#I CLICKED THE TOP RIGHT BECAUSE I HAD (sadly) GOTTEN USED TO IT

[aliensaresupergay]

FINALLY!!!! THE PROFILE IS BACK IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT ON MOBILE

[in1-nutshell]

I have this idea that just kept me thinking. Buddy and TFP Soundwave are sparkmates/conjunx endura and Buddy almost has the same personality as Soundwave, being extremely silent and all that. Buddy probably has some kind of ability that gives them some form of sonic scream, and it would be so angsty if Buddy was an Autobot and they both had to fight.

This is an interesting concept and welcoming challenge.

Hope you enjoy!

Bot Buddy the Autobot with a sonic scream who's Conjunx is Soundwave

SFW, Platonic, Romance, mentions of violence but nothing graphic, Cybertronain reader

TFP

Buddy met Soundwave as a fellow gladiator.

Soundwave had just gotten back from his battle and was trying to head to the infirmary when he nearly fell on top of Buddy.

Normally Buddy would have shoved him off, but he looked pitiful.

Buddy decided to take him to the med bay themselves.

This was the start of a beautiful relationship.

Buddy didn’t have access to see Soundwave’s battle due to their…abilities.

Buddy’s sonic scream.

Because of their ability, they were placed in special fights for the higher ups.

This meant they would have more access to the med bays and a bit laxer on free time.

Only because the fights were always against opponents that were like her or simply mutated bots that had lost their minds.

Buddy had the power of almost shutting down any bot if they screamed loud enough, that’s where the shock collars came in handy.

The shock collars were placed under the managers of the fights, whenever Buddy looked like they were going to use their scream they would use the collar effectively stopping Buddy from screaming.

That way the fights would go on for longer.

Buddy always finished off their opponents by the time limit.

This sold more tickets and raised prices on gambling mechs.

Soundwave and Megatronus often sneaked off to go see Buddy’s battles.

They absolutely despised these collars.

Buddy sitting on a med slab while Soundwave worked on trying to patch them up.

Megatronus was in the corner pacing.

Megatronus hitting the wall startling the other two.

“It’s not fair!”--Megatronus

Buddy looks sadly at their friend as Soundwave finishes his work and gently holds onto Buddy’s servo.

“That mech nearly got you killed for the sake of a couple more shanix!”--Megatronus

Buddy motions him to come closer.

Megatronus slowly comes to Buddy’s side.

Buddy attempts to hug the two mechs from where they were sitting.

Their optics looked at the two of them as if to say ‘everything’s going to be okay’.

Megatronus sighs a bit in defeat letting Buddy hug him while he patted their helm. Soundwave gladly joins the hug.

“I promise you Buddy, things are going to get better. And one day you will get to walk around without fear.”--Megatronus

Buddy just pats him on the back in reassurance.

Lucky for the three of them, the managers didn’t care where Buddy ended up if they were always accompanied by someone.

Now that Megatronus had risen the ranks, he could be trusted in keeping Buddy out of trouble and placed back home.

This made outings between the three a bit easier.

On their free days, Megatronus would often invite the two to go meet up with his archivist friend.

Orion Pax.

Buddy and Orion almost clicked instantly.

It bothered Soundwave a bit.

But he knew that Buddy wasn’t interested in him.

Right?

Soundwave looking at Buddy and Orion standing a bit too close for his like while looking at a data pad.

Megatronus taking a place by him.

“Is there something you like Soundwave?”--Megatronus

Soundwave just crossed his arms as Buddy broke out a smile at something Pax said.

Megatronus chuckling while patting sSoundwave on the back.

“You know there is no need to worry about Soundwave. They are just friends.”--Megatronus

Soundwave turns to him and points to Orion and back at him.

“…”—Megatronus

“…”—Soundwave

“Point taken.”--Megatronus

It was the night before he would pledge his oath of silence the two became Conjux Endura.

Buddy was so overjoyed they almost let out a scream, but they quickly clamped themselves shut.

Instead, they simply jumped into his arms and stayed there listening to his spark.

Soundwave simply held them close and didn’t let go.

Nothing changed much between them in front of others.

In private they were much more affectionate, just how they liked it.

There were some little arguments between the two concerning Orion and Megatron, but nothing escalated between them.

Buddy and Soundwave lying in the same berth together.

There is a slight space between the two.

Soundwave slowly reaches out to link one of his digits with theirs.

Buddy tightens the link a bit before looking at him.

Soundwave looks back.

Buddy closes the little space they had and throws their arm around Soundwave’s chassis pulling him close.

Soundwave returns the hug with the same force.

Buddy had their last fight on the day of the Senate meeting.

They wanted to come and support both of their friends, but the managers had booked them another fight that would be taking place as the meeting.

Soundwave wanted to be with Buddy now that he had much more freedom than they did, but Buddy insisted for him to at least give moral support for Megatron.

Soundwave regrets doing that now.

He followed Megatron out of the Senate trying to calm him down.

They had walked far away when they heard a sharp bang in the air.

The two of them followed the crowd of bystanders.

The crowd led its way to the arena.

The arena Buddy was supposed to fight in.

Megatron and Soundwave looking around the cratered arena.

The whole thing was nearly unrecognizable.

Soundwave was silently panicking a bit.

Megatron turns to the nearest mech.

“What happened here?!”--Megatron

“Some bot threw a bomb in the arena! The poor bots didn’t know what hit them.”—Random bot

Megatron pauses.

“Did they find the bodies?”--Megatron

The mech laughs bitterly.

“Find the bodies? There were pieces everywhere! The cleaning bots already went around cleaning the scraps, I recon they’re in the incinerator by now.”—Random bot

The mech leaves leaving Megatron stun,

Soundwave sways a bit after hearing the news.

Megatron quickly catches Soundwave and holds him up right.

Megatron can feel his frame shake.

He wants to cry out, shout, do something!

But for now, he needs to help Soundwave.

For Buddy.

Soundwave mourned in silence for years to come.

Megatron did mourn with him for a bit, but the war soon took a hold and Buddy was pushed to the back of his mind.

Now obviously Buddy was alive.

Buddy was in the arena when it was their time to go, except one of the managers told them that the scheduled match had been cancelled due to the rally in the Senate.

The manager also forgot to place the shock collar on again, Buddy kept quiet the whole time.

They would have to be transported back to the quarters before they could resume the match.

Buddy was a couple miles away from the arena when they heard the giant noise.

Buddy let out a yelp sending the transport vehicle flying into a nearby building.

Buddy quickly got out of there before the guards could figure out what went wrong.

They ran and ran until they reached the docks ports.

Buddy hadn’t gone to these docks before.

Curiosity took a hold, and they started looking around.

They were looking at some of the latest stasis pods when a horrible thought struck them.

Soundwave!

Soundwave didn’t know where they were!

And the explosion!

He might have thought that Buddy might have been hurt.

They needed to get back now.

Before they could take a step back, something shoved them into the stasis pod.

The sudden movements activated the stasis pod and its launch sequence causing a now stasis Buddy to fly off into space.

Buddy would arrive on Earth a few thousands of years later.

But their pod hadn’t opened leaving Buddy still in stasis.

It would take another couple of years before the Autobots would stumble upon the mossy escape pod. They took the pod back to base since they weren’t sure if someone or something was inside. It would have been safer to open it with the right tools on base.

Buddy was just confused by everything around them.

 And why in the world was there a buff Orion Pax in front of them?!

Buddy slowly climbing out of the escape pod.

Optimus optics widen as he offers them his servo.

Buddy looks at the servo slowly taking it.

Buddy looks at him in freight and confusion.

“Hello old friend.”--Optimus

Buddy’s optics widen.

“Buddy?”--Ratchet

Buddy looks over to see Ratchet behind him.

Buddy reaches out to hug the old medic, slightly shaking.

Ratchet just holds them as Optimus stands behind them patting their back.

Buddy nearly breaks down in the med bay when they hear all the things that had happen since their supposed death.

What had happened in the chambers.

To Megatron.

To the Autobots and Decepticons.

To Cybertron.

To Soundwave.

After hearing what both sides stood for, Buddy with a heavy spark chose to side with the Autobots.

There was no way they would eradicate the organic life forms of this world or destroy this world.

They lost two homes already; they are not adding another to the list.

It takes some readjusting for Buddy to get used to the base.

Good news for them; the team was welcoming enough to help them adjust to their new surroundings.

The team did notice how quite Buddy was and assumed that they had voice box problem like Bumblebee.

Buddy carrying Raf in their servos.

“Hey Buddy!”--Miko

Buddy turns to Miko and Jack on the little ledge.

They put Raf down with them and tilt their helm.

“When are you going to tell us about how you lost your voice?”--Miko

Jack flicking Miko in the back of her head.

“Miko! That’s rude!”--Jack

Buddy grabs a data pad and begins tapping on it.

They give the data pad to Raf.

“You can read this stuff, right?”--Miko

“So-so, but I’ll give it a try.”--Raf

Raf adjusts his glasses and reads out loud.

“I can talk, but I shouldn’t. Bad things happen when I talk.”--Raf

“Wait so you could talk this entire time!?”--Smokescreen

Buddy jumps a bit at Smokescreens sudden presence.

The others join in.

“Of course, Buddy can talk. But its not recommended unless you want to have bleeding audials.”--Ratchet

Bumblebee winces a bit.

“What Ratchet means is that Buddy is an Outlier.”--Optimus

Most of the bots nod in understanding.

“What’s an Outlier?”--Jack

“They’re bots how have unique abilities when they are created.”--Arcee

“So, like superpowers!”--Miko

Buddy nods.

“What kind?”--Raf

Optimus looks at Buddy as if asking for permission.

Buddy nods in approval.

“As we have said before, Buddy was once a gladiator back on Cybertron. They were placed in a ‘special’ fighting arena for Outliers and mechs who had lost their minds from the pychpatches.”--Optimus

Buddy rubs their arm a little.

“They had the ability of sending their opponent flying, literally through the arena. A sonic screech was what they called it I believe.”--Ratchet

“They can not talk without something flying away or getting destroyed in the process.”--Optimus

“…”--Everyone

“…and when were we going to let know on this?”--Wheeljack

“I sent it on the memo last week.”—Ultra Magnus

Wheeljack having a flashback of chucking it into the garbage.

“…I think I remember it now.”--Wheeljack

Buddy facepalms.

Per request Buddy asks to take on training and any covert missions.

They had a slight frame adjustment to not be as recognizable.

Optimus and Ratchet became their crutch while adjusting to everything. Being the only two mechs they knew from the past, Buddy quickly latched on to them like a lifeline.

It wasn’t until a mission gone wrong that Buddy let out a screech.

The Autobots were losing badly to the overwhelming reinforcements coming in. Buddy was called from the base to help in the fight, but even that didn’t do anything.

Buddy made one sign to the team.

‘Take cover.’

Lucky for the bots, they had time to get proper cover and turn off their audials.

Unluckily for the Vechicons who didn’t understand what was about to happen. They were sent flying through the air. Some crashed into boulders or trees.

Some had boulders and trees land on them.

Buddy had completely leveled the field from debris and plants.

Just a dirt crater was around them.

The bots tried to get Buddy back to the groundbridge before any con could make out Buddy was there.

The bots making it through the groundbrigde.

“That was…”--Bulkhead

Buddy looking down a bit.

“AWESOME!”--Smokescreen

Buddy looking up in surprise.

Smokescreen sling an arm around Buddy while Bulkhead and Wheeljack pat their back.

“Who know we had such a powerhouse on the team!”--Wheeljack

Buddy beams a bit a bit bashful from the attention.

“I’m telling you Prime we need them on the field more than the base.”--Bulkhead

Buddy starts fidgeting with their digits.

“That won’t happen as long as Soundwave is on Earth.”--Ratchet

Wheeljack turning serious.

“That Con do something to Buddy?”--Wheeljack

“Wheeljack…”--Optimus

Optimus looks at Buddy for approval.

Buddy hesitates a bit before nodding and walks to their berthroom.

“Soundwave is their Conjunx.”--Optimus

“…”--Everyone

“He’s their WHAT!”--Wheeljack

[nobodysdaydreams]

20 Questions for Writers

@myfairkatiecat Thanks for the tag, sorry this took so long. (@sophieswundergarten thanks for the reminder 💕)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

8 so far. It's not a lot, but I make up for it in length.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

417,645 💀

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Exclusively tmbs so far, but I plan on doing some Wolf359 fics when I (finally) finish the podcast. Sadly all my ideas are long. I'm sorry.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Since I have so few fics I'll just give the list:

S.O.S., by a lot. I'd like to thank the show's cancellation for my unexpected success.

The Oldest Siblings , mainly due to it's association with SOS (it's the prequel in the series)

Treat Them With(out) Mercy

Who You Were Meant To Be

A Joy To Obey and It Should Have Been Us are tied

The Boys Who Waited

Sirens of the Sea and Sky: dead last with 3 modest kudos. This fic is the equivalent of having a kid in a school recital who screams the whole time and knocks down the set. He might be a disaster, but he's my kid and I'm proud. This fic is ridiculous, but it makes me laugh anyway. I don't know how burnt out finals Bods came up with this, but by golly...she did.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course! I think I've responded to every comment I've ever gotten (if not I'm so sorry please let me know). I appreciate every one of them, and I love talking about the ideas in my idea and the fics I write, so please know that every comment you leave totally brightens my day! 🥰

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm. Right now "The Boys Who Waited" probably has the angstiest and most ominous ending, but we'll see what happens.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably "A Joy To Obey" since it's my main fluff fic with a nice ending. A great read if you like lighter stuff.

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

Not yet. If I did, I'm not even sure what I'd do. Depends on the hate. I might cry. I might laugh, honestly. I don't think I'm nearly important, good, or noticeable enough for that so I might be a little flattered ngl (unless it was something vulgar or hateful towards a certain group of people then I'd delete and block the person). I'm sure people have read my writing and not liked it, but I think they just click away.

9. Do you write smut?

No, that's not for me. Especially because I'm writing for a children's fandom, I just don't think that's appropriate.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, but I've done some AU's on tumblr.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Also this is a small fandom so if a fic of mine DID get stolen, it would be pretty awkward and obvious. Don't plagiarize kids.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd be honored if anyone wanted to do that!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, but that could be fun!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Why the MV Shortcut, of course! /jk

I don't really have a lot of ships I get super invested in, I prefer platonic relationships. If I think of one I'll let you guys know.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

You'll find out. (Don't worry about SOS. I promised I'd finish it and I intend to keep my word).

16. What are your writing strengths?

According to my readers, dialogue, characterization, themes, weaving multiple storylines together, and plot twists.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can't write a short fic to save my life, and I can't edit to save my life. I also just publish my first drafts because I have no impulse control (sorry).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Funny enough I’ve done this, but only canon MBS dialogue where I've translated it directly from the show's subtitles. If I made an error, please let me know.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Mbs, and so far just mbs. Hoping to expand someday when I magically have more time (and finish Wolf359).

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

SOS, just because of what a fun journey it's been.

Tags: @phtalogreenpoison @oflightningandstars @mvshortcut @sqenthusiast @itsgoghtime @amphibious-entity @mysteriouseggsbenedict and anyone who hasn't been tagged yet but wants to do it (sorry if I accidently double tagged)

[capri-di-cornios]

Now picture this:

You are a demon lord long forgotten and newly released, reborn into this modern world you have to regain your power but also find about this new world and it's strange ways so you "grow up" like normal humans would so you can raise your army again and kill the descendants of Salomon the one that imprison you and the only being that can stop you.

You go to school, learn new things and all. History makes you laugh since you know it is wrong and a lot of it is mortals making sense of your "supernatural" world, at most, you would look like a edgy but charming person, you are a demon after all, you know how to make humans like your quirks.

You keep going and enter a big tech company as a newbie, you figured you had to make it look plausible that you raised to the top like anyone and being a newbie that got the world would be the most likeable way

Your power as grown but because of it human tools have stopped hurting you at all, sadly, the definition of "hurt" also includes cutting so your nails keep growing just like your hair, the constant clicking of your nails agains the keyboards, the hair in your face while you try to look at the screen it all makes you made until one day:

DAMM YOU AGAIN?!?!?- It was the third time that I had to review my code, to humans it would not be a lot, they fails all the time, but to me? ASMODEUS? Fucking King-or better- Queen of lust? It was ridiculous.

"My Liege"- said a imp I have gotten for me in their human disguise- why don't you just use your powers to end this already? You could rule this world with ease -I looked at them with hate in my eyes -"Look here your corn wig head"- I might even had the blazes of my hell ring in them since the blond imp look really scared-"I decided to get into this shit for two reasons: Twitter and "The grind" "-she still looks scared...but now also puzzled -"aaaarrggghhh"- I scratched my orange head think on how boring it was to have to explain things I had over 2 decades to learn about to the dumbest ass of a helper that I could get for the past 2 and a half years-"look... People in this era are really REALLY easy to provoke I was lucky to get into this woman body and surf the rise of woman's rights, with that I choose the are were I could rule the most and work the least. These humans think they got all after leaning and creating codes but they are just like the centipede-monkeys in greed.." - "Full of shit ?"- she said interrupting me-"....you are not wrong... But I was going to say they use crud items that mimic our magic "- while I said that I look to the sides, it was late and or "boss", Luigi Santoro, wants all the employees to go out in the right time so they can get their rest and yadayada. When I noticed nobody was around I waved my hands and the code was solved and running no problem, I then snapped my fingers, the computer turned off and I started walking with my imp servant that I call "Elle" ending another ridiculous day in this mortal flesh suit .

I was going to do more...but I got really distracted and while I was going for something short I can't resist the lore. Until next time by-bye

[lost-in-sokovia]

only for auggie

y’all are gonna hate me for this shit. this is technically kinda a part 2 to for gotham, for august, so if you haven’t read that yet PLEASE GO READ!!! anyway sorry guys but like eddie needs to sort out his priorities. more happy auggie content coming soon though :)

warnings: angst, sadness, cursing

it had been absolute hell simply trying to get to arkham. gotham was flooded and you were done with this so-called “justice” edward was carrying out.

you walked through the dead prison just as you had two days prior, this time without your son. you had gotten august upstate and out of gotham the minute you could, relatively soon after the city flooded. because he was a child he was top priority on being rescued by paramedics and other disaster aids.

“you’re going to be okay, auggie. just take a deep breath baby,” you cooed breathlessly as you held your sobbing five year old in your arms. he had been arranged to meet with a few friends of yours outside gotham who gladly agreed take you and him in due to the flooding. august was soaked from all the water, his hair clinging to his head and the tears simply blending in with every other inch of him. you clutched him tighter, rocking slightly back and forth as his sobbing broke your heart. two medics stood silently a few feet away from you, ready to take august to his designated safe location via helicopter as soon as you were done. evacuation processes had already begun and you had done EVERYTHING in your power to make sure august was taken care of immediately.

he had to get out of gotham before he knew too much.

