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aloyxtilda · 3 years ago

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A Love Beyond Space & Time

CHAPTER 3: Brunch

Fan Fic: Aloy/Lis x Tilda (Romance, adventure, comedy, drama, space lesbian techno witch supreme.)

Author: GingerAnne aka @aloyxtilda

Chapter one is here. And Chapter two is here.

“Lis...” The youthful Tilda happily spoke, smiling charmingly at her ex lover's clone. “Let's head over to the table. Shall we?”

“Tilda...” Aloy could barely release the name from her lips. She was still in awe that the woman she just buried a few weeks ago, was now alive! Tilda's beauty was striking. There was no denying it, no way to avoid it. The champions heart beat faster the more she stared at the stunning immortal.

The fashionista lead Aloy over to the round table at the top of the base. She pulled out a white chair for the huntress to take a seat. The brave Nora was a bit nervous to accept the offer. Could this woman be trusted even after what she tried to do? These thoughts ran through the redhead's mind. Caution was heavily advised.

“There we go.” Tilda smiled and took a seat beside Aloy. The Zenith then moved her hands about in an odd gesture. Suddenly, a specter came out of the doorway. This instantly startled the flame-haired girl.

“What the hell is this Tilda?” She quickly stood up in a panic, ready to draw her bow.

“Relax.” The data broker replied calmly and laughed. “It's here to serve us food and drink.” She stood up and tried to ease her strong, attractive yet startled guest.

Both the ladies sat back down but our hero still wasn't convinced this was a good idea. However, she played along, hoping to see if the answers she received would make sense or be nothing but lies. Something the ex spy was good at. Suddenly, A hidden compartment inside the robot opened up. A tray full of food and coffee extruded within the center of the mechanical beast.

“Ah, finally.” Tilda took the tray and placed it before them. “Here, enjoy.” She advised her brave hero to help herself while serving them both some coffee. The machine then quickly stormed off, allowing our champion to feel more at ease.

“You expect me to eat something that just came out of a robot's stomach?” The Nora asked.

“I assure you it's safe.” The blonde laughed.

Aloy took notice of Tilda's beautiful bright smile. She quickly turned her head away, struggling not to fall for her charm. But the moment she looked back, the blonde woman smirked and stared at her. She held her cup so elegantly it continued to make the huntress feel uncomfortably attracted. The Zenith made the hero question everything she thought she knew about herself. Her heart raced the more she gazed at those soft pink lips and golden short locks. Is this what Elizabet saw in her?

“Aloy?” The pale skinned art collector asked. “Are you alright?”

The huntress shook her head as if to wake up from a day dream.

“No!” Her voice rose. “I'm not! I'm confused as to how you're alive and now acting like nothing ever happened!”

“I can explain.”

“Then please do!” The fierce huntress replied in frustration. Her cheeks turned bright red. Aloy had trouble keeping calm, mostly due to Tilda's striking appearance. She then took a sip of the coffee to hide her emotions. However, it was so flavorful, it almost blew her anger away with a smile from it's pleasurable taste. It was the greatest thing she'd ever tasted.

“Is it good?” Tilda softly asked with a grin, taking notice of the girl blushing from the drink. “Coffee was Lis' favorite after all.”

“Tilda!” Aloy shouted, almost slamming the cup on the table. “Enough! Tell me everything or I'm leaving.”

“Ooo – so demanding.” The Zenith teased, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. “Very well.” She sighed and picked up her cup, looking away from the gallant Nora. “When you killed my old vessel, it released my consciousness into a cloned, more youthful copy of myself that I kept in cryo upon the ship. That's all.” The woman waved her left hand.

“That's all? No! Wait a minute! I thought the Zeniths failed digital consciousness. Isn't that what created Nemesis?” Aloy asked, confused.

“Correct.” She nodded. “But I had already studied and perfected transcending digital consciousness far before they worked on Nemesis. I just chose never to tell them how. Why would I? So I could have Gerard and Erik telling me what to do for all eternity? I think not!” Tilda took a sip of her coffee. “If they knew how to do this, then they would have become practically invincible.”

“So you kept it all to yourself.” Aloy replied.

“Precisely.”

“Where did you learn about all this?” The redhead asked.

“Well, far before the Odyssey took off, Far Zenith was a think tank, a secret organization for a select few. Exactly 77 members existed at the time. All anonymous of course.” Tilda took another sip of her coffee. She looked directly at the clone of Dr. Elizabet Sobeck sitting before her. “It was a futurist consortium.” She smiled, gesturing with her hands as she spread them wide in the air. “You see, before Ozvald Dalgaard, there was the original founder of Far Zenith and his name was Peter Tshivhumbe.”

“What was so special about him?” Aloy asked with a mouth full of food. Her hunger came back again with a vengeance. The battle with the blonde warrior left her famished. The data broker watched her, trying hard not to react to how cute the Nora looked eating the sandwich she had served.

“He was fascinated by the idea of transcending consciousness to any body. Machine or organic. He was a philanthropist, investor and futurist and known for funding experiments in digitizing human consciousness at the Center of Transhuman Studies. He had a vision for a better humanity. Where there was hope for us all. It was easy to be inspired by his speeches. It made you think anything was possible for us. Including true immortality and reaching the stars.”

“And how does any of this involve you?”

“I was one of those anonymous members. As I mentioned before, they sought out my expertise and welcomed me into their ranks.” She took a small bite of scone and looked down.

“But why did you accept the invitation? You knew what kind of people they were. Why be part of this elite organization?” Aloy's temper rose.

“Like I said, it was simply just a think tank at the time. It captivated me.”

“Why?” The redhead forcefully asked.

“Because I was also fascinated by what Peter talked about.” Tilda's emotions heightened. She had trouble looking Aloy in the eye. “I was curious about his vision of immortality, transcending the digital mind to any body you wanted. The idea that no one ever had to die again!” Her tone rose as she held back a sadness that swelled in her heart. “Then the idea of reviving the Odyssey and traveling to the stars, allured me.”

“Don't you think that's selfish?” The Nora questioned, criticizing the thought.

“No.” The Zenith looked directly at Aloy. Her gaze and tone more serious than before. “It was not just about living forever or traveling to other planets but advancing humanity. Taking us to the next step in evolution! To become the better versions of ourselves. And leave behind primitive behavior, becoming a wiser, faster and stronger human being. At least, that is what Peter sought after. ”

“Pff...human.” Aloy whispered the repeated word to herself followed by a long sigh. She could tell Tilda was getting upset.

“Obviously, I never thought at the time leading up to the Faro Plague that Far Zenith planned to take the elite and leave everyone else behind.” Tilda looked down. “It became a matter of survival instead of what it used to be.”

“This is a lot to take in.” The huntress spoke softer. But in the back of her mind, she knew not to fully trust every word the ex spy spoke. Deciphering which parts were truth or lies, was challenging. “So what ever happened to Peter? Did he die on Sirius?”

“No.” The immortal spoke calmly once more. "Peter died far before the Faro Plague. At least, that is what most people believed.”

“And you?”

“To be honest, not at all.” The art collector replied. “I believe he studied on himself, figured it out and is still alive today.”

“How are you so sure?” Aloy wondered, struggling to look into Tilda's bewitching eyes.

“Because after Peter's death, I hacked The Center for Transhuman Studies.” The data broker replied, refilling her cup. “I found loads of information on possible successful transfers of consciousness into machines!” She continued. “Then one tasty bit that mentioned an organic transfer experiment that lead to a success. However, a lot of that data was erased. So finding out who it belonged to was unattainable. But the dates all matched up to Peter's death. Coincidence? I think not.”

“Well, that's all very interesting. I assume you stole the information on how to perform this elaborate achievement?”

“Of course I did.” Tilda grinned, feeling very proud and pleased with her skills. “I was able to then perfect the experiment over the past thousand years. Manipulating the consciousness, adding special attributes and performances.” She paused, slightly making visual contact with her ex lover's clone.

Tilda struggled not to get distracted by the Nora's stunning green eyes. Her flushed cheeks covered in cute little freckles or her gorgeous long, flame colored hair that rested over her shoulders. It took every nerve in her body not to move closer to her – touch her. The fashionista fantasized of all the things she hoped to do. She was once again looking into the face of her truest love. Her heart felt like it could've burst from her chest at any moment.

“Tilda?” Aloy interrupted the Zenith's gaze which studied the girl's features.

“Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes.” She continued. “Transcending the mind allowed me to be the better version of myself. If you haven't noticed, I am able to do far more than I could than in my older body. I also altered the DNA sequence on my replicated self. Something else that was studied before the Faro Plague. I'm now much stronger and faster than ever before. My old vessel was simply in it's caterpillar form, awaiting to transform into a butterfly.” More hand gestures followed, expressing the metaphor.

Aloy leaned back in her chair, studying the elegant woman before her. “That explains your new skills I've witnessed.”

“Mm...yes. Do you like them?” Tilda asked with a smirk.

“No...” Aloy replied firmly.

“Rude.” The art obsessed Zenith laughed, taking a sip of her coffee. “Is that the thanks I get for saving your life for – oh I don't know, the tenth time?”

Aloy was not amused. Her brow lowered. “I never needed you to save me, Tilda!”

“Hm...tell that to the Apex Thunderjaw who almost took your life. Oh! And that Snapmaw who nearly snapped off your head or perhaps the-”

“Enough!” The fiery redhead interrupted.

Tilda's eyes widened as she lifted her right eyebrow.

“I don't need your help!” Aloy slammed her fist on the table. The stubborn huntress refused to thank the blonde haired warrior. Her emotions elevated the more she looked at the striking beauty before her. Tilda's lips teased her thoughts as she noticed a grin formed over Aloy's heated behavior.

“You're welcome, my love.” The immortal woman smiled, sipping her coffee.

Aloy rolled her eyes, sighed and looked away. The blood in her body finally began to cool. This woman would be the death of her. She struggled to make eye contact.

“So what now, Tilda?” The Nora asked. “Going to try and kidnap me again?”

“Not at all.” She shook her head in response. “I never meant to do any such thing.”

“Don't play with me.” The huntress sternly replied. “Did you forget or-”

“It was an act to get you to kill me.”

“I'm sorry, what now?”

“I never had it in me to do it myself.” The Zenith looked down at her hands on the table. “I saw what you were capable of from your focus. Even with Specter Prime, I never had a chance of defeating you. I knew you'd finish the job, quickly.”

“That's insane. You're insane.” Aloy replied with a short laugh.

“Is it?”

“Yes!” She continued. “Why not just ask me to kill you? Why the performance and all the lies?”

“If I had asked you to do that, would you have?”

The Nora turned her head to the side, looking away from the immortal.

“Thought so.” Tilda responded. “I knew you'd never go with me. And even if I did succeed, it wouldn't have lasted long. You would've just killed me anyway on my ship and then crashed it back to Earth. No?”

The flame-haired girl stayed quiet.

For a moment there was nothing but silence between them. The Nora didn't know if she could fully believe Tilda's words about not wanting to kidnap her. It felt like she was trying to excuse her own actions. But what if it was true? What if she really did want to help all along and this was her way of doing it? Tilda soon broke the silence.

“So... when do we leave for your base?” The blonde woman asked with a big grin full of excitement.

“Um – there is no we in that sentence.” Aloy replied sharply.

“You still don't trust me after all I've done?”

“I'd be stupid to trust you, Tilda.” The champion firmly informed.

“I protected you.” The immortal grew upset. “That's all I wanted to do! I've saved your life multiple times and even gave up my own body to become something better, stronger – for you. So I can protect you even more than before! Can't you see I'm trying to help you? Lis, I-”

“No!” Aloy stood up and walked away from the table. “That's enough! I don't need your help. In fact I never asked for it. That's what you don't understand." The hero fumed. "I'm not Elizabet and I never can be her for you!” The huntress looked away, placing her hands on her hips. Then continued. “She's gone Tilda! And it's about time you accept that.” The Nora turned and began making her way to the exit.

“You're wrong!” The Zenith shouted out to her. “She's still alive!”

“You're delusional!” Aloy yelled back, making her way to the stairs.

“Aloy wait!” Tilda called out. “Lis never died. She's you! Can't you see? You and I are the same now.”

Our champion paused. She made her way back over to face the blonde woman. Her temper rose as she raised her finger at the beautiful immortal's face. Both of them standing only a few feet from each other.

“She's dead, Tilda." She glared. "And you and I are nothing alike.”

