#He even got a head start on the freezing the dumplings to take home bit.

[lavender-linens]

I had a friend over tonight for dinner. We've been planning this for about a month I think. We decided that we would have to get together and make pelmeni, because she is Russian and craves pelmeni. We, of course, decided to bring along the boyfriends. Because why not? Worst that can happen is we need to make them sit on special chairs at the end of the kitchen so that they don't get underfoot. My kitchen is so narrow it is functionally a hallway, and 2 people is pushing the capacity quite a lot.

So my friend arrives. I am, of course, very excited to see her. And we start making things. We start making the filling first. 30 cracks of black pepper and some salt to the meat (half pork, half beef, idk, a poundish each?). I add some allspice for fun. I think my allspice is too old to actually taste like anything. We only stop to think after mixing the meat and seasonings that we need to add the onion.

So I just assign onion-chopping and cooking to the Boyfriend, who is excellent at chopping onions and carefully browning them because he hates big chucks of onion, especially if it's raw. I ask my friend what her mom's recipe for the filling is, and she says "that's it, it's basically just meat and onion." We aren't sure about cooking the onion, we do it anyways. I let her boyfriend inspect my kimchi while Onion Caramelization takes place.

I ask my friend what her mom's dough recipe is. My friend is not going anywhere near making the dough tonight, since she doesn't want to mess it up. No matter, I'm the dough grand master. I am given "my mom says 1 egg and ice water. Oh, and put salt in the water." So I just make dough until I think I have enough. I do not, but we do not know this at the time. The dough is kneaded, we let it rest, and onward to rolling and filling.

We bought a plastic tablecloth to go over the dining room table, and now it's show time! Filling the pelmeni! I, of course, am not too bad at this. Yes, I have only done this once before in my life, but I am the dough master. Russian friend's boyfriend is surprisingly good at the dumpling filling part. This makes sense, he makes dumplings with his Korean grandmother occasionally. We ran out of dough, so I put him to work making new dough. And I get him to knead it for me, mwahahaha!

Sometime before we decide that we need a second batch of dough, we eat the pelmeni. A quick flurry of activity to clean and clear my coffee table into a dining table cause the real table has pelmeni bits on it. I steal the couch cushions and put them on the floor. Bam. Comfy seating. We get to eating. The pelmeni are delicious, especially with the small bit of butter each plate was topped with. There is a variety of seasonings and a simple soy sauce-vinegar dipping sauce. There is sour cream and dried dill. The pelmeni are delicious of course, no raw onion to be found.

I remembered the kimchi, and I get some out for my friend's boyfriend. It's amazing with the pelmeni, although my poor Russian friend has no spice tolerance and almost dies. My Boyfriend dislikes the smell and finds it very unpleasant. That doesn't matter, we're adding it to the next batch of dumplings anyways. I can't wait to try them. Oh and we made jam and fruit dumplings, that was nice.

We had a nice silver needle afterwards (lovely thick mouthfeel and violet candy notes) and plotted tea shop raids and Russian Friend's abduction after a ballroom dance competition.

[voiceless-terror]

Perchance to Dream

@aspecarchivesweek Day Three: Drinks

Characters: Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood, Tim Stoker, Sasha James

Jon comes out to Martin. Twice.

(Ft. Kiss-Averse Jonathan Sims and Hamlet References)

__________

“Ugh, no thank you.”

Martin pauses. Sasha and Tim titter behind their hands.

And Jon, well. He’s got a look of vehement disgust written across his features, not unlike when he’s laying into what he claims is a fabricated statement. Martin can feel his face turning red at the words.

Getting Jon to come out for drinks had been the hard part. It’s one month into his tenure as Head Archivist, and everyone’s starting to feel the scope of the task ahead of them. Tim thought a ‘monthiversary’ drink was in order, and the only way to get Jon to come out was to threaten him with some sort of ill begotten information, the likes of which Martin couldn’t hear behind the closed door. Ten minutes later, Jon emerged, looking grumpier than usual (and very dashing) with a scarf around his neck. And now he sat next to him in the cozy pub booth, Martin trying very hard to remain stock-still because Jon’s leaning into his side. Perhaps he’s cold? Either way, Martin isn’t going to discourage it. 

But then he’d had a few drinks and they all loosened up; even Jon’s laugh came easier. And Martin- well, Martin’s opening up a bit more than usual, chattering about his time in the library and bolstered by the smiles he receives in turn. Tim changed track to the personal, regaling them with his latest outdoor adventure while Sasha and Jon gave witty, sarcastic commentary. But then Tim directed the conversation towards him, and they seemed relatively interested in his poetry. He even felt comfortable enough to rattle out a few lines from his phone in a desperate hope to impress, and he stupidly chose one that referenced ‘lips like a rosebud’ and Jon reacts like he’s read a particularly saucy bit of a smut novel aloud. How embarrassing. 

“Whew,” Tim whistles lowly, folding his arms behind his neck with an exaggerated wince. “Harsh, boss.”

“No, that’s not it,” Jon says, shaking his head and putting a hand on Martin’s arm. Putting a hand on Martin’s arm. Putting a hand- “Martin, your poetry is fine, if a bit derivative.” Jon thinks his poetry is fine and he’s got his small, fine-boned hand on Martin’s arm and god, he’s got a poem about that too, somewhere in his phone-

Tim guffaws, slamming a hand on the table and startling Sasha. “What a compliment!”

“It’s just…kissing. Lips. Ugh.” Jon smashes his fork rather violently into a dumpling, sending bits of food flying across the table, one of which hit Tim directly above his eye. “I eat with my mouth.”

“Wise observation.”

“Very astute of you.”

Martin would join in on the banter but Jon’s hand is still on his arm and his warm weight is pressing into his side. Honestly, what’s Jon playing at? He could rip the poetry to shreds in front of him but as long as that hand remains on his arm he’d just sit there, not saying a word. Hell, he’d probably even agree.

“So the bossman doesn’t like kisses,” Tim says, taking an obnoxiously loud sip of whatever fruity beverage he’d decided on. “Is that why you ripped down all of my mistletoe back in research?”

Jon. Mistletoe. Hand still on arm.

“I don’t like any of it,” Jon says, removing his hand from Martin’s arm to make a decisive gesture across the table which nearly sent his drink flying. He instantly misses the pressure but the warmth is still there, burning through his sleeve. Jon looks incredibly drunk, now that Martin’s got a better angle to view his flushed cheeks and bright eyes and lips- “All that touching. I don’t understand why everyone’s so hung up on it. No thank you, not for me.”

A brief flash of understanding lights Sasha’s eyes but Martin’s not in a place to decipher it. He’s not sure if it’s the drink or the Jon-of-it-all that’s impeding him. He’s never seen him so relaxed, so animated about something that’s not work. He can’t even focus on the words coming out of Jon’s mouth at the moment.

But Sasha leans forward- once she’s got an idea in her head, she won’t let go until she’s seen it through. Martin recognizes that look. “You’re asexual, then?”

“Mm,” Jon mumbles, his head tilting back dangerously as he puts on an affected, exaggerated voice. “Man delights not me, no, nor woman neither.”

And then Martin’s gone, suddenly struck by a vision of teenage Jon, silhouetted on a stage by a dramatic spotlight, reciting Shakespeare like a born thespian- look, Martin despises theater, but even he’s not immune to Hamlet. In a dream world he’d be Ophelia, no, not Ophelia, idiot- maybe he’s a stage hand, or no, he helps Jon with his quick changes, that’s a job, right? So caught up is he in this pseudo-high school fantasy that the words being said don’t actually dawn on him until a full minute later, when Tim’s laughter reaches a crescendo.

“Boss, did you seriously just come out via Shakespeare?”

Jon’s not even denying it, giving a lazy, good-natured smile in response. Fuck. Here he is, having some stupid fantasy over his boss who is very much right next to him and very much not interested. God, is he taking advantage? He jumps to the side, trying desperately to put a few more inches of space between them for Jon’s comfort when that small hand comes back to his arm, the sudden and strong grip stopping him in his tracks. 

“No!” Jon’s voice is low, those dark eyes so intense. Martin can feel his face go scarlet from his gaze alone. “This is nice. I like it.”

Tim and Sasha share an evil little smile and Martin’s out of commission, the night’s revelations and Jon’s insistent snuggling having taken their toll. He couldn’t tell you what happened after that, how many drinks were shared or how he got home. All he remembers is the feel of Jon’s hand on his arm, his insistent closeness, and the sound of his laugh whenever Tim teased him.

The next day Jon comes in late, looking about as bad as the rest of them felt. From the way he interacts with them, it’s likely that he doesn’t even remember last night, what he did or what he said. Martin tries not to let it sting, and goes back to work, knowing there’s a side of Jon that he’ll likely never see again.

__________

“Martin, we have to...talk, if that’s alright.” 

Martin pauses, a lump building in his throat. “Okay.”

He settles in on Daisy’s lumpy couch, trying not to let his apprehension show. It’s been a week since Jon got him out of the Lonely and they’re still adjusting, but Martin likes to think they’re settling into a nice routine. There’s such a natural ease to their domesticity; they had their differences, sure, but he’s never seen the man so soft and unguarded, puttering around the cottage, making sure everything’s nice and comfortable for the two of them. And of course, there’s the bed situation. Only one, like in all the cliché fanfiction Martin had taken to reading back when he lived in the Archives and his biggest problem was worms. Maybe Jon doesn’t want to share anymore? He’s been strangely distant the past day, keeping space between them and hovering about in a nervous manner. He goes back through their interactions, trying to think of what he could’ve done wrong.

Jon sits down next to him, his face showing his own apprehension. “I know we’ve been getting...close, this past week. But if we’re going to ah, have an, er- well, you know, relationship- there’s some things you need to know.” Relationship. Jon thinks they're in a relationship. Martin didn’t want to put a label to it, too afraid it would shatter the fragile trust they built. But to be in a relationship with Jon, well, that’s something he’s always dreamed of, right?

So he relaxes minutely, tries not to show the utter joy he feels at the words. “Alright. What’s up?”

Jon takes a steadying breath, looking so oddly grave that Martin immediately wants to take him into his arms. “I don’t...well, I’m asexual. So I’m not really interested…” he makes a vague gesture down towards Martin’s crotch and then freezes, clearly embarrassed by the crudeness of the action. “I’m not interested in all of...that. Or kissing, for that matter. It’s just a personal boundary for me, if that’s alright.”

Oh. Martin blinks, taking in Jon’s serious countenance and hopeful eyes and while he wants to match it, he can’t control the laughter that bubbles out of his throat. “Oh-oh Jon-”

Jon immediately blanches, his brow furrowing in confusion and probably hurt. “W-What? What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry! Fuck-it’s, it’s not that, that’s fine, it’s just-” Martin tries desperately to keep his laughter under control and fails. Christ, he can’t breathe. “Man delights not me, no, nor woman neither!” 

“Why are you quoting Shakespeare?” Jon’s looking at him like he’s lost his mind. Perhaps he has.

“Because you did, you daft thing!” Martin’s shoulders shake with the effort of containing himself, and he wipes a tear from his eye. He immediately puts a hand on Jon’s arm, a mirror’s reflection of that night at the bar and yet it’s still his hand that burns. “Jon, it’s fine. I already know. You told us over drinks my first month in the Archives.”

Jon’s face takes on that peculiar look of confusion and concentration that Martin loves, as if he’s searching his mind or maybe even the Eye for information. “I-oh. Oh!” He puts his head in his hands with a groan, ignoring Martin’s comforting pats to the back. “How embarrassing.”

“It was adorable.”

“No it wasn’t,” Jon whines into his hands even as he leans into Martin’s touch.

“It was,” Martin assures him, drawing him close to his side and letting him lean his head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I laughed- you were just so serious, I couldn’t help it-”

“Yes, well,” Jon sighed, settling into his arms, the beginnings of a smile on his face. “It’s fine. As long you’re alright with…”

“More than alright.” It’s Jon, of course it’s alright. Being here with him, in their little shabby oasis- well, it’s more than enough. They sit there in silence for some time, Martin enjoying the closeness of the man he’d fought so hard to protect finally in his arms. He’s starting to think they just might be alright. He smiles to himself, perching his chin on top of Jon’s head.

“To be or not to be-”

“Shut up, Martin.”

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28741983

[rolandtowen]

Dumbass Romantics, the first part of a series exploring the ways in which Sokka and Zuko falling in love after the War. 

Sokka and Zuko seem to keep “accidentally” flirting with each other with romantic gestures from their respective cultures. It takes a while for everyone else (and them!!) to catch on. Set a few months after the end of the war, featuring chronic pain and cultural flirting.

Read it under the cut!

The Fire Lord hated the cold. He supposed he should have commissioned a fur cloak before visiting Katara and Sokka, but where could his tailors find fur on such short notice? He couldn’t bring himself to slaughter dozens of squirrel-toads just for one coat. He had settled on a cloak woven with extra koala-sheep wool, but stepping out of his ship’s warmth now and into the crisp air of the Southern Water Tribe, Zuko knew he should have heeded Sokka’s advice to him to dress warm.

The cold was a bitch. But thankfully, he didn’t have to dwell on it long.

“Zuko!” Came Katara’s voice from somewhere below him. Zuko hurried down the rampart and came to meet his old friend. He went to bow formally, but she laughed and pulled him in for a hug. “Maybe save the bowing for when we have dinner with the old folks tonight.”

Zuko raised his eyebrow.

“Oh! It’s nothing big – just my Dad, Bato, Kanna, and Pakku. I do hope you’ve worked up an appetite for stewed sea prunes, that’s all my Dad can make without blowing the kitchen up – unless you’re allergic to sea prunes, of course, but I guess you wouldn’t know yet seeing as you’ve never tried them—”

“Katara,” Sokka’s voice startled Zuko a little bit, coming from his left side. Zuko shifted his head so he could hear him better. “You’re rambling again. Let the man breathe!” Zuko let out a low chuckle and turned to fully face Sokka.

“It’s good to see you too, Sokka.”

“And you, jerkbender! Spirits, aren’t you cold? I told you bring layers!”

The trio started to walk towards Katara and Sokka’s village. Zuko pondered what he should say: admit weakness and say he was, in fact, cold; or be miserable for the rest of his visit in silence?

“I’m okay, it’s just that the Fire Nation hasn’t ever had a need to make warm clothing. My tailors wouldn’t even know where to start on finding fur for a cloak.”

“Well then,” Sokka said, “it’s lucky for you that we have polar leopards!” And with that, Sokka unclipped the fur-lined cloak he was wearing and draped it over Zuko’s shoulders, fastening the metal clips with practiced ease. Zuko was shocked.

“Sokka, I can’t take your cloak!” He protested, stopping in his tracks.

“Relax, jerkbender, there’s more where that came from. When are you going to learn to dress up for your visits, dork?”

Katara chimed in. “The last time Zuko was here, his body temperature was elevated by his righteous search for the Avatar. I’m sure peace and love have probably cooled your hot head off quite a bit, huh?”

Zuko only hummed, looking down at the cloak that had been thrust upon him. It really was, quite warm. And quite intricate as well! He ran his fingers over the moon phases embroidered at the seams, a striking white against the deep blue of the cloak.

“Enjoying my handiwork?” Katara asked.

“Yeah, I am.” Zuko answered in a daze.

He wasn’t sure if he should tell them what it meant in Fire Nation culture, to place your own cloak on another’s shoulders, to literally and figuratively place another under your protection. Really, Zuko couldn’t remember the last time he had been given anything as a gift. Charity was not a concept Ozai was familiar with. Sokka couldn’t have possible known that what he just did was like the Fire Nation equivalent of a betrothal necklace. Still, it did leave Zuko touched that Sokka would so willingly give over such a valuable garment. He decided to leave the matter alone and revel in the warmth of the cloak.

“Sooooooooo, do you wanna go fishing together?”

Zuko sighed. He was a little bored. When they got back to the village, Katara had immediately ditched them to go help Kanna and Hakoda prep for the night’s family dinner. Leaving him and Sokka to do…. whatever until dinner time rolled around.

“Uh, I don’t really know how to fish—”

“That’s alright! I can teach you. Just grab your cloak!” Sokka leapt up and swept out the door. “You are coming, right?” Sokka called from afar.

“Yeah, I’m coming!” Zuko hollered back. He fiddled with the clasp on Sokka’s – er, his cloak—and stepped back into the cold.

Sokka was at the edge of the village, spears in hand. “You ever been on a kayak before?”

Zuko chuckled. “No, the ships I’ve been tend to carry more than one person, I don’t suppose you’ve got one of those?”

Sokka punched him in the shoulder. “We can’t use one of the warrior’s boats, we’ll scare the fish!” Oh. That made sense. “Now I get it, you really don’t know anything about fishing, do you? What have you got to say for yourself?”

“Two things: one, prince; two, fire nation. We much prefer Komodo sausage to seal jerky.”

“Well, your hotness, let me show you how it’s done.” Sokka hopped into one kayak, patting the one next him. “I assume you at least know how to use a paddle?”

Zuko laughed. “I may have been an adrift refugee once or twice. I think I can handle a paddle.”

“Good,” Sokka smiled at him as he climbed into the one-seater kayak. Zuko took a few moments to adjust to the shift in his center of gravity, then nodded at Sokka.

“Let’s catch some fish.”

It turns out, Zuko is not a natural at spear-fishing. He watched closely the first few times Sokka threw his spear, bringing up fish each time. “Go on, try it,” Sokka encouraged him. Zuko looked into the depths and tried to aim for the blurry shadows he took to be fish. His spear came up empty. “That’s okay! It took me a few fishing trips before I really go the hang of it.” Sokka analyzed his form. “Make sure you extend your arm a bit before your release the spear, then you can change your angle more easily.”

Zuko nodded, mirroring the way Sokka was holding his spear. They waited in silence, kayaks knocking gently into each other on the waves. A fresh school of fish appeared underneath them, and they released their spears at the same time. This time, even Zuko had caught a fish! Only one, compared to Sokka’s two, but it was his first fish! Sokka smiled widely at him. “I knew you could do it.”

“I guess I should call you Sifu Sokka now, my fishbending master.” Zuko quipped.

Sokka blushed and he hoped the gathering snow hid it from Zuko. “I think we should probably get back; you don’t want to miss Dad’s stewed sea prunes.

“Definitely not.” Zuko replied. “What, what does one do with a fish once they’ve caught it?”

“It depends – I think it being your first fish, we should celebrate it! What do you say to making some boiled fish dumplings?”

“I think that if you’re teaching me, it’ll be wonderful.”

If it was even humanly possible, Sokka blushed harder.

When they docked their kayaks, Zuko noticed that Sokka was favoring one of his arms over the other. Normally, it wouldn’t be strange to see a person favoring a side, but Zuko knew Sokka was ambidextrous. He didn’t say anything, so Zuko kept his observations to himself. Kanna met them outside her home, and positively beamed when Sokka told her that Zuko had caught his first fish.

“Well, better a late bloomer than never, eh?” Zuko laughed but still bowed his head in deference.

“It is very nice to finally meet you, Lady Kanna. Sokka has told me much about you in your letters.”

“Oh, he has, has he?” Kanna gave a mean side-eye to Sokka, who was suddenly very interested in the icy ground. “He’s told me about you as well. You have my gratitude – I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if you hadn’t gone to the Boiling Rock.”

“It was my pleasure, Lady Kanna.”

“Just Kanna, just Kanna, my dear. Well, come in! I see Sokka has leant you a cloak, but you still must be freezing! In, in!” Kanna shooed them inside. “I will take special care of your first fish, Zuko. Anything you had in mind?”

“Uh, dumplings?”

“Excellent choice, dear. Fish dumplings coming right up!” She disappeared into the kitchen of the home.

Sokka sat down on floor, covered by blue fabrics and pelts. Zuko noticed how gingerly he set himself down, now obviously favoring his right side. Sokka’s lips were drawn tightly as he rubbed circles into his left shin. Zuko could have almost swore he heard Sokka whimper. Almost.

“Sokka,” Zuko knelt down next to his friend. “Talk to me.”

“Mmph,” Sokka scowled.

“Words, Sokka.”

“It’s mostly my leg—you know how I broke it on the day of the Comet?”

Zuko grimaced. He did remember. Even in his lightening-induced fever, Zuko remembered. He heard his physicians set Sokka’s leg and pop his shoulder back in place. He wanted to forget those sounds of Sokka in pain, but he couldn’t.

“Well,” Sokka continued. “Ever since then, it still… it still hurts. Katara’s tried everything, but I’m probably stuck with it forever. My leg hurts the worst, but my shoulder’s the most inconvenient. I’m old enough to start putting braids in my wolf tail, but I just—can’t. I can’t lift my arm above shoulder-level. And I know I’m wallowing to the guy who literally got half his face burned off but—”

“But nothing, Sokka. You’re allowed to be in pain. Here, you know what, pull up your pant leg—”

“Geez, buy a guy dinner first will you?”

Zuko blushed but Sokka did as he was told, exposing his left shin and ankle. Zuko focused a little bit of heat into the palms of his hands. He placed one on Sokka’s ankle, scanning his face for any pain. When Sokka relaxed into the touch, Zuko placed his other hand on Sokka’s shin, applying the slightest bit of pressure.

“You know, with those hands you could almost be a healer like Katara.”

Zuko snorted. “And you need to learn to let people help you.” After a few minutes, he pulled his hands away, fearing that if he kept them there too long he’d burn his friend. “If you want, I can help you braid your hair. I won’t even tell Katara.”

Sokka smiled shyly at him. He guessed Zuko didn’t know the importance of braiding another’s hair in water tribe culture—reserved for family members and, well, lovers. But Zuko was kneeling in front of him, in a water tribe cloak, offering to help him with a warrior tradition. After everything they’d been through, Zuko was family—and maybe, he could be open to being something more?

“Okay,” Sokka nodded. He pulled two beads from his pocket, both striking shades of blue, one carved by Kanna and one by Katara. “You know how my Dad wears his beads? It’s the same idea.”