“baby boy, mommy will be there soon, okay?” you tried desperately as you rubbed your son’s back. his sobs were loud and his breath was shaky and gasping. you clenched your eyes shut, refusing to let any tears fall. you had to be strong for him. “you’re going to go see mommy’s friends Katie and Rachel who will take care of you, and i will be up tomorrow okay?” your voice broke slightly as you reminded your son of the plan. you sniffled and petted august’s hair, you just as soaked as he was. you set him down and maneuvered his head so his ear was right next to your mouth as you whispered to him, kneeling to match his height. “auggie, august edward, listen to me,” you said calmly but firmly. “remember how we talked about your last name? i know it’s gonna be hard to remember, but we’re gonna use mommy’s last name if ANYONE asks what your full name is, right?” you reminded desperately. august nodded, and you said his full name with the replacement of “nashton” with your last name. you grabbed august by the shoulders and looked at his big green doll eyes, filled with tears. you smiled sadly as the tears brimmed your eyelids more harshly this time. you gave august a loving kiss on his salty little lips before picking him up again and passing him off to the kind medic.

august’s sobs picked up again as you tried comforting him and calling out “i love you’s” to him. you felt the hot tears slide down your already wet cheeks as you watched these men carry your son into a helicopter and strap him in. you knew he was going to be okay, but never in your life had you felt this type of sadness. never had august been away from you. your heart was broken as sobs threatened you as well. you wiped your eyes and took a few deep breaths, knowing what you had to address next.

you shook away the events of earlier as you continued your stride through the prison, talking to guards and everyone you needed to to get to edward. your clothes were merely damp by the time you had reached edward’s cell. you didn’t think you would be able to hold back the deep loathing you felt for edward this time. how could he do this? causing pain, heartache, and inconvenience to not only his own girlfriend and son, but to the entire city of gotham. the poor, the lesser-off, the people who edward claimed he was trying to make a better gotham for.

what wasn’t clicking in his head?

you stood firmly with your eyebrows furrowed and angry frown spread across your face as the metal barricade lifted once more. it slowly revealed edward pressed against the glass with desperation written all over his face. you could barely look him in the eye, from both pure hatred and the fact that they were the same as auggie’s, and yet you thought your piercing stare was going to split his pupils in half.

“(y/n),” edward breathed. his eyes looked around a bit as his mouth was still parted to speak. “where’s august?” he asked anxiously. “is he hurt? oh my god, tell me-“

“he just left,” you mumbled flatly. “i sent him upstate a bit just a while ago with some medics… he’s going to stay with some friends, he’ll be safe there…” you wiped your eyes with your fist as a few tears formed. edward exhaled in relief, but the sad curiosity was still prevalent on his expression. he said nothing, waiting for you to take initiative of the conversation. you stared at your boyfriend for another moment as you began shaking your head.

“edward, tell me what the hell you were thinking?” you asked and took a violent step forward. eddie’s bottom lip trembled and he twiddled his cuffed hands as he searched for words.

“what do you mean?” he asked slowly, his eyes scanning your intense state.

“i mean what wasn’t clicking in your goddamn brain when you decided that flooding the entire city was the best way to carry out your ‘justice?’” you hissed. edward held his arms against himself as you berated him from the other side of the glass. “is that how you saw fit to aid the people of gotham? is that it? how the hell does making the city inhabitable benefit the people who you fight for?” you asked harshly. eddie cringed at your words as you held out your arms. “does this benefit the orphans, edward? does this benefit those of low income? does the benefit the homeless?” you began to laugh. “i can tell you it doesn’t benefit the wealthy, definitely, but you know that they can get out easier than everyone else,” you bit.

edward’s big green eyes stared at you longingly through the glass and his mouth was in a frown.

“i-i’m sorry-“

“what happened to telling me about everything you were going to do before doing it?” you interrupted, taking another step forward. eddie let out a whimper and you rolled your eyes. “don’t play the innocence game with me, edward. im not gonna coddle you and say it’s all gonna be okay, you’ve taken it way too far.”

edward’s brown hair was falling in front of his eyes as his breathing increased. he licked his lips and looked at his hands momentarily.

“i was worried,” he replied quietly.

“worried about what?”

“i was worried about you leaving me, okay?” he replied, voice growing. you laughed.

“well don’t worry edward, at this point i am,” you laughed harshly as the news slipped out of your mouth sooner than you meant. he gasped, taking a step back and shaking his head.

“no, no, no…” he began, pacing in his cell. his figure was somewhat lost in the darkness as he stepped further and further away. the harsh words you wanted so desperately to say were choked in your throat as you watched the man you love(d?) begin to break down.

“i don’t know what you want me to say, edward,” you muttered as he paced about. he was still muttering “no’s” and shaking his head in disbelief. “not only did you screw over the whole city in the name of justice, you did nothing to make sure august and i were going to be taken care of.”

edward let out a yell and you shook your head with a growl.

“edward BE AN ADULT!” you yelled in response and he bit aggressively at his lip. “this isn’t a game! this isn’t even a cause anymore, i-it’s turned into something else now!” you fumbled with your words as you tried to express thoughts into language.

“it was never a game!” edward barked. “i am doing so much for the people of gotham! iiiiiii am the savior gotham needs, whether they see it now or not!” he declared in a vicious yell. “i do all the dirty work that other people are too scared to do, and this is how they thank me? throwing me in prison?” he continued his speech, throwing his hands around. you watched him with narrowed eyes and shaky breath and he kept firm eye contact while slowly walking back and forth.

“well batman is recognized as the savior of the city, so how do you feel?” you retorted.

“bruce wayne is a two brain-celled imbecile who will do just what his father did, make empty promises about saving the city and then just give up when he gets whatever it is that he wants,” edward laughed edgily. “and i couldn’t tell you what is it that he wants, sweetheart. i couldn’t tell you because it’s obviously not what i thought it was,” he sighed theatrically. the use of the pet name made you flinch and you clenched your fists.

“edward, your son was just flown out of the city by helicopter, soaking wet and sobbing his eyes out,” you said. “rescue operations are already taking place and thank god i was persistent enough to get him out as quickly as i did, because you were obviously no help.”

“stop… stop talking to me about-“ edward whispered as he clenched his eyes shut. “s-stop talking to me about august…” eddie was visibly hurt and talking about his son hit a soft spot for him.

“august deserves better than this. you are being a shit father to him and i really thought you’d be better than this,” you continued. you could see edward’s expression tighten and his face turn slightly red as he tried not to cry. “you never had a father, edward. you said when august was born that you were going to be there for him no matter what and that you would do everything in your power to give him the life he deserves,” you remembered, your own tears beginning to form as you swallowed thickly. edward suddenly pounded his hands against the glass and yelled, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“ALL OF THIS IS FOR AUGUST, ALL OF IT!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. “AUGUST DOESN’T DESERVE TO LIVE IN A CITY WHERE POVERTY, DRUGS, AND CRIME RUN RAMPANT!” he was screaming as tears rolled down from his pained green eyes, occasionally pounding his hands against the glass. “HE IS MY WORLD! HE IS THE REASON I’VE KEPT GOING, I DON’T WANNA SEE HIM LIVE THE LIFE I HAD!”

“HE’S GOING TO END UP WITHOUT A FATHER IF YOU KEEP THIS UP, EDWARD! YOU ARE A MURDERER! AUGUST HAS A MURDERER AS A FATHER!” you bellowed back. you were crying and edward was having a full on breakdown, throwing himself desperately against a wall in his cell. you felt the tears flow down and drip off of your chin as edward slid down to the floor, sobbing and holding himself.

“august is using my last name,” you cleared your throat. edward didn’t respond, simply walking back and forth and whimpering something about his son. “august has been told not to identify as a nashton in order to keep him out of any danger…”

you paused, big crocodile tears wetting eddie’s glasses as they fogged up.

“i’m considering changing it. legally. to keep him from being associated with you incase you try to do this bullshit again.”

edward unleashed the loudest, most painful, ear-piercing yell you had ever heard.

“AUGUST,” he sobbed. “please, p-please (y/n) don’t!” eddie begged pathetically. it was getting hard for you to breathe. you hadn’t fully decided yet, but you were not sure if you were ever going to see edward again and with his criminal status you only wanted the best for your son. “please don’t change his last name, i-i’m begging you, please!”

he was throwing his hands against the glass again and you choked back a sob. your heart hurt watching him break down over his son like this. as much as you didn’t want to admit it, edward was still the love of your life. he was the father of your son. he was also a murderer, a boy who grew up in terrible circumstances and wanted a change, ending up carrying it out all wrong.

“i love you eddie, okay?” you whispered, touching your hand against the glass as your now ex-boyfriend sobbed and begged you to reconsider.

“p-please, (y/n), i want you… august…” edward blubbered as he tried to catch his breath. he was pathetic. collar of his jumpsuit stained with tears, his usually neat brown hair tussled about, and glasses wet and foggy. you didn’t know what to say to him anymore as you sighed heavily.

“goodbye edward,” you simply stated before pivoting sharply, cringing as the thumping of his fists and sounds of his cries increased once more.

you pulled your jacket tighter around and bit your trembling bottom lip. your heart was broken in two. however, as the mother of a little boy who deserved so much better than what he was getting, your priorities lied auggie. you whimpered as you shook your head, wondering what this dark future could possibly be holding for you, your son, and edward.

“auggie, i’m so sorry.”

i’m just… gonna sit here abs reassure you that happy eddie/auggie content is coming soon while i offer y’all my deepest apologizes as you rip me apart in the comments.

[cazimagines]

A Freudian Slip - Part 3

Part 1, Part 2

Masterlist

Synopsis: While a fight breaks out Zemo asks you to run away from him, you accept leaving on an eventful journey with him

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Smut

Author’s note: A final 3rd installment for ‘A Freudian Slip’ I hope you all have enjoyed this brief series! Next to come out is a sequel to ‘Perfectly Exasperating’

Bucky carried Zemo back into the house bridal style, his hands gripping tightly around Zemo’s legs and chest, and dropped him onto the sofa in the midst of the room. Zemo was knocked out from when John Walker had the brilliant idea to stop Zemo from smashing all the super-soldier serum by chucking his shield at him. You could see a nasty bruise forming on the top of his head where he was struck.

You gently run your fingers over the side of his face. At this moment he looked so peaceful sleeping, his lips pulled up into a natural slight smile, parts of his hair dangled down across his forehead, his face softened and not tensed like it usually appeared to be. You brush the hair back into its usual place, running your fingers over his feverish forehead.

You turn to Bucky and Sam, whose eyes burn into yours, millions of questions flashing through them, yet they remain unspoken. “I’ll look after him,” you tell them, turning your gaze back to Zemo's peaceful form. It was easier to stare at him than them at the moment.

“You and Zemo have been spending a lot of time together,” Sam states, raising an eyebrow at you.

“Because I’ve been making sure he doesn’t betray us,” You snap back, refusing to look at them

“Sam and I have been doing that as well and you haven’t seen us giving him bedroom eyes,” Bucky argues back, stepping forward, but Sam grabs a hold of his arm to stop him from going further.

“Look y/n, we’re just concerned about you. That guy a criminal, he could easily manipulate you,”

Your eyes flash to him angrily, “You think I would be easy to manipulate,”

“No, that’s not what I meant-” Sam says but Bucky interrupts him

“Yes. I know him, y/n, that is exactly something he would do. You can’t trust him,”

“I’ve told you already, I’m just making sure he doesn’t betray us. There’s nothing else. I’d appreciate it if you believed me,”

They sigh in defeat, glancing at each other, then back to you. “Look, I will not argue with you. Go get him the things he requires. Bucky and I need to check to see if we can find Karli. I might get a chance to talk to her again” Sam says and he and Bucky turn their backs, sending one last concerning look at you over their shoulders then disappearing.

You sigh looking back to Zemo who still slept peacefully unaware. A smile tugged on your mouth, but it twisted to a frown. You all knew damn well you had been lying. Whether you wanted to admit it, you liked Zemo. Every time you saw him, the urge to kiss his lips pulled you in. You could still feel his embrace, his kisses on your neck, shoulders, collar. The sensation of him inside you, touching you. You craved it more and more like he was your addiction.

You don’t know how you hadn’t gotten to this point of being so obsessed with him, where it had kicked in. You always found him attractive, from when you first laid your eyes on him as he broke out of the prison, you felt that attraction pull to him. You never expected it would be anything more though till that one embarrassing moment when you called him daddy in the undercover mission. You could still feel your cheeks burn up in embarrassment as you remembered that night, but you could also feel your body warm up as you thought about what happened in the alleyway. How he kissed you so passionately. So earnestly.

You had tried to deny your feelings, pretend it wasn’t there, and that kiss that never happened, but Zemo would not let you avoid him. Your eyes flickered to the bathroom and your breath hitches as you remember the intimacy you two spent together there. It was there you felt you truly saw Zemo for the person he was. A man who was lonely and broken from his past. A man who cared for you no matter what Sam or Bucky says.

You felt so scared when you saw the shield hit Zemo. Panic gripped your heart as you rushed over to him. John peered down at you like you were dirt as you cradled Zemo’s head in your lap. Sam and Bucky had run up to you and were surprised you were on your knees holding his head in your hands.

As you were observing him, Zemo's eyes cracked open, and he moaned in discomfort, bringing his hand to rub his eyes. Leaping up, you shouted at him to stay still as you fetched a flannel, running it under cold water, and brought it back to him.

He smiled as you handed him the flannel, the sides of his lips curling up like a cat. “Thank you” he mumbles.

“I’ll get you a drink,”

“You’re being very kind to me y/n,”

“Don’t get used to it,”

He snickered at your sudden switch to hostility, “Will we constantly be bouncing between kindness and hatred?”

You exhale, sitting down beside him, handing a glass of whiskey to him. “I don’t hate you, Zemo, though I really should. There’s something about you I just love and I can’t let go.”

You hesitate, both of you pondering over your sudden confession. Zemo raises the flannels of his eyes and looks over at you. His eyes, which are full of wonder, scan yours. You wanted to look away, embarrassed, but you couldn’t. You didn’t want to keep running away from how you felt.

“You terrified me earlier. I thought John Walker had killed you.”

His eyes switched to concern as his eyebrows furrowed, “I’m sorry I frightened you y/n. I- I never thought I would ever get over my wife and... I still love her but you enthrall me, you drive me wild because I want to know everything about you, feel all of you, touch all of you. It’s been so long since I felt this way and it frightens me.”

You reach out your hand to grasp his and he runs his thumb over your knuckles,

“Zemo I-”

The door opens and both yours and Zemo’s head snaps towards it as Sam and Bucky walkthrough. As quick as lightning, you let go of Zemo’s hand and strode away to the opposite side of the room. Zemo’s eyes sadly glance at you, then to his hand, and he lets out a sigh. He takes a sip of his drink, then pulls the flannel back over, his eyes settling down on the sofa.

Bucky rolls his views and wanders off while Sam grabs a seat at the table to work on his laptop. The silence was suffocating. At least for you. Sam seemed to try hard to concentrate on the laptop, but Zemo relaxed, sipping his drink and you pulled out your phone, playing a silly game to waste away the time.

“Were you ever offered it?” Zemo finally asks Sam. Sam’s gaze leaves the laptop looking at you, then over to Zemo.

“What?”

“The serum,”

“No,”

You glance between them, not knowing if you should leave or not. Sam didn’t seem to want to be engaged in a conversation, but Zemo wasn’t taking the hint.

“If you had been, hypothetically, that is, would you have taken it?”

Without a second hesitation, Sam replies, a harsh tone to his voice, “No”

“No hesitation. That’s impressive,” Zemo says, nodding in approval.

He raises his hand, taking off the flannel with a slight grunt, “Sam,” he says as he holds the flannel in his hand, his gaze unwavering from it.

“You can’t hold out hope for Karli. No matter what you saw in her. She’s gone. And we cannot allow her and her acolytes become yet another faction of gods among real people. Super soldiers cannot be allowed to exist.”

You look down to the ground, frowning at Zemo’s words, but Sam answers without hesitation, “Isn’t that how god's talk?"

Zemo’s eyes continue to glare down at the flannel, for once not speaking up.

“And if that’s how you feel, what about Bucky?”

“Blood isn’t always the solution” Sam finishes as you hear a door click in the background. As Bucky walks in, you get up and walk over to Zemo again, who sits up to let you sit beside him. He gently places his hand on your knee, your eyes flickering to each other, hiding the action enough so the others don’t see. Though you both say nothing because of the present company, it’s as if you could read each other's thoughts. You were both conflicted on what path to follow and because of that, you found solace in each other.

“Something’s not right about Walker,” Bucky mutters, shrugging off his jacket.

“Like we hadn’t known that from the start,” you mumble

“Well, I know a crazy when I see one. Because I am crazy,”

“Can’t argue with that,” Sam agrees

The two argue about the shield once again and you were preparing to stop them when the doors once again burst open and John Walker and his partner storm in. All your heads turn towards the disruption and you groan in frustration at seeing him.

“All right. That’s it. Let’s go. I’m ordering you to hand him over,”

Both Sam walks out in front of John to stop him from getting nearer Zemo. You stood up to go stand by him as well, but Zemo grasps your hand as he gets up, shaking his head. Your eyebrows turn down confused, but he doesn’t offer you an explanation.

With his other hand, he hands the bottle of whiskey over to you, then picks up his glass, dragging you over to the kitchen counter. You weren’t paying attention to what Sam and John were saying till a spear flew past them, imbedding in one pillar.

Your eyes widened as you saw Dora Milaje storm in.

One of them speaks in Wakandan to Bucky, obviously pissed. “Release him to us now” she orders in English. Zemo’s eyes glance anxiously from yours to them, his mind swarming with thoughts of how to get out.

“Hi, John Walker. Captain America.” John says walking over to them. They refuse to say anything to him, so he looks awkwardly away.

“Well, let’s uh put down the pointy sticks and we can talk this through, huh?” he says, patronising them. You wanted to facepalm because of his stupidity.

“Hey, John. Take this easy. You might want to fight Bucky before you tangle with the Dora Milaje,” Sam warns

John Walker however doesn’t listen. He proceeds to antagonise them till he finally places a hand on her shoulder and all hell breaks loose.

Both you and Zemo stand at the side watching John Walker fight them. Zemo sips his whiskey and offers you a sip. You smile slightly at his nonchalant attitude about the fight, letting him raise the glass to your lips as you drink.

Both Sam and Bucky eventually join in the fight as well, and once again you move to join them, but Zemo’s grip on your hand tightens. “Not now little one” he mutters

He peers around, watching the fight as you stare questionably at him, “Zemo what the hell is up with you today. Did that hit to the head get rid of your common sense” you whisper angrily trying to tug your hand out of his. Zemo rolls his eyes at you, clasping your hand.

“We need to go” he whispers urgently and tries to tug you towards the bathroom.

“What? Zemo, Zemo wait. What do you mean we?” You ask, grounding your feet into the floor.

He looks around at the fighting, his skin becoming whiter as he gets more worried. “We don’t have a lot of time y/n, please. I need you to come with me,”

You didn’t know where he wanted to go, or how he was planning on leaving, but you could see fear prickling in his eyes as he looked at you.

“What about Sam and Bucky?”

“They will be okay. Please y/n, I want to spend this time with you. I don’t want to do this alone,”

You stare into his eyes once more, then nod, finally making your choice.

You let him lead you back into the bathroom and close the door behind him. He quickly pushes the bath aside, revealing a passageway into the sewer.

“Ugh,” you say to yourself as you look down the hole. “Ladies first,” Zemo says, placing his hand on your back, the side of his lip curling up into a smile as he guides you over to the hole.

You shoot him a glare before grasping onto the ladder and clambering down as fast as you could, trying your best not to slip.

After a minute you reached the bottom of the ladder and Zemo arrived quickly after. It was so dark down there, but thankfully Zemo had a flashlight in his coat. Once again grabbing a hold of your hand, he guides you down a pathway.

“So this was the best escape plan you had?” you ask, your nose wrinkling at the unpleasant smell

“I’m sorry y/n, did you have a better plan?” he replies sarcastically

“Well, I didn’t know I was running away with you until a minute before,”

Zemo pauses, beaming the light on your face, making you cringe. He lowers it slightly. So it wasn’t in your eyes but still illuminated your face.

“I owe you a thank you for coming with me. I know it wasn’t a simple decision to leave your friends for a person you meet just a few days ago,”

“When you put it like that, you make me feel even crazier for making this decision,” you grumble

“But it’s okay Zemo, Sam and Bucky will be fine without me, and I wanted to be with you,”

Zemo raises his hand to cup the side of your face, his thumb running along your cheekbone. Quickly he pulls you to him, capturing your lips in a passionate kiss. His spare hand holding the flashlight wraps around your waist as he holds you there, moving his lips on yours, which you reciprocate.

As suddenly as it had started, it ended. He pulled away slightly, his lips still brushing against yours. “Thank you, little one”

His nickname for you sends shivers along your spine and you let out a husky breath. He smirks at you, turning around, and continues to walk down the pathway.

