#(part of the reason i barely watch horror movies anymore is the fact that so many of them tend to be 'hit them again and again' style)

[mystic-headcanons]

jaehee x fem reader sleepover turned romantic?

accidentally took a mini hiatus my b

hope you enjoy <3

"i can't believe you've never done this." you offhandedly commented, holding jaehee's fingers as you brushed the light yellow over her nails. "i didn't...really have many friends when i was a child. or ever. i just focused on school and then after that, my job." her voice was hushed as she spoke, not wanting to break the soft, content atmosphere surrounding you two. you were quiet for a moment as you continued to paint her nails. "that sounds pretty lonely." you finally spoke, glancing up to briefly meet her eyes. "it was, sometimes. i think i just got used to feeling alone." a pang went through you as you imagined jaehee, who was always so soft and kind, not having anyone throughout her childhood and adulthood. "well then," you began, breaking the melancholy mood that began to settle over you and jaehee, "it's a good thing i'm here with you now." she looked at you with an emotion you couldn't place. "it is." she smiled, and it felt like the sun.

"i am never letting you bake for our store." jaehee commented, barely holding back a laugh as you panicked after pouring too much salt in the cookie batter. after her nails were dry, you dragged her into the kitchen because, "i know it's not halloween anymore, but i found a recipe for pumpkin cookies and i have all the scream movies. i figured we could watch them after we bake the cookies?" (you were still a little shocked she agreed to the horror movies-- jaehee wasn't someone who was easily scared, but she did have a distaste for horror. "too unrealistic." she'd said once with a shake of her head.) "i'm a good baker!...most of the time." you added that last part on as an afterthought, before handing your phone to jaehee's outstretched hand so she could see the recipe. "i think i can fix these." jaehee hummed, and you took a step back after she handed your phone back to you. watching her as she baked became your favorite way to pass time; there was something about how relaxed she always looked, about how her shoulders lost their tension and she was able to slow down and breathe. without thinking, you lifted your phone and snapped a quick photo of jaehee. your heart skipped a few beats as you looked at it, but you quickly put your phone away and ignored the feeling.

your growing crush on jaehee was no surprise to anyone who knew the two of you. you were always looking at her-- something saeyoung likes to tease you over when he sneaks random photos. (which was something he did for everyone in the rfa; saeyoung had a habit of taking 'blackmail' photos. he never used them for anything more than lighthearted teasing.) you couldn't help it, she was just so...soft. soft smiles and soft laughter, and when you had all of her attention, it felt electrifying. she was everything to you, but you weren't even sure if she liked girls. romance was a topic the two of you seldom talked about, save for the passing mention of an ex. you forced yourself to be at peace with the fact that she'd only ever see you as a best friend and nothing more.

eventually, the cookies were done; you were certain jaehee was magic because how she managed to save your mess of an attempt was beyond you. the two of you settled on your sofa with the cookies and coffee that jaehee had brewed, and you pressed play on the first movie. another reason for choosing a horror movie was for the opportunity to be close to her. you weren't really scared at them-- and especially not cheesy nineties horror. however, if you acted scared, then you'd have an excuse to be held by jaehee. the first time you jumped, jaehee only looked at you and reached out to put a hand on your shoulder. the second time, you grabbed her arm, and she thought for a moment before looking at you. "do you...are you scared?" she asked, glancing between the movie and you. you nodded and looked at her arm that you were still holding onto. "sorry." you quietly said, dropping it. she only chuckled and reached out to pull you into her side, wrapping her arm around your shoulders. "is this okay?" she whispered after a moment, and you nodded, content.

(you didn't notice the knowing look on her face, or the way she smiled to herself when you didn't jump anymore.)

after the movie was finished, jaehee reached forward and grabbed the remote, pausing the start of the next one. "i've seen saeyoung jump out at you when you're not expecting it-- and literally grab you, and that doesn't scare you." she said, turning to look at you. "but some cheap scares in a cheesy horror movie does?" "it looked real?" you tried, your voice lifting towards the end like you were asking a question. at her deadpan expression, you sighed. "no, it doesn't." you said as you looked down. "i wasn't scared, i just......wanted you to hold me." your voice became a mumble at the last part as a blush spread across your face. "why not just say that? you could've just asked me." jaehee pointed out, and you shook your head. it took a moment for you to find your voice-- your heart was climbing up your throat, and you were certain jaehee could hear the way it pounded.

your mouth opened and closed a few times before you finally groaned and put your head in your hands. "because i didn't want to, like, be obvious about my feelings for you." you confessed, and jaehee was silent for a moment. you were scared she'd leave, but a few moments later you felt her hands circle around your wrists and gently tug them away from your face. "you like me?" she quietly asked, a smile slowly starting to form on her face. you could only nod, and a moment later she tugged you forward and pressed her lips to yours in a gentle kiss. it was short and sweet, and when she pulled back you couldn't help but lean forward to follow her. "i do hope that was okay." jaehee whispered, dropping your wrists in favor of cupping your cheek. "i've wanted to do that for...a very long time." she breathed out. your eyes fluttered open and you looked at her in awe. "why didn't you tell me?" you asked, leaning into her hand. "i've been shakespeare-level pining over you almost since we met. been writing sad little dramatic sonnets and everything." jaehee let out a quiet laugh at that and shrugged. "same reason as you, i suppose. didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"you wouldn't have ruined anything." you softly said, reaching up to gently hold onto jaehee's wrist. "i want you in any way you'll have me." jaehee only smiled at that and pulled you in for another kiss.

neither of you wanted to finish the movies after that.

[more-than-a-princess]

A question with so many answers, and so many of them unnecessary in their current situation. Beneath him, Sonia smiled at his frustration, his rasping breaths.

Who did she think Wylan was? A soon-to-be former assassin was obvious, though that was the least interesting thing about him now. An endless supply of humor and jokes, sometimes offered to mask the feelings beneath? A connoisseur of terrible (actually) American chocolate junk food and terrible (excellently so) horror movies? Someone who likely would never get over the fact she ate hamburgers with a knife and fork and had an endless supply of fluffy dresses for him to try on (and subsequently ruin, to the point they couldn't be mended and fixed to fit her anymore)?

None of them were false, but at present, Sonia knew her answer: Someone unfamiliar with unconditional love and a place to belong, and someone who likely felt he did not deserve either. She couldn't tell him what to believe or how to feel, but what she could do was remind him of his place in her arms, in her heart, and that he was wanted and welcomed for as long as he wanted to be there. With her hands now freed, she didn't hesitate to trail her fingers over his cheek, down to his neck and shoulders. The places that were safe, quite literally: Wylan was an expert in hiding. Emotions and lethal weapons alike.

She wasn't sure she agreed with him on 'looking amazing:' Constant states of stress, fatigue, and a broken heart, paired with a wedding she'd dreaded and stiletto heels she'd dreaded more, knowing that they'd both consume the majority of a day, must have certainly taken their toll. Her tears throughout likely hadn't helped: during the wedding, choked down on the ride back to the hotel, and then everything that had transpired since she'd found him in her suite. But she wouldn't contradict him: instead, she propped herself up on her elbows, watching the unplanned, impromptu striptease, torn between laughing and simply being mesmerized by it all. He tossed around various devices to maim, and hurt, and kill, as if they were as innocuous as a simple fashion accessory.

"I have to wonder if original your intention was to kill me or kiss me," She teased, though her grin couldn't mask the warmth and adoration in her eyes. Wylan was many things, but she never once believed he was capable of, or could fulfill, the former. In a run-down hotel room, on a flimsy mattress and surrounded by all sorts of hazards, Sonia had never felt more safe.

Or more desire, for that matter: she exhaled, her gaze raking over the shirt and slacks that remained on. That made them somewhat more even, and she still found herself dissatisfied that he hadn't taken the extra steps further. Unless, of course, that was her treat, her pleasure, and she wouldn't need to be told twice to take it. "Tell me, then," She urged, "Everything you have to say. I want...to experience it all."

Listening was only part of the equation, and likely soon to be a significant problem for the neighboring rooms, if not the entire floor. He was patient enough to at least undo every one of the pearl buttons before the sweater fell away, giving her reason to shiver. Both the temperature of the room and the fact that she'd never bared so much of herself to him before. Physically, at least: emotionally, every layer meant to protect and cover her had long since been shed away. The black lacy bra she wore underneath was partly transparent and entirely delicate, a favorite but easily replaceable if needed (a future engagement, perhaps: explaining a distinct lack of lingerie in the morning would not be an enjoyable conversation for anyone involved).

"Should I...?" She asked, sitting up properly and reaching for the hooks in the back. It might have jostled him, his lips, and their proximity to her collarbone and the tops of her breasts, but the brief interruption would likely be forgiven. Sonia wanted more: of him, of what she had been shamelessly fantasizing about for far too long, of the person she now was. Honest and open with her heart and desires, undeniably wanted and loved by the one person she'd yearned to feel as such.

She wanted to add her own thoughts to the conversation, too. First and foremost: no matter how much she enjoyed looking at him in a compression shirt, at least by how unashamed and brazenly she stared, it was stubbornly coming between his skin and the touch of her hands, her lips, against him. She wasn't a princess right now, but passing a law banning Wylan from shirts, at least for the short term, seemed perfectly reasonable.

"Unless of course, you prefer to do this on your own," She grinned. She could understand: she was ready to yank his shirt quickly and firmly off him, giving little thought to keeping it free of rips and tears.

Amazing. Small promises were being made one after another. So casually too- for a future that had just been so narrowly sealed. Was caution being tossed into the wind? For counting himself such a secretly stubborn individual to unspoken rules, there's an odd sense of elation that comes with each prior facet of his life being shewn away. Layers cast off not unlike what was to soon take place here. How about that. Hard to say which was being done more easily than the other. There's something much more familiar to the man draped over these sheets after all.

At least, that should be the case. Were this just another tryst or encounter to add fleeting salve to depthless wounds, and not his first physical encounter with her in a year. This is different, and he's feeling it in his gut just as he does in his touch as skin touches to skin. The drive is different, and her words are pulling him in a way he'd never been pulled to someone before.

You are loved, and worth loving.

"Ffffheh. Damnit. Sonia... Haa- saying stuff like that now of all times. Who do you think I am? No, don't answer that." A rasped breath taken. Sonia has snagged for herself another fluster from the man. Too many for a single night. Any other time and words like this would kill the mood, prompting any manner of excuse to disappear- Sonia knows this all too well. And yet she strikes into that same point without hesitation, breaks past it all. Even if he was garbed in multiple layers of tactical-ready attire marking a distinctly awkward picture. A far cry from the comparatively scant coverings of her person. You do it all so easy. How does she not realize it? And what he means when he says it?

How is it you make me want to be a better person for you, with just a single sentence?

And more importantly why is that such a huge turn-on?! Fuck! Wait. Damnit. Sonia's words meant to be teasing sink a hook into his lips, turning that grin down in aggravation. There would be no seductive shedding of what Wylan had been wearing beneath the coat all evening. He growls- noisy, dramatic frustration emoted as needy fingers drag down from Sonia's wrists. An animalistic gnaw planted at the buttons before he lifts from her middle.

"Oh you had to remind me, didn't you, Bluebird. You just keep laying there like that, looking amazing, and I'm gonna-" Wylan is far from composed about it. Undoing belts, snapping away buttons and setting the pieces aside. "Didn't exactly dress for a striptease here-" But Sonia gets some of one anyway. Never mind that the process involves lethal implements (secured as they may be) tossed about like they were undergarments. Someone could chide him on safety, but he'll take a raincheck. "There. Now it's fair." If such could be said of the long-sleeved compression shirt and slacks. At least compared to the delicate attire which Wylan was now hungrily analyzing for optimum disrobing. "And!... we can get back into our... conversation. I have so much I want to say." Wylan boldly declares, arms gestured to the sides before the assassin descends on Sonia.

What language is it again? One that involves feverishly undoing the buttons of a cardigan sweater and shoving fingers through, pulling away to expose as much skin as possible? There's no words after all, as lips and breaths were preoccupied with making themselves known to each exposed inch he could find.

[sylverstorms]

Cassandra x Maiden ----Anonymity Ch. 8

Ch.1      Ch.2      Ch.3      Ch.4      Ch.5      Ch.6      Ch.7

It has come to a point where you can’t even pretend to yourself that you don’t care for her.

All the time you spend with Cassandra every evening has made certain feelings impossible to deny, though you are too scared to name them all.

You don’t name the smile you can’t contain when she excitedly pulls you to the armory to show you her collection of blades –and explains, in a very animated fashion, about the optimal use for each one. You don’t want to know what the stutter in your heartbeat means, every time she genuinely laughs, pale neck thrown back, nose slightly scrunched and all. 

And it’s not just Cassandra you grow a tad closer to.  

Bela comes to you whenever the two of them have argued and goes ‘Tell my sister’ this or that. Daniela is apparently not allowed within a twenty meter radius of you, but she approaches to poke and prod at you whenever she wants to annoy Cassandra. She never manages to do either, because the middle sister always swoops in, fuming, dragging her away by the hood of her robes like a kitten.

Lady Dimitrescu is the only one as distant as the day you first saw her –and it’s probably for the better. You don’t see her much, anyway, not with how Cassandra takes you to empty castle wings to have you all to herself.

Tonight is different.

After dinner, Bela leaves with her mother and you go to help the other maids present clean the table. But your lover steps in the way and grabs your elbow, instead, hurriedly pulling you along.

“Do not tell me you’re seriously thinking to make me wait longer.” she says.

Of course, you promised to watch a movie you found on your phone with her and she’s been buzzing with impatience since.

That is, until a certain redhead blocks your way. 

“Daniela, move.” Cassandra huffs. 

“What are you doing? Take me with you.” the younger sister replies, brimming with childlike curiosity. 

“No. Go bother Bela.” A shooing motion is made. 

“Bela’s no fun. I wanna come with you and Alexia.” she drops your name so casually it’s startling.

“Wait give me a moment to think about it –moment over. No.” Cassandra states, fast.

But Daniela shoots forward and grabs your arm like a koala. Your eyes go wide at the same time as Cassandra’s, for different reasons.

The brunette immediately grips her sister’s robes, none-too-gently. “Don’t touch her, she’s mine!”

“If you don’t take me along I’m telling mother where you found that music player and phone!” Daniela answers, her hold enough to cut off your blood flow.

You send Cassandra a pleading look before they break your arms with how they’re tugging at you.

“On one condition.” the elder sister holds a finger up to her sibling’s face. “You sit next to me and you don’t move around.”

“…she’s warm, though.” Daniela says, all but pouting. “Mother says sharing is caring~”

“Find your own human.” Cassandra growls out as the three of you make your way to the main hall and the couch adjacent to the fireplace there.

“You and Bela have gotten the prettier ones!”

“You snooze, you lose.”

Cassandra quite literally pins you to the arm of the couch with her body, to keep Daniela as far away from you as possible. Even as the movie starts, you can feel her sulking by your neck for not being able to touch you the way she wants.

You are not as focused on the movie as you are cute way she plays with your hand throughout its duration.

-

-

It’s getting harder and harder to remind yourself of what they are.

Especially when, ten minutes after the credits have rolled, Daniela is still crying over the death of the protagonist. Even Bela comes to the hall and asks Cassandra what she did to her.

By the time she’s done dealing with her sisters, your lover comes to you sporting a headache.

“We’re leaving this wing right now.” Cassandra says and that is about all the warning you get.

The next second you feel a rush of air and your stomach leaping to where your heart is supposed to be; Your eyes only make out a blur and an augur of black flies.

When she comes to a halt you crash into Cassandra’s side with a gasp. Your arm aches from the pull. The world spins for ten solid seconds.

She laughs by your ear. Low and satisfied as it is at your disorientation –it reminds you of drinking wine by a fire in the heart of winter— you can’t help but bask in the timbre of her voice so close.

“Ugh, why is it so cold in here?” she complains in that same quiet tone you love.

It is very cold compared to the more lived in parts of the castle, but your body is warm enough from your sustained proximity and the rush of adrenaline she always causes in you.

“Oh, well, I can bear it for a little while if it means we won’t be interrupted.” Cassandra trails off and lifts your chin with a chilled finger.

Your lips meet and slide together in a practiced tango. Her manicured nails run over your throat and shoulders, making you shiver for reasons that have nothing to do with the temperature.

Both of you are starting to get really into it when Cassandra walks you back into the nearest wall. It happens to be a window, covered by a flimsy curtain. You have half a mind to realize it’s probably been forgotten slightly ajar, judging from the frost that graces your shoulder, but you have more important matters to focus on, like the brush of her tongue over your bottom lip.

Until Cassandra braces her bare hand over the unseen opening, to box you in like she usually does.

And-

She shrieks.

She jerks away so powerfully her back crash-lands into the painting on the far wall, knocking it down with its frame broken. You’re left there still and mute, watching in frozen horror as her face distorts into pure, raw anguish.

“Shut it!” Cassandra screams at you. “Shut it now, now!”

Your nerves suddenly kick into overdrive and you pull the window closed like your life depends on it.

What just… happened...?

In slow, cautious steps, you approach her. She’s clutching her hand like a wounded animal, baring its teeth to hide its vulnerability. It is the first time you see her like this. Void of control, bent over in hurt. Gasping.

Something in your chest breaks.

You look at her hand, to find her pale skin nearly crystallized, grey and breaking apart —like cheap china, like weak porcelain— into flies that drop to the floor, faintly twitching.

You thought… you thought they could just control the insects. That dissipating into swarms was just a trick allowed by their mutation. But now you realize, the flies are her body.

All this time trapped under the looming terror of the daughters… and escape was as easy as opening a window on them.

“Cassandra…?” you ask in a wavering voice when the initial burst of rage leaves her form.

She looks up at you, torn, when you hear the heavy sound of heels rapidly approaching.

“Cassandra?!” a different voice calls, this time, deep and authoritative. When Lady Dimitrescu rounds the corner in her immense height, your instincts scream to run.

But one look at Cassandra makes you stay.

Alcina halts for a moment to take in the scene. Then her lips curl downwards and bladed claws extend from her gloves, easily half your body in length. 

Oh my… God…

“What did you do to my daughter?!” she demands and advances on you, but Cassandra gets in front of you before she can truly threaten your life.

“I brought her here, mother. It’s my fault.” she hurries to explain.

Alcina stares at you like she wants to crush you underfoot… but then softens, somewhat, at the look her daughter is giving her.

“Come with me. Now.” She says in a stern motherly tone that leaves no room for objections.

You clutch Cassandra’s uninjured hand, silently asking if she’ll be alright. She turns, looks at you for a moment, then nudges your head with hers.

“...I’ll see you later, Alexia.”

But, as it turns out... “later” is subjective.

 -

-

 In Alcina’s Private Chambers…

It is not often that Cassandra is reprimanded by herself. 

She has never before been the only one at fault. She’s used to having her sisters beside her while Alcina scolds the three of them… except this time they’re outside the closed door and she is there to face their mother’s ire alone.

She can’t stay still under that yellowish-grey, narrowed gaze. Her fingers fidget with the edge of her robes’ sleeve to keep occupied, while Alcina takes that deep, calming breath she knows heralds no good things. Ever.

“Cassandra. Do you understand the severity of the situation?”

“Yes, mother.” She keeps her gaze downcast.

“Even if the maid didn’t harm you on purpose, she now knows your weakness. Yours and your sisters’. You were careless to allow this.” Cassandra feels anxiety rise up from the pit of her stomach and threaten to swallow her whole at that tone.

“I know, mother. Forgive me.” she replies quietly.

She wants to say that Alexia won’t use this knowledge against any of them, but she cannot bring herself to lie to Alcina. Because the truth is, Cassandra doesn’t know for a fact that she will not.

Why was that window open? Why?!

“You didn’t let me fix your mistake. I assume that means you will do it yourself?” her mother asks and Cassandra’s gaze snaps up.

What…?

At first, the temptation to chain Alexia up and watch as her blood drained from her lithe body had been sweet and strong. But now, at the thought of killing her –losing her— in whichever way, Cassandra is sick to her stomach. It is strange, because she feels like she is hyperventilating when she isn’t breathing at all and the world has tilted and—

Please don’t.

“Since when did you ever hesitate to kill, Cassandra?”

“…If.. that is what you ask of me…” she replies but she doesn’t sound like herself at all, not even to her own ears.

“How can I ask that of you and break your heart?” Alcina throws her arms up in exasperation. “I should have stopped this months ago but I thought it a fleeting fancy. I never imagined you would end up so attached.”

“I’m- I’m not-” she tries to protest, but her mother is having none of it.

“You’re not? You’re with her every day and she barely sports scratches anymore. Your eyes follow her everywhere when she’s in the same room. You instinctively lean closer whenever she comes over to refill your wine. Do you think I do not notice?” Of course. Of course she noticed.

Cassandra swallows, silent.

The memory of laying, too weak to move a single finger, on her deathbed along with Bela and Daniela pierces through Cassandra’s brain like a bullet. Her hand gives a violent spasm and flies break off to buzz frantically around her as she drops her forehead into her palm.

She’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown and it’s just so difficult without her sisters there. They’ve always been together, since the very beginning.

They were born together, learned to control their powers together, they died together-

Alcina is on one knee in front of her the next millisecond, stroking her hair and gathering her into her arms.

“Shh, calm down, my love.” she coos. “I’m sorry to be so harsh on you. I only want the best for you three.”

Cassandra doesn’t talk because she can’t, because she cannot wrap her head around what that flash inside her brain was.

“Oh, my Cassandra. I will not harm the maid if it will harm you, too.”

She waits for the eventual ‘but’.

“But I cannot let this dalliance continue any longer.”

It’s probably for the best. Her mother knows best. It is true, after all, that she has not been acting like herself, lately. So, yes, this decision is for her own good.

But.

Cassandra’s heart has the same reaction upon hearing it as being exposed to sub-zero winter air.

[s0seo]

Attitude Adjustment

Pairing: Roommate!Jk x Reader x Roommate!Taehyung

WC:11.8K. Rating: M.

Description: After hearing an argument between your two roommates, you are a bit shocked to hear that they both have feelings for you. Add a bit of possessiveness and a dash of domination and you have one heck of a trio.

Genre: Smut. It’s literally just smut Bit of exposition, but it’s a filthy mess.

Warnings: little to no editing, swearing, dirty talk, hair pulling, slight choking, possessiveness, sexual frustration, thigh riding, unprotected sex (please be responsible), nipple appreciation, praise kink  (Taehyung is a good boy), soft dom vibes ,reader gets spit roasted, use of a sectional sofa, use of a wall, oral sex (f&m receiving), mentions of alcohol consumption (they leave a bar), slight mention of violence (someone gets pushed), bit of voyeurism, bit of exhibition, edging, scratching, mentions of jealousy, mention of a horror movie.

A/n: I hope you all enjoy! And as always I hope everyone stays happy and healthy. If you see a typo, no you didn’t, and if you don’t like fics like this, then don’t @ me I told you it was filthy.

A/n 2: I also want to give a BIG thank you to @ohhlalaniall​ for giving this a read and making sure it was good enough to post.

© s0seo please do not copy or edit as protested under this license :)

“Come on Y/N, I think we should get you home.”

It’s Saturday night, and your friend is dragging you out of yet another bar. 

You lean into his embrace as you let yourself stumble a bit.  A small part of you feels bad for making him take care of you like this, but if you plan on being bold enough to follow through with your plans tonight, you need the liquid courage to support you.

 Even though you’ve both had the same amount to drink, you are just a bit tipsier than he is, and you’re definitely going to use that to your advantage.

“But Tae…” you pout, “I just want to have some fun tonight.”  You say the last part into his neck as your head tilts to the side. As a result, you feel him produce a slight shiver as your words vibrate into his skin.

If everything goes according to plan tonight, his neck is only going to be the beginning of what your lips will do to him.

Your dark-haired friend puts his arm around your waist, trying to help you walk while he puts his arm in front of him and moves people out of your way.

You pull him closer to you and lean into him a bit more than necessary as you inhale his cologne. God, he smells good.

You think back to a week ago when you were sitting on the couch with your best friend and roommate Taehyung watching a movie. Everything was going great until the movie's climax hit, and you realized that the movie was too scary for him. 

You wrapped your arm around him, and you were going to let him lean on your shoulder until the movie was over when suddenly your other roommate came home from work early. 

While physical intimacy is pretty common between you and your roommates, it tends to get a bit awkward whenever you do it with both of them around. 

Still, Taehyung has always been pretty understanding and laid back about it though. The real problem has always been with your other friend and roommate Jungkook. 

Jungkook, while being one your best and oldest friends, has a bad habit of being a little possessive when it comes to you. For a while you weren’t sure if it was because he saw you as someone who needed his protection, or because he didn’t have a lot of friends. But everything changed that night. As soon as he walked through the door and saw you and Taehyung on the couch, he got angry. 

The worst part was, when you asked him, he wouldn’t even tell you why. The two of you argued for a solid thirty minutes about how he believed that you shouldn’t have been watching a scary movie without him because that was something for just the two of you. You countered with the fact that if he hadn’t flaked on your horror movie plans two weeks in a row then you wouldn’t have had to ask Taehyung to join you in the first place. 

He even went so far as to imply that Taehyung guilted you into watching the movie just so he couldn’t. 

Taehyung, who has never been one for any form of conflict, remained silent as you defended him.

Finally, you stormed upstairs, tired of the bullshit and the need to justify yourself to someone who was being angry and jealous for no reason. 

You paced back and forth in your room for a few minutes, until you decided that enough was enough and that he needed to be more understanding. 

You were just barely past the top of the stairs when suddenly you heard Jungkook whispering, or at least trying, to Taehyung. Your nosiness got the better of you, and as you tiptoed down the stairs you heard Taehyung trying to explain himself.

 He claimed that he knew Jungkook liked you but that he liked you too and that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He said that all he wanted to do was watch a movie with you because you were sad that Jungkook canceled on you again. That statement alone both shocked you and made your heart pound. Without making a sound, you peeked your head around the corner of your staircase, only to see Jungkook push Taehyung into the wall before quietly growling out the words “I met her first. She’s mine” and stalking off to the kitchen. 

You had no idea how they felt about you up until that point. You racked your brain for all of the signs that you must have missed. 

Jungkook’s jealousy finally made sense and so did their continuously increasing levels of intimacy with you. Taehyung’s decision to watch the movie with you even though he was afraid of almost everything made a lot more sense as well. Honestly how could you have been so dense?

If you were being honest you were more than a little attracted to them as well, especially Taehyung. You felt an attraction to Jungkook multiple times throughout your friendship, but you never thought he saw you in that sort of light, jealousy or not. 

However, even before you overheard their confessions, you’d definitely had your fair share of fantasies about them. Their lips, more importantly their mouths, and the things they could do to you as you ran your fingers through their hair had crossed your mind more than once. 

After that night, Taehyung began trying to distance himself from you so that Jungkook wouldn’t get upset again. It took you a few days to notice, but once you did you became angry. 

The more you thought about Jungkook's threat to Taehyung the angrier you became. After all, who the hell did he think he was claiming you like that?  As if you were some prize to be won or some trophy to have in his possession. 

As you laid in bed last night, fed up with the awkwardness that your roommate created between the three of you, you came to the conclusion that if things were going to get better for you three, Jungkook was going to need a definite attitude adjustment.

Once the two of you finally get back to your apartment, Taehyung helps you up the stairs and into your room where he leaves you to get changed and head to sleep.

You take a seat on your bed and watch him as he walks away, pausing for a moment to make sure that he doesn’t plan on coming back up.

‘Good’ you say to yourself as you walk over to your dresser and pull out a pair of lacy dark blue underwear and a matching bralette.

You quickly close your door and slip on your pajamas, making sure to move both quickly and quietly so as not to raise any suspicion.

You look over at your clock and nod to yourself as you throw on a baggy t-shirt that you stole from Taehyung a few weeks ago and a pair of short sleep shorts.

Jungkook should come home from work within the hour, and when he does everything needs to be in place.

You glance at your reflection in your mirror, retouch your makeup, and give your reflection a nod of approval before making your way back downstairs.

You take in the sight of him, leaning back on the couch with his phone in his hands as they rest between his legs. The black of his shirt and jeans only adds to his attractiveness. 

His head is resting on the back cushion and his eyes closed as they rest behind his dark curls. God his thighs look good. Actually, all of him looks good. 

You resist the urge to simply walk over to him and climb into his lap. No. If this is going to work you have to stick to the plan. You complete your descent, quietly walk over to him, and stop right behind him. 

After taking a moment to decide on the best way to do this, you lean forward, place your hands on his shoulders, and start to softly massage them.

You feel him tense up momentarily in surprise as he lifts his head and looks at you in confusion.

“Y/N” he says as he runs his hand through his hair, his tired eyes taking in your change of apparel, “I thought you were going to sleep.”

You give him a small smile, walk around the couch, and take a seat beside him. 

“I’m not tired anymore. Let’s watch a movie.” You suggest. 

He tries to subtly move away from your body. As if you wouldn’t notice, as if you didn’t already plan for it.

You place a seemingly innocent hand on his thigh and another on his shoulder before turning his body back towards you.

“Come on” you pout as your fingers trace small circles over the fabric of his clothing, knowing that it’s his weakness. “I’ll go to sleep after it’s over. I promise.”

He glances down at your hand for a moment and looks over your shoulder at the clock on the wall behind you before letting out a sigh and giving you a nod.

“Fine. But just one.” He says as he pulls up your Netflix account. 

You give him a nod and grab the blanket from the back of the couch before throwing it over the both of you and resting your head on his shoulder.

You feel him stiffen beside you for a moment before clearing his throat and looking down at you.

“What do you want to watch?”

You keep your eyes on him as you pretend to think about the question. You already have a movie in mind, it’s one of your favorites actually.

“How about The Passion Project?” You ask, knowing that he loves the movie just as much as you do.

He gives you a side glance and smiles as he pulls up the title and starts the movie.

“Excellent choice.”

You lean forward and wait for him to lay his arm on the back of the couch while you wait for the movie to start. He hesitates at first as if unsure whether he should or not, so you bring your eyes to his and tilt your head in question. He lets out a chuckle and shakes off his doubts as you curl your legs in front of you and lean into him. ‘Just like old times,’ you think to yourself as you breathe in a deep breath of his cologne. 

As the movie progresses you steal a few glances at him, and to your surprise he’s beginning to fall asleep.

��Shit,’ you think to yourself. ‘If he falls asleep now then everything falls apart.’ 

You glance over at the clock on the wall once again. Twenty minutes. Jungkook will be home in twenty minutes. You give yourself a small nod and form a new plan. Things might have to start a bit sooner than you expected.

You lean forward out of your friend's embrace, and you hear him let out a yawn from beside you. Moving backwards on the couch you wrap your arm around his shoulders and pull his body close to yours until his head is resting on your shoulder. 

You raise your hand to his head and begin running your fingers through his hair, as he closes his eyes once again. He lets out a sigh of content, and you turn your head to look down at him, your breath tickling his skin, before asking, “are you awake?”

He takes a moment to respond, but he slowly opens his eyes and looks up at you, your faces just a few inches apart.

“Yeah.”

Your eyes travel to the TV, and you continue to run your fingers through his hair as you nod your head at the tv and whisper softly into his ear, “this is my favorite scene. You know why?”

He looks over at the tv as well and nods. “It’s because of the dancing, right?”

You look at the scene in front of you and watch as the two love interests stand in front of a mirror and begin moving their bodies to the rhythm of a slow and sensual cover of your favorite song. 

Not only is the scene very well shot, but it’s also the part of the movie where the main character decides to finally give in to her feelings for her teacher.

You softly shake your head and slowly bring your eyes back to his face. They travel from his lips, up to his nose, then to his dark eyes, lingering as they go. You feel the stillness of the silence that lies in the few inches between your faces as he waits for your answer.

“It’s because of the tension,” you whisper.

You see his eyes flicker down to your lips and you watch him slowly closing the space between you.

He sucks in a small breath as your nails graze his scalp, and you close your eyes and silence him with your lips. He lets out a sound of surprise but doesn’t pull away. His lips slowly respond to yours, as if following your guidance.

He pulls away after a moment and looks into your eyes. The earnestness in his gaze sends warmth to your core, and you watch him lightly lick his bottom lip before releasing a small laugh and bringing his lips back to yours.

You kiss him slowly at first, careful to give him plenty of opportunity to pull away again or tell you to stop. 

His lips taste like strawberries, no doubt because of his favorite strawberry soda he likely opened before making his way to the couch earlier. It’s intoxicating.

You can faintly hear the chorus of the song in the background as he deepens the kiss, and you let out a small moan as his hand finds its way to your jaw and slides into your hair. 

You crawl onto his lap in response and place your hands on both sides of his head as you slide your tongue across his lip. 

He moans against your mouth as he opens up to you, and you slide a hand down to the bottom of his black shirt and slip your fingers underneath it.

Your fingers trace over his abs, and you release a sigh as he brings his lips to your neck and wraps his arms around you, one of his hands now sliding down from your face to your ass.

 God you love his hands. His long fingers and his veiny yet muscular arms have been the subject of your less than decent imagination on multiple occasions.

You grind your core against his crotch and imagine how hot it would be to straddle his thigh while you jerk him off. Or even hotter, if Jungkook walked in and caught you doing it. 

The thought of his jealously turns you on more than you know it should, but you just can’t help but think about all the ways you and your roommate could torture him after the way he treated your friend.

Your thoughts are interrupted as Taehyung brings his lips back to yours, and now it’s your turn to let your lips roam. 

Your tongue trails along his jaw, and you begin kissing your way down his neck. God you love his neck. The thought of his collarbones, and the way his throat bobs as he swallows hard only gets you wetter and wetter. Maybe if you’re lucky he‘ll let you wrap your fingers around it.

You remove your hand from his abdomen and place your palm on his collarbone, slowly but surely making your way to his throat. 

His hands roam through your hair and across your back, and he lets out a quiet groan before placing a hand on your shoulder and whispering, “wait Y/N, hold on.”

You slowly pull away from him and look down at his face as you continue running your fingers through his hair, a hand now roaming up to his chest. 

‘Maybe it’s not over, maybe he just wants to pause the movie or something,’ you think.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” You ask, already preparing to guide the situation back to where it needs to be.

He looks up at you through half lidded eyes but keeps his voice confident as he says, “what are we doing? This isn’t right.” 

He puts his hands on your waist and tries to move you off of his lap. Following his wishes, you climb off of him and pull the blanket over your legs once again. 

“What do you mean?” You ask him, letting a small pout rise to your face. You’re guessing that he’s probably afraid of Jungkook finding out what happened. Part of you wishes that he weren’t so shy sometimes. That’s one thing that Jungkook continuously beats him at: confidence. 

He slowly shakes his head, and you cross your arms and give him a small, worried glance. Yes, let him believe you didn’t see this coming. You knew that he was bound to become anxious and stop you at some point during the night, you just weren’t sure when.

He looks around and opens his mouth to respond, but before he can you both turn your heads to the sound of keys and the turning of a lock. Jungkook is home. 

‘Good,’ you think to yourself, ‘now all I have to do is wait for the right moment.’

He opens the door and runs his hands through his slightly ruffled hair before glancing straight ahead at you and your roommate on the couch. The two of you are far enough away from each other to ward off any suspicion, but Jungkook’s gaze still hardens as it lands on your friend.

“What’s going on here?” He asks, trying to keep his tone light yet still managing to make Taehyung avert his gaze. ‘Such an obnoxious bastard,’ you think to yourself as you tilt your head at him and draw his attention back to you.

You give him a small half lidded smile, acting a bit less sober than you actually are, and you rest your elbow on the arm of the couch and point to the tv.

“Tae agreed to watch a movie with me before I go to sleep. We were about to call it a night when you walked in.”

You glance over at Taehyung and notice how stiff his body is next to yours. You can tell by the anger in Jungkook's eyes that he wants to say something to your roommate, and if left alone, you know he will.

His jealousy is as sexy as it is infuriating and you tilt your head to the side and bite your bottom lip as you call out to your roommate, “how about you take a shower, and we all finish watching it together?  It’ll be fun...” 

You make a point of slowly sliding your gaze over his figure as you say the word “fun” and bring a bit of anticipation to your eyes.

His eyes travel over to you and he glances down at your mouth as he thinks about it. 

“Fine. I’ll be quick. After all, I do still owe you a movie.” He gives Taehyung a threatening glance before making his way up the stairs and into the bathroom. You wait in silence until you hear the water of the shower running and turn back to your friend.

Placing a hand on his thigh, you turn your body and fully face him.

“Tae.” You say, “look at me.”

He glances up at you as you place a hand on his jaw and turn his face until he’s looking at you. 

“I want you,” you confess as you begin slowly closing the distance between your bodies. “God, I want you so bad. Don’t you want me?” 

He lets out a soft groan as you let your hand on his thigh accidentally travel a bit too far up, and he closes his eyes as he groans out the word “yes.”

You move your body even closer, practically on top of him at this point, and bring your lips to his ear as you ask him once more, this time letting you voice drop to a husky whisper “do you want me Tae?”

Your fingers lightly trace the outline of his hardening cock over his pants, and he unconsciously raises his hips up to follow your feather light touch.

“Yes.” He breathes out, before opening his eyes and looking over at you. Good. You have him exactly where you want him.

“Say it.” You tease as you let your nails lightly scrape along the fabric and watch your touch bring another groan to his lips.

“God...I want you…” he breathes out.

“Do you like me,” you ask, slowly guiding him to exactly where you want him.

He stares into your eyes and gives you a nod, and you crawl into his lap once more and bring your lips a breath away from his as you ask, “then why didn’t you tell me?”

You see his eyes flicker to the staircase, and he clears his throat before shyly admitting, “I... Jungkook likes you.”

You tilt your head at him and run your fingers through his hair once again, so he has no choice but to look into your eyes.

“That’s not what I asked…” you warn, bringing your lips back to his ear and nipping at his lobe.

He looks away from your penetrating gaze and lowers his voice. “I don’t want to make things awkward between the three of us.”

