#'He nearly broke his tongue talking German to my mother'

[eppysboys]

“Astrid and The Beatles became even closer when she invited them to her home in Altona. For the first time since arriving in Hamburg, the five boys were able to enjoy some home comforts and escape the desperate privations of their hovel like accommodation at The Bambi Kino. They also enjoyed some sorely missed English food: “They loved visiting my house. For their first visit, my mother asked me what they liked to eat, and so she cooked them mashed potatoes, steak and peas – the first proper English meal they’d had since arriving in Germany. She even got them some strawberries, and made tea with milk and sugar. John and my mother got on like house on fire – even though they did not understand a word each other was saying. It was lovely to see. The boys had a good time – they had a bath and enjoyed looking through our records and books. It was to be the first of many such visits.”

Through such occasions, Astrid was able to get to know The Beatles as individuals. 

“Paul is still like he was then, very lovely, deeply modest, and very well mannered. He nearly broke his tongue talking German to my mother. He had his phrase book with him. He always tried to be the translator, because he had these three or five words of German that he knew. George was the sweet one. He was just 17, and he would sit and look at things, politely asking “Can I please look at that book, that magazine?” He is one of my closest friends. I am so pleased to know that he is in England watching over me. He had had tough times recently, and so I am pleased he has his family and his religion to help him. He lost John, his parents, he was almost killed during that terrifying attack, and he had that bad cancer, but through all these tragedies he is still the George he has always been; kind, helpful and full of love for his friends. He is very caring toward me.

...

John was the strong one, always asking questions. All that anger that people associate with him and that was showing the film “Backbeat” in several scenes, where he shouts “It’s all dick!” at everyone and anyone - including me – was not the John I knew. That’s fiction, I never heard him say that. We got on every well – he was never hostile towards me.

“And Stuart!!! Well, by the time they visited my home we really had a crush on each other, so we just sat gazing into one another’s eyes, as the rest carried on. Neither of us actually made the first move, it was both of us - like magnets. At that time, Klaus was my boyfriend, but he sensed what was happening. He saw it and, in a way, forced it, which is strange to understand now, but Klaus always wanted me to be happy. He knew I wasn’t happy in our relationship. He and I were great friends, we shared the same tastes, the same sense of humour, but we just could not live together as lovers, that was impossible. So he encouraged Stuart and me a little bit.”

Astrid Kirchherr on the personalities of The Beatles. Interviewed by Colin Hall for Get Rhythm, August 2001

[blackevermore]

Indulge us with a fun yet random fact about you and your F/os! >:3

x Nathanael Abcott 

x Nate sleep walks really bad due to him being possess sometimes I walk up to him running into something. Sometimes I walk up to him in the kitchen cooking, the most spooky one is when he sits in the living room and chants in his native tongue and sometimes they are prayers other times they aren’t. When he isn’t doing the latter I normally sneak up behind him and tap his shoulder and start a conversation with him before sending him back to bed. In the morning I’ll ask him about late night and it bugs him so much when he can’t remember anything.

x Willy Wonka

x Wonka once allowed me to cut his hair....I didn’t tell him I didn’t know what I was doing. I gave him a karen haircut and he was so devistated that he wouldn’t talk to me until his hair grew back. I told him I was sorry but everytime he looked at me I felt he was gonna ask for my manager.   

x Alastor

x He has a fluffy tail that I like to tie ribbions around it. He sings when he cooks and even though my not the best to be a duet I always sing with him if i know the words. Sometimes we get so caught up in goofing off we burn the food. 

x Kurt Wanger

x Kurt has tried to help me learn even the smallest bit of conversational german but as a silly American, I sound really bad. He tries his best with correcting me but dear lord I’m a mess. Hopefully, if he takes me to German I’m a lot better by then because I’m going to sound like a silly American and he is gonna be so internally embressed by me confidently fucking up his mother tongue.

x BumbleBee (TF)

x Bumblebee calling OP dad on accident and me doing the same but purposefully. When Bee is in his holoform we’ll wear shirts that say we’re OP dumbass kids and if found leave us be. I took Bee to get his tongue peirced and he scared the dude when he glitched out when the needle went through his tongue.

x Michelangelo

x Mickey stole Donnie’s human disguised bracelet and we took a road tip out of the state. Half way towards the midwest during the day when it broke and or ran out of power and BAM giant turtle man in the front seat. He had to play it cool like it was a custom.

x Dominique Dalmatia

x I sometimes forget he still has somewhat dog brain so if I say a random command he does it. We were shopping and he got distracted by something shiny and put it in his mouth and I called out “Sit and spit it out” and he dropped to his ass and did so.

x Mettaton

x When Mtt needs to charge his body and goes back into his box form. I repaint his nails and do his makeup to make sure when he get back in his fancy form he is freshie fresh. He showers me in kisses everytime he boots up and looks in the mirror.

x Yagi Toshnori

x this man gets backrubs and messages anytime he asks for them. Now that doesn’t mean I haven’t fucked something up tho, I tried to set the mood with turning the lights off and lighting candels. Everytime was going great until I knocked the candle over into the oil and nearly set his apartment on fire. After that he has banned me from using real candles. 

x Taishiro Toyomitsu

x The first time I saw his skinny form I thought he was a stranger trying to talk to me and I panicked and punched him in his balls and took off running. When he made it home after recovering and eating I told him what happen and he looked at me and told me it was him and I felt so bad.

[Thank you for the ask babe!! @honeypeachiepie 💕💕💕]

[tell-mi]

One Day, Maybe

Part 1 - Beat of my heart

Chris Evans x Anastasia Hofmann (25 year old actress and mother of 5 year old Nathalie)

Warnings: whole lotta fluff and language

"Nathi, beany, come on you've gotta stay at the kindergarden. Mommy will pick you up at evening. Okay?" you smooched your little bean goodby. That's how you called your five year old daughter Nathalie. Every morning since a week your heart broke into tiny pieces, when you saw her little face turn sad. You moved from LA to New York for a new TV series a year ago but Nathalie still wasn't getting used to it. Especially after your filming break of two months. It wasn't the first move with Nathalie. The last years have been incredible for you and your acting career. You broke up the theater school in Berlin five years ago, as you knew you had been pregnant. Marco, your boyfriend and the father of Nathalie just broke up your relationship and left you. Never have you heard of him again. You knew that it wouldn't ever be possible to go on with acting and raise a girl as a single mom, so you took the hard decision. As Nathalie turned three you two moved to LA due to a surprisingly acting chance for a sitcom which just came up. You accepted the possibility to get a contract at your dream job and it pushed your carreer to the top. Within a few month you became one of Hollywood's most demanded actresses on TV shows.

Nevertheless you always decided in favour of Nathalie. She was always your number one and no job in the world was worth leaving her to some Nanny's for weeks without seeing her. So you only accepted job offers if there was the possibility to take her with you and a kindergarden nearby.

The last movement was a hard one for Nathalie. Growing up in Germany she went into a german kindergarden and only spoke this language. In LA you have found a german kindergaren for her as well. You wanted her to continue speaking her mother tongue and in the afternoon you started to learn english with her. She was really good in it now with her five years. But now in New York there was only the possibility to bring her to an english kindergarden, which turned out to be a bit difficult for Nathalie. Maybe that's why she made you a hard time every morning while leaving her behind with a nursery teacher.

***

You arrived on set a few minutes to late again. Almost sprinting to the hair and makeup trailer you just finished in time with the dressers. The series was something between suits and billions. Some intrigue filled lawseries. It was a good storyline and your charcters development during the season was great. Which was one reason every single fan hyped the series. Not to say, Chris Evans being your costars made all female fans love the series.

You've just started to film the second season the past week and got very excited about the twists and turns. While going through the Skript at the table read you saw that there will be a few steamy scenes between Chris and you. Your characters didn't like each other very much, as they were concurrents, but it may turn out that after a few drinks they will land in each others bedrooms very soon.

You always appreciated the friendship of Chris and you. He was a sweet and handsome person. A good raised one too. He was a true gentleman with that extra scoop of smut written across his face while he flirts. You always enjoyed flirting with Chris but never took it too seriously, as you thought it was just his thing. His own character is some kind of the flirty one. It wasn't something he does exceptional for you. At least this was your perception of him. The chemistry between the two of you was kind of special since the first day you've met. It felt like you knew each other for a lifetime. It was so easy going with Chris. Talking about your life's, your family, your dreams. You two had the chemistry, everyone saw during interviews. Your fans shipped you thatfore.

But whatsoever, it was a hard time for Nathalie at the moment and you don't want to bother her with new strangers she has to get used to. That's why you didn't want to see someone, even if you could have a lot of men who crushed over you. You tried a few dating apps here and there but never really got into it. And additionally, you haven't brought one single man home since Nathis birth which made you into a dating analphabeth.

***

The moment after you went throughout the sex scenes at the table read, Louanne, the director, called it a day. It was earlier than normal, a few minutes past three. You normally picked up your little Bean at seven. The earliest time they allow the pickup, due to pedagogical reasons, was five. You decided to rush to a cafe and let yourself enjoy the few spare time you've had for months. Sitting at the table with your double-chocolate-doughnut and a large coffee infront of you, you checked your phone and found the dating app, which showed you, which user was nearby to meet up. 'Hmh, maybe I should give it a try and have a nice coffee date until I pickup Nathi' You scrolled through your phone until a deep but familiar voice raised you out of your swiping routine.

"You don't really use this, do ya?" You looked up into his beautiful piercing green-blue eyes. The same eyes which glared at you an hour ago with a smirk, as you finished reading the sex scene. Why was your heart pumping so badly by the thought of being near to him all of sudden?

"Nah, I..I wanted to uninstall it. Tried it once, but just some creeps there."

"Good, heard some weird stories about it. May I?" Chris gestured to the seat infront of you, one hand holding a coffee, the other one holding a sandwich.

"Sure, sure. I just grabbed some stuff until I pick up my little Bean" you cannot help but smile of the thought of your daughter finally happy again to see you.

Chris lips also rose up by the sight of you being happy.

"You cannot deny, you truly love her."

"I do!" You sipped on your, still too hot, coffee. "I mean, sometimes the little princess can truly be a pain in the ass."

"What!?" Chris almost chocked his coffee.

"Yeah, yesterday she managed to lock herself up in the bathroom. Can't tell you how this girl was even able to do that. But I ended up asking Mister Smith to help me break the door. You know the Smith's? My neighbor from downstairs." Chris not making an expression as if he could remember. "The older couple which was sitting in the frontyard as you dropped me off the other night after our season one wrapping drinks with the crew."

"Oh yeah, yeah, that really nice couple. The lady sitted Nathalie, wasn't she?"

"Yeah right. By the way, Betty really liked you." You bit a huge bite from your doughnut, almost spilling out the cream to your pullover.

"Does she?" Chris smiled amused while observing your eating skills.

"Yeah, she told me you are the most handsome young man she saw since Walter. And I cannot proof her wrong, though" You smiled at him, your cheeks slightly turning red at what you just said.

You heard his chuckle. It was really precious, as if he was the kind of shy guy, which he surely wasn't. He waved you off with one hand. "Come on, there must be one hundred men who are way better than this old house here."

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it Evans." You tried to manage the doighnut into your mouth but ended up with the chocolate cream all over the plate and a bit on your chin. You had to shake your head at yourself for this clumsyness. Now it was your turn to chuckle which slowly raised into a soft laugh.

Chris couldn't hold back but laugh at you as well. "I would bet your five year old has more grace than you." he sighed in between his laughter.

"Ah, come on! You don't even know how hard it is to eat a dougnut with so much cream on, Mister superhealty sandwich!" you moaned at him.

"It isn't that hard, Stacey!"

"Uh huh!" You scratches a bit of cream from your plate to your finger and tipped it on Chris' nose. Now you were the one who had to grin. Biting your tongue you tried to suppress your laughter. Chris took the cream from his nose liking it from his finger.

"You are one mean young lady, Anastasia. But thank you, I wanted to taste your dougnut since I had to look at you biting in it. It was either this way or I had to lick it from your face." he smirked. It was those kind of flirtings which made the butterflies in your tummy wake up again. You was used to his flirts, but the two of you never had been alone somewhere. Everytime it was at the bar or a restraunt with your other colleague's. It was easy and not to intimate. You've always got the feeling that it might go deeper when the two of you would have been all alone but never imagined it would happen.

"That would have been interesting, though" was your only answer at Chris' point.

Now you could say it was him, who turned slightly red. Quickly he raised his coffee to take a huge gulp. You've watched the clock, it was slowly turning five and you wanted to pickup Nathalie earlier to go walking in the park with her.

"Look, I have to go, pick up my little one." You stood up from your chair, Chris was doing the same. He pulled you into a hug. It was something you often did. No unusual thing for you. But this time you would have sworn the hug was tighter than every hug before. And it lastet a little bit to long to just be a friendly kind of hug. Nevertheless, you enjoyed it. You really loved his cologne. And you kinda liked it that Chris was nearly a head taller than you. You could swear, you always had a thing for tall, bearded man.

"See you tomorrow Stacey, have a nice evening with your daughter!" his lips were rally near your ear, you could feel his beard tickle your cheek. He left a quick kiss on your left cheek before pulling back.

Grinning like a little schoolgirl you also pulled away but let your hands slide to the side of his chest and holding on to it a little bit longer while staring in his gorgeous eyes. You didn't say anything before letting him go and leave. Your facial expressions said everything.

[geniuslab]

New Tricks (M)

→ Pairing: Taehyung x reader

→ Genre: Fluff, Smut, Dog Trainer AU

→ Word Count: 10.1k

→ Summary: When your newly adopted puppy turns out to be a lot more work than you expected, a cute dog trainer comes to the rescue. You soon become friends, but you begin to realize friendship might not be all you want.

→ What to Expect: Fluff, friends to lovers, smut, dirty talk, dom!Taehyung, bad jokes, and cute puppies.

→ Alternate Title: Doggy Style (I’m a serious author, I swear)

“I can't believe I'm finally doing this!” you said excitedly, locking your car doors and jumping up and down a little. The day you'd been waiting for had finally arrived.

Ever since you were young, you’d always wanted a pet. You couldn’t count how many times you’d begged your parents for a dog, or how much time you’d put into creating powerpoints about why you needed one. But no matter how persuasive you could be, your parents still weren’t buying it. To be fair, your mother was very allergic to dogs, and your dad was a little scared of them (which he refused to admit, but every time he saw one on the street he would dodge it like it was something deadly). You lived your whole childhood watching all of your friends get dogs, which is exactly why when you finally moved out that one of the first things you did was go to a shelter.

“What kind of dog do you want to get?” your best friend, Namjoon, asked. Over the years that he’d known you, your favorite breed had changed dozens of times. When you were 7, all you ever talked about was German Shepards. But then when you were 8 Namjoon adopted a Husky and those became your favorite dogs. Nearly every year you fell in love with a new breed, so your friend really had no clue what dog you’d want to get this time around.

“Hmmm,” you pondered, unable to hide the smile that was creeping along your face as you walked across the parking lot of the shelter with Namjoon in tow. “I guess I’ll just see which dog speaks to me.”

“Every dog is going to speak to you, Y/N. I’m coming with you specifically to make sure you don’t walk out of here with 10 dogs.”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s wrong with adopting 10 dogs?”

“You’ve never even taken care of a fish, I think it’s safest to start with just one dog for now. Plus, we’re roommates. Any dog that’s yours is essentially mine too.”

You pouted at him as he held the door open for you, and then you entered the noisy shelter. The sound of barking met your ears instantly, and you nearly skipped over to the first cage. A small black pug sniffed up at you in its cage, and you instantly dropped to the floor and started cooing at it, smiling and waving your fingers at it. Namjoon crouched next to you and held his hand out to the cage to let it sniff.

“I love it already,” you said, looking around for the sheet that had information about the dog written on it. She was named Minnie, and you could already imagine yourself rolling around with her and playing fetch.

“Y/N, I know what you’re thinking. How about you walk around and see what other dogs they have first?”

With a sigh you stood up and let him take your hand, leading you to the next cage. Over the next 20 minutes, you fell in love with every single dog that you saw. A Pit bull puppy had your heart melting, and an older Border Collie had Namjoon tugging you away because you didn’t want to move. You had no idea how you were going to choose just one pet; you wanted to take them all home.

And then you saw him: a small, fiery red Shiba Inu puppy, curly tail wagging excitedly as it played around in a pen with a few other dogs. An employee let you into the pen with them, and the second you entered he was bounding over to you. You pet his head in between his adorable pointed ears, and he instantly started biting your shoelaces.

“Stop that!” you giggled and moved your feet away, but no matter where you went his mouth followed.

“That one’s got a lot of energy,” the employee told you with a smile on her face, and when you picked him up you never wanted to let go.

“How old is he?” you asked.

“He’s just a pup, a little over 3 months old.”

The dog’s big brown eyes looked up at you eagerly, and he started trying to lick your face. You laughed and squeezed your eyes shut, trying to move your head away.

Namjoon was playing with a Beagle in the pen with you, but when he looked up he knew you’d found your new best friend.

“Not gonna lie, I really only know them from the doge meme,” you admitted.

“They’re a very sweet breed,” the employee said. “A hunting breed, so keep them on a leash unless you want them running for every small animal they see. Can be a bit stubborn, but very loyal and kind.”

You nodded your head, but you knew that no matter what the employee had to say, you were already attached to this dog.

“I think you’ve looked at all of them by now,” Namjoon said. “Do you know which one you love best?”

You looked up at your friend, and you could tell with the little glimmer in his eye that he already knew. You’d put the Shiba down on the ground, and he went back to chewing endearingly on your shoelaces. You weren’t even trying to stop him anymore.

