#( cue the two of them eating on the sofa together before falling asleep in a cuddle pile <3 )

[watchmegetobsessed]

VALERIE - Part VI. (Harry Styles)

part 6 omg!!! ahh, these christmas chapters are my favs, i hope yall will like them asmuch as i do! as always, feedback is much appreciated!

word count: 4.1k

SERIES MASTERPOST

masterlist

“So how did you two exactly meet?” your dad asks over the dinner table. You are all sitting around the long pine table, the tremendous amount of food lining in the middle as the plates are going around, getting filled.

“Oh, um, we were set up, actually. It was all Rosa,” you admit with a soft chuckle, sharing a look with Marcus beside you. 

“I just thought they would be a good match, guess I was right,” Rosa grins, clearly satisfied with the work she’s done.

“What do you do for a living, Marcus?” Jeremy chimes in while helping Margaret cut her meat beside him. She is the youngest of the cousins, only five, but she can boss around anyone as if she was Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. 

“Oh, I work in sales. We had a project with Steven’s company, that’s where we met.”

“That sounds interesting,” Joe nods, but at the same time you hear Harry huff on the other end of the table. Looking in his way you see him with his eyes fixed on the plate. He hasn’t said a word since Marcus arrived and his silence is quite worrying if you’re being honest. You haven’t seen him be silent for this long ever, you’re afraid he might be plotting something. 

“It’s so weird that all four of us are here with a significant other this year. I remember when we were all just kids, running around in our backyard,” Etta sighs with a nostalgic smile.

Your eyes wander over to Harry, who is still relentlessly staring down at his plate, as if he wasn’t even there. 

“Yeah, now there are just two single people sitting at the table. Aunt Monica and Harry,” you say and his head finally snaps up, eyes meeting yours, but you can’t read them. 

“You’re single?” Lily asks Harry, leaning forward a little so she can see him since they are sitting on the same side of the table. 

“I, uhh--I am, yeah,” he nods, clearly uncomfortable he is being discussed all of a sudden.

“Would have sworn you have someone waiting for you at home.”

“No, it’s just me,” he shakes his head. “Maybe I could pair up with Aunt Monica so there wouldn’t be any single people,” he jokes, making everyone laugh at the table. Aunt Monica looks up from her plate and winks at Harry.

“I’ll leave my door open for the night,” she cheekily comments and Harry almost chokes on his wine as another round of laugh runs over the table.

“Monica, he is not a lonely soldier,” your mom tells her, but she just shrugs her shoulders grabbing her glass and downing the rest of her wine. Joe is quick to refill it for her, knowing well she was about to ask someone to do that for her. 

“Thanks for the offer though,” Harry nods shyly and you think it’s hilarious how his cheeks have turned red from a nasty comment your aunt made. 

His eyes find you again right when Marcus reaches over and squeezes your thigh gently under the table and you catch Harry’s grimace before you turn to your boyfriend and share a short peck on the lips. 

For your biggest surprise Harry doesn’t try to drop any nasty comments about you during dinner, not even after, when all adults gather in the living room while the kids leave to play video games in their room. Rosa is sitting on Harry’s thigh as he is supporting her back, letting her curiously look around in the room. You’re sitting on a loveseat with Marcus, curled up to his side and he has an arm around your shoulders. Occasionally you catch Harry’s eyes on the two of you, but you try to pay little attention to him and just enjoy the evening.

“I should get going soon,” Marcus tells you, checking the time. It’s past ten and he has to leave early in the morning.

“Why don’t you stay for the night?” Teresa asks when she sees the two of you getting up from the sofa.

“Oh, I didn’t want to bother too long, it’s my first time meeting you all, thought a dinner would be just enough,” Marcus chuckles and you bite into your bottom lip. Does he believe this or did he want to stay, but only tells this everyone because you didn’t invite him to stay the night? You’re not sure if you want to know the real answer...

“Silly, you don’t bother,” you mom huffs. “Isn’t it too late to drive home?”

“I’m fine, but thank you. I didn’t bring my stuff so I would have to leave extra early in the morning to make it in time. But thank you for having me, it was wonderful meeting you all.”

Marcus goes around and says his goodbye to everyone before the two of you head to the front door. 

“Drive safe, text me when you get home, alright?” you tell him as he throws his coat to the passenger seat before turning to face you. 

“Yeah. Have fun with your family and I’ll see you in a few days.” A genuine smile stretches across his face and it immediately triggers your guilt. He could have stayed the night avoiding to drive back to the city so late, but even now, standing out on the driveway you don’t feel like you want him to stay for longer. 

What you keep telling yourself is that it’s all because you haven’t been together that long and it would have been a too big of a step just yet. Seemingly Marcus is fine with your choice, but something is telling you that it bugs him deep inside. 

Leaning down he kisses you softly, a hand sliding to your waist and pulling you closer before you part your ways. Standing on the side you wave at him as he backs out of the driveway and disappears in the darkness of the woods. 

You stay out there for a little longer, the spicy coldness of the night feels numbing in a soothing way. Chewing on your bottom lip you contemplate if you’ve made the right choice by not inviting him to stay. You don’t find an answer for that before you head back inside.

Not much has changed since you left, but you notice that Valerie is back in Rosa’s hands and Harry is nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Harry?” you ask sitting on the ground next to your sister, eyes on Valerie as she is adorably babbling at you.

“He said he’s tired, went to bed.”

You look in his room’s way. That sounded like absolute bullshit, but you don’t have a right to question it. Maybe he truly was tired, he probably had to wake up quite early to pick you up and be here in time.

Nodding you reach for Valerie and take the little girl into your arms, making yourself busy with her.

***

Tossing once again in the bed you growl in annoyance. You haven’t gotten an ounce of sleep since you’ve come to bed hours ago. Turning to your side you tap on the screen of your phone and it shows you that it’s already past two in the morning. No position feels comfortable anymore and you’ve flipped your pillow way too many times, there are no cold side anymore. 

On cue, your stomach growls and you let out a sigh staring up at the ceiling. Maybe if you had a late night snack your body would finally relax and let you rest. Kicking the covers off you put on a pair of fuzzy socks and throw a hoodie on before heading out to the kitchen to find something you could feast on. 

You stop in your way surprised when you see that the lights are on in the kitchen and someone is clearly out there, probably with the same intention as you. Walking down the hallway you hear a plate getting placed on the kitchen island and soon enough the person starts eating, the fork meeting the plate.

Harry is sitting at the kitchen island in a plain white t-shirt and checkered pajama pants, a plate of mashed potatoes and meatloaf sitting in front of him. His head snaps up immediately when he hears that someone has joined him and you stop at the door.

“Hey,” you smile softly. “I see I’m not the only one having trouble with sleeping,” you chuckle shuffling your way to the fridge. 

“I don’t sleep too well at new places,” he admits, eyes following your frame as you pass by him before he turns his attention back to his plate. 

Grabbing the milk you are about to close the fridge when your eyes lay on the absurd amount of eggnog. Hesitantly you grab a bottle and take it out as well, thinking that a few sips might help you fall asleep easier. Then you grab the cookies the kids decorated this afternoon and sit on a stool next to Harry.

“Woah, in need of having some fun?” he chuckles seeing the eggnog and you just shrug your shoulders, pouring milk into a regular glass, then some eggnog into a smaller one in hopes you won’t go overboard with it. 

“I’m just… having a hard time falling asleep.”

“Empty bed?”

“What?” you ask taking a bite from a cookie.

“I mean, Marcus left. You must be used to sleeping next to him,” Harry explains and you look back at him with furrowed eyebrows. 

“Well, I do sleep better with someone next to me, but it’s not like I’ve done that a lot with Marcus,” you admit, turning your attention back to the cookies.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” you shrug, not really in the mood to get into it, because it’s a whole spiral that would bring you down into depths you definitely don’t want to talk about right now. 

“You haven’t slept with Marcus?” he asks, and you notice how it could mean two versions. Either he is only talking about just sleeping or he is nosily trying to find out if you’ve had sex with him.

“That is… none of your business,” you tell him with a soft chuckle. Harry holds his hands up innocently before returning to his plate. 

A few minutes pass by in silence, just your munching and Harry’s chewing breaking it. As you pour a little more eggnog to yourself Harry stands up from the stool upon finishing his food, and after putting his plate to the sink he gets a glass for himself and sits back, holding the glass in your way.

“Want to have some fun too?” you ask, but pour him some eggnog anyway.

“Might help me fall asleep too.”

“Sometimes I feel like mom is right saying that I have a drinking problem,” you snort finishing up your cookie.

“Don’t think that’s true,” Harry tells you with furrowed eyebrows. 

“Well, you have seen me drunk quite a few times, but it’s nice that you think it’s alright.”

“What’s wrong with having a few drinks occasionally? It’s not like you blackout every other day.”

“My mom would want me to never blackout in general, but I don’t seem to know my boundaries with alcohol,” you tell him with a sigh.

“Happens to everyone, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Thanks, but I’m sitting here at two in the morning, drinking eggnog for no specific reason, because it surely won’t help me sleep, so... Maybe there is some truth to it.”

Harry thinks to himself a little before pouring some more to himself and some into your glass as well.

“I literally just said that I should stop,” you say, giving him a puzzled look.

“It’s fine if you have a reason,” he answers with a cheeky smile. “We’re gonna play never have I ever.”

“Oh hell no!” you chuckle looking at him with wide eyes.

“What? Are you afraid I might find out something nasty about you?” he challenges you, clearly trying to push you to play. “I don’t think you can surprise me with anything.”

“Excuse me? That’s pretty hurtful you think I don’t have surprising secrets,” you say putting a hand to your chest. “I think I’m the one who can’t find out anything surprising about you.”

“Hah, we’ll see, Y/N. All you gotta do is play,” he smirks and you already know you’re fucked. Sighing you take your glass and look at him with a murderous look, but the corners of your mouth are curling up. “You can start, just so you see how generous I am.”

“Oh, what a gentleman,” you mock him. “Okay. Never have I ever… gotten into a physical fight,” you say and watch Harry raise his glass to his mouth, but at the same time you do the same, already sure he is gonna be shocked.

Just as you expected, he freezes seeing you take a sip from your eggnog.

“Alright, rule is that we gotta explain them, because there’s no way you’re leaving without telling me about who you got into a fight with,” he tells you pointing a finger at you, but then adds: “Fighting with your sister does not count, Y/N.”

“It wasn’t Rosa,” you chuckle. “I had a huge fight with my best friend in third grade and we somehow ended up kicking and punching each other in the middle of the gym in class. We were both sent to the principal’s office.”

“Who would have thought you were a feisty little kid!” Harry chuckles and you just shrug with a proud smile.

“See? I told you I can surprise you. Your turn.”

“Okay. Never have I ever had a threesome,” he easily says and brings his glass up to his mouth as you stay put this time.

“If you think I’m surprised, I’m not. It’s literally written on your forehead that you’re the kind who enjoys that kind of stuff,” you scoff.

“Oh, please. Don’t pretend like you haven’t even thought about having one.”

“I’m not admitting anything outside the game. You have to ask that next if you are that interested,” you smirk, but you’re certain your eyes give you away, because Harry is chuckling and shaking his head. “Never have I ever cheated on someone,” you say and watch Harry’s glass stay on the counter.

“I’m not that bad of a person.”

“Never said you are, I was just curious,” you shrug and nod at him letting him know it’s his turn again.

“Never have I ever had a crush on a teacher of mine.”

You both drink.

“My finance professor, junior year in college,” you inform him.

“English teacher, senior year in high school,” Harry replies and you are already picturing him sitting in the first row just to be close to her during class.

“Did you write poems to her too?”

“You said no questions outside the game!” he retorts laughing and you roll your eyes at him.

“Alright, I have thought about having a threesome before, now your turn, spill the tea!”

“I wrote a song about her,” he admits and you raise your eyebrows at him. “Even planned on showing it to her, but my friends talked me down, luckily.”

“It’s kinda sweet and romantic.”

“Yeah, and very inappropriate,” he adds chuckling. “Alright, enough of Miss Hastings, your turn.”

“Never have I ever stolen something.” You both raise your glass and you smile at him swallowing the alcohol. “Virginities do not count,” you tease him, earning a laugh.

“Still would have drank. I was a little kleptomaniac when I was a kid. Liked to steal small things in the store just to see if I would get caught.”

“And were you ever?”

“One time, yeah. My mom was so mad at me, I got grounded for a week, never stole anything again,” he admits chuckling. “What about you?”

“It wasn’t regular, but I definitely have stolen candies when I didn’t have enough money to pay.”

“What a rebel,” he teases you and you just smack his upper arm jokingly. “Never have I ever snuck out.” Only Harry drinks and you roll your eyes at him.

“Again, not surprising.”

“I just wanted to know if you have ever snuck out, chill,” he smirks. “Guess you were a saint.”

“Never have I ever said the wrong person’s name while having sex.” A devilish smile sits on your lips as you watch him drink while you do the same. You see his eyebrows rise over the glass.

“Nasty,” he huffs. “When did that happen?”

“First year of college. I was casually seeing a guy, but I wasn’t really over my last ex from high school and accidentally called him Ethan.”

“And what was his real name?”

“I don’t even remember,” you admit with a laugh, clearly feeling the alcohol slowly kicking in. Harry’s mouth hangs open before his expressions turn into that iconic ‘not bad’ face.

“Never have I ever had a wet dream about a friend of mine,” Harry asks and you feel your cheeks heating up right away, eyes snapping down at your glass. Unwillingly, but you drink as Harry does the same. “Who was it?”

“I’m not answering this one,” you shake your head. 

“Come on! I promise it’ll stay between us. Was it Steven?” he grins at you, clearly enjoying your embarrassment. “I bet it was Steven.”

“Shut up, it wasn’t!” you snap at him rolling your eyes.

“Okay, then who? I won’t sleep tonight if you don’t tell me!” he begs, but you shake your head stubbornly. “Do I know him?” Oh, all too well, you think to yourself. “Is it someone who was there at the bar last time?”

“Can we move past it?” you sigh painfully.

“No, no way. I’m not leaving you alone until you tell me!”

“It was you.”

The words slip out fast and a little quiet, but he hears them clear. His lips part, a truly stunned look pulls on his face and you just wish you didn’t say a word.

“Happy? Now you know,” you snap running a hand through your hair.

“Was I any good in your dream?” he then cheekily asks and you gasp at the nosy, nasty question.

“Now that I won’t answer.”

“I have to know if I did good!” he protests and you laugh.

“It wasn’t even you, well, not your real version, why does it matter?”

“I’m a maximalist, I have to know if my dream self did good,” he pushes further and you can’t believe this is really what you’re talking about.

“Jesus fucking Christ, it was good!” you admit throwing your hands into the air, giving up to keep anything to yourself. He is just too damn annoying and stubborn to ever have anything other than his way.

“If that makes you feel better, I’ve had a few about you as well,” he admits with a straight face and the heat is back in your cheeks immediately.

“A few?”

“I didn’t count, but yeah. And you were awesome, if you’re interested.”

“Thanks, but I was not,” you say with a meaningful look, but he just smirks at you. “You’re such a pig, Styles.”

“Says the girl who was probably moaning my name in her dreams.”

“If you keep talking about this, you’ll be the second person I get into a physical fight with,” you warn him and he chuckles, but takes the hint and finally moves on. 

You easily forget about time as you keep playing for quite long. Question after question, some shocking and surprising things come up, but there are some absolutely ridiculous facts too. You’re definitely over the line of being tipsy, but you’re not at the drunk state yet. 

Harry clearly enjoys asking questions that make you nervous, but you don’t shy away from risky questions either. By the time the bottle empties out you are both laughing on something he said, your eyes are teary and you gasp for air, holding onto the edge of the kitchen island.

“Oh fuck!” you breathe out when your gaze wanders over to the windows and you see that it’s starting to brighten out there. “The Sun is coming up, what time is it?” you slur, having a hard time to get off the stool and keep your balance at the same time. Harry fishes his phone out of his pocket and his eyes widen.

“It’s six in the morning!” he whisper-yells and you almost faint.

“Shit, mom is usually up around six thirty, she can’t find us here like this! Quickly, we have to clean up!”

Harry takes care of the empty eggnog bottle while you wash the dishes and then the two of you head back to your rooms, but you just really don’t want to go to bed alone. Alcohol tends to make you clingy and you need the presence of someone next to you.

“Harry,” you whisper as the two of you stop in the hallway.

“Hm?” he hums, looking back at you with glassy eyes.

“Can I… sleep at yours?” you shyly ask.

Part of you expects a smart comeback, something dirty, but he looks down at you for a long moment as if he is debating what he should say and you start to think he is about to reject you, but then he takes your hand and pulls you in the direction of his room.

“It’s strictly friendly, okay?” you tell him once the two of you are in his room and the door is closed behind you.

“Like the dream you had about me?” he cockily asks grinning at you and you’re quick to smack his hard chest, making him chuckle.

“Shut up! I just really don’t want to sleep alone.”

“Chill, it’s all good,” he chuckles and stepping to the nightstand he plugs his phone in to charge as you crawl up to the huge, comfortable bed.

Tugging a pillow under your head you turn your back against him, only hearing as he lies down next to you, tugging some of the cover off you since there’s only a big one. He shuffles a bit more until you both stop moving, but you still have your eyes open. 

Knowing that he is right there behind you irks your mind and the urge to cuddle to his side is stronger than you will to stay still. You want to feel his body heat, his touch, hear his heartbeat under your face as you curl up to his side. You are dying to listen to his steady breathing from up close and your self-control is slowly but surely dissolves. 

Before your rational side could talk you down, you find yourself turning around and snuggling to his side, a soft chuckle emitting from his lips.

“It’s totally friendly, wipe the satisfied grin off your stupid face,” you mumble as you lay your head to his shoulder, bringing a hand up to his chest. One of his arms curl around your shoulders as he stays silent, letting you snuggle up to him all you want. 

It’s even better than you remembered. Last time the two of you were like this, the morning ruined everything and it had a whole different antecedent than now. You can only hope history doesn’t repeat itself and you don’t have to go through the same embarrassment like last time.

“Y/N?” he whispers and your eyes open at his voice.

“Yeah?” There’s a short pause before he speaks up again.

“Do you really… think that… there was not much Etta was missing?”

You can’t stop yourself from smiling at how self-conscious he just sounded, still thinking about the joke you made in the car on your way here. For a split second you think about lying again, but it’s clearly been bothering him, so much he felt the need to ask after several rounds of eggnog.

“No. I was just joking,” you admit and he lets out a relieved sigh. “Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really think I have a fat ass?” you ask referring back to the time the two of you encountered at the hospital when Valerie was born. You feel him huff as his hand on your shoulder squeezes you gently.

“You have a great ass, Y/N. The best I’ve ever seen.”

“Are you just exaggerating?” you ask, lifting your head up and narrowing your eyes at him in the dark.

“No,” he smiles. “Swear to my sister’s life it’s the truth.”

Knowing well he wouldn’t bring his sister into it if he wasn’t telling the truth, you put back down your head, finally closing your eyes.

“Good night, Harry,” you mumble, feeling yourself drifting to sleep.

“Good night, Pretty Eyes.”

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[futurewriter2000]

Heartless - pt. 5

XX

For some odd reason, Sirius hasn’t slept well that night. He kept twisting and turning on his bed, not being able to pin down what made him so uncomfortable and awake the whole night. He kept dozing off for a few hours before waking up again, weird dreams twirling in his head before he woke up with a jolt, sitting up and breathing hard. 

When the sunlight shone through the curtains, he laid back on the bed and just laid there for a while. He didn’t want to fall back asleep. To experience even worse dreams that he has in this night- no, thank you. 

So, instead he shuffled on his feet, ready to wake up James but when he did, he found you sleeping next to him. 

James was laying on his stomach with both of his hands under the pillow, meanwhile you were laying half  on James’ back, diagonally with your feet off the bed. Both you and James had your cheeks puffed up and your mouth slightly opened, breathing in the exact sequence and drooling just a little bit. 

“You two are twins alright.” Sirius bent down and snorted.

And despite the fact the two of you didn’t look much alike or act alike, there were definitely some tendencies, some gestures and the way the two of you spoke that made the resemblance known. 

The light shone right on your face, making you squint a bit and grunt before turning on the other side of the bed, curling up and grabbing the blanket tightly to yourself and uncovering James. 

James squinted and grunted just as you did before and grabbed the blanket from you, pulling it back to himself, uncovering you. 

Sirius couldn’t help himself but chuckle and when he saw your hands fumbling with the edge of the blanket and pulling it, James not letting it go- you finally gave up and pressed yourself close to James so the two of you were both covered. 

He saw James smile triumphantly in his sleep. 

The two of you even fought when sleeping together. It was hilarious. 

---

When you woke up, wrapped in all the blanket, you snuggled in and smiled. It was warm and cozy, the sun was giving the room a natural light and there were birds outside chirping. 

You knew it was late- around eleven am but you hadn’t slept this well in a long time. So when you finally felt yourself get the energy to get up, you put on your slippers and made your way downstairs. 

There, in the living room, your dad was drinking his tea and reading the newspaper, meanwhile your mum was outside hanging laundry and the boys were sitting behind the kitchen table, eating breakfast. 

“Morning!” James beamed at you as he just placed his tea down, Sirius grinning at you. 

“Oh, please James. Too early, too loud.” you brushed your hand and went straight to make yourself a morning coffee.

“How’s your back?” 

“Oh, so much better. Your mattress is bloody fantastic.” you stretched your arms above your body. 

“So that’s why you were sleeping in our room.” Sirius smiled at the realisation. “I didn’t even know until this morning.” 

“You didn’t?” you turned around, leaning on the counter and crossing your arms over your chest. “Even when James kept farting in my goddamn face?” you narrowed your eyes at James, who let out a laugh. 

“You kept climbing on my back! Like a bloody leech.”

“You’re the leech! Every time I turned on the other side, your face was on top of mine, drooling-”

“I don’t drool!”

“Yeah you do.” Sirius stood up, taking his cup to the kitchen to pour himself some more too. “You too.” he winked and walked back to the table.

“I do not!” you gasped from surprise and took your coffee to the table. “And even if I do- I totally do not care. My back hasn’t felt this good for what feels like ages.” you smiled but saw Sirius’ smile fade. It made you wonder why he would always stop smiling whenever you mentioned your back. It was his fault, no doubt about that but it happened and none of you can do anything about it anymore. It happened, move on, right?

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” your mother walked in a room, sending you a bit scolding gaze. “At 11am.”

“That’s for buying James a better mattress than me.” you pointed to her, smiling as she rolled her eyes. “Always the favorite.”

“Oh, hush, you.” your mother smiled, slapping away your finger. “I love you both equally.”

“That’s only to make you feel better.” James teased but got a gentle slap on his shoulder by your mum. 

“Stop it, James. It’s not true.” she said as she sat behind the table and took the newspaper as well. “You should be getting a call by now, (y/n).” she said with a twist in her smile, flipping the pages. 

All three of you glanced at each other and quirked an eyebrow. Your father on the sofa, glanced up as well.

“A call?” both you and James said in unison. 

“Remember that dear old boy from the market?” she looked at you, smiling.

“What boy?” James looked at you sharply and Sirius on the other side did as well.

“Oh, my- Markisha?” you let out a laugh as your mother put the paper down and gave you a scolding look again. 

“Marcus?” James beamed as well.

“Stop calling him that, (y/n).” your mother said as she caught Sirius’ confused look. “Marcus was James’ and (y/n)’s best friend when they were children. All up until Hogwarts when his parents applied him to Beuxbetons. His father moved to France for work and Marcus stays with him most of the time.” she explained meanwhile James snickered.

“Yeah, and he wasn’t just a friend, was he (y/n)?” James wiggled his eyebrows as you blushed hard. 

“Shut it, James.” you shoved him and he laughed, as well as your mother. 

“He was her first boyfriend.” James looked at Sirius but Sirius didn’t find that funny at all. For some reason, looking at you blushing to the thought of another man made him... well... jealous if not. 

But he plastered a smile on his face that didn’t really match his eyes and leaned back. “Oh, little (y/n)? Already a boyfriend at a young age. Mr. Potter, do you hear that?” he shouted back to Fleamont as the man only chuckled. 