You reach out for one of his hands and slide it underneath your shirt until his long fingers graze your bra.

“Does this feel awkward to you,” You ask.

He swallows hard and shakes his head in response as his thumb teases the lace.

You give him a look of satisfaction and place your lips on his once again. This time your kiss is a bit slower and definitely more aggressive. You tease his lips with your tongue then pull it back as his tongue chases it. Like your very own game of cat and mouse held within a kiss.

Suddenly, he pulls away from your kiss and places a hand on your shoulder.

“Hold on Y/N…I don’t know if this is such a good idea. What about Jungkook?”

You grind your hips into him, and tug his curls out of his face, smiling as you hear a moan escape his lips in response to the sudden show of aggression.

“Why not,” you ask before bringing your lips next to his ear, your nails now scraping along his scalp and chest. “You like me, right?” 

He gives you a small nod in response as you run your fingers through his hair and grab onto his curls a bit tighter this time and feel his hips rise up to meet your body. 

You are vaguely aware of the fact that the sound of the shower has stopped, and you bring your lips to his ear and say, “I know you’re afraid of him…”

He tenses up underneath you, but you slowly grind yourself against him and place a finger underneath his chin before lowering your face back to his and asking him, “do you trust me?”

His eyes are filled with uncertainty, but he gives you a small nod, so you continue.

“Will you be good for me,” your question is barely audible now, but he looks up at you and earnestly nods, nonetheless.

“Good,” you whisper as you brush your lips against his and begin kissing him again. Now he doesn’t hold back, all of his worries and fears seeming to vanish as he moans into your mouth and pulls your body against his.

His hand makes its way to the bottom of your shirt, and you break the kiss just long enough for him to remove it from your body. His gaze roams over your chest and back up to your face, his hands reaching forward slightly before patiently dropping back down to your waist, and you give him a look of approval as you softly grab his face and whisper, “you’re such a good boy aren’t you, always doing what you’re told...”

His hips rise to meet your core and he gives you a nod, his long warm fingers digging into your ass as he does. God, you could watch him look at you like this for hours. How the hell did you get lucky enough to have someone as hot as he is as a best friend and roommate?

“What the fuck” you hear Jungkook demand from your right. He’s only a few feet away from you, but still far enough behind you that you need to turn your head to look at him. 

A shadow of a smile makes its way to your features as you note to yourself in satisfaction, ‘Jungkook has officially entered the game.’

Taehyung tenses underneath you and moves you from his lap as he tries to explain himself.

“Jungkook, it- “

“It’s exactly what it looks like.” You interrupt, making a point to place your hand on his thigh and slide your fingers closer and closer to his hardness. 

Jungkook’s eyes shoot to yours, full of irritation and jealousy. 

“Even now,” you think to yourself smugly, “he isn’t upset at what’s happening. He’s upset that he’s not a part of it.”  Well, lucky for him, he will be.

You tilt your head at him and bite your lip as you admire him from your place on the couch.

His wavy black hair drips water on the towel around his neck as well as his chest, and his pajama pants hang low on his waist. 

God the things you wanted to do to those curls, and his chest, god his chest.

You admire the water dripping down his torso and you feel yourself getting wetter and wetter as you see the way his body glistens under the light. 

Part of you wonders if he decided to leave his shirt off because he heard the two of you, or if he was planning on using his body to intimidate your friend. The thought doesn’t sit well with you and you are once again reminded of how petty your friend can be.

You’ve often imagined yourself walking up to him after he gets out of the shower and simply running your hands over his chest and muscles. Seeing him here in front of you with jealousy in his eyes and his hand in his hair makes you realize that your imagination has absolutely nothing on the real thing. 

If he wants to be petty and an asshole to your friend, fine. Two can play at that game.

You look over at Taehyung and give him a wink before standing up and walking over to Jungkook.

“What the hell are you doing?” He demands quietly as you get closer to him.

“What’s wrong Kookie,” you ask, lowering your head and looking up at him. You keep your tone innocent and your steps slow as your eyes continue to roam over his body. “Tae and I were just hanging out while we waited for you.”

“Is that what that was supposed to be,” he asks with an edge in his voice as he takes a step towards your roommate. Of course, he thinks Taehyung is behind this.

You put your hand on his chest and walk him backwards until his back rests against the wall, his hands hanging limply by his sides as he lets out a groan.

His eyes stare into yours as your hand lingers on his chest, and you slide your other hand up his body and turn his face towards you.

“Why do you keep looking at him? I’m right here in front of you.” You whisper as you lean your body into his, the fabric of your bra now absorbing the moisture from his chest. 

His eyes search yours for an explanation, and upon finding none he flashes Taehyung a threatening glare and looks down at your half-clothed body as he whispers, “I don’t understand…”

You give him a small smirk and run your fingers through his damp hair before bringing your lips to his ear.

“How about I give you a hint?” You tease as your lips hover around his face, one hand continuing to run softly through his hair while the other lightly traces the over his chest, your fingers just barley grazing the skin of his nipples..

“I know what you said to Tae last week.” You whisper as you trail your lips across his jaw and bring them to his other ear. 

His body stiffens underneath you as you confess, but you continue anyways. “You have no idea how angry I was to hear you talk about me like that.”

He pulls his face back and opens his mouth to explain, but before he can you silence him with your lips. You feel him stiffen in surprise, and you pull your lips away and look into his eyes.

“This is what you wanted right,” you ask, “to have me all to yourself….” 

He closes his eyes and lets out a shaky breath as you tease him. 

‘He’s so close,’ you think to yourself, ‘now, just a little bit further…’

“My lips…,” you whisper against his skin as you prong your mouth to his neck. Your lips hover over his throat as you continue, and you slowly mark his skin with your teeth as you go.

“My hands…” you whisper, letting your hands roam over his chest. You slide an arm around his waist and pull his body towards you as you whisper one final thought, “my body, wrapped around you, begging for your touch…”

He releases a frustrated groan before bringing his hands to your face and guiding your lips back to his. You lightly tug at his bottom lip with your teeth, and he flicks his tongue across your bottom lip before massaging your tongue with his own. 

He spins your bodies around and you feel your back press into the wall. You release a moan as the kiss becomes more possessive and he pins your wrists above your body. The thought of his strength sends a jolt of satisfaction to your core, and you pull your hands from his grip and return them to his hair.

His hands roam your body, and you feel him slide his thigh between your legs while one of your hands roams from his hair to his throat. 

The kiss is as infectious as it is aggressive, and you guide his lips to your neck. Stealing another glance over at your friend, you see that he’s begun to run his hands over his thighs in anticipation. He’s probably getting more and more turned on just watching you tease your roommate. 

You have no doubt that if you pushed him hard enough, he’d show you a possessive side of his own, but that’s a challenge for another day.

The thought of him becoming turned on as he watches you makes you wet with satisfaction, and if the hardness against your thigh is any indication, it’s turning Jungkook on as well.

Though Jungkook’s arousal probably has less to do with the idea of being watched and more to do with showing off to the one that’s watching.

He places one hand above your head against the wall and slides the other against your waist, rubbing his thumb across your skin as he holds your body in place.

You bring your hand from his throat to his chin and make him look at you. There is a hint of panic in his eyes, as if he thinks you’ll push him away, but you run your fingers through his hair and smirk at him instead.

“You like me,” you whisper against his lips, not bothering to present it as a question.

His eyes shoot down to your lips, and you watch as the panic in his gaze turns into something else.

“Of course, I do. I wouldn’t hang out with you if I didn’t.” 

You tilt your head and narrow your eyes at him, pulling a bit of his hair as you correct him.

“No,” you say as you slide your hand up his chest.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me,” you tease as you nod your head at Taehyung and whisper against his lips, “just like he does...”

You watch as jealousy makes its way back into his eyes at the reminder of his competition, and he opens his mouth to say something to Taehyung, but you lift a finger to his lips and stop him before he can. 

“You’re jealous right? Is that why you always get angry with me if I bring someone home with me? Is it because you wish it was you instead?”

He breaks your gaze and looks at the ground before giving you a small nod. 

“When you heard me, did you imagine that it was you in my room... making me moan…. making me scream?”

His hips unconsciously grind themselves into you, and his grip on your body tightens. 

‘Honestly, it’s just too easy,’ you think to yourself.

You give him a smirk and place a hand on the side of his face as you continue to comb your fingers through his hair and carry on.

“It must drive you crazy...hearing me moan for someone else when you know it should be you making me feel good.”

He closes his eyes, and you watch him release a quiet whine as you drop your hand down to his pants and trace his hard outline over the fabric. 

He grits his teeth and closes his eyes as he leans his head forward into your neck and groans out the word, “Yes…”

You lean in closer to him and whisper into his ear while looking at Taehyung.

“You want to hear me moan for you, and only you. Is that it?”

He stiffens against you and lets out a small whimper as your fingers stop their tracing and suddenly grab him in your hand, the thickness and thought of what’s to come making your walls clench.

When he still doesn't respond you bite his ear and let out a small growl.

 “Say it …”

“God...Yes. I want you. I want you to moan for me and only me.” He looks into your eyes as he confesses. “You belong with me.”

You smirk at his confession, and suddenly spin your bodies before pulling away from him. 

“That’s too bad…” you tease.

His eyes widen and follow you as you walk back over to Taehyung. Looking down at him you use a finger to lift his chin up and sweetly ask, “be a good boy and take off my shorts.”

He glances behind you at Jungkook who is likely giving him a glare that could kill, but after a moment he smiles at you and curls his fingers into your waistband.

You place your hand on his shoulder, step out of your shorts, and lean him back as you straddle his thigh and remove your bra.

He closes his eyes and leans into you as you run your fingers through his hair, and finally bring his lips to your neck.

“You’re so good to me aren’t you,” you ask as you let your hand roam up his chest and lean your body into him.

“Y/n… what are you doing,” you hear Jungkook ask from behind you.

You glance back at your friend and see the jealousy and possessiveness return to his eyes, as you run your hand underneath Taehyung’s shirt once more. 

You look down at him and smile before releasing a sigh as his lips find their way to one of your nipples, and his fingers begin working on the other.

“So good,” you moan out, “such a good boy for me…”

You hear Jungkook release a sound of frustration and look back at him one final time as you move Taehyung’s mouth to your other breast.

“I don’t belong to anyone Kookie. You want me? Then you’re going to have to share.”

“Y/N…” he whispers in what is probably meant to be a warning but comes out as a whine instead.

“I’m going to show you” you say to him over your shoulder while admiring Taehyung, “exactly how it feels to have your feelings not matter…”

You look down at your roommate and pull his head back by his curls until he is once again looking into your eyes. Leaning down, you begin to grind your clothed clit against his thigh, rolling your hips in agonizingly slow circles, and trace his lips with your tongue. 

He lets out a whine at your teasing, and finally, giving in to his pleas, as he releases a second moan you silence him with your lips. 

He kisses you slowly. You can tell that he’s making it a point to show off how good he makes you feel while Jungkook has to stand back and watch. Good. Jungkook needs to learn that bullying your friend will get him nowhere.

You let out a moan at the friction caused by his thigh and your soaked underwear and take pleasure in the realization that you’re leaving a giant wet spot on his leg. Good, let him feel how wet he makes you.

His hands travel to your ass and your hair as your teeth dig into his bottom lip, and he moans as he pulls your body against his just a little bit harder. 

You help him remove his shirt and trail light kisses from his chest plate, to his nipples, and then to his neck. Your hands busy themselves with unzipping his pants before wrapping your fingers around him and bringing your lips back to his, taking your time with both your hands and your mouth.

“You’re so thick,” you praise, “and already so hard, just for me…”

You feel Jungkook's eyes burning into you, watching you, as you show him just how good you could make him feel. How good you should, be making him feel.

You bring your eyes to Jungkook as you ask Taehyung, “does that feel good?” 

You hear him moan into your neck, and you squeeze him tighter as you instruct him.

 “Say it. Tell me how good I make you feel.” 

He lets out a gasp, and your fingers make their way to his throat and squeeze lightly.

“So fucking good...” he whimpers.

Your lips travel to his neck, slowly marking him as you continue to grind your body against him. 

“Good boy,” you whisper at his response. His thigh flexes between your legs and you let out a whimper as the friction causes you to see stars. Your teeth continue to mark his neck and throat, your tongue softly sliding over the bruises as they form.

He lifts his leg up higher and you slow the movement of your hips as you feel yourself getting close.

“You’ve thought about this before haven’t you,” you whisper in between bites, “having me on top of you, touching you and teasing you until you cum for me…”

He lets out another grunt before closing his eyes and confessing.

“Yes.”

“How would I do it? When you imagined me? How did you use me?”

“God. Your mouth...your mouth....”

“Do you want my mouth?”

“Please…”

You look over at Jungkook and smile. The bulge in his pants betrays the scowl on his face, and you slow your hand as you bring Taehyung’s attention to your other roommate.

“Look at him…” you whisper into his ear before giving it a nibble then letting your teeth drag against his lobe.

He looks over your shoulder at Jungkook's frown and you feel him twitch in your palm. He’s enjoying this, making Jungkook jealous. Who would have guessed that they'd be into a little exhibitionism? 

Your hips return to their original pace as you feel his orgasm building and you increase the speed of your hand as you prepare to send him over the edge.

‘He looks so angry, doesn’t he?” You ask, not bothering to spare a glance at your friend a few feet behind you as you feel yourself reaching the edge.

Taehyung lets out a loud moan, looks up at you, and nods. His hands wrap around your waist and pull your body down onto his leg as you jerk him off.

“Good” you whisper breathlessly, and as his lips travel back to your breasts, you feel yourself stiffen on top of him and bury your teeth in his shoulder as your orgasm barrels through you. 

His thigh shoots up in response to your teeth, and you feel yourself getting close to another. Looking down at his fucked out gaze, you tighten your hand around him slightly and return your lips to his neck and command him, “Be a good boy and cum for me...let him see how good I make you feel.”

He releases a cry into your neck and moans your name as his orgasm barrels through him. You watch him as his body tenses, and he unloads himself into your hand and onto his stomach. 

Slowly, you lick his cum off of your hand and slide two fingers across his stomach before bringing them to his lips to taste. He looks into your eyes as he slowly opens his mouth and flicks his tongue against your fingers, sucking them as he goes. 

You bring your fingers to his hair once again and softly comb it away from his eyes. Noting the beads of sweat that have appeared on his chest, you drag woke tongue across his skin as you ask him, “did you enjoy it? Making him watch as I jerked you off...as you made me cum for you?” 

He glances behind you at Jungkook and gives you a small nod. You wrap your lips around one of his nipples and smile inwardly as he releases a moan. His hand flies to your hair as your lips travel to the other one and lightly drag your teeth against it.

“You like that,” you ask. He gives you an earnest nod and you smile at him and say, “maybe if you’re good I’ll give you some more. Would you like that?”

He gives you another nod and you glance back at Jungkook and smile as you look at Taehyung and say, “I need you to wait your turn then, we can’t have Kookie feeling left out now can we?”

You trail your tongue up from Taehyung’s chest and back to his mouth. You place a slow kiss on his lips before bringing your attention back to your friend and smile as your eyes travel over his tense shoulders. 

He looks at you with discontent and irritation as you rise from your friend’s thigh and stalk over to him.

‘Oh, he’s angry,’ you think to yourself. ‘Good, now he knows how it feels.’

As you get closer, you slide your hands up his body and tilt your head at him, slowly pinning him to the wall again as you do. Letting your hands slowly roam across his chest and up through his hair, you feel his hardness pressing against you.

“God you look so fucking hot right now,” you whisper as you close your eyes and breathe in the smell of him.

You watch as confusion makes its way to his eyes, and you smile as you drag your nails across his scalp and trail your lips from his collarbone to his ear, while oh so slowly marking him with your teeth.

He lets out a moan, and his hands travel to your ass and pull your body against his as he uses his long fingers to grab you.

“You don’t know how much it turns me in to see you like this.”

He lets out a gasp, and you slowly drag your tongue from the base of his neck to his jaw before marking him once more, this time letting your teeth sink into his skin a bit deeper. He thrusts his hips into your body, and you smile up at him as you notice how much he likes the pain. 

“Does it turn you on,” you ask as you grab a fistful of his hair and bring your lips to his ear, “knowing that you have me all to yourself while he watches?”

He sucks in a breath as your fingers finally reach the bulge in his pants, and his lips make their way to your neck and begin sucking on your skin without warning.

You moan at the thought of the bruises that his teeth will bring, and he begins slowly thrusting his hips into your hand.

He lets out a growl, and one of his hands travels to your hair and grabs it, suddenly causing you to release a cry of your own. 

He slowly pulls your head back until you’re looking up at him and he reaches down with his other hand, grabs your wrist, and slides it inside of his pants as he smirks down at you.

You wrap your fingers around his hardness and try to hide your surprise as you realize just how long he is. While Taehyung may be a bit thicker than he is, Jungkook’s length is in a league of its own. You feel an all too familiar ache in your core as you picture him ramming himself into you.

He spins your bodies and pins you against the wall, his thigh trapping you while slowly rising against your still sensitive lips. His mouth travels down to your nipple and begins teasing you while one of his hands slides down to your underwear and begins rubbing you over them, his free hand pulling your hips against him as he does.

“What about you,” he whispers. “You love the thought of making me jealous, don’t you?”

His thumb slowly rubs your clit, and you release a gasp as you grind yourself against him.

“Of course, I do…it’s just so easy...” you confess.

Your thumb slides over his tip, and you use your fingers to cover his length with his warm precum, your mouth watering as you imagine the taste of it on your tongue.

His nails dig into your thighs and you release a gasp as he pins you even harder against the wall, his hips thrusting forward into your hand as he lets out a moan.

His lips return to your neck, marking you, claiming you as his leg between your thighs rises higher and his hips continue to thrust into your hand and body.

You pull your body even closer against him as you increase the pace of your hips, begging for more friction as your nails dig into his shoulders. You feel yourself getting closer and closer to release. 

Suddenly, Jungkook begins to lower his thigh, pulling you from your blissful state. You try to lower your body with him, but the harder you try to rub yourself against him the lower you feel his thigh move and the slower his thumb moves against your clit.

“Kookie...” you groan out, as your grip around his cock tightens and you begin pumping him faster. He sucks in a breath, and in one fluid motion, grabs your wrists and pins them above your head with his hands.

“What’s wrong baby?” He teases, his insufferable cockiness returning to his voice. If it weren’t for his thigh between your legs, you swear that you would drop down to your knees and make him beg. 

His hands travel to your breasts and he smiles down at you as he confesses, “ I can’t tell you how many times I’ve imagined you like this… your body against mine...begging for release...”

“Sometimes it would be my mouth…” His head drops down to your chest, and you let out a whimper as you feel him take one of your nipples into his mouth. His tongue swirls around it and he grazes it with his teeth before switching to the other one.

His lips travel to your ear as he continues to tease you.

“Sometimes I would use my hands…” he says as you feel two fingers travel down into your underwear and tease your sensitive lips. You release a moan, and he brings his mouth to your ear and nips at it as he grinds his hips into you and asks, “you know what I always used though?”

You release a moan as you feel his hard length pressing into you. You know exactly what he used, but you decide against giving him the satisfaction of a response.

“Doesn’t feel so good does it, being teased...” he asks, as he slowly begins moving his thigh between your legs again, his pace excruciatingly slow. “Do you want me to let you cum?”

“Yes,” you moan out and you hear him release a chuckle before removing his body from yours completely.

He holds your gaze as he slowly drops down to his knees, making sure to leave small bite marks on your thighs that have you groaning as he goes. His tongue teases the lace of your underwear, and he looks up at you and slides his hands along your legs.

“You knew, didn't you,” he asks, looking up into your knowing and ever so tantalizing gaze.

“Bringing other guys home when you knew I was here, fucking them a few feet away from me, knowing all I would thinking about was your moans…”

You let out a sigh as his fingers tease at the fabric of your underwear and slide them to the side, softly teasing your folds.

“Of course,” you breathe out, your confession surprising you. Maybe he was right, maybe you did know how he felt about you before you heard him say it.

You lean back against the cold surface of the wall and let out a moan as you feel him bring his face to your wetness while placing his hands on your ass, his tongue tasting you through the fabric.

“I’ve been thinking about you for so long,” he says as he brings mouth to your underwear and teases you over the lace, his tongue and teeth merciless as they mark your thighs.

He teases your lips with his fingers, coming closer and closer to your inviting core as you moan.

“Look at you…” he remarks, satisfaction and smugness lacing his tone at your whines, “moaning for me…begging for my touch...” 

You look down at his face and spot the familiar look of pettiness and irritation in his eyes that betrays the confident and cocky smile on his face. 

He’s not just angry, you realize, he’s bitter because you made him wait. The idea that he feels entitled to you, that he somehow gets to claim you first sends a jolt of anger through your body, and you already feel yourself getting ready to punish him for it. ‘Later,’ you note to yourself, ‘let him have his fun for now.’

He brings his fingers to the waistband of your underwear and slowly peels it from your body, his nails lightly scratching your legs as he goes.

You know exactly what your teasing has done to him, and you inwardly smile to yourself as you prepare yourself for his retribution. After all, he’s never been one to forgive very easily.

His eyes are calculating as he takes in your full figure from his position below you. You watch him carefully, your fingers slowly running through his hair as he gives you a mischievous smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes and suddenly begins his assault on your body.

The first flick of his tongue almost causes your legs to give out, your sensitive bud crying out in pleasure. The second has you seeing stars. His hands continue to pull your wetness against his mouth while you release a moan and grab a fistful of his hair. His tongue is slow in its endeavor, as if savoring the taste of you as he explores your folds with his mouth.

You close your eyes and lean your head back against the wall behind you as you drape one of your legs over his shoulder and thrust yourself into his mouth. 

You feel one of his hands leave your ass and he pulls his mouth away from your core and looks into your eyes as he places one of his long fingers in his mouth, swirls his tongue around it, and slowly slides it into you. 

You release a gasp as you feel his finger curl into you and brush against your sweet spot. 

“God you’re so tight, just for me...” he whispers, “do you want more?”

You open your eyes and glance at Taehyung as he watches you with his mouth open, pure lust filling his gaze on your body. You notice that he managed to remove his pants at some point while you were occupied. You narrow your eyes at him, and he stiffens underneath your gaze as he understands his mistake: didn’t give him permission to do that.

Looking down at Jungkook, you bring one of your hands to your nipple and tease yourself as you watch him.

“I want you,” you confess, “I want you inside of me.” 

He smiles up at you, and without warning he slides a second finger inside of you and returns his mouth to your clit, sucking it between his lips and flicking it with his tongue.

With every pump of his hand you feel yourself getting closer and closer to another orgasm. He increases the pace of his fingers, and you look down and take in the sight of him. His curly dark hair is messy from your hands, and his eyes stare into you as he watches you falling apart against his mouth. 

God, he looks so hot like this, on his knees in front of you watching how good he makes you feel. A small part of you wonders why you didn’t come on to one of them sooner.

He slides a third finger inside of you and you cry out as you feel his lips suck hard on your clit. Your body begins to tense up and you whimper out, “Kookie, I’m gonna cum…”  

You feel a sense of relief at the thought of release, and you smile down at him as he continues to pleasure you. He makes a noise against you in confirmation and continues his assault. 

You feel your body beginning to tense up, when suddenly you feel his hands and his mouth leave your body.

Your body cries out at the sudden loss of stimulation, and you release a sound of frustration as you look down at your roommate.

“What the fuck…” you gasp at him harshly as you pull him by his hair and force him to look up at you. This is the second orgasm he’s taken from you, and you’re not going to let him steal a third. You let him have his fun, but you’ll be damned if he thinks you’ll let him push you like this.

He rises to his feet, and your fingers release their hold on his curls and drop down to his neck as he wraps one of your legs around his waist and smirks down at you. He places a finger underneath your chin and peers down at you through his dark hair.

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy,” he whispers before planting his lips on your neck and making you. “Baby if you’re gonna cum, it’s gonna be on my cock…”

He spins your body around and you brace yourself against the wall as his hands drop down to your thighs.

You feel your irritation subside, and you let out a moan as you feel him grab his cock and begin teasing your lips. You wait for him to place himself inside of you, but he simply continues to tease you as mouth returns to your neck and breasts.

“Now that I think about it though,” he whispers into your ear, “I don’t know if you really deserve it just yet.”

“Kookie,” you warn, desperate to feel his hard length inside of you, “stop being such a tease.”

He removes his mouth from your nipple and tilts his head as he narrows his eyes at you. 

“Look at you,” he says, smiling down at you, “so desperate for my cock…” 

You lower one of your hands to his pants ready to take what you want, but he grabs your wrist and pins it above your body.

“You’re so impatient aren’t you,” he whispers, “so greedy…”

As he lines up his cock with your entrance, he smirks at you and teases, “baby if you wanted me, all you had to do was ask,” before finally sliding into you.

Your nails scratch at the wall, and you feel his grip on your thighs tighten as he settles into you. A quiet whimper leaves your mouth as he slowly thrusts himself into you, your body adjusting to his length. ‘God, he’s so big,’ you think to yourself as you feel him bottom out, his tip pressing firmly against your sweet spot. You close your eyes and release a moan as you feel him pull out all but the tip before ramming himself inside of you in one quick motion. 

He continues his slow unrelenting pace, teasing you as your body clenches around him and begs him to stay.

“Fuck me harder...faster Kookie...” you beg

He slows his pace even more and growls into your ear, “you think you deserve that? After the fucking show you just put on?”  

“Oh baby,” he whispers as you let out a whimper, “I’m just getting started.”

He reaches in front of you and squeezes your clit between his fingers, and your legs give out on you as you let out a cry of pleasure. He holds your body up and trails kisses from your neck to your shoulder as he begins moving his hips faster and harder.

“You gonna cum for me baby.” He asks.

You give him a moan and he quickly pulls out of you and spins you back around before lifting your body up and sliding back into you.

You feel your mind go blank at the force of his thrusts and you wrap your legs around his waist and use your feet to pull him in deeper.

“Fuck,” he groans as he burrows his head in your neck and continues pounding into you.

Your back slams into the wall with every one of his thrusts and you glance over his shoulder at your other roommate who is looking at you with a question in his eyes. 

You give him a small nod of approval and watch as he slowly begins stroking himself to the sight of the two of you in front of him.

You feel yourself approaching the edge once more and one of your hands grabs Jungkook’s hair and guides his mouth down to yours, nails dragging across his back as you continue to moan.

Your legs tighten their grip around his waist, and you clench your walls around him as you suck in a breath and feel your orgasm crash through you. He continues ramming himself into as you ride your high and you feel him tense up as he reaches his peak as well.

“I want to cum inside of you,” he groans out as he tries to hold himself back.

You release a whimper as you feel his cock press into your spot once more and feel another orgasm approaching.

“Fucking do it then, I’m on the pill.”

Your confirmation is all he needs, and he increases his pace and pace and thrusts into you a few more times before tensing up and unloading himself inside of you. You feel a tiny spark of disappointment that you couldn’t cum a second time, but one look at Jungkook's still semi hard cock eases your worries.

He sets you down and your legs feel like jelly, but you walk over to Taehyung who has stopped touching himself and is now watching you with anticipation.

“You said you wanted my mouth, right,” you ask as you climb up onto the empty cushion in front of him and begin slowly rubbing his thighs.

He lets out a small gasp as he watches your fingers curl into the waistband of his underwear and slowly peel them from his legs. He raises his hips, and you pause for a moment and just take in the sight of him laid out in front of you.

You hear Jungkook behind you, and as you wrap your fingers around Taehyung’s thickness, you spread your knees and lift up your ass in invitation.

“You’ve been good for me, haven’t you?” You ask your roommate in front of you.

He bites down on his lip and holds back a groan as he nods down at you.

As you crawl just a bit closer, you look into his eyes and place your tongue at the base of his cock, slowly dragging it up the length of his shaft.

He releases a sharp hiss through his teeth, and you feel his fingers lightly grab your hair and pull it as you finally take him into your mouth.

Jungkook’s hands travel along the skin of your ass and thighs, and he places light kisses along your spine before spreading your legs wider and teasing your lips with his hardness. You lower your body as you brace yourself on your elbows and arch your back in anticipation at the pleasure behind you. 

A moan vibrates around Taehyung’s cock as Jungkook slowly slides himself inside of you and lets out a groan of his own. He slides in deeper and deeper, and you can't hold back the whine that escapes your lips as he finally bottoms out. 

While the wall felt good, this is on a whole new level of deep. Once he’s settled inside of you, you feel him slowly pull out and begin teasing your lips again.

You remove Tae from your mouth and let out a gasp as Jungkook places his hip inside of you and suddenly jewels your hips back into his. 

The pace he sets for your bodies is merciless, and every thrust brings you closer and closer to cumming again. 

A small part of you is honestly amazed that you’ve all lasted this long, but the fact that you have makes you happier than you know it should. You don’t know if something like this will ever happen between the three of you again, but the fact that it has sends waves of satisfaction through you.

You rotate one hand around Taehyung’s cock as you continue to taste him. Your other hand drops down to his balls and softly caresses them as you suck. 

His hips jerk upwards in response and you admire the look of utter pleasure painted across his features as you take him deeper into your mouth. 

“God, you feel so good” He moans as he runs his fingers through your hair. “Fuck, you feel good.”

You feel Jungkook’s grip on your thighs and you begin pushing yourself backwards and meeting him thrust for thrust. 

He reaches a hand down to the front of your body and begins teasing your clit. You release a choked back sob at the stimulation and begin sucking on Taehyung a bit harder.

Taehyung looks down at you as his breathing quickens, and he whispers out “I’m...l need to cum.”

Slowing your hands and your mouth, you look him and the eyes and say, “not yet.”

“Please,” he begs, “I don’t know how much longer I can last.”

You give him a nod of understanding and remove your hands and mouth completely. 

He lets out a small whine at tour denial as well as the loss of stimulation, but as you narrow your eyes at him he gives you a small nod and runs his hands on thighs while he waits, careful not to touch himself as he does.

Looking back at Jungkook you swear you could cum just from the sight of him alone. The sweat that glistens off of his body, the way that his arms look while they pull your hips back, and the way that his sweaty curls stick to his face as he looks down at you cause your walls to tighten around him.

“Kookie,” you say as you feel him slow his pace once more, “I want to taste you.”

You feel him twitch inside of you, and he pulls himself from your body and walks up beside you. 

He looks down at you as he continues to run his cock, and you tilt your head as you crawl onto Taehyung’s lap and say, “stand behind the couch.”

Taehyung takes the closeness of your bodies as the perspective opportunity to return his mouth to your nipples, and you let out a groan as you feel his hands on your back lightly pull your body closer. You begin grinding your hips on top of Taehyung and reach down and tease him with your lips.

He looks up at you as you lean down and place a slow kiss on his lips before lowering yourself onto him. You let out a gasp at his thickness, and you let yourself stretch around him as you begin working your way around him.

Your head falls forward and your nails lightly dig into his shoulder at the way he’s stretching you out, and you his lips on your neck as you let out a whimper.

Your mouth opens up for Jungkook’s cock and you moan as Taehyung sharply thrusts himself into you and completely bottoms out.

Jungkook’s hands make their way to your head and one finds a place along the back while the other moves your hair out of your face so that you can see him properly. 

You realize how much you like seeing him like this, looking down at you with lust and adoration in his eyes. It turns you on almost as much as seeing him on his knees for you.

You take him deeper into your mouth and slide your hand from his base to your mouth as you suck.

He leans his head back and groans before sucking in a breath and confessing, “fuck, I’m gonna cum.”

Taehyung’s lips pepper your neck with kisses, and you can tell from his strained breathing that he’s going to cum soon as well. 

Removing your hand from his shaft, you take him into your mouth just a little bit deeper and reach down and caress his balls. His body tenses up, and you hear him suck in a breath before shooting his load down your throat while continuing to thrust his way through his orgasm. 

You increase the pace of your hips and drag your tongue along Jungkook’s cock as you clean him up.

Taehyung’s hands grab onto your hips and he begins thrusting himself into you harder and faster. 

“You gonna be a good boy and cum for me,” you ask him as your hand makes its way to his throat.

He looks up into your eyes and groans, his eyes full of desperation.

You bring a hand down to your clit and tease it while tightening your grip around his throat and whispering, “then cum for me Tae.”

You feel him twitch inside of you before raising his hips one last time and stiffening beneath you.

He releases a cry, and you ride him through his orgasm and chase it with your own. 

Breathing heavily, you rest your head on his chest and collapse on top of him. 

Slowly, you lift up your head and begin kissing him once more, the taste of Jungkook still fresh on your tongue as he caresses it with his own. 

Jungkook walks around behind you, and you look up at him as he leans down and kisses you. Taehyung's hands slide along your breasts, lightly tracing the outline of your nipples and the marks that now surround them. 

You let out a sigh as Jungkook raises your body from Taehyung’s and lifts you up into his arms. You wrap your legs around his torso and trail kisses up his neck as he brings you up the stairs. 

Glancing over at Taehyung who you can tell is already feeling abandoned, you curl a finger at him and gesture for him to follow.

Once in your bedroom, Jungkook lays you down on your bed and begins kissing you as you both move further up on the mattress.

“Can I ask you something,” Jungkook whispers as he takes your hand and places your bodies under the covers, his body staying close to yours as he leans his head on his fist.

You look into his eyes as Taehyung enters the room and crawls on the bed as well.

“Anything,” you assure him as you feel your eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

You feel Taehyung climb into the bed beside you and rest head on your pillow as he places his chin on your shoulder. He entwines his legs with one of yours and wraps one of his arms around your waist as he looks up at you.

Jungkook traces a finger from your chest to your collarbones as he looks down at you and says, “do you actually have feelings for me, or were you just trying to prove a point?”

You slowly reach a hand up to his face and guide his lips down to yours. The kiss you give him is tender and slow.

“I would never do anything to hurt you Kookie. I would never do anything to hurt either of you. You mean so much to me.”

Taehyung snuggles in closer to you and rests his head on your chest as Jungkook gives you a small nod and slides his arm under your head. 

As you look up at your ceiling you think about the pleasant soreness you’re going to wake up to tomorrow, and just how lucky you are to have friends like Jungkook and Taehyung in your life.

You hear Taehyung ‘s breathing slow because you and as you fall asleep, you hear Jungkook release a small chuckle and say into your neck, “I know that if it came down to it, you’d be all mine.”

As you drift off, you find yourself smiling at him as you realize that even after everything that’s happened, he’s still just as cocky as he was before, and if there’s one thing you love, it’s a challenge.

*********************************************

Tag list:

@ephemeralkookie

@ohhlalaniall

@bangtanology

@tangledsparkles

[revengeisourlullaby]

Lucky You

Warnings: Pro hero Au, 18+, smut, unprotected sex, switch Izuku, slight mommy kink (like once or twice), dom themes, body worship, cunnilingus, blowjobs, edging, fluffy ending bc i’m feeling soft :3

a/n: hope this is not too ooc for him! i’ve always pictured deku to be somewhat of a closeted dom so i hope i did that theory justice. i also am really enjoying writing fics so maybe i’ll start taking requests if my writing is smth of interest! :)

Pro Hero Izuku x Female! Reader

Word count: 3.4k

Izuku had been on call for the past week so when he finally had the day off you guys took full advantage of it. The nights you spent with a cold spot in your shared bed started to take a toll on you. With your work schedule and tattered sleep cycle, it seemed like you hadn’t seen Izuku for weeks. You always saw the remnants of him. Water droplets around the sink, the residual heat of the coffee pot in the kitchen, but it seemed like you always missed him. It was maddening. 

Today though you two decided to remedy the situation at hand. After spending the early portion of the day lounging around your home, you guys went out to dinner. Reveling in the time you were sharing with one another as well as the meal placed in front of you two, you felt like things were finally falling back into place. Once you two returned back to your home, you both kicked your shoes off at the door. 

You walked into your shared bedroom to switch into some more comfortable clothes. The idea of sitting in jeans after stuffing yourself was ungodly. As you were stepping out of your jeans, Izuku had stepped into the bedroom staring at you from the doorway. You gave a small smile to him looking over your shoulder and continued to undress. Izuku returned your smile and stepped further into the room. 

Sitting on the bed he followed suit and changed into comfy house wear. Walking up to the dresser, you decided to tease him a little bit. Grabbing one of his t-shirts you threw it on and turned around to look at him. You knew when you wore his clothes Izuku lost his grip on reality. 

It sent him into the most euphoric orbit knowing that you enjoyed having him around you like that. He stood up to come to the dresser to grab his grey sweatpants. Looking up from the floor he saw you and his eyes widened a bit. Blinking a little excessively, a smile finally adorned his lips.

“Nice shirt right?” shooting him a cheeky grin, you wrapped your hands around his neck and he placed his hands on the curve of your hips. 

“Very nice shirt. I actually think it's new.” he punctuated his statement with a small kiss on your lips, grinning widely as he pulled away. Wanting to soak up as much time with him as possible you decided to drag him out into the main room with you.

“C’mon let's watch a movie or something. We can cuddle up together.” 

You heard him chuckle behind you and you plopped down on the couch, patting the spot next to you a little too eagerly. Fumbling with the remotes in an attempt to change the tv settings quickly you heard him speak up.

“So, what are we gonna watch?”

“Umm I’m not too sure, I didn’t make it that far yet.” letting out a light chuckle you finally got the settings in order. You settled back into the couch right next to Izuku and posed a question

“How bout a horror movie?”

Izuku slowly turned his head toward you, 

“Y/N, you and I both know the only reason you’re suggesting that is so you can nestle into me.”

You lifted your head up to look at him and quickly he sputtered out 

“Not that I have a problem with that I’m just saying” he looked down toward his lap almost embarrassed with himself. You brought your hand to his cheek and turned his face to you

“Not you getting this embarrassed already and I haven't even put the movie on. I didn’t even get to see you scared yet.” 