“Yes, I know exactly which one I love.”

“They told you Shiba Inus were stubborn,” Namjoon said, trying to keep the smirk off of his face. You were currently being tugged along by your energetic little pup. You’d had Haru for about three weeks now, and they’d been three weeks of near torture.

You loved him, but you were in hell.

“I can handle stubborn, this dog came straight out of the pits of hell,” you grumbled, but you both knew that you absolute adored him. Haru had become the biggest part of your life, even bigger than your new job and apartment. He was all you thought about 24/7, mostly because he had you up nearly 24/7.

The last three weeks had been filled with lots of barking, numerous “accidents” in which he ruined the new rug you’d just bought, and several jailbreaks in which he slipped his collar and made a run for it.

Needless to say, you’d gotten very little sleep and were at your wit’s end. But every time he’d crawl into your lap and lick your hand, your heart melted all over again and you knew exactly why you’d chosen him.

“Do you want me to take the leash?” Namjoon asked hesitantly when Haru yanked you forward again, chasing after a leaf blowing in the wind.

“I can handle him,” you huffed and wrapped the leash around your hand a third time to get a better grip.

“Is it all you thought it would be?” Namjoon asked and looped his arm around your free one.

“What?”

“Owning a dog.”

“Oh!” you said. “It’s a little more work than I was expecting, but after all he is just a puppy.”

“I cannot believe Haru already got kicked out of puppy training school,” Namjoon laughed.

“It’s not his fault!” you exclaimed. “Haru is just very inquisitive.”

“He sniffed another dog’s butt and all hell broke loose.”

“He caused a momentary commotion, but the other dogs started running around and barking too so I don’t really see why it was all his fault.”

“Nevertheless, the instructor told you to never bring him back. You officially have a dropout on your hands.”

“That instructor was a dick,” you sniffed. “Haru is an absolute angel and I can train him by myself.”

“Just a minute ago you said he was from hell.”

“Well, he is. But he’s also an angel. My perfect little angelic demon dog. The perfect companion.”

You and Namjoon had reached the dog park entrance, and you let Namjoon open the gates for you so you could keep ahold of Haru. You’d been taking Haru for several walks a day, but when Namjoon suggested a dog park you could feel a weight lifting off of your shoulders. Being able to let Haru run loose and burn some energy sounded exactly like what you needed right now.

As soon as Namjoon closed the second gate, you bent down and let Haru off of his leash. He paused for a second, but as soon as he realized he was free he bolted away from you, hopping across the yard with his tail wagging.

“Haru!” you yelled and waved the new tennis ball you’d bought in your hand. The energetic puppy turned around at your voice, tongue wagging. You threw the ball in a wide arc, and he jumped into the air to catch it.

Unsurprisingly, once he had the ball he ran in the opposite direction with it.

You sighed and sat down on the bench, and Namjoon joined you a moment later.

“A boyfriend probably would’ve been easier,” he remarked.

“Namjoon!” you yelled.

“What? You wanted a companion, right? At least you’d get some sleep with a boyfriend.”

You ignored your best friend and watched Haru chasing a dog around the park. The dogs seemed to be having fun, but soon enough the owner of the other dog called it over to them and shot you a dirty look.

“So when are you going to start training him?” Namjoon asked and leaned back against the bench, tipping his head up toward the sun.

“I already am,” you responded. “Haru, come!”

Haru did not come.

“He’s very independent, just like his mommy.”

“That is such a load of shit,” Namjoon said with his eyes closed. He didn’t even have to look to know that Haru was definitely not coming.

You rested your head on Namjoon’s shoulder with a sigh. “He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s my pain in the ass.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Shut up,” you said half halfheartedly, cozying up closer to your friend. You had a few moments of peace before you had to jump up and run to Haru, who had decided to eat garbage for lunch.

It took you twenty minutes to finally catch Haru and get him back on his leash, but the second you got out of the dog park and stepped into the parking lot he slipped his collar. You watched in horror as he wiggled his head out and then ran for it, and you screamed his name and started running after him. He wove in between parked cars, and your heart was pounding as you tried to catch up with him.

“Haru!” you yelled, clutching the leash in your hand and looking around for him desperately. Your throat was getting tight, and your breathing hitched when you saw red in the corner of your vision. Haru was standing next to a sandy haired man, and when you caught up to him you saw that the man had treats and was holding them above Haru’s head.

You walked up slowly as to not scare Haru off, and the man glanced up at you and gave you a small nod. He continued to shake the bag of treats while you crept up on Haru and finally got ahold of him. The stranger helped grab the collar from your hands and put it around Haru’s neck.

“Thank you so much,” you said, your heartbeat finally slowing down.

“It’s no problem,” you stranger replied and petted Haru on the head. “You’ve got an excited one here, don’t you?”

“He likes to break free.”

“You should try a harness, that way he can’t slip out of it.”

Haru started pulling on the leash again, distracted by a dog passing by.

“What’s his name?”

“Haru.”

“Can I give him a treat?”

“Sure,” you replied with a shrug.

“Haru,” the stranger said and shook the bag of treats again. “Come.” Haru turned around and looked at him, and then pranced over. The stranger bent down and gave him a treat.

“Are you trying to train him?” the stranger asked.

“I was, but he kinda got kicked out.”

“I see.” He looked down at Haru, who was trying to chew on his shoelaces.

“I’m Taehyung,” he said and stuck out his hand for you to shake.

“Y/N.”

“I work as a dog trainer, if you’re interested?”

Haru tried to bolt again, barking loudly at a Chihuahua that was walking past, and you had to pick him up to make sure that he wouldn’t slip his collar again.

“He’s really stubborn,” you admitted.

Taehyung smiled, his mouth boxy and his brown eyes bright. “I don’t mind a challenge.”

You struggled with Haru in your arms, and when you set him down Taehyung shook the treats again and repeated the come command until Haru was at his feet, waiting for a treat.

“What’s your rate?” you asked hesitantly. You’d just moved to this area, and you had lied to your parents about what you’d eaten for dinner the past week (instant ramen every single night). You didn’t have a lot of spare change to spend on private training.

“For someone so gorgeous? I can do the first few lessons free.”

“Are you hitting on me?” you asked, incredulous.

Taehyung looked at you and then looked pointedly down at Haru. “I was talking about this handsome man right here.” And then he shot you a wink.

“Is everything alright?” Namjoon asked, coming around the car. “I couldn’t even figure out where you’d ran to.”

“Yeah, Haru just decided to make a new friend,” you replied.

Namjoon gave Taehyung a nod and came up to your side.

“That would be really nice of you,” you finally responded to Taehyung. “But I can’t ask you to do that for free.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he said, opening the back door of his car. A couple golden retrievers hopped out, and Haru started barking uncontrollably.

“Can you help?” you asked you friend. Namjoon grabbed Haru and started walking away with him to stop him from barking.

“I suppose he really does need some training, but I still feel bad having you help for free.”

Taehyung shrugged. “I come here almost every day; I walk some people’s dogs as well so this is pretty much my second home. I don’t mind giving you some tips while I’m here. I’m just sitting around anyway.”

“Haru, no!”

You glanced over and saw Namjoon pulling Haru away from a puddle of mud.

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” you said when you turned back to Taehyung.

“I’m usually here around this time, so I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“Thanks so much.” You shot Taehyung a smile and then gave him a small wave before you ran and help stop Haru from bathing in mud.

“Haru, come,” you commanded. Haru looked at you and wagged his tail. “Come!”

It was a few days later, and thankfully only a couple other people were in the dog park. Taehyung had brought treats again, and you had a few of them in your hand as you tried to teach Haru his first command. Taehyung and you were sitting across from each other, and he was holding Haru’s leash. Each of you were taking turns calling Haru, and each time he’d come over you’d give him a treat.

You sighed after you’d called Haru for the tenth time.

“Just be patient,” Taehyung said, ignoring Haru’s inquiring nose at his hand.

“I’m the most patient person there is,” you retorted.

“I’ve only known you for a few days, but even I can tell you that’s false.”

You glared at him but then took a deep breath, determined to stay calm and patient.

“Haru, come!” Nothing. “Come!” A turned head, tongue sticking out. “Come!” Haru’s tail started wagging. “Come!”

Finally he came over, and you smiled wide as you gave him a treat. “Good boy!”

Taehyung spent some time calling Haru over, and the two of you sat there for almost an hour having Haru stubbornly walk back and forth between you. Taehyung had a poodle with him today, and it sat next to him calmly, head down on the ground as if this were boring them.

“Is that your dog?” you had asked when you first spotted Taehyung in the dog park.

“Nope, this is my neighbor’s dog.”

Now, with Haru resting his head peacefully in your lap, you asked Taehyung about his own pets.

“I actually only have one dog at the moment.”

“Really?” you asked, surprised. “I assumed you’d have a ton of dogs.”

“I do, in a sense. All the dogs I train are kind of my dogs.”

You smiled at him and petted Haru. “What kind of dog do you have?”

“A Pomeranian,” he answered. “His name is Yeontan. I just adopted him a little while ago.”

“Maybe some day him and Haru can go on a play date.”

Taehyung laughed and sat back on his elbows. “That sounds like a good idea, once we get Haru trained.”

The sun made Taehyung’s hair shine, and leaning back he looked like a work of art. You blushed when you realized you were staring, and focused on the sleeping pup in your lap.

“Is Haru your first dog?” Taehyung asked you a few moments later.

“He is.” You smiled down at Haru and kissed him on the head, causing him to nuzzle his head further into your lap. “How many pets have you had?”

“I’ve had pets all my life.”

“Is that why you went into dog training?”

Taehyung shook his head no. “I’ve loved animals forever, but I didn’t want to go into training until I started volunteering at a shelter. People give up animals so easily when all the dog needs is some training.”

You thought back to the nights you’d spent crouched over a mess Haru had made and wondered how many people would’ve given up by then.

“So many abandoned pets came into the shelter, and I realized that I could help in some way.”

“That’s really admirable of you,” you said.

Taehyung sat up and smiled at you. “It’s not, it’s just my way of putting some good into this world.”

“I really appreciate you helping train Haru. He’s a little devil but he has the softest heart.”

“I don’t mind at all. Besides, who else can say they get to spend time with someone so charming?”

“You’re talking about Haru again, aren’t you?”

Taehyung winked at you. “I’m talking about you this time.”

You blushed again and busied yourself with untangling Haru’s leash, as he’d knotted it up going back and forth between you two.

“Have you lived in this area very long?” you asked him.

“I’ve been here for a couple years now. But you must be new, right? I’d remember seeing you around town.”

The fact that he was determined that he’d remember you made your stomach flip in ways you hadn’t felt in a while. “I just moved here last month. I lived a couple hours away from here, but my friend needed a roommate and I really wanted to move out.”

“Have you liked it so far?”

You shrugged. “It’s been okay, but I really just stick around my friend Namjoon. I haven’t really made any friends at work or around town yet.”

“I’m your friend!” Taehyung said nonchalantly.

“You’ve known me collectively for around an hour.”

“So?” he asked. “I can already tell I like you.”

Haru yawned in your lap and you looked down at him to avoid Taehyung’s gaze.

“That’s sweet of you, but you barely know me,” you said.

“Can you give me a chance to get to know you?”

“How so?”

Taehyung stood up and held his hand out to you to help you up. “See you here next week?”

Over the next several weeks, Taehyung trained Haru faster than you’d even imagined. Of course, Haru was still incredibly stubborn. Every time you told him to come and he’d just stand there wagging his tail at you, your blood boiled. He knew the commands, he just didn’t always choose to obey them. But you and Haru had become inseparable, as if you’d been waiting your whole life for him (and, in a sense, you had).

You started growing anxious once Haru had learned most of the common commands. You were enjoying spending time with Taehyung more than you cared to admit, finding yourself hanging on his every word and blushing whenever his hand brushed against yours when you passed the leash over to each other. You feared that you’d run out of excuses to keep meeting him. After all, you already felt bad having him train Haru for free. You certainly couldn’t expect him to go above and beyond in training when you weren’t even paying him.

You wondered how Taehyung kept finding things to teach your pup. Haru had already learned how to come, heel, sit, lie down, and fetch. Haru had become a little tamer, no longer constantly running for every moving object that he saw.

“Hey, buddy!” Taehyung said one day when the two of you finally got to the dog park. He petted Haru between his ears and then took out his usual bag of treats. “Let’s teach you how to high five today.”

You laughed, thinking he was joking. But sure enough, he started trying to teach Haru how to high five. Your heart melted a little as you sat on the bench and watched Taehyung bent over, fluffy sandy hair covering his eyes and a big smile on his face when Haru finally put his paw in his hand.

The next week, you were certain Taehyung would tell you this was the last lesson. You couldn’t even think of more things to teach Haru at the moment. You’d achieved your goal: having a dog that didn’t drive you absolutely nuts. What else was there that Haru absolutely needed to learn?

But this time around, Taehyung had decided to teach Haru how to roll over.

The next week, he wanted to teach Haru how to play dead.

“Running out of things to teach him?” you asked when your session was over, walking out of the dog park with Taehyung. He had an adorable Bulldog with him today and you let her lick your hand before she hopped in his car. He closed the door and leaned against it, a small smirk on his face.

“You can never run out of things to teach a dog,” he replied.

Haru barked once at a passing dog, but when you commanded him to be quiet he sat at your side silently.

“He’s absolutely perfect, Taehyung,” you said, sadness filling your voice. Taehyung didn’t have to train Haru anymore, which didn’t give you much of a reason to spend time with him at the dog park.

“He is,” Taehyung responded, voice sounding equally as disappointed. You felt like your time with him was almost at an end, and your head started spinning trying to come up with an excuse to see him again.

Finally, you knew the perfect excuse.

“Do you want to go out for drinks soon?” you asked. “As a way of paying you back for training Haru.”

Taehyung stood silently for a moment, and then a smile brightened his face.

“Sure, I suppose that would be fair payment. I’ll pick you up this weekend.”

“You asked him out for drinks?” Namjoon asked you later that night as you plopped down onto the sofa next to him. You put a pillow on his lap and rested on it, looking up at your best friend and the dimples you’d adored since you were little.

“Yeah, as a way of thanking him for his help.”

“Are you sure that’s the only reason why?” he asked.

“Namjoon, what are you implying?”

“I’m just saying that you’ve been taking Haru to get trained for weeks now, and half the things he knows he’ll never even need. Plus, every time you come home from the dog park you have a goofy grin on your face.”

“I do not!” you exclaimed.

“Yes, you do. I’ve known you my whole life, I can tell when you like someone.”

You huffed and turned so your back was to him. “I don’t know if he even wants to be friends with me.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes at you. “Y/N, it’s so clear he’s been wanting to spend time with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did Haru really have to learn how to play dead?” he asked.

You bit your lip, not having a response. You had been very aware that Taehyung didn’t need to teach Haru any of the tricks he’d taught him these past few weeks.

“He’s been looking for any excuse to see you every week. You two are driving me nuts.”

When he put it that way, it did seem a bit obvious. Most of your training sessions were spent with the two of you just chatting anyway, and Haru certainly didn’t need more training right now.

“When are you going out with him?” Namjoon asked you and started braiding your hair.

“This weekend, he texted me the time he’d pick me up.”

“Alright, just text me if you need me to clear out of the apartment for you two.”

“Namjoon!” you yelled and picked up the pillow you’d been lying on, throwing it at him and walking away in frustration.

When Taehyung buzzed your apartment, you could feel your own nerves buzzing beneath your skin. You took a deep breath and gave Haru a pat on his head before leaving him alone with Namjoon.

You were dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans, and Taehyung was dressed much the same. The two of you walked together to the nearest bar, the air between the two of you feeling heavy and weighted. This wasn’t a date, you reminded yourself. You were the one who asked him out, and it was purely so that you could thank him for all of his help. So what if he had the most gorgeous brown eyes you’d ever looked into, or a laugh that made your knees weak?

You hoped he wouldn’t notice that your hands were trembling a little.

This wasn’t a date. This wasn’t any different than spending time with him in the dog park. Except this time you didn’t have Haru as a distraction and a buffer.

“How’s Haru doing?” Taehyung asked you to break the silence. You’d been sitting tracing your finger along the rim of your glass, too nervous to speak.

“He’s doing well,” you replied, nodding your head but still not looking up at him.

“Are you alright?” Taehyung asked, lowering his head to catch your eye.

You finally looked up and gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I guess it’s just weird seeing you outside of the dog park.”

“To be honest, I’ve been looking for an excuse to see you out of that godforsaken dog park for a while now.”

You widened your eyes at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want you to think I was coming onto you.”

“You weren’t?” You pouted jokingly, although you secretly meant it.

“I meet a lot of people because of my job, but you’re one of my favorites.”

You blushed and stirred your drink before taking a sip. “Thank you so much for training Haru, you were my savior.”

“It really was my pleasure. Besides, if I hadn’t then I wouldn’t be sitting across a pretty girl right now.”

You choked a little on your drink and coughed.

“What do you do for fun, other than training and walking dogs?” you asked, desperate to change the topic. Taehyung had been a flirt ever since you knew him, but the alcohol was making you take him seriously tonight.

“I’m really into music, always have been. I’m in a jazz band. I actually play here some weekends.”

“No shit?” you asked, sitting up straighter in your seat.

“Yeah, but what about you?”

“Funnily enough, I love listening to jazz music in my free time.” You winked. “Go figure.”

Taehyung tipped his head back and laughed, and you joined him, the alcohol finally making you mellow out.

