#//tome’s dad is busy working anyway

[marviiibear]

“I forgot an umbrella…”

alt version (w/o filter) ⬇️

[gremlinmodetweeker]

Read Me to Sleep, Let Me Drift Away

Kidnapper!König is a monster but I love him. I love how evil he is, I love how intelligent he is, I love I love I love. He's perfect. I adore him. Now, about this fic, I've read both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. If you've ever read Jane Eyre, read Wide Sargasso Sea with caution. It completely changes the novel.

Anyways, have fun with Kidnapper!König!

Tws: kidnapping, toxic relationships, stockholm syndrome

Wordcount: 1.6k

Art from This Post

Story Below the Cut

Read Me to Sleep, Let Me Drift Away

You’d never seen König so frantic before. Your calm, collected and menacing… fiance (?) was hurriedly puttering around the house, moving ornaments aside to dust under them before hurrying back to pick up the vacuum and go over the room again. If his anxiety weren’t so infectious, you might have thought the scene to be rather amusing.

“König, you already vacuumed this room three times,” you nervously whispered.

“But what if there’s still some left?” he muttered under his breath as he went over the persian carpet once more, “it needs to be clean.”

“Isn’t it clean enough?” you asked as you shifted from side to side, over and over as you watched him fret over nothing.

König turned off the vacuum and cracked his back with a good stretch, “It won’t ever be clean enough. Not for Mama…”

“Is your mom really going to be that upset?” you stepped aside to let him crouch down and dust the outlets.

König paused, considered your words for a moment, then turned back to cleaning and said, “She won’t. But I don’t want to be the messiest one of us. I want to at least be as good as Klara.”

“Klara?”

“My youngest sister,” König explained, “Friedrich is the eldest, than Stephen and Lisa. I was the fourth born, and Klara was the last.”

“Sounds like a full house,” you mused.

König laughed as he walked out to the kitchen, “It was! It was always busy. Stephen used to like doing ‘science experiments’ and Friedrich got into a heavy metal band. Mama used to say she’d go deaf before she hit menopause.”

“What did your dad think about it?” you leaned against the doorway.

König glanced at you briefly, “Papa’s opinions didn’t matter very much.”

You watched him silently. He wiped down the polished rosewood table again and again, ignoring the heavy questions that hung heavy on the tip of your tongue.

“So,” you grunted as you pushed off the doorway to step to König’s side, “are they coming soon?”

“Tomorrow,” König grunted as he worked a stubborn spot, “I’m cleaning today so I won’t have to do much tomorrow.”

“Do you want me to help?” you asked as you glanced over to the spotless kitchen.

König shook his head, “No, I can do this. You just relax. There’s some good books in the living room.”

You nodded and padded away. You walked through the sprawling manor before you managed to find the living room. The entire room was wallpapered in bookshelves, each one nearly scraping the top of the tall ceilings. You walked to the nearest shelf and looked at the ancient tomes. Books of old, some with spines cracked like white crested waves and others with leather bindings that had been peeled off through the ages. When you pulled some out as carefully as you could, you’d find their covers in different language.s You saw some in German, of course, but others were in Spanish, French, Italian too. You came across a couple that looked like they were written in latin. Some had strange writings in sitting curiously on the pages that looked like Cyrilic, others looking like kangi or hanzi, you couldn’t tell. You wondered if König could actually read all these books. By the plentiful appearances of bookmarks and dog ears, maybe he could. You might have suspected they were for show had you not seen the notes in German in the margins. They all had the same handwriting, all matching your König’s carefully crafted calligraphy.

You managed to find a book in English that you could take over to the window bench to curl up into the bohemian pillows and blankets. You managed to find a lightswitch overhead to provide a warm light to read by, a stark contrast to the cool, drizzly weather outside. You liked the rain sometimes, but you noted that your energy was always a bit low when it came by. You hated to admit it, but you’d missed the sun.

Lately, König had been lax about putting you in the basement. He’d only just let you have free reign of the home the other day, actually. You hoped it was because he was in a merciful mood, but knowing König everything was carefully crafted. It always was, wasn’t it? He always had plans, always carefully crafting his web to keep his puppets strung along to his desires. You were just another doll in his hands, carved from wood to his shape of perfection. You only hoped he saw to it that a smile was drawn on your face by the end.

You tucked a stray bookmark into the bindings of your book and looked out the window. You’d never actually seen the front of the house. You had seen the back, seen his sprawling gardens and his great shed on the back corner of the property, hidden behind some straggly pines like some perching cat. You’d asked to see it once, but König had refused you flatly. He said it was best to stay in the gardens, stay where it was comfortable and safe. What would you want with an old workshed, anyways? You had glanced over his shoulder at the dilapidated building. A part of you wondered if you stared long enough into the dark windows, would you see something staring back? You looked away as soon as the thought crossed your mind.

Sitting on the window bench, it was perfectly comfortable and warm inside. König kept the fireplace running now that autumn had crept over the land. You watched the yellow and orange leaves flutter in the light wind outside before flowing away in the wind. In the distance, a great red maple tree curled over one side of the driveway, hiding the rest of the route from view. You wondered how long it was, how far back it stretched. If you followed it, how long would it take until you found some other traveller? How long until you found another home? Something told you that anyone you came across out here would have different intentions than König. You suspected far, far worse.

You put the bok in your lap and sighed. It had been so long since you’d lived your old life. A part of you wondered if your parents ever called after you. Your friends certainly didn’t notice your absences. In fact, the person who cared most was probably your boss, furious that you’d up and left without a word. You could imagine her snapping and snarling into your voicemail only to slam down the phone and wonder what had happened to their faithful employee. You knew that despite how cruel and heartless your boss could seem, they approved of you and valued you in your position. You wondered if they ever hoped you were alright, wherever you went.

You heard heavy footsteps before you saw König turning around the doorway. He clucked his tongue as he swaggered over to your side.

“I told you to go to the living room, not the library,” König hummed.

“This isn’t the living room?” you asked.

“No,” König shook his head, “the living room is on the other side of the hall.”

“The one with the fireplace?” you asked.

König nodded and put a hand on your shoulder. He peered down at your lap and nodded approvingly, “I didn’t take you for much of a reader.”

“Well, there’s not much else to do,” you explained as you turned the cover from his sight.

“Why did you choose this book?” he asked as he plucked it from your reluctant fingers.

“I heard it’s a good sequel,” you said nervously.

König fluttered through the paperback pages with an amused chuff, “Not an official sequel. Charlotte Bronte was dead for over a hundred years before Jean Rhys published this.”

You watched him smile as he flicked through the book.

“I didn’t know it was that long,” you admitted.

“It’s an interesting book, this one,” König mused, “you got a decent ways in. What are your thoughts about the moths?”

“The moths?” you asked.

“The moths and the flame,” König repeated, “it’s a symbol that repeats throughout the novel.”

You rubbed your forefinger and thumb together over the hem of your sleeve, “I liked it. Two lovers fated to be, but by being together it ends in mutual destruction.”

“Is it mutual?” König raised an eyebrow behind his hood, “Mr. Rochester goes on to live a good life with Jane Eyre, doesn’t he?”

“I…” you thinned your lips to a line, “he did, didn’t he.”

“I’dHe was harmed, no doubt, but do you really think that Mr. Rochester was as ruined as his late wife? I’d argue otherwise,” König flicked the book shut, “fire is a prominent symbol in and of itself. Fitting considering her end, isn’t it?”

You shivered, “I try not to think about that too much.”

“But you must, my dear,” König crooned, “the end is what makes the novel a tragedy, don’t you think?”

You turned to look up into König’s eyes. He stared back, unwavering in his declarations towards you. He tilted his head to the side, glanced at the book one final time, the tossed it back into your lap.

“It’s a beautiful book,” he said as he turned to leave the room, “I think you’ll like it.”

“Do you?” you asked as he turned to leave.

He looked back at you. His eyes crinkled mirthfully briefly, “I think you will.”

When König left, you put the book to your side and shivered. You didn’t think you would be finishing this one.

Konig Dump

Alternate Universes

[thousand-winters]

Hello pal!! I hope you're doing well after that rough morning 💖

For the writing fic ask, 1, 4, 25, 26, and 27!

Hello!!! 💖 Thank you!!! I'm awake at unholy hours of the morning when I really shouldn't be, but much better in that regard ahaha

The last sentence you wrote

I'm so glad I started lazily working on one of my wips because it would have been mortifying to put in a sentence from like 3 months ago or something ahahaha:

“How rude, I was just trying to look out for you,” Tome sniffs, fully aware that by now Reigen doesn’t buy her little act –as if he ever had anyway–, but hoping it buys her some sympathy points. “So, are you gonna open or what?”

Really hoping I can update this one soon.

4. A story idea you haven’t written yet

I have a list where I just dump all of my upcoming wip ideas with no regard for how polished they sound right away and this one is still so funny to me:

"Dimple being like one of those overprotective dads who don't want boys to date their daughters but with Mob and Teru Just in general him being kinda mean to Teru while Mob is first oblivious and then like ???"

I think this was came to be because Dimple in the fanbook is mean for no reason about Teru ahaha. When he gets asked about who he would like to possess and he goes "I bet I could tank Hanazawa's reputation so fast", like, Dimple, what do you have against him, he's living his best reformed life now ahahaha. So this silly idea came to me.

25. Besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

Tough question because I feel like sometimes I'm busy enough I don't really do too much in general ahaha.

I like playing videogames and reading if that counts, though I haven't have the time to do either of those in ages, I need to make some time for those soon or else I'm gonna go crazy haha. I enjoy doing crafts though I don't have a chance to do them often either.

I think my primary hobby activity is having deranged conversations about my fandoms ahaha. AUs, headcanons, random scenarios, analysis... the amount of back and forths I currently have going with friends is... alarming. Once you start being babbly about those things, turns out the convos just keep being generated like spores lmao

26. Are you able to write with other people around?

Oh, absolutely not 😭 Especially not my family but to be fair, I don't tend to do anything personal in front of them because my sister is noisy and can be quite mean sometimes haha, so I just... don't.

Now, put me to write on a google document or something with other people there and I start second guessing every single word I'm putting down or just going "aaaaahhhh, whatever, whatever!" while writing the first thing that comes to mind, which doesn't feel like an optimal writing decision. It's fine when it comes to just outlining or such, but not the actual writing.

27. Your favorite part of the writing process

I'm quite messy when it comes to writing so I feel like the process for me is more like chaos and screaming and panic and tears sometimes ahahaha. But honestly, I enjoy the writing in itself. Once I have a clear direction of what I'm doing in this one scene, for example, I can just rush through it while writing to my heart's content, and short of having writer's block, that feels really fun and rewarding to me.

I'm not much one for editing, frankly, because I get embarrassed once I do the final read through my work, but I enjoy the minor edits through the way. I know it's not recommended, but I tend to do that a lot, writing a sentence and then going back to look at it because it was too plain or badly phrased and modifying it until it works better for what follows or for what I want. I like that feeling of "yes, this is it".

Thank you so much for the questions!!!

From this ask game

[anarchic-miscellany]

Terrible Screenplay Ideas: Ghostbusters Forever

It's yet another fucking Ghostbuster movie, but this focuses on a franchised, corporate hellhole version, having been franchised out as a soulless corporation. In some podunk town in the middle of nowhere, the Ghostbuster Company is the only game in town, as both a source of employment and a borderline racketeering enterprise: they sell pretty much everything here, and have also undercut the local traders on even basic necessities. Drake was a pest controller and ratcatcher, making an honest living in his family business. Then the Ghostbusters came to town, a bunch of kooks who sought to "cleanse spirits", but they soon moved into Drake's field, with their high tech equipment and low, low, low prices! Now they have taken on the job of "Ghostbuster" solely to keep a steady paycheck going in order to look after their sick dad, and keep up with the rent on the house. Grancourt is a self-professed psychic and medium, who loves the arcane and supernatural, and the only way they were allowed to take up any form of work regarding it is to be a "Ghostbuster". They keep a selection of tomes and ancient books on spectres, and are the nerd to Drake's working Joe in the field. Cartwright is fresh out of jail, as part of the company's PR Darling (and tax write off) "felon rehabilitation programme", giving this formerly shady convict a job on terrible pay, with heavy caveats and restrictions, but a job nonetheless. The pay sucks, but it's something, and so what if they have to investigate a few rattling air conditioning units as "hauntings", they get paid, and nobody else will hire them. A decent person at heart. Spicer is a college graduate who managed to get out of their home town and get an education, and hopes for a middle management job here. They've taken all the courses and company advancement programmes in the hopes of climbing the ladder and getting a cushy job in advertising or PR or HR or something. It'll look good on their resume anyway... So when actual spooks, ghosts and hauntings relating to the town's bloody, violent, spectacular history come to the forefront, "Ghostbusters Inc" are naturally called in to deal with it. Only, they've not done this sort of thing in a long time, and honestly, do people even believe in ghosts anymore? In addition to poltergeists, demons, spectres, hauntings, nightmares, phantoms, phantasms and more spooky ephemera: they will have to deal with HR, public relations, collateral damage, and expense reports, as well as an impending downsizing at the company...

[neonponders]

Tailor Steve who meets Billy years later and things 👀 happen 👀

This got long as hell so here’s an ao3 link ~

• • • • • • •

“Come in!”

Steve had heard the bell on his door but was more so telling himself to get through the maze of his studio to enter the shopfront to see a smiling woman and -

“Hargrove?”

For a long second, Billy Hargrove just stared at him. Shorter hair now, and a gold stud in his ear, but still the same sun-soaked freckles and hot blue eyes. Then, like a memory plucked right out of the water’s of Steve’s brain to smack him like a fish, Billy grinned. “Harrington. The one and only.”

“You know each other?” the woman asked. Steve focused on smiling at her and holding out his hand.

“We went to high school together. Like, a million years ago.”

“Maybe nine or so,” Billy corrected. Steve took the moment that the woman glanced at Billy running his hand through a shelf of fabrics to swallow for composure.

“What can I help you two with today?”

Dark, hazel eyes followed her hand reaching behind Billy’s back as she narrated, “This one needs a suit. We haven’t been able to find anything he likes, so Mr. High Standards needs one custom.”

Steve nodded. Suits were not his favorite things to make, but he’d done it before. “Sure. What’s the occasion?”

“White tie event,” she said.

“Oh. Classy,” Steve remarked, but he started observing these two with a more appraising eye. He didn’t remember Billy having money, but...a long time had passed. “If you don’t mind me asking, are you his manager?”

She blinked vacantly at him before epiphany made her laugh. “I’m his partner. His personal assistant needed a break from this errand.”

Steve laughed with her and strolled to the other side of the shop. “Oh, then I should show you the expensive fabrics, in case you get inspired.”

Even Billy chuckled at that, but they soon had to separate for Steve to do his job and for the lady to duck out for her own errands. Billy sauntered behind Steve into his studio behind the shop: a largish room with a couple of island counters featuring cutting mats and padding for needles to stick right into the table top.

Billy’s fingertips slid over the silk satin of a half-finished garment on one of the tables. With a measured breath, he said each word carefully, like he were calculating as he said, “When did you get into sewing?”

Steve inhaled deeply to sigh, “Well. When your dad ironically cuts you off while still demanding that you attend hoity toity dinners...you learn how to make cheap stuff work. Turns out, I’m kinda good at this.”

Billy slowly turned to take in the whole room: the shelves of things he had seen but didn’t know what they did. A pegboard that looked straight out of a garage but instead carried a whole rainbow-organized display of threads as well as more scissors than Billy thought a person needed. Square shelves of fabric next to horizontal rows of fabric bolts.

“I’d say you’re more than good at this. You own a couture business.”

“I got a backer,” he elaborated with a nervous smile. “A, uh, few. Some old ladies aren’t just rose perfume and mothballs. When they asked where I got my clothes and I said I made them, livelihood wasn’t such a bleak thing anymore. But anyways, take your time going through these catalogues.”

Billy focused on the thick tomes of magazines Steve heaved onto one of the tables. The latter prompted, “I remember you seemed to know what you liked, so...find stuff you like, and then I’ll take your measurements.”

A warm smirk moved Billy’s features as he took Steve’s place before the magazines. He spared a moment to watch Steve go around the room to the other table, working while Billy perused.

The magazine featured editorial quality images of various tuxedos, as well as pattern spreads and instructions on making one’s own patterns based on the styles within. Billy lazily turned the pages until he did start to see things he liked.

“This.”

Steve perked up and came around to see the images. Billy felt his warmth through the air as he pointed. “The higher waist?”

Billy hummed a confirming sound but turned the page to another example. “But the round labels.”

“Sure. Do you want coattails?”

“No.”

“Okay. How shiny do you want it to be?”

“Just like this. Shiny lapels but only semi-gloss on everything else. Not matte, or it’ll be dusty.”

Steve lifted his eyes with a smile. “Not all blacks are the same black. Let me show you.”

Billy felt a chill as his warmth moved elsewhere. Plucked a pile of folded fabric from one of the cubby shelves to scatter and compare on the table. “Velvet looks great, but I don’t recommend it unless you want to be a walking lint roller. Still, some blacks look really good without being shiny.”

Steve wasn’t wrong. Billy liked how velvet absorbed light and soon touched the same alternative fabric on which Steve had his hand. “This one.”

Steve brightened. “It’s good, right? I need to order more, though. How soon is your shindig?”

“A month. Is that enough time?”

Steve’s glow dimmed somewhat. “I’ll need to order it with express shipping, but - ”

“I’ll pay,” Billy disregarded.

“No, I didn’t mean that. Just - it might be down to the wire, that’s all. If you’re busy, regular fittings might be hard to do.”

“I can make time. Order it,” Billy finished before he meandered to the cubbies with silk alternatives. “And a waistcoat?”

Steve’s brows lifted and he scratched his forehead in a fleeting gesture, that hand moving right into a help yourself movement. Billy tossed the stack of silk onto the table, the fabric sliding like a deck of cards in front of Steve’s waiting hands. He moved them one by one over Billy’s selected body fabric until he selected the right one for the lapels, but then Billy lifted a different one for the waistcoat. A deep red that moved like black ink in the shadow, or golden-orange sunlight right where the light struck it. The floral pattern woven into it shined or receded into the shadow.

“It’s a white tie event, you said?” Steve clarified. “Those are usually very penguin-esc, right?”

“Penguins have colors,” Billy disregarded. “I like this.”

“It’s a dupioni silk. It’s woven with two different threads so it has that duo-chrome effect, but it also has this linear texture that some people don’t like. This is going to be very bright if it’s your whole waistcoat.”

Billy did not verbally agree with that, but instead said, “Line my jacket with it and make it the back of the vest. I want to see it, even if I’m the only one who knows it’s there.”

Steve set it with the other stack of fabrics and made some notes on pad of paper. Tearing those off, he pinned them directly to the table beside the stack. Billy’s eyes tracked every movement; how Steve lay on his stomach to write, halfway crawling on the table with a certain familiarity like -

“You move like you live here.”

Standing once more, Steve flashed a smile and laughed, “Yeah, I do. I mean, stuff needs to be ready for clients, right?”

But Billy leaned against the table while looking behind them at a very discrete door. The glass window revealed it to be covering a narrow staircase. “What’s up there?”

“My loft.”

“Then you have a weak excuse to be late for anything.”

Steve didn’t have a response for that. So he neglected to give one and instead held up his measuring tape. “Can I measure you while you look at white silks?”

Billy removed his casual jacket and easily picked a gentle off-white for the front of his waistcoat. Steve, meanwhile, tickled his skin by moving the tape across his shirt, measuring the mantle of his shoulders. He had a whole pre-made diagram printed out that he filled in with all of Billy’s measurements.

Billy let Steve move his limbs how ever he needed them. Felt the slide of the tape and the rustle of textile as he cinched the tape around his arms. Heard the soft hush of Steve’s breath as he moved the tape around Billy’s torso. Chest. Waist. Hips. Knelt on the floor for his outer leg and inseam.

The scratch of the pencil was loud on the paper.

“Okay. I think you’re good for today.”

Billy swallowed and started easing his arms back into his jacket sleeves before deciding against it. Too warm.

“When do you want me back?”

“I can have your waistcoat done as early as this weekend. I’d suggest picking out a shirt or two, and then come in ready to try those on with the vest. My appointment calendar is out front.”

Billy led the way this time to the shopfront, but lingered behind the counter beside Steve. The latter withdrew a large calendar meant to be hung up on a wall, but Billy watched his name get written in ink, and paid the consultation deposit.

Come the weekend, he arrived alone.

Steve poked his head out of the studio when the bell chimed on the door. “Hey! Can you wait a few minutes? I’m just finishing up.”

Billy did, and smiled kindly at the prior client leaving. Or rather, clients.

Billy walked right into the studio after the shop door twittered closed and found Steve putting away the materials for the mother and daughter. Billy teased, “Princess gown for a birthday or something?”

Steve glanced at him and corrected, “Ballet apparel. Activewear is not a regular commission for me, but when your kid is allergic to every kind of plastic out there, you need to have a hookup for natural fibers with stretch. Do you have a shirt picked out?”

Billy lifted the pair of shirts in his hand, still ironed and folded perfectly so he looked like a waiter holding a tray. Steve moved a sapphire velvet curtain that revealed a closet or butler’s pantry that had been renovated into a changing room. “Take your time, and here’s your vest. Be gentle. I haven’t finished the seams.”

Steve’s words petered off as he watched Billy’s mouth part at the sight of the vest. It was small, simple, but the little curve of relief and intrigue on his features seemed...genuine. More genuine than how Billy walked with a meticulous, conscious gait. In high school it had been all hauteur and bravado. Now it was quiet and controlled; the difference between a wild cat running versus walking.

The curtain shut behind him and Steve allowed himself his own smile of fascinated relief. Steve Harrington and Billy Hargrove were known for not getting along. Meeting by chance now, years later, was...nice. Whatever had happened and changed in Billy’s life seemed to be doing him much better than the shit show of high school. Steve could hardly fault him with his own home life circumstances.

Yes, it helped to have a client who was extremely attractive. Steve used to despise Billy all the more for being handsome and knowing it, but now he made a note in Billy’s client papers to later ask if he’d let a photographer get some shots for Steve’s portfolio. It would be nice to show clients his own work as often as the magazines.

And he really hated making suits, so he didn’t have many of those to show off.

“Steve,” he heard a second before the brass hoops scraped with the curtain opening. He came around to see Billy in the shirt and vest, cuffs and collar wide open. Between the white front and the vampire sunset on the back, Billy looked like an ember in a smithy fire.

Steve put his hands on his hips and smiled. “What do you think?”

Billy rotated to see himself in the massive mirror again. “I like it. But not this strap.”

He reached behind him to touch the adjustable strap behind his waist. Steve offered, “Do you want it perfectly tailored to you? I can do that, but the fittings might take longer.”

“That’s fine. Should I take this off?”

“Nope. Just stand still.”

Steve reached for something on one of the tables and set a magnet covered in pins beside them before turning Billy all the way around by the shoulders. With the reflection at his disposal, Billy heard and watched Steve seam rip the back of the waistcoat. The strap and buckle landed on the table, tossed aside. Steve pulled a white pencil from behind his ear and marked things Billy couldn’t see.

Every so often, Steve peeked up to also use the mirror. Billy felt the fabric cinch around his waist during these time, like Steve wanted to make sure it looked right from the front.

Billy blinked out of a reverie when Steve’s arms wrapped around his front to undo the buttons. “Gently. You’re full of pins back here.”

Billy let him ease the vest off his shoulders and stepped out of it. Steve laid it carefully on the table and asked, “I have a mockup started of your jacket. Do you want to try it? It’s still rough.”

“I’ll try it.”

It certainly was rough. Billy felt like he was wearing painter’s canvas, and it did not have the lapels yet, but the silhouette looked right.

By that point, the bell on the door chimed and Steve ushered, “Take your time changing. I’ll be right back.”

But Steve didn’t come back.

Billy switched back into his comfortable clothes and emerged upon Steve laughing and chatting with his girlfriend. She cocked her hip, weight bouncing to one side when she saw him. “There you are. How’s it going?”