Eventually, you reach another ladder that you can climb up. You blink a lot as you emerge into the sunlight, finding yourself on a random road.

“What now?” you ask

Zemo walks over to a car, jumping into the driver's seat, and pats the passenger seat next to him. As you get in beside him he easily hot wires the car and gets the engine started.

“So have lots of experience stealing cars?” you ask Zemo and he chuckles, “When you become a criminal you pick up a lot of new skills,”

“I suppose aiding with the escape of a criminal now makes me one as well. You bring about a lot of surprises,”

“I’ve been told I am quite surprising,” he glances at you, smirking as he drives, “And seductive,”

You slap the side of his arm lightly, “Eyes on the road, mister”

“Mister? I think I prefer what you called me before. Hm, what was that again?”

You groan as Zemo brings up that embarrassing night for you, “You’ll never let that go, will you?”

“You calling me daddy? Of course not. I quite like it,”

“Where are we even going?” you ask trying to direct the conversation somewhere else

Zemo turns from looking at you to the road, the smile on his face slowly fading.

“Sokovia,”

Your breath hitches as he says the name of his country, bringing back the reminders of his previous family.

“I want to see the memorial,”

You nod quietly, not sure what you could say.

For the next ten minutes, you two sit in uncomfortable silence. All previous moments where you were having fun had faded. Eventually, Zemo sighed in frustration and made a sharp turn in the car, pulling into a secluded spot on an empty road.

He turns off the car and turns to face you. “It seems to me we need to talk,”

You look to him then away, “I don’t think so”

“Y/n” he growls

“I said we don’t need to talk!” you shout, glaring at him, but you snap your lips shut as you realised how much anger had suddenly built up in you.

Recognition flashes in Zemo’s eyes as he stares at you, “This is about my family, isn’t it?”

You look away, your cheeks burning as you knew how ridiculous you were being.

Zemo nods his head, looking at the road ahead as he thought over what to say.

“You are part of the reason I want to go to the memorial,” he finally admits

It was your turn to look at him, puzzled. He pushes his lips together as he prepares for what he wants to say next.

“I love my family. Every day, I miss them. But I also really like you y/n. You are someone I want to spend all my time and money on just to make you happy. Every time I look at you, I want to take you, no matter where we are. And I feel I owe it to my family to visit the memorial to pay respect and to accept that it is okay for me to move on,”

It felt like with his words he had lifted an enormous weight off of your shoulders. Tears sprung to your eyes and Zemo looked panicked noticing them but you grinned, placing your hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you, Zemo,”

His fingers run along your arms and up to your face, tracing your jawline. His eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips and slowly move forward towards you. Once again he captures your lips with his but this time it was gentle like he was trying to savior you. You grasp the fur parts of his coat and try to pull him closer, you can feel through your kiss him smirking.

“Would you prefer to take this to the back seat?” he rasps and you nod your head quickly. You pull away from the kiss, shifting in your seat so you can clamber onto the long seat at the back of the car. Zemo holds onto your waist as he follows you through the back. He sits down on the seat and pulls you onto him so you were straddling his waist. His hands grip tighter to your hips as you go back to making out with him while you ground on his lap, feeling wetness stain your pants.

You smirked into the kiss as you felt Zemo’s trousers stiffen and a bulge appear as you grinded on him.

“Let go of me Zemo,” you sigh as you pull away from the kiss, hesitantly Zemo lets go of your waist curious to see what you were planning. It was hard positioning yourself with the limited space you two had in the car, but you sat on your knees, pushing his legs apart as you settled between them. You reach up and tug down the zip on his trousers, exposing his boxers. Zemo sits back and watches you as you tug them down, exposing his member.

Already some pre-cum had leaked from it, which you gladly licked up, running your tongue along its side. You traced the vein that stuck out, feeling it pulse against your tongue. Teasing him, you flick your tongue over the tip, hovering your lips just around it but not going further.

Zemo finally moves, impatiently he grasps your hair in his hand and pushes you down onto his member, making you take all of him. He lets out a groan, his eyes fluttering shut as he rolls his head back as he felt the heat of your tongue on his member. You suck your cheeks in to give him more pleasure as he pumps your head up and down so that his member could go in as far as it could.

You grasp his tights to position yourself better. You could feel aching between your legs as you longed for more, but at the moment all you wanted to do was please him. Zemo pushed your head faster, grunting, feeling pleasure swarm over him. He then suddenly pulled you off his member, grabbing your arms he lifted you, getting off the seat and pushing you on so you were lying down on your back.

“Forgive me little one” he purrs as his hands roughly grasp at your trousers and quickly pushes them down, exposing your pants. “I need to feel inside you” He runs his finger up them chuckling feeling the wetness soaking through.

“Do you have a condom?” he asks, looking in your eyes, “We don’t need one” you gasp, the urge to feel him swarming you.

“As you wish,” he says, immediately pushing your pants aside and slipping into you.

You moan feeling him stretch you out but as soon as he was in you he drew back almost completely out of you but snapped his hips back into you. He thrusts with all the strength he has, pushing your body up and down on the seat.

You wrap your hands around his back, your nails digging into his back as your body moves up and down with him. His head settles on your shoulder, where he leaves hickies. Every time he pulls back from kissing and biting you he would whisper things in Sokovian that you couldn’t understand but you were sure were endearing.

His fingers snaked down to find your clit and rubbed it, sending shock waves of pleasure to your brain. You let out a loud moan as you felt the knot in your stomach tightening. As if knowing you were close, Zemo's hips thrust deeper into you, hitting the right spot to make you let loose, your walls clamping down on him as you came. He groans into your neck, feeling your walls flutter around him. His thrusts grew more erratic till you could feel him twitch in you and his seed spill into you.

He pants heavily, finally looking you in the eyes. “I love you little one,” he whispers

You smile, placing a kiss on the side of his face, “I love you too... daddy”

He chuckles and finally gets off you.

The car drive after that was comfortable. Zemo liked to drive with one hand on the wheel while the one hand resting on your thigh, as if reminding you, you belonged to him and only him. Hours later, you finally arrived at the memorial.

Holding your hand, Zemo walks up to the sculpture. He speaks to himself in Sokovian first, getting whatever he needs to say off his chest. After that he turns to you, his eyes capturing yours as they were glazed with tears, “The loss of my country, of my family, broke me y/n, but in some twisted way I am not as upset as I was about it before because it led me to you. I don’t blame you for any of it, I know you had nothing to do with the Sokovian attack just like Sam and James. I’m so glad I could spend these last moments with you.”

You look at him confused, “These last moments?”

You suddenly hear footsteps approaching and you quickly spin around, seeing Bucky appearing behind you. Your head snaps back to Zemo. “Zemo what the hell is going on!?”

He smiles sadly at the floor, then back at you, grabbing your hands. “I’m afraid I must ask something hard of you y/n. Please, can you leave”

The breath left your lungs; it felt as if your entire chest dropped hearing his words.

“... What,”

“I don’t want you to witness what must happen next,”

Your gaze flickers from Bucky who was standing back letting you two have your moment to Zemo who looked desperately at you.

“I’m not leaving you, Zemo,” you state

“Y/n…”

“NO!” you shout

“Y/n I-” Bucky says walking forward, but one death glare from you quickly shuts him up.

“How could you ever ask something of me like that, especially after... after everything that has happened,”

“I should have told you y/n, I’m sorry, but I needed to spend these last moments with you because you are so special to me, I didn’t want to ruin the moment by telling you what was to come,” tears gush from your eyes as you shake your head at him, He steps closer to you, holding your head in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away your tears.

“And because I love you, I don’t want you to see this. You know there is no other way out of this. It has to happen, and it’s okay, I’m ready. Just like I could with my wife, I know you’ll be able to move on and find someone who will give you everything I can’t and never will because you deserve so much better than me,”

“I love you,” you whisper, the hot tears spilling down your cheeks. Your eyes examine every detail of his face, trying to ingrain everything in your mind.

“I love you little one,”

He pulls you into one last kiss, gentle, but the romantic moment drowned in sadness.

You pull away. Turn around. You don’t look at him. You can’t because you know if you do you won’t be able to leave. You glare at Bucky though you know as well as Zemo it isn’t his fault. You walk a slight distance, just enough so that they are out of sight, and then you collapse on the floor.

Your hands into the ground, pulling at the dirt as you let all your pain out, trying to hold in your sobs. How is it you had fallen for that man so quickly? You loved him; you had risked giving him your heart, and he was pulled so quickly from you. You felt betrayed; he didn’t tell you what he was planning, but you couldn’t bring yourself to hate him for it either.

You don’t know how long you stayed there, but you opened your eyes when you felt a shadow fall over you. Looking up, you saw one member of the Dora Milaje looking down at you.

Your eyes widen in surprise, and then you gasp, connecting the dots. “Zemo'' you whisper, jumping off the ground and running back to where you last saw him. Sure enough, as you arrived you saw him being escorted to the Dora Milaje aircraft.

Hearing your footsteps, Zemo glances over at you. Sadness flickers in his eyes as he stops walking to look at you, but they grasp his shoulder, forcing him to look forward and to keep moving. You watch as they escort him away, till you couldn’t see him anymore.

Bucky walks over to you, looking at the floor guiltily.

“I’ll see him again,” you tell Bucky

“y/n I don’t think-”

“I’ll see him again, Bucky. You can count on that”

Taglist: @sinister-sleep @cable-kenobi @faustlyaccused @chipster-21 @icarusinstatic @yallgotkik @montypythonsholysnail @bunniwritesx @checkurwindow @huntheimpossible @jayxkelsi @avgravy @prestigious-tea @wonderwoman292 @there-goes-thefighter @multiyfandomgirl40 @freyjasamael @ineffablebean @aloyssia @hannahbal-the-fannibal

(I can't tag some of you, I'll keep trying but maybe check your invisibility)

[yuzukult]

dissonance (teaser) || jjk & reader

title: dissonance pairing: jeon jungkook x reader genre: angst, eventual smut (but teaser is smut free baby), fluff, rockstar!jungkook, gradstudent!reader teaser wc: 1,277 | full fic wc: tbd summary: something that first seems out of reach becomes a reality for him. screaming adoring fans, billboards with him and his band plastered on it, and touring across the globe with venues sold out. he has everything... but all he's missing is you. a/n: back at it again !! i honestly didn't think i'd come back with another jungkook fic but... i've always written series' for him so maybe this time lets dabble in a one-shot. :) enjoy this little teaser!

He loves it here. It’s his dream to be here, on the stage, with the feeling of the music rumbling underneath the soles of his chunky boots, the sea of fans screaming and hollering out his name with his self-produced songs booming through the speakers of the venue while his band stands by his side, just as passionate for this as he is.

It’s his dream; he reiterates this constantly as a reminder that this isn’t something everyone gets the chance to breathe the opportunity of. He’s been manifesting this scenario his entire life, wishing and praying to the potential Gods to help make his aspirations become a reality. He’d work his ass off to make ends meet, be able to afford the necessities all while chasing this goal that many claimed to be unrealistic or unattainable. But he’s here right now, supporters that flood the building to the brim for a concert that’s been sold out in thirty cities so far. He has everything he could ever want. Girls, money, music…

But why does he feel… like there’s something missing?

Another pair of panties gets thrown at the toes of his boots—it’s probably the sixth one that night but he’s grown used to this already. In some performances, girls would throw themselves at his feet instead of undergarments, yelling at the top of their lungs so ferociously that the security guards had to hold them back in fear of what they’re capable of. And sure, if he really wanted to, he could ask them out or invite them back to his hotel room for a quick bang, and it was what he’d been doing for the first couple years, and maybe they’ll make him feel a little less like this.

Albeit it doesn’t quite hit the same way anymore.

He’s left with this feeling of emptiness when he says his goodbyes and shuts the door behind them; there’s a gap in his chest like he’s forgotten something, yearning for it to be filled but those girls aren’t the ones to do it. His dreams used to be able to—but what are accomplished dreams when you have no one to share it with?

His friends/band mates are great, supportive and understanding, he’s admitted that he’s gotten lucky in that department, but part of him believes that it’s not friendship he’s lacking.

It’s love.

It sounds sappy to the ears of strangers, especially because ideally, you’re not supposed to depend on love to have that stuffing to the brim emotions in your chest, to feel complete and whole because a pretty person fell for you and vice versa. But to Jungkook, being in love had been something he thought he could toss under the rug for another day when he’d given up the girl he’d be infatuated with for this unobtainable aspiration, yet instead, he finds himself back in the same spot years later. Missing it.

He loved the chase—he’s a hopeless romantic kind of guy. After all, how would all of his songs be so full of raw emotions like that? It’s because Jungkook lives it—or well, lived it because everything he knew about love had been left on a shelf to collect dust. And he’d try to convince himself that he didn’t need someone, but he’d grown… lonely.

And quite frankly, finding someone genuine has proven to be difficult.

Don’t mention Tinder, Jungkook has already tried that. It promptly made headlines the moment he logged into that app with a selfie he’s never used before, and still then people actually thought he was catfishing, and wasn’t the real Jeon Jungkook. He should’ve known. But in all fairness, Jungkook isn’t much of a ‘future thinker.’

Then there was trying to date a staff member—worse idea yet. That noona ended up pissed at him when he realized that this isn’t what he wanted (he’d learn she was quite the control freak) and she flipped shit to the point that his managers fired her on the spot then informed the security that she was on the “do-not-enter” list.

After that, Jungkook just thought maybe he was going about this wrong.

Maybe, women weren’t actually of his interest.

Possibly, he was into men.

So, he tried. He ventured out a little, got a little taste here and there. Jungkook even found someone who fit him perfectly. His name? Kim Hyunwoo.

It worked out for a little, Jungkook admits, because Hyunwoo was overall a great boyfriend. He looked out for Jungkook, treated him well and they shared the same interests overall.

But… that was the problem.

They got along very well. As if they were best friends.

He found himself getting a bit uncomfortable when things got a little too serious—don’t get him wrong though, he honestly wasn’t embarrassed to be dating a guy. Hyunwoo was the definition of a model; handsome, tall with these sharp facial features. He’d been stopped and recruited several times during their dates, and truthfully, it made Jungkook feel a little awkward. He was the celebrity here, yet standing beside Hyunwoo only makes him feel small.

And in all honesty, he shouldn’t feel this way about the success of his significant other. But it wasn’t even just that. He found himself unable to pass first base with the guy—something about the action itself made him feel… discomfort. But he’s attracted to Hyunwoo. So why can’t he push himself to kiss him?

Jungkook learns maybe he finds men appealing but he can’t have more with them.

So, he goes back into the dating game. Met girls all over during his tour stops; he met a foreign girl named Lily, a gorgeous girl with pretty blonde hair and pale skin. But they didn’t click. He oddly felt like they weren’t ever on the same page. Then he went to dinner with a gal named—okay. He forgot her name. But the way her dress hugged her ass made his mind go blank, so could he really be blamed? (The answer is yes.) Oh! What about that girl whose name is similar to a hurricane? She had long, dark hair that matched her lengthy lashes that fluttered over her supple cheeks when she sucked his—

Nonetheless, it’s a dud again. He’s still lonely, he sadly confesses, but all of this is too much for him to process. He’s tired of getting his heart broken. He’s exhausted from meeting girls who first claimed that they’re not obsessed then actually are. He’s worn out of the ones who don’t love him for him, but love him for his fame.

Jungkook just wants to be loved for being… Jungkook.

And when he encounters you, some graduate student who spends majority of her days in between the activities of face dug into a textbook or eyes glued onto a computer screen, he thinks he’s back to where he was before this lifestyle. Jungkook finds himself swooning, desperately wishing for your touch and kisses, but there’s just one thing he doesn’t quite know.

Do you like Jungkook for Jungkook? Or do you like the ideal version of him that sings on stage, tossing off his shirt with his abs flexing while the crowd screams his name once more, all while the veins in his neck pop when he reaches that high note?

Or do you like Jungkook, the one who still doesn’t understand the difference between an orange and clementine, the one who still has trouble knowing when a potato is thoroughly cooked, and why his socks came out of the wash in this weird pinky shade when they definitely went in as white.

So… which is it? Which Jungkook are you interested in?

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: July 10th

I really let asks get away from me lately. I was super focused on working on that Patreon Moment. With that done I can finally think about doing other things, so here’s a new collection of answers!

Thank you for sending in questions everyone ^^.

For the new Patreon moment, will you be able to reference it in step 4? Or just like a tiny nod to it if you pick certain choices?

There won’t be. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that! The Patreon moment is meant to be entirely optional, it’s not something that gets you extra content in the main game.

Is the new CG artist the main one now? :0 I’ve noticed theres been a difference in the art style recently. Is the old CG artist still going to make art for the game? :0

The original artist still makes CGs for the game sometimes, but he mainly focuses on character sprites.

Are you going to put the NSFW our life moment on a website other than patreon? I would love to get it but I can't use patreon atm.

I don’t know. I'm afraid we can't release the Patreon Moment on a normal game storefront because we can't mix 18+ content with our family friendly game. If there's some other place similar to Patreon where it's not the normal type of full-scale public content releases we'd consider using that, but I’m not sure if there is another site that’s better than Patreon in that regard. I'm sorry.

Out of curiosity, in all of your games so far, which characters in each were the most fun to write? They obviously don't have to be your favorite characters!

Buffalo Seer in AFA, really everyone in XOD/XOBD is pretty equally entertaining to write, The Guide in LoV, and Cove in OL!

idk if you accept "personal" questions, but is there anything you've been watching/ listening to lately

Mostly, I’ve been watching/listening to Authortube videos as of late! It’s people who talk generally about the process of how books become traditionally published and/or share their own experience as they attempt to be published. I don’t have an interest in writing normal text based books, but it’s really interesting to hear about that world. I’m listening to a video about royalties right now as I answer these asks.

Will one of the desserts we get to pick be fudge? That'd be such a cute reference! 

Haha, yeah, it should. Unless I completely blank on it and forget when trying to include the various referential food options.

I don't know if this has been asked previously but what would be the approximate heights for the presets MC can choose from Step 2 ~ 4? Are there any measurement you had in mind? Sorry if I didn't make myself clear kk I've been struggling with my English lately 💀 

I don’t know, ahah. I didn’t have any numbers in mind for that. So it’s whatever you imagine it is!

I noticed a bug with the Patreon moment when it comes to what your character wears. When Jamie and Cove are kissing while my character only had dresses selected, I had both the option to remove the dress or to remove the shirt... Picking one of the options to interact with Cove, after he removed his shirt, it had Jamie remove their shirt followed by ther pants despite only having dresses picked. 

Thank you for reporting ^^

I keep refreshing steam to see when the new doc for xobd will be released. I noticed you haven't posted anything about it in quite some time. Would it be possible to ask about a timeline/potential date? (If it's even this year—) I know you and your team are probably working super hard, I'm just super curious! ~Thank you!~ 

There are more stories done, I just haven’t gotten around to publicly releasing them. Hopefully I will have a chance to spend the time on that sooner rather than later!

hello!! i’m not sure if it’s an update but i’ve just replayed our life and at the end i can’t propose to cove anymore? :(( i’ve actually tried playing twice but the options are not there anymore, did you guys remove the options? i’m sorry if you’ve answered this before!! thank you and have a good one :) 

I’m afraid things haven’t been changed or removed, so I think you might’ve accidentally picked the wrong things somewhere along the way and locked yourself out of being able to propose by mistake. Sometimes you meant to say you want to get married but instead you mis-click and have it so the MC isn’t thinking about marriage or something. All I can suggest is starting from the beginning of Step 3 and making sure to follow the steps listed in the FAQ. I’m sorry for that.

Did yall remove some of the options for when youre making out with Cove in the charity moment? I could've sworn you could grab his bonkadonk and its not there anymore 

This is the same situation as the above. We didn’t remove things and you’re not wrong that there are sometimes those options. But there are various choices you have to make to get those options and it sounds like you accidentally missed something. If your relationship isn’t long-term, you can’t do it for example.