A couple hours and several drinks later, you had your feet up underneath you and you were leaning in close, laughing at the stories Taehyung was telling you. Without Haru distracting both of you, you finally had a chance to fully get to know Taehyung.

“And I shit you not, Hobi passed out at least three times on that ride. He’d scream and then a second later be completely knocked out.”

“Oh my god,” you said in between your laughter. “Next time you go to an amusement park with your friends, please bring me with.”

“You’re welcome any time,” he said. “My friends are your friends.”

You smiled and leaned back in your seat.

“Finally feel like you have friends now?” he asked you.

You scratched your head and acted like you were thinking about it. “I think I do.”

“Do you always play this hard to get with your friends?”

“Unless you’re a dog, it takes a while to win over my heart. But you’re getting there.”

Taehyung nodded and downed the rest of his drink. “I should be getting home.”

“Me too,” you agreed, noticing that the room was spinning a little bit. When you stood up, you had to hold onto the table as to not fall over.

“Let me walk you home,” Taehyung said and threw some bills down on the table, taking your hand and leading you out before you could protest.

“I was supposed to pay for those!” you complained, swaying as you walked.

“I’m not sure you can even count properly right now. Besides, we’re friends. I don’t mind paying. You can pay next week.”

“Next week,” you promised and leaned into him. The two of you were quiet until you got to your apartment.

“I had fun,” Taehyung said. “Now go get some rest.”

“I did too,” you confessed. “See you later, Taehyung.” You fumbled with your keys but finally got in. Before the door closed behind you, you gave him a wave.

“You can call me Tae, by the way. All my friends do.”

He turned away before he could see your sloppy, drunken smile.

Every week, you met Taehyung for drinks. And every week, he walked your tipsy ass back home. Namjoon still joked that he could always clear out of the apartment if necessary, and you acted like you couldn’t hear him. It’s not that you hadn’t thought about it; Taehyung was very attractive and he still made your stomach flip when he smiled. But you’d been friends for some time now, and you figured that’s how he wanted it. You told yourself you were fine with that.

But whenever Taehyung ran his hands through your hair, you felt a pang in your stomach. And when he held your hand as you walked home from the bar, you could feel your heart skip a beat.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” Taehyung said every time he'd drop you off at home. He'd help you open the door and then kiss your forehead before you stumbled up the stairs.

You were fine being just friends.

At night, though, you sometimes found yourself thinking about him. It felt wrong, thinking about your friend this way as you writhed in bed. But everyone fantasized every once and a while, right? It didn't mean anything.

You were totally fine being just friends.

“Tae, you were amazing!” you said one night, leaping into his arms after his jazz performance. “I’m so glad you invited me finally.”

“I’m glad you wanted to come,” he replied. “I thought you were joking about liking jazz music.”

“I kinda was. But you’ve made me a fan now.”

Taehyung’s eyes were sparkling in the dim bar lighting, and your heart rate increased. Somehow, even though both of you were surrounded by dozens of people, this moment felt more intimate than when the two of you were tucked in a corner alone.

“You're very talented,” you said, your voice so low that he probably couldn't even hear you over the noise of the bar.

He was about to say something when a dark haired woman touched his arm and yelled his name.

“Taehyung!” She pulled him away from you and threw her arms around him.

“Nayeon, I didn’t think you were going to show up.”

“I couldn’t miss my favorite guy performing,” she said. She’d pulled away from her hug, but she still had her hand on his arm and her eyes were sultry as she looked up at him. “Who knew jazz could be so sexy?”

You suddenly felt like you shouldn’t be here anymore. In the months you’d known Taehyung, plenty of girls had flirted with him. But none that he clearly already knew. Not wanting to intrude, you acted like you needed to get a new drink and excused yourself from their company.

Taehyung turned to talk to you but Nayeon squeezed his arm a little and stepped closer to him, grabbing his attention again.

Walking straight past the bar, you slipped into a crowd of people and left the bar, cool air hitting your face as you walked outside. You walked home completely sober, and you wondered if that’s why things felt so wrong to you. Your stomach churned and your palms were sweating.

By the way Nayeon had been clinging to Taehyung, she clearly wanted to go home with him tonight. And as his friend, you should want that for him. You knew he was single, and any person your age deserved a good fuck every once and a while. Besides, she was adorable and he seemed to know her. They’d probably make a cute couple.

You were sweating now, and by the time you got up to your apartment your breathing was labored. The idea of your friend getting laid tonight shouldn’t bother you this much. Namjoon had had plenty of girlfriends and boyfriends over the years, and you’d never once felt sick thinking about it.

“Are you okay?” Namjoon asked when you slid down the door as soon as you closed it. You landed on the floor with a soft thud and closed your eyes, trying to regulate your breathing.

“Y/N, are you alright?” He was at your side now, hand pressed against your forehead. “Did something happen?”

“Tae’s probably going home with some girl tonight,” you mumbled and kept your eyes closed.

You heard a sigh and then Namjoon sat down next to you, taking your hand and holding it in his. “I knew this would happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were bound to figure out your feelings eventually.”

“I don’t—”

“You might be able to lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me. Finally figured out you don’t just want to be friends with him, didn’t you?”

You stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. Is that why you felt so sick? The thought of Nayeon clutching Taehyung’s arm made your throat tighten.

You were not fine being just friends.

“I don’t like this feeling,” you whispered.

“I know,” Namjoon said and gently pushed your head onto his shoulder. “But you’re gonna be fine.”

Haru walked up to you and placed his head in your lap, and you finally felt yourself break. All this time with Taehyung and you’d convinced yourself that friendship was all you wanted. But reality had hit you hard tonight, and it was a feeling you didn’t like.

The three of you sat there for a while until your tears dried on Namjoon’s shirt and you fell asleep.

No longer having training sessions for Haru, you were able to avoid Taehyung during the week. And when his texts came in, you acted like you didn’t see them. He buzzed your apartment that next weekend as he always did, but Namjoon covered for you and said you weren’t feeling well.

“How long are you going to keep this up for?” he questioned the next week when you asked him to cover for you again that night.

You shrugged. “Until my feelings go away. Or until he gives up.”

Namjoon sighed. “Maybe you should just talk to him.”

“Namjoon, I really don’t think he’s interested. He’s probably wrapped up in Nayeon anyway. Talking to him will just complicate things.”

“You can’t keep avoiding him.”

“Why not?”

“Because for all he knows, you hate him now.”

You curled up under your blanket and ignored your best friend. Haru nudged your hand, his sign that he wanted to go for a walk.

“Go take Haru for a walk and get out of this house. You only leave to go to work now, and it’s getting a little sad. I can’t be your only friend.”

“You’re not my only friend!”

“Haru doesn’t count,” Namjoon countered. “Go take a walk, get some fresh air, talk to some strangers.”

“I shouldn’t talk to strangers.”

“Get out of this apartment before I kick you out.”

“What if Tae is out?”

“Just go to the other dog park. Stop looking for excuses and go.”

You groaned and then sat up, shooting him a glare before you put Haru in his harness and finally stepped out of the apartment.

Avoiding your usual dog park, you took a longer route to get to the dog park Namjoon had mentioned. Haru seemed to perk up when you rounded the corner, and you realized why a moment later. Taehyung was in the middle of the park standing next to what appeared to be a ball of fur. It moved, and when you looked closer you saw that it was a small, brown Pomeranian. This must’ve been his own dog that he was talking about.

You were just about to turn around and walk back when Haru started barking. “Quiet!” you whispered, but it was too late. Taehyung was looking up at you, and when he caught your eye he waved you over.

Not wanting to be rude, you walked your traitorous dog over to him.

“Hey, buddy!” Taehyung said and bent down, petting Haru. Yeontan blinked up at you, two angry looking eyebrows above his eyes, a stark difference from his excited tail wagging. You bent down too and gave him a little pet, if nothing but to ignore the fact that you were standing in front of the guy you’d been avoiding for several days.

“I should get going,” you said.

“You just got here.”

“I was just taking Haru out for a small walk.” You started to pull Haru away, and he whined pitifully as Yeontan got farther away from him.

“Y/N, can we talk?”

“I really have to get back home. I, um, have water boiling for my tea.”

“You left your water boiling?”

Your back was to him by now but you paused, knowing your excuse was absolutely moronic.

“The least you could do is invite me over for some tea.”

“Tae—”

“You’ve ignored me for two weeks. Can we please talk?”

You turned around, and you could see the hurt in his eyes. Namjoon had been right—you couldn’t ignore him forever. Taehyung had become one of your best friends, you owed it to him to let him know why you were avoiding him now.

“Okay.”

Haru and Yeontan went running off into your apartment when you opened the door, and Taehyung took a seat at the kitchen table as you rifled in the cabinets for your tea. Namjoon was nowhere to be found, so the apartment was quiet save for your dogs playing.

“Has everything been okay?” Taehyung asked.

“Yeah,” you replied. “I’ve been fine.”

You finally found the box of tea and took two sachets out, plopping them into mugs and starting your boiling water. Your back was still turned to Taehyung, but you could hear him readjust in his seat.

“Why haven’t you texted me, then?”

“I’ve just been busy.”

“Bullshit.”

You turned around, eyes wide. Taehyung actually looked mad, his jaw clenched.

“I—”

“If you don’t like me anymore, just tell me. Don’t ghost me.”

“No, that’s not it!”

“Then what is it? Why have you been ignoring me for weeks? Why can you barely look at me?”

“It's complicated.”

“Don't give me that excuse, tell me why you've been ignoring me.”

“Because I like you!” you blurted out.

The apartment was silent. Haru and Yeontan must’ve settled down somewhere.

“What?”

“I like you, Taehyung. And it hurt too much seeing you with someone else.”

“You like me?” he asked. The water beeped that it was done, and you turned your back to him and distracted yourself with pouring the water into the mugs.

“I like you,” you said quietly. “But we’re just friends, right?”

“We’re both idiots,” Taehyung said behind you.

You heard a shuffle and then he was turning you around, his chocolate eyes inches away from you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Tae, I didn’t—”

“I should’ve been the one to tell you.”

You cocked your head to the side. “What?”

“God, Y/N, why are we both so clueless?”

Your head was spinning, and you leaned against the counter to steady yourself. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been flirting with you for months.”

“You flirt with everyone,” you said.

Taehyung shook his head and took a step closer to you. “Not like I do with you,” he said softly.

“So are you saying that you like me too?” you asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

You were breathless, unable to say anything.

“You kept brushing off my advances so I thought you just wanted to stay friends.”

“I thought you just wanted to be friends!”

Taehyung rested his forehead against yours, and your breath mingled together.

“I really don’t want to be just your friend.”

“But what about Nayeon?” you asked.

Taehyung put his hand on your hip, rubbing small circles into it which made your stomach flip.

“I just walk her dog a couple times a week, she doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“But—”

“Y/N, for the love of god, please stop talking so I can kiss you now.”

You shut up and your eyes fluttered closed as Taehyung wrapped his other hand around your head and pressed his lips against yours. You’d imagined what it would be like to kiss him, but your imagination couldn’t even compare to the real thing. His lips were soft, and he moved slowly against yours before he ran his tongue against your lip and you opened your mouth against his. He tasted like strawberries, and you leaned in closer to him and sighed softly. His hand moved from your hip to your back, pulling you as close as he could.

“The tea,” you mumbled against his lips, and he pulled you away from the counter, still moving his tongue against yours.

“Fuck the tea,” his voice was husky, sending a shiver down your spine.

He pushed you against the kitchen table, and you sat on it and wrapped your legs around him as he continued kissing you, making your head swim. His hands were everywhere but it somehow wasn’t enough, and you arched your back into him and wove your fingers into his hair. He trailed kisses from your lips to your neck, going down further until he reached the neckline of your shirt. He looked up at you devilishly, and you pulled your shirt off without a word. He reached behind you for the clasp of your bra, and then he finally had his lips wrapped around your nipple.

“Tae,” you said breathlessly, gently pulling on his hair.

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve imagined this for,” he said, and you moaned softly and grinded your hips against him.

“So have I,” you admitted, not even caring about the blush that was creeping up your neck. Not when he had moved to your other breast and was softly sucking on your nipple.

You kept moving your hips, and Taehyung finally pulled away with a glint in his eye. He tugged gently on your waistband, and you wiggled your hips and let him pull your jeans down. He pushed you back further on the table and bent down, kissing along the band of your panties before he slowly, achingly pulled them down your legs. You were sure you were absolutely red in the face now, completely naked in front of him, sprawled out on the kitchen table. But he looked down at you as if you were found treasure, a mixture of awe and hunger on his face.

“You just going to stare?” you asked, suddenly nervous.

“I want to remember this for the rest of my life,” he said. His voice was even rougher now, and before you could respond he ran his middle finger in between your folds, causing your breath to catch in your throat.

“You’re already dripping, holy shit.”

“You always make me this wet,” you said.

His head snapped up and he looked at you. “Have you thought about me before?”

“Sometimes at night.”

He groaned and tipped his head back. “You’re so fucking hot.”

He moved his finger again and you dropped your head to the table, unable to think straight. He teased your entrance with his finger, but then he moved it away and you felt his breath against you. His hot breaths made you tingle, and then his tongue was on you, lapping up your juices and pressing against your hole and your clit in cycles. You were moaning now, your head foggy with pleasure. His fingers joined his tongue, and he finally moved one finger in, curling up and making you pull his hair harder.

“You like that?” he asked against you, lips pressed up against your clit.

“Fucking hell, yes,” you gasped out, and then Tae grabbed the backs of your knees and slung your legs over his shoulders, pulling you closer to him. He inserted another finger, pumping in and out slowly as he sucked on your clit. You thought you were going to go insane, bucking your hips up into his face and moaning his name. Your orgasm was building already, and with every curl of his fingers you were seeing lights in front of your closed eyes.

“Look at how filthy you are,” he said. “Wet and moaning on a kitchen table. You’re already dripping and you haven’t even had my cock yet.”

“Oh my god,” you moaned, grinding your hips into his tongue. “Keep talking like that, please.”

“Really?” he asked, and the innocence in his voice made you pick your head up. He was looking at you with a twinkle in his eyes. “So you like it dirty, don’t you?”

“Quit teasing, you asshole.”

He pumped his fingers in harder this time and you bit down on your lip to stifle your gasp.

“My fingers are soaked, do you always get this wet for guys?” he asked, continuing to thrust his fingers in harder and faster.

“No,” you said, moving your hips into his thrusts. “Only for you.”

“What was that?” he asked. “I couldn’t quite hear it.”

He put pressed his tongue against your clit and you screamed, “Only for you! Fuck!”

“That’s my girl,” he hummed against your clit, curling his fingers up again. Your thighs were trembling against his face, and you had to stop yourself from squeezing them shut so that you wouldn’t suffocate him.

“Keep hitting right there,” you said breathlessly, your orgasm building. You smacked your head against the table and massaged his head as he continued to thrust into you, and before you could even warn him, you were clenching around his fingers, your release making you moan his name. He continued to pump in and out of you slowly until you finally came down, and then he inched up your body and kissed along your hairline before pressing his lips to yours.

“I bet you can taste yourself, can’t you?” he asked when he pulled away. You sat up and nodded, and he ran his thumb against your bottom lip. “Are you going to clean off my fingers?”

He didn’t have to ask you twice; you took his fingers into your mouth and wrapped your tongue around them, cleaning your juices off of him and then releasing them from your mouth with a pop.

“That’s one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen,” he groaned, and you could see his bulge straining against his pants. Your hands were still shaking from your orgasm, but you were able to unzip his pants and push them down, and then you dipped your hand into his briefs and pulled out his dick. It was red at the tip, already leaking a bit, and when you dropped to your knees and licked your tongue against the slit he hissed and wrapped his hand in your hair.

“I take it back, this is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, looking down at you with his cock in your mouth. You bobbed your head up and down his dick, all the while looking up at him. He was biting on his lip as to not make a sound, but you could tell by his tightening fist that he was probably going to lose it soon.

“Do you like that, baby? My thick cock filling your mouth?”

“Hmmm,” you moaned against his dick, and the vibration made him throw his head backwards. Your hand ran up his thigh and fondled his balls, and he groaned and stepped backwards, making his cock fall out of your mouth.

“If you keep doing that I’m going to cum.”

“Isn’t that the point?” you asked innocently.

“Where’s your bedroom?” he asked.

You pointed to the closest door, and then he was pulling you toward it, slamming the door behind you two so that no one could enter. He was kissing you again, slowly pushing you backwards into the room until your knees hit the bed and you fell onto it. He pulled away to finally take his shirt off, exposing his tanned chest. He hovered over you, arms around your head as he dipped down and kissed you. You bit down on his lip a little, causing him to moan against you.

“You like it rough, you dirty girl?”

“Fuck yes,” you said, wrapping your legs around his waist. But he shook his head and moved your legs away from him.

“Get on your hands and knees.”

Pleasure shot through your core at his command, and you did as he said, waiting for his touch. When he finally palmed your ass, you moaned and rested your head on the bed.

“Keep your head up,” he said, grabbing your hair and pulling just enough to be a little painful. You moaned again and dipped your head down a little bit so he’d pull it up again.

He rubbed his dick up and down your slit, and you thrust your hips back against him.

“You’re eager, aren’t you?” he asked, teasing you by pushing the tip against your entrance and pulling away.

“Fuck me, Tae,” you begged. “I’m on the pill, just fuck me already.”

“I can’t believe you’re bent over begging for my cock,” his voice sounded nearly strangled, and then he thrust into you swiftly, burying himself up to the hilt. He stayed there for a few seconds, letting you adjust, and then he was snapping his hips back, setting a bruising pace. He filled you up every inch, and your arms were growing weak trying to keep yourself up. You’d never felt so full, and so complete, in your life. His hips smacked against your ass, the sound obscenely loud in your empty apartment.