“Y/N…”

“I’m just teasing you know that, let's put on Insidious.” 

“Babe, please anything but that one.” You had to laugh. You knew how he hated that movie but you couldn’t help but get a kick out of his squirms whenever it was on.

“C’mon I know it’s your favorite...” smirking you looked up at him through your lashes. “...And we can switch it up a little, you can cuddle into me this time.” You wrapped one of your arms around his back and the other laying across his stomach.

“Alright, put it on.” he huffed out with a small chuckle following it. You giggled in excitement and started streaming the movie. This was one of your favorite films but for the life of you, your brain could not focus on it. The beat of Izuku’s heart, the scent of his cologne that lingered on his skin, the small jolt his body would send whenever he got a little scared by the film. You couldn’t help it, all your focus was on him. Now have completely forgotten about the movie, you felt that it was necessary to start teasing Izuku. 

It started with small touches. The hand that was resting on his stomach you snaked under his shirt and rubbed across his toned abs. You felt him flex in surprise but he eventually relaxed and let out the breath that he didn’t realize he was holding in. You smirked to yourself and decided to become a little more bold in your movements. 

Moving your hand further south, you began playing with the hem of his sweatpants. His breath hitched and he looked down at you,

“Y-Y/N- what are you doing?”

“I’m watching the movie, Izzy”

“I-I, okay”

Izuku was desperately trying to relax because heat was beginning to rush to his groin. His breathing picked up and you realized that this would be the perfect moment to tease him even more. Snaking your hand underneath his sweats, you trailed your hand across his length only to rest it on his bare thigh. You heard his mouth part open to say something, but you palmed him through his briefs and stopped him in his tracks. A breathy moan escaped past his lips and you smirked. 

“Y/N, I- uh”

You continued palming him through his briefs and felt it was time to finish off the teasing. Pulling your hand out of his pants you looked up at him and his eyes were glossed over in sheer want. A glint of disappointment coming through his pupils. You brought yourself up from his side and straddled his lap. Cupping his face in your hands you got agonizingly close to his lips. The two of you suspended in time waiting on one another to make the first move. Brushing the tip of your nose against him and parting your lips you grind your hips into his.

“Baby, please stop with the teasing” Izuku moaned out against you. 

You smiled to yourself, enjoying the fact that he had given into you. Capturing his lips, you kissed him like it was going to be your last. His skin against yours made your blood boil in the best way possible. Your body was on fire and your kisses were becoming full of need. 

You grabbed at the hair on the nape of Izuku’s neck and grinded into him even more so. The feeling of his hardness turning your pussy into a wanton mess. Izuku brought his hips up to meet yours, his desperation for you now becoming physical. Izuku pulled away from you and looked you in your eyes. One of his hands wrapping around the back of your neck, forcing you to look at him.

“Y/N, baby, I can’t take it anymore, I need you.” His eyes were that of a doe, pleading with you to give him some relief. He rutted himself up into you to emphasize his point. You knew you had full control at this point and you were gonna take full advantage of it before his neediness left his system. Lifting yourself up, you pulled your underwear to the side and rubbed yourself into his thigh. Hearing him moan slightly, you pulled yourself from him, standing up. A small string of your slick snapping off once you left Izuku’s thigh. Leaving him stranded on the couch, you turned and faced him over your shoulder

“If you need me so bad, you’re gonna have to follow me”

You walked out of the main room and into your shared bedroom. You sat on the edge of the bed waiting for Izuku to come in, and when he did the sexual tension in the room was thick. He almost stalked over to you, seeming as if his previous neediness faded that quickly. But you refused to have your control lost this early in the moment. When he came up to you, you grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him towards the bed. With his back flat against the bed you straddled him once again. Kissing him to ensure your dominance you trailed your lips to his jawline, landing at his earlobe and you lightly nipped it. A soft moan erupted from his throat and it went straight to your core.

Kissing down his neck, you realized he still had his shirt on. 

“We’re gonna need to take this off to do it right.”

Removing him from his shirt, you took a moment to admire his body. His physique never failing to amaze you. His chiseled body making you drool from excitement.

“You’re staring, baby”

“How could I not. You’re so beautiful to look at Izuku.”

Watching him go red you continued your assault on his skin. Trailing down his body you felt his breath quicken when you reached the band of his sweats with your mouth. Lifting your head up you felt his eyes on you and made contact. Attempting to size him down with just your eyes.

“Lift your hips up for me honey.”

Once Izuku lifted up his hips, you brought your teeth to the waistband and pulled them down past his knees. Coming back up and doing the same with his briefs. 

“Y/N, please I can’t take the teasing much more. Just do something please.”

Bringing your head up to look at him one more time to just egg him on, you slowly slid your hand up his thigh and resting it to wrap around his hard cock. 

“Now, while your begging was expected, you’re forgetting one important thing to do baby”

Giving his cock lazy strokes you gathered spit in your mouth and lolled your tongue out so it spilled over his length. His breath hitched and a small whimper slipped past his lips. 

“M-mommy. Please. Please suck all the stupid cum out of my cock. I need you so bad mommy.”

Pools of lust darkened your pupils and a smirk adorned your face, happy with Izuku’s last ditch efforts.

“Atta boy.” 

Lowering your head down you circled your tongue around the tip of his cock. Paying extra attention to the underside of the head, knowing how sensitive Izuku was there. Licking a stripe up from the bottom of his shaft you began bobbing your head up and down. Bringing both of your hands into play. You brought one to help you finish off the rest of Izuku’s length and the other moved to play with his balls. Once your hand began fondling his balls Izuku’s labored breaths turned into echoing whimpers.

“Fuck, mommy, Please keep doing that. God you feel so good.”

Humming in response you felt a wave of pride surge through you. You picked up your pace and sucked just a little bit harder around his considerable length. 

“Fuck, baby ~ah! Keep going like that, I’m gonna cum so hard”

Deciding to egg him on because you love how desperate his moans sound, you slowly pulled yourself off of his throbbing cock and looked up at him. His cries were like symphonies to your ears. Izuku brought himself up onto his elbows so he could get a better look at you. 

“I’m sorry Izzy, what was that?”

“Y/N, if you don’t put your mouth back on me-”

“Is that really the way you should be talking to your mo-!”

Izuku sat up fully and grabbed your face within his hand, squishing your cheeks together.

“Darling, I’m always more than patient with you, but I said not to tease me anymore. And what did you do?”

“Tease you…”

The vitriolic glare that fell down from his eyes told you that you had royally fucked up. Sending you immediately into a submissive space you were ready to do whatever he asked of you. Sinking further into your heels you stared up at Izuku with your hands placed upon your plush thighs.

“I’m sorry Izuku, I’ll make it up to you, let me make you feel good...please.”

Izuku stared down at you before saying anything, making you feel miniscule under his gaze. 

“Get up on the bed. I think I’m gonna make you feel good now.”

Izuku’s smirk that lined his face let you know that this wasn’t going to be an easy make you feel good situation. You were gonna have to work for it and you were going to pay for your teasing bit from before. Sliding himself up in between your legs, he wrapped his arms around your hips, locking you into place. Nuzzling his nose against your clothed clit you shivered and you pressed yourself into him. Hearing him chuckle he looked up at you from your hips.

“Little bit eager are we?”

Squirming underneath his gaze you fully realized how much you wanted him, but before you could get to begging he beat you to it. On a mission to make your face heat up for him.

“Look at this body of yours baby. You’re so beautiful.” 

Dragging his hands up to your chest, he dragged his hand down the valley of your breasts. 

“These perfect little tits of yours.”

He emphasized his point by rolling your hard buds between his fingers. 

“This perfectly cute tummy of yours, and fuck these thighs of yours. You’re so sexy baby.”

Bringing his hand down to your thighs again, he squeezed them causing an airy moan to escape from your throat. 

“Izuku, please, do something. I-I can’t take it.”

Hooking his fingers into the elastic of your underwear he stared back at you, green waves falling in front of his eyes. 

“And how do you think I felt, darling? But, I’m not like you, I’ll give you what you want and I’ll do it with such intensity you’ll forget how to be such a brat with me.”

Coming back up to your heat, he licked a messy stripe up your folds. Chuckling at the twitch your body made when in contact with his sloppy tongue. Swirling his tongue around your hole, he dragged his wet muscle up to your clit and began circling it. 

“Fuck, Izuku, baby don’t stop.”

Feeling your cunt start to flutter with a bit more vigor he removed one of his hands from your hips and brought it down to your soaking core. Inserting his middle finger into your hole, he rubbed against your g spot. The spongy feeling igniting something within him. He wanted to bring you so close to the edge and then rip you from it. The euphoric assault happening on your pussy elicited a scream to rip through your throat. 

“Fuck! Fuck Izuku I’m gonna cum if you keep doing that. Oh shit~”

Soon you felt his finger slide out of your hole and the disappearance of it made you whine. 

“Should’ve kept quiet babygirl. I knew you were close but c’mon I can’t let you off that easy. But, I’ve got something even better for you.

Izuku brought himself up from your hips and lowered his head down to kiss you. The taste of yourself fresh in your mouth. His tongue trailed itself along your plump bottom lip asking for further entrance into your wet cavern. Opening your mouth a little wider, your tongues danced for dominance. You felt his hips roll into yours and you reciprocated the action aching to get just one feeling of your boyfriend’s fat cock. 

“Can you feel it, grinding against you baby. You feel how much I want you. How much I want to be inside your cute little hole”

You grabbed his face in both of your hands and forced him to look down at you. A little bit of your dominance coming back for this small moment. 

“Yes, I feel it and I want you inside me so bad Izuku, I need it. I need you inside me. I want to feel every inch of you caressing my walls.”

Bringing his forehead down to rest against yours, he rubbed in your arousal just a little bit more. 

“Yeah, you sure that’s what you want baby?”

“Yes! Now please, fuck me Izuku, please!”

With that Izuku smiled, pleased with your performance of begging so earnestly for him. He lined his cock up with your weeping entrance, your hole twitching with just his head poking into it. 

“Izuku please- please just put it in I don’t think I can ho~ah! Fuck!”

Izuku had thrust the rest of his length into you. Sending you into a state of such bliss, your eyes rolled into the back of your head and a moan so loud came from your throat. Your hands clawed at the sheets below you in a poor attempt to ground yourself against Izuku’s pounding.

“Look at that cock disappearing inside you angel. Fuuckk, you take me so well.”

Izuku’s head dropped so that it nuzzled into the crook of your neck, his hot breath creating small droplets of moisture upon your neck. You felt his rhythm begin to speed up and in doing so he angled up just slightly, attacking your g spot. You couldn’t help but whimper against him. Bringing your hands up from the sheets you sent your nails into his back. Causing a growl to erupt on his end. 

“Fuck! God damn those nails baby. You must really like the way I’m fucking you, yeah? I can feel you squeezing down on me.” 

Wrapping your legs around his back you pulled him closer into you feeling your rapture on the horizon.

“Yes, fuck I love it so much. So much, I’m gonna-”

Remembering the denial Izuku brought earlier to you, you stopped yourself. Giving a quick moment to rearrange your words. 

“Please Izuku. Please let me cum. I need it. ‘N I want you to cum inside me baby, please fuck!” 

Izuku pistoned his hips, his cock hitting you in your most tender spots and sending you right over the edge. Your orgasm ripped through you causing your body to convulse in pure bliss. Unable to control your body a moan coursed through you, sending Izuku to his break. Your begging and incessant twitching throwing him over his climax. A graceless joint of euphoria overcoming you two as you felt his hot seed paint your walls his color. 

Pants filled the space in the air making up for lost words. The room smelled of sex and yet the only thing that filled your mind was the beautiful man above you. His green locks sticking to his face and the previous lust in his eyes being replaced with adoration for his lover beneath him. Pressing a gentle kiss to your lips he pulled away to look at you once more.

“God, I love you so much Y/N. Every time I stare into your eyes I swear I fall more in love with you each time.”

Pulling himself out of you he rolled onto his back letting a sigh fall past his lips. You rolled over onto your stomach crawling up to him. Resting your head on his chest you brought your hand up to his neck and fingered through his hair. Trailing your hand to his face, rubbing his cheek with your thumb. 

“I love you too Izuku. Sometimes more than what’s good for me. But I can’t help it. Something about you keeps me wanting more. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Now having made Izuku red and at a loss for words, he settled for a kiss on your forehead and you two laid in each other's presence. Soaking in the ambiance of each other. 

[l4verq]

remnants (1)

ransom drysdale x reader

in which you have to protect ransom drysdale because he has the same face as steve rogers, your ex who’s gone back to peggy

warnings : fights, guns, hostage situation, tiny bit of violence

if you want to be added to the taglist, lmk in the comments💗

ʀᴇᴍɴᴀɴᴛꜱ

*not my gif*

-

ransom’s seen pretty much everything.

travelled around the world, eaten the finest delicacies, snapped away for five years into non-existence all because of a purple, ball-sack face alien.

or so he thought.

because sitting here cuffed to a chair infront of you barely conscious, he begs to differ.

how did the night get so fucked so fast?

“hey.” he extends his leg, trying to nudge yours desperately.

you were a sight to behold with your hair undone, dark locks tousled around your delicate neck.

but ransom can’t afford to marvel at you, in fact the first thing he needs to do is get the fuck away from you.

because the way you’d jammed that glass cup up that bartender’s throat without a second thought, you were no ordinary woman.

“psst, hey.” He tries again, eyes skimming over the room.

they probably were holding them both for ransom.

hell would freeze over before he gave any of his money to those fuckers who chained him up like a dog.

you stir around slightly as you slowly open your heavy eyes. a groan slips out when you try to adjust yourself, only tightening the hold on your hands.

“good, you’re up.”

you lift your head to see a bloodied ransom across you.

slumping back into your seat, your body cries out in pain at the slightest movements.

as soon as you’d tasted the martini, you knew it was an ambush, thankfully spitting most of it out.

but it was too late, the drug almost instantaneously taking action, making you groggy.

the last thing you vaguely remember is dragging ransom out only to be whacked out cold, seeing stars.

“what’s going on? hey, are you going back to sleep?”he asks, straining his leg out to nudge yours again.

“you just don’t shut up, do you?” you croak out, barely above a whisper.

“i’m being held hostage in this room,” his nose scrunches up, “so, I’m sorry if I’m just a little curious as to what the fuck is going on.”

he looks almost pitiful, dried blood on his forehead and desperation in his eyes.

reminds you of steve after missions when he would limp around, all bruised up.

your eyes flicker over to the one camera pointed right at you, but the way it was angled you knew your hands weren’t in view.

“do you know about the avengers?” you work on dislocating your wrist to free your hands chained behind you.

not exactly your favourite thing but it worked everytime.

he rolls his eyes and quirks an eyebrow.

“you think I don’t know the avengers? the whole ‘saviours of the world but we choose to remain anonymous’ crap?”

“well, you’re looking at one right now.” you give an umamused smile, slightly flinching at the wrench that causes a tear in your ligaments.

he probably wouldn’t have believed you if he hadn’t witness you take down six people with such ease just a few hours? ago.

“anyways long story short, you look just like captain america and for some reason hydra just can’t seem to get over that face of yours.”

he lets out a genuine laugh which only seems to intensify the throbbing pain in his head.

you were a whole other kind of crazy.

“steve rogers? no one’s even seen his face under that dumb cowl of his.” he snorts, noticing the slight shift in your face at the mention of steve.

“andy barber. jake jensen. colin shea. ever heard of them?”

another tear.

he shakes his head, his irritation only growing by the very second.

“a few months ago, each one of them started disappearing one after the other. the only thing they had in common was their faces. they looked exactly like you, like him.”

you clench your jaw as you position your wrist for the final twist.

the last one always hurt like a bitch.

“you’re crazy.” he huffs, in disbelief.

he knew he shouldn’t have gone to that stupid event, not let his mother get in his head like always.

he could be at home right now, in his lavish three bedroom villa overlooking the sylvan surroundings.

but here he was, tied up in a filthy room with an avenger.

you might have to agree with him on the crazy part because you’re regretting the whole dislocating thing when the last twist pulls through, pain nearly blinding you.

he can only watch in horror as he realises what you’re doing.

“no, like you’re actually insane.” he breathes out in disbelief as your hands slip out of the chain.

the door swings open, guns pointed right at you.

a particular face in the middle catches your eye as you recognise him.

“you know you’re not getting out of here that easy, right?” zemo chuckles, “broke those pretty bones for nothing.”

“you get blipped for five years and this is the first thing you do? somebody needs to get a life.” you slowly get up, hands raised (you think?)

you couldn’t really feel them anymore.

“sit back down.” he orders, gun pointed right at your head.

he yells at you to sit down again but the gun’s pointed at ransom now.

“holy fuck, dude, don’t point that shit at me. this is how 99% of the people in movies die.” ransom pleads, his eyes closed.

“he’s not steve, you know that. so, why are you doing this? I mean I know why I’m doing this.” you hesitantly sit back down, your ears pleased for once to hear the familiar whirring.

just a few more seconds. that’s all you needed.

he cocks his head, “doing what?”

“buying time.”

ransom’s seen enough action movies to know the probability of him accidentally being shot by any of the rain of bullets whizzing past you two right now is high.

too high for his liking.

he thinks he saw a red flying thing knock out zemo? before you pushed him down so hard the chair broke.

“jesus christ, are you trying to kill me?” He yells, his back throbbing in pain.

and all of a sudden, it’s quiet,a persistent ringing taking over his ears.

he opens his eyes to see you hovering over his face.

it’s weird, your lips seem to be moving but he can’t hear you.

and it’s all black.

“i just want you to know that what you did back there, that was stupid.” sam glares at you, in the rearview mirror.

“and dumb.” bucky chimes in.

you roll your eyes.

it was going to be a long ride to the safehouse.

the car bumps and ransom bounces around, his head hitting the top.

“jesus, hold him or something.” bucky turns around, looking at ransom’s unconscious body sprawled on the seat.

you scoot over closer to ransom, your hand guiding his head to your lap.

bucky turns back around, a grin creeping up to his face which you just want to punch off.

you look down at the bloody mess on Ransom’s forehead, fingers slightly grazing over it.

it was done with a blunt object, most likely the back of a gun.

you can’t stop staring at his face, the same lump forming in your throat again.

so you force yourself to look away, focus on the trees zooming past until sam stops the car infront of a small house, “we’re here.”

bucky hands you a bag of essentials, waving at you to go in, “we got him.”

the house is actually better than most safe houses you’re used to.

it has electricity and hot water and that’s already made it a top contender.

you head straight for the shower, stripping down to nothing while turning on the water.

you hiss in pain at the contact of water on your aching skin.

the water’s scorching hot but it’s the only way you feel clean.

you scrub off the grime and dirt like always, desperately washing away the dried blood under your fingernails.

a trail of reddish brown water as you wash your hair, nails scratching every surface of your scalp.

quickly changing into a set of clean clothes, you pull out a box of needles.

you’re sloppy with your stitches, maybe cause you’d gotten used to him doing it for you.

throwing your wet hair into a towel, you debate whether to clean his wound up or not.

but your hand is already reaching for the bag of first aid sprawled all over the sink.

“it’s just a nice thing to do.” you mumble, making your way to the living room.

sam’s passed out on the couch adjacent to ransom and you’re pretty sure bucky went out to get some food.

they’ve changed his clothes for him but the ugly bruise on his forehead only seems to be swelling up.

you sit down on the floor, rummaging through the box, pulling out cotton and antiseptic.

“am I dead?” he croaks out, slightly shifting.

you chuckle, looking back at him.

a few dabs of the brown liquid on the cotton.

“this is gonna sting.” You warn him before gently wiping the angry bruise.

he flinches, groaning in pain.

“where am I?”

“safe.”

“yea, that’s really comforting.” he looks up at you in annoyance.

you exchange to a new waft of cotton, still cleaning up the dried up blood.

it’s strange, how weird yet nice your gentle touches feel.

the way your lips slightly part and eyebrows knit together as you concentrate.

ransom never really had someone take care of him like this.

“wher’s Steve?” he asks the lingering question on his mind.

there’d been many conspiracy theories online, each one crazier than the other.

he again notices the slight clench of the jaw, the shift in your position at the mention of his name.

“gone.” you reply stoically, placing the gauze over the swelling wound.

a shit reply but he can’t bring himself to pry further.

you look down at his face, the familiarity of this catching you offguard.

after every mission, he’d force you to sit down and tend to your every wound, every scratch.

can’t have my girl walking around, all bruised up like that.

and you’d force him to sit down and do the same.

it was always so personal, standing between his legs, his hands around your waist while yours worked around.

“hey, you okay?” ransom lifts his head, regretting it instantly as pain shoots up his entire body.

you blink away the tears threatening to spill any second.

“yeah, I’m good. Get some rest.”

you fumble around, hurriedly picking up the first aid kit, your shaky hands doing little to help you.

you were clearly distraught and ransom had a sneaking suspicion why.

-

a/n : i dont even know if u can physically dislocate your wrist yourself lol, im just making shit up as i go lmao

[tloujm]

Part XXVI: Giving Grief

Author’s Notes: This is the first chapter I’ve posted in months (literally since April). I don’t know if this is a full comeback. I have a few chapters in the drafts that need to be edited and formatted for posting but after that, I still plan on continuing the series bc my plan was always have a long fic. With no new content after part II of the game was released, my interest in the fandom waned but was always there. Now with HBO creating a show based off the game, as well as me being apart of the Pedro Pascal fandom, I think I will soon become more consistent in posting as new content gets released. I will say that at least half of what appeals to me for Joel is Troy Baker’s voice and while I love Pedro’s voice too, I know it won’t be the same. I still think Pedro will do the voice justice bc he can do a damn fine country accent as seen in the movie Prospect on Netflix. If you’re a fan of his and have Netflix, please go watch it!

Genre: Angst and Fluff

Summary: You and Joel reconcile and bond over Ellie and Sarah. 

Ship: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Joel waited for you to come home. He paced back and forth in the kitchen switching from holding the card and setting it down on the counter. He was eager to talk to you about this new revelation partly because he was nervous to have the other conversation with you. After a while of calming his nerves down, you still hadn’t come home. The sun had set an hour ago and Joel was ready to throw on his boots and go looking for you. 

Just as he laced them up, the front door opened. You walked in and immediately stopped because his body blocked you from walking in the house further. 

“Going somewhere?” You asked as you slid past him. He was a grown man and could do what he wanted, but the thought of him leaving to go do other things before the issue between you was resolved upset you. 

He reached back down to unlace his boots. “Not anymore. I was ‘bout to head out and find you.”

“Why?” You asked dryly.

“I’d been waiting on you to come home for a couple of hours. We gotta talk.”

“You’re right, we do. I was helping Wendy walk the kids home from the daycare; that’s what held me up. I’m here now, though.” You leaned against the back of the couch and crossed your arms. The stance you took reminded you of what Joel would do.

He walked into the kitchen and came back. “Kiddo made this for us.”

You took it in your hands. “When did she have time to make this?” He shrugged. Your fingers brushed across the drawing of the hat before finally opening it. “Oh my God.” She looked at you for a split second before looking back down at her signature. “Her name has been ‘Ellie’ the whole time.”

“I know.” He commented. 

“She never said anything. All of us have asked her.”

“Technically, she still hasn’t spoken her name, but I guess she wasn’t ready for that.”

“She wasn’t ready to let anybody in.” You said. He nodded in agreement.

“Until now.” He walked up to you and pointed to her name on the card. “She’s doing so good, this Ellie. I can only try to imagine the horrors that she’s seen out in the world before she came to Jackson, but whatever happened out there, it led her to us. I’m...It’s just nice to see her opening up to this place.”

You understood what he was trying to say. “Yeah, I’m proud of her too.” You walked past him and into the kitchen to hang the card on the refrigerator. Joel followed. This time, his arms were crossed.

“(Y/N), I meant it when I said I was sorry back there. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“If you didn’t mean it, you wouldn’t have said it.” You rebutted.

“I was upset with you because I expected you to react the same as me when Ellie climbed up that T-Rex, but I don’t want a carbon copy of myself. I love you and want to have a family with you because you are wise beyond your years, confident even if you don’t always think so, responsible even for things that aren’t your responsibility and most importantly, you’re level headedness. Where I have a tendency to lose my cool in certain situations, you are guided by this calm...patient sense of will that I envy.” He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, giving you the opportunity to say something. Seeing that you were still soaking in his words, he continued. “You’ll be a great mother. I saw it in the gentle way you juggled all those kids at the daycare. I saw it in the way you took care of Ellie the first day she came here. You’ll see though, if it’s meant for us to have a baby, how difficult it is to stop worrying. It didn’t stop when Sarah....even when I tried to push those feelings away. It doesn’t stop. I know she’s not her, but it’s hard for me to just stand by and watch her do something that could hurt her.”

“I wasn’t standing by, or at least that wasn’t my intention. I wanted to give her space. She’s so delicate, or maybe that’s my problem. I shouldn’t treat her like she’s some glass figurine. I just wanted her to grow comfortable with us by trusting her. Believe me, it wasn’t easy for me to do when there was nothing personally for me to go off of, but then I thought, she’s lived out there for God knows how long by herself. She’s not only seen things but has been able to survive things. It’s hard to see how clever someone is when they won’t let you in, but I knew she had to be to have made it this far. I get it though. I’ve never been a parent. I can only sympathize with your worries. I can not empathize with you until I’ve been where you have. I’m sorry too. I could have found a way to give her space without allowing her to be in such a dangerous spot. You must be disappointed in me.”

He moved up to you and placed his hands on your shoulder. “I’m not. Look at me. I’m not disappointed in you. She was both of our responsibilities earlier.” He brought you into a tight hug. “You’re right, she is smart. She felt comfortable enough to show a side of herself that no one else has seen. You know why? ‘Cause she felt safe around us. Despite the grief she put me through, it was nice to see her so happy.”

“I know it was, wasn’t it? I can’t believe she jumped though! I didn’t think she’d go that far.”

“At the end of the day, kids will be kids. It’s not an excuse to slack off on raising ‘em, but there's just a certain wild and carefree nature that every kid has. It’s instilled in their DNA or somethin’ and then it fades away as they get older, about the time their back starts to ache.” Joel chuckled as he explained. He kissed the top of your head before pulling away to get a good look at you. He made a face as if to ask if you were ok. You nodded. He took your hand and pulled you into the living room. You sat down next to him. “She reminds me of Sarah sometimes. Ellie’s about the same age as her. She ran me through the ringer, raising that one.” He chuckled at the memories. “I wouldn’t trade it in for the world, being her dad, but you shoulda seen the amount of grief she put me through. Especially being a single parent.” He wiped his hand across his face, letting it linger along the length of his neck. “One time, she snuck off to some skate park when I told her no. She was in this skateboarding phase. I bought her a customized skateboard for her birthday and she would practice using it up and down the driveway. She had barely learned that little flippy trick when she asked me to take her to the skate park. I told her no because it looked like it was for experienced skaters. I wanted her to practice more first. To say the least, she was mad at me. She told me she was staying after school for the science club, but she really went to the skate park with some friends. By the time I figured out where she was, I found her lying in the grass, holding her arm in pain. Turned out she had a hairline fracture in her...radius?” He pointed to the bone on his arm. You nodded that it was in fact called radius. “I grounded her for lying to me, but sometimes I wonder if I should have taken her to the park. I mean I’m no expert on skateboarding, but at least I could have been there to supervise; make sure she wasn’t on one of those tough looking ramps.”

“Did you ever take her skateboarding after she healed up?”

“After the cast came off, she switched interests to soccer. I installed a shelf on one of her walls to hang the skateboard on. Better that than being stuffed under her bed. Soccer was her life though. She made new friends from the team, won titles, learned tricks with the ball. Me and Tommy were regulars at her games. I was...am proud of her.”

You smiled as you envisioned his memories. “Did she give you grief with that as well?”

He nodded in an exaggerated way. “Oh yeah, but I’m sure I used to give her grief too.” You lifted your eyebrows with desire for him to elaborate. “I may or may not have argued with the coach and ref on a few occasions regarding plays.”

“You never dated any of the soccer moms?” You teased.

He scoffed. “Most of them were married and the ones who weren’t, I sent Tommy’s way instead. He wasn’t mad at it.” The two of you chuckled. “I did flirt with a few, married or not, so I could get my hands on some of their homemade baked goods.”

“I was under the assumption that soccer moms made food for everyone.”

“They did, but I still wanted a few more cupcakes for the ride home.” He admitted as you laughed. “Listen, I had a busy life. I didn’t have much time to hone my baking skills, so it was nice to be able to have homemade cakes and cookies for a change.

“Well, if you wanted cookies, that’s all you had to say! I can show you how to bake right now.”

“It’s late.” He reasoned.

“It’s never too late to feed your sweet tooth.” You rebutted as you pulled him back into the kitchen.

[serendipityseulgi]

8 Ways of Love;

— park seonghwa

according to the ancient greeks, there are eight different types of love. here is:

･*:༅｡ the one known as pragma, the enduring love.

aka, the kind of love that matures and develops over a long period of time, and somewhat rare to find. 

8 ways of love series; version i

A love story that shows the progression of yours and seongwha’s relationship from the moment you two become friends, to lovers, to exes, and everything else in between. 

love catalyst: the subconscious.

At the age of six years old you declare Park Seonghwa to be your boyfriend, solidifying your “relationship” with a hug.

“Eww, y/n, you have cooties!” your best friend barks, pushing you off him.

“Wha- hey no I don’t!” you squeak.

“Yes you do because Mingi told all the boys not to touch the girls because they have a disease and it’s going to eat our bodies alive!” he practically screeches getting up from the sandbox about to walk away from you.

“Seonghwaaa he’s lying!” you whine out and he huffs turning around to face you.

“Well all the other boys are listening to him so he has to be right.” 

“Well I touched you yesterday when we were playing tag and you’re fine!” you defend. “And if all girls have cooties then how come your mommy still hugs and kisses you goodbye in the morning? Wouldn’t you be dead now?”

Even at the age of 6 you were the biggest smartass Seonghwa knew.

After a moment of deliberation, he sighs. “Okay fine, you’re right.” your friend huffs. 

“So are you gonna back so we can play again?” you ask, arms crossed over your little body. 

Seonghwa nods before grabbing onto your hand to drag you back into the sandbox. 

The two of you return to making your sandcastle and it’s only a mere two minutes later does your friend speak up.“Am I actually your boyfriend now?” he asks suddenly and you whip your head towards him.

“Well I hugged you so yeah.” you roll your eyes at him and his soft little laugh makes your tiny heart jump.

Within the next week you two forget you’re “boyfriend-and-girlfriend” and go back to being the best friends you’ve always been, playing in the sandbox after school, watching cartoons at your house, and never missing a single dinner together while your parents listen to the two of you talk your little heads off.

For the record, there wasn’t much of a difference in your so-called relationship and your friendship in the first place when you were just six years old.

 At thirteen years old, your best friend confesses he likes you.

“Okay I know this is weird because, I should see you as like, a sister or something, I don’t know!” Seonghwa rants, pacing back and forth in your bedroom as you watch him frantically explain the way he feels about you.

“You know what I mean though? You’re like, practically family to me! Right? Right...” you figure he’s talking more to himself than to you as he asks himself questions that he’s quick to answer to. “Like you’re probably gonna think I’m weird or something, but you are my best friend and I don’t want it to be weird-”

“Seonghwa for the love of god can you just get to your point.” you interrupt impatiently.

“I like you okay?” he says quietly, avoiding all eye contact with you. 

His heart is beating so fast he feels like it’s actually going to rip right through his chest. He’s never been nervous around you ever. You’re his best friend, and you have been since you were 5 years old, and he doesn’t know why he suddenly feels like you’re the only girl he wants in his life. 

When he hears you laughing at him his heart drops to his stomach and he braces himself for the upcoming rejection.

“Can you come sit next to me.” you ask, gesturing to the empty spot on your bed. 

Seonghwa complies, yet his anxiety is rising by the second. He has never been so nervous in all the thirteen years he’s been alive. He almost wants to vomit as his stomach churns at the thought of you telling him you didn’t feel the same way.

“You’re rejecting me aren’t you...” he sighs, plopping down onto the spot next to you.

You shake your head with a smile. “No idiot, I like you too. Obviously.” you roll your eyes at him.

“Wait, what? Seriously??” he almost goes into shock. “Are you joking?”

“I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious.” you shrug. “I was throwing subtle signs at you for the longest time.”

“Like what?!” 

“Like the time I kept pestering you to take me to the Valentine’s Day dance, and when I made you hold my hand during that scary movie when you know I never get scared of horror films. Oh, and the time you kept badgering me about why I rejected Hongjoong for no good reason. I kept telling you that you were the only guy I needed in my life and you were too oblivious to realize I didn’t mean it in the friend way anymore.” you chuckle.

“Oh... Oh,” Seonghwa realizes. “I really am oblivious then.”

“It’s okay, I already knew you liked me back anyways.” you smirk at him, grabbing your remote off the bedside table.

You flip the TV on as you feel Seonghwa’s heavy gaze on you. “So does this mean you’re my girlfriend?” he asks you and you pause.

“I mean technically we never broke up when we were six so you’re basically just re-asking me out.” you tease, pulling the blankets on both your bodies as you settle on a show to watch.

“Oh god, you still remember that?” 

Of course you do. 

“Obviously, how could I forget you screaming to the entire park that I had cooties.” 

He laughs at that and you can’t help but smile widely hearing him. You both lay comfortably next to one another, watching intently at the show in front of you, yet both your minds were racing at the fact that officially, you could say you were boyfriend and girlfriend. 

“So when did you start liking me?” he asks you. 

“Honestly, I think I always did.” you answer truthfully. “But, like actually realizing my feelings for you?” you pause for a moment to think. “I think it was when you got really sick that one time and your parents were away for a business trip, and my mom made me drop off soup to your house. And I was only supposed to drop off the soup but I took care of you because even when you were all snotty and gross and barely awake to hang out with me, I kinda just realized I’d rather spend my time with you doing that than anywhere else.”

His eyes soften at you. “Aww.”

“Buuut then before that, there was also that time that Ashley told you she liked you and I got super jealous and I was actually going to shove her into a brick wall, so ...I kinda just figured...” you add.

“Way to ruin a sappy moment, moron.” Seonghwa playfully shoves you and you laugh. 

You cuddle up next to him returning your attention back to the show in front of you. Only a few minutes pass before Seonghwa speaks up again, and his question catches you off guard.

“What if we break up... like eventually?” 

You think about it for a second. “Then we go back to being best friends.”

“That easy?”

“That easy.” you nod. 

“For the record though, I don’t ever want there to be a time where I don’t like you. I hope there isn’t.” he says.

“I hope there isn’t either.” you assure, and just like that, you two go back to watching tv.

You’ve always had a soft spot for Seonghwa so it never came as a surprise to you, or anybody for that matter when you figured out you had a little crush on your best friend. 

In a hypothetical situation, if somewhere along the way your feelings ever started to fade, you still couldn’t picture a life where he wasn’t right beside you no matter what. He was your person, and he has been since you two were five. There was nobody in this world that could replace the bond you had with him.

Even at the age of thirteen, you knew you wanted Seonghwa to be there for the rest of your life.

At the age of fourteen and a half, you and Seonghwa have your first ever fight where he conveniently declares that he loves you for the first time. 

seonghwa <3; received 4:24 pm

y/n can u not be like this and talk to me :( 

plsssssss

i’m sorry

can u let me come over and talk to u

Your phone continues to buzz as you stare at it beside you, rolling your eyes at his insistent messaging.

You try your best to ignore it but the continuous beeping irritates you to no end.

you; delivered 4:26 pm

no

i’m mad at u.

seonghwa <3; received 4:26 pm

:(

you; delivered 4:27 pm

can u like do smth with ur life instead of bothering me

seonghwa <3; received 4:27 pm

ouch.

Okay, you admit. That one was a low blow and for a second you almost feel bad until you’re reminded of the fact that you were still royally pissed at him.

you; delivered 4:28 pm

ur actually annoying

seonghwa <3; received 4:28 pm

ya ik i am

but yk what i’m not

someone who is going to do nothing about their gf being mad at them

so open ur window bc im climbing up so i can apologize

stop being a meanie and let me say sorry

Despite how mad you still are, your heart can’t help but skip a beat reading his messages. No matter how hard you wanted to stay angry at him and tell him to go away, you knew you wouldn’t be able to resist him even if you tried. Seonghwa was charming like that, always managing to sweet talk you in every way. 

You crack open your window and see his tuft of black hair climbing up your ladder. As he hops into your bedroom you fold your arms across your chest, not daring to say a word to him until he speaks first.

“Look, I’m sorry for being an ass earlier.” Seonghwa apologizes, and all you do is look at him. He sighs before continuing. “I was just having a bad day and took it out on you and I shouldn’t have blown up on you during class. I get it. Dick move.”

“But then you had to go and talk to Ashley about it?” you added. “That was like the worst part of it! Do you trust her more than me or something?”

“What? No! Of course not!” he panics. 

“You, and everyone else and their mother knows she’s like obsessed with you!” you shout in frustration. “She’s liked you for so long, do you know how stupid you made me look running off to her knowing how she feels about you?!”

“That wasn’t my intention-”

“Were you trying to make me mad?”

“No, y/n.”

“Did you do it to make me jealous?”

“No!”

“So why Seonghwa, did you have to go and vent to her after you yelled at me in front of everyone when all I did was try to help?”

“I don’t know, okay!”

“I just don’t understand why me of all people you had to take it out on. When all i’ve literally done for you for like the last ten freaking years of us being friends was listen to you when you had a bad day or try to cheer you up when you were down! Never once when I was feeling crappy did I take that out on you. Never.” you explain with a heavy sigh. 

“I’m sorry.” he doesn’t know what else to say because he knows he’s in the wrong. 

“Do you like her or something?” your voice is quiet and the hurt is evident. “Cause if you do just tell me.”

Seonghwa is quick to shut you down as he pulls you into his arms.