HI IM SO EXCITED I CAN FINALLY GET THE STEP 3 DLC 

Thank you for getting it!

Is Shiloh super totally straight bc I’m very gay and a huge Shiloh fan, would my man make an exception?😩

Sadly, he is one of our super straight characters. I’m sorry.

Hi, I have a very dumb question. In Step 2 does Cove not wanna share his drink with us at the mall (or rather why he stops drinking it) because it's an indirect kiss? Or is it like ...weird to him to share? Because if I remember right he eats off our spoon in the birthday scene right? 

Yeah, he’s awkward about it because he likes the MC and it feels very personal to share a straw with his crush.

Hi! If you don't mind me asking, who is the artist for OL2? Their style is so pretty! 

Thank you for saying so! This is her Twitter- https://twitter.com/redridingheart

Do Beginnings & Always and Now & Forever exist in the same universe? 

Yep! XOXO Droplets also exists in the same universe. It’s one big GB Patch world, haha.

Do Pran's parents regret the way they raised him? Do they feel ashamed of it?

No. They’re the type of people best cut out because they’re not gonna change. Which is why Pran does go very limited contact when he’s an adult.

Hi! I just wrapped up my second playthrough of Our Life, and I absolutely adore it, but I had a question. I went to the gallery and found I was missing 2 CGS (specifically Step 1-3 and 2-3) and I had no clue where they would've shown up. Which moments are those found in? 

You get it by telling Cove about his dad offering you money to be his friend in Step 1 and Step 2. You can’t get both in one playthrough, since you can only tell Cove the truth once. I’m really glad you liked it!

Hi hi! Please, how tall is Baxter and Derek? Love the game so much and I can't wait to see more! 

I don’t know, aha. I think Baxter was around 5′10 and Derek was like 5′8/5′9, maybe. I really am not one who has specific heights for things in mind.

is adult cove a bottom, top, or switch? 

A switch, though would choose the top if he had to pick.

I was wondering if there is a way to transfer save data? Even if through the game files. I wanted to be able to transfer my save data from my desktop over to my laptop so that I could continue playing right where I left off from but I'm not entirely sure how to go about that. 

If you save the save folder/persistent data of the game from your desktop and put it into the game folder on your other device, that could work.

Hi! Is it possible for us to know the date when our life: now and forever comes out on steam? Sorry if you've mentioned it before but I haven't seen it and I'm looking foward to that happening and just wanted to know :) 

It’s gonna be a long time, I’m afraid. There’s no estimate right now.

I started playing Our Life with my sister a while ago, and I think you guys should know that we discovered your secret. >:)

L from death note and Cove are clearly the same person, and this whole game is just an origin story!!

I’ve never seen that show so I’m sorry to say I don’t understand the connection/reference you’re trying to make. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to media. I don’t watch movies or TV.

Will OL2 have options for disabled MCs?

I understand if it's too complicated, just curious

Unfortunately, it’s not really something we have a plan for. We couldn’t finish the game if we tried to include every disability and have it be meaningful. It’d just be too much content to create. But if we decide to only include a few, how would we choose which disabilities get to be represented and which are left out? I don’t know. It’ll probably have to be something we don’t include as an option again, sadly. I’m sorry.

playing our life > anything else 

Haha, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Honestly, I would like to thank Our Life for helping me come to terms with my sexuality. Before, I never would've actually thought that it was possible to like boys romantically and still be asexual. Almost all of the BL visual novels I've read had unskippable sexual content in them and it honestly just didn't click with what I feel. I'm glad I found Our Life. I love the game, the developers, and this fandom so much. Now, I can safely come out as homoromantic AND asexual (at least anonymously here anyway; my parents are still huge homophobes 😂). 

Aw, it’s great to hear you felt comfortable being yourself in the game! That’s wonderful. I’m really sorry about your parents, though.

Will the demo for OL2 be on android? Really not sure if I could wait any longer than I have to aha 

Yeah, it’ll be available for Android once we eventually release a demo!

Do all these reveals perhaps mean development is progressing ahead of schedule? Please let that be the case I'm already obsessed with Qiu 

No, sorry, aha. Art comes along much faster than script/programming-work for us. It’s gonna be a long time before the game is a finished thing you can actually play. But at least we can look at the beautiful images.

Hey! First of all I wanna say I reallllllyyyyy loooovvveeee Our Life and XOXO Droplets! I have over 300 hours of playtime on Our Life… Anyways, I was just wondering, are the Derek and Baxter DLCs going to come out at the same time? If not, which one do you plan to release first? :3 

They will come out separately and Derek will be first! Glad you like the game.

I keep replaying Our Life to get every possible iteration and I am loving it <3 I was wondering if Cove gets locked out of his confession because MC was talking to Lee, would it be possible to confess to him in step 4? 

Yeah, you can avoid the confession in Step 3 and then get it in Step 4.

Hi, my Cove wears bracelets through step 2 and 3 but I still don't get an option to give him a bracelet? I didn't even know that was possible until I seen someone else ask about it lol 

Hm, did you use the Cove creator? Maybe there’s a bug where using the creator to add bracelets doesn’t fulfill the requirement to give Cove a bracelet in Step 3.

Wait, I'm dense, when does Baxter appear in step 2? Is it from big park firework? I feel so bad since i really love Baxter and waiting to buy his dlc. 

It’s in the Soiree Moment. You have to be just friends with Cove, indifferent, or crushing but not ask Cove to the dance at all. Then while there you can find someone new to dance with. But if you bring Cove to the dance while crushing, the MC won’t wanna dance with anyone else so you can’t get the scene.

In step 2 when we go to the soiree I made my mc go alone and baxter chooses the mc to dance, i'm curious, why did he pick the mc? sorry if this has been asked before! 

Because the MC looked to be around his age, seemed to also be searching for a partner, and had nice legs. A perfect option for him.

I read some of the FAQs, and I saw that we could tell Baxter about the condo that he rented there was previously the mean old grandparents. how do we get the mc to tell him that? 

It happens in the DLC Moment “Late Shift”. If you don’t have a job you instead get a longer scene with Baxter.

I don’t know if you’ve addressed this or not, but are you planning on paying voice actors for our life: now and forever? 

Yeah, we pay our VAs in all our projects.

hey can i ask how you did the moments thing in ol? im trying to get into making visual novels and while im VERY sure its out of my comfort zone and all that atm i kinda wanna know just for the future, bc im p sure it would work well for something i wanna do :O but its also fine if you cant say for other reasons :> 

I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking how we programmed the screen or something script related? Adding Moments like that is pretty straightforward, though. You just have buttons that open to different labels and then the scripts are essentially individual short stories/vignettes. Good luck with your VN!

Since Autumn becomes gender fluid later in the game, will there be a character who remains as he/him to romance in game? 

OL1 has the he/him LIs, OL2 is all about other genders.

I don't want to impose on your creative plans, but a parrot could possibly make a good pet in an OL-type game? They're pretty long-lived and likely to still be thriving by the end even if the MC got them back in step 1. 

I do appreciate the suggestion, but I’m afraid it’s not likely going to happen. I understand there are technically some animals that could theoretically live long enough to last the whole game that or we could have the MC only get a pet after some years have already passed. But the many things that would have to be considered/accommodated for makes it just something we probably can’t manage adding. I’m sorry.

As time passes will we be able to see Qiu and Tamarack's other stage arts as well?

They are both so cute i can't wait to be friends with them!

Yeah, we’ll show content from other Steps in the future. It’ll be a little while from now, though.

Can you date Cove and still have your family comfort you in the car?

You can’t get Cove’s Step 3 confession scene if you have the family comfort you in the car. But that’s not the only way to date him. You can get together with him earlier in the game or later on in Step 4.

Is Mc always going to be the one walking down the aisle or could Cove do it? Also could you choose to have one of your moms walk you? 

No. Cove wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle like that and the MC automatically respects that. And the MC also gets to have their preferences respected, so it’s up to you whether they want to do an aisle walk or not. You also can pick who, if anyone, walks with you.

Once step 4 is out, will you be able to go the whole game on crush/love without either of you confessing? 

Yes, as long as you tell the game you don’t want to progress the relationship. Even in Step 4 it won’t force you to officially get together.

Howdy, so in Step 4, there will be any Romance with Derek that is not part of any dlc? 

He’s only a friend unless you get his romance story.

Will the step 4 in OL2 be one big step or are you considering moments? 

Step 4 is just an epilogue in both games.

hi kind of a weird question but!! we know tht cliff doesn't start dating again but. wht abt flings? like does he ever do 1 night stands or anything? thank u!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Nope. Cliff has a very small interest in sex. If he’s not in a real relationship with a partner he’s crazy about it simply isn’t something he feels a need for, so one night stands wouldn’t even cross his mind.

sorry if you've already answered this, but i was wondering if there were plans for there to be bonus love interests in OL2 like how we have derek and baxter in OL1.

Maybe! There are side characters who could be given romance stories, but whether or not it will happen depends on funding and how long everything else takes to finish.

I don't know if i'm allowed to ask about ol2 here yet, if not u can ignore this or answer it later. My question is can you date one of them and be good friends with the other? I don't want to be strangers with the other bcs i love them both a lot :<

Yes you can!

what patreon level do i have to be to unlock the nsfw moment? im on the $5 one right now, will that give me access to the moment, or just access to the moment progress? 

That’ll give you access! Tier 2 and anything higher allows the player to download it.

[sergeantsporks]

Another Shot at Life

Rating: General Audiences, Gen

TW: Child abuse, emotional manipulation

Ao3

Hunter accidentally makes his way into the human realm and can't get back home. But he's discovering that might not be such a bad thing.

Ch 7/7: Home

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6

Vee trudged up towards the old abandoned house. She’d started checking it every single day since Hunter had been taken, hoping he’d be there.

He never was.

She pushed open the door, and stopped, dead in her tracks. “L-Luz? Red?!”

Red was shrieking like its little heart was being torn in two, fluttering around where the portal had always appeared.

Vee rushed forward, panic building in her chest. “Hey—are you okay?!”

Luz was turning a key over and over in her hands, poking at it. “I need to go back,” she said dazedly, “I need to rescue him.”

“How long have you been here?!”

“I—I don’t know. A couple of hours? I can’t… get the key to work. But I have to go back, I left Hunter behind, and Belos has him, and—” She struggled to her feet, then immediately fell.

Vee caught her, slinging one of her arms over her shoulder. “You need to go back home. You look awful.”

“But Hunter—”

Vee took the key from her. “I’ll go back for him,” she promised, and a sort of steely calm settled over her. Yes. She would figure this out, she would rescue Hunter.

“Mom will never let you—”

Vee bit her lip. Of all the things to take a leaf out of Hunter’s book for. “We won’t tell her.” She tucked the key into her hoodie pocket, half-carrying, half-dragging Luz back home. “Camila!” she called, “Come quick!”

Camila poked her head out of the kitchen, then shrieked, rushing forward and taking Luz from Vee. “Mi carina! Luz, baby, what happened?!”

“Mama,” Luz half-sobbed, “Mama, I left Hunter—he helped me get away from Belos, he—”

Vee slipped out, wandering back to the old house. Red was sitting on the floor, staring at the spot where the portal had been. Vee gently scooped up the bird. “We’ll get him back. I promise.”

Red chirped sadly, hopping back down out of her hands to sit on the ground again.

Vee tugged the training wand Hunter had given her out of her pocket. It glowed blue, and she sucked the magic out of it. She hadn’t needed it to hide from Belos. But she could use it to save Hunter.

Now there was just one more person she needed.

Xxx

Vee strode into the museum. “Hey!”

Jacob jumped. “What are you doing here?” He glanced behind her. “Your—your friend isn’t here, is he?”

Vee felt tears prick at her eyes, but she blinked them back. “He’s… not here right now. I need your help.”

“My help? Why would you need my help?”

Because you’re stupid, and loud, and prideful and the perfect distraction.

“Because you’re right. Because witches are planning an invasion of your world, and I’m a rebel against them, but I need someone to help me take down their leader, and you’re perfect.”

Jacob stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open. “You’re… you’re a rebel?”

“Yes. Against the beings that want to conquer your planet.” Vee swung the key back and forth on its string. “I can get you inside the witch emperor’s castle. All you have to do is kill him. Protect your planet.”

Jacob made a grab for the key, and she swung it up, catching it and holding it tightly. “Uh-uh. I control the portal.”

“Why?”

“Because you need someone on this side to keep it open,” Vee lied, “Now, are you going to be a hero and defend your home, or do I have to find someone else?”

Jacob shook his head. “I’m coming! I’m coming.”

“Good. Meet me at the abandoned house you were watching, and I’ll open the portal. The fate of your world rests on your shoulders, Jacob.”

Vee strode purposefully out of the museum, making sure she was out of Jacob’s range of hearing before sighing. “Now I just have to figure out how to open the portal.”

She jogged back to the old house, where Red was still waiting, and held up the key. “Hey. Any chance you know how to use this?”

Red fluttered up and pecked at the eye.

“Hey! Don’t break it!” Vee examined the key. “Now how do I…” she pressed gently on the eye of the key, but nothing happened.

Vee stepped to the place where the door had been.

And was met with resistance.

“Huh?”

Vee clicked the key, and the resistance disappeared. She clicked it again. There was that strange wall again.

Or maybe not a wall. Maybe a door.

Vee put her hands on the solid area, feeling for a knob. “Come on,” she muttered, “You have to be around here somewhere!”

Red fluttered up onto her shoulder, chirping. Its eyes glowed, and suddenly, there it was.

The door.

It looked like the sketches Hunter had left behind, but instead of huge eye on the top, there was a keyhole.

Vee gasped. “Oh! You need a palisman to get in! So no one but a witch could get in from this side! That’s clever!”

She heard clanking, and turned around to see Jacob, in all of his armor. Wow, he really looked ridiculous.

“Where’s the portal?” he demanded.

Vee reached up and inserted the key into the lock, twisting it with a quiet click. A doorframe filled with a golden curtain of light appeared, the key at the top of the doorframe. She gestured to it. “The emperor wears a golden mask with deer horns. You’ll know him when you see him.”

Jacob gulped, then plunged through. Vee briefly considered that she should feel guilty about sending him in to face Belos with absolutely no idea what he was up against.

Eh.

Red tried to dive into the portal after Jacob, but Vee held a hand up, blocking the bird. “I know you want to see Hunter, but I need you to stay here and watch the portal, okay? Make sure no one comes for the key. I’ll bring him back. I promise.”

Red ruffled its feathers unhappily, but perched atop the doorframe.

Vee pulled on the magic she’d absorbed from the wand, shifting to match the look of a coven guard. Then she crept through. She could hear Jacob yelling and clanging his way down the hallway, and the sounds of other coven guards chasing after. Perfect.

Vee slipped unnoticed through the hallways, her nerves spiking. Everything about this place was just one bad memory after another. She spotted a singular guard outside of a door, and sidled up to him.

“Um—” she squeaked, “hello? I, uh. I’m a bit lost, I just transferred here. I’m… I’m supposed to go on guard duty for… the golden guard?”

The guard heaved a sigh. “Finally. I thought I would never go off-duty. It’s just so boring, you know? It’s not like he can escape.”

“Oh. Yes. T-totally.”

“Right. See ya, new guy!”

The guard waved and strode off. Vee shuddered. He seemed so… normal. Like his job wasn’t locking up and hurting innocent teens.

She waited for him to disappear down the hallway, then turned the knob of the door, pushing it open. The room was well lit, surprisingly.

Vee almost wished it weren’t.

Hunter was buried all the way up to the nose in a mountain of some kind of… slime that shifted and moved. His eyes were blank—no pupils, no irises, just eerily glowing white.

“Hunter?” she whispered.

He didn’t respond.

Vee crept forward, poking the slime with one finger.

It glowed blue, and Vee gasped. The whole thing was magic. “Hang on, Hunter, I’ll get you out of here.”

Vee wrinkled her nose and put her hands on the slime. It glowed, and she inhaled, sucking up the magic. She almost immediately gagged. There was something wrong with this magic. It tasted rotten.

But the mountain had gotten just a little bit smaller, so she braced herself, and started eating the magic again, suppressing her gag reflex.

The mountain shrank smaller and smaller, and the slime receded from Hunter’s face. He fell forward, and Vee lunged to catch him, her stomach writhing like she’d just eaten live snakes. “Hunter?”

The eerie glow faded from his eyes, replaced with his usual magenta eyes.

“Hunter!”

He just stared blankly up at her, shivering violently. Vee hefted him in her arms, glancing both ways out into the hallway before starting down the hallway. Maybe it was the huge size of the coven guard she’d shifted into, but he seemed smaller than he ever had back home.

And then there were his eyes. They were so… bleak. Hopeless. It was like he couldn’t even see her.

Vee made her way back to the room with the door, occasionally ducking into other rooms or behind statues to hide Hunter.

She heard a clank, clank, clank behind her, and Jacob came tearing back, screaming. Wow, he could run fast, even in all of that armor.

The meaning of why he would be running like that hit her, and she sprinted after him, bolting through the doors to the room.

Only for several guards to be standing in front of her way out. Jacob was nowhere in sight—they must have let him through the portal. Vee skidded to a stop. “Oh. Hey. Uhhhhhhhh…”

“We have a traitor!”

“That’s no traitor,” Belos’ voice hissed behind her, “That’s a dangerous creature, masquerading as one of our own.”

Vee’s veins turned to ice, and every bad memory from her time locked in the dungeon flashed through her mind at lightning speed.

She didn’t see him move, but suddenly Belos was right in her face. “I’ll be taking Hunter back, now. You don’t know what he needs.”

Xxx

“Mom—I’m okay. Really. It was just a fall off of a wall, and a little bit of light torture, and a blow to the head, and a fall from the sky—I’m fine, really.”

Camila finished applying band-aids to all of Luz’s scratches, her chest tight. “A blow to the head? I’m going to call a doctor.”

“I’m okay, Mom! Really! Hunter gave me these painkiller things, and they really worked, but I think they’ve worn off now, and I know I promised I’d stay here, I know, but we have to go back for him!”

Camila sat down next to her daughter. “Okay.”

Luz stopped, mid-rant. “Wh-what?”

“Okay. I’m going to get Hunter. You stay here and rest. How do I get there?”

“I…” Luz’s eyes teared up. “I don’t know! I couldn’t get the portal open from this side, and Mom, it would be too dangerous for you to go!”

“If it’s too dangerous for me, do you think I’d send my little girl in? I failed Hunter—I let Belos take him. So I’m going to get him back.” If we can get the portal working, if he’s even still alive. Camila shook her head, trying to chase away the niggling doubts in her head. No. She was going to rescue Hunter. No matter how far she had to go.

“He was so miserable, Mom,” Luz whispered, “But he’d just… given up.”

Camila’s heart seemed to tear itself in two. He’d gone back to protect them—and had given up on seeing them again. Camila glanced around the room. “Where’d Vee go?”

Luz clammed up.

“Luz? Do you know where she went?”

“I’m… not supposed to tell you?”

A bolt of panic shot through Camila, and she jumped to her feet. “She opened the portal, didn’t she?!”

“I don’t know—I know she was going to try.”

Camila raced for her purse, throwing a few things in. “I’m going to find her, and maybe Hunter if she’s managed to open the portal. Luz, you stay here. You’re not in any state for a rescue mission, kay? Just trust me to bring him back.”

Luz nodded. “I trust you.”

Camila ran out the door, racing up the path towards the old house.

Please be okay.

Xxx

Vee clutched Hunter tightly, his body quivering so hard she thought she might drop him. A surge of anger rushed through her. “What he needs?! He doesn’t need this!”

Belos shrugged. “He got to be too much of a hassle to keep awake. It was simpler for everyone if he just went to sleep until I needed him. Less painful for him as well—but apparently, you just want him to suffer needlessly. Now, little basilisk, give him to me and I might consider letting you go.”

Vee backed up. “No!”

“HEY!”

Vee jumped as she heard Camila’s voice. She whirled around to see her adoptive mother standing over two unconscious coven guards, holding Luz’s baseball bat. “Camila!”