“I do and I never approved.” he grunted, coming to the kitchen table so all five of you were there.

“Oh, come off it dad. We only held hands wherever we went and that was all.” you let out a laugh. “I think we were “together”- “ you air-quoted. “For about 2 weeks?-” you looked at James as he nodded.

“Yeah, somewhere around there.” 

“- before he went to France to his dad and we only see each other during the holidays and summer-”

The phone rang in the room and before you could get to it, James ran to it first. 

“James!” you shouted, trying to get the phone away from him.

“Potter residency. How may I help you?” he twisted out of your reach as your family laughed, including you. “Oh, hello mate. How have you been?” he continued, pausing for a bit as the murmur on the phone answered. “Oh- all good here. Just talking about you, making my sister blush a bit by reminiscing on your little fling years ago-”

“Alright- that’s enough.” you shoved James away from the phone as he fell over, catching himself on the counter and glaring at you. “Hey, Marcus.” you said gently, changing your tone and attitude completely. 

The whole family was watching you twist the phone cord as you giggled and flirted through the phone. James, Sirius and your father were all staring at you intensly, meanwhile your mother was smiling at you talking to the boy.

Sirius couldn’t help himself but be jealous from the inside out. You were so relaxed, your shoulders dropped, your fingers twisting around the cord playfully, your smile always present as you talked in a gentle, soft voice as you did a few nights before to him. This time his soul didn’t dance to it- mostly because it was too busy trying to throw that phone through the window. He felt his fingers cramp under the table, his leg jump as he heard you flirt and giggle to the phone. Your eyes met glanced at him but he didn’t let you show that it affected him. You smiled more brightly at Sirius then you did back at the phone- making Sirius more complex of what he was feeling. 

What was that? - was all he kept asking himself. His jealousy was gone, his soul calming down as his heart had no idea which way to go. 

“A date you say?” you dragged the word out. “Tonight- oh, I can’t tonight but how about Friday?” you asked and Marcus on the other side agreed immediately. “Then it’s a date. See you on Friday.” you said, putting the phone back down and stretching your arms again. 

You weren’t phased by anything. No giddy smile, no nothing- you just walked back to the table and sat down. 

“Why Friday?” James asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “You’re free every night?”

“He doesn’t know that.” you smiled, pulling your coffee mug to yourself. “I have to make myself a bit unavailable.” you laughed and James smiled as well.

“I thought you would be looking forward to it?”

“I am- I just... I dunno.” you shrugged, catching Sirius’ eyes for a moment before taking a sip of your coffee and clearing your throat. “Three day rule-”

“Three day rule?” James and Sirius both said one after the other, as well as your father who was shaking his head.

“Yes. Every time a guy asks you on a date, you don’t really agree to it the first day he offers. Can’t let a guy think he’s got all the upper hand, right mum? Have to make them sweat a bit for us.” you looked at your mother, who was blushing a bit.

“Wait a minute-” your father felt a few memories fall down his face. “Euphemia- is that what you did with me?” 

“Whoops.” you stood up and took your cup to the sink. “My cue to leave.” 

“That’s outrageous!” James shouted, following you. “How many girls do this?!”

“Yeah!” Sirius followed both of you up stairs. 

“Oh, please. Like guys don’t have rules.”

“No! We like a girl, we ask her out.” Sirius explained, James agreeing.

“Well, girls are more complicated anyway- now excuse me as I wash myself.” and you slammed the door into their faces. 

James knocked on your door. “Don’t think you can stay in there forever. We’re having a serious talk about this!”

[moony-meadow]

Going for Goldie (6)

Pt. 1 / Pt. 2 / Pt. 3 / Pt. 4 / Pt. 5

After Beelzebub departed, Mammon and I were once again alone together. The white-haired demon had resumed his place on the sofa, only now he was laid out on it with his back propped up against the armrest. This left me inside his stomach at a kind of incline. I’d taken to leaning against the back wall and was taking advantage of the surprisingly relaxing warmth the fleshy surface provided.

“I can’t believe I’m going to be stuck in here for hours,” I moaned, flopping my arm over my face dramatically. “So much for having a midnight snack.” It wasn’t uncommon for Beel and I to run into each other at the kitchen in the middle of the night. We both seemed to have a habit of craving late night treats.

“Well,” I felt Mammon’s hand plop down onto his stomach, causing a small tremor around me, “I could always swallow somethin’ for ya to eat.”

My face instantly formed into a grimace. “Don’t be disgusting, Mammon,” I chided. The idea of eating someone’s second hand food was positively repulsive. Though I knew the demon was joking, I still didn’t appreciate the crude commentary. A chuckle rumbled around me, but otherwise Mammon said nothing more.

“You know, I think since this turned out to be a lot more than a quick trip into your stomach, that you owe me Goldie privileges for at least three days,” I stated. Had I not already committed myself to helping Mammon keep his credit card from Lucifer, I might have abandoned the whole thing as soon as things got complicated. But, if I gave up now and made Mammon cough me up, then the whole thing might end up being for nothing.

A strangled noise of outrage came from Mammon. “Three days?! Ya gotta be kiddin’ me!” The stomach walls all pressed in around me slightly, I could only assume as a result of Mammon clenching his hand around his middle. “I--I’ll give ya two days, but that’s it!” he exclaimed after my lack of response displayed how serious I was about the matter.

“Fine, but you also have to take me out to dinner some night,” I declared.

Mammon unclenched his hand from around his stomach, but I could tell that he’d now tensed up all over. “Wha? You can’t be--pfft, like the Great Mammon would ever be caught goin’ out to dinner with a--with a human,'' he stammered. I had to stifle a giggle, I could just tell his face had become all blushy.

It was a pretty common occurrence that whenever I took part in some playful flirting with the Avatar of Greed, his face would heat up while he stuttered out insistences that he had no interest in humans. I knew it was just one of his defense mechanisms, so I had stopped taking offense to it a long time ago.

“It can be lunch if you prefer,” I replied, feigning ignorance.

“Huh? No--I’m only havin’ a meal with you if you’re the main course,'' Mammon finished the sentence proudly.

I rolled my eyes. “This is the last time I’m ever going to be in your stomach.” While I felt pretty sure of my own statement, there was a part of me that wondered if I really would be able to avoid being eaten again. Yesterday I would have said I would never let a demon eat me under any circumstances, and yet here I was sitting in the belly of the beast.

The pressure at the front of the stomach returned as Mammon rested both his hands on top of it. “Well ya better not end up in any other demon’s stomach,” he warned, a hint of possessiveness in his voice. “You are my human, after all.”

Being the Avatar of Greed, it wasn’t surprising to me that Mammon tended to be overprotective of his belongings. However, I never would have guessed I would be considered among those belongings. His possessiveness over me wasn’t only in regards to me being eaten, he had also expressed jealousy when his brothers tried to get a little too close to me. In a way, it was kind of endearing. Although, I always made a point to make it clear that I was not an object to be owned.

“I’m your friend,” I corrected smoothly, “and you don’t have to worry about anyone else eating me, at least not with my permission anyway.”

Mammon was silent, and for a moment I wondered if I’d made him upset in some way. But then his hand began to slowly and gently rub his stomach. I smiled softly and leaned forward to pat the outermost wall in response. The guy wasn’t the best at accepting compliments or genuine displays of affection, but he had his own little ways of showing his appreciation.

“Hey, Y/N?” Mammon spoke up, now idly trailing a finger over his stomach. “You’re not...I dunno, scared of me or nothin’, are ya?”

My eyebrows lifted in surprise. The genuine concern in the demon’s voice threw me off guard. He usually made an effort to try to convince people that he was an incredibly powerful demon that ought to be feared. And while his brothers often treated him as though he were weak, I knew better. Mammon was the second eldest of the seven Avatars, and therefore the second most powerful. However, the thing with Mammon was that the guy pretty much never flexed that power. For whatever reason, even when his little brothers smacked him around or called him names, Mammon never lashed out.

As a result of all that, it was easy for me to sometimes forget that I hung out with a potentially deadly demon on the daily. Of course, when Mammon had shrunk me I’d been reminded of that latent fear. However, I wasn’t about to tell him that. I didn’t know how he’d react to the knowledge that my natural instincts insisted I be wary of demons like him (especially when they were giant sized), but I certainly didn’t want him getting the impression that I was some scared little thing. Besides, logically I knew Mammon could (mostly) be trusted. Plus, having a pact with him meant I could stop him if he ever were to do something that really freaked me out.

“Oh please,” I dismissed. “It would take a lot more than an overgrown demon to scare me.”

“Hmmm,” Mammon hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe next time I should eat ya in my demon form, that might really give ya a fright.”

The joking tone of his voice was obvious, but I still sent a kick into the nearest wall in retaliation for the comment. “How many times do I have to tell you there won’t be a next time?” I huffed.

“Is it really so bad in there?” the demon inquired, once again prodding at the outside of his stomach.

I took a moment to assess my surroundings. It was just as pitch black as ever so I could only imagine what everything actually looked like. Surprisingly there was no foul odor, the stomach acid that was pooled at the bottom didn’t seem to have a scent to it. The temperature was a bit warmer than I’d prefer, but it was thankfully tolerable. And while the squishy stomach walls still kind of grossed me out, I had gotten pretty used to them already.

Being in the stomach itself wasn’t terrible, really it was the mere fact that I was in someone else’s stomach that I disliked so much. It was a matter of pride. Being in the Devildom, it was very important that I keep my head held high. Showing weakness would just encourage potential enemies to target me.

“It’s...well it’s not exactly the Ritz,” I responded, unsure of how exactly to explain it to Mammon. “I have no idea how I’m supposed to sleep in here either.” I couldn’t deny that it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, but I wasn’t really sure if I’d be able to fall asleep with the knowledge that I was literally inside someone’s stomach.

As if on cue, Mammon gave a yawn that caused everything around me to tighten for a moment before loosening once again as he exhaled. “Well, let’s test it out,” he announced. That was the only warning I got before Mammon sat up and got to his feet.

With Goldie safely tucked away in a pocket, I was able to easily brace myself against the walls with both hands. I felt quite secure--that is until the floor suddenly became a wall and one of the walls I’d been holding onto suddenly became the floor. “I suppose I should have seen that coming,” I thought to myself.

After a few moments of shifting as Mammon got situated, everything around me finally settled and I was able to get myself comfortable. It wasn’t like there was a ton of room to spread out, but it was plenty of space for me to lay flat. The stomach acid had seemed to dissipate shortly after Mammon had laid down, as if his body had finally caught on that I wasn’t going to be digested so it had no business sticking around.

“Comfy?” the demon asked as he went back to gently rubbing his stomach in a circular motion.

I snorted. “About as comfortable as someone can get in a stomach.”

“Good,” Mammon replied cheerfully, unphased by my grumpy tone.

“You better not roll onto your stomach,” I warned. While I figured the action wouldn’t necessarily hurt me, I doubted it would be comfortable being squished by the entirety of the giant demon’s bodyweight.

A chuckle echoed around me. “Don’t worry, I’m not much of a stomach sleeper,” Mammon promised.

With nothing else much to say, and exhaustion beginning to heavily set in, I said, “Okay...then goodnight, I guess.”

“G’night, Y/N.”

In a matter of minutes I could tell Mammon had already fallen asleep. His breathing was slow and even and his heartrate had dropped to a resting level. Honestly, the natural ambience of his body was kind of relaxing. The up and down motion his breaths caused almost made me feel like I was on a gently floating boat. It didn’t take much longer for me to drift effortlessly into a deep sleep.

The next morning, as soon as Mammon and I woke up, I demanded he quickly get me out and unshrink me. My urgency was in large part spurred by the fact that my bladder was absolutely screaming at me after having not been emptied in so long. I didn’t even get the chance to relish my return to normal size before I darted out to the bathroom, but not before ordering Mammon never to tell another soul about the previous night’s events.

After dumping everything I’d been wearing into the wash, taking an hour and a half long shower, and then absolutely stuffing myself during breakfast, I actually felt back to normal. Of course, I wasn’t about to forget the experience of being eaten anytime soon. And something told me Mammon wouldn’t either.

[marvelousstevetony]

Hello! Could you do something with Steve just being really cuddly when he’s sick?🥰 Thank you!

Hi, anon! I love sick, cuddly Steve so much, so of course! I was going to keep this short and sweet, but apparently I’m incapable of keeping things short, so... Anyways, I hope you enjoy this fic of Steve getting sick right after Christmas and Tony being super soft with his sick bf <3 

(3.8k words, stevetony, established relationship)

It starts the night of the 25th. The team had been gathered in the Tower’s penthouse, the floor where Tony and Steve reside, for all of Christmas Day. It had been fun. A lot of fun, actually.

They started off by eating breakfast together, an objectively over-the-top brunch buffet with everything one could desire during the holidays.

Then they moved on to exchanging and opening presents, which unsurprisingly took a very long time, seeing as there were an abundance of presents to get through and everyone likes to take the time to see the others open their presents one by one.

When every present had been opened, the games begun. They started with the board games, and, as usual, it got… competitive. Tony won at Scrabble, much to the annoyance of Bruce, who has been in a deeply committed relationship the the crossword section of the newspaper ever since he moved into the Tower.

Clint and Natasha destroyed everyone at charades, which wasn’t a surprise. The two of them have an uncanny spiritual connection that probably should be a bit worrying, but no one ever dares questioning.

Monopoly ended by the board being thrown and fake bank notes drizzling down over them like the snowflakes coloring New York white outside the windows. Steve almost looked apologetic when Clint had landed on his property with a hotel for the second time in a row and sent the board flying.

Steve won Cards Against Humanity because, contrary to popular belief, Steve Rogers had a very dirty mind. He always blushes, though, when he has to admit which answer he submitted, and Tony’s a weak man who, with one hundred percent’s certainty, has to call him out on his filthy thoughts and make his cheeks go an even deeper shade of scarlet.

They teamed up to play Trivial Pursuit, which Tony and Bruce won by a long shot. It had been unfair, really. Steve and Nat did pretty good, but they were no way near the the level of two literal geniuses with several Ph.D.s. Thor and Clint were shit, to be frank. Clint knew the answer to some of the questions, mostly in the Entertainment category, but Thor, god bless him, was a complete goner for the entire game.

Thor excelled, however, when they moved from board games to drinking games. Even as everyone else, except Steve, got progressively more intoxicated, Thor could just keep going like a bottomless pit. Perk of being a Norse God. The only game Thor didn’t win was beer pong, which did not please him very well. He tried to excuse his loss by saying that Clint had an unfair advantage, to which the rest of the Avengers nodded in agreement. Clint, the ever so smug asshole, just smirked.

As Christmas dinner was served, they started sobering up. It was a feast like never before and it left every Avenger with a full stomach and undoubtedly a heart bursting with sheer joy and happiness.

The day ended with them watching some Christmas movie on the couch, and when all eyelids slowly began slipping shut, they agreed it was time to call it a day. Wishing each other a merry Christmas, everyone took off to their respective floor, leaving Steve and Tony to themselves.

Steve feels the overwhelmed exhaustion wash over him as he steps out of the steaming shower. He didn’t notice it earlier, but now that he finally lets himself relax fully, he has to sigh at how his body aches slightly and how tired his eyes are.

Tony’s already in bed when Steve emerges from the ensuite wearing nothing but a towel around his hips, abs and chest fully on display. He’s about to make some salacious comment that’ll unquestionably make Steve go all shy, and then he’ll call him out for being a prude even though Tony knows for a fact (thank you, Cards Against Humanity) that Steve’s mind is just as dirty as his own. But when Tony looks at Steve’s face, he detects something fatigued about Steve’s expression as he’s putting on his pajama pants and a white t-shirt.

“Hey,” Tony calls out, but his voice is soft. “You’re looking a little peaky there. You alright?”

“What? Oh. Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Steve assures with a small smile. “Just tired,” he adds as he settles onto the bed next to Tony.

Tony hums in reply and pulls Steve closer until Steve’s head is positioned on Tony’s chest, and Tony’s face is nuzzling into the freshly washed, golden hair. Steve snakes his arms around Tony’s waist and cuddles him in close. When Tony’s fingers start trailing up and down Steve’s back, the soldier closes his eyes and lets out a deep sigh into the fabric of Tony’s t-shirt.

“You’re really cuddly today, aren’t you, sleepyhead?” Tony chuckles as Steve buries himself deeper under the comforter and rubs his face into Tony’s bosom.

Steve mumbles something unintelligible but it sounds like a confirmation to Tony’s question.

“Did you have a nice Christmas Day?” Tony tries, hoping for an actual answer this time.

“Mhmm,” Steve murmurs. “The best. Thank you, Tony… love you.”

Tony can’t help but smile at how low and affectionate Steve’s voice is, or at how peaceful and young he looks when he’s tugged up next to Tony like this. “I love you, too, sweetheart.” Tony kisses the top of Steve’s head and turns off the bedside lamp. “Merry Christmas.”

***

They wake up the same way they fell asleep, with Steve wrapped around Tony’s body like a koala bear and Tony’s face mushed into Steve’s hair. They let themselves sleep in for once, praying that the call to assemble would wait at least a few more days, and it felt so good to actually wake up together. Normally, Steve would go out for a run or hit the gym, or Tony would have an early meeting, so it’s always a treat when both of them are still in bed when they wake.

“G’mornin’,” Steve croaks, his voice husky from sleeping.

“Morning, babe,” Tony replies. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, good, thanks. You?” Tony nods. “Good.”

They’re quiet for a bit, taking time to fully wake up from what had been a pretty sweet slumber. Steve’s the first to move, pulling himself out of Tony’s embrace to sit up against the headboard, and almost on cue, his nose twitches and he yanks the collar of his t-shirt over the nose and mouth.

“h’tschoo!”

“Bless you,” Tony says without even thinking about it. Steve always sneezes first thing in the morning, so Tony learned when they started sleeping together. It’s become so routinely it would be more unusual if he didn’t sneeze once after shifting himself into a sitting position.

No, the thing that surprises Tony is that Steve keeps his face covered after he’s sneezed.

“h’uhhh… UhhTsschoo! TChoo!”

Tony frowns. “Bless you?” It sounds more like a question, but Tony’s so confused because Steve never sneezes more than once in the morning.

Steve nods his thanks, but his eyes are still shut, and his facial expression is adorably and endearingly vulnerable when his brows are raised in an expectant frown like that.

“he’USHhh! Oh.”

Steve sighs breathlessly as he loosens his grip on the t-shirt.

“You’ve sneezed four times,” Tony states and glares concernedly at his boyfriend. “That’s not like you.”

Steve sniffles and shrugs. “It’s nothing, babe,” he says as he gets to his feet. “Probably just a tickle.” Steve leans down to press a kiss to Tony’s cheek.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Tony looks at Steve again, worry clear on his face.

Steve smiles reassuringly. “I’ll get breakfast started,” he says and leaves the bedroom with a soft glance over his shoulder.

***

Breakfast is nice, as expected. Steve could potentially make the best pancakes in all of New York according to Tony. They’re decadent and sweet, covered in various toppings from fruits and berries to chocolate chips. It doesn’t hurt that Steve looks sinfully good while flipping the pancakes in the air, or that the entire scene seems like it could be straight out of Tony’s imagination, of his dreams of living a domestic and normal life with Steve.

When Tony has eaten what’s definitely too many pancakes, he notices that Steve has barely touched his.

“Everything okay?” Tony asks, frowning at the stack of uneaten pancakes on Steve’s plate. “You’ve hardly eaten anything.”

Steve looks at the pancakes and smiles sheepishly, then looks up at Tony through his eyelashes. “Hmm… not very hungry, I guess,” he shrugs and begins picking at the food with his fork.

That’s not like Steve at all. It’s usually quite the task satisfying the super-soldier’s hunger. Tony doesn’t push it, though. Instead, he just observes the way Steve’s head is slightly ducked and how his cheeks are flushed a pale shade of pink.

***

They spend most of the day cuddling up on the sofa and watching whatever bad Christmas movie is on the tv.

“Why are we watching these?” Tony asks half way through the third movie about two strangers pretending to be lovers for Christmas so their family won’t taunt them for being single, only for them to actually fall in love and kiss in the snow and blah, blah, blah. “The acting is terrible,” Tony grumbles, “and they’re so cheesy!”

“It’s Christmas, Tony. We’re watching them because they’re cheesy,” Steve chuckles, but then it turns into coughing, and Steve leans away from Tony to cough into the crook of his elbow.

“Woah,” Tony says, gently rubbing Steve between his shoulder blades as he continues coughing, sounding rough and throaty. “That sounds awful, babe.”

When Steve is finally able to catch his breath he shakes his head and settles back into the cushions. “Sorry,” he croaks. “I think I swallowed the wrong way.”

Tony narrows his eyes warily and opens his mouth to comment on how his eyes look at little bleary and how his nose is the same color as his pinkish cheeks, but before he can speak, Steve has switched back to talking about the movie.

***

Steve starts sniffling around dinner time. Or, well, to be completely honest, Steve had been sniffling throughout most of the day, but as they sit down to eat some of the leftover turkey, stuffing and mash from the day before, they become more frequent and insistent. He even has to excuse himself from the table to go blow his nose in the bathroom, and when he comes back, Tony’s looking at him with concern sparkling in his eyes.

“Hey,” Tony says softly and takes Steve’s hand in his as Steve sits back down.

“Hey,” Steve echoes and return the squeeze Tony gives his hand. His voice is raspy, and he has to sniffle again before he brings his other hand to scrub at his nose.

“You look wiped. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I… yeah, I’m just— snff! oh, um, juuhhst… h-hold on. h’uhhH! USShhh’iiew! EIshh’ooh!”

“Bless you… Steve,” Tony adds with a pointed look when Steve looks away.

“Sorry,” Steve apologizes, bashfully. “snff! Might be catching a cold,” he admits and pushes his index finger under his septum.

“Hmm, I think so,” Tony says thoughtfully. “Though, I think you’re past catching it,” he amends when Steve has to turn away to sneeze into the sleeve of his jumper again. “Bless you,” Tony says and smiles sympathetically, getting to his feet to grab some tissues from the bathroom.

“Thank you,” Steve sighs when Tony returns with a box of Kleenex and gratefully accepts the handful of tissues Tony offers him. He blows his nose, attempting to be polite and quiet, but the nose blowing just makes him cough into the tissues instead. The choked sounds synchronize with the way Steve’s body rattles with each cough.

Tony fills Steve’s glass with water and hands it to him when the coughing dies down.

“Thanks,” Steve mumbles with a defeated look on his face, and Tony makes a concerned noise at how rough and exhausted his voice sounds.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling bad?” Tony asks. He brushes a few stray strands of golden hair away from Steve’s forehead and cups his cheek with his hand afterwards.

Steve can’t help but lean into the touch a little, to the warmth of Tony’s palm against his skin. “I swear, I’ve been okay until… until just now, I think. It’s come on pretty quickly.”

“Hmm… you were really tired last night, though,” Tony recalls. “Thought it might’ve been because it was a long day, but maybe not…”

Steve frowns a little. “I don’t even remember that…”

“You weren’t hungry at breakfast either,” Tony adds. He should’ve noticed the signs, really, Tony thinks to himself. The fatigue and exhaustion, the unusual number of morning sneezes, the missing appetite. It all seems pretty symptomatic. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner, I should’ve put two and two together—“

“Hey. If I can’t even tell when I’m getting sick, then there’s no way you’d able be to,” Steve says softly.  

“But still,” Tony argues weakly. He doesn’t push it further, though. “Anyways… I think we’re allowed an early night, then. It’s still Christmas and we have absolutely no work to do.” Steve smiles at that, Tony too, because that might just be the best Christmas present they could’ve hoped for.

They finish eating and start loading the dishwasher. As they make their way around the kitchen, wiping the counters with a tea towel and rinsing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, Tony notices how Steve moves slower, his posture more sluggish than usual. He’s rubbing at his eyes a lot, too, and pinches the bridge of his nose when the sharp kitchen lights hit his eyes several times. Tony doesn’t call attention to it, but he observes quietly, heart squeezing tightly.