“No, no, no. Y/n, I don’t like her. I don’t. Please believe me.” he begs. “Look, I don’t know why I went to her when I should’ve gone to you. I couldn’t even begin to explain what was going through my head at that point because I don’t know. But I love you, okay? I would never, ever like Ashley.”

Your eyes widen and you pull away from him. “W-what did you just say?”

“I... um...” Seonghwa starts to fumble over his words because he didn’t exactly intend to tell you, but it sort of just came out and now he’s starting to panic.

“Do you mean it?” you ask.

He just nods, a little embarrassed at his sudden declaration.

“I love you too.” you say softly, and he relaxes.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

"I’m really sorry, y/n.” he pulls you close to him, burying his face into your hair as he hugs you tightly.

“I’m sorry too.” you murmur against him.

“I hate fighting with you.” he mumbles.

“Me too.”

“I promise I’ll never take my anger out on you again. And I’ll never talk to Ashley again. And I’ll literally do whatever you want me to if it means you won’t stay mad at me because I don’t like it when you’re mad at me, and I hate making you sad.” he rambles and you let out a small chuckle.

“Just come lay down and watch Friends with me.”

“Okay.”

And you ultimately forget that you’re mad at Seonghwa because you decide that you can’t really stay mad at him after he tells you that he loves you. And although all is forgiven, he still decides to grovel for the next week as a reassurance that he really meant his apology.

So at fourteen years old, you have your first, and last fight with him.

At the age of sixteen, you celebrate your three year anniversary with Seonghwa, and decide you were ready to lose your virginity to him.

“Okay I know you said that the expensive dinner date was enough of a present for you, but you know me and always overdoing it....” he says behind you as you hear the crinkling of a bag behind you.

“Seonghwa...”

“Trust me, babe. You’re gonna love it.” he assures as he walks over to you.

Your eyes instantly fall onto the small red velvet box in his hands and your mouth falls open.

“This was expensive wasn’t it?” you pry and he shrugs.

“Maybe, but I was saving up for it for a while now.” he responds, sitting next to you as he hands you the box.

“I always feel bad every time you spend money on me.” you sigh as your fingers smooth over the velvet.

“I know but it was worth it, trust me. Open it.” Seonghwa urges.

You pull apart the bow and lift up the lid, your eyes widening in awe at the shiny ring placed inside. You lift it out gently noticing the small engraving on the inner part of the band, with both your initials and a small ‘i love you 4ever’ written underneath.

“Oh my god,” you utter. “I love it.” you place the ring on your finger.

“Good because I have a matching one too.” your boyfriend grins at you as he pulls out another box lined with a silver band with that very same engraving. 

You pull him in for a hug as he wraps his arms around you instinctively and all you can feel right now is an overload of gratitude for him. 

“I actually love you so much.” you say, pulling his face towards you to press soft kisses all over his face.

“Yeah, I know I’m the best,” Seongwha chuckles. “But I love you too baby.”

Your lips mould together perfectly, the kiss slow and soft at first. His hands wrap around your waist and your mouth moves gently against his. But soon enough you’re clinging to him and his body is pressed against yours, the kiss growing more needy and intense.

You knew when things started to get heavy he would stop the both of you from going further, never wanting to push you to discomfort. The furthest you had gone with one another was only third base, but it never went further than that and Seonghwa always left that decision up to you if you wanted to take it there.

You figure if you don’t speak up now, he was going to cut this short, so it’s only then at this very moment do you decide you wanted him to be your first.

“Do you want to have sex?” you blurt out suddenly and you swear you’ve never seen your boyfriend’s eyes go so wide before. 

He opens his mouth to speak but he can’t seem to find the right words to say. “I- um, wait, are you being for real?” he stutters. “I mean, I do want to, but, are you sure you want to?” he asks, still in disbelief from your question.

“Shit, sorry I know that was really sudden to ask, but I do want to.” you assure. “But only if you want to.”

“Of course I want to.” his eyes soften, and his hand finds yours in an instant delivering a comforting squeeze.

“Okay so come here and kiss me again please.” you say quietly.

And just like that, Seongwha’s soft lips land on yours once more. Without breaking apart he gently guides you to the head of his bed, laying you down underneath him as your bodies press up against each other.

You swear you can kiss Seongwha for hours and never grow tired of the feeling. You get drunk off his kisses, unable to think of anything else but him. It’s dizzying really, but you love it. You find that off all the things you love about him its his lips, and how impossibly soft they are and how familiar they feel against your own. How much comfort it would bring you, and how all you had to when you had a bad day was just kiss your boyfriend for however long he let you.

It felt like home.

His lips trailed lower to your neck, littering soft pecks across your skin. Quiet noises escape your lips and Seongwha can’t help but grind against your lower half. His hands travel across your body and the ache between your legs grows by the second, and the only thing you can think of is how much you love him, and need him.

Your mind kind of blurs because the next second you find yourself both naked and he’s fiddling in his drawer to find what you assumed to be a condom. He notices your curious stare as he opens his mouth to speak. “M-my dad told me to keep these in here,” Seongwha stutters. “He said to be prepared in case the time comes, and well, here’s the time I guess.” he laughs lightheartedly and the very sound makes your heart swell. 

“Nice call on Papa Park I guess,” you joke and Seongwha chuckles.

He climbs over you and delivers another peck to your swollen lips. “Okay, no more mention of my dad please when I’m about to put my penis in you.”

“Sorry, sorry.” you chuckle nervously as your boyfriend pulls you in for another kiss. 

"Okay, if it hurts tell me to stop and I will, alright?” his eyes stare deeply into your own.

You nod at him with a small smile, admiring what little of his face you could see in the darkness of his room. “I will, don’t worry.”

“Okay.” he sighs, positioning himself in front of you. “I love you.” he whispers against your lips. 

“I love you more, baby.” you say to him before you feel him push himself inside you. You gasp at the feeling and he stills in his spot to let you adjust. 

And once you signal that it’s okay for him to move, he does at a slow pace, and you gasp at the intense pleasure. Even though the pain has subsided his thrusts are still slow and controlled, and you don’t know if it’s because he’s afraid to hurt you, or if he just wants to revel in the feeling of you around him. Either way your heart fills with love for this one boy. 

“I love you so much, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you  know that?” he whispers in your ear and your eyes shut at his words and the newfound feeling you would grow to love. “and thank you for trusting me right now...” his breathing grows heavy. “because I would do anything for you, and I just want you to know that, okay?”

You almost feel like you could cry because above all the pleasure that you’re experiencing right now, his words feel different, more intimate, and all the more meaningful to you. 

And you believe every word he says because you know he truly means it.

“I would do anything for you too.” you repeat his words back to him and he buries his face into your neck as he continues to thrust into you. 

So at sixteen years old, you have your first time with the love of your life. And you tell yourself that no matter what happens between the both of you, you were never going to regret giving that part of yourself to him. 

At the age of eighteen years old, you do the unthinkable.

You decide after a long and heavy conversation, you two were going to break up. You were both set to leave town to pursue your studies at your dream schools, and you felt that parting ways at this point was the better option.

While you two could figure out a way to make things work while half way across the world from each other, you had to take into account all the factors that would drive you two apart. The time difference, the long distance, the fact that you were inevitably going to meet new people, and that you simply did not want to hold each other back from experiencing a life without one another. 

Because all you’ve known almost your entire life was being with Seonghwa, and him with you. You knew it was only fair to give each other the chance to explore something new, and now was that time.

It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, and although it was an amicable split, you’ve never felt the pain of a broken heart before. It hurt really bad.

Your friends and family decide to throw you both one last goodbye party, wanting to celebrate this special milestone with you. And of course there was no way you and Seonghwa could pass up the last good night you two would have together as a couple.

The party was fun at first. The dancing, the singing, the laughing, and the endless exchange of pictures as you guys shared the last few memories you would have as high school graduates. 

But as the night started to creep in, you both realized that in less than 24 hours, you two would no longer be attached to one another like you had been for the last thirteen years. And after five years as a couple, you still couldn’t believe that your relationship would come to an end, just like that.

You hear the faint music in the background of your house, as you and Seonghwa sit in your backyard, gazing up at the stars.

“This fucking sucks.” Seonghwa sighs, resting his head on your shoulder as you lean your head on top of his. 

“I know.” your throat burns, suppressing the urge to cry. 

“I just didn’t expect this day to come. I never thought we would actually break up with each other.” he admits, and you nod your head in agreement. 

You grab onto his hand rubbing comforting circles onto his skin, and you feel Seonghwa’s body start to shake next to you. You don’t want to look at him because you know if you see him cry, you’ll cry too.

You close your eyes trying to control your heavy breathing and the quivering of your lips. Your eyes are watering but you refuse to let your tears slip, and your heart hurts like it’s never hurt before, and you don’t know if the pain will ever go away.

“Seonghwa I really love you.” your voice breaks and you finally let the tears fall.

“I know, baby.” the pet name has always affected you, but now more than ever it tugs at your heart strings in a bittersweet way. “I really, really love you too. Always.”

“You know you’re the love of my life right? You’re always going to be.” you state and he delivers a squeeze to your hand in acknowledgement.

“And you’ll always be mine.” he answers back. “You’re my best friend in the whole world and the last five years with you as my girlfriend will forever be the greatest five years of my life. I will always stand by the fact that you are the best thing to ever happen to me.”

As you stare at one another with teary eyes, he knows you’re saying the same exact words to him. He doesn’t need to hear you say it, nor does he expect you to. Your eyes say more than enough to him.

You look down at the rose gold band around your finger and you realize how long you’ve kept it on, never once taking it off since that day Seonghwa gave it to you. “Do you want your ring back?” you utter, your eyes watering once more.

Seonghwa shakes his head. “Please keep it. Because I still mean it. And I always will. I’m gonna love you forever, y/n. Even if you decide to take it off, if that’s the last reminder you have of how much I love you, then please keep it.”

Your heart is hurting, and the tears seem never ending as they continue to fall down your cheeks. “I don’t want to leave you Seonghwa.” a sob escapes from your lips, and Seonghwa squeezes your hand again.

“I know, baby but you have to. You’re going to the school you’ve dreamed of going to since you were in the fourth grade. You’re going to accomplish so much and a build a great life for yourself, y/n. And even though I won’t be physically with you, I’m always going to support you every step of the way.” he assures.

You knew in a perfect world you two didn’t have to break up. But long distance was a bitch, and you moving across the world was never going to be easy on him. You couldn’t force each other to wait for the other. Not when the both of you had to start a whole new life separately. You had to let each other go.

You turn to face him, your teary eyes staring into his own. “I’ll always support you too, okay? No matter what. I want you to make the most of your time in Seoul, study hard, surround yourself with good people and have the most fun you’ve ever had. You’re gonna make so many friends and pursue the career you’ve always wanted and experience new things that you’ve never done before. And most of all, you’re going to meet a girl and love her just as much as you loved me. And you’re gonna fall in love all over again, and just be happy. Just promise me that you will make the most of your time over there and live your life to the fullest. Don’t look back, don’t wait for me. Just live until I get to see you again.” your voice breaks. “And if somehow we find our way back to one another, then just know everything we did up to that point was worth it.”

Seonghwa lets out a sob and nods. “I promise.” his voice breaks and you pull him in for your last goodbye kiss.

At nineteen, you visit your hometown for Christmas, which was the first time you’d be back in a year and a half. 

Having missed out on the chance to visit last year with your busy schedule, you made sure not to pass up the chance to see your family and friends. The more you grew accustomed to your new home you managed to find a good balance between school, work, and your personal life, so you found that this year was finally a good time to return back for a visit.

And there was no better time to come home than for Christmas day.

“Yeah, just landed at our layover and waiting for the next flight.” you say to your mother over Facetime.

“That’s great honey, I’m so excited to see you.” she smiles at you and you return the gesture. 

“I missed you mom.” you say.

“And I missed you even more.” 

You two continue conversing amongst one another, as she filled you in on all things you missed while you were gone before a voice interrupts your conversation.

“Hey babe, here.” Juyeon says, handing you a coffee as he presses a small kiss to your forehead.

“Oh thank you.” you murmur with a small smile as your boyfriend sits down next to you.

“Oh hey miss y/l/n!” Juyeon greets seeing your mom’s face plastered on your screen.

“Juyeon!” she squeals excitedly. “I can’t wait to finally meet you in person instead of over video chat. It was about damn time.” she states and you and your boyfriend chuckle. You hand him your phone allowing them to talk with one another and you smile fondly at the newfound bond between Juyeon and your mother.

“I know, I can’t wait to meet all of you guys too! I know y/n’s been really excited, it was all she could talk about for the last three weeks.” he teases. “And she says you make really good pie so i am definitely looking forward to that.”

“That is such an understatement, I make the best pie.” she scoffs. “And I made one specifically for you.” your mother beams.

After a few minutes of playful banter exchanged, Juyeon hands your phone back to you. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom before we board, I’ll be back.” he excuses himself and you nod in acknowledgement. 

“Oh y/n, I just thought I should mention Seonghwa and his family are coming over for Christmas dinner as well.” your mom says and the sheer mention of his name as your heart beating in your chest.

“Oh he’s back in town too?” you ask casually and she nods.

“Yup, he’s also bringing his girlfriend.” she adds.

“That’s great, I’m really happy for him.” you say with a smile.

And you meant it, truly. 

You knew of his girlfriend from the few photos he posted of her on instagram, and he seemed genuinely happy. Aside from his newfound love, he was clearly enjoying his time in Seoul like you had hoped, and it was everything you wished for him. 

You two hadn’t really spoken over the last year, and it wasn’t really on purpose, you two just kind of drifted, as expected. You two were starting fresh in an unfamiliar place, and you both were finding your way around your new homes. You two were also preoccupied with school, and meeting new people so it was sort of inevitably really that you two grew apart. Of course there were the few times you two would chat, but it never lasted long due to time differences and busy schedules. 

Although you missed him immensely, you were beyond happy for the life he started for himself, and you knew he was happy for you too. He did exactly what he promised you the last night you spent together, and that was enough to make you happy.

“Flight 219 now boarding.” the announcer calls and Juyeon meets you right on time.

“Okay mom, that’s us. I’ll see you in a few hours, bye, love you.” you bid your farewell before hanging up, and Juyeon grabs your hand leading you to the gate.

“Ready to go home?” he smiles at you, and you beam excitedly, nodding your head.

As the days pass leading up to Christmas, you spend all of your of time with your family and friends, using every second to catch up with your loved ones. You find that Juyeon is adapting well to your home life, bonding with your father and making your mother love him even more than she already did. You introduce him to your childhood friends and he instantly wins over Mingi, Hongjoong, Yunho and Jennie. You admire how much of an effort he put into forming a friendship with them because he knew how much it meant to you.

You were thankful really, to find a guy who was almost perfect for you.

But still, in the back of your mind, even though you loved Juyeon beyond belief, you knew Seonghwa would always have that special place in your heart.

On the day of Christmas, you and Juyeon set the table as you await the Park’s arrival. You were slightly nervous, obviously, given the fact that you had not seen Seonghwa in over a year and you would be meeting his girlfriend. Although you were happy for him, you still felt anxious to see him and her, and you could only hope that she was good for him, because he deserved that much. 

Only a few moments later do you hear a knock at your door and your mother walks over to greet your longtime neighbours. Juyeon stands next to you as he wraps an arm around your waist comfortingly and you relax against him. 

You see Mrs. Park first as she walks inside, giving your mother a friendly hug. Mr. Park follows suit as he greets your mother and your father with a wide smile on his face.

And then you see him.

His hair is slightly darker and he does look a little older. But other than that his face is so familiar to you and your heart beats wildly in your chest as the two of you make eye contact. His face softens when he sees you and you deliver a small wave to him as he smiles. His girlfriend trails behind him and you take notice of how beautiful she was. You smile at her too and she returns the gesture and your heart kind of warms seeing how shy she is because you always kind of knew Seonghwa would pick someone similar to him.

“Oh my y/n, how long has it been!” Mrs. Park calls towards you and you hug her tightly. 

“I missed you!” you say to her and her arms wrap tighter around you.

“I missed you too, darling. And you look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you!” she compliments. “And who is this handsome man?”

“This is Juyeon, he’s my boyfriend.” you smile, and Juyeon shakes her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Park. Y/n’s talked a lot about your family.” he says politely.

“Y/n’s picked a good one, I see.” she winks playfully as you notice Seonghwa and his girlfriend make their way towards you two.

“Hey y/n, long time no see.” Seonghwa says and you almost melt at the sound of his voice. He pulls you in for a hug and you notice how he still wears the same cologne that you had bought him all those years ago.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you again.” you smile at him, and although it had been well over a year since you two last saw each other, there was no hint of awkwardness, just nostalgia.

“Oh, this is Juyeon.” you introduce and Seonghwa delivers a warm smile to your boyfriend, shaking his hand respectfully.

“Nice to meet you.” Juyeon smiles.

“It’s nice to meet you too, I’m Seonghwa. Y/n’s... childhood friend.” he decides to say.

“I know she’s mentioned you a lot in her stories.” your boyfriend acknowledges. “From all the things she told me you were one of the people I was looking forward to meet the most. You seemed really great to her.”

“I could only hope so. She was my best friend after all.” Seonghwa glances at you, and you know there’s a deeper meaning behind his words. “And you seem like a really great guy, so I’m glad she has good people in her life.” Seonghwa returns and you find it heartwarming how well their exchange is going.

You look at the girl beside your ex and she’s staring at you with gentle, curious eyes. “Hi, I’m y/n.” you smile at her, extending your hand out for her to shake.

“Rosé,” she beams at you and you don’t even really know her but there was something about her that assured you she was good fit for Seonghwa. “I heard a lot about you as well, Hwa’s always talking about his life back home so I’m really glad I got to meet his best friend. You were really special to him.”

You smile softly. “I’m glad I got to meet you too.” you say.

“Okay, time for dinner everyone!” your father announces and you all take a seat at the table, passing over plates of food and catching up with one another.

“So Seonghwa, how’s Seoul treating you?” your mother asks as everyone turns their attention towards him.

“Uh really good actually,” he responds. “I joined a band actually! Uh, I became friends with these really nice guys. San and Yeosang. They basically recruited me after they found out I could sing and now we play at this local bar every week on Friday’s and Saturday’s. It was really good for me, I think. It helped with my stress and stuff. And that’s actually where I met Rosé.”

“That’s amazing.” your mother comments with a warm smile.

“Yeah he was really shy at first but San kind of forced him to talk to me which I was really thankful for because I was eyeing him for a while and was too shy myself to approach him.” Rosé says. “I still remember the night he asked for my number and he was stumbling over his words and I swear he looked like he was going to pass out.” she chuckles, and everyone at the table laughs along with her.

“Oh my god I know what you mean, he also cracks his fingers a lot and starts to turn really purple when he’s nervous.” you add and Rosé points at you nodding in agreement.

“Yes! I notice that all the time!” she laughs, and you can’t help but laugh with her.

“Trust me, I have the most embarrassing stories of him when we were kids.” you say.

“Oh god, you have to tell me all of them.” Rosé giggles.

“Obviously, we have the whole night for that.” you wink at her, and you realize how easy and natural it was to talk to her, and that confirmed that you indeed really liked her. 

Seonghwa watches the exchange between you both, and as you two make eye contact with each other, a small smile appears on his face as you nod at him, silently approving of the girl he chose to bring home for this special day. His heart grows full seeing how well the two of you got along, and he’s forever grateful at how amazing of a person you were that you were so willingly to form a friendship with his new girlfriend.

Although he loved Rosé dearly, there was still a piece of his heart where he’d always love you. And that piece grows a little more when he realizes how you continue to support him, even through this unconventional situation. 

Seonghwa decides he’s going to do the same for you, because just like you were happy for him, he was happy for you too. 

Of course he was glad you found someone who could put a smile on your face like he once did, and he knows that for you to have willingly dated Juyeon, he had to have been just as great as you were. You always had the best judgement of people.

“So Juyeon, how’d you and y/n meet?” Seonghwa asks genuinely and he notices the way his face lights up at the mention of your name.

“We had a lot of mutual friends and they introduced us. It’s funny actually, I could tell y/n didn’t even really like me that much at first, she was always so disinterested when I would try and talk to her.” Juyeon laughs.

“Probably stressing too much about trivial things.” Seonghwa chuckles.

“Yeah she does that a lot, so overly anxious all the time” Juyeon notes, and Seonghwa agrees. 

“Hey,” you interrupt and Juyeon apologizes.

“Sorry babe,” he chuckles. "but yeah, I finally sweet talked my way to get her to go out on a coffee date with me and then the next day she asked to go out for lunch after our lecture. We kind of just ended up hanging out more often and well, the rest is history I guess.”

“That’s great, I’m really glad she found someone that makes her happy.” Seonghwa smiles, and you feel a sense of gratitude towards him.

The rest of the night your families converse with one another and share a few drinks, as you and Seonghwa share old stories with Juyeon and Rosé. If you told yourself three years ago that you would be sitting by the fireplace on Christmas day with you and Seonghwa as exes exchanging stories with your new lovers, you would’ve never believed it. 

But you don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. In fact you’re immensely grateful that despite not being as close to Seonghwa anymore, you were able to see each other grow and adapt with your new lives. A life where you made new friends and made new memories. Where you tried things you’ve never tried before, and explored new places. And where you could love other people and still be so insanely happy for one another. 

This was a good thing.

At one point during the night the two of you find yourselves alone, a comfortable silence filling the room as you stared at the fire in front of you, basking in its warmth.

“I missed you.” Seonghwa is the first to break the silence.

“I missed you too.” you return. “And I’m really happy for you, you know?” 

“I’m really happy for you too, y/n.” Seonghwa smiles at you. “And I really like Juyeon. He seems really great, and he makes you happy, I can see it. That’s all I ever wanted for you.”

You hum in acknowledgement. “And I think Rosé is amazing. She’s perfect for you. And I’m forever grateful that you two have each other. I know we’ve drifted over the last year, but you’re still my best friend in the whole world. And even though I don’t say it often, or even out loud, I’m supporting you through everything. As long as it makes you happy that’s all I care about.”

His heart warms at your statement and he locks eyes with you. “And you know I’m always supporting you too. Seeing you happy and thriving is the best thing that’s ever happened to you. It’s all I want for you.” he states.

Neither of you have to say it, but you know this is your unspoken way of saying that you both still loved each other greatly. You still stood by the fact that Seonghwa was, and always would be the most important person in your life, and you in his. Seeing one another content and happy despite not having each other around anymore, was the one thing that mattered to you both. The maturity and support you continued to show was only because of the immense love you have, and have always had for one another. 

The kind of love that lets you give up the person you love the most so they can have a better life without you. 

And the kind of love that’s okay with it.

At twenty-one years old, you and Seonghwa meet again.

It’s during one of your breaks where you find yourself extremely homesick. You don’t even give your family a heads up until you’re outside your childhood home knocking at your door.

It was an impulsive decision but it’s not like you were currently in school. You had the time and the money, and you missed your hometown so incredibly bad that it only took you one second to make that decision to come back.

“Coming, one second!” you hear a male voice call behind the door and your eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“Well, that’s is definitely not my mom, or dad.” you say to yourself. “Did they move out without telling me or something-” your internal conversation is cut short as the door swings open and you’re greeted by an unexpected figure.

“Y/n?” the boy says in surprise.

“Seonghwa??” you say even more confused. 

“Who’s at the door Seonghwa?” now that’s your mother’s voice you hear and she gasps as she walks over to the door. “Y/n! Oh my god why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?!” she pulls you into her arms.

“Surprise.” you chuckle. “I kind of sort of felt really homesick and impulsively bought a plane ticket last night so I could fly back so... here I am.”

“Well come settle in! Seonghwa was just helping with some renovations in the house but I’ll let you two catch up.” your mother grabs your luggage, carrying it up to your bedroom. “Go grab a coffee or something!” she yells upstairs.

You look over to Seonghwa and he shrugs. “Let’s go then.” he smiles and your heart swells.

The two of you walk comfortably beside one another as you take in the scenery around you, missing the familiar place you once called home. 

“I didn’t know you were back in town too.” you say after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah, it was pretty impulsive too actually.” he admits as he looks at you. 

“What was your reason?” you ask curiously.

“Break up.” he states and your mouth falls open.

“Wait, you and Rosé...” 

He nods. “Yeah, things just kinda, fizzled out. You know, we grew apart, wanted different things, came to a point where we were in different stages in our life.”

“Oh wow.” is all you say. “I’m sorry to hear, she was really sweet. I really liked her.”

“Yeah, she was,” Seonghwa sighs. “I mean, we ended on good terms. We’re still friends, actually. I don’t even think I’m necessarily sad about it to be honest, it’s just different, you know? Like I know we weren’t even dating for that long, like two and a half years at most. But I just got so used to being around her and spending so much time with her, and then things just weren’t really the same after a while. It just felt odd not having someone. And being alone made me miss everything I had here so I came back.”

You nod your head in understanding. “Yeah, I totally get what you mean.”

Seonghwa raises his eyebrow at you. “You mean... you and Juyeon too?”

“Mhm,” you hum. “I think for us we just realized we were better off as friends than as a couple, you know? Like after a while the attraction kind of went away and we were only really together because it was comfortable. And we didn’t want to stay together if we weren’t in love anymore, it wouldn’t have made sense. The break up was easy and it felt right when we ended things, I kind of wish it happened sooner but, I was still thankful for the time we spent together. He is still one of my best friends so I’m grateful for that at least.”

“That’s good.” he smiles softly. 

“Hey at least we both can confidently say we have a track record of smooth break ups, right?” you joke lightheartedly.

“Thank god for that.” Seonghwa says with a laugh.

When you two enter the coffee shop you’re once again hit with a feeling of nostalgia as you think of all the times you, Seonghwa, and your friends would spend most days after school, drinking hot chocolate and eating pastries together as you all talked for hours and hours.

“I’ll get our usuals, you can wait by our spot.” Seonghwa offers, and you nod making your way towards your designated table. 

The moment you sit down you’re hit with a wave of flashbacks you shared in this very space, and a small smile creeps onto your face as you look back on all the old memories. 

After your brief moment of reminiscing, Seongwha sits across from you handing over your cup. 

“Sometimes you don’t realize how much you miss home until you’re actually back in all the places you grew up in,” you note as you take notice of the small engraving in the corner of the table marked with yours and all your friends’ initials. Your fingers ghost over the mark and when you look up at Seongwha you see that he’s also eyeing the engraving. 

“I remember when we put that there,” he recalls with a smile. “After five years of coming here and sitting at this same exact table with our friends we claimed our ownership by putting that stupid engraving that took us forever to do. As if that stopped people from sitting here anyways.” you both chuckled.

“Well at least Jennie and Hongjoong were brave enough to kick out the people who stole our spot.” you laugh.

“Yeah,” Seonghwa smiles fondly at the memory. “I still remember the days where Mingi and Yunho would bet the barista on how many butter croissants they could eat in one sitting so we could all get a supply of free hot chocolate for a year.”

“And it was only after Mingi threw up everywhere that it turned out all we had to do was ask her, and she would’ve done it anyways because we were regulars here.” you finish with a soft chuckle.

A comfortable silence fills the air as you two reminisce on the old memories of your teenage years.

“Can I ask you something?” Seonghwa says.

“Of course.”

“When you finish university,” he starts. “What are you gonna do afterwards? Like do you plan on living abroad permanently? Or are you gonna come back home?”

You pause for a second. “Honestly, after the first year there, I fell in love with the city. And I truly was planning on starting my life there and making that my permanent home, ‘cause I had Juyeon, and I had my new friends, I had jobs lined up for me after graduation, and just an overall great home.” you say. “But after splitting up with him, and sitting with the fact that I was constantly homesick, I kinda realized that this is my home, you know? Like, no matter how much I loved my new friends, and loved the city, it would never be as special to me as here. Nothing over there compared to everything I have here. And I knew you were gonna come back from Seoul after graduation, and Jennie and Yunho were gonna come back from New Zealand too. And Mingi and Hongjoong, and the rest of them were all still here... I didn’t want to be the only one gone. All my real friends are here, my family’s here... you’re here. I didn’t want to leave that all behind.” you exclaim and Seonghwa’s face softens.

“I’m really glad honestly.” he responds. “Because I missed you a lot. And it would’ve really sucked to know you weren’t gonna be here anymore when I moved back. I just really miss spending time with my best friend.”

Your heart skips a beat. “Well, you have the next two weeks to do that.” you smile up at him.

“I have an idea.” his eyes light up and you raise an eyebrow at him. “Do you wanna have a sleepover tonight? We can have a move night and order take out like the good old times.” he grins at you.

“You had me at sleepover.” you say with a smile and so he grabs your hand, pulling you towards the exit.

When Seonghwa lets you into his house you almost forget the fact that you haven’t been inside in almost three whole years. This was practically your second home and you found comfort in the fact that nothing really changed since you last saw it. Everything looked almost exactly how you remembered it, minus the new couch and dining table, and a few new paintings hung up on the walls.

“Your mom didn’t change much over the last few years.” you observe.

“Yeah, she was going to do a whole renovation like your mom, and she even planned a whole design out, but she opted out last minute. She said she wanted me to come back home to something I remembered.” Seonghwa answers. “I didn’t get why at first but it only started making sense to me the more I started visiting and realized this was like my safety net.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” you say.

You and Seonghwa walk upstairs to his bedroom, and of course nothing changed inside either. It almost seemed like it had been untouched aside from the fresh bedsheets and clean floor. You notice the small picture frames neatly placed across his dresser table and you realize most of them are pictures with you. You pick one frame up as you remember the day so clearly. A faint smile forms on your face as your fingers ghost over the photo.

“I asked my mom to put those up again recently.” Seonghwa states from behind you. “I was gonna put more with our friends but I realized we didn’t take many with them. They were mostly just of us two. I hope you don’t think it’s weird.”

You shake your head. “No, of course not. I would never think it’s weird.” you say, placing the frame back onto his dresser.

Seonghwa tosses you one of his shirts and a pair of your old shorts that you always left at his house during your impromptu sleepovers. And suddenly you’re once again hit with a wave of nostalgia. 

“What do you wanna do?” he asks and you flop onto his bed with a deep exhale.

“Let’s just lay here for a second.” you say pulling him down next to you. “I just wanna remember everything that I missed while I was gone.” 

Seonghwa settles beside you and you can’t help your racing heart as he inches closer to you. As you lay next to one another looking up at the ceiling, your breathing relaxes and you revel in the feeling of just being so comfortable and at so at home. 

“You don’t know how much I missed this,” Seonghwa whispers next to you. “even though we haven’t seen each other in years and we don’t talk as much anymore, when I’m with you it’s like we never even left each other. Like we just pick up right where we left off. You’re the one person who’s always brought me comfort and I never feel like we have to force things with each other, no matter how much we drifted.”

You feel heat rise to your cheeks and suddenly the room feels so much warmer. Your heart beats fast and you realize how much of an effect Seonghwa still has on you after all these years.

“I think about you everyday, you know that?” you confess, turning your head to look at him. “Every time I’m out somewhere there will always be little things that remind me of you. And I think about all the places in the city I would take you, and the places I know you would love. I think about all the things you would tell me when I was feeling down, and how you would react to certain situations as if you were right there beside me the whole time. I miss you all the time.”

You both stare at one another and your eyes flicker back and forth to his lips and when you look into his own eyes you notice him doing the same. After a moment of just staring into each other’s eyes, unsure of what to do next, Seonghwa pulls you towards his face and kisses you, and the feeling absolutely overwhelms you in all the good ways.

It’s far from soft and sweet, instead heavy and messy, and so intense that your chest burns with desire. You don’t dare pull away from him even when you needed to catch your breath, because the feeling of his lips on yours after all these years intoxicates you and has you yearning for more. He’s pulling you closer to him and you feel like your body is on fire. 

Seonghwa rolls on top of you and your bodies mould perfectly with one another, as if you were both the two missing pieces of a puzzle. You can’t exactly describe the feeling but it’s overwhelming and very reminiscent and brings you back to all the times with Seonghwa that brought you so much happiness years ago. It’s a feeling you didn’t know if you would ever feel again and you missed it more than anything.

The ache between your legs becomes overwhelming and before you know it you’re begging him to touch you, and without any hesitation he does. Your bodies press tightly against each other and your desperate need for him only grows the moment he grinds down on you. 

The next thing you know, you’re both unclothed and fully exposed to one another, and you see each other in your most vulnerable states for the first time in years. When he finally pushes himself inside you the pleasure is significantly magnified as the fire inside you only intensifies at the feeling of him.

It happens quick at first but Seonghwa decides he wants to take his time with you. Like you, he didn’t know if he would ever feel you in this way again and he was going to use every second with you that he could.

You don’t know how much time has passed but by the end, you both are exhausted and sore, and panting heavily next to each other. It’s dark outside and the room is warm and even though you’re both sweaty and gross, you haven’t felt this good in a long, long time. 

“Was that okay?” Seonghwa asks, pulling your naked body into his arms.

“Yeah,” you say with a small smile. “It was perfect.”

So you lay in each other’s embrace for a while and your heart feels warm and fuzzy, bringing you an endless amount of comfort. You feel content at this very moment, and your worries are pushed to the back of your mind as you fall asleep soundly together.

It’s only at 2 o’clock in the morning do you wake up in a haze and through your fatigued confusion does your brain recall the events that took place a few hours ago. Unable to make out your surroundings in the darkness, your eyes widen not knowing if what happened earlier really happened. When you attempt to sit up you feel a pair of arms wrapped securely around your waist and your body relaxes. Soft snores escape Seonghwa’s lips and you snuggle closer to his body to feel his warmth.

It dawns on you that you still are very much in love with Seonghwa, and of course deep down you knew that you always would be. You also knew given the chance (like now) your feelings would resurface because well... they never really left in the first place.

The unknowingness of this outcome has you shifting in your spot and anxiety creeps in as you think of leaving him all over again. Because after tonight, you don’t know if you can bear the thought of parting ways with him and returning to your life abroad where you can’t tell him exactly how you feel.

You don’t realize right away that Seonghwa has woken up next to you and he only does so because of your constant shifting. It’s when he delivers a gentle squeeze to your waist do you finally take notice.

“Are you okay?” his voice his deep and tired and the sound is enough to make your heart beat fast.

“Yeah.” you reply unconvincingly, but Seonghwa has known you all his life and was also the one to date you for five whole years. He knew you better than you probably knew yourself so in an instant he could tell there was something bothering you.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks.

Your back is leaning against his chest, and you can feel his soft breathing on your neck, and instinctively he starts to rub small circles on your arm knowing that was the one thing that could calm you down.

“It’s stupid.” you say, your voice is quiet and laced with a hint of embarrassment.

“Do you regret what we did?” Seonghwa asks and you’re quick to shut down his claim.

“No! No, of course not.” you return. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” 

You exhale, letting out a heavy sigh. “Seonghwa I still love you.” it’s almost inaudible to him but he knows he heard you correctly. 

He lets out a soft sigh and a smile smiles forms on his face.

“I still love you too, baby.” and when you hear him call you by the name you loved so much, you feel like you’re going to melt in his arms. “I always would remember?”

Your eyes start to water because it’s been so long since you’ve been able to say that to him, and to hear him say those same exact words back to you has a weight lifting right off your shoulders that you didn’t even know was there.

“Why’s that upsetting you?” he questions and you feel him press soft kisses to your shoulder.

“I don’t want to leave you all over again.” you admit. 

He sighs next you and attempts to pull you even closer, if that were possible.

“Well we’ll spend the rest of the time we have together and enjoy every second of it. And after graduation we’ll come back home and we’ll pick up right where we left off like we always do.” Seonghwa tries to reassure you and you shake your head, sniffling.

“That’s not what I mean...” you say. “I mean that I don’t want to go back and not be with you. I don’t want to wait out till graduation and know that we aren’t together because I don’t think I can. Not after tonight.”

It clicks in Seonghwa’s brain and he knows exactly what you mean, and so he decides now’s the time to ask you what he’s been wishing to ask you for so many years. He knows he wasn’t supposed to wait for you, but he always knew he would.

“You don’t have to then.” he states.

“I don’t?”

“Do you want to get back together?” he asks and your heart almost stops. “I mean we only broke up ‘cause of the distance right? And we both fulfilled our promises to each other that we would experience a different life and learn what it was like to not be together. We’re in our last year of uni, we’d only have to be apart for a few more months and then we’ll both be back home in no time, permanently. We would never have to be apart again.” he reasons with you.

And it did make complete sense. He was right in every way, so in truth, there really wasn’t anything stopping you from being together again. You don’t have to think much about it because the decision was already made deep down. You knew you wouldn’t hesitate to be with Seonghwa again if you had the chance, and now was that chance.

You turn to face him and even though you two can’t see each other, there’s a small smile painted on both your faces and you lean in to press a kiss to his lips. 

“Okay, let’s get back together.”

So at twenty-one years old, you and Seonghwa officially reconcile, and spend the next two weeks together like you planned, catching up on everything you did while you two were apart.

And just like he said, it was like you two never left each other.

And now, at twenty-two years old, Seonghwa pops the question.

And you finally marry him.

"Family, friends, and all loved ones. We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Y/n and Seonghwa. We stand here to support this couple and share the joys of their love and commitment as they solidify this partnership, choosing to spend the rest of their lives together.” 

“Through this marriage you make a lifelong promise to one another to always love, respect, trust and honor each other through anything, and everything. You promise to stay committed, and loyal, and most importantly, share your dreams, your happiness, and your sorrows with each other.” 

“From today, and this moment on, you will forever be united as one.”

You stare at Seonghwa and your heart beats hard against your chest as you stand in front of him watching his eyes light up and his smile grow by the second. You feel like you’re in a dream and everything around you feels so surreal.

Your eyes scan the alter and you see your mother beside Mrs. Park, both of them clinging onto each other as tears of happiness running down their cheeks. Their smile is wide and filled with so much love and you knew this day was something the two have been waiting for, for as long as they could remember. 