“I caught my first fish today, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing I can’t do now.” Zuko settled himself closer to Sokka’s face. “I’m going to let your hair down now, is that okay?” Sokka nodded again.

Zuko took out the hair tie and separated two sections of hair thick enough to support the beads. For lack of another set of hands, he resorted to holding the sections in his mouth while he carded the rest of Sokka’s back into place and tied it into the wolf’s tail again. Sokka was suddenly very aware of how close Zuko was to him—more specifically how he never wanted him to leave. He loved the warmth that radiated from him, but furthermore, he couldn’t remember the last time someone helped him with his hair. He hadn’t asked anyone since he got back from the war, and while they were on the run… he was focused on more important things than his hair. Sokka risked a look at Zuko’s face: he was rewarded with Zuko’s adorable concentration face. Wait, adorable? Where had that come from?

“How do you know how to braid, anyway? I didn’t see a whole lot of braids in the Fire Nation.”

“My mother used to let me braid her hair when I was feeling anxious or overwhelmed. You know, it’s calming, repetitive, doesn’t involve fire—perfect for mess of emotional issues like me.”

“Hey, you’re not a mess.”

Zuko laughed darkly.

“Well, not anymore than the rest of us. We all already had our own issues and then a war happened on top of that. You were just lecturing me on letting people help me. You don’t have to be alone in this.”

Zuko’s fingers trembled as he finished the second braid. “I know. I’m still getting used to having people I can actually trust.”

Kanna suddenly called from the kitchen. “Are you two done lounging around or are you going to help an old woman with this fish?”

They looked at each other and laughed. They did kind of forget about everyone except each other.

“Hey, Zuko,” Sokka started as Zuko stood up and held out a hand for him.

“Yeah?”

“You can braid my hair anytime you want.”

Zuko resisted simultaneous urges to bow and to hug Sokka. He smiled instead.

“I’d like that.”

Bonus:

Kanna had heard everything of course. But she couldn’t bear to interrupt them sooner. Tui and La, if those two didn’t end up together she’d have a riot. In the few months since Sokka had been home with her, he hadn’t opened up to anyone about his pain. And he certainly hadn’t asked anyone for help with his braids.

Spirits, those two were good for each other. Dumbasses in love.

[xjoonchildx]

dinner & dessert | jhs x reader

summary: once you and hoseok decided to get physical, things went from 0 to 100. that might be a problem now that he’s asked you to meet his parents.

pairing: hoseok x reader word count: 1.8K

rating: 18+

genre: the actual definition of PWP. please don’t judge me.

warnings:  excessive horniness, complete disregard for childhood momentos & t-shirt abuse

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

Surely there were things that you used to do -- before all you did was Hoseok.  

You just can’t seem to remember any of them anymore.

You’re pretty sure there had been dinners and movies and parties and hikes -- back in the beginning, back when you’d both agreed to hold off on getting physical.  Back when you’d both agreed you didn’t want to ruin things by moving too fast.

But then six weeks in, Hoseok came over carrying homemade dumplings and wearing that irresistible smile and smelling like some incredible cologne and that was that.

And that wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that you can’t seem to turn it off.

At this point, he’s fucked you against every flat surface in his apartment, your apartment, and a few places in between.

Your last attempt at a movie date ended with him mouthing your tits through your thin tank top while you rode him in the backseat of his car.  You’d had to cut a hike short after you stroked him too thoroughly during your picnic lunch and he came all over his pants. 

Your doctor could only laugh when you asked her to change your birth control to something military-grade.

So it’s been weeks and weeks and weeks and you know the high is supposed to wear off at some point but it just… hasn’t.

Now all Hoseok has to do is give you that look -- and your body goes into auto-pilot.  That look sparks an embarrassing, Pavlovian panty-wetting response you can’t seem to stop.  

And it’s the same look he’s giving you right now.  

Which is a problem.

It’s a problem because Hoseok’s mother has just finished serving an authentic and delicious dinner of Bulgogi and other Korean specialities.  It’s a problem because tonight you’re meeting Hoseok’s parents for the first time and you’re in their home, at their dinner table.  

And it’s a problem because despite knowing you’d like very much to impress his parents, Hoseok seems determined to ruin your reputation.  And your panties.

So you give him your own look.  

The one that says, i swear to god don’t even think about it but he ignores it, turns away from you to beam up at his mother with picture-perfect adoration.

“Mom, you kill it every time,” he says charmingly and she smiles wide, waving her hand as if to wave off his praise, like it’s too much.  “Best cook on the planet.”

“Oh, honey -- you’re so sweet,” she laughs and you want to say, oh honey, no he’s not.  Does this delightful woman have any idea she’s raised an actual sex addict?

Probably not.

Hoseok pins you with the look again as his mother begins to clear the dishes and you clear your throat and look down at your hands.

“How did you like it?” his father asks.

“Oh, very much,” you say honestly, looking back up to offer him a weak smile.  “Best Korean food I’ve ever had.”

He grins and leans back, satisfied with your review. 

“Dad, can we hold off on dessert for a few minutes?” Hoseok asks casually.  “I’d like to give her a tour of the house.”

Your eyes dart back to Hoseok, wide with panic and warning because is he fucking serious right now and the barely concealed smirk he sends back says you’re absolutely goddamned right i am.

“Yeah, of course. We’ll be here when you’re ready,” Hoseok’s father says, standing to join his wife in the kitchen.

Hoseok directs his answer back to his father, but his sly smile is directed right at you.

“Perfect.”

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

“You should have worn a skirt,” Hoseok reprimands, the second the lock to his bedroom clicks into place.

“I purposely didn’t wear a skirt, dammit,” you fire back as he uses his body to push you onto his bed, forcing you to drop down. “We are not fucking in your childhood bedroom with your parents downstairs.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he murmurs, hands working the button of your jeans as he ignores your protest.  “You’re going to have to make this quick.”

“Hoseok,” you hiss.  “You cannot fuck me right now.  Cannot.”

He looks up at you for a moment, cocks his head to the side as if working out a problem in his head.  Behind him you can make out posters of athletes on the walls, a bookcase next to the bed stacked with tennis trophies. 

“Uh, yeah,” Hoseok says nonchalantly.  “I totally can. Slide those off. The clock is ticking.”

This is disastrous, you think, as you work your jeans off your legs. Mortifying, you muse, as you take your panties down just a moment afterwards.  One of your worst ideas, you concede, as you lie back and watch Hoseok drop his boxers to reveal his skilled cock already at half-mast.  

But apparently none of that is stopping you.

“I got you off in seven minutes at that Christmas party,” Hoseok says, dropping to his knees.  “I can beat that.”

“Oh my god,” you groan, flinching when he dives into your heat face-first.  “You’ve been timing me?”  

He flicks his tongue across your clit and you have to suppress a squeak. 

“No silly,” he teases. “I’ve been timing me. For planning purposes,” he says, going to work in earnest.  His tongue and teeth lap and tease at you and you grip one hand into the comforter of his bed to give an outlet to your nervous energy.

“You’re already dripping,” he whispers and you don’t have to see his face to visualize the smirk he’s wearing.  “So I think we’re going to be just fine.”

He slips two fingers into you, pumps them in and out slowly and your eyes fall shut as you forget everything but the feeling of his hands and mouth on you.  

But then the sound of dishes clattering downstairs echoes up the hallway and you freeze for a moment, remembering where you are and exactly what you’re doing.

“Hoseok,” you moan, “You have got to hurry.  If your parents catch us like this…” you trail off, not even wanting to voice the uncomfortable scenario out loud.

“They won’t,” he swears, giving you another long lick for good measure.  “I promise.”

Once he’s certain he’s got your body humming -- teetering on the edge -- he joins you on the bed.  He fits his slim hips between yours and wastes no time lining up his cock and pushing inside your swollen walls. You sigh at the thick slide of him, the feeling of friction you’re certain you’ll never tire of.  He groans from deep inside his chest when he bottoms out inside of you.

“God,” he moans, “I could live here.  Right between these soft thighs.”

“You practically already do,” you scold, sucking in a shaky breath when he strokes into you hard. He laughs and sets a steady rhythm, satisfied with the way you writhe in response to his vigorous thrusts.  His mouth sucks gently at your neck while he strokes and you whimper.

“I could come right now,” he warns, one hand slipping in between your bodies. One of his fingers finds your aching clit and he applies pressure as he continues to fuck into you. “But I’m holding off. I’m always holding off when I get to be inside you.”

God, he knows just how to talk, you think, mind blanking with pleasure.  You’re so close and all you need is just a bit more of this friction.  You grind up into the pressure of his fingers and cock and whine as you feel your orgasm start to build at the apex of your thighs.  Your fingers dig into the lean muscles of his ass, feeling them flex as he moves inside you.

“Fuck me harder,” you whisper, needing that push over the edge.  Hoseok groans at your words, increasing his pace and force and you hear his bed creak in response.  He doesn’t seem to care, too lost to chasing his end and yours to entertain such thoughts.

“Oh shit,” you gasp, feeling your orgasm kick off as he snaps his hips against you.  “Oh god, Hoseok, I’m -- “

He covers your mouth with his, drowns out your desperate ramblings as he starts pounding into you with earnest. You can feel his bed moving as he ruts against you mindlessly.  Your orgasm washes over you, causing your hips to stutter and Hoseok swallows your moans as his own orgasm hits, causing him to buck even harder.  

The sound of tennis trophies falling on the floor catches you both off guard.

“Oh fuck,” he groans, and you’re not sure if that fuck is directed at the wet warmth he’s just deposited between your thighs or the noisy as fuck trophies that just came crashing to the ground.  You don’t have time to really ponder that question because a second later a voice sounds from downstairs.

“Hoseok? You guys okay?”

He startles off of you, throwing a drawer open and reaching for a t-shirt that he probably hasn’t worn in 10 years.  

“Yeah, we’re good,” he calls down, cleaning himself off with it and scrambling to do the same to you.   He practically jumps back into his jeans while you throw your clothes back on. 

He’s played it cool this entire time but fear-of-your-mom-walking-in-on-you-boning-your-girlfriend has a way of wiping the smug right off your face.  Doesn’t matter if you’re damned near 30 years old.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” you whisper venomously, buttoning up your jeans.  

He winks. 

“Put this in your purse,” he says, handing you the t-shirt.

You make a face.

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

Sex doesn’t really have a smell, does it?

A question you never thought you’d be pondering at the dinner table with your boyfriend’s parents but these are strange, horny times, and you’re praying like hell sex doesn’t have a smell.  Because if it does, well.

Well.

If it does have a smell, Hoseok’s absolute doll of a mother certainly isn’t letting on.  

She’s just put out a plate of the most beautiful songpyeon you’ve ever seen. Hoseok’s father beams at the presentation, looking to you as if to ask isn’t my wife a world-class cook? And you hope the look you give back is convincing and not at all guilty. 

Hoseok, for his part, looks completely relaxed and not ruffled in the slightest.  

You shoot him a glare over that plate of beautiful dessert dumplings and the smile he sends back makes his dimples pop and you decide you’ll have to forgive him just this once, you suppose.

“Mom,” Hoseok says sweetly, looking past the plate of desserts and back to the kitchen.  “These look amazing, but -- “ 

You raise an eyebrow, praying whatever words walk out of his mouth next won’t embarrass the shit out of you.  

“ -- Can I just have a second helping of Bulgogi for dessert?  I’m hungry again, for some reason.”

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

[harveywritings92]

Fatgum x OC: The Adventures of Manly Sherlock & Wattson.

Summary: It all started when Kirishima finds a positive pregnancy test The Fatgum's agency bathroom, it's been a very slow week so him and his bro Denki are on the case the to find out whose pregnant.

=============================================

"Okay, I've compiled a list of suspects for us to interrogate, mostly girls we know and what guys they're intimate with."

"Why are Vi-shock and Fatgum crossed out?"

"Because my dear Denki, this *shows test in a zip-lock bag* is one of those clear-blue tests! I'm sure you've seen those commercials, they're supposed tell how far along in the lady is, It's says four weeks... That was during that charity auction for the children's hospital."

" Oh right, it can't be Santiago-san she was in Canada for her friend's wedding."

Kirishima nodded as they looked down at the list of suspects and who to question... first up!

Izuku and Casey:

(Casey got a summer job a secretary for while Fatgum's regular secretary was on vacation.)

Oh lord have mercy on these to poor nerds the second Denki flashed that pregnancy test in their faces and started grilling them on their private affairs, Casey managed to sputter out a meek "I'm not pregnant.." before going ghost white and fainting, while a red faced Izuku who caught her managing to stutter out that they can't be pregnant! they haven't even slept together... yet, the farthest they've gone is making-out! Kirishima was surprised to hear this little tidbit "What? but you were tellin' Me and Uraraka that the two of you sleep together all th-" Then penny dropped at the redhead caught on awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Oh! you meant sleeping as in actual sleep, not..." Izuku shot him a look that screamed please leave and saw his eyes flash he was getting mad. " Ok Well, we'll just be going now!" he and Denki ran leaving the flustered couple to cool down.

{Izuku and Casey}

Shoto and Saika

Long story short Shoto was on patrol during the event and Saika was home sick, so it couldn't have be them, they always used protection then the Bi-haired teen shot the mystery solving duo a look that could both boil and flash freeze the sea in a second. which scared off Denki and Kirishima.

Shoto and Saika

Katsuki and Kaya:

(Kaya is also interning with Fatgum)

"OH HELL NO! YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT I'D DO IT WITH MY GIRL WITHOUT WRAPPING IT?" the Ash blond raged while his girlfriend calmly sat next to him waiting for him to get it out of his system. "We always use protection and I have an BC implant." Kaya chimed while her boyfriend snarled at them. "AND EVEN IF I HAD KNOCKED HER UP, DO YOU TWO DUMDASSES HONESTLY THINK I'D BE ALIVE TALKING TO YOU RIGHT NOW?!?" his voice cracked a bit; Kaya sweat dropped as a frigid tidal-wave fear settled in causing the teens to shiver... Bakugou had a point, if he had gotten Kaya pregnant, All-might would've killed him and Dabi would see to it that no one will ever find his body...which would be nothing but a pile of dust blowing in the wind!

(Dabi's reformed in this, and is living with his aunt and uncle as he wants nothing to do with Enji.)

With that Denki and Kirishima sulked away defeated as Katsuki was grumbling to Kaya about what just and how those two idiots are gonna be screwed, Kaya hummed in agreement "All they gotta do is ask the wrong person and BAM! they're missing some teeth!" the honey blonde huffed as a frazzled Violet walked passed them on the street not paying attention to what the teens were talking about. 

Katsuki and Kaya

Dabi and Nanami:

{Nanami briefly rented her services out to Fatgum while Tamaki was sick, she and Dabi went to the auction in place of Ame and Toshinori.)

Not gonna touch that one with a sixty foot pole Kaminari and Kirishima would like to live to see tomorrow thank-you... Plus they concluded that if Nanami were truly pregnant? they highly doubt Dabi would let her go off on her own doing dangerous mercenary work, essentially putting herself and their baby in danger.

He'd sooner bow his head to Endeavor before that’ll happen!

Dabi and Nanami

----------------------------

After patrol

Denki and Eijirou had pretty much forgotten about the pregnancy test as patrol had picked expectantly, the teens collapsed on the couch exhausted while Fatgum was typing out their schedules for the next patrol, while enjoying a couple bags of chips as the yellow haired teen yawned reached into his pocket he felt the zip-lock bag with the pregnancy test just chilling there and then like that he remembered their investigation this afternoon.

 "Whoa Wait, I forgot! Who the hell is pregnant bro??" He asked Kirishima who had also forgot about their little quest, the redhead sat right up and pulled out their list, as Fatgum froze mid type and looked at the teens aghast at what he had just heard. "Whadda talkin' bout now?!" he asked brows furrowed in concern that one of them was going tell the BMI hero; that Kaminari or Kirishima got a girl pregnant, A bunch of what ifs started filing through the blond's head and was freaking out!

Denki not reading the mood spoke up "Kirishima found a pregnancy test in the bathroom downstairs and we checked with all the girls who attended the auction four weeks ago, It wasn't any of them." Taishiro relaxed seeing that there wasn't going be some "Sidekick teen pregnancy scandal!" headlined in the news anytime soon... but then there was a knock at the door and Violet walks in with this nervous aura around her.

Tai broke into a big grin. "Darlin' Wha a surprise!" the red haired woman fidgeted with her shirt as she warily eyed Kirishima and Kaminari then looked back at her fiancé she bit her lip before taking a deep shaky breath. "h-Hey. Can we talk, maybe in private?" Violet murmured looking like she about to burst into tears, as her tall lover looked at her worried "Why? what's...." 

A tense silence a fills the office as Taishiro's heart sped up as he recalled what Denki had said... *Four weeks...four weeks ago, Violet came back from her trip early and surprised him! they slipped away from the auction for a quickie...Taishiro couldn't remember if he wore a condom or not, he was so happy to see his dumpling again! * His face was stuck on stun, as their sidekicks stared at the couple jaws dropped.

Only for Taishiro to snapped out of it when saw how scared Violet was which confused him. D-did she think he doesn't want it??? Why would she think that? they've talked about having kids befo-...he then remembered the two teens gawking and the tall blond realized this wasn't the right environment to discuss this! "Ah... boys you got the day off tomorrow!" he announced ordering them out of the room before getting on the intercom and telling everyone to pack up, they were closing down early for the night! 

Taishiro made sure everyone was gone before sitting down and talking to Violet for the first hour or so, it felt surreal at first! it was most when had she suspected she was pregnant and if the test was accurate or not? "I'm not really sure, I just started craving watermelon and cream cheese...things started connecting from there." She wasn't really sure how reliable that test was, but she had set a doctor's appointment for tomorrow, the blond noticed she was still nervous about this whole thing, hell! He was nervous about this whole thing!

*A dad...* he chuckled as blush and wide smile adorned  his features *'m' gonna be a dad!* he felt warm and fuzzy as he put his palm on Violet's soft tummy there's a little jellybean in there... "S-so you're mad at me?" Taishiro's bubble was deflated for a second as his yellows eyes met met with his fiancée's nervous gaze. "course not! Why I be mad? yer giving me a gift 've only thought would be happen in my dreams." he said kissing Violet's hair, her forehead, her cheek, saving her tummy for last, causing her breakdown in into happy tears as she'd been freaking out all day, so much so that she was mentally preparing herself for rejection, being a pro-hero is serious business and a lot of people would rather choose their careers and fame over having a family and both Taishiro and Violet had seen from the sidelines what that does to people.

Taishiro assured Violet that this was what he wanted and nothing was going change that, he was going to be there for every step of the way! there were a lot of congratulations throw around when news got around about the pregnancy. Taishiro was very doting and protective of Violet at her belly got bigger, he even hired Dabi of all people to be her bodyguard when he was unavailable, the ex-villain turned freelancer made sure no one messed with her while she was out and about, if he did see someone looking at her funny; once they realized who he was they'd back off unless they wanted to be a pile ash.

--------------------------

Cut to 9 months later in the dead of winter after a heavy snowstorm; there's a photo of Dabi circulating, consisting of him posing in front of a sleeping Violet whose being held by Fatgum, while she's holding a baby, swaddled in said ex-villain's jacket while an ambulance arrives in the background with the caption: [It's a girl!] which is published in the news papers. ["Ex-Villain delivers Pro-hero's baby in freak snowstorm!"]

[missinsanityscat]

Gone beyond hell

Yuki-Onna!Yukie × Male!Reader

They said it was going to be fun, they also said it would be super easy to tow a woman. You groan and order a drink. Your friends had attacked you in your apartment 2 hours ago, where you pursued your thoughts in self-pity. The reason? Your girlfriend had left you and your two friends Bokuto and Kuroo wanted to cheer you up. Now you are sitting in your thickest winter jacket at the counter of this Ice Cube Bar. Although there was a pleasant atmosphere here, the cold annoyed you. "Have you been left alone?" Asked a bored voice next to you. You turn your head towards the voice and recognize the woman Bokuto warmly welcomed when you arrived. "You could say so. Yukie? ”The woman smiled lazily and nodded. "Yes. You were (Y / N)? “You nod and reach for the glass that is placed in front of you. "You work here?" You asked slightly stupidly, but the woman nods. "More specifically, it belongs to my parents. I take care on the weekends that nothing bad happens. "" Cool. "You say, scratch your chin which is strewn with stubble. Yuki yawns warmly and pointed up. "I'm hungry do you want to come up with me?"

No idea what rode you there, but what you agree with. Yukie quickly explained to her colleague that she would eat something with you and that you would come back. "Follow me (Y / N)." You followed her, strutting her out of the room and taking a flight of stairs. Only now did you notice how lightly Yuki was dressed. "Aren't you celebrating in it?" Yuki looked at himself and shook his head. "I like it that way most." Then she unlocked the door and let you enter. No sooner had you stepped through the door than you started to shiver easily. It was cold, colder than in the bar. You can feel hands on your back that are slowly coming down. "So ~" the young woman started behind you, taking off your jacket. "You won't need this."

She threw the jacket to the floor and the rustling of fabric that also went to the floor. You quickly turn and blush slightly when the smaller woman was standing naked in front of you. You take a look over them walking. Yuki is truly a beautiful woman, she is quite your type. "Do you like what you see?" She asked, slightly bored, her eyes on your crotch. "I thought you were hungry?" "Am I" Yuki hair grew longer and her skin turned white. "But I prefer men." You wanted to move, but you couldn't. You look down to your legs in confusion. You are horrified to find that you were frozen. "What the .." you started, interrupting yourself when Yuki tampered with your pants. "What?" Yuki looks up at you and licks her lips lazily. "First I will have some fun and then I will freeze you and eat it gradually." You swallow the dumpling down your throat. "Do you really want to eat me?" Your voice trembles slightly, you don't feel as masculine as you should be. Yuki looked briefly at you before pulling down your pants and boxers. "Well, if you prove yourself capable, I could let you live."