Steve sighs deeply when he starts the dishwasher and leans over the kitchen counter, elbows resting on the surface. Tony comes up behind him, pressing his chest against Steve’s back and snakes his arms around Steve’s waist, resting his forehead against the muscles between Steve’s shoulder blades.

“Bed,” Tony murmurs and plants a kiss at the nape of the soldier’s neck, right where the soft, blonde hair starts.

“I think I need a shower first,” Steve says, unenthusiastically. He sounds like he’d rather let himself fall face-first into the mattress and not move for the next 36 hours.

Then he shivers violently, and Tony can see the goosebumps on his neck. “Mmm… A nice, warm shower. I can bring the heated blanket up if you’re cold?”

“That— okay, yeah, that might be… that’d be really nice,” Steve admits. “Thank you, Tony.”

Tony chuckles lightly. “You don’t have keep thanking for all these small things, Steve,” he tells him. “I like taking care of you.”

Tony knows Steve is blushing even though he can’t see his face. He can feel the way Steve shuffles uncomfortably, the way he bows his head slightly and bites his lip to stop the creeping smile.

“Yeah?” Steve prompts, a little hesitant. He usually doesn’t like asking for reassurance, but sometimes it’s nice being affirmed that yes, I actually care about you, Steve.

“Definitely,” Tony responds without a moment of uncertainty. “Now. Get going, Rogers. The sooner I get you into bed the more time we have without having to move.”

***

Steve emerges form the bathroom with a towel hanging low around his hips, his hair damp and face all flustered. He still looks tired, though, like standing under the hot spray drained him from what remaining energy he had left. Which has now reached zero percent.

Tony is already in bed, scrolling through his phone with a silly smile playing on his lips.

“Why’re you smiling like that?” Steve grins as he pulls his pajama pants on.

Tony turns the screen to Steve, who also starts smiling. Tony sighs and looks at his phone once more with loving eyes, almost as if he was looking at a puppy or a baby.

“I remember this like it was yesterday,” he said reminiscently.

“That’s because it was.”

“Oh, yeah… well, I love this picture. I think it might be my new favorite photo of us.”

“Says the man who refused to wear the ugly Christmas sweater,” Steve says and quirks an eyebrow.

“Oh, hush. I like it better when you wear one too,” says Tony truthfully and taps at his phone a few times to make the picture of him and Steve sitting in an armchair in front of the fireplace while wearing matching Christmas sweaters his background screen.

Steve had insisted that they’d wear one for Christmas Day. Tony had said no. He was not going to spend an entire day in a Captain America sweater with decorated with snowflakes all over it. However, when Steve had shown up with the Iron Man helmet with a Santa hat, Tony had drastically changed his mind.  

Obviously they had gotten teased for it. Clint made gagging noises for the majority of the day, pointing out how corny and cliché it was, and if all of Tony’s attention hadn’t been on how good Steve looked in red and gold, Tony might’ve ended up agreeing with Clint.

Natasha hadn’t said anything, not really, but the mischievous glint in her eyes was purposely obvious, and she too had spent a great amount of time snickering at them. Even Bruce couldn’t hide an eye roll every once in a while, but it was mostly followed by him shaking his head with a fond smile.

Thor seemed to have liked them though, and he insisted that next year they all should get matching Avengers sweaters. Sadly for Thor, no one but him seemed to be in favor of that idea.

“I’d wear that sweater every day if you wanted me to, but I think Clint might just kill me if I did,” Steve chuckles as he joins Tony on the bed.

“Probably,” Tony agrees. “But you did look really good in that,” he smirks and places the phone on the nightstand. Scooting closer to Steve, he lifts an arm for Steve to slip under, which seems like a very welcome invitation, because Steve is instantly lying with his head resting on Tony’s chest, one arm slung loosely over Tony’s stomach.

Steve lets out an involuntary sigh when Tony starts running a soothing hand up and down Steve’s arm while lacing their fingers together with the other.  

“Now I know,” Tony starts, waiting for Steve to looks up at him, and when does, he continues, “that you like sleeping like this the you’re sick. You did the exact same last night; draping your entire body over me like a koala.”

After taking a second to catch on, Steve goes bashful and begins to slowly draw back from Tony’s hold. Tony just hugs him tighter, though, and kisses the top of his head.

“I never said I minded… I like it too,” Tony assures. “Even when you’re all sniffly.”

With that, Steve melts back against Tony, relaxing again.

They lie in comfortable silence for a bit, only interrupted by the soft sniffles that seem to turn more insistent with each passing second. They become more frequent, too, and Steve has to let go of Tony’s hand to rub his nose against his wrist when he feels his nose beginning to prickle.

When that doesn’t work, he tries nuzzling his face into Tony’s shoulder, and lets out quiet groan when the itch is still there.

“You alright?”

“I thigk I h-have… huh? snffSNF! Ugh. I have to sndeeze.” His voice is starting to sound more congested, and his eyes are watering when his breaths come shorter and he scrunches up his nose. Wiggling it back a forth a couple of times seems to coax the tickle forward, and he tries to turn in Tony’s grip when the buzzing becomes too demanding, but Tony’s just pulls him back in, fasting his grasp.

“Tooh- Tony, I…” Steve warns, but the brunette doesn’t let go and Steve ends up stifling back two strong sneezes into Tony’s t-shirt. “uhNGxxt! N’GKt!” Holding back the sneezes makes him cough, and trying to hold those back makes him cough even worse.

He pulls fully away from Tony now, even though Tony is telling him to lay back down, that he doesn’t mind at all. Swinging his feet over the edge of the bed so he’s sitting with his back hunched forward, he lets himself cough more freely.

Tony props up on his elbow, resting a warm hand on Steve’s back when the alternating coughs and sniffles turn into heavy, desperate gasps.

“HESHishh! ehhYISHhee!” The sneezes burst out with such force that his body jerks forward, aiming them down towards the floor. “uhhISHh’iew! ih! ihh… ISH! huhhHISH’oo!” He coughs a little again, then gives himself a shake to clear the lingering tickle.

“God bless,” Tony says sympathetically and pulls at Steve’s sleeve. “C’mon, honey, lay back down.”

Steve casts a glance over his shoulder to look at Tony, but shakes his head. “I doad thi’gg I’mb fidnished,” he says, voice thick and low.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tony replies and tugs at him again, this time successfully managing to get him back into their previous position.

However, after only a few seconds, Steve has to lift his head from Tony’s chest to let out a few smaller, softer tsshoo! tsh! sneezes down at the blankets.

“Bless you,” Tony mumbles into the blonde hair when Steve has settled down again.

“Snff! Thank you,” Steve sighs. “I’m so sorry, Tony, you’re gonna catch this…”

“Probably,” Tony agrees, then shrugs. “If it means I get to cuddle up with you for a couple of days then I won’t complain. Plus, if either of us is sick on New Year’s we’ll have an excuse for missing that crappy party.”

Steve chuckles and smiles fondly up at Tony. “Pepper’s going to have your head if you cancel, you know.”

“I know… but this — you. This is worth all the angry voicemails I’ll receive and all the flowers I’ll have to buy her afterwards.” Tony glances down, locking his eyes on Steve’s blue ones, red-rimmed and watery, but just as beautiful as they always are. He goes quiet for a bit, taking a second to appreciate the moment. A few years ago, Tony would have never seen himself end up this… this happy. But then came Steve, and suddenly every expectation Tony had for himself went out the window. It’s incredible, Tony thinks, how one person can change everything.

“Steve?” Tony breathes.

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

[justthehiddleswrites]

Destiny Has Other Plans |Loki x OFC (Alexis Randall) | Chapter 2

Pairing: Loki x OFC

MASTERLIST IS HERE

Summary: When Loki goes to ask his father for permission to marry, he is shocked to discover his destiny has already been made for him.  He is already betrothed to Sjofn, the daughter of the King of Vanaheim.  An arranged marriage to bring the two kingdoms closer together and strengthen the bond.  Never mind that Sjofn and Loki can’t stand each other.  

After The Battle of New York, Loki is sent to live at Avengers Tower as punishment for his misdeeds.  But it doesn’t mean he has to like it.   A year later, he has adjusted to life on Midgard but has avoided any romantic or emotional entanglements, still bitter over his lost love.  Dr. Alexis Randall is skilled at helping others fix their relationships as a couple therapist, but can’t help her own love life.  A chance encounter with Loki in a dive bar has life altering consequences for both of them.  Now, Alexis and Loki must figure out a way to co-habit without killing each other in the process, plus navigating impending parenthood and other roadblocks along the way.

This Chapter:   One month has passed since Alexis and Loki “met” at the bar, Loki has moved on but is confronted with harsh reality of Alexis and the consequences of his cavalier attitude towards relationships, hookups, and birth control. He does not react well.

Warnings: Arranged Marriage, Forced Marriage, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Smut, Angst,  Semi-Public Sex, Mentions of law enforcement, Oral Sex, Cursing, Vaginal Sex

Taglists are Open, please let me know if you wish to be added.

-

One Month Later

“Dr. Randall?” Rachel, Alexis’s receptionist, called out.

Alexis’s head snapped up from her desk, where she fell asleep between appointments.

“Yes?” She smoothed back her hair behind her ears and took a sip of her third cup of coffee of the day.

“Your 2 o’clock is here. The Masons? Can I show them in?” Rachel gazed at her boss with worry. Alexis never napped during the day and stopped drinking caffeine by 11 a.m.

“Yes, please.” Alexis stifled a yawn before composing herself.

The rest of her appointments dragged and she pushed her last appointment out the door rather than allow the Clarks to linger like they do after most sessions. Alexis wanted nothing more to go home and crawl into bed. And then her phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered with a weary tone.

“Tough day?” Hannah asked on the other end. One of Alexis’s few friends.

“I am so tired. And hungry. Tired and hungry.” she groaned.

“Well then, let’s make dinner a quick one. You are still meeting me?”

“Shit! I completely forgot. I don’t understand what is going on with me. Give me five minutes and meet me at the diner down the street?”

“Deal. I’m already almost there. Meet me inside.”

Alexis straightened her desk, grabbed her purse and headed out the door. Hannah was waiting in a booth inside as she slid in.

“I waited for you to order.” Hannah commented.

On cue, the server appeared.

“I’ll have the mac and cheese bites and the bacon cheeseburger with fries.”

The server wrote everything down, nonplussed, while Hannah stared at her friend. “Anything to drink, hun?”

“Strawberry milkshake. Oh, and a Diet Coke.”

“Got it? And you?” The server turned to Hannah.

“House salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side. And water with lemon.”

“Thanks, hun.” The server grabbed the menus from Hannah, walking away.

Hannah leaned across the table. “That’s some order.”

“I told you I was hungry.” Alexis settled into her seat.

“If I didn’t know you so well, I would say you’re pregnant.” Hannah commented off hand.

Alexis froze, staring at Hannah with wide eyes. Hannah giggled.

“But Eric broke up with you and you’re always so careful with birth control.”

The blood drained from Alexis’s face as she flashed back to that stupid encounter in the bathroom with Loki. She scrambled through her purse, digging out her Filofax, flipping the pages until she saw the note a few weeks ago.

“Fuck! No, no, no, no, no…” She cradled her head in her hands as the server returned with their drinks.

“But you’re on birth control?” Hannah grew quiet.

“I was having some issues, so on advice of my doctor I stopped before trying an alternative. Eric and I were using condoms. Not that we were having sex at the end.”

“So no problem…” Alexis glared at her friend with tear brimmed eyes. Hannah stopped speaking.

Alexis’s hands twisted on top of the table. “There was an… encounter. When Eric and I broke up.”

Hannah let loose a low whistle. “Who would have guessed that uptight little Alexis was secretly a harlot? Details.”

Alexis’s cheeks burned red. She told the sordid tale of meeting Loki at the bar, to sex in the bathroom, and Loki’s disappearance.

“THE BATHROOM?!” Hannah yelped, wrinkling her nose.

Alexis shushed her. “Not my proudest moment, Hannah. And keep your voice down.”

Hannah leaned back against the red vinyl booth, taking in that Alexis, the most dependable, responsible person she knew, fucked a guy. Not just any guy, but Loki in the bathroom of a seedy bar.

“Say something, Hannah.”

“I am in shock. What are you going to do?”

The server appeared with their food, which they left untouched.

“I am not sure. This was not exactly planned.”

Hannah leaned over and flipped through her Filofax. “Nope, definitely not planned.”

“Your humor is not wanted right now.”

Hannah shrugged. “Just trying to lighten the mood.” She stabbed her salad. “First, you need to eat and then let’s find a pharmacy and get a test.”

Alexis pushed her plate towards Hannah. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Hannah pushed the plate back at her. “Eat. You might be eating for two.”

Alexis groaned.

-

The annoying chime of JARVIS disturbed Loki’s peaceful lunch within the confines of his apartment. Over the past year, he curated a living space he enjoyed with artwork and textiles that brought him joy. What he didn’t enjoy were the intrusions by Stark’s electronic butler.

“Master Loki. There’s a young woman in the lobby asking to see you.”

Loki placed his utensils down. “Did she give a reason?”

A pause.

“It is of a personal nature.”

Loki waved his hand in the air. “Send her away. Tell her I’m indisposed.”

“Yes, sir.”

Loki returned to his lunch. It was probably one of the women he slept with looking for a serious relationship, he mused. That was one thing Loki was not interested in. Lust, not love, ruled his heart these days. And he had no intentions of changing his ways anytime soon.

The next morning JARVIS chimed again, at the hour of 7 a.m. well before Loki woke up on days where he wasn’t due anywhere.

“Master Loki, the woman is back. She is most insistent she needs to speak with you.”

Loki groaned, rolling onto his back. “Leave me be!”

“Should I send her away?”

“Yes.” Loki grabbed the pillow and covered his head, falling back asleep.

The morning wake up call was gone and forgotten as soon as Loki got going for this day. Until he headed out that evening, walking through the empty lobby of Avengers Towers on his way to hopefully meet a new conquest.

“LOKI!” A female voice called out.

Loki turned to see a young woman step out from behind a pillar. Her short, light brown hair and blue eyes vaguely familiar.

“The building’s been closed for hours. How are you even still here?”

“I hid in a supply closet.”

“I shall tell Stark his security is lacking.” He turned his attention to the girl. “You need to leave.”

“No,” She pressed her hand against his chest. “I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

Loki crossed his arms, tapping his foot. “What is it?” He spat at her.

Her composure crumbled. Loki only then noticed the tears in her eyes and the envelope in her hands.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” she muttered. “Of course not. Why would you? Here.” She shoved the envelope in his hand. “I thought you had a right to know.” She walked away, shoulders shaking. “And in case you fucking care, my name is Alexis, ass!”

The name triggered Loki’s memory back to the Whiskey Front Room. He opened the envelope and it contained a single sheet of paper with lab results.

Pregnancy Test: Positive

Loki stared at the door where Alexis exited a minute ago and then back at the paper before laughing. His plans of going out forgotten. He followed her, his long legs catching with Alexis easily.

“Is this some sort of joke?” He called out after her.

She stopped in tracks before spinning on her foot. Black trails of mascara marred her cheeks. “Does it look like I’m fucking joking?!” She snapped, spitting towards him.

Loki took a step back before smiling. He handed the paper back to her. “It’s a false positive. It is impossible.”

Alexis shoved it back at him. “I took three home tests, and that is a copy of my lab results. Do you realize how rare a false positive pregnancy test from a lab is?”

Loki wrinkled his nose. “No. But it’s a mistake.” He nodded his head. “I cast a spell to prevent this thing from happening. So your little scheme isn’t going to work. What is it you want? Money? I don’t have any.”

Alexis jabbed a finger into his chest. “You can drop the condescending tone. I am not here for money or anything else. I just thought you should know… in case you ever wondered if you had a kid out there. You do.” She sniffled.

Alexis slumped her shoulders and walked away. Loki reached out for her.

“Listen, I still don’t believe it, but I can’t have you leaving until we straighten this out.”

“You want me to stay… with… you?” Alexis stuttered. “No fucking way! You just called me a liar.”

“I said it was an impossibility, which is. I’m afraid you need to come with me. Just for one night. You can stay in my quarters.”

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

“I wasn’t asking. You can sleep in the bed and I will take the sofa.” Alexis crossed her arms and stared at Loki. “If you try to leave, I will forcibly return you to the tower. I prefer you coming willingly. I apologize for the inconvenience, but if what you say is true, you may be in danger.”

Alexis’s jaw dropped. “Why would my life be in danger?”

“I have many enemies. Now come.” Loki cradled his arm around her.

“Okay, but we are discussing this whole enemies, life in mortal danger thing some more once we get back.”

Loki nodded. “After we have the doctor examination tomorrow and she confirms you are not pregnant, I will answer all questions you want. But for now, let’s return.” Loki’s confidence Alexis was not pregnant faltered each time he mentioned it. There was no way his magic failed. But something itched at the back of his head. He pushed it away.

Alexis allowed Loki to guide her back to the Tower and into the elevator. Once they reached his quarters, he disappeared into the bedroom.

“Here are some clothes to sleep in.” He offered a t-shirt and shorts of his. “They might be a little big. I could ask around if you want—”

“No!” She yelled, causing Loki to smile. “The shirt and shorts are fine.” Alexis snatched them out of Loki’s hand.

Loki nodded in agreement. “Are you hungry? I can cook or order something in?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I think I just want to sleep and get this over with so I can return to my normal life.”

He rose and grabbed a spare pillow and blanket from a closet. “If you are up before me, please wake me. The sooner we settle this, the sooner you can get on with your life.”

He stretched onto the couch and Alexis’s heart sunk. She wasn’t sure why, perhaps she expected more from Loki than indifference. A hint he cared for the unborn child she carried. She turned over and settled in for a restless night’s sleep in a strange bed.

-

“Brother… Brother…” Thor whispered, shaking Loki out of his slumber.

“What is it, Thor?” He waved off further assault from his brother.

“There is a woman wearing your clothes asleep in your bed.”

“And that requires assault? Have you never seen a woman before?” Loki rolled over, hoping to catch more sleep before facing the nightmare of Alexis and this impossible pregnancy.

“I am still responsible for you here on Midgard, Loki. And I have a right—”

“—You have no right to my personal life!” Loki sneered. “There are things that are mine and mine only. Now leave me be!”

Thor held his hands up in defeat. “Fair enough. But when you are ready to talk… I am here.”

“A small comfort.” Loki forced a smile.

Alexis stepped out, wearing Loki’s t-shirt, which came down to her mid thigh. “What’s going on?” She rubbed her eyes, hair sticking out.

“My brother was just leaving.” Loki rose and shoved Thor out the front door before he could ask questions of Alexis.

She pursed her lips as Loki turned and chuckled nervously.

“So… does anyone know about me?”

“Not yet. I would prefer to keep this between us until we settle things.”

“They’re already settled for me.” she muttered, tucking her chin to her chest.

Loki’s face softened. “Forgive me for being a skeptic. My magic has never failed me before.”

“Maybe you wanted it to fail.”

“Why would I want it to fail?” Loki squinted at her.

She shrugged her shoulders and smirked. “Maybe you like me.”

“I’m not looking for emotional entanglement. And I am certainly not looking to be a father.” Loki moved to the kitchen to fix some coffee and a light breakfast.

“Doesn’t mean you don’t need it.” Alexis moved to watch Loki in the kitchen. She marveled at the efficiency of his movements. No wasted energy, no extraneous steps. This was a man who pre-planned every aspect of his life. No mistakes, no room for error. Until her.

“Can I have some of that?” She asked as Loki fixed a caramel mocha.

Not as good as the one from the coffee shop, but it sufficed for days when he couldn’t be bothered to leave the Tower. He invested in a top of the line espresso machine for just such purpose.

He sized her up with a questioning glance but prepared a second serving and handed it to her. “Dr. Cho is expecting us at 8. Are you hungry?”

“Famished.” She sipped the coffee after blowing on it to cool, it verged on too sweet for her tastes.

Loki rummaged into the fridge. “I have eggs or… eggs.”

“Eggs, please. Scrambled.”

Loki prepared the eggs as he did the coffee, meticulously.

“I’m glad you don’t fuck the way you cook.” Alexis mused, taking small sips of the sweet coffee.

“Meaning?” He tucked into his eggs, adding buttered toast to both his and Alexis’s plate.

“Precise. Cold. Clinical. Sex should be messy.”

Loki couldn’t resist a smirk. “Isn’t that how we ended up here?”

“Touche. Do I have time to shower before I get poked and prodded to satisfy you that I am pregnant?”

Loki glanced at the clock. “Use whatever you want. If you would prefer, wear one of my shirts rather than your clothes from yesterday.”

“Thanks.”

Loki finished up his food and cleaned up the dishes and his bedding off the couch. Alexis emerged with wet hair, wearing one of Loki’s black button-down shirts, tied at the waist, the top buttons undone. Loki swallowed hard.

“You said I could borrow one.”

“It’s fine. You look good. Give me a few moments and we can go.”

Loki showered and dressed for the day in jeans and a t-shirt, joining Alexis in the living room. “Ready?”

She nodded, and Loki took her hand. He glanced down the hallway before slinking them out and towards the elevator. He froze a voice called out.

“Is this a walk of shame?” Tony commented.

Alexis turned bright red as Loki pulled her close. “Go to the elevator and wait for me.” She mumbled and walked away.

“No need to be embarrassed. She’s cute. Kind of quiet. Frankly, I was wondering.” Tony smirked at Loki.

Loki resisted the bait. “She is just a friend in need of some help. Once she is settled, you’ll never see her again and you can go back to speculating.”

“Whatever, Reindeer Games. Seems like an awful lot of trouble for a friend… wearing your shirt.” Tony averted his gaze.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Now if you excuse me, I have a previous engagement.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Tony called out as Loki beelined for Alexis, who was holding the elevator.

“Was that Tony Stark?” Alexis whispered once the elevator doors closed and Loki punched in the number.

“Unfortunately, yes. But once we confirm you’re not pregnant, you won’t have to worry about him.”

Alexis grew quiet. “Still convinced this is a mistake?”

“I’m never wrong and my magic never fails.”

One hour later, Dr. Cho pulled Loki aside.

“She is pregnant.”

Loki chuckled, which turned into nervous laughter. “You must be joking. There’s no way—”

“I did two blood tests and an ultrasound. I heard the baby’s heartbeat.”

Loki’s jaw dropped. “But my magic—”

“—failed. Now you can either accept reality or live a life of delusion. Right now there is a young woman in there who is scared and you calling her a liar is not going to help. I am going back in there. Are you coming with me?”

Loki nodded in shock and followed Dr. Cho back into the examination room. Alexis’s eyes met Loki’s with fear, the tears threatening to fall with a blink of her eye or a swipe of her hand.

Loki smiled a crooked smile at her and sighed. “I guess we need to talk.”

[rinnysega]

Quite Night At Home - An Irene/Jaap fic

Here is my half of an AT with the wonderful @purplepolarbear about her Simpsons OCs Irene and Jaap. A short, little slice-of-life fic about the two of them spending a quiet night at home together. I hope you like it, and I hope I did your OCs justice!!

Two months had passed since Irene last saw Jaap, and those several weeks that kept them apart were full of busy change as the seasons began to turn. Irene wore denim shorts and a light T-shirt on their last day together when she dropped him off at the airport for another series of long, International flights. She herself would be busy with travel in the weeks to come, and their schedules wouldn’t have them home at the same time until well into December. Those shorts and T-shirt were now swapped out with long pants and her wintertime sweaters she pulled out of storage.

Irene was the first to arrive home about two days before Jaap was set to come back from the states. Amalia helped her get the house cleaned up in exchange for letting her go on a weekend trip with her friends out to a campsite before the snowfall set in. It was fine with her. The two of them spent quite a bit of quality time together in Jaap’s absence, and while there were some short bouts of tension here and there, the experience had been mostly positive. And this would give her and Jaap some time alone before he had to go back to work.

Late that afternoon, Irene waved Amalia off as the 17-year old piled into the car with her friends, and she disappeared into the horizon. Irene checked the clock and figured it would be the best time to start dinner. Jaap called her the previous day to let her know he had a ride home once his flight landed, so she didn’t need to bother with traffic to come pick him up. The two decided she’d have a hot meal waiting for him by the time he made it back, and considering how tired he’d probably be, a quiet night at home sounded like a perfect way to spend their only night together. The next day, it would be right back to the airport for him.  