Steve slouched with his elbows on the calendar. Billy heard himself reply, “Good. Real good. What do I owe you?”

Steve shook his head and reached for a pen. “Just fitting appointments till it’s done.”

Billy looked at the calendar and pointed to an available date while he asked, “Did the fabric get here?”

Steve wrote his name and answered, “It should be here a couple of days before I see you again. You’ll be able to try on the vest and pants.”

Billy went around the counter and opened his arm for the woman to step against his body. “Till next time, Steve.”

However, the next time Billy walked into the shop, he immediately gripped the bell to make it quiet.

Arguing.

He knew the tone without hearing the words, so he carefully shut the shopfront and tread close to the studio door.

“...such a prick - ”

“I’m not a prick for wanting to see you.”

“And the fact that I got a shipment in this week is just a happy coincidence,” Steve scoffed. “Get the hell out.”

“No. We’re going to talk about this. About us.”

“Us? Us being how you got in my pants just to steal from my shop? Or how you’re due for a restraining order for spying on my packages?”

“I’m not spying - !”

A man. Steve was arguing with a man.

A man whose head whipped around when Billy stepped into the room. Then he had the gall to hiss at Steve, “Who’s this?”

“My client, jackass - ”

Billy’s hand gripped the front of Steve’s sweater as he stepped in between them, moving Steve behind him. Half of his mind stayed on Steve’s hands gripping him in return, but Billy was still stronger than him.

The man exclaimed, “I ought to call the police on you, handling a person like that!”

Billy replied, deadpan, “The police go where the money is. I can have a restraining order faster than it would take a judge to write it. Get lost and stay lost.” He turned his head, implying his next words were for Steve. “Does this place have security?”

“Infrared cameras. Finally,” Steve breathed, and there it was. The man’s face paled a second before he clenched his jaw and threw his weight into eager steps to get the hell out of there. Billy rotated in time to see the way Steve grimaced at the audibly rough handling of his shop door and bell.

He rubbed his face, dislodging his glasses as he said, “I’m sorry you had to walk in on that.”

“I didn’t know you wear glasses.”

Often, clearly, by the unconscious, practiced way Steve readjusted them with a simple push. The golden metal frames suited him.

“Aging,” he tried to say with humor but added, “My vision goes when I’m tired. Long days get glasses. And your fabric is expensive, but I guarded it with my life. I already put your vest and trousers in the dressing room.”

“Do you really have security footage?”

Steve had trouble steeling his features. Between work fatigue and the extremely recent encounter - Into Steve’s pants, huh? - Steve nodded almost sadly. “Yeah, but I haven’t looked at it yet.”

“Well when you do, send me the files.”

“Billy - ”

“Steve,” he finished, twirling around to shut the dressing room curtain behind him with a benevolent glare.

The pants were unfinished, but they looked good and the waistcoat shined just how he wanted. Billy opened the curtain for Steve to take a look, and got immediately met with, “Wait! You’re barefoot, stay in there. There’s always a needle hiding out here.”

So Billy stood in front of the mirror on a pillowed stool Steve brought in, and the latter sat on the floor. With his magnetic bowl of needles beside his hip, Steve took his time hemming the trouser legs. They didn’t say much. Then again, they didn’t need to. But Billy felt the difference between Steve professionally moving around one ankle with as little touch as possible, and then wearing down to lean his knuckles against Billy’s skin.

Steve looked up at him in the mirror’s reflection. “How’s that? You can take some steps if you need to.”

Billy did, and even slipped into his shoes to get a better idea of how the legs hung. “Half a centimeter higher.”

Shoes off, he stepped back onto the stool. Steve scooted around him again, measuring the first needle adjustment and then working by memory.

Billy didn’t need the higher hem. But he didn’t want to leave, and heard himself ask, “Beyond cameras, what’s your security?”

“It’s not your job to worry about me,” Steve groaned at his feet.

“An asshole knowing where you sleep warrants new locks.”

“Thank you. Billy,” Steve finished flatly.

“I meant it about the footage.”

“You’ll get it. Even though I don’t know how you’ll swing a restraining order for me.”

Billy stood quietly for a moment. Then, “I have experience getting them for people.”

He watched in the mirror as Steve peeked up at him and said, “I’m sorry.”

Billy frowned at himself. “What are you apologizing for?”

“Nothing specific. Just life’s bullshit. You’re done.”

He stood up and stretched his lumbar while Billy felt out the hems. “What do I have, a week or two before your event?”

“Two,” Billy confirmed as Steve left the dressing room and closed the curtain for him to change.

“Okay. I’ll have your jacket ready for your next fitting.”

Like Cinderella hearing the clock strike, Billy heard the shopfront bell, and Steve’s subsequent footsteps to meet his next client.

Billy grit his jaw, wanting...something. But Steve passed by the curtain and out of the room. Billy changed clothes, leaving the items on a sewing table. And while Steve wrote his next appointment, Billy slipped Steve’s hair behind his ear.

Dark eyes blinked and lifted to blue ones, but not angrily. Vacant. Puzzled. Receptive.

Billy held his gaze as he rounded the counter, and then left.

Steve had his business card on file, but only used the email on it to send the security camera footage.

Except, for a phone call. Billy held his breath when he answered, listening to Steve’s voice ask for confirmation that he could still make his appointment the next day. Steve had never called for a confirmation before. Billy gripped his phone, ear searching Steve’s voice while he reassured, “You’ve got me locked in.”

A pause.

A pause? Billy couldn’t be sure. He just knew -

You seemed to know what you liked, so...find stuff you like.

- he liked. He wanted.

“Okay. See you tomorrow,” Steve finished. Billy pressed the corner of his phone against his lips, wanting to have heard frustration or even nerves in Steve’s voice. He was certain he did. He wasn’t certain of anything.

Billy knocked on the doorjamb of the studio the following afternoon, but was not greeted immediately. In the late afternoon, Steve had turned on warm lights to give the storefront an almost fairytale ambiance, in which he noticed the calendar was still on the counter. He read how the appointment after Billy had been marked out with an arrow pointing to its rescheduled date. Billy was the last appointment of the day.

“Hey,” Steve greeted breathily, like he had rushed from somewhere. Billy stepped through to the studio, and Steve waved the jacket in the air like a tablecloth. “The lining’s not in there yet but give it a shot.”

Billy took it while observing the disarray of the room. Steve was certainly in the middle of several projects at once. A clothesline hung alongside the far wall, hanging with fabric, pieces in various stages of completion, and ribbons. The iron stood on the table with Billy’s lining silk, no doubt awaiting to be cut. His hands moved over his jacket, still warm but fading from its time with the iron.

“Take your time. Make sure it’s right,” Steve prompted, running his hands through his hair. Billy’s lips parted. With the clothesline blocking out what natural light remained in the day, and all the warm lighting making up for it, it felt much later than it was.

Billy closed the curtain and scrubbed a hand over his face. He dressed in his semi-finished tuxedo while listening to the soft hiss of steam from the iron. When he stepped out, he walked quietly up to Steve ironing and pining stencils to the silk. Billy let his body line up flush with Steve’s, leg knocking his congenially.

Steve looked at him, before dropping his gaze to the suit. “How is it?”

“Good,” Billy purred, eyes roaming over Steve’s work table. He felt interested and...oddly at peace in Steve’s creative space. “Better than good. The invitation implied I’d have to wear one of those starched dickey things. I’d rather drive my Camaro off a cliff.”

Steve smiled but asked, “You still have that car?”

Billy pointed a very Billy look at him. “Of course I still have that car.”

Steve’s eyes flicked up behind his glasses, rolling briefly. “Right. You’re still the same Hargrove. Take a lap, feel it out. Sit down and stuff. Make sure it does everything you need it to do.”

So he did. Billy wandered the studio, feeling every fabric along the way. He sat at one of the stools and tested the groin by opening and closing his knees. He swung his arms around. He watched Steve cut the panels for his jacket lining. And write directly on the fabric with his tailors’ pencils. Eventually Billy realized, “Is that my fabric? I thought I had flowers.”

Steve turned one of the pieces over, revealing said flowers. “Some fabrics have two sides. You iron silk on the back side.”

“I don’t think I’ve ironed a thing in my life.”

A small smile curved on Steve’s face without looking at him. “I didn’t either. Until I realized it calmed me down. Is the suit okay?”

Billy nodded and stood up. “It will be once the lining is done. When will that be?”

Steve followed him to the dressing room, but Billy noted how Steve’s head tilted like a bird, observing how the fabric move over the back of him. Then he reached for the curtain to close it for Billy; the same time Billy lifted an elbow high up to say, “I think there’s a needle in here. It’s been poking me.”

“What?” Steve blurted, alarmed. He stepped close to hold the fabric off of Billy’s pit and ribs -

Billy’s arm draped over him, hand on the back of Steve’s hair making him look up just in time for Billy’s lips to touch his own.

Soft. A test. As quickly as Steve instinctively kissed back, he jabbed, “You smooth shit - ”

He’d kissed back.

Billy turned fully to him as his hands pushed into Steve’s hair, cradling his head. Billy kept his lips soft, wanting to feel Steve’s mouth. But as soon as he sealed their mouths, he parted to tilt his head. Another angle. More.

Steve hummed a little, surprised sound, and then a louder one as Billy pulled him through the curtain into the dressing room. Air rushed out of him when Billy pressed him to the wall, hands moving down to Steve’s waist -

It wasn’t the soft flesh Billy wanted. He lifted his lips to stare down at Steve’s abdomen curved flush against him before outright yanking the button-up out of his jeans. He heard Steve’s wet swallow and hot blue eyes met shaded brown ones. “Is this a corset?”

“A back brace,” Steve croaked.

“It’s too pretty to be a back brace,” Billy purred. Warned. He thumbed at the silken, honey fabric wrapping, admittedly, only around Steve’s waist and lumbar. But it was pretty, and Billy began slipping those buttons free to see more -

One of Steve’s hands moved to Billy’s chest. “We should - ”

Billy kissed him, cutting off his words and yanking his pelvis forward so Billy’s arm could hook behind his back.

“ - shouldn’t. Billy - hahmm...”

Steve tasted Billy’s tongue, and he was lost. His arms went around Billy’s neck, clutching him tightly as the tip of that tongue teased Steve’s lips open and fucked his mouth. Steve’s leg wrapped around Billy without him realizing, but Billy pressed himself into Steve, causing the latter to detach with a gasp and a strangled sound when Billy rutted against him.

“Ahh! Fuck, ow, my jeans - ”

Billy all but ripped the jeans closure open, zipper grating open before he left it to attend to Steve’s shirts again. The damned outer button-up and the t-shirt underneath the brace - Billy threw one to the floor and yanked on the other till it was free and it went too. He wanted to leave that silk on Steve’s skin. Wanted to see Steve chest and nipples, and got it.

“On the floor. Lie down. Steve...”

It wasn’t graceful, but they made it to the floor with Steve kicking off his jeans and Billy shoving his boxer briefs halfway down his thighs until Steve got at least one leg free. Steve’s hands slipped between them to open Billy’s newly made trousers while hard and soft kisses alike drew whines and moans from Steve’s throat.

When the velvet of Billy’s erection touched Steve’s, Billy ate Steve’s shuddering moan directly from his lips. In the humid space, Billy’s hand tipped a finger into Steve’s mouth, gathering spit at the risk of unready teeth scraping over his digit joints. A line of glistening spit followed him out, making Billy wonder if Steve was a drooler. His cock only kicked at the thought, making him throb with need.

Steve panted as the finger found his ass and nudged inside. He haphazardly removed his glasses from his face, now too heavy. He tossed them somewhere as Billy worked on his ass.

“Ah! Easy,” Steve warned, taking Billy in hand to hopefully calm him down. Make him patient. Or resigned. “We don’t have lube - ”

“Steve,” Billy hushed, and continued his turmoil over Steve’ throat. Steve stroked him, firm but slow as Steve dripped more pre than he’d like to admit from the sounds Billy made. Guttural, breathy moans deep from his chest that stirred Steve’s brain like a stew. His breath hitched at the second finger inside of him.

“Spit in my hand.”

Steve’s head turned, either confused or incredulous at the waiting palm. In the deliriousness of the moment, he did, only to blurt a disgusted laugh at Billy adding own right to it. His giddiness flowed right into, “That’s not gonna work,” but as he watched Billy slick himself up, Steve knew they were close. His own erection bobbed with his heartbeat, glistening with pre and just the thought of having Billy’s mouth on him made a pearly bead slip out of his hole...

Steve heard it like it was a thousand miles away.

The bell on his door.

Billy matched his cockhead with Steve’s entrance the same time the latter clenched his arms. “Billy!” he breathed. “Wait. Someone’s here.”

To Billy’s credit, he did. His head turned a little to better hear a familiar voice call, “Steve? Billy!”

In the sudden quiet, their breaths were loud. So were her footsteps drawing nearer. Both Steve and Billy made their breathing quiet when they heard the creak on the jamb separating studio from shopfront. “Steve?”

Steve’s grip tightened on Billy. The curtain was closed. Mostly. Anyone looking through the cracks would see. See Steve with his legs folded up and around Billy. His underwear hanging off one leg and Billy’s slacks pushed halfway down his ass...

Billy! Steve mouthed as the head of his cock slid inside. Even the scratch of textile was loud. All Steve could do was control his breathing and hope that the rustle of his hair on the floor wasn’t a siren screaming behind the curtain. He grimaced at the hot push of Billy inside; felt Billy’s breath follow the line of the engorged vein in his throat.

The doorjamb creaked again with the press of a foot stepping out of the studio. Billy failed to keep his voice in when he sighed upon bottoming out. Like a trip wire had been cut, he started to move. Short thrusts due to their lack of lube, but their mutual, Hahh, ah! Ah!, brought them to clumsy, hard, finishes.

A little huff of shock came out of Steve when Billy pressed their noses together. Everything felt too stuffy, all of him molten. Warmth and relief after pleasure, and utterly terrified. Steve felt the choice to languish in afterglow or to push Billy off of him.

He chose the latter, looking down and sighing at the miracle that was his cum on his own front instead of Billy’s new clothes. The latter landed on his side but rolled close to him, nose in Steve’s hair until Steve sat up.

“Get dressed. She’s probably waiting in the front.”

“She probably left,” Billy refuted, but Steve already snapped his boxer brief waistband into place. Billy stood with him, thinking of the loft upstairs. “Let me clean you up - ”

“Steve?” they heard again.

Billy loathed how fast Steve got dressed. Jeans and t-shirt on, he left in a breeze to distract the woman and apologize for taking so long. Billy heard some bullshit about him being in the bathroom, he’ll be down soon, etc. etc...

“I’ll have your suit delivered as soon as it’s done,” Steve promised when he emerged from the studio.

Billy’s features hardened. “There’s time for another fitting.”

“It’ll be ready,” Steve shook his head. “It’s up to you to know how to tie a bowtie, though.”

The woman laughed, hooking her arm through Billy’s after he paid. Steve did it all stoically, like he didn’t have Billy’s cum soaking into his underwear, nor that Billy’s sex smell had been left behind in the dressing room and his soon-to-be-finished tux.

“Thank you so much, Steve,” she said as they parted.

“Have a good night,” he returned, not looking at either of them. Billy felt like he’d left his body in that dressing room. When his girlfriend asked why he wasn’t listening to her, he excused himself for not feeling well.

Steve closed the shop early. He sat on the floor of his shower, hands over his mouth, wrestling with abject horror and molten feelings still lingering in his bones. The longer the water took to wash through him, the more he felt better...

Until he picked up the garments Billy had left on one of his tables. Lifted them to his face the way he had after every single fitting. Breathing him in...this time smelling more. Christ, Billy had always smelled good. Cleaned up nicely. His aroma had evolved but he still smelled like a man in the best way.

With heavy eyes, Steve scratched out the note about a photographer in Billy’s customer notes. Steve would never survive a photoshoot. He’d finish the ensemble, send it to Billy’s residence or office, and -

Today would be the last time Steve ever saw him. Saw them. Partner, she’d said. Billy had never said anything.

Before his sanity either exploded or abandoned ship, Steve vacuumed the dressing room and studio. Then he took the jacket and lining pieces upstairs to hand sew the thing while something mind-numbing played on television.

He ironed it a final time.

Tried it on himself. The jacket was loose on him. Billy’d always had more meat on his bones, but their frames were similar. Steve sewed in his tag, like an artist’s signature, and then arranged the ensemble in the hangers of the traveling bag.

He felt...sad, seeing the delivery man walk out of the shop with it. This hadn’t happened since he’d first started taking commissions. Like he didn’t trust his own patrons with the clothes he made. Now, he usually felt good to get a thing of labor out of his shop and pay his bills. But...every now and then...something hurt. Like Steve had accidentally sewn a piece of himself into the material. Another fragment of his soul, gone. He didn’t know how many he had left.

Billy got the email informing him of the impending delivery. His personal assistant caught it, tipped the delivery person, and unzipped it to see for herself. She whistled. “Nothing like a crisp, custom designed suit. Armani couldn’t do this for you?”

Billy didn’t respond. He gazed at the email from Steve’s shop the way he had been over the last hour.

“Uh oh.”

Billy grunted an acknowledging sound before her tone properly filtered through his mind. “Uh oh?”

“You know what, uh oh. Do me a favor and don’t trade mark your Uh Oh.”

His lips parted, frowning bluntly at her warning yet amused glare before she hung up the traveling bag behind his desk and strolled out of his office. “And don’t be late.”

Billy swiveled his neck for a stretch, deeply considering how worthwhile it would be to go all the way down his building for a cigarette. Should’ve invested in a place with balconies.

But he didn’t leave his office. He wanted to remember the touch of Steve’s lips, even though it had already faded to memory in the days since their...

Incident? Billy didn’t like that word. A connotation that they had done something wrong. Billy felt a fire in the back of his heart, lit with craving and only burning brighter now with fuel. Now that he knew how Steve tasted, how he sounded. Knew Steve’s softness and his heat...

He wasn’t late. Hair combed into place, face clean shaven, and all of the silk linings of his suit sliding home around his body, he was ready for the evening of costumed networking. He picked up his...date...and they met his personal assistant there.

Billy smiled, conversed, and shook hands without any of it reaching his eyes. His assistant traded business cards with other assistants and secretaries while Billy politely excused himself more and more to go to the open bar without actually ordering anything.

A deep inhalation and sigh brought his attention to his personal assistant. “Am I done yet?”

“Nope. You’re not being as discrete as you hope you are.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Then cut whatever ties you need and let’s get this show moving.”

“That involves me leaving.”

“Then scram.”

He paused and peered at her. She raised her brows with a shake of her head. “Take your date home, at least, you ass. Make a scene on her porch, not here.”

And that he did. Billy had never had finesse when it came to getting out of a relationship, only into them.

With a searing handprint on his cheek and the roar of his engine, Billy felt angry, light, and burning.

He parked in front of Steve’s boutique. He stood out of his car and gazed up at the illuminated windows of the loft while he threw his tie on the seat and locked his car. Since it was his home and business, Billy assaulted the doorbell encased in brass beside the doors. The windows in the doors had curtains, closed against Billy being able to see Steve arrive in pajama shorts, a t-shirt, and his glasses until he whisked one of the doors open.

“What?” he barked, “What? What, dipshi - ”

Billy stepped so far into his space that his chest bumped Steve backward apart from his hand catching Steve’s nape.

“Mm - ” he grunted as Billy walked him backwards and kicked the door shut. “No - ”

“Steve,” Billy exhaled. Demanded. Begged.

“Billy, no,” Steve whined.

Billy’s fingers splayed over Steve’s cheek, thumb on his chin as he said over those lips, “I told you: you’ve got me locked in.”

Steve’s eyes gazed at him, heavy lidded as he shook his head a little. “What does that mean?”

Billy licked Steve’s lips, making him tremble. But Billy’s other arm came around his back, holding him steady and feeling soft muscle through his shirt. “It means take me upstairs. Please.”

A little breath moved out of Steve. It was the only amount of time Billy waited. He claimed Steve’s mouth, and moaned when Steve melted into him. Billy felt held when Steve’s hands found his nape, caressed through the hair behind his ears and head.

Steve did have lube upstairs. Billy filled his sheets with everything he could; his fragrance and their mutual lust. He took every touch and kiss Steve gave him through the alley of undone buttons before he finally mounted Billy. Barely unwrapped while Steve rode him naked.

After he properly undressed, he took Steve again on his stomach, lying atop pillows for comfort and access while no moans or cries went silenced or hindered. Steve came, sweet and trembling with Billy’s nose and words in his hair.

Billy missed the mirror downstairs. But they had time for that.

[starrygreaternaiad]

william on the brain so i present to you: The William Crane Post

first off, the fact that he pays such a key role in the story yet gets 0 screen time is fascinating to me. hell, I remember the old days of him not even having a name. anyway it’s interesting because he is Roland’s reason for a lot of things! If Roland wasn’t A Dad(tm) I doubt he would have been so attached to Evan, and nnk2 would look incredibly different without the dead son-dead dad dynamic Roland and Evan have going on. this is sort of a side note but Evan gets to resolve his dead dad issues in game while Roland and William get dlc a year later I. think that them working over their issues should have been in the main game they deserved that much. okay tangent over I digress.

part two, William is cool because his issues are realistic! nnk is full of epic fantasy backstories which are awesome to read about but highly unrelatable. I mean, I sincerely doubt that any of us are Kings removed from our thrones by someone we trusted. but my boy Will, on the other hand - he struggles with an illness that keeps him from living a normal life. on top of that, his dad is distant and often busy with work, leaving him lonely. I am willing to bet a whole lot of money that most people can relate to him a lot more. anyway it’s actually incredibly important for media to have this. so Will should have had a bigger role in game actually. He is also extremely ominous and all round the funniest character and I did not cry at his memory lane absolutely not zero tears were shed. ahem.

three! this is just my funny little theory actually. William and Ferdinand are soulmates and I WILL die on this hill. they are quite similar as we see in cannon, and they play the same role - son of the leader who united the world, who struggles with Issues from that. the theory part is that I think William being bedridden is linked to Ferdinand in a Timeless Tome - while Ferdinand is trapped in his dreams, his soulmate is trapped in the hospital. it explains why no matter how much they try Will’s illness hasn’t been treated yet. also. I think it would be neat and nnk2 needed more than one soulmate pair. 

not an analysis or theory but all I want in life is a nnk game where Will is the protagonist and Ferdinand’s also there. I think they deserve it. Show us what happens before Ferdinand's crowing, cowards.

[peralta-guaranteed]

can you write something base on this incorrect quote? https://burnonyou.tumblr.com (stealing anons idea)

Amy's questioning "Babe?" called into the dark, but definitely populated apartment (the randomly thrown shoes and leather jacket over the dining chair are a dead give away) is only answered by a deep groan from the bedroom, one that sounds muffled through pillows, so she's not surprised when she finds Jake face-down on the mattress.

What's confusing is that he's still fully dressed, and clearly not trying to get to sleep, his hands balling up the blanket underneath him in frustration as he barely lifts his head when she sits down next to him and starts sifting through his curls.

"What happened?" Amy asks, and he lets out another groan.

"I am the most embarassing person in the world."

"Sometimes, yes." She smiles, because she can tell despite all the signs that this isn't as much of an episode as it seems. She knows him by now - knows how to read his overplayed shock and drama from the actual hurt and sorrow he hides so well. "What did you do?"

"I ran into Holt at the coffee shop, and he was reading this book, and I recognised it from your nightstand, so I asked him about it." Jake still mumbles into the pillow, and Amy almost forgets to listen as she feels a jolt of excitement about the knowledge that she and the Captain are currently delving deep into the same philosophical treatise she's been devouring after work.

"That doesn't sound embarassing."

"No, but he was like, really getting into it. I thought I'd get a short comment with five words I don't understand like always, but he started explaining it and talking about the last chapter and stuff, and then I was sitting down with him with my coffee and he just kept talking."

"Babe, that all sounds nice." Amy busies herself with one of Jake's longer curls, ignoring the tiniest bit of jealousy that Jake got Holt to 'geek out' over a book she herself was reading, but she could remedy that easily by mentioning it during their next meeting or something. She'd get her moment too.