You see Mingi, and Yunho, and Hongjoong, and Jennie, your best friends who witnessed every progression of your relationship with Seonghwa from the moment you two met. They’re all grinning from ear to ear and you can’t help but laugh as they silently cheer you on from the pews.

You see your dad, and Seonghwa’s dad, and both of your grandparents, and the entirety of yours and Seonghwa’s family joined together as they smile brightly at the two of you.

And then your eyes meet with Rosé and Juyeon as they mouth a “you got this!” to you and Seonghwa, delivering a thumbs up in your direction, and your heart kind of warms because even after splitting up, the friendship between you four remained and it was evident through their support on this special day.

When your eyes lock with your soon-to-be-husband his lips quirk up into a warm smile as you mouth out an “i love you.”

“Now Y/n, Seonghwa, please join hands” the officiant states.

"Do you, Park Seonghwa take Y/N Y/L/N to be your wife?” 

“I do.” he states softly, eyes gazing into yours.

"And Y/N Y/L/N, do you take Park Seonghwa to be your husband?”

“I do.” you respond beaming.

"Seonghwa, please repeat after me.” the officiant says. “I, Park Seonghwa, take thee, Y/N Y/L/N, to be my lawfully wedded wife.” 

“I Park Seonghwa, take thee, Y/n Y/l/n, to be my lawfully wife...” he repeats.

"...To have and to hold from this day forward...”

“...For better for worse...”

 “For richer for poorer...”

“...In sickness and in health...”

“...To love and to cherish...”

“...And to honour you all the days of my life...”

“Till death do us apart.” Seonghwa finishes and your eyes start to water.

“Now, Y/n, please repeat after me.” the officiant calls on you. “I, Y/N Y/LN, take thee, Park Seonghwa, to be my lawfully wedded husband.”

You exhale before repeating his words. ““I, Y/N Y/LN, take thee, Park Seonghwa, to be my lawfully wedded husband.”

"...To have and to hold from this day forward...”

“...For better for worse...”

“For richer for poorer...”

“...In sickness and in health...”

“...To love and to cherish...”

“...And to honour you all the days of my life...”

“Till death do us apart.”

As Jennie walks over to hand over the rings she smiles brightly at you, as the crowd watches you and Seonghwa each place the new band on your fingers, signifying the start of your lifelong commitment to one another. 

“Well! By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife!” the officiant shouts with a smile. “You may now kiss the bride!”

And without a second wasted Seonghwa pulls you in kissing you like he’s never kissed you before and the loud shouts and cheers in the background fills your ears as everyone hollers around you. And when you pull away you can’t seem to wipe the smile off your face as Seonghwa carries you out of the alter.

“Here’s to our new life together, Mrs. Park.” Seonghwa says with a grin as you kiss him once more.

“I love you so much.” you say.

“And I love you even more.” he returns.

So at twenty-two years old you know that you’re never going to stop loving Seonghwa, and that love was made permanent by the unity of your marriage. From the moment you declared him as your boyfriend at the age of six, to the years you spent learning everything together as a couple, growing apart and reuniting, you know that this was a rare kind of love to find, and one that had to mature and progress over a long period of time. 

And so you remember the words you said to him all those years ago the night you parted ways, “if somehow we find our way back to one another, then just know everything we did up to that point was worth it.”

Which stayed true four and a half years later, and for the rest of your life thereafter.

LA FIN.

[hopelesshawks]

History of Us Part 18- A Nightmarish Memory

Summary: Once upon a time Todoroki and (y/n) were best friends. Now they haven’t spoken in years. When (y/n) is forced to transfer to UA, will she and Shoto reconnect or will their troubled past keep them apart? A childhood friends to enemies to lovers hybrid fic.

If you don’t want to see History of Us content blacklist #hopelesshou

Warning for mention of non-major character deaths

Masterlist Kofi

By the time you leave Shoto’s room to go back to yours, you’re pretty exhausted from the day’s events. The movie night distraction had certainly helped but you still keep thinking back over Rei and Endeavor’s conversation as you change into your pajamas and climb into bed. You know you’d never betray Shoto. Having him back in your life has been one of the best parts of transferring to UA. Your mind wanders back to earlier when you’d caught him staring at you. You’d brushed it off as disbelief that the two of you had finally hashed things out but even still you must admit butterflies had filled your stomach when you’d caught his gaze. You shake your head as if doing so will physically dispel the image and force yourself to close your eyes. Eventually you drift off to sleep.

Instead of dreaming you find yourself in a nightmarish memory. You’re eight years old again at your kitchen table eating breakfast when your father comes in already in his hero costume. “You’re coming with me today,” he announces in a tone that brooks no argument. “She’s a child, there’s no reason for her to go to work with you,” your mother protests. Your father levels a murderous glare at her but before he can berate her you pipe up “It’s ok, I wanna go.” Your mother gives you a sad and skeptical look but you insist “I mean it! I’m a big girl I’ll be ok!” “See? She says she can handle it,” your father tells your mother before turning back to you to command “let’s go.” You desperately want not to but little you hops out of your seat and follows after your father.

The contrast between your father at home and your father at work is extreme. At work he’s the charismatic Black Storm, the counterbalance to Endeavor’s grumpy and standoffish image. “Aww this your little girl?” one of the sidekicks asks, kneeling down to your level. “Yep! My pride and joy. Isn’t she the cutest?” your father gushes with an amount of care in his voice he’s never had for you at home. “What’s your quirk sweetheart?” the sidekick asks you. “I can heal stuff with this hand! And, uh, use dad’s quirk with this one,” you explain. “Dang a perfect hybrid? That’s rare,” the sidekick whistles. “Nuh-uh, my best friend is just like me,” you counter proudly, which only makes the sidekick chuckle. “And who’s your best friend?” “Sho-chan!” you beam. The sidekick sends an amused glance to your father as he explains “She means Endeavor’s kid, Shoto.” “Like father, like daughter, huh?” the sidekick laughs, ruffling your hair good-naturedly before rising. “Well meeting should be starting soon, Endeavor just got back from patrol. I’ll meet you in there!” the sidekick says before waving goodbye and going off to the conference room. Your father kneels down next to you before grasping hold of both of your arms. From afar it may seem like the gentle touch of a loving father, but his grip is tight, a silent threat. “No matter what happens in there you are not to look away. I want you to watch every minute of it. Got it,” he instructs. You nod obediently although his tone scares you. “Good. Let’s go,” he declares before grasping your hand and all but dragging you to a conference room.

Your father seats you at the head of the conference table while he sits to your right, a fact his coworkers find adorable. The meeting begins as soon as Endeavor arrives, closing the door behind him. It’s supposed to be a boring old briefing. Endeavor summarizes his patrol before handing it off to your father who begins by showing footage of a neighboring city on a large screen at the front of the room. You barely pay attention until you hear gasps of shock. You look over to see fires raging as explosions go off throughout the city. The look of glee on your father’s face is a stark contrast to the looks of horror and fear on the others in the room. “What’s the meaning of this?” Endeavor asks, rising suddenly. Your father doesn’t respond, instead he turns to his friend, eyes completely black with an unsettling grin on his face as multiple villains storm the room. As violence breaks out, your father lunging for Endeavor, you quickly scramble to hide under the table. You’ll be in so much trouble for disobeying your father’s orders to watch but you don’t care as you scrunch your eyes closed and cover your ears against the screaming and shouting.

You jerk up in bed, chest heaving. “It was just a dream. It was just a dream,” you tell yourself like a mantra to try and calm your racing heart. It’s been a long time since you’ve had a nightmare about the day of your father’s arrest. Endeavor and your father had been the only other survivors of that meeting aside from you. No one had even found you until medical teams came in to recover the bodies of the fallen sidekicks. Your father was carted off to Tartarus along with the other villains who’d assisted him, leaving you and your mother to deal with the fallout alone. The next day, while your mom was at work, you left the house in spite of her warnings, desperately seeking out the comfort of your one and only friend. You’d already been on the verge of tears when you arrived at the Todoroki household and began pounding on the door. Endeavor loomed tall above you, his gaze filled with disgust and rage. “C...can I see Sho-chan?” you had asked timidly. “No, he doesn’t want to see you,” Endeavor told you. “Why not?” you asked. “He’s afraid of you. He doesn’t want to be friends with a villain,” he replied before slamming the door in your face.

It was all downhill from there.

You had spiraled further and further down until your mother had been forced to move you away. The memory alone is enough to make you want to cry. You pull your knees to your chest and bury your face in them as you try and fail to banish the painful memories from your mind. Your heart aches for that younger version of you whose heart hadn’t yet hardened and learned how to protect itself. After a while of sitting there in misery, not daring to fall back asleep, you remember you’re not alone anymore.

You don’t move from your position on the bed until you hear a soft knock at your door. When you open it Shoto is stood on the other side looking sleep mussed in his pajamas, hair slightly wild. It’s a cute look on him, one you may have appreciated under different circumstances. “I’m so-“ “Don’t. I’m happy to be here for you,” Shoto cuts you off quietly but forcefully as he slips into your room and shuts the door behind him. Without another word he climbs into your bed and then looks at you expectantly. “Are you going to join me or are you just going to stand there the rest of the night?” he asks. You feel your eyes water as an almost overwhelming feeling of relief and gratitude crashes over you. You immediately join him in bed, curling up against him as he holds you tightly.

Black tendrils of smoke curl off the right side of your body as you let yourself cry into his shoulder. For the first time since you were a child you allow yourself to fall apart, knowing that Shoto is there to hold the pieces together until you can assemble them back yourself. You grieve for the last of your innocence that your father ripped away from you that day. You cry for the lonely child whose mother had to work all day and whose only friend was kept away. You allow yourself to well and truly release all the pain you’ve held onto for so, so long until your sobs finally dissipate to sniffles and eventually to silence. “Do you want to talk about it?” Shoto asks quietly. “Yea... Yea I think I do,” you admit before confessing exactly what had happened all those years ago.

Shoto listens, face impassive even as his own emotions wreak havoc in response to your story. Guilt for not being there when you so desperately needed him. Rage at his father for being the reason the two of you were separated for so long. Disgust with your father for dragging you into his massacre. Frustration that, despite being his first victim, you’ve been treated like you were your dad’s accomplice. Shoto has never wanted to fight both his father and yours more, but he knows that’s not what you need right now. You don’t need him to go fight the Big Bad. Frankly, you’d probably be offended by the notion you need defending. So instead he just holds you through it until you’ve shared all that needs to be said. “Thank you,” you finally mutter as you reach the end of your story. “I’m always here for you. I always will be. No one and nothing is going to separate us again,” Shoto asserts determinedly. “Promise?” you ask. “Promise,” he swears.

A/N: (y/n) never uses the 🥺 emoji because she thinks it’s too soft, but for Shoto she’ll make an exception ❤️

Taglist: @sorrythatspussynal @miss-bakugo-writes @pixelwisp @larkspyrr @sokkaandzukosimp @akkaso @sunaispretty @mindofess @todoplusultra @oliviasslut @lapysllazuly @immah0e4fictionalmen

[kitty-ray]

Something Like Home 

I wrote a fic that’s basically just Izuku and Katsuki cuddling away the nightmares because they deserve to be soft

Rating: T

AO3

Izuku leaves his door unlocked. It’s a habit from when he lived with his mom, the apartment being so high up that it’s arbitrary for anyone to want to break in. So silly of an intruder to come and lug their valuables down the flights leading up to Izuku’s childhood home. Thus, Izuku’s door has remained unlocked since he moved into the dorms.

Which is why, when he hears his bedroom door open in the dead of night, he doesn’t think it’s someone breaking but rather his mom coming to check on him. That thought is quickly dismissed, however, as he reminds himself that he isn’t back home. Still, there isn’t any panic until he feels the mattress dip. An arm wraps itself around him, and, before Izuku can turn around, he hears a familiar gruff voice.

“Don’t move,” Kacchan whispers then tightens his grip. His hands are shaking. “Don’t ask.”

Izuku doesn’t, and they lay like that until the winter sun’s rays peek out from behind the trees. He isn’t used to sleeping so late, not anymore, but Kacchan’s warmth is so comforting that he can’t help and snuggle in closer. His breath on his neck, the weight over his stomach, bare feet entangled with his socked ones… Izuku doesn’t want the moment to end.

They don’t speak of what happened. Kacchan comes back a week later. Izuku lets him.

Sometimes, Izuku wouldn’t be awake when Kacchan comes, and he’d find him in the bed in the mornings. Sometimes, Izuku would be awake finishing his homework and Kacchan would fall asleep before him. Sometimes, in the loneliest times, Kacchan wouldn’t come at all. Izuku won’t realize until those nights how much he relied on Kacchan’s warmth.

It is so very cold on those nights.

Izuku has nightmares. Bone-chilling, heart-wrenching nightmares that crawl from the deepest crevices of his mind and crushes his throat. He’d wake with a start, bolting upright as his face grew wetter and wetter. They happen less and less since Kacchan started sleeping with him, so Izuku started to forget they ever existed.

He grasps at his throat, determined to see if there was still flesh. His lungs are filled with blood as bile climbs up. He swallows it all down, down, down until he could feel his beating heart.

not dead not dead not dead dead dead

There’s a hand on his shoulder, and Izuku flinches so hard that he’s sure he pulled muscle. Covering his ears, he bends forward until he’s nearly touching his knees. Breathe, he tells himself. Breathe, damn it!

“Deku.” The hand is back, but it’s softer this time. He does not relax. “Hey, Deku.”

Izuku turns his head. He meets dark red eyes and bright gray moonlight. Back slumping, he sobs and leans into Kacchan’s hold.

alive alive alive i’m alive he’s alive

They don’t talk about the nightmare. They don’t talk about anymore that followed.

The next time Kacchan comes over, Izuku is watching a movie on his laptop. Kacchan collapses next to him, pushing him closer to the wall and glaring at the screen. He’s sweating, Izuku realizes, but he can’t tell from what. Probably a late-night workout, he reasoned.

“It’s almost over,” Kacchan grumbles. “Best part of the whole thing.”

Izuku hums his response. He hasn’t seen it (he hasn’t seen a lot of movies), so he takes Kacchan’s word for it.

It takes him a minute to realize that Kacchan’s arm is around his shoulders, and it takes him another minute after that to register the gentle strokes of his fingertips on his skin. Izuku rather likes the feeling, he decides. It’s soft and comforting and reminds Izuku that he is here and breathing and pressed up against Kacchan’s firm--

Okay, let’s not go there!

The absolute last thing he needs is to think about Kacchan’s sculpted abs or strong arms or his ridiculously handsome jawline.

He ends up thinking about it and (unfortunately? He doesn’t necessarily think it’s unfortunate yet somehow does at the same time) misses the end of the movie. Still, seeing Kacchan smile that small private smile and explain just how strong the main character is makes up for it.

“Let me pick now. Your taste in movies is boring.”

“Hey!”

Kacchan doesn’t remove his arm as he scrolls through the catalog. Frowning, Izuku crosses his arms and watches. He’s dubious of what Kacchan would pick (horror, psychological thriller, something so obscure and foreign that he would probably quickly lose interest as the other would get more and more enthralled) that when the movie title appeared on screen, he laughs.

The blond boy turns and scowls. “Shut up, this movie is great.”

“Bet you’ve read the book too.” Izuku teases. When Kacchan’s scowl deepens, another laugh escapes him. “Now that’s a surprise!”

With pink ears, Kacchan turns on the movie and promptly ends the conversation. Izuku sits with his mirth as the female lead prances through a field, her “one true love” rushing towards her before the fantasy quickly falls apart. He has to admit that it is cute, but his scatterbrain can only focus on someone else.

He doesn’t think anything of it when Todoroki comes into the room halfway through, a book in his hand. It’s presented to him before Todoroki places it on his desk. “I enjoyed it, Midoriya,” he says. “Thank you for letting me read it.”

“No problem, man!”

Todoroki nods then turn around. The door closes softly behind him, and Izuku turns his attention back to the movie. The protagonist is monologuing about--

The door opens at the same time Kacchan and Izuku spring away from each other. All three boys stare, wide-eyed, as they process what just happened. It isn’t a bad thing that Izuku and Kacchan sometimes cuddle (read: almost every night), but it most definitely isn’t something they speak about. Todoroki points between the two boys before asking, “So are you two like… friends now? Or something?”

He has never felt more relieved for Todoroki’s naivete. Kacchan relaxes next to him, too.

“Fuck off , Icyhot bastard! I’m in the middle of something!”

“Midoriya,” Todoroki fixes his gaze onto Izuku. It is so unnerving to not be able to tell what he’s thinking. “I’m glad you and Bakugou are finally best friends again.”

“Todoroki, no.”

“Leave, Icyhot!”

Todoroki wastes no time in leaving but not before giving the two boys a thumbs up. Izuku can’t suppress his groan, and Kacchan grumbles something about him being too damn nosy. It doesn’t take long for them to settle back in, but, by now, Izuku is only thinking about the absurdity of the two of them.

“Hey, Kacchan?” he whispers as the main characters ‘break up’. Kacchan only grunts in response. “Why do you keep coming in here?”

Kacchan says nothing, choosing instead to place his arm on the pillow behind Izuku. Something in the back of his mind wants Kacchan to hold him like before. Except, that moment is gone now.

His eyes drift close before both the movie ends and Kacchan responds. He’s only vaguely aware of Kacchan pulling him close again, his warmth completely enveloping him. Izuku dreams of Kacchan’s lips pressed gently against his forehead, he dreams of Kacchan fingers carding through his hair, and he dreams of Kacchan whispering to him, “Damn nerd.”

Katsuki keeps his door unlocked. It is not a habit he previously had but rather developed since moving in. Locking his door means a faster escape. It does not mean random intruders bursting through while he’s trying to sleep. Angry that the light dared to reach him during these precious hours, Katsuki sits up in bed. He watches as the intruder closes the door and shuffles towards his bed. He’s about ready to spring up when the intruder sniffles.

In the dark, Katsuki can just barely make out the outline of Deku. The tension in his shoulder eases away as Deku quietly lays down. He doesn’t face him, nor does he say a word, so Katsuki doesn’t either. He’s finally laying down and relaxed again when he hears the faint whisper.

“Can you hold me?”

Deku’s pulling Katsuki’s blanket up higher as he curls further into himself. There’s only silence and his heartbeat in the room as he struggles to figure out what to say. It’s only ever been the blond to ask (or lack of asking, rather); the fact that Deku so shamelessly crawled into bed with him still has him reeling. Still, he doesn’t hesitate much further when Deku whispers, “Please?”

It hits him then, as he’s pulling the smaller boy closer, that he’s shaking. Honest to God shaking. When was the last time Deku’s come to him--let alone anybody --for help? Something blooms in Katsuki’s chest, but he quickly stomps it down before setting it on fire. That’s for another day.

“I had a nightmare,” Deku whispers. He doesn’t turn to face him, but he does grip Katsuki’s hand. Tight. Strong. Shaking. “I… I didn’t want to be alone.”

He’s sobbing again. Okay, not the first time the nerd has sobbed in his presence, but still. It’s… weird? Katsuki has never been good at crying people, usually opting to yell at them to shut up and hope that they figure out their own inner turmoil without him. Except, this is definitely not one of those times. This is a “shut up, be quiet, and let the fucking nerd say his peace” time.

When Deku does turn around, his face is quickly buried in his chest, and Katsuki freezes.

Deku’s quiet sobs fill the room as Katsuki strokes his back. He tightens his grip on the boy and, ever so slightly, presses his lips to Deku’s forehead. His mother used to do that whenever he had a nightmare, and it always helped him to come back. Katsuki hopes it does the same for Deku.

“I dreamt--” he starts but is interrupted by a sob. “I dreamt that you… you died. That everyone died. And I was just left there, on my own, waiting for someone to come.”

Katsuki doesn’t need to ask to know what he’s talking about; the fingers on his chest are proof enough. Still, it doesn’t do much to ease the ache in his heart. Gently, slowly, he lays his hand over Deku’s and squeezes. “I’m right here, you dumbass.”

Deku sniffs. “I-I know that, but…”

He pulls Deku’s head to rest right under the crook of his chin, not giving the nerd to finish the sentence. “Go to sleep, Deku,” he whispers. “We can think about it in the morning.”

The nightmares are getting more and more frequent, and they’ve increased ten-fold since the war. Katsuki isn’t exactly sure if it’s his place to say something about it, but he also knows that the idiot won’t go see someone on his own. Besides, is it so hard for Katsuki to get one good night’s rest? Just one? Please?

Deku’s breaths even out, fanning across his skin. Katsuki sighs. Lately, there’s been some kind of weird feeling that arises every time he sees the nerd. He doesn’t know what it is, or, if he does, he doesn’t want to name it. Instead, he chooses this. He chooses physical touches. He chooses the quiet moments. He chooses to hold Deku in his arms as he cries himself to sleep. Yeah, that seems right.

They’re still tangled up together when they wake up in the morning, and Katsuki admits that he rather likes seeing the light bounce of Deku’s curls. It’s calm and comforting and something like home. He settles back in Deku’s arms, where it feels right, and grumbles, “Damn nerd.”

[emilycollins00]

Two faces of the same coin

Pairing: Tenma x ghost-looking! reader Part 1.

Hey! I had this awesome ask from sadly ages ago which I appreciated a lot bc honestly, just the fact that someone sent such a detailed thing?? My heart.

Request: (...) Tenma finds someone who looks like they got out straight from a horror movie- They could literally pass as a ghost anytime of the day! But once he talks to them they are just an extremely chill introvert, and actually really thoughtful and considerate? (...) So yeah, imagine Tenma who once was shitting his pants whenever that person was around slowly starting to enjoy their presence and even better: fall for them.

Enjoy! 💕

.

Classic horror icons and other disturbing creatures share common characteristics, pale skin, dark, sunken eyes, hunched posture, sharp teeth, and the like. These images inspire fear and revulsion in many with good reason. And while Tenma would insist he was okay with them- he really was and Yuki should really just shut up- he wouldn’t go out of his way to watch or read about that specific genre. And he was okay with that.

“A ghost in the school?”

He tried to not sound as worried as he internally felt, his brain still processing what Taichi was talking about while waiting for their drinks to drop. The redhead nodded unaware, eyes fixed on the vending machine “Yeah! You haven’t heard about it before?”

“W-why should I? It’s stupid to think paranormal stuff like ghosts exists anyway.”

With a clank, both drinks finally fell. Taichi crouched down to retrieve them humming happily, handing one of them to the summer troupe leader and keeping one for himself.

“I don’t know man, it’s kind of cool!” he crossed his arms behind his head, resuming their walk and looked behind. “What about you, Juza-san? You seen anything?”

The purple-haired boy considered it lazily, but ultimately shook his head. He didn’t seem too interested in the conversation anyway, and Tenma was pretty sure the main thoughts running through his head were today’s melon bread from the cafeteria.

It had been a while since their Ouka-high group had been able to have lunch together.

“Did you see? That Sumeragi Tenma is back!”

“Gosh, he looks so handsome!”

“Wait- don’t push me!”

“I heard he’s going to be a possible cast in that famous saga-”

“Are you serious?”

Whispers and tiny squeals kept circling them as soon as they entered the boundaries of the canteen. And while Tenma barely notices it at first, he can definitely see Juza’s stance going more rigid and Taichi’s eyes glowing at the attention received.

“I’ll go get our lunch” the golden-eyed teen announces heading towards the queue, hands buried in his pockets. He motioned Tenma with his chin. “You wanted set B right, no carrots.”

“Uh? Well yeah, but I can-”

“S’okay, you two go find some seats” he shrugged, looking around. There weren’t many spaces to start with and he’d honestly prefer focus on the food rather than the stares. “It’d be difficult to keep ‘em free with just one person anyway.”

“Roger! Come on Ten-chan, let’s go!”

.

.

.

“Aw, man. Everyone has their eyes on you as usual!” Taichi looked around, still indulging himself with all the people that were staring at them, some more blatantly than others.

How he didn’t get bored of mentioning it every time Tenma didn’t know, though he was low-key grateful. Not many people enjoyed being part of those types of reactions from a crowd- Juza for example-. When they finally managed to find some empty seats, Taichi placed his own bento on the table visibly excited. Tenma frowned.

“Since when did you start preparing lunch by yourself?”

“Ah, this?” the redhead laughed proudly at his confused look “See, I’ve been practicing my cooking skills! Tsuzuru has been super cool teaching me how to prepare some dishes for my siblings- plus, I’m sure I’ll get the attention of girls if they see my new talent!”

“Right…”

Tenma couldn’t decide whether he should make a comment as he took a long, thoughtful sip from his own juice can. Taichi’s lunch was a side of string cheese, a broken omelet, and some semi-burnt rice and it just didn’t seem very tempting.

He ultimately chose to leave it aside. Omi would surely know soon enough.

“So, uh, Taichi.”

“Yeah?”

He coughed, leaving aside the can and resting his back on the chair nonchalantly. “N-not that I care about that rumor, but- where is that ghost supposed to be?”

“Ah, the one we talked about? Mmm…” the autumn member caressed his chin, closing his eyes in deep thought. “No one really knows. It’s been spotted in pretty much all parts of the school” Tenma’s stomach sank at that. “But I’ve heard it likes room 1001 for some reason, you know, from the old side of the school? No one really uses it anymore- guess it makes sense!”

The redhead took again the chopsticks and started digging on the rice carefree.

“R-right.”

Tenma shook his head. Cool. Great. Now he knew which side of the school he would never even try to approach at least.

“Tenma-kun!” a female voice, not familiar, made him jolt from his seat. When he looked up a girl followed by two others were are already making themselves comfortable on the chairs next to them- one of them even deciding to sit on the table. “Hi there!”

Third years.

"Hi” he repeated.

“We saw your appearance in that new series, it was unbelievable!”

“Are you going to be a recurring character there? I’d love if you could ask one of the leads to sign a shirt of mine!”

He simply showered them a practiced smile. He could already tell what type of fans they were. It wasn’t something out of the ordinary- people approaching him about his shows or to ask for favors- and honestly, it was better not entering in that dangerous territory. “Thanks. Nothing’s been said yet, that’d depend on the company. I’ll be counting on your future support.”

They instantly beamed at his reaction. “Of course!”

One of them clapped her hand together “That reminds me, when is your next performance in that theatre company you play? I so want to go see it again!”

“Ah, that will take a while. We just finished a month ago so next up is the autumn troupe” he motioned Taichi with his head, a proud, real smile featuring his face this time “These guys have been going all out, you won’t be disappointed.”

“O-of course!” the shortest Ouka high student practically jumped into the conversation. “If you all want, we could ask for a few tickets from our-!“

“But Tenma-kun is not in that troupe, right?” the girls looked at each other confused. As if it wouldn’t be something it’d cross their minds to do, had the child actor not participated before.

“W-well, no but…”

“Plus, the summer troupe is hilarious! I kinda prefer those types of performances, you know?”

“I totally get you!”

From his peripheral vision, Tenma could register Taichi’s face growing red- a strained smile before sitting back on his seat, not trying to add anything to the conversation anymore.

Smile. Remember to smile.

“…We all give our all on those performances, I don’t think it’s fair if you have just watched the summer troupe. You’ll definitely enjoy it if you give them the chance.”

“Really?”

“I mean… If Tenma-kun says so maybe we could go take a look.” one of them gave a chuckle, playing with their hair. “You think we could ask you to get us some tickets for-?”

“If you are not eatin’ you should leave.”

“Uh? Can’t you see we’re-” the sentence died in their lips as soon as they turned and encountered Juza. Not that he himself was proud of his reputation, but during these situations at the very least it paid to see they knew who he was.

“Move.”

The resulting glare was terrifying in its intensity, and the retreat took no longer than a few seconds. No one mentioned anything afterward- Juza’s calm and blank expression coming back as he sat down, handing the summer leader his lunch and squinting down at Taichi’s.

“What the hell are you eatin’.”

“Hehe it caught your attention too, right? You see…”

Tenma observed them. They were acting as if nothing had happened. Not so long ago people tended to stay away from him for those same reasons, so it still took him a few seconds to find the words again- For feeling this relieved at their reactions.

He left the chopsticks aside. “Sorry this... keeps happening."

They momentarily stopped the conversation, sharing a silent look before turning to the teen actor facing the table in awkwardness.

“I-It’s okay, Ten-chan! They would obviously be more interested in watching you than an unknown performance” Taichi laughs and scratches the back of his hair. He seemed to be fine- a bit uncomfortable, but fine. “Besides, that just means we have to work even harder to be recognized, right, Juza-san!”

“Yeah, don’t get stuck thinkin’ ‘bout it. We ain’t losin’ any time soon.”

“Anyway Juza-san, are you sure you’re okay with only melon bread and pudding for lunch? I can give you some of mine!”

Juza didn’t verbally answer Taichi’s offer, merely staring at the burnt rice being held in front of him with skepticism “…nah. I’m okay.”

Taichi frowned at his own food, tilting his head confused. A few seconds later, he gave it an ultimate shrug before going for one more bite, Juza doing the same with his own lunch. Tenma scoffed at the view, trying not to smile amusedly. The autumn troupe really was made out of beasts.

“If Sakyo-san saw what you two are eating he’d skin you alive, you know.”

“Why.”

“What do you mean why, Juza-san you can’t expect-“

"Ah, that reminds me!” Taichi suddenly rambled, mouth full of rice “We should totally go to the arcade before we head up to the dorm. I heard they have these new games that are supposed to be super exclusive!”

Tenma winced “Can’t. I have a meeting with my homeroom teacher after classes.”

The other two replied with a similar expression.

“I almost forgot you came from a big shootin’ and all. We’ve been seein' you in the dorm pretty much everyday.”

“Yeah! Geez I always say I envy you, but dealing with that after working must suck!”

“You tell me…”

Taichi shook his head, giving him both thumbs up “It’s okay, we can go another time. Good luck though!”

.

.

.

“You can sit here. I’ll go bring your work in a second and then we’ll talk.”

With a lazy look on his face, Tenma caught a glimpse of his own reflection from a trophy case- one of the few resting at the entrance of the teacher’s lounge. He had never paid attention to them before; Second prize in a football tournament, first prize in some races and a few diplomas regarding different competitions, nothing too special. Ouka high had never had the best score regarding academics, which is exactly why he was able to enter.

Igawa liked to insist it wasn’t entirely Tenma’s fault he had so many troubles keeping up with schoolwork though- well, not more than the usual of not being good at studying. No one actually knew how hard celebrity kids had to push themselves- at least that’s what his parent had said. On the other hand, they hadn’t really cared much more, so long the school allowed him to be flexible with his schedules.

School time was usually done while moving sets and camera changes. He and other kids and teens were at different levels of schooling most of the time, so the teacher was forced to divide their time. Honestly, one would be lucky to get 30 minutes of full tutoring.

Anyway, it was rotten work and even Tenma knew it. He also knew what his homeroom teacher thought about it, which is exactly why he couldn’t help himself raising his eyebrows concerned as he saw the pile of papers being drop over the desk.

“Is this a joke?”

“I know you’re busy, but there’s a minimum to do keep up with your classes and… general results.” the old man frowned scratching his grey four-days old beard. He clicked here and there at the computer, probably revising the latest results of the tests they had done.

He then leaned back on his chair, trying to find a comfortable position before his wrinkly eyes turned to him again. “I wish I could think of another way, but you are getting quite behind everyone, Sumeragi-kun. We’re worried.”

Well, it was not his fault he couldn’t remember all the information they gave him like a script. Was it really the solution giving him the same amount of work as his classmates with half the time?

Before he could open his mouth to complain, the man placed his hand on Tenma’s shoulder. It felt heavy. “I already talked with your manager. It seems you’ll be having a break for a month and a half just before finals and I’d like to help you. We can’t have one of the biggest faces of the school repeating a year, can we?”

Tenma’s jaw clenched. Of course, everything was always for Sumeragi Tenma the actor. Student Tenma could go drown himself.

“Here you’ll find some reinforcement materials I think will be good for you to do in school. Less time wasted while moving and I’ll be here in case you have any questions.”

His face twitched. That would mean he wouldn’t be able to ask for Tsumugi’s help or any of the adults back in Mankai. “I actually-”

“Suguro-sensei, Someone’s calling for you about tomorrow’s meeting!”

“Is it that time already... I’ll be right there in a second! In any case, I would suggest you go work on the library Sumeragi-kun.” the man got up, finishing that way their conversation. “It should be quiet enough, but if you see any students being too loud, give them a call.”

Tenma side-glanced again at his workload, groaning internally.

Just about his luck.

.

.

.

Twenty minutes walking.

How could such a big school not have a single sign to indicate where things were?

Squinting his eyes, Tenma looked both ways across the hall annoyed, his already short temper from before increasing. He was sure the library was two turns to the right, then left, and then up the stairs from the teachers’ lounge.

...or maybe it was a floor down now that he thought about it. Damn it. It wasn’t as if he had ever stepped inside that place, shouldn’t they make it more accessible for everyone?

“This sucks…”

It had been a while since he had seen other students or even teachers around, which also made him feel uneasy. He glanced down at the paperwork in his arms, gripping it tighter. He hoped no one would see him walking around like this.

Just where was the stupid library?

It wasn’t until Tenma decided to try entering inside any room that would allow him to work, that he found many were strangely closed. He was about to gave up when he finally saw the dusty word ‘library’ at the end of the corridor. Finally. With effort he managed to open the heavy door, immediately pinching his nose.

“Ugh, stinks.”

The person in charge of cleaning the school really did a worse job than Matsukawa- at least the man cleaned from time to time and organized stuff. The place was an absolute mess; boxes over the floor, piles of books on chairs and shelves full of documents and other various things he didn’t quite distinguish.

Leaving everything on the closest table Tenma sighed when he felt his arms relaxing without the weight. Frowning, he walked around the place, smelling a mix of dirt and old- even some shelves were full of dust. Really, how did a school like this had such a gross place to study? No wonder students didn’t try to come here.

He should have asked for permission to take his work back to Mankai. Less danger of someone noticing he was behind his studies and it becoming a gossip- or worse, finding he had been walking without an absolute clue for the last half hour.

Yeah, he had more options to pass the year with Tsumugi’s help rather than on his own. Just looking at the amount of work he had he was sure it’d-

The faint sound of walking steps brought him back from his thoughts freezing him on the spot- all his breath trapped. He hadn’t heard anyone since he entered, but it shouldn't be surprising to find others studying.

I’ve heard it likes room 1001 for some reason, you know, from the old side of the school? No one really uses it anymore- guess it makes sense!

Or it was probably the wind. The wind tends to make noises, Tenma reminded himself while swallowing with difficulty.

Was the air suddenly thick?

Crack!

He strained to hear, his heart pounding loudly. “I-Is anyone there?” the nerves made his voice come out higher than he had hoped.

More cracks and sounds of steps. He couldn't see anything yet.

His stomach turned as his breath became louder. This wasn't happening. Yup! It was his imagination. What was happening could not be real, because ghosts didn’t exist. “I-I’m not afraid, you know?!” he shouted, positioning himself on a fighting stance while carefully moving backward.

That’s right- Tenma wasn’t scared. He had just rested enough, with or without a ghost in the room, and it was about time to leave. Ignoring his sweaty palms and nodding once more to nothing in particular, he turned around at the same time a pair of eyes made contact with his.

The figure opened its mouth.

And Tenma proceeded to absolutely destroy his throat.

_________________________________________________

This took so long though I’m not even sure If they are around. If you are love, I apologize! I found a few walls writing-wise. So not entirely to say I made it longer to make up for it but on the other hand... maybe. Thank you so much for sending such a nice idea so I was able to make this, really hope you like it. 💕

I promise this is a reader insert lol thank you for reading!

Part 2 soon!

[mister-supernova]

If I Saw You on the Street

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Pairing: Hope Mikaelson x Reader - Platonic Josie Saltzman x Reader

After Malivore

For as long as you could remember, summer vacation was your absolute favorite time of the year. To your surprise, it’s actually been a huge drag for you this year. It wasn’t like this was the worst summer ever--you could think of a few others that could take that spot--but there was definitely something off that you couldn’t piece together. 

For instance, no one has any idea as to how Landon destroyed Malivore, not even Landon himself. That whole day seemed to be a huge blur to all of the students. You remembered the bigger events like the school defeating Triad, but everyone seems to struggle when it comes to the smaller details.  

In order to keep yourself busy, you decided to stay at the school and take a summer job at the Mystic Grill. Besides the fact that everyone else was back home with their families, the whole school had this off-putting sense of emptiness. The place has magic in the walls for crying out loud, you usually feel some sense of liveliness. 

There was this one room in particular that you felt strangely drawn to. You had no idea why since you knew that no one stayed in that room this past year. At least, no one you knew anyways. 

One day out of pure curiosity, you picked the lock to that room to see what was special about it. 

Just as you expected, it was just a regular empty dorm that was probably going to be taken up by a new student during the fall. It looked like every other bedroom at the school, but this one felt familiar. 

Something that caught you off guard was the scent that faintly lingered in the room. The best way you could describe it was something floral with a hint of sweetness and spice--vanilla and cinnamon maybe--and it wasn’t like anything else you had smelled in the school before. 

As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t bring yourself to leave for the longest time. The urge to stay and wander trumped over the obvious choice that was to walk away. 

Something happened here, you thought. 

A few small drops of pastel blue paint chips stained the wooden floorboards and you wondered how the hell they got there given the rooms have white walls. 

Instead of questioning it any deeper, you just assumed that a student who had this room before must’ve gotten the paint on the floor and the janitors hadn’t noticed it. 

But how could they have missed that? 

You stood there for what felt like hours, trying to piece together what it was that made this place have this unexplainable affect on you. You could’ve stayed there for the rest of the day digging through your brain for an answer that would never come. 

At the end of the day, you knew nothing would come to mind no matter how hard you tried. It was like the answer was at the tip of your tongue, but your mind was radio silent.

Frustrated and defeated, you had to force yourself to leave the strange room. After that, you made yourself forget about that place completely for the rest of the summer and refused to ever return to it.  