The housework was exhausting, and she didn’t realize how much energy it zapped out of her until she was sitting at the kitchen table about an hour later, rubbing her feet while the food was baking in the oven and simmering on the stove. Between the deep clean of the place with Amalia and pulling out all the blankets and wool garb, getting the house cozy for him to return to was taking it out of her. Perhaps he was rubbing off on her and she was aging rapidly. It would certainly explain the pain in her shoulders and lower back, not to mention her fatigue after simple tasks like skinning and chopping potatoes and whipping up the veggie dip from scratch.

The timing was nearly perfect as the front door opened just as Irene finished transferring the last bits of cooked food into their dishes. She looked up with a smile to see her favorite person stumble in from the cold, dark night. He immediately dropped his bag and rolled his luggage against the wall. He greeted her smile with one of his own.

“Smells good.”

“Thanks. Can’t say the same for you, probably.”

“Yeah, probably.” Jaap removed his hat and coat at the door and made a beeline straight for her to give her a kiss on the neck with his arms wrapped around her waist.

“How was the flight?” she asked, returning his hug. His body was freezing from the weather outside.

“The Usual.” He gave her one more kiss on her neck before stepping away to remove his shoes and loosen the tie of his uniform. “Had an American complain to my stewards the whole damn way about sitting in the back of the aircraft when he missed his first flight and had to get rebooked.”

“Don’t miss dealing with that,” Irene responded, and she walked over to the fridge to pour themselves something to drink with their dinner. “How about the car ride?”

“Traffic wasn’t too bad getting here, but my feet are killing me.” He finished taking off the rest of his uniform, dressing down into his undershirt and boxers, his socks still held up on his legs by their garters. “I think it’s my shoes.”

“When’s the last time you got new insoles?”

His silence to the question spoke volumes, and it was all she needed to know. A quick glance at the old, worn out insoles in his work shoes was another indicator he hadn’t bought a new pair in...God knew how long.

Irene saighed to herself as she started placing the cups and hot food onto a serving tray with two empty dishes for each of them. “I’m not letting you go back tomorrow until you switch those out.”

“I’ll pick some up before I head to the airport tomorrow night.”

“No, I’ll get them for you to make sure you actually have them.” She made her way past him to the living room, and he followed close behind. “I’ll go out first thing tomorrow before I make breakfast. That’ll give you some time to sleep in.”

Irene placed the tray on the table in front of the couch, and when she bent back up, he turned her around to face him, and he held her cheeks between his hands. He gave her two small kisses on the corners of her mouth, and said sincerely, “You’re too good to me.” He finished his thought with one more kiss right in the middle on her lips.

She didn’t hesitate to kiss him back, and Irene wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him in tight for a hug on top of that. She broke that kiss only to ask him, “Can you pull tighter on my waist and crack my back please? It hurts-!” He did it without warning, and she laughed through her gasping as his strength aided her of her back problems with a crack. “Ouch, I wasn’t ready yet!” She continued to laugh.

“Well I’m ready for food,” he kidded with her, and squeezed her with a kiss one last time before they broke apart and fell down on either side of the couch - the cushions bouncing a bit with their weight.

“Oh that’s nice,” Jaap said, finally glad he could relax for a bit. He reached over for a plate and scooped out small portions of each dish to hand to Irene who accepted it as she got comfortable against the plush back of the sofa. Once again, she was the smartest person she knew to make all finger foods and dips, so she wouldn’t have to worry about silverware. Jaap got his own plate, piled high with several helpings of each thing, and he sat back close to her, leaning sideways at just the right angle to kick his feet up onto the end of the low table. Irene reached over and pulled the food tray from the middle to the far end of the table close to her, just to get it as far away from his socks as possible. Jaap seemed to get the social cue and put his feet back down on the floor.

“Sorry.”

All the commotion seemed to awaken the cats who were sound asleep upstairs, and while they turned the TV on to flip around for something to watch, the two came trotting down the stairs, yawning and shaking off the sleep. One jumped up and curled up by Irene’s side while the other attempted to sit in Jaap’s lap, but the man held up his plate of food and gently nudged it away. Defeated, the cat simply hopped down and went to loiter in the window as Jaap placed his food back down on his lap and continued eating.

Settling on a movie, the two leaned in close together and spent most of that time in silence. With the chaos of their lives caught up to them like it had been the last few weeks, it was a godsend to be able to just sit in peace, eat and share snacks, knowing a comfortable silence was good enough for each of them. Eventually when the cats had dispersed again and the food was nothing but crumbs on the dishes, they found themselves getting quite comfortable there on that couch, and they could very easily fall asleep in each others’ arms without the energy to make it upstairs to bed.

They didn’t mind. They were just happy to see each other again and simply exist together in their quiet, little home before the outside world called them back for work.

[wistfulcynic]

Words Unspoken 1 / 2

Part, um... *counts on fingers* ... part seven of Secret Things. This one featuring roommates and a metric fuck-ton of mutual pining, and problems that wouldn’t even exist if these two would just say what’s in their hearts. But OF COURSE THEY WON’T. Not while sober, anyway.

Summary: Emma and Killian have been best friends for five years, roommates for three, and in love with each other since the moment they met. Their timing is awful and their communication even worse, until Killian takes a drastic step that finally forces them to talk about their feelings. 

Words: 4.6k

Rating: T (for now)

On AO3

(This is a WIP from a while ago that I kinda didn’t plan to post, so not tagging anyone. But there will be a chapter two, so give me a shout if you’d like a tag for that.) 

Chapter One: 

Emma stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen, heading half-blindly in the direction of the coffeemaker. She grunted when she collided with a tall figure who was already there, pouring herself a cup. Emma winced as she spat long, curly hair out of her mouth and tried to focus her sleepy eyes. 

“Ugh, sorry,” she said. “I didn’t expect you to be here.” 

Milah gave her a tight smile. “Killian and I were at Antonio’s last night, and we had a bit too much to drink. Here is closer than my place.” 

“Makes sense.” Emma scooted around the taller woman to get to the cupboard, pulling out her coffee cup and filling it as Milah watched. Wordlessly, she handed Emma the milk. 

“Um. Thanks.” 

“No problem.” Milah stepped back and gave her an assessing once-over. Emma tried not to squirm, tried not to think about the tangled mess of her hair or what her face must look like. She hadn’t bothered to wash her makeup off last night, had barely even got her contacts out before she fell asleep. Raccoon eyes surrounded by thick-rimmed glasses was probably not a great look. Milah on the other hand looked fantastic, cool and elegant, her curly hair perfectly tamed despite the early hour. Emma wondered snarkily if she’d be able to pull that off by the time she was Milah’s age. 

“Late night?” Milah asked. 

“Just work.” Emma sipped her coffee, wishing the woman would just go back to Killian’s room and leave her in peace. 

Or as much peace as she could hope for when she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about what Milah and Killian were doing behind his door. At least when they went to Milah’s she could put it out of her mind. 

Well, almost out. 

“Mmm,” said Milah as the kitchen door opened and Killian appeared. He also had messy hair and tired eyes but on him they looked good, rumpled and sexy. He was so goddamn unfair, thought Emma, determinedly looking away from him, missing the way Killian leaned in to kiss his girlfriend before spotting his roommate, the way his lips deviated at the last minute to land on Milah’s cheek instead of her lips. Missed the flash of irritation in Milah’s eyes. 

“Morning, Swan.” Killian sauntered across the small room and leaned past her to get his coffee mug. His smile was soft and his eyes warm but Emma saw neither, keeping her gaze firmly on her coffee. “Late night?” 

“Et tu, Jones?” Emma muttered. 

“What?”

“Nothing. Never mind. I’m gonna go drink this in my room.” 

“Wait, Swan,” he stopped her with a hand on her arm. Emma forced herself to breathe normally. “Don’t you want any breakfast?” 

“No.” 

“You need to eat something, love.” His voice was so soft, so affectionate. 

She hated affectionate. 

“I’ll have a Pop-Tart later.” 

“Something with some actual nutritional value,” he teased, his fingers moving gently on her arm. 

“Killian, leave her alone,” Milah snapped. “She’s a grown woman, she can eat what she likes.” 

This really should be a supportive, stand-up-for-the-sisterhood kind of moment, thought Emma, but instead she just felt judged. Let her eat what she likes, she’s a lost cause. Milah’s face was blank, her pale eyes hard. No sisterhood there.

Emma forced a smile. “I’m fine, really. Not hungry. I’ll have some lunch later, and I promise it’ll include something green,” she said, before Killian could interrupt. 

“All right, then,” he said with a grin, removing his hand so she could make her escape. 

--

An hour later Emma was functionally caffeinated and her face washed clean, and she was definitely not standing with her ear pressed to her bedroom door listening for the sound of Killian and Milah leaving the apartment. 

Okay, she was. But she’d had a hell of a rough night; her skip had been hard to locate and even harder to take down, and all she wanted was to spend the day vegging on the sofa and watching soothing television. Something she absolutely could not do with Milah in the apartment being put-together and disdainful all over the place. Emma knew she was a bit of a mess and had no problem with that aspect of herself, but she hated being judged for it. Especially by Killian’s wealthy-divorcée girlfriend who’d never had to work to make ends meet. 

She heard the sound of their voices, heard the front door open and close, then silence. She gave it another minute then ventured tentatively into the living room, surprised to find Killian there on the sofa wearing his pajamas and a brooding expression. He looked up when he heard her approach and a bright smile broke across his face.

“Hey, Swan.” 

“Hey. Did Milah leave?”

“Yeah, she had a pedicure or something. You want to watch some Bake-Off?”

“Very much.” 

Killian patted the cushion beside him. “Come on, then. Let’s waste the day away with mindless television.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you sure you’re not hungry?”

“Maybe a little. Though definitely not for green things.” 

He smirked. “Go get yourself a bloody Pop-Tart, I’ll get the show ready.” 

When she returned from the kitchen he had the show queued up and a blanket ready to tuck around her feet when she curled them under herself and snuggled against his side. He slung his arm along the top of the sofa, his fingertips brushing the sleeve of her shirt as she let her head fall against his shoulder, nibbling her Pop-Tart and relaxing into contentment. 

As they watched mild drama unfold within the pastel tent Emma let herself pretend, just for a moment, that they were together —really together— and that this was their life. Spending a lazy Saturday afternoon watching TV, after which she would allow him to cook her something healthy and they would eat it at the kitchen table like real adults and then they would go to bed. Together. She sighed. She wanted all of that, so damned much. 

Killian turned his head, his lips just brushing her hair. “All right, love?” he murmured. 

“Yeah,” she replied, pretending. “I’m fine.” 

They watched three episodes, then Killian hit ‘pause.’ 

“I should probably go get ready,” he said. “I’m meeting Milah for dinner.” 

“Okay.” Emma tried to keep her voice neutral as his words punctured her lovely fantasy bubble. It never did last long, that bubble.  

He frowned at her, something odd and sharply assessing in his eyes. “I can cancel,” he offered. “Stay here—” 

“No! You have a date! Go! I’ll probably call Mary Margaret and Ruby, see what they’re up to tonight.” 

“Okay, well if you’re sure.” 

“Definitely.” She gave him a bright smile. “Go.” 

She put on Four Weddings and a Funeral and refused to feel sorry for herself, even when Killian left the apartment an hour later looking heartbreakingly gorgeous. She’d take her cue from Kristin Scott Thomas’s Fiona, thought Emma firmly. If Fiona could spend years in unrequited love with her best friend and still be fabulous, then so could she. 

So could she.

--

“So how was your day?” Milah asked as they sat down at a cosy table in her favourite restaurant. A waiter poured them champagne without being asked; Milah was well known here. 

“Oh, fine. Nothing special, I just spent the afternoon with Emma. We watched some TV, talked a bit.” Killian smiled as he recalled it, the pure peace and comfort of sitting on the sofa with Emma pressed against his side, her head on his shoulder. Her hair tickling his chin. 

Milah set her glass down with deliberate control and laid her hands flat on the crisp white tablecloth. Her lips pressed into a firm line. Her nostrils flared. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” she said. 

Killian frowned. “Can’t do what, love?”

“This.” She gestured between them. “I can’t keep dating a man who is so fucking obviously in love with someone else.” 

“What? Who?” What had he done, Killian wondered. Milah never swore unless she was truly furious. What had he done, or said, to set her off?

She gave him a look so dirty he immediately wanted a shower. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

He racked his brains. “Do you mean Emma?”

“Who the bloody hell else would I mean?”

“But Emma and I are just—” 

“Don’t you fucking dare say ‘just friends,’” she hissed. “I’m not an idiot, Killian, and I’m not blind, though apparently you are both those things if you’re really unaware how you feel about her.” 

Guilt stabbed at Killian. He’d tried so hard with Milah. “I—” 

“No, don’t say anything,” she interrupted, making a sharp gesture with her hand. “I should never have let things go on this long, but I really liked you and I hoped if I tried hard enough to be what you needed you might forget her. But you never will. And I can’t keep being the second choice for my own boyfriend.” 

“Milah, please.” Killian took her hand. “You know how much I care for you—” 

“Yes I do. Exactly how much.”

“—and there’s nothing between Emma and me. Surely you know that as well.” 

“I do. I know you would never cheat. But you want to, and that might be worse. Killian, you should see the way you act when she’s around. You want her so much you can’t even hide it. You take every opportunity to touch her and the way you look at her…”

“Does she know?” He winced the moment he spoke the words, but it was too late to take them back. 

Milah looked stricken, just for a moment, then she closed her eyes on a sigh. “Well, that’s pretty definitive,” she said quietly. 

“I’m so sorry.” 

She shook her head. “You can’t choose who you love. None of us can.” She threw her napkin on the table and stood. “Goodbye, Killian.” She moved to go, then stopped, turning back. “Oh, to answer your question, no. She doesn’t know. She’s as much of a blind idiot as you are. You two fucking deserve each other.” 

When Killian got home Emma was still curled on the sofa, a pastel tent on the television screen and an empty carton of ice cream on the coffee table. He kicked off his boots and sat down next to her. 

“Are you watching Bake-Off without me?” he asked. 

“We’ve seen this one already.” 

“Oh yeah.” 

She frowned at him. “What are you doing home, anyway? I figured you’d stay at Milah’s.” 

He looked at her, at her eyes obscured behind thick-rimmed glasses, her hair in a messy ponytail. He could count the freckles on her nose and she had a trace of chocolate from her ice cream on the corners of her mouth. 

She was so beautiful, he thought helplessly. And Milah was right. He was in love with her. 

He knew he was, of course, he’d known it for years. But knowing was not the same as admitting. Admitting he loved Emma meant admitting that he’d spent years pining for things he could never have. It meant admitting that he’d fucked everything up, that he’d missed his chance when she finally broke up with Neal. Not wishing to be her rebound guy he’d waited… too long, as it turned out, and Emma had found her rebound guy in Graham instead. A rebound that had lasted more than a year, while Killian drowned his regret and jealousy in rum and a series of relationships that burned with intensity then fizzled once the initial attraction had passed. None of the women he dated could stand up to Emma, something he always knew and they soon discovered. 

Worst of all, admitting he loved her meant admitting that if he ever hoped to have something real —marriage, kids, a lifetime with someone who loved him back— he was going to have to let her go. 

He couldn’t have Emma and he couldn’t commit to anyone else while she was still in his heart. And that was the true root of his denial, the awful, heartbreaking choice that admitting his feelings would force him to face: accept that he’d always be alone or somehow get over the woman he’d loved for years. 

Her frown deepened, and he realised he was staring. 

“Are you all right, Killian?” she asked. 

He forced a smile. “Fine, Swan.” 

He could tell her Milah had broken up with him. She would be sympathetic, would curl supportively against his side and try to comfort him. He would put his arm around her, and she wouldn’t pull away. They would stay that way the rest of the evening, curled around each other watching soothing television then maybe a movie, and he would have to pretend he didn’t feel every brush of her skin against his in his very core. Pretend he didn’t spend every minute in her presence wanting to bury his hands in her hair and kiss her with every ounce of the passion he’d been suppressing for the past five years. Pretend.

And he couldn’t. Not tonight. 

“I think I’ll go to bed,” he said, standing. She caught his hand, the simple touch sending a jolt of feeling straight through him. He gritted his teeth, forcing his breathing to remain steady. 

“Are you sure everything’s all right?” she asked. Her expression was concerned, fond. He hated fond. But she was his best friend, and his feelings weren’t her fault. The last thing he wanted was for her to worry. 

He smiled, as reassuringly as he could, and squeezed her hand. “Milah and I had a bit of a disagreement,” he said. “But it’ll be okay. I’m just tired. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” 

She nodded. “Okay.” 

“Don’t watch any episodes I haven’t seen,” he warned her. 

She grinned. “Would I?” 

He wanted to kiss that grin right off her face. Instead he smirked at her as he knew she wanted him to, and gave her hand a final squeeze before heading to his bedroom. 

He pulled off his clothes and left them on the floor, uncharacteristically for him, but he couldn’t be bothered to hang them up, or to put on pajamas. He fell into his bed, pressed his face deep into his pillow and tried to imagine his life without Emma. Without the cereal bowls she left in the sink and the empty packets of hot chocolate mix on the counter. Her long hair clogged all the drains and she never put the DVDs back in their proper cases. She was always putting her feet on his coffee table and he knew she used his shampoo when she ran out of her own. She should annoy the fuck out of him; instead his chest squeezed painfully at the thought of never being annoyed by her again. 

He pulled the pillow to his chest and wrapped his arms around it. The thought of leaving her was almost more than he could bear, but he knew there wasn’t really any other choice. He had to give himself a chance. They could still be friends, he could still be there when she needed him, but he knew that for his own sake he couldn’t live with her any longer. 

--

It took a surprisingly short time to find a new place to live. The week after Killian made his decision Belle announced that she was going on sabbatical, back to Australia and do some research for her book and spend time with her family. She would be gone at least six months and needed to sublet her apartment, she said, and did he happen to know anyone who might be interested? She looked surprised when he quickly volunteered to take it himself but didn’t question him, not even when she handed him the keys and he had to press his fingers against his eyes to stop the tears.  

--

Emma had just slid some pizzas in the oven when Killian came home, looking tired and preoccupied as he had all week. Something was very obviously bothering him, but what worried her was that he wasn’t talking to her about it. He always told her everything, all the gory details of his life. Even things she’d rather not know. Like what was going on with his girlfriends. 

He’d always had girlfriends, for as long as she’d known him. A serial monogamist, she thought, that’s what he was. A soft-hearted romantic —though he’d never admit it— always looking for ‘the one.’ His relationships never lasted long, a few weeks, maybe a month or two before the breakup. But it was never serious, and Killian never truly got hurt. He would come home and collapse dramatically on the sofa, pour his heart out to her, mope for a day or two, and then move on. 

He’d been with Milah for six months, almost seven now. Far longer than any of the others, and the jealousy that clawed at Emma’s belly whenever she thought about the women Killian dated was beginning to get vicious. He seemed to be putting actual effort into making things work this time. What if Milah really was the one? What if Killian fell in love for real, and she lost him forever? Her chest tightened at the thought.  

“Hey,” she said. “I just put some pizzas in, if you’re hungry.” 

He didn’t smile. “Thanks, love, perhaps later. Can we talk?” 

Emma’s heart lodged in her throat as she nodded. “Sure.” 

Killian looked at a spot just over her left shoulder. “I don’t really know how to say this,” he muttered. 

Fear was curling in her gut now, drowning the jealousy. “Say what?” she whispered. 

Killian took a deep breath. “I’m moving out,” he said. 

The fear slashed at her and turned to despair. This was it, then. He was moving in with Milah. He was leaving. They all left. 

She nodded, concentrating on staying upright, on not collapsing to the floor and sobbing out her broken heart. “When?”

“Next week. I’ll keep paying the rent here until you can find a new roommate, but that shouldn’t take long. It’s a nice apartment.” 

“Yeah.” 

The oven timer began to buzz and Emma blindly opened the door, forgetting to put on an oven glove before she grabbed the pizza tray. 

“Fuck!” she yelled, yanking her hand back. 

Killian was at her side in an instant, taking her hand gently in his. He grabbed a paper towel and ran it under cold water before wrapping it around her burn, tucking the edges in to secure it. 

“All right, love?” he asked, his voice low and rough. 

She swallowed past the ache in her chest. “Yeah.” 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and they both knew he wasn’t talking about her hand. 

“Don’t be. It’s fine. Like you said, it won’t take long to find a new roommate. Actually I think Ruby might be looking for a new place.”

“That’s good, then. Shall I get these pizzas out?” 

Emma shook her head. She couldn’t bear the thought of food. All she wanted was escape, solitude. “I’m not hungry.” 

“Nor I. I’ll wrap them up, shall I, and maybe we can eat them later.” 

“Yeah, maybe. I— I think I’ll go to bed.” 

“Aye, love. Sleep well.” 

“Goodnight, Killian.” 

Goodbye.  

 --

The weeks after Killian moved out were a blur to Emma. Ruby eagerly accepted his room, glad for a change after her ugly breakup with Victor, but Emma barely saw her. She spent every minute she could manage at work, volunteering to take the toughest skips, spending hours on stakeouts or days chasing them across state lines, driving herself to exhaustion until she could sleep dreamlessly through the night. Anything to keep her out of the apartment that felt empty and wrong without Killian in it. Anything to keep images of him living happily with Milah out of her mind. 

He texted her, of course, and she replied, pretending everything was all right. She’d gotten good at pretending. He asked if he could see her and she told him truthfully that she was busy. 

Weeks turned to months and still she drove herself relentlessly, waiting for the numbness to set in, for the heartbreak to begin to heal. As it had after Neal. After Graham. When it didn’t she couldn’t help wondering why, wondering if it could be possible that her heart had only been cracked before. If after everything she’d been through, in the end only Killian actually had the power to break her. 

Then one night David finally refused to accept her weak excuses any longer and strong-armed her into coming to the bar with him. To celebrate, he said, after she’d dragged in a skip they’d been after for more than a year. 

“Come on, Emma, I’ve barely seen you lately,” he pleaded. “Between you and Killian I feel like I’ve lost both my best friends.” 

“You haven’t seen Killian either?” Her voice sounded unnaturally high to her ears. 

“Nope. Since he moved out of your place he’s pretty much been MIA.” 

“Nesting.” Emma squeezed her eyes shut to drive the images from her brain.

“What?”

“He’s—” she cleared her throat. “He’s probably nesting. With Milah.” 

David’s frown was confused. “With Milah?” 

“Yeah, you know.” She attempted a casual shrug. “When people first move in together they tend to stay in. Nesting.” 

“Emma, you do know Killian and Milah broke up, right?”

“Wha— no, I didn’t know that!”

“Yeah.” David nodded, still frowning. “Months ago, right around the time he moved. He really didn’t tell you? I thought he told you everything.” 

“So did I.”

David pushed open the door to the bar and his frown darkened. “Speak of the devil,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of a familiar dark-haired figure, slumped at the bar with a half-empty bottle of rum at his elbow, misery in every line of his body.

Emma felt her heart clench. He must still be mourning his breakup, she thought, even months after it happened. Milah must have been really important to him. David went to talk to Killian but she hung back, watching as the two men had a fierce, hissed argument ending with Killian elbowing David aside and staggering out the door. 

As much as Emma really didn’t want to hear about his heartbreak over Milah, she couldn’t bear to see him in so much pain. Couldn’t bear to think how he must have been suffering all these months, alone while she worked herself into the ground to avoid him for her own selfish reasons. Guilt and worry churned in her gut as she turned and ran out the door, hoping to catch Killian before he found a cab. 

She found him outside, leaning against the wall of the bar, but before she could think of what to say he pushed himself away from it and took a stumbling step down the sidewalk. She darted forward and caught him before he could fall. He caught his breath sharply and looked down at her, trying to focus his hazy attention. 

“Swan,” he murmured. “Are you real this time?”

“I— what?”