"It was. It was really nice. We had, like, a whole moment. I kinda got into the book too. Because he liked it so much. It was cool."

Jake sighs, deeply, and Amy feels him tense under her hand.

"And then I called him dad."

"You've done that before, it's not that bad. I think he finds it more funny than embarassing."

"No, but this was different." Jake finally turns around, curls into a little ball as he presses his face against her thigh, and she resumes scratching along his temple down to his neck. "It was like, really personal. Way too much. Like, there was this moment, and then I went and did the stupid emotional baggage thing, and it ruined it all."

Amy can only smile as she imagines her Golden Retriever boyfriend in all his excited, tail-wagging happiness intently listening to Holt explaining something, getting sucked into the story as much as he always does when someone is really passionate about something. She sees them in that coffee shop she knows so well - Holt always sits in the same corner, too - talking and nodding and spurning each other on, and something tells her that there's nothing embarassing or moment-ruining about Jake's word association blunder. Not that it really was one - the few ‘Dad’s that have escaped him before where more mindless than anything, but she knows well enough that they were all meant with the same feeling, even if Jake wouldn’t be too happy to admit it to himself or anyone else.

"I really don't think you messed up, Jake." She tries to gently calm him. "It sounds like it fit the moment, anyway."

Jake only groans again as he presses his face even harder against her jeans.

-*-

“Raymond?” Kevin asks with hesitation, having found no trace of his husband in the kitchen or the dining room, where he’d usually expect to find him at this hour of the evening. But he’s been enarmored with the book he’d recommended to him a week ago, and so it is not quite as surprising to find him in the reading room. What is surprising is that he is not reading, the mentioned tome lying on the desk beside him instead, Cheddar at his feet, and his face in a clear state of a very hard to read emotion.

“Are you alright?”

Holt’s initial reaction is to apologise, as he is won’t to do when he’s bothering someone with an emotional outburst, until he remembers that he’s facing his husband, the only person in the world who he’s not ashamed to be emotional in front of, so he only shakes his head.

“I am afraid you will find me quite a mess tonight, Kevin.”

“What happened?” Kevin kneels down to pet Cheddar, who has dutifully trodded over to him for greetings, but not taking his eyes off of Holt, who sighs.

“Peralta met me at the coffee shop today, during my usual after work coffee break before the drive home.”

“He didn’t upset you, did he?”

“No.” Holt shakes his head, then leans it against his palm, a thinking pose that is rare to see and never fails to incite just the lightest spark of desire in Kevin when he gets to witness his partner so vulnerable and attractive at the same time. “Quite the opposite. He asked me about the book you recommended.”

“He’s surely not reading it.”

“No, it seems that Santiago is.”

“Ah.” Kevin nods as he gets up again, Cheddar returning to his seat at Holt’s slippered feet. That makes far more sense - he’d thought it might interest the young detective, actually, and had been thinking about sending her a message about the book, but then considered that their relationship was not yet at the level where one could simply leave reading recommendations in the other’s email inbox.

“I tried to summarise the book for him in a way he would understand, too, but then-” Holt shakes his head with a huff, almost a smile, and Kevin can’t resist stepping closer to the chair until he can lean against its armrest. “I- I simply lost control, and began talking about it without pause. It is a wonderful read, really. Even Peralta seemed interested - despite my treatise being longer than ten minutes, it kept his attention span.”

“That’s remarkable.” Kevin scoffs only a little, still teetering on his like or dislike of the young man.

“It really was. It felt quite - connecting, in a way. I think people would describe it as ‘being a moment’ between us, if you understand.”

He nods, silently, because he can tell that the big reveal is yet to come, the story of emotions across Holt’s face moving to the finish line - his husband is a wonderful storyteller, but sometimes he does push the act to its limits.

“And then Peralta got lost in his reply to me, as well, and called me Dad.” Holt says in a much quieter voice than before, and Kevin can tell from the slight quiver of his lip that he’s fighting back tears.

“You’ve mentioned him calling you that before.” He tries to be gentle, to not upset him any further, knowing full well that those mentioned situations meant more to Holt than maybe he himself was willing to admit yet.

“Yes, but not- I think not in this way.” Holt presses a finger to his lips for a second, as if he’s searching for the right words. “Usually, it seems more like he is forgetting himself when he says it, simply substituting me as an authoritative person for a father figure. But this time, it felt quite... emotional. Like I had been bestowed the title properly.”

Kevin’s hand finds the top of his, laying flat on the armrest between them, and gives it a soft squeeze, barely appropriate now that they’re alone in their own home.

“He looks up to you, Raymond. I wouldn’t be surprised to know that you’ve gained that title quite a while ago.”

He feels his husband take in a sharp breath, and lets go of his hand immediately.

“And I think you’d suit the title quite well, too. For Jake.”

[ccborrega]

What's wrong with the Twilight Princess manga? (Genuinely curious because I often hear it's good)

No, I mean, it's good! What I've read isn't really terrible (And take in account that because they aren't selling it here just yet, I've only read what I've been able to find online.) This is most likely about me putting something in the tags about how most fans ignore it, referring specifically to Link's backstory, but like...Bruh I'm biased, don't pay mind to my rambles XD

...

*rambles anyway.

I mean, it IS good. I like it enough that I want to buy the whole thing once it's completed, available in my country (In english because the spanish names are a fucking joke) and have enough money that I don't regret buying like 12 tomes that are like 120 pesos each. It brought some ideas that are gold, such as Luda and Shad coming with Link in the adventure for a short time, Midna helping Link beat the Gorons in sumo (Though it does sacrifice one of the most hilarious parts of lore of the game.) and the questionability of Hyrule's attitude towards anything that isn't 'Pure' or 'Bright'. I just disagree with a lot of the choices made in it.

Link's backstory. I had thought it to be a matter of personal taste at first, where I saw him as someone who maybe came from outside but grew in Ordon and was just getting stupidly offended over differing opinions, but as it turns out I just didn't remember why I'd had that idea for years now. Ilia mentions having been kids together with Link, and hilarious as the thought that she's referring to one year prior to events in the game is, it most likely means he's been there for years. Honestly? My impression is they wanted Link to not have too deep a tie to Ordon for whatever reason, and I Hate That. I'm certain I'm not the only one to say 'That's bullshit' and just go with something else there, which is why I say most of us ignore it anyway.

They highkey stole an arc from Hyrule Warrior Legends. Though tbf they also put a very blatant 'Empire Strikes back' moment in there and as much as it annoyed me... it was pretty cool. Still, this is the one game where Shadow Link had no business to be and they put it in there for an entire fucking arc.

Twilight Princess' cast is fucking HUGE why on Hylia's green earth are you putting OCs in there??? It's not even like they're filling a role no one else could have had! They've done it before in their previous Zelda works, and other manga adaptations have as well, but I like most of them because they had something to bring to the table (Even if it was romantic drama, in Ganthy's case.) here it's little to nothing they can contribute with that couldn't have been done by putting an already existing character there. It may be my theatre brain speaking but it bothers me when you have a huge cast and do NOTHING with it and instead bring out another character out of NOWHERE to get things done. Just use what's already there, damn you!

Zelda and Midna's backstory. Hear me out... I love it... but it doesn't work. I've spoken before about how much it annoyed me when the narrative had Zelda and Link respectively blame themselves for the invasion (Even though the guy invading is RIGHT THERE???!?!) for having 'Touched' the dark and made it so it could invade their world, and that's part of it. The other is: Having Zelda sacrifice for Midna not because it was the right thing to do, not because it's the one thing she can do for her people, for the Twili, for Link and Midna herself, and instead making it 'You're my childhood inter-dimensional pen pal, I just realized, welp, time to die.' kind of cheapens the impact it had on Midna in the game and what it says about Zelda as a character (We barely get anything on her in the game, but what we do get is powerful.) It's beautiful, but it misses the point completely.

Also Midna just randomly showing up in Link's dreams in her true form is stupid. YEAH, I SAID IT! I get it they're probably thinking 'Well, what's the point in building up anticipation? You know this is what she looks like already.' but one of the reasons the ship is so heart-wrenchingly good is Link knew her inside and out despite her warped shape. In the end, it didn't matter what she looked like so long as it was her. Link fell in love with her gremlin ass transformation AND THAT IS PERFECT OK??? Imagine like if on 'Beauty and the Beast' Belle just randomly kept meeting the prince in dreams, like they're waving a carrot in front of her to get things done with so she can smooch that freaky Habsburg mug. It's fucking awkward! (And it sort of cheapens their actual chemistry, it feels a lot like 'Oh, he has to see she's hot or it wouldn't be believable that he fell in love.' Get outta here with that.)

Shad.

OK, fine, I'll elaborate. Shad has a dialogue in-game about following up on his dad's life work, it is also implied that he's passed away. What does the manga do? Ignore all that and make it so Shad's dad is a 'Serious' investigator who disapproves of his son's interests. 'Shut up dad! It's not a phase dad! You go clean your room, dad!'. Why? No reason. It's not even interesting!

Shad is the friendliest fucking guy ever, rambling to Link about his hyperfixation on first meeting. Calls him 'Old sport' and stuff like that, seemingly befriends him immediately. What'd the manga decide to do with him? They're RIVALSSSS, and snarky to one another because Shad may or may not have a little crush on Ilia. UGH.

Look, you can't be a real Resistance if the members can't even look after themselves, so making Shad kind of a loser (Because he's a nerd. Hahah. Get it? Nerds are losers.) really took the piss out of the Resistance, tbh. Might have been the point, though, seeing how they needed to make space for their OCs in the final battle at Hyrule Castle... and, look, I've said this before but if you need to make a character look horribly bad for no other purpose than making another look more competent, you're not half as good a writer as you think you are. Link didn't need Shad to look pathetic to look more heoric, that's just sad.

Also take one look at that guy and tell me he doesn't drink his respecting women juice every damn morning and sometimes for dinner... well, in the manga, he's apparently kind of a leecher.

Srsly how is he friends with Ashei if he's kind of a leecher, she'd break his fingers.

There's probably more but I really don't want to come off like I'm trying to discourage people from reading it because I'm not! Like I said, it's a good manga! It has some pretty neat battle sequences, it makes Hyrule feel MASSIVE, it has some pretty horrifying moments that make the stakes feel more real, it takes things that are a certain way in the game for the sake of the mechanics and tries to make them more organic (In the specific case of Ilia's memory, it succeeds.) and Akira Himekawa never fails to make Zelda and every female character look gorgeous. It's just not great in terms of being an adaptation, but that's not necessarily a terrible thing, it just depends on taste. Still, specifically where Link's backstory concerns... I think most fans just ignore it because, really, it doesn't make sense.

[mobblespsycho100]

Thank u for showing interest in this guys /gen @agendercryptidlev @doublebubbletriplethreat @evilsciencedotcom

ok its a little. long so i'll put it in a read more

Evidence #1: The series literally starts off with him mocking a romantic couple and not taking them that seriously as his clients and also he was constantly just making fun of their aesthetic appeal (their. their looks). It's clear that he doesn't see their relationship seriously.

Evidence #2: Although not all aromantic people are aplatonic, Reigen seems to be aplatonic in a way that he doesn't actively seek for platonic relationships and bonds with others out of genuine "wanting to know someone else more and be friends with them" and instead is more focused on his own work. Even his mentor-student relationship with Mob started out with Mob being the one to actively seek someone to help him with controlling his powers better. Reigen doesn't go around looking for people to befriend, but instead he just kind of knows Mob's friends Through Mob. Even Serizawa who he recruited was mainly cuz Serizawa protected him first. This is literally a big part of the Seperation Arc, Reigen was always way too focused on becoming someone great that he rarely paid attention to other people as potential friends unless the relationship has some kind of potential benefit for him. This doesn't mean he doesn't care about his relationships with others of course, he /really/ does, but his genuine kindness is usually still at least partially motivated by wanting to be somebody (who can help and inspire others).

Tl;dr: I don't think he's a loser for all his friends technically being middle schoolers it's just easier to have some kind of friendship with others if you have a mutual close friend to help it all work out ( a.k.a Mob) Also like its. Okay to not have friends. Sometimes you just wanna vibe with all these teenagers that you can be a mentor figure/good adult figure for them. Just some weird bastard uncle or older sibling / dad whatever

Evidence #3: His lack of experience in navigating romantic relationships. He's pretty sure the last time he dated was like, way back in high school or something right? (im not sure on this either tbh) And he really didn't seem interested when his mom talked abt setting him up with someone (which is not always a sign that someone is aromantic but really I don't think Reigen has thought about marriage, like, ever. Unless it's for tax benefits.)

Evidence #4: His go to relationship/confessing advice being something simple like "just communicate your feelings well" or "play hard to get" like he's not even trying to sound like an expert 😭😭 also when Mob was asking his advice on this matter he literally just read off of google and if that isn't one of the biggest aro moods I don't know what is.

Evidence #5: He has never been shown really "flirting" with anyone. If he has to play up his charisma when talking to clients well then so be it. He's really casual and professional about it too (by it I'm saying sensual massages or whatever the fuck he does....)

Evidence #6: Too busy thinking about how to get money to think about spending them all on dates with women or men or something

Evidence #7: This one is also what started the ace Reigen headcanons but the line "Is having a crush always related to sex? I don't really wanna talk to you about it." (Based Reigen btw)

Evidence #8: Honestly most of these "evidence" is just my own read of him and like. my own interpretation of course but. theres just something so Aro about a generally popular guy in his 30s not having a partner or a romantic relationship and he seems fulfilled and like, satisfied with that. I'm sure he really doesn't care about getting married. He's got Mob, Serizawa, Dimple, Tome, Teru, Ritsu (albeit reluctantly), he's got his emotional support friends/co-workers/people who genuinely care about him and look up to him because of his genuine kindness and pretty solid advice. He's got it all. Just some normal guy surrounded by espers and one evil spirit and also someone very similar to him personality wise (as some kind of daughter figure). It's neat.

Also I thought abt Ekuserirei QPR but at the same time I have a hard time visualizing Reigen in like. an Actual committed relationship with other people. I'm just kinda here man. But also Ekuserirei is genuinely such a fun dynamic so. yeah

Anyway thats my big brain thoughts on Reigen Aromanticism. all hcs are valid and if you disagree with me you can just, do whatever you want just not argue on my post thats just basic human decency ok thats all <3 💚��� thank u for reading this far and have a good day everyone!! :]

[homeformyheart]

bucket list - all pairings (twc)

author’s note: i woke up one morning with the thought of what would each UB RO do if they found out the detective had a bucket list because they thought they might die soon from all the supernatural activity, and we’ll all have to thank @pearlsandsteel, @kelseaaa, @wayhavenots, and @ohnobbwhatisyoudoing for bullying encouraging me to do this (if you don’t like it, blame them; if you like it, thank them). hope you all enjoy!

copyright: all characters, except the oc detectives, are owned by mishka jenkins @seraphinitegames. series/pairing: the wayhaven chronicles – all pairings (6 detectives) rating/warnings: 14+; minor angst based on/prompt: inspired by the movie a walk to remember word count: ~3.5k words in total (~500-700 words per pairing) summary: the detective has a bucket list of things they’d like to do before they die (these are all canon stories). each pairing is featured in a ~500-700 word drabble.

1. adam du mortain x detective lyra kingston x nate sewell (LT) 2. mason x detective ria knight 3. nate sewell x detective cassie knight 4. felix hauville x detective harley bishop** 5. adam du mortain x detective regina bishop** 6. mason x detective brooklyn kingston**

** the ones with asterisks have little easter eggs / connection to other prompt fills / fics i’ve written for those pairings. bonus points if you can figure out what they are before you get to the end of those!

and tell me which one you liked best / least 👀 (i need to know your angst thresholds for research).

bucket list

1. adam du mortain x detective lyra kingston x nate sewell (LT) (~600 words)

lyra rummaged through the drawer of her nightstand, tossing out old receipts, rubber bands, and other random knick-knacks that she really didn’t need but kept anyway “just in case.” her fingers finally wrapped around a thick card-sized envelope and she yanked it out of the drawer triumphantly, instantly recognizing the pale yellow color and her name written on the outside.

a knock on the door made her spin around and instinctively hide the card behind her back. nate opened the door, leaning casually against the doorway, and smiled gently at her in a way that made her forget she was supposed to be annoyed with him for how secretive he was.

“did you find what you were looking for?”

lyra nodded before walking out into the living room and sitting down on the couch. she patted the seat to her left and nate obliged, sitting close enough that their thighs touched. she did her best to ignore adam from where he was standing just a few feet away. he had insisted on coming with them to retrieve lyra’s belongings, for added protection and since nate couldn’t drive.

“it’s the card my dad wrote for me when i was born,” she said quietly, her usual energy tempered. “it’s been a while since i’ve read it.”

her fingers trembled as she opened the flap of the envelope and slid the plain white card out, the only embellishment being a simple watercolor of a few hydrangeas on the front.

nate hesitantly wrapped an arm around lyra’s waist, moving slowly and watching carefully for any signs that it would be unwelcome in the moment. he relaxed when lyra instinctively leaned towards him, the subtle shift in her body language not going unnoticed by a certain commanding agent from his station by the window.

“will you tell me about it?” nate asked softly, seeming to have forgotten they weren’t alone.

lyra opened the card and ran her fingers down rook’s scrawl-like handwriting. she swallowed heavily to keep the tears stinging her eyes at bay.

“nothing to tell really, he wrote stuff about how much he loved me already and couldn’t wait to show me the world,” she said quietly, her voice breaking. she cleared her throat. “he wrote a list of things he wanted me to experience.”

she grabbed a pen from her purse and proceeded to cross out items on the list, stopping only to circle the last one.

fall in love

nate leaned in closer, running his finger down the list of crossed out words before pausing on the last one and looking up at lyra quizzically.

her throat was suddenly dry. she dropped her gaze towards her lap. “bobby doesn’t count,” she whispered. “that wasn’t love. my dad would want me to be with someone who loves me for me.”

nate tilted her chin up with a finger so she was looking into his eyes again. “i hope one day i could be that someone,” nate murmured, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

lyra’s breath caught in her throat and she blushed under his intense glaze. “well, you’re certainly, um,” she paused and glanced away to collect herself, making eye contact with adam inadvertently. her body tensed subconsciously, warring with itself to stay in nate’s warmth and ignore adam’s magnetic pull.

she tore her eyes away from the pained look on adam’s face and forced a smile.

“you make it easy, nate,” she said, her own smile growing genuinely in response to nate’s, despite the soft bitter edge in her voice and how it cut through adam like a knife.

* * * * * 2. mason x detective ria knight (~560 words)

ria clutched a crumpled up note in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, the thin paper disintegrating rapidly as she inhaled deeply, letting the smoke burn the back of her throat and lungs until she couldn’t take it anymore. her head fell back against the gate as she exhaled, the cloud of smoke stinging her eyes since she refused to close them.

just tell him.

“tell me what?” a gruff voice broke through the haze and made her blink. she hadn’t realized she said anything out loud.

she carefully schooled her features with a look of indifference as she crushed the cigarette under her foot.

“bold of you to assume i was referring to you,” she shrugged, turning to walk the short distance to the warehouse.

mason fell into step beside her, an easy silence settling over them both. ria kept crinkling the paper in her hand with her thumb, crumpling and uncrumpling it over and over again, glancing at it every so often until they were in the living room.

if mason was curious about what was on the piece of paper, he didn’t show it.

“what do you have there, ria?” felix’s eager voice brought ria’s attention back to the present and she inwardly groaned.

felix was the last person she wanted around right now. he was too observant for his own good.

“a bucket list,” she muttered, crumpling the paper inside a tight fist.

“what’s a bucket list?” the younger vampire asked.

ria sighed. “it’s a list that people make of things they want to do before they die,” she said, her voice so uncharacteristically soft that mason almost wondered if he had misheard. “i know my life is in constant danger, so i thought it might help to make sure i write down what’s important to me.”

felix’s mouth parted in surprise, but mason interrupted before he could say anything. “what’s on the list?” he asked gruffly, though not unkindly.

ria gave him a long, hesitant look. “i wanted to show you my dad’s grave. catch him up on everything,” she said, her gaze dropping. “it’s been a while since i’ve gone to see him.”

“name the time and place, sweetheart,” mason said quietly, the weight of his words washing over her and softening her features. he stepped closer to her, even though felix would be able to hear everything he said anyway. “you’re not dying on my watch.”

she swallowed the snarky, defensive retort that sat on the tip of her tongue. “thank you,” she mouthed silently instead.

“is there anything else on your list?” felix asked, stepping closer to ria.

she quickly pulled her hand behind her back and walked past him. “nothing important,” she snapped, tossing the crumpled ball of paper into the trash before heading to her room.

felix exchanged a knowing look with mason and dug the ball out of the trash, carefully uncrumpling it.

“this isn’t much of a list, there are only two things on here,” he said, trying to smooth out the paper so he could read her handwriting.

mason snatched the paper before felix could read the rest of it, skimming over the words himself, brows furrowing tighter before he let it drop to the floor. felix picked it up as mason stormed out of the warehouse, reading the only other thing that ria had written on her bucket list:

tell mason i love him.

* * * * * 3. nate sewell x detective cassie knight (~600 words)

cassie grabbed a tissue from the box on her coffee table, wiping her tears furiously as the credits of the movie they had finished watching began rolling on the screen. nate turned off the television with a smile, wrapping an arm around cassie and pulling her closer until she was practically in his lap.

“i thought you’ve seen this movie before,” he teased, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her arm.

cassie elbowed him playfully. “don’t judge me. i love the book but the movie always gets me, especially when he helps her finish her bucket list.”

“i can honestly say i prefer the book,” he said, genuinely surprised to see this side of cassie.

he hadn’t seen her this at ease in a long time, maybe ever. she looked comfortable and content, despite her puffy eyes and red nose, all of which he found absolutely endearing.

“the nathaniel sewell, connoisseur of historical tomes and vintage novels, read a nicholas sparks’ romance novel?”

it was cassie’s turn to be surprised.

things were still relatively new between them, but not for lack of effort. the steady stream of missions and supernatural activity in wayhaven kept them both far too busy for comfort. and when they weren’t on missions, she still had a lot of work at the station and nate always had mission-related paperwork and research to do.

it shouldn’t have been a surprise that there wasn’t much they knew of each other when it came to personal quirks and guilty pleasures, but nate wanted to know more.

nate’s gaze dropped at cassie’s inquiring look. “i—um, dated someone a while ago who really enjoyed his books and i thought reading them would help.”

he could almost see the gears turning in her head as her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

“i could see why you might think it would make someone fall in love with you,” she said finally, a wistful distance settling into her eyes. “bobby liked to compare himself to noah calhoun from the notebook.”

nate felt his entire body tense and he had to clench his jaw to keep from violently flinching. just the thought of that reporter and how he had mistreated cassie was enough to make his blood boil.

“you said you liked the part where landon helps jamie with her bucket list. do you have one?” nate asked, trying to turn the conversation back to a safer topic.

cassie’s eyes widened slightly in confusion before she realized what nate was doing and gave him a grateful smile. “i do, actually. i’ve been meaning to update it,” she said, reaching for a leather-bound journal resting on the coffee table and flipping to a page in the back.

“may i?” he asked, noting the flicker of hesitation darkening her green eyes for a fraction of a second before she nodded.

nate took the journal from her and skimmed the list. it mostly comprised of things he thought were consistent with how thoughtful cassie was, but the second-to-last item stole the breath from his lungs in a painful way.

live to 30

he put the journal down before grabbing both of her hands. “i will do everything in my power to keep you safe, i promise. you will get to live beyond thirty,” he said, his eyes flashing with a seriousness that was rarely directed at her.

“then i will look forward to the day i can cross that one out,” cassie said, giving him a warm smile.

nate felt his breath return to him as cassie settled against his side once more, her warmth reminding him to cherish these rare moments they shared.