Slowly you feel your limbs again and Yuki took your hand in hers. Her hand was so cold that you would like to warm it, but you were horrified that you could be eaten. "Did you joke with the food?" "I never joke about the food, (Y / N)." She opened the door to the room and pushed yourself into the room. "You willn't miss out, sweetie ... I even think you will get your money's worth." Her hand was on your chest and she smiled lazily at you, her other hand slowly moves to your hip. You two are still looking at each other. You swallow while her hand slowly moves down. The snow woman's smile widened, but your breath went a little faster and your little friend stirred a little. "That was easy." She said and got on her knees. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She gently nudged your limb with her warm tongue, which makes you shiver. Her tongue came out hot from the sheer cold in the room. With wide eyes she looked up at you as she carefully kissed your glans and licked your length along. You groan as a warm, damp warmth envelops you. "Shit." You gasp, swallowing wanted to grasp your hair, but you were too afraid that she could bite your best piece.

Yuki sucked hard on your glans, gently massaging your ball. She stopped briefly and looked up at you. "You can hold my head." She saw you briefly, you do not waste a second to reach into her fine shiny hair. You gently moved your hip, stroking her cheek. "It feels so good." You moan as you put your head back. You could feel a slight grin pushing her into her mouth faster. You felt incredibly good, the fear that overran you evaporated in lust. Completely immersed in ecstasy, you only felt the tremor in your legs very slightly, which announces that you are about to spray. "I'm close to it." You gasp, becoming more gentle and slow with the movements. Yuki sucked and played your cock with her warm wet tongue. "You can come into my mouth." The snow woman allowed you and sucked harder, gripped your buttocks. However, you grasp her head hard, move your hips quickly, and come moaning into her mouth. You sigh in relief, stroking Yuki hair, the woman on her knees licked you clean before she went up to the trash can and spat into it. "Interesting taste." She said as she went to bed. The brunette woman sat on it with her legs spread wide and looked at you. "Now shows if it's not worth eating, sweetheart."

Incubus!Bokuto x Female!Reader

Bokuto sighed as he wandered through the night. He lowered his head, feeling weak and hungry. He looked at the house he was passing. The young demon felt a woman who slept peacefully. He quickly wanted to continue walking, but his stomach started to growl. "You have to do it. If you don't consume life energy, you can die.” He heard Akaashi's voice in his head. The huge demon looked at the window where the woman's room was. She was young, probably in her mid-20s, for what he could sense. Bokuto bit his lip and swore. "Fuck it. I'll take as much as I need. ”He closed his eyes briefly and teleported into the woman's room. He swallowed when he saw her in front of him.

You breathed calmly, your sleep shirt had slipped up and your body was half-covered with the blanket. A delightful sight, Bokuto licked his lips. He felt his shorts tighten. He heard you gasp slightly, watching your hand slowly move to your panties. "Oh ... this is going to be easier than expected.", Bokuto mumbles, closing his eyes to concentrate to come to your dream.

In dream

You sigh as another person sat down next to you. "Hey.", said the man next to you, his voice like bass and you are sorry to see him. Big golden eyes looked honestly at you and his smile showed a row of shining teeth. "New here?", he asked you innocently and you shyly nodded. "Me too, my name is Bokuto and yours is?" "(Y / N). I'm happy." You shake hands. "Oiii Saeko, a beer for the man next to me. " You called after the bar owner. "Thank you for the beer (Y/N)." "Oh no problem, originally I wanted to do a girls night out with my best friend but she canceled." Bokuto accepted the beer. "My boss made me go out." You turn your head to him and looked him in the eye in surprise. "Crass color. They aren't contact lenses, are they?" “That is my real eye color… ”He let a look sweep over you. "... Nice hair." He said shortly and scratched his chin. Yes, he was always good at flirting, after all, he had learned from Master. You twitched the corner of your mouth and shook your head. "Thank you ... requires a lot of care ... Don't worry, I can't flirt either. ” You grin broadly and take another sip of your mug. "Cool ... what do you do for a living?" Bokuto asked you as he sipped his beer.

"I plan to take over the world with diabetes." You were completely serious and looked at him like that. "Then I have to find a way to stop you." Both of you narrowed your eyes until you giggled. "I'm a confectioner." You said and took the last sip of your beer. "What are you doing?" "I'm studying sports." You nodded remarkably, ordered another beer. "I thought women like athletes." Bokuto said insultingly, but you shrugged and looked at him from the side. "You're trying to hit on me?" You chuckled, resting your head on your hand.

"I should probably go. Saeko! The bill.” “It's late… I can take you home.” You look at him suspiciously. "If you pay." Bokuto shrugged and took your bill. He looked at the paper, raised an eyebrow in surprise. "When did you eat?" "My plate was taken away before you spoke to me." You slid off the chair, but you swayed a little and grabbed his arm. "Uff ... I should have eaten more." Bokuto smiled lightly and paid the bill. "I'll take you home." "I live only 2 blocks away." You mumbled, embarrassed. "That's good, then you'll be home faster." You nodded sheepishly and staggered out of the bar with Bokuto in tow. You shivered and pulled your hoodie closer to your body. "Do you want my coat?" The gray-haired man had noticed your shiver and took off his coat, but you shook your head. "I'll pass, Bokuto." You look at the sky and grabbed his arm. "Thank you for taking me home." You said quietly. You were sad and Bokuto could see in your glassy eyes and continued walking silently to the apartment building. You stopped at your door, Bokuto took your face in his hand. He leaned down to you and cocked his head. "Don't be sad." "Thank you ... I ..." You couldn't finish your sentence because the athlete pressed his rough lips against yours. He kissed you, hoping that your pain would go away, that you would feel better. You didn't seem to be averse to him, otherwise, you would have loosened the kiss immediately, so he pressed against your delicate body. He felt your hands on his back as you pulled him closer. "Do you want to come up with me?" You asked him hoarsely when you released the kiss because you ran out of air. Bokuto, who still had his hand on your cheek, nodded slightly. "With pleasure."

Bokuto swallowed slightly when he watched you go. You wiggle your butt slightly. "We're here." You say shyly, let him through first. He ran unerringly into your ...

Dream end

You startled when someone laid down on you. Completely surprisingly, you gasped and looked up. Golden eyes stared at you. Bokuto looked around uncertainly. He couldn't, he didn't have enough strength to stay in your dream. The young demon jumped up from your bed and wanted to go. "Bokuto?" You asked confused so that he stopped. You look at him in the dark, see a shadow on his head. "You are not a person are you?" You ask as quietly as possible, groping for your night light. It was getting lighter in the room, now you could see each other better. He had small horns on the corners of his forehead, a tail, and wings. You tilted your head and he turned away, showing you his wings. "Yes", it came from him after a while. You sit up and knock your bed free. "What kind of a being are you? You are still an Oni or Tengu." "Incubus.", he said as he approached, sat on the bed and looked ashamed. "Oh ... so ... did you want to?" "Yes ... I don't like doing it, but I need the energy to survive." You look down at yourself and blush. "I want to help you." Bokuto looked up at you and considered it for a moment. "OK! I'm not taking so much ... just a little.” He leaned over to you, carefully took your face in his hand and kissed you carefully. His lips felt better than in your dream. He nibbled lightly on your lower lip, hastily thrust his tongue between your lips. He poked your tongue as a slight provocative invitation to play with him. You gasped slightly as he sucked your tongue and his hands wandered over your body. You separated from each other and he looked deep into your eyes. "You can still say no." He said wandering over your damp panties. His doing had an effect on your body, you nodded very carefully. He lowered his head to your shoulder, ran a finger over your wet center, elicited more beautiful tones from your pretty mouth. He rubbed your clit and smiled at you as you clawed his shoulder and your pussy stretched out towards him. "We need to be very needy." "Very much." You moan into his t-shirt as his finger strokes your G-spot. "I feel that you will soon be ready to ... Shall I fuck you or hand my skills over to you?" He growled softly and looked wildly in your eyes. The white in his eyes had darkened, the gold stood out more than before, his horns grew larger and more imposing. "Yo..u are s.. so beau..tiful" you gasped and came softly in his hand. Bokuto looked at his hand and looked at the liquid in his hand. He tapped it with his tongue and licked it up. He felt better than before and looked at you. You laid sweaty on your pillow and looked embarrassed to the side. You got in your panties and the demon looked at you. "Thanks." He said and got up. "If you are hungry again ... you are welcomed to come over ..." you smile and see how he changed the look. "Thank you (y / m) and now sleep ... We will see each other again."

[miracleboiz]

Making a Home Ch.6

Kita Shinsuke had experienced a lot in life. He had been raised with his grandmother, a loving foster parent and for some time he followed in her foot steps before finding his own path. He thought his foster care license had expired before getting a call at three am with two small boys thrust into his arms. Miya Osamu and Atsumu, from broken homes but still fighting. Thirty days before his license expires. Thirty days to make a choice, keep the boys or let them be separated into different homes. Thirty days to fall in love with them.

Words: 4k

Relationships: Gen

Warnings: Mention of past child abuse, non-graphic abuse

Not from Kita, but it is mentioned. I will post any warnings before any panic attacks or vague descriptions of abuse.

Read below or on AO3

It took a second for Shinsuke to remember what he was supposed to be doing, watching earth brown eyes trace his face. He blinked as Osamu squirmed though and quickly put him on the ground, laying a hand on his shoulder. He gently rubbed his thumb in a circle as Osamu looked back up at him with confusion.

“Osamu, this is Aran-kun. He’s an old friend like Akagi. Aran. This is Osamu and his brother Atsumu, I’m fostering them for a bit.” Shinsuke explained, watching the taller man’s question flit across his face before he looked down at Osamu.

“It’s nice to meet you. Can I call you Osamu?” Aran asked, giving a polite bow.

Osamu giggled, falling back against Shinsuke as he tried to bow and laugh at the same time. Shinsuke lifted his hand as something grabbed the back of his shirt and lowered it down onto the messy hair of Atsumu’s peering head.

“ ‘Course! How else would you be able to tell us apart?” Osamu laughed, tilting his head up to flash a blinding grin at Shinsuke. “I like him! He’s funny.”

“You can call me Atsumu… What was your name again?” Atsumu asked as his free hand darted forward to grab his brother's shirt for a moment. Shinsuke stroked his hair, trying to soothe any anxiety starting to build.

“It’s Ojiro Aran. But you can call me Aran.” He smiled softly at him, waving his fingers at Osamu who laughed obviously delighted at getting attention.

“We should get the groceries inside, Atsumu, Osamu, could you open the door?” Shinsuke asked, wiggling the keys on his finger. Atsumu jumped at being called and then nodded, quickly grabbing the keys and dashing for the door.

Osamu leapt after him, already calling for him to slow down. They crashed together at the door, squabbling over the key and Shinsuke left them to the small scuffle, turning to look at Aran.

He had his own bag tucked into the curve of his elbow, a flash of white of the local butcher’s design. His head was shaved like it had been ever since high school, though he seemed to finally be growing out the beard he’d been threatening to do for the past three years. Shinsuke couldn’t help but notice he was dressed nicely, a lot nicer than they usually did for something as casual as meeting up once a year. A brown peacoat kept out the chill of the December air, peeking under it was a pale turtleneck and finished with black slacks.

After the fashion atrocities that the twins had put him through, Shinsuke thought he was owed a few heartbeats of taking in Aran looking good. He only got to see him once or twice a year as it was, it wasn’t like high school when-

“You’re drooling, baby cakes.” Akagi purred in his ear almost silently and Shinsuke could feel the heat on his cheeks as he turned to glare after his best friend. “Just sayin!”

“Is he harassing you again?” Aran laughed, deep and loud and Shinsuke suddenly felt seventeen again. Confused and elated at his own emotions and desperately trying to find a nearby hole to bury them in and never acknowledge again.

He took a breath, turning to face the door and take his first step. This wasn’t highschool and Shinsuke wasn’t looking for a partner, he had a plan for his life, he was going to stick to it, he wasn’t going to get distracted by anything, he was…

His eyes met the two little ones carefully putting their shoes away and turning to hold their arms out to him.

“Groceries,” Osamu chirped.

“Please and Thank you.” Atsumu finished, both of them making grab hands at Shinsuke.

Shinsuke froze, a momentary feeling of adoration and affection flooding through him before he shoved it into the hole beside the one marked ‘Aran’. They weren’t his boys, and they wouldn’t be. Ever.

He held out his own arms, letting them snag the lighter bags before moving to take off his own shoes. He jumped as his right arm suddenly got a lot lighter, looking over to see Aran slipping the bags off with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips as he moved past Shinsuke and into the kitchen. Shinsuke watched him leave, lips curving up of their own accord.

“Drooling.” Akagi coughed, not even bothering to hide his laugh when Shinsuke purposely ignored him and made his way into the kitchen.

“I brought the meat like I do every year, are you going to make the dumplings again?” Aran asked, carefully folding the brown bag around the meat before sliding it into the fridge and laying Shinsuke’s things on the counter. Osamu and Atsumu were already fishing through for their things, happily rushing back to their own room with their bags of clothes rustling.

“I am. Osamu will be helping me as well… Michinari.” Shinsuke called, watching Akagi freeze at the sound of his first name and slowly lifting Kitty up to hide himself from Shinsuke’s ice cold gaze. “Please return Kitty to the boys and help them put their clothes away. Pants in the drawers and shirts in the closet unless they’re the slacks then hang those up too.”

“Yes Mother Dearest.” Akagi chirped and flinched when he met Shinsuke’s stony look. “Father Dearest? Guardian Dearest? I’m running out of pronouns here- I’m going, I’m going!”

Shinsuke waited until he disappeared down the hall before he let the stern line of his shoulders drop. He shook his head fondly, after nearly twelve years he still couldn’t understand Akagi’s mind. It seemed to be a wonderful place, but Shinsuke prefered his own simplistic method of saving all of his imagination for his business.

“He’s still the same as ever, wild and free.” Aran laughed softly, turning to the grocery bags and starting to pull out the different items. Shinsuke nodded, moving to lay the bag of coloring books and toys against the entertainment system to be dealt with later.

“He’s happy and thriving. What more could I want for him?” Shinsuke asked as he took his place next to Aran again. He ignored his own skin feeling warmer as Aran leaned in closer to snag some of the seasonings.

“... You do sound like his father,” Aran said, looking rather apologetic as Shinsuke blinked at him open-mouthed, “sorry, it’s just… good to see that you haven’t grown apart.”

“... I suppose we have grown closer over the years...I see him much more than the others from our year. After all, anytime he’s in town he visits.” Shinsuke said, not really thinking of the implications until he saw the guilt written clear as day on Aran’s face.

He looked down, quickly grabbing the paper bags and moving away from the awkward situation. Ever since Aran had gone pro, Shinsuke had seen him less and less as the years went on until it was only once a year for the past three. He’d been busy, Shinsuke knew that, but he still thought a phone call wouldn’t have been out of place. Then again, perhaps they hadn’t been as close of friends as Shinsuke thought and it wasn’t like Shinsuke had called either.

“Ah… Well… Perhaps that will change this year.” Aran finally said after the minutes started to stretch between them, watching Shinsuke tuck the bags into the recycling bin. “I… retired, two months ago…”

Shinsuke lowered the flour he pulled out, and turned to watch him.

The volleyball player was moving the salt and pepper shakers around, trying not to look at Shinsuke as his face started to darken with a blush. He sighed, pushing the shakers back against the wall and bending down to grab the pot from the cabinet. His eyes flashed over, looking brilliantly golden in the direct light of the kitchen as they met Shinsuke’s, then looked away again.

“Did something happen?” Shinsuke said this time, as the silence seemed to drown him.

“Shoulder injury, enough to pull me from the rest of last season. Went in for surgery and we thought it was fine, then it got worse and I’m still not recovering like they’d hoped. When the muscle healed it… twisted kinda, and now it’s pressing against my nerves so my hand randomly goes completely numb, not any good for a spiker. I’m due for a second surgery next month.” He laughed, but it wasn’t warm, it was self-mocking and harsh. “I’m already twenty eight, I only had maybe another two or three years as it was. So I figured my contract was up, why would I agree to play for another four years or so only to be benched the entire time. They don’t pay well enough for that.”

He glanced up as Shinsuke shifted, subconsciously reaching out to him. Shinsuke froze as he realized where his hand was moving and made to pull it back, but Aran reached out instead. For a moment, a heart beat that Shinsuke hated to admit lasted a lifetime, Aran’s warm hand enclosed on his own.

“Don’t look so sad. I’m a coach now, at the middle school down the road a bit. I like working with kids and this way I won’t be saying goodbye to volleyball at all, I’ll just be shifting my work a bit. Besides, it means a more set schedule for… a more set life.” Aran said softly and Shinsuke could have sworn he was missing a very important hint but at that moment there was a thunder of feet and Shinsuke pulled his hand back.

Osamu rounded the corner, hair still a brilliant mess, and gasped when he saw Shinsuke. He dove forward, grabbing onto his leg and hiding behind it as Atsumu swung into the room.

“Shinsuke-san! ‘Samu said I was stupid!” Atsumu howled when he saw where his brother was taking shelter.

“No I didn’t! I said your nickname was stupid, stupid.” Osamu chirped back, sticking out his tongue. Shinsuke sighed, tapping Osamu’s shoulder.

“Do not call your brother stupid, there’s no reason to be rude to him even if you don’t like his ideas. Just tell him that you don’t like them and if it bothers you that much then come tell me. Atsumu, no chasing your brother through the house, the floors are slippery.” Shinsuke admonished both of them, gently pressing his index finger between Osamu’s eyebrows like his grandmother used to do to him.

Just like when Shinsuke had been younger, Osamu wasn’t capable of making faces at someone and being confused at the finger at the same time. Silver eyes blinked up at Shinsuke as his tongue slowly pulled itself back in his mouth and then he looked away.

“Mocking is also rude.” Shinsuke said softly, pulling his hand away to adjust the butterfly hair pin instead.

“Everything’s rude then.” Osamu grumbled unhappily, and all three of them jumped as Aran laughed. Osamu giggled after a moment, though Shinsuke felt the way his small fingers tightened their grip on his pants.

“What is this nickname you’re talking about anyways?” Shinsuke said, drawing their attention back to himself. The last thing he wanted to worry about was Atsumu accidentally giving his brother a nickname using a curse word and using it at school.

“He called me ‘Samu!” Osamu said, pointing at his brother who groaned.

“ You called me ‘Tsumu! It’s the same nickname!” Atsumu insisted, huffing and stomping his foot on the ground.

“No it’s not! Yours is stup- bad! Your nickname is bad.” Osamu said, already sticking his tongue out again and this time Shinsuke had to suppress his own laugh. He could hear Aran’s muffled laughter behind him and suddenly wished that he wasn’t a single parent with two wild children.

Wait.

He wasn't a single parent.

These kids were already…

He sighed and shook his head down at Osamu, poking his forehead again and this time Osamu didn’t pull his tongue back in. He simply stared up at Shinsuke with his tongue sticking out part way. It was unnecessarily adorable.

“Osamu, you both just took the first syllable of each other's names away. Why are you needing nicknames anyways?” Shinsuke asked.

“No reason.” The boys said together but first they seemed to look over at… Aran?

Shinsuke looked at both of them, eyeing the shifting from foot to foot. Osamu’s tongue was still poking out like he forgot it, so Shinsuke focused his stony glare on Atsumu instead. It hardly took any time before he broke.

“Aran-kun has a cool foreign name and we wanted one too, so ‘Samu called me ‘Tsumu and I called him ‘Samu and then he said it was stupid and ran to hide behind you like a baby!” Atsumu confessed, sticking his own tongue out as Osamu gasped and dashed around to stick his tongue out at him from Shinsuke’s other side. Aran was still trying to cover up his laughter, not even flinching when Shinsuke turned to give him a blank look.

“Alright you two, enough with the name calling. Didn’t you want to play with the… playable station?” Shinsuke reminded them, and Atsumu immediately perked up.

“Oh yeah! Can we Kita-san? Pretty please?” He gasped, clapping his hands together and fluttering his eyes dramatically at Shinsuke. Shinsuke sighed at the familiar look, wondering when Akagi had the chance to corrupt his kid.

“Of course, you know how to turn it on I presume?”

“Yep! C’mon Osamu.” Atsumu called, waving his brother over but Osamu didn’t move an inch. Instead he tugged gently on Shinsuke’s shirt and looked up at him.

“Are we going to… cook now?” He asked quietly, turning around to eye Aran for a moment as if he was going to steal Osamu’s chance to cook.

“In about two minutes when I get the rest of the ingredients down. You’ll need a stool to see the counter and help me roll the dough, so go grab it from the pantry and I’ll get what I need here okay?” Shinsuke said softly, dropping his hand down to gently scratch at the back of Osamu’s head and immediately he brightened with a loud giggle.

“Yes sir, Shinsuke-san!” He chirped, letting go of Shinsuke to run towards the pantry door.

“I forgot to ask, what happened to his hair?” Aran’s voice was suddenly a lot closer and Shinsuke forced away a shudder, purposefully ignoring how sweet his voice sounded.

“Akagi, speaking of which, Atsumu where is your Oji-san?”

“He had to take a call… Somethin’ ‘bout… Pictures of flowers.” Atsumu said, hopping closer and looking decidedly dejected. Shinsuke nodded, assuming one of Akagi’s photography clients knew he was back in town.

“What’s wrong Atsumu?” Shinsuke said when Atsumu’s expression didn’t change even as Osamu waddled his way back into the kitchen with the stool held against his chest.

“I…” Atsumu swallowed, watching his brother make his way to Shinsuke’s side. “I don’t wanna play alone…”

Shinsuke hesitated, there wasn’t much that needed to be made as they would cook the food bit by bit in the pot and he’d promised Osamu he could help. With Atsumu there, there would be little for both of them to do. However he didn’t want to dismiss Atsumu’s feelings of loneliness, after all, he’d only had his brother for years now it was instinct for him to have someone with him.

