#But they don’t fucking listen fo any of us! So none of this is anything we want!

[astral-catastrophe]

Debating wether or not I should go to camp this year

[kujirara]

Adventure Log 1:

Ancient Forest, part 1

“We’ve been walking for HOOUURS can’t we sit down and rest for a minute?” Eri, the Dark Hunter, yells, while stretching her arms.

“It’s barely been 10 minutes…”

“Do not let your guard down, Eri. The creatures here are stronger than you could think.” Anastacia warns her.

“Come on, we’re on the first floor. There is nothing that dangerous over… ACK!”

Eri suddenly turns around and swings her whip, but the only thing she hits is a tree. The creature that attacked her – A red mole with amazing claws – craved its nails in her back and is holding into it, in a way where it moves when she moves.

“Eri, stay quiet for a second.” Helena, the Alchemist, says in a disturbingly calm tone. “I need you not to move.”

Suddenly, the Dark Hunter feels an intense power hitting her, something way stronger than anything the Mole could have done, and feels the heat of the blood - and the flames - hitting her back right before falling on the muddy ground pain.

“HELENA, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” Apollo, the Troubadour, yells in anger.

“It worked, didn’t it? The mole is dead.” Helena quickly approaches Eri, thrown in the ground and barely conscious. “I’ll pass the medicine on your back now, okay? You know how much it burns… Eh, I don’t think you’re listening anyways.”

“Now what? Do we call Sylvia?” Lilo asks.

“No need, Sylvia was the one to give me this medicine anyways. She promised it would heal basically any damage a monster this low level could cause. She’ll get up in a minute, I’m sure.”

“But this burn was not caused by a monster…”

“Honestly, she has been hit by me so many times during our training, I don’t think she even feels it anymore.”

“This… Are you aware that this does not make it any better, correct?” Anastacia says, with genuine concern in her voice – a rare thing for her.

“Eh, it will be okay. I think she is into that, actually.”

“Huh…”

And so, the time passed.

-

“Another dead end, how exciting…” Eri says, ironically. “I hope you are marking all this in the map, Lilo.”

“I am! Don’t worry about it”, Lilo, the Survivalist, innocently answers. Eri rolls her eyes.

“Hey, what’s that?” Apollo suddenly points to the top of the tree at the dead end. “There is something tangled in the tree. Doesn’t look like a normal vine…”

“It’s a whip.” Anastacia, the Princess from a faraway land, says in a serious and imposing voice, as she is used to when giving orders. “Lilo. Get it.”

“Of course, Miss…” Lilo quickly but carefully goes up the tree. Despite her constant passivity towards everything, she is skilled in her areas. “This looks really old, are you sure you want to pick it up?”

“Yes. Someone must have lost it, and it is our duty to give it back.”

“I understand…” she then proceeds to untangle the whip from the branch, something a normal person would take a long time due to the complexity of the nods, she can finish in just a couple minutes.

--

On the way back to the entrance of the labyrinth, after carefully avoiding the giant deer, Lilo suddenly stops in a crossroad.

“What’s wrong?”

“This path… we didn’t map it.”

“Oh for fucks sake, then map it!” Eri yells, then starts walking towards the unmapped room. “See. There is a chest here that we missed. Your fault.”

“Hey, come on, stop being mean with her. None of us noticed the path, it’s not only her fault.” Apollo, the Troubadour comments.

“She is the survivalist here. Noticing paths and marking them down is her only role. And she failed to fulfill it. Yes, it was her fault.” Anastacia says in a surprisingly imposing tone. “We are lucky it was not a big deal this time. Pay more attention.”

Helena rolls her eyes.  “What even is in the chest?”

“It was Nectar. Those items are rare around here; we almost lost something very precious. Because of you.”

Lilo says nothing; she only lowers her head and puts down a chest marker on the map.

---

After completing the map fo the first floor and reporting to the Duke, the Graveyard guild moved on to the second floor.

"Attempt at an ambush, behind Eri." Lilo says casually, while preparing her bow. The second the Venomflies pop out of the woods, attempting to spread their venomous powder, a combo attack - Flank Shot quickly followed by a Volt Fomula - Eliminated half of them. A swing of Eri's whip was just enough to deal with the rest.

The battles were getting easier to manage. The explorers were starting to let their guard down.

"So, what did you think of those Dinos back there?", Apollo asks.

"They are stupid. Very big and scary at first glance, sure, but they can't see anything a palm in front of them. I bet we can set them on fire easily." Helena says.

"No, I don't think we can... they might be easy to dodge, but if they catch us I bet we're done for good."

Lilo gestures to the rest of the group. "Hey, guys, I found a shortcut over here, I think it takes us back to the entrance."

"Perfect." walks towards the small open space inbetween the trees. "Good job, Lilo. We can head back now."

"Anastacia, you should see this over here." The voice of Eri is heard a little far away, from her back. Anastacia sighs and turns around.

"What is that, a sunflower? What is so surprising about a flower?"

"It... It's a monster!" Lilo suddenly yells. "What are you doing so close to it?"

"Hey, come on. It's just a flower. What bad could it do?"

Suddenly the creature moves, as if pointing its head - its flower - to the party's direction. And another flower, that until this moment was hiden in between the trees, appears, doing the same movement.

"Guys, this might be dangerous, we should flee. Now."

"Retreat." The Princess orders. Apollo and Helena, with this order, turn and move towards the shortcut, but not Eri. Eri refuses to move.

"Come on, are we really gonna flee from flowers?" she says, taking out her whip. She is confident. She does not believe this fight can be lost.

The sunflowers shoot their Solar Flames: a burst of energy coming from the center of the flower. The first flower, the one closes to Eri, would hit her straight on the chest. She would not survive such a powerful shot, that close.

"Get down!" Anastacia yells, as she throws her body in Eri. Eri falls to the side, but Anastacia is hit directly by the beam.

Eri's eyes widen in horror the moment she realizes what she has done. She picks up the fallen princess, and turns her eyes to the shortcut behind them. Before she can move, or say anything, arrows pass trough her. Multiple arrows, about 8 of them, hit the flowers, one after another, in a burst of power. All the flowers, dead in an instant.

"Eri, what the fuck? COME QUICK!" Helena yells. Eri gets up and runs towards the exit, still carrying Anastacia in her arms.

----

Anastacia is laying on the ground. She has a bed in her room, but she does not wants to use it. Not now.

A knocking sound. Someone is at the door. Anastacia does not wants to answer it.

"Excuse me... I'm getting in, in case you're undressed." It is Eri. "Hey, how are you? Physically, I mean. The nectar worked well?"

"Yes, I am alive." Anastacia answers, without really looking at the door. Her eyes are completely fixed in a singular point in front of her.

Eri sits in front of her. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know, I understand."

"What?"

"I understand. I understand what you are going trough now. Dying is a traumatic experience. I have died before."

"..."

"I used to drink Nectar as a recreational drug. It is a really strong medicine, despite the sweetness, and drinking it when you don't need it can fuck up with your mind. Dying hurts physically, and reviving hurts mentally."

"..."

"...I'm thankful that we found that Nectar. I wouldn't want you to die. You are one of the few cool people in this guild."

"...thank you for using it on me."

"Of course. Just wanted to let you know that I am here for you in case you need it. It's hard to bear psychological damage by yourself, I'd know it."

Anastacia answers with a nod.

"Ok... Well, I'll let you rest now. The Duke called us specifically. Tomorrow we are going there. Hope you can still keep going."

"I can. Don not worry about me."

Eri nods, and smiles. And this was the end of Graveyard Guild's first day of adventuring.

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Nuzlocke

This is my first time trying a EO Challange Run. I kinda just wanna see how long it will last, and document my journey.

Ruleset:

Game will be played on Expert Difficulty, Classic Mode.

Only 1 character of each class will be created at the start of the game.

All character’s levels must be kept below the cap for each stratum.

The level cap for each stratum 3x the last floor of the stratum. (15 for 1st stratum, 30 for 2nd, etc).

Once a character dies in combat, they must be released from the guild; if the whole party is defeated/a game over is reached, all 5 characters must be released. Ressucitate, Revive and other revival skills are not allowed.

All characters get a second “life” after a game over during a boss battle, only once per boss per character.

Floor jump not allowed. Ariadne Thread is allowed.

May only reassign SP after defeating a Stratum Boss.

Grimoires are allowed.

Medica, Amrita and other healing itens are allowed.

BUYING Nectar is not allowed. Using it is.

The Plan

For exploration, a Survivalist is a must have. With a ruleset like this, surprise attacks could and will be fatal. Risk Perception and Stalker are needed as fast as possible. Keeping a Protector with Flee could also be useful for random encounters, especially early on, tho both of those can be taken out with Grimoires later.

For the first stratum boss, the plan is simple: Dark Hunter for Leg Bind, Troubador for Flame Fantasia, Alchemist for Ice damage, and Sovereign for Elemental Link and buffs. The last slot would be Survivalist, probably.

Of course all of this is insanely RNG-dependant, and the rules might be bent to better suit my own playstyle, but those are the rules I'm going to plan around. Wish me luck lol

[ticklishraspberries]

Playing Doctor (Riff/Reader)

Summary: Riff comes home with a few bruises from a fight, and the reader anxiously checks him over, only to discover something much more fun. (Here it is, some Riff x reader. Inspired by a conversation I had with @bigirlgiggles. Hope y’all enjoy it!!)

Riff sits on the edge of the bathtub, sporting a bruise to his jaw and several other minor injuries, and although he’s insisted that he’s fine multiple times, you just won’t let it go until you’ve checked him out.

“It was just a little fight,” he says, his tone the perfect mix of exasperated and touched by your protectiveness.

“And you come home looking like shit,” you reply. “Sit still and let me make sure you’re okay, or I’ll give you a new bruise.”

Your comment makes him chuckle. “Alright, alright. But if this is just a ploy to get me undressed, I’m gonna feel real betrayed.”

You roll your eyes. “You wish.”

Carefully, he pulled his shirt over his head, resting it over the sink. “All yours, doc,” he teases.

There’s no obvious signs of serious injury, but your anxiety won’t stop whispering in your head; broken ribs, internal bleeding, all sorts of things you aren’t equipped to fix, and convincing Riff to go to a hospital will be impossible.

Reflexively, you reach over to inspect his skin, little bruises and scars from previous nights like these litter his torso. “Let me know if anything hurts,” you say, carefully prodding.

Riff is good at hiding his reactions to pain, you’ve learned, but this time, he jerks away the moment your fingers touch his ribs with a muffled sound.

“Are you okay? Does that hurt? Do you think anything is broken, or—?”

He reaches out and gently takes your wrist. “I’m not hurt, baby doll, quit your worryin’,” he says softly, but the tips of his ears have flushed pink.

“Then why’d you flinch away?” you ask, annoyed by his need to act rough and tough all of the time. If he was hurt, why wouldn’t he let you help? These goddamn Jets, so proud and masculine, he's going to be the death of you.

“Just startled me,” Riff replies, but he’s looking down at his knees. There’s none of that usual Jet-like swagger in his tone, and his ears are definitely flushing.

Bullshit excuse, you think, and reach your hand out to touch the area once again. Instead of a wince or shout of pain, Riff lets out a huff that almost resembles a laugh, and pushes your hand away.

Oh. Oh.

“No fuckin’ way,” you say.

Riff’s blush has spread to his cheeks. “Don’t you dare.”

“Don’t I dare what?” you ask. “I’m just looking after you!”

He has nowhere to run; the bathroom is too small for him to dart around you, and if he scoots any further back, he’ll go sprawling into the bathtub. You watch his eyes dart around for an escape and the almost instant realization that there is none.

Your touch is soft now, no longer clinically prodding. Your fingers are gentle, using your nails to stroke the bottom of his rib cage, and you watch him shiver and suck his teeth, holding back the urge to laugh. Goosebumps start to rise on his arms. You’ve never seen him look so vulnerable.

It’s fucking adorable.

“I didn’t realize you were so ticklish,” you coo.

“Shut it,” he replies. “M’not as bad as you, at least.”

That comment earns him a quick squeeze to his sides, which successfully startles a laugh out of him, causing you to grin. “This is too good.”

You tickle at his sides, listening to the melodic sound of his giggles, and you watch as he makes a valiant effort to not shove you off, probably fearing he’d accidentally hurt you if he did. He’s used to roughhousing with Tony and the other Jets, but he’s always gentle with you.

“Quit it,” he says, but he doesn’t sound mad. In fact, he almost sounds like he’s having fun.

“Not a chance,” you reply. “Where else are you ticklish, hm? What about your stomach?”

Instead of letting him answer, you test it for yourself. He hunches over, trying to block your hands, giggles still spilling from his lips. Yup, definitely ticklish there too.

It’s a truly adorable sight. It’s rare for Riff to act silly like this, always putting on a brave face. You wonder when the last time he laughed like this was, sparking another question.

“Does Tony know? I’m gonna have to ask him for all your worst spots,” you tease.

“I’ll kill you both,” Riff chokes out.

“You don’t sound so intimidating when you’re giggling.”

“I don’t giggle!”

You raise an eyebrow, challenging him, and swipe your fingers against his belly again, making him twist away with a sound that’s as close to a giggle as you can imagine.

“Sure you don’t,” you reply, smirking.

You move back towards his ribs, and he finally reaches for your hands, holding them tightly to prevent any further attacks. “No more,” he says, almost like begging, although he’d deny that.

“You okay?” you ask.

He nods. “Just fuckin’ tired. And besides, I thought this was a check-up. What’s the prognosis, doc?” he asks, giving you a grin.

“I diagnose you with ticklish,” you reply, giggling.

His face is still red, and no matter how grumpy he tries to look, you can see the smile tugging at his lips. “Whatever,” he mutters, standing up from the edge of the tub. “You comin’ to bed?”

You follow him back to the bedroom happily, storing memories of his sensitive spots for the morning.

[watchmegetobsessed]

Never Have I Ever - Harry Styles

this is very random and just a lil somethin’, bc i secretly dream about being on one of these shows and meeting one of my crushes lmao, not me pretending to be at an interview in my own kitchen, hah, not at all!

hi hello so im adding this after this was posted. i randomly turned this into a series so you can find further parts for this in the series masterpost!

word count: 1.8k

pairing: Harry x actress!reader

SERIES MASTERPOST

masterlist

“It’s so good to have you here, it’s been quite some time since the last time you sat in this chair, am I right?” Ellen asked with a warm smile as you nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve been busy, I guess,” you chuckle tugging your hair behind your ear.

“I mean, of course. You starred in two movies since then and even got nominated for an Emmy as well for your role in The Umbrella Academy!” she lists and the audience starts cheering on your successes. “Of course you’ve been busy, but I’m glad you had time to drop by for a talk. So, let’s talk about your upcoming movie. You’ll be co-stars with Zendaya and Finn Wolfhard, it’s a quite interesting cast.”

“Yes! I’m very excited to work with them, I just met Zendaya the other day and though I’M yet to meet Finn I’m sure we will get along well.”

“What was your first impression about Zendaya?”

“Oh, she is very sweet and funny, I think working with her will be more like just a fun activity,” you admit chuckling and Ellen nods in agreement.

“I bet. Alright. So let’s talk about quarantine, it was a rather huge part of the year, where did you spend it?”

“I went home to my family, so I quarantined with them in my hometown.”

“And what did you do mostly?”

“We played a lot of board games and my mom taught me to cook,” you admit with a shy chuckle.

“Yeah, we had the luck to see parts of that,” Ellen chuckles as a video of you and your mom in the kitchen appears on the big screen behind you. It was posted to your Instagram when she attempted to teach you how to make her famous meatloaf. “It seems like you are a natural talent in the kitchen.”

“Well, I haven’t burned it down, so it’s going fine,” you chuckle.

“Alright, and what else did you do? Seen any good movies or discovered some new artists in the world of music?”

“Oh, absolutely. I definitely watched everything I’ve been postponing and I got to listen to new music, so now I have a few new favorites,” you admit smiling.

“Have you been listening to Harry Styles lately?” she asks and you find the question a little odd and very… specific.

“I mean, yes, but it wasn’t anything new, I really like his music,” you admit truthfully. “He is a great artist for sure.”

“Have you been at any of his concerts by any chance?” she asks and you notice that the audience is getting a little excited over something, but you don’t pay too much attention to it.

“Not yet, but I hope it’s gonna happen one day.”

“Well, I think I can get you tickets to see him,” a voice speaks up from behind you and immediately, the audience starts cheering as your head snaps around and you see none other than Harry Styles standing behind you. Your mouth hangs open as you feel yourself blushing, he is so tall and handsome, dressed in a bright blue suit with a silver shirt underneath, smiling down at you widely as he walks around the armchairs to greet you.

“Oh shit, I was not expecting this,” you breathe out as you stand up and hug him shortly before he moves over to greet Ellen as well.

“’M glad you like my music, Love,” he smiles as he sits in the armchair next to you and you swear you see him wink at you.

“We thought you wouldn’t mind our other guest joining in,” Ellen explains Harry’s appearance.

“Not at all,” you smile shaking your head. Harry has been your celebrity crush for quite a while, but the two of you just never crossed paths, until now.

“’S very nice to meet yeh,” he nods in your way.

“Same goes for you.”

“Okay, so now that Harry is here, I thought that we could play a little game,” Ellen announces reaching for something next to her armchair.

“Oh man,” you breathe out earning a round of laughter from the audience. “Last time we played something you asked me the most embarrassing burning questions!” you whine thinking back how you had to admit that you sleep with your lights on when it’s raining outside.

“We’ll do something similar this time too,” she chuckles before handing out two round boards to you and Harry as well.

“Oh fo’ fuck’s sake!” Harry groans making the audience laugh again. “Not this!”

“I know you loved it when we played it the last time,” Ellen grins as Harry hides his face behind the board that’s now showing his I HAVE sign towards the cameras. “We’re gonna play Never Have I Ever, I think you both know the rules.”

“Yes, this is why I want to run away now,” you mumble under your breath.

“I’m going with yeh,” Harry smirks at you finally letting his board drop to his knees. Seemingly, the audience is enjoying your misery.

“Don’t be babies, it’s gonna be fun!” “For who? Not me!” Harry exclaims making everyone in the studio laugh. “Should’ve asked what we’re gonna do before I said yes.”

“Too late, Harry. Alright, let’s start,” Ellen announces as she takes her card in her hands, picking the first one and she reads the lines on it. “Never have I ever had a crush on someone I worked with.”

You huff as you turn your board so the I HAVE side is facing the camera, while Ellen has the same side showing, but Harry shows the I HAVE NEVER.

“Never?” you ask Harry.

“Well, what do yeh mean by working with?” he asks with narrow eyes as he taps on his chin.

“Anyone you had any relations with through a job.”

“Well then…” he sighs turning the board, earning some cheering.

“Okay. Never have I ever drunk texted someone and regretted it in the morning,” Ellen continues with the next question.

“Oh, too often,” you blurt out holding up the I HAVE side.

“What did yeh write?” Harry asks with a cheeky smile while he holds up the same side.

“Well, there are just too many, I can’t choose,” you admit laughing. “I often tend to write down my feelings when I had a little too much to drink and then send it without a second thought.”

“Then I better get yeh drunk to find out what yeh think about me,” Harry teases and you hear a loud “ooh” coming from the audience while you can only hope your make up covers the blush on your cheeks.

“I’d need your number for that to happen,” you say arching an eyebrow at him.

“That’s something we can easily fix,” he smirks.

“Okay, before the two of you go on your first date right away, let’s finish the game,” Ellen jokes and you both turn to her. “Never have I ever kissed someone I didn’t know.”

“What do you mean by knowing someone?” you ask to clarify.

“Let’s say you didn’t even know their name,” she adds and as you think about it, you hold up the I HAVE NEVER side first, but then flip it over.

“Oh, something popped into yeh mind?” Harry teases while he holds up the I HAVE side as well.

“I guess I just want to forget about it, but I can’t,” you admit chuckling awkwardly.

“Were you drunk or you just didn’t care to ask for their name?” Ellen questions.

“I’ve had quite a few drinks if I’m being honest. But I think he told me his name, I just didn’t catch it,” you admit.

“Poor guy, he is completely forgotten,” Harry chimes in shaking his head in a dramatic way.

“Alright, we have two more questions. Never have I ever had a friend with benefits.”

“This game sucks!” you snap as you hold up the I HAVE side, making the audience laugh. “You’re making me look like such a bad person!” you whine to Ellen.

“Don’t feel so bad, Harry is in the same shoe!” she chuckles and turning to the man on your right you see that Harry has the same side showing and a very cheeky smirk on his lips.

“How did it end?” you ask out of curiosity. You know how yours ended, in a horrible fight, because he wanted more, but you were in it just for the fun.

“Not in the best way, if I’m bein’ honest,” he clears his throat leaning back in his seat. “How about yours?”

“Same,” you nod chuckling.

“I guess it was a learning lesson for the both of you,” Ellen smirks before reading the last question. “Never have I ever ghosted somebody.”

“Shit,” you mumble, trying to hide your smirk as you hold up the I HAVE side. Harry thinks to himself before doing the same. Leaning forward he checks yours and your eyes meet for a moment.

“I think it would be an honor to anyone to be ghosted by yeh,” he teases you making you roll your eyes. “Wha’? ‘M telling the truth!” he chuckles.

“Wanna get on the list of my ghosted people?” you joke raising your eyebrows at him and he immediately holds his hands up.

“Would rather not.” He places a hand over his heart before smiling in your way sweetly. “Tha’ would break m’ heart.”

“Oh come on!” you chuckle feeling the heat crawling up your neck and cheeks as the audience lets out a soft “aww” at his words.

“Alright, thank you for playing, I think we found out some interesting things about the both of you.”

“Thanks for embarrassing us,” you add mumbling as you hand her back the board.

“It was a pleasure,” she chuckles. “We’ll be right back after a short break, please stay with us, we have more from Y/N and Harry coming right in your way, so stay tuned!” she announces as the crowd cheers.

“Friends with benefits, huh?” Harry asks smirking in your way as you fix your dress. You just shrug your shoulder trying to look casual when you feel so intimidated sitting next to him.

“Had to try it, I guess,” you admit.

“I get it,” he chuckles. “So, if I were to ask for yeh number, would I eventually be ghosted as well?”

You have to bite into your bottom lip to hide your growing smile at his attempt to flirt with you.

“We’ll see. You gotta ask for it first,” you tell him with a knowing smile, hoping to look flirty and light, not the nervous wreck that you truly feel like talking to him.

“I think my dressing room is two doors down yours, so expect me to drop by after this,” he smirks, making your heart skip a beat before Ellen starts speaking and the taping continues.

NEXT PART

[bombyxluna]

Hewo! I’m not sure if ur taking requests, but I have one fo ye. How would the brothers +the undateables react to mc (somehow) being turned into a toddler? I just thought of this, idk y, just did.

This one is so cute anon, and I was so happy to write it! Thank you for the adorable request, I think I’ll post a follow up to it: MC taking care of the brothers and the undatables if they become toddlers! 

PS: I don’t think Satan was ever actually a toddler or a child or something, but I felt like it works for this hc because it’s funny jahsjhjsha

Brothers + undatables react to: MC turning into a toddler

Lucifer

He just knows Diavolo is behind this. what did he even do this time? Pick up on some old magic again? Try to shake things up so everyone gets along? Ask Barbatos to go back in time and pick up you as an actual toddler, just for the lolz? He doesn’t know and he doesn’t have time to care because toddlers are a handful and you’ve tried eating his quill three times now and he is panicking. Hard. He puts the quill and the pen on top of a shelf and when he turns around, you’re gone. He sighs, looking for you on every corner of the office, just to find you hiding behind the curtain. When he finds you, you scream and start running.

Oh, how he doesn’t miss the days Satan was like this. At least you are way less fussy than he was. As he watches you hide behind the couch, however, he can’t contain his smile nor the silly monster voice he makes as he announces he’s coming to find you. He manages to catch you this time and pretends to eat your arm with his hands, making exaggerated chomping sounds. On the third time you hide, though, he has to be honest: he’d take Satan’s mini developed anger over your climbing skills any day. How did you even get on top of the shelf? He blinked. That’s all he did. He blinked. And now his quill is in danger again.

He is completely spent at the end of the day. He hasn’t felt so tired since Diavolo decided changing the color of every single lamppost in the Devildom would be good for “morale” and he had to do the paperwork. He ends up dozing off holding you. When he wakes up to find that little project of human being cuddling to his neck, he smiles to himself. Sure, he’s worried about what happened, but maybe he can enjoy this for a bit more. 

Mammon

No one knows who’s screaming anymore: if it’s you or him. It’s probably both - it’s definitely both. He thinks the witches got to you or something, and he is going nuts, not only because what the fuck why are you like so small now and how is he supposed to take care of you? 

He ends up staying home instead of going out as he planned. Mostly because you refuse to leave his room and keep hiding under his car and in every corner you can find when he tries to get you to leave with him. Once he starts pretending he can’t see you and you giggle and run away from him, he melts a little inside. You play peek-a-boo for a while, but he gets worried easily. His room isn’t exactly the most childproof place in the house, so he takes you to the living room instead - to his surprise, you have no complaints about that.

As the day progresses he somehow gets the hang of taking care of a toddler again. Satan had been a handful but he was much calmer than you were when it comes to playing or tantrums (though if he is honest, Satan’s tantrums were terrifying). He finds an old coloring book in one of the many bookshelves around the house and steals Asmo’s markers for you to play with. You make him sit down to color with you, and he does. The rest of the day is spent with him listening to your made-up stories about the characters in the book. By the time dinner is ready, you’re already tired, and he has to carry you downstairs in a piggyback ride - he complains about it but in reality, he’s having the time of his life. 

Levi 

Honestly what the fuck. He has read about this in manga before but what the fuck. Couldn’t you have turned into something easier to deal with? A cat? A lobster? Anything else? 

He doesn’t know what to do. Giving you an unplugged controller for his video game did not work as planned. You got tired of it easily and whenever he tried to ignore your whining, you’d cry. He thinks about taking you to someone more cut out for this - he remembers mammon being good with children and Beel too, but his envious side doesn’t want to lose to his brothers. 

so he’s stuck with you. somehow he manages to kee you away from his figurines, giving his Ruri-chan plushies to play with instead. He has to admit you’re cute but by the end of the day, he is grateful it is over. As it turns out, he finds out he’s not ready to have children just yet, but maybe in the future? 

Satan

He doesn’t seem fazed in the slightest. After all, this is a side effect of the book he lent you. He thought you had read all the rules before giving it back to him, but it seems that you didn’t - rookie mistake really. 

He feels somewhat guilty about it though, so he does his best to take care of you during the day. He’s a little awkward and unsure of how to engage in your plays, but he does his best. Ignoring his brother’s snarky comments over it being his turn to take care of a baby, he just takes you to his room so he can keep a closer eye on you. You end up asking him if he could read you a story and he breathes in relief - that he can do.

It turns out he can’t. He doesn’t have any books that would be appropriate for children, so he resorts to the internet instead - thank Diavolo for how useful DDDs are sometimes. He finds a small book about a little girl in a red hood, the parts with the big bad wolf seem to scare you, but he lets you cling to his arm and hide your face on his side. At the end of the day, he is okay. The day went by as peaceful as possible, and you both had enjoyed the story. For the entire following week, he finds himself wondering what it would be like to have a child of his own. 

Asmodeus 

He holds you in his lap as he dials the phone. “Solomon what the fuck did you do”. He didn’t do anything, no one really knows what happened, it’s a mess. Asmo doesn’t care much about it though, because you’re a little cuddle bug and he is happy to give you all the smooches and put a bunch of cute bows on your hair. 

He manages to keep you calm the whole day. You don’t even have time to think of throwing a tantrum, because he already has a next activity planned to entertain you. he lets you do his hair as well, lets you paint his nails, and takes so many pictures of you in thousands of different outfits you get a little dizzy about it. He is by far the most careful when handling you and you have a joyful day in the safest environment possible. He lets you take a bubble bath and even if he’s in constant fear of the water being too hot or too cold or you drowning, he powers through. 

He watches cartoons with you when you’re getting sleepy because it’s a more quiet activity. He even teaches you how to tidy up the room and you both go downstairs for dinner wearing matching outfits. When the magic (curse? who knows) wears off and you’re back to being a grown-up, he is pouty. He shows you all the pictures he takes and says you’re the cutest toddler he’s ever seen - satan is a little offended by that. 

Beelzebub

This is unusual. You are much smaller than you normally are. He doesn’t really know how to act when you climb on his lap and push your tiny hands on his cheeks, but he laughs. He ends up taking you to the kitchen with him since it’s his favorite room in the house. 

He keeps you away from the stove at all times, but is willing to let you participate in the cooking process - it’s his turn to make dinner after all. He starts by making cookies for a snack, then another batch of cookies for dessert. Then a final batch because he ate the ones supposed to go for dessert. He melts every time you giggle at his antics, and when you end up with chocolate smeared all over your cheeks, he can’t resist taking a picture and showing to his brothers. 