Whenever you weren’t at work, you spent time with Landon, Josie, and a wolfed-out Rafael which was fine in the beginning. Dorian gave you permission to shift in the woods on full moons for the summer so that Raf could talk to somebody and you guys could possibly get information on how to help him. 

He definitely appreciated the company that you could provide, but alas he had no idea on how he could be turned back. 

The happier times were the nights you four had weekly movie nights by the Old Mill. You all would alternate who would pick the movie to watch and Landon absolutely hated that you chose a horror movie every single time, but you loved hearing the phoenix boy screech with terror. Josie would get a good kick out of it, too and you were positive that you’d see Raf wag his tail every time Landon screamed.

During those small moments, things felt like they could possibly get back to normal, but once you stepped foot back in the school, you were lost again. 

Your thoughts were much louder through the night. It would get so bad that you could barely get any sleep and the times that you would, you’d wake up screaming from a night terror. 

There was one night when you were tossing and turning, you knocked on Josie’s door to ask if she knew some kind of incantation to get you to fall asleep. You were up for anything at that point, even letting her swing a frying pan over your head to knock you out.  

Not wanting to hurt you or possibly kill you, Josie made you some sleepytime tea instead which actually helped a lot. It didn’t help so much with the vivid dreams you’ve been having, but you thought that it was better than getting no sleep at all. 

Everything felt like it was going decently well until Raf decided to bow out once Josie and Landon started getting close. You wanted to curse at him for making you the third wheel, but you understood that he couldn’t wait here forever for some solution that could help him become human again. He had to move on somehow, especially seeing that his best friend seemed to be moving on, too.

Regardless, you started feeling awkward hanging out with just the two of them. They wanted to include you during their weekly movie nights, but you’d just make up some excuse that you had to be up early for work the next morning. 

Landon--damn him for knowing your work schedule--could tell that you were bullshitting, but he didn’t want to force you into doing something you didn’t want to do. 

You tried busying yourself with other activities like running through the woods, canoeing in the lake, taking extra shifts at work, binge eating all the good snacks in the kitchen; you even got yourself into drawing and painting for some weird reason, but no matter what you did, there was still something missing. 

Towards the end of the summer, you didn’t feel like your usual jokester self. Sure, you’d throw out a line of sarcasm or make a witty comment here and there, but most of it would sound forced. You’d mainly do it so that Josie and Landon wouldn’t worry about you so much, but Josie quickly picked up on your facade. 

They really wanted to help you figure out what was making you feel this way, but as much as you appreciate their help, there was nothing they could do. How could they figure out what was wrong if you didn’t even know for yourself?

One day after your shift at work, you decided to do something you never in your wildest dreams thought you would ever do. 

You started cleaning your room. 

Josie volunteered to help even though you assured her you’d be fine doing it alone. She bribed you by saying she’d buy you a milkshake if you let her help, so without another word, you agreed to let her stay and assist.

“Gosh, do you throw out any of your old assignments?” Josie asks as she rummages through your desk drawers, “This is an algebra one paper from three years ago, Y/n,” she says, flashing your old homework assignment with a huge F circled in the front. 

“Hey, less judging and more cleaning.” You say, digging through your dresser for clothes you don’t wear anymore. 

“Did you try writing a reminder for a history test or something?” 

You furrow your eyebrows before turning to look at Jo, “What do you mean?”

“You have this post-it note that says “Don’t forget H”, but that’s all that’s written,” she holds up the note and from the other side of your bed, you read exactly what she had said. 

It definitely looked like you tried scribbling another letter after the H, but it ended up being a long messy squiggle, “Uh, I don’t know,” you shrug, “Probably. I must’ve been half asleep when I wrote it though because I have no clue when I did that.” 

Josie puffs her lip out in confusion, “Well. I would be surprised by that, but judging by the ten cans of energy drinks I just tossed out, it’s not so surprising to hear that your memory is a little fuzzy.” 

You drop your jaw in shock, “Is today Judge Y/n Day and I wasn’t made aware of it? You asked to help clean my room Jo, now save your judgments for another day please.” 

Josie playfully rolls her eyes at you, followed by a small chuckle, “Toss?” She asks, ready to crumple the piece of paper up. You take a second to answer back, wondering whether or not if you did forget some history assignment or maybe something even bigger than that. 

“Sure,” you feel your stomach churn seeing her throw the note in the trash bag, but there was no taking it back now. 

Another few minutes of silence pass until Josie speaks up, “Since when do you draw?” 

You look back up from your clothes to see Jo now holding up a sketchbook you snagged at the lost and found a few weeks ago. It was brand new and untouched, so you thought to yourself “why not?”. 

After explaining that to Josie, she flipped through some of the first few pages. You were no Leonardo DiCaprio--or whatever that painter guy’s name was--but you thought you were decent with your sketches. 

“These are really good, Y/n. Did you just think of these by yourself?” She asks, talking about the drawings you had of a girl you’ve been seeing in your dreams. 

You could only see parts of the girl’s face. Mostly you’ve only been able to clearly see features like her eyes and hair, so most of the pages were taken up by a pair of blue eyes and waves of auburn hair. 

“Not really. I’ve been having these really vivid dreams lately.” You tell Josie.

“This is who you see?” She looks down at the pages again, “Who is that? She doesn't look like anyone we know.”  

“Yeah, I don’t know either. She’s all I’ve been seeing, though.” 

“Well, it looks like you’ve found yourself a hidden talent.” Josie smiles, gently setting the book back down on the desk, “And maybe she’s your soulmate,” she teases. 

You just roll your eyes with a small smile and get back to your tasks. 

Like a girl that beautiful could even exist let alone talk to me, you think to yourself. 

As you continue sorting through your clothes, you notice a pair of sweats that look almost smaller than half your size. 

“Uh, Jo?” She turns to your attention, “These aren’t yours, are they?” 

She raises an eyebrow at you, “How short do you think I am? I think my legs are a little longer than whoever those are.” 

“Well, they’re not mine, obviously. How’d they get into my drawer?” 

“Maybe they belonged to whoever lived in this dorm before you?” Josie shrugs.

“But the dresser was completely empty when I moved in,” you think for a moment, now questioning everything, “At least, I thought it was. I would think that I would’ve taken these out if they were here. Why would I keep a pair of sweatpants that I don’t fit in?” 

“You do a lot of questionable things, you know. Like that one time you jumped through a bonfire wondering how hot it really was or when you tried to do a backflip off the roof of the school and into the pool or the time you “drank” a beer through your-” 

You raise your hands in surrender and cut her off before she could finish, “Okay, I get it! I do stupid shit. The sweatpants belonged to whoever lived in here before I moved in and I didn’t take them out of the drawer. Case closed. Swiftly moving on.” 

You were positive they weren’t there when you moved in, but there weren’t any other reasons you could think of as to how they got into your dresser. 

Seconds before you tossed it back into the bottom of your drawer, your nose barely caught the same sweet and spicy floral scent that you recalled smelling in the strange room. Breathing it in again brought back that memory of being mentally lost in that room, but oddly enough this time it made you feel calm. 

After another hour passed you and Josie ended up filling three bags of trash, one of them recycled trash, and one large donation box of clothes. 

You didn’t waste any time reminding her that she owed you a milkshake. She kind of hoped that you would’ve forgotten about your deal, but she was a woman of her word.

You made a “compromise” to take your box of clothes over to the donating center on the other side of the town square while Josie bought the milkshakes. 

Your task was a lot quicker than Josie’s since it was pretty much rush hour at the Grill right now, so you waited for her on one of the benches in the square.

Sitting by yourself with nothing else to do but wait, you couldn’t help but feel that empty feeling return. The emptiness never hit you all at once, but it definitely drained the hell out of you. 

Again, you felt stumped. Like there’s somewhere you should be or something you should be doing or someone you should be with. You knew Josie was going to be back any minute, but that wasn’t what was missing. 

You anxiously looked toward the Mystic Grill, feeling your breaths becoming more and more shallow as every second passes. You started wishing Josie would walk out so that all your worries could just go away. 

Then--almost like you knew right where to look--your gaze stopped when you noticed someone looking at you from where you just came from on the other side of the town square. 

You couldn’t make out her facial features from so far away, but it was the auburn color of her hair that stuck out to you more than anything. For a moment--and just for a moment--all the weight that had been weighing on your shoulders this summer felt much lighter and everything felt okay again. 

“One cookies and cream milkshake,” Josie’s voice startles you and you face her abruptly, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she chuckles, lending you your milkshake.

“No, you’re good. I was just…” you look back to the spot you saw the girl only to find that she was gone, “I was just lost in thought.” 

You had no idea what just happened or how you seemed to have possibly seen the girl from your dreams, but just a glimpse of her made you feel more emotions than you have all summer long. Because of that, a huge part of you hoped that you would see her again. 

~

heyyyyyy beautiful people! thanks for over 100 likes on This Isn’t Goodbye you guys gals and nb pals! i’m super super happy that you’ve been enjoying this series so far! still have no idea how many more parts this will be just yet lol but i really appreciate every one of you for the love <3  

*also the title was inspired by the song Dreams Tonite by Alvvays in case you were curious ;)*

taglist: @chicken-wang09​ @trikruismybitch​ @sodangtired​

[sokkascroptop]

More Than Friends (sokka x f!reader)

A/N: Here's a lovely little one-shot written for Nina's (@fromthewatertribe) 1K challenge!! This is technically a modern! AU with a female reader but if one was to think that this Y/N is the same Y/N from Traitor I wouldn't stop you ;)

Years ago… not literally since this blog is like 3 months old, but Like Way Back When I Started writing Traitor, someone mentioned a Modern AU… and I wrote like, a full outline for it… fully not expecting to do anything with it. Well, today is the day. Here you have it, Sokka x Y/N modern au, but like only just a stitch of it since I might want to go somewhere with this eventually. I am purposefully leaving out the explicit content that I wrote for ✨reasons✨

When you come home from work and you notice your front door is unlocked and you know for a fact that you locked it before leaving for work, a normal person’s first thought would be to call the police. Y/N was not a normal person.

She turned the doorknob to her and Katara’s apartment as quietly as she could. As she stepped inside she peered around the living room. No one. Without looking away she felt along the wall for the softball bat she kept propped just inside the door. 

“It’s for protection, Katara!” She would always say whenever Katara opened the door a bit too far and sent the bat sliding down the wall to clang against the hardwoods. Katara hated that bat. Y/N, in the moment, loved it. 

Y/N slowly started creeping towards the hallway that led to her bedroom and bathroom, but a sudden noise from the kitchen startled her. She backtracked and stood just outside the doorway, the bat hefted in the air, ready to roll heads in a moment’s notice. 

She jumped when she heard another noise, like metal scraping on metal, followed by someone singing quietly under their breath. What kind of robber does that?!

“Whoever is in there, I have a bat and I’m not afraid to use it!” Y/N yelled. 

She heard a laugh and then a head peeked around the corner. Sokka smiled at her defensive stance. “Still thinking about using it?”

Y/N let out a heavy sigh of relief and dropped her arms, letting the top of the bat hit the floor. She could feel the pounding of her heart slow. “Why do you do this to me?” 

Sokka frowned and held up a spatula. “I am literally making you food. Don’t be snotty.”

Y/N’s eyes widened and she rushed forward. “What are you making me? I don’t smell anything.” She stood on her tiptoes to look over Sokka’s shoulder.

Sokka placed his hands on her shoulders and pressed her back down to flat-feet. “I just started. Patience. Go shower or something and I’ll be done when you get back.” He turned her around and gave her a gentle push out of the kitchen.

“What would I do without you?” Y/N asked over her shoulder. 

She was met with a very exasperated groan. “Well apparently, neither you or Katara would ever eat. There was nothing in your fridge!”

Y/N hid a giggle behind her hand as she walked to the bathroom. It was true, she and Katara lived on take-out most of the time.

---

Y/N did what Sokka told her to and took her time in the shower, letting the warm water relax her tense muscles. Between classes and work, she barely had any time to do anything; cooking and showers longer than five minutes included. 

The food was even better than she had hoped; she tried to remember the last time she had a meal that wasn’t from a box or off a take-out menu. 

“It was alright,” Y/N shrugged as she licked the edge of her spoon and set her empty bowl on the center table. She leaned back on the couch and wrapped her blanket tighter around her shoulders. 

Sokka scoffed. “I can tell since you practically licked the bowl clean.”

Y/N leaned forward and grabbed the tv remote. “Shut it,” she murmured with a smile. “You could have eaten some too you know.”

“Nah, I put the leftovers in the fridge for you and Katara tomorrow. I can’t be here cooking every night.”

“Why not? I’d like that.”

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Of course you would, you’re obsessed with me.”

Y/N scoffed. “You were the one who let himself into my apartment to make me dinner. Sounds like you’re obsessed with me! Do I need to revoke your key?”

“That’s it. I’m taking the leftovers and leaving.” Sokka made to stand but Y/N wrapped her hands around his bicep. 

“Can you stay for a bit? I wanna watch something scary and I can’t do that by myself.” 

Sokka snuggled in next to her under the blanket. “Sure thing.” 

---

It was about halfway through the movie when the exhaustion of the day hit her. Y/N slid down further on the couch and rested her cheek against Sokka’s shoulder.

“You’re not going to fall asleep on me, are you?” Sokka murmured, just louder than the tv. 

“I’m just preparing to hide my face is all.” 

At that, Sokka lifted his arm and she slid under it and pressed her cheek against his chest. She was warm and content and she definitely could have fallen asleep had the music of the movie not begun to change. It was something faster-paced and anxiety inducing. 

Much like she anticipated, the next scene made her gasp in fear and jump half-way into Sokka’s lap. 

Sokka chuckled. “Are you okay?” His hands settled on her hips, holding her close. 

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Yeah, of course. I’m not even scared.”

“Do we need to get your bat? For protection from the clown on the television?” Sokka’s hands didn’t move from her, in fact Y/N was sure they tightened when she began to move away. So she stopped.

Y/N felt a little breathless. Probably just from the scary movie. 

“Maybe. You think it’ll help?” There was a stillness in the air between them and Y/N realized how close they had gotten in the moment. 

“Yeah, I think you can take him,” Sokka whispered. His words were meant to be banter but it didn’t feel like it anymore, not with the way Sokka was looking at her with eyes that were so dark they looked like the night sky. 

Y/N leaned in first. She was drawn towards him like a magnet. She had lost all self control and for the first time Y/N just wanted to know what he tasted like.

The second their lips connected, Y/N waited for Sokka to move away. To detach himself from her and push the blanket away and make some excuse about how he had to be up early and let himself out. So she was all the more pleased when he didn’t.

The kiss was slow and chaste and hesitant as if both of them were waiting for the other’s revulsion. But it never came. 

One second, Y/N was high in the clouds and the next she was standing and pacing in the middle of the living room, the movie in the background long forgotten.

“Oh my spirits, Sokka!”

“What? It wasn’t bad, was it?” The smirk on his face was clear. This was not a one-sided thing. 

Y/N’s thoughts swirled in her head. Was she missing something? Because unless she was hallucinating, Sokka definitely just kissed her back and then acted like it was normal for two best friends to do that.

It didn’t matter what she was thinking, her mouth answered for her. “Well, no but–” 

Sokka’s smile widened and Y/N blushed. 

He reached out and grabbed her hand. “That’s great, let’s do it again.”

“But you’re my best friend! And Katara!” Y/N’s head felt it was going to explode. “Katara is my best friend too!” 

She twisted her hand around, not pulling away but sliding their fingers to interlock them. She sat back down on the couch, trying to remember where she was before. Was she too close now? Too far away? She didn’t want to send the wrong message. What was the right message?

He smiled knowingly at her. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I know that...”

Sokka was slowly pulling her closer to him with the grip on her hand and Y/N was completely letting him. 

This time when they kissed, she could feel him smiling against her lips. Not that Y/N wasn’t doing the same thing. Sokka! Her brain screamed. She was actually kissing Sokka and she liked it!

Y/N pulled away and let out a little giggle. She didn’t even have time to ask him what they were doing when Sokka pulled her back in for another kiss. 

“Stop moving away from me,” He murmured. His thumb traced her jawline and the other hand was on her thigh.Y/N’s heart raced as she began to wonder how far this was going to go.

All thoughts were quickly dashed as Y/N parted her lips and Sokka slipped his tongue inside. She grabbed his wrists and pushed his hands off of her. 

Sokka jerked away suddenly, his face a mask of horror, clearly concerned that somewhere he had crossed the line. However, Y/N was thinking the opposite. Maybe he hadn’t quite gone far enough. 

She climbed over his legs to straddle him and pressed his hands into the back of the couch. Sokka’s eyes widened and Y/N gave a little shrug before she kissed the corner of his mouth. She trailed down his jawline and neck, placing soft kisses along the way. She stopped at his collarbone, leaving a love bite that made Sokka groan. 

Y/N let go his hands to take out his ponytail because she just wanted to run her fingers through his hair like she knew he liked. Sokka took that opportunity to grab her waist and pull her closer, as if they weren’t already flush against each other.

They were kissing again, hard, as if this was the only thing left in the world. Sokka’s teeth clacked painfully against hers but it didn’t stop either of them. They just needed to be closer. Just them. Together. Sokka’s hands roamed over her body, never stopping in once place for too long, like he was trying to make up for lost time that he wasn’t able to touch her in this way.

Y/N broke away even though every muscle in her body told her not to and sat back on Sokka’s thighs. Sokka swiped a thumb over her bottom lip and Y/N grinned.

She shook her head in disbelief as she tried to wrap her mind around the last few minutes. Her fingers traced over his cheekbones and jaw as she tried to memorize this feeling of pleasure and excitement in one. She needed to remember the look in Sokka’s eyes in case this never happened again.

“How did we get here?” She asked softly. 

“I think it was a long time coming.” Sokka mirrored the smile on her face.

“Yeah?” 

“We’re more than friends and you know it. Always have been.”

“Well, I wish you would have said something sooner,” Y/N pouted. “We could have been doing this a long time ago.”

[bts-hyperfixation]

With all my heart 18+

Jungkook x reader f2l

Smut, little angst, little fluff

Description: your best friend is back off tour and is desperate to prove to you that you don't need to look after him anymore

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Masterlist

Your best friend really was good at everything he ever tried, but that never stopped you from babying him. In reality you were only three months older than Jeon Jungkook; the small age gap had never suppressed your need to protect him from the stupid shit he was known to get himself into. Once in high school you had taken a sick day and, in that time, he had: taken a dare to hit on the head cheerleader, gotten slapped by said cheerleader, gotten into a fight with her boyfriend, and been momentarily hospitalised with a broken arm. The other guy looked worse but still... It didn’t leave you with much confidence in his ability to be left alone.

Jungkook was ridiculously frustrated by this fact. He loved you so much but every time he got a chance to see you too much time was spent fussing over him like he was still the same dumb kid. Sure, there had been a school year in between you, which originally did make it feel like the age gap was there, but now you were both 23. You had a degree, he was an international superstar, it was time you let it go, just a little.

Whenever he was home from tour the first thing out of your mouth would be questions of concern

“Have you been eating? Are you getting enough sleep? Is everything still okay with the boys? Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid?” you barely gave him time to nod in between questions, let alone give yourself time to breathe. When you finally did have to take a breath he took his chance to interject.

“Noona” he calls affectionately, but the name makes you cringe a little, a fact he knows “I’m fine, please stop worrying” he pulls you into a bear hug.

“I will never stop worrying about you Kookie” you admit into his chest. The two of you move to the sofa still attached. He very rarely let you go when your time was so short. Not that you minded. You’d had a crush on your friend since you hit puberty. It��s part of the reason you were always so concerned with his wellbeing, finding out he was in hospital was one of the worst feelings you’d ever experienced. You adjust yourself so you are comfortably lying in his lap. He picks up the remote and started flicking through horror movies on Netflix. You scrunched your nose up.

“Horror Kook? You hate horror movies” he looks down into your eyes and absentmindedly brushes some hair out of the way.

“I hated horror movies” he countered “I’ve done a lot of growing up on this tour” he sticks his tongue out at you and returns to his search. Settling on the most recent release, he relaxes back on to the cushions and starts playing with your hair.

You get halfway through the movie before it gets too much for you. It’s not that the plot that disturbing, there isn’t really a plot. No, the problem is the gore. Sooo much blood, way too many severed limbs. The final straw is bugs crawling out of eye sockets. You always draw the line at bugs. You turn your attention to Jungkook. He seems far more interested in the movie than you were. His bottom lip pulled between his teeth. Eventually he feels you staring.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” his eyes flick to you before focusing back on the screen.

“No, I just missed you.” He turns his attention back to you and pulls you up into his arms with very little effort. You always forget how strong he'd gotten. You cuddle into him more before continuing. “I’m also fascinated by the fact you are enjoying this film, its disgusting, definitely not something you should be watching.” He lets out a defeated sigh and pauses the film.

“What can I do y/n? What can I do to prove to you that I’m all grown up now? I don’t need protecting anymore.” You move off of his lap and look him in the eyes.

“I'm sorry Kook, I've just been doing it for so long I find it hard to stop” you confess

“It makes me feel like you will only ever see me as that volatile little boy from school and I’m not sure that’s enough for me anymore” his eyes are searching yours trying to figure out how you are reacting to what he is saying, but your brain hasn’t quite caught up with what he means.

“I don’t know what you mean, what’s not enough for you anymore?” his jaw sets into a hard line as he clearly struggled with what to do next.

“I need to show you somehow that I can look after myself, and you”

“Me? Why would you have to look after me?” He doesn’t respond, instead he pushes you back onto the sofa and crawls on top of you. Eyeing you warily before charging forward. He moves his mouth down to meet yours in a kiss full of pent up emotion. Your eyes go wide at the sudden intrusion before allowing yourself to melt into the moment. Finally able to do what you'd been dreaming about for years. Jungkook pulled up for air, crawling back off you and dragging you with him. The two of you sit there stunned for a moment, unsure of where to go from here.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't've done that... I just” he struggles with what he wants to say to you “I just needed to show you that I could be enough for you. Maybe I should just go, that was a mistake. Our friendship is great as it is” He gets up and quickly heads for the door.

“Where are you going?” you yell after his retreating form “You just disappear for months, spring this on me, then leave.” Tears threatening to fall, all of your suppressed emotions being forced somewhere. “I have wanted you to do that for years, and now you just decide it's a bad idea” he turns to look at you, immediately rushing back when he sees the tear roll down your cheek.

“I don’t know y/n, it doesn’t seem like a good idea. I’m away a lot, you already spend way too much time worrying about me. It seems safer for us to stay as friends.” He spouts off reasons that he had been telling himself for the past few years.

“None of that would change, you’re right. Except maybe I would worry a little less” you take a deep breath readying yourself to risk it all “Maybe I’d worry less about you turning up on my doorstep with some girl you’ve met on tour. I’d worry less about the feeling of being destroyed when you introduce her as the love of your life. I’d worry less if I knew you loved me the way I love you.” The pause after this seems to last a lifetime. Maybe you’ve gone too far? Maybe it didn't mean the same to him? It could’ve just been a sick way of showing you he is all grown up now.

“You love me?” he whispers so quietly you nearly miss it. Your eyes are on the ground as you nod. Suddenly his hands are in either side of your face and he is pulling you into a kiss, this one is softer, more care behind it, as if he is testing how far he can go. You move your hands around his neck deepening the kiss as his flit down to your hips grinding into you. The simple kiss quickly becomes the most heated and passionate of your life. He is straddling you on the sofa when his fingers come to the hem of your shirt. He looks at you for approval before pulling the fabric over your head and attaching his mouth to your collarbone leaving small pink marks as he moves his way to your chest. His hands work skilfully round your back to unclasp your bra as you slip out of the straps and drop it onto the floor. He slides off of your lap, kneeling in front of you and hooks his fingers into the waistband of your sweats. You really hadn’t thought this was where your night was going to go when you put on your ugliest but comfiest underwear this morning. A deep blush covers your cheeks.

“I swear I have nicer pants than this” you’ve covered your face with your arm to hide how pink you’d gotten, but he pulls them away.

“Since when are you ever embarrassed about anything in front of me?” he asks.

“I don’t know, maybe since I’ve been almost fully naked in front of you, while you somehow get to be fully clothed” he takes the hint an removes his shirt, throwing it in your face before continuing his previous path. You lift your hips so he can drag your underwear down your thighs. His tongue makes its way up the inside of your leg, biting down occasionally and making you squirm a little. He stops just shy of your core.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asks not wanting to go somewhere you wouldn't be able to come back from.

“I’ve been so sure of this for a long time” you wrap you’re hands in his messy brown curls, urging him on. He chuckles and dips his head licking one long stripe along your folds. You moan at the sensation. He wasn’t your first but it’d been such a long time since the last time, not finding anyone that could hold a candle to your best friend. Jungkook's eyes are focused on your face. Watching the pleasure contort your face as he sucks on your clit. He moves one hand to your stomach to keep you from fidgeting, as he inserts a finger from the other into your dripping hole. You take a sharp breath at the sudden, but welcome, intrusion. He adds a second finger and the rhythmic pumping starts to prove too much for you. Your legs shake as your high approaches. Your grip on his hair tightens causing him to slow a little.

“Koo...k I.... I need” you pant trying to get him to understand what you need

“Use your words Noona” you pull on his hair playfully at the hated pet name and he stops completely causing you to whine at the loss.

“I’m sorry Kookie, please don’t stop, please I need you, I need you in me now, it’s been too long” you beg and he chuckles the air brushing against your already sensitive nub. He moves to unbutton his pants and pulls them down with his underwear letting his cock spring free. It’s bigger than you thought it’d be. You’d accidentally felt it a couple times when laying on him over the years, and obviously you’d fantasize about this just a little. But never anything like this. You move to put your hands on him instantly but he stops you, grabbing your wrists with one hand and using the leverage to lay you back. He kisses his way up from your hips to your lips until his lined up perfectly. You lean up hungry to reconnect your mouths. Tasting yourself on him makes you moan giving him the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue between your teeth. His hand reaches down to rub his cock through your folds, lubricating himself, before pushing all the way in. The quick entry makes you gasp. He steadies himself waiting until you signal it’s okay. When you nod that you’re ready, he starts slowly, small grunts falling from his lips. The sound is like music.

As he builds momentum you slide your hands free from his grasp, instead moving them to pleasure yourself. Rolling a nipple with one hand and reaching for your clit with the other. You feel your high approaching you again.

“Babe, I’m so close” you moan.

“Me too” he says through gritted teeth, focusing on not letting go before you do. “cum for me y/n” That’s all it takes to drive you over the edge. Your name used in such a sinful command by the man you’ve been in love with for years. He follows close behind and collapses on top of you. You let out a grunt at the sudden impact of his entire bodyweight and he chuckles a little as he rolls you both into a more comfortable spooning position.

“Kook?” you whisper as he nuzzles into your shoulder “Do you love me?” he never actually said it you realised in slight panic afterwards. He pulls your face back to look at him.

“With all my heart” he says pulling you in for another kiss.

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Misery

Summary: Virgil starts seeing a lot of a dark side he hadn't before, and this particular side makes things seem worse than they really are.  Yeah, making things seem worse.  Because things aren't really as bad as he says... are they?

Trigger Warnings: Torture, Violence, Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Mind Control, please let me know if you’d like something to be added.

A/N: Huge thanks to @colorcollector for letting me use their lovely headcanon as the last part of this chapter!

Chapter One:

Virgil couldn’t necessarily say he loved life as a dark side, but there were things that made it bearable.  Well, there were two things that made it bearable.

“Dogpile!” Remus cried, throwing himself on top of an unsuspecting Janus.  Virgil smiled at the wheeze Janus let out even as Remus was already making himself comfortable.  Virgil decided against throwing himself on top of someone else and potentially landing on any of his wounds from yesterday, and instead just laid down on the couch next to Janus, tucking himself into his waiting arms, and then getting sprawled on top of by Remus a second later.

“You do understand I can’t play the movie like this,” Janus said, shifting his head as much as he was currently capable of doing towards the remote that was now crushed against the back of the couch.

“All part of my diabolical plan,” Remus said with a grin, snatching the remote from Janus.  “We’re watching The Human Centipede if I say we’re watching The Human Centipede!”

Janus looked at Virgil with obvious betrayal.  “You participated in this?”

“We’re not watching The Human Centipede,” Virgil said with a laugh, taking the remote from Remus, who pouted at him.

“Virgin, don’t you love me?”

“I don’t love anyone that much.”

Remus made an offended noise that it was Janus’ turn to laugh at, and Virgil put on Coraline instead, which Remus started grumbling about barely counting as a horror movie.  He still laid down on top of Virgil to watch it, though, so he couldn’t mind that much.

Janus had set out tubs of popcorn on the table in front of them, which Virgil and Remus now ate in front of him while laying on his arms so he couldn’t get to any.  Would they move after half an hour or so?  Probably.  Were they going to keep up the idea that they wouldn’t move until they finally did?  Absolutely.

Virgil spent most of the night curled against the two people that made life not suck sometimes, and relished in the feeling of people who loved him holding him close.  It wasn’t often that they did things like this.  They had bonding activities that were more obviously Remus and Janus’ speed all the time, such as plotting evil schemes and blowing up cities in the Imagination, but Virgil honestly enjoyed a lot of that enough that times like this didn’t feel as necessary.  But that didn’t mean he didn’t relish them when they came around.

…Unfortunately, they all usually ended the same way, and tonight was no exception.  He stepped back into his room a couple hours later to find Cruelty standing right inside the door, and as soon as Virgil froze, realizing his presence, Cruelty spun Virgil around, slammed him against the wall, and drove a knife through his shoulder.

There were times Virgil wished rooms weren’t soundproof from the outside.  Remus would have come running with thirty different kinds of weapons if he heard Virgil’s scream.

He still managed to cut himself off pretty quickly.  The scream was more due to shock and surprise than anything else.  It was far safer for him to keep his mouth shut and try to be uninteresting.  Cruelty, at least, would get bored if he didn’t make pretty little noises.

“Could you explain something to me, Anxiety?” he asked, keeping his voice low and cold.  “Why exactly are you the one Thomas decided to put in his little video series?”

Ah, yes.  The others hadn’t been thrilled about Virgil getting invited back.  Virgil focused on the celebration he’d had in the Imagination with Janus and Remus and took a breath as he answered.  “Thomas has known about me for years,” he said, voice steady.  “If you ever convince Deceit you’re not a totally useless dickwad, maybe he’ll introduce you too.”

Virgil couldn’t hold back the scream when the knife was ripped from his left shoulder and stabbed again through his right one.

“You’re a little pest, you know that?” Cruelty spat.  “That’s the only reason Thomas wants you around.  You’re a pest that’s easy to get rid of.  An easy villain to defeat so he can get an ego boost.”

Virgil was going to pretend that comment didn’t sting as much as it did.  “Does that mean Thomas doesn’t want you around because you would never shut up?”

The knife was transferred to his arm.  Virgil managed not to scream this time, and Cruelty seemed to take notice.

“Ugh, you’re no fun anymore,” he said.  “Why do I even bother with you?”

I’ve been asking myself that question for years now, Virgil thought, though he didn’t say it out loud because he wasn’t a total idiot.

Cruelty pulled the knife out of his arm and twirled it around as he walked towards Virgil’s bathroom to clean the blood off of it.  Virgil didn’t move until the noises stopped, meaning Cruelty had most likely sunk out.

He started checking the knife wounds as he made his way over to the bathroom, but as he opened the door he was met with a deep cold that could only mean one side.

“Oh, Anxiety, are you okay?” Misery asked.  Virgil looked up in surprise to find him standing over the counter.

“Misery?  What are you doing here?”

“Shhh, don’t worry about it,” Misery said.  He reached under the counter and pulled out Virgil’s first-aid kit, then walked over and took Virgil gently by the arm.

The fight drained out of him so fast that if he could do much other than be dragged over to the toilet, it probably would have been falling over.

“What—” Virgil tried.

“Oh, Anxiety, you don’t look so good,” Misery said softly.  “I’m just trying to help you is all.”

Well that definitely wasn’t the case, but as was a side effect of Misery, he didn’t really have enough energy anymore to protest.

A second later, Misery did in fact start peeling his hoodie and shirt off in order to wrap the wounds on his shoulder.

He’d finished his first shoulder wound when he started whispering.  “You know you don’t deserve to be the one that Thomas knows, right?”

Virgil didn’t really have it in him to say anything.

“You don’t deserve to be known by him.  You don’t deserve anything other than to be trapped down here forever with us.”

Virgil managed enough of a protest to lean weakly away.

“Oh, shh, it’s okay,” Misery whispered, pulling Virgil back over and starting on his other shoulder wound.  “Don’t worry, we’re going to give you exactly what you deserve.”

The only reason Virgil didn’t have to try and hold back his whimper of fear was because at this point, it would have taken far more effort to make it heard in the first place.

Misery continued to talk about Virgil not deserving to see Thomas until he finished bandaging all of the wounds Cruelty had given him, then gave Virgil a sweet smile and a pat on the cheek before he left.

The cold and, well, misery that had invaded the room left with him and Virgil pulled in a shaky gasp.  It took him a good ten minutes to muster up the energy to move, but when he did, he grabbed onto his counter and slowly made his way back into his room and over to his bed, which he crawled into without even bothering to put a shirt back on.

He didn’t want to get up for a week.

Virgil put enough of the pieces together waking up the next day after Misery’s visit, when he woke up feeling significantly less exhausted.  Misery was probably a pissed off reaction by either himself or the others to the fact that he got to talk to Thomas now.  Well that definitely wasn’t… pleasant.

He rubbed his eyes and looked over at his clock to find it was already past 11:00.  Ugh.  That was Misery for you.  And the fact that he’d been up watching movies probably didn’t help either.  He sat up in bed and stretched, pulled a shirt on, and headed into the bathroom to see if his clothes were still there, because he’d have to wash the blood out of them if they were.  But Misery must have taken them when he left, which was a small mercy he supposed.  He’d probably have to be careful going into the kitchen for food, because at this point there would be sides in there ready for lunch.

Virgil cracked his door open and peeked into the hallway, then relaxed and pulled the door open when he spotted Remus splayed out on the couch.

“Morning, Re,” he said, shutting the door after him as he walked out.

Remus glanced up.  “Not for much longer.  You sleep too long, Emo.  You miss out on the fun.  I dueled Janny for a breakfast bar.”

“You dueled him?”

“Yeah!  He used his shepherds crook and I used my di—”

“Let me eat breakfast first, asshole.”

“Oh, well I suppose I could have used that too—”

“Remus,” Virgil groaned, starting for the kitchen as Remus cackled behind him.

Virgil managed to at least eat a bagel and have a glass of milk before he was interrupted again.  Not by Cruelty, he probably wouldn’t bother Virgil again until he got bored, but unlike him, Pride, who was waiting by the counter, had no such easy way out as stopping when Virgil got boring.  At least he couldn’t do as much with Remus in the other room.  Virgil would stay out here and take the pressing on his new wounds with silent winces rather than go back behind closed doors and have to suffer through who knows what.  Pride could be worse than Cruelty in a lot of ways.

“Cruelty said he had fun last night,” Pride hissed in Virgil’s ear after he’d gone a while without doing anything.

Virgil held his phone slightly tighter from where he was looking down at it and nodded.  “Yes,” he replied quietly.  Give Pride what he wants, or he never stops.

“You really are getting more than you deserve, you know,” Pride said lightly, though he still didn’t raise his voice above a whisper.  “It’s not like Thomas is ever going to love you.  Not him, not the core sides.”

Virgil didn’t say anything, not really sure what Pride wanted this time.

That ended up being a mistake, as Pride leaned forward, grabbed his left shoulder, and dug his nails into it.  Virgil didn’t bother trying to hold back his whimper.  It would do more to placate him.

“I swear to Thomas if you—” he hissed.

“Hey, Anxiety!” called Remus from the other room.

Pride’s hand vanished from his shoulder.

“Yeah?” Virgil called, doing his best to keep his voice steady.

“Come here!”

Virgil looked back over at Pride, who was already scowling.  “We’re finishing this later,” he hissed.

Virgil nodded.  “Yeah, I know,” he whispered.

That didn’t seem to make Pride any less pissed, if his yanking Virgil up from the table and shoving him towards the living room was any indication.  Virgil caught himself on the wall and took a shaky breath, pulling himself together and then heading into the living room to see what Remus wanted.

…

Pride torture sessions went by faster if Virgil did the opposite of what he did with Cruelty.  Scream when it hurt, lots of begging and pleading, stroke his ego.  It always kind of made Virgil feel like a weakling, but it was better than having worse injuries the next day.  He was pretty sure Janus would be proud of him for using his self preservation skills.

He made it through an hour or so of laughing and punches before Pride seemed to have had his fill, and picked Virgil up by the shoulders to drag him to the bathroom.  Virgil didn’t bother to try and hide any whimpers that escaped, it would just make it more likely for him to leave.

Virgil assumed he was just going to deposit him onto the toilet or something and walk out while still laughing, but the second they made it into the bathroom a familiar cold seeped into Virgil’s bones and he was dropped straight into Misery’s arms.

“Have fun,” Pride said, sounding cocky and very pleased with himself.  “You make me too depressed, I’m not sticking around for this.”

Virgil was too sore and now exhausted to try and resist as Misery finished carrying him over to the toilet and set him down.

He probably should have expected he would be here.  That was probably going to continue.

“Anxiety,” Misery said, sounding for all the life of him like a parent reprimanding their child.  “Did you honestly think you could get away from Pride by getting the creative side involved?”

Virgil didn’t have any ideas or energy to give as a response, but apparently Misery expected one, because he lifted Virgil’s face gently by the chin until he could meet his eyes.

“Anxiety, you know that’s not fair, right?”

“I wasn’t… trying to get anyone involved,” Virgil managed.  “He called me… all on his own.”

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s not very nice to lie to people,” Misery said, shaking his head in disapproval.  “I would have thought you’d know that, with how often Deceit lies to you.”