“Can I play with you?” Aran’s voice came again from Shinsuke’s left as he stepped up beside him. “I suck at all video games, but maybe you could teach me a thing or two?”

Atsumu perked up for a moment, bouncing on his toes before he hesitated and looked to Shinsuke. When Shinsuke nodded he dashed forward to grab Aran’s shirt and tugged him into the living room.

Shinsuke watched Atsumu, waiting until the TV lit up before turning back to his new helper. Osamu was nearly vibrating on the stove beyond excited to be able to cook.

“Okay, first of all we have to wash our hands, c’mon.” Shinsuke said softly, turning on the water. He watched Osamu roll up his sleeves carefully and hold out his hand patiently for the soap.

He could hear Atsumu’s voice drifting from the living room, excitedly chatting with Aran while the controller buttons clicked. Akagi’s voice was a rumble down the hall, nearly as quiet as Aran’s hums of acknowledgement.

Shinsuke grabbed the soap bottle and poured some onto Osamu’s hands, not bothering to push away the feeling of home.

Atsumu hadn’t been sure about his newest guardian at first. He was scary looking and talked a little bit like a robot. Even with his cool two toned hair, his eyes had been like ice and Atsumu had been quietly waiting for the truth to reveal itself that Shinsuke hated him like everyone else.

Instead, he’d been greeted with a soft voice even after making a mess and offered food instead of being denied it as a punishment. Shinsuke hadn’t yelled at them once, not even when Osamu had started crying and freaking out in his own shop. Atsumu had been convinced his brother was going to be slapped and was still trying to process the idea that Shinsuke hadn’t been mad. He’d helped them even, helped Osamu calm down and insisted they were okay.

Atsumu knew it was only the first day and he shouldn’t get attached. A lot of foster parents were great for the first week when the social workers would come by almost daily, then when they stopped dropping by the reality was revealed. Yet…

Shinsuke had taken them shopping, he’d even bought the really expensive toy Atsumu picked out just to see if he would get it. He bought them brand new clothes instead of taking them to a thrift store or insisting they could wear their old ones until they wore out. He even laughed with them and ruffled their hair like… like they were actually his kids…

Atsumu shook his head, huffing to himself as he turned back to his game. Shinsuke was a foster parent, that meant Shinsuke was going to leave like everyone else. Even if he was nice, he was just another person who would pass them off as soon as he could.

Atsumu grunted to himself, pressing a hand against his chest as something seemed to ache. He didn’t want to be passed off. It wasn’t fair that everyone else got parents and he… he got no one. All he had was Osamu and everyone wanted to take him away.

Osamu was a ‘sweet boy’ who everyone loved and Atsumu was the ‘evil brat’ everyone wanted to leave outside. Atsumu knew he should have let the adopters take Osamu, he wouldn’t be stuck waiting for this home to end and prepare for the next one over and over again. He’d have a house and parents and friends but Atsumu couldn’t bring himself to let go of his brother.

Atsumu wanted a home with his brother, that was his best friend. Besides, Osamu never stood up for himself against anyone who wasn’t Atsumu, if Atsumu wasn’t there then who would protect him?

“You okay Atsumu?” Akagi’s voice said from beside him and Atsumu jumped before he recognized it. He looked up at the taller man, taking note of the genuine worry that seemed to cross his face.

“Yeah, why?” Atsumu said innocently, weakness was always exploited and he couldn’t risk upsetting them when Osamu seemed to have finally relaxed around someone.

“You just look a little sad is all,” Akagi explained, giving him a smile as guilt started to creep into Atsumu’s heart. Akagi was nice, he was really excited to be their Oji-san, but Atsumu knew better than to think he would stick around when Shinsuke got rid of them.

“I’m just hungry, lunch was forever ago.” Atsumu explained, drawling the words. Aran shifted next to him and Atsumu realized he was watching too.

He wasn’t sure how to explain it but… He didn’t like Aran. Well. He did and he didn’t. Aran seemed nice, and he hadn’t told Atsumut to shut up when he was explaining the game, and he was soft spoken. However, Shinsuke had gotten really quiet when he arrived.

Shinsuke had been laughing, something Atsumu had realized was quite the rarity from Akagi’s comments. Then Aran had appeared and Shinsuke was… softer. He looked away more instead of staring his ice-cold gaze into his heart, and his voice didn’t rise to it’s normal tone. He touched Osamu more when he got close to Aran, petting his hair and patting his shoulders, as if Osamu was going to disappear.

Something had to be wrong with Aran… Or maybe they had married before and weren’t anymore. Atsumu had lived with a woman for a few weeks a while back who had broken up with her husband when they arrived. She ignored them for the most part, but whenever he came around she suddenly started touching them more and wouldn’t speak up unless spoken too.

Atsumu shifted restlessly for a moment, listening to the sounds of his new pants on the couch, before turning to look for his brother. Osamu was crouched over the counter, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he carefully curled the dough into a ball. Flour coated his hands and shirt but Shinsuke wasn’t upset, instead he seemed amused as he wiped some off of Atsumu’s twin’s nose.

Atsumu turned back around, leaning into the couch and tucking the fox stuffed animal from earlier into his side. He watched his character craft a pickaxe and sighed as he relaxed slowly, for once not worried about being caged onto a couch by two people.

Osamu was happy. They were safe for now. That was all that mattered. No point in thinking about the past.

[folerdetdufoler]

ugh okay so back to blogging, yeah? i fell asleep around one, and woke up a little after five for the sunrise. a quick glance outside only gave me clouds so i went back to sleep. eventually i woke up and had breakfast, enjoyed some tea and a lighter (though still cloudy) view, and took a shower. i hadn’t planned anything for my mornings, which was a relief as i definitely needed the recovery time, so i didn’t have to leave until i messages with nadège to meet up at eleven. i strolled down to the opera house, where they were all headed because jenn and haidee were taking the tour, and took an embarrassing amount of time to climb to the roof. i mean, the lord was testing me.

luckily i arrived before nadège and could sit down in the shade and let my heart/lungs/legs/everything recover. when she got there we waited a bit more for jasmine and silvia to join, chatting up some seagulls while we did. they were maaaad friendly, y’all. super chill, camera-ready. those were birds who knew how to play the game, knew that if they were patient and still, they’d be handsomely rewarded for their photos. anyway, we gathered and walked some more, not really with any direction and quite fine with that. it’s been so long now that i can’t remember what we talked about, but you can bet your ass i mentioned “dicks” at least five times within the hour. eventually we went back toward the opera house to scoop haidee and jenn, and continued on toward sørenga. the sun had come out and we could just sit and chill.

at first i was surprised that it was quite empty but then i remembered that it was a weekday. and also the water is still fucking freezing. i dipped my feet in an attempt to soak them back to life but didn’t last very long. nadège captured the moment anyway, kerry-style, because that was the first time i had put my feet in the harbor! i’ve visited the pool many times but i think they’ve all been in the winter, which is weird. next time i’ll have to actually take a swim.

jenn, nadège, and haidee left for lunch. i stayed a bit longer at the pool with jasmine and silvia because i had had a late breakfast and i was still high from it. we talked some more (and now i’m remembering what we talked about, and i’m still rolling my eyes) and i got a little sunburn on my nose because that bitch decided to make an appearance. then we went to do some shopping for things silvia needed.

it was fun tagging along with them, listening to the kinds of conversations you have when you live in norway. most of the time i’m with people from outside of the country, but now i was just with some “locals,” and they were talking about their daily lives versus topics only related to a visit. i mean, they were doing this on wednesday too, but i guess it was just noticeable now, the subtle difference in conversations that i listened in on depending on who i was hanging out with. in general i avoid directing a conversation, since i never feel like i have the authority to do so, so i like to be aware of what i’m participating in even when it’s very passive. and thaaat was just a long way of saying “i like to listen.”

i dragged them into a convenience shop for a drink, because after all of that walking i now needed some quick sugar. jasmine introduced me to solo, which i don’t think i’ve ever experienced before, not even some kind of american version. i also bought a copy of aftenposten there, which is the newspaper i’m modeling the journalism fic on. had to do some research!

i don’t know what else we did, maybe just more walking and talking. eventually we parted at central station. i popped back to the hotel to prepare for another evening at the festival and then promptly left without the most important thing: my reusable cups! i went back, my feet already screaming at me. and perhaps it was all for naught, as i wasn’t exactly clear on the whole cup policy (like i could’ve bought another set and then returned them at the end of the festival) but whatever. i got to the park and found the girls.

i had a mild interest in seeing mitski, and we’d arrived just in time for her set, but was honestly torn between sitting down and getting close enough to see her. i sat. then i moved over to the main stage and sat there. i knew i had to stand for sigrid so i was saving myself for that. and then i stood, and danced, and sang. i’ve seen her a couple of times now (though oh my gosh not as much as haidee!) and it was so fun seeing how different she was for a norwegian crowd. same energy, of course, but a familiarity that seemed to relax her and make her more nervous at the same time. it was cute. and, like always, her set felt too short. the good stuff always ends too soon.

the crowd flowed over to vindfruen for erykah badu, and she started her set late, though i suppose if you’re erykah badu you simply start your set whenever the fuck you want. she’s just living her life, saying the shit she wants to say, and like any other artist, i don’t have any control over that.

moving on! dumplings. i bought dinner at the festival, because we had a bit of a wait before the last show. the first day i had been too overwhelmed by the choices and the norwegian to figure out what i wanted to eat, but this time the area was a little less busy and i knew i actually needed food before another couple of hours in the crowd. so i gravitated to the dumplings, and they were good! then we went back to the stage for tame impala.

at some point i was standing close enough to someone else with even’s backpack, and i took a creeper shot of it. over the past few days i’d gotten an urge to buy his backpack (just like i have his coat) but after talking with jasmine i understood it wouldn’t be right. those items were given to the volunteers who worked the festival each year, and they could wear them with pride, knowing that they contributed to a wonderful event and supported an important message. to buy one would be disingenuous. so i settled for brushing up against someone else’s bag every so often and thinking of even. i have my bracelet, just like jonas, so that should be enough.

(though HEY, jonas and even we’re both at øyafestivalen in 2015 so wheeeeere is the fic where isak chases even across the festival grounds for four days? and maybe they connect over a certain delillos song on saturday night? hmmmm.)

anyway, i don’t think i’ve ever purposefully listened to tame impala before. a couple of songs felt vaguely familiar, like maybe i’d heard them on the radio, or a soundtrack to something else. a commercial? but in general i had no clue what was going on. the crowd was tight again, and this time nadège was suffering next to a more boisterous dancer, but i think that was the vibe. people weren’t really watching the stage since it was just lights and lasers and smoke, but they were feeling the music and smoking and letting their bodies just do what they wanted. most of my photos are like...angled to the sky, which leads me to believe that i was standing behind a tall person and didn’t have a clear shot of the stage very often. which was fine, since i didn’t know what i was looking at anyway, but it just made me think how much i’d prefer that listening experience like, alone...in my bedroom...with no one touching me.

i do remember this one guy yelling, “i love you, kevin!” after every song and that was sweet. he was there for a good time. kevin kept commenting on the number of bras that were tossed onto the stage too, so i guess a lot of people were there for a good time. it was cute hearing him say that in his australian accent, too. bra. i know typing it means nothing, but his light drawl compared to the norwegian “bra” was interesting.

mmmmmmmm then we went home? every night ended the same way, the mass exodus out the main gate, the gathering halfway down the hill, a quick recap of the show and plans for the next day, and then separating. i always got a burst of energy from that walk home, which would keep me awake for another hour no matter how physically tired i was (maybe because i was alone at that point and knew i had to be on high alert for my own safety). but the photo of tame impala’s stage is the last one in my camera roll before friday’s sunrise so i think that’s it. i’ll probably get around to posting that recap in like, november? stay tuned.

[divinion1990]

Things We Do Not Speak Of

Well, @mdelpin, it’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally got the beginnings of this. I’ve really been running away with this so it’ll be a few more chapters too! FF.net | A03

Summary: Following the Alverez war, Natsu needs to talk to Gray. There is too much left unspoken, events that they haven’t been able to talk through, but he can’t even step through his front door without seeing his friendly stalker outside…

DAY ONE

The sky was grey and overcast. A light breeze whispered in the wind. And the town of Magnolia was still once more.

It had been almost three weeks since the battle of Alverez. Tirelessly, the wizards of Fairy Tail worked on the repairs to the war-torn land, initially focussing on their guildhall before diverting their resources towards helping the rest of the town. A great debt was owed to the citizens of Magnolia. Yet again they had been pulled into a war that had nothing to do with them, and yet again they had stood by their side, holding not an ounce of blame towards their resident guild. It was only fair for Fairy Tail to send their greatest workers far and wide across the city, helping wherever they went.

It was getting late. Most of Natsu’s friends had disappeared their separate ways, filled with a need to either soothe aching muscles in baths or calm their minds with a strong drink. The dragon slayer, on the other hand, was still walking. After an exhausting day making the final repairs inside the guildhall - which he had, admittedly, almost singlehandedly demolished in the first place – he began to take in the work the rest of his fellow mages had achieved. He had to admit that Magnolia was starting to look beautiful again, both inside and out. The people smiled more, they saw the Fairy Tail symbol and greeted the wizards as old friends. The days were long, the work was hard, but at the end of it, it was worth it to see the things that had once been broken were beginning to mend.

He absently watched as the busy streets of bustling stalls turned to long winding roads of plain houses. The damage here seemed a distant memory in these old stone houses. Even before the war, Natsu had never had much reason to venture this direction, but still he knew the route like the back of his hand. All the way to a seemingly uninteresting townhouse.

"Hello, Natsu-san."

"Hey, Juvia. I should have known you'd be around," he greeted the water witch with a kind and wide smile as always.

Natsu was so used to the combined harmony with his target, he'd almost missed that there was a second scent all along. Juvia Lockser sat opposite the house he had been staring into, as she obviously had been for quite some time. The whole setup seemed strange, but nothing unexpected from the rain woman. She had a flask on one side, filled with some cool liquid gaining condensation, a couple of bags by her feet, and a box of food on her lap. A heavenly scent filled the air from the perfectly steamed dumplings; obviously she had taken some time to improve her previously questionable cooking. Just as he was about to remark on her preparation, the young woman dragged another of the bags forward, pulling out a circular tub which matched the one that she had on her own lap. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked, lifting it up to the dragon slayer.

He couldn't refuse, even if he wanted to. Not while the smell of her meal was in the air, warm dumplings that were somehow still steaming fresh. He could feel his mouth watering just looking at it, eagerly taking the box into his hands. "Thanks!" he said, surprised but taking a seat beside her. "This, uh, isn't gonna have Gray's face on it or anything, is it?" he asked, opening the box cautiously.

Juvia's own face turned bright red, but she shook her head quickly. "Juvia could never let Natsu eat Gray-sama!"

It wouldn't have stopped him, but it would have made him feel slightly more awkward to take the meal. He took a pair of chopsticks from her, snapping them open and eagerly picking up the first piece. The rush of salt and spices mixed with the soft bounce of texture, and it really did taste just as amazing as it smelt. "Oh my god, this is so good! Did you make this for Gray?" he asked with a full mouth.

"Mhmm. Juvia would love to go inside and give some to Gray!" she announced without so much of a heartbeat of hesitation. But then, she sighed. Her chopsticks lowered in her hand and her gaze dropped. "But Gray-sama doesn't want to see Juvia today."

Natsu frowned to himself. That didn't exactly sound very nice. "He said that?"

"No, but he didn't invite Juvia inside," she said, as if no other explanation were needed. "Maybe you'll have more luck. Would you like a drink?”

Natsu took one look at what appeared to be a freezing cold drink in Juvia’s hand, no doubt made for very different taste buds to his own. He scrunched up his nose. “No thanks. So, you’re not going in, just because he didn’t invite you inside? Did you knock?”

“Well, Gray-sama knows that Juvia is outside. When Gray-sama wants to see his Juvia, then he will come out and invite her into his home. If he sees that Natsu-san is here too, he might invite is both inside. Although… Juvia is surprised you even know where Gray-sama's house is."

"What do you mean by that?" Natsu asked, leaning back and waiting. That almost sounded accusing.

"Natsu has never been here before."

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is. Juvia has never seen you here."

"That doesn't mean I haven't been here!" Yes, it did. He knew it did, just as he knew it was true. Once, he may have known this familiar route from muscle memory and childhood games, but now it was scent alone that brought him to this doorstop.

Juvia hummed to herself in thought. She, unlike the vast majority of Fairy Tail, didn't seem willing to argue with Natsu. "So, if you don't mind Juvia asking… what are you doing here now?"

That was an excellent question. "No reason." Juvia's eyebrows raised, and Natsu's frown deepened. Even he knew that that wasn’t a valid explanation. He shrugged his shoulders instead, the first excuses he could think of flying out of his mouth; "I didn't see him at the guild today, that's all."

"Juvia didn’t think that many people were still at the guild… Gray-sama was repairing Kardia Cathedral today," Juvia offered helpfully.

"Ah, that makes sense," Natsu said to himself. It hadn't been too badly damaged compared to the other buildings and livelihoods, but Gray had a connection to the religious building. And the guildhall was so close to completion, having an entire guild crawling over it usually did more harm than good.

"Is that the only reason?" Juvia pressed.

She was persistent, he would give her that. "What about you? If you know you're not going to go inside, what are you doing here?" he asked instead, turning the question back onto the rain woman.

"Juvia doesn't have to go inside to know she is with her Gray-sama," she said, sounding almost proud. Her eyes glittered as she stared up at the window, the one that Natsu could only assume would be Gray's bedroom and most likely where he was in now. "If Juvia stays here, then Gray-sama will know that Juvia is here for him, whenever he wants her! Juvia will always be there for Gray-sama."

There was something almost kind of sweet about that, even if it was in their own special way. "Well, then, maybe that's why I'm here too," Natsu said thoughtfully.

"Natsu is in love with Gray-sama too?!" Juvia's eyes widened, a glare resembling that of a wild animal. Her body posture had completely changed now. Every muscle had tensed, the empty container was held close to her chest as she eyed the last of Natsu's food, wondering if she would learn to regret lending both her meal and perfect position to the ‘love rival'.

"What?! No!!" he quickly spat out. She had gone from adorable to terrifying in the blink of an eye, and any response but that would have left him boiled alive. "I meant the other stuff! You know, being there and- stuff."

Juvia was not so easily convinced. "Juvia doesn't understand…" she said stiffly,

Neither did Natsu, but he wasn't going to admit as much. "It's nothing. I was just going to, you know, talk about missions – yeah, that's right. A new mission. When the guild is back."

"Oh…" Juvia said slowly, still giving Natsu a slightly wary look but at least deciding that calmed the worst of her fears. "So, if it is not to confess your love… why haven't you gone inside yet?"

"I was eating! And being nice to you!" he insisted. But the question still caught himself off-guard. Because in a way, Juvia was right; he should have gone straight in. Talking to Juvia wasn't an excuse, it had been a distraction, one that had long since lost its potency now they had been sitting together for a few minutes.

He sat upright, ready to go. But didn’t stand up.

"Is something wrong?"

"No!" Natsu shook his head quickly. Nothing was wrong. It was fine. He needed to go in there and-

"You've never done this before, have you?" Juvia asked quietly.

He hadn't expected her to say anything, especially not that. How was it that he felt so completely lost even as her eyes seemed clearer than ever? "Never done what?"

"Being a friend," Juvia said with a soft smile, before quickly holding up her hands before Natsu could begin to shout at her. "Juvia knows that Natsu-san has always been great at motivating and cheering people on and making so many friends. Maybe even better than Gray-sama-"

"Definitely better than Gray-sama…" Natsu mumbled under his breath.

"-And from all that Juvia has seen, Natsu-san has always been there to fight alongside his friends. But you are also very good at fighting people that you love. It’s who you are. Fairy Tail loves Natsu-san… but… have you ever told anyone that you love them?"

"I already said I don't-!!"

"As your best friend, Natsu."

"…Oh."

He bit back in a sullen, angry silence at that statement. Because the implication was just completely untrue. He was an amazing friend. He had always been an amazing friend. He was the one who stood by the people he loved when there seemed like no hope. He would scream and shout until they got back onto their feet and kept fighting. How was that not telling someone that they loved them?

Besides, Gray didn't have to hear something like that. He got punched often enough to know that he was loved.

"I think that Gray-sama would love to hear that you care about him. As a friend."

If the last three words weren't said in such a terrifying, warning tone, her sentiment might have been the one of the nicest things that Natsu had ever heard. It was just a shame that he didn't believe it. "Yeah, he's not gonna care about that," he said, rubbing the back of his neck beneath his scarf. His muscles ached for rest, while his mind begged for escape. He looked up at the sky, watching the horizon turning a deep crimson. It was starting to get late, and his mind was failing to connect his words to his feelings anymore. “I bet he'd want to hear it from you, though."

"You really think so?!" Juvia gasped, his eyes suddenly lit up like Christmas.

"Sure, of course. He adores you," he said.

Suddenly, everything in his body was just done with the rest of the day. Like a light switch turning off. The sky suddenly seemed to be vanishing into darkness, the muscles in his body all unanimously screamed for rest. He didn’t understand why every cell in his body had suddenly turned against him, when all he’d been doing was having a pleasant conversation with the smitten woman. The two simply couldn’t have been connected.

He stood sharply, passing Juvia's food container back to her. "Thanks for the meal, Juvia. I'll see you at the guild tomorrow. Or the Cathedral?"

Juvia looked up and nodded, a bright and wide smile plastered on her face. "We'll see you tomorrow, Natsu-san!"

[sippin-on-red-wine]

Fluff Blurb

Can’t sleep so why the hell not. I have no idea how to write “fluff” but here’s what just came out of my head.

