” she whimpered, pressing her palm over her eyes. Her vision was spotty and warped, like right before she was to pass out.  

               “It’ll be okay” he assured her, rubbing her shoulder sweetly. “I was looking over those pamphlets and they said the vomiting usually dies down after the first trimester. Don’t worry, there’s an end in sight.” He fed her a reassuring smile, pressed his lips to her sweaty temple.

               “I hope so” Rei huffed. She shifted yet again, signalling that she was ready to stand. Kakashi rested a hand on her back as he rose to his feet behind her, ensuring that she would not fall, before extending a hand to help her up slowly.

               “Do you want me to stay with you while you get ready?” he asked. He was terrified of leaving her unsupervised, of all the negative possibilities that could occur.

               Rei sniffled and shook her head, leaning against the bathroom counter for support. “N-No, it’s okay. I think I’ll be fine” she assured him. Toshio nosed the bathroom door open, trudging up beside her as if to assure Kakashi that he could chaperone. Kakashi scratched the dog appreciatively behind the ear before planting another quick kiss on Rei’s cheek, then returning to the kitchen. Across the counter sat his abandoned breakfast preparations, miraculously untouched.

               As he whisked egg yolks in a bowl and hovered his hand over the frying pan, there was a rapid, rhythmic knock at the door and Kakashi’s body immediately went ice cold. He knew that knock anywhere. Roused from his morning haze, Toshio leapt to his feet and raced to the door, barking madly as if he, too, recognized the source of the sound. And with Toshio alerting their guest of their presence, Kakashi knew there was no avoiding the confrontation now. They could not hide from Might Guy.

               Sucking in a sharp breath, Kakashi drew his mask up over his face and slowly approached the door, mustering the mental strength to deal with Guy at this hour. Or at least under the current circumstances.

               Knowing Guy, he was most likely just vying for another sparring match. The fresh summer air always seemed to feed his insatiable energy. Kakashi redirected Toshio out of the way, clutched the doorknob, and rehearsed his polite refusal in the back of his mind. He would keep things vague, perhaps say he was just tired and that Rei had the stomach flu. He intended to tell Guy of the prengnacy in due time. It hadn’t even been a week since they had found out. He and Rei were still grasping at the weight of this new reality themselves. Keeping things vague would have to suffice.

               Kakashi creaked the door open with an already-apologetic smile. Without a moment of hesitation, Guy barged into the apartment and pointed at his eternal rival with a manic look in his eyes. “Kakashi!” he exclaimed and the Copy Ninja felt his body stiffen and chill. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could even make a sound, Guy interrupted yet again. And his words shot an icy bullet straight through Kakashi’s chest. “You didn’t tell me you were having a baby!”

               Oh no. Kakashi froze, speechless. Finally, he managed to muster a deflated, “Well, technically it’s not me who’s having the baby…” as he poked his stomach. Although maybe I ought to add some more sit-ups to my daily exercise routine, he then thought.

               Guy blinked despondently. “I mean you and Rei!” he clarified. There was perhaps an undercurrent of hurt in his voice, a sense of sadness in having been excluded from such a massive turn of events.

                “Listen, I-I was going to tell you this week” Kakashi stammered. “Guy, we only just found out.” He hated that he was so anxious about the thought of having perhaps angered Guy. Kakashi really meant no harm in not having told him the news yet. He hoped that Guy would understand.

               The bedroom door creaked open then and Rei trudged out into the light, rubbing her aching forehead and muttering under her breath. When she felt two pairs of eyes land on her, she paused and her own slowly widened. “What’s going on…?” she asked, looking from her fiancé to Guy and back. Before she could even receive half of an answer, Guy lunged forward and swept her up into a monstrous hug. A yelp escaped Rei’s lips, the abruptness of it all only worsening her headache. In the background, the pounding of frantic footsteps echoed in the complex’s hallway.

               “Shit” Sekkachi muttered under her breath, skidding to a halt in the doorway. She leaned against the doorframe, gasping for breath. Her face was sallow and dewy with sweat. “I-I’m so fucking sorry” she whispered to Kakashi. “I tried to stop him but…” Her voice trailed off as she inhaled and pressed a hand to her side, hoping to still the sharp, stabbing cramps.