Virgil was going to at least attempt to protest that the kinds of lies Janus told were often intentionally sarcastic and obvious, especially when he knew how that could calm Virgil down.  But he’d barely opened his mouth when Misery started making shushing noises, and he dropped his head to his chest as Misery started opening the first aid kit again.

“You shouldn’t try to run to Deceit and the Duke for help,” Misery said.  “It’s not like you can always count on them anyway.  Just let whoever needs you finish whatever they want to do, okay?  That will be easier in the long run anyway.”

Virgil would have asked what in the world was meant by not being able to count on Janus and Remus if he had any will left to do anything other than just nod.  Misery didn’t talk much until he finished with the bandages, and then, more small mercies, he carried Virgil back into his room and tucked him back into bed before leaving.  Virgil probably would have fallen asleep in the bathroom if he hadn’t done that, if the way his eyes were already drooping was any indication, and the way that he was already falling asleep as he heard Misery close the door after him.

…

In the many things that Virgil had learned about Logan since joining the core sides, one of them was that Logan didn’t like to leave arguments unfinished.  He’d seen Roman try to go back to what he was doing before only for Logan to continue getting louder and firmer until Roman finally returned to the argument and either won or lost.  It would have freaked Virgil out much more if the arguments didn’t usually end with laughter, or Patton getting in between them and mediating the damage, or both.

He hadn’t been the person Logan was arguing with since their debate video, and Virgil didn’t think he’d really been trying enough then for it to really count as one.  That was probably the reason he hadn’t expected this morning to go the way it had ended up going, but here they were.

“Virgil, you’re being unreasonable,” Logan said, sounding more than a little done with their conversation.  “Creamer just makes coffee taste better, is all.”

“Yeah, except if you add an entire carton of it, it ceases to be coffee,” Virgil said, crossing his arms.  “Coffee is meant to be black like my soul.”

“There has never been any sort of evidence that humans have souls, and even if they did, why would they be any particular color—”

“Okay, woah, slow down, kiddos,” Patton said gently, stepping forward and putting a hand on Logan’s shoulder, along with holding his opposite hand out to Virgil.  “You both sound like you’re getting a little worked up.  Maybe we should take a break and cool down a little bit?”

Logan huffed and drew himself upwards, not looking the least bit satisfied.  “Fine.”  He turned to head out of the kitchen, and Virgil smirked a little after him, because he had clearly won that argument, before Logan turned and leveled a serious look back at him.  “We are finishing this later,” he said, sounding almost angry, and Virgil stopped smirking.

Had— had Logan been taking the argument that seriously?  They were just talking about coffee creamer.

Virgil set his coffee cup before he dropped it, then shoved his now-shaking hands into his pockets.  He stood abruptly from the table, causing Patton to look over at him from where he was still making eggs by the stove, and sprinted from the room before Patton could say anything, though he didn’t miss the concerned call after him.

Virgil made it to his room, slamming the door behind him, and leaned back against it.

Things were supposed to be different here.  Things had been different, better here, until now.  But Virgil hadn’t realized how seriously Logan was taking the argument, and now Logan was mad, and Virgil had gone and ruined it all again like he always did.

Virgil slid down onto his floor and buried his head in his knees, breathing as slowly as he currently could.

Logan wasn’t… Logan wasn’t like Pride, he wasn’t like any of the others, maybe he wouldn’t…

Virgil took another shaky breath.  Even if he did, Virgil could stand his ground against Logan.  He wasn’t going to do this, not again.  He could defend himself against Logan if he had too.  And then the others would hate him again, but that would be fine.  Misery was right, after all, no one could ever really—

His thoughts were cut off by knocking.

“Virgil?  Patton informed me I might have distressed you.  Are you alright?”

Virgil took a couple more breaths to calm himself down, stood up and clenched his left hand into a fist, and pulled the door open with his right.

…Logan didn’t look nearly as angry anymore.  Something in Virgil’s chest released.

“I apologize, Virgil,” Logan said, clearly picking up on his obvious distress.  “I was not intending to alarm you.  We were having an argument about coffee creamer, I did not really input a lot of emotional investment.”

Virgil chuckled weakly.  “Yeah.  Yeah, me neither.  Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out, I just…”

“It’s alright.  I promise I was not actually angry, I just do not enjoy leaving debates and arguments unfinished.”

Virgil nodded.  “Yeah,” he admitted.  “Neither do I.  It… really makes me feel like the other person is more pissed at me than they probably are.”

Logan nodded back slightly.  “Alright.  Then perhaps in the future if one of us is getting overheated, we should merely turn around and take a couple breaths to calm ourselves down, before continuing to debate much more calmly?”

“That… sounds good,” Virgil said.  “That sounds good, Lo.  Thank you.”

Logan gave Virgil a small smile.  “No thanks necessary, Virgil.  I would very much not want to continue to cause you distress if I could easily prevent doing so, after all.”

Virgil wiped the tears away from his eyes before they could fall and gave a sigh of relief.  “Thanks, Specs,” he whispered.  “Love you too.”

Virgil, believe it or not, rather enjoyed blowing things up.  It was quite the stress reliever, and with the added fact that nothing in Remus’ Imagination was real and no one would ever actually get hurt, it was very nice to watch the buildings in the distance be destroyed in the blink of an eye.  Not that he asked Remus every day.  He couldn’t rely on him to always be willing to help, after all.

Today, though, Remus had offered, and Virgil was now happily listening to the sound of rubble falling and the crashing of debris behind a blast shield a half a mile away.

Remus whistled from next to him.  “Damn, Virgil, that was a good throw.  I think you took down a skyscraper with that one.”

“Hmm, yes, very impressive,” Janus said, from his spot on Virgil’s other side casually looking at his nails.  “Of course, I did take down half a block earlier, so.”

“Of one-story residential homes,” Virgil said, sticking his tongue out at Janus.  “I win, Jan.”

“Oh, please.”

“Nope!” called Remus, jumping up and hurling another grenade towards the city.  He ducked down a second later and massive explosion rocked the terrain.  “I just took out three blocks at once!”

“Well, that’s totally fair, considering this is your Imagination and you don’t have any kind of leg up on us,” Janus said in annoyance.

“Yeah, come on Re, I call bullshit.”

“You’re both just jealous!” Remus sang, as if he had any kind of right to gloat in this situation.  Virgil hissed and swiped at Remus, which was of course the highest of insults coming from him.

Remus didn’t do anything other than cackle and hurl another grenade, though, so the message must have somehow not have gotten across.

With Remus using his completely unfair cheat code of having made the entire situation they were in, he ended up winning the count of buildings destroyed, followed, unfortunately, by Janus, who won in quantity— but definitely not in quality, because he didn’t bring down a single skyscraper, and Virgil was going to hold that over his head until the next time they came in here.

Janus ended up vanishing into the kitchen like a coward who was too scared to admit he’d practically lost.  He did return half an hour later with dinner, suggesting that might have been why he went into the kitchen, but that didn’t mean anything.

“So,” Janus said, setting down the mini pizzas.  “How did the video go?”

“Logan got ridiculously dark when he found out he was the reason Thomas was struggling with procrastination,” Virgil said, picking a slice of pizza.  “He started going on rants about snakes eating their tails to satiate their hunger.”

“Oooh, how fun!” Remus exclaimed.  “Wait, Janus do you have a tail?  Are you going to eat it?”

“No, I do not have a tail, and I also definitely don’t prefer human food, thank you,” Janus said with a shake of his head.

“Hey, hey Janus, retract your jaw and eat that slice of pizza in one bite!”

“I can’t do that.”

“Have you ever tried?” Virgil asked with a smirk.

“Not the point.”

“Oh, he can definitely do it,” Remus said with a nod, glancing over at Virgil.

“Yep, he’s holding out on us.”

“I am not—”

“Where will the lies end, Janny?” Remus asked, with an overdramatic shake of his head.

Janus sighed.  “What a reasonable question, it’s not like deception is my entire function or anything.”

“You’ve betrayed us for the last time,” Virgil said casually.  “I don’t see how we could ever trust you again.”

“Oh, and here I thought our relationship was going just fine.  I guess it serves me right.”

“I’m not getting enough love or cool detachable jaw demonstrations, Jan,” Remus said, wiping a fake tear from his eye.  “It’s only a matter of time until I stop wanting to associate with you.”

“Remind me again why I taught you two sarcasm?”

“You can’t go back!” Remus exclaimed, raising his hand up in the air dramatically.

“Yeah, this is really all your fault,” Virgil said, taking another bite of pizza.  “You should have known better.”

Janus gave a long, irritable sigh that did a poor job of hiding his amused smile, and they all finished dinner by finally continuing to debate on whether skyscrapers were worth more points when blown up than an entire neighborhood of single-floor homes.

They ended up in Janus’ room after dinner, with Janus reading, Remus trying to do finger painting using hopefully not human blood, and Virgil perched next to Janus on his bed, leaning on him and trying to see how loud he could make his music before Janus would ask him to turn it down.

Unfortunately, before Virgil could get any kind of answer to that question, a knock came on the door.

Virgil stood up on instinct and moved to lean against the wall next to the bed as Janus waved his hand to open the door.

Positivity was standing in the doorway, beaming his smile that didn’t do anything other than freak Virgil out at this point.

“Hey, sorry to bother you Deceit, I was looking for Anxiety?”

Virgil moved his hands behind his back and squeezed them together.  “Oh, sure,” he said.  “What did you need me for?”

“Come here and I’ll show you,” Positivity said, with another smile that Virgil was pretty sure only he could recognize as irritated.

He swallowed and started towards the door.

“Hey, Anxiety, come back after, okay?” Remus called.  “I’m gonna need both your opinions on the finished product.”

“Okay,” Virgil called, following Positivity out towards the living room, where unsurprisingly, Malice was waiting.

“Did you need something?” Virgil asked weakly.

“Only for you to stop being such a downer!” Positivity said.  “Honestly, Anxiety, all we wanted was to talk about how the video went!”

Virgil tried to keep the doubt out of his gaze.  He couldn’t come up with a reason Malice would be there if that was all they wanted.  But Positivity just kept beaming at him.  “That’s all we want to do,” he repeated.  “Understand?”

Oh.  Virgil got it now.  He nodded, trying to suppress the new surge of anger.  Positivity could do that to him.  Positivity as a whole was infuriating, from the smiles, to the way he made Virgil feel trapped, to the name change.  His function wasn’t actually Positivity, that was just what he called himself.  No one could remember his original function anymore.

That did mean that Virgil couldn’t say for certain that his function wasn’t “Huge Prick.”

Malice sighed from his spot across from them both, drawing Virgil out of his thoughts.  “Look, Anxiety,” he said, stepping across the room and wrapping his arms around Virgil’s shoulder.  “Talking about the video can really be all that happens now if you answer my questions, okay?  I just have a couple things that I need cleared up for me.”

Virgil swallowed and didn’t say anything, just waiting for Malice’s first question.

“Your role in Thomas’ videos is as the antagonist, is it not?”

Virgil nodded.

“Excellent.  I’m glad that’s been clarified.  So would you like to explain to me why you weren’t ultimately the main cause of Thomas’ problem?”

“Do you… want me to be the main source of Thomas’ problems?” Virgil asked in confusion.

“Oh, no,” Malice said.  “What I want is for you to be kicked out of those videos entirely.”  He squeezed Virgil a little tighter, and dug his nails into the burn on Virgil’s arm from last week, causing him to wince.  “But that isn’t an option, for whatever reason.  So I suppose the obvious villain in the videos will do for now.  Would you like to explain what happened today?”

“I just… wasn’t the problem,” Virgil said, knowing as he said it that it was stupid but not sure what else to say.  “That isn’t my fault—”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Malice said.  He yanked Virgil’s sleeve up and raked his nails down the burn left there.  Virgil bit his lip hard and managed not to cry out.

“Nothing,” Virgil stammered.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“Oh, you better believe you’re sorry,” Malice said, low and dangerous.

“Anxiety,” Positivity said in that horribly cheerful voice of his, “You need to understand.  Things are fine the way they are!  You don’t need to change things!  We just don’t want you to rock the boat!”  He leaned forward and ruffled Virgil’s hair.  “After all, imagine what could happen if Thomas started to like you, or something like that!  We’d lose our favorite little Anxiety!  We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

He was looking at Virgil in the way that meant he wanted a response, but Virgil wasn’t sure how else to do so other than shake his head.

It at least seemed to be enough for Positivity, who beamed and gave Virgil a side hug from the opposite side of Malice.  “Oh, good!  I know I for one would miss you terribly.  But I’m not going to have to worry about it, because you’re going to do everything you can to keep things just as they are, right?”

Virgil nodded, trying to make himself as small as possible so he at least wasn’t pressed too hard against either Positivity or Malice’s side.

“See that you do,” Malice said, finally letting go of Virgil and giving him one last dangerous look before walking off and leaving Virgil with Positivity.

“Now since Deceit and the Duke expect you back, you can go,” Positivity said, still beaming.  “I’ll have Misery meet you in your room before bed tonight, okay?”

“Oh the Duke— wanted— a sleepover,” Virgil stammered on instinct.

Positivity’s smile widened.  “Cancel it.  Don’t worry, I’m sure he won’t mind!  Everything with you three is just fine and dandy all the time, isn’t it?”

Virgil swallowed.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“See you tomorrow, Anxiety!” Positivity called happily, dancing back around the corner as he waved to Virgil.

Virgil took a deep breath, ran his hands through his hair, and went to head back to Remus and Janus.

…

There weren’t any injuries for Misery to bandage this time, so Virgil wasn’t really sure what he was going to find when he went into his room, which is really the main reason why he stayed in Janus’ room as long as he possibly could.  It was only around the time that Janus himself said he was getting tired that Virgil left, and while Remus waved brightly before simply sinking out to his room, Virgil walked out the door and crossed the commons until he ended up outside his door.

He took half a minute to take some deep breaths before he finally pulled it open.  He instantly shivered and tucked his hoodie further around himself.  Misery must have been waiting for a while.  That wasn’t good.

Virgil took a couple steps in and flicked on the light switch to find Misery sitting on his bed, which wasn’t horror-movie levels of creepy or anything.

“Anxiety,” Misery said, giving a soft smile that definitely wasn’t real.  “Come here sweetheart, I need to explain something to you.”

“Um.” Virgil took a step back, towards the hallway.  “I—”

Misery sighed and stood up, walked across the room, and took Virgil by the arm, leading him back to the bed.

“Now, we were going to talk about your performance in the video today,” Misery said, pulling Virgil into his chest and holding him there.  “But then Positivity said you were trying to get out of seeing me by forcing Remus to help you.”

Virgil was surprised enough that he almost managed a protest.

“Anxiety,” Misery said.  “You already force them to spend time with you, you shouldn’t ask them to help you as well.”

“I don’t… force—” Virgil started.

“Oh, don’t you?” Misery asked, starting to run a hand through Virgil’s hair.  “You have to see it sweetheart, it’s not like Deceit and the Duke like the way that you drag them down all the time.  You know they would have so much more fun doing the things that they enjoy if you weren’t there freaking out about it all the time.”

“But I don’t—”

“Shh,” Misery said.  “It’s okay, you can’t help it.  You are Anxiety, after all.  But it’s not fair to stop them from doing the things they enjoy just because you don’t like them.”

Virgil didn’t have a rebuttal to that.  He hadn’t thought that had been happening, had it?  He liked doing wild and crazy things with Janus and Remus sometimes, with the only caveat being that no one got hurt.  But that wasn’t holding them back.  Was it?

“And it’s not fair to ask for their help all the time,” Misery said gently.  “You don’t want to be a burden to them, do you?”

Virgil curled up further, which was probably a mistake as it only resulted in Misery pulling him closer.

“Maybe you should let them do the things they enjoy by themselves a little more often,” Misery said gently.  “That would be fine, wouldn’t it?  As long as they can be happy, wouldn’t it be fine?”

Virgil managed a nod.

“Good,” Misery said, sounding pleased.  “See?  That’s fine.  You just have to stop being so selfish, sweetheart.  It’s okay, I know you can do it.”

Misery moved them both down to the top of the bed, and laid Virgil down before tucking the blankets over him.

“Goodnight, Anxiety,” he whispered.  “I know you’ll do better tomorrow.”

…

Virgil didn’t make a habit of falling asleep during movie nights, and he hadn’t expected tonight to be different.  He spent most of the night making casual banter with Roman, or laughing with Logan about the logistics of the movie they were watching, picked by Patton, who Virgil was ninety percent sure picked it in order to get everyone laughing.

But as the movie ended and Roman picked another one, Virgil found himself leaning against the side of the couch, and Patton starting to hum didn’t help matters, and by the time twenty minutes had passed Virgil was falling asleep.

He was woken seconds later by being yanked off of his bed and slammed against the wall next to it, and he barely had a chance to let out a cry of surprise when his gaze centered on the two sides in front of him, one being Positivity and the other being Remus.

“Oh, you were right, this is fun,” Remus said with a grin.  “I should have tried this sooner.”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Positivity said with a wide smile of his own.  Virgil tried to weakly push Remus off, but his just cackled and moved his hands to Virgil’s throat, and now he was squeezing, and Virgil couldn’t breathe—

“—irgil?  Virgil?  Virgil, it’s okay!  Virgil!”

Virgil reached out and shoved before he even managed to get his eyes open, but by the time he did he wished he hadn’t shoved anyone, because he wasn’t being slammed against a wall by Remus and Positivity, he was pressing himself against the arm of the couch and had just shoved Patton back into Roman and Logan.

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” Virgil cried, pulling his legs further back.

“It’s okay, kiddo,” Patton said with a smile.  “There’s nothing to be scared of.  We’re here, everything’s fine.”

Virgil’s throat closed up.  “No,” he choked out.  “No no no, everything is not fine, everything is not always fine!”

The three sides on the couch blinked at him, and Virgil tried to come up with something else to say.

“Sometimes things aren’t fine, sometimes things are awful and hurt and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Virgil snapped, which was definitely not the something else he wanted to say.  “And stop saying that’s fine.”

“Okay, okay,” Patton said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.  Right, because Virgil had just snapped at him for no reason.  “You have a really bad nightmare, kiddo?”

Virgil opened his mouth and stopped.  Right, because now he was getting worked up over a stupid nightmare.  “Sorry,” he muttered, tucking his knees into his chest and turning away.  He was being unreasonable, it was just a dream.

“Hey, no, kiddo, that’s not what I meant,” Patton said.  “Nightmares can seem very real, I’m the last side that would get on your case for something like that.  It’s alright if they’re scary sometimes.”

Logan nodded from where he’d moved to Patton’s left.  “It is of course alright to be scared sometimes,” he said.  “Especially since that is already part of your job.  We merely wanted to know if you are alright.”

Virgil paused.  He looked up at the three of them and bit his lip, wondering if this was a stupid idea or even fair to them.  “And what if I’m not?”

Patton smiled just a little.  “Then that is alright, kiddo.  Gosh, bad nightmare, huh?”

Virgil nodded slowly.  It wasn’t really about the nightmare, but he wasn’t going to tell them that.

“Come here?” Patton opened his arms, moving back to where he’d been sitting on the couch before.

Virgil considered the idea for a second, but was too quickly bombarded with images of bandaging of his wounds and whispers of how worthless he was while being hugged against someone cold.

Virgil shook his head and curled up against the arm of the couch again, wishing he hadn’t seen the slightly disappointed look in Patton’s eyes.  He took a couple of deep breaths and held out his hand towards Patton, who took it and gently squeezed it with no comment.

When Virgil fell asleep again the nightmares were gone.

Virgil hadn’t expected to miss Janus and Remus as much as he did.  He probably should have.  He still saw them at dinnertime, because Janus made three meals and leaving the room would just be rude, but now it was like a switch had been flipped in his brain, and he could never tell if they sounded irritated when they asked him to do things anymore.  Excuses had become his normal go-to solution, and he was now wondering how strange it seemed to Janus and Remus that he was suddenly much busier than he’d been for… most of his life.

He was using the videos getting longer as a reason, trying to pretend as if he wanted to spend all of his time dealing with shit like Roman whining about being original, like they had done this past week.  But unfortunately, a side effect of not seeing Janus and Remus as often meant that his only non-violent interactions came from them, or Misery.  And suffice to say, they were preferable, meaning that Virgil was almost starting to… care?  Enough, anyway, that after the next video, when Logan told him that he didn’t mind his company, Virgil planned on spending the rest of the day in his room figuring out his feelings on that particular subject, and why they didn’t stop and start with “Whatever, I don’t need approval from The Man.”

Spending his time alone in his room had a different side effect, though, that being that most of his visitors were intending to bring him harm, which was just a lovely sentiment to have to deal with all the time.  When the sides at the door were either Remus or Janus inviting him to do something, Virgil had to work just a little harder not to flinch than he used to.  Of course, that didn’t mean he didn’t take them up on their offers.  If they offered, that meant they wanted him around, right?

Remus seemed to think so, if the way he’d spent the last hour looking up at Virgil and asking for approval was any indication.

“I don’t… really get the flaming chickens,” Virgil admitted, glancing back over.

“What do you mean you don’t get them?  They’re the emotional backbone of the whole painting!” Remus exclaimed, waving his arms as if to show his exasperation.

“I don’t know, why are you asking me?  Since when am I good at this stuff?” Virgil said.  “Janus is better at this than I am!”

“Janus is busy,” Remus whined.

Virgil swallowed, trying to decide if that meant he was only here because Janus was unavailable.

“Besides, what rule is there saying I can’t get help from you if I want it, huh?”

“There’s not a rule,” Virgil said, crossing his arms.  “I dunno, I just… it’s fine.  I’m here.  But I still don’t get the flaming chickens.”

“Ugh, you just don’t understand fine art.”

“I definitely don’t, but I don’t think that’s the only problem here.”

“Rude,” Remus said, even as he started grinning.  Virgil smiled a little back, and leaned back on the desk chair he was sitting on as Remus went back to painting his chickens.

Virgil ended up staying there until dinnertime, when Janus appeared in the doorway calling Remus’ name, then gave Virgil a look of surprise when he noticed him.  Virgil wasn’t sure what that meant, but all Janus ended up doing was telling them both dinner was ready and heading back out towards the kitchen again.

Remus picked up the rest of paint he’d been using with a remark that he was going to add it to his dinner, which was definitely potentially harmful in numerous ways, and Virgil grabbed the paint can before he could make it past the door.

“What— aw, Virgey, come on!”

“Nope.  I’m not going to let you eat something that could actually be hazardous to your health, I’d be a failure as Anxiety.  Now come on, let’s go eat.”

Virgil set the paint back down by the easel and almost missed Remus’ grumble of “You’re no fun.”

He hesitated as he stood again, trying to decide whether or not Remus was actually upset, but he bounded out of the room and towards the kitchen before Virgil could reach a conclusion.  He sighed and stepped out to head that direction himself, but as soon as he crossed the threshold for Remus’ room, a hand wrapped around his arm and yanked him to the side, away from the kitchen, and into Cruelty’s room.

Well, he supposed that answered questions about who had grabbed him.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Cruelty snapped, slamming Virgil back against a wall.  Virgil had half a second to try and figure out what exactly that meant before Cruelty kept talking.  “We did tell you, did we not, that you needed to stop dragging everyone down?”

“I was supposed to go eat dinner—” Virgil wheezed.

“Oh you’re gonna show up a little late tonight,” Cruelty hissed, digging his nails into the cuts that had been left by Pride yesterday.  Virgil pulled in a little gasp, which unfortunately Cruelty heard.  He started to smile, which was never a good sign.

“Fine,” he spat out to try and counter.  “You want to explain to Deceit and the Duke why I’m late, you be my guest.”

“Shut your mouth or I’ll cut it off, you whiny little pest,” Cruelty snapped.

“Yeah, because that won’t tell anyone something’s wrong.”

Cruelty grabbed a knife from a nearby table, stuck it in one of the cuts he’d torn open, and twisted.  Virgil couldn’t help the scream that came out that time, and the way it made Cruelty laugh didn’t feel any better.

Before Cruelty could try anything else, a loud knock came from what sounded like Remus’ room next door.

“Anxiety?” Janus called.  “Are you coming?”

Cruelty sighed in irritation.  “Wait here.”

He yanked the knife from Virgil’s arm and sunk out, and Virgil screamed through his teeth, which he could do while he wasn’t there.  He was about to try and sink out to his own room when Cruelty started talking outside.

“Yeah, Anxiety told me he was tired and going to bed.  What, he didn’t tell you that?”

Janus sighed in obvious irritation.  “No, he apparently doesn’t seem to think we deserve to know what’s going on in his life anymore.”

“Man, sounds like he’s been a real dick lately.  I always knew there was something wrong with him.  I can talk to him if you want.”

“No, don’t worry about it.  I’ll put his food in the fridge, he’ll probably wake up hungry in the middle of the night.  Thanks anyway.”

The footsteps shortly after probably meant Janus was walking away.  A second after that, Cruelty reappeared in the room, beaming, which was never a good sign.

“Well,” he said.  “I guess we don’t have to talk for the next couple hours then.”

Virgil swallowed.  Don’t scream.  He could limit how long this lasted if he didn’t scream.  He took a deep breath, held it, and squeezed his eyes shut as Cruelty swung another knife towards him.

…

Misery was already waiting in Virgil’s bedroom by the time he got there, and Virgil couldn’t find it in him to be surprised or fight back anymore.  His entire body was aching and sore, and even though he knew he shouldn’t, he wanted Misery’s fake tenderness and to not have to worry about bandaging these wounds himself.  He wasn’t even sure if he could have managed it properly.

“Oh, Anxiety, what were you thinking?” Misery said quietly.  “I already told you, all you do for Deceit and the Duke is drag them down.  Why would you think they’d want to spend time with you?”

A list of protests that Virgil didn’t have energy to name ran through his head, but in the end he just kept quiet as Misery wrapped a bandage around his arm.

“You couldn’t tell that they were just asking because they pity you?” Misery asked.  “You always have been rather slow, Anxiety, but I would have thought that was obvious.”

Was it?  Virgil didn’t think they pitied him.  He would have given them a long angry lecture about why he didn’t need pity if he got even an ounce of the feeling that they pitied him.

“They just feel bad for you because no one else cares for you,” Misery said.  “And you keep taking advantage of that.  I thought you didn’t want to do that.”

Virgil didn’t have anything to say to that.  He hadn’t thought he was taking advantage of anything.

“You just need to try a little harder, that’s all,” Misery said.  “It’s not hopeless, despite so much being wrong with you already.”

Virgil tried to stamp down the way his spirits lifted slightly at the idea of it being “not hopeless.”  That being a nice idea wasn’t a good thing, even though he couldn’t really seem to remember why right now.

“Now let me finish here, alright?  And maybe you should take some time to yourself tomorrow.  Try and figure things out.  Okay?”

Virgil managed a slight nod, and Misery smiled.  “There you go, I knew you’d understand.  Hang on, I’m almost done.  Then I’ll leave you alone like someone as worthless as you deserves, okay sweetheart?”

…

Roman could be a bit much sometimes.  Virgil had told him this mostly through insults, and to be honest, he wasn’t sure how to do so otherwise.  Roman could just be so eccentric, and energetic, and… loud.  Very, very loud.  An unfortunate (or was it?  He still couldn’t really be sure) side effect of that was that Virgil tended to ignore him on days that his anxiety was worse.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t really do so this morning with the way Roman made his entrance.

He was downstairs in the kitchen, and it was early enough in the morning that he was still half-asleep and trying to inhale some coffee.

He drank about three cups while listening to Patton chatter on about the plans for the day, and Logan cutting in with remarks about how Thomas should really be more focused on the things he had to get done than Patton was currently suggesting.  Virgil was beginning to smile at the back and forth and starting to wake up just a little from the coffee when the door opened very suddenly.

“Good morning to all!” Roman called loudly, and Virgil hissed and leapt up from his chair, moving behind it like it could shield him from anything Roman could try to do.

“Morning, Roman,” Patton said, glancing over at Virgil.  “Maybe lower the volume a bit, kiddo?”

“Ah, yes, yes,” Roman said, moving over to make one of the cinnamon raisin bagels that he loved.  “Anyway, I hope you all haven’t made plans for the day yet, because I am taking us all on an adventure in the Imagination!”

“Well, actually kiddo, we did have some plans set aside for—”

“It won’t take long!” Roman called, waving Patton’s concerns off.  “It’s not an all-day adventure, we’ll be back by lunch!”

Patton exchanged a glance with Logan, who shrugged.

“Well, I suppose that’s okay with us, kiddo,” he said.  “Virgil?”

Virgil swallowed and moved to sit on his chair again.  “What’s going to happen on the adventure?”

“Oh, I can’t tell you that,” Roman said, rolling his eyes.  “It would ruin the whole point of this being an adventure.”

“Roman I… don’t want to deal with any surprises today,” Virgil muttered, pulling on his hoodie strings.  “Is there going to be any danger or like, loud noises or something?”

Roman threw his hands up.  “Maybe!  I don’t know, but I really think you’re missing the point of an adventure!  I worked hard on this one, okay?  Do you think you could be ready after lunch instead?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil snapped.  “Look, I just don’t know if today is the day, Princey.  It’s not my fault you’re terrible at picking days where I’m not anxious.”

“Okay, kiddos, let’s take a breath,” Patton said, stepping forward in between Roman and Virgil.  “Roman, it’s not Virgil’s fault if today is a bad anxiety day.  And Virgil, Roman did say he worked pretty hard on this, and we can appreciate that even if today isn’t the day we end up doing it, okay?”

“Well, it’s not my fault that we just got up and Virgil’s already ruining the fun,” Roman said, crossing his arms.  “I’m not the one with something wrong with them.”

“Roman!” Patton called.

Virgil stood up before anyone could say anything else and walked out of the room, ignoring Patton calling after him.  He opened the door to his room and slammed it after him, appreciating the way it banged loud enough to definitely be heard throughout the house.

He leaned back against it after it closed and slid down to the floor, stopping himself before he did something stupid and pathetic like cry.

God, of course Roman was the one to think there was something wrong with him.  How had he not seen this coming?

But why was it his fault if he didn’t want to go on an adventure today?  He couldn’t control when his anxiety acted up, and why should he care how hard Roman worked?

…Okay, maybe that part was a little unfair.  But it didn’t mean there was something wrong with him!  Hadn’t they done a whole video about that?  Had Roman just been lying?

Virgil scoffed and set his head on his knees.  Wouldn’t be the first time someone had done that.

About ten minutes had passed when he heard a knock on his door.  “Virgil?”

Roman.

“Virgil?  Virgil, I’m sorry.”

Virgil stood up and cracked the door, glaring out of it.  Roman was standing on the other side, looking guilty.

“I’m sorry,” Roman said again.

Virgil opened the door further and crossed his arms, looking down at his shoes.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Roman continued.  “It’s not your fault if your anxiety is acting up.”

“Did Patton make you come up here?” Virgil mumbled.

“Patton told me off in the kitchen, but I came up here on my own.  I’m sorry, Virgil.  I was very excited for the adventure I had planned, I’d worked really hard on it, and I got upset when you said you wouldn’t be up for it.  But it wasn’t fair to take that out on you.”

“Yeah, well,” Virgil muttered, crossing his arms.  “Sorry there’s so much wrong with me.”

There was a moment of silence, and Virgil almost looked just to see what Roman’s face was like.

“Hey, Stormcloud.  It’s okay to have flaws.”

Virgil looked up.  “Huh?”

“I mean, I don’t think it could fairly be said that your anxiety is a flaw if that’s your whole job, but it’s okay to not be perfect.  Flaws don’t make one unworthy of love.”  Roman tipped his head, looking curiously at him.  “Has Patton never given you that speech?”

“Uh.”

“Well, he should then.  Because it’s true.  He gives it to me often enough whenever I forget that I don’t have to be perfect.  Even if there’s something wrong with you, we still love you, Stormcloud.”

Virgil blinked..  “…Oh.”  He looked down again.  “What makes you different?”

“Huh?  What do you mean?”

“I don’t… nothing.  I don’t mean anything.  I… thanks, Roman.  I needed to hear that.”  He glanced up.  “I think I could probably do the adventure tomorrow, if I could spend today with some more relaxing activities.”

Roman beamed.  “Really?”

“Yeah.  I don’t want to let it go to waste if you put a lot of hard work into it.”

Roman somehow smiled even wider, and bounced a little on his feet in excitement.  Virgil thought for a moment that he might do it just to see Roman excited like that.

“Oh, excellent!” Roman cried.  “I’ll tell Logan to clear the schedule tomorrow!”

He turned and was about to bound away when Virgil cut him off.  “Hey, Princey.”

Roman turned back around.  “Yes?”

Virgil took a deep breath to steady himself, then leaned forward and pulled Roman into a quick hug.  He let go and pulled back second later.  “Thanks.”

Roman blinked for a second in surprise, but then smiled again.  “Of course, My Nightmare Before Christmas.  I couldn’t leave you thinking you might have really angered me.  I was only momentarily disappointed.  But now I can look forward to tomorrow!  Come, and let us have a Disney marathon for the ages!”

“Only if you stop talking like that.”

“I absolutely refuse to do so!”

Imprudence lived up to his function.  Virgil never really spent a ton of time with him, his time was filled more by sides like Pride, Cruelty, and Malice, especially lately, since he didn’t really see much of Janus or Remus anymore.  But even though he’d been seeing slightly more of Imprudence as of late, he was still surprised when he was grabbed by the arm by him after breakfast one morning, dragged through the mindscape, through Remus’ empty room, and into his side of the Imagination.

“We’re going on an adventure!” he said, grinning at Virgil in the manic way that never meant anything good.

“Wait, we’re what?” Virgil called, as Imprudence dragged them both towards a cliff.  “Right now?  Shouldn’t we wait and— oh, come on, who the hell am I talking to.”

Imprudence came to a stop at the top of the cliff and started bouncing on his toes a little, dangerously close to the edge.  He grinned back at Virgil.  “You’re going first.”

“I’m doing what?”

“Go on, it’ll be fun, I’m sure you won’t get hurt.”

“You can’t get hurt in the Imagination,” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, really?  Well, you might be able to with this, since I made it, but go on anyway!”

“Wait, what?  You don’t want to put on any safety equipment, or— oh god I keep forgetting who I’m talking to.”

“Go on!” Imprudence called, sounding more than a little irritated at this point.  “Before I get annoyed with how much of a scaredy cat you’re being and just shove you!”

“I’m going!” Virgil cried, holding his hands up as he started towards the edge of the cliff.  “Why the hell are we doing this anyway?”

“Oh, Malice said it might be fun, and then he threatened me if I didn’t take you here, so.”

“Wait, Malice said what?”

“Are you going or not?”

Virgil looked over the side of the cliff and swallowed, suddenly much more nervous than he would have normally been doing something in the Imagination.  But Imprudence was standing behind him tapping his foot, and Virgil didn’t doubt his threat about pushing.

He looked over the side and found the first spot that seemed like it would be a good place for a foothold, and carefully put his foot there to test it.  It held, and Virgil took a shaky breath and carefully moved over the side of the cliff, finding another foothold near the first one.

“Come on, pick up the pace, I want to climb too!” Imprudence whined, stamping his foot.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Virgil said, shifting down and to the right when he found more footholds there.  He definitely didn’t move as quickly as Imprudence wanted if the irritated sighs from above him were anything to go by, but he suddenly wasn’t sure if he would make it out of this okay, so he was going to move as slow as his nerves would let him.

He’d almost made it all the way down the cliff before he couldn’t find a new place to put his hands.  He tried a couple spots, but after the third place he tried crumbled under his foot, he moved back to where he’d been and took a couple breaths to stop the way his heart was racing in his chest.

“Anxiety!” Imprudence called from above him.  “Come on, let’s get moving!”

“Give me a minute, I’m trying to find a place to go next!” Virgil called back up.

Imprudence groaned and started to nudge his foot towards Virgil.  “Come on, let’s pick it up, I want to get to the next part of this thing!”

“There’s another part of—” Virgil started, but that was as far as he got before Imprudence kicked a little too hard at the rock his hand was holding onto, and it crumbled, and his hand slipped off.

Virgil cried out and scrambled for another part of the rock.

“Hey, that works!” Imprudence called, and shifted over and started kicking at his other hand.

“Imprudence!” Virgil screamed.  “Stop it!”

“Let go then!” Imprudence said, knocking at the other rock until it crumbled.  Virgil screamed and managed to grab onto another part of the cliff, holding on too tightly in a way that was definitely going to cut his hands, not that it would matter the next second anyway, because Imprudence kicked Virgil hard enough in the head that it pushed him downwards and his hands slid off of the cliff.

Virgil was in freefall for a terrifying second before he slammed into the ground.

He laid there for a second, blinking and waiting for the pain that was no doubt coming.  It was a couple seconds later when everything started to ache, and Virgil started wheezing.

Imprudence landed on his feet on the ground next to him just after that.  “Come on, get up,” he said, nudging Virgil with his foot.

“You hurt… my everything,” Virgil got out.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t realize that could happen,” Imprudence said, looking off into the distance.  “So I have some deep sea diving next, how long do you need to be good?”

“I…” Virgil let out another breath that ended up coming out as a gasp.

“Oh come on, get up,” Imprudence said, leaning down and pulling Virgil up, and ignoring his cry of pain.

Virgil tried to take stock in between moments of being dragged along after Imprudence to judge how injured he was.  Nothing felt broken.  His wrist was hurting, but not that badly.  It might have been sprained.  His back was going to ache for a month, but otherwise, he didn’t think he’d fallen too far to do any real damage.

Imprudence stopped running, and Virgil stumbled to a stop behind him.  In front of them now was a roaring ocean.

“Hey, Anxiety,” Imprudence said, looking back at him with the same manic grin from earlier.  “You want to see who can hold their breath for longer?”

…

By the time Virgil made it back to his room that night he was thoroughly exhausted, and when he saw Misery sitting on his bed with a first aid kit, he quickly decided that every part of his body ached too much to do anything other than walk over and sit down to let Misery look him over.