*

Ed had been feeling ‘off’ for maybe about a week now. He had never missed a performance due to illness, and he wasn’t about to start now. Luckily, you were traveling with him at the time and could keep an eye on him. Not that Stu or the other crew guys wouldn’t, but it was very Ed-like to not complain about not feeling well, or turn down a pint with the boys after a show when what he really needed was rest.

So he pushed through the promos, the meet & greets, the interviews, the travel. With you by his side. You fetched him glasses of orange juice and put honey & lemon in his tea. You were his scapegoat to go back to the hotel and rest during any downtime. The show was a live, televised holiday event and he did not want to miss it or give a second-rate performance.

Ed being Ed, knocked it the hell out of the park. His newest single was out and already adored by millions – but hearing it played with a nearly 100 piece symphony orchestra – it wowed even you, someone who had heard the song too many times to remember.

You were so proud of him, and the two of you made love later that evening after the performance. It was sweet, and slow, and gentle – just what you’d both needed.

The next day of traveling home was particularly brutal, and Ed’s sickness seemed to really kick in now that his subconscious knew that he had a month long break for the holidays.

You had returned to your flat, Ed insisting on carrying nearly all of your luggage as per usual. A coughing fit hit him as he rolled the suitcases in the front door, and you had sent him away to change into something comfortable and find some cough medicine.

You set the bags off to the side, you wouldn’t need anything from them right away. Ed came back out to the living room dressed in plaid fleece pajama pants and a hoodie, his arms wrapped around himself.

“Are you cold, bub?” You asked, the shiver on his skin almost visible from across the room.

He nodded, the thick frame of his eyeglasses standing out more than usual against his creamy complexion, all dotted with faint freckles.

He settled down on the sofa and you scurried over to cover him up with a couple of the throw blankets you kept out here in the old wooden trunk-chest.

You propped the couch accent pillows up under his head and tucked the blankets all around him. He seemed slightly more at ease, though it was alarming to see him this way – no longer the cackling child with his head thrown back in laughter, or the thoughtful boyfriend who tried to do everything for you when you were together – because he carried so much guilt for being away so much. He looked small, wrapped up there on the sofa.

“That better, babe?” You asked, rubbing his back.

“A little bit, thank you sweetheart…” his voice was all full of rasp (not the good kind).

You wracked your brain, trying to think of something you could do to make him feel better. He was already on DayQuil and cough medicine… he just needed a little rest and some TLC for his body to recuperate.

“Teddy, I’m going to run down over to J.D.’s and pick up a pint of soup for you, okay?” His ocean blue eyes peeked up at you, looking grateful.

“No, love, it’s freezing out–”

“Hush,” you said, brushing your thumb over his pale pink lips. “I’ll be right back.”

And so you had donned your parka, hat, scarf and mittens, and made your way back out to the sparkly snowstorm. Thankfully it was a short walk.

Short, yes – but the wind was whipping snow and ice around and your eyes burned and the tip of your nose was red from the cold, you were sure of it. But you had retrieved two pints of scratch-made chicken dumpling soup, plus a bag of biscuits to go with. A quick run-in to the corner store got you a bottle of 7-Up, the same drink your Grandma had always given you when you were little and had the flu. You would forever associate it with feeling better, and you hoped Ed would catch those placebo feelings as well.

You walk into the apartment, kicking your boots off on the tray by the door and locking it behind you. You set down your quest’s prizes on the kitchen counter and glance over at the sofa, where Ed is huddled up under blankets galore, asleep.

You shake out of your cold weather gear and shuck your jeans, leaving them in a pile on the kitchen floor. You’d been wearing one of Ed’s long sleeve thermal shirts all day and it would be fine to sleep in.

You sat on the edge of the couch, gently tracing the outline of his bicep through the layers of blankets. You hadn’t wanted to wake him, but you thought getting a little something in his stomach would be for the best.

He awoke with a start, jumping out of his skin a bit, just for a second, til he got a grasp on his surroundings. “Sorry, Teddy, I didn’t mean to startle you…. I’ve got soup, do you want some now?”

He pushed back the covers, freeing his arm, reaching out to touch your pink, wind-chilled nose.

“C’mere,” he whispered, not even intentionally - his voice was gone. “Stay with me.”

He turned onto his side, facing away, toward the back of the sofa. It was luckily an extra-deep couch, or else this may not have worked. But you sidled up on the cushion behind him, letting him be the little spoon, which he loved.

You wrapped an arm around his chest and he tucked it below his, holding it close to his heart.

“G’night Teddy,” you spoke quietly.

“Babe? Thanks for taking care 'f me. Don’t deserve you…��

[starwritesfanfics]

Miracle Mistake part 2

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Warning: Small bit of angst and some fluff?

Tags: @captainswriting​ @caitsymichelle13​ @animeepeeps @384-chubby-dumpling​ @smollittlebean

  You haven’t been getting out of the house as much anymore because of how big you’ve gotten bigger. Ned and Michelle have been helping you, along with Aunt May, with getting you what you need and soothing you when you break down into tears. Every mood swing, every craving, every little movement your children make, only serves as a reminder about how Peter isn’t here to help you. Michelle makes the midnight or three in the morning craving runs, Ned talks to you and reads the baby books with you, and Aunt may sooths you and tells you what to expect. It still isn’t the same, as much as they tried to help you.   They refuse to let you visit Peter’s gravesite since you were 6 and a half months along, which pissed you off since you wanted to “tell” him everything that happened during the pregnancy, so you took to writing letters. You wrote letters catching you up to the current day of your pregnancy, the feelings of each day that still swirled inside of you.   Looking up from your book, you smile at the sight of your seven-month-old twins playing on a mat together. Michael is smaller than his brother, though the doctors had assured you that was normal as the human female body couldn’t form two children the exact weight and height at the same time, so you aren’t too worried. Ben is already showing that he’s gentle with his smaller brother, even though Mike wants to start playing rough with their toys. You can’t help but giggle at them.   Your phone rings and you check for caller ID, which makes your heart drop. Why is he calling you? You had only talked to him once, on the worst day of your life, how did he get your cellphone number?   “Hello?” you work hard to keep your voice from shaking.   “Hey, yeah, is this Miss Y/n L/n?” The deep voice on the other side is only all too familiar to you.   You swallow hard. “Yes, and this is Tony Stark that I’m speaking to?”   “It is indeed. I need to ask you to come to the Tower.”   You frown slightly, looking at your babies. “Um, when? I’m kinda…busy at the moment.”   “Soon. Tomorrow at most, okay? I have something here that I believe is yours.”   “Okay, thank you.” He hangs up. “I think…”   Moving to sit with your babies on the floor, you decide to call Ned later to see if he could watch the twins. Right now, all you want to do is spend time with your babies before you might have your heart crushed by Tony Stark again.                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Everyone watches you as you walk through the halls of the new Avengers Tower, looking around for any sign of Tony or any of the current Avengers. No one had given you any instructions of where to go or who to ask for, so you are stuck wandering the possibly endless maze of halls of the giant building. It honestly was just a pain being on your own here.   You’re seriously thinking about calling Tony’s number until you catch a glimpse of him in one of the room’s windows. You sigh in relief and hurry into the room, only to freeze just past the doorway.   In the room are four people; Tony Stark, Vision, Black Widow, and a man with his back to you, but you knew the type of suit he’s wearing. It’s not the same as the one you’re used to, so you know Tony must have made another one for him, but you know him.   “Is this some kind of sick joke?” you look over to Stark with anger in your eyes. How could he ask you to come here for this?   The man with his back to you turns to face you and you roll your lips to keep yourself quiet. You can’t make yourself look into the white eyes of his mask. You can’t even bring yourself to talk to him, to see if it’s really him under there.   “Y/n, I can explain why you’re here. When I told you that Peter was dead, there was a reason. He went on a delicate mission-“   Your phone ringing startles everyone, including you since you were close to telling Tony to shut up, you didn’t want to hear a word of the bull he was trying to tell you. You freak out a little inside when you see the caller is Ned. Answering quickly, you try not to seem too panicked.   “Hey, yeah, I’m here. What’s wrong? N-ned, slow down, I-…no, no, I can hear him, what…Ned, tell me what happened to Michael! …ugh, I’ll be home soon.”   You hang up with an angry look and rush out of the room, running down the halls and out to your car to drive home as quickly as you can while still obeying traffic laws. You pull up to your house sooner than you thought you would and run inside, stumbling inside after tripping on the first step.   “Ned?!”   He peeks out from your living room. “I’m in here!”   You sigh, walking quickly into the room to see Michael whimpering with a band-aid on his little knee. “Ned, what happened to him?” You ask as you crouch by your baby.   “He and Benny were rough housing and got a little cocky and tried to stand up with the couch and ended up barely scraping his knee.”   You give him a look. “So, why did you call me sounding so panicked?”   He looks sheepish as he tries to shrug it off. “Um, well…I didn’t know how to calm him down, but he stopped crying after about five minutes or maybe less.”   You sigh, but gather Michael into your arms gently as Ben crawls over to both of you. “Thank you for watching them, Ned.”

  “What were you out doing?”   You sigh softly. “Nothing really important. I’ll see you later, okay?”   He nods, waving goodbye as you pick up both twins and walk upstairs to lay them in bed, which are two cribs on either side of the baby room that you decorated with light blue wall paint to keep it bright, Peter’s old mask on one of the shelves, then other little superhero things you found for the boys to look at before they fall asleep. You gently kiss both their heads before turning off the light and heading to your room to read a little before you go to bed yourself. Just as you get comfortable in bed and flip to your saved page, you hear a window open and close in your house.   Getting up quietly, you grab the bat by your bed which Michelle had gotten you, even though both you and Peter had never been big on sports at all. Now you’re glad you have it. Padding softly down the hall, you peer into every room, freezing in place as you look into your twins’ room. There’s a person standing just barely in reach of the moonlight that’s shining into the room. Taking a deep, quiet breath, you walk up behind the person to stop again. Ben is standing up in his crib, holding the person’s hand (more like finger honestly) in his tiny hands, gurgling at them. The person pulls away to pick up the mask off the shelf and look over it carefully.   You steady yourself, raising the bat above your head to bring it down to knock the intruder out. Just as you are about to fully bring it down on the person’s head, they flip around and grab the bat, sliding it out of your hands and behind them. You’re shocked that they can move that fast that they already have your hands pinned the hallway wall, just outside the twins’ room.   “What the fu-let me go!” Realization finally hits you as you start to struggle.   “Shh, one of them’s still sleeping,” Spider-Man whispers, his voice muffled, but you know the voice so well.   You stare right at him, still not believing it’s him. After so many months, over a year, of thinking he’s dead, he’s standing right in front of you.   “Stark was trying to tell you I was on a delicate mission. I could’ve died any time on it and it was easier to not let you have false hope if I didn’t make it back. And if you had tried to call me during the mission, it would’ve put us all in danger. It was my idea,” his voice cracks slightly. “I saw you at the grave they put up and…I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you like that.”   He lets go of your hands so you reach up and pull up his mask slowly. “Peter…”   You smile as you pull the mask off, seeing his fair fluffy from the mask messing it up. God, how much you missed him and how he’d look at you with such earnest and hope in his eyes.   “Are you staying now?” You ask quietly, not wanting to talk too loud in case it’s just a dream.   He smiles at you, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to your lips. “I have you again and I’m not letting you go again.”   You smile into the kiss, cupping his cheeks gently as you still hold his new mask.   “One question, though.”   You look at him curiously.   “What are those kids’ names and are they mine?”   You laugh softly. This is gonna be fun to explain the whole night.

[milkshake-fairy]

Birthday Cake

Author: Milkshake-fairy

(AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11324301/chapters/26089194 )

Rating: Explicit

Summary: He want that cake cake cake cake~

(Happy Birthday Sasuke!) 

“Instead of just running at the tree over and over again, try to actually clear your minds and focus. Think through what you’re doing and understand where your chakra is.” Sasuke crosses his arms and and observes his three genin students trying to walk all the way up various trees, attempting to focus their chakras at the bottom of their feet. It was a common exercise in chakra control, one that he himself had done so many years ago with team 7 and Kakashi. 

“Sensei! I think I’ve got it! Lo—.” 

Sasuke watches Shin, the only boy in his three member class, lose control of his chakra and start falling down head first from the top of a particularly high branch. Before he can move to catch the young boy, there’s a flash of movement and suddenly his boyfriend is standing at the base of the tree, a startled Shin in his arms. 

“Don’t worry I sucked at this at first too,” Naruto chuckles, setting the boy down before looking over at Sasuke and grinning. “Your sensei sucked as well! Didn’t you, Sasuke?” 

“What are you doing here?” The rest of his students had already stopped training, following behind Sasuke as he walked over to Naruto.

“I’m free the rest of the day so I thought I’d spend it with the birthday boy.” Naruto smiles and steps forward to stand beside him, slinging an arm around his shoulder. 

“Introduce us!” Naruto gestures towards the kids, who are all staring at the blond, eyes wide with wonder. There weren’t many people in Konoha, especially among the younger shinobi, that didn’t admire Naruto Uzumaki, the rising legend and the future Hokage. 

Sasuke sighs. “These are my students, Shin, Momo, and Chiharu.” He brings his hand up to rest it on Naruto’s waist. “And this is Naruto Uzumaki. I’m sure you don’t need me to introduce him.”

“I’m Sasuke sensei’s boyfriend!” Naruto beams and smushes his cheek to Sasuke’s for a moment. All three children’s eyes grow wider, ears red. They all knew the relationship between their sensei and the future Hokage, but actually watching the two together, arguably two of the most powerful ninjas in history being so intimate, was still surprising. Not to mention, Uchiha sensei wasn’t usually a particularly affectionate man. 

“Shut up, usuratonkachi. I have to teach class until the evening so go home and rest.”

“Or I could be your co-sensei today. Is that alright?” He turns to the children, who all nod enthusiastically. 

“Yeah!” Naruto claps his hands together. “Team Uzumaki-Uchiha lets go!” He cheers, shooting out his fist. 

Sasuke sighs as his students excitedly raise their own fists to meet with Naruto’s before raising his hand to join the teams’. It would be lie to say he wasn’t happy to have the blond beside him.

“It’s team Uchiha-Uzumaki, dobe.” 

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

“Good job, Chiharu-chan!” Naruto ruffles the young girl’s hair after the she jumps down from the tree, having walked up all the way to the top branch without faltering. “You’re definitely the Sakura-chan of this team.” 

Sasuke watches Momo and Shin struggle to keep continuous control of their chakras, only reaching the half way point of their assigned trees before loosing focus and jumping back down. 

“Keep trying. It looks easy, but it takes a lot of practice to gain proper control of your chakra.”

“I’m not giving up, Uchiha sensei! I’ll definitely get it this time.” Shin runs towards the tree again. 

“Idiot,” Momo murmurs, watching the boy reach no higher than he had with his previous attempt before she turns to Sasuke. “Sensei, Chiharu already learned how to control her chakra. I’ve been practicing all day. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.”

“There are numerous factors that go into each individual’s personal chakra control which is based on your own unique type of chakra. Thus each person must invest a subjective amount of time and effort to reach a certain level of success. Rather than doing anything wrong, you need to work even harder to reach her level. Like I said before, this is all about practice and patience. Go and try again.”  

A pair of arms wrap around his stomach as Sasuke watches Momo walk toward her tree, and he leans back into the familiar body. 

“You’re harsh, Uchiha sensei.” Naruto sets his chin on Sasuke’s shoulder. Turning his head, Sasuke presses his lips quickly against his boyfriend’s temple before pulling away. 

“That was barely a scolding. Do you remember how hard you and I had to practice to control our own chakras?”

Before Naruto can reply Shin topples down from the tree, barely getting his footing before falling on his back. “Dammit,” Shin mutters, thoroughly exhausted. Naruto walks up beside him.

“Never give up, Shin-kun. Your sensei and I spent hours and hours on end trying to get this down.” He walks easily up the tree and down one of the branches, hanging upside down to face Sasuke. Leaning forward, Naruto pecks Sasuke’s lips and smiles. “Right, Uchiha sensei?”  

Sasuke can hear Chiharu giggling behind him, but the memories of their early days as team 7 are flashing through his mind, a more simple and innocent time. It was the beginning of forever for the two of them. He presses his lips to Naruto’s again. “Yeah.”

“Wow,” Shin mumbles from the ground, “I wish I had a girlfriend.”

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

The sun is dipping low in the horizon, a gentle breeze flowing through the hilltop where everyone had gathered to have a picnic in celebration of Sasuke’s birthday. A number of chunin and jounin ninjas, as well as some of their genin students were scattered around the grassy field on blankets, eating from bento boxes. 

Sasuke is lying down, his head on Naruto’s lap, eyes closed, shaded under a large cherry blossom tree. Kakashi, Iruka, Sakura, and Gaara sit around them, listening to whatever story Naruto is telling animatedly, arms moving in dramatic gestures.

Team Uchiha-Uzumaki watches from their blanket as Sasuke takes one of Naruto’s hand and places it on his head. Continuing whatever conversation he’s having with the others, Naruto’s fingers start to tread through Sasuke’s hair, his other hand moving to drop fallen cherry blossoms into the dark locks. 

“They’re so lovey-dovey,” Chiharu sighs. “I’ve never seen Uchiha sensei like this before. It’s so sweet.”

“I just want Naruto onii-san to keep coming to help us train,” Shin replies, stuffing two dumplings into his mouth. “You think they’re gonna get married though?”

“Can you not eat like a pig, Shin?” Momo snaps. “And it’s almost a definite that they’re getting married.”

Chiharu squeals. “Oh that’s so lovely. I hope it happens soon.” She turns toward the cherry blossom tree again. “And sensei just look so happy.” 

“I wonder if sensei even realizes how he acts around onii-san,” Shin muses, looking at the couple. 

Momo looks back at their sensei, who is now sitting up, shaking his head and flicking the cherry blossoms in his hair at his boyfriend before bringing Naruto’s hand up and kissing his knuckles. 

“Maybe he doesn’t, but I personally don’t think he cares.”  She watches as the smile on Uchiha sensei’s face grows wider as Naruto waves his hand around trying to explain something. “Not at all.”  

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

Sasuke waves goodbye to Kakashi and Iruka before heading toward his apartment, hoping Naruto would be there. The blond had raced off right after the picnic, saying that he had forgotten that he needed to meet with Tsunade today. 

Opening the front door, Sasuke spots Naruto’s shoes in the doorway and walks into the living room.

“Naruto?” 

Suddenly the tune of “Happy Birthday to You” starts playing from his bedroom, startling Sasuke. He hesitates before following the sound and freezes when he reaches the entrance of the room.

The lights are turned off, a few candles dimly illuminating the room. Lounging on the bed, propped against a few pillows is Naruto, almost completely naked. Swirls of whipped cream are covering both his nipples and his crotch, a strawberry and flakes of dark chocolate decorate each swirl. Tied around his neck is a bright red lace bow. Across his stomach, written in caramel, are the words “Happy Birthday, Sasuke”, and on top of that, in the middle of his chest, drawn in chocolate syrup, cream, and red icing is the Uchiha fan. 

Sasuke wills himself to breath properly, heat crawling across his skin, throat dry, heart quickly picking up its pace.

“Holy shit, Naruto...”

“Uh, I know you don’t really like sweets but—well—you can’t not eat at least a little bit of cake on your birthday.” He’s giving Sasuke a hooded look, trying to be as sensual as possible, but his ear are red, cheeks dusted a deep pink. 

Sasuke takes a few seconds to reign in the carnal instinct to pounce and devour his “birthday cake”. Naruto had obviously invested time and effort in creating it so Sasuke should be courteous and relish it. He tugs off his Jounin vest and shirt black shirt before climbing onto the bed. 

Leaning down, he kisses the inside of Naruto’s thigh before biting into the top of the ripe strawberry set into the whipped cream at Naruto’s crotch, holding it with his teeth before moving up. He runs the tip of the berry lightly along Naruto’s jaw before pushing it against the blond’s lips, slipping it in when his lips part. Running his tongue across he strawberry, Naruto bites off half of the fruit, lips brushing against Sasuke’s. He sucks on the piece, drinking the juice as he gazes at Sasuke, who’s eating the other half of the strawberry. Leaning in, Sasuke licks at Naruto’s lips and into his mouth, sucking on Naruto’s tongue, taking and swallowing the piece of strawberry from his mouth, the taste of the sweet red fruit and even sweeter Naruto filling his senses. 

He pulls away and kisses Naruto’s red lips. “You are a fucking tease.”

Naruto smiles against his lips. “I think I’m getting better and better each year. Just think about how sexy your 50th birthday’s gonna be.”

“You plan on keeping me around that long?”

“Hmm yeah. I guess I’ll have to officially tie you down at some point though.” Slipping his arms around Sasuke’s neck, Naruto peppers kisses up his jawline. “Make an honest man out of you,” he whispers into Sasuke’s ear. 

Realizing the meaning behind his boyfriend’s words, Sasuke’s heart thunders, goosebumps blooming across his skin, but Naruto pulls him into another deep kiss before he can think further. “Aren’t you gonna eat the rest?” Naruto moans into his mouth. 

Breaking the kiss, Sasuke runs the tip of his nose down the blond’s neck, nuzzling the red bow, pressing his lips to Naruto’s collar bone before pulling up to admire the Uchiha fan on his chest. 

“I like this,” he mumbles, licking at the cream and chocolate, sucking at the skin. “It’s like you’re mine.”

“Aren’t I always yours?” 

Sasuke moves to one of Naruto’s nipples, taking the large berry there fully into his mouth, lines of red juice dripping down the fair skin on his chin, as he eats the strawberry. Pulling Sasuke down by his hair, Naruto licks the juice from Sasuke’s chin, running his tongue up to the other’s mouth, licking at his lips. Sasuke denies him a deeper kiss, pulling away and going back to Naruto’s chest, lapping up the whipped cream until he exposes the dark pink nipple, which he sucks on until Naruto is whimpering, fisting Sasuke’s hair. 