               “It’s okay” Kakashi whispered back. “I know Guy can be a little hard to, um…maintain.”

               Enthusiastic tears rolled down Guy’s cheeks as he squeezed Rei tightly. “I’m just so happy for you guys!” he cried. “The both of you are going to make stupendous parents! Your babies are going to be beautiful!”

               Sekkachi shook her head as she leaned against the doorway, replying softly to Kakashi, “Unfortunately.”

               And then Guy leaned back to get a better view of Rei, gushing, “And look at you! Already glowing with the spirit of fresh youth!”

               Rei blushed, averting her eyes with anxious laughter. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s what happens when you spend all morning puking” she muttered under her breath.

               A weight released from Kakashi’s back as he watched the two of them interact. He was so terrified that Rei would be furious about Guy having found out the news before she could approve. Not that it was his fault, of course, but Rei’s temper had been questionable and Kakashi was the closest target. Dropping his shoulders, he skirted around to the sink and poured Sekkachi a much-needed glass of water. She took it graciously, muttering a thanks before taking a long, desperate swig. “So I take it you were the one who told her?” Kakashi then asked.

               With a gulp, Sekkachi slumped in defeat. “It just slipped out, I didn’t mean to” she sighed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

               “Well, Guy was bound to find out sooner or later” Kakashi replied, ruffling his hair. He glanced to his rival and fiancée over his shoulder and cringed in secondhand embarrassment. Guy had since transitioned into gushing about the amazing feats that Rei’s body was about to accomplish, of how incredible a process it all was, and orating several well-meaning but rather uneducated pregnancy facts. All the while, Kakashi could see Rei’s face tinge green, overwhelmed.

               To be fair, this was exactly why Kakashi had held off telling Guy right away. He had hoped that he would be able to handle things privately, preferably with Rei out of the picture. He didn’t want to add any more to her burden. She already had enough to worry about.

               “I guess I ought to step in and put an end to this” Sekkachi whispered, downing the last of her drink and slamming the empty glass on the counter. “Yo, Rei? Are you ready to go?” she called across the room.

               The mere mention of the word go caused Toshio’s ears to perk up, immediately rushing to Rei’s side to leap excitedly and nudge her hand with his snout. Rei wiggled out of Guy’s one-armed embrace, flashing him a half-assed apologetic smile. She allowed Toshio to tug her toward the front door by the hem of her tunic. He spun this way and that, nearly knocking Rei over as she stumbled to slip her shoes on. Smirking, Sekkachi extended an arm to help steady her as she hopped on one foot and tugged at her sandal. “You’re welcome” she whispered.

               Rei shook her head and rolled her eyes playfully, whispering back “I’m not out of the woods yet. Nowhere near it.” If anything, a part of her perhaps even hoped that Guy had taken over her entire afternoon. He was overwhelming, of course, but his positivity was a breath of fresh air. Deep down, they all knew that the rest of the afternoon would go nowhere near as smoothly.

               If Rei had it her way, she would never even have to tell her parents of the pregnancy to begin with. The fear of uncertainty was not the issue here—rather, the opposite. Her father would be furious at the thought of Kakashi even laying a roving hand on her in the first place, and her mother would surely break down in tears, relieved that Rei would finally abandon her dangerous career for the sake of sheltered domesticity. The thought of it all made Rei’s stomach churn. She swallowed back her anxiety as she gave Sekkachi a light shove on the shoulder. A silent plea that they needed to get out and fast.

               Kakashi paused for a moment as he watched Rei shove her way through the front door. The frying pan sizzled and hissed on the stovetop. “Rei, w-wait!” he called after her. “What about breakfast?”

               Rei glanced at him over her shoulder and for a moment he swore her entire body was trembling. “I’m not hungry!” she called back to him, waving him off dismissively. Gripping Sekkachi’s wrist, Rei tugged her around the corner and they were gone.

               Kakashi tried to handle Rei’s faltering appetite with grace. He tried to remind himself of how unruly stomach had been as of late, and that he should not force her to eat when she was already so sick. And yet the thought of her skipping meals made him anxious. He pursed his lips behind his mask, turned back to the kitchen. Guy cocked a brow in curiosity as he sensed the unease. With a sigh, Kakashi poured the eggs into the pan with a hiss and asked over his shoulder, “Are you hungry?”