He is careful when handling you because you’re so tiny now he’s even more scared of accidentally hurting you. He ends up caging you in his arms whenever you get too close to the edge of the kitchen counter, and then just giving you a piggyback ride throughout the entire house while you wait for dinner to cook. When the day is over he isn’t sad because you’re back to normal, but he is happy that he got to enjoy a day with you - he likes children a lot. 

Belphegor 

Well, this is inconvenient, to say the least. you’re staring back at him with huge questioning eyes and to be honest, all he wanted was to sleep. He picks you up nonetheless and sets you down on top of his pillow. Though he tries, talking to you about the importance of naps has zero to none effect on your antics. Instead, you pick up another of his many pillows and hit him with it, screaming about a pillow fight. 

He chuckles, yawns, and picks up a pillow as well. Maybe this will tire you down enough for the nap conversation to make a comeback. It doesn’t work. You just got more excited and hyper. He played himself. 

He thinks about leaving you with Beel but he’s making dinner and lord knows how weirdly focused he gets. leaving you with Levi or Mammon isn’t an option either, and he’d prefer to avoid Lucifer whenever it’s possible. He has no idea where satan or asmo are, so truly, he is stuck. He whines about it to you, and to his surprise, you hug him, asking if his booboo is better. He chuckles again. maybe this won’t be so bad. 

Diavolo

“Barbatos look at this.”

“Barbatos, MC is tiny now isn’t it wonderful?” 

“Barbatos, look at how cute they are - cancel all my plans I’ll spend the day with tiny MC.”

You’re not sure what’s going on but Diavolo is fun to play with so who cares? He indulges in all of your makeshift stories and he doesn’t care if you climb his furniture and go wild. He laughs with you, picking you up and making airplane noises as you “fly” around the castle. He is ecstatic.

He encharges Barbatos with the mission of taking pictures of the two of you playing together and being silly. He never had many opportunities to be around children so he will cherish this to the last minute. You play house, play with legos Barbatos has no idea where Diavolo found, walk around the Devildom together to look at the flowers. The students of RAD are confused because ?? No one knew the prince had a child wtf??? He thinks it’s cute that you’ve been labeled his kid so he goes with it, introducing you as the future ruler of the Devildom. Barbatos warns him it might be a bad idea, but he is sure is nothing Lucifer can’t handle. 

Barbatos 

He is calm. This isn’t anywhere different from the situations you have to deal with when you can time travel, and nowhere near as stressful as babysitting being the butler for the demon prince is. He handles you with care, but he is not too attached and doesn’t participate much in your plays. 

He does answer all your questions and allows you to tag along wherever he goes. Patient as ever, he will explain what every single object you point to is. At some point, somehow he is roped into picking you up because you got tired of walking around the castle. Your hands go directly to his hair, playing with the skeleton wings coming out of his head. He doesn’t mind it, only explains to you what they are and let you try to make them expand and close. 

When you find out he has a tail, he doesn’t mind letting you hug it and touch it. Your curious eyes are adorable and at least it keeps you distracted. When you giggle as he picks you up with it, he thinks maybe he should have filmed that to show Diavolo later, he’s sure he’d appreciate it. He gives you a small plastic tray they have laying around in the kitchen because you want to be like him and carry your own tea - it’s actually juice. Overall, it’s a nice change of pace from his usual days.

Solomon

Whatever magic this is, it’s weirdly insistent in staying put. He tries making you turn back but ends up giving up because he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt you in any way. He is not the best with children but he does what he can, keeping you away from his room and all his potions as soon as he realizes you’re stuck like this for the time being. 

He ends up taking you to one of the gardens around RAD. He entertains you by making the flowers dance with his magic, and giving you butterfly wings - though making you come down from the tree once you flew over there proves that to be a dumb idea. He sends a bunch of pictures and videos of you to Asmo, who is now in urgent mode and willing his class to end as fast as possible so he can hang out with you as well. 

He gives you ice cream and chats with you about your favorite cartoons - being human has its perks, he knows them all by heart. He even sings some of the opening themes with you. When you start to get too tired, the games on his human phone solve all the issues. Sure, DDDs are great and all, but despite it not working on the Devildom, a human phone has its advantages. 

Simeon 

He is used to this. He is always near the younger angels in the Celestial realm so it’s really no surprise that he is so good at handling you. He doesn’t understand how you got turned into a toddler, but he will protect and take care of you until you return to normal. He has many ideas on how to keep you happy, and they all work. Collages? He will get you magazines. Drawing? He has multi-colored markers at your service. Hungry? He knows the recipe to the perfect pancakes - and you can decorate them yourself. 

You don’t cry or throw a tantrum once under his care. he is delicate when dealing with you, and always listens to all your stories and complaints, comments on them and offers easy solutions. He doesn’t understand some of the references - who is Hello Kitty and why on heaven does she have no mouth? But he does his best to engage with you. 

By the end of the day, he has issued Solomon’s help on finding out how to properly work his phone camera, if only to film a little bit of you and Luke playing together. he is glad you’re okay when you turn back to normal, but he confesses he enjoyed taking care of you all day. 

bonus:

Luke

“There can only be one”, he says before he charges at you with a foam sword. It makes no effect but Simeon has never been more confused. 

He ends up enjoying being able to boss you around and act like an older brother, telling you to color inside the lines and about the proper colors of the sky and the sea. He doesn’t understand what’s so cute about the two of you playing that Simeon just has to take a picture, but he lets him do it anyway. 

He complains when you’re back to normal because he was truly enjoying not being the only child anymore. 

Masterlist

[meltingheartsandcores]

This is just something that came from a different story I’m writing, so, it’s just a one shot. And it’s not really editted (sorry). 

 This is A/B/O, with Omega wwx and Alpha lwj, but honestly it doesn’t really show up much, like it’s not a focal point of the story for the most part, it’s just kind of, there. There’s minor NieLan, and past wangxian with hopeful future wangxian (hopeful future IMO), and it’s modern non cultivation!

 Other than that, enjoy? And if you have questions feel free to hop into my inbox.

It had been years.

Five, to be exact.

Wei Wuxian wouldn't lie and say Lan Wangji never entered his mind, he did almost constantly. But he had long accepted he would never see the Alpha again. Lan Qiren had made it rather clear he was to never contact Lan Wangji again.

That hadn't been a pleasant conversation. Well. Argument.

For once Wei Wuxian was glad he was no longer in contact with the Jiangs, even if it wasn’t for long, he'd hate for them to have been involved. He's not entirely sure who's side Madam Yu would've been on, but he hoped she would've been on his. Although, if she was, he's not entirely confident Lan Qiren would still be walking around. Lan Qiren might be a hard ass, but he had nothing on Madam Yu.

He should write Nie Huaisang. See how the Jiang's are doing.

"Are you alright?"

Wei Wuxian blinks, brought back to the present, silently filing the idea to write Nie Huaisang for later, and looks up at Lan Xichen. Who he had just run into. Literally.

Wei Wuxian ignores the hand and stands on his own, "Perfectly. Just distracted. Sorry to bother you." Wei Wuxian says, nodding and turning, deciding he could get A-Yuan's candy later, after the milk. He had made it a few steps before Lan Xichen grabbed his arm. Wei Wuxian tenses, snapping around with a glare on his face before he registers that Lan Xichen isn't going to attack him. Not physically at least. So he lets the glare fall. "Sorry."

Lan Xichen drops his hand, "No, I should not have grabbed you. I apologize." An apology from a Lan. Maybe he died.

A-Yuan would be heartbroken. A-Yu probably doesn't know what Death is and probably wouldn't understand for a few years.

Lan Xichen was talking. Wei Wuxian should be listening, not thinking of his death. Lan Xichen smiles, as he normally does, "You were not listening."

"Sorry. My brain drifts, it pissed your uncle off to end, remember?" Wei Wuxian says, shrugging.

Lan Xichen nods, "Uncle seemed to anger easily around you, yes. I was wondering if you had the time, we could talk. Perhaps over tea?"

He can't ask for alcohol instead. For one, Lans don't drink. For two, he has to pick A-Yu and A-Yuan up in half an hour.

"I have a half hour, I guess we could finish up shopping and go to the Starbucks down the block." Lan Xichen's eyes tighten at the mention of Starbucks, which makes Wei Wuxian remember the heavily disturbed and deer-in-headlight look Lan Wangji had when Wei Wuxian dragged him there. Repeatedly.

Lan Wangji never seemed to get used to Starbucks.

None of the Lans seem to like it either.

Lan Xichen nods though, so Wei Wuxian does a U-turn to grab the candy he promised A-Yuan and then made a bee-line for the two other things he was missing. He loses Lan Xichen at some point, but when he gets to the check out, Lan Xichen is waiting by the door with a bag.

Wei Wuxian smiles at the Cashier, Mingyu, who seemed slightly concerned for him. But Wei Wuxian waves off the concern, even when Mingyu decides to ask, "Is he a friend or should I call security?"

Wei Wuxian considers this, Lan Xichen isn't a friend, but security isn't necessary. Wei Wuxian grins when he comes to a response, that's both honest and fun, "He's Daiyu's uncle." Wei Wuxian informs, finishing with his payment and taking his items. "See you in a week Mingyu!" Wei Wuxian calls as the other man is clearly trying to figure out how he hasn't met this uncle until now.

"A friend?" Lan Xichen asks as they walk down the road.

"Eh, more I'm a regular." Wei Wuxian shrugs. He only talks to Mingyu when he buys groceries. Not much other reason to talk to the teenager.

Especially since he tends to remind Wei Wuxian that, uh, he is only twenty-two.

That's not something he particularly likes to remember. Especially when he's on his way to pick up his kids. He looks older enough that none of the other parents comment on him being A-Yu and A-Yuan's brother, and none of them comment on the utter shame of having a child at seventeen. And presumably fourteen if A-Yuan was actually birthed from him. As he so often jokes, especially after A-Yuan learnt where babies came from.

A-Yuan thinks it's funny.

Wen Qing thinks it's stupid.

But it's meant to entertain the eight year old so it's not a problem.

"So you live around here." Lan Xichen comments, more to himself than to Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian has to mentally curse himself. For five years, no Lan has known where he lived. No one from that life knew where he was except Nie Huaisang. And for all he can be a coward, Wei Wuxian knows he wouldn't have given away his location to anyone.

But he just confirmed to Lan Xichen that he lived in this town.

Fuck.

"What're you doing here?" Wei Wuxian asks, opening the door for Lan Xichen and gesturing for the man to enter the Starbucks. Lan Xichen gives him a tight smile and enters, clearly not liking being inside the store.

Tough. Wei Wuxian doesn't want to be having this conversation, neither of them get to be comfortable. Wei Wuxian follows Lan Xichen in, walking up to the register and ordering a drink with a smile before turning to Lan Xichen for his order. Which he gives with a tense smile. The barista nods, repeats the order back and then Lan Xichen pays, because this was his idea and Wei Wuxian would much rather be at home right now.

They amble over to a table to wait for their drinks to be made. Well. Lan Xichen got his at the till since it was just a Green Tea, but they have to wait for Wei Wuxian's. Might as well get this chat over with.

"The Nie have a lakehouse a mile out of town." Oh right. Oh fuck. "Mingjue and I are having a little vacation." Lan Xichen says in response to his earlier question.

"And you came to get some groceries."

"Just a little. Mingjue will be back for the rest." Lan Xichen winces when he sips at his tea, clearly not liking it. He sets his cup aside, "You know, Huaisang seemed very against us going to this partical vacation house."

Oh for fucks sake. "Huaisang's specialty isn't subtly." Wei Wuxian says with a shrug, then stands and gets his drink when the barista calls out his name.

Lan Xichen waits for him to sit back down. "No, it isn't. Might I ask, why Huaisang knows where you are when no one else does?"

"I don't like the Jin. I don't want to burden the Jiang. The Lan want nothing to do with me." Wei Wuxian shrugs, "Nie Huaisang is the only friend I have left." Outside of the friends he now lives with. Wei Wuxian sips at his flat white.

Lan Xichen's brows twitch in a furrow before smoothing out, "What do you mean we want nothing to do with you.

Wei Wuxian raises an eyebrow, "Was there a part of Lan Qiren's order that was unclear?"

Wei Wuxian's response only seems to confuse him further. "I believe, there has been some miscommunication." Lan Xichen suggests politely.

"Not really." Wei Wuxian refutes. "Lan Qiren told me to get the fuck out and never contact any of you again. Not much room for miscommunication."

"He said what?" Lan Xichen asks, sounding light and a little confused. But Wei Wuxian had spent enough time around Lan Wangji, and hence Lan Xichen since Lan Xichen was Lan Wangji's favoured company, to know he was getting very pissed off.

Huh.

Wei Wuxian shrugs, too little too late, in his opinion. It's been five years. "It was shortly after I left the Jiang, I went to stay with Lan- Wangji." Wei Wuxian catches himself before using the familiar address. Lan Xichen seemed to catch the slip up too. "Just for the night. The departure went a little more explosively than I meant for it to, I came to spend the night. Lan Qiren told me to leave and never return, that Lan Wangji wanted nothing more to do with me. Not to contact anyone in the family. Obviously I argued, but I had already argued with Madam Yu and Uncle Jiang that night, so, he won. I left. And then a week later he sent me two hundred thousand Yuan." That wasn't a pleasant night to remember. It wasn't a pleasant week. He found out he was pregnant, then the Wen shit happened, and he was moving across the country with Wen Ning and his family. Wei Wuxian shrugs again, drinking his flat white.

Lan Xichen's brow furrows slowly, and he shakes his head, "I'm sorry, Uncle told us nothing about this. All Wangji and I have known is that you left the Jiang and disappeared. Wangji certainly didn't say anything about not wanting your company anymore." Lan Xichen seemed offended at the very idea.

Oh.

Huh.

Lan Wangji doesn't hate him.

Oh fuck.

Lan Wangji doesn't hate him.

But he probably will. When he tells him about A-Yu.

Fuck.

"Is everything okay?" Lan Xichen asks, making clear that Wei Wuxian's panic is clear on his face.

"Um." Wei Wuxian swallows, twisting the paper cup in his hands, "In theory. If, uh, when I left, I had been uh," No. Nope. He can't think of a good way to say this. He checks the time. "Uh, do you have twenty minutes?"

"I'm supposed to meet with Mingjue in ten."

"Great. Uh. Meet me at the park with the giant octopus sculpture in fifteen, bring Da ge, I need to drop my groceries off at my house." Wei Wuxian doesn't wait for Lan Xichen to agree, picking up his groceries and hurrying out.

When he gets home, he dumps the groceries on the counter, giving Wen Qing a quick, "Lan Xichen's in town and he's metting A-Yu and A-Yuan, see you in fiften minutes. Thanks bye!" before running back out, not responding to her shout of 'what' that followed.

When he gets to the octopus sculpture, he doesn't have to wait long fo Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue to show up, thankfully. He bounces over to them, the nervous energy coursing through him a little too much to keep still. "Hi Dage."

"Wuxian." Nie Mingjue greets, as if Wei Wuxian hasn't been off the grid for five years and was still popping into his house every other weekend to do weird shit with Nie Huaisang.

Nice to know somethings don't change.

"What is it you wanted to show us?" Lan Xichen asks politely.

"Um, this way." Wei Wuxian takes them to the school, which was only a few minutes away.

"A school." Nie Mingjue deadpans.

Wei Wuxian looks at the other parents waiting, a few of them looking back at the group with furrowed brows. One of the mothers makes a very harsh 'come here' gesture, so Wei Wuxian turns to Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen, "Uh, I'll be right back. Don't move." He was clearly confusing the pair, but they nod so he rushes off to Mrs. Yang.

"Is that Daiyu's father? Other father?" Mrs. Yang demands, almost glaring at Lan Xichen.

"It's his older brother." Wei Wuxian corrects with a tight smile. "Please don't go yell at him."

"Oh, his family decides it's okay for you to raise a child for five years on your own, and I shouldn't yell?" Mrs. Yang demands, already gearing up to go.

"Uh, I'm, about to tell him Daiyu exists."

Mrs. Yang blinks, clearly taken aback. "Wei Wuxian." Wei Wuxian flinches at her tone, oh no. He's in trouble. "Did you not tell the Alpha family you were pregnant?"

"In my defence," because he needed one if he wanted to survive, "their uncle had already told me their family wanted nothing to do with me before he found out I had gotten pregnant. I don't think that opinion would've been changed in my favour. Given we were seventeen, and unmated."

Mrs. Yang hmphs, but nods. "Fine. But if he seems anything less than overjoyed, I'll be having words."

"Yes Mrs. Yang. Thank you." Wei Wuxian says, nodding. He meant it. Mrs. Yang was one of the more supportive parents. Like Granny Wen she had more or less started treating him like family.

It probably helped that her eldest was only two years younger than Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian smiles and then hurries back to Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue as the elder grades started to be let out.

"I'm sorry, do you babysit?" Lan Xichen asks, clearly very confused. Nie Mingjue doesn't seem to be much better.

"Uh. Sometimes." Wei Wuxian shrugs, "Not today." His answer only served further confusion, but he wasn't paying much attention to the pair. Instead to his incoming missile.

"Xian-gege!" Wen Yuan yells, and Wei Wuxian picks up the eight-year old as the boy had launched himself at Wei Wuxian.

"A-Yuan! My, I think you've grown!"

Wen Yuan pouts, "You saw me this morning gege! I haven't grown at all!"

Wei Wuxian shakes his head, "Hmm, nope! You've grown a full inch! I know it."

"No! A-Yuan hasn't grown at all!" Wen Yuan counters, pouting more deeply. Ah, not in the mood to be teased today. Okay.

"Ah, ah yes. A-Yuan is correct." Wei Wuxian agrees, and puts A-Yuan down. "A-Yuan, this is Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue. They're old friends." Wei Wuxian introduces.

Wen Yuan was half through a bored wave when he actually looked at Nie Mingjue and his eyes utterly lit up. "You're so tall!"

Nie Mingjue barely blinked, very used to this reaction, but he seemed delighted at A-Yuan's very prescence. "Yes." Seeing as A-Yuan was practically vibrating, Wei Wuxian gently encourages him, and really that was all that was necessary before A-Yuan was attached to Nie Mingjue's leg and asking a million questions a minute.

Nie Mingjue seemed amused, and politely answered every question he caught.

With A-Yuan distracted, Wei Wuxian looks around the schoolyard for his other charge. Normally Daiyu would be attached to his leg by now. He finally spots her hiding by a tree, or, behind a tree. Her eyes widen when they meet his, and he waves her over. She hesitates, but eventually decides to come over. She walks, and then runs the last little bit, entirely hiding behind Wei Wuxian's legs, peeking a little to look at Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue.

Lan Xichen had frozen.

As expected, given Daiyu's golden eyes.

"Daiyu, this is Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen is your Bobo." Daiyu seemed very doubtful of that, making almost the exact same expression Lan Wangji did when Wei Wuxian had tried to convince him necromancy was a perfectly viable career path. Wei Wuxian would like to be offended. "I'm telling the truth."

"I thought Baba's family didn't want anything to do with us." Daiyu counters, doubt clear.

Ai. Who told her that? They didn't but still. "Who told you that?"

"Qing-jie."

...Ok. Wei Wuxian wasn't going to yell at Wen Qing for telling Daiyu that. Even if he wanted to. He was going to call her a liar.

"Well, she's wrong." Wei Wuxian crouches, turning to pick Daiyu up before standing straight. "It's complicated, and something I'll talk to you about in private. But Lan Xichen hasn't been able to be around until now."

Daiyu narrows her eyes but shrugs, "Fine." She didn't sound fine. But Wei Wuxian was not about to argue with a five year old. Not in public.

"Ok. Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, this is Wei Daiyu."

"Hi."

"Hello."

Daiyu looks at Wei Wuxian before responding, "Hello."

Well. This was awkward. And Lan Xichen looked like he was about to faint. "Why don't we go to the park?" A-Yuan seemed all for that idea. A-Yu looked like she'd rather not but when Wei Wuxian put her down she ran with A-Yuan toward the park. Wei Wuxian lead the adults in following after them.

While the kids played at the Octopus park, Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen sat down at a bench, as Wen Yuan had dragged Nie Mingjue into their game.

"You were pregnant."

Wei Wuxian nods. "Lan Qiren didn't know. I, didn't know, until a week after that argument." Wei Wuxian shrugs, "I took Lan Qiren's words to heart, and didn't contact Lan Zhan about her."

"But you told Huaisang." Lan Xichen states.

Wei Wuxian blinks, "Huaisang doesn't know. I only talk to Huaisang for updates on the Jiang." And other things, but, mostly the Jiang. Once or twice Lan Wangji, but not all that often. He probably wouldn't take it well if Nie Huaisang sent back that Lan Wangji had gotten married.

"You, didn't tell anyone?"

"Nope. You're the first person outside of this town that knows." Wei Wuxian shrugs, and Lan Xichen just, stops. Wei Wuxian worries he's broken him, but soon enough Lan Xichen shakes his head.

"I can't- Apologies, this is a lot to process."

"How do you think Lan Zhan will react?" He's expecting anger. That's what some of the other omegan parents tell him to expect, whenever he considers sending Lan Wangji a message about Daiyu. No Alpha ever takes a pup being kept from them well. That's what they always say.

Lan Xichen's eyes widen, then he winces slightly, "I imagine, you are the not the one to worry about Wangji's reaction." Eh? "I'm sure he'll be happy. Saddened to have missed her first few years, but happy none the less."

Wei Wuxian opens and closes his mouth, trying to figure how to phrase his question before giving up and just asking, "Is he with anyone?"

Lan Xichen blinks and turns to look at Wei Wuxian, confused for a moment before understand dawns and he shakes his head slightly, "No. Uncle has tried for arrangements, but Wangji refuses them all. but I'm certain if you contact him, he'll be happy to see you." (Lan Xichen does not mention that he's rather confident Lan Wangji will immediately run to Wei Wuxian's side and help in raising Daiyu if Wei Wuxian even hints that that is what he wants. That seems a little much for right now.)

Wei Wuxian nods, not entirely believing that, but not willing to argue. "Now I just have to get Daiyu to come around." He did not expect his daughter to be the stickler here. Then again, Wen Qing had made her opinion on Lan Qiren years ago and wasn't quiet about it.

"She's aware of what Uncle said?" Lan Xichen asks.

Wei Wuxian shakes his head, "Uh, my friend, Wen Qing, yeah, that Wen Qing, I'm living with her family, long story, anyways, Wen Qing knows, and she holds very unfavourable opinions about it and she's not quiet about them. So, even if Daiyu doesn't know the full story, Wen Qing has given her enough to go on that she's formed her own, unfavourable opinion." Wei Wuxian shrugs, he couldn't really argue against it. Up until half an hour ago, he was rather confident the Lan's hated him and wanted nothing to do with him.

Now he has to explain a five year misunderstanding to his daughter.

Fun.

“I have to tell Wangji what you just told me.” Lan Xichen states, clearly not looking forward to that conversation.

Wei Wuxian shrugs, “It’s Lan Zhan, he’ll make a displeased face and not talk for a week.” It wasn’t that big of deal. Lan Wangji doesn’t do grudges, not really. At least, he didn’t five years ago.

Lan Xichen’s face was pure pity, which Wei Wuxian didn’t understand but it was gone before Wei Wuxian could formulate a question. “Do you want us around or shall we leave you alone?”

Oh. Wei Wuxian hadn’t considered that. “Um, maybe leave us alone for tomorrow? I guess I can give you my number and, if A-Yu is agreeable you guys can hang around. If it won’t mess up your vacation.” Because, who wants to spend their vacation with their little brother’s ex and daughter?

“That would be wonderful.” Lan Xichen says, pulling out his own phone and letting Wei Wuxian type in his number. Wei Wuxian then texts himself so he’d have the number on his phone too. “We should be getting back, I believe Mingjue wanted to stop by the butcher and they close at five.”

“Yes, they do. Because he needs to eat supper and spend time with his kids.” He kne Changpu, he was nice. Stodgy, but nice.

Lan Xichen nods and stands up, walking over to the playing trio and speaking quietly to Mingjue, he bids goodbye to the children, before the pair start walking away, they wave goodbye to Wei Wuxian, which he returns, and then they disappear.

Then, Daiyu runs up to him, “A-Niang, does that mean A-Die doesn’t hate us? Will he come live with us? Will we see Xi-bo a lot? Are they going to live with us? Like Granny and Uncle Four?”

Fuck.

Upon returning to the cabin, Lan Xichen’s day wasn’t going any better. Nie Mingjue was cooking supper, so Lan Xichen was alone with the decision to call Lan Wangji about Wei Wuxian. Obviously, he would. How much to say though?

Wangji, as it turns out, would make that decision for him.

After exchanging greetings, Lan Xichen barely got out, “So I ran into Wei Wuxian today in the city near where Mingjue and I are vacationing.” Before the call was dropped. Lan Xichen blinked, staring at his phone where it said ‘Call Ended’, meaning Wangji hung up on him. Lan Wangji hung up without a word. Without letting Lan Xichen finish. He was never so rude. He normally at least made a sound to indicate a goodbye. Nie Mingjue laughed at him when Lan Xichen explained why he was so flabbergasted.

Lan Wangji showed up the next morning.

[cherrysung]

attention

pairing: nerd!jaemin x reader

genre: smut

warnings: language, unprotected sex (stay safe!), deepthroating, oral (m. receiving), creampie, choking, fingering, dirty talk, slight degradation

prompts: none

summary: innocent and harmless to the eyes of everyone else, the quiet boy sitting next to you couldn’t stand your impatience anymore. maybe another lesson needed to be taught.

requested by @jjuullnnaayyaa.

word count: 2.5k

note: I hope you like this! this is the second part (requested) to my first nerd!jaemin scenario, which you can check out here! also, @glossyjaems have fun lmao

cherrysung’s navigation

“Stop it.”

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.”

Clenched jaw and threatening, narrowed eyes, Jaemin could only spare your mischievous smile a short glance before turning his attention back to the boring teacher in front of you. She spoke about some physics formulas and confusing projectile motions, yet although your focus seemed to be directed with full interest at her explanations, it was far from that. Instead, while you stared at the white board covered in multiple doodles, your hand rested not so innocently on Jaemin’s thigh. All under the desk and for nobody else to see.

You scribbled down the long formulas on your notebook in an unbothered nature, left hand moving slowly in up and down motions on your desk partner’s thigh, occasionally squeezing and teasing to reach unholy areas. Jaemin appeared to be sucking in ragged breaths, the spectacles sitting on the bridge of his nose slightly sliding down due to the increasing perspiration on his face.

He looked nervous, angered even. Gritting his teeth or biting on his lower lip as your hand gradually moved higher and closer to the growing bulge inside his beige dress pants.

The two of you had been seeing each other for a considerable amount of weeks now, thankful that a simple tutoring session was enough to kick off your current relationship; date after date, you always picked up a new characteristic from his reserved personality, only adding to your belief that really—not all is what it appears to be. Despite the fact Jaemin was in reality a freak and nothing like the nerd he had come to be recognized as, he was still fairly shy, and had struggled big time to ask you to be his girlfriend. Stumbles and stutters had been leaving his lips infinitely until you kissed him and spared him the work, answering his timid question with a simple yes.

His breath abruptly hitched, hands roughly gripping onto the desk’s edge and pencil when you curiously palmed his hardened cock. The muscles on his thighs were flexed, Adam’s Apple bobbing up and down as he forcefully swallowed with nervousness and want.

“Stop that. You know what I’m talking about.” He whispered, eyes still fixated on the class before the two of you whilst using his free hand to grip yours gently and stop it from further movements. “What’s with you? We’re in the middle of class, we need to pay attention or we won’t understand anything afterwards.”

You smiled, admiring his control and obedience. Leaning closer to his ear, you whispered anyways, “but the only one I want to pay attention to is you. Jaemin, I want to fuck you.”

In a bold move, you guided his hand under your plaid skirt and towards your soaked heat, moving your flimsy underwear to the side to run his index finger through your wet folds.

Jaemin cursed under his breath, tongue swiping swiftly on his bottom lip as he lowered his head so the teacher wouldn’t notice the slight pink tint that had flushed warmth into his cheeks. His fingers started moving on their own, thumb rubbing your clit gently before plunging two fingers into your dripping hole. You allowed him to continue the discrete assault on your pussy as you brought your hand back to its previous position—his dick. Experimentally, you unbuttoned his pants with only one hand, taking his hard member out after he had obediently raised his hips to lower down the fabric of his black underwear.

He continued to pump his fingers in and out of your cunt at an average pace, unable to move them any faster due to the little space between you and the desk. Still, he didn’t fail to please you, curling them and hitting your sensitive spot successfully with no trouble whatsoever. Meanwhile, you stroked his length slowly and tightly, using the precum leaking from the tip to coat his dick. All of this while he innocently rested his chin on his hand, mindlessly nodding at whatever the teacher said and as you pretended to listen, now writing random things on your notebook, because you weren’t bothered enough to actually keep scribbling down notes from the subject.