He shook his head. “Just another dream. Must be.” His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her hard against him. “Good dream,” he said, so quietly she had to strain to hear him, tucking his face into her neck and breathing deeply. 

“Killian, what— what are you doing?”

“You smell so bloody good,” he whispered. “Have I ever told you that?”

Having him so close after so long was making her lightheaded. “N— no.” 

“I should have. I should have told you that, and so much else. Gods, love, I— I—” 

“You what?”

“I miss you.” He breathed the words into her hair, his hand a tight fist in the back of her jacket. “I miss the way you smell and your hair in the sink and those bloody rank Pop Tarts you insist on eating. I miss it all so goddamned much.” 

“Then why did you leave?” She choked. “David said you broke up with Milah months ago, so why—” 

“I had to.” 

“Why?”

“I had to give myself a chance to get over you.” 

“Get over me?” When were you under me? she wanted to say, but now didn’t seem like the best time to quote Friends. Killian was leaning heavily on her, his eyelids drooping, and she could see he was close to passing out. 

“Come on,” she said, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Let’s go ho— Let’s go to my place.” 

“Mmmmm,” he agreed, and let her steer him down the block and up the steps and through the door of their old apartment, holding him steady as they removed their shoes. Ruby’s bedroom door was tightly shut, her laundry piled high on the sofa. Emma figured she should just push it off and let Killian sleep there, but sometime during the walk home his hand had found its way beneath the hem of her sweater and the drag of his rough fingertips against her skin was making her shiver and ache, and he was murmuring into her hair again, words that sounded like gods so bloody soft and all she wanted was to fall asleep in his arms just once. Just for one night. Then tomorrow she would wake up early, nurse his hangover and send him home none the wiser. And she would hold the memories of that night close and secret in her heart and never yearn again. 

She hated yearning. 

She guided him through the living room and past the sofa, into her bedroom where he stood patiently, watching her with bleary eyes as she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off him together with his jacket. Her hands hovered at the waistband of his jeans for a moment, then quickly unbuttoned them and slid down the zipper, pushing them down until they pooled around his feet. 

Go for broke, Emma. 

She pulled off her jacket and sweater and shimmied out of her own jeans as he clumsily stepped out of his and kicked them away. Emma pulled her bra out from under her tank top then turned to look at him, swaying on his feet and fighting to keep his eyes open, wearing nothing but black boxer briefs enhanced by a sizeable bulge she knew he was too drunk to use. 

“Emma,” he slurred, swaying towards her. She braced just in time to catch him and guide his fall onto the bed but he grabbed her waist as he went down, dragging her along with him, groaning a bit when she landed on his chest but quickly wrapping both arms around her. “Don’t go.” 

“I won’t,” she said, “But the blankets—” 

“Don’t. Miss you.” 

“You said that already.” He wouldn’t be able to keep his eyes open much longer, she thought. He’d soon be asleep and she could—”

“Love you.” 

“What? Killian, what did you say?”

But his only response was a soft snore. Emma stared at him, her mind and heart racing. He’s drunk, she reminded herself. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. She tried to wriggle away from him to grab the blanket but he made an incoherent noise of protest and tightened his hold, pressing his face into her hair. Sighing, she stretched out her leg and caught the blanket with her foot, slowly easing it up and over them. Then she snuggled against him, rubbed her cheek against his chest and let herself pretend that this was real. 

Fuck it, she thought. It’s just a one-time thing. 

[ilovereadingandilovebreathing]

Hi! Hope you're having a good day or night depending! For the strangers meeting thing, could you do one for Soul and Maka?

Thank you; you, too! Holy CRAP I haven’t written SoMa in a long time, but I have been binging Soul Eater again, so I’ll do my best. Sorry the formatting is funky; I did it on mobile, and I’ve already had one format fiasco, so....

Young Adult!AU

“I swear to god this cat is gonna be the death of me.” Soul “Eater” Evans grumbled haughtily as he pinned up his last Lost Cat poster and began the weary trek back to his apartment. His brother had begged him to take Blair in last year when his long-time girlfriend, who was painfully allergic to cats, decided the pair should live together before getting engaged. Having no other family to willingly pawn the creature off on, Wes had turned to his bachelor younger brother. Of course, he was the one with the crazy cat lady landlady; she’d even offered to catsit for him.

Honestly, though, as much as he begroaned the circumstances of Blair’s adoption, he’d grown to like, maybe even love, the frisky little black cat. Her hours were as odd as his (night shift jobs screw up a sleep schedule), so they often kept each other company. As long as he remembered to put out her food and water and clean her litter box, she was really a low maintenance cat. Well, unless she was starved for attention. Then she’d rub herself all over him until he acquiesced to stroking her until she fell asleep, usually on his stomach so he couldn’t escape. Or unless she decided to vanish for a week without a trace. A few days was normal for Blair; Soul often suspected she had another family somewhere, but this long was unusual. Hence the posters.

Soul shoved open his lopsided apartment door, a frown pulling at his lips when he realized he’d expected Blair to come bounding over to him; maybe he did love her after all. He sighed and dropped his keys on the small table next to the front door, immediately slipping out of his coat and shoes. He collapsed onto his aging couch, allowing his head to fall back and his eyes to fall closed just as a loud buzz buzz buzz from his back pocket startled him upward again. He pulled out his phone to find an unfamiliar number.

[+1 555-6969]

Hi, you put up wanted posters for a black cat?

[+1 555-7685]

Missing? Yeah.

[+1 555-6969]

Oh. Missing? NVM

“What the hell?”

Another message came through just as he was turning his phone off; another strange number.

[+1 555-6666]

When did you put those signs up?

[+1 555-7685]

Today

[+1 555-6666]

Oh, okay. Good. Your can’t wasn’t with me, but I can’t promise anything from the others in the area. Hopefully she isn’t used.

[+1 555-7685]

Fuck off, weirdo.

He blocked the number.

A few more ominous texts came in and one from his landlady expressing her wishes for Blair’s safe return. A few fellow searching pet owners asked him for leads on their pets, and he exchanged yeses and the same request. Just as he was going to throw his phone after another sick-headed black cat hater, a properly formatted message came through with a kinder message. Finally.

[+1 555-6252]

Hey, I saw your Lost Cat posters. I’m really sorry to hear you lost her. I’ll be keeping an eye out for her; I’m pretty active in the area.

[+1 555-7685]

Thank you I appreciate it

[+1 555-6562]

No problem! I have a cat, too. Crona.

A photo of a small, sweet-faced but timid-looking kitten came through; it’s big blue eyes and stark white fur made him gasp a bit.

[+1 555-7685]

Beautiful cat

I’m a little jealous seems to be the opposite of Blair haha

[+1 555-6252]

Thank you! I just got him. He’s really shy but a good cat. What do you mean? What’s Blair like?I know you said “noisy asshole” on your poster, but…

[+1 555-7685]

Haha gets peoples attention

Pitch black fur

Big yellow eyes

Needy and bossy as hell

Nah really she’s pretty good for the most part

My brother dumped her on me

[+1 555-6525]

Crona has his moments, too, but she sounds like a handful! That’s no good, but it’s nice that you kept her! I hope you find her soon. I’m Maka, B. T. W.

[+1 555-7685]

Soul

[+1 555-6525]

That’s a cool name! Nice to meet you, Soul!

[+1 555-7685]

Maka’s pretty unique too

Back atcha

[+1 555-6525]

Like I said, I’ll be on the lookout, so let me know if there are any updates!

[+1 555-7685]

Will do.

Thanks

-

A few days passed with silence about Blair. And from Maka. Soul didn’t know why he cared about that second one. He usually got bored with texting people, especially girls who talked a lot and formatted their texts perfectly, but something about Maka was the right balance.He shook his head and focused back on his TV. He didn’t even know Maka; how could he daydream about her?

As if on cue, his phone buzzed, and he picked it up, finding himself disappointed that it wasn’t Maka’s number, but his eyes widened when he read the text.

[+1 555-7827]

Hey dude found your cat I think over near the market on Crescent Street she was bugging my girl for something to eat I think while she was waiting for me to get off work

A picture came through of a bright-blue haired young man with a wide grin and a sweet-looking lady with dark hair. The latter gently held Blair who looked up with wide eyes.

[+1 555-7685]

Yup that’s her

Where are you?

[+1 555-7827]

Outside the Limpin’ Imp Tavern on Crescent

[+1 555-7685]

Cool be there ASAP

Soul jogged out the front door and down the steps. “Found Blair, Miss Ortega!” Soul called as he eyed his landlady sitting in her front window.

“Wonderful! I’ll have a treat for her when you return!”

“Thanks!”

He continued jogging toward Crescent Street, thankfully not too far from his house. He slowed when he neared the tavern, easily spotting the couple who’d contacted him.

“Hey!” Soul waved as he approached, eying Blair curled up in the woman’s lap. “I’m Soul. You’ve got Blair.” He laughed and the woman giggled in reply.

“Yeah we do! Totally saved your cat for you, as any good citizens would!” The man erupted, laughing loudly if not unnecessarily.

“Yeah…”

“She’s very friendly.” The woman cut in. “I figured she was a local stray until I saw her collar and Blake saw your posters.”

“Yeah, maybe I should save some time and paper and get her a license with my number on it.” Soul rubbed the back of his neck.

“Not like she’s a dog or anything.” Blake cut in. “Cats are way smarter. Unlike this one. Or maybe she’s just more stubborn.”

“Blake.” The woman rolled her eyes. “I’m Tsubaki, by the way, since you introduced yourself. Here.” She took Blair into her arms and carefully stood. “We have to get going, but I’m so glad we found her.”

“Absolutely. Thank you both so much. Here’s the reward.” Soul handed a wad of bills to Blake and took Blair from Tsubaki.

“Thanks a bunch! We’re off to a great dinner!” Blake laughed loudly and threw his arm around Tsubaki’s shoulders, drawing her against him as they walked away and planting a firm kiss on her head.

“Bye, Soul! Bye, Blair!”

“Bye!” Soul chuckled as the couple made their way down the sidewalk, idly chatting about their evening plans. “Time to go home, Missy.” Soul chided the cat but ran his fingers over her back. “You’ve been gone for too long.”

Blair just sat comfortably in his hold and purred as Soul walked them both home.

-

The evening hours found Soul and Blair lounging on the sofa, Blair curled comfortably on Soul’s stomach as he scrolled idly through Netflix. The companionable quiet was shattered when Soul’s phone buzzed loudly against the glass coffee table top, and he grit his teeth. He needed to take those damn posters down. However, his annoyance simmered out when he registered the familiar number.

[+1 555-6525]

Hey, it’s Maka. Just checking in since it’s been a while. Any luck finding Blair?

Soul stretched back and snapped a shot of Blair sleeping on him.

[+1 555-7685]

Yup

Just got her back a little while ago

[+1 555-6525]

Aw awesome! So cute!!!

Maka sent an above shot of Crona snoozing on her chest, but Soul was fixated on the photographer. Big green eyes, a sweet smile, and smooth skin and hair made his heart flutter, and he swallowed.

[+1 555-7685]

Really cute

[+1 555-6525]

Ugh I know! He’s so peaceful when he sleeps. I love it so much.

[+1 555-7685]

Thanks for checking up on us

[+1 555-6525]

Yeah of course! I���m glad that she’s home! Maybe she and Crona will meet sometime, though he’s still not quite an outdoor cat yet.

[+1 555-7685]

We could arrange it

Soul smacked himself internally. A kitty play date? Really? What was he, a cat dad?!

[+1 555-6525]

True! It could help Crona develop confidence and social skills to meet in a controlled environment. Did you have anything in mind?

Shit. He didn’t really think she’d agree.

[+1 555-7685]

Uh not really

[+1 555-6525]

That’s okay! There’s this cool cat cafe that lets you bring your cat and keep it in a play area. We could try to rent a little space there or something!

This was becoming way more real and serious than Soul anticipated.

[+1 555-7685]

Sounds cool

Though we don’t really know each other

[+1 555-6525]

I promise I’m not a serial killer! Haha!

[+1 555-7685]

You’d meet some random guy? What if I’m a weirdo?

[+1 555-6525]

I’ll change my number. Easy.

[+1 555-6525]

But really it’ll be fine! I trust my instincts if not you. L.O.L.

[+1 555-7685]

Gee thanks lol

[+1 555-6525]

😉

So….Is next weekend okay?

[Soul & Blair]

Sure works for me

[Maka]

Great! See you two then!

Maka sent a snap of an awake Crona and herself making a thumbs up. Soul’s breath stuttered.

-

The weekend couldn’t come fast enough, but when it did, Soul found himself blindsided. Was he ready to meet Maka? They had only gone back and forth for a week, but the exchanges were multiple times daily, and he quickly found himself falling fast and hard for the girl in the photos and videos.

As he opened the door to the cat cafe, he gasped, ignoring Blair’s pitiful cries to be free of her cat carrier when he spotted Maka in the back corner. Her slender legs were folded over each other; her hair was pulled back into a neat messy bun (crazy how that worked somehow), and he could see her eyes quickly skimming over the pages in front of her. Smart and beautiful. He was done for.

“Hey…” He pulled up in front of her and pulled out the chair across from her.

She looked up and beamed, her eyes catching the dim glow of the Edison lights around them.

“Hey!” She closed her book and pointed to a low, plastic door. “The play area is over there. They have some toys in there, but I kept Crona with me until you guys got here.” She picked up Crona’s carrier from its guarded spot between her seat and the wall and led him to set their cats free.

Once they settled back in, Maka handed him a menu. “They have great coffee drinks here.”

“I drink mine black, so it doesn’t make a huge difference to me.”

“I could never. Why, if I may ask?”

“Lactose intolerance.”

“Ah.”

“This is so weird.”

“What?” Maka cocked a brow, a slight shadow of worry passing over her features.

“I dunno. It’s like we’re texting in real life now.”

“Texting is real. Just not in person.”

“You know what I mean.”

She giggled. “I do.”

That giggle confirmed it.

Soul would make sure their conversations were purely words and in person as often as possible.

“So, tell me about yourself. I wanna hear it all.”

Hope you liked it! Thanks for the prompt!

[bandpreferences15]

Sticky and Sweet

Dacre Montgomery x Reader

Summary: This is based on Gaten’s IMDB (i think) “Best Interview Ever”. Y/N is new to the set of Stranger Things 3. Her character has multiple scenes with Billy so she’s become close with Dacre. When Y/N needs a hand with something for an interview, she knows just who to call.

Y/C/N: Your Character’s name

Masterlist

“Y/N! Thanks for joining us today!” The interviewer sat behind the camera while you took a seat in one of the plush chairs in the makeshift living room you’d be shooting in.

“Thank you! It’s great to be here!” you smiled brightly. This press tour had been a long one, exhaustion quickly catching up to you. You were tired, but you wouldn’t let it stop you from giving interviews and meeting fans. You’d been lucky enough to make it onto one of the biggest shows in the world, the least you could do was sit, smile, and give a few behind the scenes tidbits for the public to enjoy. 

“So, Y/N, are you up for a little game today?” the interviewer asked, shuffling the cue cards in his hands. You nodded excitedly. Normally you’d just sit in your chair and answer questions, so games were a welcome change.

“Ok. We’ll start small. Would you rather have a Steve Harrington temporary tattoo, or a Billy Hargrove temporary tattoo?” You readjusted yourself in your chair, tucking your legs under yourself.

“Well I guess I have to go with Billy since we spent so much time together.” you laughed. One of the producers brought you a sponge, a cup of water and the Billy tattoo. “I like this game! Let’s do another one!” You carefully peeled the plastic layer off the tattoo, letting the wet sponge soak the temporary ink onto your skin.

“Alright! Moving on, Would you rather have a Hopper Sheriff hat or a Will Byers haircut?”

“This is a hard one...um let’s go with the Hopper hat.” The hat was placed on your head while you carefully peeled the paper layer from your temporary tattoo. You held your forearm up to the camera. “Nailed it!” The camera crew laughed.

“Ok next one!” The interviewer called, also clearly enjoying himself. “Would you rather have 11 pounds of waffles or an 11 pound waffle sundae?”

“Well it’s 9am and I haven’t had breakfast so I’ll gladly take 11 pounds of waffles.”

It took two crew members to carry the giant stack of waffles to the little table that had been set in front of your comfy chair. There was a dish of butter and a large jug of maple syrup placed beside them and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh my god this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done” you picked up the knife and fork, not knowing where to start. “This is a crap ton of waffles, I might have to phone a friend to come help me eat these!” you joked.

“You totally could if you wanted to!” the interviewer replied. “We’d love to get your friends’ opinions on the progress and storyline of the show.”

You dug your phone out of your pocket, scrolling through your contacts. Joe and Maya had an interview at a radio studio across town, Charlie and Natalia were headed to a charity event and the kids were probably looking forward to spending their day off at the hotel pool. You smiled as you came across the name you’d been looking for, tapping the ‘call’ button and waiting for the ringing to start.

“Mmmwhat?” a sleepy voice answered. 

“Morning, sunshine!” the excitement in your greeting prompted a groan and rustling of sheets from the Aussie on the other end of the line.

“What do you want, Y/N?” you could practically hear him snuggling further into his sheets.

“Well good morning to you too Mr. Grumpy. Can you come to Room 381? I need your help with an interview.” You held up a finger toward the camera crew, signalling that you were nearly finished with your call. 

“Whyyyyy?” he whined “I’m so comfy!”

“Pleeeease???” you whined back, mocking his tone, “I have waffles!” you popped another forkful of the delicious breakfast into your mouth.

There was quiet on the other end of the line.

“Don’t fall asleep on me, dude! Get dressed and come down, I need a waffle buddy!”

“A wha- Jesus Christ... Fine. Give me fifteen minutes.”

You ended the call, placing the phone back in your pocket.

“He’s on his way!” you smiled at the interviewer, “Now let’s get back to these ‘would you rathers’. What else you got?” you asked, dipping a chunk of waffle into the little pool of syrup that had been collecting at the edge of the plate.

“Would you rather wear a Demogorgon onesie or a Stranger Things Christmas lights snuggie for the rest of the interview?”

“Oh my God! The domogorgon! For sure!” You had just finished zipping up the onesie and were adusting the hood when a knock sounded on the door. You heard a few of the crew members clap excitedly as Dacre waled in, politely introducing himself before his gaze landed on you. 

“What are you wearing! Oh my god!” he was nearly doubled over at the sight of you, Sheriff’s hat perched precariously on the hood of the Demogorgon onesie. He wiped at his eyes, a few tears having escaped at the expense of his laughter. You patted the seat beside you.

“I promised you waffles, now come sit with me.” Dacre made himself comfortable, opting to squish the two of you into one chair rather than move to the sofa. 

“Dacre, would you like a costume?” the interviewer asked.The Aussie nodded vigorously, grinning as he was handed a ‘Scoops Ahoy’ uniform and a Dustin hat.

“This is the best!” he exclaimed, snatching the forkful of waffles that had nearly made it into your mouth. He took a large bite, his lips wrapping around the metal tines in an effort to get every last bit of maple-y goodness. You stared at him in feigned shock. 

“I invite you here to share my waffles and you steal them away?!” you exclaimed dramatically, clutching your chest. Dacre nearly snorted with laughter.

“I can’t take you seriously. This is adorable.” he tugged on one of the Demogorgon mouth flaps that made up the hood of your onesie. 

“I’m not adorable. I’m a terrifying, Barb-eating, monster!” 

“OOOHHH. Too soon, Y/N, too soon.” the interviewer laughed.

By the time the interviewer had run out of questions, you and Dacre had managed to finish about two thirds of the plate of waffles.

“I’m so full. You’re going to have to roll me out of here.” you groaned, leaning back in the plush chair. Dacre’s arm was rested behind you and it might have looked like you were cuddling if the demogorgon hood wasn’t in the way.

One of the producers came to get the plate of now cold waffles and you took the opportunity to glance over at the man you’d spent the last few months filming with.

“I missed you.” he confessed, using the arm that was resting behind you to pull you closer to his side.

“You saw me yesterday!” you laughed, giving him a light shove. He squeezed you tighter to him, both arms now pressing you against him as he threw his head back. 

“I can’t live a day without you, Y/C/N!!” he called dramatically, sending the whole room into a fit of laughter.

“You look like Mike Myers in Wayne’s World with that hat!” you countered, trying to hide your disappointment when he abruptly stood from the chair and stuck a pose. 

“I’ll have you know that I am a very fashionable man. Don’t tell me how to live my life!” The two of you were so caught up in your little charade that you hadn’t even realized the camera crew had begun packing up.

Dacre tugged once again on the hood of your onesie. 

“Come on. You got breakfast so I’m buying us lunch. Or on second thought, dinner. I think we need to sleep off these waffles first.” He laughed, extending his hand to you. The two of you returned your props to the production team and thanked everyone for the most fun interview you’d ever had.

As you and Dacre exited the room, you bumped into Millie and Sadie on their way to the pool.

“Guys. That was the cutest interview I’ve ever seen. In my entire life. Ever.” Millie exclaimed, nearly bouncing with excitement. Sadie nodded in agreement.

“It was live?” Dacre asked, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

“Yup!” Sadie nodded, grabbing Millie’s arm and pulling her toward the elevator.

“Enjoy the rest of your day, lovebirds!”

BONUS:

You hid your face in the shoulder of Dacre’s sweatshirt and groaned.

“How long do you think they’ve known?” He murmured, resting his head on top of yours. 

“Probably since you basically attack hugged me at the premiere. Maya teased me about it all night.” you blushed, reaching down to slip your hand into his.

Dacre smiled at the memory. 

The car he’d been in had just pulled up to the red carpet, cameras flashing and people everywhere. But he was able to spot you. Not waiting for the red carpet attendant to open his door, Dacre bounded from the car, grabbing you around the waist and spinning you away from the interview you’d been giving.You’d let out something  between a gasp and a squeal as he placed you back on the ground. Dacre helped you fix your dress and kept his chin propped on your shoulder for the remainder of your interview. He even gave you a kiss on the cheek before moving down the carpet to greet Joe and Maya, who had both witnessed the exchange and were currently plotting their relentless teasing. The two of you had made flirty comments and serious eye contact back and forth across the red carpet for nearly an hour before everyone was ushered inside. Dacre had lost sight of you for a good thirty minutes before he felt you, fingertips glidin along the inside of his wrist. He let you pull him to the dance floor, any excuse to be close to you undeniably appealing. 

[tycoons-official]

Tycoons Off Duty (2017)

Run time: 6-10 minutes

Genre: Reality Show

Status: Ongoing

• 'Tycoons Off Duty' is a video clip series that is uploaded to Tycoons' official YouTube channel, showing their daily lives behind the scenes through raw, minimally edited footage either recorded in third person view or 'vlog style' as Tycoons wanted the viewers to feel like they are a further part of their life. The first vlog was released on the 25th of January, well over 3 weeks after promotions for 'Tycoons The Album' and 'MAFIA' are done.

• These clips show their slow/lazy everyday routines that mostly include watching television on the sofa, playing games and eating snacks together, or occasionally they'd go out to buy groceries, run errands here and there and maybe even greet fans on the side. Most of the time the siblings are even shown bickering, having silly fights and taking care of each other like how normal siblings do, and many people find these antics to be endearing, funny and —for the most part— relatable.

Cooking with Carmen (2017)

Run time: 15-18 minutes

Genre: Cooking Show

Status: Ongoing

• 'Cooking with Carmen' is a video series that stars Carmen cooking dishes and baking desserts of all sorts, whilst also showing off her culinary skills and using them to boost Tycoons' popularity. The series was created upon the fall season when Tyke has to go away to do his annual military service after doing his initial one.

• Carmen isn't as flashy with her 'acrobatics' around the kitchen as other chefs are, but she makes up for it in food presentation, flavor and aesthetic. The company's team also decided to occasionally allow a bit of ASMR to the videos before cueing back in with some soft accompanying music.

• Capos enjoy this series as it shows a different side of Carmen they'd never thought they'd see, being such a bold, sexy, stoic character on stage, and they found it fascinating and endearing. They seem to be highly interested in how Carmen could've become a chef instead of an idol by how talented she is (or, how talented she's made to seem) and made fanfictional 'alternate universes' or 'AU's where Tycoons are running a family-owned cafe with Carmen was the head chef and Tyke was the Barista. Tycoons themselves enjoy reading these fanfiction stories and get shocked or rather amused by how accurate or inaccurate the way their Capos interpret their personalities without even meeting them.