               Much like the rest of Konohagakure, the Kaminoki Bookshop was quiet for a Monday morning. Toshio pushed the door open with his nose, the bell overhead chiming to signal their arrival. Slumped behind the counter was Yuzu enthralled in some book about the Third Great Ninja War. She glanced up for only a second, calling up the stairs, “Mrs. Natsuki! Your daughter’s here!”

               “Thank you, Yuzu! I’ll be right down!” Hana replied. Rei could hear her padding around upstairs, likely in the kitchen by the geography of her footfalls. She seemed louder now than before, heavier, as if at any moment she would break through the ceiling and crash down on top of her. An anxious lump rose into the back of Rei’s throat and without another moment of hesitation, she ducked behind one of the bookshelves for respite. Rei launched herself toward the political texts and tugged down a massive hardback almost too heavy for her to carry.

               “What are you doing…?” Sekkachi whispered, eyeing her suspiciously. “I thought you were to look for books on the p-r-e-g.”

               “I am, you idiot” Rei whispered back, adjusting the book in her hands. She propped open the cover, began ripping off the dust jacket. “What? Do you think the pregnancy brain has already fucked me over? No. I just need to handle this delicately.” Toshio huffed and nodded as if to emphasize his master’s point.

               Sekkachi cocked a brow as she watched Rei shove the book, naked, back onto the shelf and then spin into the arts and sciences aisle. She skipped past anatomy, astronomy, biology, and chemistry all the way up to the pregnancy and reproduction section. There were only a handful of books, many of them dated or otherwise ignored and coated with a thick layer of dust. Rei pulled the most popular title into her arms, shoving the political dust jacket over the cover, and began flicking through. She paused on the fetal development chart.

               Peering over her shoulder, Sekkachi snorted and asked, “So which one of these is yours?” She chuckled at how bizarre the images looked, like little aliens.

               “Probalby this one” Rei whispered back, pointing to the image marked as eight weeks. Sekkachi squinted down at it, studying the curled little figure with beady eyes and unformed features.

               After a moment of deliberation, Sekkachi blurted out, “It looks like a shrimp.”

               Toshio barked loudly, as if in response to the mention of food. And then all at once, he nudged Rei hard on the back of her thigh, whipped around, on high alert. “There you girls are!” a voice called from around the corner—Rei’s mother. Startled, Rei yelped and stumbled backward, knocking into the fine arts section. A handful of poetry anthologies tumbled to the ground. “What are you doing looking at pregnancy books, anyway?” Hana then asked, her eyes darting to the book in Rei’s hand. The dust jacket had gone crooked, the cover of What to Expect When You’re Expecting poking out from behind. Rei’s entire body went cold. She was paralyzed.

               “I was looking for my cousin” Sekkachi suddenly interrupted, stepping in front of Rei and waving her book in Hana’s face. “Tenjikubotan got knocked up so she asked me to look into some pregnancy manuals for her. She’s all hellbent on learning about ‘the beauty of her body’ and all that good shit.”

               Numbing shock made way for chilling relief as Rei felt the pressure release from her shoulders. Sekkachi always had been a clever liar.

               “Oh! Well then tell Tenjikubotan I said congratulations!” Hana beamed. Beneath the delight, however, her voice was tense. Desperate. Flooded with undercurents of her own deep-seated desires for Rei’s life. Rei’s chest tightened as the weight of it pressed hard against her chest, suffocating her. Her mother’s face began to warp in front of her eyes, the bookshelves twisting and swaying and the floor beneath her beginning to cave in. She could see Hana’s lips moving, hear her voice speaking, but she could not comprehend the sound. Rei clutched her book even tighter, the mere thought of it making her sick. Her eyes dropped to the floor, to the poetry books scattered at her feet. Only one had fallen face-up, the sharp words staring back at her with disgusting irony. You are on the eve of a devastating psychological upheaval. A whimper rose up into Rei’s throat as the weight in her chest grew heavier. And then there was a slap on her shoulder, hard and fast. The world clicked back into place.

               “Well, Rei? What do you think?” Sekkachi asked through gritted teeth, jerking her gaze toward Hana’s direction.