“So, Na Jaemin, what do we do next? Give a brief explanation too.” The teacher spoke up, all heads turning your way and prompting both your movements to halt for a moment. Though, it didn’t take long for them to resume, as if twenty-eight eyes weren’t situated on the boy next to you. If only they knew what was happening underneath the metal table.

Jaemin fixed his glasses, and you could only widen your eyes in annoyance at how fast his demeanor changed, gaze turning shy and cheeks still warm from your ministrations; but, fingers reaching deeper while his thumb returned to caressing your sensitive bub. “You move the number three to the other side of the formula,” he spoke with confidence, hips involuntarily jolting up slightly when your thumb swiped for a little too long on his tip. “The reason why you have to do this, is to actually get the formula working. Otherwise, the answer will be unobtainable.”

“That is correct.” The teacher nodded with a small smile. “Thank you, Na Jaemin. I didn’t expect any less from my best student, anyways.”

For about ten more minutes, the lesson carried on at an extremely boring and deathly pace, the sound of markers coming into contact with the board and quiet complaints from students the only things that could be heard between the four, dull white walls. Jaemin and you had resorted to torturing each other in the form of teasing, unwilling to have any type of release underneath a dirty school desk.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the lesson as the two of you stopped your actions immediately. You swiftly fixed your skirt, and Jaemin made sure to zip his pants back up only after quickly licking his fingers clean from your essence while gazing deeply with desire into your eyes.

“Class, you’re dismissed.”

You stood up a ridiculously desperate pace, only to be pulled back down onto your seat by Jaemin. “What the fuck! Jaemin, I’m horny, let’s leave.” Your threats came out in a whisper, but they were enough to bring a sinister smile to Jaemin’s features.

“Don’t worry, I have a better idea.” He waited for the last pair of students to leave the classroom, watching as the teacher stood with her bag, hands holding onto her homemade lunch. She walked carelessly towards the door, steps coming to a halt upon noticing the two of you were still glued to your seats.

“Guys? It’s lunchtime, why are you still here?”

Jaemin took out his calculus textbook along with his calculator, placing the items on the table before pointing at them and then at you. “Could we stay here? She’s having trouble with Inverse Trigonometric Functions and we have calculus class after lunch break. We thought it’d be a good idea to stay here practicing just to warm up.”

She pondered for a few seconds, before nodding her head. “Sure, but if you get hungry don’t hesitate to go to the cafeteria, okay? It’s always better to avoid an empty stomach. Good luck and work hard!”

With that, she left, softly closing the door after praising the two of you for being such ‘dedicated students’. Jaemin chuckled quietly before locking the classroom door, walking back to the table and pulling you up rapidly, wasting no time in locking lips with you after having to put up with your endless teasing for an entirety of forty-five tedious minutes.

You held tightly onto his shoulders as he walked you backwards until your back hit a wall, taking advantage of the gasp that escaped your lips to kiss you deeper, tongue fighting with your own as his hands roamed with lust all throughout your body. He unbuttoned your blouse just enough to free your tits, pulling your bra down as his fingers pinched your nipples playfully. Jaemin swallowed your moans, turning the both of you around so his back was pressing against the wall now, rubbing your shoulders tenderly before pushing you down to your knees.

“You were so naughty today, weren’t you? I thought you had already gotten a well deserved lesson taught? Seems like you didn’t learn shit, my dirty princess. Should I be harder on you?”

A whimper left you as you kneeled on the cold, tiled flooring, looking up at Jaemin obediently as he lovingly tucked your hair behind your ears. He released his throbbing cock from his undergarments, right hand bringing your locks up into a makeshift ponytail before pushing your head closer to his leaking shaft.

“Do you have make-up removal wipes here?” He simply asked, free hand pumping his member as he looked down at you with hooded eyes.

You nodded.

“Then we’re fine. Open your pretty mouth, doll.”

You listened to his demand right away, mouth opening with your tongue slightly sticking out as Jaemin placed his cock on top of the warm muscle, breathing instantly becoming irregular. In a rapid motion that caught you off guard due to no warning given beforehand, he roughly thrusted his hips forward, dick reaching the back of your throat unexpectedly as you gagged, fighting the urge to cough out as his actions became consecutive and merciless.

He successfully caressed the depths of your throat experimentally, the outlines of his member occasionally showing whenever you were able to avoid the need to gag. His low grunts resonated throughout the empty classroom, fucking your mouth ruthlessly until tears mixed with black mascara were running down your face uncontrollably and your throat burned as it begged for an inexistent break.

His movements only slowed when his dick twitched, hand forcing you down onto his cock ‘till your nose was pressed against his tummy once last time before letting you go, gasps and coughs desperately leaving your lips in an instant as you attempted to catch your breath. Jaemin let out an exhale and pulled you back to your feet once again, swiftly wiping the black tears from your cheeks as he admired your reddened eyes. He wordlessly asked if you were fine, smiling gently when you nodded your head.

“Come here.” He guided you towards the teacher’s desk—again, giving you no time to process what was happening before he had pushed your upper body down, chest and cheek pressed onto the polished wood while his hand rested on your back. He pushed your skirt upwards, the fabric bunching up at your waist as he moved your pink panties to the side.

Your glimmering cunt stared back at his intense gaze, juices now running down your inner thighs after enduring the attack of his fingers with no room for release. He ran the tip of his dick up and down your folds teasingly, breath hitching while whines escaped you.

“Jaemin, please.” You whispered, mind unable to think of anything else but the feeling of his shaft caressing your pussy.

“What, princess? What do you want? Use your words.”

“Please, fuck me. Fuck me hard, so hard I won’t be able to focus the rest of the lessons. Fuck me so hard I will keep my hands to myself during class next time I feel like a little slut.”

“Good choice and wording, love. We only have about… ten minutes left before lunch break ends, so let’s make this worth it. Let me fuck the whore out of you, alright?”

No more words said, he rammed into you, setting a ferocious and reckless pace right away as your frail body lunged forward weakly with every fierce thrust that he delivered. The tip of his dick kissed at your sweet spot every time, eliciting gasps and whimpers from you that only served to help Jaemin increase his already inhumane speed.

“You like that right?” He gritted out. “This is what you wanted all along, right? You were so desperate for my dick that you couldn’t wait until we got home; no, you just had to touch me in the middle of a lesson. What a dirty doll you are.”

He continued to pounce into you, thrusts never decreasing in rhythm as he pulled you up close to his chest by your hair, free hand circling around your neck before squeezing lightly. You let out a particularly loud sound of pleasure, hands shooting up to rest on Jaemin’s much bigger one, silently begging him to keep the hold on your neck.

A surprised chuckle left his lips, hand squeezing once again as your walls clenched around him, tightly engulfing his dick deliciously. He moaned, head falling to your shoulder before biting gently onto the skin, sucking and then soothing the burning feeling with a slight swipe of his wet tongue. Whispering dirty things into your ear, you whined as his words swirled chaotically in your mind; promises of what more he’d do to you once you were alone and praises of how good you felt drowning you.

You felt his member twitch inside of you, thrusts gradually becoming sloppier by the moment. The grip on your neck became stronger, nearly preventing you of all ability to breath.

“J-Jaemin, I’m close!”

“Yes, princess, go ahead and let go. I want to feel you. Go ahead and cum all over my dick.”

Jaemin softly nibbled on your earlobe, the action enough to bring you to your climax. Your cunt clenched unstoppably around his shaft, juices mixing along with his as he reached his release as well, cum filling your walls to the brim through white, warm strings. His hips abruptly halted, dick still buried deep inside you while the two of you attempted to catch each other’s breaths.

Upon the loud sound of the bell ringing through the classroom and school halls, you both fixed yourselves in record time. After zipping up his pants, Jaemin helped you button up your shirt, fingers collecting his juices that had trickled down from your pussy before inserting the milky substance inside of you once again and arranging your underwear back in place, your legs shaking at the oversensitivity. He smirked and cupped your heat, eyes twinkling at the squeal that left your lips. “Keep that in you until we return back to my house.”

Quickly, he was able to unlock the door on time as the two of you now sat at your assigned desk, while Jaemin softly wiped off the black stains of mascara from your cheeks.

“Oh my God, what happened? Why is she crying?” The teacher asked worriedly the moment she stepped into the classroom.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Jaemin smiled sweetly at the elderly woman, “she became angry because she couldn’t get the topic, so angry that she started crying.”

“Oh, sweetie,” she smiled at you with pity, “you’ll get it soon! Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“I know right! I told her the same thing.” Jaemin giggled, aware of the strong glare you sent his way. “Don’t worry, though, I promised her I will keep teaching her the lesson after school.” He smiled innocently, eliciting coos from the teacher who had been unaware of the slightly harsh pat that he delivered to your sensitive heat.

You gulped, rubbing your thighs together at the feeling of his cum still sitting in the depths of your walls, and the intrigue of what else he would ‘teach’ you behind closed doors.

[i-am-the-letterman]

Hello! Can I request (platonic) Dante x Brother!Depressed!Reader x Vergil? (No incest, only platonic). Reader is third twin and not into siblings rivalship, he’s always trying to help his brothers and being kind to everyone. How would Vergil and Dante react that they find out that their brother using antidepressants for years and he’s standing on thin ice to have mental break down?

Yes, yes, of course! I did some research on both depression itself as well as what it is exactly the antidepressants do so I'm hoping I got this accurately. You also did not specify what kind of depression reader deals with so I tried to keep it ambiguous.

I typed it out as hcs but it can be read more like a small fic. Reader has blue eyes to match his brother's but the rest of the appearance is up to you! There will be some swearing so you have been warned!

I uh- Have no idea how to do the cut on mobile so if these topics make anyone uncomfortable please just scroll really fast away from it!

I couldn't find any artwork at the moment so instead I'm using the picture of a figurine

{⚠︎TW⚠︎}

How Dante and Vergil would react to finding their brother's antidepressants.

☯︎ So first thing first, you were the third born Sparda child and the twin brother of Vergil and Dante Sparda.

☯︎ You aren't one for the more rivalling side of your brothers and tended to stray away from that. Instead you would help both of them in any way you could.

☯︎ With that emotional neglect and whatever traumas that may have come with assisting your brothers

☯︎ But you had the habit of neglecting you own needs as a person. Your brothers were so caught up in their own rivalry that they tended to forget that you were a person too.

☯︎ When you finally went to see a doctor after a few visits they finally decided to put you on the standard antidepressants.

☯︎ You would keep them hidden from both of your brothers, either behind something or in a bag. Anywhere you knew where they wouldn't look was where you would keep them

☯︎ At first you felt some of the side effects of the medication. Nausea, fatigue, and irritability. None of it was too bad but it was very off putting at first.

☯︎ It has been a few years since you've started taking the antidepressants and now the only noticable side effects that you had were, insomnia and fatigue and irritability. Sometimes you would also get jittery or shaky but that wasn't very common.

☯︎ Dante was oblivious to the whole ordeal, thinking that maybe you were just stressed from everything. It wasn't until Vergil pointed anything out for him to realize.

☯︎ Vergil caught on after a while that you weren't the same person you were before, but it wasn't until he and Dante accidentally stumbled upon one of your pill bottles that they knew what was really going on.

☯︎ In all honesty Dante felt like an idiot, and even Vergil felt bad. They had been forcing their rivalry onto you for so long, not caring about how you felt.

☯︎ Vergil was the first to confront you about it. Maybe not in the best way though...

☯︎ You were panicking, looking for you antidepressants, swearing that you had them hidden behind the bandages in the bathroom cabinet.

☯︎ Vergil would knock on the door, asking what was taking you so long, even though he knee full well what it was. It wasn't until you opened up the door and tried to shove past him to continue your search when he grabbed onto your arm.

☯︎ "Are you looking for these?" He'd ask holding the pill bottle in front of you. When you went to reach for them he pulled his arm back so you couldn't reach. "Not so fast, brother. How come you've hidden these from us? It's unlike you to be so secretive," His tone was his typical void of any emotion aside from bitterness tone. Staring you down with the same blue eyes as your own.

☯︎ "It didn't matter, there was no need to worry about it so I just kept them away from you" You responded trying to reach for them once more, your hands were visibly trembling and your voice was shaking as well just a bit.

☯︎ "What do you mean 'It didn't matter'? you are our brother, y/n. And while I might despise Dante, I do not despise you. You should not have been hiding anything from either of us" He'd go on to say, Dante coming down the hallway casually before noticing what was going on.

☯︎ The other twin grabbed onto your other arm, pulling you away from Vergil. "Hey, hey, the hell are you doing?"

☯︎ Dante released the arm he was holding, leading you to reach once more. "I said it didn't matter, Vergil. It will never matter, just give them back! Thing won't get better if you just keep them from me!" You would yell, finally getting a hold on the bottle. You were now trembling more, clutching the antidepressants close to your chest.

☯︎ "Calm down," Dante said as he reached out to touch your shoulder, only for you to jerk back into the wall.

☯︎ The pain from hitting the wall and the overall stress from the situation caught up to you as you slid down, bringing your knees to your chest.

☯︎ "Shit" Dante cursed, kneeling down, Vergil following a moment after. "You don't have to explain if you aren't comfortable with it. Don't listen to the bullshit Vergil says,"

☯︎ Vergil scoffed, glaring at Dante. "As if you have any better advice or solutions. We can't help unless we know the problem," "Yes we can, Verg-" "No, we cannot-"

☯︎ "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You guys are the problem! " You shouted once more, glaring up at your two brothers. Tears were starting to form and you began to wipe them away.

☯︎ "All you guys have done over the years is fight...I understand having a rivalry, but you take into no consideration how you're actions effect other people! For so long I've been giving up my life for the both fo you! I'm a person too! I have emotional needs and I have so many weaknesses!" At this point you had stopped trying to wipe the tears away.

☯︎ "I feel so selfish saying it too..." Your brothers stared at you for a few moments, making you shrink further into yourself.

☯︎ "We fucked up..." Dante mumbled, reaching out once more in a less abrupt way. He rubbed your shoulder a little bit before moving his hand back.

☯︎ "Listen I-" Vergil started before getting nudged by Dante "We apologise, we should have put you into consideration instead of using you as a tool. I promise you we will be more aware of your emotions from now on," Vergil said, repeating the actions of Dante and patting your other shoulder.

☯︎ "As much as I hate to say, Verg is right, we were the ones being selfish here and we royally fucked up. If you don't forgive us right now that's alright, we won't force you to. But hey, we can still work through this"

☯︎ You nodded as they both spoke, looking up at them both as you trued to wipe your tears once more. "I don't forgive either of you now... It'll take a while for me to... But I am willing to try and work things out little by little,"

Oh goodness, this is so bad- They are so ooc- I'm so sorry if this isn't quite what you wanted. I'm not very educated on the topic and even after researching I was having some trouble.

[maruscheese]

“I wanna kiss your lips”

songfic ft. katsuki bakugou because I can’t stop playing i wanna be your girlfriend by girl in red 

pairing: katsuki bakugou x reader ( tried to make it gn T~T ) wc: 2.7k 

you wanted to punch him in the face more than anything.

seriously. how clueless could he be?

for someone who flaunted his brains so much, katsuki bakugou could be pretty damn clueless sometimes. well, not just sometimes. all the time. at least when it came to your feelings.

it’s true, the blonde could care less about other people’s feelings, but how could he not notice when absolutely everyone else around him did?

the way you twirled your hair around your finger out of habit every time he talked to you, or the intense pink tint your cheeks would acquire. the way your witty comebacks and sharp tongue went out of service whenever he teased you, as if he just made your brain cells shut off. 

still, despite all these short-circuit effects he had on you, you still felt comfortable around him. like you could be yourself.

you had first realized this a few months back, when, while chatting with a certain pink girl, you found yourself navigating your way to the blonde and the rest of his friends.

ashido sat with them, looking at you expectantly as she pat the empty space next to her, and you took a seat next to her.

you sat stiffly next to your friend, feeling awkward as the light-hearted conversation flowed between the group of friends while you just listened and stared at your hands, firmly placed on your lap. 

it’s not like you were a quiet or shy person, quite the contrary, but jumping into a conversation you hadn’t been explicitly invited to just wasn’t something proper of you. you were a loudmouth, but only if you felt comfortable enough to be one. 

“oi, you,” the blonde said without bothering to look up from his meal, and you raised your gaze to search for him with your eyes, figuring he was talking to you, since all his other friends had a designated nickname. 

the group fell quiet and you quirked a brow and looked at him, “me?” you asked lowly, gaze fixed in his crimson orbs, which he rolled in annoyance. 

“who else would i be talking to, dumbass?” he questioned in return, turning to look at you. you shot an unamused look at him, raising both brows now and letting out a soft chuckle.

“oh, i don’t know, maybe one of the other four people sitting with us? and you call me a dumbass.” you replied with a smug grin, muttering that last part, but still enough for him to hear.

“you wanna fucking go?” he groaned and stood up from his seat, tiny sparks erupting from his fingertips. 

“i don’t partake in animal abuse, sorry,” you responded with a shrug, smug grin only widening, your response earning a few giggles from the rest of the squad.

“shut it, you fucking extras!” bakugou roared, clearly about to lose it, until the bell rang, indicating the end of your lunch break. 

a long silence followed, just you and him staring directly into each other’s eyes as the rest backed away carefully, as if standing on thin ice that could crack any second now.

“saved by the fucking bell, but this isn’t over, you hear me?” he warned, and you shrugged dismissively and started walking away.

and so, after that day, your invitations to spend lunch break with them only kept coming, and soon, it became an everyday thing until you found yourself spending as much of your free time as you possibly could with them. 

tension between bakugou and you lessened, and you found yourselves actually enjoying each other’s company, though neither of you would ever admit that. 

“oi, idiot, where’s your food?” the familiar raspy voice asked, making you pause your intense conversation with hanta to turn to look at him.

“huh? oh, i didn’t even realize.. i must’ve forgotten to bring it again.” you admitted, scratching the back of your head sheepishly. 

“again?” he asked, slightly cocking his head to the side as he shot a confused look your way.

“yeah, i can be quite forgetful sometimes..” you said with an embarrassed chuckle, but quickly going back to your usual intense self. “but it’s okay cause i had a shitload of food before coming here!” you said with a grin, a hand on your hip, the other one showing him a thumbs up. 

katsuki frowned and smacked the back of your head, before poking aggressively at a piece of meat in his lunch box. 

“ow, shit! what the hell was that fo-” you were about to complain about the smack before you were interrupted by a fork being shoved into your mouth. 

“we’re going to train today and i’m finally gonna get my chance to beat your ass, so i can’t have your weak ass fainting on me today.” he said, pushing your chin up and making your lips wrap around the fork, sliding it out carefully when your lips sealed against it, pulling the food off of it.

your friends stared in astonishment, and as your brain processed what had just happened, your face turned a dark shade of red. you turned away, chewing aggressively on the food and swallowing it harshly. 

of course, bakugou failed to register the effect of his actions until ashido and hanta turned to look at him with huge, teasing grins on their faces and wiggling eyebrows, which caused his face to match the color of yours. 

“fuck! wait! it’s not like that, you bunch of idiots!” he defended, still the intense blush on his face and the shakiness of his voice betrayed him, and the pair began to giggle.

before that, never once had you thought of katsuki bakugou as more than a mere friend, but now, sitting next to him made something in your insides stir, and your stomach felt an overwhelming amount of different sensations at the same time, from butterflies, to a rollercoaster, to what could be compared to the violent churning of an old washing machine as you internally screamed.

“i can’t believe the exams are coming up, i’m gonna be so drained from all that studying.. it’s probably gonna fry my brain..” ashido whined, and bakugou chuckled.

“you can’t fry what you don’t have, pinky.” the blonde said, and mina turned to glare at him. 

“if i were you, i’d shut up, explodo. may i remind you, i’ve been informed of your huge crush on--” bakugou eyes widened and he slapped a hand over ashido’s mouth, to which she let out a muffled giggle.

“shut the hell up, dumbass! are you trying to get on my bad side or something?” 

mina shook her head and pulled away from his hand, showing him a teasing grin.

“i’d only use that as a last option, you should know that. I’d much rather see you confess to them.” she stated.

“katsuki has a crush?” you asked with a raising a brow, your gaze shifting between bakugou’s flustered face and ashido’s clearly satisfied expression. 

“yeah, but it doesn’t surprise me you didn’t know about it,” she said, and you looked at bakugou.

him? with a crush?

for some reason, your chest ached at the thought.

“yeah, well, good luck with that, boom boy,” you shrugged and looked away from him, directing your attention at your empty lunch box.

“the hell is that supposed to mean?” he snapped, and you just replied with another shrug, the intrusive thoughts of bakugou with someone else killing your mood in seconds.

the group fell silent, until ashido spoke up.

“erm, anyways, as i was saying! i figured since we’re going to be spending so much time studying before exams, we’re hardly going to spend any time together aside from lunch breaks… so, i thought we could go out tonight!” she suggested, and the grim mood seemed to vanish as you started agreeing with her one by one, each in their own way, some excitedly, and another certain blonde clicking his tongue and shrugging.

eventually, you settled for a karaoke night.

you were all supposed to meet there around 7 pm, giving you just enough time to have a quick shower, a meal, and get ready. 

picking your best outfit, fixing your hair, and spraying on some perfume, you added the finishing touches and stared at your reflection, smiling slightly before heading out.

at the karaoke were kirishima and ashido, sitting on a table in the corner, chatting lively, and kaminari and hanta seemingly playing video games on their phones, while bakugou stared at his phone screen with a straight face, dragging his thumb across the screen every so often.

you approached your friends with a smile, waving at them with a smile and tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“(y/n)! you made it!” ashido beamed at you and rose from her seat, wrapping her arms around you.

you took a seat in the corner of the table, which you found a lot more comfortable, in case your friends resumed their conversation from before and brought up bakugou’s crush, and you decided you wanted to get the hell out of there.

sure, it might be an immature reaction, and you should be happy for your friend possibly finding happiness, but damn, even the thought of you facing that as a reality hurt worse than a punch to your gut.

time flew by, conversation quickly initiating with your friends, with topics that were all over the place, but thankfully, none of those were bakugou’s crush. 

soon, you found yourself giggling uncontrollably as your friends, who mind you, were drunk off their asses, invaded the karaoke’s stage, singing cheesy romance pop songs, apparently entirely tone deaf.

you and bakugou were the only ones who had remained seated in all that time, despite the numerous times your friends pointed at you and gestured for you guys to join them, to which you replied with a small smile and shaking your head, while bakugou flipped them off, still apparently unamused by their over the top behavior.  

ashido soon came to squeeze your hand, teary-eyed, cheeks flushed, and wobbling, begging for you to join her on the stage. 

“oh, no, i don’t know those songs,” you lied, trying to get her to stop insisting, but to no avail, as she kept whining and poking your sides and your face.

“c’mon, don’t be like that, we came here to have fun and both of you are being some major party poopers!” she scolded, pointing at you and bakugou.

“leave her alone, pinky, she’s probably just too scared to do anything,” bakugou said, expecting you to go all out on her, but instead, it hit you like a slap across the face.

‘too scared to do anything’ you thought, his words repeating themselves in your head over and over again, until you stood up and took the microphone from ashido’s hand, determinedly stomping your way to the stage.

you finally understood.

you understood why you were so pissed.

why even the slightest mention of that made you want to run away.

even bakugou katsuki could come to terms with his feelings. with having a crush. and what did you do about it?

nothing.

you were too afraid of doing anything about it that you forced yourself to be oblivious to your own feelings, burying them deep within you.

you forced yourself to ignore why you felt like this.

you had the biggest crush on bakugou fucking katsuki.

and so, as you stood on the stage and the music began playing, you could only stare at him.

I wanna feel you close

Come lie with my bones

you closed your eyes as you sang, silently praying that, even if you weren’t looking directly at him, he’d still get it.

‘too scared to do anything’ you heard him say again in your head, and you shot your eyes open, pointing at him as the chorus began.

“i don’t wanna be your friend, i wanna kiss your lips!” you sang loudly, passionately, pouring all those emotions you had been bottling up for so long into the lyrics, cheeks burning up as you confessed to him. 

the hand pointing at him suddenly made its way to your chest, grabbing a fistful of your shirt as your brows furrowed and the look in your eyes intensified.

“i wanna kiss you until i lose my breath!” you nearly screamed, cheeks getting hotter and redder by the second, your knees close to giving up on you as you looked into his eyes, shock written all over his face as realization slowly hit him and his cheeks gained a pink tint. 

it was as if, in that very moment, the rest of the world had vanished, and it was only you and him in that karaoke, in the middle of a confession you desperately wished he’d accept. 

the blonde rose from his seat and looked at his friends for a moment, all of them giving them reassuring nods, and his gaze fell back on you, still looking intensely at him. 

subconsciously, he mimicked your actions from that first time you two interacted, slowly raising an index finger to point at himself, mouthing “me?”.

you giggled and nodded, “who else would i be talking to, dumbass?” you answered, earning a chuckle from him as he slowly approached the stage.

you stared into each other’s eyes as he made his way to you, the song long forgotten, now only playing in the background, contributing to the situation and making this much more movie-like.

tell me something nice

like flowers and blue skies

he got up on the stage with you, and for some reason, having him right in front of you, towering over your figure, with an expression that you couldn’t quite figure out, made things much more intimidating now, and you could swear you’d die right then and there.

i will follow you home

although my lips are blue and i’m cold

“well then, what are you waiting for?” he asked with a smirk and you cocked your head in confusion.

i don’t wanna be your friend, i wanna kiss your lips

i wanna kiss you until i lose my breath

the chorus sang, reminding you of your initial bold confession, and you blushed.

“you better not be playing,” you warned him, and he just rolled his eyes, swiftly sliding his hand to the back of your head and leaning forward, crashing his lips against yours.

your eyes widened, and you could feel the way the people around you stared, but holy shit, this was just too good. his intoxicating scent, of delicious caramel, acted like sleeping gas, and you found yourself closing your eyes and melting into the kiss, pressing your body against his as your arms wrapped around his neck, tugging softly at his spiky hair.

you pulled back, barely able to breathe, not from the kiss, but from the way your heart threatened to pound its way out of your chest, and you looked up at those crimson eyes.

“i don’t wanna be your friend, i wanna be your bitch,” you sang against his lips and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him in for another kiss, which he gladly gave in to.

lifting your leg to wrap it around his waist, bakugou smirked against your lips and firmly grabbed your thighs, lifting you off the ground and walking off the stage with you.

letting out a gasp, you pulled away and looked at him.

the look in your eyes

my hand between your thighs

“fuck...” you blurted out, still holding tightly onto his hair. your eyes scanned his face. You’d never seen him so attentively before, and so close, too. he was far too beautiful, even with that seemingly permanent scowl painted on his perfect features.

oh this can’t be real

it’s all just a dream

“you jealous little asshole. you couldn’t handle the thought of me having a crush on someone else, isn’t that right?” he teased, smirk drawn on his swollen lips.

“i’m starting to think i might’ve been jealous of myself all along,” you teased back, poking his cheek with your index finger.

i don’t wanna be your friend, i wanna kiss your lips

i wanna kiss you until i lose my breath

katsuki shrugged and pecked your lips one last time.

“yeah, maybe,”

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: That Old Thing Back {One Shot} ***

Charlie Hunnam x Ex-Wife Reader

Warning: Cursing, Angst, POV Changes, LOTS OF WORDS, NSFW, Mentions of miscarriage

Words: 8,888k 

Note: Okay, this is a first for Charlie. I am not familiar with his mannerisms at all, so I hope this hits well. If not, anon, I am sorry. As always, thank you all for reading! Also, y’all see 8888 words. 8888 must mean something right.

 ***Loosely Edited/Proofread***

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you meet someone, within minutes, you know what you want from them. After the first conversation, you know what capacity you want them in your life. After a week, you know just how you feel about them. Charlie could attest to this. When he first saw you, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. He was mesmerized by you and just sat and marveled as you danced around the great lawn of the park he happened to be in that afternoon. You looked carefree and so full of life. Nine other women were dancing with you, but he could only see you.

 That led him to stalk you for the remainder of the afternoon. Once the class was finished, he followed behind you and listened to your conversation as you walked through the streets and fell deeper under your spell. Your voice was like a finely tuned melody that sounded better than any song he’d ever heard. He sat in the same restaurant you did and just watched you as you spoke and laughed. Every story you told was so animated he felt like he’d been right there when it happened. You were the most captivating creature he’d ever seen.

 By the time he knew what had happened, he’d pushed his entire day to the side and had followed you, and he didn’t regret one thing. When he least expected it, you confronted him and called him out on his stalker antics, and that only made him want to know you more. It was the perfect imperfect meet. From that day, the two of you had been inseparable. You spent all your free time together. When he told you his aspiration to be an actor, you didn’t laugh or tell him to forget it and be more practical. You were his biggest supporter, and he fell harder for you.