“You’re so fucking tight,” he said, thrusting into your harder. “When’s the last time you got fucked?”

“I don’t even remember,” you confessed, breathless. “Never like this.”

“No one’s ever fucked you this hard?”

You dropped your head down, and he pulled on your hair again. You screamed and clutched the sheets, thrusting your hips into his.

“No, no one’s ever fucked me this hard, oh my god!”

“Do you like it, baby?” he asked, tilting his hips to hit a new spot.

“Oh my god, yes!” you screamed, nearly tearing into your sheets. “I’m so close.”

He suddenly pulled out of you and flipped you onto your back, wrapping your legs around his waist. You were grateful to no longer have to keep yourself up, your chest heaving with your heavy breaths. You were absolutely throbbing, seconds away from your orgasm.

“I want to see your face when you cum,” he said, and thrust into you again, hard and deep. “Cum around my cock, baby.”

At his words, you came, screaming his name and bucking your hips against him as you rode out your orgasm. Your nails scratched down his back and with a couple more thrusts he was joining you, stifling his moan by capturing your lips in a heated kiss. He slowed down as he came against your walls, filling you up so that when he finally pulled out, his cum dripped out of you mixed with your own juices.

The two of you lied there for a while, tongues pressed against each other and soft hands cupping each other’s faces.

Just when you thought your lips were going to bruise, Taehyung pulled away.

“You’re going to have to wash your sheets,” he said sheepishly.

“I might just throw them away,” you admitted, looking down at the mess you made. You started to get up but Taehyung pushed you back down and got up instead, walking to your bathroom and running a washcloth under the sink. When he came back, he kissed up your thighs and wiped you down, cleaning up the stickiness between your legs. Then he pulled your toward his side of the bed and you curled yourself around him, legs interwoven.

“Did that really just happen?” he asked incredulously.

“It really did,” you said, equally surprised.

“Was I too rough?” He sounded genuinely concerned. When he looked down at you, you smiled at him.

“No, you were perfect. I see why you’re a trainer now, though,” you said with a giggle.

“Shut up,” he grumbled, but pulled you closer to him.

“I bet you can teach me some new tricks,” you said, tracing your finger along his chest.

“You're never gonna stop with the trainer jokes, are you?”

“You're the one who wanted to do it doggy style,” you pointed out.

“Okay, you make a good point there. But that was a coincidence.”

You giggled and sighed against him. “I can’t believe you trained him for free. I sincerely hope you charge your other clients.”

“I’ve only ever trained your dog free of charge,” Taehyung said softly.

“Wow, you really did want to get in my pants,” you said.

He hugged you closer and rested his chin on the top of your head. “I told you I’d get to know you, didn’t I?”

“I suppose you did.”

You were absolutely spent, and you felt your limbs grow heavy and your breathing slow as you laid against him.

“Get some rest, angel,” he said, his lips brushing against your hair. He hummed a song and rubbed your back, and you were finally lulled to sleep.

When you woke up a few hours later, the bed was empty. Taehyung’s shirt was no longer on the floor, and you opened your door and looked around. He was nowhere to be found. You walked around the apartment and saw that Namjoon still wasn’t home, and then you noticed that Haru was also missing.

Unless Taehyung had fucked you in an elaborate plan to steal your dog, he was most likely out taking the dogs for a walk. You stilled your thumping heart by pouring out the now cold tea and cleaning up the mugs. By the time you were done he was knocking on the door, and when you opened it Taehyung was standing before you, two leashes in one hand and a tray with coffee in the other.

“The tea got cold, so I figured I’d pick up something to drink,” he said, smiling at you.

You let him in and picked Haru up, giving him a kiss on the nose before setting him back down and giving equal attention to Yeontan.

“He’s the angriest looking dog I’ve ever seen,” you said when you picked him up, holding his fluffy little form in front of you.

“The second I saw him, I fell in love,” Taehyung said and set the coffees down on the table.

“That’s how I felt about Haru.” You set Yeontan down with a little pat on the head and then sat at the kitchen table, taking a coffee and staring down at it. You’d just fucked your friend, and you didn’t know what that meant now.

“Did I worry you by disappearing?” he asked. “I wanted to leave a note but I couldn’t find any paper. Do you and Namjoon have something against paper in this house?”

You laughed a little and looked up at him. “We try to keep our paper usage to a minimum.”

“I’m sorry if I was, um, too much earlier.” Taehyung wasn’t looking at you now, and you could have sworn he was blushing.

“I like it like that,” you said, putting your hand on his chin and tipping his face up so he’d look at you. “Did you like it?”

“I liked it a lot,” he said with a small smile.

“So…” you trailed off.

“Are you going to ignore me again?” Taehyung asked.

You shook your head no. “You know how I feel now.”

“And now you know how I feel too.”

The two of you looked at each other in silence for a few moments, and then both of you started speaking at the same time.

“I really want—”

“Do you want t—”

“Sorry, you go ahead,” you said.

“Do you want to go on a proper date with me?” Taehyung asked you.

“Oh!” you replied. “I was actually going to suggest that.”

He pulled your chair closer to him and pecked you on the lips. You could feel him smile against you, and you leaned forward and kissed him again.

“Just so you know, I only do exclusive relationships,” Taehyung said.

“Is this already a relationship?” you asked, nervous to hear his answer.

“Of course it is.”

You kissed him again, and your tongue was just brushing against his lip when Namjoon came in the door. The two of you jumped away from each other, but you could see Namjoon roll his eyes.

“It’s about damn time,” he said, dropping his keys on the table and nodding his head at Taehyung. “How did you like that new dog park?”

“Thanks for suggesting it to me, I found exactly what I needed,” Taehyung said.

“Wait!” You looked in between the two boys. “Did you set this up?”

“I just suggested the same dog park to both of you, and you both happened to go to it at the same time.”

“Oh my god,” you said, reality sinking in. Your friend really managed to finally hook you up with Taehyung.

“Did you know I was going to be there?” you asked.

Taehyung threw his hands up in defense. “I didn’t, but I had a feeling you might show up.”

“Men,” you huffed, but you shot Namjoon an appreciative glance before he went into his room and closed the door.

“Hey, do you regret going there now?” Taehyung asked, pulling your chair closer to him again.

You sighed and threw your arms around his neck. “No, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Haru came up and pressed his nose up against your leg, and you looked down at him and smiled. “It’s really all thanks to this furball from hell,” you said. “If I hadn’t gotten him, I never would’ve needed a dog trainer.”

“Maybe you can get another dog and I can help you train that one.”

“Or maybe we can just go on dates like normal and stop coming up with new tricks for my dog just to spend time together.”

Taehyung leaned in and you could feel him smiling against your lips again. “Sounds like a plan.”

Masterlist

[spideyxchelle]

love is universal. it spans time and distance. and sometimes, on the rare occasion that love doesn’t quite get it right the first, love spans for more than one lifetime. this is that story.

in this life they are called Adla and Phoenix. in their last they are called Peter and MJ.

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5]

Adla hated the war. It swept her elder brother, Jonanthan, into the navy and radically changed her life overnight. Everyone knew about the European War-- her father quietly called it the War to End All Wars-- but, living in California, it had felt a world away. She had never expected it to come to her doorstep. Until, the Germans broke treaty and President Woodrow Wilson declared war. 

It was 1918 and Adla hated the world. She hated that men were dying in the thousands and families were being ripped apart and new, lethal gases strangled men in their sleep. She hated that in a world where peace was always an option the allied and central powers chose war. She hated, hated, the war. 

Every man she knew under the age of twenty-five had been shipped out to fall on their swords for freedom and country. And with every passing day, more and more mothers got a flimsy little folded up flag for their son’s bravery abroad instead of a safe welcome home. Adla hated the war and prayed that Jonathan came home as flesh and blood and not as a symbolic flag. 

After he was shipped out, Adla puttered around in San Francisco with the rest of her family, looking for anything to do to help the war effort and to bring their boy’s home safe. And then, six months after Johnny had up and gone to fight some European’s war, she saw a posting for the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. A factory that war hiring out women to make munitions and build ships, what with the boys away at war. 

So she packed up her few meager belongings, contacted a boarding house for girls from Adla’s neighborhood and hopped a train north to join the war effort. 

It was hard, long and tiresome work but Adla didn’t mind. It felt nice to be needed and to get her hands covered in grease. Steeped in the sweat and the roar of machines, Adla could almost forget that men were dying across an ocean. 

The other ladies in her unit, affectionately called the grit girls (as there were only 10 or 15 colored women working at MINSY), pulled up their breeches each and every day and built as fast as they could pump out engines and motors. 

Dina, one of the boarders and grit girls, was the one that after four months of hard labor decided they all needed a night out, a break from the rest of the Rosies breaking their backs day in and day out. 

“Don’t ya miss dancing, Miss Adla?” Dina dipped under Adla’s arm as she dipped hot metal into the water tub, cooling it down. It gave a high-pitched hiss. 

Adla rolled her eyes, “I have to get into work early tomorrow, Dina. Put don’t let me stop you from having a good time.” 

Stella clicked her tongue and smirked at Dina, “What did I tell you, Dina. Adla isn’t one much for fun.” 

Dina pouted prettily at Adla, appealing to her soft heart, “Come on, Miss Adla. I promise you’ll have a swell time. Besides, some naval officers are gonna be coming around. They’re docked here for the rest of the week until the repairs on their ship are all finished.” 

Adla felt a tickle of irritation welling in her head. She yanked off her welding gloves and pulled back her goggles, wiping the sweat off of her forehead, “Dina, I don’t have time for soldiers.”

“Sailors,” Dina correctly, grinning coyly, “They’re in the navy, Miss Adla, and so they’re called sailors.” 

She tossed her discarded gloves at Dina who squealed with laughter, “Call them what you like, I won’t be going.” 

Stella plucked her goggles off and leaned her hip on the table, appraising Adla with her eyes, like she was trying to figure out some deep rooted reason why Adla was averse to fun. She swore she wasn’t, but with her brother away at war she would never forgive herself if she wasted time being frivolous when she could be spending that time working to help him. 

She squinted in an attempt to be intimidating at Stella who only shook her head, “Adla, you work like a dog. The factory is closed at night. There is no reason for you to not come, besides your own stubborn ass.” 

Dina giggled at the expletive. Adla tried not to roll her eyes and failed. 

Stella pulled her goggles back on and reached for her a bucket of bolts, “Come or don’t come. That’s on you. But just because there is a war going doesn’t mean you get to give up your life to it. You only have one life, Adla, make sure you live it.” 

And it was those words that stuck with Adla for the rest of the work day and she slaved away over her work. They rang in her head like a taunting prediction. Yet, while her head told stay at the boarding house, her heart beckoned for her to go. 

Like some siren song. 

As a child, her father used to tell her a folktale about a siren that led sailors to their deaths. Loreley was her name. Sometimes, as a child, she used to pretend she was that siren when they went to the beaches just beyond San Fransisco and she would sing for her own sailor to fall into her deadly trap. 

She was not deadly as that siren was, but perhaps, for the night, she could ensnare a pretty young naval officer-- she could almost hear Dina’s shrill voice correcting her that they were called sailors-- into a dance. It would not be like the fairytales of her dreams, but, in war, sometimes a dance could be enough. 

She threw on her finest red dress and attempted to pin her wild curls up in some form of a reasonable hair style and went down to the dance hall. 

As she entered, the swell of lively music and upbeat chatter filled the room. Men in uniforms and girls in pretty dressed were everywhere. Adla tugged on her dated dress and scanned the room for her friends. She spotted Dina first. She was drenched in blue velvet and looked absolutely dazzling and the young officer that was hanging on her every word seemed to think so as well. 

He had the same tall, broad look that Johnny had and the same color skin. Or, maybe, she was just wishing to see her brother in every officer here. It had been nearly a year since she had last seen him and every proud sailor could have been her brother or maybe they knew him. 

She tugged the longing to see her brother from her heart. Tonight she would not be Johnny’s little sister; no, she would be Adla and Adla alone. 

Adla crossed to Dina and cleared her throat. Her friend spun around and squealed, throwing her arms around her friend, “Oh my dearest Miss Adla, you made it!” 

She muffled a laugh in Dina’s shoulder and unwound herself from her friend’s vice-like grip, “So it seems.”

Dina remembered the officer beside her and giggled again, “How rude of me. Miss Adla, this is Officer Herbert C. Jenkins of the United States Naval Forces. Mr. Jenkins, this is Miss Adla. She works with me over at the shipyard.”

“Is that so?” Officer Jenkins mused, smiling indulgently no doubt for Dina’s sake, “Well, Miss Adla, thank you so much for helping us boys stay safe out on the water.” 

Adla shook her head, “It’s my job, officer.”

He nodded his head and opened his mouth but before he could speak all of the joy was suddenly vacuumed out of the room. Dina’s eyes were blown wide, looking over Adla’s shoulder toward the entrance. Adla’s eyebrows knit in confusion and she turned around to see what all the fuss was about. 

There, standing in the doorway like some kind of ghostly apparition, was an officer. A white officer. 

No one spoke or moved until his congenial voice boomed, “Don’t stop your party on my account, please. I’m just looking for one of my subordinates, Officer Jenkins.” 

Dina’s hand grabbed for Herbert’s hand and Adla saw him look down at her fondly. He kindly removed his hand from Dina’s and rose it so that the party crashing officer could find him easily. “Admiral Beckett, over here, sir.” 

Admiral Beckett’s eyes snapped to Officer Jenkins and Adla felt the urge to turn around, to hide her face from him. After all, she wasn’t looking for any trouble. 

The party slowly came back to life as Admiral Beckett clicked across the room to Officer Jenkins. Adla could feel the tide of the crowd being more cautious than before, but, as this looked like official naval duty business, people tried to forget Admiral Beckett was even there. Which gave way to music and laughter once more. 

Admiral Beckett came up beside Adla, his eyes sorely focused on Officer Jenkins, but she did not look at him. There was a grin to his voice when he asked his fellow sailor, “I went looking for you earlier, Herb. You didn’t come to the officers’ dinner.” 

Officer Jenkins cleared his throat, “No offense, Phoenix, but the other officers aren’t as welcoming to me being there as you are.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” Admiral Beckett roughed out, “You’re an officer in the United States Naval Forces. Those bastards don’t have to like it but they sure as hell have to accept it.” 

Officer Jenkins laughed, “Phoenix, you came all the way down here to make a stink?” 

“No,” Admiral Beckett replied, “I came all the way down here to see if you were alright. And maybe have a drink. It was sort of stuffy back at headquarters.” 

Dina’s lip curled in a smile. Adla could tell she was feeling more and more at ease in this stranger’s presence the more he talked. She extended her hand to shake Admiral Beckett’s, the gaul of it almost had Adla yell, before Dina said, “My name is Miss Dina Staten, Admiral Beckett, and we’re happy to have you here with us.” 

Admiral Beckett straightened, Adla felt it happen as he accidentally brushed her shoulder, and shook her hand. It was a polite enough gesture, but Adla could see how tense he was and that he could tell eyes were on his every move, “Pleasure, miss.” 

She preened and tucked her hand back in Officer Jenkins’ hand, “And this is my friend, Miss Adla. She never comes out, you see, because she’s very-” 

Dina kept speaking, her mouth moving a mile a minute, but Adla could barely hear above the buzzing in her ears as she lifted her eyes and met Admiral’s Beckett’s for the first time. His eyes were warm and friendly but then they exploded into large and alarmed, as if the sight of her had given him a proper fright. She worried, stupidly, about the dated dress and the state of her curls. 

But then his eyes softened and his lips fell open just slightly, like he was forcing himself to take in air, like she had made him breathless. Adla rolled her eyes at Dina’s antics and corrected, “Just Adla is fine, Admiral Beckett.” 

The sound of her voice had his whole face lighting up in delight, which she counted as odd, and he smiled sloppy and lazy, like an untrained puppy, “Phoenix, please. Admiral Beckett is so formal.” 

“Phoenix,” Dina pipped in, “Like those birds?”

“Yes,” Phoenix nodded. He hesitated to look away from Adla, she could tell, but did give some of his attention back to Dina, “It’s said, they, uh, rise from the ashes. Death is never permanent.” 

Officer Jenkins laughed and whispered to their small group, “Phoenix is big on names and their meanings. Drives all of our men crazy.” 

Phoenix pocketed his hands and gracefully took the teasing, “Herbert means illustrious warrior, miss. So, your sailor should be fine, if names have meaning.” 

“But if names have meaning,” Adla jumped in, “Then, does that mean you’re destined to never die?” 

He tore his eyes to Adla, drinking in the sight of her. She tugged on her dress nervously to make sure it was hanging right. His eyes were so fiercely drawn to her, she could see him cataloguing every piece of the moment, storing it away for some safe place. He licked his lips, “Technically, it means I will die. Just be reborn.” 

Adla’s blood went cold. 

Dina sighed, “Oh, that sounds so romantic.” 

“Less romantic then you’d think,” Phoenix mumbled. He drifted slightly closer to Adla so their shoulder’s were brushing. She felt her skin heat up and her slid her eyes to him aghast. He was playfully and pointedly not looking at her, giving his attention to Dina where she liked it best. Adla knocked imperceptively into his shoulder. He knocked her right back. 

Adla bit her lip to stop from gawking at him. 

“What do you mean?” Dina swung her and Officer Jenkins’ entangled hands. 