“Aloy,” The data broker calmly spoke. “Gaia didn't just make some basic clone. I saw it the minute I found your focus. Lis created you so she herself would return in case she was needed. Her consciousness lives in you. You are Dr. Elizabet Sobeck. My Lis reborn.”

“That– That's absolutely insane.” The Nora looked confused.

“Is it?” The Zenith continued. “Lis worked along-side Far Zenith for a long time. She was heavily focused on AI before. The idea of Artificial Intelligence back then was questionable. It focused on studying consciousness itself. AI is just the digital study of mimicking human conciousness. You don't think she may have been fascinated by Peter's experiments too? If we could transcend consciousness into a machine, we could not just live forever but create AI far more advanced than anything we are.”

“Stop it!” Aloy's head began to hurt. Her heart dropped into her stomach. “Elizabet would never-”

“She uploaded her consciousness into you.” Tilda quickly interrupted. “She also altered your DNA sequence. Making you, stronger, faster, braver than she ever was.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You ever wonder why you're able to do the incredible things you do, Aloy?” The blonde woman asked. “You're capable of taking down any machine, facing fears most could only dream of. You're practically a God among the people. You are not just Lis, you are the perfected version of her. The butterfly to her caterpillar.”

Aloy let out a long sigh and shook her head. “I don't believe you.”

“It doesn't matter if you choose to or not.” The ex spy replied. “You are Dr. Elizabet Sobeck and so much more. She created you as a fail safe. The need for her to return if everything didn't work out to plan.” Tilda looked directly at her heated guest. “You are her. If anyone would know between an original or a copy, it's me.”

“Where' done here.” The huntress quickly stormed away towards the exit. “Don't follow me! I want nothing to do with you!”

“Aloy please!” The Zenith begged. “I can help. I may know how to stop Nemesis!”

“I'll find another way.” The Nora shouted. “Goodbye Tilda.”

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this one. A lot that Tilda mentions about the Far Zenith lore is all based off data points across both games. I theorized she knew how to transcend consciousness way before the dumb Zeniths took off due to Peter's early experiments from the early stages of Far Zenith. The game also hints that Aloy herself may actually be Elizabet with her own consciousness. Which Tilda points out at the end of Horizon Forbidden West. When she says to her "You are not just some inferior copy, but Elizabet herself standing before me once again." Tilda seems very convinced and I just doubt she is some delusional love sick puppy. Tilda is very smart. She knows something that we don't. And I think that is what the developers were trying to show. If Tilda transcended her consciousness, then it's possible Lis did too. Both of them still alive, a thousand years later to reunite their love and save the world. This time, Tilda being brave enough to stay behind and help. Becoming Aloy's protector to fight with her. To stay by her side when the flood comes.

Thank you for reading. Your comments mean a lot to me and every retweet means the world. It keeps me writing more. So appreciated. 🙏🌹

#tilda van der meer #fanfic #fan fiction #Aloy #horizon fanart #horizon forbidden west #horizon forbidden west spoilers #hfw spoilers #elisabet sobeck #tilda #aloy #gay aloy #aloy sobeck #Chapter 3 #A Love Beyond Space and Time

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holdbeast · 4 years ago

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People keep writing about Din meeting Han and that’s cool and all but, listen, what this canon needs is for Din to meet Leia.

At first she’s like oh my god what kind of ratty loser did my brother drag home. But then Din is out there speaking lots of languages, brokering treaties, organizing civic defence forces, making and keeping deals, just straight up old-fashioned benevolent monarchy the way the Organas taught it. This guy! This guy gets her.

And that’s how Din acquires yet another incredibly dangerous and powerful space BFF. They shoot Hutts and get brunch. Luke and Han have no idea how to feel about this and settle for mildly terrified.

#i think din would have no time for han’s bullshit sorry #din djarin #leia organa #the mandalorian #dinluke

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theapril83 · 5 years ago

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What are you cooking at home? Mac made this delicious breakfast sandwich with home made smoked salmon inside! 🥰😋😎 🐠 #smokedsalmon #smoker #breakfast #brunch #breakfastsandwich #c21home2home #aprilc21home #c21relentless #c21 #realtorlife #c21relentless #aprilc21home #pismobeach #sanluisobispo #oceano #realestate #broker #nomattertheroadwellfindyourdreamhome #realtor #21daychallenge #stayhome https://www.instagram.com/p/B_PlnXjlGBT/?igshid=vw16jw5sjm37

#smokedsalmon #smoker #breakfast #brunch #breakfastsandwich #c21home2home #aprilc21home #c21relentless #c21 #realtorlife #pismobeach #sanluisobispo #oceano #realestate #broker #nomattertheroadwellfindyourdreamhome #realtor #21daychallenge #stayhome

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misslilli · 3 years ago

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Felix Felicis

MSR. AU. PG-13. | tagging @today-in-fic | read on AO3

Chapter 15 - Siblings And Secret Sting Operations

[ DS ]

Sundays are reserved for church and phone calls with my family, so after mass and the church brunch, I make myself a cup of tea and grab my blanket, heading upstairs to curl up on the Adirondack chair on my private balcony. I take out my phone and call my brother Charlie.

He picks up on the second ring. “City morgue. You kill ‘em, we chill ‘em!” I almost choke on my sip of tea.

“Hey Charlie! That’s a new one, very funny. Almost killed me with it!”

“Aah killing with jokes is my specialty. Sorry sis! How’s it going over there on the main land?”

“We mere mortals manage to get by, always a little in awe of the Gods of the Cape. Hey can you see me?” I get up and wave across the bay to where I can picture him standing in front of his little cottage, waving back.

“I deign to gaze at the mere mortal waving like a crazy person, yeah! So what’s new with you?”

“Nothing much, busy with school, the usual. How about you? How’s Pete? Did he get the promotion?” I can hear the smile in his voice at the mention of his boyfriend.

“Yeah he did, I’m insanely proud of the big-shot broker that I call mine!” Against all odds, they make a pretty great couple, the artist and the stock broker. “So, speaking of… how’s your love life? Seeing anyone?” He always asks me this and the answer’s pretty much the same every time, but today, I surprise him.

“Mhh yeah, there’s someone…” The gasp he gives is so loud, it almost carries across the bay.

“Shut up! What? Who? When? Are you really seeing someone?”

“No… not exactly. But… there is the dream of someone else….” I sigh into the phone, smiling at the mental image of Fox Mulder that pops into my head.

“You’re kidding. Who is he?” As I recount the moments that happened between the two of us, Charlie is practically jumping with glee.

“God, that’s so great, sis! So, what happens now? Why are you pining for him from afar instead of putting on the big-girl pants and ask him out on a date?” I shake my head.

“You know why, Charlie. I’m really scared I’ll screw this up and the fact that I care about his kid so much makes it even more difficult. Oh God, and can you imagine what Dad will have to say about him being divorced and a single parent?” Charlie groans into the phone in frustration.

“Not this again, Dana. You can’t live your life the way you think will get you dad’s stamp of approval, you deserve to be happy and from the sound of it, you’re pretty excited about this guy. I can tell you from experience, if I had chosen to chase dad’s approval, I’d still be so deep in the closet I’d need a map and a compass to find my way out. So, your other concerns are valid but you’ll never find out if he’s the one if you don’t try!”

“I know, I know, you’re right, just like you were right the other thousand times we’ve had this conversation. What am I supposed to do, just walk up to him and ask him on a date? I can’t do that!” The thought alone sends a cold shiver down my spine.

“YES Dana, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do! We’re living in the 21st century, we’re not playing this stupid game where a boy has to ask a girl out, it’s okay if it’s the other way around!” I hang my head and sigh in resignation, he’s right, as always. I want to hate him a little for it.

“Alright, I’ll think about it, happy?” – “Overjoyed! So let me tell you about that art show that I’m putting on at the gallery!”

We chat for a little while longer, waving at each other again as we say our goodbyes.

----------

In the meantime, downstairs in the kitchen

The three other girls are sitting around the kitchen table having a very late breakfast, the smell of coffee and pancakes filling the house. They speak in hushed tones, not wanting to be overheard by the fourth friend upstairs.

“Girls … This Mr.Mulder- Dana situation is killing me. I just can’t take it anymore, they’re pining for each other so hard but they’re both too chicken to do something about it!”

“What are you saying, S?” Alex blows a cooling breath over her coffee cup.

“I’m saying that these two need a hefty kick in the butt!”

“Ooooh I get it now!” Holly bounces in her seat excitedly. “We’ll be the trusty matchmakers for these love-birds!”

“The two of you are out of your minds. She’ll see right through it, you know she will! We’ve talked about it with her Friday after Friday but nothing has happened! And he’s not making a move either.”

“Yeah… we can’t just go up to him and ask him if he’s blind or stupid or both and tell him that he should get his ass in gear and ask her out already!” Sarah spears a piece of pancake with her fork, twirling it thoughtfully.

“What if we enlist the help of his kid?”

“Holly, no, we can’t do that! He’s six for god’s sakes. Besides, I think they have another thing coming with him when they actually dostart dating. You know how kids lash out when their parent starts dating again, and he loves D to pieces. No, we need a more subtle plan.”

“How about we spike her drink at the birthday party with some hard stuff? You know, lower the inhibitions and all that” Sarah waggles her eyebrows suggestively.

Holly gapes at her friend. “Sarah! We can’t drug our friend into sleeping with him! It’s not right and she’ll have our heads for it if she ever found out, rightfully so! What about the Halloween fair, they’re both working there, but D doesn’t know that he got roped into it?”

Realization dawns in Sarah’s eyes and her mind works out a plan. The other two nod enthusiastically when she tells them about it.

“Oh this is so exciting! We need to talk to Miss Hannigan and some other people but I think it’s a good start to push them closer together! Now that we’ve got a plan, we just need to figure out how to keep it all from D. We live together, so she’s bound to overhear us talking about it at some point.” Holly and Alex nod in unison.

“We’ll go all secret sting operation on their ass, codenames and all. They won’t know what hit ‘em.”

“Codenames, S?”

“Yes codenames, come on it’ll be so much fun, like a secret society, Illuminati-style!”

Alex laughs: “Alright, what are our codenames for these two?”

They all think hard about this. “Well their real names are out, of course. Middle names too. Red and brown?” – “No, hair color’s too obvious, A!” – “Mom and Dad?” They share a laugh, shaking their heads. “That’s weird. Can we do something with the first letters of their names? F and D? S and M?” Holly bursts out giggling. “Okay maybe not S and M! … M and S? Can we do something with that?”

A slow smile spreads over Sarah’s face. “I’ve got it! A thunder of jets in an open sky, a streak of grey and a cheerful “HI!” – BOOM - a loop, a whirl and a vertical climb and once again you’ll know it’s time for the adventures oooof…?”

Holly jumps out of her chair and yells out excitedly: “Moose and Squirrel! Sarah that’s brilliant!!” Alex nods her agreement, grinning.

“We’ll call it Operation: Bullwinkle!”

“Man, Squirrel’s so gonna kick our asses…”

#xf #the x files #xf fanfic #msr #felix felicis #the adventures of rocky&bullwinkle

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malcolmrei · 2 years ago

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#HarlemWorld #Brunch 🥞🥓🧇🍳☕️ A great #Sunday @brunchharlem with my homies… @hausmana @jackiesasloff @ladibugnyc @msasloff #etcetera : : : Malcolm from #Breuckelen @compass 😉🏠🤎 License Associate #RealEstate #Broker🗽#Buying #Selling #Leasing #Investing #USMCVet #PrattGrad #KappaMan Τελειωοις (at Brunch Harlem) https://www.instagram.com/p/CndHpRZvNZ_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#harlemworld #brunch #sunday #etcetera #breuckelen #realestate #broker🗽#buying #selling #leasing #investing #usmcvet #prattgrad #kappaman

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okinawa-division · 3 years ago

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"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."

Timeline

Age 0:

Born to his mother and father in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Age 14:

Due to the debt crisis plaguing Puerto Rico, his father makes the decision to move him and his entire family to America.

They settle in an apartment in Spanish Harlem, New York.

Age 15:

His father recommends he find something to occupy his time so that he can get over leaving Puerto Rico.

He notices some children playing basketball and decides to try it out.

He finds out that he is naturally adept at it, and decides to join his school's basketball team, where he quickly stands out.

He is voted as his high school's "Most Valuable Player", boosting his popularity.