               Rei cleared her throat, croaked out a weak, “W-what did you say, Mom…?”

               “I said I just finished making some lemonade, if you want to come up for a drink!” Hana repeated. “Perfect for a hot day like this!”

               “O-Oh…” Rei whispered. “Y-Yeah…that would be…that would be great.”

               Upstairs, the apartment was flooded with an almost ethereal summer light. The windows were propped open and a light breeze billowed the curtains, sheer and graceful. Ice cubes clinked in a pitcher of lemonade on the kitchen counter, already beginning to sweat. Everything was warm and bright and promising. Rei sucked in a deep breath and hoped for peace.

               “I see the lemonade has attracted company, huh?” an old voice jested. On the couch sat Grandma Teiko hunched over a book. She licked her fingertip as she turned the page, a smile inching across her wrinkled face. She met Rei’s gaze then and there was something in her wise eyes that scared her. Something knowing. With the support of her cane, she hoisted herself to her feet and shuffled towared her granddaughter, pulling her in for a kiss on the cheek. Her varicose hands trembled and her lips felt colder than normal. “I guess summer has been kind to you” she then said, idling on Rei’s face for  a moment. “You seem very full of life.”

               Oh god. Rei’s back shot ramrod straight and she could feel the heat creep across the back of her neck. There was no way Grandma Teiko could know. Who told her? When did she find out? This was all too much. Perhaps it was just a coincidence. Perhaps it was a joke. But then again, Grandma Teiko had strange ways. Grandma Teiko knew everything.

               “You do have a certain glow about you, dear” Hana commented, setting out four glasses and distributing the lemonade. Toshio strained his neck to sniff along the edge of the counter, hoping to steal a taste for himself. Hana instead fished a ceramic bowl from the cabinet, filled it with water, and set it down upon the floor for him. Defeated, he trudged toward his place setting and began lapping up his drink sloppily, splashing water all across the kitchen floor.

                Sekkachi watched him for a moment before adding, “The heat does that to you.” She nodded toward Hana in thanks as she took her glass.

               “Yeah, the heat’s, uh…the heat’s been a killer” Rei muttered as she received her own. Her eyes dropped to the floor as she took a meager sip. The lemonade was so tart and cold, it nearly made her lips pucker, but it felt incredible as it rushed down her throat. She voraciously guzzled the rest and set her glass on the counter, half-hoping her mother would automatically provide her with seconds.

               “Well, I hope you’re staying hydrated out there” Hana said. She eyed Rei’s glass curiously but was too delighted to complain. Lifting the pitcher, she poured Rei another glass. “You spend so much time outside with that damn job of yours, I don’t know how you don’t pass out every day.”

               Rei pursed her lips, eyes bugged out in anxiety as she took another long drink. “Believe me, that’s uh…that’s not the worst of my worries” she muttered. Grandma Teiko cocked a brow and Rei immediately wished she had never said anything.

               “Well, just be grateful you still have your health” Hana then said, raising a finger matter-of-factly. “You know, just the other day, my friend’s cousin’s mother had to be whisked off to the hospital for heat exhaustion and you know what happened? She didn’t make it, the poor girl. Dehydrated beyond repair. But then again, she was also 97 and had other health complications so I’m sure that that had something to do with it…”

               For a moment, Rei’s frustration at her mother’s aimless interest stalled long enough for her to feel relieved that she did not linger on Rei’s words. She took another swig of her lemonade as she half-listened to Hana’s tale. All the while, she swore she could feel Grandma Teiko’s gaze everpresent on her back.

               The rest of the afternoon progressed in much the same way, with Hana going off on tangents about her friends and especially the mundane occurrences in their childs’ lives. Truthfully, Rei never cared much for Hana’s friends nor any of their families. They were too self-interested, as if their own little sphere of the world was all that mattered. They knew nothing of struggle, stress, and strife. Not compared to her. Rei pressed a hand to her unruly stomach as she finished off her fourth glass of lemonade and prayed for peace.

               The thing about it all that bothered Rei the most, however, was that Hana never bothered to ask about her. She made little remarks about her career and impatient comments about wedding plans, but not much else. As the afternoon progressed further, the sun beginning to descend in the west, Rei’s anxiety only expanded further like a black hole in her chest. She needed her mother to show even a glimmer of interest aside from berating her. Just one tiny spark and Rei would have her segue into this terrifying news. The longer she waited, the more terrifying the prospect of it all became.