Phoenix glanced at Adla with a smirk and, then, said to Dina, “It sounds lonely, don’t you think, miss?” 

“Oh no,” Dina shook her head, “Not at all. Not if you have someone to share it with.” 

“What does your name mean, Miss Adla?” Phoenix asked, whirling the question on her as if he had not heard Dina speak.

Adla did not stop herself this time, this time she opened gawked at him, “Excuse me?” 

“Your name,” he repeated, “What does it mean?”

Dina giggled. Adla ignored her. “Justice. It’s a Tanzanian word.” 

“Is that where you’re from?”

“No, sir.” Adla raised an eyebrow, “I’m an American. Born and raised here.” 

Phoenix flushed, “I didn’t mean to insinuate-” 

“Dina,” Adla said, dismissing the sailor, “I think I ought to get home. It’s getting late and we have first shift in the morning.” 

“Adla,” Phoenix whispered apologetically. 

“Officer Jenkins,” Adla turned to the bewildered officer, “It was a pleasure making your acquaintance.”

He fumbled and tipped his head, “Ma’am.” 

Lastly, she turned to Admiral Beckett and sniffed, “Admiral.” With that, she gathered what was left of her confused state and stormed across the floor and out the double doors. The night air nipped at her skin and she yanked her trench coat tighter around her shoulders. 

The click of her heels against the pavement at night was the only sound she heard until-

“Miss Adla!” Admiral Beckett’s voice rang out, disrupting the steady fall of her steps. She regained her stride and he called again, “Miss Adla!” Again, she did not stop walking. Finally, he caught up to her and wheezed, “Christ, Adla, will you slow down?”

She whirled on him and crossed her stringy arms, “Admiral Beckett, you didn’t strike me as the type to follow a lady home without her consent.” 

“That’s not,” he sighed, “I didn’t want you to part thinking so...little of me.” 

“I hardly know you, Admiral,” she cleared her throat.

His face got a strange, whimsical wisdom, like her statement itself was ludicrous and hysterical. She wanted to smack his arm for looking so pleased at the situation. “Of course,” he chuckled, “You don’t know me at all.” His face pinched up in glee. 

“Admiral, do not try my patience.” 

“Or what?” he laughed, “You’ll kill me?”

Her throat closed up and she could almost hear the squealing of horses in the distance. Like their kicks and screams were coming off of the water. Adla turned her nose up, blocking out the strange sensation that she had been here before, perhaps not exactly like this, but the moment was familiar. “Don’t,” she hushed, “Don’t say something like that. Men are dying in this war, Admiral.”

His good merry sobered up, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of  the situation. I am a sailor, miss.” 

Again, a ringing sensation, of another moment and another time, whispered in her ear: 

I don’t want a soldier or a martyr. 

Adla swallowed, “My brother is a soldier, Admiral Beckett.” 

“Phoenix,” he said softly. “Please call me, Phoenix.” 

“Phoenix,” she relented. 

His smile was blinding. “You know,” he took off his hat and ran shaky fingers through his floppy hair, “I’m sorry we left the dance.” 

She clutched at her coat, “Why?”

“I would’ve asked you to dance,” he said. And it sounded so simple. So like a fantasy that she laughed. He looked startled by her good humor, “Adla?”

She covered her mouth to muffle the laughter, “I’m sorry, but, Admiral Beckett-”

“Phoenix,” he said more fiercely.

“Admiral Beckett, you’re white.” 

He flushed a deep red and straightened his uniform, “And?”

“And,” she went on, “even if I thought you were nice and kind and handsome...its just not reality.” 

“Don’t start,” he grumped. 

“Excuse me?” she narrowed her eyes.

Phoenix shoved his hands angrily in his pockets, “You never remember. You talk about reality but you don’t even remember your own.” 

She felt the hairs on her arms stand up, “Have we met?” 

“More than once,” his eyes searched hers for some kind of clue. She stared back, transfixed, but helplessly lost. “More than once,” he repeated, reaching for her hands, and, like an idiot, she let him take them. She did not worry about if anyone saw them or if what he was doing was proper and good. Adla was too taken in by his eyes and the overwhelming sadness buried there. 

Adla swallowed the lump in her throat, “I don’t....I’m sorry. I don’t remember ever meeting you.” 

His face fell and he dragged his hands out of her own. She blindly reached for the contact as it slipped through her fingers. “Adla, I’m so tired.” 

“Tired of what?” she asked, her voice attentive and unusually sweet. 

He looked down at her hands that were still reaching out for her own. He laced their fingers together and she felt a surge of energy she could not explain. Phoenix gripped her hands like a life line, “Of doing this over and over again.” 

“What?” she stepped closer. “The war? Going into battle?”

“No,” he said, obviously exasperated, “I mean, yes, the wars, but...I-”

He closed his mouth and she took another step closer until they were maddeningly chest to chest. “I don’t understand. Phoenix I-” And, like he had done it a hundred times before, he kissed her. Near the docks. In the moonlight. 

Adla’s eyes opened in shock, her body screaming a warning that this could only end badly, but then the softness of his mouth entreated her own and she was lost. The hands that were clinging to his own knocked off his hat and ran in wonder through his hair. It was thick and soft and so, so familiar to her. He made a desperate noise and clung to her, his hands running up and down the expanse of her back. Her spine arched into it. 

Until she heard a dog bark and she was dropped back into the moment and the dock and Adla tore herself away. Phoenix’s mouth was still puckered like he could hold onto the kiss a minute longer. 

She covered her mouth in shock, appalled at herself and her behavior. She had moved here for the war effort, not to kiss admiral’s passing through the port. Adla was better, more focused than that. Even if her mouth still tingled from his kisses. 

Adla turned her back on him and wiped away at her mouth. “Oh my god,” she muttered.

“Adla,” Phoenix’s sad voice said her name. 

“Oh my god,” she said louder and turned around to stare at him. “I shouldn’t have...you shouldn’t have...I got carried away, sir. I’m so sorry.” 

She saw his heart break in his eyes, “You got carried away? Adla, please, I’m not mad or angry or...please, don’t run away. I’ll...die.” He said that last word like it was a terribly tragic joke. 

“Such sweet words,” she spat bitterly. “You’ll die? I told you not to joke about that.” 

“Would it grieve you, if I died?” he said boldly. “Do you think you would feel it?” he said even softer. His words had the undercurrent of an apology. 

“I don’t even know you!” she shrieked. 

“Liar,” he closed the distance between them, his mouth slanting over hers and, she hated herself, but she opened for him. Their tongues exploring the other lewdly. “God damn it,” he clutched at her waist and she squeaked in pleasure, “Remember me.” 

“Admiral Beckett,” she sighed into his lips, “I think I’d remember you if we’d met.” 

He made a noise against her mouth that sounded like a sob of frustration, but she realized coldly he was crying. He was swept up in something that she was not privy to and the power of each passing moment was starting to frighten her. 

She pressed her hands against his chest, slowing down the frantic pace of their kisses, making each new one more lingering and softer than the last. “Phoenix,” she hummed, “when do you ship out?” 

“The end of the week,” he rumbled, his hands fisting in the fabric of her dress, searching, unsuccessfully, for skin. 

Adla’s breath hitched pleasantly. “Where are you boarding?” 

“On the ship, in my cabin. Why?” he kissed a hot trail down her neck and began to suck at the sweet pulse point there. Her stomach rolled over in liquid pleasure. 

Her breath came in heavy pants, “The dock is no place for this, Admiral?”

“No place for what?” he pulled down her dress slightly to expose her collar bones and, then, he lavished kisses there. 

“This,” she said, swatting at his head to get his attention away from her body and on to her voice. “Phoenix,” she chastised him, “We can’t do this here.” 

His dark eyes lightened and his senses came back to him all at once. He looked around, really taking in their location, and he turned a violent red, “I’m sorry. I...I have no excuse,” he laughed. It was a bright sound. It warmed her already hot insides. “You just...” he grabbed for her waist and tugged her close, “Alda, you have no idea.” 

She felt the press of him against her dress and rolled her eyes, “Trust me. I know.”

“We can’t go back to the ship. I don’t want my men thinking its okay to drag their sweethearts back to the boat.” His mouth wandered down her throat again, his hands an anxious and familiar friend. 

She pushed them away and took a bewildered and bedraggled step away from him, struggling for breath, “We can’t go back to my boarding house. The ladies will all lose their minds.” 

“Let them,” he groaned, taking a distracted step toward her.

She lifted her hands and pressed against his chest to keep him from getting any closer, “Your brain, Admiral Beckett. Use it.” 

“It seems, miss,” Phoenix’s eyes glimmered with amusement, “We are at an impasse.” 

Adla tipped her chin back to give off an air of authority and, mostly, to hide the grin that was threatening to explode across her mouth. There was something about Admiral Beckett that had her on the edge of a cliff, moments away from taking some dangerous plunge. She knew it was ridiculous and she was being frivolous, especially during the war, but he had her mind fuzzy and her hands warm. And there was another inching feeling that she didn’t know well enough to name bubbling inside of her and it swept over her as easily as his smile did earlier that night. 

Beautiful boys, she thought, were the most dangerous kind. 

“So it would seem,” she nodded. 

His eager hands pressed against her hips, “And we can’t go to a hotel.” 

“Heaven’s no, think of the scandal,” she teased. 

Admiral Beckett barked out a laugh. She liked making him laugh. She liked that his eyes crinkled at the creases in his face when he did so and his face scrunched up in pure, unadulterated joy. “Oh how I’d hate to be scandalous,” he remarked. 

Adla stole a kiss. The stars twinkled above them, almost like a spotlight on this moment, like the entire universe was watching with bated breath to see what happened next. “Perhaps,” she rolled the word around in her mouth, making up each word as she went along, “We could go to the shipyard. It’s late. Nobody is gonna be there at his time of night.” 

He raised his eyebrow in sharp curiosity, “Oh?”

She nodded, “Mhmm. And we’ve got a gramophone there. A nice one.” 

“Well,” he slid his hand into hers, “I did say that I wanted that dance.” 

Adla bit down on her bottom lip, keeping her excitement from showing, “So you did, Admiral.” 

It took them the better part of an hour to get back to MINSY. And it took Adla five more minutes to pick the lock on the gate. Admiral Beckett watched on impressed, “Where’d you learn to do that?” 

“My brother,” she hummed, sticking the pin she had used to open the lock back in her hair. “Johnny. He had a talent for trouble and I was always his silly kid sister chasing at his knees, wanting to do everything he did.” 

“You?” Phoenix feigned surprised, “Trouble? I doubt it very much.” 

She pushed open the gate and pulled him inside, “You shouldn’t tease a lady, sir.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, dropping an easy kiss on the fabric bunched up on her shoulder. 

She lifted his head from her shoulder and brought it down on her lips, taking whatever kisses she could from these jolly sailor boy. Adla knew that she was playing with fire here, tonight, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t care that he was a white officer that would probably die at sea. She wanted these moments from him like a fever. It spread through every part of her body and made her ill with wanting. 

Against her lips, he mumbled, “What about that dance?” Her laugh bubbled against his mouth and he gazed at her in utter softness and fondness, “What? You promised.” 

She shook her head and dragged him into the Rosie’s office where all the ladies gathered to eat their lunches. There, in the corner was a beautiful, genuine gramophone. Adla looked through the records and Phoenix came up behind her, dropping kisses against the curve of her neck as she looked through the artists. “How do you feel about,” she panted, “Nora Bayes?” 

“You want to dance to war propaganda?” he seared against her throat.

“No,” she arched into him, “No, I just like the way she sings.” 

He reached his hand for the record in her hands and cued it up on the machine. The usual buzz and scratch of the machine echoed in the room and then triumphant, sickeningly American horns blared. Patriotism in a song, perfectly packaged to get boys to sign up and die for country. 

He turned her around in his arms and swayed with her slowly. It fought against the very impulse of the song, to gallop and cheer. They were the softness in the eye of the storm of war. He whispered in her ear as Nora Bayes began to sing, “Johnny get your gun, get your gun, get your gun. Take it on the run, on the run, on the run. Hear them calling you and me. Everyone for liberty. Hurry right away, no delay, start today. Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad. Tell your sweetheart not to cry, be proud our boys in line.”

Adla ran her hands up into his hair as they danced. Each word feeling more and more tragic as the song scratched on. Those poor, proud little Yanks going over there to die. She felt her eyes well and she clutched him closer. He all but clung to her. 

“Do you think,” she heaved, “What I mean is...are you afraid?” 

Another voice, unfamiliar and gentle banged at her subconscious: 

MJ, he’s scared. He thinks he’s gonna die.

Phoenix hid his face in her neck, and the record played on and on, “I’m always scared. It doesn’t get easier.” 

“What doesn’t?” she asked innocently.

He dropped a kiss on her head, “Nothing. Just...you know, its tough. Being a soldier.” 

She scratched the back of his head with her nails, a comforting gesture, “Sailor.” 

“Right,” he chuckled, “Sorry.” The song scratched to a finish and only buzz filled the room, like white noise. He held her tighter and they swayed from the sheer strength of their hug. “I am sorry,” he clarified. 

“What for?” she nuzzled into his cheek. 

He seemed to choose his words carefully, “I’m sorry that this war is going to hurt you. I never wanted that. I didn’t know.” 

“What are you talking about?” she pulled her head back to look in his eyes and her heart wept from the agony swelling there. A sadness so deep, so old and so profound she could not help but get swept up in his devastation and feel it herself. 

He brushed a lose curl out of her eyes, “Nothing.” His mouth descended on hers, probing and right. She had kissed a few boys in her day, before the war had stolen all of them away, but she had never kissed a man. And Phoenix was a man. Strong and righteous and funny and perfect. 

She knew what came next. It wasn’t proper, she thought, even if she wanted it, wanted him so much she was bursting at the seems. 

Adla sighed against his mouth, “We shouldn’t.” 

“Mm,” he moaned back, “There it is.” 

It was a peculiar thing to say, but for some reason it set Adla’s hands tugging at his hair and pulling him back to the standard issue cot in the corner where the girls’ sometimes napped during their breaks. It was narrow and ill-fit for two people, but as he pressed against every crevice of her body, Adla didn’t care. 

“We can stop,” Phoenix offered. “I know this isn’t proper. We don’t have to-”

“Would you shut up and touch me?” Adla snapped.

He needed no more encouragement. It was frantic and heady and all-consuming like she had heard from the giggling girls at the factory that it would be. And once they had brushed aside enough of their clothes to push together it was freedom. This was what they were fighting for in the god-forsaken war. This bliss. This was the American dream. Adla saw it now as he pushed stars in her eyes. 

Every stroke brought them closer to dreams. Reality was far less beautiful. And when she broke apart, the cry of his name on her lips, Phoenix tumbled after. 

The basked in the sensation of each other, after, their hands pressing into one another for want of just the simple pleasures of touch. 

Phoenix shuttered, “I love you.” 

Adla huffed, nuzzling her nose into his shoulder, “You’re just saying that.” 

He tilted her chin up to kiss her lips. It was breathtakingly sweet, “Whatever you say.” 

They spent the next week on that cot, blocking out the world around them. Every night they snuck into the little office that was their haven and every night they lied to themselves to pretend that this could last forever. 

It wouldn’t. 

Their last night before he shipped out, as they lay together, Phoenix ran a finger down her sternum. She snuggled him in delight in her half-asleep state. “Adla?” he whispered, but she was too tired to properly respond. She was in that perfect place between dreaming and wakefulness. That was when she heard him muse, “Maybe distance helps. I’ll be overseas when it happens and, god, Adla, I hope you don’t feel it. Or if you do....its not like Russia. I couldn’t stand to...if I could spare you this pain, you know I would.” 

His voice was so faint she could almost imagine that she dreamed it, but those words stuck with her as they woke the next morning and he kissed her closed hands. It shook her to the core and forced her mouth against his in one final, beseeching kiss. “On your way, sailor,” she clung to him. Phoenix took a pin, some kind of medal for valor, off of his uniform and pressed it into her fist. She shook her head, “Phoenix, no.” 

“Adla,” he cleared his throat, “I’ll likely die over there and, well, it would give me some comfort to know that you have a piece of me after I’m gone.” 

“Don’t think like that-”

He closed her hand over the medal, “Grant me this kindness, will you?” 

The medal was cold and uncomfortable in her hand. It was nothing like the warmth of the man standing before her, solid and proud. She didn’t want the medal, she realized in shock, she wanted him. 

“Stay,” she commanded.

He sucked in a breath like he knew this was request was coming, “Adla.” 

“No. Damn you, Phoenix. Stay.” 

He stepped back, “Abandon my men? I couldn’t. I can’t...that’s not...” He struggled, “That’s not how this goes.” 

“Why not?” she gawked at him. “Why not?”

“Adla, don’t make our last moments this. Please. I beg of you.” 

“You know you make no sense, Admiral. Talking in circles. Saying nonsense. Talking about Russia??”

He stiffened, “What do you know about Russia?” 

“Nothing.” The medal in her hand warmed to the touch and she wanted to throw it in his face. He looked half-relieved and half-distraught that Russia meant nothing to her. She knew that they were fighting against Russia in the war. Perhaps, she thought, that was what he meant by Russia. Perhaps that was where he was going to fight, where he thought he would die. 

“Adla,” he grabbed her upper arms, an embrace so passionate and strong that her knees almost gave out. “Adla, I promise you. This...this is not the end.” 

I promise you– I fucking promise you, Em– I will find you in the next life.  

“But it is,” she yanked herself from of him. “You have to go. And I have to stay. And that’s the way this works. That’s what you’ve chosen. So, on your way, sailor.” 