Age 17:

His school goes up against a rival school in a basketball game for the championship.

To prevent his team from winning, several players on the opposing team plan a drive-by shooting on him.

They succeed, shooting the young basketball player while he is walking home from school multiple times, shattering his right leg and lodging a bullet in his skull.

He is hospitalized and put in a coma for up to six months.

Age 18:

He awakens from his coma but is unable to play basketball anymore, due to the injuries he has received.

To make matters worse, he must repeat his final year of high school due to missing out on so many school days.

Upset at this, he drops out of school and joins a local street gang called The Str8 Breakers.

Relationships between him and his family dwindle, as a result.

Age 19:

He and his gang get back at the guys who put him in a coma, jumping them as they are walking home from school.

One of his old high school buddies tries to get him to drop out of the gang life, but the basketball player refuses to listen.

Age 20:

He and his gang are ambushed by a rival gang.

His old high school buddy is killed by accident, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This wakes the basketball player up, and he makes the decision to leave his old life behind.

He leaves behind a note for his family, as well as the money he made while in the gang.

He heads for the city's harbor and manages to earn passage by working to earn his keep.

After a day or so, the ship arrives in Okinawa, Japan.

He is introduced to an old bartender named Jelani who takes him in as his apprentice.

He recommends the boy change his name and appearance, which he does.

The bartender names him 'Rashaad', after his late son.

Age 21:

Jelani begins teaching Rashaad all he knows about bartending, which the Puerto Rican quickly takes up.

He takes the tests needed to earn his G.E.D. and passes.

A few months later, he takes the bar exam and passes, earning his bartending license.

Age 22:

For his one-year anniversary, Jelani takes Rashaad to get a tattoo to celebrate.

He chooses an eagle tattoo across his neck.

Age 25:

Jelani sadly passes away due to heart failure. He leaves Rashaad the bar.

He fixes the bar up and renames it "The Eagle's Nest".

It quickly becomes one of the most popular bars due to its atmosphere, Rashaad's drinks, and his 'No hostility' rule.

Age 27:

He becomes something of an information broker, buying and selling information to those who need it.

Age 28:

He becomes acquainted with a number of famous people, such as Luis Kōkyū, Hiroshi Sakura, Lola Takahashi, etc.

He starts learning how to play the piano and saxophone after listening to some old records Jelani left him.

Age 29:

He meets Ace Douglas, America's Ambassador to Japan, and his girlfriend, Evelyn Rose.

He allows them both to stay upstairs in his bar after finding out their hotel is being renovated.

Age 30:

Present.

He becomes the third member of the Okinawa Division rap battle team, Liberty Guild, alongside Ace Douglas and Evelyn Rose.

Schedule

12 a.m. - 5 a.m.: Working

5 a.m. - 6 a.m.: Closes and cleans up bar

6 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Asleep

12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Brunch

1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.: Shower and freshens up

3 p.m. - 4 p.m.: Readies bar for the evening

4 p.m. - 6 p.m.: Makes and eats dinner with Ace & Evelyn

6 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Power nap

7 p.m. - 12 a.m.: Opens up bar for business

Character Hashtags

Regular Hashtags

#Master of Mixology

#A good drink and some jazz

#I need more sleep

Trauma Hashtags

#Is scarred, physically and mentally

#Can't change or erase the past

#I drink to forget

Other Info

Hobby: Playing basketball

Weakness: Too secretive and reserved

Trauma: "My past has a firm grasp on me."

Twitter: @YoungBartender

Drinks: Yes

Smokes: Yes

Special Skill: "I can tell exactly how inebriated a person is, or can be."

Intro Quote: "Leave your worries and problems behind you."

Trauma Quote: "What will my friends think when they realize I'm not who they think I am?"

#hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic oc #hypnosis microphone #rashaad young #okinawa division #twitter #trauma #get more info

7 notes · View notes

kyuuppi · 4 years ago

Text

(Un)planned (requested)

Pairing: Orihara Izaya x Pregnant!Reader

Genre: fluff, a lil crack-y

Word Count: 4.9k

As you walk out of the hospital you can’t help but to feel as if you’re in a dream, as if nothing is real. The only thing tying you to reality are the freshly printed documents verifying your pregnancy that feel unnaturally heavy in your purse. The reality of the situation was easier to accept than you expected, really. You have been married for a while and you can recall several instances in which you two hadn’t been exactly safe with your escapades. Being pregnant is not something that bothers you either—you have always wanted to have children at some point in your life. The only problem, the only thing keeping you from feeling properly excited by the news is the father of the child itself—Orihara Izaya. It is not something the two of you had ever discussed and, knowing first hand just how dangerous his field of work as one of Japan’s best information brokers...well, you aren’t sure if you two could create a healthy environment for a child to grow up in. Providing love and food on the table was one thing, providing safety and security was another.

At the thought of food your stomach involuntarily grumbles. You didn’t realize just how hungry you are until now. You hadn’t eaten all day, the nervousness about the doctor’s visit having ruined your appetite. It is by sheer coincidence that you notice a familiar face only a few meters ahead entering the infamous sushi bar. You follow after him without hesitation.

“Welcome to Russia Sushi,” Simon greets with a grin.

You smile in return before sidling into the booth next to the blond man you had followed in.

“Hi, Shizuo,” you greet shyly. The man nods in acknowledgement, already looking over the menu.“Y/n,” he returns coolly, “how have you been?” His gaze suddenly darkens as his grip on the laminated menu tightens and you can already tell what he’s about to ask next.

“Has...the flea been treating you well?”

You have no doubt one word of complaint about Izaya would have Shizuo tearing the city apart to kill him. Shizuo was one of the first people in Ikebukuro you had met who you could call a “friend.” Although he wasn’t the type to frequent brunch dates and sleepovers to watch anime and gossip, he always made sure to greet you with a small smile, regardless of how his day was going, and had promised to protect you if you ever needed it.

It was already several months into your friendship when you had started dating Izaya and at first Shizuo had...not been happy, to say the least. To the blond, Izaya was incapable of genuinely caring about anyone but himself. There was always an interior motive and the people around him would always be in danger. After several long, long months of persuasive speaking on your part (naturally Izaya just got a kick out of teasing the man about your relationship rather than seeking approval), an official marriage to the man, and Shizuo seeing you still remaining unharmed through it all, Shizuo finally seems to accept your relationship—or at least tolerate it. However, you know one bad word about Izaya and Shizuo would be ready to kick his ass to Hong Kong on your behalf.

‘I wonder what he’d think about me not telling Izaya about the pregnancy.’ You mentally sour at the thought and physically shake your head to get rid of it.

“He’s been an angel,” you joke. Shizuo scoffs and you end up giggling as well. Regardless of disagreeing on just how bad Izaya is, you both know he’s far from an angel.

He had always been more curved horns and pointy tail than halo and wings...but you love him all the same.

Before Shizuo can verbally respond (likely with an insult about ‘the flea’), Simon appears behind the bar before you two, ready to take your orders. As usual, Shizuo places his order first so that you have a little longer to decide.

“I’ll take the natto sushi—” you can’t help but to shiver in disgust at the sound. “—and today’s special.”

You perk up at that.

“Special?”

Simon grins at your interest.

“Yes, today’s special is yummy drink, tastes just like Russian seaweed farms! Special is very good.”

The idea of a Rusian seaweed farm drink is moderately concerning but between Simon’s excitement and Shizuo’s unbothered look you decide to order it against your better judgement, along with some fatty tuna.

Izaya must really be rubbing off on you.

You and Shizuo share a few minutes of idle talk while you wait for your orders. He tells you of the most ridiculous people he has had to collect debts or protect Tom Tanaka from this month and your laughter has you forgetting about all of your pregnancy worries. You’ve completely relaxed by the time drinks arrive and you take a sip without hesitation.

“Mmm,” your eyes widen as you regard Shizuo, “this is actually really good!”

Shizuo offers a rare boyish grin before he sips his own pale green drink, watching you go in for more.

“Right? You can hardly even tell there’s any vodka in it.”

‘Vodka!?’

You gasp, accidentally inhaling extra liquid before you begin spluttering in panic. Shizuo quickly jumps into action, harshly patting your back but careful not to use too much strength. Half of the restaurant is looking your way in concern and even Simon looks like he’s just about to catapult himself over the bar to help you when you finally calm down and your choking is reduced to harsh pants while you try to catch your breath. You think most of the drink had been expelled in your coughing fit but you still feel queasy and anxious. What if it hurts the baby?

“Y/n, are you okay?’ Shizuo asks, hand awkwardly rubbing your back in an attempt to be comforting. “Are you allergic or something.”

“N-no, it’s not that I’m allergic but...I can’t have alcohol for a while.”

Shizuo raises a brow at that and you feel grateful that everyone seems to have returned to their own work by now, no longer staring at you. Simon has left the bar to attend to a customer in one of the private dining rooms, leaving you and Shizuo essentially alone in your corner of the sushi restaurant.

“Why can’t you have alcohol for a while? You used to love sake.”

He sends a teasing smirk with the last part, referring to an embarrassingly drunken moment you’d had a few weeks into living in the city. Shizuo had sworn to never bring it up again but clearly he paid that particular oath no mind.

“Well, um…”

You begin to fidget nervously. Originally you had no intentions of telling anyone about the baby but...Shizuo was a good friend, maybe your closest friend in Ikebukuro aside from Celty. You have no doubts he would be nothing but supportive and kind to you in a time when you need it most—that is, after he gets over the idea of another person sharing Izaya’s DNA being brought into the world, of course.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone—not even Izaya. Especially not Izaya.”

Shizuo perks up at that, seeming interested in the prospect of you having something not even Izaya, your husband and the greatest information broker in all of Japan, knows about. Perhaps a small part of him would even relish in having something to keep from Izaya, some sort of “one-up” on the man.

“Of course,” he replies immediately, nodding.

You take a deep breath, bracing yourself.

“I’m pregnant.”

Everything seems to pause at your confession. Shizuo sits stock still and as the silence stretches on you begin to fear he didn’t hear and you’ll have to repeat it. However, before you can open your mouth to repeat those incriminating words, you’re startled by a sharp snap and look down to find the wooden chopsticks in Shizuo’s right hand broken in half. You trust him and know he would never hurt you but your heart rate still spikes and you tense in your seat, hand subconsciously resting over your stomach protectively. Shizuo's wide eyes follow the movement.

“Y-you're…" He finally stutters out. "...whose is it?"

You gawk, suddenly offended.

"Wh-who!? It’s Izaya's, you dumbass, who else!"

"I didn't want to make any assumptions!"

Your anger quickly dissolves into giggles at Shizuo's panicked expression and he visibly relaxes at the sound. There are a few moments of moderately comfortable silence between the two of you before Shizuo sighs and speaks again.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you've been married for a while now." His expression sours once he mentions marriage and you can tell he's internally reliving some of his worst encounters with your husband.

"I just can't believe there's going to be two of them now," he pouts. "That annoying piece of—"

"Hey," you interrupt, a teasing smirk on your face. "That's my baby daddy you're talking about."

Shizuo’s pales, looking like he'll throw up in disgust at any moment and you can't help but to laugh.

Maybe this whole pregnancy thing isn’t so bad.

. . .

You had been wrong—very wrong.

After your impromptu lunch with Shizuo, as you were walking out with your extra bag of fatty tuna to-go, it suddenly hit that you were about to go to the home you shared with Orihara Izaya pregnant with the unplanned child he knows nothing about. You nearly had a panic attack several times on the walk there as you mentally played through a multitude of scenarios of how to tell him and what his reaction might be. Izaya is involved in dangerous, illegal work—you can’t imagine a family and kids fits anywhere in that. You were lucky enough to have been asked to marry the man—there’s no way he would be ready for children as well.

‘Would he tell me to get rid of it?’

You had worked yourself so much on the way that by the time you arrived to the apartment you were mentally exhausted and barely managed to place the sushi in the fridge before you collapsed on the couch and turned on the television to zone out until Izaya came home.

A few hours later a sound at the front door jolted you to attention.

“I’m home~!” a man’s voice cheerfully booms from the entrance.

You silently pray to every god in existence that you can pull an Oscar-worthy act before plastering a smile on your face and standing to greet your husband.

“Welcome home, Izaya! I bought fatty tuna, it’s in the fridge.”