A Talk with Tyke (2017)

Run time: 15-18 minutes

Genre: Talk Show

Status: On Hold

• 'A Talk with Tyke' is a show that stars Tyke as the main host. It is predominantly a talking show that discusses upon several random topics ranging from school bullying to internet dating to socks, accompanied by funny animations and picture scenery inserts that filled the empty space of green screen behind Tyke, that would sometimes cut into view as he made mistakes while talking or if he's laughing too hard and needed a break or if he said something too funny that even the staff had to laugh. The show is often seen as a 'sibling series' to 'Cooking with Carmen' where his sister is mainly starred, and Capos seem to really like the coincidences.

• The show covers on a certain topic, as mentioned before, and at first Tyke starts talking a little more seriously about it but until the half end of the video is when he starts making jokes as funny edited scenes cut in from everywhere else. There have been recent collaborations with Tyke's own sister and other Tycoons Carmen, Stray Kids' Changbin and Woojin, TWICE's Momo and Chaeyoung, and Park Jimin of former group AOA.

• Capos that were also fans of a show called RuPaul's Drag Race often compare this show to one called 'UNHhhh' that features two of it's former contestants for it's comedic use of flashy edited pictures and sound effects, floating words and funny topics. They've dubbed it the 'Korean UNHhhh minus the drag', though again, this is debatable.

Tycoons' Secret Wish (2018)

Run time: 30-45 minutes

Genre: Reality Show

Status: Ongoing

• 'Tycoons' Secret Wish' is a show that stars both members of Tycoons and is about the idols meeting certain fans who have been struggling with familial, social, monetary or internal battles and had friends and/or family members secretly sent ask letters to JYP Entertainment's main building with the special secret wish code, also known as, 'I call upon the Godfather' as well as a proper reason as to why they wanted their friend/family member to join the show and have their idols see them in order to be accepted by the show. The show is meant to promote the idea that idols can help those struggling hard by listening to their concerns and offering moral support from said idols' experience. Being that Tycoons have witnessed and experienced unfair deaths, inequality and a deteriorating hope during their childhood, they are considered well versed in this moral giving concept.

• The series would always start with Tycoons leaving the JYP building and telling the viewers about who their visitee is, what their background is like, whom sent in the ask letter, and why they would need to send in the letter. Then the duo will get in their transport car with one of their managers and go to the location of the visitee and meet them by surprise which comes into the idea of a 'secret wish.'

• Capos enjoy the series and is dubbed by Vogue as one of the best foreign television series to ever grace the TV screens all over the world, however, this is of course debatable. Unfortunately this show was published a couple months before Tyke has to leave for his annual military service after serving his initial one, and had to stay on hold for a couple of weeks so Tyke can come back and rest, and also regrow his hair back.

Tycoons Off Duty

• In a scene from episode 15 of season 1 [by far the most controversial and popular episode to this date] the episode starts off with Carmen greeting the camera with a croaky morning voice ["Good morning Capos, and everyone who's watching this, Tyke's asleep, and I'm Carmen, and together we are Tycoons"] before momentarily setting it down on the kitchen counter, taking what looked to be medicine pills from the kitchen cabinet above her before bringing them, paired with a glass of water, back into the bedroom where Tyke was still sleeping peacefully on their queen-sized bed that they were sharing for the time being. She sets the medicine on the bedside table and proceeds to wake him up, with much convincing and bribing with candies, Tyke soon wakes up and takes the pills that Carmen just took out.

• People of course speculated what those pills could be and on one of their Vlives held not long after this episode aired, Carmen explains to some questioning fans that Tyke does suffer from an illness that needed medication and specified on it being depression. She clarified that she was giving him prescribed medicine given and approved by his psychiatrist and their agency. She even mentions earlier in the Vlive that she already asked permission to their manager about 'breaking the news' to the Capos. [By that she meant telling them about Tyke's depression]

• This ruffled some Korean Capos the wrong way and they began spreading rumors and derogatory comments about Tyke on his and his sister's social media, saying that they should just stop being idols if they had such severe mental problems or if they're just trying to use the illness as a marketing ploy to catch the attention of the public. However the international Capos praised Carmen for being transparent about Tyke's mental illness and Tyke himself for being able to carry out the duties of an idol whilst harboring a mental illness which they presume from other idols' lives and troubles to be extremely demanding physically and mentally.

• By breaking the flawless, perfect image that idols are supposed to uphold, Tycoons both knew that they were going to have to dip into hot waters and apologize whilst also defending themselves by saying that they hope that the media will understand and never forget that music is how Tycoons themselves cope with their internal troubles, and hoped that this terrible and toxic the privilege that fans feel over their idols' personal lives and information will never happen to them or anyone else.

Tycoons' Secret Wish

• In a scene from episode 10 of season 1, Tyke is seen asking his present manager at the time Hyejeong a request to the bathroom while a female fan came into the shot and head locked him, before dragging him towards a room, whilst Hyejeong fought and tried to free the poor idol in the girl's grasp. Carmen darted out of the visitee's room and threw a strong punch at the fan before they were separated by Tycoons' security sent to prevent mobs [or flying sasaengs] and keep the idols safe. The fan seemed to be crazed with awestruckness and love for Tyke as she was giggling and sending kisses towards his direction as he laid on the floor, still shocked and trying to process everything that had just happened.

• Apparently, the fan that had done this to Tyke was a sasaeng and Capos managed to find pictures of the girl at fan signs, concerts, airport arrivals and many more locations, and the visitee felt embarrassed to say that said fan was one of her kpop crazed cousins that originally introduced the visitee to kpop and Tycoons. The girl didn't end up apologizing in her apology nots even though she did say that she regret what she did but hoped to let Tyke notice her next time. [Edit: He didn't SKSKSK]

[hellas-himself]

Ch. 6 Año Viejo

Ch. 5

After the death of his father, Azriel is forced to go back to the one place he swore he’d never return to. But he finds himself quite literally face to face with his past, one that he had not let himself think of since he’d left. 

Ch.7

.

.

.

.

I reached over to Elain’s side of the bed and knew immediately that it wasn’t her playing with my hair.

“What the hell are you doing in my bed, Cas?”

He and Rhys started to laugh.

“Where’s Elain?”

I sat up and looked around the room.

“The girls went shopping. It’s just us today,” Cassian said, throwing an arm around me.

“Mom went with them, too,” Rhys added.

I nodded, fighting down a yawn.

“Get dressed. We’re going out.”

*

I usually hated when Cassian drove, but I was so tired I really didn’t care that he was probably risking a speeding ticket. I had sunglasses on and the biggest thermos I could find full of coffee. They didn’t even give me time to eat breakfast. Rhys was half asleep in the back seat, even with all the wind. Our dad had bought the jeep maybe a month after they’d moved here, and every time Cassian came to stay, he usually asked for the keys and disappeared with Nesta for a day or two.

“Where are we going?” I asked as civilization began to grow sparse.

“Can’t your brother want to surprise you?”

“Your surprises usually end up with one of us shit faced and passed out on mom’s porch.”

“It was one time!”

“Feyre has pictures of the two of us, you know.”

He looked at me so suddenly I had to laugh.

“I’m serious.”

Cassian sighed.

“This one won’t end bad, I promise.”

“Is there food involved?”

“We’ll stop.”

And we did stop. At a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Cassian went in alone and came back out with four bags of food, snacks and drinks. Once he had what he wanted, Cas started driving again. We lost cell service afterwards and after another half hour of driving, Cassian turned carefully; the ocean was to our left and the mountains to our right. He drove downhill before turning left and parked the jeep in the grass. There was a house a little ways in, surrounded by palms and shrubbery.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“I built it. A few years ago.”

“You built yourself a beach house.”

He shrugged as we neared the little porch.

“Tarquin didn’t care. No one really comes out here. Well, only the locals.”

He unlocked the door and we went inside. There was a little sitting area with very comfortable looking sofas. A small kitchen. One bathroom. And a bedroom that barely fit anything else but the bed. The closet was empty save for some towels and what looked to be bathing suits.

But he didn’t bring us here to lounge about, even if I would have been glad to sleep on the sofa. There was only one another room in the house and I had the feeling it had been the living room once. But now, it existed for the sole purpose of storing and caring for the surf boards he had in there.

“Three years?” Rhys asked, leaning against the wall.

“Nesta wanted something for just the two of us… But she woke me up this morning and told me to bring you here because she wanted to be with her sisters. I thought she was kidding, but she’s… she’s really happy that Elain is here. I haven’t seen her smile like that in a long time.”

*

We three sat in the sand, exhausted. I felt as if it would take days to get all this sand off but I didn’t care. This had been amazing. Even with how guilty as I felt, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being around my brothers.

“If tomorrow wasn’t New Year’s Eve,” I said, “I wouldn’t mind staying here.”

“Oh yeah?” Cas threw an arm around me.

“That was fun.”

“It really was,” Rhys added.

“I’m glad you’re home,” Cas said to me. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

Cassian reached over to push on Rhys, even with me in the middle.

“I missed you, too, hermanito.”

I let out a long sigh.

“Hey, guys, I wanted to run something by you.”

*

Mom didn’t let us in the house when we got back, even though we’d showered at Cassian’s beach house. She sent us to the shower outside in the backyard.

“Az?” It was Elain. I got on my tip toes and looked over the wall.

“Hey.”

“I brought you a towel.”

“You’re the best, El.”

“Where’s my towel?” Cas whined.

“Nesta said you can air dry,” Elain said and Rhys and I did our best not to laugh.

I held my hand out and shut the door once it was in my hands. I wrapped it around my waist and looked at my brothers.

“I’ll come back for you. I promise,” I said, putting a hand to my heart. I was practically shoved out and Elain was blushing, a hand to her mouth as she giggled.

“I made your favorite for dinner,” she said as she held out her hand to me. But I lifted her up off the floor and covered her face in kisses.

“I missed you today,” I said.

“Me too. But I got a dress for tomorrow,” she said as I set her on her feet. “It’s actually a romper. But it’s perfect for the shoes you got me the day we went into town.”

“You bought something based off shoes?”

She looked at me as if I’d blasphemed.

“Az, they are too perfect not to wear them tomorrow.”

Nesta and Feyre were walking out with towels and when they saw us, they motioned for us to be quiet. I was almost tempted to stay in the kitchen and eat but mom looked at me from the living room and I kept walking to the stairs.

I walked to the closet and tried to find her dress, but only found the ones we’d gotten after Christmas. My closet had become mostly hers, and I honestly loved it.

“Don’t even think about looking for it,” Elain said, leaning back against the door. “I hid it in Cassian’s room. Nesta has it.”

I smirked.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

*

Mom was fixing dad’s tie the two of them all ready to go. Cassian had been tying and untying his hair for the last five minutes, waiting for Nesta to come down. Rhys was upstairs, refusing to let Feyre walk down in heels without him there next to her. I was just finished rolling up the sleeves to my midnight blue button up shirt when Cassian whistled.

Nesta rolled her eyes, coming down the stairs in a glittery red dress that I was surprised to see her in. That was usually Feyre’s type of dress. Feyre wore black, as always. They carefully made their way down the stairs and Rhys looked relieved when she walked over to compliment Nesta’s hair.

“I’m almost done!” Elain shouted from my room. I was tempted to go up there but I knew she’d kick me out.

“If she changed her mind I’m going to scream,” Nesta said, and then told Cassian to keep his hair up. He stopped fidgeting then.

I really wasn’t sure what I expected when Elain told me she’d wanted this to be a surprise. I didn’t know what the hell a romper was so I had no guesses. But when she walked down the steps, I realized I would have never guessed it right.

It was rose gold, much like the shoes I’d gotten her. It had long, sheer sleeves with sequins in it. She had a pretty necklace on… but it had a thin chain that went down, down- the neckline was very deep. I knew my brothers were laughing at me for staring, and Elain was blushing but holy shit.

“You look beautiful, El.”

“It’s not too much, is it? I was struggling with the stupid body chain and-”

She realized everyone was looking at her. She had tanned somewhat since we’d arrived here and that rose gold against her skin, the way her hair was down-

“Pictures, then we leave,” mom declared. No one even fought her on it. We left their house with her smiling.

*

Tarquin’s mansion was full of people. Live music, an open bar and people were even in the pool. We found Tarquin busy building Año Viejo with Varian. He’d taken up the tradition ever since we did it at the house years ago. So we took turns each year, depending who was hosting.

“I haven’t seen one of these in forever,” Elain said. “Are you going to burn it?”

“We do that at our house. Everyone gets to have a turn with the bat here,” mom said and happily went to hug Tarquin.

It felt like an eternity of running into our friends, greeting one another, introducing Elain to anyone who didn’t know her. But it was nice having her next to me; if we weren’t holding hands, she had her arm looped in mine or I had a hand on the small of her back.

We finally found Amren by the champagne tower. She was dressed in silver, enormous red rubies hanging from her neck. I was surprised she hadn’t tipped over. She smirked when I said as much. She didn’t throttle me because she was far more interested in Elain.  

“You look sublime, Elain,” she said. “Wherever did you find that outfit?”

Amren handed Elain a glass of champagne and took her by the hand to go sit together. I took that as my cue to go find something else to do.

“Oye, pollo!” I smiled turning around to find our mother walking towards me. “I lost your father to the domino table.”

“Already?”

“Thesan and Viviane are playing against him and Kallias.”

“Good god.”

“Y la novia?”

“Amren found her.”

“Pobrecito,” she said and pinched my cheek.

“Want to go dance?”

Her grin was all the answer I needed.

*

As it neared midnight, everyone began to go outside. We had eaten and danced and drank so much champagne, save Feyre who had taken one nap upstairs in Cresseida’s room and had been drinking some fruity drink Tarquin had made just for her. Most of those who’d come in heels were barefoot, even Elain. She had left those upstairs in Amren’s room. We walked out to the grass, Elain sighing with relief. While some gathered around Año Viejo, others were passing around grapes.

“Did you have fun?” Elain asked me.

“Yes. Did you?”

“Yeah… This was amazing.”

“Elain, I-”

The countdown began and Elain joined in.

“Happy New Year!” everyone shouted as fireworks lit up the sky. Elain turned around, pulling me by the collar to kiss me.

“I love you, Azriel,” she said and kissed me again.

“And I love you,” I replied. Soon enough, our family and friends were going around, hugging and kissing one another until Elain and I somehow ended up by Año Viejo who was ready to fall apart. Thesan handed Elain the bat and she giggled nervously.

“Az, you should go.”

“Go on. Just think of something you want to let go of and let him have it.”

She laughed and walked up, standing as if she were at base. She did two practice swings before she hit the muñeco with such force, his head rolled off, clothes and newspapers spilling onto the floor. Everyone lost their shit, Cassian came and lifted Elain in the air while Nesta finished the job. It was Rhys -Rhys- that picked up Nesta, and my brothers carried the sisters around the pool, everyone following around them drunk and riled up.

When Elain came back to me, she had a bowl of grapes in her hand.

“I know it’s late already, but what the hell, right? I couldn’t find anymore of the black ones. I know you don’t like the green ones, I hope red is okay.”

I smiled. “It’s perfect, El.”

“Make a wish,” she said and no, that wasn’t how this went. But my girlfriend was hand feeding me grapes and I was only thinking of every single thing I wanted to give her, everything I wanted to share with her.

I didn’t need twelve wishes for that. 

.

.

.

Año Viejo  literally translates to “old year”. As a kid, I remember everyone made a man out of old clothes and things, sat him outside and at midnight, you either beat it or set it on fire. Both. It was to symbolize letting go of the old. PLEASE keep the squiggle over the letter N else  Año becomes ano which means anus and we don’t want that. 

Oye means hey! or Listen! but in this case, it’s hey!

Pollo means chicken or chick BUT when used in this context- it means handsome. don’t ask. I don’t even know and I've heard it my whole life. 

Y la novia? means ‘and the girlfriend?” like, where is she

Pobrecito. remember the ‘cito’ makes everything small or like a baby, right? pobre means poor so it basically means “poor baby”. or you just really feel bad for the person/ it’s all in the tone. 

muñeco  means doll. or anything that resembles a person but isn’t real. 

we’re supposed to eat 12 grapes at midnight but no one ever does. that’s a lot of grapes in such a small amount of time. 

.

.

.

@dreamerforever-5 @fireheart-of-your-dreams @maastrash

sorry it took so long! my daughter started school this week and my sleep is all over the place. 

[vellihor]

選擇 ° chpt 2.

genre 》 skz mafia!au

word count 》 1857

warning 》 angst, violence, gore, etc.

__________________________________________________________

YUBIN

i knocked a few times on changbin's door. i roll my eyes as i hear loud rap music being blasted on the other side of the door. i slide the door open anyways. i see changbin punching furiously at the punching bag.

i walk over to the speaker to stop the blaring music, only to have my brother spin around to glare at me. seeing me, he hesitates before taking off his boxing gloves and hanging them up on the rack. i toss a towel at him, grossed out at the sweat dripping down his body. as he caught the towel in midair and cocked an eyebrow at me.

" we havent had sibling heart to heart talk in a long while changbin."

he motioned for me to sit down on his bed. which i graciously took up his offer on. i hugged his plushie, gyu, the only clean thing around the room. i watch as he pulls out a fresh shirt from his closet. he drags a chair from his desk to sit infront of me. then i decide to start the ball rolling.

" so whats your deal with minjung? hm? "  

i see him facepalm himself and groan into his palm. because changbin was older than me by two years, he always had trouble opening up to me. he felt as if he was not doing a good job as an older brother. thats why i started this heart to heart talk between the two of us. i waited as he lifted his head to look at me, thinking about how to put it in words.

" that woman simply ticks me off. shes single-handedly the most stubborn person i have met- "

" says you. "

i pressed my lips in a thin line as changbin gave me an unamused expression.

" i dont know we just dont work well together. i work well with anyone and everyone except her. she hates my guts, i hate her guts. we are even. then chan has to force us to work together. to be honest, i thought making the situation worse would make chan rethink about this shitty paring. guess i was wrong. "

" well from my point of view, i think the both of you should try to tolerate each other. i mean you have always been good at tolerating people. why not just tolerate each other. you guys cant jump at the first chance to kill each other. who knows maybe you guys will end up liking each other. "

he grabs a nearby soft toy and chucks it at me. probably from my last sentence. but i see him slowly consider my words.

" then whats with you and hyunjin trying to send each other to your respective graves huh? "

" thats a different situation! "

" mhmm tell me. how so? "

" ugh youre impossible. "

" lets make a deal then. if you try to get along with hyunjin, i promise to try to get along with minjung. "

i eyed him suspiciously and stuck out my pinky. he locked his pinky with mine. he shot me his goofy smile. i scoff at him as i lay down on his bed. he lies down next to me and we stay in a comfortable silence, staring at the ceiling. until i break the silence.

" do you ever miss mum and dad? "

he pauses before replying.

" all the time. i just wish they didnt leave so soon. maybe then we wouldnt have ended up like this. sure we have been through tougher things but i wonder how different things will be if they were still here. "

" remember that time we stole from the convenience store? we nearly ended up in jail. i still cant believe we survived by ourselves for so many years. "

he chuckles softly as he recalls the memories. ever since our parents died in a fire, changbin and i have always been relying on each other. i vaguely remember changbin sitting on the pavement and bawling his eyes out. his head was buried in his two hands as he sat there trying to comprehend the life-changing situation he had experienced. i remember twelve year old me being lost and clueless, wandering about in the crowd that had formed in front of the building. changbin shot up as soon as he heard my voice and engulfed me in a hug. the both of us had tried so hard to forget about that incident. but one of us would get a nightmare about it every now and then.

it has been five years since chan took us in and decided that we would have family members to look out for us. now we feel like SK is our family.

i watch as changbin stands up from the bed and looks at me in disdain before snatching gyu out of my hands. he strokes gyu before placing it down on the bed. changbin offers his hand to help me stand up. but i know better than to fall for that trick again. i push off the bed on my own. changbin looks offended that i didnt take his hand. i punched his left arm before walking towards the door. he gives me a look of pure pain and disbelief, while holding his left arm.

" did you just-? did you not hold back anything in that punch?"

" come on. dinner is about to be done. i bet you a hundred bucks that grandpa woojin is going to complain about how nobody helped him to prepare dinner. "

i chuckle as i slide the door open. i walked to living room, spotting hyunjin playing pool. changbin nudged me towards him. i scowled at my brother, only to have him flip me off. he shooed me off, mouthing "get along with him".

i walked to the pool table and picked up a cue stick. hyunjin pretended to not see me. i was going to give up being nice. but changbin was watching from the sofa. so i resorted to poking hyunjin in his ribs with the cue stick to get his attention. hyunjin saw it coming and dodged it before i even hit his ribcage. he sneered at me. i scoffed and threw my hands up.

changbin was still watching from the sofa. i took a deep breath before speaking.

" best out of three. loser treats the winner to a round of drinks. "

i sigh in relief as i see hyunjin consider my offer, nod and reset the pool table. i look towards changbin. he was giving me two thumbs up. i grin widely at him as i see him being awkward with minjung, who had just came out of the shower. he was trying so hard to start a conversation without being weird.

i turn my attention to hyunjin.

" ladies first. "

" wow hyunjin is being a gentleman for the first time. "

" hey take it or leave it. "

i say nothing as i rest my cue stick on my fingers.

__________________________________________________________

HYUNJIN

i eye the woman infront of me suspiciously. her behaviour seemed too abnormal today. she was actually being nice to me. just to clarify, that has never happened. ever.

yubin clears her throat and gestures to the pool table.

"um.... so i won and drinks after dinner are on you,"

i shrug and continue staring at her unknowingly, watching her put the cuestick down and run to the kitchen to help woojin with dinner.

i snap out of it when woojin shouted for everyone to eat dinner. i walked over to the dining table with jisung. dinner was the usual. everybody was talking loudly and enjoying dinner.

i noticed that changbin and minjung were talking to each other. i scrunched my nose in confusion. i nudged seungmin.

"whats with changbin and minjung?"

"what?"

"nobody realises that theyre being friendly to each other ????"

"yeah no dumbass. they are on a truce. they just said it just now. pay attention to the table conversation will you?"

"ouch, no need to snap at me like that. that hurt my feelings."

my mind wandered to yubin being not-so-hostile to me. she DID try to puncture my ribs with the cuestick.

__________________________________________________________

after dinner, i brought two bottles of beer up to the roof. i looked around looking for yubin but i couldnt see her anywhere.

"did she just bail on me?" i thought.

just then, i spotted a dark ball snuggled into one of the many oversized beanbags that jisung bought. i walked over to see her looking up at the sky. i plopped myself on the beanbag next to hers.

"so whats up there that got you staring for so long?"

she doesnt even look at me. no acknowledgement of my presence whatsoever. i scoff at her.

"wow so youre not even going to reply me? even after i got you beer? come on you have got to be kidding me."

after a few minutes of silence, i hear soft snoring coming from my right. "no way. no fucking way. is she sleeping?" unsure of what i had just heard, i snapped my head to look at her. leaning in closer to check if she was indeed asleep. upon a closer look, i realise i have been sitting next to a sleeping yubin.

i sigh as i sink back into my beanbag while taking a swig out of the bottle in my hand. after a few minutes, she stretches and somehow manages to hit my eye in a state of half conciousness. my right hand presses against the injured part. she recoils in shock and grabs onto my arm. her face was full of worry and she was starting the panic.

"ohmygod ohmygod i am so sorry. fuck fuck fuck. you need ice. wait here im going to go get ice for you. do not move."

i chuckle at her and removed my right hand.

"im not injured you dumbass. that was payback for making me wait for you to wake up."

she freezes with an unreadable expression. i stiffen at her reaction. she then slowly sinks back down in her beanbag with an almost inaudible "oh".

the atmosphere becomes awkward again. yubin clears her throat and reaches for her bottle of beer.

"um yubin?"

"what?"

"thats my bottle."

.