A whirlwind, passion-filled eight-month romance led to him proposing and begging you to spend your life with him. When you excitedly screamed yes and leaped on him in the middle of the restaurant, everyone around you elated and showered you with applause and well wishes. The two of you didn’t bother waiting. A month later, you were married and more in love than ever. Neither of you were prepared when CJ came around, but it made your love deeper, your marriage stronger.

 You were by his side as he struggled through audition after audition, waiting for his big break. You were there rejection after rejection, always having his back and pushing him never to give up. You were his backbone, and when that role came, you were right there for him. The rolls came in one after the other, which meant he was gradually becoming busier and busier. Before you knew it, he was always on a movie set, and you were always home with CJ.

 No one prepared him for the struggles of marriage, a baby, and his budding career. He was warned about it by his agent early on, but he swore the two of you had what it took to withstand any and all struggles. He hadn’t factored himself in as a struggle. Thanks to his rapid rise to fame, everyone wanted a piece of him, and when they took their piece, there was none left for you. The arguments increased, and the miscommunication and unsaid words took a toll. The space that formed between you was wide enough to classify them as chasms.

 It seemed like he couldn’t do anything right. Everything he said was wrong. When he took a weekend off of work, it was wrong because you found it clear he would rather be working. When he tried to get close to you for any affection, you were always tired from your day with CJ, and every time you tried, he was too busy. He got lost in the Hollywood lifestyle, the parties, the socializing, the life that was bullshit, and had nothing on you or CJ. He turned into the monster in the fairytale, the monster that mothers warned their daughters about.

 He’d lost track of how many times he’d heard you crying, lost track of how many times he’d struggled with what to do, how to be. It wasn’t that he wanted to hurt you, he just didn’t know how to be who you wanted, how you needed him to be. The last straw was him missing your birthday to remain at the Cannes Film Festival, the festival he got pictured in a compromising position. One he was entirely at fault for, but one where absolutely nothing happened. The last thing you said to him was, “Your priorities are all fucked up, if you don’t want us fine I’ll solve the problem.”

 He came home to divorce papers and an empty house and not too long after you were in the hospital suffering from a miscarriage. A miscarriage the doctors blamed on stress, a miscarriage you blamed on him, a miscarriage he blamed himself for. After that, you made it clear you were done with him. He had the thought to contest and fight for you, but he knew the same problems would still be there. He had to face the facts that you’d probably grown too far apart, and that he would only cause you pain. He had to let you go. So, let you go he did.

 Groaning, he rubbed his face trying to keep the sleep at bay. The sound of the waves at his Malibu home was the soothing back noise he needed. It was the same noise that propelled him deep into his state of depression. It was a sate he’d been fighting for the last year. He’d been mostly successful, but tonight was hard. Tonight, was the anniversary of what would have been your seventh wedding anniversary.

 The whole night he’d been haunted by memories, haunted by feelings, and haunted by every regret he’d held on to for the last near two years. He thought of scenarios where he should have said something when he hadn’t said anything. He thought about the times he didn’t do something when he should have dome something—anything. He regretted everything that led to this point, the point where he had no wife and a son he was missing that was growing up without seeing him every day.

 “Fuck!” His shout was loud, and though the beach was vast, it still somehow echoed around him. There was no escaping you. He’d tried like hell every day, especially when you moved said the most hurtful words you’d ever said to him.

 -Fourteen Months Earlier-

 “Leave Charlie; you’re good at that.”

 “That’s not fair, Y/N, and you know it!”

 You spun around with pure vitriol radiating from you. “Fair! Do you know what’s not fair? It’s not fair that I’ve been by your side through everything, supporting you and loving you fiercer than a mother lion to her cubs, birthed your son, held you down through everything, the struggle, the good times only to have you do this!”

 “You’re the one who left me, Y/N!”

 He knew he shouldn’t have thrown that at you. He knew it was a bad idea.

 “Let’s be real. You left me long before I left you! Plus, what was there to stay for, a man who turned out to be my biggest mistake?”

  -Present Day-

 With his phone in hand, he pulled up your contact. It was one that he stared at so often—too often, he opened up his messages and did the only thing his head told him to.

 MSG My Wife: It’s insane today would have been our 7th anniversary. Seven years. The day I said those vows to you were the happiest day of my life until the day you told me about CJ. I thought seven would be just the beginning for us. I fully expected seventeen, twenty-seven, thirty-seven, seventy. I probably shouldn’t be sending this, but there was no way I could fight it. God, Y/N, this has always been my favorite day. Now it’s one of the most painful.

 He tossed his phone on the side table and dropped his head back, praying he could forget and move on. It was clear you’d already done it.

 As if that wasn’t enough, to add insult to injury, four days later he was staring down at the date your divorce was finalized. It was irony at its best and a just punishment for him. He’d been suffering the last year, so much, so pain felt like his best friend. He just wallowed in everything he’d lost, wallowed in it with no intention to pull himself out. It was that same pain that had him on this interstate driving out of LA to the place he shouldn’t be going anywhere near.