Izaya’s vermillion eyes seem to sparkle at that and he immediately makes his way to the kitchen after shedding his trademark faux fur-trimmed coat. That buys you enough time to contemplate your next course of action and how you will break the news to him. You know that, despite the fact he enjoys games and toying with others for as long as he deems entertaining, he expects direct answers from the people who work for him like Namie or Celty. But how could you possibly just outright say you’re pregnant right now? The man is humming to himself while stuffing his face with sushi right now for god’s sake—the mood is totally off!

“—Y/n?”

Your own name startles you out of your thoughts and as you blink to tune back into the outside world you find Izaya learning against the counter directly across from you, eying you with mirth as he holds the plastic container of sushi, nearly half empty by now.

“My, my. Someone seems a bit distracted today,” he taunts lowly. You tense at that, fearing he’s about to ask you what you’re thinking about.

Luckily, he seems to be feeling merciful today as he simply repeats what he was saying while you were zoned out, his tone back to almost childish glee.

“I was saying I met with Goto-chan today—y’know the one who was on ‘vacation’ for while—” he uses air quotes with the free hand not holding up the sushi and you can’t help but to smile at that, unhealthily endeared by this odd, dangerous man.

“—well turns out he has a kid now. He even brought her to our meeting with his gang; what terrible parenting~! Right, Y/n-chan?”

You gulp before barely managing a nod of agreement, suddenly extremely uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.

“I would never take my own young offspring to a place like that. Sometimes meetings end very badly, y’know~,” he continues on. You’re suddenly aware of the sweat collecting at your brow despite the moderate temperature in the apartment and you wonder if the panic is showing on your face.

‘He...he doesn’t know anything yet...right?’

There’s a beat of silence in which you two just stare at each other. Your face feels clammy and hot but you try your best to maintain a neutral expression while Izaya’s lips are curved into their usual smirk with a playful glint in his deep red eyes—along with something else you can’t quite read but somehow evokes a ball of dread to form deep within your gut.

A few seconds later and the moment is gone as Izaya turns away to dispose of the empty sushi contained and is rambling on about something else you don’t have the energy to even pretend to listen to as relief washes over your body.

The rest of the night is spent curled up on the couch watching cartoons while Izaya works, not bringing up the topic of children again for the rest of the night. You decide waiting a little longer to tell him wouldn’t hurt—you just need some time to gather your thoughts and plan exactly how to tell him.

. . .

Somehow “a little longer” becomes “a lot longer” as every time you approach Izaya with a speech already planned, you look into his eyes and immediately chicken out. To make matters worse, you aren’t sure if you’re just being hyper-aware of all things related to children now or if the whole world is really out to get you but it seems babies are everywhere. A few days after that night you turned on the TV to watch something with Izaya only to find a pregnancy documentary of all things on which Izaya insisted you two watch because he wanted to “learn more about the development of his precious humans.” Another few days after that the two of you were on a rare evening walk together when a small, crying child approached the two of you claiming to have lost his mother while chasing a dog. Izaya unexpectedly took over the situation and handled it exceptionally well, diligently looking for the boy’s mother with you while keeping him entertained to the point he didn’t even want to say goodbye to Izaya when you two finally found his mother.

External factors like that made things a little more difficult for you as you attempted not to let your secret slip out but other factors were a lot more difficult to hide—such as your slowly but steadily growing belly and strange new mood swings. The former was easily remedied by electing to wear your looser more comfortable clothing. Izaya had never been a physically affectionate partner so you didn’t have to worry about him noticing your stomach in a hug or anything like that and he never pushed when you turned down his occasional sexual advances at night citing that you were too tired or had a stomach ache. Your mood swings and other hormonal changes, however, were not so avoidable.

The first time you had raised your voice at him—and over something so small as coming home half an hour later than he said he would—came as a surprise to both of you. After a moment of wide eyed staring from both sides he seemed to recover quickly though and teased you about missing him too much. A few times you had also spontaneously burst into tears for no apparent reason, to which he simply pulled you into his side and started telling you a random funny story about his adventures at work until your tears stopped.

But even with Izaya being so unintentionally helpful in keeping your secret, the pressure and guilt of constantly lying to your own husband and the man famed for knowing everything gradually eats at you day-by-day, hour-by-hour, and minute-by-minute until you are constantly seeking a relief from the stress. Sometimes that comes in form of finishing a whole box of chocolates, sometimes via napping for six hours straight, and sometimes through social media and chatrooms.

One Thursday afternoon you log in to the chat for the first time since finding out you’re pregnant, pleasantly surprised to see your two favorite members already online.

▶▶ [USER01] has entered the chat.

[Tarō Tanaka] Hello, User-san. Long time no see.

[Setton] we missed u User-chan.

You smile, instantly feeling better with the online presence of your friends.

[USER01] hey, guys. whats up?

[Setton] Tanaka-san was just talking about volunteering at the daycare.

[Tarō Tanaka] Ah, I just had some freetime…

[Setton] don’t be modest. ur really amazing Tanaka-san.

[Tarō Tanaka] Ahaha, really it’s nothing! I just played with some babies for a few hours...

[Setton] nonsense. don’t u think Tanaka-san is cool, User-chan?

You take a second too long to answer, suddenly feeling anxious by the reminder of daycares and babies. You wonder if you and Izaya will leave your own child at a daycare some day...if he even accepts the child.

[USER01] ah, yeah..very cool

[Tarō Tanaka] User-san are you alright? You seem a little off today, you’re usually more talkative...

[Setton] u know u can tell us anything. we’re friends.

You hesitate to type, your trembling hands hovering over the keyboard as you consider your options. On one hand, you feel guilty at the prospect of telling more people who are not your husband before actually telling Izaya himself. As the father, regardless of his reaction, he deserved to be the first to know. On the other hand, keeping these overwhelming feelings to yourself makes you feel as if you’ll burst at the seams. So much stress can’t be good for the baby.

[USER01] well, to be honest I’m….

▶▶ [Kanra] has entered the chat.

[Kanra] Yahoo~! (≧∇≦)/

[Kanra] What is everyone talking about today?? owo

[USER01] nothing much!! just the weather..it has been so hot lately!

[Tarō Tanaka] But it’s September…

[Setton] ???

[Setton] ah yeah, nothing much i guess...how are u Kanra?

[Kanra] Ehh~ What’s with this weird atmosphere!? I feel like everyone is keeping secrets from Kanra-chan! (●´^｀●)

[USER01] no way!! not at all! ah, its already this late? I have to get dinner soon, bye-bye!!

[Tarō Tanaka] It’s only 2 o’clock though...

▶▶ [USER01] has left the chat.

Your laptop closes with a resounding tap and you release the breath you didn’t realize you were holding. Izaya seems to have impeccably awful timing. You hate to think you were moments away from confessing your secret right in front of him and two mutual friends in a public chat room. You’re fairly certain that must be among the top ten worst ways to announce a pregnancy.

Frazzled, you head to the kitchen to make a snack.

After shuffling through the refrigerator for a few minutes, pushing aside suddenly unappetizing leftovers of Chinese take-out and pizza, you settle on sliced pineapple, kimchi, and a pack of microwaveable rice from the cabinet. Even you knew the combination was abhorrent in normal circumstances, but for the past few weeks you found yourself craving obscure combinations of food from ice cream drizzled with honey mustard to canned tuna and chocolate.

You are only a few bites in when you hear the familiar sounds of the front door opening and your husband announcing his arrival. The lanky man immediately slips into the kitchen to greet you with a small peck on the top of your head.

“I see my favorite little human is enjoying one of her...creations again,” Izaya comments.

When you look up you catch the split second of disgust on his features as he eyes your bowl before he quickly schools his expression back into something more neutral. You almost laugh.

“Do you want me to make you some?” You can’t help but to tease, trying your best to feign a serious expression as you ask.

Izaya looks mildly horrified before playing it off with a dismissive laugh.

“No thanks, I already ate.”

He gracefully breezes past you to make his way through the living room and to his personal office in the back where he make quick work of logging into his desktop. It is a usual occurrence—despite being home his work is never truly finished. He has to be flexible in his field, ready to gather new intel the moment it becomes available. It is strange to compare Izaya to anyone with a regular job but you often find yourself thinking he must really love his career if he invests so much of himself into it. You’re sure that by now he has done enough odd jobs to no longer need the money to live the rest of his life worry-free and yet he continues to work relentlessly, never taking a vacation day once in the years you’ve known him.

“By the way,” Izaya calls out, interrupting your thoughts.

“I have some things to take care of in Ōsaka this weekend. I’ll be back Sunday night.”

He glances up from his computer to send you a teasing smirk.

“Try not to get too lonely without me~”

You nearly choke on a piece of pineapple as you fluster, immediately denying his claim despite his obnoxious laughter drowning out your protests.

It is not until you lie in bed that night, trying to fall asleep, that you recognize this could be the moment you’ve been waiting for.

. . .

The next morning, after seeing Izaya off for the weekend, you grab your laptop and log into your nearly forgotten Pinterest account to look for cute pregnancy announcement ideas. With Izaya physically out of the house for more than 24 hours you feel the pressure of constantly hiding all clues lifted off your shoulders and you feel free to properly put something together that you hope will result in a more positive reaction from him than just blurting it out of the blue. You have to periodically remind yourself that this is his child as much as it is yours and he is just as responsible for creating it so that you don’t psych yourself out imagining him blaming you for potentially ruining his life.

A majority of the pins you scroll through are immediate no’s. They’re either way too corny or tacky and you highly doubt Izaya would appreciate the humor in a “thx for knocking me up!” sticker.

...Okay well maybe he would but you certainly wouldn’t.

By the twelfth page you feel exasperated. You’re almost tempted to just send him an “I’m pregnant” text right now to get it over with—at least you won’t be there to see his expression in realtime. That’s when you stumble upon the pin. You immediately click the little square before it loads into an image that takes up your full screen. On the image is a white marble background, likely a kitchen countertop, with a round white cake in the center with the words “we’re having a baby!” sprawled on top in purple icing.

It is simple, to the point, cute, and most importantly—cake.

Who doesn’t love cake?

‘Well, Izaya doesn’t really like sweet things that much…’

You mentally tell your self-conscious to shut up. A cake would be perfect.

With your mind made up, slam your laptop shut and get dressed to go to your nearest bakery and place your order.

. . .

On Sunday afternoon you pick up your cake from the bakery, only mildly embarrassed by the amount of times the owner bids you a “congratulations” and “your husband is lucky man!” When you make it back to the apartment and open up the blue pastry box on the counter everything suddenly feels very real. The cake itself is perfect—exactly like the picture you saw that day on Pinterest. A white buttercream base with beautiful purple letters spelling out “we’re having a baby!” in cursive. There are even small yellow flowers surrounding the edges, as suggested by the shop owner.

It looks absolutely delicious but you feel like you’re going to throw up.

According to Izaya’s text that morning he’ll be back within three hours from now and that’s when you’ll have to wordlessly hand him this cake and watch as his expression morphs into something you’ve likely never seen before.

‘What if he just abandons us?’

Your right hand unconsciously wraps over the now noticeable little bulge on your stomach. It’s too late to have second-thoughts, you reason with yourself, the longer you draw this out the worse it will be. You decide a quick nap would do some good to ease your nerves. You’ll set your alarm for half an hour from now then clean the apartment and put on some soothing cartoons until Izaya gets home. After gingerly placing the cake box in the refrigerator you shuffle up the stairs to the bedroom. You’re unconscious almost as soon as your head hits the pillow.

. . .

When you peel your eyelids open you find yourself feeling more calm than you remember feeling after a nap. You stretch each of your limbs and wriggle your toes as you allow your foggy brain to properly wake up.The rays of light streaming through the blinds seem to radiate a comforting warmth to fight of the chill of the bedroom.

‘Wait...light!?’

A rush of panic overtakes your system and you scramble to find your phone on the bedside table, nearly screaming when you read the blaring white digits on the screen.

9:07AM

You didn’t just take a nap, you slept through the night.

Your head whips around to find the other side of the bed neatly made, just as it was when you climbed in bed yesterday. Maybe you still had a chance—maybe some unforeseen thing happened and Izaya had to spend an extra night in Ōsaka. You nearly trip and faceplant several times in your haste to rush downstairs and into the kitchen where you’d hid the cake.

Placing the cold box on the counter, your hands tremble lightly as they slowly lift the lid.

You heart skips a beat.

One perfectly sized slice was missing, leaving only a few crumbs in its wake.