“Hmm, so I hear you and Imprudence had an adventure today,” Misery said, sounding more amused than anything else.  “You really should have been more careful, Anxiety, you know no one’s going to care if you get hurt.”

Virgil winced as Misery started rubbing antibiotic ointment on one of the open cuts he’d gotten from scraping on a tree branch.

“I mean, why else would Remus and Janus do dangerous things in the Imagination with you all the time?  You have always hated them after all.  They just don’t care if you get hurt.  Which is perfectly fair of them, you do get hurt all the time after all.  You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to be used to it.”

Virgil probably would have said some form of apology there if he’d had the energy to move.  Misery lifted up the back of his shirt to start applying bruise cream to his back, and Virgil winced at the pain and started shivering at Misery touching so much bare skin, which just made him even colder.

“It’s about time you should adapt to this, you know,” Misery said.  “It’s not like your life is going to get any better.  You don’t deserve it, sweetheart.”  Misery pulled his shirt back down and finally moved to pull Virgil into his chest.  “You know that, right?  You know you deserve everything you get?”

Misery was quiet for long enough that he must have been expecting an answer, so Virgil mustered up enough energy to nod.

“Well, that’s good at least,” Misery said, running a hand through Virgil’s hair.  “Anxiety, you just have to adapt.  You’ll get used to it eventually.  It’ll be okay.”

It won’t, it would not be okay, there was no way it would ever be okay again.

“Now how about you get some sleep?  I think I’ll stay here tonight, you might need some help tomorrow.”

Virgil wanted to protest, he’d never done that before, but before he could even decide if he really wanted to try, Misery was shifting them both back down onto the bed and pulling the covers over them.  Not that they did much good, Misery still made everything so cold.

The combination of cold and exhaustion meant it took a while before Virgil fell asleep, and by the time he got there he was still miserable, no doubt helped along by his company.

…

Misery being the one to shake Virgil awake meant that he woke up still exhausted.  He checked all of the bandages he’d put on Virgil last night as if he expected anything to change, then headed out, and Virgil realized that another reason he might be so tired is because it was six in the morning.  He collapsed back into bed and was about to sleep for another six hours when another body landed on top of his.

Virgil tensed up and was about to brace himself, but instead whoever it was just pulled him into a hug.  “Virgil!” Remus cried.  “You’re not sleeping late today, we’re going on an adventure!”

Virgil plopped his head onto his pillow.  “No,” he groaned.

“Scare bear,” Remus whined, squirming around until he could look Virgil in the eyes.  “I never see you anymore.  Malice said you’re free today, and he sees you more than I do now for some reason, so that means you are free, right?”

Something in Virgil’s chest got so cold for a second he wondered if Misery was still in the room.  “Malice said what?”

“He said you’re free!  He said Imprudence needed you yesterday but now you’re free.  Are you free?  Come have fun with me!  We can blow stuff up!”

Virgil swallowed.  “I— I don’t—”  He stopped and looked at Remus.  He looked so hopeful and excited, in a way that meant there was no chance he was forcing himself to do this.  Virgil couldn’t imagine why Remus had decided he wanted to hang out with him, but he had missed him so much…

“Okay,” Virgil said finally.

Remus lit up.  “Really?”

“Yeah.  Just let me eat some breakfast first, okay?”

“Okay!  Hang on, I’ll ask Janny to make some more eggs, he’s making me some right now!”

“Wait you don’t have to burden him with—” Virgil started, but Remus sank out before Virgil could finish.  He sighed and rubbed at his eyes, sat up in bed, and stretched.  He was going to need some coffee.

He was planning to head out to the kitchen to eat, but he took a longer time to get dressed than expected due to how exhausted he was, and before he could Remus reappeared in his room holding a plate of eggs and a cup of coffee.

“Come on, let’s go!” he called, shoving them at Virgil and nearly spilling both of them everywhere.

“Jesus, hang on,” Virgil said, grabbing them both and setting them down on the desk.  “It’s 6:30, Remus, I’m not normally up at this time.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re boring,” Remus said, flopping back on Virgil’s bed.  “Hurry up and eat!”

“I’m working on it,” Virgil said, waving him off as he started shoveling eggs into his mouth.  He finished them fairly quickly, then drank the lukewarm mug of coffee in one go and set both dishes back down on his desk to wash later.

“Does that mean you’re done?” Remus called happily, leaping up from the bed.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Remus whooped in excitement and grabbed Virgil’s arm before sinking them both out and reappearing in his room, then dragged Virgil through the already-open door to the Imagination.

They ended up in a similar landscape to the last time they’d decided to blow things up, except instead of a city, they were met with an empty kingdom down below the cliff they were standing on.

“Look, he felt like he had to get rid of all the people for your sake,” Misery’s voice whispered in the back of his head.

Virgil shook himself and glanced back over to Remus, who was setting down a handful of various explosives near the edge of the cliff.

He didn’t like the cliff aspect at all, but if Remus had already made the kingdom empty, he wasn’t going to ask him to get rid of the cliff too.  Virgil moved to the edge, trying to tense up his legs so their shaking wouldn’t be noticeable, and mostly succeeding.  Enough that Remus didn’t seem to notice, anyway.

Remus turned back to face him and grinned, holding out a stick of dynamite that he’d lit.  “You want first dibs?”

Virgil smiled a little despite himself and took the dynamite, then hurled it towards the castle down below, watching some of the materials get blown high enough into the air that Virgil hurled a grenade at one of them and shattered it further.

By the time they managed to destroy most of the castle and a couple other buildings, Virgil’s fear had faded a little bit, and he was starting to laugh.

Remus was laughing too, and clearly having a great time, and that alone might have made this whole thing worth it.

The last tower of the castle was destroyed by one of Remus’ throws, and once again one of the pieces flew up.  It was a little closer to the edge, and Virgil opened his mouth to remark to Remus to leave that one alone, but Remus had already hurled a grenade, and the larger piece exploded into slightly smaller pieces.

One of which hit the cliff right under where Virgil was standing.  The ground he was standing on went with it, and Virgil fell over the side, towards the kingdom below.

Okay, okay, breathe.  He’d be fine.  He’d never gotten hurt in the Imagination before— at least until yesterday.  But Imprudence had built that stuff, Remus was better about that, he wouldn’t…

Unless Misery was right.  Unless Remus didn’t care about him getting hurt.  Oh god, how far away was the ground—

Virgil landed badly on his ankle.  He heard a snap that definitely wasn’t good, and pulled in a gasp as he once again waited for the pain to hit.

Much faster than Imprudence had yesterday, Remus landed on the ground next to him.  Like Imprudence, however, he didn’t seem too concerned.

“Dang it, Virgey, why’d you have to fall?  It’s gonna take us a while to get back up there—”  Virgil couldn’t stop the pained gasp that came out as his ankle started throbbing, and Remus stopped talking instantly.

“Wait.  Wait, are you actually hurt?  Holy shit, Virgil!”  Remus dropped to the ground next to him, and Virgil tried weakly to move away.

“Oh shit, what— how— Virgil I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize that could happen!  Here, let me look—”

“Get away,” Virgil said, pushing weakly against Remus.

“Hang on, hang on, let me—”  He felt Remus’ hands on his ankle, surprisingly gentle, and a second later something there snapped back into place.

Virgil shifted immediately and scrambled backwards.

“Are you okay?” Remus asked instantly.

“Get away!” Virgil cried, still moving backwards.  Eventually he pushed himself up and stumbled back a couple more steps, keeping Remus in his line of sight just in case.

“Virgil, I’m just trying to—”

“Get away from me!” Virgil screamed, his voice amplifying as the heartbeat in his chest picked up.  “Get away!”

He finally realized he could just sink out before Remus came over here to hurt him in some other way, and did that, ending up back in his bedroom.  He scrambled over to the door and locked it, then back over towards his bed and pressed himself against the wall in between his bed and his nightside table.

Breathe, breathe, breathe.  You’re alone, you’re fine, breathe.

Misery was right.  Virgil couldn’t be surprised by getting hurt anymore.  He normally made it to around breakfast before someone had some kind of idea for how he should spend the next half of his day in pain, and then wasted no time on making their idea a reality.  Usually it was Cruelty or Pride, which was better than the alternative.  Virgil at least knew how to handle them.  The problem came when it wasn’t them, and it was Malice instead.

Malice wasn’t anything like Cruelty or Pride.  He liked to cause pain in the same way, but there was no easy way out in getting boring, like for Cruelty, or giving him what he wanted, like for Pride.  Malice wanted to cause the most pain possible, and he had long learned how to tell if he was actually affecting Virgil or not.  Meaning that on days like this morning, when Malice showed up right after he finished eating, Virgil could never be sure what to expect other than the fact that it would be bad.

“Anxiety,” Malice said, his tone sounding the kind of light that it did when he was feeling anything but.  “Good morning.”

Virgil swallowed.  “Good morning, Malice.”

“No Deceit and the Duke today?” Malice said casually, in a way that meant he knew exactly what had happened with Remus.  His smirk in the next second just confirmed that.  “I assume you’re just rightfully scared they’ll hurt you again.”

Virgil winced and looked down at the pile of dirty dishes that had started to grow on his desk.  “Please stop.”

“Oh, Anxiety, why would I do that when seeing you so miserable is my favorite part of the day!”

Virgil wasn’t sure what Malice wanted right now, or whether leaving or staying was a better idea.  Probably better to just hear him out.  He’d definitely piss him off if he left.

“I mean, just look at you,” Malice said, sounding thoroughly amused.  “Unwanted, alone, unloved.”

“Deceit and the Duke love me,” Virgil muttered.

Malice gave a huff of laughter.  “Do they now?  Despite the fact that they don’t want to spend time with you and don’t care if you get hurt?  Despite the fact that you only drag them down?”

Virgil didn’t reply, but Malice must have seen something that convinced him he meant it, because the next second he stopped talking, and when Virgil looked up his gaze hardened.  He sunk out, but Virgil wasn’t stupid enough to think he wouldn’t be back.  Sure enough, half a minute later he showed up and grabbed Virgil roughly by the arm, then sunk them both out this time.  They reappeared in a room Virgil had never been in before, though the instant cold that seeped right down into his bones gave him a pretty good idea of whose room it was.

Malice dropped Virgil off with little ceremony and sunk back out himself, and Virgil got about two seconds to brace himself before he was lifted up by Misery in the same gentleness as always.  Virgil started shivering the second Misery touched him.

“Oh, Anxiety,” Misery said, sounding very disappointed in a way that should not be affecting Virgil as much as it already was.  He tsked and shook his head.  “Malice is right.  You know they don’t really love you, right?”

Virgil wasn’t sure where in the world he found the strength, but he pushed back against Misery’s chest enough that he stumbled back a step.

Misery sighed and pulled Virgil back in with almost no effort.  “I’m serious, sweetheart.  They don’t love you.”

“Stop,” Virgil got out.

“Why is that so hard to believe?  They don’t like spending time with you, they don’t care when you’re hurt, they know you just drag them down, why would they love you despite all of that?”

Virgil shook his head and pushed against Misery again, despite having much less energy than before.  “They— th-they do,” he stammered through his teeth starting to chatter.

Misery sighed, and took Virgil gently by the shoulders, leading him over to the bed.  “Okay, sweetheart, we’re going to have to have a talk about this.”  He sat them both down and held Virgil at arm’s length, looking him in the eyes.  “When people love you, they want to be around you, and they care about you being okay.  Right?”

Virgil didn’t reply.

“Right, Anxiety?”

He nodded.

“So logically, if those things aren’t true for Deceit or the Duke, that means they don’t love you.”

Virgil winced.  “B-but they—”

“Don’t.  Love you.  I mean, think about it, Anxiety, how often do they even tell you they care about you?”

“Well—” Virgil started, but Misery cut him off by squeezing his shoulders tighter.

“They don’t, do they?”

Well, they didn’t, but that didn’t necessarily mean they didn’t love him.  Janus and Remus just weren’t the kind of people who liked saying that kind of stuff out loud.  Janus was Deceit for Pete’s sake, and Remus was… Remus.  They weren’t exactly the type to show affection through their words.  He wasn’t either.  But that didn’t mean they didn’t care about him… did it?

“But th-th-they…”

“Anxiety,” Misery said softly.  “Have I been wrong before?”

Virgil sniffed.  “But—”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Misery said, pulling Virgil down to his chest.  “It’s okay.  I know it’s hard when no one cares about you.  But you’ve just got to accept that that’s the way things are.  Okay?”

Virgil tried one last time to push himself off of Misery, but he was weak and cold and, well, miserable at that point, so Misery easily held on to him.  “I’m sorry that no one loves you, Anxiety,” he said.  “But I keep telling you, this is what you deserve.  Why do you refuse to accept this?”

Virgil sniffed again.  “I’m sorry.”

“You should be, sweetheart,” Misery whispered.  “This would all be so much easier if you just did what you’re told.”

Virgil couldn’t find it in him to reply anymore, and instead put what little he had left towards not crying in front of Misery.  He wasn’t going to do that, even if his eyes were already burning.

“We’re gonna stay here for a little while, okay Anxiety?”

It was a question, but Virgil definitely didn’t have a choice in the matter.  The second Misery pulled him to his chest he started shivering harder, and then he laid them both down on the bed and pulled the covers over them, which definitely didn’t help matters.

Virgil drew his arms close to his chest in a definitely doomed way to try and get warm.  This wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

Virgil thought about Cruelty, and besting him by being boring, Pride, and besting him by doing what he wants.  Neither of those strategies would work with Misery.  Maybe Misery was the most similar to Malice.  Maybe all Virgil could do was wait it out and let him do what he wants.  Or maybe it could go faster if he just agreed with what Misery said.

It’s not like he was ever wrong anyway.

…

It was the middle of the night and Virgil needed water.  He managed to drag himself out of bed and towards the door, pressed his ear to it and listened for noise outside.  Sometimes Cruelty stayed up late to try and get a jump on him, though he didn’t really expect anything tonight.  When his suspicions were rewarded and he didn’t hear anything, Virgil nudged the door open and headed into the kitchen.

He filled a glass of water and started to drink it when a familiar voice sounded from behind him.

“Ah, so you are still alive.”

Virgil spit out most of the water in his mouth and choked on what was left, which ended in a coughing fit and setting the glass down on the counter so it didn’t spill.  He finished coughing and stood back up, but didn’t turn around again at first.

“Are you alright, Virgil?” Janus asked, though he sounded more irritated than anything else.

Virgil winced and finally turned.  Janus was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen with a tired expression.  Virgil wrapped his arms around his middle and nodded.

Janus sighed and moved over towards the cabinet, grabbing a cup which meant he was probably here for the same reason Virgil was.

“I’m shocked you’re not fleeing the room at the sight of me,” Janus said, shooting a glance over his shoulder as he filled the glass up with water at the sink.  “Aren’t you putting all your energy into avoiding Remus and I lately?”

Virgil flinched again and started pulling on his hoodie strings.  “Do you—” he started, and stopped.

Janus turned and raised an eyebrow.  “Do I what?”

“Do you hate me?” Virgil blurted.

Janus stared at him.  A second later, he sighed.  “Why of course, Virgil.  I’ve never hated anyone more in my life,” he said, and Virgil felt something in his chest snap in half.

Janus apparently wasn’t done, though.  “We just want to know what’s going on with you,” he said.  So that was it?  Virgil had ruined everything just by not being around as often?  Was that really all it took?

“We never see you anymore,” Janus continued.  “Is something wrong?  Has something changed?  Is this about the core sides?”

Virgil stared at Janus in bafflement.  “What?”  What in the world did the core sides have to do with anything?

“Well, forgive me for thinking what I think, Virgil,” Janus said, throwing his hands up.  “You’re spending all of your time with either them or the others.  I can certainly understand wanting to be liked by Thomas and the core sides, I just…” Janus sighed and looked off to the side.  There was a pregnant pause where Virgil tried to figure out what the hell was going on in Janus’ head.  He didn’t get anywhere.

Finally, he just sighed and looked back at Virgil.  “Look, if this is what you want, then fine.  Just don’t expect Remus and I to wait around if you’re not going to put in the same effort.”

Virgil blinked quickly.  He wasn’t going to start crying.  The only thing worse than crying in front of Misery would be crying in front of Janus.  “Okay,” he whispered.  “Fine.  You won’t have to spend time around someone you hate anymore.”

Janus let out a much harsher sigh, clearly irritated.  “Now that’s not fair, Virgil.”

Virgil flinched.  “I know.  I’m sorry.”  He grabbed his cup and dumped the rest of the water into the sink, then sunk back out to his room.

He definitely wasn’t going to be able to sleep for the rest of the night.

The Subconscious was not a place Virgil frequented.

Well to be fair, it wasn’t a place any side frequented, really, given what happened to a side when they ended up there.  The Subconscious came with a nice little “go in there and you stop affecting Thomas” side effect.  But Virgil was desperate.

Normally, in a situation where everyone tried to gang up on him at once, he’d go find Janus or Remus and ask if he could accompany them on whatever they were doing at the current moment.  But that obviously wasn’t an option anymore.  And Virgil had to go somewhere they were the least likely to follow.

Like here.  The Subconscious itself could end up like a twisted version of the Imagination, where any side could twist and shape it the way they wanted, but the more they did so, the more likely they were to get stuck there.  It was for this reason that Virgil didn’t create anything to hide behind.  Well, that and the fact that it would be an obvious sign that someone was here anyway.  If they ended up here, he was already screwed no matter what.  He’d just have to try and wait it out, and breathe.  Breathing would probably be helpful.  If he focused on that he could ignore his instincts that were screaming at him to make a bookshelf, a big rock, a wall, anything to hide behind.

He was fine.  He’d be fine.  Why would they come in here?  They wouldn’t.  They knew how dangerous it was.  They couldn’t be that mad, right?  He didn’t even know what he’d done.

Footsteps stormed past the door back to the mindscape.  Virgil tensed and buried his head in his knees until they passed.

See?  Fine, you’re fine, they’re gone now, they’re…

Coming back.  Virgil jerked his head up and scrambled backwards, as if that would do anything.  The footsteps stopped outside of the door, there was a second of sickening silence, and then it slammed open.

Virgil screamed and threw his hands up in front of his face on instinct.

“So you came in here,” Malice said, not sounding at all happy with that fact.  “You sneaky little pest.”

Virgil started scrambling backwards, but he didn’t make it farther than a couple feet before Malice stormed across the room and hoisted him upright, then threw him across the empty space.  He landed hard on his back.

“Oh, you found Anxiety!” came Positivity’s cheerful voice from the doorway.

“Positivity,” Malice said.  “Be a dear and make some chains, would you?”

“You don’t think I’ll get stuck here?” Positivity asked.

“Not for something that small,” Malice said, waving his hand dismissively.

Positivity seemed to accept this.  “Alrighty then!  One set of chains for our lovely little torture victim, coming right up!”

Virgil jumped up to try and make a break for the door, but before he could make it more than a step Positivity waved his hand with a beaming grin and chains wrapped themselves around Virgil’s arms, then pulled him back down towards the floor.

“I can just make these disappear!” Virgil spat, doing just that.

Positivity waved his hand and the chains reappeared.

“Oh please, be my guest,” Malice said.  “You’ve been in here longer than us, if you want to risk getting stuck here, I’m not going to stop you.”

Virgil yanked experimentally on the chains, but they weren’t actually attached to anything that existed, which meant they just went far down into the nothingness surrounding them and Virgil couldn’t make any leeway in that way.

“Where’s Pride?  I thought that idiot wanted first dibs,” Malice said, turning back to face Positivity.

“He’ll be here soon!  He wanted to get his favorite toys,” Positivity said.

Malice nodded slightly at that, and Virgil tried to steady his breathing.  If Pride was coming, he needed to have a lot of air to be able to scream.

Pride arrived in the doorway a couple minutes later, holding his favorite set of knives and what looked like Remus’ morningstar, which was definitely a mistake.  Remus was going to be pissed when he found out it was missing.

“You left me the good parts, right?” Pride asked, setting down the morningstar and starting over towards Virgil.

“I did,” Malice said, looking down at his fingernails.  “Remember to leave the face for Deceit and the Duke, though.  Are they coming or not?”

Virgil’s blood ran cold.  He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to have air to scream enough.

“Yeah, they’re coming,” Pride groaned, looking back over his shoulder.  “Why do they get to play with his face, they’ve never done this before!”

“Did you know the face is the most sensitive part of the body?” Positivity called.

“Did you want first dibs or not?” Malice asked, crossing his arms.

Pride grumbled something and flipped his knife around.  Virgil tensed and leaned backwards as he approached.  Pride flipped the knife around once in his hand and moved Virgil’s hoodie and shirt sleeve up along his arm before stabbing the now exposed skin of his forearm and twisting.

Virgil managed a scream.  He tried to let as much pain as possible come through.  Even if Malice or Positivity saw through his act, if they brought it up to Pride he was more likely to get defensive, so it was still probably the safest option.

He had no idea what he was going to do if Remus and Janus really did show up.  He probably wouldn’t have to fake anything at that point.

Pride’s grin when he managed to look him in the face again at least meant that Virgil was doing the first step right.  Pride kept going on the same arm for a while, which meant his screams were proving enough for him to be satisfied.

Eventually, though, Pride moved on to the torso, and Virgil was familiar enough with knife movements at this point to recognize that Pride was carving a word across it.  It was probably something stupid like his name.  Virgil found strength enough to scream and thrash for part of it, and whimper for the rest, but by the time Pride finished there, he was out of energy, and Pride must have been noticing, because he was standing back and looking at Virgil in irritation.

“What, is this not enough for you?” he snapped.  “You know I can do worse.”  He reached forward and grabbed Virgil’s chin, yanking it up towards his face.  Before Virgil could reply in any way, Pride moved the knife up under his eyes and started slicing, and suddenly Virgil had the energy to scream again.

That only lasted a couple seconds, though, before Malice came forward and yanked Pride backwards.  “What part about ‘leave the face for Deceit and the Duke’ did you not understand?!”

“He was being boring!” Pride complained.  “That’s a challenge, the rules change!”

“They absolutely do not.  Go stand back there, you’re waiting for the others now.”

Pride grit his teeth, but Malice was not one to mess with, and it seemed even he knew that, because he stormed back over to stand next to Positivity and started grumbling.

Virgil was under no illusions that Pride being benched would mean he got a break, and he was proven right when Malice picked up a knife.

Okay.  The safest thing here would be to keep up the illusion for Pride, lest he lose his only way out in the future.  So when Malice took his injured arm and started scratching at or stabbing at already open wounds, Virgil managed to shriek and trash enough that Pride would probably buy this being how he reacted to all torture.

But Malice’s torture session lasted less time, because after a minute or so the door slammed open again, and everyone turned around. Virgil maneuvered his head over towards the door as much as he could, and there was Remus.  Virgil stopped looking towards the door.  He would definitely start crying otherwise.

“Where’s Deceit?” Malice asked in annoyance, and there was another note to his voice that Virgil probably could have figured out if he was less exhausted or in pain.

“Thomas and the core sides are in Anxiety’s room,” Remus said.  There was a moment of silence as everyone seemed to collectively think they heard him wrong.

“What?” Virgil asked.  “Why?”

“Shut up,” Malice said, digging the knife in a little deeper where it was placed without looking back at him.  “What do you mean they’re in Anxiety’s room?”

“Deceit is looking for him.  He says they’re there.”

Janus was looking for him?  Wasn’t Janus on his way here to torture him or something?

“If Thomas is in Anxiety’s room and Anxiety doesn’t show up he’s going to get suspicious,” Pride remarked.

“I know that,” Malice snapped.  He pinched his fingers together on the bridge of his nose and glared back up at Remus.  “Go find Cruelty.  Get the idiot’s eyeshadow.”

“My what?” Virgil asked.

“I said shut up,” Malice snapped, twisting the knife enough that Virgil whimpered.  “Positivity, give me the first aid kit.”

Positivity bounced forward and pulled out a first aid kit that Virgil hadn’t noticed before.  Remus headed back out of the room as Malice started wrapping various cuts on his arm, probably ones that would otherwise bleed through his clothes.

Remus and Cruelty showed up a couple minutes later with his makeup kit, and Malice moved to press some of the gauze under his eyes for a moment before checking the wounds again.  They must have been dry enough, because he snatched the eyeshadow from the makeup kit and started applying more of it under his eyes.

“There,” Malice said, leaning back.  “Can you tell he’s hurt?”

“I don’t think so,” Positivity said brightly.  “And it’s not like he’s going to give it away, right?”  He directed that part at Virgil.

“No, he’s not,” Malice said, looking back at Virgil.  “You know what, I’ve actually grown far too tired of you heading off to hang out with the core sides all the time, so here’s what’s going to happen.”  He nudged Positivity, who must have gotten what he meant, because he waved his hand and the chains attached to Virgil vanished.  Virgil fell to the ground and stayed there for about half a second before Malice grabbed him by the arms and yanked him back upwards.

“You’re going to find an excuse to never go back there again.  Tell them… tell them you ducked out.”

“What does that even mean—”

“I don’t know, figure it out!” Malice screamed, and Virgil flinched hard backwards.  “You’re going to tell them that, and then you’re going to come back here, and we’re going to keep you here.”

“What—”

“Understand?”

“But—”

“Understand?” Malice said, digging his nails into a cut on Virgil’s arm.  Virgil nodded.

“Good.”  He yanked Virgil’s sleeve down and turned to shove him back towards the door to the mindscape.  “Now go on.”

Virgil sprinted from the room, or as close to sprinting as he could get with how badly his legs were shaking, and slowed down slightly outside to give himself time to breathe.  He could just appear in his room from anywhere, and it’s not like he was going to give Janus the pleasure of seeing him like this if that’s what he wanted so badly.

Breathe.  Come on, you can do this.  You do this all the time.  It’s not like Thomas is going to treat you any differently this time.  You know how this works.  Just go and get this done, you can have your breakdowns later.  Breathe.  Try getting angry.  That’s a good way to hide fear.

Virgil opened his eyes and took one last breath that he was impressed didn’t sound terribly shaky.

“Of course, it’s just like them to drag out a torture session by interrupting it,” Virgil muttered to himself.  “This is all their fault, right?”  He took another breath.  Yeah, he could try that for a little while.  There was at least one thing he really wanted to know either way.  He could start with that.

Virgil took a breath, sunk down, and reappeared in front of the core sides and Thomas.

“What are you doing in my room?”

Chapter Two

[aalissy]

Dreams Part 2

Anddd here’s the reason for the shorter chapter today and the special surprise I mentioned hehe. @bamberry asked for a part two to dreams so here it is!! I really hope you like it <3. Lemme know what you guys think!

AO3

When Adrien opened his eyes to his blaring alarm the next morning, he brushed away the lingering feelings of heartbreak and sadness. He may not have been able to change the ending to his dream but maybe he could change it in real life. If Marinette did accept his invitation to go to the movies, he’d have to be the perfect gentleman, showing her that they should stay together so she won’t even think about breaking up with him. With that last, determined thought, he pushed himself up out of bed and towards his bathroom. 

He got changed and brushed his teeth rather quickly, his excitement brimming as he realized that he’d be able to see Marinette soon. Plagg simply floated above the boy, watching him bemusedly as Adrien hummed lightly to himself. It was going to be a great day.

After Adrien finished getting ready, though, he frowned at himself in the mirror. Something felt missing. But that thought didn’t make any sense. He was dressed in what he usually wore and he didn’t typically feel like he was forgetting something. The furrow between his eyebrows grew deeper as he dug back through his closet. 

Still not certain what he was looking for, he paused slightly once he saw a familiar beret. Slowly, Adrien reached for it as a memory from his recent dream popped up in his thoughts. He had worn this beret every day whilst dating Marinette. His fingers trailed lightly over the fabric as he tried to remember why he had done that. After all, it was a gift Ladybug had given him from his Brazilian fan club. 

As his fingers ran along the inside of the beret, he stopped once they ran into a different type of threading. With a small frown, Adrien peered inside the beret and felt his mouth fall open when he saw the name inside. In tiny, gold lettering he saw the words Marinette. 

“Plagg,” he wheezed out. A million thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to connect the dots. How had his dreams known something that he hadn’t? It didn’t make any sense. There had to be a reason. 

“What’s wrong, kid?” Plagg hovered nearby, looking disinterested even as Adrien felt like he had just got hit by a truck. 

Instead of answering, he practically shoved the beret in his kwami’s face. With a small whimper, he pulled it back to stare down at the name once again. Marinette had made this for him and somehow his dream-self had known. 

“Listen, Adrien...” Plagg started rather cautiously, even as Adrien’s expression went from one of shock to adoration, “I don’t know what you think but—”

“My Brazilian fan club commissioned Marinette to make this for me,” he cut in, shimmying with excitement. “And my dream-self knew. That’s what those dreams were about, Plagg! I was trying to tell myself that Marinette made this for me.”

His kwami coughed lightly before shaking his head. “Right, right... that’s exactly what happened.”

“She’s so amazing.” Adrien sighed, staring down at the beret lovingly. Placing it on his head, he raced downstairs so that he could get to school faster. 

He almost missed Nathalie, who tsked at him in disapproval before handing him his schedule for the day. She raised an eyebrow after he thanked her and ran to the front door. Her voice cut in, dripping with distaste before Adrien could open the door and slide into the limo, though. “Why are you in such a hurry today?”

Adrien turned back to give his father’s assistant a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Nathalie. I guess I’m just really excited to go to school today.”

With that, he gave her one last wave, ducking into the limo. Once inside, he carefully readjusted his beret, feeling his heart tug gently in his chest. As the vehicle slowly pulled out of the Agreste mansion, Adrien tapped his fingers against his leg impatiently. He couldn’t wait to see Marinette’s face when he told her that he knew she made him the beret. Would she give him a shy smile before ducking her head cutely or would her whole face turn red as she stuttered and stammered?

Adrien gave a quiet, lovestruck sigh as he turned to stare out the window. As the buildings passed by him and he got closer and closer to the school, his excitement and anticipation grew. 

Finally, when the limo pulled into the entrance, Adrien barely waited for it to stop before bursting out of the doors. His face lit up immediately as he scanned the surroundings only for it to darken once again when he saw no sign of Marinette. Kicking at the sidewalk with disappointment, Adrien sat down at a step. He scoffed when he pulled out the phone and checked the time. He was still very early and knowing Marinette she would be late. 

With a quick shrug, he began to scroll through some of the apps on his phone, occasionally looking up to see if he could spot Marinette. It took way too long before he finally did see her. She was walking and giggling with Alya, her pigtails bouncing and swaying with every step that she took.

Beaming brightly, Adrien bounded over to them, missing the rather suspicious look Alya gave him as his gaze was entirely focused on Marinette. Her own blue eyes seemed to be staring directly at the beret on his head. His grin turned slightly amused as he adjusted the hat before saying, “Hi, Marinette.”

At that, her eyes blinked to his as her face turned a bright red. She lifted her hand in a small wave before murmuring, “H-hello.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Adrien gave Alya a rather pointed glance before returning his attention to Marinette.

Alya smirked smugly at that, giving her best friend a pat on the shoulder before saying, “Well, I’m going to head to class then. I’ll see you in a bit, ok girl?”

Marinette nodded her head quickly before gnawing on the bottom of her lip. Alya gave a quiet laugh before going inside the school. Adrien then quickly looked around before taking Marinette’s hand and guided her behind the steps with him. Once he was certain they were alone, he looked down at her with a soft smile. “So, I wanted to thank you, Marinette.”

“F-for what?” she squeaked, her face turning an even darker shade of red.

Adrien chuckled lightly before pulling off his beret to point out the name she had sewed inside. He traced over the tiny, gold lettering before murmuring, “For the beret.”

Lifting his head back up, his mouth fell open in shock as he saw Marinette’s expression. She looked horror-struck. Her face was pale and she looked about ready to bolt. Blinking in surprise, he slowly reached a hand out to hold hers gently.

“Marinette?” Adrien spoke her name softly.

She shook her head, clenching her eyes shut tight. “I-I don’t... I-I didn’t.”

“Is everything alright?” he squeezed her hand in his. He watched her spiral even further and he wondered how he could fix it. How did I even start it in the first place? I still don’t know what I did, Adrien cursed in his mind. 

At that point, Marinette’s eyes popped open and she looked at him seriously. She jerked her hand away from his grip. Her blue eyes blazed with resolve as she stepped closer to point at him. “You can’t tell anyone, especially Chat Noir, ok? Very, very bad things will happen if you do. In fact, I’m surprised Bunnyx isn’t here yet.” She looked around nervously, as though expecting the end of the world to suddenly happen.

His mouth fell open in bewilderment. What wasn’t he allowed to tell himself? And how did she know Bunnyx? Adrien certainly hadn’t expected this reaction when he imagined talking to her today. Shaking his head, he tilted his with confusion. “I’m sorry, Marinette, what am I not allowed to tell anyone?”

Her gaze narrowed as she practically glared at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve already told someone?”

“I-I haven’t. I promise,” he said as he held his arms up in surrender. Was he already messing everything up? Couldn’t they just go on one date before having to break up? With a quiet gulp, Adrien gave her an anxious smile. “At least, I don’t think... what was I not supposed to tell?”

Marinette stared at him in surprise before slowly gesturing to her earrings. “You know... about this. You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”

He frowned in confusion, opening his mouth to tell her that he still didn’t understand before realization slammed into him like a truck. Marinette was gesturing to earrings she never took off. Besides one day, that is... the one day where he also took off his ring and ended up switching kwamis with Ladybug. Ladybug who dropped off Marinette’s present. The same Ladybug who couldn’t accept Chat Noir’s feelings because she was in love with another boy. 

Adrien breathed out one word as he gazed down at her in shock, “Me.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed as she looked up at him. “You told yourself?”

“No!” he shook his head, “I mean yes! Well, kind of... but, I was mainly saying that I was the one you were in love with.” 

Her face turned the shade of a tomato before she laughed awkwardly, waving a hand in the air. “W-what? W-what do you mean? L-love you? Uh, w-where did you hear that? I mean, that’s just crazy.”

Adrien simply chuckled loudly, slapping a palm to his forehead as so many things suddenly made sense. He hadn’t predicted the future with his dreams and he certainly wasn’t clairvoyant. He must have subconsciously figured out Marinette’s identity and had been trying to tell himself that he had been in love with the same girl from the very start.

With a small, smug grin, he leaned down to look into Marinette’s wide, blue eyes, “That’s not going to work on me, anymore, princess.”

She simply squeaked, her entire body tensing up as Adrien leaned even closer to her. He swiped at her nose playfully and smiled softly once he saw how flustered she got. Leaning back, Adrien spoke simply and gently, “I wanted to talk to you so that I could tell you that I love you too.”

“Y-you do,” Marinette whispered, her body relaxing as she gazed up at him in wonder.

“I always have, m’lady.” He bowed delicately, taking her hand in his to brush a sweet kiss on the back of it.

“No,” she breathed out, her eyes widening further, “You're not... you can’t be.”

Adrien simply winked at her, giving Marinette a particularly Chat Noir esque grin. Her eyes firmly shut as she shook her head furiously. As she ran a hand through her hair, he heard her mutter, “That makes so much more sense now. You didn’t need to tell anyone because you already knew.”

“Knew what?” He tilted his head at her in confusion, watching as her head jolted up to stare at him with longing and sadness.

Slowly, Marinette took in a deep breath, her eyes brimming with tears. “W-we can’t be together.”

“What?” Adrien practically spluttered, feeling his heart plummet deep in his chest. “Why not? I-is it because I’m Chat Noir?”

“No! Of course not, kitty! I love both parts of you, just like you do for me.” Marinette shouted in a rush to reassure him. “B-but, one day, Bunnyx showed me the future. You had gotten akumatized, Adrien. It was awful, a-and you knew my identity. Y-you said it was our love that ended the world. So, don’t you see? We can’t be together until after defeating Hawkmoth.” 

Adrien’s face dropped as he stared down at Marinette. Slowly, he shook his head. “No, that can’t be. I can’t have gotten akumatized. Not if I was in love and with you. You are one of the only people I ever feel truly happy with.”

She sniffled quietly, a soft, wobbly smile forming on her lips. “It’s the truth, Adrien. We’re not supposed to know our identities for a reason. This is probably why. Now, we should really get to class, we’re probably late enough already.”

Marinette started to walk away and before he could overthink, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, staring at her desperately. “What if we dated in secret?”

“I-in secret?” she looked at him doubtfully.

“Yes!” Adrien snapped his fingers as his face lit up. “That way Hawkmoth would never even know. It doesn’t even have to be as Marinette and Adrien or Ladybug and Chat Noir, we could make it work as Ladybug and Adrien or Chat Noir and Marinette. I can’t just let you go, Marinette. Not now when I know we’re both in love. Please, let’s just give this a chance.”

She nibbled on her lip as she peered up at him from beneath her lashes. She then spoke hesitantly. “No one would know?”

“Not a soul, I purromise.” Adrien lifted his hand up as he solemnly swore to her.

Marinette looked up at him for a few moments longer before slowly nodding her head. “Ok, we can try it. But if anything starts to go wrong, and I mean anything, Adrien. You let me know right away and we’ll figure it out together, alright? I’m not going to lose you again.”

“You won’t.” He grinned, pulling her closer to him as he brushed his nose against hers lightly. Quietly, he murmured, “Now, am I allowed to give you a kiss that we can both remember.” 

Marinette giggled, her cheeks turning a light pink. She still swatted his chest, though, hissing at him, “We can’t do this here. What if someone sees?”

“No one’s going too. Everyone’s in class already. Please, Marinette, just one,” Adrien whined, giving her a small pout.

She rolled her eyes with a fond smile. Instead of responding, however, she simply wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a sweet kiss. Shivers raced up and down his spine as he lifted her up, smiling into their kiss. Nothing was going to take this away from him. Not even Hawkmoth. He’d make sure of it.