 When he pulled up inside the yard, he sat in his mustang for much longer than he should have. He looked around at somewhere he was familiar with but only loosely. He looked at the toys scattered on the lawn and smiled before it slipped and was replaced with sorrow. After taking a deep breath, he got out and walked to the door. He hesitated before his knuckles rapped on the door, then he waited.

  ~~~~~~~~~

-Y/N-

“CJ, please put this hoverboard away before I break my neck!”

 You wiped your hands on the dishtowel as you made your way to the front door. Your son was single-handedly working overtime to break every bone in his body. You’d heard that raising a boy would be difficult, but you were not prepared. He was a handful and a half, especially since he was the carbon copy of his father. Not only did he look just like him down to his blond hair, but he also had the same interests—skating, hoverboarding, biking, and soccer. Those were just the beginning of their similarities. With your head lost in thought, you didn’t see the fist-size fire truck that was lying in wait for you just in front of the door. You hopped and did your best football scrimmage to avoid the tragedy you foresaw.

 “Jesus Christ! Charles Matthew Hunnam, Junior!”

 You could hear the barrage of footsteps as he came running. He knew when you used his entire name; he was in trouble. As sure as the sky was blue, he came bounding around the corner with his blond curls bouncing and honey-chocolate sun kissed complexion on his way to you.

 “I’m sorry, mommy,” he sheepishly breeched as he bent to the floor to gather the death traps he’d left for you.

 “How many times have I told you to pick your toys up when you’re finished?”

 “I’m sorry, I forgot.” He looked so sad now and gave you those blue specked hazel eyes that were such an interesting mix of yours and Charlie’s that you were always a sucker for.

 Groaning, you shook your head affectionally. “Try to remember, honey,” you softly reminded. CJ nodded and threw his arms around your midsection. These were the things that made your day. The doorbell rang then, reminding you someone was there.  “Take them up, please.”

 “Okay, mommy.” You turned from him and continued your walk to the door. When you swung it open, you were shocked half to death to see Charlie standing on the other side.

 “Charlie,” you gasped out. Once CJ heard his name, you heard the clatter of the toys he must have just had heaped in his hands.

“Daddy!” You heard him running, and in seconds, he bound into Charlie’s waiting arms.

 “Ah! Hey, buddy!” Charlie stood and held onto CJ like he was his most favorite thing in the world; it was the same way CJ held onto him.

 You stood there and watched them half warmed by the sight of father and son and their evident love for each other and half seething that Charlie was there in the first place. He knew better than to show up unannounced. The only way this worked was if you had time to prepare yourself to see him. This was unexpected.

 “I missed you, daddy.”

 “I missed you too, CJ. Gosh, you look like you’re growing like a weed,” Charlie surmised, placing CJ back onto the ground.

 “I am, mommy says I’m half her height.”

 “Oh, is that right? So half her height means you’re still a ways behind me. I guess I better go back to eating my veggies,” Charlie joked. CJ found it funny, even if you didn’t.

 Clearing your throat, you brought the attention of your ex-husband to you. his smile faltered. “What’re you doing here, Charlie?”

 “I uh—I wanted to see CJ.”

 You dropped your head and sighed. This was going to turn into an argument.

 “I wanted to see you too, daddy. Can we do something? Can I show you my new bike? Then can we go down to the lake, and I can show you my new trick?”

 “Hold on there, bud. We gotta ask mommy,” Charlie said on a chuckle.

 “Can we mommy, please, please, please, please!” CJ was pouring on all the emotions and sweetness. You didn’t have the heart to say no.

 “Go ahead, have fun. Please, no broken bones!”

 “Thank you, mommy.” His hug was quick before he was grabbing hold of Charlie’s hand to yank him away. As he did, Charlie looked back to you with a melancholic smile, one you refused to read into.

 When you walked back inside, you were the one to pick up the toys you’d just told your son to pick up. You didn’t mind this time; you needed something to keep yourself busy. Picking up CJ’s toys turned into rearranging some of the things in the living room, and that turned into sweeping, then vacuuming and finally mopping. You could hear the jolly screams and laughs from inside the yard, and though it made you happy to hear how happy CJ was, it also filled you with a hint of sadness, one you’d worked hard to ignore.

 Every so often, you found yourself drifting to the windows to watch on as the two of them played. Every time you looked out, they were doing something different. Once it was tricks on BMX bikes, another time it was weird acrobatics like handstands and flips, and when you looked out once and saw them actually building mud monsters, you nearly lost your shit at how adorable they were together. That was when you stepped up the cleaning and began cleaning the kitchen.

 Once the cleaning was finished, you moved on to starting dinner. An hour passed then two, and you were in the thick of things. You’d only intended on cooking lasagna, but that turned into lasagna with sautéed broccoli, and garlic bread and dessert. It was apparent to you that you were anxiety cooking. Before you finished, though in they bounded downright filthy but over the moon.

 “Mommy, look!” CJ ran to you completely covered in a mixture of dried and wet mud with grass stains. He looked ready to throw his arms around you before you scurried behind the kitchen island.

 “Charles Matthew Hunnam, don’t you dare get me dirty.” His laughter was loud.

 “Fine, but look what we brought you.” He held out a bouquet of handpicked flowers of all varieties. A smile stretched across your face. You knew it was going to happen before it did.

 “You picked me flowers?”

 “Yup, it was daddy’s idea, then we had a competition who could pick the most. I won,” CJ happily boasted. The tears welling in your eyes could not be stopped from spilling.

 “Thank you, CJ, they are gorgeous. I love them almost as much as I love you.” CJ’s smile was just as wide, and your heart melted.

 “If you weren’t as filthy as a lost boy, I would hug you and kiss you, so if you want that hug and kiss, you better get showered.”

 “Okay, mommy.” CJ began to run away but stopped and came back to stand before Charlie. “Are you going to leave now?” His tone was low, and he looked like he was about to cry.

 “Uh—well, I hadn’t planned on staying this long.”

 “No! No, no, stay please, please, please. Mommy said she was going to make lasagna. It’s my favorite,” CJ rattled on.

 “Mine too,” Charlie admitted. You knew it.

 “Mommy, daddy loves your lasagna too; can he stay for dinner with us? Please, please, pleeeeeeease!”

 “CJ, I’m sure that your dad has things he has to do.”

 “No, he doesn’t, I asked outside he said he has nothing to do. Please, mommy, for meeeeee.” His whine was becoming incessant, sighing you accepted defeat.

 “Okay, only because I’d do anything for you.” CJ smiled widely again then hugged Charlie before he ran off, leaving the two of you standing there.

 “Uh—I can take shower duty, or have you transitioned him to alone ones?”

 “He’s all yours.” Charlie nodded and walked up the stairs where CJ just disappeared from.  

 Once alone, you looked at the flowers in your hands and ignored the flutter in your belly and the sight of one of your favorite wildflowers, dab smack in the middle of the bouquet, the one only Charlie knew about —poppies.

Nearly forty minutes later, dinner was underway, and it felt like old times, the times during your marriage before things went to shit. CJ talked about everything under the sun. He told Charlie all about his soccer schedule and who his friends were in school this month, he even told him all the gossip in his class. It was like he was making up for the last three weeks he hadn’t seen him. That made you sad, but you knew it was just how life was. Charlie was now a full-fledged movie star, and though his star rose years ago, it was still rising. Thanks to his insanely successful show, Sons of Anarchy, his name was a household one, and it came with thousands of thirsty groupies.

 Charlie laughed loudly as he threw his head back, clearly amused by one of CJ’s stories. He truly looked to be enjoying himself to the fullest. You’d long known that CJ was the best thing that had ever happened to Charlie. You’d spent long nights talking about just how much he loved that little boy and everything in you loved to hear him talk about how enamored he was with him. You knew that would never change, no matter what happened between the two of you.

 A little more than halfway through dinner Charlie’s eyes met yours, and it felt like forever ago that you’d looked into them. They looked different, sadder, more detached, and full of something that looked like pain. He looked different to you now than he had months ago. Maybe he was different, you thought.

 “Mommy, can I have dessert?”

 Snapping out of it, you smiled and nodded to your son. “Absolutely, a slice of pineapple upside-down cake coming right up.” You stood and walked into the kitchen to fix three plates of the dessert. When you came back, the two of them were doing thumb wars. Shaking your head, you put the plates down and tried not to think about how much different things could have been.

 The three of you ate your sweet treat and continued to emulate the perfect family. Once dessert was finished, Charlie was the one to initiate doing the dishes something you remembered he promised on your wedding day to do when he loved you the most to show you he cared and appreciated you. There was no way that was the reason now. While he did the dishes with CJ, you busied yourself with finding yet another thing to clean. It was a habit at this point.

 After the tidying was completed, you sat in front of the TV to watch an episode of CJ’s favorite cartoon, The Last Airbender. Through the entire episode, he and Charlie whispered and chatted about the episode then pretended to be from warning nations while they did their bending. It was then you faced how much you missed nights like this. It had been close to two years since the three of you spent time together like this. It was done on purpose. You didn’t think you could handle it. You had no idea how you were now.

 Before you knew it, the time had run away, and it was now almost ten. After telling CJ to get into bed, hit the bottle of your go-to liquor, hoping to find some form of strength to hold you up. Having Charlie there playing doting dad and husband as if he was no longer a part of your life hurt, it hurt a hell of a lot. You still had some animosity about the way things ended.

 When you made it upstairs, Charlie was sitting at the foot of CJ’s bed looking as if he were about to read him his bedtime story. “Oh, it’s cool. You guys go ahead,” you began.

 “Mommy, can you both read to me, like how you used to,” CJ pleaded. That was like a knife to the gut. You’d made CJ your top priority your whole like, and when you and Charlie began to have problems, his happiness was the only thing the two of you agreed on. You didn’t want him to feel as if he were missing anything, but right now, you saw he felt the void.

 “Of course, baby.” Walking around the bed to CJ’s pillow, you settled in your usual place and lifted your bare legs into the bed to cuddle beside your son. CJ dropped his head on your chest, where he knew he could listen to your heart. It was an action he’d always done ever since he was a little boy.

 You kissed the top of his head before you began. “Ready?” CJ nodded. Charlie held out the book to you, but you shook your head. “I’ve got it memorized. You keep it.”

 You took another breath, then began. “A mother bird sat on her egg. The egg jumped. Oh, oh! said the mother bird. “My baby will be here! He will want to eat. I must get something for my baby bird to eat! She said. I will be back! So away, she went.” CJ burrowed deeper into your side, making you smile. When you looked up, Charlie’s eyes were glued on the two of you. Nodding, you signaled for him to take over.

 Charlie cleared his throat and took a breath. “The egg jumped. It jumped and jumped and jumped! Out came the baby bird. Where is my mother, he said? He looked for her. He looked up; he did not see her. He looked down; he did not see her. I will go and look for her. So away, he went.” He read it without looking at the book. He just stared at CJ.

 With your turn, you read the next few pages, but you couldn’t keep your eyes off Charlie. He watched you as you watched him, and it was the most perfect thing. For the next ten or so minutes, you read the book to your son together. When he spoke, he never once looked down at the pages, never once broke the eye contact between you. The only time he glanced from your eyes was to look into his son’s. There were so many instances you had to stifle the flutter of your heart, and countless times, you found yourself looking over his hands and forearms. Even when he caught you, you didn’t seem to care. His voice coupled with how enamored he looked with CJ and vice versa and how rugged he looked, was wreaking havoc on you, especially when you remembered the miscarriage. Once you remembered that, a bitter taste filled your mouth, which brought you back to your reality.

 “All right, prince charming, that’s it,” you gently informed. CJ was still wide awake.

 “Aww. Does that mean you’re leaving now, daddy?” Charlie sighed, and it brought your attention to him. He looked equally as distraught as CJ did. The pit of your stomach knotted. This was never the fun part.

 “I’m afraid so, buddy.”

 “No. Stay, please. I don’t want you to go. I won’t see you for weeks. I miss you. Don’t you miss me? It’s like you don’t like being here with me or with us,” CJ rushed out. You could hear the pain in his voice, and it broke you in two. Looking at Charlie, you could see it was the same for him.

 “Of course, I miss you, buddy. I miss you more than I have the words to say. I always want to be with you, to be here, but you know that’s not our life anymore,” Charlie carefully explained.

 “Baby, it’s all right. Your dad loves you more than anything in this world,” you assured, hoping to smooth things over. It didn’t look like he believed one word you said.

 “Bud, I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise.”

 “I don’t believe you!” With that, the silence in the room was heavy. Charlie looked at his wit’s end with how to console him, and you knew what to do, but you didn’t think you had the strength. You could feel CJ’s tears, and that was the last straw.

 “Look at me, CJ.” Slowly he rose his head to you. you wiped his cheeks and kissed his forehead. “He’ll be here when you wake up.” It was a whisper because that was all you could muster.

 “What?” Charlie’s shock was evident. You looked at him and sighed.

 “You should stay. He needs this—he needs you.”

 Charlie searched your eyes before he spoke again. “Are you sure?”

 No, you weren’t sure. This was probably a bad idea for you, but for CJ, it was the best solution. Nodding your response, you looked back to CJ.

 “He can stay, mommy?” His smile was right back where it should be.

 “He can stay love, but you have to go to sleep.”

 Yayy!” CJ threw his arms around you to show his gratitude and excitement. You kissed him once more then stood.

 “Bed.” CJ kissed your jaw, then dropped back onto his bed and snuggled in his covers.

 “I’m going to stay; it’s been a while since I’ve watched him sleep,” Charlie whispered. Nodding, you walked out the door, leaving it slightly ajar.

 Again, you busied yourself preparing the guestroom, hoping the movement would distract you from not only thinking but worrying about the ramifications of your decision. This would be the first time in almost two years you’d slept under the same roof. Divorced meant over and done with. Of course, divorced with a child didn’t give a shit about over and done. He’d forever be in your life.

 The message you’d received from him a few days ago reminded you of just that. It was the most unexpected thing, the most heartbreaking message you’d gotten from him in a long time. It was so heartbreaking you had to lock yourself in the bathroom with the faucet and shower running to hide the sounds of your bawling from CJ. You ended up hiding in there for close to an hour, and even when you reemerged, you were emotionally unstable for the remainder of the evening. You were so emotionally unstable; there was no way you trusted yourself to respond, so you left it on read. What the fuck were you supposed to say to it anyway?

 After changing the sheets and straightening up a few things, you retreated to your bedroom for some quiet time, quiet time you desperately needed. You didn’t know how to get through the next twenty-four hours. You were struggling. Staring in the mirror, you objectively looked at yourself. You saw the truth, you always had. You just couldn’t afford to let that truth slip to the surface.

 The knock at the door had you leaping to your feet. When you opened it, there was Charlie, and your stomach liked what it saw.

 “Fast asleep?” He nodded and looked down at the floor.

 “I don’t have to stay in the house. I can sleep in my car,” Charlie suggested.

 “I’d do anything for you—for CJ.” The way he said it had your heart racing.

 “It’s fine. I have space. Come on.” You walked out of your bedroom and down the hall leading him to the guestroom you’d just prepped. When he walked into the room, you watched as he looked around.

“I just changed the sheets; they’d been on for weeks. It should be all good.”

 He turned to you, nodding his head. “Thank you, love dove.”

 The name hit you like a mack truck. You audibly “oofed” as you wrapped your arms around your midsection, instantly feeling the effect and the loneliness it brought on. He used to always call you that name, a day would never go by without him whispering it in your ear, against your neck, or your lips. You were brought back to happier times where you’d be locked in your room in bed, just ravaging each other, and he’d whisper it the entire time.

 Charlie must have been going through the same thing you were because he looked regretful before he spoke. “Sorry. Old habits.”

 Again, your stares lingered, and the air in the room was heavy and hot. It was like the last year or so didn’t happen, like he hadn’t broken your heart. He still had an effect.

 “Good night.” It was quickly said, and your exit was just as quick. You spent the next forty or so minutes in the shower. You hoped it would help to calm you down, but it didn't do that, it just gave you more anxiety.

 When you got out, you began to wonder if you’d placed towels in the room. When you saw them in your closet, you realized you’d brought them here mistakenly. Once you wrapped in your robe, you made your way to his room to drop them off. You knocked once, then twice, but neither knocks were answered. Deciding you could chance sneaking in to put the towels down, you opened the door. The sound of the shower running gave you your answer as to why he didn’t answer. Quickly you walked to the bed and put the stack of grey towels on the bed. As you neared it, out came Charlie in all his wet glory. In your shock, the towels fell to the floor and had your eyes snapping shut.

“Oh, god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I forgot to leave some towels. I knocked; you didn’t answer.”

 The room was silent; he didn’t speak. You wondered what he was doing. Was he trying to cover himself? Using your hands as your eyes, you felt for the towels you’d dropped. In seconds frustration filled you when you couldn’t find them. Opening your eyes for a second, you saw the towels, but when you looked only a centimeter up, there was his junk right in front of you. He hadn’t budged from his spot and hadn’t even made an attempt to cover himself.

 You meant to look away immediately, but that didn’t happen. He was maybe half a foot from you, close enough to touch. Charlie had always been the most attractive man that you’d seen. He’d always done it for you. With you on your knees before him, you realized that hadn’t changed. A son, a miscarriage, a messy ending to your marriage, and a divorce had done nothing to temper how much you always seemed to want him or be attracted to him.

 You were kneeling there in wide-eyed amazement. It had been years since you’d seen him like this. The deterioration of your marriage meant you spent lots of nights lonely and unloved. Before you gave him divorce papers, it had been seven whole months since you’d been intimate. When you added on the four months it took for the divorce to finalize and the year of being a divorcee, you hadn’t gotten laid in over two years. It was shameful because right now you knew why only he had an impact, only he would do.

 “It’s okay,” Charlie whispered. His voice was shaking, and he sounded hopelessly breathless. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before in great detail.”

 Again, you remembered all the things you’d done to him in great detail over the six years of your marriage. Jumping to your feet, you tried your hardest to look away from his inviting appendage. You held out the stack of towels to him with your head turned to the side and waited for him to take them. When his hands grasped the items, they brushed yours and sent thousands of electric sparks through your hand and directly into your heart.

 Your eyes met again, and they lingered on each other. You hoped he couldn’t hear your heart, hoped he couldn’t tell what a fraud you were.

 “I should go,” you whispered.

 “You don’t have to.” His response awoke a need in you that you thought you’d buried. You knew what he was suggesting. Everything in you wanted to take the gentle suggestion and cross the room to him, but then what.

 Groaning, you peeled your eyes from his and turned. “Yes, I have to. Good night Charlie.” Those were the last words before you made your rapid exit.

 The following morning you awoke to the scent of food being prepared. When you looked at the clock, it was almost ten. Usually, you’d be up by eight. You’d slept in. Quickly you brushed your teeth and pulled on a pair of leggings then went downstairs. As you neared the kitchen, you could smell the evidence of what promised to be a delicious breakfast. You turned, and there was Charlie standing over the store in his tank cooking away. Good lord help you he’d buffed up even more, you thought. Times like these you wished things had been different. You missed mornings like this. Charlie looked up and smiled when he saw you. As you approached, his eyes roamed your body before his eyebrows knitted together.

 “What?”

 “Is that my hoodie?” You looked over yourself and realized your error. It was normal for you to sleep in his clothes, but you didn’t realize you still worse it.

 “Nope.” It was a lie but one he couldn’t fully prove.

 Charlie scoffed but didn’t speak again for a long time. You took the opportunity to bring up his impromptu visit.

 “You can’t just show up unannounced Charlie. That is not okay. You can see CJ whenever you want I have never kept the two of you apart but just showing up here—you can’t.”

 Charlie nodded and but kept his eyes down. “I know, I’m sorry. I just—I really missed CJ, and I had to see him, so see you. I couldn’t stay away. I wanted to talk.”

 What the hell were you supposed to say to that, you thought. Sensing your speechlessness, Charlie spoke. “I’m sorry about last night. I was out of line.”

 “Let’s not talk about it, CJ will be down any minute.”

 “I have to talk about it. I’m losing my mind. I’ve been losing it for the last near two years, and—I’m struggling,” Charlie admitted. His candor shook you. Half of you wanted to know more, but the other half was too scared.

 “Charlie, it’s fine. Let’s move on.”

 “I can’t. I can’t be like you. You have everything so put together. You’ve pieced this life together without me, and I can’t seem to piece any life together without you—without CJ.”

 It was then CJ came running down. It should have been sooner because you were absolutely ruined now.  You and Charlie stared at each other. He was daring you to speak, to acknowledge what he’d just dropped on you.

 “Daddy!” CJ jumped onto Charlie bringing his attention to your son. You took the reprieve to dip into the half bath to pull yourself together.

 You tried to wrap your head around what he’s said, tried to make sense of it. After five minutes, you still couldn’t come to terms with it, so you did the next best thing, pushed it aside. When you walked back out, CJ was sitting at the dining table, as was Charlie.

 “Ready to eat, mommy?”

 “Absolutely.” You sat at the table and dove into the food, all the while avoiding Charlie’s eyes. Through breakfast, he and CJ talked and joked with each other. It was a welcomed chatter because it took the attention off you.

 Once breakfast was finished, you cleaned the dishes while CJ got himself dressed for a playdate he’d been looking forward to the whole week. Now that Charlie was there, he refused to go. It wasn’t until Charlie promised he’d still be there when he got back did CJ agree. When the two of them came down, CJ was dressed and ready just in time for him to be picked up. You thanked Claudia for setting it up the playdate and waved goodbye to CJ from the front door.

 When you turned around, Charlie was leaning on the steps watching. You hesitated closing the door to enclose yourself in a confined space that had plenty of surfaces for him to bend you over. When you did, you quickly walked back to the kitchen.

 “We have to talk, Y/N.”

 “No, we don’t. There is nothing to talk about.”

 “Bullshit. After yesterday, last night, even in the kitchen this morning. We have plenty to talk about,” Charlie responded, following you through the house.

 “Charlie, don’t.”

 “I have to. Are you happy? Like really happy? It’s been a year. Are you happy? Is this what you wanted? Did you want our son feeling like a consolation in our relationship?”

 “Are you happy? You’ve gotten what you wanted.”

 “Me?! Y/N, you gave me divorce papers. You left our house and never came back,” Charlie shouted through clenched jaws.

 “Oh right, I’m the big bad wolf. You know how to fight for a role, but you have no clue how to fight for your marriage, your son. Classic.” You slammed the kitchen fridge unsure why you’d opened it in the first place.

 “Don’t pull that. I fought, I came to you over and over, begging you not to do it, pleading with you. You refused to listen.”

 “What did you come to me for Charlie? What the hell did you prove to me? What did you show me? What was I going back for? The same bullshit? The same treatment?! In all the times you came begging and pleading, you never once showed me how things would change. You just didn’t want a divorce under your belt. You didn’t want the press to get wind of it.”

 “That’s bullshit! I wanted my wife; I wanted my son! You didn’t want me. When did you stop loving me, Y/N?”

 You looked at him incredulously. He had to be fucking kidding, you thought. Your anger was rising by leaps and bounds, and you knew the next words out your mouth were going to be venom. “Is the weight of it all too heavy now, Charlie? A year later, a year after you switched up and changed? A year after you showed me time and time and again what was important, who was important. You showed me I didn’t mean shit; CJ didn’t mean shit. I was not going to stay and turn into those Hollywood couples who hated each other and only remained for the spotlight. No!”

 “You gave up on me,” Charlie whispered.

 “Fuck you! You gave up. You gave up on me and us long before I left you those divorce papers. You did.” You walked away because you could feel your tears spilling over, but you turned around back to him, tired of hiding the fallout of his actions. “You know what makes all of this so much worse? My friends told me this would happen. They told me before we got married, told me to slow down, be careful with you, and I defended you. I defended you till kingdom come. Look where we are, Charlie! Living in a perfect lie!”

 “I don’t want to live this lie. I miss you, Y/N. I miss CJ. I miss our life; I miss our family. I’m miserable,” Charlie dropped.

 His tears ran down his cheeks, and you flared your nose. This was always your weakness. Charlie had always been in touch with his emotions, but his emotions had to be overwhelming for him to cry.

 “Good. You sowed this Charlie. You brought all of this on. My baby--,” you began, but the pain was too much. Charlie sobbed and dropped his head back.

 “I’m sorry,” he said as he approached you. You steadily backed away from him, not wanting him to touch you.

 “Y/N,” Charlie began as you shook your head.

 “No. I’m not doing this with you. I refuse.”

 Charlie quickly caught you before you turned and kept you facing him. “You can’t run from this Y/N. Face it with me, please.”

 You kept a straight face, refusing to cry any more. You refused to allow him any closer than he already was. You wouldn’t survive it this time. Charlie grunted out in frustration when he realized you were hell-bent on keeping him at bay.

 “Y/N!”

 “What do you want from me, Charlie?” You shot death rays right at him.

 “I want you to say anything! Scream! Yell at me! Just something to show you fucking care.”

 “Why should I care? Why the hell should I give one flying fuck?”

 “Because I’m still in love with you!”

 The words felt like a slap in the face. You’d imagined how they’d sound coming from him during the whole divorce process, during the whole year after the divorce. You were convinced he didn’t love you anymore for him to have treated you the way he did, for him to have done what he did in Cannes. The stress of it brought on your miscarriage.

 Though you’d wanted to hear them, you hadn’t prepared to hear them.

 “I love you. God, I can't keep pretending like I'm okay with any of this. I can’t pretend that it doesn’t kill me to be away from you, to be away from CJ. I can’t act like I’m thriving or happy. I’m not. I’m miserable. I wish I could press rewind and go back and better, do better. I wish I knew better then, as I know now. I fucked up, and I regret it more than I’ve ever regretted anything in my life. If I had been a better man, none of this would have happened. If I’d only been the man you deserved our baby—our princess would be here right now. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life, the pain that I caused your miscarriage, the pain that I broke our vows, that I broke your heart, I broke us.”

 Charlie dropped his forehead to your collar, and his tears dropped across your chest. They felt like acid peeling away every barrier you’d built between him and your heart. He was saying everything you want him to, everything. He wasn’t holding anything back. They were words you’d desperately wanted to hear.

 “I’m sorry, love dove. I never wanted to give up on you--on us. I loved you so much. You were my world until CJ. Then you became my universe. I lost myself. I lost sight of you and me. I lost sight of the man I was and wanted to be. For that, I will always be sorry. Losing you and CJ, it broke me. I stand here a broken man. I had to find me again. It’s been hard, but the root of me is you and my son. My family. You have always been what mattered, and I regret I ever lost that, that I ever made you feel like you weren’t my everything.”

 One lone tear rolled down your cheek, and that was just the beginning. When Charlie swiped it away with the pad of his thumb, the flood gates opened. You bawled uncontrollably, all your emotions finally catching up to you. Charlie wept with you, and that was how the two of you stayed for countless minutes.

 When you opened your eyes and realized how close he was, you sniffled. Slowly the two of you inched to one another. Before your lips touched, both of you hesitated. “Fall back in love with me, love dove.” He whispered.

 He really thought you’d ever fallen out of love with him. “You’re an idiot if you think I’ve ever fallen out of love with you.” The hope you saw in Charlie’s eyes set your belly fluttering. It was overwhelming. Charlie claimed your lips in a soft but passionate kiss that took your breath away. It was so intense you felt as if you’d been possessed by sheer desire. The kiss began timid and soft, but in seconds, it had turned into a lustful and sensual soul transference. Charlie’s hands gripped your hips and pulled you flush against him before he lifted you in his arms.

 Wrapping your legs around him, you kissed him back with as much heat as you kissed you. Soon the two of you were walking through the house blindly looking for anywhere. Charlie plopped you onto something, and the backs of your knees said it was the kitchen island. Quickly both of you stripped each other. He pulled off his hoodie from your body as you peel his shirt off. Charlie cupped your breasts when he realized you weren’t wearing a bra then dipped his mouth to your mounds. Instantly you moaned and hugged his head to your flesh.

 Charlie nipped and hypnotizingly sucked your skin, bringing you more and more ecstasy. It had been so long since you’d felt like this; you didn’t want to think about anything else but the sensations. Charlie pushed you back onto the island and brought his lips down your stomach to your hip. Once there, he pulled off your leggings in one fluid motion. His beard tickled your skin and had you wriggling underneath him. Charlie’s groan was loud when he realized you wore nothing under those leggings.

 In seconds he’d draped your legs over his shoulder and reclaimed claimed ownership of the most intimate part of you. He moaned as he lapped at your wetness and teased and pleased your body. You bucked your hips against his lips, feeling your orgasm barrel toward you. Everything in you said it was going to be a catastrophic one. You panted and gasped his name as your body wildly thrashed, unable to control it any longer.

 “Aah, yes, right there. Yes, Charlie, yes, yes!”

 Your scream was loud, and the tightness of your legs around his head was enough to suffocate. Charlie didn’t panic. Instead, he lifted your lower half into the air and continued his feast, not caring if you were overstimulated or not. Your screech echoed off the walls of the kitchen, and you tried to pry him away from your sex. He refused to budge even when you’d unwrapped your legs the best you could. Yet another orgasm ripped through you, sending a gush of moisture all over his mouth and beard. Charlie groaned, gripped your breasts, and squeezed hard enough for you to know just how tightly wound he was.

 When he pried your legs from around him, you felt the renewed fire and quickly slid off the island to drop before him. You hurriedly stripped him eager to have him. Once he was free, his heavy cock bobbed in front of you. Wasting no more time, you slid him into your mouth, ignoring your gag and took every inch he was blessed with. Charlie shouted and hugged your head to his cock, keeping him lodged tightly in your throat. Sensing the low levels of your air supply, he pulled back enough to give you a brief reprieve. It was all you needed and more than you wanted.

 Slamming him back into your mouth, you lodged him in your throat again, all the while moaning enthusiastically. Charlie’s hands never left your head just as his mouth never closed. Moan after moan fell from him as you sucked and slurped his length. In no time at all, Charlie was thrusting into your mouth hell-bent on finding his long-overdue release. Just as you were finding a groove, Charlie pulled from your mouth with a loud “pop” before he pulled you up and pushed you onto the island.

 With you bent over the island and your ass poked out for him, Charlie rubbed his cock across your soaking folds sending shivers through you. He bent to your ear and kissed you.

 “I love you, only you. Endlessly for eternity.” It was the same thing he’d said the night of your wedding before he joined you for the first time as husband and wife. When you peeped behind you and locked eyes with him, you knew the two of you had an understanding. Charlie kissed your back then snapped his hips forward, harshly, and completely filling you to the hilt. You shouted and gripped the island. Your knees bucked from the sheer pleasure of just this. When you clenched around him, Charlie, have you just what you wanted—a rough tryst.

 Every slam into your core had you clenching around him. Each thrust was more bruising than the last, and each one brought tears to your eyes. They weren’t hurt tears; they were a mixture of relief and complete joy. You shouted his name over and over, not caring how needy or desperate you sounded. You could feel how on edge he was; his body shook every time he filled you, and every time you said his name, he shouted yours.

 When Charlie began jackhammering into you clearly lost in his pleasure, you left planet Earth. Only he could have you like this. Only he could fuck you into outer space. You knew he was close, and the second he whimpered behind you, you pressed back into him, throwing your ass back onto him. Charlie sucked in a breath, and his whimpers intensified. The slap to your ass was the last thing you needed to be pushed over the edge, an edge you dragged him over. Charlie grunted and groaned as he filled you with every ounce of his love.

 It took several long moments for the two of you to come down from your sultry sex bubble. After having you across the island, you rode him until his toes curled, and he saw stars on the kitchen floor leaned against the same island. By the time you’d both stopped, hours had passed. Neither of you were fully satiated. As Charlie hugged you to him still buried deep within you, he tipped your chin so you were looming at him.

 “Marry me again.” Shocked, you searched his face for his meaning.

 “You’re not serious.”

 “I am. Will you be my wife again?” the gleam of silver caught your eye, and you looked down to see him wearing your engagement and wedding ring on a chain around his neck. Your world shattered. He’d worn them this entire time. Locking eyes with him again, you knew he could tell you realized what he was wearing.

 “All this time?” Charlie held up his hand to show you the silver wedding band he still wore.

 “I promised forever; I wasn’t done with it.” Your tears fell, and so many emotions filled you; you had no idea which one to go with.

 “I have to do whatever it takes to stop my heart from being broken, Charlie,” you whispered.

 “I’ll never break your heart again. I know how it ends. I know what it means. I can’t risk my life without you or CJ anymore. I can’t.” His tears welled, and you believed him.

 “Surrender to me, love dove. Surrender to me as I can only surrender to you.” His voice was pleading with you. Closing your eyes, you listened to your soul, the place where no fear lived. When you looked at him, you trailed your thumb across his bottom lip.

 “Give them back.” Charlie looked confused for a few seconds before he got it. Quickly he yanked the chain from around his neck and slid the rings off to hover them over your finger before he locked eyes with you.

 “Never again will we be here. Never again will I lose us,” Charlie forcefully vowed.

 “Never again will I walk away,” you responded. He looked overwhelmingly emotional then, but you could see him holding as much of it back as possible. When he slid the rings onto your finger, both of you sighed as if you both felt instant relief.

 You knew this was a new beginning for the two of you but also for CJ. You knew that neither of you would ever again make the same mistakes.

 “I surrender,” you both whispered together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[houseof-harry]

I’m so h word but like gray being your neighbor and y’all just fuck when both your families are out of the house 🥴

okay listen, as a college student who still lives with her parents, this is a major topic of interest. we have what we call our home hoes, and gray is definitely yours.

You weren’t that close in high school, but you ran in similar friend groups. Every so often you’d be at a hang out together, nothing crazy. But it all begins one NYE, when all your friends have been at college for a semester and have gone a bit crazier than the occasional svedka shot you were all once familiar with.

Ever since that first night you slept together, you were each other’s home hoes. Now, this is technically not how home hoes work because there is supposed to be a selection to work with, but you and Gray honestly didn’t have any interest in fucking anyone. Not when you lived across the street from one another.

And it was getting easier now that your parents had started to trust you more. They were taking more weekend vacations to the mountains, or the beach, or wherever the fuck they’d go. They knew you wouldn’t be throwing any crazy parties and your siblings all had their own lives, too.

That’s why you and Gray started seeing each other more and more whenever you were home. It was easy logistically, and he met all of your criteria: he respected you, he was hot as fuck, and he could make you cum. Hard.

Which is what got you fucking antsy right now. He said he’d be over in five fifteen minutes ago. You were literally pacing your kitchen, watching his house from the window. You could see lights on, but no Grayson walking over here.

A whole twenty minutes later is when you finally see his shadow crossing his driveway, running across the street and up to your door. He’s about to knock when you swing the door open, your brow raised.

“Sorry, Mom asked what you needed so late. And then she got distracted and was telling me about how I need to do a bunch of shit tomorrow.” He steps right past you, taking his shoes off as you watch.

“You told your mom you were coming here?”

“Yeah, I mean she saw me trying to walk out the door at 11:30 at night.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“Thought we weren’t telling our parents about anything.” You cross your arms, watching him slide his jacket off.

“She thinks I’m here because your fucking sink is flooding, I don’t think she’ll ask any questions other than about your plumbing.”

You roll your eyes but feel your shoulders relax, knowing he gave her an excuse that could take some time.