.

.

"yea i know. my bottle isnt open yet."

*awkward silence yet again*

*caw caw caw*

"so,, um hyunjin, do you have any siblings?"

*caw caw caw*

"uh....... sure yea of course i do. i have a twin sister and an older brother. my twin sister went missing when we were five and my older brother ran away from home when i was seven."

i looked over at yubin to see her mumbling to herself.

"hey dont worry its fine. really."

she looks at me with a forced smile.

"and your parents- ohmygod i just asked a stupid question didnt i? ah fuck sorry. im bad at this."

i let out a loud laugh as she facepalms herself. she gives me a questioning look.

"hey hey relax. no need to panic so much. just breathe okay? and yes to answer your question, i do have parents. both are healthy and fully alive."

"what about you, yubin? whats your story?"

"where do i even start?"

[jungkookienoona]

The Meme And His Tutor

Part 47: The Day The Tutor Went Shopping With Jaehi

Co-written with @jiminieblush

Recommended Song: favOriTe by LOOΠΔ

|Masterlist|

Summary:

After a comment about how barren your apartment was, you decided to make it homely and go shopping with Jaehi. She had her own errand to do.

Genre: Fluff, comedy

Pairing: Jungkook X Reader (Y/N)

Warnings: Swearing, implied bondage, implied usage of sex toys.

Word Count:4325

Length: 47/?

"Miri! Come on baby girl!"

You shrugged on your coat while waiting for the little pupper to join you at the door. Her nails clicked against the hardwood flooring as she approached, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud clanging sound. What the fuck?

Dropping your shoes, you ventured further into the apartment and noticed Miri picking herself up off the floor, a metal soda can by her side. You sighed; trust Taehyung to forget to tidy up all of his cans of drink from the night before. He could be surprisingly messy when he wanted to be. You sighed and proceeded to put the cans in recycling. Yes, you enjoyed having Bangtan come to visit and most times they cleaned up after themselves. But sometimes you just wanted to shoo them out the door. Like when Jin brought up the homeliness of your apartment. Especially the empty corner of your living area.

Upon moving in, you'd set up a cheap bookshelf to display the few books that didn't fit on the shelf above your desk. On top was a fake orchid, that had began to droop with its own weight, and a picture frame with no picture it in. It looked rather pathetic, though you didn't pretend to be the best interior designer in the world.

Jin's comment had stemmed from Yoongi half-heartedly joking about you needing another couch in order for everyone to sit comfortably when they visited. That then spiralled as everyone felt the need to comment on what you could do to make your place look less like a pop-up showroom from Ikea and more like a lived-in home. You knew their words were not intended to be insults and you didn't take them as such. You had been so caught up in Jungkook, university and Operation D that decorating your home was the last thing on your mind.

Miri trotting over to you carrying her lead in her mouth drew you from your thoughts. You must've left it by the door after hearing the commotion in the kitchen. Clipping it to her collar, you stuffed your feet into your Timbs and headed out for a quick walk around the neighbourhood.

You opened your front door with a sleeping Miri carried under one arm. The poor thing having used up her energy when you stopped at a nearby dog park. It was nice to see her getting along with her own kind. You took her into your bedroom, placed her on the foot of the bed and went back into the hallway to take off your coat and shoes.

Heading into your kitchen, you grabbed a drink and connected your phone to your Bluetooth speakers wanting some music to fill the silence. Just as you were about to lock your phone, it buzzed with a text.

Oh! It was Jaehi!

'I'm bored. Wanna go shopping with me?'

You groaned, feet aching from chasing Miri to get her back on her lead after letting her loose to play.

‘Now?’

As if on cue, your stomach growled. The alarm Jungkook had set before falling asleep decided not to go off this morning, leaving you rushing to get Jungkook out the door before he had management calling him. As soon as he had gone, you'd got ready yourself to take Miri out and forgotten to eat.

‘In an hour or so?’

Perfect.

‘Sounds like a plan!’

The two of you arranged a time and place to meet, and then you set about cooking a late breakfast. Hopefully your pancakes wouldn't turn into crumpets again. You never really understood how you accomplished that feat in the first place.

You felt too lazy to make the batter from scratch like you normally did so you grabbbed a batter mix out of a cupboard along with eggs and milk from the fridge.

They were a success; perfectly golden brown on either side and thick enough that they were fluffy inside. You held back tears of success. Quickly slicing up some bananas, you smeared chocolate over the hot little clouds before topping them off with the banana pieces. You took the plate into the living room, pausing your music so you could watch some TV. There wasn't much interesting on, only a drama that you had seen a few episodes of but never completed. Not that it mattered much anyway considering you were far too distracted to pay attention.

What could you do to make your home more homey?

You eyed up the empty corner. Because of the layout you couldn't exactly see the TV from over there which was why you never really bothered with that area. Maybe you could turn it into a Miri area... But she didn't exactly need that much space. Her bed was visible from the sofa and her food near the kitchen. A few toys were dotted around the place. Maybe you could get a proper basket to keep them contained. But a basket would only fill a tiny section of space. You needed something bigger. And then it hit you. Maybe you could make it into a 'chill zone'. You could even move your guitar to over there. The only other thing was seating... another sofa would not only be too expensive, but too far away to be completely social.

Hmm, you'd have to have a search when you're out shopping. Jaehi might even have a suggestion.

'I'm outside.'

You put away the last item of your washing up, a mixing bowl, before slipping on your shoes and coat and grabbing your mini rucksack. Miri was still asleep but you'd refreshed her water and refilled her food, not quite sure what time you would be home.

Jaehi was leaning against a lamppost, eyes on the phone in her hand. You called out to her as you approached and grinned when her eyes lit up.

"Unnie!"

You walked towards the closest bus stop together, discussing what you'd been up to that morning and where you planned to shop.

"I need to decorate and stuff, you?"

Jaehi shrugged. "I just want to hang out. Maybe pop into a few stores. There's one that Goseong has asked me to visit to pick up a couple things..." She trailed off, cheeks lightly dusted pink.

"What's that?"

It wasn't any of your business, but she couldn't trail off all embarrassed like that and not expect you to ask.

"Nothing important!" Her quick response had you suspicious. You went to delve deeper when she cut you off with a nervous giggle. "Ha, I'll tell you later."

She gave a slight nod towards the handful of people waiting in the bus shelter a few metres away. You didn't push further, already having the slightest hint.

She cleared her throat, "So... uh, why are you wanting to decorate?"

"The guys said it wasn't very homey and there wasn't enough seating. But I can't afford another sofa nor do I have space for one."

"Why don't you buy cushions? It was the traditional seating for meals and all."

You tried to picture how the space would look with a few cushions on the floor.

"I'm afraid it'll still feel empty..."

Jaehi cupped her chin as she thought some more.

"Goseong's housemate has bean bags in his room for when they play console games together."

Immediately you could picture a bean bag beside the bookcase. Something you could chill in while reading.

"That might work..."

Jaehi took out her phone. "I'll text Goseong to see if he can find out where his housemate got his from. It'll save us from searching loads of shops."

You gave her a thankful smile and ducked inside the bus shelter to check how long you would have to wait for the next bus. It was due meaning it would arrive in the next two minutes or so. Or maybe that's just how buses were in England... You still had so much to learn, but was slowly beginning to settle in to your new life in Korea.

Jaehi tapped on your shoulder to get your attention before pointing at the bus that was coming around the corner. Huh, strangely punctual. Very different to how buses back home seemed to come either super early or really fucking late. You remembered one particular time when you needed to get to college and the bus was an hour late...

Jaehi led the way onto the bus, strategically worming her way through the small crowd of people boarding the bus. You tapped your bus pass to the scanner and took a seat near the back. The two of you chatted about your course while you waited for your stop: the subway.

"-I don't understand why the group projects are necessary," Jaehi sighed, slumping against your shoulder. "It's a waste of time and not a true reflection of everyone's work."

You smiled, grateful she happened to share the same sentiments as you. "It's a good job we don't have many to work on through the semester."

She nodded in agreement. "I'm shotgunning you for any and all group projects since you're older and therefore wiser."

Your eyebrows shot up into your hairline. "Wise my ass!"

She scoffed, "Are you joking?"

You shrugged, cheeks tinting under her wide eyes. Wise? You weren't wise. Sure, you had a lot to say in class sometimes. But that was because some students and their opinion rubbed you the wrong way. Making a comment that added value to the conversation was one thing, but saying something for attention or in an attempt to be funny was just plain foolish.

"I just say things that make the most logical sense. Not everything has to be controversial to be thought provoking."

"And that is very wise."

You rolled your eyes at her grin. "Who says I want to partner with you for all group projects anyway?"

"Your social awkwardness."

You couldn't argue. Even if you weren't avoiding a lot of social interaction due to the unwanted attention that came from dating Jungkook, you would have still been wary about making friends and partnering up for a project. Hel,l all you had to do was look back on your college days to be reminded of how your social anxiety became crippling when the word 'team' was mentioned.

"But I'm possibly the least socially awkward person around," she said and reached over to press the button signalling you wanted the bus to stop. "Which means we balance each other out and therefore make a good team."

You smiled at her and ruffled her hair, much to her annoyance.

The two of you perused the markets together before heading towards the more modern high streets. It made you feel a little awkward since you were used to holding Jungkook's hand while out and about. You stuck as close to Jaehi's side as possible, holding onto her bag strap whenever someone brushed by too close. She didn't seem to mind being the buffer.

Earlier on in your time living in Korea, Jungkook had already introduced you to how certain stores would have large items delivered to you. A little tidbit of information you had a feeling would be coming in pretty handy for this shopping trip.

"Where are we heading first?" You asked, not familiar with the street you walked down.

"I'm still waiting for Goseong to reply, but there's a furniture shop at the next intersection. We could see if they sell bean bags until he gets back to me."

You carried along slightly behind her until an idea came to mind.

"Jaehi, you said you had something to pick up for him. Why don't we do that first?"

She shook her head. "No, no. It's fine."

"No, I insist. My shopping will probably take longer and I'd feel bad about dragging you around all day."

After one more glance at her phone she sighed. "Sure...I guess we could do that."

Why did she seem so reluctant? Was it something you said? Or was it something to do with what she had to pick up? You didn't have a chance to ask as she took the lead once more and started in the direction of a narrow side street. You felt like you recognised the street. Had you come down here before?... You wracked your brain trying to remember. You had. You had been down this street before. With Chubs! When you went to the-

"We're here."

You felt your cheeks heating.

"Uh..."

Jaehi's hands found the crook of your elbow and pulled you over towards the wall.

"So, you totally don't have to come inside if you don't want to. I'll be super quick. I prom-"

"It's okay."

Jaehi's eyes went wide. "You sure? I know we're not super close yet and I don't want to weird you out already."

"I'm actually quite honored you felt comfortable enough with me to come this far. So I don't mind going in there with you."

Please God let there be no-one who recognised you from your last trip there. There was something in the way she smiled that made you suspicious about why she might enjoy this. But nonetheless you followed her up the stairs to the shop. Reaching the top of the steps your drops. Oh no. The woman that sold you the dildos was in.

A chorus of "Nice to see you again," greeted your ears.

You and Jaehi looked at each other, both confused at the thought of the other having been to a SEX SHOP before. Your lips twitched, threatening to smile. Jaehi brought a hand to her mouth, coughing awkwardly. Neither of you knew whether to laugh or cry.

The lady that served you last time and the one that recognised Jaehi approached the two of you.

"So, how are you enjoying those dildos you purchased?"

"And Jaehi, how are you doing with the restraints you bought? Goseong broken them yet?"

It was impossible to hold back the laughter any longer. Jaehi, too, burst into giggles. The two sales assistants even joined in.

"That's actually why I'm here," Jaehi said after calming down, "They weren't strong enough."

The sales assistant's jaw dropped. "Were you being too rough on him? I told you he might not have been ready for a bigger attachment."

Your sales assistant seemed to sense your confusion.

"A strap-on attachment, honey." Your eyes widened."Do you need anything or are you just accompanying Jaehi?"

"I...uh... I was thinking of buying some... lingerie..."

She looked between you and Jaehi before smirking. "Say no more. Follow me."

Towards the back of the store, away from all the toys, was a section dedicated purely to lingerie  and...costumes.

"So, are you looking for a new bra and panties set? Or something a bit more exciting?"

You mulled the question over. "Not just a bra...something...special."

A devious look came to her eye. "Something special? I think we have a few things you might be interested in."

Your cheeks burned when she gestured to a selection of latex and PVC bodysuits.

"Are these more like it?”

You ran your fingers over the material. "As much as he would love this, I think it's a bit much."

"So something more subtle?"

She stepped back, drawing you towards another rack.

"It's for our first time," you admitted, "I want something to make me feel more confident..."

"I see~ How much skin are you willing to show?"

You already had an idea of what you wanted. "Do you have something that would show off my legs? He loves my legs and butt."

She giggled and nodded before picking what looked to be a very short dress off a rack.

"This is a baby doll style. You can get them in pretty much every design and style whether that's something a little bit more revealing such a this:" She gestured to the one she held, slipping her hand between the fabric to show that the cups were open to allow the breasts to hang freely. You shook your head and she swapped it for a baby pink satin one. "Or, you can be more modest."

You scrunched your nose at the choice of colour. But you liked the design.

"Do you have that in a different colour?"

"Of course, sweetie, any preference?"

"Uh... we both like red and black."

She quirked a brow. "I can work with that. Red, the colour of heat and passion. Black, the colour of sophistication."

She walked further down the wall and motioned you over. The boutique didn't just stock it it plain black or red, but also in a mix of the two. You immediately pointed to that one. The cups and halter neck straps were blood red while the skirt was black.

"Ah~ the halter neck A-line. Good choice. Modest yet confident and sexy. It should suit you well."

She helped you find your correct size before taking it to the till point so she could get it packed up ready. You weren't expecting her to make idle chit-chat.

"How are you finding the 8 incher? Your boyfriend must be worried he won't compare size wise since you've been using that."

You awkwardly scratched the back of your neck. "More like it would reassure him."

Her jaw dropped. "No! He can't be... Jesus. You have been gifted.”

"Or punished."

She chuckled. "I wish you luck finding out."

"8 fucking inches?!" Jaehi's surprised voice from beside you made you startle. "8. Fucking. Inches?!" She repeated.

"Yeah..."

"Have you choked on that dick yet?"

Oh god. You were blushing.

"Uhm, not yet. I've been...cautious."

"Fair enough."

You swallowed and eyed the set of cuffs on the till point in front of her.

"So... Goseong is into... buttstuff... wouldn't of pegged him as the type." You were going to hell for that pun.

Jaehi grinned shamelessly. "That's not even the worst of it."

Your sales assistant cleared her throat, "You said it'll be your first time with your boyfriend? Are you both virgins or...?"

You felt your cheeks heat up. "Um... he is, I'm not."

Jaehi gasped then tutted, "He's not going to last long then."

You noticed your sales assistant reach under the counter and pick something up, scanning it.

"You poor thing. Since we're having a stock clearance on these fleshlights, I'll throw it in for free. It trains a man to last longer."

You looked at the golden box, stuttering out a thank you. You paid for your items and waited for Jaehi to pay for her items. The sales assistant wished the two of you luck as you left the store.

The two of you spent the rest of the day searching and buying items for your apartment, Goseong having sent Jaehi the name of the shop he got his bean bag from. He even offered to pick you and Jaehi up so you wouldn't have to struggle with your shopping on public transport. The department store needed to order in the bean bag, the red one you wanted not being in stock, and so would be delivered to your apartment later on in the week.

You made sure to thank Goseong as he helped you put your shopping in the car. He was so nice. You could understand why he and Jaehi were together. Watching them together was the sweetest. You still couldn't believe they were kinky.

Back at home, you began filling the bare corner. Miri's toys were now in a little wicker basket she could dig her nose in to find her favourite. Before leaving, Jaehi and Goseong helped you to assemble a new non-wonky Ikea bookshelf upon which you were re-stacking your collection of books and knick knacks. A knock on your door followed by the sound of tapping on your door keypad had you startled, having not expected a guest.

It could only be one person.

"Jagi? It's me!"

You spun around to greet him but the sight of him had you standing there speechless.

"Jagi?..."

Red... His hair was red...

"Do you like it?"

You took slow steps towards him as your brain processed the new image, Jungkook moving forward to meet you halfway. Your hand came up and carded through his hair, its softness surprising you.

You gulped. You thought his black hair was sinful but this... this was...

"...Hot..."

His hand wrapped around your wrist, pulling it from his hair and entwining your fingers together.

"H-hot?"

You coughed awkwardly, only just realising you had spoken aloud. You had to cover yourself.

"Hot pink? Really Kookie?"

His grin dropped.

"Pink? It's not pink! It's a fiery red!"

You chuckled, "How is it red?! Its a vibrant dark pink!" You gave his hair a teasing tug.

His hands came to wrap around your waist as he rested his head on you shoulder and huffing in annoyance. The feeling of his breath on your neck sent a shiver shooting through you.

"I wanted red but the bleach lightened it..." he mumbled.

"It suits you very much," you admitted, "You've done red before. Pink is different."

His bunny grin appeared in full force. "Really?"

You nodded. "Somehow it makes you look mature and youthful at the same time. Is it permanent?"

"Semi."

"So it'll fade to a peachy pink?"

He nuzzled your cheek. "You're obsessed with peaches."

"That's because I am one."

You yelped when a palm met your ass with a smack.

Jungkook pulled back to smirk at you. "Firm peach."

You pulled away from him with a giggle.

"Or should I say juicy peach?"

"Jungkook!"

"Such a tempting peach but alas, it is not ready to enjoy."

Your cheeks burned with his insinuation but it made you remember something.

"Oh! I bought a gift for you today?"

"Really?"

You hummed in agreement and gestured to the sofa. He sat down as you grabbed the 'gift' from your bedroom. You had made sure to hide your lingerie with your dildos, not wanting Jungkook to see it before it was time.

You held the gift behind your back, keeping it out of his sight until you stood in front of him. You revealed it with a 'Tada~!'. He was a picture of confusion, slowly taking the box from you and scanning it. You pointed to the back where the rather brief description was.

His eyes bulged out of their sockets. "Noona?!"

A part of you wanted to laugh but you were mostly embarrassed.

"I uh... I felt bad for your wrist. It must be getting tired and I'm not ready to relieve it of its duties. So-"

"YOU GOT ME A GOLDEN FLESHLIGHT!"

"...For my golden maknae."

To your surprise, his hands found the back of your thighs and pulled you down onto his lap, wrapping you in a hug.

"I can't believe you got me a fucking fleshlight."

He was... happy?

"I'm glad you like it-"

"I love it! I can take it on tour with me! I'll think of you-"

You slapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't say stuff like that!"

He cocked an eyebrow and gently moved your hand away. "I'll have to get something for you."

You shook your head not really knowing what to say.

"Where did you even get this from? Did you order it or something?" He continued.

"Uh... Jaehi took me shopping today and she went to an... adult shop and I didn't want to wait outside. These were on sale."

He nodded in understanding before suddenly frowning. "Wait, Jaehi as in your nice friend Jaehi I met that time?"

"Uh huh. She kinky."

His eyes widened, muttering something under his breath that you didn't catch. He was quick to move on, glancing over your shoulder and frowning.

"Is that the same bookshelf?"

You shook your head. "I got it today. I wanted to make this place more homey."

Jungkook awed and placed a kiss on your temple.

"I thought about what Yoongi said about needing more seats so I ordered some beanbags."

"Some?"

"Okay one... for me... Jaehi convinced me to buy floor pillows. Like the ones you use in certain Run episodes."

You pointed to the space beside the bookshelf where you’d stacked the cushions while not in use.

Jungkook nodded. "That type of seating doesn't take up much space so that's understandable."

You buried your nose in his neck, breathing in the scent of his jumper. It was always so comforting.

"Will you be spending the night?"

"I can't," he sighed, "I have interviews and stuff."

You pouted. His schedule was gruelling and you missed waking up to him, cuddling up to his warmth.

"I'll have to make the most of you while I have you then."

Jungkook's eyes lit up mischievously.

"But no sexual stuff. No bumping uglies in any way!"

"Hey! I'm only interested in that stuff when you are. I'm not with you to 'bump uglies'. I'm with you because I love you as you are - a beautiful, memey, grey-ace, caring soul."

Cupping his cheeks you placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"And I love you too."

"Wanna watch some anime or a movie?"

"When do you have to go back? Because I recently discovered this awesome new anime series and I need you to watch it."

Jungkook clapped as his eyes lit up. You giggled as you hopped off his lap to fetch your remote. Meanwhile, he made himself comfy on the sofa by laying down, once again pulling you to him once you were in reach.

"I'm glad you like the hair Jagi. I was afraid you'd hate it."

"Its your hair. I have no say in what you do with it."

"I value your opinion, though."

You ruffled his soft locks. "As long as your scalp isn't burning and you're happy with it then I'm happy, baby."

"Bet you think I look like an anime protagonist."

You pecked him on the lips, "Yup. My bunny hero."

A/N: I would really appreciate it if you supported me on Kofi. Even if its just a little amount it will make a huge difference.

[galfridus1]

Disasterous Diet

Part two of the Cath fic for Zelthur weekend. Also dedicated to @thestarrynightgazer and @maybeishouldwait - thank you to Tyler the cat for inspiration for this instalment.

Part one can be found here.

***

“We can’t do this to him! Look at that face…”

Arthur felt the protest die on his lips as Gelda regarded him, her violet eyes hard and cold. “I have been saying ever since that cat came into this house that he has a problem with food. Well, now we know that he does.

“The vet was quite clear,” Gelda continued sternly as she poured a small quantity of biscuits into a cup marked with measurements along the sides. “He has to lose two kilos.” The biscuits clattered like falling hailstones into Cath’s food bowl, barely covering the bottom of the dish and Arthur smelled the unappealing odour of dry, dusty meat. “He is allowed this much, three times a day,” she added as she placed the bowl deliberately on the floor. “Do not give him any more.”

As if on cue, Cath toddled over to the dish, looking over his shoulder at Gelda with a mournful expression and Arthur could swear he saw the animal scrunch up his nose in disgust. Nonetheless, thirty seconds later all of the biscuits were gone, the cat mewling pitifully up at Arthur, his wails more than enough to tug on the heartstrings.

“But he’s hungry,” Arthur moaned as he crouched down to stroke Cath’s fur, the feline pressing his head sorrowfully into his hand. “That was barely anything! Surely we can give him a bit more than that…”

“No we can’t,” Gelda snapped as she started unpacking more bags of the offending diet biscuits, placing them neatly in one of the kitchen cabinets. “The vet was very specific. At present he is at significant risk of diabetes and liver disease. Do you want him to get sick?”

Arthur rested his hand on the cat’s soft fur, ruffling the patch behind his ears. “No, of course not,” he said quietly, “but I don’t want him to be miserable! This just seems like nowhere near enough food.”

“I asked the vet the same thing,” Gelda replied with a sigh. “But she promised it would be sufficient for his needs. And if we help him exercise he can come off the diet more quickly.” At this Gelda removed a plastic ball from the bag. “I bought him this,” she added, a hopeful edge to her tone as she held the object out for Arthur’s inspection.

Arthur examined the ball, trying to work out what it was for. Whatever it was, he sincerely doubted it would be enough to get Cath moving. In a fit of extravagance, Zeldris had bought their pet an enormous multi-tiered scratching post on Amazon, lovingly putting the complicated contraption together late one Tuesday evening after staggering in from work. Cath had taken one disdainful look at it, then sprung up onto the sofa, falling asleep on Arthur’s chest. The look Zeldris had given the animal was enough to freeze rivers, but the post had sat untouched ever since.

As if reading his mind, Gelda flashed him a mischievous smile, opening a hatch in the ball and placing a few diet biscuits inside. “This will get him moving,” she promised as she placed the ball on the floor. Cath stepped up to it cautiously, sniffing with some trepidation before pushing the ball all over the kitchen floor with something approaching enthusiasm. Arthur stared in surprise: it was the most he had seen the feline move since the day the cat had demolished his birthday cake.