* * * * * 4. felix hauville x detective harley bishop (~500 words)

harley scanned the legal pad in front of her, two-thirds of it filled out with various experiences and things she wanted to do sooner rather than later. it took meeting felix and the rest of unit bravo for her to realize that she had become very content and complacent with her life. felix’s enthusiasm for this world made her want to explore and experience things.

but more than anything, hayley wanted to feel alive.

the trappers had become more brazen and the number of close-calls in the past few weeks didn’t sit well with her. she never really had any personal ambition or dreams, but she knew now that she wanted more moments with felix.

she looked down at the list that seemed to keep growing by the hour.

show felix the grotto

take felix camping

learn how to cook one dish

a knock on her door, followed by the sight of felix’s head peeking around the doorframe made her look up.

“hey babe, what are you up to?” he asked, clambering on top of her bed to get as close to her as possible.

“i’m just putting together a bucket list of things i want to do while i still have the chance,” she replied, trying to keep her voice light.

felix lifted his head from her shoulder so he could study her face. she made a point of avoiding eye contact as she held up the legal pad.

“these are some of my favorite spots in wayhaven,” harley said, her finger running down between the numbers three and ten. “i want to make sure that you get to see them.”

“and i can’t wait. but we have plenty of time for that babe,” felix said, wrapping his arm around her waist and tugging her closer. “i promise.”

“but what if we don’t?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “i want to make sure you don’t forget me.”

truthfully, that was what really had been bothering her the past few weeks. harley worried that compared to felix’s eternal life, hers was not only insignificant, but also incredibly boring.  

he gently cupped her face in his hands. “i would never want to forget you. and we’re going to be together for a very long time, okay?”

she nodded and mustered a small smile. “okay,” she said, a warm flush spreading from the touch of his skin on her face through her body.

he gave her a soft kiss before grabbing the legal pad from her hands. “i want to add stuff to the list too. things i want to do with you,” he said, his cheerful energy rubbing off on her as she handed him a pen.

she rested her chin on his shoulder this time, so she could watch as he scribbled a few things near the bottom. they were mostly ideas for different types of date activities, but the last thing he wrote made her lift her head and freeze.

tell harley i love her.

harley looked at felix, stunned, to find him smiling softly at her. “one day, really soon,” he murmured, his eyes shining before his lips enveloped hers in a kiss. and she knew that day couldn’t come soon enough.

reference fic: camping.

* * * * * 5. adam du mortain x detective regina bishop (~570 words)

regina watched adam play with their children from where she was sitting on the porch, pretending that ten-year-old jacques and seven-year-old cecilia were able to pin him to the ground. she smiled as their youngest, four-year-old philip, waddled over and placed a fistful of daisies on adam’s face, before sitting down and rearranging them with a look of concentration on his round face.

she let herself bask in the moment of happiness that she knew would be fleeting, before looking down at the journal on her lap. she pulled out the worn sheet of paper tucked away in the middle, covered in hasty scribbles and crossed-out words on each layer of sticky notes, a bucket list she made years ago and continued to update.

tell adam i love him

get married

build a house by the sea

revive the du mortain line

raise our family together

regina smiled as she quickly skimmed over the crinkled pile of notes, sifting through them carefully so as not to further wear down the adhesive before she got near the bottom and pulled out a bright green-colored sticky note with only one thing written on it. all the other notes in the pile were pink and blue because she had wanted this one to stand out so she could easily find it.

turn?

don’t turn?

decide whether to turn

her smile faded. it hadn’t taken long to work through everything else she put on her bucket list. even the ones that took considerable effort (and really, it was mainly getting adam to come around to having kids), she was able to accomplish through sheer stubbornness and determination. but this last one was different.

regina was afraid to bring it up with adam and she knew he wouldn’t bring it up first. she knew him well enough by now that he would insist that this needed to be her decision and hers alone and refuse to influence her either way. but because she understood him better than he understood himself most days, she also knew that her death might break him and return him to an even darker and more repressed version of himself than before.

a sudden darkness brought her attention back up to meet a pair of wavering green eyes. her gaze flicked past him to note the children still playing together in the yard before meeting his again as he sat down next to her, reaching over to clasp his hand over hers.

“your bucket list?” he asked, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

when he first found out she had created one, under the assumption that she could die at any moment, he was unsurprisingly fearful, and remained simultaneously distant and protective for a long while. it did, however, help spark the conversation between them about having children.

regina nodded. “i still can’t believe i managed to accomplish all the things i’ve written down over the years. i just really have one thing left to figure out.”

adam intertwined his fingers with hers and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. the small circles he drew seemed to relieve some of the tension in both of their shoulders.

“whatever you decide,” he said finally, a noticeable strain in his voice. “i will respect it.”

“thank you,” she responded quietly, a thick tension sending a chill over them both despite the bright and warm sun and the laughter of their children surrounding them.

reference fic: cottage by the sea.

* * * * * 6. mason x detective brooklyn kingston (~530 words)

mason leaned against the side of brooklyn’s desk as they turned off their computer and pulled out a loose sheet of paper.

“what’s that?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

things had been relatively calm in town and even though the quiet made adam tense and stern, mason enjoyed the reprieve. especially since it meant that he got to spend more time with brooklyn. they had threatened to quit the team and move out of town not that long ago, but had yet to follow through.

he wasn’t going to question them on it. he had already made it clear that he would follow them to the end.

“a bucket list,” they replied distractedly, not even bothering to look up at him. “a list of things i want to do before i leave wayhaven.”

mason raised an eyebrow. so they were still planning to leave. he leaned over and let his finger land on the sheet, pinning it to the desk.

“this is an ambitious list,” he remarked as he scanned the list of thirty things or so, most of which had been crossed out.

they lifted his finger and swatted his hand away before smoothing out the page. “are you doubting me?”

“i’d never do that, brooks,” he said, pulling a cigarette from his pocket. “come on, i’ll take you home.”

“i’m going to dinner at verda’s and he’ll take me home after. i’ll see you tomorrow,” brooklyn said quickly, grabbing the cigarette from his fingers and tossing it into the trash can under their desk.

“i should make you start paying for those,” he growled playfully.

brooklyn chuckled. “or you could stop buying them. now get going so i can finish up here.”

he smirked and leaned in close enough that they could trace the freckles on his face with their nose if they leaned forward just a little.

“do i get a kiss before i go?” he asked with a smirk on his face, his gaze focused on their lips.

their eyes flicked down to his lips and back up to his grey eyes, the playfulness simmering behind a seriousness that made their breath catch. they tilted their head slightly and leaned forward to press their lips to his, letting his wrap around theirs for a brief second before pulling away.

“goodbye, mason,” they murmured, smiling gently at him, hoping the ache in their chest wasn’t visible in any way.

mason’s eyes fluttered open and his heartbeat thudded in his ears, the sound becoming more familiar each time they kissed. this time, however, brooklyn’s lips felt different and not in any way that he could pinpoint. mason’s eyes searched theirs, confused but unable to figure out exactly why he felt so uneasy.

after a moment, he shrugged and got up from their desk, turning back to nod at them once before heading out. brooklyn’s smile faded and they looked over their list one more time. the few they had left were ones they had planned on knocking out that evening, starting with verda and his family.

they just hadn’t expected to complete the last item so soon:

say goodbye to mason.

reference fic: menage

* * * * * permatag: @kelseaaa; @kat-tia801; @anotherbeingsworld; @crackerdumortain; @pearlsandsteel; @gloynporslen; @writer-ish; @sosolenoo; @alyssalauren; @fhauvilles; @wayhavenots; @gingerbreton; @takemyopenheart; nate x detective: @missameliep;

[mattzerella-sticks]

Supernatural Crack🩹tober

Day 5 - Now That’s an Angel Blade 

           Sam comes to, blinking, staring at Dean’s door. He chokes on a gasp, stumbling backwards. Away from his brother’s room. From what he heard.

           “Now that’s what I call an angel blade.”

           He presses flat against the wall, jaw working hard at producing no sound. Stopped by the knot in his throat, clogged by the possibility of what might have been. Had Sam, not catching the panted moan, barreled through the door. Dean and Cas in such a compromising position Sam would be struck blind from the sight of their naked bodies –

           “No,” he wipes the thought with a flick of his twitching hand, “No. We are not thinking about that right now.”

           Recovering, somewhat, Sam stands without aid on shaky legs. He shuffles towards the door again, only for the book he dropped. Nothing else. Sam lifts it, scanning for any damage. The page he bookmarked was lost, but nothing else happened to the ancient tome. Luckily. Tucking it under arm, Sam spins on his heel. Body telling him he should run far from Dean’s room.

           He lingers, though. Stuck because of some light ruffling from the other side of the door. Curiosity betrays him, and he leans closer. Listens more attentively.

           Dean chuckles, “Come on, let me play with it.”

           “No Dean,” Cas says, “you wouldn’t know how to handle it. Just… let me do all the work.”

           Shame rushes down his back like cold water, every nerve in his body raw and sparking. He sprints through the hallway at a record pace. No set destination in mind. Perhaps he’ll snag an extra set of keys for one of the many cars sitting in the garage and drive. Drive until the tank empties and start a new life, with a new name. He’s always liked Jared for some reason.

           Jared Peterman. Normal guy, with a normal past and family. Tragically he has no siblings, not even a brother that any angels can romantically entangle with. Tragic.

           “Sam?” He trips over his feet, almost steamrolling over Jack. The younger boy steps aside, avoiding his large frame. “Sam, what’s the matter? Is there an emergency?”

           Not a real one. Years of memories being torn to shreds and restructured in a more accurate understanding would mean little in Jack’s opinion. But for Sam… it’s shaken his worldview. Up there with all the others. Angels being real, Chuck being God, and now Dean and Cas fucking.

           “No, it’s not –“ Sam winces, pain scratching at his skull. He rubs his temple, “I, I’m not feeling too good. Think I need to lie down…”

           “Oh…” Jack holds up his hand, brows furrowed, “do you want me to –“

           “No!” He jumps, Sam’s voice echoing in the hallway. “No, no you don’t…” Sam continues, softer, “that’s not necessary.” Tempting? Sure. If he asked, Jack could definitely wipe his memory of the discovery. Leaving him in blissful ignorance for when Dean and Cas actually reveal their new relationship in a manner that won’t scar Sam for the remainder of his life. But for such a clean slate, he’d be ratting them out to Jack. And while the boy might think of them as his dads, he’s not sure how he’ll explain them being his… dads. “I think some sleep might do me some good… or I’ll take a painkiller, or ten.”

           Jack worries his bottom lip, not sold on Sam’s excuse. Still, he relents. Hand resting at his side. “If you say.” He glances behind, frown deepening. “Hey… have you seen Dean?”

           “Dean?” Sam panics, stiffening. “No, why would I have seen Dean, I don’t think I’ve seen him at all. Ever. Never seen him.” Coughing, he hides behind his bangs. Avoiding Jack’s searching expression. “Why are you looking for him anyway?”

           “I have a question,” he says, “I thought he’d be helpful in answering.”

           “Okay. But, if I can’t find him he’s probably busy,” Sam tells Jack, “maybe he’s in the middle of something and – uh… doesn’t want to be disturbed?”

           Jack huffs, “It’s kind of important, and I haven’t found him in his usual places… the garage, the kitchen…” His face brightens, though, despite Sam’s dismissal. “I haven’t tried his room though!”

           “Jack, wait -!”

           “Thanks Sam!”

           He disappears around the corner, bounding down the hallways. Sam watches leave, too weak he cannot prevent the unfortunate series of events and conversations that will entail. Instead Sam shuffles towards his room. Hopefully, when he wakes up, the storm will pass.

           Hopefully.

🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹🩹

           Jack barges in without knocking, Dean’s grip on the sword faltering. “Holy hell, Jack,” Dean yells, catching it before the blade sliced through his foot. “Haven’t you heard of knocking?”

           “Sorry, sorry…” he says, wincing, “I wasn’t sure you’d be in here.” Glancing between him and Cas, the latter lounging on Dean’s bed. Feet crossed at the ankles, perfectly relaxed while Dean swung the relic around like a toy and not the heavenly prototype of the standard angel’s weapon with an enriched history that Cas spent the last three hours explaining to him.

           “Jack,” Cas speaks now, “did you need something?”

           “I… I wanted to ask Dean a question.”

           Dean hands the sword off, Cas accepting it. Laying it on the other side of him. “Ask away.”

           Jack wrings his hands, nerves making themselves known. “Okay,” he says, pacing at the entrance of Dean’s room. “So, I was in town earlier, and I ran into this guy. We started talking and, well… I think I like him.”

           “That’s good!” Dean nods, smiling. Faltering as Jack’s smile doesn’t mirror his own. “What’s the problem?”

           “I don’t know what to do next!” Jack throws his hands in the air, “What should I do?”

           Snorting, Dean closes the distance and wraps an arm around Jack. Guides him into the hallway, “Listen, talking to boys is real simple.”

           “It is?”

           “Yeah,” he says, “what you need to do is hang out with him, maybe get him talking about something he likes. That he’s interested in. Show interest, even if it’s fake. And, then, at the right time, ask if he wants to make out.”

           Jack arches a brow, “That’s all?”

           “Well, I mean if he says no then you’ll have to live through an awkward few minutes,” Dean admits, squeezing Jack’s shoulder. “But I doubt that’ll happen. I’m sure he likes you as much as you like him. So go and make plans, already.”

           “I will!” Jack yells, dashing off, “thanks!”

           Dean waits for the younger boy to disappear, closing the door as he re-enters his room. Locking it for extra measure. When he turns, Dean notices the critical stare from Cas. “What?”

           “That’s your advice?”

           “It’s good advice!”

           “When has it ever worked for you?”

           He grins, swaggering towards Cas. Leaning close, their noses brush. “Hey, Cas, d’you wanna…”

(Day 4: Cutest Curse Ever)

[goth-girlfriend]

Endeavor’s Intern

(3/?)

Request: Quotev

Pairing: Enji Todoroki/Endeavor x Reader

Type: fluff,

Warnings: Reader is a student, even though that was clarified in the beginning.

(If there is any misspelling or improper grammar I apologize in advance.)

💙❤️🖤💙❤️💙🖤❤️💙💙❤️🖤💙❤️💙🖤❤️💙

“Nani!?” A mans voice screamed.

I tilted my head watching whatever drama Todoroki played on the secretaries computer.

She called in sick so we’ve both been manning the desk. So on my third day, I’m doing exactly what I threw a tantrum about not wanting to do.

“Wait wait wait,” I paused the show, “So, his wife is pregnant?”

“Yes?” Todoroki answered.

“But He had a vasectomy four months ago.” I pointed out.

He looked at me, a blank expression, I looked back and his eyes widened slightly. “What a scandalous woman you are Sakura Tsukino.” He looked at the screen and went to push play.

I smiled and shook my head, I leaned my head into his shoulder and went back to watching.

“Who do you think she cheated with?” He asked as her husband sat down and hurried his face in his hands.

“Hinata, that guy from her work space.” I mumbled staring as she broke into tears after her husband told her about what he had done.

“That’s messed up, he was all, not good looking.” Shoto mumbled and sighed.

‘HOW COUKD YOU DO THIS TOME?!’ She screamed.

‘DO WHAT?! YOURE THE ONE WHO CHEATED ON ME! YOU SLEPT WITH ANOTHER MAN! AND YOU WERE GOING TO PLAY IT OFF AS MINE?! THIS IS RIDICULOUS!’

Her husband was standing and screaming back at her. I bit my lip becoming more interested.

“Divorce.” I said, as he pulled his ring off placing in on the table.

‘I should’ve never given you my heart, everyone told me you’d only turn out like, like this. I denied it I trusted you and believed you changed.’

He backed up to the door, ‘I was wrong.’

He left, the camera moved to her sitting on the sofa. Her elbows on her knees, she looked down, eyes dripping tears, body shaking.

The screen went black and asked to start the next episode.

“Oof.” Was all I said as Todoroki clicked next.

“W-” i was cut off by the phone ringing.

“Hello, Endeavor Hero Agencies how may I help you?” I asked.

Todoroki just eyed me and paused the show.

“Hello yes? This is I’m calling to talk to Enji Todoroki. I was given this number to get into contact with him.” It was a WOMAN.

“Oh, of course. Please hold, I’ll see if his line is busy.” I lied.

“Of course, thank you.” I put her on hold then mute and sighed sitting back.

“Being a Secretary is so hard.” I stretched in my chair.

“Yeah.” Todoroki said stretched.

“Let’s get something to drink, also someone has to tell your dad he has a call.” I yawned and stretched up.

“You do it.” Was all Todoroki argues back.

“Alright.” I didn’t even argue back.

I knew his office was free, the only people who showed up for a meeting had left already. So I walked into his office, he quirked his brow at me and then looked back down at his paper work. I walked over to his desk and looked at his phone. A red light was blinking, the lady was still on hold. Okay, this is great I walked around his desk and squeezed my way onto his lap. I smield up at him and he looked down at me. He hand little Endeavor and Todoroki sitting infront of his monitor blocked form public sight by a stapler.

“You have a lady on hold. She didn’t tell me what she’s calling for just that she’s trying to get in contact with you.” I sighed and leaned against his right shoulder.

“Did you get her name?” He asked.

“No, she just asked for ‘Enji Todoroki’ because she told she could get into contact with him.”

“Then Get her name and figure out what she wants. I can’t waste time on useless things.” He argues and rolled his chair closer to his seat.

My stomach and hips pressed against the edge of his desk as he got back to work. This man made a great booster seat not going to lie. I sighed and picked up his phone, taking it off of hold.

“Hello, are you still there ma’am?” I asked and leaned onto the desk.

Fingertips ghosted my right hip.

“Yes, I’m still here.

“Alright, I’m calling to ask for your name and purpose of call. Endeavor is a bit busy but is able to call you back in thirty to fourth minutes if you can leave a name, number and purrpose of call.” I lied to her easy.

“Oh well, I’m Inosu Nara, I’m calling because we met almost a month ago. He gave me this number to get into contact with him.” She answered.

“Alright, well thank you Ms.Nara, I’ll tell him what you’ve told me and you should get a call back from this number in about thirty minutes. Can I get your number?”

“Yes it’s xxx-xxx-xxxx”

Alright that should be everything I need.”

“Thank you.”

“No thank you for being patient and calling Endeavor Hero agencies.”

I ended the called and wrote down the number, Inosu Nara

“Inosu Nara.” I picked up the sticky note, “She says you meet a month ago and you gave her this number to call you.”

He tended a bit and his face turned into a scowl. Wait half an hour and then Call her back, tell her the position I was offering has already been filled.” His left has copied his right and grabbed my other hip.

“So....Why does Shoto watch romantic Dramas?” I asked and started to click away on Endeavors computers.

“What?” He asked.

“Watch this, it’s just three minutes it’ll summarize what he’s watching.” I said and pushed play.

He sat and watched, and cringed, he paused it halfway. “That’s Enough.”

“Yeah.” was all I said and moved to sit on his right thigh, my left side and shoulder to his chest.

“Have you ever been to Universal?” I asked and tilted my head.

“Once, I took all of my children for two days to film a commercial.” His answer was boring.

“Did you go on any of the rides?” I asked wanting to know if he liked it.

“No, I didn’t have time to do anything. I was being filmed and meeting fans.” He didn’t seem amused.

“Oh, well that’s boring.” I slouched and sighed.

We sat in silence, I was looking on my

Phone and just casually chilling. Endeavor was watching me, I could feel his stare. It was very intense but not in a scary way, more of a concentrated way.

I opened snap chat and smiled, “Take more puctures with me.”

His brows dropped, he didn’t seem interested at all. I ignored it and leaned into his chest and opens the filters. He didn’t smile exactly but he wasn’t wearing a serious expression either.

He looked cute with a flower crown. After about five minutes of me smiling and taking pictures and Endeavor slid his hand around my waist and pulled me against him. I didn’t know what to do, I just moved the side slightly and looked up at him.

His chin wa son my shoulder, the stubble of his beard rubbing on my neck. It hurt a bit, but it felt nice.

“No more.” He tried to push my phone down.

“Just one more.” I raised, “But you have to smile.”

I got the filter onto both of our faces, he had a forced looking smile, I’d take it, I had a plan anyways. I held down the button and moved to kiss right on and under his jaw bone. I felt his hands grip my hips harsh and he tended.

I smield agaisnt the skin I had just violated as he cleared his throat.

“What are you doing?” He asked and moved back to look at me.

“Spreading love.” I moved my phone and got us both into frame again, “Now really smile this time.”

I took his left hand in mine and a very faint smile came to his lips.

After that I saved the video once to snap and twice to my camera roll. Then I recorded another video, it was of mini Endeavor and Todoroki, and then I panned to him and he seemed unamused during me recording random moments. I even recorded him letting out a short chuckle as I told him a story of the first time a cat meowed at Todoroki and he panicked. It was such a beguiling sound.

I even caught the small smile he had and the joy in his eyes when I told him Todoroki actually remembered his birthday, and sent a message from a random number so he wouldn’t be caught. He smiled at the thought, a look of regret in his eyes, there was a sincerity.

“Well, I’m pretty sure it’s lunch time.” I said standing up.

“Can we go eat?” I asked looking at my phone for the time.

“Take the lunch orders for the floor, than you and Shoto can go.” I admired the way he leaned back into his chair, legs spread, arms resting on the arms rest and head falling to the side slightly.

“Yes sir.” I smiled and went to get a notepad and Shoto.

Lunch passed, time passed, Shoto and I watched more drama as we waiting for our patrol shift, we’d be on different sides of the city but that’s fine I guess. I mean we’re literally spending all day together just watching tv and eating.

I cut my noodles with my chopstick and swallowed quickly.

“I forgot to call that lady back!” I panicked, “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Finally our turn for Paroels came, Shoto left, then a few others, familiar faces poured into the building taking a brief break from patrolling all day. I was waiting for Endeavor for my patrol to start. Finally he came down, I smiled at him and we took off. I had my cloak on and wings out. Everything was normal, it felt like just a walk. I mean, we stopped a break in at the most. Poor guy didn’t see it coming, he ribs definitely felt it before he knew what was coming. We carried on and ran into Hawks and Tokoyami. He didn’t leave, so our duo turned into a squad. We kept patrolling, nothing really happening, Hawks said something about it being to quiet lately around the city. Endeavor agreed, that was until we sat on a roof top, well, I stood on the edge, Endeavor was siting at a bench table, Hawks was walking on the edge and Tokoyami was leaning against the stair exit wall.

“We should become a squad.” Hawks said as he stopped to my right.

I looked at him, “what?”

“Imagine how cool we’d be, we could call ourselves the fire birds.” He took my hands and spun us both, to get read Incase I fell i spread my wings out quickly, the sound of fluttering and wind being pushed out from behind me was all I heard as I looked at Hawks.

“Get it? Because Endeavor is fire, I’m Hawks” he spread his wings, “Tokoyami has a bird in his belly, and you also have bird wings, I feel like your hiding more from what we know but I won’t push it yet.” He was still holding my hands in his.

“Well, it’s an interesting name. But I don’t think it’d work out.” I shrugged.

He pouted, “Why not?”

I shrugged, “Well, I don’t know actually l, we don’t always have the same patrol hours.” I shrugged.

“I see,” he spun us again and I kept my wings spread. He lifted his own.

I could definitely feel Stares, I sound of my rubbers soles scrapping again the concrete was the only thing I could hear. Hawks walked us back and forth, “let’s see who’s faster.”

He threw us off the Edge of the building I panicked and started flapping, after the third flap I caught wind and balanced myself. There I was flying above Hawks, he looked up at me. Hs was on his back his wings holding him in the air.

“Alright then.” I said and straightened out, “I could beat you anyday.

I move higher to bring myself to the edge of the building.

“Name a spot, and I can be there and back before you can.” I looked down at him.

“Great! I was hoping you’d agree I set it up today.” He came to my side, I heard Endeavor sigh.

“In the park by the koi pond, I stabbed a feather into a the ground,” he said plucking a long feather out of his wing.

I cringed and imagined the feeling, it’s all to painful.

“First one back with it wins.” He said and got ready, I squatted oh the edge and got ready.

“Toko! Give us a count off.” He screamed over his shoulder.

Another sigh from the party behind us, I smiled.

“Three,” a paused, “Two,” another, “One.”

We took off, I didn’t see Hawks ahead of and I wasn’t making the mistake of looking back. I pushed harder and gained more speed. I was focused on a short route I normally took until I felt something grab my wing.