“Now are you gonna let me inspect your plumbing? Or...” He’s got a shit eating grin on his face as he approaches you and finally takes in your attire for the first time. A tight tank top with (obviously) no bra, and booty shorts that he can also almost positively say are directly against your skin with nothing in between.

You scoff, your hands resting on his shoulders as he starts to guide you back towards your bedroom. “My plumbing? You really are starting to sound like a fucking 40 year old dad.”

“Wow, someones got a fucking attitude tonight. Guess I’m gonna have to fix that along with the sink.” He does his best to keep a straight face, but fails. He never fails to crack himself up, even if no one else is laughing.

You do your best to keep your own neutral look, your lips barely curling up for a second before you sit on your bed, looking up at him.

“What, guys at school not doing it for you know? Have I ruined it?” You can tell he’s trying to tease you, but he also wants a bit of an ego boost. Unfortunately, he knows he’s the best you’ve had before because you let it slip one time after he’d fucked you at the lake nearby. He never let you live it down.

And it’s kind of true, he has ruined it. You’ve slept with a handful of guys since you started fucking Grayson, and none of them have lived up to the way he can do it. Hell, none of them could even make you finish.

“Are you gonna fuck me or are you going to fix the fucking sink?”

You couldn’t see his reaction to your words because he was slipping his shirt over his head, but you knew he probably rolled his eyes.

“You really are a brat sometimes, anyone ever told you that?”

He doesn’t give you the chance to respond, however, because he's got a hand on your throat as he kisses you, pushing you back against the bed while doing so.

You moan into his mouth as soon as you feel his tongue against your, relishing in the way he tasted, the way he felt. Sometimes it felt like he could knock the wind out of you when he kissed you if he really wanted to.

All to soon his lips were leaving yours to drag along your jawline and down to your neck. There, he was able to begin sucking on the skin, his teeth grazing over you every so often. His hips were pressed hard against yours, your legs still hanging off the edge of the bed as he stood between them. His knees rested on the mattress right below your center, and he used the leverage he had on you push your body harder into the bed by your throat when you let out a moan.

“Who’s home?”

“No one, they’re all out with friends,” you assure him in reference to your siblings. Although it was never ideal to fuck him while they were there, sometimes you really couldn’t resist. Was better than with your parents home.

He lets out a grunt of approval, licking over what you assumed was a blossoming red spot on your neck before lifting his head to look at you.

“Gonna fuck the attitude outa you, then.”

The conviction in his voice made you realize how serious he was, and it went straight to your core.

“Bet you’re dying for it, too,” he chuckles, and before you know what's happening he’s letting go of your throat to take your shirt off.

You decide not to respond, wanting him to find out for himself when he gets your completely naked. You were never one to spoil a surprise.

He takes a moment to look over your chest, appreciating the swell of your breasts and the way they moved as you took in every breath. He’s sworn you have the best tits in the world, and although you don’t agree, you appreciate the sentiment. In moments like these, you really felt like he believed it.

He didn’t actually do anything with them, though, because he couldn’t wait to get in your pants. Hell, you’d both been teasing each other for an hour before he agreed to come over and fuck you, and you were both getting desperate at this point. So he made quick work of your bottoms and found his earlier assumption to be true, and thank god. He didn’t know what he would have done if there was going to be another barrier between him and your pussy.

He groans as he stands fully in front of you, grabbing your knees to lift them, your feet resting on the edge of your bed and your legs spread wide.

“Knew you were dying for my cock.” His lip is between his teeth as he eyes your dripping cunt that’s on full display for him.

“You caused the problem, now you have to fix it,” you whine, your patience wearing thin. After all, he was the one who fucking texted you when he saw your parents leave earlier in the day. And now he wanted to play games?

“Oh, babe, this is not a problem.” He drops his pants to the ground, running his hands down your thighs once he’s completely naked between your legs again.

“Come on Gray.” You know you sound desperate, and you hate it, but you can’t stand the ache between your legs. He’d been working you up too long, then making you wait almost a half hour for it. You question if his mom had ever even stopped him, or if he was just trying to get to you.

“You’re lucky I like when you beg, or else I’d be much fucking meaner.” He leans over you again and you can feel the skin of his thighs on your ass. You use the leverage of his legs there to lift your hips up, a pout on your lips.

He merely rolls his eyes, one hand resting by your head while the other came around your throat again. “Fucking brat.” You just smile at him because now you can finally feel his dick against you and it made your whole body tingle with excitement. “Well put my dick in if you’re so needy for it.”

You happily oblige, bringing a hand down to grab the base before pumping him a few times. His eyes fall closed at the feeling and you know if you keep doing this he’ll get more annoyed and tease you, so you decide to do as he says and guide his red, throbbing tip to your entrance. He was just as ready for this as you were.

Without warning, he slides completely into you until you could feel the hair above his cock against your clit. Your eyes roll back at the overwhelming pleasure of finally feeling full from him as his hand tightens on the side of your neck.

“Missed this pussy, fuck,” he admits.

“Missed your dick,” you huff.

“Can feel that,” he whimpers as you clench around him purposefully, willing him to move.

It works because he’s moving in and out fo you quickly and suddenly, shaking your whole bed with the force of his thrusts. You moan out loudly, pleasure shooting through your body from your center as he grunts above you.

Your breathing was harsh as your brain fogged up, every intake of air slightly restricted due to his hand. The blood that was trying to rush to your head from how good you felt was slowed by his grip and it was making you feel like you were on cloud nine.

“Grayson,” you moan, unable to hold back the filthy noises bubbling up from your throat. All you could hear was your own breathing, Grayson’s grunts, and the sound of your wetness from every thrust in and out of you.

“Can’t believe you give me attitude when I fuck you this good.”

You want to retaliate, but can’t find it within you as he changes the angle of his hips to grind into your better. He quickly is rubbing your walls in a way that makes your toes curl, your chest flushing red from how powerful the feeling is.

“That it? That the spot, babe?” His tone is cocky, and as much as you’d like to me annoyed by it, it’s so hot when he’s confident like that.

You nod the best you can with his fingers just under your chin, your eyes opening when he gives you a tight squeeze. He raising his brow, waiting to hear a verbal response.

“Yes oh my god, right there.” Your voice is hoarse as your mouth falls open, your hands going to his middle back to try and ground yourself a bit.

“Gonna let me see you cum?” He already knows the answer to his questions, but he likes to hear you say it. He brings his free hand to your clit, rubbing quick circles there.

“Yes holy shit,” you whine, your hips lifting to meet his thrusts as he continues to thrust, his hips stuttering at your new movement. He was close, too, you could tell.

He brings his face closer to yours, his fingers moving from under your jaw to hold your cheeks, keeping your mouth wide open. You watch him pucker his lips, his brow raising as if he’s daring you to stop him.

You stick your tongue out instead, and he groans. Soon enough he’s gathering his spit at the front of his mouth, letting it fall into you waiting one. As soon as you feel it touch your tongue you moan and you think it’s borderline pornographic.

You bring your tongue back into your mouth and he moves his hand back to your throat so you can close your mouth and swallow. He feels your throat constrict under his touch and can’t help the profanities that fall from his lips.

“Gonna cum Gray, please let me cum,” you beg, your orgasm fast approaching from all the ways he’s managed to make you feel good tonight.

“Yes baby, give it to me.”

That’s all you needed to hear, your orgasm ripping through you as you arch your back into him. Your thighs cramp from how tense your body is, but you can barely pay attention to it because this is one of the best orgasms he’s ever given you. You clench around his cock as you slowly start to come down, your breathing heavy as your thoughts are flooded with pleasure and bliss.

You hear him curse above you and much to your dissatisfaction, he pulls out of you, pumping his dick until his hot cum shoots across your abdomen. He stands as he finishes cumming, one hand resting on your knee as the other still holds the base of his cock.

“Glad I could help with the leaky faucet.”

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Weak ~ S.R. (part 3)(final)

A/n: Kind fo struggled to find an ending to this that I liked, so I hope you guys liked it. Side note: I was inspired by “Easy” by Camila Cabello for this part :)

Word Count: 8600+

MASTERLIST

We fall for that. Wake up, we fall again. We fall for that. Can't wait to fall again- One sip, bad for me; One hit, bad for me; One kiss, bad for me, but I give in so easily. And no thank you is how it should've gone, I should stay strong- But I'm weak, and what's wrong with that? 

It took almost an entire month before Y/n really came to terms with having actual feelings for Spencer. With a lot of help from Michael and some stern words from Hotch when she'd begun to give Spencer the cold shoulder, she'd finally sat down and really thought about it.

I mean, who wouldn't fall head over heels for Spencer Reid, am I right? He was a total dork and had the prettiest smile she'd ever seen. He also had a huge heart and when he looked at her from across the room with the look of some kicked puppy, she still couldn't help but notice how beautiful he was with even that look on his face. Not to mention how kind and considerate he was. He even tried to save people everyone else rightfully hated, because every life that kept living was a victory to him. He shut himself down and kept himself in check as not to annoy others. Y/n was the only one who willingly listened to him, and he'd been slipping recently because he didn't have her to talk to anymore. He was just a really great person... and also really, really attractive like fucking hell dial it back just a TAD for the sake of a single woman with a weak heart.

When she could finally think about it without freaking out because of her past, she approached him again. "Hey." Her voice was soft, heavy with guilt.

He was surprised when he looked up and saw her. He stood, then stepped back to try and play it off like he hadn't been incredibly eager. "H-hi." His eyebrows came together as if in the world's smallest cringe and Y/n couldn't help but smile at the adorable awkwardness.

"I, uh." Her smile wavered as she remembered why she was here. "I'm really sorry, Reid." He frowned deeply at her use of his last name so she gave in a little. "Spencer." His shoulders lifted a little. "I've kind of had a lot of thoughts up in this little noggin of mine and unfortunately my brain works slower than average so it took me some time to figure it out." She shook her head. "I'm sorry it's made it so weird between us. I hope we can still be friends?" That's not what she really wanted, but she knew that what she REALLY wanted would be forever out of her reach. Spencer would never return her feelings. She didn't deserve it. Maybe her feelings now were healthy, but back then... no. What she had said and done and thought all those years ago was inexcusable. She couldn't have a relationship like wanted to with him with a such a secret between them, and she would NEVER tell anyone about it. It was in the past, it didn't matter. Just like her real feelings for the boy wonder in front of her now.

"Of course." He seemed relieved by her words. "Did I... do something to upset you?"

She smiled. Of course he'd think it was his fault. "Never," she reassured. "I... upset myself." That was as close to the truth as she could get.

It only confused him more though. "Are you okay?"

"Please," she begged softly. "I- it won't happen again. Can we please just forget about it?" Her eyes were wide and earnest. "I promise none of us were in any danger. You just-" She sighed. She hated the thought that he might worry enough to go digging, because with his resources he might find out. "You remind me of someone in my past," she worded carefully. "Someone I hurt. And- he didn't know I hurt him, but I did. And sometimes when I look at you, I remember that version of myself and it's... difficult. But I've come to terms with it for real now, and accepted that I'm a different person now. It was years ago and I'm better, you know? So it's really happy news and nothing you need to worry about. I promise."

He seemed to calm down for real at my reassurance. "Okay," he promised. "But if you need anything-"

"I'll come to you first," Y/n declared. "Well." She got a coy smile on her face. "Second. I have an old friend who was there during the whole thing. Who helped me through it. So he might be a tad better at helping, but with his experience and your incredible mind, I'm absolutely sure that if anything comes up it won't even be an issue."

He looked a little sad. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you." He hesitated, so Y/n didn't say something in case he wanted to share something personal as she had. Now that she was sure that her old habits were long dead, she no longer felt worried about getting close to him. It was incredibly refreshing. As she'd thought, he did speak again, pulling out her thoughts so she could focus on him. "I feel like I should be able to do more for my friends. I'm trained to do this as a career, but when it comes to people I care about rather than some murderous psycho, I end up being pretty useless."

She's taken aback by his bluntness. "Are you serious?" He shrugged and she reached up to grab either side of his ace with both of her hands. He seemed surprised by the contact, but didn't pull away. He seemed even more shocked by the fact SHE hadn't pulled away from HIM. "Pen, you're like literally the smartest person I've ever met. Everyone considers you a genius, and you've earned that title time and time again- so much that it drives people crazy sometimes." They both chuckled. "Just because you're smart doesn't mean you're a mind reader though. Be nicer to yourself. Please. You deserve it."

He relaxed at her words and only then did he realize her thumb was grazing his jaw tenderly. She slowly removed her hands. He seemed like he wanted to stop her but he didn't, and she felt her stomach light on fire. "Thank you." The words were soft and warmed Y/n to her core.

Y/n shrugged. "Besides, 'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.' You're gonna miss things you don't want to be there. I've been the type of person people ignore when I'm upset since I'm usually pretty upbeat and get over things quickly anyway."

Spencer seemed to glitch. "What did you say?"

A blush swallowed Y/n's face as she winced back in shame. "I don't mean to blame you, I just mean that it's okay, because I'm used to handling it on my own and-"

"No," he dismissed. "The thing about observing obvious things."

It was then that she became cautious. "It's a quote from a book I read a few years ago. One of the few things I made myself remember and internalize. It made me feel better about how I... got into some tricky situations, before I learned and taught myself better and stuff."

His expression brightened. "You've read The Narrative of John Smith?"

She tried not to think about how she'd read it because she'd watched him carry around the book for months. How it had rested on the dashboard of his car and it had made her curious since he blew through books so quickly and never held onto one for long. She tried not to think about how she had gotten it to feel closer to him, reading it slowly and writing down things that she thought were neat. How Michael used those exact words she'd cherished to help counsel her in a way that got through to her in the beginning when she was drowning in guilt. "Yeah," was all she said, even as so many more thoughts raced through her mind.

"That's so wild." He seemed to catch his breath. "I've been meaning to get a copy of my own. I keep borrowing it from the library and returning it too late. It's one of my favorite books."

"No way." She laughed, trying to make it sound casual. "I still have my copy, if you want it."

The idea of reading it again seemed to excite him, making Y/n relax. "I'd love to borrow it. I have to say, I can be a little... hard on books. I have a lot of love to give them."

The joke made her relax completely, her worries rolling off her shoulder. She was a new person, living a new life that was so much better than she'd ever dreamed. "You can actually have it," she told him. "Honestly, it's kind of a reminder of some things that I don't want to remember, and I haven't read it in a long time and probably won't ever again."

"Really?"

"Really," she promised enthusiastically.

He thought for a second then that glimmer in his eyes shone, just like it always did when he got an idea. "What if I read it to you? We could make new memories. Unless you don't like the book."

Y/n laughed. "It was a little hard for me to swallow, but with someone like you to help me if I ask some questions here and there..."

"Oh absolutely," he agreed.

"Then sure." He cheered and she laughed and then Hotch called their names because they had a new case. Both of them went into the meeting beaming.

-

"Did you bring it today?" It had been six whole cases where every day Spencer would ask her the same thing, and every time she had to disappoint him because she came to work very early in the morning and returned very late at night and she always forgot it.

Not today though.

Her parted, upturned lips gave her away and Spencer jerked in excitement. "First," she began, holding up a finger as she reached into her bag. "To make up for taking ages to finally get it to you." She extended a small bag of Sour Skittles. He seemed to do that physical stutter like he always did when he was so surprised by something it was like a human glitch, eyes on the Skittles like they were going to jump out and bite his hand. "Since it took me over two months to get it to you," she said quietly. Why did he look like she was holding out a dead dog rather than a bag of candy? Then she thought about how the very first gift she'd ever given him was this exact treat. She panicked for a second. Did he know that it was a stalker after all that had given him the gift? Did he expect it to be her? Had he stopped liking this candy because of her selfish recklessness all those years ago? Oh god. "I didn't know what you liked, but they're my favorite," she rushed awkwardly, pulling her hand away. "I' sorry I didn't mean to upset you."

He caught her wrist and she looked into his eyes, ready to see accusation and anger when she did. Instead, she saw guilt. Guilt? What did he have to be sorry for? "No, I love it. Very thoughtful. I'm so sorry, I just-" He swallowed. "I haven't liked them for a while. But," and he snatched them from her hand, pointing back to her bag. She slowly took out the book and he grabbed that too. "Like I said. Here's to new beginnings. New memories with things that were once ruined but didn't deserve it." Right there he opened the bag and popped a few in his mouth. His eyes watched her as he chewed and his body seemed to relax. He then rolled up the bag so none would spill. "Maybe after work today we can meet at my place and I can read to you and we can share them together?"

His place. "I... What about my place?" He made an odd expression and she returned a sheepish one. "I'm weird about other people's places." This was absolutely true. After she'd developed her obsession with Spencer, she got nervous being too intimate with other people, in case it shifted to them instead. "Until I'm super comfortable with them. It's kind of weird, I'm sorry."

"No, I get it." And he seemed to, though it was obvious he understood the feeling rather than the context. "Your place."

Y/n went to confirm, but then Hotch came out, the look on his face that meant they had a case. "As much as I'd hate to interrupt your date," he told Reid and Y/n - both who went beet red, making the rest of the team smirk - before holding up the case file. "We have a case. You guys can do it on the plane though, or in the hotel once we get there." At our surprise, he explained further. "We're headed to Alaska, and the storms are going to be very bad this time of year. There won't be much time to call each other, so Garcia will be coming with us as well. Because of the constantly bad weather, the electronics aren't very advanced so we'll need Y/n as well to help Garcia sift through footage and get information as much as possible. Getting information on this case might need more people talking than we have time for, so Y/n will be needed in quite a few places."

Suddenly Y/n was very excited.

She was going out into the field.

Boy, oh boy I love it when I fall for that. I'm weak, and what's wrong with that? Boy, oh boy I love ya when I fall for that. I'm weak- Go! But I'm weak, and what's wrong with that?

Y/n was relieved that after all the hard to swallow cases, the team was finally getting reprieve from a case that was unwinding pretty quickly. Not quickly enough. Never quickly enough, as two more women turned up dead before they had a suspect who seemed to have a third lined up for her grave the next day if they didn’t do something about it.

So, they did something about it. They were working with a team, who had split up to do different things. The woman cleaned the mess left from the torture, and the man finished off the victim in her grave before leaving her body there to be found later by police. Morgan and Prentiss were going after the man, and Spencer and Y/n were supposed to infiltrate the house and hack the computer for information on where the woman was keeping the victims, since it obviously wasn’t at home. Once they did, they’d send word to Hotch and Rossi and they’d take care of the rest.

It all went wrong pretty quickly.

First of all, Spencer hadn’t the book they’d been reading together on the dashboard. It shouldn’t have been a problem, since they’d reading it together every night to unwind before bed. To distract themselves so they could actually get some sleep. Or, Spencer had been reading it to Y/n. The memory was a good one, and had been getting increasingly better. Now that Y/n had come to terms with her feelings, she felt herself easily falling into a closeness with Spencer that left them growing very close. Physically even. They were very touchy and hovered around each other. Even with Spencer’s hesitance to touch people because of his germaphobia, or Y/n’s hesitance to share bits of herself that might reveal her past. The little goodness between them amidst all the bad things was a breath of fresh air for everyone. Not even Hotch had the heart to break them apart - especially when they both deserved to be happy, and why not together?

Even now they were smiling at each other, taking comfort in each other’s presence. Y/n was nervous to be on the field, wearing a bullet proof vest just in case even though no one should have been there. With the skills she’d picked up from Garcia even in the short time she’d had and Spencer’s never failing intelligence, it was going to be an easy in and out mission. No worry.

The book shattered everything.

Or, at least, what was inside of it.

It dropped on the ground of the car and Spencer reached inside to grab it really fast and put it back on the dash. As he did so, something fell out of the later pages much further into the book. Further than where they’d gotten with Y/n’s constant questions and wanting to understand. Something that Spencer had though adorable then, but was now tainted by the thing he held in his hand.

When he didn’t move, Y/n moved over to him. “Pen? What’s wrong?” She’d begun to use the name naturally instead of his title or even first name like everyone else. Usually it made him smile, but now it made him flinch. She reached out for him and he jerked away. “Spencer?” It wasn’t how she’d referred to him in a while. It seemed to upset him even more.

The thin thing spun around in Spencer’s thin fingers so that Y/n could see the other side. When she did, her heart stopped dead in her chest. “What’s this?” Spencer demanded.

In that moment, Y/n was that same scared girl she’d been when Spencer had walked into her precinct with his team for the very first time and all she could think about was how much she didn’t want her past to come back and eat her alive and ruin her life. Because now, staring at her, was Spencer. Or, a picture of him. An extremely old picture of him. A picture that was now six years old, of a Spencer with slicked back hair and vests and glasses, looking at JJ with a huge smile on his face. It was one of the intimate photos Y/n had taken when-

“I burned all of those.” She took a step back, but the movement might as well have been a slap across Spencer’s face for how he flinched.

“You had more?” This time he looked less shocked and more angry.

Y/n tried to find some words. “Had,” she stressed, trying to come up with something. “I- not anymore, not for a long time.”

She could see the gears in his brain turning, but it didn’t seem to be much work to put the puzzle that he was trying to solve together. She thought of all the things that gave her away. The book that was one of his favorites that she just happened to have. The candy she had given him. The shame she’d been carrying with her so long, that had driven them apart even when they shared the same working space. The picture in his hand now that was from a time Y/n was not in his life. A time she should have no record of. And yet she did, and he was holding it out to her as proof.

“It was you?” His words sounded sharp and accusing. She had never heard Spencer y’all like that before.

She tried to explain. Explain how much she’d gotten better and how far she’d come since then. But the words got stuck in her throat. She deserved this. She couldn’t get that thought out of her head. She deserved this. “Spencer-“

“My name is Dr. Reid and I’m a federal agent so you better answer my fucking question.”

Her vision blurred with tears. “Yes,” she whispered. The word held so much pain and regret that Reid stepped away, looking to where there was no trace of her. It hit her then. Slipping the picture in the book as a bookmark all those years ago. It was the only time she’d ever taken a picture out of the box. She’d used it as inspiration to get through the book. Every time she set a goal, she’d save it with the picture and her prize was seeing his smile again. After she’d finished the book, she’d forgotten she’d left the picture in it.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER?!

“You let me become your friend.”

A bubbling sob broke from the back of her throat. “I tried not to,” she begged him to understand. “I tried everything, but it was one thing after another and suddenly I have all these REAL feelings for you and-“ She hissed when his eyes shot back to her, hitting her like he’d hit her with his car. “Reid that was YEARS ago. I’m a totally different person now-“

“This isn’t years ago for me,” Reid snapped, his eyes wide as his mind began to reel.

Y/n looked away. She closed her eyes, feeling her heart drop into her toes. “We have to find out where the next victim is or she’s going to die. Can we talk about this later?”

“I can’t LOOK at you right now let alone with you.” He seemed panicked and Y/n flinched, recoiling. “Are you stalking everyone then?”

“I’m not stalking anyone,” Y/n defended weakly. “Stalked. Past tense.”

“Was it only me?” Spencer demanded.

The question seemed odd. “Yes?” That seemed to trouble him more. She couldn’t take it anymore though. She grabbed her pants to ground herself, turning away from him. “Let’s split up then. I’m not letting work drama cost this girl her life.” She steeled herself, wiped her tears, and then began moving inside from the back door, leaving the front door for Reid. “Just stay here.” He didn’t say anything, just stayed still and letting her go.

She slipped inside, making her way to the computer. She called Garcia as she’d been told to. “Hey G.” She frowned at the name. Did she have to leave the BAU now? If he couldn’t look at her or function, how could she stay? This might be her dream job but this was and had been his life for ages. She couldn’t take that away. No, she’d leave.

But that was later.

This was now.

She had this case to finish before anything else happened.

Garcia asked Y/n about the sniffling but Y/n brushed it off- no reason to get into why she’d been crying. And the case was more important now. Between hiding her own pain and trying to focus on hacking and finding this woman who was waiting to be saved, Y/n didn’t see the woman creep into the woman. The woman, who was one half of the unsub team, who was hefting a metal skillet in one hand and a knife in the other.

“Where’s Spencer?” Garcia asked suddenly. “He should be helping you with this.”

“Outside,” Y/n asked casually.

“What?” Garcia snapped.

Y/n didn’t get the chance to throw a response back though. A knife plunged into her gut and her mind went blank as pain erupted through her like she’d never experienced before. By some luck she knocked the skillet out of the woman’s hand, the chair falling back and the knife slipping out of her gut as she fell.

The unsub sat on Y/n’s chest, hefting the knife over her head, a grin on her face. The woman grabbed Y/n’s phone, leaving close to it. “Any last words?” She purred.

Garcia gasped. “DON’T-!”

The woman closed the phone. “Begging,” she groaned, rolling her eyes. “What a fucking waste of time.” Then she stabbed Y/n again, cutting off a scream that escaped her by some serious luck.

The thought that she was going to die here passed through Y/n’s mind as the knife left her again and she groaned, blinking as her vision began to swim. The pain was all consuming and suddenly she was fading out as the knife buried itself higher in her stomach for a third time. Only one thing left her lips. “I deserve this.”

The woman grinned even wider. “Do yourself a favor and pass out, Dearie. After you I’ll be done. That completes the cycle.”

Y/n didn’t know what the woman meant, but she gave in to the pain anyway. The last thing was her blood on the knife and the woman’s hand as she hefted it over her head to bring it down on Y/n a fourth time. The last thought she had was that she was going to die worse than alone. She was going to die at the hands of a psycho with a knife, in pain and on the floor. Her story would be told by Spencer, who didn’t understand her struggle or how far she had come. It was all over and she’d be remembered as the creepy bitch who’d stalked Spencer Reid years ago and then been unlucky enough to end up actually falling in love with him.

Splendid.

-

It was quiet in the room outside of where Y/b was still unconscious in the hospital bed. When Garcia had called Reid in a panic he had run inside, because stalker or not Y/n was part of his team and he wasn’t going to let her die just because he felt a little disturbed.

The truth was that he was actually torn in a lot of directions at the moment. Knowing that there had been two stalkers, or maybe one after the other, was an unsettling thought. If Y/n had just been watching Spencer, there was still a stalker out there watching all of them, and no way would they not be jealous of how Y/n had been successful in getting close, if they knew about it at all.

There was also the fact that Spencer had fallen really hard for Y/n. He had some very strong feelings for her, but low every memory and feeling seemed to be tainted by the image of Y/n sitting in her car outside his house, or looking over him as he slept. How long ago had she stopped? Why had she stopped? How far had she gotten with stalking him? How long had she been doing it before she stopped? He thought of the day he walked out to those Skittles on his car and his heart had completely stopped as all the stalker cases filled his head in one go, as they did now. So many more cases now though, and much more fear.

What did she know that he didn’t know she knew? That she’d learned from watching him without him knowing?

When he apprehended to woman unsub and called an ambulance for Y/n, they’d all ended up in the hospital as they too often did with cases that went just a little wrong. Hotch had wrung the story out of him and now everyone was here and had heard the full story, especially his explanation of why he let Y/n go in alone.

Eyes slowly moved to Spencer, but he couldn’t handle it. He left, making up some reason about wrapping up the case and telling the local police they’d succeeded and such to get back to the precinct and to a computer.

It took him an hour to find Michael Bills. He was Y/n’s therapist. Spencer had dug deep into Y/n to get answers to his questions. Answers he couldn’t wait to get when she woke up, because he needed them right now. She had done everything to keep Michael and her past buried, but with help from Garcia he’d been able to dig it all up.

He called Michael the second he found the connection. “This is Dr. Bills speaking, how can I-“

“Tell me what you know about Y/n,” Spencer demanded. “Please,” he added shortly as an afterthought. This man had known. He had KNOWN and he just, what, didn’t say anything? Let Y/n keep going? Let her work with Spencer?! He was in town, how did he not stop her, knowing what she did?

There was a soft sigh. “Is this Dr. Spencer Reid then?”

He didn’t seem surprised. It agitated Spencer. How much did this man know about him to be able to read the situation and put it all together so quickly? “Yes,” he finally answered.

Michael hesitated. “What do you want to know?”

“You’re just going to tell me?” Spencer asked, eyebrows knitting together. “What about Doctor-Patient confidentiality?”

A pause. “Y/n would want me to tell you. I’d rather it be me anyway. If she did it she’d be too hard on herself and no one else was there.”

“Too hard on herself?” Spencer snapped.

Another pause. “Dr. Reid, talking as a professional, Y/n was a very strange case. She came in tears, begging me to make sense of her mental state and help her get better. Told me first session that she was stalking an FBI agent and that she felt terrible for doing it but she was in too deep to stop herself. She cane to me for help, a total mess, and did every single thing I told her to do. Worked with me and was open and honest when something didn’t work. She worked two whole years to shake you from her mind and make a better life for herself. I was there when she burned the pictures. I was there when she threw away her camera and emptied her apartment of everything she could find that reminded her of you.”

“Not everything.” He was trying to find something she was still guilty of. It seemed it had been over ages ago. “She still had my favorite book. One of her pictures inside it.”

Michael hummed, considering that. “She probably missed it. Dismissed it later, as it was just a book. I... look, Dr. Reid, I can only speculate as far as that but I can tell you from first hand experience she did a 180. Coming from someone who wanted to turn her in because I didn’t want to get involved with a federal agent and his stalker, I tell you now with full confidence that Y/n is absolutely everything. Her job. Her friends. Her time. Her sanity and peace of mind. Her self respect. Coming to terms with being a creep was hard for her to do, and she still holds herself accountable for that.”

“Why did she become friends with me?” He had to know. He was desperate. He needed something to be angry at her about. How could he hold something that had ended SIX YEARS AGO over her head now? She’d saved Spencer’s life more times than she’d put it in danger. “And- and how far did she get? Does she know where I live? Did she come into my house?”

“No,” Michael rushed. “It- well this won’t be funny to you, but we used to joke that even when she was crazy she still had enough sense to draw a line. She... never followed you home. It was something she was proud of.” S long silence between the two men. “Honestly Dr. Reid, I’m going to tell you what I told her. Years ago she had an obsession with a boy she had a crush on. A fantasy where you were the center. But she broke that herself and cleaned herself up, allowing a space for you two to genuinely form a relationship. I think whatever she’s feeling now? The relationship you guys have? I think it’s genuine, and totally safe and real. I think she is as far from crazy as one can get. She pulled HERSELF away from stalking. She’d been done a year before we even started working together. Have you ever seen anyone do that?”

Spencer had to admit, he hadn’t. He also had to admit that... he had nothing to be mad at her about. I mean he did, but he was six years too late to lord this over her. She didn’t deserve to have all her hard work ignored and years erased. She didn’t deserve to have the lowest she’d ever been - the worst thing she’d ever done - shoved in her face and down her throat. She was kind and good and caring. She deserved someone who gave her the time of day and respected the shit she went through to make a real life for herself. Who recognized all she’d done to leave behind a destructive path and end up working for the FBI in the BAU, practicing to be an agent and save lives and stop people like who she’d almost become.

Spencer rubbed their bridge of his nose, sighing. “Thank you.”

He could hear the smile in Michael’s voice when the man spoke again. “My pleasure.”

Spencer ended the call, standing up from his desk. He had even lore to explain to his team, and when Y/n woke up... they had even more to talk about.

Boy oh boy I love it when I fall for that.

Y/n didn't know what people usually dreamed about when they went into a coma, but she really hoped it wasn't anything like this. She had no idea how long she'd been out, but in her little mind palace it seemed she'd been here for eons. She remembered a time before here but it was almost like a dream, or at best a story she read when she was a child. She HAD been a child after all, even though she couldn't remember it. All she could remember was here and now, sitting in the dark of nighttime in this field, fingers every so often wrapping around the grass to feel it before letting it go and going completely still before doing it again after a while. It was silent here. No wind or night animals. Just the moon and stars and the dark, tall blobs in the corners of her vision that she assumed were trees. Or some monster that was waiting to kill her. Either way she didn't have any fear for it. Monsters weren't real after all, right? She'd been sure of that once. Now she wasn't so sure though. Monsters didn't have horns and claws and fangs like she thought, but they were just as real. She saw one every time she looked in the mirror.

Is that why she was here? Was it a punishment for everything she'd done? Had it been so wrong that she had been trapped here in this eternal nighttime, unable to move as she looked at the stars and wondered when something would happen? Nothing did happen though. She just sat there in the dark, alone. At least the air wasn't too cold and the ground was comfortable.

Hold on that wasn't right. She wasn't a monster. She'd seen monsters. She'd seen the blood on their hands, and the hunger for more of it in their eyes. She had seen the pile of bodies and the tension in bodies that would never truly leave, even if they did survive. She'd seen people get murdered live and watched as people other than just the monster with its fingers around her neck got off on it like it was some kind of porn. She'd seen a monster have sex with its girlfriend in the places it killed other women. She'd seen people murder those they loved most because they thought it would help increase their luck. She'd seen fantasies so thick and twisted that it didn't even make sense to those with normal minds. Those like her who knew when a line had been crossed.

She wasn't like those people. She had been headed down that path, changing into one of them, but she had stopped herself. She'd never be able to cover all the scars from the healing it had taken to e herself again, but she was herself as much as she could be after flipping everything on its head and making it out for the better. Well, as herself as she could be without going back to old habits. Better than her original self, even.

She was a good person. She'd made mistakes, but she'd also made up for them god damnit. She'd sacrificed everything to make herself a person who made life better for others. She didn't deserve to be alone in a field, surrounded by maybe trees maybe monsters with no grasp on the past and therefore no acknowledgement of the future. She didn't deserve to sit in the dark with no good company, trying to make sense of the here-and-now foggy place her mind had been wedged.

It was that thought that pulled her out of it. Pulled away from the dark forest with the stars that began to disappear as shadowy figures stepped int he way of her seeing them. Pulled away from the sleep, jerking her awake, eyes shooting wide as her body spasmmed, hands wrapped tightly around her sheets. Tears were already streaming down her face and something was beeping sporadically. A burning pain ripped through her body and all she could see was the last thing that had been there before she'd been taken to that place that was nowhere and everywhere all at once. A hand gripped her arm and she screamed, her vision blurred by her tears.