He looked like he wanted to say so much more, like there were truths playing at his lips screeching to be let free. Instead of telling her them, instead of giving her the answers she wanted, he tipped his head, put on his hat and left her behind. 

Once he was gone, she stumbled backward into the cot and cried. Hugging herself tightly like it would keep all of the broken pieces he left behind in tact. That was how Dina found her as the girls started to file in for work. 

Her friend sat beside her, wrapped her up in her arms and whispered, “Why are you crying, Miss Adla?” 

“He left me to die.” The bastard.

The Great War ended on November 11, 1918. Admiral Phoenix Beckett’s boat was blown out of the water by an enemy ship on November 8, 1918. 

And Adla felt it. 

She was bent over her station, working her fingers to death on the bolts on a new engine, when every atom in her body seemed to combust all at once. It was contained underneath her skin and so the agony had no where to go but to radiate in her.

She knocked the bucket of bolts off the table as she collapsed. Her friends were at her side in a minute as she choked and coughed and screamed and slammed at her chest. Pounded at her heart. She needed the pain there to stop. It hurt. It hurt so badly. 

Adla, in her helpless state, fumbled for the medal she hid in her breeches and clutched it to her chest. People were screaming her name. She knew it. But she could only hear the vague scratching of the Nora Bayes record on that damn gramophone from the first night she kissed Admiral Phoenix Beckett. It looped on and on and on in her head as the pain refused to ebb and die. 

She blacked out from the intensity of it.

When she woke she was on that damned cot that she and Phoenix had made their little home for the week he had stolen refuge in her arms. She wearily sat up, her stomach turning at the effort. Dina clutched her hand, “Adla?”

She held his medal so tightly that it made her hand ache. “I could have saved him.” 

Adla fell back on the cot and covered her ears with her hands as the gramophone sang in the corner:  

Johnny get your gun, get your gun, get your gun. Take it on the run, on the run, on the run. Hear them calling you and me. Everyone for liberty. Hurry right away, no delay, start today. Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad. Tell your sweetheart not to cry, be proud of our boys in line. 

[penguinsocksworks]

How to Win a Tsundere’s Heart (18/20)

Read on AO3 or FF.net Read on Tumblr: Chapter 1-5// Chapter 6// Chapter 7// Chapter 8// Chapter 9// Chapter 10//Chapter 11// Chapter 12// Chapter 13// Chapter 14// Chapter 15// Chapter 16// Chapter 17//Chapter 18// Chapter 19

Main pairings: Usuk, Dennor, Spamano

Summary of chapter: i love their siblings so much

Chapter 18: Siblings and Domestic Fluff AF

I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. I HAD SO MUCH STUFF BUILT UP AND THEN I WAS GOING THROUGH SOMETHING... BUT I PROMISE THAT THIS IS ACTUALLY SLIGHTLY MORE WELL WRITTEN THAN THE LAST CHAPTER OF CRAP! I HOPE U LIKE IT!

New Years was approaching faster than anyone realized. Christmas was great but since everyone was always broke because of school and stuff the only gifts that were exchanged were the ones that were organized via secret santa. Of course there were a few exceptions, close friends and couples exchanged in addition to the secret santa.

New Years was exciting because they had the whole week from Christmas until the seventh of January to do whatever they wanted. And most people chose to go home since the break was so lengthy and the campus would be completely empty otherwise.

With two days left before New Year's Eve, students all over the campus were packing a small  bag to get ready for the new year. Arthur peaked under his bed, looking for a novel that he had borrowed from his mother months ago, “Lukas! Have you seen my copy of pride and prejudice?”

“Have you looked in your desk?” Lukas neatly folded a blue shirt before placing it in his bursting case, “When was the last time you even touched that thing?”

“Ah ha! Here it is,” Arthur held the book up triumphantly, “how did it get wedged between the mattresses?”

“It wasn't me,” Lukas struggled to close his suitcase, “When did they say buses were leaving?”

“Um,” the other blond pondered for a moment, “I think Mrs. Calliandra said three.”

“Yeah three o'clock sharp as the bitch put it,” a voice walked in and plopped on the bottom bunk face down, “I can't believe you losers are actually going home.”

“You've been showing up here lately,” Lukas rolled his eyes and picked up the shirt that Lovino has knocked off the bed, “why?”

“Why? Cause we're friends.” Lovino pretended to be offended by the question, “Don't friends hang out in each other's dorms?”

“We're about to leave though,” Arthur remarked, shoulders deep in the closet, “Alfred, Matthew and I are leaving at three thirty in order to make it for an early dinner.”

“You guys live like, fifteen minutes away from here. Why are you guys going to fucking early?” Lovino mumbled, his head still buried in the plush comforter.

Arthur zipped up his final bag, “Because our parents want to see us before they head out to go to Hawaii together. Alfred and Matthew should be back sometime later today, but I'm staying to watch Peter.”

“None of your brothers are coming back?” Lukas quirked an eyebrow, “Don't they usually?”

Arthur sighed, “the twins are out with college friends and Dylan can't cause a plane ride home from Cambridge would be to costly. And Allistor is spending it with his fiancé’s family, they actually might drop by but not for long.”

“I'm trapped here all break,” Lovino complained, “What about you?”

Lukas picked up his suitcase and raised the rolling handle, “I'm catching the bus back home with Matthias, Tino, and Berwald.”

“Oh, Emil must be happy that you're visiting,” Arthur smiled, finally being able to plop down next to Lovino, “does he know?”

“Yeah,” Lukas rolled his eyes, “He's so happy. The grumpy little fourth grader thinks I'll embarrass him in front of some friend he's bringing with him.”

“Oh?” Lovino peaked his head up.

Lukas started to roll his bag towards the door, the wheels making a weird noise as they dragged across the floor. They could hear his voice that was damped by distance, “He called me yesterday to beg me not to come back. Said he was bringing someone important to stay over and that i would be the death of him, I have to go. Bye.”

The door shut and Lovino turned to Arthur, “so dinner?”

“Yeah,” Arthur waved his hand, “Were going out somewhere since we’re all family friends. You're really not going to head home?”

Lovino clicked his tongue, “Sit on a train for a day and a half? That's way to fucking long. Plus my grandpa is away and Sebastian wanted to come see us at the castle or so he calls it.”

“Sebastian is your youngest brother right?” Arthur feigned any real interest. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t absolutely invested in Lovino’s story… okay it was that. But to be fair, Lovino looked bored by his own words.

Lovino nodded, “Yeah. He’s as old as Emil and he wants to come here when he’s older. He’s ridiculous, thinking that far ahead. The brat is bound to get homesick if he comes here.”

Arthur was about to reply that little Peter was only about two years younger than Sebastian and he was already talking about wanting to go to the magical looking high school. His younger brother would constantly grate on him, telling him that he would easily get into the private school if Arthur had been able to. But he was never able to express his annoyance because there was a heavy knock on the door, “Arthur! Are you ready? Mattie’s got our stuff in the car and we need your bag!”

Lovino smirked, “Go on princess. Your knight is waiting.”

“Very funny Lovino,” Arthur deadpanned, “I hope you enjoy your break in this solitude.”

Arthur left Lovino on his bed, closing the front door with a slam.

___________________

“Ah! I am so excited to see my family again!” Tino chirped in front of Lukas, “Were supposed to be eating a special dinner tonight, aren’t you excited?”

Berwald had a small smile on his face, wrapping an arm around the fin. Though his good mood was interrupted as Matthias reached over the bus chair and clapped on him on the shoulder, “Ya excited to tell your parents? Tino, what was your dad’s dating policy again?”

“Hehe…” Tino’s expression seemed to dim a bit and he turned to pat his boyfriend on the shoulder, “Good luck sweetie.”

Matthias let out a howl, “You’re gonna need it Ber!”

Lukas tsked, turning back to his book. Tino’s dad wasn't very fond of Berwald. Never was from the very beginning. Fathers intuition? Call it what you will, but no matter how pleasing or kind Berwald was to the guy, all he received in return were pointed glares.

“Don't worry,” Matthias laughed again, “You can come over to my house if it gets to be too much.”

Since Berwalds family had moved closer to the high school when Berwald was older, the swede would have to stay with one of them if he were to go back to his home town. Which was ideal since he wanted to spend a lot of time with Tino, but scary considering the boy's father was an ever looming presence. Lukas let out a huff, mumbling under his breath, “In Laws can be scary.”

To which all three of them caught, and only Matthias found terribly hilarious. Tino smiled, wishing it weren't true while Berwald seemed to sink just a little bit farther into his seat.

The rest of the three hour bus ride wasn't very exciting. They eventually ran out of ways to poke fun at Berwalds obvious issue with Tino’s dad and settled into sleeping.

Matthias stretched his arms out moments before they had to get off the bus, nearly hitting Lukas who was peacefully sleeping beside him. He had a strange crick in his neck and his legs were numb from not standing for a while, but he didn't seem to mind as he looked over at his companion.

Lukas looked smaller when he slept. Not younger though, like everyone often said, just tinier. His breathing pattern was soft and steady, his hair falling over his face and framing his naturally rosy cheeks. Lukas wasn't analyzing everything when he slept, he wasn't constantly on guard. He looked content and Matthias just couldn't find it in him to wake the guy. He chose to stare a bit longer, deciding to wait until the last possible moment.

“You should take a picture,” Tino turned around in his seat, “it’ll last longer.”

Matthias just smiled, “no picture could ever capture something as beautiful as this.”

________________

Lovino ended up taking a nap in Arthur's bed before he left the room. By the time he finally awoke he had a few missed calls from Feli and a stream of worried texts. Kicking himself off the bed, Lovino went to go find his brother before he worked himself into a panic and called the police. Feliciano was a handful sometimes, meant well, but was a handful. He was slightly glad that the worrisome guy would be out with Ludwig, and the german’s brother and boyfriend for New Year's day. Now the only ones he had to worry about were his pesky roommate and youngest brother. At least he had two days to come up with a game plan.

When he opened the door to his dorm, he wasn't expecting to see his other brother. Sebastian was fiddling on his phone not even bothering to look up when he heard the door open, “Gramps dropped me off and I think Feli is gathering a search party for you. I dunno why though, there’s no one here. Its lame.”

“You’re in fourth grade, go outside and kick a ball or something,” Lovino deadpanned, “Why did grandpa drop you off so early?”

“Because I was buggin him or something like that!” The boy giggles and puts his phone down, “Long time no see Lovi!”

“I can’t possibly see why he would think that you were annoying,” Lovino mumbled, “And don’t call me that Sebastian.”

“Awe, I know, I know,” Sebastian laughed as he attempted to throw an arm around his brothers shoulders, giving him a wink, “It’s a special name reserved for your boyfriend .”

Lovino sneered as he watched the nine year old collapse into a fit of giggles, “Shut up you fucking brat! You know thats not whats going on.”

“Lovino’s gotta boyfriend! Lovino’s got a boyfriend!” Sebastian sung as he continued to roll around on the plush bed, “Haha! You’re all red!”

Lovino was about to pounce on the guy before he heard the door open and a panicked voice call out, “Lovi! Are you here? Feliciano called and said that you were missing!”

“Well well, look what the cat dragged in, perfect timing,” Sebastian said low enough for just Lovino to hear before cupping his hands around his mouth, “Yeah he’s in here!”

Antonio beamed as he walked in and Lovino sighed. The spaniard seemed to notice the younger italian and smiled, “Sebastian! I didn’t know you were supposed to be coming, I would have gone out to find our monopoly game.”

In the past, whenever Sebastian would visit, Antonio would go and find his old monopoly game that he brought from his home. It wasn’t often that the young boy would visit, but the two of them would often spend hours playing while Lovino caught up with his grandfather. Sebastian secretly reveled in time he got to spend with his brother’s roommate. Hanging out with his brothers was fun, sure. But neither of them liked to do things that Sebastian liked to do. Antonio would take him outside to play catch, or soccer, which his brothers did indulge him in once in awhile. The two Vargas twins were on the soccer team. But most of the time they were too preoccupied with their grandfather to want to play outside. And the both of them didn’t know how to play baseball that well.

Sebastian supposed that Antonio didn’t really know how to play the game much farther than being able to catch and throw. The spaniard mentioned something about a friend named Alfred teaching a whole bunch of them in a short amount of time. Sebastian really liked the sport and played it for their town.

But other than playing sports outside with Antonio, Sebastian liked playing board games with him. When he was really young and visited when his older brothers were only freshmen, Sebastian knew that Antonio would let him cheat. Whether they were playing cards or chutes and ladders, Antonio always let him win. It was a nice gesture that he appreciated, yet when he was around seven he asked him to stop.

Sebastian remembered the face that Antonio made, like a dad finding out that his child knew all along that he was really the one putting money under his pillow when the tooth fairy visited. He let out a flustered laugh and just said, “You caught me!”

“Lovino didn’t tell you that I was coming?” Sebastian pouted, “Why didn’t you tell Toni, Lovino?”

Lovino sighed at the boys whining, “I’m a busy person Sebastian. It slipped my mind okay? I'm sorry.”

“You’re saying sorry?” Sebastian looked shocked, “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

“I’m allowed to say sorry once and awhile brat.” Lovino crossed his arms as his roommate let out another laugh.

“I’m going to go call Feliciano so he can stop freaking out,” Antonio wandered outside, “Sebastian, I’ll go find the game too!”

Lovino groaned as he watched his brother cheer and call out, “Wait for me! I wanna go too!”

____________________________

Dinner with their parents hadn't been all that exciting. It was actually more like a late lunch than anything, meaning that they were all hungry again by six o'clock. Alfred had imagined it to be a little worse than it was. His parents were open minded, so we're Arthur's, so it didn't bother them when Alfred fake gushed for his brother about Gil, cooing, “They're so cute all the time. Gil's real sweet to him, I approve.”

His little comment raised a few eyebrows. Both families knew Gilbert, it was hard to miss the kid when Alfred and him hung out almost everyday during freshman year, back when the boys were too frequently homesick to stay in the dorms. Alfred knew that his parents liked Gilbert too, he was always polite even though his shouting was a bit much at times. Matthew had just shrunk lower into his seat, both him and Arthur kicking Alfred in the shin under the table as punishment. When Alfred lurched forward with a yelp of pain, His brother smiled, “Gilbert is great though.”

“So, why didn't you bring ‘em here!” His father had laughed. The rest of dinner had been boring. It was the usual catch up chatter that occurred between people who haven't talked in awhile. It had gone smoothly without a single hitch. Which was the weird part.

Arthur knew it was too good to be true, his parents whispering to him as they hugged goodbye, getting ready to drive off to the airport, “So love, how are you doing? You'll be okay?”

He nodded, “I'll be fine. Peter probably won't cause that much trouble while you're away.”

His mother nodded and laughed, “Mm, and those two are staying to help you?”

“Ah. No I think they're going back to the academy.” Arthur didn't like the look his mother gave him when she sighed, looking years younger than she actually was and just as mischievous.

“My poor baby, won't be with his beloved boyfriend for New Year's?” She laughed as Arthur squeaked in protest, “It's okay darling, there are many couples who have to separate for holidays right?”

“I'm not dating anyone mother,” the blush crept up Arthur's neck as he clenched his fists, “you know that.”

Letting out a wistful sigh, Arthur's mother kissed him on the cheek, “Let a women dream Arthur. You and I aren't getting any younger and your brothers…”

“What? But, Allistor and his fiancé, not to mention Dylan is dating that fellow. The twins are both older too, and Peter is well...” Arthur scrambled, “Why? What's wrong with them?”

“Ah nothing,” Arthur watched as his mother's shoulders drooped, “I would just love an in law as sweet as Alfred.”

“Mum!” Arthur let out an irritated huff.

The Brit started to pinch at the bridge of his nose as his mother laughed, “I'm sorry sweetie, he's just so cute though. Watching you two grow up, ah my heart! Fiona is nice, but you know she's just not my type of person.”

“Vile and soul sucking? With a personality like that I can't possibly come up with a reason for you not to like my dear brothers fiancé.” Arthur rolled his eyes.

His mom sighed, “I just want what's best for you honey. Oh! I also promised to pass this along.”

His mother poked around her bag before producing a tiny slip of crumpled paper. Arthur took it from his mother, unfolding it, “A number?”

“A friend at bridge has a son who saw your picture-”

“You said you'd stop showing that around!”

“-and he said you were cute. Just think about it, I worry about you Arthur.”

“Moments ago you were gushing about Alfred and now you're handing me the number of a stranger.” Arthur grumbled, stuffing the paper into his pocket, “I don't understand you sometimes.”

His mom laughed as she pulled him into a hug, “call and invite the guy over one of these days! New Years is only two days away and don't you want to have someone with you when the clock strikes midnight? I love you sweetie, we'll be back next week.”

“I love you too,” Arthur hugged her back. He understood her worry for him. Honestly he did. When his brothers were his age they had already gone through a few boyfriends or girlfriends. They had always asked to either go somewhere or bring someone back home for the holidays, so Arthur's mom was a little worried when he hadn't turned out anything like them.

Even Peter claims to have a girlfriend, and he was in third grade. Weren't cooties still supposed to be a thing for kids that age?

Arthur watched as his mother and father pulled away with the mr and Mrs. William-Jones, the car bound for the airport.

Waving excitedly, Peter turned to run into the house, “Are all of you coming?”

___________________

“Emil!” Matthias yelled as he walked through the door of the Bondevik-Steilsson household, placing the hide-away key on the front table to be put back later, “Buddy?”

There was a thumping noise coming from the general direction of the stairs, “Matthias?”

“Hey!” Matthias was taking off his shoes when the little boy jumped up and wrapped his arms around his legs, “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay…” The boy backed off, a little shyer now, “Why are you here?”