Taking the strawberry from the other side of Naruto’s chest, Sasuke bites into it while he uses two fingers to scoop up whipped cream from the nipple and slides the digits into the blond’s mouth. Sasuke watches his boyfriend suck on his fingers, humming as he licks away the cream, half-lidded gaze locked with Sasuke’s. He swirls his tongue all around and in between the digits, moaning, taking them deeper into his mouth, almost to the knuckles, and Sasuke can feel the heat rushing to his groin. He takes out his fingers and pushes the remaining half of the strawberry in his other hand into Naruto’s mouth before running his palm from Naruto’s nipple down the side of his abdomen, smearing the cream across his skin.  

Leaning down, Sasuke runs the flat of his tongue from Naruto’s hip all the way up to his nipple, savoring the sweet taste of whipped cream, mixed with the slight saltiness of Naruto’s sweat. He laps at the nipple before nibbling around it, making the other squirm below him. Trailing kisses down to the center of Naruto’s chest, Sasuke bites where the Uchiha fan had been drawn before continuing down to his stomach. He sucks the sticky caramel off Naruto’s skin, biting softly at the flesh, leaving a few hickeys on his way down. 

As he reaches Naruto’s crotch, Sasuke sticks out his tongue to lick at the cream covering the area. He eats away the confectionary, leaning in further to take the cream into his mouth, smearing it all over his lips and around his mouth. When he sees his boyfriend’s cock, hard and thick with arousal, he runs his tongue over it, hearing Naruto’s breath catch, before pulling up and locking his eyes with the blond’s. He runs his tongue over his own lips as lewdly as he can, cleaning away the whipped cream as Naruto watches, eyes dark with desire. 

“So sweet.” Sasuke smirks down at his boyfriends, who is now gently bucking his hips in need. “Oh? Do you have something sweeter to offer?” 

“Sasuke...” 

Sasuke brings up Naruto’s knee and kisses it. “Hmm?” 

“I—I do.”

Kissing down his thighs, Sasuke takes Naruto’s length into his mouth, licking at the tip, tasting the pre-cum. He sucks on it for a while before taking it all the way into his mouth, down to the base of the shaft, holding open Naruto’s thighs, hearing the blond gasping out his name as he bucks into Sasuke’s mouth. As his boyfriend’s hips start moving faster, Sasuke moves away, smirking as Naruto whines. 

Pulling off his pants and underwear, Sasuke slides Naruto closer, leaning over him. He holds their cocks together, rolling his hips as he rubs both their members against each other, pre-cum slicking his hand. He can hear his own moans mix with Naruto’s as his hand picks up its pace. Bracing his elbow by Naruto’s head, Sasuke sucks on his boyfriend’s lower lip before sliding his tongue into his mouth for a kiss, grinding down on Naruto as the blond bucks up into him. Naruto’s fingers grip tightly onto his shoulder, sucking hard on Sasuke’s tongue as the blond reaches his climax. Sasuke follows, moaning into Naruto’s mouth before pulling away and biting down on his shoulder as he rides out his orgasm.

After a while, Sasuke kisses Naruto’s chest and sits back up, trying to catch his breath. His boyfriend looks debauched, body covered in cream, chocolate, caramel, sweat, and semen, hair damp and messy, lips wet and swollen, pupils dilated, and cheeks flushed. Sasuke takes in the image, catalogues it in his mind for the nights he has to spend without Naruto, when either of them are off on a mission. 

Reaching out, he touches the red bow on Naruto’s neck. “Does this mean you’re my present?”

Naruto smiles sheepishly. “Yeah. I know it’s really lame bu—”

“It’s not,” Sasuke cuts him off and pulls the bow off carefully from Naruto’s neck before lifting his boyfriend’s left hand. He takes the lace and ties it again into a bow round Naruto’s ring finger.

“I’ll keep it forever.” 

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

:D Happy B-Day Sasuke. 

[kishuajr]

nobody owns time - lee jihoon

Pairing: Lee Jihoon/Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 3.1k

Synopsis: Jihoon doesn’t like how friendly you and your new co-worker act. 

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 

― i’m back! and i wanted to add another part continuing from “hardhearted” PLEASE read pt 1. it’ll make a bit more sense haha :) i hope you like this anyways & i encourage for you to request!! im running out of ideas keke. 

i just reread this realized Chan might be mistaken for Lee Chan aka Dino... I’m so sorry for the misunderstand lol i was actually visualizing Chan from A.C.E.. but its ok! 

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since you took Jihoon’s offer on staying in the extra room in his apartment. You both never really saw each other despite the fact you both lived together. He was too busy working on god knows what at some studio and you were too busy looking for a job. You couldn’t help but feel terrible for mooching off of him which led you to want to move out as soon as possible.

Luckily enough, you had found yourself a part time job the other day at a nearby wholesale cooperation. It had good pay and maybe if you worked overtime once in awhile, you would be able to move out of Jihoon’s place by the end of next month.

You spent the day mopping floors, transporting boxes across the store, and restocking the shelves. You looked kind of ridiculous; your small self carrying around stacks of large empty boxes and pushing carts of packaged toilet paper and water. It was also very tiring.

So, when one of your coworkers saw you struggling he couldn’t help but let out a small laugh before walking over to you.

“I almost didn’t see you behind there,” he mused, peering at you behind the stack of boxes you were holding, “You need help?” 

He carefully took a few of the boxes from your hands, your fingers brushing and awkward smiles exchanged.

“Just this way,” You called out, leading him down a few aisles and into the front where the cashier stands where. You motioned him to place them down under the conveyor belts so the scanners can use them to pack purchases.

You set down the boxes and sighed in exhaustion, dusting yourself off before finally taking a look at the kind worker.

He had black hair that swooped over his eyes and a friendly, warm smile. He was also tall compared to you, but not as tall as Soonyoung or Mingyu- that’s for sure.

A weak smile played on your lips, “Thank you...Lee Chan?” You say as your eyes sedulously scanned his name tag

Chan nodded, his wide grin showing off his pearly whites, “And you’re (L/N) (Y/N). I’ve heard talk about you in the break room.”

“Really?” Your eyebrows furrowed, “What kind of talk?”

“Don’t worry, all good talk,” He said, his face flushed a light red and you couldn’t tell if it was from exhaustion or from embarrassment, “About how you’re cute and stuff- you know?”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes playfully, “Boys really have way too much time on their hands,” you joke, nudging his shoulder, “When do you get off?” 

“The supervisor left a bit ago, so we can leave now.”

“Okay!” You clapped and the both of you began to walk in the direction to the front entrance.

“You must be hungry after carrying those boxes around,” Chan hummed, pushing his hands inside his pockets. It was freezing cold the second you both stepped outside.

“Yeah, I had to skip lunch because I had to work overtime, “ You sighed.

He frowned, but it quickly bloomed into a Cheshire cat like smile, “Hey, do you want to eat at this noodle place that not to far from here? I’ll treat you for getting a new job.”

“Really!” You grinned, “Dumplings too?”

“Two plates! I just got paid this afternoon,” He beamed.

Your grin suddenly faltered as you looked out in the night sky. The sun had already set so it was about 7 o’clock. You knitted your brows, a small ‘tsk’ falling off your tongue, “I would, but I might miss the bus home.”

Chan pouted, grabbing your arm, “Please-e-e,” He said, whining out the last syllable, “Just an hour of your time-”

“Nobody owns time,” A voice scoffed causing you and Chan to look up; well, you looked slightly upwards and Chan looked down.

“Jihoon? What are you doing here?”

The sound of the door slamming shut caused Jihoon to jolt awake. He was at the studio, working on Seventeen’s title song and he must of fallen asleep.

His eyes frantically jumped around the room, finally meeting with an oh-too-familiar 10:10 shaped eyes that belonged to the one and only Kwon Soonyoung.

“Sorry! I didn’t know the door shuts itself,” He sibilated, walking carefully towards the sleepy producer.

Jihoon groaned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, “What are you doing here? I’m working-”

Soonyoung laughed, wiping the drool off the shorter boy’s bottom lip, “More like dreaming about (Y/N).”

Jihoon rolled his eyes, pushing the younger boy away, “Shut up. How did you know I was here?”

Soonyoung sat on the beanbag chair that was in the corner of the studio. His legs kicked up onto Jihoon’s desk, smacking away on a piece of gum as he shrugged, “Your apartment was empty. Where else would you go?”

“Empty? What do you mean empty-”

The younger boy whinged, burying his head into the palms of his hands, “What’s with all these questions?”

A kick flew to Soonyoung’s ankle causing him to cry out in pain, “Ow, ow, ow!” He whined, rubbing his ankle vigorously.

“Don’t put your feet on my desk,” Jihoon grumbled, sending the other boy a dirty look.

“Gosh, okay! What did you ask again?” Soonyoung huffed, sitting up properly in the beanbag.

“Where’s (Y/N)?”

“She got a part time job! Didn’t you know?”

Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows, “Part time job? What do you mean part-”

The younger boys sharp glared caused the older boy to sheepishly smile and backtrack, “So...Where is she working?”

And thats how Jihoon ended in front of the Wholesales at around nine o’clock at night. It was windy and dark and he couldn’t help wonder why on earth is her boss making her work so late at night. Who knows what could happen while she makes her way home?

She didn’t even have a car.

Jihoon sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

How was this girl even getting places? Bus? Subway? 

“Please don’t tell me she’s been walking home,” he grumbled to himself.

He suddenly felt bad. He had been sort of distant towards (Y/N) since he was so busy. He never really was home because he spent most nights working at the studio but he did come home around dawn to wash up and change. 

Jihoon remembered the first morning, there were two cups of coffee and two plates of breakfast at the dining table.

And as much as he wanted to sit down, Jihoon had no time for breakfast. 

So, the next day, she was there with one cup of coffee, one plate of breakfast, one thermos of coffee and one packed breakfast.

Jihoon swore right then that he was in love with her.

Jihoon cringed, smacking his own head, Love? What the hell was he talking about? 

He also cursed at himself for standing outside in the freezing cold with no jacket. Why was he here again? 

The sound of laughter and footsteps nearing the front entrance caused him to look up.

He smiled, Oh right, (Y/N).

There you were, a sweet and bright smile on your lips. The smile Jihoon missed seeing.

Except you weren’t smiling at him. Instead, you were smiling at some guy- your co-worker(?) and you seemed excited for some reason.

Jihoon’s ears perked up as he made his way closer to the two of you.

“Dumplings too?” You exclaimed.

“Two plates! I just got paid this afternoon,” The taller boy boasted.

And suddenly Jihoon felt his blood boil despite the freezing cold weather. 

A date? She wouldn’t.

A sigh flew past your lips, “I would, but I might miss the bus home,” you said in a disappointed tone.

The bus, Jihoon mused, pursing his lips, I knew it.

Please-e-e! Let me just have thirty minutes of your time-”

Jihoon rolled his eyes, “Nobody owns time,” he ridiculed.

The two of them turned to look at Jihoon who suddenly felt subconscious of his height. He couldn’t help but realize how tall the other guy was. Jihoon could feel his ears turn pink but he didn’t dare to back down.

“Jihoon? What are you doing here?” You questioned, your head slightly tilting to the right.

“What do you mean? I’m here to see you,” He tsked, stepping closer to the two.

You couldn’t help but blush, feeling flustered as you turned to look at your co-worker, “I-uh...”

“I’m Chan! Nice to meet you.” He bowed, in hopes for this sudden tension to disappear.

But that only caused Jihoon to cringe at the sight of the taller boy bowing so low. He rose his hand, signalling Chan to knock it off, “You’re going to end up breaking your back-”

“Jihoon!” You hissed, feeling embarrassed from his aloof behavior.

You sheepishly turned to face Chan, rubbing the back of your neck as you winced, “I’m sorry, but since my friend showed up, let’s go eat next time, yeah?”

“Oh! Well, he can join us!”

You grinned, clapping your hands in an excited manner. You turned towards Jihoon, in hopes that he’d quit acting so stiff

And he pursed his lips, clicking his tongue as he stammered, “I-um. I’m allergic to noodles.”

You felt your jaw drop slightly as you stared at him in stupefy. 

What on earth is he talking about?

Thankfully for your starving self, Chan was not going to back down. “You can eat something else! They have really good meat dishes too-”’

“Wow... really? That’s amazing,” Jihoon said with a hint of sarcasm that only you caught, “I’m actually allergic to a lot so...” 

Jihoon trailed off into silence, blinking as you waved your hands at him, “What are you doing!” you mouthed.

“Who the hell is he?” he mouthed back, nodding over to Chan.

You squinted your eyes, “Go home!”

“Let’s get out of here! Please!” 

You harshly glared at your roommate, motioning for him to leave. 

Jihoon’s shoulders slumped in defeat and he turned around, starting to walk towards his car but then quickly spinning back around on the balls of his feet, clapping his hands together, “Please-please-please-please-”

Your eyes widened, and you couldn’t help but let the shock contort your features, “Jihoon, I swear to g-”

“Please-please-please-please-please-”

He was so dead.

Quickly clearing your throat, a pitiful smile formed on your lips as you turned to face Chan who stood completely oblivious to what was going on between you and the older male.

“Um, I should probably go. My friend’s kind of... sick.” 

Chan pursed his lips, understandably nodding, “Ah- I’ll head out first then. See you tomorrow.”

“We can eat noodles then!” You said in an apologetic tone.

He bobbed his head eagerly before waving goodbye to you and stifling a nod towards Jihoon who was sending daggers to the taller boy.

“Let’s go,” He mumbled, and walked away towards his car and you swore you never been so dumbfounded in your entire life.

The car ride home was silent and remained that way until the apartment door shut behind you both.

“Allergic to noodles,” You mocked with a dry laugh, “Didn’t we just have black bean paste noodles last night?”

Jihoon sighed, unresponsive as he sat down on the loveseat. You repeated his actions, taking his hand in yours; something that felt natural now. 

Despite rarely seeing him, when you did, you couldn’t help but hold his hand whilst talking and catching up with him; yearning for skinship.

“Who was that guy? Is he a full-time employee?” Jihoon asked, a hint of annoyance dripping in his tone.

You furrowed your eyebrows, “Mm, I don’t know. I just met him, but he’s really nice.”

He nodded, his eyes not meeting yours but instead, staring at the spot behind you.

“Mhm, okay,”Jihoon said, pressing his lips together, still not meeting your gaze.

“Jihoon, is there something wrong?”

“No.”

“Liar,” you mused.

His sullen pout and odd attitude gave it away. You knew something was up the second you saw Jihoon at your work. How’d he even know where you were?

You shook your head; it didn’t matter right now.

“(Y/N),” Jihoon murmured causing you to look back up at the brunette.

He paused longer than expected and you sat waiting on the edge of your seat, having no clue what he was about to say.

But then he winces, shaking his head whilst rubbing the back of his neck, as if he was trying to figure out what to say.

And suddenly you noticed how red he was getting, the sight of this was too familiar to you. Flashbacks of the night on the staircase replay in your head when he first confessed his feeling.

Is he confessing something?

“I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy lately but just know I’m never busy to spend time with you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been busy too, you know?” You forced a smile, squeezing his hand, “I’ve been working.”

“Stop talking to that Chan-kid,” Jihoon pursed his lips, “He bothers me.”

You sat there with a pokerface, your brain’s gears slowly churning; trying to connect why on earth would Jihoon have a problem with Chan. He barely met the guy. How can he judge someone so quickly the moment he saw him standing with-

“Are you... jealous?”

Jihoon’s previous sulky countenance immediately transformed into a shocked, maybe even offended expression causing you to stiff a laugh. 

“I wasn’t jealous! I was.. bothered,” He uttered.

Your serious exterior finally cracked and a goofy smile appeared past your lips, “I never thought you were one to get jealous,” You chuckled.

Jihoon scrunched up his nose, his ears burning red and his hand that was attached to yours had started to turn clammy.

“I can’t help it!” He suddenly blurted out, “He was grabbing your arm and you both seemed so cheerful- and the fact that you both almost went out to eat!”

Jihoon shook his head, frustrated, “I just don’t like the idea of you out eating noodles with another guy so late at night.”

You frowned as confusion washed over you, “I don't understand how you’re jealous over that when me cuddling with Soonyoung never seemed to bother you.”

“Y-you what?” Jihoon stammered, disbelief written all over his face.

You bit you laugh in attempt to hide your smile, “I’m joking,” you huffed, nudging his shoulder.

But Jihoon didn’t crack a smile. His head dropped down, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Hey..” you murmur, “Don’t you remember?”

Jihoon’s breath hitched in the back of his throat as he lifted his head. Feeling his heartbeat pounded in his ears, his eyes met yours.

“I like you,” you say, looking down at your intertwined fingers, “And I understand why you’re jealous, but you don’t have to be. I also understand that you can’t control the way you feel. I’m not telling you to. Just know that I trust you, and you can trust me too.”

Jihoon’s felt the pace of his heart slow down as every word slipped passed your lips. A small and thankful smile flashed on his face as he leaned into you, feeling as if all the stress and tension in his shoulders had vanished.

You wrapped your arms around him, taking in every second of the feeling of his body pressed into yours and inhaling the smell of his shampoo.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” he mumbled into your shoulder.

Your eyes widened as Jihoon pulled back slightly; his sweet, chocolate brown orbs melting into yours, “I was planning on asking you in a better way this weekend, but I’m impatient now.”

You giggled, tilting your head to the right as you nodded eagerly causing a warm smile to form on Jihoon’s face.

You watched as his orbs drifted downwards to your lips and your heart fluttered inside your chest when you realized what he was about to do.

His eyes flickered back to yours, as if he was asking “Is this okay?”

But instead of showing him a sign of approval, your eyes flutter shut as you leaned in, brushing your lips against his. 

Kissing was sort of new to you and Jihoon. You both had only shared a few pecks so you didn’t expect it when Jihoon didn’t waste time kissing back. 

It messy at first, clumsy even. Both of you were unsure but, once your timing had synced, it was slow, soft, and comforting in ways that words could never be. His lips were balmy and minty, and each kiss left your lips tingling and wanting more.

Your hand rested below his ear, your thumb caressing his cheek as both of your breaths mingled.  

Jihoon’s hand drifted to your hip, settling there as he pulled you closer until you were practically straddling his lap. You could feel Jihoon’s fingers playing with the tips of your hair before running up and down your spine, sending shivers down your back.

And as much as you wanted for this moment to never end, you both pulled away, breathless. 

Jihoon stared at you in awe; your swollen lips and red face caused Jihoon’s heartbeat to quicken. His lips turned upwards into a smug smile, feeling pleased at the fact that he was the one who made you this way; breathless and eyes filled with endearment. 

And after a moment of silence, just gazing into each others eyes, you cleared your throat causing Jihoon to blink.

“Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?” you murmured, raking your fingers through the short hair at his neck.

Jihoon rose his eyebrow in surprise, “I think you need to be more clear with what you mean.”

Your eyes widened, smacking his arm playfully, “T-that’s not what I meant!” you stuttered.

He chuckled, tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear as he threw a playful wink, “Sure it wasn’t.”

“Jihoon!”

-

not edited, but... it’s one am so i think it’s ok hehe :)

you can request here xx

[heidijeann]

First Stop: Singapore

TLl;DR people...this blog isn’t for you. Instead, check out our photo highlights here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bJHF8QvwteX8NSuU7

Day one in Singapore - has been hot and exhausting, but also beautiful and fragrant (especially in the Hawker Centers!). We landed around 8 am, after a pretty uneventful 17 hour 20 minute flight from SFO to SIN. And don’t you always wish for uneventful travels? It’s really is the perfect adjective but also the best when traveling for so long. Our isle was quiet, with a small, friendly, and quiet woman who was nice every time we asked to get up to use the restroom. We mostly slept, but also watched a bit of TV, putting on Crazy Rich Asians to refresh our memory of the movie and prep for Singapore. We joked throughout our whole stay if we would see or meet anyone like Astrid, or where she would be hanging out. (We didn’t find her.) Then, breakfast was served and taken away, the cabin was being prepared for landing, and we were sitting on the tarmac in Asia! We made it - we were finally here in Asia and all the stress of wrapping up work, saying goodbye to our friends and family, and packing up our whole lives - selling our things, storing our things, moving out and cleaning our apartment...all the stress disappeared and we were finally here, starting out our dream. 134 days to go!

We made our way through customs and baggage claim and found the MRT (Municipal Rapid Transit), getting a 2 day tourist pass that will allow us to explore this small city in a less humid and sticky (and maybe also faster) way. We walked about 15 thousand steps - from our hotel to a couple food centers - the first and second didn’t really catch our eyes so we kept walking. We stumbled into some kind of outdoor shopping center, a lot of stalls with random things for sale - from wallets to fruits to cleansers and beyond. From there, we found a food stall with some yummy looking noodles that we purchased for S$1 (Singapore dollar) which is $.74=1 Singapore dollar. They were delicious, nutritious, and left us hungrier. We circled the joint and ended up getting a small bowl of laksa that was good, but a little spicy for my taste. After the laksa we thought we would head out and continue exploring, so started to make our way back to the hotel in hopes of being able to check in (and shower!). Luckily, by the time we got back, our hotel room was ready and we were able to freshen up before heading to Chinatown’s Maxwell Hawker Center.