"Y/n." That voice. She knew that voice. It cut through her panic, such a familiar sound with so much care and concern in it. A voice she never thought she'd hear again, let alone with those emotions in it. Her eyes focused as her gaze sought out the face she was so hoping to see. To her relief, her eyes locked with another pair, brown and large with concern and warm.

"Spencer?" She croaked out, leaning away in surprise.

The room grew still and quiet until Y/n's head cleared and slowly everything came back piece by piece. The room was full of who she guessed was now her ex-coworkers. People she saw once as family, but now knew probably hated her. No one could make eye contact with her except Spencer. They were too busy looking at him as he looked at her. Y/n felt her head fall as she looked at her lap in shame. She wanted to apologize. She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She wanted none of them to be there. Why didn't she just wake up alone?

When she went to pull her knees to her chest to hide her face, she winced, her hand shooting to her stomach. "Careful," a nearby doctor warned her. "You'll pull your stitches.

Then her mind cleared more, and she remembered the woman above her. The sick smile that twisted her face as the knife went in and out of Y/n again and again. Y/n closed her eyes, leaning back into bed and pulling the blanket over her head, groaning softly. Now that it seemed her freak out had passed, everyone was filing out of the room. Had they been outside waiting for her to wake up? Maybe they felt obligated since they had a relationship with her, even though they probably didn't want to anymore. Maybe they were just waiting to say goodbye and fire her.

Her mind began racing, filling with thoughts that made her chest hurt much more than her stomach did. When it went quiet outside and she thought she was alone, she began crying. She moved her hand against her mouth to muffle it, but allowed herself to let go and release the little sobs she'd been locking within. Her worst fear had come true. Her past mistakes had unearthed and were ruining her life once again. All the friendships she'd made. The job she so loved and was looking forward to becoming a bigger part in was being taken from her before she could even really start.

A hand skimmed her shoulder and she squeaked and jumped, moving her blanket down in surprise. To her horror, none other than Dr. Reid himself was sitting in the chair next to her bed, looking rather upset. He probably was listening to her self pity and loathing it. Loathing that she could feel bad for herself when he probably felt she deserved every injury she'd gotten. Did he hate her that much? Was everything so far ruined in such a short time? If she could go back in time she'd go back to the first day she saw him in that stupid coffee shop and strangle herself. How could she have been so stupid?

Self loathing like she'd not felt since she'd first realized how messed up she was began to rise up in her chest and consume her. Her chest restricted and her heart began to burn. Her throat closed and she found she couldn't breathe. "I-" She cut off, her eyebrows coming together as her face tensed as she struggled to breathe.

Spencer's concern grew. "Are you okay?"

Her hand rose to her chest, trying to massage it as if it was a tight muscle rather than a panic attack. She knew herself well enough to know that's what it was. She used to get these all the time, and still did occasionally. It started when she'd had a breakdown over her actions against Spencer and hadn't left her fully since. "I'm- fine," she managed, her face contorting further at the pain it caused her. "I-" She sucked in a breath and felt it get lodged in her throat.

"Panic attack," Spencer realized quietly.

"I'm-" But again it was cut off as she winced, shaking her head. She covered her face.

Spencer reached over, grabbing a pen off a nearby desk. It looked to be some sort of table, with food on top of it. It must have had wheels, because he pulled on it and it moved closer. He moved the food off, putting the desk in between them and setting the pen on top. "Can I show you something?" She looked over, feeling the urge to snap at him but holding it back because he didn't deserve that. Why didn't he just leave? "I can move this pen with my mind," he told her confidently. "Do you want to see?"

That caught her attention. "Uh-" But then she winced again.

He took that as a yes and stood up. He picked up the pen, holding it out for her to see. "Give me a second as I..." He rubbed it on his pants. "I have to charge it with static electricity. It makes the pen move better and connects it to my mind so I can move it better."

"So you move it with static electricity?" She asks quietly. Her words were a little breathless but came nonetheless.

He tried to hide a smile and failed. "No. I move it with my mind." She rolled her eyes and he chuckled. He placed it back on the table when he finished "charging" it and then pointed at it, sitting back down. "Now, watch this." She did just that, her eyes on the pen on the table and his finger as he pointed to it. His finger began to move forward and to her shock and wonder, the pen began to roll along with it. It went on and on until it fell off the end of the other side of the table, his hand dropping to catch it at the last second.

"Okay that was not some static electricity bullshit," Y/n accused, pointing her own finger but at him rather than at a pen on a table. "How did you do that?"

The grin on Spencer's face was contagious, pulling up Y/n's own lips. "A magician never reveals his secrets, you know that." She rolled her eyes and laughed and he relaxed. "You feel better?"

His words made her stop short. "You... Yeah." Her chest had loosened and her body had relaxed. There's wasn't any pain. She could breathe just fine. "How did you do that?"

"Distraction." That was an answer he could give her. "I took your focus away from what you were thinking and feeling and it allowed your body to move on more quickly."

Y/n was quiet for a few seconds. Long enough that the silence was noticeable and Spencer felt the urge to reach out and comfort Y/n when she looked away from him. "Why did you help me?"

He knew what the real questions behind that was and he sighed. "I talked to Michael." She looked up at him sharply. He was already looking back and their eyes locked. There was no judgement in his gaze and it surprised her. "I was... a little freaked out at first. The BAU has a stalker. One that's been following all of us and has been killing people to show that he knows our cases. Sending us gifts to let us know he's there. I thought you were..."

Y/n shook her head. "God no. I could never kill anyone, Spencer."

"I know." He offered a small smile. "Six years ago huh?"

A small groan came from Y/n. "I hate thinking about it." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And I don't expect you to forgive me, Spenc-" He cut off, shaking her head. "Dr. Reid. I don't expect you to trust me again either. And I especially don't expect you to work me considering you don't trust me, so I'm quitting."

Spencer jerked. "Y/n, this is your dream job. What you've always wanted."

She nodded. "I know that, but there are other things that people do. I don't expect people will hire me as an officer of any kind once this goes on my record, so I'll just have to do..." She shrugged, her face set as she glared at her hands. "Something else."

"You're an idiot." She looked over, confused, to see him smiling. "I know why you're doing this, and you're a total idiot." She didn't know what to say to that, so Spencer simply continued. "Did you know that a few years ago I was kidnapped during a case? I was drugged really badly. So much so that I got addicted while on it. Or maybe it was before when I found more of it once I was home and continued to use it. Either way, it got bad pretty fast. Hotch found out and told me that he would have to let me go if this continued. You can't give someone who's drugged a gun. I even... came to work once." He winced and Y/n felt her heart shatter in her chest. She knew what he was talking about. She remembered that span of time he seemed off. Distant and faded. She'd thought it had been the job getting to him. Maybe depression. Shed never imagined something like this. "If we were all judged by the worst things we'd ever done. Held accountable for mistakes we made years ago. If we were all judged based on the lowest points in our life, I wouldn't be here either." He reached forward, taking one of her hands between two of his. "I'd like you to stay. You add a very important piece to our team, and... I'd miss you. You're my friend, Y/n. No matter what you did over half a decade ago, YOU stopped it and got better. You didn't have to be stopped by someone else. You changed it made a better life for yourself and now we have a relationship that is very real and I don't have many of those." He looked at her and suddenly 'friendship' sounded different when he said it. "I'd like you to stay."

Well, how could she say no to that?

-

"So what's going on with you two?"

Y/n was half asleep, her head on Spencer's shoulder. After she'd gotten out of the hospital and returned to work her and Spencer had been inseparable. Now that the air was clear they could be honest with each other. They still weren't doing anything about the feelings they both seemed to have. Y/n was nervous to cross that line and Spencer wanted her to feel free to take things as slow as needed. He'd be lying if he didn't admit that he also needed time to come to terms with her past himself. They'd had a long talk about it, with Y/n telling him what she knew and how far she'd gone in stalking him. It had been a hard thing to hear, but most of the information was fuzzy for her to recall or outdated, so it didn't matter. Even more had been overlapped by what she'd learned naturally through their current friendship, so that helped. In return of his forgiveness, she'd gone on a rant of all the stupid things she did in high school - not something he'd asked her to do, but something she'd insisted on anyway. He'd been laughing so hard at the end of her most embarrassing high school moments that all had been forgiven and it didn't seem as weird anymore. Maybe he just had a higher tolerance than he should.

Now they were here, much closer and familiar with each other as well as much more open and honest. Y/n never pressured Spencer to tell her anything, sensing the line he'd silently drawn of her getting too much into his business. She chose to be quite open herself though. To the whole team, not just Spencer. The team thought there would have been more hesitance, but before Spencer knew about all of this and it had put a little chip into their relationships, he'd been pretty sure of much stronger feelings than friendship so it had progressed pretty quickly.

It didn't matter what either of them had done in the past. They were much more concerned with what they were doing it now, and making sure that they did as much of it as possible together.

Spencer chose to hum rather than shrug, in favor of not waking Y/n. "I like her. She likes me."

"And everything else?" It was Morgan asking. The man was always protective of Spencer, but Y/n had been his friend too and he felt the need to have her back as well. Of this whole thing went south it might end up REALLY ugly.

"It doesn't matter," Spencer decided. And then he let it go. And Y/n felt her own chest release, finally really setting all those old fears free. It just didn't matter anymore.

Morgan nodded though Y/n couldn't see that. "Cool."

And that was the end of it.

-

"I can't believe it's real," Y/n whispered softly. She had gone through school. She was graduated. She was a REAL member of the BAU now. Badge and gun and all. She thought of her younger self looking at that TV screen as she watched the news as a child, and how proud that little girl would be to see who she had grown up to be. Her eyes turned to her friends. "I did it."

Spencer moved forward first. "And now there's something I have to do." They hadn't been as close since Y/n had gone to school, but they still talked all they could and hung out around their schedules. The most they'd seen each other was between calls at work - but then it was mostly dead bodies talk and asking her to research people who might be killers, or at least connected to them. Now was one of the few times they'd been in person, and would be the first of many as she'd be following them on cases rather than staying behind with Garcia.

He took the pause of a moment to grab her face, pulling their lips together, and she let him. They'd made a deal to wait until she was graduated so that neither of them were distracted amidst all the very important things that required their attention more. Now they didn't have to wait anymore.

The rest of the team cheered and hooted and hollered but the kiss didn't last long. It wasn't a surprise, but it had been long awaited and even the chaste exchange was something to be celebrated.

"To the future?" Y/n offered quietly.

"To the future," Spencer agreed.

"As long as you guys aren't idiots on the field," Emily groaned. Her smile let them know she was joking though.

"No promises," Y/n responded easily, the two separating so she could sass her friends that had become family so quickly. "Especially to you." She smirked and the room erupted in laughter and acknowledgement of Y/n's jab at Emily.

Yeah, they were going to be just fine.

-

Tag List: @ajwantsapancake @urie-bowie-mercury

Spencer Readers: @realimbo

[star-birthmark]

Don’t Have Time: Mista x Fem Reader

To the anon that requested, “I hope this isn’t too complicated but would a red string of fate scenario with Mista be possible? Like one day there’s a sudden tug on the string and he follows it to find chubby fem reader at the end?”, we’re gonna chock this one up to me thinking I’m gonna make a small story, liking the request too much, and then making something that is longer than it should have been lol. This dumb and probably not what you asked for, but I think it’s funny so, hopefully you like it too. 

Anyway, Don’t Have Time: Mista x Fem Reader (2.2k words)

There is was. It was acting up again. Not now. Not in the middle of a mission. Holding the gun tighter, Guido Mista tried his damndest to ignore the tugging at his pinky finger, ready to pry his whole body away from his task.

Some people remain too skeptical to believe in the idea of soulmates. They marry someone for money, for status, or even for convenience. Matteo Mista, an older cousin of Guido, once stared down at Mista when he was just a little boy, his arm wrapped around his wife, a woman he’d known since elementary school, and proudly said that she wasn’t his soulmate. Guido remembered seeing the red string on both of their pinkies still intact.

When asked about it, Matteo muttered, “What do I care when she’s probably halfway across the world? I don’t have time for that, not when I’ve got Giuseppina by my side.”

The woman with him laughed at the loving words. The two of them divorced a month later. 

“I don’t have time for that.” Those words were what stuck with Mista about all else. He wondered how someone simply couldn’t have time to find the love of their life. Something so important. So intimate. 

That is until he felt the string begin to tug for himself. Then he understood not having enough time. 

The first time the red string at the tip of his finger tugged, Mista was in prison for his unjust murder charge. He remembered the day well. One moment he was sitting at his desk when all of a sudden, his body was jerked up by some mysterious force. Mista stood there, confused before his arm burst forward, and turned his whole body to face one of the walls. His erect finger traced a line from one end of the cell to another before flinging his entire body into the concrete wall, paining him. It was then he realized what was happening. 

You. You were nearby, near the prison, A nervous sweat washed over. Mista hadn’t expected you to live so near to him. He thought he’d be cursed to wander the Earth in search of you. But no. You were right there. And he couldn’t get out to see you. 

His heart crushed at the thought of being so close, yet so far, Mista sat back down once the pull of the string lessened. He closed his eyes, trying to picture what you looked like. 

On the other side, you got up from the sidewalk, groaning. The sudden tug of the string had caused you to trip and hit your head on the prison gate. You looked at your pinky, seeing the string taut and in the direction of the prison. Understanding the situation, you muttered to yourself a complaint. Just your luck, to end up with a criminal. 

One of the reasons Mista so eagerly followed Bruno Buccellati was because the man gave him his chance to find you. The man freed him from prison and gave him a new life as a sharpshooter. A new determination filled the now mafioso. You were close, and he just needed to wait for the string to tug again. 

But then he learned the true meaning of those words. He didn’t have enough time to look for you. 

The second time the string tugged, he was in the middle of a fierce stand battle. He and Abbacchio were out investigating, and an enemy gang member had intercepted one of their clues. Cornered in a busy street, Mista had to use all his focus not to hit any civilians. 

But then that damn string tugged. Mista was jerked to the side once more. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a nearby street lamp to steady himself. Looking around, he saw a sea of people, all walking their different paths, none towards him. 

Mista heard Abbacchio call out to him to help him take down the enemy, with Moody Blues struggling to keep his footing. The string tugged even harder; Mista had to make a choice. Gritting his teeth, he ran in the opposite direction as the universal pull. You were going to be safe, but he couldn’t let a friend die. The target was taken out, Mista noticing that the pulling of the string was gone as well. Damn, another chance lost. 

You had been pressed up against the wall of the taxi as you drove by that same street corner. Your soulmate was nearby, and you’d just missed him. 

We return to the present time. It was another mission, and Mista again felt that infernal tug. He stalked around the alleyway, alert for any sign of the enemy ahead. At the other end fo the string, you felt fate’s pull, waiting patiently in your seat at a cafe several streets over for your soulmate to approach. He hadn’t been ready to meet you the past two times, so you decided just to wait. In your mind, you had all the time in the world.  

Time kept passing. The enemy wasn’t showing, and Mista was getting antsy. He just wanted to end the mission and get to you. You, who were so slowly but surely getting impatient about all this. Where the hell was your soulmate?

A flash pasted Mista’s gaze, and he readied his pistol. However, the enemy managed to snake behind him, leaving Mista vulnerable. You kept tapping on the table, getting annoyed. 

The enemy stalked behind the unknowing mafioso, a dagger in his hand. A grin came to his face as he raised his arm, aimed at Mista’s head. 

“This is it. I’ll kill one of Buccellati‘s goons! Then he’ll know not to mess with my gang!” 

After another minute of waiting, with the damn string still pulling at your finger, you shot up from your chair, infuriated. 

“Alright, fuck this. Get your ass over here!” 

You grabbed the activated string, yanking Mista towards you, just as the man was about to kill him. The enemy missed, tumbling forward and losing his cover. “What the hell?!” 

His cover blown as well, Mista had to make a run for it before the man tried to kill him again. He’d regroup later, and there was no better direction he could have gone in than directly to his soulmate. Mista ran as fast as he could to get to you. He didn’t exactly know what to look for, but he had an angry mafioso twice his size on his heels, so he couldn’t stop for anything. He had called Narancia to come in for backup, but the idiot hadn’t shown up yet. 

The string was getting shorter and shorter, and you had started running towards your soulmate as well, excited to see what he looked like, who he was, what he was. The man still hot on his trails, Mista kept sprinting to you as his life depended on it. The guy was dodging all of Sex Pistols’ attacks, rendering his stand useless. The string was getting shorter and shorter. 

The two of you were pulled along, both of you running, in panic for one and jubilation for another. Neither of you was paying attention to where you were going. Mista swerved in and out of the streets, zooming past people, until finally, finally, he had come to you. Well, he had not exactly come to you, more fell into you. 

The moment he turned around to see if the man was following him, Mista collided into someone. He rushed to apologize, about to keep moving until he realized something. There was no tug anymore. He had just bumped into you, the one. Looking up from the ground, he saw your face for the first time, seeing you groan as you recovered from the collision. Guido Mista found himself speechless for a moment. You were beautiful. Everything he’s ever waited for. He saw your rounded face and couldn’t wait to see your smile. He eyed your soft, pillowy frame and couldn’t wait to hold you in his arms. Guido Mista’s heart beat fast in his chest, and not just because of the man chasing him. Oh right, the man chasing him. Mista was soon brought back down to Earth from cloud nine. 

You looked up at the man before you, immediately becoming lost in his void-like, black eyes. You felt your face heat up in a blush. 

“It’s you, isn’t it?” You asked, a small smile on your face.

Mista gulped nervously, standing up as straight as he could to make himself look tougher for you. “Yeah... I guess I am-W-wait a sec.”  

Mista turned around, seeing the man approaching at a fast pace. The mafioso turned back to you. Shit, you’ll be in danger if you’re spotted talking to him.

“Hey, listen, sweetheart, if you don’t mind. We gotta go.” 

“Go?” 

“Yeah. Like now!” With that, Mista grabbed your hand and began running, with you hurriedly running with him, confused. 

“What’s happening?!” 

“I’ll explain later!”

“B-but this isn’t how this is supposed to go! I don’t even know your name!”

“I’ll tell you later, babe! Come on!” 

The two of you kept running. Mista grunted, still looking around. Where the hell was Narancia?! Running out of options, Mista ducked into a small alley with you, you both now chest to chest in the tight space. Before you could ask any questions, Mista put a finger to his lips, telling you to keep quiet. You watched as he carefully pulled out a phone and called someone. 

“When the hell are you gonna get here?!” Mista whispered into the phone, spouting off a nearby street sign so Narancia would know where to go. The enemy was nearby. Easily detectable by Aerosmith, Mista was sure of that. The man was breathing heavily, perfect for the radar.

“Who are you?” 

Mista looked down at you, a cheeky grin on his face. Your heart fluttered, something innate in your body was attracting you to this man. Something in you knew he felt the same way about you at that moment. And you were right, Mista was, but he had to focus. 

Suddenly, a teen about your height showed up in your little hiding spot. Mista held you close, muttering to the teen details about the man, telling him to end the mission once and for all. The teen ran away, and in just a few minutes, he returned with a silver badge in his hand, proof the man was dead. 

Mista sighed in relief and stepped out from the alley, looking around; it seemed there were no other threats. Your heart was racing. Here he was. The universe had seen your boring, ordinary life, and had now handed you someone you could tell was neither boring nor ordinary. You quickly straightened yourself out, watching as Mista spoke with the other one. He then called up seemingly his boss to let him know the job was over. You bit your lip nervously, loving the authoritative tone in his voice.  The other teenager with him, Narancia, you supposed, turned to you. 

“Sorry, miss, about dragging you into all this. You can head home now.” He flashed a smile to you before Mista whacked him on the arm. “Hey! What the hell was that for dumbass?!” 

Mista’s face was bright red as he turned to you with a gentle smile. “No, Narancia, she’s not going anywhere. Not anymore.” 

With that, Mista approached you, taking off his cap. You saw his wild mass of dark curls, realizing fully just how handsome he was. 

“I’m sorry about that. I’d have hoped to meet you at a different time, but the string was a little impatient, I guess.” 

You nodded nervously, remembering you had pulled on it yourself. “Yeah. We couldn’t ignore it for the third time, I suppose.”

You both smiled, both too nervous to know what to do next. You cleared your throat, bringing a hand up to stroke the side of Mista’s neck. 

“I uh... I don’t even know your name. But it... it feels like I’ve known you for years. My whole life even.”

Mista felt his whole being lift in happiness as he kept his gaze on you. “You don’t seem very scared of me, considering what I just put you through.”

“Well, I figure if I’m meant for you, I should be able to deal with it. If it means I can have you as you are.”

Mista laughed, breathing a sigh of relief as he wrapped his arms around your waist, spinning you around. You, who had sometimes been self-conscious of your body, fell even more smitten knowing he could pick you up with ease. You could tell, he made you feel loved already, just as you were.  

Mista put you down. “Come on then. I’ll treat you to a meal, and you can meet my friends. All that running made me hungry.” You watched your soulmate walk out of the alley before you told him to wait. 

“Dummy, you forgot something. My name’s (y/n) (l/n). I still don’t know yours.” 

Mista chuckled a bit. “Sorry about that, baby. Guido Mista, at your service.” 

You smiled. “Guido, huh?”

“(y/n),huh? Now come on already, let’s eat. We can work all this soulmate stuff out later. We’ve got all the time in the world.” 

[simsadventures]

Only Mine: Chapter 12: Time to Be a Hero

Mobster!Bucky x Reader

Summary: The ballroom is under attack. And you try to make it out alive. But not without Bucky.

Warnings: mobster AU, angst, guns, blood, fighting, swearing, death of a character, betrayal

Word Count: 2873

A/N: Some people missed the angst, so here’s some for you (yup, I’m looking at you @coffeebooksandfandom​). Anyway, did anyone miss Only Mine as much as I did? Hope you guys did, loved writing this part even though it’s of the less happy ones. Let me know what you guys thought about it all. FEEDBACK is gold, you know the drill xx

Series Masterlist ___ Masterlist

< Previous Chapter

You groaned loudly as you rolled on the ground. You tried to focus long enough to find out what the hell was happening. You knew that there was somebody, or more people firing guns in the room, most probably looking for Bucky and his men. That made you an easy target as well because you were always by Bucky’s side.

Realising this you looked around yourself frantically, knowing you didn’t fall to the ground on your own volition. It must have been Bucky pushing you down so you wouldn’t be hurt. And you were right. Bucky was next to you, but unlike you, he was already on his feet, yelling orders at his men and looking around the room to find who the shooters were.

He briefly looked at you, looking for any apparent injuries that would prevent you from getting up, and when he saw none, he quickly grabbed your upper arm and pulled you up to his side.

You hissed in pain because you felt a sharp sting in your hip, and when you looked down to your left side, there was a shard of glass sticking out of your body. If you weren’t in such frantic situation, you would probably let yourself panic over it, and you’d most probably faint. But there was no time for that now.

Bucky followed your eyes, and when he saw the glass sticking out of you, he swore under his breath. He tried to touch it, but you swatted his hand away and took a deep breath. You needed to be strong not only for yourself but also for Bucky. You knew that he didn’t need a pretty face who would scream and faint in this situation. He needed a strong woman who would listen to his commands. You would have plenty of time to have a panic attack when this was all over, you told yourself.

You quickly pulled the shard out of your skin, stifling a painful moan in your throat. So that’s where the blood around you was from, you thought to yourself, patted your hip and threw the glass on the ground.

You then gripped Bucky’s hand in yours and gave him a reassuring squeeze which he reciprocated, only to turn around and yell at Sam behind the closest pillar to where you two were currently hiding.

“Sam! You have eyes on the shooter? We can’t go blasting shots through the room. There might civilians left here. They have nothing to do with this shit,” he yelled, but Sam yelled back that it was negative. They still couldn’t find whoever was shooting.

Just as he finished yelling, there was another round of bullets fired, most of them aimed at the two of you and your little pillar, which was shaking with the strength of those shots.

You took a deep breath and tried to make yourself as small as possible, trying not to be a target.

“Imma get you out of here, doll. You’re my priority,” Bucky said between the bullets as he gripped his own gun.

Before you knew it, he was standing a meter away from you, taking a few good shots after which a silence followed. Bucky obviously killed whoever was firing at you. But you knew you shouldn’t be hopeful. There definitely wasn’t just one shooter, so nobody was safe, yet.

“I love you, James, but I’m not the only person here. Please, make your life a priority as well,” you said with a stern look and Bucky smiled at you before he caressed your cheek briefly.

“I always knew I’d die doing this job, but I won’t have it that you die here as well. Even if it was the last thing I did, you’re getting out of here safe, Y/N,” Bucky whispered against your hair. You pushed him away slightly and took the lapels of his tuxedo.

“You listen to me, James Buchanan Barnes. Stop talking like that or these shooters will be your last fucking worry, you hear me? If you want me to get out, you’re gonna have to get out as well. I’m not losing you, not so soon after I fucking found the love of my life,” you almost yelled into his face.

Bucky watched you in amazement, silent because of your little outburst. He knew that there wasn’t any other woman for him. Nobody was crazy enough to stay with him despite the shit-show his life was.

He just nodded and kissed you, letting all his emotions into the kiss for you to feel, for you to know that he would try to do everything in his power to live. For you, if not for anything else in this world.

He wanted to say something more when suddenly the room was pitch-black.

Great, now they cut the power, you thought and set your jaw. As scared as you were, you were getting pretty pissed at those fucking attackers. Did they really have to make it look like a scene from a shitty action movie? Everyone could have carried on shooting with the lights still on, but no. It wouldn’t have the effect, or whatever.

You knew your sarcastic self wasn’t helping anything at that moment, but you had to let out your fear somehow, and it was either being snarky in your own head or start crying and crumble on the floor. And you knew you couldn’t afford the second option.

You could feel Bucky pulling you down by your interlaced fingers, so you did the logical thing and crouched, although it was not the easiest thing to do in your high heels. But putting them down would only result in more shards in your feet, and so you decided to keep them on, however uncomfortable that was.

“We need to stay together, doll. You listen to everything I say when I say duck, you duck. When I say run, you fucking run, are we clear?” Bucky said intently, and you nodded.

“Yeah, very clear. I do everything you say, no talking back. You’re the boss,” you stated, and Bucky nodded, glad that you weren’t making a scene right now. Not that you were that kind of girl, but still. It was a possibility, especially in a moment like that.

You heard vibrations coming from Bucky’s pocket, and he quickly picked up his phone.

“Yes, Steve? Another two down, good. Do we know how many it actually was? You think 15? Alright, copy that. Be careful, try to kill as many motherfuckers as possible. I don’t give a shit about witnesses. I think we can be pretty sure as to who it was sending these men here. Yeah, me and Y/N are still in the main ballroom. Yup, Sam is still here, and I think Peter and Drax as well. Haven’t heard from anyone else, but hoping that they’re alright and fucking fighting. Alright,” Bucky finished his call, and then looked back at you.

“We gotta get out of here, doll. So we fight our way back, and then we’ll see. If everybody’s dead by then, we can go home, if not, you stay outside, and I’ll take care of business. We good?”

“Good,” you nodded and followed Bucky who carefully stood up, and started walking towards the exit. You knew he was doing it mostly for you, but you were still happy he didn’t send somebody else with you outside while he fought. You needed him healthy and happy, just like the rest of the gang.

You tried to tread carefully and silently, trying not to draw attention to the two of you by the clicking of your shoes. Just when you thought you outsmarted the idiots by taking the longer route outside, you saw a shadow in front of Bucky.

He was quick to let go of your hand, and thanks to your eyes already adjusting to the darkness, you could see a knife in that person’s hand, which Bucky dodged skilfully, knocking it out of the guy’s hand with one swing of his right arm, while his left arm grabbed the guy by his throat. The attacker was obviously surprised at Bucky’s swift motion, because he didn’t react at all, or very little, from what you saw.

When you heard a sickening crack, you knew Bucky broke his neck. Just like that, with his bare hands. It gave you a new respect for Bucky, and even a little fear, but you didn’t want to dwell on that. You couldn’t be afraid of your boyfriend. Not when you were sure he would never put his hand on you.

You continued on your way after that. You could hear some fighting from other parts fo the building, but you thought that you were staring to be safe more and more the closer you got to the door. And just as the thought crossed your mind, a rain of bullets hit you.

Bucky quickly pushed you in an adjacent empty room, closing the door with a thud and hiding behind one of the doors. You were surprised you were still unscratched except the one thing on your hip, and you sighed heavily, breathing out a relief.

You looked over at Bucky, wanting to tell him that you were two lucky sons of bitches when you saw his face contorted in pain.

You frantically got to your knees and scrambled closer to him to check his injuries. Surprisingly, he didn’t protest, and that’s how you knew that it was actually really bad. He must have been in a lot of pain for you to take care of him in a situation like that one.

You asses the injuries, seeing most of the blood was concentrated on his left arm. You pushed his sleeves out of the way and saw that a bullet hit him right through his shoulder, or very close to it.

The wound was bleeding like crazy, and you were afraid that at this frequency, he would bleed out in your hands. You quickly took off his jacket and pushed it against the wound. He hissed in pain, muttering insults not directly at you, but at the whole situation.

“You’re gonna be alright, baby, you just gotta stay awake for me, ok?” You murmured against Bucky’s cheek, trying to keep him awake. You rummaged through his pocket until you found his cell phone, quickly dialling Steve’s number.

“Steve? It’s me, Y/N. Bucky’s been hit, and it looks nasty. Can you come get us, or somebody? I need to get him out of here, and I don’t think I’ll be able to carry him, and he’s in no shape to walk on his own. Yeah, yeah, in that exact room. Alright. I’ll keep him awake. Hurry up, please,” you said through the speaker and ended the call to tend to Bucky.

He was watching you with a weird look in his eyes.

“Doll. You’re the best thing in my life, you know that, right?” He whispered, his voice shaking.

“Don’t,” you harshly told him, “don’t fucking say stuff like that right now. You’re not fucking dying, not on my watch, and if there’s anything on your mind, we can talk about it once we get out of here and get you to a hospital. So unless you wanna tell me something else, you only answer question I ask you, we clear? I’m the boss here now,” you said, swallowing your own emotions that were threatening to bubble up on the surface.

Bucky chuckled with evident difficulty, and you laid your hand on his chest.

“I love you, you crazy mobster. So just stay with me. So, tonight, I was pretty jealous because all those women looked like sluts. What did you think of it?” You said with a smirk, and Bucky shook his head at you.

You talked like this for a while, before you heard somebody coming in. Bucky was awfully quiet, and he tried to grab his gun, but he was too weak for that because of the blood-loss. You looked between him and whoever was coming before you leapt for the weapon. You saw the horror in Bucky’s eyes, but he still remained quiet.

You gripped the gun in your hand, the metal feeling extremely heavy in your hand, considering it was the first time you ever held anything like that. But you’ve watched enough crime series to know that all you had to do was pull the trigger since Bucky has been shooting with it already.

You aimed it at the unknown person coming into the room, praying that it was Steve who just didn’t announce himself and you wouldn’t hate to use the gun in your hand.

When the person came closer, you could see it was one of Bucky’s men. Bob, or what was he called. You were about to put the gun out of your hand when your instinct kicked in, and wouldn’t let you lower your hand. You’ve always had a weird feeling about him and Brock, and you couldn’t afford to take any chances. If he proved trustworthy, you could lower your gun later.

But from the looks of it, and his more than a sinister smile, you knew he wouldn’t give you the chance to lower it.

“Well, well, well. The boss wanted you alive, but I guess I can’t help myself, can I, Barnes? Here’s what’s gonna happen, I’m gonna shoot you some more, have fun with the pretty little thing next to you, and then I’ll kill you, how does that sound? I think it’s a pretty good plan, actually,” he mused still looking at Bucky.

You shivered knowing that if you didn’t step in, all of that would happen. You could hear he was talking some more, but you filtered it all. You aimed the gun as best as you could and steadied your hands to your best abilities before you pulled the trigger.

The noise was much louder than you expected, although mere minutes ago you were near many more guns. It was probably the weight of the situation. The gun was in your hands, and it was your very own hands that had to fire it and hurt somebody. You aimed at his chest, but when you looked at him to see if he would cause you any more trouble, you could see you hit him right between his eyes.

Weird feeling ran down your spine, and you had to keep breathing through your nose, or you’d vomit.

Instead, you looked at Bucky to check if he was still with you, but what you saw made you panic even more. His eyes were closed.

You put your hand under his nose to see if he was breathing and you could feel air coming out of his nose, however, shallow his breathing was. You were about to stand up and just drag him out of there however you could to save him when a bunch of people ran into the room.

You gripped the gun again, prepared to protect Bucky, but you realised that you knew these people. It was Steve, Sam, and Brock. You weren’t glad to see the last one, but the other two finally brought relief to your body.

“Y/N! How is he? And are you hurt?” Steve yelled, kneeling beside you, checking on Bucky’s pulse.

“He’s breathing, but it’s not good, Steve. We need to get him to hospital, now,” you yelled back, the adrenaline still very much present in your system. You were about to stand up when a hand on your shoulder stopped you.

“Wait a second. How come you have Bucky’s gun, he’s barely breathing and Bob, our friend Bob is laying here, with a bullet in his fucking brain? That’s a little suspicious, don’t you think, Y/N?” Brock asked, all serious.

You couldn’t believe your own ears.

“What are you even talking about, asshole? I was trying to protect Bucky, and your friend Bob here was obviously working for somebody else as well, from what he told us,” you answered, not believing this was actually happening.

“Oh, right, and he had his evil speech about what he is about to do and what his plan was, just like in movies, didn’t he, Y/N? Everything seems to be playing in your cards, weirdly enough,” Brock growled as he neared you.

“Enough. Our priority is to get Bucky to the hospital, and then we can figure out what the fuck happened. Y/N will go with us, and somebody will stay with her at all times, just to play it safe,” Steve said, not sparing you a look as him and Sam picked Bucky up and rushed out of the room, leaving you with Brock, who harshly tugged you by your upper arm.

This wasn’t happening, you kept repeating to yourself, but no matter what you did, you couldn’t wake up from this nightmare. Not only were you shot at, and you had to kill a person in order to protect your boyfriend, you were also accused of orchestrating the whole thing.

Brock was right in one thing, you thought. This really was like something out of a bad movie.

/Next Chapter >

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[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

It’s Not What I Meant - Harry Styles Two Shot

Part 1 

**

Hearing your voice on the other side of that door caused him to stop dead in his tracks. He found himself leaning towards the door, his hand coming up from his side to the doorknob. This was the closest he had been to you since that night. His heart urged him to turn the knob and walk inside, but his head knew this was not the time. He couldn’t hear much, but what he could hear he knew whatever you were were recording was about him. The pain in your voice and a few of the lyrics he was able to catch, broke his heart even more. 