Matthias laughed, “My parents said they were going out of town for a while, so I’ll be in and out of here for a few days, is that okay?”

The dane only lived a block or two away, so he was able to travel between the two houses easily. His parents also decided to go on vacation, and not tell him. Instead they left a note on the kitchen counter and a bottle of champagne for him in the fridge. Matthias loved his parents, but sometimes he wished they were a little more… parent like.

“Yeah.” Emil gave him a small smile, his eyes wide and curious.

Matthias ruffled his hair, “Where’s your brother?”

Emil turned wordlessly and ran through the house, Matthias trailing slowly behind him. Emil had ran into the kitchen, gaining his brothers attention.

“Emil? Where’s your friend?” Lukas who was cutting something up, turned around with the knife in his hand.

The knife didn’t change the fact that Lukas was absolutely adorable. The blue and brown striped apron was hanging on his frame and his hair was pinned back with a few extra clips, fuzzy and fluffy socks on his feet. A loose shirt and sweatpants hanging on his smaller frame. He looked a little surprised to see Matthias there instead of whoever Emil had over.

“Matthias?” Lukas raised an eyebrow, placing the knife down and abandoning the pepper he was cutting.

Emil rolled his eyes and pattered back up the stairs, probably back to his room where his friend still was. Matthias scratched the back of his neck, “What are you cooking? It smells good.”

“Its stew, and what are you doing here?” Lukas walked over to the stove and picked up the spoon, stirring whatever was in the pot.

“My parents went on a trip or something… left me a note. So I figured that i’d come see my best friend in the whole world!” Matthias walked up beside him, “Where are your parents?”

“Mor’s went shopping for the New Year’s party they’re going to, and mom’s still at work. She and mor are having a date night since I'm here to watch Emil, they probably won't be back until morning.” Lukas filled a spoon with the reddish looking food, placing the end on his lips own lips. After nodding to himself, Lukas held out the utensil, “Try this?”

It was more like a command than a question, but Matthias would have tried it anyways. He smiled as his mouth filled with the warm liquid and sighed in contentment. As always, Lukas was amazing at cooking. Matthias gushed, “it's really good, what's in it?”

“See I told you.” Emil’s voice cut Lukas’ Possible answer off, “Gross right? Sometimes they’re worse than my parents.”

Matthias and Lukas both turned to the two little boys now sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen. Emil was smirking while the boy beside him smiled politely. Lukas just rolled his eyes and went back to cooking, but Matthias placed both hands down on the counter, “And who are you?”

“My name is Leon, nice to meet you sir,” the boy said with confidence.

Emil shook his head mumbling something along the lines of, “kiss up.”

“Mmhm. And Leon,” the Dane walked around to throw an arm around the tiny Asian boy, and there was some bite in his tone, “What are your intentions with my little Emil over here.”

“Matthias!” Both brothers snapped imminently. Lukas had whipped around with the spoon, nearly splattering food everywhere with a murderous look and Emil looked up at him with the biggest pout he'd ever seen. Leon seemed to be the only confused one.

Emil was sat mortified, maybe it wasn't his brother that he had to worry about being embarrassing. Sure his brother would probably try to pull out the photo albums, maybe send some glares that Leon would be oblivious to. But he never anticipated for Matthias to pull the whole overprotective, ‘daddy's little girl’ act.

Emil wasn't even a girl! He was a man. A manly man that could take care of himself. Elizabeta had taught him all he knows.

“Matthias, Emil is in fourth grade!” Lukas scolded him, he placed the spoon down on a napkin and shook his head, “They’re kids. And just friends for that matter.”

“You’re not freaking out about this? Lukas, this is Emil we’re talking about…” Matthias was shocked that the norwegian wasn’t fretting over his brother, tilting his head, he added, “I knew who I was going to be in love with forever when I was around that age. Why shouldn't I be suspicious?”

Lukas turned red and Emil started to snicker, “You two are ridiculous, C’mon Leon, I can still build a better Lego dragon than you!”

The two ran up the stairs, their playful bantering fading away as  the thumping grew louder. Emil’s door slammed with a bang.

______________________________

After a while of playing board games the three boys decided to call it a night. They had to be wide awake to stay up the next day, since it was New Years. Well they had to be able to stay up until midnight which wasn't too late. Well. For the older boys anyways.

Sebastian had thrown all the pillows and blankets onto the floor so all three of them could be together. Of course those weren’t enough though, so Antonio had to go and nab pillows from Francis’ room.

He may or may not have broken a thing or two in the process.Francis wouldn't miss that lamp right?

When Sebastian snuggled in underneath the pile of blankets in their little nest, Antonio wasted no time following. Lovino sneered at the two, shaking his head, “You two are stupid.”

“Aw come on Lovi! Join us!” Antonio wrapped his arms around Lovino's waist, dragging him down as the boy protested, “We can read that story book that we always do!”

“Ah! I have it right here!” Sebastian pulled it out from underneath his pillow, “We can all read it together this time.”

Lovino stopped fussing and slid into the spot to the left of Sebastian, peering at the beaten up cover. It was one of Lovino and Feliciano’s old picture books, the spine was worse for ware and there was some water damage on some of the pages. But the story was one that they had enjoyed, no matter how old they got.

Sebastian particularly liked it when Antonio would read though. Lovino would sometimes come back to the dorm room early enough from late night talks with his grandfather to catch the last few bits of the story that Antonio could get to before Sebastian was knocked out. It was sweet, the only source light coming from Sebastian's night light. He could hear his brother giggle happily as Antonio used a funny sounding voice for a character. Lovino would always wait until the boy was asleep though to sneak in and go to bed, not wanting to break the magic that the two had created.

So this is to say that this would be the first time that he was experiencing the story up close and personal. Like. Really though dude. He had so many opportunities to but he was more of a chicken than he let on.

Antonio settled in on the other side of Sebastian, watching as the boys little hand flipped the page. He grinned brightly as Sebastian looked up eagerly at him, looking much younger than he actually was.

“Once upon a time, in the world of outer space, great evil loomed,” Antonio read as Sebastian flipped the page, “We must defeat the star defenders! Said the evil overlord.”

Lovino couldn't help but crack a smile at the fake nasally voice. Sebastian was already reduced to a fit of laughs.

“A million light years away, in the star defenders ship, captain Uran was briefing his team,” Antonio looked over at Lovino's, nudging him on the shoulder.

Lovino rolled his eyes but spoke anyways, “Alright crew! We must defeat the menosmen bases before they can grow!but before then, no more ice cream !”

Sebastian couldn't help it. He fell over, laughing into his pillow, at his brother's attempt at a deeper and authoritative voice.

Antonio watched as Sebastian's face absolutely glowed with pure happiness. And Lovino's own wasn't that different. The Spaniard liked times like this, where the only thing they had to worry about was who was going to read what and how much their stomachs were going to ache from laughing. The ever so rare innocent smiles from Lovino were always a plus too. It was a nice break from the usual mayhem.

“But commander!” Sebastian could barely get through his line without breaking down, his voice purposely pitched high for the character, “How are we supposed to do that?”

With the dim lights and warm blankets around them, the three grew tired as they continues to flip through the pages. Their laughter died down and turned into content smiles and small chuckles at particularly funny moments. It was so warm, both from the blankets and the sweet atmosphere in the room. It was relaxing. Sebastian had stayed awake through the vast majority of the book, which he has never done before.

When Lovino was soundly asleep beside him, Sebastian figured that it would be safe to whisper to Antonio, “Toni can I ask you something?”

Antonio stopped reading, placing the book down, “of course Sebastian. Do you want a different story?”

“No it's not that,” Sebastian rolled over to face the taller boy. Placing his hands under his right ear like a pillow, Sebastian yawned, “Do you really like my brother?”

Antonio looked a little shocked, “of course I do.”

“That's good! Cause I really like you… Ludwigs a nice guy but he can be kinda scary,” Sebastian's eyes started to close, “Promise that I'll get to be the best man?”

“Hm?” Antonio smiled, “I promise. Buenos noches Sebastian.”

“You have to love him forever you know,” Sebastian was practically mumbling now, “He may be grumpy but he's my brother. And I know he needs it.”

Antonio chuckled at the small boys concern, pulling the blanket over the both of them. As he settled back in, he felt a smaller finger wrap around his pinky, “gotta promise.”

“I will definitely love him forever,” Antonio squeezed reassuringly, “I promise.”

Soon the two energetic souls were out like a light, both snoring lightly, but Lovino couldn't seem to sleep anymore. The tips of his ears a brilliant red.

______________

“Mattie tell Arthur to stop,” Alfred whined as he and Peter were shooed out of the kitchen, “he's going to poison us all.”

Peter pouted like the older male, both of them crossing their arms like petulant children. Well. One of them was a child so he had an excuse.

“Sorry Al,” Matthew shrugged, “not my house. And I'll be the one cooking so just go.”

Peter gave up, his attention span giving out, “Alfred can we just go play now?”

“Yeah,” Alfred sighed and a smile adorned his face again. He ruffled the boy’s hair, “What do you wanna do?”

“I got an idea! Follow me!” Peter tugged on his sleeve, pulling them towards the family room. The couch was big and placed across from an equally impressive tv. Peter had instructed him to sit on the sofa before he ran towards his room. Alfred could hear his footsteps on the floor and a concerning heavy thump before the frantic patterning resumed. When Peter re-emerged his tiny arms were filled with blankets and a few pillows balanced on top.

Alfred instantly got what he was going for, “Ultimate pillow fort time?”

Peter nodded excitedly and threw all the items in his arms to the ground, “we can make a big castle and play dragons!”

The two of them started to construct the pillow walls, making sure that they were sturdy enough to hold up nicely. When they started to run out of materials they ripped the couch cushions off and Peter sneaked into his siblings rooms. It wasn't like they were home anyways.

The fort was simple, it used the couch and three chairs for the back support, where they draped a nice blanket for a roof. But the majority of it has no roof, it was almost like an open courtyard. The wall wasn't that tall, but if Peter kneeled he would only be able to peer over the top of it. They decided to use Peter's Giant sea turtle plushie as a door, trying to make it seem more magical.

Peters laughter only grew as the tower of pillows Alfred had been working on toppled on top of the older boy. Alfred's stunned countenance only added onto the humor.

Alfred soon joined in, the child's laughter infectious. Both of them heaving on the ground by the time they calmed down. Peter breathlessly let out, “This is fun!”

Alfred smiled and turned to look at the happy look on Peter's face. He felt bad for the kid. All his brothers were much older than him, and he was usually trapped at home by himself. Alfred had always had Matthew growing up. His built in buddy.

“What in the world are you two doing?” Arthur was puzzled, looking down at the two figures lying on the ground.

Alfred peered up, “Pillow fort. Wanna join?”

“Um…” Arthur looked at the pillows then back down to Peter's content expression, he didn't want to ruin the fun, “I don't know if that's such a good idea.”

Peter offered an oblivious smile, “C’mon Arthur! You're always too busy to play.”

Which was true. Arthur of course never meant to be extremely busy whenever he had a chance to see his youngest brother, he just was. Peter understood to some extent, but he was still just a kid. Arthur felt guilty though.

“Okay…” He reluctantly joined them in them pillow fortress, “What are we playing?”

Alfred placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, “Lighten up dude! I think we were just about to play knights right?”

“Yeah!” Peter crawled into the hooded part of the fort, “Wait right here!”

As Peter rummaged through the tent Arthur turned, “This is… rather impressive.”

“Thanks,” Alfred had a proud smile on, “I try.”

Peter re-emerged with three different things in his hands; First was a tail that could be worn as a belt, second was a foam sword, and lastly there was a flower crown looking headpiece. It had nice ribbon intertwined with the flowers, the ribbon extending and flowing freely in the back.

Taking the sword for himself, Peter handed Alfred and tail and placed the crown on his brother's head. “I'm going to be the knight!”

Arthur reached up to touch the object that had been placed on his head while Alfred strapped the tail on. Arthur glanced around confused, “How do you play this?”

“Well, you're the princess,” Peter smiled at him, oblivious to the indignant squawk that Arthur let out. It was one thing to let Feliks embarrass him by making him play such a girly part, but his own family?

Alfred laughed, practically reading his friend's mind, “Or you can be a very pretty prince.”

“Yeah!” Peter cheered, “and I gotta rescue you from the dragon!”

“Why can't I be the dragon? Don't you want to stab me Peter?” Arthur raised an eyebrow. His brother gave him a puzzling look, obviously trying to come up with a reason.

“Because beginners aren't allowed to be something cool.” Peter settled on, crossing his arms.

Alfred nodded, “now go to the tower prince. I must keep the noble knight from getting you.”

Sighing, Arthur obeyed and sat on the staircase between the kitchen and living room. Alfred gleefully followed, standing at the base of the stairs. Alfred and Peter used to play this a lot more when they were younger. They would usually use dolls though, waiting for Arthur to stop doing whatever it was that he had to do before they did something else.

Peter began to count down from twenty. With the dampened numbers from the living room echoing around them, Alfred leaned closer to Arthur “So basically, you have to just stay here until Peter slays me.”

“It's quite self explanatory Alfred,” Arthur rolled his eyes.

Alfred huffed, “Well you were the one that wanted to know how to play before.”

And before Arthur could retort Peter came barreling in, foam sword drawn. Alfred was prepared for it though, quickly blocking it with his arm.

“Die dragon! Let the prince go!” Peter went to go slash again. Arthur let out a fond laugh at the scrunched up and fox used look on Peter’s face, the tiny kid was taking this game extremely seriously.

Alfred let out something akin to a roar and turned to face Arthur. For a split second, Arthur was able to raise an eyebrow, giving him a questioning look. But Alfred never responded, instead he just wore a devious smirk before throwing Arthur over his shoulder.

“Alfred! Put me down this instant!” Arthur wriggled as Alfred made a mad dash for the living room. Peter stood there stunned for a moment. Carrying the princess was never part of the game.

Peter tilted his head before laughing, dashing after the two, “Come back here dragon! Give back his highness!”

Surely running in circles with someone hoisted on his would tire Alfred out, but five minutes later and he was still trying to dash away from Peter. The little boy himself was giggling hysterically, trying to keep himself from toppling over with laughter. Arthur could feel Alfred’s grip on his legs tighten, the warm grip readjusting as they ran in circles around the staircase.

Under different and not so jostling circumstances, Arthur would have been embarrassed and extremely flushed. But instead he was laughing along with them. Alfred was absolutely thrilled to feel the soft vibrations coming from his friend.

Arthur could see Peters amusement from his position on Alfred's shoulder. The little boy was happier than Arthur had ever seen him, which made Arthur's smile just a little bit wider. He cared about his younger brothers happiness, and if playing these silly games with Alfred and himself would offer his brother just that, then he would gladly give his time to watch his little brothers face light up. Of course he would never say this out loud, peter would protest that it was too mushy or something.

But as they were making another lap around the staircase, the front door opened. Peter bumped into Alfred's legs and stumbled backwards as Alfred stopped moving in his tracks. Arthur tried to crane his neck to see what had made the game pause so abruptly,but he couldn't see past.

“I see you're having fun,” came the light yet gruff tone that Arthur recognized and couldn't really tell if he loved or not. His mother did mention something about Allistor coming by.

“Hi Allistor!” Peter chirped, poking his head out from behind Alfred’s leg. Alfred seemed to unfreeze and Arthur felt himself being lowered to the ground. Alfred had wrapped an arm around the shorter blonde’s waist when his feet touched the ground since he had stumbled a bit. After regaining his posture, Arthur turned to his eldest brother

“Hello Allistor, Fiona. I see that Cecillia is doing…” Arthur looked at his soon to be sister in law and her swelling stomach, “Well.”

Fiona narrowed her eyes and Alfred could feel the two youngest Kirkland brothers cower a little, Peter’s grip on Alfred’s leg tightening and Alfred’s grip on Arthur’s waist tightening as well. Fiona rubbed at her stomach, “Yes, Cecillia is doing fine. She is due in two months after all, Arthur.”

“Play nice,” Allistor hissed before clapping his hands together, “So how are my two underlings?”

Peter just nodded, still eyeing Fiona’s long and sharp nails. Arthur just sighed, “We’re good. Mum and Dad just left a little while ago and Matthew is making cookies in the kitchen.”

Allistor nodded before toeing off his shoes and wandering towards the kitchen. As Fiona trailed after the older Kirkland, the three left visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh.

“How about we just go wait in the fort for the cookies to be done!” Alfred tried to get Peter to smile again, “I bet I can beat you there!”

Peter just nodded excitedly, taking off before Alfred could even register the conformation, “Hey! That’s cheating!”

Arthur smiled warmly, walking after Alfred, who started to sprint. The tower of pillows jostled a bit as Peter and Alfred ran full force towards the canopy part of their fort, diving on the couch. Alfred pulled Arthur down by the waist underneath the blanket top once the brit wandered close enough to be snatched. Breathing hard, Peter held something in front of all of them, it was glowing weird colors.

“Look! I got this for christmas!” Peter watched amusedly as the color changed from blue to green, “Its a bright lite!”

He held the fluffy pillow close to his chest, and let Alfred wrap and arm around him as well. Held close to the warmth, Peter could feel his eyes starting to droop down and a small smile grace his lips.

“It’s great Peter,” Alfred mumbled as he and Arthur were left to watch the lights change underneath the dark tent, “It’s really cool.”

In the kitchen, Matthew was rolling out dough and using cookie cutters to make fun shaped cookies. He didn't even look up when he heard someone come into the kitchen, “Alfred! I told you they will be done in one second, I’m taking them out now! Calm your fatass!”