The Bencoolen MRT station is about 35 steps outside our hotel, which makes transportation super easy, especially for any destination off the Downtown MRT line, which Chinatown qualifies for. We jumped on and headed towards the Hawker goodness. Emerging from the station, we were greeted with a festive street adorned with lanterns, shopping stalls, and tons of people. We perused the scene as we slowly made our way to the Maxwell Hawker Center to try the world famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. While crossing the street (read: jaywalking), we met a local who asked where we were from/where we were going, and started to chat as we were headed in the same direction. We asked him about Tian Tian and he said he while he loves it, he never goes because the line is always very long and takes about an hour. Hearing this news, hungry, hot and tired Heidi and Brett decided the wait wouldn’t be worth it, so asked what stalls he would recommend. He offered to take us to the eatery, so we followed. When we turned the corner, by some crazy stroke of magic, we found ourselves in front of a line-less Tian Tian and were able to place our order and get our food literally within one minute. It was an incredible streak of luck, and the hype is really worth it - the rice is so flavorful Brett dubbed it the best rice he has ever had. By the time we left the Hawker, the line was forming outside and around the building.

After eating we decided to continue exploring the city by foot, and made our way to the infamous Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Beautiful, iconic, and huge, we felt like we were in Vegas with the millions of restaurants, shops, escalators and signs. We made our way up to the 57th story and took in the views from the top. We checked out the ArtScience Museum and agreed to come back first thing in the morning to avoid the crowd. Then, we found our way back to the MRT station and headed to Little India. Only a couple stations away, we got out and started walking. Where Chinatown was lively with people everywhere selling and buying goods in outdoor stalls, Little India’s vibe was much calmer: streets lined with shops where people could pop in and upstairs if anything caught their fancy. Very few people were shopping in the markets, and there weren’t many people on the street. We came across a S$6 eyebrow threading station, so popped in for a quick touch up, but with not much else going on, we decided to make our way back to the hotel by foot. By this time in the afternoon the sun was no longer directly shining down on us - clouds had rolled in and provided a bit of cover to help make the walking a bit more tolerable. It was about a 30 minute walk, on which we found a vending machine that serves freshly squeezed orange juice for S$2 - something we couldn’t pass up. We watched the oranges get sliced and squeezed directly into a cup, and, once full, were able to remove the cup and drink cold, tart, freshly squeezed juice that absolutely hit the spot. A few doors down, we stumbled across a small dim sum house whose smells captivated our noses, forcing us to indulge in just a few dumplings.

From there, it was a quick walk back to the hotel. We were hot, sweaty, and tired, so thought taking a dip in the pool may give us a new wind. We changed into our suits and headed to the pool - only to find the water so cold that we actually opted for the hot tub. Crazy, I know, but after getting to the hotel room with the freezing artificial air blowing on our bodies, we were actually cold and happy for the hot tub. Plus, we had walked about 15,000 steps after being on a 17.5 hour flight, and the heat was not only healthy for our muscles, but a great excuse to stretch. At this point we had every intention to go out and grab dinner - but by the time we got back to our room and showered, we agreed we were pooped and thought a good night's’ rest would make the world of difference tomorrow. So, we got into bed, turned on the tv, and flipped around to see what Singapore News and TV was all about. Although we were OK staying in for the night, we were hellbent on not going to bed too early - we were aiming to stay up until 8 and it was only about 6 at this point. Starting to get hungry, I googled the closest, easiest, most affordable option, and wound up going downstairs to Baja Fresh and getting a burrito for us to split. I am not ashamed or embarrassed at all, although would have preferred any Mexican joint back home (obviously). We shared it in bed, until we were full, then brushed our teeth, hit the lights, and did some light research on the computer before PTFO.

Day two started earlier for Brett than it did for me. We woke up around 3:00 AM and forced ourselves to try to sleep a bit longer. I was able to (s/o to my favorite app, Calm, which helps me fall asleep and mediate and I cannot say enough great things about. If you want a free trial, LMK), but Brett was not as fortunate as me. So, he rested and I slept until about 6:20 AM, when there was no way I was going to be able to sleep for another second, so we got up and started our morning. And what’s a better to start your morning than going to the pool?! We couldn’t think of one, either, so that’s what we did. It wasn’t that hot yet, so we dipped in the pool and spent the majority of our 20-ish minutes out there in the hot tub. Then, we returned to our room, showered, and headed out to try a traditional Singaporean breakfast: Toast Box. We got Set 1: Kaya Toast with eggs and coffee. The coffee was excellent, and Brett liked the toast and eggs. I am not one for under cooked wet eggs, and I think Asia is all about those, so I have to be honest when I say I didn’t even try the egg. I did try the toast - it was perfectly toasted - some kind of sweet jam with butter and coconut. Interesting - good even, just a bit sweet for my liking. From there we thought we would head to the Merlion Statue to try to get a good picture before too many tourists showed up, but we got lost on the MRT (took the wrong line, rather) and decided to just head to the ArtScience Museum since we were much closer. After signing up for the Sands Reward Membership, we headed to the museum to buy our tickets at the amazing discount of BOGO. I highly recommend taking the 10 minutes to show your passport and get the rewards card - you get 3% cash back at all shops and restaurants in the hotel, plus great benefits and savings and the museums etc. While I signed up, Brett found me an apple, which I ate en route to the museum. We got our tickets and headed into the first exhibit: Future World.

The exhibit was interactive - featuring artworks that combine art and science to bring us inside natural worlds comprised of entirely digital technology. We grew flowers that we could project onto the walls, we planned where to put bridges and transit centers in cities, and would see how our choices affected the digital city; we went down slides, and played with huge balls of lights that made sounds. My favorite of the 6 rooms was the Space room - which used lights, mirrors and music to transport you to what felt like outer space: placing you in the stars of our galaxy. We took some cool pictures here, but mostly just enjoyed the changing light show that corresponded with the sounds coming from every corner of the room. We then headed to the Minimalism exhibit, which was basically a bunch of abstract art that didn’t start any joy for either of us. We stayed long enough to figure out a bomb Dim Sum restaurant to head to, and left the museum in search of lunch.

It was a fast MRT ride - about 2 stops and 2 blocks to the restaurant Swee Choon. It looked closed when we got there - big panels down over the windows - but we quickly learned this was to block the heat and found our way inside. We were careful to make sure our eyes weren’t bigger than our stomachs when ordering, and scarfed down the authentic and delicious food almost as quickly as it arrived. While eating, we looked up directions to Selfie Coffee - this little coffee shop on Hijab Street that prints your selfie on your coffee (or beer, or whatever you order). It was a 15 minute walk past Arab street, so we decided to brave the heat and take a stroll. When we got too hot, we would pop into a shop with AC and pretend to be shopping while really we were just cooling off and looking at all the things for sale. Then, we’d move on. Hijab street was super cute - maybe my favorite neighborhood of Singapore that we saw. Super hipster, with murals and vibrant colors along the walls and plants everywhere. There were tons of shops, cafes, and restaurants, among them Selfie Coffee. We went inside to find a line and that they only accept cash, so decided to pass on the $8 coffee. Instead, we wandered next door to a cute elephant shop, and found ourselves in a conversation with a funny local who was telling us all about where to go, what to eat, and tips to save money. He was so excited for us to be traveling and wouldn’t let us buy anything.

From there, we headed home via the MRT to nap. It was 90 degrees with 80% humidity, and we knew we wanted to return to the Museum to check out the last exhibit before the Gardens by the Bay’s light show. Before snoozing, we decided a final dip in the pool would be lovely and were able to brave the cold water in the hot heat… it felt great! Then, we took a solid hour nap, and headed to the Merlion Statue and to explore the downtown area. It was a 15 minute MRT ride and a 10 minute walk along the waterfront, with beautiful views of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

So, we grabbed an iced coffee from Starbucks and started strolling. We ended up walking to the tourist-infested statue, then around the water past a pop up amusement park and into the Shoppes, and onto the ArtScience Museum. We went back through the Future World exhibit and then checked out the last exhibit - All Possible Paths: Richard Feynman’s Curious Life. It was interesting, I kept thinking how much my mom would love it. After that we headed to the food court for a quick chicken rice and then off to the gardens for the Spectra Light Show. A free, twice-a-night light and music show that was absolutely incredible.

Once the show concluded we, along with hundreds of others, we moved like a herd of cows slowly to the MRT to head to Lau Pa Sat, also known as Telok Ayer Market, which is also casually referred to as “Satay Street”. It’s a historic building located within the Downtown Core area of Singapore, and by day it has some shops, but by night it becomes an outdoor eating oasis. We grabbed a beer and some satay from “The Best 7&8” stall - chicken, beef, and shrimp - and took in the noises, smells and sights while we waited and ate. This all seems innocent, but we quickly learned an important lesson here: don’t order before confirming prices. Our food was paid for and delivered no problem, but the beer was another story. The waitress came to drop off the beer, asking for S$5.5. As I got the money out to pay, Brett refused it - saying there is no way he would pay that much for such a small cup of beer. The waitress didn’t like this, and started arguing with him and ended up pseudo-cursing him, saying something about his mother and future wife and kids. Sitting there, I could only be a little concerned and wonder if the S$5.5 could really be the savior of our future, but, before i could wonder for too long the lady gave up and left us alone. Leaving us with the lesson of asking prices before ordering to avoid confrontations and curses.

Finishing our food, we decided to just head home, as tomorrow would be a long day, and decided to head home and turn in. We hopped on the MRT and noticed for the first time we would be passing Orchard Street, so decided to stay out just a bit longer to check out this famous epicentre of shopping in Singapore. While it was definitely decadent, malls on malls with stores and boutiques and eateries of all kinds...it was also just a lot of shopping. We enjoyed the walk but didn’t really shop too hard, as we are on a budget and things will get a lot cheaper once we get to Thailand. We ended up walking back to the hotel - only about 20 minutes or so - and didn’t really get into anything special: we packed our stuff, set an alarm, and jotted down our spending for the day before hitting the lights and the hay.

6:30 came early, and we must have been excited or jet lagged, because we were up and out of the hotel by 7:04 and en route to the airport. It was an easy MRT ride, and before long we were checked into our flights, baggage dropped off at the counter, and our biggest worries were which Priority Pass Lounge we would check out first. We had 2.5 hours until boarding and we wanted to spend them well. So, we did just that! We ended up preferring the second of the two lounges - a Japanese Restaurant that offered free breakfast - Brett got the traditional Japanese breakfast, consisting of a huge slab of salmon, rice, soup, octopus, and undercooked eggs. I went for the American breakfast and deeply regretted it. I doubt I’ll get used to uncooked eggs and I have a hunch that they love not cooking eggs in Singapore, or maybe even the greater SEA region. After finishing our breakfasts, we had one thing left to do - get some birthday bubbles. We stopped by the duty free shop and got a beautiful bottle of Veuve to pop in Thailand, then went through customs and boarded our flight! Stay tuned for what unfolds next...

Some other interesting callouts about Singapore we forgot to weave into the above:

You can immediately tell how clean the city is. It’s pristine. Well done, Singapore.

The MRT, as mentioned, is the #1 way to get around. The government taxes people who drive a TON of money, which keeps most people out of cars on the street, and encourages them to use the metro or other public transport. Therefore, the government can easily use all MRT stations as a platform to influence and inform their people. We were impressed to see so many videos, ads, posters, etc about what to do in an emergency, how to get help, etc. This can be excellent in informing people on what to do (IE - huge campaign awareness about molestation at the moment, so high visibility and encouragement for women to speak up and seek help if necessary) but also they take every opportunity to remind people of punishments associated with breaking laws, which we thought was a bit gruesome. Definitely an element of fear in the culture, which keeps the city clean and sketch people at minimum. 

Crimes are heavily enforced, and punishments are kinda crazy. Building off the example I shared about their molestation campaign, we did a bit more research as the signs say “You will be fined and caned.” in bold red letters. That’s right, you read it - CANED. So we dug in a little more to learn that only men can be charged with molestation, and, SINGAPORE CANES PEOPLE! How cruel and unusual. If you’re interested in learning more, check out more info on this law - it sure blew our minds.

Singapore is an expensive city, so not the best for two backpackers hoping to stretch our dollars to travel the world for a year. However, it is also a city of amazing food, which is very hard for this little foodie to pass up. Don’t get me wrong - there are definitely ways to easily spend a ton of money on food, but there are amazing options for delicious and cheap eats, if you are willing embrace the street food! (Fun fact: did you know that Singapore is the only place where a street food vendor - yes, someone who sells a dish for S$5 - ⁣has earned a Michelin Star!?) Anyway, the place to eat while minding your wallet are the “hawker centers” - well-known, government monitored for food safety, and are packed with delicious, local and cheap cuisine. The price competition is fierce, so you can eat really well for not much.⁣ Unfortunately, these hawker center may not last too much longer as we know them today. We learned from locals that most of the younger generation has no interest in cooking or learning the art of food. Instead, they want to a different life (office jobs, tech, etc), which parents are supportive of. However, this means these stands, where one recipe has been perfected over decades, may cease to exist.

Holy humidity, this place is HOT HOT HOT!!

For those of you curious, we spent $422 USD including everything (ie - food, transport, hotel, even the Veuve - which was duty free but still $61 USD) while in Singapore! This is obviously above our daily average goal, but when booking the hotel I thought I was using a $200 hotels.com voucher which ended up not working, so we have $200 savings towards hotels elsewhere in our trip. Excluding the hotel and the champagne, we would have spent $145. (We also didn’t need to buy the full passes to the museum - the Future World exhibit would have quenched our thirst and gave us back S$20! But, oh well! If you are interested in more detailed budget info, let me know!

[hanasaku-shijin]

Ordinary Day

Series: Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

Words: 2,868

Genres: Friendship-Romance, Hurt/Comfort

A/N: I just love these two so much. I had to write more for them. So I whipped up another fluff fic. I also have Valentine and Nightmare for these two idiots so far. 

Please reblog to help share the story, since there’s nowhere else to post it officially at this time!

 || Patreon || Commission info ||

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Ordinary Day

For the most part, it's been another ordinary day in the Kobayashi household. 

Well, as ordinary as a day can get with a human who's living with two dragons in disguise, that is. 

But Kanna's had a good, easy day at school, and Tohru's done all of her chores and enjoyed an uneventful day at home without any unwanted visitors to interrupt everyone's personal space.

All in all, Kobayashi would've deemed today as a good day. 

She herself had gotten all of her work done, and she'd helped out several of her colleagues as well. She'd even gotten some of tomorrow's work done by some miracle, and the idea of having a little less pressure on her aching shoulders makes her smile now as she sits down at the kitchen table. 

“So, what's for dinner?” she asks, as per usual. 

Kanna scampers over and climbs up into her chair just as Tohru turns around with several plates full of food balanced on her arms, and a triumphant grin on her face.

“Tonight is a mini buffet! We have rice, pickled plums, and meat dumplings!” 

As she begins making her way to the table, the word 'meat' sets Kobayashi off immediately.

“What kind of meat is it?” She watches as Tohru's tail is revealed as she comes around the counter. Tohru instantly blushes and looks away.

“It isn't my tail this time,” she mumbles. 

Kobayashi narrows her eyes as she scans Tohru's green scales.

“Are you sure all of it's there? Even the tip?”

“It isn't my tail!” Tohru wails. “It's pork! Pork!” 

As she puffs out her cheeks in a pout, Kobayashi can't help but laugh.

“Sorry, sorry. I believe you.” 

Tohru pouts for a moment longer before she starts setting the food-filled plates onto the table.

“Here you go, Kanna.”

“Yaaay.” Though the little dragon's voice is monotone, she's genuinely excited for the food and starts digging in right away, though she still finds some difficulty in using chopsticks. 

Tohru makes her way around the table and places one dish in front of her mistress.

“And for you, Kobayashi-san~”

“Thanks. It looks good.” 

But as Tohru is putting down the plate,  a sudden jolt runs through her. The plate clatters noisily onto the table, and she nearly drops the third one she's holding as she stumbles slightly.

“Ah-” 

Her stomach knocks against the table, and if it isn't for Kobayashi's quick reaction to grab the table and steady it, the whole thing might've tipped over.

“W-Whoa!” Kobayashi drops her own chopsticks and reaches out with her free hand to grab Tohru's arm. “Tohru! What happened?” She can feeling her trembling now, just a little, but it’s enough to warrant concern. 

Tohru swallows, flashing a brief look to her, then away again.

“I-It's nothing. I’m sorry.”

“Ah, no. It's fine.” 

Kobayashi still isn't too good with these sort of things. She's not sure what to do. If the other person says not to worry, she doesn't know if she should trust that they're being honest, or presume they're trying to hide something.

She assumes Tohru falls into the former category, however, considering she's typically honest to the point of it being flinch-worthy. 

Then again, she's usually honest about what makes her happy. Troubling things, she tends to conceal... 

But for the moment, Kobayashi instinctively lets her go. Tohru does her best to regain her composure and straighten herself out again.

“S-Silly me. I almost got food stains all over Kobayashi-san's work clothes. Then I might not have been able to stop myself from cleaning them with my mouth.”

“We have a washing machine,” Kobayashi reminds her. “But in any case, sit down and eat your food. If you're feeling dizzy, that should help.”

“Right.” Tohru puts her own plate down and takes her seat. 

Kobayashi keeps an eye on her as they begin eating, and for the most part, things seem to have gone back to normal. Kanna talks about the day she's had at school, and Kobayashi offers a few tidbits about her own day. 

But Tohru stays quiet and almost unresponsive throughout the conversations this evening. The usual bubbly brightness that had been radiating from her earlier when Kobayashi had come home has now faded. She picks at her food without gusto, as though she's forcing herself. 

Kobayashi can tell something's still bothering her. She's trying to think of a way to ask about it when Kanna pushes her chair back.

“Finished. Thanks for the meal. Kobayashi, can I watch TV?”

“Hm? Ah, sure. Just keep the volume down.”

“Yaaaay.” 

Kanna hops off her chair and heads into the living room. Figuratively, Tohru jumps at the chance to abandon her meal.

“I'll begin washing Kanna's dishes.” 

But before she can make a move to get up, Kobayashi makes a move to stop her.

“Tohru. You've barely touched your food. Are you all right?” 

The dragon girl doesn't look at her directly.

“Yes. I-I'm just not very hungry all of a sudden...”

“Toh-ru.” 

The maid freezes in her place as she stands, still refusing to look at her mistress directly. Kobayashi notices she's holding onto her stomach. Evidently, Tohru isn't the type to be completely honest when something's bothering her. 

Slowly, Tohru begins turning her face and looks in her direction, though her eyes are trained on the plates. Kobayashi stands as well.

“If you're not feeling well, you have to tell me,” she instructs. “You're my maid, so that means I have to take care of you if something's wrong.” 

She waits for Tohru's reaction, watching her swallow nervously.

“It's nothing. I'll wrap up the food I didn't finish and you can take it to work tomorrow for lunch. I should do the dishes-”

“Enough of that.” Kobayashi cuts her off. Stepping closer, she puts a hand on her maid's shoulder. Tohru gasps softly, and her grip on her stomach tightens.

“Are... Are you mad at me...?” 

Kobayashi hums.

“Mm, not particularly. But it would be best if you'd just be honest about stuff like this. Especially when I ask you directly.”

“I'm sorry...”

“It's fine.” 

Kobayashi keeps her hand on Tohru's shoulder, partially to convey the implied support behind the gesture, and to actually support Tohru. She still seems unbalanced, and her breathing is a little hard. 

Kobayashi can feel small, prickling pains creeping beneath her own skin, something she realizes she's only ever felt when she's worried about Tohru. 

“So?” she prompts her. “Wanna tell me what's wrong?” 

Tohru bites her lip, nails curling into her uniform over her stomach.

“It's just... this old wound again...” 

Kobayashi had a feeling it might've been something like that.

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes...”

“Enough to make you lose your appetite?”

“...Yes...”

“That's no good. You've gotta eat. Especially since you're a dragon.”

“I-I tried,” Tohru whimpers. “I don't want... any of the food we've spent your money on going to waste. But I just...”

“It hurts that much, huh?” 

Tohru nods. 

Kobayashi sighs. 

“Then you don't have to worry about the food, Tohru. Worry about yourself.” 

Tohru finally lifts her gaze to meet Kobayashi's. And Kobayashi can tell this is still new to her, having her wellbeing come first. 

“Let me guess,” she begins. “In the dragon world, it's survival of the fittest. And since you're one of the strongest dragons there is, there's never been a reason for anyone else to be concerned about you. If you showed weakness, they'd probably try to kill you, right?” 

Tohru's eyes widen, and her jaw drops just a little bit.

“Y-Yes. That's exactly how it is.”

“I see. But, Tohru-” Kobayashi pats her shoulder again, and offers a smile. “You're in this world now, remember? Here, not everyone can be strong all the time. It's okay to show weakness from time to time. We take care of each other.” 

With that much said, she watches Tohru's reaction. Her sunset-colored eyes begin to water, and when she tries to speak, her voice cracks.

“K... Kobayashi...san...” 

Kobayashi puts her arm around the small of Tohru's back and helps ease her away from the table.

“Come on. If you can't eat, let's go sit somewhere comfortable.” 

Slowly, she guides Tohru into the living room, where Kanna is all but glued to the TV. 

Kobayashi leads Tohru to the couch on the other side of the room. She can still feel Tohru trembling a little, and the girl hasn't let go of her stomach and side. 

Kobayashi knows Tohru isn't just playing it up, either. There were times when she might've acted this way for attention, but when she's really in pain, Tohru does her best not to let it be known. 

Must be a pride complex among dragons... 

They reach the couch, and Kobayashi helps Tohru down before taking a seat beside her. Tohru leans back heavily against the cushions, still holding onto her sore side. She closes her eyes and tries to slow her breathing. Kobayashi can't help but feel a surge of guilt run through her.

“I wish I could take you to a doctor or something,” she comments. “But I think there are a few things they'd notice, and that could cause problems.”

“It's okay,” Tohru mumbles. “It should be fine...”

“I thought the last time I asked you about it, you’d said it didn't hurt anymore? So what happened? Did you run into something and make it sore again?” 

Tohru shakes her head, opening her eyes wearily.

“No. Usually... it will start to hurt again if the god who impaled me is angered... or if he is drawing nearer to my location...” 

Kobayashi stiffens.

“That doesn't sound good. Is he coming after you?” 

Tohru shakes her head.