You don’t even have time to have a proper mental breakdown before a door slams shut. “Ah, I see you’re finally awake~!”

Almost in slow motion your eyes slide from the cake to the tall black haired man holding a bag of what some distant part of your brain recognizes as breakfast from your favorite café. Izaya looks unbothered, irritatingly so, as if he had no idea of the inner turmoil you are currently experiencing.

“You must have been exhausted—you didn’t even stir when I came in last night.”

He has the audacity to exaggerate a pout as he whines, “it made me feel unwelcome, y’know~”

“Th-the...cake...” you barely manage to stutter out, struggling to make sense of the current situation.

“Hmm?” he hums, the smirk of his lips making it apparent he knows exactly what you’re thinking.

“Ah, yes, thank you for the treat~ I don't usually like sweets but this one was surprisingly delicious~!”

He begins to casually place his bags on the counter across from you and pull out the breakfast items, explaining nothing more and even humming a bit to himself as he works to sort the food.

God you want to punch him.

You swallow thickly to steady yourself before trying again.

“S-so what do you think about...it” you ask, awkwardly gesturing to your stomach..

"Hmm? Ah, the vanilla was good but there was a little too much icing—"

"NO DUMBASS, I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE BABY!” You finally snap, face bright red in anger.

Izaya only guffaws, laughing as if you had just cracked the joke of the century. You’re only split seconds from throwing the whole cake at him when his laughter finally dies down and he slides around the counter and to your side. He wraps his arms around your waist, hands gently resting on either side of your belly and you feel your heart flutter unexpectedly at the tenderness of the action.

“You’re so cute when you think you’re hiding something from me.”

Your breath hitches.

“Wh-what? What do you mean by that—” you desperately attempt to turn to face him but his hold keeps you firmly in place.

“I’ve known since day one~” he sing-songs, sounding annoyingly proud of himself. “I’m surprised you finally decided to tell me though. I was starting to think you’d wait until you went into labor and needed a ride to the hospital,” Izaya jokes. “No way,” you protest, “that’s literally impossible—there’s no way you could have known already.”

He moves one arm from your body to swipe at some frosting on the forgotten cake, bringing it over to your lips in an offering you accept without thinking, taste buds tingling at the sweetness.

“Silly Y/n—I’m an expert at planning, y’know? All those times we ‘forgot’ to use protection weren’t an accident~”

Your whole body seems to erupt in flames as a blush takes over your face. This time, you really do hit him.

“I-idiot!!”

#durarara #orihara izaya #izaya x reader #reader insert #durarara fic #drrr x reader #durarara scenario #durarara imagine #izaya imagine #izaya fic #unplanned

178 notes · View notes

hunnybadgerv · 4 years ago

Text

Confession | Far Cry 5 - Leah Rook

Summary: The confessor of Eden’s Gate finds himself in the position of having to reveal his own failings to the Father.

a/n: This one kind of surprised me and popped up after the fact when I was revising Shattered Impressions for the first time before beta. I felt like I just wholly abandoned John in that trying moment. So, this kind of came together unplanned, but I felt like that given all things it was only fair that I see how things affected him as well. Thank you once more to the brilliant betas who took this and the other stories on: @chyrstis and @amistrio. You guys are amazing and I really appreciate you taking the time out of your own schedules to help with this.

Link: AO3

(I know this was revised last summer, and beta-ed around the same time, but I had not gotten back around to it ... shamefully. I figured since I could only right now wrap my head around revising that it should be one of the things I focused on.)

Confession

Crossing the yard to the packed dirt drive, Joseph Seed slipped his arm under John’s shoulder and lifted his younger brother back to his feet. John’s blue eyes just stared after the blur of a screaming banshee that was Leah Rook. His eyes watered and struggled to focus on any one specific thing. If ever there a person could fit the description fit to be tied, it was her at that exact moment. She railed against the sheriff and his deputy as they hauled her, bodily, down the driveway and finally forced her into the farthest of the vehicles. Of those watching from the white-washed farmhouse, only John knew precisely why she reacted as she had. And her ire wasn’t just about the house she grew up in or the land that had been in her family for generations.

John Seed’s gaze remained fixed on the blue and red flashing lights as the squad car sped down the drive, spewing gravel as it carried Leah Rook away from what had been the Rook family ranch. His hobbling gait migrated him to the fence and he rested his weight against it as his head spun.

Joseph held a handkerchief out to him. “You’re bleeding, brother.”

John took it. His head pounded and he couldn’t produce enough saliva to wash the coppery taste of his own blood out of his mouth when he bowed his head to spit over the fence. A stream of red poured from his nose, with no sign of ceasing.

“I think it’s broken,” Joseph told him.

“Probably.” He’d heard and felt the crunch when Leah punched him.

They stood there in silence. John knew the reason why his brother stayed silent, why he waited. Leah’s reaction and John’s own behavior. Both were revealing, especially to a man as attuned to human nature as the Father. Plus, it was likely that Joseph had heard every accusation she spat at John on the back porch before she kneed him in the groin. He still didn’t feel like he could catch a proper breath, which was only hampered further by the fact his newest injury restricted him to breathing through his mouth.

He coughed roughly, spitting again, and staining the soft green blades of grass red. Joseph stood beside him, with a single hand resting on John’s shoulder. The weight of it bore down on John immensely, making hiss guilt curl through him and cause him to feel small. Perhaps his brother still carried faith in him, despite his proven weaknesses and tendency to falter.

“I apologize, Joseph,” John said finally.

Joseph said nothing.

John knew why. An apology was not a confession, and he was guilty, a sinner. He had been weak and let it happen—leapt headlong into sin,if he were totally honest. It mattered not that, in the moment, the time he shared with Leah felt nothing like a transgression. With her, things felt right, natural, even though his reasonable mind knew that neither God, nor the Father would see his behavior and maybe not even his feelings in a similar light.

The confessor of the Project at Eden’s Gate also knew that had it been his choice, their romance would have continued. Even if she had not ended their relationship in so many words exactly, there was no doubt in John’s mind that anything that had existed between them was no longer. Even if her accusations had been baseless, her anger was not misplaced.

“I asked for her phone number after the brunch in May. We’ve spoken regularly since. Shared coffee together on occasion. Another time, she invited me to her home for pizza and a movie. I also flew her home from Helena once. We stopped on the way for dinner, and got caught by the rain.” His voice was flat, like it came from someone else’s mouth as he spoke about it.

Joseph sighed.

John could tell by the mere sound of it that Joseph knew there was more, but he struggled with the admission. Lust and greed cost him a lot of things in his life. This was yet another that he could add to that list.

“And the two of you—”

“Yes,” John said plainly before Joseph could even finish the question. Lowering his hand from his face, John turned and looked at his older brother. This was the man who had found him at his most degraded, shown him another way, and given him purpose.

“It wasn’t like before.” The words flew from his lips, though even John wasn’t sure if it was an explanation or merely a justification of his actions. “She was different from the others.” He tried to find a way to explain what he felt with her, and for her still, that could make sense to his brother. “It wasn’t merely about the act; it wasn’t just sex. I …”

John shook his head, then bowed it, bringing the blood-stained cloth to swipe at the blood flowing freely once more.

“We were only together that way the once.”

His mind wandered back to that afternoon as he closed his eyes. He could see her standing there soaked to the bone but smiling in that way that made his heart tighten in his chest like it might never be able to beat properly again. The ghost of her touch burned across his skin and the echo of the way she’d said his name in such intimate ecstasy filled him with a rush of emotion. Shame quickly doused the sensation with cold guilt.

“God forgive me,” John whispered.

A hand tightened on his shoulder. “He does, brother. He does.” The embrace caught John off guard, but no more so than when Joseph rested his forehead against John’s, offering comfort as his brother cradled the back of his head. “We must be strong. We are examples, even in our failures. You will have to atone.”

John nodded against his brother’s forehead. “I will. Publicly,” he added, feeling his transgression as deeply as his heartache. He had dared to care for her, battled his baser desires in a search for something more real. Maybe it had been an illusion, he told himself. A fabrication drafted merely to excuse himself for when he would inevitably falter.

“That is not necessary,” Joseph said.

“I know.” John swallowed, gagging on his own blood.

“You should have someone see about that nose.” Joseph leaned away and gestured to one of the members working around them.

John just nodded once more, keeping his eyes focused on the ground not far from where they stood. Self-reproach sagged his usually strong shoulders beneath the weight of his actions and the knowledge that he’d disappointed the Father.

“I’d hate to see the other guy,” Jacob chortled when he approached. His hand landed heavily against the back of John’s neck.

Raising his gaze to meet Jacob’s, John’s shoulders sank further under the weight of that meaty palm, though the tight squeeze offered some comfort. The oldest of the three of the Seed brothers then relieved the youngest of the handkerchief he’d used to staunch the spigot of blood that poured from his nose.

“Keep your head forward. It will bleed like hell again,” Jacob warned him.

John leaned back against the fence, gripping it tight in anticipation. His vision blurred and the sickening crack made his stomach turn, but the pain … the pain was welcome. A reminder that he was alive. Deserved punishment for his failures.

“Pinch here,” Jacob told him.

John did as he was told, teasing at the bridge of his nose gently, probing the sensitivity of the injury.

His brother tilted his head and smirked at him. “Probably going to end up with two black eyes, little brother. Guess it’s true what they say.”

“And what, exactly, do they say?” John asked, taking the bait.

“Dynamite comes in small packages.” Jacob raised his brother’s chin and inspected his face. “Little girl packs a hell of a punch.”

“That she does,” John agreed. His brother laughed once more and slapped John on the shoulder before turning toward the house. John let his gaze travel back toward the road.

The sheriff’s car still sat at the end of the drive. Presumably, he waited there in case Leah made her way back. Perhaps he hoped to head her off before any infraction could be broken. John silently hoped Earl Whitehorse would achieve that goal, if the situation arose. He loathed the idea of following through with the threat he’d made.

Even amidst the ache and throb in his face, he couldn’t fight off the fondness that swelled when he thought of her. She’d had every right to be angry with him, to accuse him of betrayal. He had drafted and brokered the transfer of her family’s land and property. All without telling her a single word about any of it, despite how close they had become over the last few months. In the back of his mind, he could still justify keeping it from her; attorney-client privilege held him to silence about the matter. Even so, it still felt like a weak excuse even as he comforted himself with that caveat.

Jacob hit the nail on the head though; Leah Rook certainly packed a punch. She left a lasting impression on John Seed, one that would far outlast the bruises she gifted him that day in her ire.

“That she does,” John whispered once more to the breeze unable to wipe the thought of her from his mind just yet.

#Far Cry 5 #Badger Scribbles #John Seed #Joseph Seed #Jacob Seed #Blood TW #Broken Nose #brotherly bonding #angst

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vermilion-vault · 4 years ago

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So, I've been thinking about my second character and I'm considering a New York based fashion designer based on either Jean Paul Gaultier or Alexander McQueen who is somewhere her mid thirties. I kind of want to throw her into a sort of bougie high society clique of friends all of whom live in the city and meet up from time to time for fancy things like brunch at The Plaza in the Palm Court or voyages on their yachts up the Hudson River. My idea is that they'd be a well established group of young New York professionals (so like stock brokers, CEOS, Broadway actors/directors, art dealers... you get the picture) who met back in their younger days when they attended the same elite Manhattan-based private school so sort of like Gossip Girl except this plot will have no similarities to the show or the characters. I don't know I suck at explaining plot ideas but hopefully you understand where I'm trying to get at with this post. If it seems like something that would interest you however feel free to interact with this post or hit me up on my discord at tastesicles#0920

#savagerp #interest check

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xiubaek-13 · 5 years ago

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Providence

Prompt: You kind of-sort of said you had a boyfriend and now you both are invited to a ‘couples only’ party and now you have to find a boyfriend ASAP

Pairing: Chen x Reader

Warnings: Alcohol, poor dating history, a little bit of smut.

Word Count: 9,118

A/N: This was for a one-shot challenge. We had a really cool idea for a Valentines prompt but life decided to come in and drop multiple anvils on all of our progress. Life can be shit like that sometimes but at times like that you also have to step back and realise that the writing can wait. We made a group decision to kind of call off the challenge but still post if/when we finished. This is my contribution.

Anyway, let me know what you think - apparently I cannot write a short one-shot to save my life so here is an almost 10k present for you.