“Wow… I never thought that I would hear little Mattie say something like that,” Matthew lifted his head up so fast that he thought his neck snapped, “Hey.”

“Allistor! What are you doing here?” Matthew sheepishly laughed, “I mean this is your house and all but… ”

Matthew almost jumped backwards at the woman’s appearance. She was sickly thin except for her pregnant stomach, “Hi. I’m Fiona.”

What in all mighty demons hell is that-she. She's a… female. I think. Matthew forced himself to look at Allistor, “Well this batch is done.”

The piping hot chocolate chip cookies looked delicious. The three of them wanted to eat the whole tray by themselves. But they wouldn’t. They couldn't. To stop temptation they let the cookies cool and started to walk towards the living room.

“Al! Peter! The cookies are re-” Matthews voice died in his throat as he peaked into the tent.

Allistor chuckled behind him, Fiona letting out a huff, “Well I’ll be damned.”

Alfred had both of the Kirklands laying on his shoulders, a content smile on all of their faces. Peter was drooling a bit though, the glowing pillow clutched to his body for dear life, and a spot on Alfred's T-shirt darkening with the liquid.  hand was caught under Alfred’s, close to his hip and his hair messed up in a funny but cute looking way. All three looked like they had just passed out from exhaustion. Which was extremely possible.

“We should probably let them sleep,” Matthew let the flap of blanket fall from his head, “More cookies for us though!”

_______________________________

They ate dinner about three hours ago, Leon left two hours ago, and Emil was tucked into bed less than an hour ago. Matthias practically melded with the couch after popping a random movie into the dvd player. Lukas wasn’t in any better shape, looking tired as hell from making sure that the two fourth graders were entertained all day. That meant eating, some messy arts and crafts, saving a vase from breaking during an intense nerf war (That vase almost knocking over was sooooo not Matthias’ fault… it was who ever decided that it would be a good idea to place a vase in the corner of a room’s fault.), and an bedtime story that dragged on for an hour or two.

Lukas didn't even protest when Matthias threw a blanket over them and pulled him into a side hug. He greatly accepted the gesture, tiredly leaning into the touch, “Kids are hard work.”

“Yeah…” Matthias chuckled, “I don't remember ever being that accident prone. Not to mention they’re attention spans are practically non-existent.”

The dane could practically feel Lukas rolling his eyes, “You don’t remember that because you still haven’t grown out of that phase.”

“Hey!” Matthias shoved him over a little, “I’m still as adorable as a kid too.”

Lukas just hummed, “Sure.”

It was quiet for a few more milliseconds, Lukas and Matthias finally letting out the desperately needed sigh of relief. The day had turned out to be a more stressful one than either of them had anticipated,  fun, but stressful. Just as they had settled in, both their eyelids becoming heavy with sleep, there was a small tug at the blanket. Reluctantly wrenching their eyes open, Matthias and Lukas sat up.

“Emil! Whats wrong?” Lukas looked at the fidgeting boy standing in front of them, Emil’s white nightshirt and dinosaur pants were rumpled and his silky white hair was knotted, “Can’t sleep?”

Emil just shook his head and wedged his way into a spot between the the elder boys, Matthias lifted the blanket for him to crawl under. There were no more words spoken, Emil just fell back asleep after being wrapped up and surrounded by warmth. When Matthias could hear Lukas’ faint snoring he turned to look at the boys next to him. Emils head was snuggly fit in the crook of Lukas’ neck and Lukas’ head rested nicely on top of Emil’s. Matthias reached over, praying to god that he wouldn’t wake them as he placed a small peck on both of their foreheads. He sighed contently, letting himself get pulled in by sleep.

______________________________________

Lovino woke up by someone pouncing on him, laughing in his face. He tried to blink open his eyes, “Lovino! Wake up!”

Lovino’s first instinct was to panic, “What? Sebastian what happened?”

“Nothing! But today’s new year’s eve and were making churros!” Sebastians cheery voice filled the room.

Lovino’s next move was to throw the pillow back over his head, “Where is Antonio? Ask him to help you.”

“He is! We need you to come too!” Sebastian was already trying to tug him out.

Lovino sighed, knowing that it was only a matter of moments before Sebastian would start to throw a fit. But before he could feign sleeping for a few more moments, he was being lifted off the ground. An arm hooked under his legs and back. Squeaking in shock, Lovino glared at Antonio’s bright smile. It was only… what? Nine am?

Who the hell was up at nine am during a break?

“Lovi! We gotta get ready for the new year!” Antonio dropped him on the mattress, “Get dressed! Sebastian and I have already prepared the batter!”

“Lovino! Lovino! Hurry! Were going to go to the kitchen!” Lovino huffed as he removed the shirt that was thrown at him from his vision, “Antonio! I bet I can beat you there!”

“I’ll give you a head start! Count to ten,” Antonio stood, hands on his hips laughing as the boy squealed with giggles before running away, “You better run!”

Lovino rolled his eyes at their childish behavior, “You two are ridiculous.”

There was no malice behind his words, only a faint trace of fondness. Antonio smiled, wrapping him up in a hug, “Get dressed, we have a lot of things to do today!”

Antonio screamed out “Ten!” even though Sebastian was probably already half way across the campus and heading towards a home ec. Room. He ran out after them and Lovino started to get dressed a little faster. Wanting to join in their game.

__________________________

When Peter shook himself awake, he was in his bed. He didn't remember ever going up to his room, but he figured that he must have been transferred there at some point during the night. He had also been changed into Pjs. But not his cool ones, the old shark ones. Must have been his brother, Arthur still thought he was only five. He could smell something good coming from downstairs, which meant that Arthur was not cooking, which meant that Alfred or Matthew had stayed over. And his stomach growled.

Peter was hungry.

As he stumbled into the kitchen, Alfred was plating pancakes and bacon for three. He paused as he saw Peter enter, “Good morning!”

“Good morning Alfred! Happy new years eve!” Peter plopped in a seat at the island.

Alfred laughed, “It’s going to be a good new year, right? Why don’t you go into the living room, we can watch TV while we eat breakfast!”

Peter nodded, smiling wide, he loved sunday cartoons. He hadnt been able to watch them in a while, his parents hogging the TV to watch the morning news. He climbed back down the chair, and padded towards the living room. He tilted his head, confused when he saw that the castle had been dismantled, but he didnt mind. Instead, on the couch Arthur sat and the television was spewing news about the new years party in new york and whatnot.

“Here Peter,” Arthur reached over and passed him the remote, “I think Spongebob or something should be on.”

Peter gleefully took the remote, sitting down on the floor in front of the couch so he didn’t disrupt Arthur’s careful folding. Wait. What? Why was his brother folding laundry?

“What are you doing Arthur?” Peter looked up at his brother.

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, “What does it look like I’m doing Peter? I’m folding the laundry that I did this morning.”

“Yeah… but why did you do the laundry?” Peter watched as Arthur carefully folded a pair of pants, “Aren’t those... my... clothes?”

Arthur just nodded, “When I went to go get your clothes ready for today I couldn’t find one pair of socks. Peter, tell me, where are all your socks going? You lose them almost all the time.”

“Are you harping the kid about his socks?” Alfred came in with a tray of food and plopped down next to Peter who reached for a strip of bacon, “Arthur, everyone knows that the sock monster eats them. He’s a hungry guy.”

Arthur rolled his eyes as Peter nodded along, “Yes. I bet his appetite is as large as yours right? And that’s why even after doing all of Peter’s laundry I still can’t find a single pair?”

“We can go buy him more socks when we go get the stuff for the party tonight,” Alfred waved him off before continuing to cut Peter’s extra large pancake up into triangle slices, “Easy fix.”

Arthur shook his head, starting to put all the folded clothes back into the laundry basket to be put away later, “If he keeps just getting new socks, he’s never going to take responsibility for them. And what party are you talking about?”

“He’s a fourth grader Arthur, his socks are bound to disappear,”  Alfred held out a fork with a bit of pancake on it for Arthur, “And I am talking about our party of three for New Years eve. Duh. Mattie and Gil are doing something with Feliciano and Ludwig and your brother left for Fiona’s parents house, remember?”

Arthur took the bite of pancake, carefully slipping off the couch, “What a hoot that party will be.”

Peter was absorbed in his cartoons, laughing to himself as the character did something particularly stupid. Alfred stuffed another pancake bit into the distracted boys mouth, “It’ll be the best one of the new year!”

_______________________

“Matthias! No, a little lower!” Emil watched as Matthias wobbled a bit on the chair he was standing on, “It has to be perfect!”

The dane streched as far as he could to hang up the banner, “Is that good?”

Emil made a frame with his fingers, connecting the two L’s that he made, “Just a little more to the right, no my right...Down a bit, up!”

“Desserts 's almost re-” Lukas came in, his apron dusted with flour and chocolate, “What are you doing?”

Matthias huffed and just tied the string where it was despite Emil’s glare, “Decorating!”

“Isn’t it a little late for that?” Lukas looked towards the cable box, “It's five minutes to midnight. New Year’s eve is almost over.”

“Ah is it really that late already?” Matthias hopped down from the chair that he was standing on, scooping Emil up with one arm, “Turn on the countdown! We’ll be there in a second.”

Lukas sighed as the two of them disappeared up the stairs. He went back into the kitchen to grab the ice cream and cookies they had prepared for the count down. Lukas tapped his foot as he impatiently flipped through the channels to find the one the NYC countdown would be best broadcasted. There were only a minute left and he could still hear Matthias and Emil giggling over something above him. They were going to miss it.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

There was a distinct pop noise and Lukas was showered with Confetti. Lukas turned his head and saw his brother smiling, holding a mini confetti cannon, and when he turned the other way-

Lukas didn’t register Matthias’ lips on his own until he heard the dulled out, “Ew! That’s gross!”

Though Emil’s giggles and protests were lost once Matthias placed one hand to the back of Lukas’ head and the other on the small of his back. It was soft and light, nothing intense, but it was still just as sweet.

“Okay… You can stop now,” Emil wedged himself in between them.

Matthias laughed and Lukas just stat stunned, Emil just pouted. Hugging both of them, Matthias cheered, “Happy New Year!”

______________________________________________

“Turn the music up more!” Sebastian cupped his hands around his mouth, “There’s no one here!”

“Sebastian the countdown is going to start soon!” Antonio screamed above the music, “Were never going to be able to hear it!”

Sebastian didn’t listen, instead he wandered over to the speaker system and tapped the plus button until the music was at an ear splitting volume. He grabbed his brother’s hand and Antonio’s, moving around and swaying, “Dance!”

“Five seconds!” Lovino shouted, looking at the small Laptop screen. Sebastian was still jumping up and down as fast as his little body could.

The youngest italian smiled, “Five!”

Sebastian held on tighter to both of their hands before loosening considerably, “Four!”

“Three!” Sebastian pulled his brother’s hand and the spaniards together, linking them, “Two!”

“One!” Pushing his brother on the back, the two older boys crashed together, Lovino’s head on Antonio’s chest.

The taller male just smiled, cupping Lovino’s cheeks and leaning down. Lovino gasped a little and closed his eyes as he sunk into his New Years kiss.

“Lovino’s kissing someone! Lovino’s kissing someone!”

Lovino broke away, hugging the boy so tight that Sebastian was starting to hit his brothers arm, “Shut up you little brat.”

________________________________

“And I think that one’s the big dipper!” Alfred pointed up towards the sky, “And that one’s orion's belt.”

“What about that one?” Peter gestured to a cluster of stars.The air was cold outside, since it was January, and the grass in the Kirklands backyard wasn’t very warm. Peter didn’t mind it though, he was in his fluffiest winter coat and wedged nicely in between the two teens.

Arthur squinted at the stars, “I think thats Canis Minor.”

“Oh! Guys, I think it’s almost time!” Alfred looked at his watch, “Where’s the radio?”

Peter shuffled a little bit, producing a small device from under him, “I have it!”

Alfred took it from the younger boy, pulling out the antenna and playing with the dials until they found a channel. It started playing broadcasting some station in New York.

“Alright folks!” the radio crackled, “Let’s start our countdown into the new year! Grab that special someone and pull them close. It’s time! Five!”

Peter started to laugh and cheered, linking his arms together with his brother and Al, he started to scream along with the radio people, “Four, three, two, on-!”

The little boy stopped when he felt his brother and Alfred kiss his cheeks, pressing hard enough for Peter to have to make a fishy face. Smiling contently, Peter held onto both their hands, pressing them close to his chest.

Arthur’s face was hot and red, from the cold or embarrassment, and Alfred’s smile was brighter than the stars. They held their foreheads together, Peter still wedged in between them and cheering, “Happy New Year!”

________________________________

Domestic af/Siblings side

Alfred (entered 7:28 am) : 24 points

Matthias (entered 12:37 pm) : 22 points

Antonio (entered 3:39 am) : 23 points

_____________________________

Awesome F. Jones changed the chat name to Tsundere’s + kids = my heart is shot x3x

Awesome F Jones: So. How did the plan go for you guys?

Antomato: great! Muy bueno, Sebastian came to visit!

Awesome F Jones: Lovino’s youngest brother came???

Antomato: yeah! I had no idea! It was so fun seeing him o3o

So you got to spend time with the other one. :Me

Well, I guess you didn’t have to worry about Feliciano running off to do something else :Me

Antomato: Yeah! He ended up spending most of the break with Ludwig somewhere so I would’ve failed the plan if Sebastian didn’t show up

Awesome F. Jones: Kids are so cute

Tru o3o :Me

__________________________________

“Emil were leaving now!” Lukas called up to his brother, Matthias already pulling their suitcases out the door.

The boy thumped down the stairs, “Wait! Lukas!”

“Whats wrong?” Lukas looked a little panicked at his brothers flushed face.

Emil just smiled up at him, “Ya know Lukas… Matthias is really cool.”

“Mmhm?”

Emil just gave a smirk that made him look a lot older than he was, “He’s a great guy. And he’d make a great boyfriend~”

“Emil!” Lukas tensed, face bright red.

The younger boy just laughed, “He’s practically family already, why not just make it official?”

Lukas couldn't get his brother’s smug expression out of his head the whole way back to Hetahigh.

______________________________

Sebastian Vargas

Sebastian: Big Bro!

Sebastian: I forgot to tell u!

What is it Sebastian? Did you forget something here again?: Me

Sebastian : U no… Antonio is a very good looking person. He’s like a movie star and I think tht I overheard the lady at the park say smthing about his butt and greek gods.

Sebastian! : Me

Sebastian : Ok ok

Sebastian : Point is, he’s not going to be ‘on the market’ forever

Sebastian : I rly like him 2. I will kill u if he doesn’t come over for vacay in cali

Sebastian, California is supposed to be a family reunion: Me

Sebastian : ur point is?

Sebastian : He’s like my bro 2 its fine

Sebastian just mind your own fucking buisness: Me

Sebastian : I may b stupid sometimes, but he’s not gonna b single forever Lovi!

Sebastian : Go get em bro

SEBASTIAN!: Me

_________________________

“Alfred!” Peter whined, “You’re going to come back soon right?”

Alfred ruffled the boy’s hair, smiling, “Of course buddy! Just tell your brother when.”

And although Peter tried his best to be upbeat, as soon as Alfred went to start the car, Peter started to cry. The tears streaming down his face was a giant contrast to the happy expression he had been wearing all week, and it made Arthur’s heart break slightly.

“Peter… Why are you so upset?” Arthur knelt down to eye level with the boy, “Were going to come back soon…”

Peter furiously swipped at his eyes, “But… I don’t want you guys to leave!”

“Peter… you have to be a big boy now okay?” Arthur pulled the boy into his chest, carding his hand through the boy’s hair, “Why are you so upset?”

“Because… What if Alfred is like Alli?” Peter wiped his snot on his brothers shoulder.

It took Arthur a moment to realize what his brother was talking about. A little while ago, about seven months to be exact, Allistor was still living at home. Allistor worked only a block away, as a manager of a restaurant and it was easier for both of Arthur’s parents and him to stay in the Kirklands house to watch over Peter when he could. Though that all changed when he found out that his girlfriend, Fiona, was pregnant. Suddenly it was all proposals and moving boxes.

And Peter was left alone…

“Oh Peter…” Arthur rubbed circles on his back, “Alfred’s not going anywhere sweetie…”

The sniffles started up again, “But! But! What if he gets a benancy like Allistor! Then he’s gonna have to move away and not visit for a long time.”

“It’s a fiance honey… and that’s part of growing up. You fall in love and get married,” Arthur swallowed a lump in his throat, “But Alfred and Allistor will always love you.”

“But! I don’t want Alfred to get married! Cause then he’s not going to be around,” Peter pulled away to look into Arthur’s eyes, “You can’t let him okay!”

“What?” Arthur tilted his head.

“Promise?” Peter’s voice was hard and serious.

Arthur smiled, “I can’t guarantee that Peter. You marry who you love and you can’t stand in the way of that.”

“Then…” Peter furrowed his eyebrows and stared hard at the ground, “You marry him! Promise me that you’ll marry him! That way he’ll be my big brother too for real and… and… You guys can come visit me more. Together!”

“Peter…” Arthur’s pupils were blown wide, “I…”

The boy just stuck out his littlest finger, “Pinky promise me Arthur? You love him, don’t you?”

Arthur had to leave, he couldn’t be sure if he would be able to keep that promise but he wrapped his pinky around his brothers and kissed his forehead goodbye.

Im posting chapter 19 right after this and then going back and editing all the links! Chapter 20, the last one, should be coming soon! Im so sorry for not updating on here!