Camila glared at Belos. “Get. Away. From my. Kids.”

Belos disappeared, reappearing next to Camila and plucking the baseball bat out of her hands. “Oh? How interesting. Are you going to make good on that threat to end me, little human?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.” Camila whipped out a can of hairspray and a lighter. “Adios, Belos.” She held the lighter up to the hairspray, and clicked them at the same time. A jet of flame shot out, lighting Belos’ robes on fire. The emperor stumbled back with a shriek, and Camila pushed past him, grabbing Vee’s arm. “Let’s go!”

Vee shot through the portal, Camila not far behind. Vee reached up and twisted the key back out of the portal. The curtain of light closed on Belos’ howl of rage.

Camila whistled. “I cannot believe I just did that!”

“That was—it was scary, but it was amazing, and…” Vee glanced down at Hunter, and the euphoria died away. He was still shaking, still blank-eyed. Red fluttered down to his shoulder, nudging his face and warbling softly. Hunter didn’t respond.

Camila put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get him home,” she said softly.

Vee trudged back up the path to her own home, struggling to squeeze through the door. She gently sat Hunter on the couch, shifting back to her usual form. Eating that cursed prison might have been disgusting, but it had given her a huge backup magic reserve—she’d be good on magic for a while yet.

“You’re back!” Luz limped down the stairs, freezing when she saw Hunter. “Oh—oh, no. Hunter?”

He didn’t respond, just kept staring ahead with those dull eyes. Camila wrapped a blanket around his shivering shoulders, taking his hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. “Oh, Hunter. What happened to you?”

“He—he looks kind of like Matholomew did when he got out of detention,” Luz said softly, “Vee, what—”

Vee twisted her hands. “I—there was this cursed mud, and it made his eyes go all creepy—maybe I shouldn’t have taken him out? Maybe it was supposed to run its course and I made it worse by taking him out early?”

Camila squeezed her shoulder. “You did what you thought was best,” she said softly, “We have him back, and that’s—that’s what matters. We can fix this. He’ll wake up.”

Vee blinked back tears. “But—what if he doesn’t?”

What if I was too late?

Xxx

“H-hey, I’m gonna… gonna put on some Stephen Universe? Hunter? Remember, you liked that?” Vee rubbed her arms. Rain had been gently pattering on the windowpane, but it was starting to pick up. “You did. We watched it together, and I liked Amethyst, and you couldn’t pick your favorite character, remember?”

Hunter still just stared forward, wrapped up in his blanket like a burrito, and Vee sat next to him with a sigh. Red hadn’t moved from his shoulder since they’d gotten him back two days ago—and Hunter himself hadn’t budged, either—he didn’t eat anything, he didn’t sleep, as far as Vee could tell, he just sat there, staring into space. Red chirped softly, nuzzling Hunter’s face, and then hopped over to Vee, giving her big, worried eyes.

Vee cupped the palisman in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I don’t know how to get him back. I don’t know if he’s just in shock, or if this is something that the curse does, or…”

The rain was picking up, wind howling against the window. Vee slid off the couch, setting Red on the floor and digging out birdseed for the palisman. She sat back down on the floor next to the cardinal. “You’ve got to eat something, right?”

Red warbled sadly, and fluttered back up to Hunter.

“I know. I miss him, too.”

Lightning flashed, followed by a crack of thunder, and Vee yelped, putting her hands over her ears.

She heard a rustle and a little whump, and then something warm settled over her. Hunter’s chin rested on her head, his arms flopped over her shoulders so that they were sharing the blanket. Red chirped happily, and Vee froze, her heart thumping hopefully in her chest.

“Hunter? Camila! Camila, Luz, I think he’s waking up!”

Another peal of thunder crashed, and Hunter hugged her just a little tighter. Camila came thumping down, Luz not far behind. Vee didn’t move, holding her breath, worried that if she moved and disturbed him, he’d go back to the way he’d been, barely daring to hope...

xxx

Camila rushed into the living room, where Hunter was flopped over Vee, wrapping her in his blanket. He was still blank-eyed, but his brow was furrowed, like he was trying to remember something. Camila gently cupped his face in her hands.

“Hunter?” She asked softly, “Mijo?”

He blinked, hard, like he’d just woken up. “C-Camila?” His eyes filled with tears, and he fell back, letting go of Vee. The basilisk tackled him in a hug.

“Hunter!”

Camila wrapped her arms around both of them, squeezing them both tight. “Oh!”

His shoulders started to shake. “It was s-so dark,” he whispered.

Camila squeezed just a little harder. “I’ve got you,” she promised. She let the two of them go, and Vee wriggled under the blanket, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with him as the thunder cracked. Luz sat down next to Camila.

“Hey,” she said softly to Hunter, “Thanks.”

He sat bolt upright, making Vee yelp. “The key! Belos!”

Vee held up the portal key. “Oh, you mean this? Don’t worry, Belos can’t get to us.”

“Vee managed to open the portal,” Luz supplied, “She went in after you!”

“And then Camila came for both of us,” Vee finished, “She lit Belos on fire, it was awesome!”

Hunter looked up at Camila, his lip quivering. “You… you fought for me?”

“Of course I did. I said I would, didn’t I?”

Tears rolled down his face, and Camila wrapped him up in a hug. “Hey. Heeey. You’re okay now.”

“I kept—I kept making him mad—and it—and I—”

Camila rocked him back and forth. “Okay. Ooookay. I’ve got you.”

“I couldn’t get out—it was all dark, and blank, and I just kept sinking, and I couldn’t do anything, and I was drowning, and—” Hunter buried his face in her shoulder.

Camila cradled his head in her hand. She could feel a lump on the back of his head, like he’d hit it, and she hadn’t failed to notice the bruises that hadn’t been there when he’d left. A tide of anger swept over her, and she started regretting leaving the Boiling Isles quite so soon. “You’re safe now, Hunter. I promise. Belos can’t hurt you anymore. And if he even thinks about it… well, I have no qualms lighting him on fire again.”

Hunter slumped against her, and she scooped him up, Red fluttering around the two of them. “Okay. You need some sleep.”

“He can take my bed,” Vee offered, “I’m too wired to go to sleep, anyway.”

Camila gave her a grateful nod and carried Hunter up the stairs. He was already asleep by the time they got to Luz’s room, his breath coming in soft little puffs. She nestled him in the bed, pulling the covers over him.

“Good night, Hunter.”

Xxx

Hunter was woken up by the sun.

The sun.

How had he slept this long?!

He bolted upright, nearly scraping his head on the ceiling. Wait. What?

Everything that had happened, came back to him in a rush, and he flopped backwards, running his hands through his hair. “Oh.”

Lying here, in the Noceda house, he could almost imagine that going back to Belos had been nothing but a bad dream.

But it hadn’t been. He had some very real bruises to prove it.

He shuddered, remembering the cold, acidic feel of Belos’ curse.

But then Red soared right into him, singing brightly, and he could almost forget it had ever happened.

Almost.

Hunter’s hand closed around the pin on his cloak. He ripped it off, tossing the cape to the floor, followed by his armor. He didn’t have to wear it anymore. Ever. Belos had no way to get back to him.

Belos had no way to get back to him.

The enormity of the statement caught up to him, and he ran his hand through his hair again. “He can’t come back for me,” he whispered, “I—I don’t ever have to see him again!”

Red chirped in agreement, and a bewildered laugh escaped Hunter’s mouth.

No more running errands for Belos.

No more worrying about what would happen to Red.

No more fear that an attack would hit, and he’d get hurt.

Just Camila and Vee and Luz.

Hunter shuffled down the stairs into the kitchen. “Good morning!”

“You’re cheerful.” Vee grinned. “Afternoon, actually.”

“Really?”

Luz nodded. “Mom said we should let you sleep. Speaking of my mom, she said something about how she shouldn’t have forced me to promise not to go back to the Isles—she doesn’t want me to keep trying to use that key, because it’s too dangerous to get into the keep, but she hasn’t outright said I can’t go back if I can find another way.” Luz glanced around. “I miiiiight ask to borrow Red at some point. If that’s okay with the two of you. I need to let Eda know I’m okay.”

“Luz, are you plotting something behind my back?” Camila came bumping down the stairs, holding a brightly wrapped parcel. “Oh, hey! You’re up!” She thrust the parcel at him. “That’s for you! I actually got it before… but that doesn’t matter, you’re here, I have it, everything’s great.”

Hunter gingerly took the package. “What… is it?”

“It’s a present,” Vee explained wisely, “It’s a surprise. You open it up.”

“Did it… come like this?”

“Nope, Camila wrapped it.”

Hunter squinted at the package. “But… now I’m just supposed to open it?”

Vee nodded. “Yep.”

“Then what was the point of wrapping it up?”

Luz nudged his shoulder. “It’s fun!” Her face dropped. “Oh my gosh, you’ve never gotten a present before, this is so sad. Okay. Just trust us, it’s fun.”

Hunter stuck his tongue out at her, and pulled gently at the paper, trying to unstick the tape.

“Rip it!” Luz demanded, “Tear it open!”

Hunter glanced back at Camila. “But you worked so hard to—”

She laughed. “You’re supposed to rip it, mijo. Go ahead.”

Hunter tore at the paper. It was… oddly exciting.

The wrapping had contained a set of clothing, jeans that actually looked his size, a t-shirt, and a hoodie that looked just a little too big—therefore, exactly the right size.

Hunter turned the fabric over in his hands, tears bubbling to his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Vee pushed him towards the stairs. “Go see if it fits!”

Hunter scooted up the stairs, closing the door behind him and switching clothes. The rest of his uniform joined the armor and cloak in a pile, and he tugged the hood of his new sweater up, retracting his hands into the sleeves. It was soft, and comfy, and he felt like he could just melt into a puddle right here.

He shuffled back downstairs, and Camila clapped her hands. “Ooo, good, it fits! Look at you!” She grabbed her keys. “Okay, Hunter, Luz, in the car, both of you are coming with me to the doctor’s office, I want both of you checked out for concussions.”

“Mooooooom,” Luz groaned, “I’m fiiiiiiine!”

Hunter let Camila shoo him into the car, stepping out into the bright sunlight (hadn’t it been raining last night?). Warmth spread all through him, banishing the last of the lingering coldness Belos had left behind.

Camila looked back at him as she turned the car on. “Everything good?”

Hunter took in a deep breath, burying his face in his new hoodie. He was back home—this time to stay. “Everything is perfect.”

[honeypirate]

Just a little Touch Starved

Hinawa x fem reader

When your Lieutenant, who you have a very flirty relationship with, learns of your predicament, he tries his best to help you.

Unedited

@fatgumshoneybun :)

You didn’t have much experience with weapons. You were an expert with hand to hand combat but that only got you so far, so you weren’t surprised when Lieutenant Hinawa brought you aside and told you he wanted you to start training with him with weapons.

“Once you become an expert with different weapons you’ll be a well rounded soldier and I won’t have to worry about you” he said with his normal stoic expression and unamused tone, pretending like he didn’t just admit to worrying about you specifically.

You felt special for maybe three seconds before you realize he probably worries about the rest of the crew too since that’s his job and he never usually breaks protocol. He never flirts with you at work.

“Yes sir! I’ll be looking forward to it”

Which wasn’t a lie, you were looking forward to it. You were excited to get stronger and learn, but you didn’t realize it meant he’d have to show you how to hold the weapons.

“Can I touch you?” He asks and you nod, knowing it would help to have him just position you “Let me know if I make you uncomfortable being this close and i will stop ” he says and you nod “it’s okay. I don’t mind close contact I used to work in a kitchen” you say with a laugh and he lets an almost laugh out, which was just air from his nose as he smirks.

You tried to control your breathing as the world seems to slow down. He steps close behind you, pressing his chest against your back you can feel him from your shoulders to your top of your butt. He wrapped his arms around you, his thumbs brushing lightly against your forearms, leaving tingles as he brushes them down to your wrists as he guides his hands around yours and transfers his gun into your hand.

“Hold it like this” you can feel his breath, hot on your ear and you bite the inside of your cheek so you didn’t make a sound.

If you said you were touch starved, that would be an understatement.

A pat on the shoulder from your captain was the most touch and action you’ve gotten in what seems like years.

Sure you get a hug from Maki or Iris occasionally but that wasn’t satisfying to you. You wanted, no, needed, one of those whole body hugs with the right amount of tightness. you wanted to be smothered by someone as they lay all their weight on top of you while you cuddle, you wanted, in the most innocent and naughty ways at the same time, to be touched and held and loved.

When Maki talked to you about love languages one day and showed you the test, you weren’t at all surprised to find out your love language is physical touch, just made you realize how extra touch starved you were from being single for so long.

And if you really paid attention you would have realized that since that conversation with Maki, Hinawa(having overheard your conversation) has been giving you more attention that usual. he would pat your shoulder/back more, ruffle your hair, inconspicuous ways he could show you that he cared for you by using your love language. cut him some slack he’s rusty with feelings.

All that touch starved energy you’ve been ignoring comes back full force as try not to focus on the way you can feel his voice vibrate into your back from his chest “Keep your hand here, bracing the bottom. Keep your elbows like this” he runs his hands up your arms to your elbows to position them before he gently knees you in the back on your leg and you feel your breath hitch and have to remind yourself to breathe deeply so you don’t get light headed from not breathing.

“Keep your knees bent a little” he pushes up your foot with his “keep your left foot farther forward and keep your legs slightly wider than shoulder width”

A sound like a whimper leaves your throat and you quickly cough to cover it, your cheeks heating quickly when you feel him chuckle against your back, you knew he knew but you were grateful he didn't tease you about it.

What you did to deserve this from the universe you didn’t know, but you couldn’t decide if you liked it or if it was cruel to give you a taste of something you didn’t know if you could even have. You’re leaning more towards cruel because even though you and Hinawa have a pretty flirty outside of work relationship, he’s never openly been so bold while working, so, this has to be you reading in to things, right?

“Line up the barrel with your mark, never put your finger on the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot.” You nod and look down the barrel to the target he’s placed a ways off “when you’re ready, take a deep breath and pull the trigger on the exhale” you sight the paper in the distance and line up a shot, you take in a deep breath, and smile slightly, goosebumps running down your back, when he breathes in with you.

And as you both let out your slow breaths you move your finger over and put pressure against the trigger

Your ears ring from the blast, your fingers vibrating with the recoil, but his strong arms around yours made it easy to keep the gun in your hands

“Good job” he says and steps away from you, your back feeling cold for just a second with the lack of his warmth.

Your soul felt like it was glowing, felt like an infernal, Your heart seemed burned alive with how good that felt. Shooting the gun and having him pressed into you for so long. You miss it, you realize a little sadly, the feeling of his strong chest against your back and you decided that the universe was cruel.

You practiced with his guns for a few hours until he was satisfied you knew all he wanted to teach you. Then you spent the next week doing more training to get the information to stick.

You thought that this was it, that guns were his specialty and he had nothing more to teach, you tried to forget about the way his strong body felt pressed to you but you couldn’t help but think about it every time you see him.

Forgetting, you realized, wouldn’t be easy when he said “okay, tomorrow we will practice with a staff” you choked on the water you were drinking “you know more than just guns?” You ask and you felt your cheeks warm when he meets your eye

“I know a lot of things that would surprise you” he says and his deep voice sends tingles down your spine. ‘He’s definitely flirting’ You think as you smile up at him “I hope you teach them all to me then” you say back and watch as his ears turn red, he just rolls his eyes, changing the subject before dismissing you.

The next morning when you walk out to the training ground he tosses a staff to you, which you catch with ease “are you ready?” He asks and you nod “let’s do this”

After he talks to you about how to use it, when to use it, what it’s good and bad against, he comes to stand behind you and you suck in a breath and hold it

He uses his left foot to tap your boots until you widen your stance, he reaches around your body, grabbing the staff next to your hands “copy me” he says into your ear and you feel your body begin to buzz as your heart races.

You move your hands, right hand holding the top of staff and left hand underneath, pressed right against his. “Good girl” he says, seemingly right into your ear, and you let out your breath quickly, biting your tongue to withhold any inappropriate noises. There was no way this was normal, no way he treated others like this. He has to be teasing you. Then it clicks, he’s enjoying this just as much as you are.

For the moment though, you push the way he feels pressed up next to you out of your head as he goes through movements with you. After a few minutes, when you were moving through his order precisely, he stopped. “Good, now lets spar”

After you’re done sparring with him, your hands feel blistered and you’re panting as you collapse to the ground “geez Lieutenant, I’m beginning to think you’re an expert at everything” you say between pants and he suppresses his smile, grabbing a couple water bottles.

He comes and crouches beside you, handing you a bottle. “Good thing I’m your teacher then” he says and you laugh, sitting up and taking the water from him with a smile “thanks Lieutenant” you say and he shakes his head “Hinawa” he says and you raise your eyebrows “what?” He clears his throat “if you’re comfortable, you can call me by my name” you laugh and place your hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently for a moment before pulling back “thanks, Hinawa” you watch his jaw tense and his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows hard and nods, his ears turning pink.

Oh god if you thought the first two were bad, the bow was worse.

“Can I show you again?” He asks and you nod, avoiding his eye so you wouldn’t blush.

He stands behind you, kicking your boots gently until you’re in the right stance then his arms come around you once more.

A soft sigh falls from his lips and you feel electricity enters your body from where his chest was pressed into your back. A sigh that made your cheeks heat, one that said ‘I like this’ and made you realize without a doubt that he felt the same as you did.

His hands rested against yours as he placed them on the bow before guiding your fingers to the string.

“This isn’t a very heavy string, as you train and get stronger you can use better bows” he says into your ear and this time you don’t hold in the satisfied hum “and you’ll teach me then too?” You ask, feeling a little bold

“I don’t know if that will be necessary” he says in his stern way that almost makes you think you took the signs the wrong way until he turns his lips closer to your ear “but I’m willing to give you a refresh lesson” you hear the smirk in his voice and you can’t help but chuckle

You turn your head to look back into his eye, your noses almost touching “and will it be like this?” You ask and you see his lips turn up in smirk “I believe that might be necessary if you keep this weak hold on the bow” you gasp and drop the bow, turning around in his arms and hit his chest playfully “so you have been teasing me during these lessons!”

He moves his hands to be closer together on the bow and stands up normally, pulling you a little closer to his chest with the bow “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable” he says and you feel your cheeks heat up again under his gaze

“I didn’t say that” you say softly and he chuckles “I just, I didn’t know, ya know? At least at first” you feel your cheeks warm “ No one has ever shown me how to hold a gun before or any weapons. I didn’t know it was extra flirty. I thought it was normal. Until the staff lesson, that was obvious”

He is silent for a moment and you watch as his cheeks dust light pink “I know I should have been professional, I -” you reach up and cover his lips with your first fingers softly “yes, you probably should have, but i’m not complaining, really” your cheeks heat up again “plus, it’s not like we haven’t been flirting for months”

“And i may have heard you talk to Maki about how you were touch starved” he confesses and you laugh once as you look up at him

“You had to look up what - “

“I had to look up what that meant yes” he nods once. After he looked it up, he couldn’t handle even thinking about you getting that from someone else, the jealousy he felt imagining you hugging someone who wasn’t him or kissing someone who wasn’t him, he couldn’t do it. That’s when he realized how deep his feelings for you were

You smiled, your heart was warm. He heard you talk about something that you were struggling with, looked it up to see how to help, and has been trying to help you ever since.

“You know, it would have been easier to just ask me if i needed a hug”

“Yeah but you need the training. I didn’t make that part up. You need to get stronger to stay with the company”

You laugh at his business demeanor and then wrap your arms around his neck, burying your face into his shoulder and sighing into him

He sets the bow aside and wraps his arms around your back, hugging you to his chest tightly, his strong arms making you feel safe and supported. You tilt your face up, brushing your nose against his neck as you whisper into his ear “thank you Hinawa” you whisper and he lets out a low hum of approval, of obvious pleasure from the hug, like he has been just as touch starved as you.