You only had yourself to blame for this. Why the fuck did you tell him you had a boyfriend? Did you enjoy suffering? How the hell were you supposed to find a boyfriend before the weekend?!

You were just so sick of feeling left out of social gatherings but Suho was all about couples parties… originally you thought it was a phase that would pass but six months later it was still invite only and you had to have a boyfriend or partner or significant other. The rules were that you couldn’t turn up alone or with a fuck buddy, not after that one time Baekhyun turned up with an escort just to piss Suho off. You still remember Baekhyun telling you that story and how Suho hadn’t invited him again for two whole months. That man was too concerned with how society perceived him and his perfect wife. He just didn’t understand how you could possibly have no time for dating and dismissed you every time you asked to come alone.

So you hadn’t seen him in six months. You still talked and still saw each other at work but you missed hanging out with your friend. You just wished he cared less about what everyone thought of him. One by one they’d all gotten girlfriends and wives and suddenly you were no longer the main woman in their lives. Gone were the days when you’d have to pretend to be their date, scorned ex, sister, or bitchy friend to save them from awful dates. Now none of them were ever free to do the same for you because it wouldn’t be proper.

At some point you gave up on dating. You just decided one day that you’d had enough of being disappointed by every so called suitor and weren’t going to participate in it any more. Your mother was distraught, but you were pretty sure it was more that she was upset that she couldn’t play matchmaker any more rather than any sort of concern for your wellbeing. What you would give to not have been born into high society with all of these convoluted rules and stigmas. You had to marry a career man of good stead from the right family. You had to mask and hide your feelings, always, because any sign of emotion was a sign of weakness. You had to have a good education and a good career but be willing to drop it all to get married and start a family then spend your days on committees. You could never not be seen in designer wear, what would the neighbours think? All of this superficial bullshit. You were done with it. There had to be more to life than this and if there wasn’t then what the hell was the point of anything? Why put up with all of this just to be a beige blip or boring in the grand scheme of things.

You craved excitement like that art student you dated in college who had a talent for body paint. Your mother haaaaated him and once he found out about your status he was done with you. You craved a person who could chill with you and be happy in just your company for days on end when the rest of the world became too overwhelming like that library assistant you dated for a couple of months until you found creepy poems everywhere and had to call it quits before you ended up the subject of a cold case study in a decades time. For some reason you always ended up with the weird guy who seemed great… until he wasn’t.

Your luck wasn’t any better when your mother set up the dates. There was the lawyer who always had to argue with you and spoke over the top of you, there was the medical student with the foot fetish, there was the personal trainer who didn’t believe in showers, the stock broker with anger management issues and a possessive streak, the list went on. Back in the day Suho, Baekhyun and the others would laugh with you about these jerks and give you hope for the future but now, now you couldn’t help but feel like they thought you were a lost cause since you were the only one left who was single. Maybe you were just destined to be forever alone like Chanyeol had once suggested.

***

“Are you sure it isn’t you that’s the problem?” He asked.

You paused as you brought your coffee up to your lips. “Wow. Thanks Kai. You’re a beacon of positivity you know that?”

Kai pressed on. “Think about it. You’ve been on countless dates and all of them, every single guy you’ve ever dated hasn’t been good enough. You’ve found a flaw in every single one. People have flaws, it’s normal. It’s not normal to have gone on like 50 dates in the past 2 years and still have nothing to show for it.”

“You couldn’t be more of a finance guy if you tried. I know people have flaws but don’t you dare try to tell me I should have just looked past Jason’s poetry thing.”

“Oh fuck no. That guy was a textbook serial killer in the making, you’re lucky you got away from that relatively unscathed.”

“Kai, they’ve all be terrible. I don’t know what to tell you… maybe the guy for me just isn’t in this universe. Maybe he was here but he died before I could meet him and now I’m alone forever.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“You’re lucky I like you Kai. Now are you going to help me get into one of Suho’s parties or have I just wasted a half hour at this overpriced cafe?”

Kai laughed and put his drink down. “Just go through your phone and find the least terrible guy you ever went out with and see if he’s up for playing along for a night. Suho will know if you just bring a guy you’ve never met before - it’s kind of how he caught Baekhyun out.”

“And here I was thinking it was because she was propositioning Sehun in the kitchen or when she told Xiumin her price list that really gave her away.” You deadpanned.

“You know what, you might be right.” He laughed and shook his head. “We are lucky he’s finally settled down, single Baekhyun was wild.”

You checked your phone and realised you had to be back at work in 20 minutes so you thanked Kai for brunch and headed back to your office.

***

Your phone was mocking you, you were sure of it. It felt like a stone in your hand ever since brunch with Kai. His words kept coming back to you but every time you opened your contact list and started scrolling you felt like the world’s biggest loser. What would you even say to any of these guys if you called? Hi I’m pathetic and still alone but please date me for one night so I can go to a party? Yes I know things didn’t work out between us in the past but what’s one night for old times sake? Ugh. You needed wine if you were going to stoop this low.

One hour and five glasses of wine later you were three quarters through your contact list and you had gained nothing. If anything you’d lost some dignity in the process but you’d also deleted about 10 numbers from your phone for good, ones that were disconnected or if the conversation felt too forced or if he was rude. You cursed Kai, so far this was a horrible walk down memory lane of your failed love life. What you saw in any of these men was beyond you. One conversation stood out so far - Lance. Lance was clearly a low point of your dating life, really the name said it all. Stereotypical frat boy, on the rowing team, thinks women are to be seen and never heard, thinks the ability to do a keg stand makes him a certified legend. Lance was more than happy to chat with you tonight, to catch up on old times and tell you all about himself and how well he was doing at the law firm he was a partner in. Not once did he ask about you. His response when you’d asked, through gritted teeth because you were certain you’d end up killing him on the way to the party, was “Cool, cool, look sweetcheeks I’d like nothing more than spend a night with you but I don’t do the whole date thing plus I haven’t seen you in years - you gotta send a guy some pics first. You should just come over later tonight, we can have a party of our own if you know what I mean.” You actually felt greasy after talking to him and never before had you deleted a number from your phone so quickly, because fuck ever talking to him again.

Sighing and pouring your sixth glass you settled into your couch and scrolled to the last three numbers. If none of these provided results you were back to square one. You glanced at the remaining names, remembering who they were and if they were worth calling. Taekyeon was a med student in college and you’d lived in the same dorm. He was actually a really good guy back then. You recalled that one time where you were so horrifically hungover after one bad night out and he’d somehow procured a drip and solution to hook up to you to rehydrate you as well as feed you painkillers and took care of you. He’d never asked for anything in return either. You dialled his number and waited as it rang.

“Hello?” A male voice answered.

“Hi, is this Taekyeon?” You asked.

“It is...who am I speaking with?” He responded hesitantly.

After you got past formalities and got to chatting you didn’t even bother bringing the proposition up. Instead you made up some lie about a project you were working on and needing to reconnect with your past. You were right, he was still a great guy. So great that he was a pediatrician, married and had two adorable children. It got you nowhere with needing a fake boyfriend for a night but it was wonderful to chat to him again after all this time and he seemed just as happy to chat with you. He promised to call again after he returned from a work conference so that he could invite you over for dinner to meet his wife and children.

“After all, I owe you for not letting me turn into one of those awful frat boys. You kept me in line so my morals never wavered.” You couldn’t really turn the guy down. Not when you could tell he was serious about having you meet his family and really, you were a little bit curious to see how he turned out.

“It was the least I could do, you were younger and more impressionable. I just didn’t want you to turn into a jerk, especially if I had to live next to you for four years. Don’t think of it as a selfless act!”

He laughed and the two of you continued chatting for a bit before saying your goodbyes and promising to speak again soon. With a smile you moved down to the next name, Wonsik. Wonsik...Wonsik… who the hell was he? You racked your brain to try and pull up some detail that would enlighten you as to who this guy was. Was he that forgettable? Or is he just some random dude? You sat for what felt like hours trying to work out who he might be but in the end you took a big sip of wine, threw caution to the wind and dialled. As you waited for the mystery man to answer his phone you continued to mull over the name in your mind.

“Heeeey! It’s been so long since we last spoke. How have you been?!” a bright and cheerful voice greeted you from the other end of the phone line. Who the hell IS this guy? Why does he seem to know me...that would mean my name is saved in his phone. So we must have met in the last year.

“Hi! I know it’d been ages. I’ve just been so busy. What have you been up to?” You decided to play along like you remembered who he was to see if he’d give away any clues that might jog your memory.

“Oh you know, same as usual - museum stuff. Preparing the newest exhibition which has been taking up all of my time. Honestly the hoops you have to jump through to have artifacts leant to a museum is just mind boggling. Anyway please, tell me what you’ve been up to. I had honestly given up on hearing from you again.”

No. no no no no no. You remembered him now. Eight months ago you had a weak moment and joined Tinder. This guy had matched well with you so you’d chatted and organised a date. He seemed nice enough, he still did now, but you remembered getting the strangest vibe from him during that date. Something about him made you feel unsafe and you just wanted to be as far away from him as possible the whole time you were on your date. Being a smart woman you’d told a few friends about the date and teed them up to contact you an hour in to check on you, providing a believable reason to end the date early if you needed to. You did this with any date you went on but this was the only time you’d used it.

“Oh just the same, work and more work. I’m sorry if I bothered you, I’ve just been going through my phone checking all of the numbers in here - it’s been playing up lately. So this call was just to confirm that it’s still you. I wish I could chat longer but I really do have to go.”

“Yep, still me! Ah well hopefully we can meet up again one day and finish that date. It was such a nice surprise to see your name come up.”

You made loose promises to talk again sometime and hung up. Instead of deleting you made a note in his contact information - Tinder date - so that you would remember not to ever call or answer his calls, deleting his number could mean that you’d answer him and be stuck talking to him again and you really didn’t want to be caught off guard like that.

The final name stared at you. You knew this name and you had a sinking feeling about it. You used to work for Yesung as an intern. He was only a few years older than you and he was handsome. The two of you had dabbled in an office fling. It had been hot and heavy but it was short lived since both of you desired your careers more than each other. You both knew it was only lust and proximity that kept causing you to end up in compromising positions so you’d put a stop to it after one too many close calls. He was a nice enough guy but he was a workaholic so you weren’t sure if he’d be down to play pretend with you for an evening.

You put the phone down and made your way back to the kitchen to pour another glass of wine only to find the bottle empty. Had you had six glasses already? It was probably a sign to stop drinking for the night before you regretted it the next day. The storm outside intensified as rain pelted against the windows. If I’m making this call I need to do it before the thunderstorm starts. You grabbed a bottle of water from your fridge and headed back to the couch. You unlocked your phone and your thumb hovered over the dial button. Fuck it. You thought as you pressed his number. It rang and rang and rang until you were sure it would go to voicemail but at the last second a voice answered.

“Hello?” a warm voice greeted you from the other end of the line. It wasn’t how you remembered Yesung’s voice but it had been a few years so you weren’t sure.

“Hi, is this Yesung?” You asked tentatively.

“Oh, sorry. No this used to be his phone, it hasn’t been for years though. Was it personal or business?” The voice answered. Dammit. I called everyone and came up empty handed.

“A bit of both really.” You lied. You were feeling a little pathetic now but your manners meant that you would continue this conversation until it was polite to end it.

“Maybe I can help with the business part. I work with him now.” You thought this voice sounded younger than Yesung. Maybe he was his new intern? You didn’t really care. His voice was nice though and after a bottle of wine the warmth in his voice made you feel a little less pathetic.

“Oh uh, I don’t think you can. It was more a proposition. I used to work for Yesung.” You replied. If he’s not an ass he’ll ask more questions.

“Hmmm why not just tell me it’s a personal call then?” He chuckled.

He had a point. Why lie? “I don’t know, it’s late and I might have had some wine but I also don’t know who you are. Why should I give you a proper answer?”

He laughed. “Yeah, coz that makes total sense.”

“Oh shut up.” You snapped.

“Do I know you?” He asked. Surely he didn’t? Did he?

“Why? Don’t many people tell you to shut up?” You quipped.

“Ha. No, your voice sounds familiar. I can’t place it though. You said you used to work to Yesung though right?” He wasn’t letting this drop, he must actually think he knew you.

“Mmmhmm” You were unsure how much you wanted to divulge to a complete stranger. For all you knew he was just playing with you.

“When did you work for him?”

“A few years ago.” It was a vague enough answer that he shouldn’t be able to get much out of it.