               And then the chime of the bell echoed from downstairs and seemed to snap Hana from her summery daze. “I suppose I better return to work!” she gasped, skirting around the kitchen counter. “Your father would be furious if he knew I was up here wasting time chatting during business hours.”

               Rei pursed her lips, glanced around the apartment. “Where is dad, anyway…?” His supposed absence was equal parts relieving and concerning. Perhaps he was off to pick up a new shipment at Ressha Junction, or maybe it was just time for him to renew his business license at the registrar’s office. Regarldess of the reason, deep down a part of Rei hoped that he would not return until late. That way she could procrastinate even further. But even then, she felt unresolved. While she didn’t necessarily want to face her father with this news, she knew it was better to do this quickly and completely. To tell the whole family at once rather than in separate, equally terrifying little instances. A clean cut, quick like a bandaid or a beheading.

               Teiko chuckled and rested a gentle hand on Rei’s shoulder. “Where do you think, girl?” she replied, motioning with her thumb toward the locked office door across the room. If Rei listened closely enough, she could hear the scratch of Yuruganai’s pen on paper, the tap of his fingertips against the buttons of his calculator. Curiosity piqued, Toshio lifted his head from his bowl, water dripping down his mouth sloppily, before lumbering nearer and sniffing under the door.  

               “I should’ve known” Rei scoffed, shaking her head. Busy as always. She glanced to her mother, wondering if she was stupid. Clearly her father already knew about Hana’s social hour. Whether he cared or not was another matter entirely.

               Hana pursed her lips and shook her head as if in disdain for Rei’s lack of appreciation. Yuruganai worked hard and he deserved respect. She almost scolded her daughter for being so apathetic but held her tongue. Instead, she rested a a gentle hand on Sekkachi’s shoulder and asked, “By the way, did you find any books for Tenjikubotan? We might as well ring those up for you while we’re at it.”

               Sekkachi glanced to Rei with a knowing smirk. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I found a few” she replied. Pleased, Hana ushered her excitedly downstairs.

               Rei wasn’t sure whether to trust Sekkachi’s judgment or to launch herself before her in the stairwell and stop her from whatever informational crimes she was about to commit. Either way, however, she knew that was the least of her worries. As she watched them descend, an icy defeat unfurled from the pit of her stomach. Her window of opportunity had slammed shut and crushed her fingers in the sill on the way down. Rei opened her mouth in attempted protest but no sound came out. She was completely and utterly hopeless.

               And then a shaky hand patted her on the shoulder, warm and comforting. Rei’s stomach flipped. She turned slowly and there was a knowing twinkle in Grandma Teiko’s eyes. She took hold of Rei’s wrist, turned her palm skyward, and in it placed a very small and worn book the size of a pocket dictionary. A Shinobi’s Guide to Growing a Life. The silhouette of a pregnant woman was stamped on the cover, the text in simple blue. Rei’s breath hitched in her throat, her vision beginning to blur. All she could manage to croak out was a strained, “H-How did you know…?”

               “When you’ve been around as long as I have, you just have an intuition for these things” Grandma Teiko chirped, patting an approaching Toshio affectionately on the head. The dog sniffed the air, licked at her fingertips with his spotted tongue, barked in delight. Teiko couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently Toshio approved of her gift, too. The old woman reached out then to press a hand to Rei’s warm, blushed cheek. A promise. “Besides, you’ve got this glow about you, girl. The type of glow you only get when you’re expecting.”

               An incredulous, teary laugh broke past Rei’s lips as she lunged forward to wrap Grandma Teiko in a warm embrace. Her fingers grazed the imprint of the woman’s spine through her kimono, her chest rising and falling with each shallow breath. It was inconsequential. “I just wish I knew how to tell my parents” Rei whispered, leaning back to press the heel of her hand to her teary eyes.

               “Don’t you worry, girl” Teiko assured her, her face wrinkling with a smile. “They’ll be easier to break the news to than you think.”

��              “I’m just grateful that you at least know now” Rei sniffled. “I know I’m going to feel a lot safer telling them with your support.”