Harry felt his knees beginning to buckle out from underneath him, so he leaned himself against the wall. Everything he had been feeling over the last few months started hitting him all at once. His heart began to beat rapidly, as his eyes filled with tears. A door had opened down the all, one of his friends from the studio they had been working in came out to check on Harry. 

“Harry, mate, what are you-” he said before realizing tears were falling down his face. 

“She’s-she’s in there,” he whispered. “God, I fucked up. I hurt her. I did the last thing I said I’d ever do. I’ve lost her for good, man, fuck. I hate this!” 

“Hey, hey,” he said. “Let’s get out of the hallway and talk about this, yeah? Get you some water.” 

Harry didn’t respond, simply letting his friend help him back into the studio. 

**

You hadn’t slept a full night in weeks. You barely felt like eating, only eating soup or a sandwich occasionally. You barely talked to your family or your friends, even though you were staying with one of them. The only thing you found yourself doing was playing around on your guitar or the piano, but your head was too jumbled up to provide any lyrics. 

Breakups were something you were used to, given your past history with relationships, but none of them had ever hit you or affected you in this way. You felt numb, mostly, like you were living in slow motion, while still trying to grasp what happened. Since everything happened so fast, it almost didn’t seem real, but it was. 

Your heart was broken. You two were over. There was no turning back.

You were laying in bed watching Netflix. Well, you were staring at the screen, but couldn’t really focus on what was happening. The door to the room you were staying in flew open and in walked your friend. She didn’t say anything to, just went straight for curtains and pulled them open. Very little sunlight shown through due to the rain outside, but it did brighten up the room a bit. 

“Get your ass up,” she said. 

“Get the hell out,” you mumbled pulling the sheets over your head. 

“My house, my guest room, so nope,” she said jumping onto the bed. “It’s been months. The only thing you’ve done for yourself is shower, thank god, and play annoying, cheesy, love ballad melodies on the keyboard.” 

“Fuck off,” you groaned. 

“Look, I get it. Your heart’s been fucked over, we’ve all been there. But, babe, you gotta still live your life,” she said. “You need to make a decision about something. Either you call him up and talk things over or you move the fuck on.” 

“I can’t,” you whispered. 

“You can’t because you’re too scared of what either of those mean,” she said. “You’re afraid to call him and possibly work things out because too much shit happen and you’re afraid to move the fuck on because you think he was the person you were meant to be with, so then you’ll end up alone.” 

You open your mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. 

“See, I’m right,” she smirked. “And you know it.” 

You rolled your eyes turning away from her. 

“Look, why don’t you grab a shower, a small bite to eat and we hit the studio. Maybe if we sit down together we can get everything your holding inside of you out onto the paper and you’ll start to feel better,” she whispered. 

You sighed, “Fine, we’ll go for like an hour and nothing happens, we come back here and you don’t bother me until tomorrow, yeah?” 

“Scouts honor,” she smirked. 

“You were not a bloody boy scout, so that doesn’t work!” You groaned. 

“You keep saying that, yet I don’t care,” she said. “Now, get your ass up, I’ve giving you fifteen minutes.” 

Being in the studio was one of your favorite things to do. The setting, the people, there was something about it that opened up your heart and let your feelings burst out. Once you had something in mind you wanted to write, all it took was a few moments of taking in the scene and letting your mind wander off to the place it needed to be. You didn’t only write in the studio, sometimes you'd write on a plane, on a tour bus, in a hotel room, or in a backyard. 

A backyard you used to share with your boyfriend. Although, technically, it was his house first, you just happened to move into it a year after you two starts dating. But you can’t think about that, now, or could you. You grabbed your journal and started writing down a few things that came into mind. You looked at your list as you brought the end of your pen in-between your lips. 

You knew exactly what you were going to write about, now you just needed to let the words come out. About an hour or so later, you were ready to lay down some vocals. You were feeling a little bit better, but you knew you would feel a lot better once you laid down the song. You put on the headphones and listened to the melody for a few takes before nodding to the engineer. 

**

When Harry got back into the studio, he couldn’t form words or gather his thoughts that were going through his head. The glass fo water shook in his hand as he brought it up to his lips taking a small sip. 

“Okay, so what happened,” his friend asked. 

“Y/N-Y/N she’s here,” he sniffled. “She in the fucking studio next to us...she’s-” 

“Okay, that’s it,” he said standing up. 

“What?” Harry sniffed. 

“Don’t you see this?” He asked. “The fact that both of you are here is some weird ass fate. So, what you’re going to do, is you’re going to go over there and talk to her. You are going to get some sort of closure from this because you need it, you both need it.” 

“I-I can’t,” he sighed. “The things I said- I can’t take those back. I know that, she knows that.” 

“No, you can’t, but you two can move past it,” he said. “Look, most of your wallowing in self-pity is because you hated how things ended. So, now is your chance to either end it the way you want or make things right and leave here together. Either way, this is your fucking chance, so take it.” 

Harry sighed running his hand over his face. 

“And if you don’t then deserve to feel like shit,” He said. 

Harry stared at the glass on the table for a bit before taking a deep breath and standing up. He walked back out into the hallway and approached the door of the studio you were in. He couldn’t hear anything coming from the room anymore. He felt his heart sink at the thought you were no longer in there. 

If you had already left in the ten minutes he was in his studio, he would never forgive himself even more. He was about to head out into the parking lot to see if he could catch you heading to your car, but then he heard it. Your laugh. This was his chance and his friend was right, he would be stupid not to take it. 

He put his hand onto the doorknob and took a deep breath. He didn’t bother knocking, he just turned the doorknob in his hands and walked right in. 

You were nibbling on a bag of a crisps as you all started talking about different things after listening to the rough cut of the song. It was definitely a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking song, but it was what you were feeling. You did feel a little bit better, like a small weight had been lifted off of your chest. However, ever singe bit of that would land right back down, when the door to the studio flung open and in walked Harry. 

You weren’t sure how you would feel upon seeing him again. You thought it would either be longing or anger, but seeing him standing before you only brought on confusion. 

“I-uh-I heard you from the hallway,” he stuttered. “Can we-I-please can we talk, privately?” 

You sighed looking over at your friend who gave you a nod before gathering everyone out into the hallway. They shut the door behind them, leaving you and Harry in a bit of an awkward silence. 

“So, what do you want to talk about it?” You asked looking over at him. 

“I think we both know,” he sighed. 

You nodded leaning back in your chair, “You can uh, sit down.” 

Harry nodded walking over and sitting down in the chair next to you. “I uh-I don’t know how else to start this, so I’m just going to tell you how I feel. Please,um, please don’t say anything until I’m finished.” 

“Okay,” you nodded. 

Taking a deep breath, he looked over at you, his arms leaning on his knees, “I miss you. God, I fucking miss you. I hate being in that house without you. I hate going to bed and waking up without you next to me. I’ve been, the last few months, my life has been shit because of how much I miss you. I know, I know how I royally fucked. I know I said some, awful, fucked up things, but I didn’t mean them. I don’t even know what I said them, maybe I guess, I just wanted to hurt you or something because I was angry.” 

“But I promise you, the moment thy left my lips, I regretted them,” he said. “I wish I could take everything back, but I can’t. I don’t know if there’s a way to make things right or for you to forgive me, but I want to try. I don’t know if you even feel anything for me anymore, but I love you. Fuck, I love you more than I ever thought was possible. So, please, if there’s even a small part of you that still loves me, can we try and make us work again?” 

“You done?” you asked after a few silent moments. 

He nodded tears shining in his eyes. 

“I wish I could say that I don’t miss you or that I can’t stop thinking about you. I wish I could look you in the eye and tell you I hate you because of what happened that night, but I can’t. I can’t because I miss you every second of everyday, which means there’s not a time when I’m not thinking about you. I can’t because I love you so much it fucking hurts and not being with you hurts even more,” you sniffled. “I want to jump into your arms and tell you I’m sorry and that I forgive you, but I don’t know if I can. Which is fucked up on my end because I said shit that night, too.” 

“I want to say we can move on from this and be together because we both obviously still love one another, but can we? Should we? I mean if one argument caused both of us to intentional say shit that we knew would hurt the other, that’s not healthy,” you said. “Maybe in our case love isn’t enough for our happiness.” 

“Don’t- Don’t say that,” he said. “We’re supposed to be together! I know it. We made a mistake that night, that’s it. We’re not perfect, Y/N. Couples fight. Couples who love each other, fight, it’s part of being in a relationship. Nothing is perfect, but it’s how we handle it.. how we talk through it.. “ 

“It’s okay to say that now,” you said. “But what happens if we have another argument and we make the same mistakes again, then what?” 

“We’ll keep working through it,” he said. 

“Until when? Until we’re both so miserable and despise each other?” You asked. “That’s not fair to either of us. We love each other now, but what about a year from now? Two years? Hell, what if we get married and have kids and realize we shouldn’t have been together.” 

“Okay, if you want to talk what if’s, how’s this one,” he said. “What if we walk away from each other tonight and then we both move on and meet other people, only to realize we settled with people we weren’t meant to be with and we end up miserable, regretting not being with each other.”

You shook your head standing up to pace around the room. 

“Look, the truth is neither of us know what the fuck the future holds, but we do know what is happening now,” he said. “And right now, I know that I love you and that I want to be with you and that I really want to kiss you and take you back to our house and fall asleep with you in my arms. I want that right now and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.” 

You sighed looking at him, tears threatening to spill over, “I can’t-I’m not... I can’t get hurt again, Harry. I’m not strong enough. This whole thing... broke me...” 

“Then let me fix it,” he whispered closing the distance between you. “We can get through this, I know it. We just have to trust and believe in each other.” 

You sighed turning your gaze down when Harry put his hands on your cheeks. 

Using his thumb to wipe away your tears, he looks into your eyes, “All I’m asking.. begging for is one more chance. I promise I will do everything to not fuck it up again, please.”

**

Two years later. 

You glanced into the floor length mirror one more time giving yourself a look over for it was time. Time for you to walk down the aisle in front of your friends and family towards the new chapter in your life. A few years ago, you never thought you would be in this place. A place of happiness, love, and marriage. 

They called for your name and you took a breath before grabbing your bouquet and heading out. As you to closer, you could hear the music being played on the violin and you were already getting misty-eyed. Good thing they make waterproof, makeup. A set of white doors lined with flowers was the only thing separating you and the man of your dreams. 

You once had gotten your heartbroken and you thought you would never mend it back together. But somehow and someone did just that and now you were moments away from walking down the aisle to him. Right on time, the doors swung open and all eyes were on you, but all you cared about was the handsome man in a suit at the end of the aisle. 

You smiled as you stared at him as you started to walk. He wiped at his eyes and you were a little happy that he also was a bit of a blubbering mess. When you made it to the end, he took your hands into his, while you handed your bouquet to his sister behind you. 

“You look beautiful,” he mouthed to you. 

“So, do you,” you mouthed back. 

He squeezed your hand as you two focused on the each other. The whole ceremony was a bit of a blur up until the final words you had longed to hear. 

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” they smiled. “Harry, you may kiss your bride.”

And that’s exactly what he did. 

**

There’s part two! I hope you enjoyed it! :)

[fearfulkittenwrites]

“Are you awake?” and “I... I want a hug.”

Summary: Damian has been getting bullied by his classmates for a while now. When he finally reaches a breaking point, the boy tells Dick what happened, and his older brother gets mad. He can't believe Damian, the boy he loves so much, the boy he helped raising, is going through the exact same thing he had to endure years ago, in the same school. You'd think the problem would be solved by now.

Word Count: 4951

Warning! There’s some racism expressed in this work! (I didn’t want to put it in the tags because I think it would be rude to put fanfic on a tag that is mostly used for more important things, so I thought it best to let you know here)

Notes: Hello! This work has been beta'd by @3ambird​ ​, I don't know how you make time to help me, but I'm so glad you do!! Thank you. Also, if you haven't checked out their works, please do. Their recent fanfic is Dick Grayson centric and it made me cry. One of my favorite works ever.

(Also, to the anon who requested the “I want a hug” prompt with Dick and Bruce, I’m not ignoring you! It should be the one up next, okay? I just had this one sitting on my computer for a while, so I had to post it first, hahahaha!)

Damian took a deep breath. Mathematics was always the worst class of the day. He took his seat, middle row, third chair. The classroom was filling up, and there was no one behind him yet. That gave him a couple of minutes to close his eyes and try to gather his strength.

The problem wasn’t the subject. Damian already knew all that he was being forced to re-learn, making all of his classes nothing but a nuisance. The problem had a first and a last name: Warren Pruitt.

Damian felt his desk being roughly pushed, and opened his eyes.

“What? Did I disturb your prayers?” Warren smirked.

“Fuck off.” Damian answered. He felt his stomach twist, wishing he could solve this like he solved things as Robin.

Warren took his seat behind him, purposefully shoving his desk against the back of Damian’s chair.

“Refrain from doing that, Pruitt.”

“Or what? You’ll blow up the school?” His little clique laughed loudly, making explosion sounds in the back “Allahu akbar! Ha ha ha!”

“You can’t even be racist properly.” Damian rolled his eyes. “I’m not Muslim, you idiotic naked ape.” Another shove sent his chair inches forward, pressing his stomach against his desk. He pushed back, and was shoved forward again “Stop it.” He gritted his teeth.

“Shut up, Al Ghul.” Warren sneered, a cruel smile on his lips.

Damian had never felt any embarrassment towards his heritage. He took pride in both of his last names, the signs of two powerful dynasties that had combined to create him. He was a symbol of strength because of them, and he was proud of it. But the way it was said, like it was an insult, like it was tainted, like it made him lesser, left a bitter taste in Damian’s mouth, so he corrected the boy.

“Wayne.” He growled “My last name is Wayne.”

“We’ve been over this already, Al Ghul.” One of Warren’s pack of imbeciles spat as Warren leaned forward against his desk, pushing Damian’s stomach into the wood, hurting him.

“Yeah, we have.” Another boy, Charles Du Pont encouraged, watching from the desk to Damian’s left. Damian gritted his teeth.

“You can try all you want, but you’ll never be anything more than the arab boy you are. You’re lucky your father is enough of a moron to let you in.” A fourth kid - Michael Chase, Damina’s mind supplied - leaned in, mocking him.

“Yeah. My dad said he’d throw you on the streets, let you rot in one of Gotham’s orphanages. It’s what you deserve for trying to take our places.” Warren said.

The bell signaling the classes beginning rang, right as the teacher walked in.

.................................

The words kept ringing in Damian’s ears for the rest of the day. He doesn’t know why, but he can never find the proper words to shoot back at them. And he doesn’t know why it all bothers him so much.

Going back home, Damian threw his backpack into his bedroom and walked through the halls, stopping when he saw Tim’s open door, both him and Duke reading through an essay.

“-tt-” Damian clicked his tongue from the door “Can’t do your own papers by yourself, Drake?”

“Shut up, brat.” Tim answered.

“Whatever. Where is Grayson?”

“Sleeping.” Tim answered “Why, what do you want?”

“It’s none of your business Drake.” He crossed his arms, leaving and continuing down the hall.

He rubbed away some tears forming in his eyes. Of course Dick would still be sleeping, he was on patrol until the sun had risen. Slowly, he creaked open his brother’s bedroom door.

“Are you awake?” He whispered.

“Hm...” Dick murmured “Dami?” He lifted his face from the pillow to look at the boy. Damian’s eyes landed on a noticeable bruise on his cheekbone “What’s wrong?” He slowly sat up, noticing the look on his baby brother’s face.

“Nothing.” Damian answered, swiping away more tears.

“Liar.” Dick accused, smiling “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Damian removed his school blazer, hanging it on Dick’s chair as he kicked off his shoes.

“Don’t get up. You need to sleep.” Damian said. Dick frowned, laying back down.

“Okay.” He started, carefully “But what’s going on little d? What do you need?”

“I...” He tried, but his voice cracked as he sat on the bed.

“It’s okay.” Dick whispered, stroking his back “What do you want me to do, Dami?”

“I... I want a hug.” He laid down next to his brother, who pulled him close to his body.

Dick felt him sobbing against his chest, and kissed Damian’s hair, holding him tightly.

“What happened, hm?” Dick whispered gently against his head “What’s going on?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just want to sleep for a while.” The boy whispered back, placing his hand on top of his brother’s.

“Okay.” Dick answered “We can do that.”

“Thank you.”

Damian noticed how much bigger his brother’s hands were when compared to his. Part of it was due to the amount of punches he had thrown in his life, making the bones spread apart, giving it a wider aspect. Part of it was due to the fact that Damian was still a child. He noticed how both of their hands were calloused and rough, but still in infinitely different ways. His hands had been marked by the sword, while his brother’s were shaped by his escrima sticks and the bars of the circus.

Truth is, Damian focused so much on his hands because the size comparison made him feel safe. Above all, having something to focus on helped him fall asleep faster. Dick was already used to the feeling of small fingers moving his hand around, counting scars and feeling bumps, until both of them drifted off.

About an hour later, Dick woke up to the feeling of his brother moving around the bed, awake too.

“Hey.” He smiled, stretching “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” Damian answered, staring at the ceiling. His face was smashed, hair a mess, and his button up shirt had creases everywhere. Dick played with his brother’s hair as he blinked slowly “That feels nice.”

“Yeah.” Dick chuckled “Listen Dames, I need to grab some food. Come with me?” Damian nodded in response, and both of them got on their feets and walked to the kitchen.

Dick looked through the cabinets for something to eat. Damian pulled a post-it off the fridge door.

“Pennyworth left you a sandwich.” He grabbed it, handing it to his hungry brother.

“Sweet!” He exclaimed “Alfie really is a life saver. Want some?”

“No, thank you.” Damian refused. They sat across each other at a table.

“So... Want to talk now?” Dick asked. The boy remained silent “C’mon Dami. You know I’m here for you, right? You can trust me.”

Damian hid his face in his hands.

“I’m ashamed.”

“Why?”

“I... I feel like a coward.” He almost growled “It’s... As if I was weak.” Tears slid down his cheeks.

“What’s going on Damian?” Dick asked again, softly.

“Promise...” He started “Promise you won’t get mad. Please.”

“Of course I won’t Dami.” His brother had soft eyes, staring at him. Damian swallowed.

“Pruitt and his group of brain dead morons.” He wiped the tears away and punched the table “I let them get to me. I don’t know how to deal with it, and that makes me weak.”

“What are they doing to you?”

“They keep... Insinuating that I’m a terrorist. Shoving my chair and telling me that...” He frowned “Telling me that father should have left me in an orphanage. Because of… My heritage.”

Dick examined him for a moment.

“Damian.” He called “Dami, look at me.” He caught his brother’s hand “This isn’t your fault. And it doesn’t make you weak. You don’t know how to deal with this because you shouldn’t have to deal with this. I need you to understand that, okay?” Damian nodded “Listen, we need to talk to your principal about this.” Damian’s eyes widened “I know. I know how it sounds, I’ve been there. But believe me, it will get better. The first step is to let people know what’s going on.”

“What is the second step?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On what will happen after the first.”

.................................

The next morning, Dick insisted on taking his brother to school. He convinced Damian to talk to Bruce about what had happened, and now both his father and brother were in the car, headed to school to talk to his principal about the bullying he had been facing.

After all the students had properly settled in their classrooms, the principal welcomed the Waynes into his office.

“Mr. Wayne! What can I do for you?” He asked, a polite smile on his face.

“Well, Mr. Jameson, I was recently made aware of some... Concerning behaviour happening on school grounds.”

“What kind of concerning behaviour, Mr. Wayne?” The principal joined his hands, portraying a curiosity Dick knew to be fake. He rolled his eyes.

“What has-”

“Racism.” Dick cut Bruce off, arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair “We’ve recently found out that Damian has been dealing with racist comments and actions coming from some of his classmates.” Bruce gave him a discreet look, but didn’t say anything “What?” He whispered to his father “How long were you two planning on dancing around the topic for?”

The principal cleared his throat.

“I assure you, Mr. Grayson, I’m just as appalled by this allegation as you are.”

“Allegation my ass.” He shot back.

“Dick.” Bruce quietly warned.

“Look, the way I see this, it’s all very simple.” Dick said, palms spread on the man’s table as he spoke “I had to endure racism back in my student days, and now Damian is having to suffer through the same thing, because your administration has failed to correct this behaviour when it first happened, despite my countless cries for help during my middle and high school years.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows.

“I can’t really argue with that, Mr. Jameson.” The man brought his hands together, resting them on his lap.

“Yes, I see.” The man answered, an uncomfortable smile on as his face took on a pale tone “Uhm, why don’t you... Give me a list with the names of the children involved so we can schedule a meeting next week with the boys parents and...” He cut himself off as he looked at Bruce’s face.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jameson, but I assume you know that I run a business? And that my time is very scarce?” Bruce started “I am here now. Doesn’t that send a clear enough message of my expectations?”

“I- Uhm, yes, of course, Mr. Wayne.” He started again “If you can give me the names of the children, I’ll call their parents in immediately.”

“That’s great.” Bruce smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes “I happen to have a list with me.”

.................................

A couple of hours later, only three of the kids had their guardians present. Both the principal and Bruce decided that the fourth one could wait a day or two and that there was no real need to keep anyone waiting any longer.

“Mr. Jameson,” Angus Pruitt, the father to the blonde Warren, leader of the group, stated, as his wife held her dear boy close “What is this all about?”

“Well, you see,” The Principle said, sweating profusely. Dick could understand the nervousness, seeing the delicate audience he was speaking to, but was too angry to even try to empathize “It has come to my attention that young Mr. Pruitt, along with Mr. Du Pont and Mr. Chase,” He gestured towards the two other boys, “Have been involved in some...” The principal eyes met Dick’s enraged stare, and the man dropped his head. Bruce felt compelled to nudge his son and get him to stop “I, uhm...” He stumbled over his words.

Dick sighed and opened his mouth, too quickly for Bruce to stop.

“Your kids have been saying some pretty racist shit to my brother.” Dick said, leaning back on the wall “Now that I know who is involved with all this, can’t say I’m all that surprised.” His eyes locked with Mr. Du Pont, the man whose first son, Lawrence, was also brought in multiple times for bullying Dick back when he was in middle school.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Well, Dick and Damian seemed to be thriving in it, but everyone else was thrown off by the latest statement.

“And what exactly are you doing here, Mr. Grayson?” Mr. Du Pont said, looking into Dick’s eyes with the same cold disgust he always had “Isn’t this meeting supposed to be only with the parents and students?”

“Well, first of all, I’d like to see you try and get me out of this room.” He shot back “And second, I’m listed as one of his legal guardians, so get-”

“That’s enough, Dick.” Bruce placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“Is that so, Mr. Wayne?” Mr. Pruitt spoke up “Why?”

“Old money comes with old enemies.” Bruce said, arrogant posture matching the others “If anything were to happen to me, I’d rather be sure that Damian would be in good hands. Not that I’d expect you to understand the actions my kind of people take.” He said, softening the verbal aggression with a smile. Dick bit the insides of his lip to hold in his laugh “Now, shall we discuss what are the actions that this school will be taking to eradicate the racism your children so eagerly take part in?”

The principal swallowed as all eyes turned back to him.

“W-well,” He started “The first thing is...” He glanced up at Dick for a second “Appropriate punishment.” Dick smiled at the man “One week of after school detention for each of you.”

“What? That’s not fair!” The Chase kid, Michael, cried in complaint.

“Be quiet, dear.” His mother said, looking down at him.

“But I’m gonna miss my tennis tournament!” He wanted again.

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before you bullied your classmate, shouldn’t you?” She replied, stern, shutting the boy up.

Dick raised an eyebrow. Maybe there was some hope for these kids after all.

“Well, I also believe this punishment seems a little unfair.” Mrs. Pruitt said, still holding her boy, who now looked like a scared mouse.

“A little unfair?” Dick started.

“Dick, please...” Bruce said, putting a hand on his son’s chest. Dick looked at him for a second as he lowered his father’s arm, and that glimpse Bruce had was enough to let him know that there was no stopping him now. Trusting his son’s judgement, he backed down.

“You wanna know what’s unfair?” He leaned over one of the desks in the room, supporting his weight on both hands “Unfair is me getting tripped on hallways and being called a circus freak. Unfair is me having to hear slurs directed at me everyday while I’m trying to learn. Unfair is the word ‘gypsy’ being carved into every single one of my seats, and spray painted on my locker, twice. Unfair, is me getting beat up behind the school dumpsters because of my non-whiteness. Unfair is the death threats I was sent every other week, telling me I don’t belong here. Unfair,” Dick stared into her eyes “Is your son getting only a week of after school detention when the shit he’s said and done could very well warrant jail time if he wasn’t a minor. So shut the fuck up about “unfair”, because they are being let off easy. The shit they’ve been pulling ruin lives. If it was up to me, they’d get so much worse.”

The room went quiet once again. Dick punched the desk lightly before moving back to his previous position.

“Now, dear Principal Jameson,” He started over “Let’s talk prevention.”

“W-What?” He whispered out.

“What do you plan on doing, moving forward, so that this kind of behaviour doesn't happen again, hm?” Dick crossed his arms, scowl on his face. The man was silent, mouth open as if he wanted to speak, but had no clue on how “No? Well, let me help.” He offered them his most plastic smile “I think...” Dick paced around “The school should provide workshops; maybe even a steady course about racism, what it looks like, how it harms people, how to fight it. Make it mandatory for every little prick that decides they can use a slur or shame a peer for their heritage or culture.”

“Bu-But the money...”

“Is not a problem.” Dick interrupted. He looked at Bruce, who had a small smirk on his face “Is it?”

“No, not at all.” Bruce said “We are more than happy to provide the needed funding, if it goes into such an important project.”

“See?” Dick smiles at the man once again “But, of course, I’m not done. I think, and I’m just spitballing here, but, maybe, we should make this an expellable offense.”

“Hey now, young man,” Mr. Du Pont started “I think you may be overreacting just a bit.”

“Do you?” Dick looked at him “Well, of course you do, you thought I overreacted about everything back in middle school. Have you ever considered that maybe you’re simply underreacting?” Dick’s tongue darted out, wetting his lips. He had a room full of rich adults nervous. He was enjoying this a little too much “But relax, I’m not saying your little brats should be expelled. At least not yet.” He smiled back at the principal “I think that repeat offenders should be expelled. Once? Fine, maybe an honest mistake. They’re young, give him a chance to learn. Twice? That’s definitely racist and shouldn’t be tolerated in such a fine institution.” He stared at the man, and was surprised by the amount of time the other was able to sustain the eye contact.

“I will have to bring that up in the next board meeting, and...”

“Great!” Dick interrupted, charismatic “Great, you do that, and I think we’re done here. Why don’t you send the kids back to their classes now, hm?” He grinned, fake, plastic, and just a little bit malicious.

“Good idea.” The principal retributes the smile “Run along now children. No detours of any kind on your way back to your classrooms.”

.................................

As they were making their way out, Damian pulled at Dick’s hand slightly, getting his attention.

“What’s step two now?” Damian whispers to him.

“Well, now you go back to class and tell me if this happens again.” Dick answered, and Damian kept staring at him “Hey, step one went well. You shouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.”

Damian stopped cold in the middle of the hallway. Bruce and Dick stopped too. Damian then suddenly threw his body against Dick’s, nearly tackling his brother to the ground in a quick and intense hug. He didn’t say anything before walking back to class.

“So, seeing as you’re the expert,” Bruce said, serious but with a bit of happiness in his tone “What now?”

“Now,” Dick sighed “Now I call Jason and see if he’s free to drop off and pick up Damian with me for the next couple of weeks. If Tim wants to tag along, that’d be nice too.” He shoved his hands in his pocket “If I know one thing about these guys, is that their older brothers are all still the same racist dickheads they’ve always been. But they are... Aggressive.” Bruce noticed how his son placed a protective hand over his own stomach at the thought “So I think we should probably be here for a while. Just to make sure nothing happens.”

“Okay.” Bruce nods, and solemnly he adds: “I wish you didn’t have to deal with this.”

“Yeah... But don’t beat yourself up over this, okay? It’s not your fault and you’re doing all that you can.” Dick reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly.

.................................

The rest of the day, Dick had an awful restlessness inside him, constantly bumping his legs or tapping on a surface. He had this awful gut feeling (that one might call instinct), as if he knew something bad was bound to happen today. He hoped he’d be there when it happened. That feeling made him drag Jason and Tim to the school about an hour earlier, the three of them waiting by the car silently. The only reason his brothers didn’t question his acts was because they also felt the same worry take over their bodies whenever they thought of the little brat.

When the bell rang, all of them had moved closer to the gate.

“Oh, fuck no.” Dick exclaimed, looking at three guys standing nearby. He grabbed Jason’s attention “Those are the assholes that fucked with me back then.”

“Do you think they are really here for Damian?” Jason asked, concerned.

“What else would they be here for?” He bit his lip “But yeah, I’m also concerned about a lawsuit. We can’t just beat them up for no reason.”

“What do we do?” Tim asked the older man.

“Let’s get closer. Wait. And pray to the heavens that I’m wrong.”

But Dick wasn’t wrong. And as soon as the group saw Damian approaching they started to walk towards him, trying to intimidate the kid.

“Ayo, Al Ghul, we’ve got something to say to you!” He heard one of them yell. Lawrence Du Pont, of course.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Dick yelled.

Lawrence pushed Damian, making him fall on his butt. Dick reached him just in time, throwing the man to the ground in an impressive judo move, putting as much weight as possible on his ribcage, hoping to break a bone or two.

“Don’t you ever fucking touch my brother again, you disgusting little shit.” He whispered, getting up. The man remained on the floor.

Jason punched one of them in that perfect spot by the jawline, making him pass out immediately. Dick turned his gaze to the other man.

“Wanna run, do it now, bitch.” He growled, and the guy proved that he had a little intelligence left in him, leaving quickly.

Tim had already helped Damian to his feet, but he was unusually pale. A security guard came to check on what all the fuss was about and Jason quickly filled him in, sliding the man a more than generous tip for his troubles. Tim had a protective arm around his younger brother’s shoulder, and Dick rested a hand on his back, guiding them to the car.

“Listen Dames, from here on now, you have permission to fight anyone that physically threatens you, full force.” Dick says once they are back in the car, looking at his brother on the back seat “Just pick one fighting style and try your best to stick to it. It helps to cover anything up in case the media comes in snooping.”

“I see.” Damian states as Jason starts the car “So Jason picked boxing, I can see why, and you picked judo, which is the opposite of what I thought to be closest to your actual style.”

“It was part of the choice too.” Dick sighed, looking out the window “It’s distant from Nightwing, so less of a problem there, and it’s easier to plead self-defence.”

“But...” Damian frowned “Did you ever use it for anything other than self-defence?”

“No. But getting anyone to believe it was in self-defence was damn near impossible.” Dick’s words felt bitter “So judo was my pick because it’s not as lethal as, say, jiu-jitsu can be, but also takes proximity, meaning someone put their hands on me first.”

“Hopefully you won’t need to do it.” Tim said, sitting across from him on the car “But if you do, try to get it on tape so we can put it on youtube and go viral.”

“No,” Dick protests over Jason’s snickering “No, try to stay away from cameras. We don’t need that kind of press.”

Damian smiled as he looked out the window. The peace of the rainy day outside the car was a perfect contrast to the chaotic conversations his brothers had inside of it, talking loudly, arguing and laughing.

When they got back to the manor, Cass and Duke waited for them in the kitchen, stirring a pan and quietly arguing about what to do or not do.

“No, trust me, we don’t need anything else, you just have to be patient...” Duke said “No! Put that down, I’m not adding cornstarch on this.”

“But the guy on youtube...”

“I know what the guy on youtube said, but forget about the guy on youtube for one second, I know what I’m doing.”

“It’s not going to work.”

“It’s going to work alright.” Duke frowned.

“Duke, Cass,” Dick said, his three brothers standing behind him, all of them very curious as to what was going on “What are you doing?”

“Hot chocolate.” Cass answered “But he’s making it wrong.”

“I’m not making it wrong, I’m making it better.” Duke shot back to Cass before turning to his brothers “We heard that Damian had a rough time and... We wanted to make him something nice.”

“This makes me feel happy, so it will make Damian feel happy too, I’m sure.” Cass said “If Duke gets it right.”

“Oh My God woman, will you stop questioning my skills for a second?” Duke shot back.

“It’s not getting thick.”

“It is getting thick, trust me.” Duke said “Just... Sit down on the table and let me do this, all of you.”

“You heard the boss.” Dick jokes, escorting his siblings to the kitchen table.

Damian sat down next to Dick, who was across from Jason. Sitting on Jason’s left side, facing Damian, was Cass, and on his right side, Tim. Damian looked around, taking in the sweet chocolate scent that filled the room, and felt a slight touch to his fingertips. Cass had reached out to him. None of them said anything, but she smiled at her youngest brother, and Damian understood what she meant, offering a small smile back.

They talked loudly, filling the Wayne’s huge kitchen with laughter and warmth, teasing each other, poking fun, sharing stories and memes with each other, being themselves. Damian noticed how much better everything felt now that all of them had moved back in the manor. For a period of time, when it was only him, father and Tim, everything felt a little lifeless, a little dull. When Cass came back to live with them, things started to get better.

But for Damian, the biggest turning point was Duke. His honest, sharp mind brought balance and fun into the house in a way none of the others did. Dick’s frequent visits became even more frequent, to the point where the man just decided to move in and help Bruce deal with the new hoard of teenagers he had brought in (or to help the teenagers deal with Bruce, which is decidedly harder). After that, Tim seemed healthier, happier, more light-hearted. Their heated arguments subdued a lot. And somehow, even Jason began to find the house comfortable again. He still travels back and forth, alternating between his place and the manor, but Damian was almost grateful for his presence now. His straightforward style helped cut through a lot of bullshit speeches.

The thought brought tears to Damian’s eyes. He didn’t fully understand why he cries at moments like these, but right now he couldn’t help it. The table slowly turned silent again as he hid his face in his hands.

“Dami?” Dick called, and Damian’s cry became even more compulsive and unstoppable when he heard the nickname “Dami, what’s wrong?” His brother’s voice was soft and filled with worry, and Damian felt his hand brushing against his arm.

Damian shaked his head and leaned forward, hiding his face in Dick’s shoulder. His tears left wet marks on his brother’s shirt.

“I-I don’t know.” Damian whispered.

Dick hugged him, strong hands rubbing his brother’s back.

“I-I...” Damian tried again “I can’t help it. I’m sorry.”

“Can’t help what, Dami?”

“Crying.”

“It’s okay.” Dick whispered “It’s okay to cry.”

“I love you.” Damian sobbed “So much. It hurts.”

“Aw, Dami...” Dick smiled, planting a kiss to his brother’s scalp “We love you too. So much that it hurts.” He squeezed his brother a little tighter, and Damian sobbed louder and louder, until he was gasping for air “Hey, calm down,” Dick whispered again “We’re not going anywhere, Dami. I’m right here. It’s okay. Breathe. Shhh...”

Damian still felt weak. He knew that it would take a while for him to feel strong again, after what happened. But he knew he had his family with him, borrowing all the strength he could need until he got his back. As he calmed down, Duke sat a huge mug, filled to the brim with the thickest, glossiest, most mouth watering hot chocolate he had ever seen.

“Be careful, it’s still super hot.” Duke warned, handing him a long spoon and ruffling his hair. He took his place on the opposite side of Dick after setting down cups for everyone else “Just for the record,” Duke smiles as he sits down “I’d like to say that this turned out great and I knew exactly what I was doing, so eat your heart out Cassandra.”

The girl stuck her tongue out as her brother’s snickered at the teasing. Soon, the table was filled with laughter again, but this time Damian didn’t cry. He was too busy being happy to do so.