“As…?” He pressed.

“I was an intern.”

“Oooh! I DO know you!” He sounded excited on the other end of the call.

“Well, can you enlighten me? Because I’m drawing a blank here.” You exclaimed, confused at how the hell he’d seemingly worked out who you were, or that he knew you.

“Ah wae! I’m not sure if I should be offended that you don’t remember me just by my voice.” He feigned offence at your lack of memory. The whiny complaining he did triggered something in your memory but.. It couldn’t be… could it?

“Wait...Chen?” A handful of you used to go to karaoke rooms after work on Fridays and Chen was the guy with the voice of an angel. You had no idea why he wasn’t a professional singer but you could have sat and listened to him sing for hours. Surely this wasn’t him? Chen was always argumentative and loud at work, not this soft spoken voice you were currently talking to.

“Ah, you do remember me. I’m flattered.How have you been?” Now that you knew it was him you couldn’t work out how it hadn’t clicked earlier. That voice, that warm and inviting and vexing voice.

“Good I guess.” You answered softly. You weren’t really expecting that question from him. You had been mentally preparing yourself to deflect the ‘why did you call’ question that would inevitably be brought up again.

“So good that you’re calling your old boss’ phone on a weeknight at 11pm? What’s going on?” Damn. Apparently you weren’t going to evade this question any longer.

“Uh. Don’t worry about it.” You mumbled. There was no way you were telling Chen why you rang. He was a smartass and a tease if you remembered correctly and as nice as his voice was, you wouldn’t enjoy it if he was making fun of you.

“If you don’t tell me I’m just going to assume it was a booty call & I’ll be sure to tell him all about it tomorrow.” He teased.

“You wouldn’t!” You exclaimed. It had been too many years for you to know for sure if he was bluffing or not.

“Wouldn’t I? I can even give him your number and I’m sure you remember how he is when his ego is inflated by pretty women.” He teased.

“Oh I remember now. I hate you.”

Chen couldn’t speak because he was laughing so hard at you. Eventually he pulled himself together enough to speak “Then tell me why you rang and avoid this fate.”

“You’ll only make fun of me so either way it’s a bad result for me.” You whined.

“Either I can make fun of you or Yesung can call you expecting you to offer up sex… your choice. I know what I’d pick but hey… maybe you were just after a booty call. Maybe I’m doing you a favour by handing Yesung your number… You can thank me later. Send a gift basket or something.”

You nearly choked on the water you were drinking when he’d spoken. “Oh my god. I needed a date ok? It wasn’t a booty call. Jesus Chen.”

“You needed a date & Yesung was who you called? There has to be more to this. Come on, make my night interesting and tell me.” He egged you on. Something in his voice, something in the way he spoke made you want to tell him more but you weren’t giving it up for nothing. If you were about to tell Chen how desperate you were then he was going to have to offer something in return.

“What do I get in return for telling you? I’m not drunk enough to just drop it on you and the shred of dignity I have left isn’t going easily.”

“I… promise I won’t laugh at you or judge you.” He replied.

“You’ve already done both of those things!” You exclaimed. No way were you letting him lowball you like that.

“Fine. I’ll sing for you. Is that a better offer?”

“Actually yes, it is.” You reluctantly launched into your tale of why you were calling Yesung and why you needed a date. You tried to brush over the part where you were, for lack of a better phrase, forever alone and kept it as simple as possible. True to his word he didn’t laugh but he did remain silent for a painfully long stretch of time before he spoke again.

“I cannot believe I promised you I wouldn’t laugh. You’re not kidding are you?” He said, his voice trembling as he tried to keep his promise.

“Nope. This is my life.”

“Fuck me. Firstly, let me say that your friend sounds like a dick. What kind of jerk only holds couples parties? I might not know you that well but I know you shouldn’t be spending your night calling every guy in your phone just to see if you can convince them to pretend to be your boyfriend for a night. No offence but it kind of makes you look crazy. Secondly, is your contacts list that sad that you got all the way down to Yesung’s name and still hadn’t found anyone who would do this for you?”

“It’s the last name on the list. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t you promise not to judge me Chen?” You chided.

“Not judging you, just your choices. Anyway, that brings me to my third point. I’ll do it. I know you weren’t expecting to talk to me tonight or anything but this whole thing is too amusing to not want to be a part of it. So if you are still in need, which I’m pretty sure you are, I’ll fill the role.” You were sure you’d heard wrong, there was no way Chen had just solved your problem. Surely not. You must have lost your mind or only heard what you wanted to hear because you could have sworn he said he’d do it.

“What? Seriously? You’ll do it? Chen, you have no idea how much you’d be helping me out!” You practically beamed down the line. He had to hear the sudden uplift in your tone and pitch. You’d honestly thought when Yesung didn’t answer, well actually even before that, that you would be back to square one and still alone. Suddenly there was a light at the end of the tunnel. You had plans for this party, plans to tell Suho exactly what you thought of his couples only crap at some point of the night but you’d play along until the perfect moment then throw it in his face. Was it petty? A little. Was it deserved? You thought so. How could he still call himself your friend if he organised events and wouldn’t let you attend on your own?

“I never said I’d do it for free, but we can discuss my price later. I think we should meet up for coffee tomorrow to reconnect and get some facts straight. If we’re going to fake date we need fake dating history.”

***

You stop outside of the cafe entrance and internally debate for what has to be the eighth time since hanging up the phone last night whether or not this is a horrible idea. What if you went inside and he never turned up? How would you handle rejection from a fake boyfriend? What if he was in there but he mocked you or judged you for your forever alone status? What if he thought you were pathetic? For the eighth time you reminded yourself that he suggested this meeting after he agreed to be your fake boyfriend. He’d been so amused at your inability to find someone but also so pissed that your choice of friends sucked that badly that you needed a fake boyfriend in order to hang out with them. He’d texted you a time and a place after you hung up last night so you steeled your nerves and pushed the door open.

Once you were inside you looked around, searching for him. A hand waved from the back left corner and beckoned you over. You started walking towards him and relaxed when you saw his smiling face. “Good, I was starting to think you’d chickened out on the whole thing.” He exclaimed when you slid into the seat across from him.

“Why a booth in the back corner Chen?” You asked. The cafe wasn’t that busy that he had to choose the seats furthest away from any of the other customers.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how comfortable we’d be discussing the semantics of our fake relationship so I opted for some privacy.” He pointed to his hot chocolate. “Please, order something to drink or a snack, it’s on me.”

You wait for the waitress to appear then order an iced chocolate. You and Chen make small talk until the waitress returns with your drink, then he gets straight into it. “I think we should incorporate our real history into this fake backstory, it makes it easier to lie when half of the lie is truth.”

“It won’t make it weird?” You ask.

“Not at all.” He responds, taking a sip from his hot chocolate. “Hear me out. We met a few years ago through work. You were an intern and I was an office lackey. We had the same boss and on Friday nights after work a group of us would all go out for drinks and karaoke. The two of us hung out and got to know each other. We became friendly but we were both off limits, I had a girlfriend and you were kind of seeing someone. We remained friends until you finished your internship and left, losing contact with each other until about a month ago.” He paused while you processed the story so far. So far it wasn’t fake, it was just exactly your history with Chen. You weren’t really sure where he was headed with it but you were curious.

“What happened last month?” You asked.

A slight smile formed on his face, knowing he’d reeled you in so far. “A month ago you had one of the worst blind dates of your life. I’m talking the guy was drunk and lewd to the point where you told him you were going to use the restroom but instead left the restaurant and went to the bar down the road. You were sitting at the bar quietly having a few drinks to try and wash the evening away when we ran into each other. We got to talking and caught up on each others lives - me getting promoted to junior partner, having my fiance cheat on me and you having a string of bad luck with love but success with your career. We kept drinking and chatting and once we realised that we were both single, flirting. One thing led to another and you let me get you home. I left your doorstep with the promise of a date and a month later we’re still dating.” He sat back and waited for you to chip in with your two cents on his story. It was good, almost too good actually. For one thing, you could definitely retell that blind date because you’d been on one like that. The rest was plausible and enough that not too many questions would be asked.

“It’s good.” You eat a spoonful of cream from the top of your iced chocolate. “I think that’ll work well actually. The truth thing does make it a lot easier, honestly I hadn’t thought of it from this perspective. Plus I’ve been on that horrible date so that won’t be a stretch of the imagination should anyone want details.”

Chen’s eyes widened. “Seriously? You’ve been on a date that bad?”

You laughed defeatedly. “You have no idea.”

“Wow. I thought I’d concocted a date so bad that no one would want to know more but I didn’t think anyone actually had dates that bad. What kind of- nevermind. We’re getting off topic. Are you happy with the backstory?”

You nod and continue to spoon the cream off your drink. “I like it. Honestly I had no idea what we were going to tell them if they asked but of all the options I thought up last night, none of them are as simple and realistic as yours. Way to choose the most believable one” You smile and laugh to yourself.

The two of you keep chatting and catching up on each others lives. A lot had happened to both of you since you’d lost contact. You’d forgotten how easygoing and warm Chen was. Hanging out with him brightened your day and you hadn’t realised how much you’d missed this feeling. He can’t contain his laughter as you enlighten him with your failed dating history. At one point he is in tears from laughing so hard after hearing about a particularly bad date with the non showering personal trainer and he begged you to stop talking. You swapped the conversation to find out more about him, pressing to see if the whole fiance and being cheated on thing was true and you were appalled to find out that it was.

It was the aforementioned girlfriend from when you worked together. He’d fallen head over heels for her and after a year and a half of dating they were engaged. Chen had never been happier, he was progressing in his career and he had the love of his life by his side. Sadly it turned out that the love of his life was a manipulative bitch who had been using him. He’d noticed something was off when she accused him of stealing her phone. He went to talk to a friend about her behaviour but as he spoke he realised more and more things she’d done to him. He was so in love with her that he hadn’t noticed her toxic behaviour but now there was no going back. He’d arrived home early from an out of town business trip and went home to surprise her only to arrive home to something that shattered his heart. It’s one thing to know that someone is manipulative, it’s another to see just how little you mean to them in person.

She was in his apartment fucking not one, but two guys in their bed. Once the men saw him they hightailed it out of there, not wanting to be a part of whatever conversation happened next. She didn’t even try to apologise. No, she tried to turn it back around and make it his fault that she cheated. He was so heartbroken and disgusted that he simply told her she had 3 hours to pack all of her shit, return her keys and get out of his life for good then turned around and left the building.

You were so mad for him at the end of his story that you didn’t notice the tear escape your eye until he reached forward and caught it on your cheek. You flinched at his touch which didn’t escape his notice. “Hey, don’t get worked up over it. I’m past it and I’m much stronger and self reliant now. I’m also a much better judge of character than I once was so out of all of that pain some good occurred too.” He smiled gently at you. “What worries me now is that you flinched when I touched you, and you’ve done the opposite of what a girlfriend should do every time I’ve touched you or looked into your eyes since we started chatting. You’re too tense.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise we were acting from now Chen. Here I was thinking we were just catching up as friends.”

He chuckled. “We are but I figured I’d test how you responded to me touching you. You do know that for this whole thing to be believable you have to act natural when I invade your personal space. We’re supposed to have been dating for a month now and if you flinch at any point and someone notices then we’re done for.”

He got up and moved to the other side of the booth, sliding in next to you. What the hell was he doing? Why was he so close all of a sudden? Was he always this handsome? You shook your head and looked at him with a confused expression on your face. “Chen what are you doing?”

He cocked his head as though you should already know the answer to your question but when you made no attempt at speaking again he sighed and filled you in. “We are going to sit here and chat until you act natural with me being so close to you, with me looking into your eyes, with me touching you. If we can’t master this then there’s no point in going through with it.”

You furrow your brow and ask. “So...we’re acting like we’re a couple now?”

He nods, a playful grin spreading across his face. “Yep. A smitten couple. One month in you’re still clinging to each other, still completely absorbed in one another, inseparable. So if you want to pull this lie off, you need to get comfortable with me.”

So you sit there, incredibly close to Chen and continue chatting. Now that there wasn’t a table separating the two of you he’s even more disarming. You knew he was handsome having sat in a karaoke bar and stared at him on more than one occasion but that was when he floored you with his voice, after that you really looked at him and noticed the handsome man that lay beneath his bright and joking demeanour. You’d never been this close to him before though. He’d swiveled you so that you were facing him and pulled you closer to him. His hand rested on your thigh while the other alternated between playing with your fingers, holding your hand and brushing your hair off your face. His touch was somehow gentle and firm at the same time and his hands were warm, you could still feel where he touched you after his hand had moved away.