“No. He thinks he killed me. But it seems... my body still reacts to his presence somehow...”

“Mmm... I guess that makes sense. Sorry it hurts so much.”

“It's okay. Hopefully it won't last long.”

“But if it does, you have to tell me,” Kobayashi demands. “If you're still in pain tomorrow morning, let me know. That's an order.”

“Y-Yes, ma'am.”

“Good.” 

Satisfied, Kobayashi reaches up to pat Tohru's head gently. 

The dragon makes a sound somewhere between a sigh and a whimper, and leans into her touch. 

Kobayashi feels this is the least she can do for her. 

This, and perhaps one more thing.

 “I was worried, you know.”

“...Eh?” 

Blinking, Tohru looks to her, puzzled. Kobayashi reiterates.

“It scared me a little, seeing you like that. When you stumbled earlier, I didn't know what to think.” 

Obviously, she'd made it evident with her actions that she'd been worried about Tohru, and still is. But there's something oddly pleasant about being able to tell that person you’re worried about them.

 Clearly, Tohru is flustered by the confession.

“Y-You... were worried...?”

“Of course. You told me dragons can't get sick. So I thought something must be really wrong.”

“Oh... It's true that dragons can't contract bacterial illnesses and disease. But we aren't immune to food poisoning or the effects of an empty stomach. And there is... one sickness we are able to contract...”

“Oh? What's that?” 

Tohru dips her head, hiding her face in Kobayashi's shoulder.

“Lovesickness...” 

Kobayashi sighs heavily.

“Well, I guess that makes sense, though. Those aren't bacterial diseases, after all. It also makes sense that your body can still be negatively affected by something like an old wound being aggravated. That's only natural.”

“Yes...” 

Tohru doesn't move from her current position. She burrows her face into Kobayashi's shoulder more, her hand still gripping her side. Kobayashi smiles.

“In that case, lie down.”

“...Eh?”

“You heard me. Right here.”

 Tohru pulls herself away a little, so she can look up at her.

“B-But-”

“Your master gave you an order.”

“Y-Yes, ma'am!” 

With a bit of effort, Tohru draws her legs and tail up onto the couch, wincing whenever her injury bothers her. Kobayashi keeps a hand on her shoulder and helps her lie down, preventing her from rolling off the couch. 

Tohru is about to lie her head down on the couch's seat cushions. But Kobayashi gently stops her, and instead coaxes Tohru to rest her head in her lap instead. 

Naturally, Tohru turns red.

“K-Kobayashi-san! C-Can I-?”

“Just be quiet for a minute, would you? I told you to let me take care of you. Lie down.” 

A little nervously, Tohru does as she's told. She faces away from Kobayashi, being mindful of her horns, not wanting them to dig into her mistress' thighs. 

Kobayashi waits patiently for Tohru to adjust herself however is most comfortable for her, then rests a hand on the dragon girl's head.

“My mom always told me that lying down on your left side helps with stomach pains. Since your injury is on your right side, this works perfectly.” 

Tohru lets out a small breath.

“Your... mother told you that? How is it supposed to work...?”

“I dunno. It's probably just a placebo or something. But even when I got old enough to realize that, it still always seemed to work.”

“So... even mothers will lie to their own children to help them feel better?”

“Humans are strange, aren't we? But we do whatever we have to in order to take care of the ones we love.” 

After that, Tohru is silent for a long while. Kobayashi can't see her expression, but judging by the way her body has lost a bit of tension, she can assume Tohru is calming down.

“You should relax,” she advises her. “It won't help if you're stiff.”

“B-But... being in your lap like this-”

“Should make you feel calm, not anxious. I'm not gonna hurt you, Tohru.” 

She can hear Tohru whimper a little at that.

“I know...”

“Then relax.” 

To help, Kobayashi uses her left hand to continue patting Tohru's head, ruffling her bangs just a little bit. With her right hand, she reaches out to Tohru's injured side, and rests her palm lightly there. Tohru jolts a little, and a small gasp flies from her lips. 

Kobayashi berates herself. Shit!

“S-Sorry!” she says quickly. “I should've warned you first.”

“No... it's okay...”

“I thought massaging it could help,” Kobayashi reasoned. “But if it hurts, just tell me to stop.”

“Okay.” 

Once Tohru has gotten her bearings again, Kobayashi begins to rub her hand over her maid’s side. She kneads very lightly, running her fingers all around the sore area. She presses her palm in here and there, applying a very slight pressure, then eases off. She runs her hand down to Tohru's hip, then travels up as far as her ribs. 

All the while, she can feel Tohru gradually relaxing. Her breathing becomes slow and deep, and she doesn't flinch anymore. But just to be certain, Kobayashi wants to check.

“Tohru? Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes! It feels much better. Thank you, Kobayashi-san.”

“I'm glad.” 

Tohru does so much for her every day. The least Kobayashi can do is spoil her a little like this when she's hurt. 

So she doesn't stop her ministrations on Tohru, massaging her bad side with one hand and petting though her hair with the other. 

Kobayashi keeps her eyes on Kanna and on the TV ahead of her, and doesn't even notice until a while later that Tohru's fallen fast asleep in her lap. When she finally does notice, Kobayashi smiles.

“Guess she feels better. That's good.” 

She finally stops massaging Tohru, though she lets her hand rest on the dragon girl's side. There are times when Tohru grinds her teeth or tosses about in her sleep. But times like these, when her breathing is soft and her body is still, almost make her seem fragile. More like a human than a dragon. 

Kobayashi is content to sit here for a while longer, allowing Tohru the nap she deserves. 

She said dragons don't need to sleep. But I think living with me has made her want to. 

Evidently, Tohru isn't the only one. 

A moment later, Kanna abandons the TV, crawls across the floor, and climbs up onto the couch on Kobayashi's other side, nestling under her arm.

“Sleepy, sleepy...”

“Ah, well...” Kobayashi glances at the digital clock beneath the TV. “It's still a bit early. So a nap should be fine now, as long as we can all wake up later, brush our teeth and change, and then go to our bedrooms.”

“I can do it,” Kanna declares. “Nap now.” 

Kobayashi pats her head as well.

“Sure.”

“Kobayashi, nap too.”

“Well, I can't reach the remote, so I guess I might as well.” 

So Kanna cuddles up into her side, while Tohru continues to sleep peacefully, using her lap as a pillow. Kobayashi pulls them both in a little closer, ensuring neither of them will slip off. 

Damn... my legs are numb... 

But Tohru's sleeping far too deeply and peacefully for Kobayashi to even consider moving her. 

Ah, whatever. 

On her other side, Kanna's asleep in seconds. Kobayashi keeps an arm around her, then leans her head back against the cushions. She closes her eyes, and invites sleep to take her for a little while. 

I guess it was a pretty ordinary day...

[Fin]

[zacandshan]

Our last day in Baños was relaxing. We got a coffee in the morning, booked our accomodation for Quito & went for a last stroll around the town centre. The receptionist told us that buses for Quito leave every 30 minutes or so, so we caught a taxi to the bus terminal & were rushed onto the next bus out of there all within the span of about 10 minutes. 

The bus to Quito was a pleasant 3 hour trip, enough to catch up on podcasts, a quick read & in Zac’s case, going up a few levels on his Pokemon gameboy emulator on his phone. We arrived at the terminal in Quito at around 5.30pm. It was extremely overcast, thundering & raining. I have an unconfirmed theory that the thunder is louder at higher altitudes. I don’t know, it’s probably just my fatigued travel brain talking but I have never heard thunder as loud as I’ve heard it in places like Cusco & now Quito. We were in the middle of a supermarket within a shopping centre & it was still mind shatteringly loud. Anywho. *makes mental note to google that later* *zac looked at me like he didn’t want to tell me it’s stupid but doesn’t see the logic, therefore I already imagine I’m going to be eating my own words soon*

As we got in a taxi, unloading our monster packs & giving the taxi driver the address to our hostel - El Hostelito - he was looking pretty unsure of himself & getting directions from other taxi drivers. Never a good sign. We were driving for just over 30 minutes, with him checking & re-checking the address, calling people for help, driving in circles in the rain. At the last minute when we were driving down a road we’d already driven down, I casually looked out to the left & the bright sign of the hostel was looking back at me! I told the taxi driver, “Si! Hostel!” While pointing like a crazy person. He did a U-turn & we had arrived.

This hostel was pretty cool in that the beds are all “pods”. So the beds have curtains & are built to give you maximum privacy while still having a glorious hostel feel. We got a double bed too, which is a rarity in a shared room situation. It cost slightly less than having to book 2 beds, & significantly less than booking a private room. So the hostel got itself a deal. The staff were amazingly friendly, as I’m writing this I’m realising I need to give them a good review. One lady Christina basically gave us every bit of information we needed to see the most of Quito in the short time we had, while also helping us plan our next leg into Colombia. Nothing was too much to ask of her & at breakfast the next morning, when she’d just arrived to work, she informed us that it was an amazing day to hike up the Volcano. Mentioning that it was the clearest she’d seen it in a while, she suggested that we do it after brekky before clouds began to cover. At this point another hostel guest had joined us at brekky - John, who was from Canada & the same age as me. We decided the 3 of us would go & hike the volcano together, so we finished up at brekky & got in a cab up to the Teleferico (cable car) which would then take us to the top of the mountain, where we could begin our hike.

We purchased our tickets for the teleferico  which cost us about $8 USD each, but that included the trip back down so it wasn’t too bad & off we went. We shared a cable car with 3 people from America who were also in Quito for a few days, because there Dad lives there. We made small talk about where we were all from & it was pleasant. They’d hiked the volcano before & said we’d picked a good day, though they wondered whether we’d freeze since the 3 of us were all in shorts & at its highest the Volcano is over 4,000 metres above sea level. We started to get nervous but tried to be optimistic about the sun being out & talked ourselves up as being tougher than we really believed.

Initially we thought we’d go up just to the top of the mountain & not do the hike to the Volcano, see a few viewing platforms, maybe wander a little way up but not fully. We started walking & talking, before you know it we’d walked for an hour. Stopping to take photos & catch our breath because the altitude & walking up a constant incline is difficult but also makes you feel pathetic. To stop and look at the incline your thinking “this is going to be a BREEZE!” but with the altitude being so high, you walk for 50 metres & have to stop, drink water, have a snack. Eventually we’d walked for about 2 hours & got right up close to the Volcano. It was tough, but we enjoyed every minute of it & John turned out to be a kindred spirit who we got along with really easily, almost as if we’d known him forever. After we all agreed we couldn’t hike any farther, we made our way back down, which took all of 30 minutes or so.

A man approached us offering a lift back down the mountain for $1 each in his taxi/van. We didn’t really know where it would drop us off, but we were too tired to question it & got in anyway. Typing that out I know it sounds super creepy, but I’m happy to report, there was no candy bribes involved. He actually conveniently dropped us in “New Town” which was a hip area of bars & restaurants everywhere & only 1km away from our hostel. LUCKED OUT THERE. There were a bunch of other travellers filling the van also, a couple of Canadians who had just visited Venezuela! We were so shocked because of course you only ever hear about how dangerous it is there & absolutely out of the question to visit - despite the out of this world scenery you’d get to see. But he said of all the places he’d visited he felt more safe there than other places. He didn’t witness anything dodgy & said it was one of the best countries he’s ever been too. So there ya go!

We arrived in New Town & the 3 of us walked into the first restaurant we saw, eager for burgers & beers. We ordered our food & guzzled down our beverages, feeling like it was a victory meal for such a strenuous & unexpected hike - albeit an amazing & rewarding one too! We hadn’t planned anything for Quito so to have such an awesome first day there out of complete spontaneity was a win for us.

We headed back to the hostel & each took a 3 hour nap. What? We’re on holiday!

At lunch we’d inevitably discussed our favourite movies, movies to quote, etc. We began talking about Superbad & decided we’d watch it that night if we could snag the TV at the hostel, which had Netflix. Thankfully when we awoke from our nap, it was free. The boys went & got pizza & booze, while I guarded the TV & set up the movie. We got a little tipsy, ate our pizzas & laughed all the way through the movie. It was pouring down with rain outside now & it was a great night in.

The next day it was still sunny outside, but high in the mountains looking at the volcano, you could see it was engulfed in clouds. John had mentioned that some people he’d spoken to said they’d hiked it a day or two before us & couldn’t see anything because they were surrounded by clouds & moisture. We were so much luckier than we realised!

John was flying back to Canada that day so we said our goodbyes & went off to explore the city.

A great thing about South America is the fruit & how naturally massive it is. We stopped first at a cherry stand & bought a bag to munch on. They are seriously so much bigger & juicier here, I don’t know how we’ll go back to the fruit at home! And cheap, so cheap. *cries a little*

Quito is seriously pretty, with most of the buildings in the city painted pretty pastel colours. Think peach, mint green, baby blue, pinks. Its like a cute, real life doll city. Every time we turned a corner we were awe struck by the pristine buildings we saw. We went to see a Church which we’d read was the most stunning & colourful of all the churches in Quito, which while pretty, wasn’t really much in comparison to some others we’ve seen.

The next day we decided to visit the “Middle of the Earth”, or where Ecuador gets his name sake (Equator) the place where the Northern & Southern Hemispheres meet. It was about a 45 minute drive out to the spot where Christina, our saviour of a hostel guide organised transport for us & for the driver to wait an hour while we went & explored. It was super cool! I mean its just a painted line going across a monument, but we had fun jumping back & forth & being in different hemispheres at the same time. But what was really cool was that inside the monument you could walk up to the top, with each floor on the way up hosting different stuff. From Ecuadorian history, to solar system displays, it was like being at Sci-Tech. The view from the top was really cool too. It took a little over an hour & we decided to treat ourselves with Japanese food after. Zac found an amazing restaurant where we had delicious vege dumplings & sushi, pad thai & Mango martinis. 

it was time to head back to hostel & plan our next leg to Colombia. A 4 hour bus ride to Tulcan, the town on the Ecuadorian side of the border, walking across to Ipiales, the first town on the Colombian side. Christina helped us do all of this & when we awoke the next morning, 2 of the other staff were headed to the bus station & said we could tag along with them rather than take a taxi.

The buses are very straight forward & not intimidating in Ecuador, & for only 25c no matter your destination it’s sort of a no brainer. We did have to walk to our first stop though which proved challenging -and then our bus stop was a while away so it did take us what felt like 100 x as long to reach our final bus station, with heavy packs & backpacks (I swear at some stage I will get a photo of us with them on- I catch our reflection occasionally & laugh about how we are even able to stand), not enough room to sit down on the bus, switching buses, it was a mission. I considered a number of times just getting off & getting into a taxi. But the lure of cheap transportation was too much. Even if my shoulders had never hurt this much before.

We got to Ofelia bus station at about 11am, with the first bus leaving in 10 minutes. Perfect! We bought some snacks, one in particular that is becoming my absolute favourite which is lemon chips. They are something else entirely, super zesty & zingy. I wish we had them in Aus & fully expect to have lemon chip withdrawals the moment we leave South America. It took us about 4.5 hours to get to Tulcan & only cost us roughly $6USD each.

The border crossing much to our despair was quite busy & there was a big line streaming outside the office. To make us more on edge, you had to leave your packs outside of the office in a pile. There was one incident where we saw a guy try to leave with a small black backpack, but a security guard stopped him & got it back. Someone else eventually snaked in & got it- so we can only imagine what its contents were. In front of us was a couple with a child  & a dog. The man only had 1 arm so as the line moved we helped them move there bags. We think the man mustn’t have been leaving the country as he waited outside with their dog & bags, & thankfully watched ours for us too. We got our packs back & waved goodbye to Ecuador.

As we approached the Colombian border, my heart sank. The line was much longer than on the Ecuadorian side & our backs were already aching from having our packs on. We must’ve only been in line for 2 minutes when one of the officials approached us & asked if we were leaving or entering Colombia. “Entering” we’d said, & he ushered us up to the front of the line where we only had to wait a further 15 minutes to get through. Sometimes our luck really astounds me. Like I have to actually pinch myself. Then sometimes our bad luck makes me want to punch myself. In the face. Repeatedly. Like what happened after we got across the border.

So our plan was to visit Ipiales Church, as it was right there on the border & one of the most stunning Churches to see, then jump on an overnight bus to Cali. There was a guy advertising a buses to Cali & Medellin standing right at the Colombian side, so we asked for prices & it turned out to be cheaper than the bus company we’d planned to go with, so we agreed to it. We only had enough cash on us to pay for half of the bus fare, so he even offered to pay for our taxi into the bus terminal / township & said we could pay the rest once we got there. Happy with that, we got into the shared van/taxi he’d got us, pulled out of the park & got stuck behind a truck that had broken down. I mean in a single lane, that is the only road crossing the border, with eventually hundred of cars backed up behind us honking. If we’d left 2 minutes before we would’ve missed it completely. I mean, shit happens. We were still in good spirits, I was just getting nervous that we’d miss our window to see this beautiful church that we’d been so looking forward to seeing. Zac remained optimistic & hopeful.

I don’t really know how long passed but it felt like a long time. In reality it was probably a slow 20 minutes to half an hour. You know when you’re just so eager to GO though, it feels longer. A good practice in patience I guess. We pulled up to the terminal & asked the first taxi we saw to take us to the Church. Not before a homeless (Not meaning to be presumptuous! t was an assumption based on his cleanliness & clothing but said without judgement, okay?) came up & asked for my hand  & kissed it while saying something I of course couldn’t understand. Zac gave him a handshake after too but sadly no kisses for Zac.

We ended up using our taxi drivers Google Translate app to get across where we wanted to go. So handy that he had it in the end but he got super excited about being able to converse with it that he was not really watching the road & writing things to us like “there are many cars today”. We are like, we know, watch the road dammit. Haha. But of course we replied being as nice as possible while still fighting daylight & wanting to get to the church asap. Did I mention we had roughly an hour to get to the church, see it & get back in time for our 8pm bus? Yes, there’s that. Well there was some kind of festival in the town that night, which meant there were cars backed up to the town, thousands of people all walking around weaving through cars. It took us half an hour for what should’ve been a 10-15 minute drive, but we arrived. We had agreed the taxi would wait for us while we made the mad dash to the Church & back. It was completely dark by now, so many times I asked Zac if we shouldn’t just turn around & at least make our bus, convincing myself the Church wouldn’t be as pretty at night when you couldn’t see it. Zac assured me he’d seen photos of it all lit up & it’d be worth seeing. I am too punctual for these kinds of adventures & absolutely detest rushing. I was growing more & more anxious with every minute that passed & couldn’t completely enjoy seeing the church which was a further walk than we’d planned for also. Never the less we took our photos - & I can say now that I’m not stressing, it was still pretty at night. Not AS pretty. But pretty.

We begin running back up the hill to meet our taxi driver. When we arrived to the spot he parked, he was GONE. Nowhere to be seen. In a car that held our packs, filled with items we’d bought all the way back in Argentina at the beginning of our trip. We just looked at each other completely shocked but also feeling so stupid for leaving our packs with a complete stranger, we hadn’t paid him which we thought meant he would wait for us but then realising he might’ve found something more valuable in our bags we felt like dummies. I can’t tell you the emotions that played over us at that moment. I had to sit down & try to process that we literally had nothing on us now. In one dark way, I felt relieved I didn’t have to carry that f***ing thing another step! But in another, realistic way, I was gutted. The only relief we could muster was that the one backpack we’d brought down with us held our PASSPORTS, laptop & cameras. The expensive & necessary items. We paced around for about 10 minutes really not sure what to do. I checked the time & it was 7.45pm. So we were going to miss our bus also. In my head I started planning, okay so we’ve lost our bags but we will just get the next bus & have to make do with less. No shampoo. No soap. No underwear. No shoes. It was becoming harder & harder to imagine. We were in the midst of feeling sorry for ourselves & angry at the world when a taxi driver called out to us. It wasn’t “our” taxi driver. We thought he was just asking if we needed a taxi. Reluctant to leave on the off chance he was coming back, we said no. He kept saying something & pointing up the hill. I still have no idea what he was saying, but we’ve gotten pretty good at understanding context haha. We ran up to his window & he was motioning for us to go up the hill, when we thought we heard him say bags. So we just started running up the hill, further & further down the traffic jam, a car starts flashing its lights at us & can you believe it was our taxi driver? He hadn’t abandoned us after all!

He got in & we started heading towards the bus terminal. He starts writing on his google translate app “were you scared?” And laughing at us, I wanted to reply & say “can you please concentrate on driving & not giving us heart attacks?”, but his relaxed humour was infectious & just what we needed at that moment. I’d already accepted that we’d missed our bus so we weren’t really rushing so much anymore. We talked over the app for a bit while we gradually came down from a huge adrenalin hit. I also realised he must’ve said over the radio “look for 2 panicked gringos & send them my way” or some derivative of that.

We got to the bus terminal & went to our bus company, hoping we could just get on the next bus without having to pay twice. There was no-one in the box office so I sent Zac out to run & see if any buses were there with our company while I watched the bags. He runs back 30 seconds later & would you believe our bus was still there? We were rushed on, bags stowed, & low & behold we’d actually made it onto our original bus & were out of Ipiales & on our way to Cali. We just kept looking at each other like, did this night really happen? Expecting to wake up & it be either a nightmare or a very lucky reality.

The overnight bus to Cali takes about 12 hours. We arrived in Cali & as there isn’t MUCH to do there & we only have a couple of weeks left of our trip we wanted to spend most of our days in a place with lots to see & do, we decided to just keep bus-ing through to Medellin. It was a 10 hour bus ride about an hour after we’d just gotten off a 12 hour bus ride- it is occurring to me every day that we are batshit crazy people. But time is of the essence & we wanted to be in Medellin. So off we went. And I’ll explain more on that later. For now, it’s time to wake the old Z boy up (hey, it’s 2.30 & he’s been napping since 12.30pm!) & go find food & perhaps a beer.

Lots of love <3 x