I looked over to see Hawks, he was grinning and knocked into me, I knocked back into him and he only smiled wider.

“Oh, so you wanna play dirty.” I laughed.

I went up into a cloud and tried to time it, I saw Hawks in break, he looked around I dropped down on him and pushed his wing down he flipped onto his back and kept flying.

“Nice try but I’m all to use to it.” I scoffed.

“Sure.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed his boot to flip him around to face the other direction.

He did exactly that, flew in the other direction. He came back and landed on my back, his back to my back he just layer there.

“I don’t see why they don’t make this a way to travel it’s comfortable.

I did a quick roll over and he spread his own wings.

“WHAT?!” I asked as he didn’t leave my side.

“How do you get these so shiny and black?” He asked as he moved back to my side.

“If I told you I’d have to kill you.” I regretfully pulled a father of my own it hardened and caught a nice shine.

“I can do that too!” He cheered and pulled his own out. “WING BUDDIES!”

I rolled my eyes with a smield and dived down, I saw the feather and swooped in, hows swooped down. We’ll crash if one of us doesn’t pull back, or at least I’ll have to to use my whole quirk.

We pushed in before smoke filled the space I grabbed the wing and pulled back, I heard coughing and looked back to see a panicked Hawks. He didn’t notice me.

“(L/n)?” He looked around panicked.

“I let out a bird cry.” He looked up, there I was full form.

“YOU CHEATER.” He screamed and took out after me.

I flapped harder and tried to move faster and into places he wouldn’t be able to reach.

I saw Endeavor’s flames, I was so close, until Hawks pulled up infront of me. He grinned like a mad man, I changed back and stepped on his shoulder and made the jump. Feathe rin mouth I spit to get the taste of bird off my tongue.

“You should use dog shampoo, you’ll dull the color.” I said and waved the feather around.

He sighed, “I guess you win this round.”

We sat a whole longer, until the ground started to shake. There was the sound of rumbling and screams. We all rushed to the opposite side of the building. A big guy was trying to take down a building.

“Tokoyami, Go low with Endeavor, (L/n) and I will go ahead and try to save who we can from the top floors.” Hawks said taking off.

I looked back at Endeavor, “Go, it’s your job as a hero.”

I nodded and took off after Hawks. I caught up and we moved as fast as we could to get everyone out of the top floors. It was harder considering it was almost midnight and everyone one was home sleeping. I pulled out kids and men while woman tried to cling to Hawks at the chance they had. I laughed as one woman wouldn’t let him go. I heard a cry and dived in, the building was about to crumble, I can do this.

I found it, it was a little boy, he had red hair and white eyes. He was screaming for his dad. I picked him up a don looked for his dad. His dad was bleeding slightly.

“Hold onto my back and I’ll save you and your dad. Just don’t let go.” I calmly told the kid he nodded and crawled onto my back.

He held tighter then I expected. I grabbed the dad by his shoulders, “Come on.” I said and used all the arength I couldn’t o carry him at least bridal style.

With struggle I managed I ran to the holw in the wall and dived down flapping so we didn’t die from Just jumping.once on the ground I handed the guy over to Hawks and told the kid to sit with them. Hawks said ambulances were coming.

I looked back, this guy was kinda huge, what were we supposed to do? Endeavor and Tokoyami showed up. Endeavor rushed in and Hawks followed, Tokoyami knew what to do. I was still calculating and trying to figure out the best approach for myself. I found an opening, All three we’re taking him from the front, I found an opening form the back, I went for it. I flew up and spread my wings as far as they could go. At twenty four feet stretched out completely I did my best to blind him, Hawks was beside me in a flash.

“If you blind him long enough, I can get Tokoyami and Endeavor to help me.” He was gone.

I plucked out my longest, feather and used it to fight against his hands as he tried to grab at me. I stayed stretched out and tried to blind him. That was until I felt myself falling. I watched the sky swirl as I was pulled down. A sharp pain and a loud snap, my back arched. There was a loud crash, I was diving head first, the problem was, I could see where I was going, all I saw was a starry sky swirling as I started to spin while falling. The last thing I saw was Hawks Wide eyed reaching out to me and a deep scream. I was out, was I going to die?

I woke up from my dream as I started to hit water, everything was bright and white. I looked around rubbing my eyes. I tried to bring my hand up, it was held down, I looked at it and smield. I brought my left hand to my right. I brushed my fingers over the knuckles and skin that held my own.

“Endeavor.” I whispered.

I tried to sit up feeling pain in my back.

I brought my left hand to his jaw and held it, his eyes opened, he looked at me through his lashes.

“How are you?” I asked him even though it should’ve been the opposite.

“Are you alright?” He took his right hand to grab my right hand.

His left hand rested on my back, he rubbed it up slowly to help me sit up. His warm hand eased the pain that filled my muscles.

“Y-yeah, what happened?” I asked.

He sighed and tried to pull away.

I stretched with regret and grabbed his arm with my free hand.

“Please don’t,” I was basically begging for his heat.

He placed his hand back against my tender flesh.

“The criminal grabbed you by your wings when he started to fell back. I rushed in to catch you, and Hawks tried his best to grab you but his grip on yours wings was strong. He ripped out the feathers and fractured them.” He looked down.

I smiled at him, “Don’t worry about it, they’ll be fine by tomorrow morning...”

He looked up at me, he was soft, his eyes were glossed over. Tears filled the corners of his eyes. I moved my hand form his arm to hold his right cheek and get him to face me, his eyes held regret.

“You were my intern, I was supposed to protect you. I let you get hurt.” His voice was low.

“I’m your intern, I’m supposed to learn what it’s like to be a hero, and that’s exactly what happened. So you don’t have to worry. I’m happy that if I was going to experience this, that at least it was with you.” I smield at him, and looked down.

“I-” I cut him off with a look.

“Don’t worry about it.” I stopped him.

“I can make this up to you.” Her stated.

“You wanna make it up to me?” I asked and tilted my head with a slight smile.

“Yes, what’s something you’ve wanted?” He asked and fumbled around his costume and pulled out a wallet.

“Something? I’ve always wanted?” I asked and thought about it while staring at my hand with his.

“Well.” I looked up at him again with a grin.

“There’s this.” I pulled my hand free form his and grabbed his other cheek and pulled him closer.

His lips were soft, heat radiated form his face, quite literally because of his body temperature. His large hand landed on my cheek. He moved his hand so his forefinger and thumb took my chin and angled my head upwards. He kissed back eyes closed, I closed my own and brought my right hand down to his nape and ran it back up to feel the hairs at the base of his head. His hand still hot and comforting my back, I smield agsint his lips and pulled away.

“Okay, so I wanna go to Univeral with you and Shoto.” I smiled and he only looked down at me.

His eyes were so soft, they were clear, the bright color still outshine the bright white colors of the hospital I’m guessing I’m in.

“I don’t see why not.” He sighed and moved closer.

Kissing him a little longer the door opened and we pulled back, it was Shoto.

“SHOTO!” Enji screamed and pulled away.

His beard and mustache bursted into flames as he backed away and reached out for his son.

“Stop it dad, I already know what happening.” He sighed and looked down.

Enji sulked slightly and moved away from the bed side. I sat up straighter and smield at Shoto.

“So?” He asked.

“What?” I asked playing it off.

“Did your wings get better?” He crossed his arms over his chest the same way his dad does.

I forced them out and open, they were new and glossy.

“Of course they did!” They ruffled slightly, “I’m not an (l/n) for nothing!”

“Also, were going to universal!” I cheered and they spread out a bit.

“What for?” He asked.

“To Celebrate me becoming your step mom.” I winked at him, his eyes widened as his cheeks reddened.

“What?” He asked in disbelief.

“Why don’t you ask your daddy?” I joked.

He whipped around, Endeavor just looked at him.

“Told you.” I whispered to Shoto and smiled at Enji who was very slightly, smiling.

“HEY GUYS SORRY IM LATE!” And just like that, Hawks ruined the moment.

✨✨✨✨✨✨

Support a small business

[bogariel-frogariel]

A Wish for a Better World Part 4: On the High Seas

We are now almost at 15,000 words and still going strong.

Here is the ao3 link https://archiveofourown.org/works/25747657/chapters/62735095

I appreciate all the comments

------

One and a half weeks after that night, Ruby and Jet stood side by side at the stern of the ship as they watched Castle Candy disappear down the river. They're pinkies were linked and Ruby could feel the contented hum of the locked on her chest.

 They only stepped back when the tallest tip of Castle had faded into the background.

 Theo and Lapin were both waiting for them on the deck, though they were both eyeing each other with barely concealed glares. They were so distracted that Ruby and Jet could have slipped away if they were so inclined. But, they stood there in front of them, waiting to be noticed.

Theo straightened when he saw them, his head whipping around to stare at them.

 "Oh, princesses, good."

 He cleared his throat before he launched into his lecture, "Now your mother has given firm instructions about your education. She has created a strict timetable for you both to follow on your journey."

 Both Jet and Ruby nodded at this.

 "Sure Theo."

 "Yes, Sir Theo."

 Theo immediately frowned at them. "Truly? You're not missing with me?"

 Ruby and Jet glanced at each other before they looked forward.

 "Well, you and Mum are always talking about responsibility and how we need to take our lessons more seriously, especially since we're almost adults now," Jet explained. "We want to be able to help our sister when she takes the throne."

 "Besides, there's not really anywhere for us to escape to on this ship," Ruby cut in. "Not many places for us to hide."

 "Not that we would dare," Jet interjected. "I know I need to take lessons if I'm going to be the best general in Calorum. And Ruby needs to learn to be the… uh…"

 "A good advisor," Ruby finished. "And a faithful Bublian."

  Lapin nodded. "Of course, Princess, and I will guide you through your spiritual journey."

 Ruby inclined her head at him respectfully.

 Theo cleared his throat again. "Yes, well, whilst your mother has mandated eight hours of lessons for each of you, she has also given her permission for an additional two hour lesson in combat before dinner should you choose to accept it."

 Jet perked up and Ruby couldn't stop the giddy grin from splitting across her face as her sister's hand found hers and they locked pinkies.

 "Yes!" Jet burst out before she cleared her throat. "We will accept, Theo."

 Theo smiled at them as he gave a nod. "Good. Why don't you both settle into your room? You will be having a busy journey."

 Jet and Ruby gave a synchronised nod and walked off to unpack their things.

 ----

 Later that night, Ruby found herself leaning against the railing of the Starboard side of the deck.

 Jet had managed to wheedle Theo into showing her the weapons he had brought for them to use

 Ruby took one of the small knives from Sapphria's set of daggers and fiddled with it, not scared of dropping over board, as she had discovered that it would just be summoned back to her hand if she wanted it to be.

 Her father glanced down and froze at the sight of the black sugarsteel. The larger had a light blue blade but the same ornate black hilt forged in the shape of a dragon with glittering multicoloured candy stones peppered across its back, shining blue and purple and silver and gold when the light hit them.

 "Is that what I think it is."

 Ruby nodded, still twirling the dagger through her fingers.

 "Where did you get it?"

 "I found the set hidden in the Castle."

 Her dad nodded. "Another vision?"

 Ruby grimaced. "Not exactly."

 She hadn't fully explained her shadows to anyone but Lapin. Her father didn't understand the technicalities and philosophies of magic anyway and Ruby didn't want to force her mother to speak of a secret that she carefully guarded, she'd manipulated her mother enough just to get her to organise this trip.

 "You could be a great ruler," Ruby murmured, looking out at the sea. "I have seen it."

 She had. Her father had been a great Emperor, when he had finally started working with his wife, they had presented a formidable and terrifyingly efficient unit.

 Her father looked down, his shoulders slumping. "I was never meant to rule."

 "You may not have ever expected it," Ruby conceded. "But you… Candia cannot live in the shadows of our aunts forever."

 King Amethar bowed his head, sighing deeply. "I never asked for this responsibility."

 "It’s not fair," Ruby whispered and her father went rigid, obviously remembering the exchange he had had with his father long ago, where Kind Jedain had said similar things. Her father had told her of the interaction, and the night before, she had seen it in her dreams, right before she saw a vision of her father standing at the throne, her mother and sisters standing at his side, strong and proud and good.

 Ruby slipped the dagger back beneath her sleeve, putting one of her hands on his arm. Her father turned to look at her.  

"You're the king, Pops," Ruby murmured. "So you gotta be the king."

 Her father closed his eyes. "I was always more of a war guy."

 Ruby gave a small smile. "You can be more than one thing, Dad."

 Her father reached out and grasped Ruby's shoulder. "I think you might be right… Those visions have changed haven't they."

 Ruby shrugged, and whispered, "It's better this way."

 Her dad's hand tightened. "Just… don't get lost in them, okay? In those last days, Laz could barely recognise us. She couldn't keep track of what was real. Don't forget to live in the present."

 Ruby swallowed and nodded. "But I… we cannot forget what we must do."

 "We must not trust Cruller," she said into his head.

 Her father nodded. After much discussing, Ruby, Jet and her parents had decided to take the cake with them. It would be best if they could keep an eye on him, and he could be cut off from all but the two men he had taken with him. Back at Castle Candy, Ruby's mother could quietly spread the Muffinfield soldiers throughout the realm, and Ruby's small network of spies, which she'd quickly built in both Dulcington and the castle, about half of them sleeper agents that Sapphria had left, though the other half were those she had recruited through her own skills and persuasion.

 She had spent the most experienced them off the Muffinfield to try and find any evidence they could against the Marquiesse.

 "I will keep an eye on him," her father sent back.

 "We can trust Theo. All the knights are loyal to Candia above all else."

 "What of Lapin?" her father asked out loud.

 Ruby frowned, thinking for a few seconds before she answered, "He is a good man."

 Her father looked at her for a few seconds, and then nodded. He leant forward and enveloped her in a hug. "We won't… I won't forget my purpose, Ruby."

 He pulled away and took a step back towards the cabins. "You have given me a lot to think of… about my place and my actions."

 Ruby nodded. "Right, good. I'm glad."

 Her father smiled sweetly at her. "I love you, Ruby. Don't go to bed too late."

 "Night, Pops."

 As the ship changed to the night shift, Ruby settled onto one of the steps between the stern and the main deck, her personal copy of the Book of Leaves resting on her lap, and a small notepad in her palm as she skimmed through the religious tome. She had started rereading it, noting passages for her to memorise. It was interesting that nothing in the Book was actually really incorrect. It never personified the Bulb, and it never stated that the Bulb wanted its followers to act a certain way, only that it was a power of creation. Whatever group had written it had included the tenets, against murder, against ceaseless violence and destruction, as suggestions on how to stay faithful to its nature.

 Everything else that was accepted and 'known' about the Bulb was just bureaucracy and invention.

 Her mind wandered to the conversation she had had with Citrina a few nights ago.

 "My faith was never strained by the presence of my sisters," the yellow woman had proclaimed. "Despite the Church's rulings, nothing in the Book says that the Bulb is the only thing one can worship. In fact, the Book of Leaves preaches acceptance in all aspects of life."

 The woman had sighed.

 "The Church has strayed from its roots, from the faith. It has been tainted by betrayal and politics and greed," she spat the last word.

 Citrina broke off, taking a breath before she continued, "I thought I could fix the Church from the inside. I truly believed I could…"

 Ruby had waited for a few moments before she murmured, "For the record, I agree. The faith, at its core, is largely good. Like the Sweetening Path and the Great Beasts, but I do not see a way to fix it peacefully. The corruption is too deep."

 Citrina smiled sadly. "Very insightful, my child. I regret the pain you had to go through to learn those lessons, and I regret that I did not learn that lesson when I was alive."

 Cruller broke Ruby from her thoughts when he sat beside her. It took all of Ruby's skills in acting to not tense.

 "Princess," the man greeted.

 "Calroy," Ruby said, carving a smile onto her face.

 "What? No Lord Cruller from the next saint."

 Ruby barked a laugh. "I think we're past formalities, Calroy. And I don't intend to be as devoted as my aunt. The Bulbb has willed me to watch over Candia and guard its purity. The Church has enough Primogens."

 Cruller grinned. "That is a relief to here, Ruby. I would sorely miss you if you whisked away to Comida and Brightgarden."

 "You won't have to worry about that, Calroy," Ruby replied, feeling her skin crawl. "I intend to keep an eye on Candia for a long while."

 Calroy nodded. "And Candia will be all the better for it."

 He opened his mouth to ask a question, and Ruby knew he would begin interrogating her about her father. Jet and her dad had done admirable jobs but hadn't quite hidden their changed attitudes well enough to fool Cruller. Ruby would need to move quickly.

 However, before he could speak, the door that lead to the cabins banged open and Jet's voice floated over the side of the staircase.

 "Ruby! Theo wants us to go to bed. Come on, I don't want to annoy him. I really want him to teach us combat tomorrow."

 Ruby stood, smiling apologetically at Calroy. "I should get going. Dad and Jet have been super on edge lately about me. I think they're worried cause Aunt Citrina died so mysteriously. They don't want anything to happen to me."

 When the door to the cabins closed, Ruby slipped one of the two hand mirrors she carried on her at all times to one of her shadows.

 ----

 Theo looked around for Ruby. With ten minutes until the start of their first combat lesson, Jet was already hovering around the rack of weapons that Theo had dragged onto the deck, but the younger one was nowhere to be seen.

 Theo had seen Ruby stride out of the cabins half an hour ago and toss Lapin a book, telling him something in Bulbosi that Theo hadn’t understood before she had disappeared.

 Theo couldn't say what had possessed him to look up, but when he did, what he saw had his heart skipping a beat.

 "Princess Ruby get down from there!" he yelled at the girl who was doing cartwheels along the top of one of the sails.

 The girl paused and looked down at him, smiling brightly. For a few seconds, she looked like the girl that Theo had known a week ago, not the stranger that had replaced her.

 "Why, of course, Sir Theo," she proclaimed, and then jumped off the sail.

 Theo's stomach dropped as the girl fell before she caught a rope, swinging down in a graceful ark before she landed gently next to Theo, only stumbling slightly.

 Theo clutched at his heart. "Princess, never do that again! You could get hurt!"

 Ruby straightened her closed and raised her chin imperiously, even as she failed to smooth the giddy smile from her face.

 "The Bulb has blessed me with miracles that will help me if I slip, but I won't."

 Theo's eyes widened and he glanced at the Chancellor, who had taken over the Princess's private lessons whilst Theo gave Jet extra lessons in courtly manners and politics for two hours on top of the one and a half hours that Queen Caramelinda had allotted to both the girls every day, classes that were also overseen by Theo.

 The fucking chocolate bunny didn't do anything but shrug.

 "I'm sure that would be a grievous misuse of your blessings," Theo lectured.

 Ruby glanced to the bunny. "Chancellor, what do you think as a fellow miracle worker?"

 The bunny inclined his head. "I would advise humility with your miracles, Princess. However, the Bulb has blessed you and thus I trust that you know when it is appropriate to make use of those gifts."

 Ruby's smile was more restrained and respectful as she nodded. "Of course, Chancellor Lapin."

 Theo shot a glare at the bunny before he turned to both girls, clapping his hands together.

 "Okay, why don't we get going with this lesson."

 To be honest, Theo had thought that the King would be leading this class. However, he had allowed Theo to carry out this duty, wearing glasses of all things as he hunched over a book, some documents beside him. Theo had always thought that the King was illiterate.

 Teaching the princesses combat was honestly a pleasure. They were both naturals and applied themselves more stringently to these lessons than any other.

 As Theo had suspected, Jet was razor fast and brutally strong, the magic of Candia manifesting within her as unnatural reflexes similar to those of the eldest Rocks sister and Jet's own father. Ruby, however, surprised Theo. She had always been the more gentle of the two. Where Jet was loud and scrappy, Ruby was quick and light-footed. Those differences were still reflected in their fighting styles but there was a deadly edge to Ruby's movements, an efficiency and accuracy to her attacks that one so young should not have.

 It was perplexing to say the least, and Theo got his chance to address it later that very day, when he saw Ruby sitting on the deck, reading under torchlight as the day crew got ready for bed and the night crew began to work.

 Her head jerked up as he approached, snapping the book shit and tucking it into her chest, underneath the thick cloak she wore to take the bite off the cool sea breeze.

 "Sir Theo," she greeted and something inside Theo, that had been straining for the last few weeks, snapped.

 "What did I do to earn that title?"

 Ruby frowned. "Excuse me?"

 "Since when do you call me Sir Theo? You have not used my title since you were six years old, Princess."

 Ruby's eyes widened. "I thought that you would appreciate the respect. You deserve it."

 Theo stared down at the little girl that he had known all her life. He could no longer read her.

 "We both know you are lying to me, Princess," Theo said. "Please tell me what crime I have committed against you and I will do my best to make amends."

 Ruby shook her head, blinking rapidly. "No, The-Sir Theo. You've been great."

 "Then what is it?"

 Ruby dropped her eyes, her lips twitching downwards.

 "You will love Saccharina," she whispered.

 Theo furrowed his eyebrows. "Pardon?"

 "Saccharina," Ruby clarified, her voice a little stronger. "She will be everything you dreamed of serving. You will love her more than you could my father. You will be happy serving her."

 Theo jerked his head back. "Princess, I have devoted my life to your family. I serve your family."

 "But you wanted to serve Lazuli," Ruby countered. "Saccharina will be the one to bring about my aunt's vision and so much more. You won't need to resent us any longer."

 Theo gaped. "I don't-"

 "I know you love Jet. She's the bravest warrior and the most noble fighter you will ever find. But how can you not look at the rest of us and feel all you have lost every time? I do not blame you. I know that the Rocks family can trust you."

 Theo stammered for a few seconds, his mind not quite able to fathom everything that Ruby had just said. "I love you as well, princess."

 Ruby quirked her lips up and gave a nod. "Of course you do, Theo. I don't doubt that."

 "With respect, it sounds like you do, Princess."

 Ruby smiled that winning, perfect smile she had started wearing like armour and stood up. "Whatever hope for Candia's future you think you see in me, Saccharina will surpass it tenfold. She is truly someone worthy of being loyal to."

 She dropped her hands, causing the book to fall into the light, and Theo instantly recognised it as one of Lazuli's. He was very familiar with that particular lavender cover. A few dozen things clicked into place in that second and he banished the hurt at Ruby not telling him of the truth of her gifts. He had never shown her that it would be safe to tell him of her magic.

 Theo called for his familiar to jump into his hand through the bond.

 "I summoned Sprinkle to me with a spell. I could teach it to you, if you want?"

 Ruby hesitated, blinking rapidly as she quickly tucked the book back beneath her cloak.

 Finally, she whispered, "Yes."

 -----

 Ruby swallowed nervously as she stood on the prow of the ship, Theo beside her. He had pointed out the techniques and words she would need to use to her the night before, and then had woken her just before dawn so that he could help her cast the spell. Ruby had liked pretending to learn it from him.

 She had delayed recasting the spell until now, afraid what it would do to her when Yak didn't come back to her. For she knew she was too changed now to summon her beloved butterscotch falcon.

 However, with Theo's warm urging from beside her, and Jet's quiet cheering from a few paces behind them, she reached inside her drawing a strand of her won magic and throwing it out into the universe as she cast the spell. She waited as she felt the magic shift around her, roiling in a storm before it split into three distinct parts. She felt them solidify rapidly and stepped back in shock at the sight that materialised before her.

 Flying out of the distance, the rising sun at his back, was Yak, his feathers a more rich gold than they had had been in the future, but his presence still undeniable. However, at the same time, a black snake slithered out of the shadows behind her and a sleek violet cat materialised right beside her, slinking around her in a sort of dance.

 As the three approached her, they all melded, Yak swooping low as the snake and the cat jumped at him, all of them mixing, the image before her shifting between all three bodies before the cat leapt into her arms, quickly shifting to Yak a moment later as he jumped up to her shoulders before Ruby felt it change again and slither down her arms.

 Ruby blinked, lost for words.

 "What that supposed to happen?" Jet asked.

 Theo stared at the familiar as it shifted back to a cat, snuggling itself into Ruby's chest as she hugged it - no her, this form was a girl - closer.