               Grandma Teiko gave a single nod, chuckling. “You know you’ve always had my support” she replied. “How do you think you want to do it?”

               “Well, I was hoping to tell them today” Rei admitted, “but clearly that didn’t work out.”

               “It wouldn’t have been a good time anyway” Teiko shook her head. “Your father’s been up in arms about the last quarter, and your mother is in too good a mood.”

               Rie pursed her lips, considering her grandmother’s analysis. “I guess the only way to do it would be over dinner or something” she brainstormed.

               “That would probably be best” Teiko agreed. “Stage it for your mother like you want to discuss wedding plans. She’ll like that.”

               “You think so?” Rei asked. Grandma Teiko cocked a brow as if to insinuate that that was a stupid question. Of course Hana would take delight in such an idea. After all, she was the one who eagerly took Rei wedding dress shopping only a few weeks earlier. She yearned to involve herself completely in the wedding arrangements. Laughing, Rei muttered, “I guess you’re right.”

               “I promise, girl, it won’t go nearly as bad as you think it will” Teiko repeated, patting Rei comfortingly on the back. She shuffled toward the staircase, both of them knowing full well that Hana would get suspicious if they hung back too long.

               “I hope you’re right” Rei murmured as she idled at the top of the stairs. Toshio nudged her hand comfortingly as she gazed down the daunting, narrow stairwell. Echoes of Hana and Sekkachi’s conversation vibrated through the air. Something in her chest stuck.

               And then she felt a hesitation in the air, a strange heaviness. Grandma Teiko reached out for Rei’s wrist yet again and now there was something very different in the old woman’s face. A bittersweet softness unlike anything Teiko had expressed before. The world began to sway to and fro, colors pulsing and fading in threatening technicolor. Something was not right. Rei’s head became heavy and unstable, vision blurring as if in a fog. Grandma Teiko was different now and it terrified her. Something was not right.

               “Rei…” the old woman murmured, and for a moment Rei swore there were tears in her eyes. She pursed her lips, hesitated a moment, then reached a varicose hand out to rest upon Rei’s stomach. “I just need you to know…you’re going to make a great mother.”

               “G-Grandma…” Rei whispered, placing her hand over Teiko’s. She thought of the little life inside of her, of this massive generational gap. A vision of the possible future flickered in the back of her mind: of Teiko sitting in a hospital room, so small and hunched compared to the large arm chair in the corner, cradling a swaddled newborn in her arms. Of a tiny hand reaching out to wrap around the old woman’s finger. Of the love between a great grandmother and a new little life.

               “To think, all those years ago, you never thought you’d get this” Teiko continued, laughing softly. “And now here you are. An accomplished kunoichi, captain of the ANBU black ops. Marrying the man you’ve always loved, and the two of you bringing a life into the world. I’m so…I’m so proud of you, Rei. I don’t think I could ever be prouder.”

               “O-Oh god, Grandma, I just—” Rei stammered, her voice strangled with emotion. She swallowed hard in an effort to remain composed, to halt the tears threatening to spill out from inside of her. She could not cry—not now. She could not handle the confrontation of stepping into that bookstore, eyes puffy and bloodshot, and having to explain to her mother why she had become so overtaken. Rei sucked in a deep breath, increasing the pressure against Grandma Teiko’s hand ever so slightly, dropped her shoulders and forced herself to stay calm. And then, licking her lips, she whispered softly, “Thank you.” A moment of hesitation. A rising sensation in the pit of Rei’s chest. And then, without wasting another moment, she surged forward and wrapped the old woman in one last tight hug. An airy sob broke past her lips. The steady thump of Grandma Teiko’s heart pulsed against Rei’s chest. “Thank you for everything.”

               Grandma Teiko petted Rei’s unruly hair and planted a quick, trembling kiss on her forehead. “Your future looks so bright, girl. Never stop chasing that light, do you understand? Don’t ever let it falter.”

               “I know” Rei whispered. It was the same sentiment that Grandma Teiko had always instilled her: to keep going, no matter the odds. No matter what anyone else had to say, including her own mind. To persevere, prove her worth, triumph. “I won’t” Rei promised. “You know I won’t.” She leaned back again, smiling fondly, before whispering then, “I can’t wait for you to meet this baby, Grandma. I can’t wait for you to love them and support them and teach them everything they need to know about life, the same wa you did for me.”