“Maybe you should teach me how to use a bow” you say after five minutes and you chuckle when his hold tightens a little

“Yes” he agrees but doesn’t show any sign of moving

Even though you havent had a lot of intimate or close time with him, you felt comfortable in his arms. It felt right, and you didnt want to move just as much as he didnt. You hum softly as you brush your nose up his neck and then against his jaw “Hinawa” you whisper and it sends tingles down his spine.

“You’re such a secret softy” you whisper and he chuckles “don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin my reputation”

You chuckle “we can’t have that. It cant ever come out that the bad ass lieutenant of the eighth likes to hug and likes physical affection” you pepper light kisses across his neck and jaw. feeling him shudder slightly at the sensation of your lips against his skin.

“Cant have anyone know how the lieutenant broke the rules on a work day in the middle of training, stopping just to hug and hold his coworker even though they’re not really together and haven’t even filed the proper paperwork.” that one seemed to get him and he pulled back to look down at you “I hope you know that we’re still doing all the training i have planned. This isnt changing that. And the paperwork isn’t difficult we should do that later”

You pause for a moment, looking into his eyes, watching as the corners of his lips turn up into a small smile.

Your fingers play with the hair coming out of the back of his cap “So what you’re saying here, is that you want to be relationship with me and fill out the paperwork, and that you aren’t gonna cut me any slack with training today?”

He nods “yeah that’s what I’m saying”

You laugh and take off his hat, putting it on your own head and turning it backwards as you reach up and run your hands through his hair.

“Then let’s do it” you say with a grin and he cups your cheek, eyes looking down at your lips “what are you doing friday night?” he asks as his eyes look back up to yours “I got a hot date” you say and he raises his eyebrows “do you now?” he asks and you nod, standing on your tiptoes to brush your nose against his “yeah. with you” you whisper and you see the way his eyes go from confused to amused as he rolls his eyes and then surprises you by pressing his lips to yours.

Safe to say, you both won't have to be touch starved anymore.

[junicai]

what i made.

| order no. | 7/21

| summary | With a new Japanese member in their midst, Aria knows that he must be feeling homesick. So, she takes it upon herself to try to alleviate as much of it as she can.

| word count | 1.7k

| warnings | sickening fluff

| era | circa. January 2021

“Are you coming?” Aria had her phone held between her ear and her shoulder, scooping two reusable plastic bags from the countertop as she moved past. There was a small clinking sound and she paused, peering into the bag to make sure the glass containers hadn’t chipped off each other. 

Doyoung would have her head. 

Satisfied that there was no shattering, Aria moved again, snagging her coat as she pushed past in her free hand. Yuta hummed on the other end of the phone. 

“Yeah, I’m about to leave.” Aria could hear him rustling about on the other end of the line. 

“His apartment is the second one on the third floor remember - he told me Sungchan was going somewhere with Jungwoo, shopping I think?” Aria paused to think. “Anyway, he’s gone all afternoon, so Taro is alone.”

The shuffling paused on the other end of the line. “He’s been quiet with you too, right? It’s not just me?” Yuta asked. 

Aria hummed sadly. “Yeah, it’s not just you.” She pulled the door firmly closed behind her, only moving away when it signified that it had been locked with a beep. 

Living in the Dreamie dorms again had been a change. A nice change, don’t get her wrong, but for the last year she’d been spending most of her time in the 127 dorms. Now, with the Dream comeback on the horizon, she’d moved back into her old room - happy to see that the fairy lights she’d installed (meaning: stuck onto the walls with sellotape) were still functioning after she’d changed the batteries. 

“Remember how I got? Right after debut?” Aria questioned, now moving away from the doorway and into the hallway. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Aria replied. “I think he’s just gotten homesick - it happened to me, and I hadn’t been training for that long before debut.” 

“Makes sense. It’s probably harder because he’s older as well - the pressure might be getting to him.” Yuta’s voice was growing sadder, so Aria interrupted him before he himself could get down. 

“So!” She cheered, lifting up the bag of ingredients that was hanging in the crook of her arm. “We go and we cheer our last musketeer up.” 

“I told you not to call us that.” 

“Why not!” 

Aria giggled as Yuta began to list out the numerous reasons why he hated that nickname, tucking the phone into the other crook of her neck as one side began to cramp up.

She entertained the man with small hums and little rebuttals every now and then, walking out of the left apartment wing and into the right; where Shotaro and Sungchan’s apartment was located.

SM had moved their dorms into one apartment building for Mark, Aria and Donghyuck’s peace of mind. And also theirs. There had been several incidents of Donghyuck and Aria dashing down to the Dreamie dorm at one in the morning to grab something; and it was going to give their managers grey hair if something wasn’t done about it. 

Now, the larger apartment block they all lived in had two wings; the right wing, where the two 127 dorms were located, as well as Shotaro and Sungchan’s, and then the left - where the Dream dorms were. WayV was still in a separate apartment building, much to the entire group’s irritation, but it was a work in progress. 

As Aria stepped out of the elevator onto the third floor to see Yuta already standing outside Shotaro’s apartment door, she pulled her phone out from beneath her ear and hung up without warning.

She snickered at Yuta’s face when the man realized he had been hung up on, and just as he was about to click redial, she popped up behind him. 

“You were saying? Mr. Musketeer?” 

Yuta rolled his eyes. “Akari, you’re asking for it now.” 

Aria gently pushed past him, knocking twice on the door. She turned to face him afterwards, batting her eyelashes innocently. “I’m doing nothing at all- Taro! Hi!” 

Shotaro opened the door with bleary eyes, blinking at the light that blinded him slightly. The apartment behind him was dark, no lights on, and by the state of his hair Aria could infer that they’d just woken the boy up. 

“Hm? Akari?” Shotaro blinked sleepily at her. “What time is it?” 

Aria bit her lip to stop the smile growing across her face. “It’s almost two in the afternoon, Taro.” 

Shotaro blinked rapidly at that, clearing the fog of sleep from his eyes. “Oh! Is it? Sorry!” He opened the door wider, flicking on the lights after his two members walked in. 

Aria held up the two bags on her arm. “Can I put these down somewhere? I think my hand is slowly losing circulation.” 

Shotaro gestured towards the table that was partly covered in old newspapers. At a closer glance, the newspaper had a few spots of dried paint in various bright colours. She looked back to him. “Sungchan’s newest artistic endeavor go well?” 

“Yeah!” Shotaro pointed towards where an old ripped t-shirt was hanging off the back of a door - a small graphic square had been painted on in haphazard lines. “He’s really proud of it.” 

“He should be,” Yuta stepped forward to examine it further. “It’s really good.” 

Aria dropped the two bags onto the clean side of the table, rubbing her hands together to get the blood flowing back into her fingertips. “Ok!” She exclaimed, turning to face the two men. 

“I,” She began, poking herself in the chest, “Have a little surprise for the both of you.” 

Yuta’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Me?” He mouthed, pointing to himself in a question. Aria nodded.

“But! I need the kitchen to do it, so go, shoo. Get out.” She waved at the two boys, shooing them out of the kitchen.

Shotaro whined at her slightly. “But I could help?” 

“Then it defeats the purpose of a surprise, doesn’t it?” 

He opened his mouth before closing it, frowning at the ground. Aria waved at him. “Go go. I’ll be done quickly.” 

Once the two boys had disappeared into the main living room, Aria returned to the two bags on the table and slowly began to pull out the ingredients. The red bean paste that she’d made the night previous was packed away in one of Doyoung’s glass boxes for food, and she was careful to place it near the wall and out of the way of where she might knock into it. 

Dorayaki. The red bean pancake had been something she loved as a child, and Yuta held similar sentiments. She could only hope that Shotaro did as well - because at this point, it was almost a ritual for the original two Japanese members to go out and buy dorayaki when one or both of them were feeling off. 

With the filling set aside, Aria moved quickly to set up a small work station beside the hob, pulling out a mixing bowl and a whisk.

The eggs went into the bowl, followed by honey and sugar. They were stirred together quickly, combining in a matter of under a minute.

Next, came the flour, which was to be sifted in slowly. 

“Sieve, sieve.” Aria mumbled to herself, pulling open and closing drawers periodically. “Where would they keep a sieve?” 

She contemplated asking Shotaro for a minute, but ultimately scrapped that idea and chastised herself lightly. “They’re teenage boys, Akari. They’re not going to own a sieve.”

With that, she had to make do; using two forks laid over each other and pouring the flour mixture very slowly into the eggs. It was messy, and she got more flour on the counter than in the bowl, but it worked out for the most part.

Aria set the bowl aside as she turned on the electric rings, letting them heat up. The boys only had a small frying pan, that she could do nothing but pray was non-stick; and Aria winced at the thought that this might take a little bit longer than she’d hoped. 

She strained her ears for a moment, comforting herself with the fact that the two boys seemed engrossed in a conversation, and weren’t missing her presence too much for the time being. 

The mixture was poured on one by one, and gradually Aria amassed a sizeable stack of small, circular pancake shapes on the plate beside her. Then, it was only a matter of making a small mountain shape on the inside, before putting a second pancake on top - like a little hat.

She sealed the edges of each dorayaki, placing them on a plate. 

“Taro? Yuta? Do you want to come on in here?” She raised her voice, hoping that they’d hear her. 

“Yeah? What’s up?” Taro was the first to appear, his eyes curious before they caught sight of the plate held in Aria’s hands. 

His face lit up like a lightbulb, and his mouth dropped slightly. “You did not.” 

“I did.” Aria grinned. 

“Hey, look at you go little baker.” Yuta came over to snag one from the top of the plate, and had his hand batted away.

“Stop it, they’re for Taro. He gets one first.” Aria scolded, and Yuta backed away with his hands up. 

Shotaro, on his end, looked like he was about to cry. “F-for me? Really?” He gnawed at his bottom lip. 

Aria placed the plate down on the counter, moving to wrap the slightly younger boy in a hug. “Yeah, for you. Consider this your official initiation to the j-line. Very exclusive club. You’re the first member to be added since 2016.” She pulled back with a wide grin. 

Yuta joined the group hug, longer arms encircling both Shotaro and Aria where they stood. “You’re never getting rid of us now, Taro.” He teased. “We know your apartment passcode."

The trio stood quietly, smiles on all their faces until the dorayaki went cold on the plate. 

Not a single one of them cared; and if Sungchan came home to Yuta lying on the floor with Shotaro lying curled up to his left side, and Aria lying across his lap with her hand tangled in Shotaro’s - all three, fast asleep - and took a picture to send to Jungwoo for blackmail? 

Then that’s between the apartment walls, and him. 

[edendaphne]

“Discordant Sonata” Chapter 19

>>Click here to read on Ao3<<

>>Click here to read on Wattpad<<

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CHAPTER 19: ATTACCA

Music glossary:        Attacca - "To attack at once"; used as a direction in music at the end of a movement to begin the next without pause

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(Mood music: "The Conversation" - Pearl Django)

Being mere months away from graduating lycée meant that their group of friends didn’t have as many classes together, due to their diverse individual interests and talents. However, they always made sure to make time to hang out after school before their extracurricular activities began.

And thus, Adrien, Nino, and Alya made their way to the classroom where the art club gathered to meet up with Marinette. From there, Adrien would make his way to either fencing lessons or Chinese, depending on the day of the week. Marinette would join him on days when he had Chinese (as she’d become determined to master the language ever since her uncle visited from Shanghai a few years back), Alya would go to her journalism club, and Nino would travel to his part-time internship at the local recording studio.

“–and the backlogs just keep piling up!” Alya spoke as they walked, voice full of vigor and excitement. “I’ve had to recruit yet another mod to help me keep order in the forums! Especially since the Ladyblog has started going international and we’ve had to organize servers in different languages. You wouldn’t believe how crazy it’s gotten in there recently!”

“Dang, babe,” Nino interjected. “Sounds like things are super rough for you right now.”

“Not really, more busy than anything. Especially because I have that big research article due next week, there’s just not enough hours in the day to try to read everything that goes on in there. But I have my mods report to me daily, ‘cause I always like to stay on top of everything that goes on in the chats!”

“What’s gotten everyone so riled up in the Ladyblog lately?” Adrien chimed in. “I don’t recall it being nearly this busy last year.”

The trio entered the art club’s classroom and settled down at the table where Marinette sat, getting her various sketches organized. The art teacher was quite easy going, so they didn’t have to talk in hushed whispers and could come and go as they pleased.

“Well, to be honest, it’s because of Chat Noir,” Alya replied.

Adrien tried to contain his surprise. “R-really? What– uhhh, what do people have to say about him?”

He winced inwardly. He knew he shouldn’t ask. But curiosity got the better of him today. Maybe learning the news through the filter or Alya’s paraphrasing instead of reading the negative comments firsthand would lessen the sting of what people said about him.

Marinette whipped her head around at the mention of his alter ego. “Wait, what about Chat Noir?” she inquired.

“Girl,” Alya replied, her voice filled with renewed exuberance. “You would not believe how much we’ve had to censor and moderate all the inappropriate things people have been saying!”

Adrien flinched in his seat. “Wow… do people really hate him that much?” he asked, trying to conceal the dejection in his voice.

Alya busted out into loud guffaws. “Hate?! Dude, most people don’t hate him; they LOVE him! By ‘inappropriate’ comments, I mean the kinda stuff you wouldn’t want your grandma to catch you reading! There’s a whole giant section dedicated to his new fan club!” she said as she removed her glasses so she could wipe away the tears of laughter.

“WHAT?!” Adrien squawked in confusion, his face feeling hotter than the ovens back at the bakery. “A fan club??”

Marinette burst into uncontrollable snickering. “Has it really gotten that bad?!”

Nino joined in, “Bro! Adrien, I can’t believe you haven’t heard Alya rant about these rabid fans before! They call themselves the ‘Noir Nation’, and the kind of things they’ve been writing would make adult romance authors blush like schoolgirls!”

Alya nodded, thoroughly amused. “And that’s not including all the fanfiction people have been writing.”

“Wait– the WHAT?! There’s fanfiction?!!” Marinette gaped in shock, as if she’d been hit in the face with an enormous pie. “Alya, how come I never knew about this?!”

“Why? You wanna read em? Girl, you’ll get no judgment from me. If you wanna check ‘em out for yourself, just go check under the hashtag ‘Ladynoir’.”

Marinette stammered as her arms flailed in her bewilderment, accidentally knocking her phone off the table and onto the floor, her eyes bigger and rounder than Adrien had ever seen them. “They have a ship name?!” she screeched.

“Just mind the ratings though,” Alya advised. “Some of them can get pretty steamy. You wouldn’t want someone to catch you reading those in public,” she added with a wink.

Marinette continued to sputter incoherently. “NO, I am NOT gonna read it!! It would be different if they were fictional characters, but I could never read fanfiction about real people!”

Alya raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. “Mm-hmm… Sure.”

Marinette’s hands flew to her face, trying to hide how red her entire face had gotten, and released a long squeak that resembled a hamster on helium. As shocked as Adrien was about these rather unexpected news, seeing Marinette’s over-the-top reaction brought a wide grin to his face and he busted out laughing.

He bent over to retrieve Marinette’s phone, since she was too busy being mortified to notice it had fallen to the floor. As he was about to hand it back, the screen lit up and Adrien saw the lockscreen wallpaper: it was the same photo of Ladybug and Chat Noir that he himself had saved earlier that day. He smiled, not exactly sure what to make of it, but finding it adorable that she’d liked the photo enough to set it as her lockscreen.

He tapped her shoulder, waiting for her to respond. She emerged from behind her impromptu hand shield and turned her head, then her eyes widened once again as soon as she saw what Adrien was showing her. She jolted straight up, stiff as a board, and her eyes met his, cheeks turning tomato red. He winked at her, amused about this little secret between them, and handed back her phone without a word.

Marinette accepted it with a meek-sounding, “Thanks,” looking like she wanted to explain the photo, but not able to do so unless she wanted Alya and Nino to find out that she was potentially a… ahem– “Ladynoir” shipper.

Switching the conversation to something else (which Marinette seemed to be eternally grateful for), the group chatted until it became time for them to scatter to their next destinations.

With a wave, Adrien exited the classroom and headed towards fencing practice, one of the few activities he decided to stick with despite not being forced to participate. Fencing, along with Chinese lessons, were not only enjoyable, but were also quite useful. Sadly, he didn’t have access to a piano anymore, so he wasn’t able to pursue that hobby for the time being. Hopefully later down the line, when things had settled down and he’d found his own place to live, he’d be able to finance one.

Thinking about the future had become an exciting pastime instead of an anxiety-inducing one, and it was all thanks to his friends and those he cared about. He smiled as he reached the door to the locker rooms, continuing to daydream of what was to come.

(Mood music: "Recollection 3" - Shirō Sagisu (BLEACH OST, "The Diamond Dust Rebellion")

Adrien finished getting dressed for fencing, his head still blissfully floating in the clouds. He stored his belongings into his assigned locker, shutting it with a loud clang, which echoed through the empty room.

Huh...? Empty?

He swiveled his head around, surprised that there was no one beside him. He stood up and began walking down the large room, peeking down the other locker rows looking for his classmates; but there was nobody.

Where was everyone? There’s no way that every single one of them was running late. Had his lessons been cancelled and he’d somehow missed a text message or email? He began heading back towards his locker to check his phone for any schedule changes.

Before he reached his destination, however, heavy thudding footsteps broke the eerie silence. Adrien whipped his body around to greet whoever they belonged to.

The owner of those footsteps was one of the last people Adrien expected to meet here.

“Gaspard?!”

Adrien stood agape, face to face with his old bodyguard, whom he hadn’t seen in a couple of years; not since he’d resigned and moved out of the country. Nathalie had mentioned that in his resignation letter, Gaspard said that he’d become involved in an overseas business venture involving the market of rare action figures. Nevertheless, Adrien couldn’t help but suspect that his father’s ill temper and poor treatment of their employees was the true reason for his departure.

Adrien’s first reaction was surprise and joy, and he rushed forward to greet and embrace him. However, as he approached and got a better look at the man’s face, Adrien’s mood instantly morphed into confusion and apprehension. There was something odd about his eyes.

Something wasn’t right. Why was Gaspard here? And why now?

He came to a halt about a meter before reaching him. An oppressive weight seemed to press in all around him, and he had to suppress a shiver. “Wait. Gaspard, did–” he gulped, “–did my father send you?”

His old bodyguard did not reply, but took a heavy step towards him. Adrien stepped back.

“Please… I can’t go back. I live somewhere else now, and I’m very happy there. Whatever he told you about the situation, it’s a lie.”

His bodyguard continued to approach him, his stare vacant and unsettling.

Fighting the urge to panic, he pleaded, “You don’t have to do this. If he’s offered you compensation, I can match it; it’ll just take me a bit of time. But we can work something out, right?? For old time’s sake?”

He continued walking backwards until he bumped into something firm, but it wasn’t a wall; it was another person. Before he could turn around, they grabbed him by the shoulders, detaining him and preventing him from running away.

He was about to shout for help when something sharp jabbed him on the side of the neck, injecting a cold liquid. Adrien’s eyes grew wide in terror.

Shit.

Adrien swore as he jerked away, elbowing whoever was behind him and managing to break free. Rubbing at the spot where the syringe had stabbed him, he glanced back to take a look at his other assailant, only to see... another Gaspard?

Why are there two of him??

This was wrong. Gaspard didn’t have a twin; he knew that for a fact. He’d worked for the Agrestes ever since Adrien was a toddler and was too young to even pronounce his name correctly (hence the nickname “Gorille”, which stuck around for years afterwards). Additionally, there was something uncanny, otherworldly, even, about the way these two men looked and moved.

He shook himself out of his stupor. He didn’t have time to contemplate any possible explanations. He had to get out of there fast.

He sprinted towards the exit, but only managed to travel a few paces before he lost his footing and tripped. He fell to the ground hard, almost hitting his head on a nearby bench. As he struggled to get up, he realized that his fingers and toes had already gone numb.