“That should help,” Gelda said and Arthur was sure he could detect relief in her tone. “The vet was quite sharp with me,” she explained as he took a step towards her, pulling her into a close embrace. “I had to tell her we got him like that from the rescue centre to avoid the lecture.”

They stayed locked together for several minutes, Arthur feeling her breathing grow steady as he held her. “He’ll lose the weight, I promise,” he said with finality. “I won’t cheat. Next time he goes to the vet she’ll be really pleased.” Gelda flashed him a smile before finally pulling back, stowing the empty shopping bag in a drawer before checking her watch.

“I’ve got to go pack. Work want me to present at a conference in Dubai and I’ve got to leave soon,” Gelda said, unable to keep the hint of pride from her voice. “It’s only for a week,” she said bracingly as she caught Arthur’s slightly crestfallen expression.

“What’s this?” a voice called from the kitchen door and both the others looked round to see Zeldris, looking completely worn out. His hair and suit were as immaculate as usual, but the dark bags under his eyes betrayed his exhaustion. He always looked like this on Friday evenings. “You’re going away?”

“I found out this evening. Work just emailed the tickets to me,” Gelda explained. “Charles has a stomach bug and can’t go.”

“He’s always letting you down,” Zeldris said crossly as he folded his arms across his chest.

Gelda sighed, pressing a hand to her temple and Arthur was unsurprised to see Zeldris move towards her to rest a hand on her arm. “It’s not his fault,” Gelda murmured, “His kid has just started nursery and is bringing back every disease under the sun. And I’m happy to go. This will be good for my career.”

“When’s your flight?” Zeldris asked, and Arthur saw him stifle a yawn.

“I’m taking her, Zel. You get some sleep,” Arthur declared as he grabbed the car keys off the hook on the wall. “I’m not working til Sunday, okay?” he said, cutting off the other’s obvious protest. “Now go pack,” he added as he gave Gelda a kiss on the forehead. She looked at him gratefully before leaving the kitchen, the sound of her feet padding up the steps reaching them a few moments later.

Zeldris rubbed his eyes, his shoulders collapsing and Arthur stepped to the fridge, grabbing a Tupperware container and shoving the pasta he had cooked earlier into the microwave, the smell of tomato sauce percolating through the room. Zeldris looked at him gratefully before wolfing down the meal, barely pausing for breath as he ate.

“You didn’t get lunch again,” Arthur said reproachfully. “Honestly you have to start looking after yourself. It’s not like you’re on a diet.”

“What do you mean?” Zeldris asked, his voice muffled with food. Arthur looked around, noting with some misgiving that Cath had given up on his ball, which lay abandoned next to the skirting board, the cat himself now curled up fast asleep in his basket. Zeldris followed his gaze and gave a snort of derision.

“Gelda took him to the vet today,” Arthur explained as Zeldris chuckled. “Cath has to lose two kilos. I don’t know what to do, Zel. I mean… he can’t go thirty minutes without eating. What are we going to do.”

Zeldris stared up at him, a gleeful look in his eyes. “I’m sure we’ll manage,” he said with a smile.

***

His boyfriend was not so sanguine the following day. After they had been woken up at five in the morning, then interrupted twice by Cath’s incessant scratching on the door, Zeldris had lost it completely and banished the cat to the garden, securing the cat flap with an echoing bang. The words ‘I never want to see that thing again’ had been used several times and Arthur did not dare let Cath back into the house. The poor feline stared at him forlornly from his spot under a tree, looking every bit as miserable as Arthur felt.

“He’s just hungry,” Arthur pleaded. “It’s not his fault…”

“Then whose is it exactly?” Zeldris snapped back, his hands on his hips as he too glowered at the animal. “Ours for refusing to feed him, in direct contravention of medical advice? No, I thought not,” he huffed as Arthur stuttered incoherently. “If he’s so hungry he can damn well learn how to hunt.”

Before Arthur could respond, Zeldris strode from the room, no doubt intending to take out his anger on the dust that had settled on the bookcases and shelves. With some annoyance, Arthur looked out at the garden, deciding that he would let Cath back inside no matter the consequences. His hand was opening the French windows before it fully sunk in: Cath was nowhere to be seen.

In something of a panic, Arthur ran out of the house, feeling the rough stone tiles under his bare feet. “Cath? Cath! Where are you?” he called, his eyes darting frantically under bushes and shrubs for a telltale sign of ginger. “I’m sorry!” he added as he stepped onto the lawn. The cat couldn’t possibly have scaled the high fence, could he?

The tremendous and utterly unexpected noise bursting like a machine gun behind him made him jump out of his skin: a horrifying mixture of wailing and squealing and hissing that practically made his blood run cold. Heart beating uncomfortably fast in his chest Arthur turned round, his eyes squeezed shut, forcing himself to open them as he looked at the house.

He was just in time to see Cath practically flying through the open doors, something small and fast skittering in ahead of him. Arthur groaned, cold dread dropping to the pit of his stomach. Forcing his unresponsive legs to move, he made his way back into the kitchen, stealing himself for whatever might lie within.

As it turned out his preparations were nowhere near enough. In the few minutes that had passed between Cath returning to the house and his own entrance the kitchen had been transformed into absolute chaos. The expensive, glass fruit bowl that Gelda has brought back from Venice was lying in shining shards all over the floor along with a multitude of upturned apples and grapefruits. The utensils which were usually carefully placed on the countertop were all upended, covering the granite surface in a jumbled mess. Arthur took several deep breaths, trying to calm the hammering in his chest, an exercise which was ruined by the appearance of a vicious squirrel, hissing and squeaking from the top of a wall cabinet as Cath mewled at it angrily from below.

“What the hell!” Zeldris shouted as he ran into the kitchen, his face drained of blood as he regarded the room. “Arthur! If that cat has done this…”

Pointing towards the intruder, Arthur interjected, “I think Cath took your advice about hunting.” He was amused to see Zeldris splutter, his eyes growing wide as he looked at the squirrel in utter astonishment.

“Get that thing out of here!” he yelled as Arthur gave way to the chuckle bubbling up in his throat. “Just look at the state of this place! I can’t… I… what…”

Laughing to himself, Arthur lifted a chair and placed it directly below the furious squirrel. Then, donning oven gloves, he took his position, reaching up to grab the offending rodent. He was surprised to find his effort was successful, and that he was able to grab the grey furball without much difficulty.

“Aw, it’s only a baby,” he exclaimed as he climbed down from the chair, Zeldris visibly flinching as he walked towards him.

“Just… just get it out of here,” his boyfriend gasped as he shrank backwards towards the wall. Arthur guffawed as he let the squirrel go in the garden, the annoyed animal shooting off into the trees at the first opportunity. When Arthur returned, he found Zeldris muttering angrily to himself as he picked up the larger splinters of glass from the floor.

Arthur grinned as he made a start on the countertops, placing the utensils into the dishwasher and wiping down the surfaces. Having finished his task, Arthur moved to the floor, picking up the fruit as Zeldris hoovered. It was only when the they had finished clattering and bustling about that Arthur noticed the rustling sound coming from within one of the cupboards. Experimentally, he opened a few doors, his face breaking into a grin as he found the source of the noise.

Cath was face-first in a pile of biscuits; the container had obviously been upturned in the ruckus allowing the cat to eat his fill. The crunching sound, along with the appreciative miaows, suggested that Cath was thoroughly enjoying himself. A few moments later, Zeldris joined him and together they watched as Cath gorged on the food.

“Let’s… leave him like that. He can start his diet tomorrow,” Zeldris murmured quietly as he leant against Arthur, who wrapped an arm quickly round him in response.

“Okay. And after we finish up in here, let’s take a shower,” Arthur suggested, not needing to look into the other’s face to sense his agreement. “I don’t know about you, this work has made me break out in a sweat…”

A pause, followed by a hand moving around his waist. “Ten minutes,” came the reply and Arthur smiled.

[writesandfights]

Title: Horror Night Cody Christian imagine Requested: “Can you write a Cody Christian imagine where cast of teen wolf are having a movie night and reader hates horror films and they put one on and he notices she is low key freaking out and he cuddles her and other fluffy stuff. She ends up falling asleep on him and while she is asleep, everyone tells him he should tell her he likes her, you can decide how it ends.” Word count: Horror night, the one thing you always regretted showing up too, the teen wolf cast thought it was a good idea for everyone to meet up for movie nights on occasions. Since Teen Wolf had ended the meet ups weren’t regular, it was on rare occasion when you guys met up. You looked at the group chat, both Dylan's were going to be there and both Tyler’s, Shelley, Holland, and most important to you, Cody. Cody had always been the one to make you happy, he was the one to make jokes with, and he always made jokes back. You pulled your car towards Tyler H’s large house, it was the usual meet up, all because he had a large television that everyone could see. Most of the cast would carpool together but you drove yourself, you knew you wouldn’t be staying long, horror movies weren’t your forte, they were actually the worst. You climbed out of your car, locking it behind you as you walked up to the large house, you didn’t want to watch the movies but you wanted to see the cast of Teen Wolf, they were your best friends on the show anyway. Cody walked up behind you, grabbing ahold of your waist as he attempted to scare you, you jumped upwards, yelping out as he did, “Cody!” He was laughing as your heart rate accelerated, not only at his touch but at the scare that he gave you. You hit his chest, he smiled at you, “Oh, that was great, Y/N, always fun messing with you.”’ You had missed this, the cast would play pranks on you, but you still missed Cody more out of all of it. He started to walk towards the door, he turned to look at you, almost as if he was waiting for you to follow him, “you coming?” A blush flushed onto your cheeks but you followed after Cody, he opened the door, letting you walk into the door first, the cast cheered as you both walked inside. Shelley walked over and gave you a hug, along with Holland, you smiled at your girls and walked as Cody walked over to the boys. “You rope him in yet?” Holland whispered into your ear, you blushed and looked down, shaking your head, “No, he just showed up at the same time I did.” Shelley frowned at your answer, they had wanted you to get with Cody since the first day on set, there was chemistry enough for the fan to ship it, there were already edits of the two of you kissing or even holding hands. “Cody is just a friend.” Tyler H walked into the room , holding a large bowl of popcorn, the cast took that cue to sit down on the 2 large sofas that were in the movie room. You followed behind your girls, but quickly noticed the only spot was left next to Cody. “MInd if I sit?” Cody looked up at you with a large blush on his face, he nodded quickly and allowed you sit down next to him, you smiled at him and got comfortable by curling up into a ball. Tyler P started the movie, which of course he picked a ghost movie, which was the worst for you, you had lived alone, imagining a ghost in your room or house wasn’t hard. 30 minutes into the movie you were gripping your knees, your heart was racing out of your chest, you hated horror movies. You were shaking in fear, you had somehow wrapped your hand around Cody’s arm. You jumped when the ghost tossed plates towards the main character, you winced when one of them hit her, Cody noticed every time you jumped or even started to shake, he thought you were so cute. He adjusted his sitting, moving towards you, he whispered under his breath, “Hey, if you’re scared you can hold my hand.” Cody moved closer to you, you cuddled into him, laying your head on his chest, when you did that all of the shaking went away, you actually felt safe in his arms. You listened to his heartbeat, it was slow, rhythmically beating, Cody ran his fingers through your hair causing your eyes to drift back into your head ,Cody’s touch was so soothing and he had been so warm, you couldn’t help but drift into sleep. When the movie was over the lights came on over head and everyone turned to look at you, you were out, sleeping on Cody’s chest, holding his hand tightly. His hands were wrapped around your waist, he had been holding you. “Cody, wake her-” Dylan B s[oke to Cody but Holland quickly slapped her hand over his mouth, “nope, you need to tell her how you feel!” Cody looked confused until he blushed nervously, he thought nobody knew about his feelings for you, he hadn’t wanted them to know. Because when the whole cast knows, Y/N would end up knowing, it was almost predicted. “I can’t” “Why not?” Shelley questioned Cody, they were all trying to be quiet, whispering to try and not wake you up. Dylan S walked towards his friend Cody, “just wake her up, we’ll all walk out and eavesdrop from the kitchen.” Holland nodded towards Dylan S, it was guaranteed they were going to eavesdrop, but saying it made all of them feel like creepers, “it’s not hard, just wake her up and tell her you care about her, she feels the same if it makes you feel better.” He looked down you, you started to stir awake at the sound of all the clatter, he played with your hair and gestured for everyone to leave the room. Tyler H stayed in the room, holding the bowl of popcorn, eating it in silence, “you too, Tyler.” The group left the room and peeked their heads around the corner, he tapped your arm, causing you to be awake, you yawned and tried to snuggle into him. “Y/N, you slept through the movie..” You shrugged, not really thinking about your surroundings, only about the fact that Cody was with you and you were snuggled up on his chest. “Did the ghosts win?” Cody laughed at your sleepy comment, watching as you tried to wake up, “Y/N, the ghosts didn’t win. “ Cody held you tighter and watched as you woke up, you were so cute when you woke up, your hair a little bit of a mess, your eyes brighter than ever. “So ,um, Y/N, I wanted to talk to you about something..” You nodded, leaning forwards as you watched Cody fumble with his words, he was trying to get something out , but you couldn’t tell, “Cody, you okay?” “Yah, uhh, but I really care for you.” You looked to the doorway where the cast stood with a smile on their face, Holland put two thumbs up and gestured towards Cody. “I, Uh, care about you to, Cody.” He looked to be shocked, but smiled at your reaction, he had cared you and didn’t expect you to feel the same until it came into words, “ I have liked you since I met you, you were so cute when you walked into the set on your first day in a pair of sweatpants and a large spongebob shirt, I just haven’t been able to get that out of my head.” You thought back to that first day, you had looked like a mess, your shirt was large, and the pants drooping on your legs. But then again, you looked that way only due to the fact that you crawled out of bed 5 minutes before you were supposed to be at the set, it was an accident but you barely made it on time. “Cody, I looked terrible.” He shook his head at you, “you looked perfect in every way, just as you look perfect right now.” Cody was speaking through his heart, it was somehow so smooth, you blushed and brought his face closer to yours, “you talk to much,” touching your soft lips with his rough ones, his beard tickled at your cheeks. His hand came up to your face, he moved in pace with you, tilting his head towards you, craving every touch that you could give him.You moved closer to him, crawling into his lap and kissing him harder than any of the teen wolf cast should have seen. “Okay, okay, nope, we aren’t doing this anymore.” Tyler H walked into the room, separating the two of you, you looked at Tyler with a pouty face, “not on my couch, go do it in the car or something.” Cody stood up, you blushed as he walked towards the door, holding it open, he gestured for you to exit, “my lady.” Shelley tapped you on the shoulder, and smiled at you, “go get em tiger!” You stood up, deciding to say fuck it, you followed behind Cody, watching as the cast catcalled behind you, telling you to ‘get it girl’

[justkpopjokes]

Vampire!Mingyu Part 3

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

Ft. Mingyu death

For: @sunnysidewrites @justsomekpopstuff @kkwonsoonyoung @cipheress-to-k-pop @xeniatan @aesthedick-minmin

A/N: Ohmygod why did this take so long Tagging people who commented/reblogged w/words on the other parts, or people who are just hyped so that they see this!

kind of rushed at the end but I don’t think I can take another part hhhh

That morning, when all the vampires were asleep, you woke Mingyu who was on the couch in the guest bedroom

He could’ve slept with you but he still doesn’t feel right touching you

Istg boi there was already a make-out session tho??

You both snuck out to the gate at the edge of the front garden

But you stop when you heard footsteps and someone clearing their throat

It’s Prince Jun and a posse of purebloods

Jun couldn’t let you leave

He just couldn’t

The second you stepped off the grounds, Mingyu could teleport you anywhere

And he needed you to stay

But as he advanced forward, Gyu pulled you back through the gate

Seconds after hearing “STOP!” you were someplace else

And you were holding Mingyu’s hand :)

He let go bc he was still… iffy about touching you

But you just grabbed his hand again and dragged him out of the alley you were in

Turns out, you were right where you needed to be:

You: “Target!”

Gyu: “Yes you’re a target, I just said that!”

You: “No, Target. It’s a store”

Gyu: “Store?”

You: “We can buy food in there. Do you have any money?”

Gyu: “Buy—?”

Cue you pulling him into Target

If you were going to have a vampire staying with you, you needed to stock up on stuff

How about pizza?

You went over to the freezer section

When suddenly Mingyu stopped in his tracks to stare at everything

“Huh? Something wrong, Gyu?”

His gaze kind of faltered at the nickname, but he still looked at you in disbelief

“These things are… frozen… how do you eat it?”

“Um… when were you bitten?”

“When I was a young child. Why?”

Explains why he doesn’t know much about human stuff

“…Nevermind. You heat the food up”

Gyu: “So… you’d heat that up?”

You: “What, frozen pizza? Yeah.”

Gyu: “Frozen…what”

You: “Pizza? Bread with like cheese and meat and tomato sauce—”

Gyu: *hugs freezer*

You:

Gyu:

You:

Gyu:

Gyu: “…pizza”

People were staring so you pulled him off the freezer

But aw

He likes pizza

So yes you bought a ton of pizza but also veggies bc he needed to be a healthy boi (stay away from the garlic tho)

And after some quick shopping—

Nah we know he’d stop at everything interesting; it took a while

So after a while of shopping

You brought him to your home to relax with some pizza

Ok but cuRIOUS VAMP GYU

WATCHING THE MICROWAVE INTENSELY WITH WIDE EYES

Meanwhile, you were working on what happened when you were gone

You weren’t gone long enough for anyone to worry, and luckily for you, it was the weekend, so you didn’t miss work

Mingyu sat next to you on the couch and you asked him about the other vampires

“So basically… they… want to extend the bloodline. The more human the blood, the more they fit in. The end goal is to be able to blend in with humans while still retaining vampire traits.”

But as Mingyu told you more, you sensed the lie in his voice

You didn’t say anything for now

Ok there’s more plot to this buT VAMPIRE GYU GETTING INTRODUCED TO HUMAN TRADITIONS

AND HUMAN FOOD

AND PIZZA

He just happily munched away at all your cooking

Learned a thing or two

He’s nice company

And he started to warm up to you!!!

That night, he was about to fall asleep staring at the washing machine from the couch when you pulled him up

Cue whiny Gyu wanting to stay on the sofa

You dragged him to your bed and he plops down immediately

You lay down next to him and his arms instinctively wrapped around your body

I’m soft

The next day, you decided to bring Mingyu somewhere to have some fun

Park? Yes.

First, we gotta deal with his clothes

Yeah um no one wears a cape and frilly shirt to a park

Unless it’s Halloween

Which fun fact in this au it’s banned to dress up as a vampire bc of dangers of real vampires

So you gave him some clothes you bought at Target: some sweatpants and a t-shirt

While he was changing in your room, he called you in to ask about something

You assumed it’s about what socks are or smth lmao

But then you walk in and this boi is shiRTLESS and staring at the closet

1st reaction: oHmYGOd his chest is so wide wtf

2nd reaction: okAY PLS PUT ON A SHIRT NOW

But you noticed he was staring at your scarf on the closet door

“What is that?“

“Scarf. For your neck when it’s cold”

“You should wear it. It’s cold outside”

So he tugged the scarf off of the door and pulled it around your neck snugly

“There. You’ll be warm now”

“I don’t think I need this, Gyu”

“Why not?”

“I have you”

At first he’s like wut

And then

Ohhhh ~hugs~

But he also noticed something else…

Your pendant was lightly glowing again

He didn’t say anything.

He finally put on a shirt and a jacket

And you walked to the park!

Gyu at the park man

He saw a dog and—

Wait where’d Mingyu go

2 seconds later he was 10 feet away petting the dog

And he was like “Y/N? Can we get a dog?” while that dog was licking his face like there was no tomorrow

Vampire + puppy = SOFT GYU

You just sighed and laughed at this puppy magnet

You went back home tiredly and looked up dog shelters

Over the next few weeks, you spend your days and nights with Gyu, learning about him and watching movies together whenever you weren’t at work

It was peaceful and you got along well despite him being a fanged creature LOL

Y’all even found some alternatives to blood that kept him healthy!

Tho he still had to drink some animal blood for the first few days which creeped you out a little

One night, Gyu was munching on chips when you confronted him about his honesty about the other vampires

He looked down before sighing and putting the chip bag down

Finally, he told you the truth

“They won’t kill you.”

“Why’d you lie?”

He stays silent.

“Mingyu—”

“The pureblood… your mate… would be your husband. Your love. They would love you. And I… I…”

“You what? Why do you care?!”

You’re just angry now

“I just ran away with you! I could’ve helped them. Not all vampires are bad, and I should get to help! Mingyu why did you take me away—”

“I don’t want you to love someone else! I love you, okay?!?! I want… to be with you. I could never be your soulmate though… I’m not pureblood. I have no chance, but I thought… if you never knew the truth…I’d still have one.”

You fall silent

And think.

Just think and stare at Mingyu

“How could you—how could you be that selfish?” you asked whilst trying not to cry

“My entire life I was treated like an outcast, but when I met you, I finally felt... wanted." It was getting really hard to keep from crying, so you only listen as Mingyu finished speaking

"It was a mistake. I regret it. I’m sorry.”

As you tried to calm down, Mingyu stood up and held out his hand

“If you want to help so badly… I’ll bring you back. But I’m a traitor now, I’ll have to go into hiding. You won’t see me again, Y/N.”

You just nodded, trying to hold back tears

You both have already been through a lot together in the short time you’ve known each other including some intimate things

You slowly grew close to Mingyu

And now he was saying he won’t ever see you again

But you stood up and take his hand

Seconds later, you were back at the gate

Jun was waiting with other purebloods

You reluctantly let go of Mingyu’s hand and gave him one last hug

He just looked into your eyes and smiled

“Remember I love you”

The moment you let go, he was gone

You couldn’t help but choke back tears

You left the garden and went with Jun, who wanted to talk to you

Not any of the other heirs, just you

You went into a room with him alone and had tea while you talked

Jun brought up your little outburst trying to protect Mingyu, and then him taking you away

He appreciated your decision to come back to help and led you back to the rose garden, where the 4 remaining heirs were waiting

Some were kind of upset you left but nevertheless were glad to have you back

So for the next few hours, purebloods from all over the world would take turns standing in the middle of the garden with you all

If one section of coloured roses stopped glowing, that heir would have found their match

Eventually, it was just you left

Everyone went through, and yet no one made the roses stop glowing

Soon the only pureblood who hadn’t tried was Jun

You were kind of scared...

It was going to be him

He was the only one left

It was why he couldn’t let you leave

You looked down to your white roses and wished Mingyu was there with you

The only guy here you were ever really close to

The only guy you really wanted to be your match

Well shoot, time to accept your fate

Then, after a few shouts and gasps, you saw the roses suddenly stop glowing

You quickly looked up, ready to lock eyes with Jun

Jun wasn’t standing next to you

Then you turned around

Mingyu’s hand was inches from your shoulder

He had stepped into the center with you

He was standing there, stunned

All you did was cup his face with your hands and give him a kiss

“You came back! But why?! You said—”

“I thought about what you said, ‘not all vampires are bad.’ Maybe it meant I wasn’t bad, and I had a chance to at least apologize and not be an outcast. I came back to see you—”

Cue Gyu getting interrupted with another kiss

So.

Turns out the non-pureblood vampire is your soulmate

Who would’ve thought?

Well I mean

The make-out session was a dead giveaway

Speaking of make-out sessions…

Since Mingyu wasn’t a pureblood, your role wasn’t important anymore

Jun gave you permission to let Mingyu go home with you

So the make-out session may have resumed at your place 😉

But most importantly…

One night, Mingyu was home learning to cook ramen

When you came home from work

“Babe? You’re late, I got worried—”

He turned around to find you holding a smol puppy that is desperately trying to leap out of your arms and run over to Mingyu

Gyu accepts the kisses from both you and his new puppy-child

YOU GUYS KNOW I AM 100% READY TO WRITE DOMESTIC LIFE WITH VAMPIRE!GYU IF SOMEONE REQUESTS

But until then

This life you had now…

Started all because you were stupid enough to go into a dark alley and get attacked

And now you were raising a puppy with your attacker

Who would’ve thought?

The make-out session was a dead giveaway

“I am never leaving you again”