 "I do not know," Theo murmured. "But it seems to have been successful."

 Ruby grinned, feeling something fill a hole in her chest that she hadn't even known was there.

 "I love them."

 She turned around and hugged Theo, the knight going stiff under her arms.

 "Thank you, Theo."

 Slowly, the gummy bear reached up to return the embrace. "You're welcome, Ruby."

----

How did you guys like it? Feel free to send me questions if you want. Also, yay! We’ll be seeing Saccharina next chapter.

[sluttyten]

For You

pairing: jaehyun x female reader

words: 9,533

summary: a fake dating au in which you’re both tired of friends and family pitying you for being single on Valentine’s Day 

For Jaehyun, there were two days that he believed you shouldn’t be single on: Valentine’s Day and a birthday. 

For Jaehyun, it just so happened that those two celebrations fell on the same day. And he was miserably single.

He couldn’t let this year pass by as the last few had. Single and pitied by family and friends when they asked what his big plans were and his only answer was staying home with some ramen and a movie marathon of decidedly not-Valentine’s movies.

It’s not that he didn’t have friends to go celebrate his birthday with, he had plenty of friends. Johnny, Taeyong, Doyoung, Sicheng, and all of them were in happy relationships and Jaehyun wasn’t going to be the guy to piss their partners off just so he wasn’t alone.

Humiliatingly, the worst part this year was the call he received the morning of his birthday from his mother.

“You’re not going to be alone again, Jae?” She sighed into the phone. He remained silent, already not liking that tone in her voice. “You’re such a catch, and I know, most mother’s say that about their sons, but it’s true.”

Jaehyun takes a look at himself in the reflection of the mirror that hangs on the back of his apartment’s door. It’s a tiny space, barely even qualifying as an apartment. He was standing at the hotplate on his kitchen counter, dressed only in a pair of boxers and socks (neither of which was actually clean), and he knew he had a face many women and men would swoon over, but he hadn’t had a steady relationship in four years.

His mother’s voice buzzes in his ear, “You could go to one of those speed dating Valentine’s parties. Meet a sweet girl, maybe.”

Jaehyun doesn’t say anything because that’s not going to happen. He’ll just stay in tonight and it’ll be fine. Maybe he’ll watch some porn, light a candle, make the mood all romantic, make it a happy birthday present to himself. He’ll be fine.

“Are you still there? Hello?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m here.” He balances his phone between his shoulder and his cheek and tries carrying his breakfast over to the small couch crammed along the wall a few feet from his bed.

“Well you hadn’t said anything in a while and I know reception is spotty. Now, what was I saying?” She dives right back into her stories, and Jaehyun tunes out again, turning on his laptop and pulling up a film he’s been wanting to watch on Netflix.

He focuses on eating and keeps the volume on his laptop low enough that his mom can’t hear it through the phone and accuse him of not paying attention (which he’s not, not until she says a few words that catch his attention like a hook to the gut).

“.... your father and I could come visit!”

Jaehyun swallows too quickly and almost chokes, spitting out the word, “What?”

“I said, if you’re just going to be alone, Jaehyun, your father and I could come visit to celebrate your birthday with you!”

It’s not that he doesn’t love his parents. He does. He’s a mama’s boy. But he just saw them last month. And his tiny, cramped apartment is filthy, covered in a layer of dirty laundry that sends Taeyong into hysterics any time he stops by. Plus, there was Jaehyun’s whole plan of the romantic evening to himself. And their pity is something he doesn’t need.

He casts around for an excuse — anything at all — to keep his parents from making the two hour drive to the city for a visit, and that’s how Jaehyun blurts out the first coherent idea that appears in his mind.

“No, you can’t come visit tonight. I, uh, I do have plans.” He tries to wipe up the mess he made when he almost choked. “I’ve been seeing someone. We’re going out tonight for dinner.”

The sounds of his mother’s happiness is almost lost in the pounding of his heart and his conscience screaming at him for that ridiculous lie.

“Oh, that’s great!” Jaehyun hears her calling to his father, shouting the lie to him loud enough that their neighbors can probably hear too, and Jaehyun cringes. “Jae, do you think we could meet her this weekend? We really want to come celebrate your birthday with you, but if you’re busy tonight, we can come in on Saturday. Have lunch and meet your girlfriend.”

Jaehyun bites his lip and reluctantly makes a noise of consent.

For the next fifteen minutes his mother rattles on about plans for Saturday, occasionally slipping in questions about Jaehyun’s relationship, to which he supplies generic answers or tells her that she’ll see on Saturday.

After those fifteen minutes, Jaehyun hears his dad’s voice through the speaker, calling for Jae’s mother.

“I guess I’d better go. We’ll see you Saturday!”

The second the call ends, Jaehyun throws his phone across the room. It bounces on his bed and then slides onto the floor, but Jaehyun doesn’t care about that. He has forty-eight hours to find someone willing to pretend to be in a relationship with him and meet his parents. How difficult could it be?

“Fuck. What have I done.”

Your first mistake was agreeing to brunch with a few of your friends on Valentine’s Day. The second mistake was informing them that you wouldn’t be able to make it to Peter and Hyerim’s party that night. Your third mistake and the final nail in your coffin was not having a ready-made excuse for why you couldn’t go to the party.

You couldn’t give the usual “I don’t feel well” since you’re sitting there at brunch in perfect (or near enough to perfect) health. A family emergency was a bit difficult to fake when one of your cousins was sitting not two feet away from you, and would immediately without hesitation or guilt inform everyone that you are lying.

Therefore, before you can come up with a valid excuse that will work for the table of your friends, someone else speaks up for you.

“It’s because you’re not dating anyone, right? And the invitation did sort of heavily imply that no one come to the party alone.”

You hate the judgemental, pitying faces immediately turned upon you then. Offers of setting you up with a friend of a friend who’s single too, or insistence that you’d be welcome at the party anyway are thrown your way and you turn them all down with what is, to you, a surprisingly stupid fourth mistake that you really just did not see coming. 

“I’m not single. I’m seeing someone. Dating someone.” You pick at the food on your plate, feeling tense in the silence that follows your statement. 

“Who is he? Do we know him?” One friend asks. “Why haven’t you said anything? Do you like him or is this just like a fun thing before you find someone serious after things ended with Niklas?”

This could’ve been the point where you turned things around. You could have told a little white lie on top of that monstrous one you’d just told, fibbed and said something like “it’s nothing too serious, not yet, we didn’t want to really make it official or a big deal until we have a better idea of where this is going.” 

Things could have ended there. Pretend like you have other plans with your imaginary boyfriend, tell another white lie that you’ll try to drop in for a few minutes at the party with your new guy, but then don’t show and in a week or two tell everyone that things ended with that guy. 

But you don’t do any of that. Because why tell a few little white lies when you can just pile on the bullshit. 

“You don’t know him. He’s nice. He’s really handsome too and smart.” You make eye contact and force a bit of an embarrassed look to help sell the lie. “He’s really great. We had other plans tonight, but if you all really want to meet him, then maybe I will come to the party tonight and he and I can push our plans back to another night.”

And the moment they all start agreeing that they would just love to meet your new boyfriend, you force a smile onto your face to hide the vortex that just exploded inside you and is currently eating away at your insides.

Sometimes when you’re hiding from reality, the best place to be is a bookstore. The more cluttered, the better. If you can lose yourself in a maze of books and bury yourself so deep inside that you can’t see the sun, thereby losing all sense of time and space, things start to seem not so crazy and panic-inducing. 

So that’s why Jaehyun is standing in the aisle of this dim, somewhat mildewy smelling bookstore. 

The books are piled high and he left his problems somewhere in the self-help section, and now he’s wandered into what appears to be the “Ancient Tomes discovered in dark wet dungeons” section because there’s not a book on these bookshelves that doesn’t look like if he touched it it would just crumble to pieces. 

Unknown to Jaehyun, you’ve found yourself in the same bookstore with a very similar problem to the one that drove him into that bookstore, and you wind a similar path as the one he takes through the maze of shelves, both of you trying to outrun and also solve the problems you’ve created. 

Eventually, the pathways of books leads you back to the front of the bookstore, bringing you out right beside a table display of brown rectangles that are scribbled on. A sign over it all says: For You. It takes you a moment to realize that these are books, the covers and titles hidden away under the brown paper, and a very basic description written on the front. 

You scan the table curiously and when you see one book with a surprisingly applicable to your life summary, you reach for it. 

It’s not everyday that you see something declaring “need to dig your way out of a lie? do you need to find a date before your lie is discovered?” So of course you reach for it wondering how you could have possibly happened upon the exact book you need out of all of the books in this store. 

Your fingers have just barely grazed the paper when the book is snatched away by someone standing behind you. 

“Hey! I need that book!” You soon around, ready to argue with whoever’s just taken it. 

“I’m sure I need this more than you do,” The most handsome man you’ve ever seen stands less than three inches from you, holding the book that’s possibly going to save your life (your social life, that is). “This book is exactly what I need right now. So unless you’ve lied to your mother about having a Valentine’s date with your non-existent girlfriend just so she won’t come visit, but then she insists that you and your girlfriend come meet her and your father on Saturday when you, in fact, have no girlfriend at all, I think I need this more than you.”

All his handsomeness won’t save him. You’re not going to let the book go that easily, not when it might hold the answers you’re looking for. You fold your arms over your chest and try to give this attractive guy your most intimidating look. 

“Listen, buddy.” The guy has the audacity to smirk at your tone of voice, but you ignore that and continue. “I didn’t lie to my mom, but I did lie to all of my friends, so if you could just hand me that book, that would be great. A group of friends outweighs one mom any day.” You hold out your hand and gesture for him to put the book in your palm. 

“I don’t think so.” He turns to walk away from you, so you grab his arm. 

“Please.” You beg, tugging slightly on his arm. “I lied and told them that I had this great boyfriend as an excuse for why I couldn’t go to this stupid couple’s party a friend of ours is throwing. Like obviously, I wasn’t going to go because I’m single, but when that was pointed out I just couldn’t help the lie that I wasn’t single and I’ve got this hot boyfriend and then I promised we’ll be at the party tonight, and if I don’t show up then I’m going to just, like, die. They’ll all know I was lying.”

The book-stealer stares at you for a long moment, and just at the point where it’s almost grown uncomfortable, he clears his throat and holds the book out to you. 

You reach for it, but he pulls it out of your reach and says, “I have a proposition for you. Just listen.”

You sigh, but you do listen. 

“My names Jung Jaehyun. I’m 22 years old today, I’m an Aquarius. I like books, I’m majoring in elementary education, I work part-time at a daycare.” He holds his hand out to you. “And if I promise to be your pretend boyfriend to your party tonight, will you swear to be my fake girlfriend and come meet my parents on Saturday?”

He could be a murderer. That’s what makes you hesitate. 

A guy like that, with a face so beautiful, and a smile that’s actually quite charming, he should definitely be in a relationship or at least have a fuckbuddy he could call up and ask this favor of. So if he doesn’t have either of those, then what’s up with him?

“I’m not a serial killer or anything, if that’s what that look on your face means. I swear,” Jaehyun holds up a hand. “I’m just a guy looking for a girl to help me lie to my parents. And you’re just a girl looking for a guy to help you lie to your friends, right?” 

You nod slowly. 

“So do we have a deal? I help you tonight, and you help me on Saturday?” Jaehyun holds his hand out to you again for you to shake. “And if you back out on your end of the promise, I’ll find your friends and tell them all that I’m an escort you hired to lie to them, kinda like Pretty Woman.”

You think that’s fair. 

“And just to be clear,” You reach forward and put your hand in his. “You’re the pretty woman, right?”

Jaehyun grins, “Of course I am.” 

And you shake on it, making it a binding deal thanks to the magic of the book shop.

Jaehyun was actually really nice although a bit messy, you realized as you stopped by his apartment on your way to the party that evening. 

After the bargain made in the book shop, you’d left together, neither one of you purchasing that book, and you’d headed to a cafe so Jaehyun could learn enough about you that your friends might buy that you’d been dating for a little while. He told you about himself too. And then you both spent a while laughing as you made up stories together of your past dates and how you met (although that one you kept fairly close to the truth). 

It seems like the hours tick by quickly, and soon it’s almost time for you to be at the party. 

You’re already dressed nice enough for the occasion, but Jaehyun’s sweatshirt and jeans that have seen better days wouldn’t pass the approval of your friends, but he assures you that if you stop by his place on the way to the party he does have something nicer to wear. 

“I’m not coming inside,” You tell him as Jaehyun opens the door of his apartment. “I still don’t fully believe you’re not going to turn out to be a serial killer.” 

You’re teasing, and you know he knows it. 

Jaehyun leaves the door of his apartment open and you lean in, just wanting a quick look around. You tell yourself that it’s just for extra story details in case someone asks about it later, but mostly you’re just curious. 

“I thought you said you weren’t coming in?” Jaehyun asks when he glances over and notices you stepping inside just a little bit. He’s gathering up some clothes from the floor (you really hope his outfit choice for the night isn’t in that pile) and, as you look around, you notice that his apartment is really just a tiny studio apartment. 

It’s a straight shot from the door where you stand to the back of the apartment. Very narrow with a row of storage compartments on the wall to your left and the kitchenette on your right. A door just beyond the skinny refrigerator leads into what you figure is the bathroom, and along the wall that continues from there is a couch. 

And that couch is where Jaehyun piles all of the clothes he quickly gathers up. 

“It’s not much,” He tells you while he runs his hands through his hair and glances around. “Sorry, what time is the party?” 

“We have an hour.” You take another step inside and the door swings shut behind you. Jaehyun nods and moves out of your sight across the room from the couch, and you don’t walk that way, assuming that’s where his bed is, and you don’t want to totally invade your fake boyfriend’s privacy, so instead you stand in the kitchenette and look at the pictures Jaehyun has stuck with magnets onto his fridge. 

It’s a combination of photographs and hand-drawn art. There’s family pictures of Jaehyun with a man and a woman that can only be his parents. A few of him with friends, some Polaroids that are scribbled on with marker to add extra details to his friends faces. The hand-drawn artwork you expect is from the kids at the daycare he was telling you about. 

You’re so busy looking at the fridge art that you don’t notice Jaehyun until he clears his throat beside you. 

“How do I look? Will I pass your friends’ inspections?” He takes a step back and holds out his arms, spinning around for you to get the whole effect. 

He wears a clean white button down shirt, a tie, and a pair of dark wash fitted jeans that are truly well-fitted for him. You pull your eyes away from his legs and catch his smile. 

“You’ll be fine probably.” Definitely more than fine. You’ll be lucky if none of your friends try and steal him away. “Are you ready?”

The party is at a bar ingeniously named Brewman’s Place. When you step inside, you’re not surprised that Peter and Hyerim would choose it for their party. The entire bar is dark, shiny wood. Thin strings of lights hang and weave through the wooden beams overhead. Brewman’s Place is definitely one of the nicer, cleaner bars you’ve ever been to in this city. 

“You came!” Comes a chorus of voices when the door closes behind you. You sweep your coat off and drape it over a nearby chair, and walk toward the cluster of your friends, most of them were at brunch this morning. And you’re most pleased to notice that the girl who’d (correctly) assumed earlier that you were single is there, although at the moment her face holds a smug expression that’s trying not to be too smug. 

“Where’s your boyfriend?” She asks while sipping her wine. “Could he not make it?”

Her tone heavily implies that she fully believes that you’ve made everything up, that you really showed up at this party without a date, and that you’re going to lie to their faces again. And she’s partially right, you are going to lie to them again, but you didn’t come to this party alone. 

“Oh no, he’s here. Jaehyun just had to take a call. He’ll be in in a minute.” You smile. “I can’t wait for you all to meet him.”

With your back to the door, you don’t see the door open, but you know the moment it does because you see it in the faces of your friends, their expressions shifting as they first lay eyes on Jaehyun. 

“Excuse me, this is a private party.” 

Jaehyun smiles and doesn’t break his stride as he walks right up to you, slides his arm around your waist and kisses your cheek. “Sorry, that was Mom, checking to make sure that we’re spending my birthday right.” 

His mother’s call couldn’t have come at a better time. You appreciated the drama of his delayed entrance and the effect it had had on your friends. 

“Everyone, this is Jaehyun, my boyfriend. Jaehyun, this is everyone.” You smile brightly, and everyone is looking at Jaehyun. 

Sure he’s probably not actually like the absolute hottest man on the planet, but he is definitely the most attractive man you have ever seen in front of your eyes. The way they all look at him, you know it’s not just you looking at him that way. 

“So, it’s your birthday?” Peter asks, breaking the silence after a moment. “Happy birthday, man. Sorry, Y/N dragged you to this instead of whatever other plans you had. I’m Peter, by the way.” 

Slowly, actual introductions are made, and it’s no surprise to you how friendly Jaehyun is and how quickly he wins over your friends. Soon he’s laughing with the guys, drinking and talking, and sometimes you’ll catch him watching you when you’re across the room talking to someone else and he’ll smile and wink, causing you to temporarily lose your train of thought. 

And it’s all great. It’s not super Valentines-y. Sure, there are several Couple games that are played which you and Jaehyun are surprisingly good at, and the drinks that the brewman behind Brewman’s Place serves all night are Valentine’s themed, plus the cake that Hyerim and Peter cut later in the night is shaped like a heart. 

Someone finds a little candle and sticks it in a slice of the cake and you hand it to Jaehyun while everyone sings “Happy Birthday” to him and then Peter and the guys buy his drinks for the rest of the night. 

By the time the party’s ending, you’re by Jaehyun’s side again, sitting at the bar and picking at a slice of cake while Jaehyun drinks a glass of water. 

His foot taps against your ankle to the beat of the music that’s playing, that a few of Peter and Hyerim’s drunk guests are still attempting to dance to several feet away. Jaehyun watches them, watches the way that one of your friends is sitting in her boyfriend’s lap, making out with him without a care in the world. 

“You know,” Jaehyun leans in a little bit closer. “The reason I lied to my mom in the first place, this is stupid, but I was planning to just stay in tonight. Eaten ramen, watch Netflix, have a sad wank out of loneliness.” His ears and cheeks are colored lightly pink, and you figure that’s more from what he just said than the alcohol. “I just wanted a night in, but really, I’m so glad I ran into you earlier. This was exactly what I needed.”

“A party where a bunch of strangers sang you happy birthday, and a girl made you pretend to be interested in her?” You stab your fork into what’s left of your slice of cake and sit it on the bar. “You deserve a better Valentine’s Birthday than this. You deserve better than the pity party you had planned for yourself too. Like, do you know how handsome you are? You saw the way everyone’s jaws dropped when you walked in, right? You could go out and pick up anyone you wanted probably, but you were just going to stay home and jerk off?” You tut at him. 

Jaehyun smiles at someone behind you, and when you look, you just see Peter giving him a thumbs up. 

“What was that—?” You turn back around, but when your feel something against your lips, you freeze. Jaehyun’s thumb brushes your bottom lip, slowly drawing across that sensitive area. 

“Sorry, you had some frosting.” Jaehyun sucks His thumb into his mouth to clean it off. “And, I really want you to know that I’ve had a really good time tonight. If I’d gone out with my friends, you think I wouldn’t have had a bunch of random strangers singing me happy birthday then too? And you didn’t make me do anything, remember. This was my idea.”

You roll your eyes a little. “Yeah, but—“ 

“And also, I don’t have to pretend to be interested in you. You are interesting. And you’re pretty, smart, passionate, like I thought for a moment earlier you were going to deck me for that book. I think you have a lot of thoughts in here,” Jaehyun taps your forehead. “That you don’t let anyone know, which is a shame. I just find you really interesting, you know.” 

Jaehyun fiddles with his tie, his ears burn brightly, and you smile and laugh a little, unable to help yourself as you lean forward and touch his ears, covering his blush. He smiles, embarrassed, and you spot his dimples, and you just want to touch his face, to feel his skin which looks so smooth and soft. 

As if he can tell what you’re thinking, Jaehyun takes your hand and presses the back of it to his cheek. 

“Closing up now.”

The bartender places another glass of water down on the bar, and you and Jaehyun break apart. 

You reach for the water and gulp half of it down in one go, needing it to cool off just a bit because suddenly you’re feeling very warm and tingly and you swear you can feel the ghost of Jaehyun’s hand around yours pressing the back of it to his cheek. 

You go around quickly and tell Hyerim and Peter goodbye and thank them for the party. 

“Thank you for coming!” Hyerim giggles as she hugs you. “And Jaehyun’s really amazing. He’s so kind and handsome and the way he looks at you,” She sighs. “I think you may have found a great one, Y/N.”

There’s nothing to really say to that. Not when this is a fake relationship, when Hyerim and Peter and all the rest of them will probably never see Jaehyun again after tonight. 

Jaehyun helps you put on your coat and he makes a show of putting his arm around your shoulders as you walk outside, and it feels so nice and warm to be tucked into his side, but a few steps from the Brewman’s Place, you both come to a stop. 

It’s where you part ways. 

Your apartment is to the left. Jaehyun’s is back to the right. 

“So, uh,” Jaehyun rubs the back of his head. “See you Saturday, I guess. It won’t be anything fancy, so don’t worry. And my parents are really great people, so they won’t give you a hard time or anything. I’ll text you where we’re meeting once my parents decide. Bye.”

He starts to turn away and you reach out and grab his sleeve. Jaehyun comes back around to face you so quickly, it’s almost like he was hoping you would stop him. 

“You don’t actually have my number,” You remind him. “That could complicate things a little.”

“Oh, right,” Jaehyun smiles and pulls his phone out of his pocket with fumbling, cold fingers. “Here, you can enter it in.” He holds it out to you, and just as you reach for it, he pulls it out of your reach. 

You let out a puff of laughter that hangs as a thin cloud in the cold air between you and Jaehyun. “Really, you’re doing this again?” You reach for the phone, hopping and sliding a little bit toward him, and Jaehyun reaches out to steady you. 

“I have another proposition. Actually less of a proposition, more of just a question with no strings or anything like that you’d get with a proposition.” You watch as Jaehyun slides his phone back into his pocket. He seems to struggle a bit with his next words, as if he’s not entirely sure what way to say them so they’ll sound right. 

So you put the words into his mouth that you’re hoping were about to come out anyway. 

“Jaehyun, do you maybe want to have sex with me?”

He lets out a nervous jolt of laughter. “Yeah. Yes, that’s what I was going to ask. I mean, do you? Want to have sex with me? I don’t want you to think that you have to or anything like that.”

“I want to.” You step closer and slip your hand into his. “For one, because you’re really, really cute. For another, I just kinda like you and think it could be nice. And also it’s Valentine’s Day, we went on a date, we’re both mature adults, of course our night should end in sex, right? It’s casual.”

“Right,” Jaehyun bites his lip and nods, and the way that his gaze moves down your body sends a warm flush through you.

You grab a taxi back to Jaehyun’s place since it’s closer. You drive past places and people who are still decked out in pinks and reds and confections and hearts. Boxes of chocolates and beautiful flowers sit in illuminated window displays, and a little part of you wishes that you had a Valentine’s Day like that. A classic romantic day with a real relationship. 

But you have Jaehyun, and for right now, that’s nice. 

He holds your hand when you get out of the taxi, his fingers laced through yours as you climb the stairs up to his apartment, and you hope he can’t feel the nervous beating of your heart. 

And not that you know it, but Jaehyun’s holding your hand and hoping that you can’t tell how quickly his heart is beating, he’s hoping you don’t mind that his palms are a little sweaty, hoping you can’t tell that he’s still blushing, and most of all he’s hoping you don’t ask him when the last time is that he’s done this. 

It’s been a while. For both of you. 

Once you’re in his tiny apartment again, the door closed, and Jaehyun’s fingers pulling out of yours so he can take your coat instead, you feel a strange sense of calm wash over you, confidence. 

When he turns back from hanging your coat and his on the rack behind the door, you’re waiting. 

Jaehyun gasps a little when he realizes you’re so close, as your fingers touch his neck and he angles his head as you stretch up a little on your toes to kiss him. 

Jaehyun’s lips are soft and sweet.

But you can still taste traces of alcohol on his breath, taste it as his tongue meets yours. 