Not good.

Time was running out. Adrenaline coursed through him and, with a grunt, he hefted himself to his feet and scrambled towards the exit, as fast as he could despite a heavy limp. Though his heart was hammering and his legs felt like they were filled with sand, he pushed himself, concentrating on reaching the door.

After taking a few steps, however, he realized that even if he did manage to exit the locker room, the area beyond was an open courtyard. Meaning he wasn’t going to be able to reach someplace safe before getting caught. He had no choice but to transform into Chat Noir, and hopefully Plagg’s powers and strength could help him escape and find somewhere to hide.

He’d scarcely uttered the first syllable in the transformation phrase when he was tackled to the ground. A giant hand swiftly covered his mouth and Adrien felt his hands get bound together with thick zip ties behind his back. A muffled scream of writhing frustration made its way up his throat as his limbs became more and more useless by the second.

No… This can’t be happening! Please, this can’t be how it all ends!

Just when his life had finally gained a semblance of normalcy and he’d found happiness again, it would get ripped away and he would disappear without a trace, leaving everyone to wonder what had happened to him. Leaving his friends to think that Gabriel had pulled him from school and they would never see him again. Leaving Ladybug to wonder if Chat had abandoned her forever. Leaving her to fight Hawkmoth alone. Again.

He couldn’t let that happen. He thrashed and struggled as furiously as he could, fighting the feelings of overwhelming helplessness that threatened to consume him. Nearing despair, he was too distracted to notice Plagg phrasing through the wall, away from the skirmish, in search of the only person who could save him.

(Mood music: "Run" - Ludovico Einaudi)

Marinette fidgeted with her pencil, her feet wiggled and bounced under her desk. She didn’t understand; when she’d arrived at the art club, her head had been filled with inspiration and ideas that she’d been excited to draw and execute. However, at the moment, her mind was filled with noise and disquietude.

Having had enough, she excused herself to visit the restroom. Once she’d walked far enough from the classroom, she opened her purse to talk to Tikki about her current dilemma.

“It’s the same feeling as last night, Tikki! Except that would mean one of three possibilities. Option A.) It’s nothing and I’m going crazy. And— don’t give me that look, Tikki! I can see what you’re thinking and I don’t have time for your cheeky sass right now!” The kwami snickered while Marinette cleared her throat and continued, “Option B.) that Chat is here, at this school, which is impossible because his school’s on the other side of the city, that’s why he always leaves the house super early for his long commute.”

Tikki opened her mouth and looked like she was about to say something, but then didn’t (...or couldn’t?).

Marinette resumed, “Or, C.) that my–– what do I even call it? My ‘Spidey sense’??–– that it’s got a long distance mode, and Chat is all the way across Paris and he’s in trouble! But what am I supposed to do about that from here?! I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking!”

Tikki shrugged. “Follow your instincts, Marinette. There’s no harm in taking a quick look around the school, right?”

Marinette groaned. “UGH! It doesn’t make sense!! Am I going to get interrupted like this all the time from now on?” She shook her head resolutely. “No. I can’t just go off on random field trips every single time I feel a random fit of anxiety. I’m sure it’s just leftover jitters from last night. I’m supposed to call Master Fu after school anyway; he can help me figure everything out. I’m just gonna go back to class and forget about it.”

Tikki frowned, not quite convinced, but deciding not to press further.

Marinette made her way back to the classroom in a frustrated huff. But as her hand reached to turn the handle, the feelings of danger and urgency multiplied tenfold. Without a word, she sprinted away in the opposite direction, not even knowing where she was running to, only knowing she had to get there immediately.

She reached the large common area of the school downstairs. Her head whipped around, frantically searching for something, anything. In her haste, she didn’t notice a small black creature zoom into her open purse.

A few moments later, she felt a frantic tugging at her shirt from below.

“Marinette!! Over there! Check the locker room, quick!!!” Tikki whisper-screamed as she peeked outside the purse, her tone uncharacteristically frantic.

Marinette nodded, then sprinted to the locker room.

“Wait! You should transform first!” Tikki added.

No time!

“Marinette, wait!!”

Despite Tikki’s protests, Marinette raced towards the double doors, tackling them open.

Three sets of eyes landed on her as she skidded to a halt, but only one pair consumed her entire attention. She gasped in horror, hands flying to her face as she stared at what was occurring in front of her. Adrien let out a desperate, muffled scream urging her to run.

His panicked voice snapped her out of her dazed shock; but instead of running, she stood her ground, eyes darting back and forth across the area searching for something useful. The room was remarkably barren except for a lone broom a short distance away from her. She grabbed it and leaped towards the closest attacker (the one holding Adrien down), swinging it like a baseball bat.

The man didn’t even try to avoid the hit; the broomstick merely bounced off the side of his face where Marinette had hit him. She frowned in confusion, then tried hitting him again, bringing the stick down on the top of his head like an axe.

SNAP.

The end of the broom flew off, and Marinette stared in shock at the broken broomstick.

“What the hell are you?!” Marinette exclaimed, shifting her grip on the shortened wooden stub.

She pounced at the second bodyguard, bringing her weapon down in a stabbing motion; but he swatted at her hand, disarming her. She yelped in pain, leaping backwards to get some distance between them.

She was outmatched. The only strategy available was to use their own size against them. With a feint to the side, she shot at his legs for a takedown, hoping to catch him off balance. He called her bluff and shoved her backwards with his giant palm, then kneed her in the stomach.

Winded from the impact, Marinette doubled over with a gasping wheeze, fighting with all her might to keep herself from collapsing onto the ground. She forced herself upright and attacked again. With a clumsy jerk, she lunged forward, swinging wild punches at her opponent. The shots connected but his expression barely changed; it was like beating a breathing punching bag.

The bodyguard backhanded Marinette across the face. Pain shooting across her cheek, she staggered, almost losing her balance. In her daze, she watched helplessly as the man reared his arm back. There was no chance to dodge. His fist connected with her abdomen, delivering a liver shot that shut down her entire body. She crumpled to the floor as if boneless. She tried to call out Adrien’s name, but her mouth merely opened in a silent scream.

Marinette could hear Adrien’s distressed screaming, but it sounded distant, like they were underwater. The edges of her vision grew black and fuzzy, the entire room dissolving around her. She had to consciously force her lungs to inhale, but couldn’t fill them all the way, as if a boulder had been placed on top of her chest.

Faintly, she felt herself getting picked up off the ground and carried away over someone’s shoulder. Disoriented and semi-blinded, the sudden movement and rough jostling made her head spin and gave her vertigo. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it all out.

A few moments later, they stopped moving, and she heard a door burst open. Where were they? Before she could gather her senses, she was in the air, thrown several meters away, landing with a hard thud. A sharp pain traveled down her body as she rolled into the wall across them. The shriek that tried to escape her throat emerged as a strained, shallow whine.

The man stomped out, leaving her alone in the room. “Stop…!” she rasped out, managing to tilt her neck upwards, head pounding.

The bodyguard slammed the door shut, followed by a bang and a clattering sound that could only mean he’d broken the doorknob of whatever room she was in.

Marinette's vision became more and more blurred. At the verge of losing consciousness, she fought to keep her eyes open as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

No, she couldn’t pass out! She had to save Adrien! Stay awake, Marinette, stay awake!!

She bit down on her lip hard, focusing on the sharp sting, on the swelling that was already forming around her right eye, forcing herself to feel the pain her body was in. At this moment, feeling pain was better than falling unconscious. She concentrated on her breathing, slowly regaining her senses.

She reached down to open her purse and get Tikki’s help… only to be met with emptiness. Panic settled in her gut as she realized that sometime during the skirmish, the purse had slipped off her shoulder. She sat up, slowly, so she wouldn’t risk feeling faint again from the change in positions.

She squinted, adjusting her eyesight to the darkness of the room. It seemed to be some sort of supply closet. After a failed few attempts to stand, she crawled towards the door instead, careful not to bump into the crates and shelves that filled the area.

The girl eyed the broken doorknob wearily. She was pretty proficient at lockpicking and breaking into things, but not as good at breaking out. Her only hope was that Tikki would be able to find her… if she was even nearby.

She swore to herself. Why had she rushed in and attacked two grown ass men (who, incidentally, may or may not be supernatural to boot!) instead of hiding and creating a strategy?! Now she was useless, Tikki was gone, and Adrien was surely on his way to get auctioned to the highest bidder in the criminal black market and ransomed off for an enormous sum. Great job, Marinette. Adrien’s been abducted and it’s all your fault.

Gathering all the determination she could muster, she tried to call out for help. But her voice was still too hoarse, and only a weak croak came out. She clenched her fists, grumbling irritably. Time for a different approach. Somehow, she needed to make noise.

After a brief search, she found a hard, metallic object that she could use to hammer on the door. She tested it out; it was surprisingly effective. She doubled her efforts, making as big a racket as possible. Hopefully, it would only be a matter of time before somebody heard her, let her out, and she could go find Adrien.

She couldn’t let anything else happen to another loved one. Not again.

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I'M REEEAAAAALLY SORRY FOR THAT CLIFFHANGER JSHDKFJHSKDF ᕕ(╯°д°)ᕗ  I tried splitting up the sections differently but it didn't really flow as well.

But the next chapter is almost done, so I'll have it ready by next weekend!!

[20moonchild21]

𝗦𝗲𝗵𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵𝘁 [𝗯𝘁𝘀]

⇉ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 3

[Pairing]

Jungkook x female!oc, bunny!JK x human!oc

[Warnings]

mentiones of abuse, abuse, traumatized JK, humiliating, breakdowns, past sexual harassment, mentiones of violence, violence

[Words]

4.6k

[author]

Here is the next chapter. I really hope you like it. It is so fun writing new chapters and creating a new story.

Check out my recommendation below this chapter! My personal favorite is Inferiority Complex by @starlightauroras-writes. It‘s well written and so exciting to read. Make sure to leave her a lot of likes and comments! She deserves it so much!

Also, leave a like or comment, if you like this story. This makes me happy!

Stay safe and healthy!

Mꨄ

[chapter 2 ||| chapter 4]

It had been six days, since the girl had found him inside the dark alley way. Six days since she had taken him in with her, and six days since his world had been turned upside down.

Everything he had ever learned in his life, from which he thought they were right and normal, suddenly seemed to be so wrong and cruel. He wasn’t stupid. Of course, in his past he also had wondered if there was a life for him, in which could just be him.

Bred in a laboratory near Seoul, the capital of South Korea, he was soon adopted by a rich couple from New York who were looking for a rare bunny Hybrid. His younger him was so excited to finally be adopted and have a family, instead of some scary people in white coats.

God, had he been wrong.

He was nothing more than a pet for their pleasure. In every way.

A shiver ran down his spine, when he thought about the times the man had run his hands over his sensitive ears, pressing and twisting them. Or when his hands had gone down over his back and into his pants, so he could pull the soft fur of the boy’s fluffy tail. Sometimes, his hands had gone even further down, pinching or slapping his butt cheeks.

The boy felt his cheeks redden at this memory.

At first, he had thought it was an accident. He had made sure to leave some space between the man and him, or wriggle himself out of the man’s grip. Little had he known that he had made things worse by that.

He had gotten many punishments. Some of them were okay for him. They would made him clean the house or the laundry, and sometimes they had would lock him up in the small chamber next to kitchen without some food or drinks for several hours.

This had been some of the harmless punishments.

If he had been really bad, they would made him take of all his clothes, serving either them or their friends as they were over. Other days, they would punched him with this heavy belt or with a bat.

His eyes swelled with tears at this memories. He had always thought that he deserved all of this. He thought it was normal for Hybrids to be subordinated to human. He thought that every time he got a punishment, it had been his fault because he was such a bad Hybrid.

How could he had been so wrong?

Since the girl had taken him in with her, there had been no point where he had felt the urged to hide himself from her. Not even when he accidently dropped the whole package of flour over himself and the floor, while trying to put it up into the top shelf.

The kitchen had stayed silence for a few seconds, before she broke out into the most beautiful laugher he had ever heard. It was not played or evil or meant to hurt him. It was a real, clear laugher, about a funny situation.

He felt himself warming more and more up with every day, getting more and more comfortable while being around the human girl. He also loved the apartment she lived in.

It definitely wasn’t as big as the former house he had lived in. The apartment was small, but he loved anything about it. He loved the soft sofa that was placed in the middle of the living room that was so soft and warms with all its cushions and blankets to wrap oneself in.

He loved the small kitchen that would send out the mouth-watering smell of food every evening.

He loved the white hallway with the photo framed wall that he loved to look at when he was bored, because every time he discovered a new detail of them. Like two day ago, when he looked at the picture of Hope and the older women and suddenly realized that they actually have exactly the same smile.

He loved his own room with the big, soft bed in the middle, on which he loved to lay and read a book when Hope was busy. He had often wondered when she knocked on the door, but she had told him that this room was his private territory, and no one was allowed to enter if he didn’t want to.

Together, him and Hope even had created some kind of a daily routine.

In the mornings after he would wake up around 7.30 am. he would wait for Hope to be done showering. When she was done, she would leave the bathroom for him to go his routine, while starting to prepare the breakfast.

In the bathroom, he would take a quick shower, brush his teeth and hair and change into some new clothes.

Then, he and Hope had some breakfast together, before they both made the dished and he helped her to clean the table. After the dishes were done, Hope would sit down on the same kitchen table, writing something into her laptop, which she said was very important for her university graduation.

He often was a little bit sad that they couldn’t talk to each other while she was working on her essay, but he still tried to be as quiet as possible.

He then would either try to read one of the books standing in her bookshelf, try to sleep or he would watch some TV with the minimum of volume. But yesterday, he had found something more interesting to occupy himself with.

In the corner of the living room, he had spotted Hope’s old guitar. He was so curious that he had carefully asked her about it, and she immediately showed him how to use it. She said that she hadn’t played it in years, because she was too busy with university. But when she had pulled some strings of the wooden instrument, she created such a beautiful melody and Jungkook thought that it sounded absolutely amazing.

She even said, that him practicing the guitar, would not be bothering her while she wrote her terms. So, he tried to play the instrument while she worked. She had showed him how to google for tutorials on YouTube. At first, he was sceptical when the human in the TV screen began to talk to him, but soon, he had realized that he wasn’t actually talking to him, but for everyone who clicked on the video.

Sometimes, he would catch himself how he watched the girl working at the table. He would just stare at how she cringed her nose while her fingers slide over the keyboard, how she chewed on her lips as she read through the thick book, or how her tongue would stick out of her mouth when she was concentration really hard.

Beside the wife of his owner, he had never seen a human girl before. He only had seen some visitors of his owner, with all their make-up, pushed up breasts, heavy perfume and fake laughers. He never had thought at one of them to be beautiful, but Hope was.

He found out that she actually was a year younger than him, but her personality seemed to be much older than his. She never wore too revealing clothes or heavy make-up, nor did she ever covered her scent with perfume.

When he noticed how creepy he would stare at her, deeply absorbed in his thoughts, he would turn his attention back to whatever he had been doing before spacing out.

Once she would be done, usually around noon, they would both go into the kitchen and bake a cake together, that would be eaten in the afternoon. While waiting for the cake to be done in the oven, they would sit on the soft couch and talk about random things.

Jungkook had to admit that talking to the girl was one of his favourite things to do each day. Not only because she was a really funny person, or because her voice was so smooth and soft, but also because she actually talked and listened to him.

In the beginning, he sometimes had hesitated, not wanting to speak too much. But by now, he wasn’t afraid of talking too much and being punished for it. He just could talk as much as he wanted without being stopped.

Hope had told him some stories from her childhood and live. He listened to every detail carefully, wanting to give her the same attention she giving him all the time. She would tell him stories about different items in the house, and she even explained him the photos on the wall next to his room when he had asked about them.

Now he knew that the older women was her mom, who had sadly died a few year ago during a car accident. He felt sorry for her when he saw a tear leaving her eye and for a short moment, he had thought about hugging her. But only for a second. The pain and fear were still bounded too deep onto his bones.

The younger people next to her were her best friend from High School. He didn’t miss the sad tone, as she told him that they hadn’t had talked recently, because every one of them was busy with university and their own lives.

She had also told him about her college life. From what she told him, he assumed that she must be really smart.

But he was even more amazed when she told him about her future plans. Hope wanted to be a lawyer for Hybrid rights, because she thought that they deserve more rights than they have now. She thought that they should be equal to human and that she wanted to give them a voice by standing up for their rights.

He couldn’t believe that she actually was fighting for Hybrids to have all the same rights than human have.

He imagined himself and how he would leave the house to go to work every morning, like every human did each day. He imagines himself and how he would go shopping all by himself, or how he would just walk around the park whenever he wanted to. It must be great to fell that free.

When they would be done eating their cake in the afternoon, Hope would always clean up the apartment a little bit. She said that she didn’t want the house to be sterile, but she wanted it to be tidy. She would use the vacuum to clean up the floor in every room, while Jungkook cleaned up the kitchen from when they had baked.

In the evenings, they would both prepare their diner, before eating it together, making the dishes and watch some more TV, until they both were tired. They would brush their teeth again, before changing into a pair of pyjamas and then go to sleep.

“Jungkoooook! Can you come here for a second, pleeeaaaasee!”

The Hybrid’s ears shot up high in the ear when he heard the girl’s voice coming from the living room. He quickly closed the book he was reading on his bed and laid it onto his nightstand. Slowly and a little bit scared that he had done something wrong, he walked out of his room. He carefully peeked his head around the corner, looking into the living room.

“Hey Jungkook.” The girl waved at him when she saw him standing in the hallway.

The boy gulped. Hope didn’t look mad or angry, so he assumed that he didn’t do anything wrong. Rather than mad, she looked really excited and happy as she made her way over to the couch where the boy suddenly spotted something big.

He curiously made a step further into the living room, slowly making his way up towards her. His mind was filled with questions when he saw the girl walking up to the big, brown box next to the sofa. It was much higher than the small girl, almost his hight, and printed with many different signs and…warnings?

Don’t shake. Caution, heavy package! Lift with care.

“Don’t look so scared, Jungkook.” The girl smiled at him when she saw how he hesitated to come near her. “I have a surprise for you.”

He watched as she pulled a small pocket knife out of the pocket of her jeans. She stepped closer to the package and quickly slide the sharp blade of the knife over the plastic strings that were wrapped around the big box.

“A Surprise?” He whispered in disbelieve. “For me?”

“Yes, for you, silly.” She smiled again, as she cut the last string, leaving only the tape wrapped around the box. “Now come over here. I need your help with this.”

He made two big steps until he had reached the girl and the package. Hope was already pulling at the tape trying to rip it off. He lifted his arms up to the top of the box, pulling the tape that was placed there.

His mind was still filled with questions. Never in his life had someone bought him a present, not even on his birthday. He wondered why she had decided to buy him something this big and heavy, after all, she already shared her apartment with him, and this was more than he could ever ask for. He wondered what was hiding inside the brown cardboard, but he knew that whatever it was, he would love it.

He ripped the last piece of tape off, throwing it onto the pile on the ground. The girl was already holding her knife, slicing open the brown cardboard of the box. When she was done, she laid the piece of metal onto the dining table, before turning around. Her eyes were flickering between the Hybrid and the still closed package.

“Come on. It’s for you.” She said after a few seconds of silence. “Open it.”

He was still looking at the girl with wide eyes, before he snapped out of his trance, and just pulled the brown cardboard away carefully.

He gasped and took a step back. Now standing in the middle of the living room, was a big, red sack. It was round and about his height, with a big metal chain on the top, along with some red, big gloves. He didn’t know what this was supposed to be. Never in his life had he seen something strange like this.

“Do you like it?” The girl squeaked excitedly while jumping up and down.

Did he like it? He didn’t even know what this things was used for. What was he supposed to answer? She looked so excited and happy, and the last things he wanted was to hurt her feelings.

“I – ehm…” He hesitated for a moment. “I like it?”

His answer sounded more like a question, and the girl didn’t miss that.