               Grandma Teiko gave a single nod, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “I know, girl” she whispered. “This little baby has a bright future ahead of her, too. I just know it.” Rei nodded, sniffling as she tried yet again to compose herself. The heaviness in her chest screamed at her to linger in this moment for a little while longer, to absorb every ounce of this fleeting liminal space, but Grandma Teiko would not have it. “Go on, now, get going” she whispered, urging Rei down the stairs. “Your mother is going to have a fit if you waste any more time.”

               While Rei did not consider any of this a waste of time in the slightest, she knew that Grandma Teiko was right. The longer they spent here, the greater Hana’s suspicion would become. Rei could not afford any more complications. The situation at hand must be handled delicately and unfortunately that meant being timely and unassuming. Rei planted one more quick kiss on Grandma Teiko’s cheek, taking her hands in hers as she assured, “I’ll be back soon. I promise.” Grandma Teiko gave a single nod in understanding before giving Rei’s shoulder a light shove, an encouragement for her to be on her way. The stairwell didn’t seem quite as daunting anymore, nor did the echoes of conversation floating up from downstairs. The promise of Grandma Teiko’s support filled her with a newfound strength and calm, something Rei desperately needed at a time like this. No longer was she as scared of what was to come. So long as Grandma Teiko was by her side advocating for her, Rei would be just fine.

               Sekkachi hefted the heavy tote of pregnancy books onto her shoulder as she and Rei made their way back down the street. “You know, you owe me big time for this” she huffed.

               “Sorry” Rei cringed, though deep down she couldn’t help but be amused. “Do you want me to pay you back in money or packs of cigarettes?”

               “Very funny” Sekkachi snarked. “Just be lucky I love you.”

               Rei grinned mischievously. “I always am” Then, reaching for the bag, she asked, “Do you at least want me to take those off your hands? I mean, they are my books, after all.”

               Sekkachi shoved her lightly out of the way, however, and shook her head. “Didn’t you ever hear that pregnant women aren’t supposed to do any heavy lifting?”

               “Come on, it can’t be that heavy” Rei replied.

               Rolling her eyes, Sekkachi fired back, “Want to bet?” She readjusted the bag on her shoulder, gripping the strap both to ensure that it would stay put and as a defense mechanism toward Rei. “What took you so long, anyway? Were you stealing the rest of your mom’s lemonade or something?”

               Rei hated that even the mere mention of her mother’s lemonade left her salivating. An ache rooted in her chest at the thought of it, light and cold and pucker-sweet. She would have to get the recipe, or just pay her mother to make her seven gallons worth. But that was not important right now. Shaking her head, she replied, “Just having a private talk with Grandma Teiko. She, uh…she knows.” Rei fished the little book out of her back pouch then, holding up for Sekkachi to see. Toshio peered up curiously as the trio walked along.

                Sekkachi’s eyes skated across the cover before laughing and shaking her head. “I should’ve known” she said. “I swear, that women must be a fucking psychic or something.”

               “Pretty close to it” Rei laughed. As she tucked the book back into her pouch, her opposite hand idled on her stomach. She mused for a moment on life, on the miraculous nature of existence, of death and birth and the fragility of it all. Of the little baby growing inside of her, small and weak and strange. An amalgamation of cells, features unformed, a creature not yet evolved. It still didn’t feel entirely real. “I just hope…” Rei then said, voice much softer now. Sekkachi and Toshio both eyed her curiously. Rei sucked in a deep breath. “I just hope that Grandma Teiko was right. That my future—our future—is as bright as she says it is.”

               “Why should you think any different?” Sekkachi asked. Smirking, she added, “I mean, I’m sure it will be. After all, doesn’t Grandma Teiko know everything?”

               “You’re right” Rei laughed, rubbing her stomach tenderly. A soft smile tugged at the corner of her lips and for perhaps the first time, she found herself beginning to truly accept the matter at hand. The promise of becoming a mother, regardless of the bad timing and all the strings attached. We’ll be alright, baby, she thought to herself. Grandma Teiko is never wrong. We just need to keep chasing that light.

               Baby, our future is so, so bright.