The kiss skips straight over the innocence a first kiss might have, diving right into a kiss of passion. You can feel the heat of the kiss raging through your body, your hands don’t rest for a moment on Jaehyun’s body, immediately reaching to begin undressing him. 

You tug at his tie, and Jaehyun moans, reaching up to help you unfasten the tie, and then it’s cast away. 

Jaehyun stumbles a few steps down the narrow hallway (for lack of a better word) toward his bedroom, but only makes it a few steps before he staggers sideways, almost slipping on the discarded tie. 

He crashes against the wall with a breathless laugh and you fall with him. Jaehyun smiles brightly, his cheeks soft and squishy and his eyes turn to crescents behind his cheeks. And those dimples. You think you’re in love with those dimples. 

Jaehyun stays against the wall, his hands on your hips keep you held against him, and he leans in to kiss you once again. 

With his tie gone, there’s nothing to keep you from tugging his shirt up from where it’s tucked in. Nothing to keep you from unbuttoning his shirt as his hands move, one down to cup your ass, the other slides upward and finds your breasts. 

You unbutton his shirt as quickly as you can, and at last your fingers find the last button and you push his shirt open, sliding your fingers underneath. 

Jaehyun gasps and lets out a sound akin to a moan. He watches you push at his shirt more, letting it fall from his shoulders, and he enjoys the way you’re looking at him. Hungrily and excited, like you’ve just unwrapped your present. 

He’s hairier than you expected. A light dusting of hair on his chest and a trail that leads down below the waistband of his jeans. You touch his stomach, tracing that trail lightly with your fingers. 

“Fuck,” Jaehyun’s head drops back against the wall, and when you look up at him, his eyes are closed, and his cheeks are a little pink. You smile and lean in, press a kiss to his throat that draws another moan from him. 

As your fingers reach his waistband, you dare to press your palm a little lower, and you feel the firmness of Jaehyun’s erection below the material. 

You kiss his throat again, and Jaehyun’s hands fall to your hips, holding tight as he spins things around so you’re the one with your back to the wall. He kisses you again and his hands wander over you, plucking and pulling at your clothes until you’re in a similar state of undress: your top is gone as you stand there in your bra and pants, kissed breathless against the wall. 

His bulge rubs against your belly, and as he begins rocking his hips against you for just a bit of friction, you feel your arousal growing. Jaehyun sucks your tongue a little and you let out a defeated sort of whine, and pull out of the kiss. 

Your hands are both resting low on his hips, your thumbs dip below his waistband, and the moment Jaehyun shifts back half a step, you’re sinking to your knees. You just want to have him in your mouth. 

Ever since you saw that happy trail leading to his cock, it’s all that you’ve wanted to just kiss below his navel and then give him the best head he’ll ever get on his Valentine’s Day Birthday. 

So that’s exactly what you do. 

“You don’t have to…” Jaehyun starts to say even as his fingers move into your hair, even as you settle on your knees and look up at him through your eyelashes. 

His breath comes out shaky when you kiss just below his belly button. Your fingers work to undo the button fastening closed his jeans, and you place another kiss just a bit lower than the first. You drag down the zipper, kiss again. 

Jaehyun’s hands beat you to pushing his jeans down. And then there’s his cock, pushing against the soft material of his underwear, a wet spot already forming at the tip. 

You skip the last bit of kissing his happy trail in favor of landing a kiss on the covered head of his dick. 

Jaehyun’s fingers fly back to your hair, pushing it back so he can clearly see your face as you look up at him and lean in to do that again. 

This time you fit your lips around the clothed tip and suck a little, run your tongue over that sensitive spot, and smile to yourself as Jaehyun moans again. 

You pull back and lick your lips. “Do you want me to suck you off?” You ask, and the words aren’t even fully out of your mouth yet before Jaehyun is nodding. 

Not wanting to let him or yourself down, you go back to kissing the last bit of his trail, and you drag down the elastic band of his underwear slowly. You enjoy the feel of the heat of his skin against your face, the smell of Jaehyun which is something musky, boyish, but also something fresh like pine. 

“Oh, this feels…” Jaehyun sighs, and you’re not even touching his dick right now, but it’s just the feeling of your lips on his skin, the slow and gentle way you’re teasing him right now, that’s driving him crazy. 

You kneel back and, tired of waiting, you drag the last layer of clothing on Jaehyun’s body the rest of the way down. And then you’re eye-to-eye with his cock and the tamed (but definitely present) amount of hair around his base. 

You stroke your thumbs in circles at his hips, and Jaehyun seems to be holding his breath, waiting to feel your lips, your warm mouth that he likes so much, to finally be around his desperately hard erection. 

You lick your lips again and then lean in.

The last time you sucked dick was your last relationship months ago. He had always liked to control you in bed, and that had been fine mostly, but now with Jaehyun, you want to have a bit more free rein. 

And he lets you. He doesn’t move to make you do anything, he just lets you take him in slowly. 

You suck on the tip for a moment before you bring one hand to his base and start taking more of him in. You take it slow, not pushing yourself too hard because you don’t want to choke around him, and Jaehyun just strokes your hair and moans. 

When your lips meet your fingers, your gag reflex is triggered, and the feeling of your throat convulsing around him making a muscle in Jaehyun’s thigh start twitching and his grip on your hair grows tighter. As you pull back off, the flavor of his precum drags over your tongue, and something primal takes over, and you forget about what you wanted to do, how slow you wanted to take this to see how far you could draw this out. That small bit of precum on your tongue takes over and all you can think of is Jaehyun cumming on your tongue. 

When you kneel back and just sit there with the tip of his cock between your lips, it takes a moment but then Jaehyun starts moving, thrusting into your mouth, and you close your eyes and go with the pace that he sets. Your hand jerking over what your mouth doesn’t cover. 

Jaehyun curses, leans forward with his arms against the wall over your head to steady himself while you pull pleasure from him so well. 

Not that he would admit it to you, but it’s been so long since he had more than his hand. Totally random hook-ups weren’t quite his style, so Jaehyun hadn’t actually had sex or more than a hot makeout with some grinding and maybe a handjob if he was lucky in nearly a year. 

So, your mouth hot around him, your pretty eyes and lips, your hand fast on his cock, pushes him close to the edge much faster than Jaehyun intended. 

“Ah, fuck,” his hips snap forward, and you put your hands both on his hips to hold him back to where you can take him. “I’m gonna cum, fuck.” 

Jaehyun moans as you push forward and take his whole length down to the base, swallow and suck as you pull up, take more in, suck and moan. 

He cums with a long, low moan that sends a gush of wetness into your panties. His load fills your mouth quickly and you swallow as well as you can, Jaehyun’s little thrusts as he rides out his orgasm only serving to push cum out of the corners of your mouth. 

Jaehyun takes a step back on shaky legs, and you smile and swallow. He doesn’t taste bad, better than your last boyfriend. Jaehyun’s back hits the wall across from you and he slides down slowly, pushing his hands through his hair. 

“That was great. That was amazing.” He drags a hand over his chest, massaging his pecs. “You’re the best fake girlfriend I’ve ever gotten real head from.” 

“Well that’s the first real blowjob I’ve given in a long while.” You wipe at the corners of your mouth. 

Jaehyun moves across the floor to you, takes you by the back of the neck, and pulls you into another kiss. 

You’re a bit surprised when he goes straight for your pants. Pleasantly surprised, that is. You half expected for things to be over now that he’d gotten his birthday blowjob, but Jaehyun wants more and so do you. The sea of arousal soaking your panties is evidence enough of that. 

Jaehyun wrestles your pants down your legs. 

For the first time, as Jaehyun sits back to get your pants over your ankles, you’re hit with a new wave of self-consciousness. 

When you left the house that morning, you were expecting just brunch with your friends, maybe a little shopping, and then a night in of just you and some good food and a book or a movie. You hadn’t expected you’d be about to have sex with the most gorgeous man you’d ever met, but here you are in that exact situation. 

You hadn’t shaved that morning or the previous day or even the day before that, if you’re being honest. It was winter and you were single and shaving was too much effort sometimes. 

And until that moment when your legs are totally bare and all you’re left in is your bra and a pair of panties, you’re brutally aware of your unshaven legs that are made more prickly by the chilly air of Jaehyun’s apartment on your bare skin. And your bikini region isn’t necessarily the most maintained at the moment. Landscaping hasn’t been a priority given the singleness and winter weather. 

So as Jaehyun’s finally removes your pants, you close your legs and draw them up to your chest a little. 

“What’s wrong?” Jaehyun freezes where he is, not wanting to make another move because every part of your body language is suddenly telling him that you’re not exactly feeling what he thought was about to happen. “Did I do something?”

You glance down at your knees. “Sorry, no. You haven’t done anything, it’s just I know most guys are kinda turned off by women with body hair.” Your ex was, he wouldn’t touch you if you hadn’t shaved, but he was kinda an asshole. Not that you’re going to tell Jaehyun any of that stuff. “And full disclosure, I haven’t shaved my legs in a few days and for other places, it’s maybe been a little longer.”

You don’t want to look at Jaehyun. You can feel his eyes on you, and you’re sure that he’s picking out all the hairs, all the little things. 

“So I understand if that’s a turn off for you.” You mumble. 

Jaehyun moves forward then. You feel his hand on your calf, sliding around to hold your leg, he moves it. And then he does the same with your other leg before he scoots forward a bit more until he’s sitting right in front of you with your legs on either side of his hips. 

“For me,” Jaehyun smiles. “This is definitely not a problem. It’s just hair.” 

His fingers brush lightly over the crotch of your panties, over the wet spot there. 

“If you want,” Jaehyun watched the way you shiver when his finger runs over your clit, separated by the damp material of your panties. “I’m totally happy to still have sex.” He leans in and kisses the corner of your mouth, his fingers still moving over your panties. “What do you think? What do you want?”

“Yeah,” You gasp, for at that moment Jaehyun’s fingers swept your panties to the side, and he slid a finger right over your entrance. “Please, Jaehyun.”

A moment later, you’re on your back on the floor, Jaehyun kisses you, his bare chest against your chest, his hand inside your panties. He rubs at your clit for a moment, kissing the gasps and moans from your lips, and then he gives you a single finger. 

“You’re so wet. Sucking me off really turned you on didn’t it?” He murmurs against your lips, swirling the finger inside of you. “And just think, both of us would have ended up spending tonight alone, if things would’ve gone to plan.”

“Stop talking.” You moan and drag his mouth back down to yours.

Jaehyun fits another finger inside you, searching for your G spot, scissoring his fingers open, stimulating you with his thumb still on your clit. You can feel your orgasm coming, but you want him inside of you when you do. 

“Stop. Stop, I’m going to cum.” You swat at his shoulder. “I want you inside me. I want to feel you.”

In an instant, Jaehyun’s fingers are gone as well as your panties, and then Jaehyun is gone too, ducking into the bathroom for a moment before he’s back, tearing open the condom wrapper with his teeth before rolling it down his length. 

“You good?” He asks, running his hand over his cock a few times. 

“Yeah,” You sit up and move forward. “But can I ride you?” 

Jaehyun sits there on his knees, his legs spread, hand on his cock, and he nods, trying not to show his excitement. 

It’s not the easiest position to get comfortable in, with Jaehyun staying like that. But you move forward, straddle him, and then Jaehyun pushes up into you and you settle down with his cock entirely inside you. 

Jaehyun leans back, letting you hold onto his shoulders and start riding him. You watch the pink of his blush spread from his ears to his cheeks to his neck and chest. He bites his lip, trying to hold in his moans, but you’ve heard them already and you’d love to hear more. 

“What are you being so quiet for?” You ask. “I want to hear you moan. Please, Jaehyun.”

He curls his hand against the back of your neck and crushes your mouth to his in a kiss that’s little more than just that. You bounce on his cock, and you hear his muffled moans against your lips. 

Louder, you want to tell him, but instead you lean back, putting your hand to the floor to give you some more leverage so when you thrust down on him he hits right against your G spot. You moan his name, and the rest of the sounds that come out each time his cock hits that spot inside of you are completely out of your control. 

Soon your whole body feels consumed by pleasure. You can feel yourself sweating and your muscles ache, but it feels so good. 

“Fuck, you’re so hot.” Jaehyun moans, and he reaches for your chest, putting a hand on one of your boobs. 

The stimulation of his fingers on your nipple has you clenching around his cock, and you sit up again, settling down in his lap as your legs can’t hold you anymore. 

“I can’t,” You groan, squeezing around him, trying to shift to get him pressed just right against that spot. “I’m so close. Please, Jaehyun.”

He tilts you backwards, careful but also careless as he thrusts into you. His chest is sweaty, sticking against yours, and you drag your nails up his back, digging them in as your orgasm hits. 

Jaehyun follows soon after, filling the condom inside you, and his moans are all that you can hear. He thrusts into you shallowly a few more times before he pulls out, ties the condom off, and tosses it toward the trash bin a few feet away. Then he collapses on top of you, his hot sticky skin pressed to yours once again. 

“We haven’t even made it to the bed yet,” He pants a little, pressing his lips to your shoulder. “So, another round?” 

You tilt your head to judge the distance between where you currently are and the bed, and you laugh. It’s just a few feet away, but you just got fucked on the floor. Quite well fucked, you might add. But, yeah, you think you could go for another. 

Jaehyun’s stamina surprises you. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” You wait as he climbs to his feet and then helps you to yours, and then you’re in his bed, Jaehyun’s lips on your thighs, hands pushing them apart. 

You don’t have time or a place in your mind to think about what you’re doing, you just lie back and enjoy the feeling of Jaehyun eating you out. He’s sloppy about it, a lot of spit, slipping his fingers into you in search of that spot that’ll make you cum for him, and it’s not long before you do. 

Your orgasm hits, and you dig your fingers into the pillow behind you and roll your hips against Jaehyun’s face, you catch the way that his eyes are watching you, enjoying every bit of seeing you fall apart for him. 

And then you’re simply worn out. The day has been filled with too many things. Lying and scheming and birthday having and Valentine’s Day fucking. 

You close your eyes and reach down to Jaehyun who’s still lapping at your pussy. “That’s enough. I don’t think I can take any more. You give me any more orgasms, and it’s not fair for your birthday.” 

“Maybe giving you orgasms is the best present I could ask for,” Jaehyun suggests teasingly, and you gasp when he licks your clit once more, but he’s done after that. 

You’re not even sure if you can open your eyes anymore. It’s late and Jaehyun’s given you two great orgasms, you’re too tired. 

He slides up the bed to lay beside you, and you feel him pull the covers up over both of you. 

“Stay,” he whispers. “Please tell me you’ll stay.”

“For you? Of course.” You push your face against his shoulder. His arm slides around you, and within moments you’ve fallen asleep. 

You’re woken some time the next day by a loud crash as Jaehyun’s apartment door flies open, and then a second later, a boy with big eyes, sharp features, and bright pink hair comes around the corner. 

He freezes when he sees Jaehyun sitting halfway upright, and then his eyes slide past him to where your face is half hidden in the pillow with the comforter tugged all the way up to your chin. 

“He didn’t need us!” The boy exclaims, gesturing at you in the bed. “He’s got someone already here keeping him company.”

“What?” Another voice says from the hallway, and a moment later a tall guy peers around the corner, looking at the two of you. 

You groan and pull the covers over your head, and when Jaehyun tries to pull some of them away from you so he can at least hide a little bit too, you pinch his thigh and leave him out there to deal with his friends. 

The two guys, who Jaehyun eventually convinces to leave for a minute so you two can get dressed, are Taeyong and Johnny, his best friends. 

After you’ve gotten dressed in the first clothes you can find (because Taeyong is standing impatiently outside the apartment door counting down from sixty), the two guys tease Jaehyun for making a big deal out of always spending his birthday alone, so they’d come over to have a post-birthday birthday party. 

But they found you and realized Jaehyun had already had a birthday celebration of sorts. 

They’d brought a cake, some alcohol. Clearly a great party. 

“You can stay,” Jaehyun tells you quietly as you head for the bathroom while Johnny and Taeyong are distracted with lighting the candles for Jaehyun’s cake. “I guarantee they won’t be here long. And besides, I had a lot of fun with your yesterday, and I was thinking we could grab lunch or something.”

You’re currently dressed in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt of his that you’d pulled off the floor, and you’d have to be blind to not notice the way that Jaehyun hasn’t been able to take his eyes off of you in it. If you stay, maybe you can get the chance to have him inside you again.

“Stay,” He holds your hand. “We’ll eat some cake, and I’ll tell them to leave. I really like you, and besides, we need to study up on each other if you’re keeping your side of the deal to meet my parents tomorrow.”

If Jaehyun wasn’t so handsome and cute, if he didn’t make you feel like the sun was glowing from inside you, you would have said no. 

“Okay,” you glance toward the kitchenette. “But I’m going to take a shower now.”

Jaehyun nods happily, and you close the bathroom door right as you hear the first notes of “Happy Birthday” being sung. 

When you get out of the shower a handful or two of minutes later, feeling fresh and clean, you find that your clothes from the night before are folded on the edge of the sink, although you panties are suspiciously missing, but you decide not to hold that against Jaehyun. 

True to his word, Jaehyun sends his friends away sooner rather than later. They’re nice guys, and from what you get to know of them in the time that they’re there, you think you could be friends with them too. 

The rest of the day is spent alternately making out, talking about random things, having sex, eating cake, and then actually talking about your pasts, genuinely getting to know each other. And the more you learn about Jaehyun, the more you like him until later that night (as he kisses your neck right after telling you about how his childhood dream of being an astronaut transformed into his adulthood reality of studying to become a teacher) when you start to think that as crazy as this might be when considering how this started and also how it’s only been a day since you met him, you think he could be the one. 

Like full on Disney “we’ve only just met but I’m in love” kind of feelings. 

And those feelings are still there the next morning as you drag yourself away from him so you can go home, shower (finally shave), change clothes, and then go meet Jaehyun and his parents for lunch. 

Those feelings are there all through the journey back to your apartment, through your time getting ready as you wear a scarf that will cover the hickeys he left low on your throat. The nice fluttery warm feeling lasts to the restaurant, intensifying when Jaehyun puts his hand on your waist and when he pulls out your chair for you to sit on. 

You feel that feeling as Jaehyun asks you a few days later if you’d actually like to be his real girlfriend, it lasts for weeks, through multiple real dates. 

The feeling grows and grows through real confessions of “I love you”, through brief hardships that appear, through Jaehyun graduating to become a teacher.

The love grows. 

And then comes the next Valentine’s Day Birthday. One year to the day since you met, and Jaehyun tells you to meet him at that book shop before he takes you out to dinner. 

You hold his present in your hand, just something simple that he’d mentioned wanting in passing a week or two before. You wait in the store, browsing absently as you wait for him to arrive, and finally he does. 

You hear the bell over the shop’s door, and then Jaehyun’s there, sweeping you into a hug, kissing your cheek. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy birthday,” You reply, and you hold out the present to him. “I have something for you.”

Jaehyun’s smile grows wider and he opens the gift and you know that he’s grateful for it, but at that moment he doesn’t say it. Instead he says, “I have something for you, too.”

And then he sinks down into one knee, pulls a small box from his pocket, and holds it up to you. 

“This is for you.”

When he pulls the lid back, and you see that resting on the soft black velvet of the box is a key, you let out a half-outraged cry. “Jaehyun! Oh my god.” 

He laughs and stands up, he pulls you into a hug. “Will you move in with me? I’m sorry, I couldn’t help the dramatics. Did you think I was going to ask you something else?” 

You pinch his side and he laughs harder. Of course you’ll move in with him, even if you were just moving into the tiny apartment (but after you say yes, he reveals that he’s got a new place, bigger, nicer). 

Because for him, you’d live anywhere as long as Jaehyun was there with you. 

a/n: if you’ve read this whole thing thank you so much! if you liked it please like and reblog (and if you add comments in a reblog I’ll love you forever. 

this was partially inspired by a few asks I’ve had recently about sucking jaehyun off and also by the recent discussions about hairy jaehyun and also some anons were talking about being self conscious about their body hair, and I probably could’ve gone on and on with the fake relationship thing because that’s one of my favorite tropes, but I had to cut it short (yes, I am considering 9.5k words short in this case) because otherwise this could’ve been super extremely long

[dianapana]

SasuHina Month 2020- Day 4

Prompt – Coffee Preferences/The Smell of Coffee in the Morning

Long Distance- Part 2

Sasuke POV

I am chugging a glassful of water after my morning work-out when Naruto comes out of his room eyes closed and wearing only his boxers. Me and my roommates have very different ideas of ‘morning’. For me morning is 7-8 a.m. when I get up, drink my coffee and a protein shake and go to the gym for my 3 hours work out, for Naruto it’s around 10-11-12 depending on the day, he eats ramen for breakfast and his day starts only after 2 pm. Then there’s Gaara; I saw him this morning when I woke up, that’s when he got home and was going to bed so I’m not holding my breath for him to wake up before 5 pm or so.

I watch as my best friend wanders thought the kitchen, eyes still closed, and prepares himself instant ramen. If someone told me this was him sleep-waking making ramen I’d believe them. I fill another glass of water and drink that one too and leave Naruto to his own routine; I’m in need of a shower. Once showered I get dressed for work. It’s summertime so no classes or practice, even so the three of us decided to stay on campus instead of going home. Mom wasn’t happy with me when I told her I told her I’ll be spending my last summer before graduating University here. She twisted my arm until I promised to go visit them for 2 weeks around the end of August. Which happens to be next week. Since I don’t plan on working during the actual year because classes and hokey will take up all of my time, I gave my 2 weeks’ notice already. I picked a random job this summer, it doesn’t really have anything to do with my major but it’s still good money, I’m a mechanic in an auto-service. I declared my major in education only last semester; I plan on going pro with hokey but if anything were to happen, I realized that I wouldn’t mind being a coach.

I pick up my keys and wallet and make my way to the kitchen. Naruto is still eating and I’m still not sure he’s really awake. The drive to work is quite short which is one of the reasons I picked this job, that and the fact that since my 12th birthday each summer both Itachi and Dad have been throwing their car knowledge at me. I’m not particularly interested in it but it’s better than Naruto’s construction job, or his job in moving furniture, or any other odd jobs he picks up every week.  I work from 12 to 8 or 9 at night it depends on how busy the shop is; thankfully it is quite deserted today so I get the ok from the owner to go home at 7:15. I make the short drive home and am about to walk inside when my phone starts ringing. I check the caller and press answer when I notice it’s my mom. I walk in and see Garra in the kitchen eating.

“Hey sweetie, how are you?”

“Hey mom, I just got home from work; how are you?” I say and go to sit down on the sofa in the living room.

“I still don’t get why you wanted to stay behind and work. Your tuition is paid by the scholarship and for everything else you want you know me and your dad will pay.” She says and I can hear the whining undertone in her voice. I am indeed working for the money; I don’t like asking for money from them; I can’t work during the year so I try to make as much as I can now that way, I can depend on myself for a while. I’ll only ask for money if I have to. Then there’s also the freedom; at home there’s always someone asking me where I’m going what I’m doing and so on. I’ve discovered I like my freedom very much during University. During the hokey season some of that freedom is taken by the coach but it’s still more than I’ve had home.

“I know mom. But I’ll be home for two weeks in a few days.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I was talking to my friend Hikari, and she was complaining about how Hinata said she won’t be coming home at all. Neji and Hiashi are in America for the summer so they can’t drive over to see her. Hinata never learned how to drive and the road is way too long for her to take a train. Can you imagine baby?” Mom likes to give every piece of information; it doesn’t matter that I have no idea who any of these people are. I have never heard of her friend Hikari and her family “And she’s home all alone with Hanabi who is 16 and going thought her rebellion phase. My heart just breaks at that thought, sweetie; doesn’t yours?”

Mom actually makes a pause as if she’s actually expecting me to answer. “Yes, mom that sucks big time” Gaara walks into the living room and mouths ‘I’m off to work’ I nod and continue listening to mom.