Maintaining eye contact was the difficult part. His deep brown eyes told you more than his words did and you were afraid you’d see pity in them if you stared for too long. The last thing you wanted was his pity, you knew you were pathetic and he’d been doing a wonderful job at making you forget how pathetic you were but you couldn’t help that niggling voice from returning to tell you that he was only doing this whole fake boyfriend thing because it amused him.

Every time you broke eye contact he’d squeeze your thigh or lift your head back up to look at him before starting again. He leant forward and whispered in your ear at one point. “The sooner you stop averting your gaze, the sooner you can go home and get ready for this party. If you can’t do it then I guess our deal is off which would be a shame since we’ve put in at least two hours of work at this point.” When he leant back you saw the smirk on his face and you steeled your resolve. You could do this. You could hold eye contact and withstand his touches and act like a smitten couple and you would do it to prove to him that you could.

The next time you break eye contact it’s not because of fear of judgement or pity. It’s because you felt something. Something about his gaze and his touches had made you feel too hot. You’d felt exposed and you wanted to run away or throw yourself at him and you were embarrassed. “Ah wae! You were doing so well!” He exclaimed and you tried to brush it off as nothing. He made you repeat the task again until you were able to hold eye contact the entire time. You were certain that you’d gone a shade of pink or red by the time you passed Chen’s tests but if you were he said nothing.

His eyes and touches made you feel warm and on edge and you were trying your hardest to keep yourself together but you kept noticing his gaze, his inviting lips, his arms, his legs, his touch and you were going a little insane. Did he sense it too? Or was he just playing his role? You had no idea but you needed to leave this cafe soon before you made a fool of yourself. “Chen, thank you for helping me. I still don’t know why you’re helping me but I’m choosing just to go with it at this point. I need to get back to work so I can leave on time to get ready for this party.” He checks his watch and lets you know he should be getting back too. He pays for your drink and snack then heads back to work & tells you he’ll pick you up at 7 at your place so the two of you can go over the plan once more. He smiles and gives you a quick hug before leaving.

***

Quit acting like a moron and get ready. It’s fake so of course he was acting sweet and endearing, it’s his role, nothing more. Ever since you’d left the cafe you’d been feeling strange. It had felt like you’d seen him, really seen him, for the first time and it was having an effect on you. You kept thinking about him, about his warm eyes, his mischievous lips, his charming words and his proximity to you. Every small touch he made seared into your skin, every gesture, every glance, it all felt too intimate and it was driving you crazy. You hadn’t counted on your emotions not realising that he was only acting that way because of the arrangement the two of you had. He’d been right, if you hadn’t spent the extra time getting comfortable being so close and touchy with each other then tonight would be a bust. Apparently your brain had decided to ignore the arrangement and instead focused on how his touches made you feel and how he smelled, the way his arms flexed when he moved, they way he looked at you. It clouded your vision and you felt too hot and overwhelmed. You’d been glad to leave the cafe before you did anything stupid and the fresh air was a welcome change to the encompassing tension of everything Chen you were now experiencing.

You stared in the mirror as you evaluated your outfit. The dress you chose was cute, a retro 50’s style pin up dress so it showed just enough cleavage, nipped in at your waist then poofed out into a full skirt. The couples party had a retro theme and the dress coupled with flawless make up and rockabilly hairstyle made you fit the part perfectly. You had no idea what Chen was going to wear but he told you he had it covered and you were willing to believe him. You kept trying to remind yourself not to read into anything tonight and not to let your emotions take over because you were going to pretend to be smitten with this guy and you had the slightest fear that you would feel sad and alone after he dropped you home tonight. You needed to go through with it though. If this was the only way you got to give Suho and your friends a piece of your mind about how unfair and terrible they were as friends then so be it.

A knock at the door pulled you from your thoughts. You make your way to your front door and open it. You had spent a decent amount of time trying to guess what Chen would wear tonight and for some reason you’d kept landing on suit as the option but you were wrong. Standing in front of you was temptation. He was dressed in blue jeans, a white v-neck tee and a black leather jacket. He’d gelled his hair back and looked like he’d stepped out of Grease or Crybaby. You sent a silent curse to the universe because he looked so good that it wasn’t fair. The suffocating tension that you felt earlier returned tenfold and you could do little more than stare at him.

His mouth quirked up into a smirk as he watched you stare at him unabashedly. He leant against your doorframe and watched as you tried to compose yourself. It gave him plenty of time to stare at you. “Hi doll.”

The only words you could get out were “How dare you.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you encouraging you to elaborate. “How dare I what?”

“How dare you turn up looking like this. You know it’s rude to look better than your date don’t you?”

He chuckles and very obviously gives you a once over. “Clearly you haven’t looked in the mirror because you, you look amazing.” You looked beautiful, more than beautiful, incredible. And sexy. Something he was not prepared for. He was prepared for cute and for pretty but not for the bombshell standing before him.

As his eyes raked over you you felt yourself heating up. “So, uh… are you gonna let me in or are we conducting this discussion purely in the doorway? I don’t mind either way but I’d like to know so I can get comfortable if you aren’t letting me in.” His words brought you back to reality and you finally remembered your manners. You stepped aside and let him enter the room.

As you closed the door his hand grabbed you, spinning you around and pulling you into an embrace. You were glad he couldn’t see the blush forming on your face. “So, how did we meet?”

He was testing you again. You tried to remind your brain of this fact but it was no use, it was giving in to the feeling of having Chen pressed against you and part of you couldn’t blame it...it was a damn nice feeling. But it wasn’t real. “We met a few years ago through work when I was an intern.” you responded, running your hands along his firm arms.

He rubs circles into your hips with his thumbs. “How long have we been dating?”

You rested your head in the crook of his neck as you replied, your body betraying you as you tried to get closer to him. “Just over a month now.”

He lowered his head and whispered in your ear. “Why are we only dating now?”

The feel of his hands roaming over you was making you light headed as you tried to concentrate on answering him. “W-we were both seeing other people at the time so we were only ever friends. We ran into each other a month ago and hit it off. The rest is history.”

“Now this if more like it, you aren’t awkward at our proximity. I can officially say that you stand a chance of fooling these ‘friends’ of yours tonight.” He detached himself from you and stepped back, smiling down at you.

See, it’s an act. He’s just putting on an act. He isn’t feeling what you’re feeling. Why would he? Your subconscious, ever the downer, decides to rear its head and berate you with negative thoughts. It usually waited until after the date before it ruthlessly came for you but it was determined to make an early start tonight.

You forced a smile and hoped that Chen didn’t notice it. “Then your method of teaching was a success.”

He stepped forward, cupping your face in his hands, his eyes laced with concern. “Are you ok?”

Apparently he did notice the shift in your demeanour. You tried to nod which must have looked ridiculous since his hands hadn’t left your face. “I’m good, just nervous. I promise.”

He didn’t move away. He stayed there, hands holding your face as his eyes darted to assess if you were being truthful or not. His gaze didn’t meet your eyes as he spoke quietly, voice lower than it had been moments ago. “You know, there is one thing we haven’t covered off on.”

“What’s that?” You whispered.

“Where we had our first kiss.” His eyes lifted to look you in the eyes now as he tried to gauge your reaction.

You didn’t miss the way he licked his lips or the way his eyes kept dropping to stare at your mouth. Your brain was a mess and couldn’t work out if this was another test or if he was flirting with you now. All you knew in that moment was that you really wanted him to kiss you. “I, well, wouldn’t it be a month ago when you walked me home. We would have kissed on my door stop before you, ever the gentleman, took your leave.” You let your eyes fall to his lips, they looked soft and inviting and you really wanted to know what they’d feel like, what he’d taste like. Would his kiss be soft or would it be demanding?

“Oh, did you think I was a gentleman?” He moved his hand to push a strand of your hair back behind your ear and your breath hitched. He stilled and searched your eyes for any sign that he should stop and he found none. “Fuck it.” he breathed before closing the distance between the two of you and pressed his lips against yours.

For a moment you couldn’t do anything except stand there but then your body seemed to remember how to react and you reciprocated, kissing him back with fervour. He help you against him as your mouths moved and your kiss deepend. His lips were incredibly soft and skilled, which you silently thanked the universe for, and you could barely get enough of them.

The two of you parted only to catch your breaths as he pressed his forehead against yours. “Sorry if I overstepped a boundary or something but I’ve been wanting to do that for hours.”

“Don’t you dare apologise Chen.” His eyes widened as you pulled his face back down to yours and kissed his again, your tongue flicking against his as he walked you backwards until you were pressed against the wall. You could barely remember how to breathe as he peppered kisses along your jaw and neck before returning to your mouth and drawing your bottom lip between his teeth, causing you to moan.

Things only escalated from there, clothes were hastily stripped from your bodies as you made your way down the hall to your bedroom, leaving a trail of discarded garments in your wake, only breaking contact to lift his shirt over his head. Your kisses became more urgent and passionate as he pushed you down onto the bed.

The only word you have to describe the sex is ravaging. As you lie next to him, both of you panting trying to catch your breaths and have your heart rates return to normal you replay the events that just occurred. He’d pushed you down onto the bed and positioned himself at the end of the bed with his head between your legs. You’d tried to close your legs out of embarrassment but he held them open, telling you that you looked beautiful like this, all spread out just for him. He nipped, sucked and licked until you were a writhing mess begging for him to let you cum. He led you to the edge of your release repeatedly but backed off right before it hit you. “Do you want to cum doll? Maybe you should show me just how much you want me to let you cum.”

He stood at the end of the bed as you knelt on it and took his length into your mouth, working him over with vigour and need. He’d hissed and moaned when you took all of him in your mouth and moaned, telling you just how well you sucked cock. He didn’t let you finish him off. He pushed you back onto your back and pinned your hands above your head before entering you in one thrust. You’d cried out at the stretch and he’d stilled as you adjusted to him. When he started moving again you saw stars. He would alternate between rolling his hips and relentlessly pounding into you and soon enough you were screaming his name and begging for him to let you cum. This time he complied, chasing his own release shortly after yours crashed over you.

You giggled and he turned his head to look at you. “We’re going to be late now.” He laughed and pulled you against him to snuggle.

***

The party was more or less a success. You had turned up with Chen on your arm and hung out with your friends. It was almost too easy to forget why you were pissed with them when you were enjoying catching up on their lives and they were so engaged with yours but you didn’t forget.

When Suho came up to tell you how glad he was that Chen had come into your life so that you weren’t sad and alone any more you snapped. You told him in no uncertain terms that if it took having a boyfriend for him to want to catch up with you then he could shove his friendship up his ass because you deserved better. You didn’t hold back - you told him how upset you had been when all you wanted to do was hang out with your friends but you were rejected time and time again because you were alone. You told him how worthless he made you feel and how he should be ashamed of how he’d acted.

The party fell silent as everyone stood in shock at your outburst. After a few moments you heard a slow whistle followed by Baekhyun’s voice. “Dude, you fucked uuuup.” You turned on him next.

“No Baekhyun. All of you fucked up.” He shut up after that.

When you were done telling all of them just how terribly they’d treated you Chen took your arm and gently pulled you to him. “I think we’ll be taking our leave now.”

He took you home. The ride home was silent as he let you process your thoughts and emotions. He rested his hand on the console, palm facing up as an invitation to take his hand should you need it. You didn’t need it but you wanted the comfort of his touch so you took it and he gently squeezed your hand.

“For the record, you did the right thing and for what it’s worth I’m proud of you.” He paused. “I could see the internal struggle you were having all night and I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to go through with your plan.” His tone was so gentle and it made you feel warm and safe.

“Until I did it I honestly didn’t know if I would.” You whispered. He squeezed your hand again and continued driving in silence. When you arrived at your home he walked you up to your doorstep and embraced you. You relaxed into the hug and smiled.

“So, now comes the business end of my deal.” You stiffened at his words. You’d completely forgotten that he had told you there would be a price for having him pretend to be your boyfriend. Apprehension seeped through your veins as you waited for him to enlighten you.

His silence got the better of you. “What’s the price?”

“A real date. In three days time.” He watched your face break out into a genuine smile, one he could get used to seeing, before you pulled him down into a kiss.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it!

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