“You know that Hinata doesn’t go to your University but the road from your house to hers is only about 2 hours so I told Hikari you’d swing by Hinata’s place to pick her up and you’d come home together. She was so excited baby. She’s on the phone just now talking to Hinata”

I’m stunned into silence. Mom literally tome me to make an additional 2 hours to pick up this girl and then another 2 hours to return from where she is; the only University that is quite close to us is the University of Arts and that’s 2 hours towards Suna and not Konoha. So instead of getting home in about 8 hours it would take me 12 hours. And let’s not forget I’d be stuck in the car with a stranger.

“I don’t know mom; that’s a little inconvenient and—”

“Sasuke Uchiha! What is more important your own convenience or reuniting a mother with her daughter? Plus, Hinata is cute as a button I’m sure the two of you will get along great”

I know better than to pick up a fight with my mom so I just agree; you could call me a pushover when it comes to her, I call it choosing my battles. “Fine. But I’ll need her number so I can talk to her directly and organize the trip I guess”

“Of course, baby. I’ll text you her number in a moment. Love you dear”

“I love you too” I really do but at times she can be very exhausting. Mom is so used to getting her way, both my dad and me and Itachi spoiled her for too long and now neither of us can say no to her, no matter how crazy her ideas are.

Hinata POV

I am stunned. Mom just called to tell me that she found a way for me to come home for two weeks. Apparently, the son of her friend Mikoto, friend she has never mentioned before in my life, goes to KU (Konoha University) and he will come pick me up and we’ll have a grand ol’ road trip.

Let me explain the two main issues here.

1.      I didn’t want to go home. Hell, if I wanted to, I could have taken a train on the first day of summer holiday or looked for a bus to take me home; but I didn’t.

2.      KU is 2 hours away towards Konoha, which means she inconvenienced this guy to drive 4 more hours than he should just to drag me, a complete stranger, home

The levels of guilt I’m feeling have no boundaries. I’m still thinking about how unreal this feels when my phone rings again, it’s an unknown number and under normal circumstances I would not answer but mom let me know that she gave the guy my number so we could talk about the trip home.

“Hello” I hate talking on the phone. I hate talking to stranger. I hate talking on the phone with stranger even more.

“Hey, is this Hinata?” his voice sounds defeated and exhausted too. I can only imagine the conversation his mom had with him.

I let a big sigh “Yes, it is. You my road trip partner?”

This makes him laugh a littler “Yes m’am. I’m Sasuke in case you mom, my mom’s best friend it would appear, didn’t let you know”

“I’m so sorry this got dumped on you. I feel so guilty especially since I could have found ways to go home…I just didn’t want to” I say and roll over so I’m on my back in my bed rather than on my belly. “Can’t you tell your mom the 4 extra hours are too much for you to drive?” “I tried and she pretty much tried to guilt trip me, saying that the, and I quote, ‘reunion of a mother with her daughter’ is more important than my selfishness” he sounds equal parts amused and annoyed. I don’t blame him.

“I too told my mom that I can’t possibly impose but she kept reassuring me how you found out about our situation from you mom and it was you who came up with the idea and that you would not take no for an answer. I knew it was bullshit from the get-go but mom has a way of getting whatever she wants” I confess.

“So does my mom. The more I mull over this the more I think our moms being friends is a bad idea.” The stranger aka Sasuke says followed by a lough sigh.

“You are right. Mom is bad enough on her own, I don’t even want to think what the two of them can do together”

“I wonder how they met. Did one of them put an ad in the paper. ‘Looking for a friend; guilt tripping of the universe, manipulation of everyone around, especially one’s children and the ability to get your way are the main characteristics I am looking for in a friend’”

That makes me laugh more than I want to admit. Silence falls for a few moments before Sasuke talks again.

“Anyway, regarding the drive, is it ok for you if I come pick you up at 9 in the morning or so; I want to get home at a somewhat decent hour” guilt washed over me again.

“That’s great, whatever works for you. I don’t want to inconvenience you even more. I am truly sorry Sasuke”

“It’s ok it isn’t your fault this was dropped on you just as it was on me. So I guess I’ll see you Sunday morning”

“Yes, I’ll text you my address right now so I don’t forget.”

“Ok thanks”

“Bye, see you Sunday” I say and hang up just as Ino opened the door to my room.

“Ooooo who will you be seeing on Sunday?” Ino asks and she winks and wiggles her eyebrows ate me.

“Oh, stop that, it’s a poor guy that my mom and his mom forced to swing by and drag me home for 2 weeks” I say.

“Oh no, you’re going home? Nooo, whyyy???” that is how I wanted to react too when mom told me but I couldn’t do that, no matter how meddlesome she is I never want to hurt her feelings.

“Mom insisted. And as I said she even secured me a way to go home and return” I still feel so guilty about troubling Sasuke so I make a note to cook breakfast for us or something nice like that.

Sasuke POV

Sunday morning, I arrive at Hinata’s a bit earlier than intended but I did text her when I left my home so I hope she’s ready to go. I walk to the door and knock. A girl that I assume is Hinata opens the door and to my horror she’s in her pjs. Her blonde hair is a mess and over all she does not look ready to hit the road.

“You must be Sasuke, come on in.” She says and I can’t even protest that we’re in a hurry and it’s better to just go because she’s not freaking dressed.

I walk into the small home and the smell of coffee hits me from every possible way. I’ve already had my first cup but I feel tired and the smell only makes me crave another cup.

“The kitchen is that way make yourself comfy” she says and walks to the stairs her own cup of coffee in hand. I hope to God she’s going to get dressed so we can leave as soon as possible.

I walk to where she pointed and find myself in the kitchen. On the island there is a plate filled with eggs and bacon, another with pancakes and a bowl of fruit salad. I have questions and look around confused, when a petite girl pops up from behind the island with two cups in her hand. I make a startled noise and she in turn screams. We look at each other for a few moments before she asks “Sasuke?”

I nod and she sighs in relief. “Oh, thank God I thought you were an intruder. I made breakfast so we can eat before leaving if you’re not in too much of a hurry”

She’s dressed and I see a suitcase next to one of the chairs. So, this girl is the real Hinata and she is almost ready to go, thank God. “Yea that’s cool.” I sit myself down.

“Do you want coffee?” she asks, I was hoping she would.

“Yes please. With just a bit of sugar and nothing else” I say  

“Ah you’re that kind of person I see” She says and gives me my filled cup. I watch her add maybe 5 ml of coffee in the next cup fill that with milk a lot of sugar, cinnamon and even vanilla. She puts it in the microwave for a while and finally walks around to sit herself down too.

“Ah so you’re that kind of person” I say right back. Hinata drinks from her cup but her eyes are smiling at me. I wait for her to fill her plate first before doing the same. We eat in silence; I finish first so I take her suitcase and take it to the car. I return to the door just as she walks outside.

“INO I’M LEAVING” Hinata screams, I assume Ino is the blonde girl.

“OK BABE, CALL ME WHEN YOU GET THERE” a voice screams right back.

I chuckle and we get into the car. I notice Hinata holds two to-go cups in her hands. She notices me looking at them and shrugs. “I made both of us another cup of coffee for the road” her declaration makes me thank the Lords.

“Good idea. It’s going to be a long road”

Part 1

(This story happens before part 1 so you can read them as you wish)

[divagonzo]

Quarantine (Romione, One-shot)

Ao3 // FF.net (will post them there tomorrow but Tumblr gets the first crack tonight)

A/N: I’d intended to have this posted last week but RL got in the way and so much fell onto my plate as “back-up daughter” to friends who are out of state for their elderly parents. What little time I had was claimed by so many other things too. I know there is a Princess somewhere mad that RL interfered in my life once again. One of these years my life will be only dramatic in the stories I write. Alas.

Rated M (so much smutty goodness in this one!) for Lemons, Limes, Citrus galore. Not Ace Safe in the least (This means you @headcanonsandmore​)

TW: Mentions of current British events involving a towheaded cockwomble and his deputy. Tagging @hillnerd​ and @abradystrix​ just ‘cause.

Give me my demarcation line darn it!

��I swear to Merlin that I am going to strangle that sod,” Hermione growled before putting the two-way mirror down in her office. “That cockwomble!”

“Love?” Ron poked his head in, wondering what got Hermione into a bit of lather this morning from her noon call with the Muggle PM.

Hermione took off her reading glasses and rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes, wondering how much more cocked up the world was going to be in the interim.

“What’s happened, dear?” Ron stood at the doorway, wondering too what was going on. “I heard you cursing. Did you speak with that tosser of a PM?”

“I did,” She hissed. “Do you remember that boring ministry dinner we attended last weekend? The one where I was seated across from the PM and his partner, talking boring politics while you tried to keep from complaining about the rubbish chicken they served for the main course?”

“Of course. Who could forget that Merlin awful chicken that even you could cook a better one than what was presented to us? Who did they get to cater it, Malfoy?”

“You’d think, right? Anyway, it seems the PM has gone and contracted some virus, one that appears to be worse than the flu for some people. Unfortunately, now, since we were within close contact with the bastard,” 

“Please don’t tell me.”

“We’re quarantined for a fortnight because that sod insisted on shaking everyone’s hand when they arrived, including yours.”

“Shite.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought too. At least the kids were off at school.”

“That – “ Hermione tuned out for Ron’s caustic rant about the current PM who seemed to have less brains than Flint seems to possess. “I can’t believe he did that.”

“So we have to be home, inside, for 2 weeks. We can’t even go out shopping for groceries, you to work, anything.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“I know. Fortunately, we’ve not been to see your parents since we met with the PM.”

“And your parents?”

“I’ve only talked with them on the phone. I’ve not been by there in 2 weeks.”

“Harry & Ginny. I mean she is at home with a toddler and Harry’s been working on a case for weeks now with his group. I had a meeting with him last week to discuss training for the new class coming in.”

“Then we need to tell him and others and let them decide.”

“Bugger. How bad is this virus?”

“From what he said, most people get a little sick but it’s not a big deal. The problem is that for one in five, it’s serious enough for a visit to the A&E. From what he said also, there’s about 1 in 20 that need critical care.” Hermione sat back in her leather office chair, sighing. “I need to contact St. Mungo’s and let them know to prepare for this. I think I also need to share this with the Wizarding population, too, so they can take care of themselves too.”

“That bad?”

“You know how I talk about history entirely too much?”

Ron grinned, thinking about how often Hermione would pick up a tome for a bit of light reading. “Of course I do. Last year you were reading something on the Dark Ages. Seemed quite bad.”

“Oh, it was. It was how a plague back in the 14th century and how it decimated the European population.”

“Sounds grim.”

“It was. There are articles by historians that the plague killed between 25 and 50 per cent of the population of Europe. Only a few places were reasonably immune to it.”

Ron frowned. “Please tell me it won’t be that bad for us.”

“It won’t. We have better medicines and potions to take now unlike back then. We have a level of hygiene now that makes the transmission less likely.”

Ron said, “You mean how we take a bath or a shower daily?”

“That and always washing hands when coming out of the loo.”

“Who wouldn’t? That’s gross.”

Hermione grimaced. “You know there are plenty of men who don’t wash their hands.”

“True and they’re disgusting.”

“Anyway, we’re going to be home awhile.”

“We’ll need some groceries to tide us over.”

“I’ll firecall Neville and let him know to keep the kids at Hogwarts until this passes for us.”

“Good idea. Looks like we’re going to break out that industrial-sized Mirror you got for me when I was laid up on bed rest with the kids.”

“I’ll go get it and put it up in here for you.” Ron stopped. “So if you’re infected, then I am too, right?”

Hermione smiled, thinking of a delightful Sunday lie-in they had last weekend. “Yes, you would be.”

“Well since I’m on the same broom you are, it’s not like you have to sleep on the couch or anything.”

“No, neither of us has to sleep on the couch.” Hermione stood up from her leather office chair and went to the doorway, pushing her husband gently into the doorframe. With a glance, she ran her fingers through the fringe and his hair, appreciating the softness of the hair on his head. “And no illness will keep me from doing this,” She stood on her tiptoes to gently kiss him. 

Ron reached for her hips and pulled her body flush to his own. “Keep that up and we won’t get any work done this afternoon.” 

Hermione kissed him on the nose before pulling his head forward, resting her forehead on his. “And once again, you’re right. I did say I needed to do a couple of things before this evening.” She sighed. “But I would enjoy dessert tonight.” Her smile turned wicked. “I think we would both appreciate some quality stress relief.”

Ron pulled her close again, snogging her breathless. “I’ll hold you to it.” He hugged her tight, pressing his nose into her hair. “I’ll go get the mirror out of storage and set it up. Then I’ll firecall everyone to warn them off, including Harry and Ginny.”

“I admit this is going to be, well, interesting.”

Ron erupted in a cheeky grin. “Remember the last time we had a fortnight to ourselves?”

“You mean that little cottage in the French Alps at Mont Fort? That was quite nice of Fleur’s parents to rent it out for us for that holiday.” Hermione smiled thinking of that particular Holiday. “The Muggles only saw one hut out there in the middle of nowhere but didn’t see the Wizarding village down the side of the mountain. I don’t know of any Holiday we’ve ever taken that was better than the one there.”

“You certainly weren’t complaining that we were snowed in that week and slept in front of the fireplace every night to stay warm.” Ron ran his hands along her face. “And to think, nine months later Rose came along.”

Hermione snuggled into his chest. “So you’re hoping for that again, aren’t you?”

“That’s up to you, love. While I would never turn down another child, it’s not my decision, is it?”

“Maybe I wouldn’t be on bed rest for months if I was again?”

“You weren’t with Hugo.”

“We’ll see what happens,” Hermione stood on her toes and kissed Ron again. “But first, we have to take care of the business stuff.”

Ron kissed Hermione on the nose. “I’ll get your mirror up in a moment, right after I talk with Mum and Dad.”

Ron left Hermione in her office while she considered how she was going to do her job to her standards while stuck at home for a fortnight.

Demarcation line for the win!

Ron finished with the last dish in the sink after their dinner of cottage pie and salad. The grocery budget shrunk back down to a reasonable amount once the kids went back to Hogwarts after Winter Hols. He didn’t mind since the kids had everything he lacked growing up, with enough food to feed a small army every meal for them and provided them treats from time to time as well. But the household budget would strain slightly with two teenagers eating their weight daily. How his parents managed all the kids on his Dad’s meagre salary he’d never understand except to respect his Mum and her skills.

Two small yet strong arms wrapped around his midsection, hugging her front to his back. “I’m so glad you’re home with me. I’d go completely mental if I had to spend two weeks away from you during this barmy time.”

Ron pulled Hermione to him, lifting her onto the ledge of the counter. The kids never noticed that the counters were the perfect height for him and a little tall for Hermione. She didn’t mind, not when they were still young and working too hard and grabbed a shag whenever they could manage it those early days of owning their cottage. Tonight, though, they had plenty of time on their hands. His hands went to her thighs, rubbing his calloused hands up and down her smooth skin. “I’d have walked into our quarantine to keep you company during this time. Might I remind you that our vows said In Sickness and in Health? I think this qualifies as in sickness.”

“It’s not like I even feel off. Maybe it’s that cockwomble of a PM who is an idiot.”

Ron opened her pyjama top, exposing her chest to him. It was almost 25 years after the fact and even with all of the changes to her body from having kids, the curse scar along with the gold galleon burns along her chest never faded. They’d healed up well enough but those early days, when he was still learning every square inch of her body, he’d kiss each scar, each burn spot, each memento of a moment when her bravery cost something, some bit of pain in their lives. “Fucking gorgeous,” he growled. “Damn gorgeous.”

“You’re barking,” she smiled as she worked at lifting the tee shirt up his torso, leaving small kisses on various freckles on his body. He finished the job, tossing the shirt behind him so she could appreciate his body. While he wasn’t out running with the kids daily now since his ankle ached a bit from time to time, he wasn’t a gangly teenager like he was at 14. He’d filled out some and put on some muscle on his shoulders and back which Hermione never failed to appreciate. “Deep in thought?” she asked.

Ron looked back at his wife and saw her smirk. “Yeah, just wish I’d been able to tell 14-year-old me to quit being such a tosser and that he’d eventually get the girl of his dreams.”

“You’d already had me but I had to learn to appreciate you,” She worked her hands down his lean torso, settling them on the tops of his hips. “How could I have been so stupid to not realize that you express love to people by giving your time and affection in doing things for people. Once I figured you out, I realized you’d been telling me for years how much you loved me. Once I realized that I was being selfish in thinking you had to express affection the way that I understood you so much more.” She pulled his hips close, feeling his sleep trousers straining the front. “I’m glad I pulled my thumb out.” She grinned at him before shrugging out of her top, leaving her in her skin. “And I’m glad that you put something special in.”

Ron laughed but dropped his sleep trousers, leaving him in his skin. “You mean like you want right now?” he stepped between her knee and then pulled her hips forward to the edge of the countertop.  

She pulled on the back of his head down for a tempestuous kiss, feeling his excitement poking her thighs. Releasing his lips for a moment, she breathed, “here or somewhere else?”

Ron lifted his hands from the sides of her hips to her breasts, feeling the tips harden under his fingertips. “Oh we’re staying here,” He cheeked before kneeling before her. “I want dessert first.”

Hermione leaned back on the counter, holding onto the edge while Ron feasted on her tender flesh, giving her so much pleasure and joy that if she could cry, she would. Instead, she let go, embracing the vulnerability she could express with her husband. Ron was the only one on the planet who could quiet the racing raging thoughts in her head, slow down the near-constant anxiety that she had to always be the best at everything, and temper her sharp edges that so many others presumed about her.

A shudder rippled through her body followed by the frisson that she gladly welcomed, all given freely by her wonderful husband. She reached out and found the soft ginger hairs on his head and ran her fingers through them, appreciating the solid feeling under her fingertips while he used his to make her groan in ecstasy. 

Another rush of pleasure coursed through each nerve in her body, leaving her quivering in the abundance of sensory overload. She would never tell anyone besides Ron but what he did for her before they had sex was her favourite part. Everything he brought to their intimate moments only magnified how much she adored him.

Two hands reached up her body to tease her breasts, pinching the tips under his well-practised fingers. 

“Oh God,” She moaned and felt the jolt of pleasure erupt from her core, spreading out to her fingertips and toes. 

When she could open her eyes, Ron was standing in front of her, patiently waiting for her approval. She nodded once, having lost the capability to speak anything coherent some time ago, and felt the pleasure of having his cock inside her.

“Shit, this is fucking amazing,” he kept still for a moment to make sure she was ready. Twenty plus years of making love to this wonderful man – and the shagging and, as crudely as it was factual, the fucking – she never grew tired of it. Like the loaves of bread he made for Sunday lunch for the family, he never let it grow stale or trite.

Hermione reached up to hold onto his shoulders, to have any kind of leverage while he continued to make love to her. While he might have popped off in a minute when they were much, much younger, he had stamina now to last long enough to make her satiated. Who knew that she could feel that much from a shared intimacy with this amazing man she called her husband?

“Yes, right there, feels amazing,” she praised him for every second she could articulate. Her husband thrived on being praised and told how well he was treating her. It took too many rows after they finally pulled their collective thumbs out - and some tears on her part - to realize what he needed to flourish. 

“Gonna fuck you hard, Hermione, going to make you walk like a bloody bowtruckle for a week when I’m done with you,” he’d cheek back.

“Yes, please do, yes” each moment he spent driving her spare, with his hands, his manhood, his mouth, anything he could use to afford her pleasure and joy. “It’s not like anyone is going to notice us, right?”

“No one’s going to interrupt. I’ve locked the door, the Floo, and put us under a Fidelius Charm. 

Ron kept going, eventually pulling her hips forward and resting her legs on her chest and her feet on his shoulders. Hermione pressed her heels into his collarbone, changing the angle he fucked her. “Yes, right there, keep going,” her praise for him only grew more incoherent, more broken as he nattered on, offering filthy comments in response to her. He understood her best of all. He was the only one who got to see her vulnerable, this candid for him. 

A sheen of sweat covered both of them, rattling the cabinets and drawers underneath them. Noises echoed in the kitchen into the parlour along with the occasional groan of wood underneath Hermione’s arse. The slap of wet skin against wet skin echoed along with the growing cacophony into the cottage.

“Hermione,” Ron’s voice rumbled.

“Whenever you are,” she replied. 

Ron continued for another dozen strokes, fighting like mad to hold on. He looked down at his wife and saw her tits jiggling on her breasts while one hand had slid down her slick body to where they were joined, pressing her fingertips into the crevice where her bundle of nerves was, rubbing in tight little circles.

“Oh fuck,” he growled before exploding. He pulled her hips flush to his, feeling her clenching around his length. 

She groaned like the long-departed ghoul in his childhood attic, imitating a banshee with a bad cold. She shivered, not stopping even after he’d quit thrusting into her welcoming body. He pulled back, gasping for breath and stretching his back. She continued to quiver from all of the sensory overload while he hid the smug grin on his face from making her behave in such a wanton fashion. 

Seconds which felt like minutes later, Ron pulled Hermione from the edge of the countertop, lifting her onto his shoulders and carried her to their couch. She scrambled off with him plopping down first followed by her cuddling into his side. She scratched the soft ginger hairs on his chest while he caught his breath.

“We get two weeks like this,” said to the top of his wife’s head. “I never expected to have daily shags ever again, not after that first summer.”

Hermione looked up and smiled before resting her head back on his chest and crossing her knee over his thighs. “I guess we should take advantage of it before everything goes pear-shaped again.”

“Would you say it’s fortunate that we got this earlier than later than everyone else?”

“Honestly? I’d rather get it and get it over with and get back to work helping the rest of our country survive this disaster.”

“Disaster?” Ron rubbed her back, feeling the hairs standing up under his fingertips. “You mean that walking fuckstrumpet of a Prime Minister for the Muggles?”

“If I thought that the populace was manipulated into voting for that sod, I’d open an inquiry. But I don’t trust the Muggles and their discernment of the propaganda that passes for the media now.”

“You’ve never trusted the media, Hermione, not after that bint Skeeter defamed you repeatedly when we were younger.”

“I recall you being shirty too after she went after our kids that one time at the Quidditch World Cup back in 2014. Good thing Ginny gave her what for on Harry’s behalf.”

Ron wrapped his arms around Hermione’s shoulders, pulling her more onto his still heaving chest. 

A soft continuous thumping on the window made them turn their heads. Sure enough, it was raining but also an oversized Barn Owl was on the railing, tapping with his beak in the utter darkness.

“Merlin, can’t even enjoy the moment,” Hermione growled before getting up from Ron’s comforting embrace to stroll to the window and open it, bringing in the very wet owl inside. “I must answer this immediately, isn’t it?” she asked the owl who hooted softly. “Bugger, OK. There are rashers on the countertop for you. I’ll send this back straightaway.”

Hermione saw the MoM seal on the outside of the parchment and cracked it with a fingernail, watching the three feet unroll. She scanned the document before her eyes grew as large as tea saucers then read it again.

Ron sat up on the couch, watching his wife standing only in her skin by the window, the fireplace behind her lush arse highlighting it and silently making him drool, yet she had not a care in the world who might see her form, already engrossed in what had been sent to her.  “That bad, love?”

Hermione turned her face back to Ron and saw the thunderheads rolling across her face. “That bloody PM didn’t bother to listen to the Muggle doctors and is being admitted to the hospital tonight. The sod has left that other tosser - “

“He’s the bloke that looks like he was used for quaffle target practice, right?”

“That’s the one.” She took a deep breath. “That means I’m now the Shadow Minister, temporarily. The real Shadow Minister is also under quarantine.”

“But so are we, right?”

Hermione’s smile erupted. “Nothing like a bubblehead charm to go into work, which I, unfortunately, must do for an hour early tomorrow morning. That Ruddy idiot wants to talk about the state of the Ministry before going forward at 7 am.”

Ron stood up from the couch, looking fanciable and fit in his skin. Four strides and he was next to her, swallowing her up in an enormous hug. “I guess that means we need to get to bed so you can sleep, right?”

Hermione looked up at Ron, his beard shining like gold in the amber lights of the fire in the locked fireplace. “Eventually, love. I would prefer round two.”

Ron turned, pulling her with him as he walked back to their bedroom. “Round two, huh?”

“I need to work this stress off and you’re the medicine I need tonight.”