“You don’t know what this is, do you?” She pulled her left eyebrow up, while she watched in amusement as the boy struggled to find an answer. He was too adorable. “It’s okay, Jungkook. I will show you.”

She walked up to the red sack, standing onto her tippy-toes to reach the red gloves from the top. She pushed them into his arms and gestured for the boy to pull them over his hands.

“This is a punching bag.” She said as she walked behind the so called punching bag. “You can punch and kick it to get stronger, or when you are angry. I just thought – you once said that you think of yourself being too thin, and since you can’t go out, I thought that you would like something like that. We can hang it up in your room if you, but if you don’t want it it’s okay, then I will send it back. Come on, punch it.”

The boy stared at the red gloved that were now covering his hands, before looking up at the girl, checking whether she was serious or not. When their eyes met, she smiled and nodded at him to go on.

He carefully lifted his left hand in the air and pushed it forward. His punch was weakly, as if he was scared to hurt the bag.

The girl encouraged him to hit the bag harder this time. Insuring him that he was not hurting someone.

Jungkook lifted both of his hands this time, like he was actually preparing to fight someone. He threw another punch at the bag, which was much harder this time. Then he threw another one with the other hand.

Something inside him had just been woken up, and he was surprises by the power behind his punches. Before he had come to Hope, he was thin and weak, almost too weak to hold himself on his own legs.

Though he had gained some more weight over the last 7 days, he still was not happy with is body statue. He didn’t want to seem weak anymore. He wanted to be strong and powerful, so he could protect himself so he would never had to fear some human ever again in his life.

Being roommate with the small girl, he had recently developed the primal urge to also want to protect the female from all intruders and dangers coming from outside. So this punching bag could be a good chance to actually gain some muscles.

Over and over again, he punched the bag harder and harder, until the girl, who was still steadying the heavy sack, stooped him.

“Okay, okay!” She laughed, and immediately, Jungkook stopped. “I think it is better to hang it up in your room, or else you will punch me around the room. Come on, help me carrying it.”

Together, they carried the bag into the Hybrid’s room. The girl also brought a hammer and a hook for hanging up the punching bag onto the ceiling. The boy watched in amazement, as she climbed up onto a chair and bringing the hook into the ceiling all by herself.

When she was done, he helped her to lift up the bag and hang it up onto the hook. Proudly, she stepped off of the chair and rubbed her hands.

“Do you like it?” She asked again, this time more referring to the position they had hung up the red bag.

“Yes. I like it very much.” He just whispered, not knowing how to thank her appropriated. “Thank you…Hope. Thank you so much.”

They looked for another seconds at each other, before she said that she had to do some more work. She was about to leave, when she suddenly turned back.

“I forgot something.” She spoke more to herself, as she ran out of the room, leaving the confused boy behind. She came back a few minutes later, holding something black in her hands. “I actually have another surprise for you. Well…it’s not actually a surprise but more like a recommendation from me to you.”

She walked back inside the room, making her way up towards his bed. She asked him if she could sat down and he nodded, taking a seat next to her. Jungkook could sense her racing heartbeat and her nervousness. She lifted the black object and placed it on his lap carefully.

“This is a notebook. I – I know that you have been through some tough times, and it’s okay that you don’t want to talk about it with me. But if you ever feel like you need to get something off of you mind, you can just write it in here. Believe me, it helps very much to organized one’s mind into a notebook. I used one for myself when I was younger and didn’t want to talk to someone. So – here.”

Carefully, she lifted her hand and laid it on his for a moment. She knew that he was still afraid when it came to physical affection, but she just needed him to know that she cared.

Jungkook just stared at the notebook and then at her hand that was covering his. His cheeks blushed slightly when he realized that they were actually touching. But somehow, he didn’t feel the urge to pull away.

“The Simpsons, again?” The girl groaned and threw her head backwards, closing her eyes. “Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

When she opened her eyes again, she immediately was confronted with those big, brown orbs staring into hers. How could she say no? She sighed loudly, while pressing the right button onto the remote.

“Your play wasn’t fair.” She muttered, as she bent over and snatched the bowl of popcorn out of the Hybrid’s hands.

This day had been more then exhausting for the girl, but also a day of many happy occasion. First of all, she had finally finished the majority of her paper terms. It wasn’t perfect yet, but being done so early she had plenty of time for working on the details.

Jungkook wasn’t so pleased when she had worked twice as long for finishing her terms, meaning that he had to bridge twice as much time alone. He had tried a few times to convince her stop working for today, but when he realized that she wouldn’t go after his demand, he just pouted and went to his own room.

Hope had noticed the process Jungkook had made over the past two weeks which made her extremely proud.

Not only mentally, he became much more confident, but also physically. Since the day she bought him his punching back, he had been practicing almost every day. She would hear the dull tones of his gloves hitting the bag, while she would sit in front of her laptop in the dining room.

His skin and body looked much healthier, now. With his cheeks red and more plump, and with his shoulder and arms that seemed to get much and much broader every day, there was nothing left from the shy, injured boy from two weeks ago.

She had also noticed, that he actually wasn’t too averse to physical affection as she had thought. She thought that she had crossed a border when she touched his hands without his permission a few day before, but since then, he only seemed to trust her more.

He wouldn’t pull his hands away anymore, when their hands accidently touched. He also wouldn’t sit on the couch as far away from her as possible, instead, he even agreed to share the same blanket two nights ago.

He also had taken in her recommendation when she had given him the notebook. She sometimes watched him as he was bent over the small book, writing something in with fast and hectic movements. Sometimes, she wondered if he was actually writing, or if he was just sketching some pictures or signs. But then, he could read, so she assumed that he had learned how to write, too.

When he was done, he would just lay his pen aside, and stare at the book for several minutes, completely spaced out. She wanted to ask him what he was thinking about, but decided to not go for it. He should always have the chance to organize his thoughts without her bothering him.

The second exciting thing that had happened this day, was Jungkook accompanying her towards the grocery store. It wasn’t planned at all, but lately he had asked her more often if there was a chance that he could leave the apartment. At least one time.

Lucky for him, he had a short fluffy tail that was normal hidden by his shorts, and his ears could be easily covered by a beanie. He had looked like a normal, healthy and happy young man, when he had strolled behind her through the hallways of shelves.

It made her even more sat that he indeed was a normal boy. He had never asked to be bred in a laboratory. He had never asked to be threatened like a slave in his own home, and he especially deserved nothing mor than to feel normal. One day – One day he would get the chance to feel normal. She would to anything in her power to give him that chance.

“We can also watch something else if – if you want.” Jungkook ripped her out of her thoughts.

He had curled up under the blanket beside her, nudging his head into the soft pillow behind him. His ears were sprawled out to one side and all over the soft cushion, as well as his deep brown hair. The day in the supermarket had really worked him out.

The boy was so focused on the TV playing his favourite cartoon, that he didn’t notice how the girl took a quick picture of his being curled up on the couch. She looked at the taken picture for a few seconds, before closing her phone and throwing into onto the couch.

A sudden idea came into her head. The boy’s birthday was coming up soon, and she was still thinking of a nice surprise for. She knew he loved all of the photos that were placed all around the apartment. He loved to look at them every morning while she worked, and he loved even more when she told him the story behind every single photo, even if she had told them to him for several times.

What if he would wake up on his birthday, leaving his room and seeing a photo of him framed and hung up onto the wall? She actually like that idea.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked for her phone. Why did she had to throw it away so far from her? She groaned. If she wanted to memo her idea, she needed to move now. She pushed the blanket away and bent over to reach her phone.

While doing so, she accidentally pushed her hand onto the remote, that laid next to her. The TV screen went black for a moment, before popping up with a new picture.

In the middle of the screen was now a news reporter talking. Hope didn’t pay him any attention. She was still occupied with her phone, when suddenly the Hybrid next to her shot up from his lying position.

He sat straight up, his mouth slightly open and his ears high up in the ear. Like paralyzed, his wide open eyes were fixed on the screen where the report was still talking about something the girl hadn’t caught yet.

“Jungkook?” She asked quietly, but he didn’t’ move an inch. “Jungkook, are you –“

“Shhhhh!” He didn’t even looked at her, as he shushed her shut, pointing his finger wildly onto the TV screen.

“…Unfortunately, the police had not been arriving in time. Witnessers though spotted some of the rarest breeds under the illegal participant Hybrids. Among them were Asiatic lions, some Azawakh dog and even an Amur Leopard. All of these Hybrids belong to the rarest breeds of the world. Dealing or participating them in illegal fighting clubs is highly is highly punished…”

Bullshit. None of those people will ever be arrested, and this guy in the TV knew it. If illegal dealers or ZCM’s, so called ‘Zoo Club Members’ or owners who send their Hybrids to illegal fighting clubs, were caught, there was neither someone who wanted to defend the Hybrids in front of the judge, nor no one even cared to actually bring the case in front of a judge.

She turned her head over to the hybrid sitting on her couch, but she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. When he had jumped up from the couch, she thought that he got scared because of the sudden change of the TV channel, but what she saw broke her heart.

The bunny Hybrid had laid his ears flat against his head, while big tears were spilling out of his eyes. Between short sobs and gasps he whispered two words all over again.

“Jin Hyung.”

[inspirations | recommendations] ⇉ 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀!

@wishesunderthestars

@agustdakasuga

@ditttiii

@angelicyoongie

@starlightauroras-writes

[lifesabe-ch]

the four times he heard you and the one time he didn’t - jj m.

request: can you write a jj imagine where he gets in a fight over you?

pairings: jj maybank x reader

warnings: arguing, boys being boys

word count: 4473

a/n: I originally just had the idea of not making it basic, JJ fighting Topper stuff, but then got SO carried away I'm sorry this is so long (also @pitaparka​ helped a lot, lets thank her too)

THE FIRST TIME JJ HEARD YOU...

“What’re you guys even watching anyway?”

“Shhh!”

You rolled your eyes as you sat besides John B., “Hmm?”

“What?”

“Hmm?” You repeated, mouth still stuffed full with popcorn, hand extending the bowl out to him.

He looked between you and the bowl for a minute before laughing, tossing a few into his mouth, “Didn’t you ever learn to not talk with your mouth full?”

“Shut up, asshole,” You said. “Do you want some?”

You reached the bowl out to JJ, slapping John B.’s hand away as he stretched to pull it back.

The blonde nodded, grabbing a hand full and popping it in his mouth, before gesturing to the empty space besides him, “Thanks. There’s more room near me if you, you know, wanted to sit here.”

You chuckled lightly, stretching your legs across John B.’s as you sat back, “But I’m already sitting?”

John B. muffled a snort at your oblivious response as JJ blushed, shaking his head, “Oh. Right. Yeah. I probably shouldn’t even have mentioned it, sorry.”

“What? It’s fine. I’m just comfortable,” you said, shrugging.

“Stop making it weird.”

JJ glared at John B., “I’m not making it weird. You’re making it weird by saying I’m making it weird. It wasn't weird till you said weird.”

He only rolled his eyes in response, “Dude, just shut up and watch the movie.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

You looked between the two of them, letting out a low whistle, “Bit of toxic masculinity going on here, guys.”

“Hey,” John poked your side, “You too. Shut up and watch the movie.”

Scoffing, you settled against the couch cushions, pulling the blanket he had across your legs as well.

The tension in the room slowly settled as the movie played, the three of you too immersed to pay attention to one another.

The movie was creepy to say the least. Cheap jumpscares usually didn’t get you. Cheap gore didn’t get you. Monsters didn’t get you much either.

But there was something about the spiders that made your skin crawl. So much so, that you couldn’t even bear looking at the screen.

Burying your face in John B.’s shoulder, you couldn’t see the glare JJ was giving the two of you.

“Seriously, spiders?”

“They’re creepy! I don’t like the way they move with all of their legs at the same time… and they’re really fast,” You groaned, mumbling into his shoulder.

“That’s the size of my hand!”

“Yeah, your hand doesn’t have fangs JJ.”

John B. gently taps your arm, “Hey, they’re gone, you can look now.”

Looking up at the screen, you screeched, before shoving him, “Liar!”

The pair erupted into laughter, watching as you hid your face in a pillow, “Next time I’m sitting with JJ.”

THE SECOND

“I need your help,” he says over the phone. The confusion on your face was evident, but he wasn’t there to see it.

“It’s a fucking fitted sheet, I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time with this.”

“What?” you question him, “John, what are you talking about?”

“You’re not doing anything are you?” he asks considerately.

“Uhhh,” you say, looking around your house. It’s not like you had anything planned, but you didn’t really want to go all the way to his house to help him put on a fitted sheet.

“You don’t have to stay long, JJ’s coming over later, I just need help.”

“Then have JJ help you, stupid,” you reply.

“Do you think JJ can figure out how to put a fitted sheet on a bed? I’ll even make you lunch, just pleeease. If you love me you’ll help me.”

“I’ll only come over if you make me fish and chips.”

“Okay-”

“But not the freezer kind.”

“Awh, dammit. Fine, whatever.”

The sheet sat untouched on his couch, him sitting sadly next to it, popping his head up from his phone as he looked up at you.

“Thank God. I even tried getting it on before you came over, but this is a two man job.”

“I still don’t know why you couldn’t have asked JJ. I’m only here for lunch I hope you know.”

“And it’s on its way. JJ is a godsend, but he’s a stupid godsend.”

“Well your first issue is that it’s on your couch, not your bed,” you say, making his way to his bedroom with the sheet.

His bed looks like a deluxe twin, which is probably why he was having such a hard time with it. An extra long bed and a sheet shrunk by its many times in the wash would call for all hands on deck.

“Okay, you go to the top, I’ll stay at the bottom, and we can try to put it on that way.”

Turns out, he was very right about calling you over. Every time you went to put one corner on, the other one you had just put on snapped back into the center. Once, you had gotten three corners on, but then as John went to put the last corner on, he stretched it too much and the opposite corner flew off. As you reached for it, John kneeling carefully on the center of the bed, stretching the sheet onto the corner, the two you had previously put on snapped to the middle, covering his feet and hands, and you both groaned in annoyance. You tried multiple different approaches, all unsuccessful. It got to a point where you two had to research online how to put on the damn thing.

“The sheet is too small, John,” you chide. He scoffs.

“Yeah, well, it’s the only one I have, and I’ve gotten it on the bed before, I just can’t right now for some reason.”

“It’s probably because you shrunk it more, you moron.”

“Okay, let’s try this. I’ll put mine on, then I’ll come down and help you-”

“We’ve already tried that. It didn’t work. Let’s just buy another sheet, John, this is getting ridiculous.”

“No! We can get this sheet on the bed, let’s just, okay let’s just stretch it out as much as we can and then put it on at the same time.”

You rolled your eyes, but humored him. Your arms shaking with how hard you had to stretch it, you and John managed to put the sheet on the bed. You both flopped down next to each other, spreading your arms as wide as you could, feeling the muscles in your biceps burn.

“That sucked.” You said to him. With perfect timing, JJ entered through the front door.

“Don’t you ever lock your door?” You say to John as you make your way out of his room.

“Oh hey Y/N. What’s up?” JJ says, brown bag in hand. The bottom is saturated in grease, and the familiar fish and chips smell filled your nose.

“Hi! Thank you JJ!” You cried, taking the bag from his hands and setting it down on the kitchen table.

“I paid for that,” John said, annoyed.

“You also promised me fish and chips,”

“I got you fish and chips!” John protests.

“No, JJ got me fish and chips. Everyone say thank you JJ.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Thank you JJ,” said JJ.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be here,” JJ said to you as you made yourself a plate and fetched the ketchup from the fridge.

“Oh, yeah. I’m just gonna eat and leave,” you said to him.

“Why were you here?” He asks inquisitively. He takes a seat down at the table next to you, stealing fries from the bag.

“I was…” you finish your mouthful. “I was putting a fitted sheet on John’s bed.” you say. JJ’s eyebrows furrow.

“Why did he need you to do it? No offence, I just, I was coming over.”

“That’s what I said!” you exclaimed. John glared at you. JJ glares at John. You glare at the lack of fries on your plate.

“I couldn’t get it on,” said John, taking a plate for himself and loading it with fish and chips and whatever strange white sauce he had in his fridge.

“Yeah, that makes two of us,” JJ mutters. You throw your elbow into his shoulder.

“Shut up,” you say, reaching into the bag for more fries, to find there were none. You settle for stealing more off of John’s plate.

“Hey!” John protests, but you cut him off.

“You owe me these for whatever just happened in there.”

You stop taking fries when John piles more white sauce on them, and your stomach has stopped grumbling. You wash your hands in his sink, thank John for the experience, thank JJ for the food, and are on your way back to your house, unaware of the uneasiness settling in JJ’s stomach. And it wasn’t from the fish.

THE THIRD 

You drummed lightly on the log you were sitting on, watching the party go on in full swing. Everyone was having a good time. They were talking, laughing… even the few kooks that had snuck in hadn’t bothered anyone yet.

“Counting the grains of sand?”

Glancing up at JJ, you nodded, “Yep. Then I wait for the tide to come in, so I can count them all over again.”

Rolling his eyes at your sarcasm, he sat down with a slight nudge, “Seriously, what’re you doing all the way over here?”

“Taking a break.”

“From?”

“The drunk people.”

He laughed lightly, gesturing to your solo cup, “Aren’t you drinking?”

“That’s different,” You scoffed. “I’m drinking, not drunk. Some people are absolutely wasted. Like… look, that girl talking to John B.!”

You both look over in the direction you mentioned, watching as the redhead draped herself against John’s arm, almost spilling her cup in the process.

Looking back at JJ, you clicked your tongue in annoyance, “See? Gross.”

He shrugged in response, taking a sip from his own cup, “I don’t know. I bet you he’s loving it.”

You rolled your eyes, gaze wandering back over to where John was with the girl, clearly not loving it. You were silent for a moment, you watching them, JJ watching you. Eventually, he heaves a sigh, quietly setting his cup down besides him.

You glance at him as he stands, extending a hand to you, “Come on.”

You don’t respond, instead just quirk an eyebrow.

“Seriously. Come on. Let’s go save him. Then we can hang out, yeah?”

This causes a smile to break out on your lips, your hand finding his as you allow him to pull you up, “This is why you’re my favorite.”

At this, JJ’s smile grew, his hand giving yours a squeeze as the two of you made your way over to John.

When you got close enough, you drop his hand, jogging slightly ahead and placing your arms around John B’s waist, “There you are!”

His eyes quickly dart between you and the girl, giving you a slight nod of approval. You take this as a sign to continue.

Her grip immediately tightened on his bicep, eyes narrowing, “Who are you?”

“I’m Y/N, John’s girlfriend,” You extend your free hand to her, letting John’s arm wrap loosely around your waist.

JJ scoffed lightly as he got close enough, his previous grin completely wiped from his features as he crossed his arms over his chest and took in the scene before him. The girl did nothing to hide her shock, stepping slightly back from John’s arm.

“I’m sorry, girlfriend?”

John nodded, shrugging, “What can say? I love being tied down.”

“And I love doing the tying.”

The girl huffed, turning on her heel and walking away, leaving the two of you to burst into giggles.

“That was absolutely awful.”

John grinned, nudging you lightly, “What? I thought it was good?”

“It wasn't,” JJ scoffed.

“It wasn't,” You repeated, shaking your head. “We can do better. Maybe we should type out a script.”

“We could practice it at my house.”

Shrugging, you continued, “Well yeah. We need a signal. For when we don’t want to be talking to other people. So the other can swoop in.”

“And if there’s no one we’re interested in, we’ll just pretend to be together from the get-go.”

You nodded, keeping your arm linked with his as the two of you began walking, “Yes! I feel like we could really make it believable. JJ, are you coming?”

Shaking his head, the boy kicked at the sand before begrudgingly following his two friends, muttering under his breath, “JJ, are you coming?”

THE FOURTH

You laid on one of the boat’s benches, pulling your hat down to cover your face from the sun.

You were meeting the others here but, as always, they were late. So, it was just you and John B. on the boat. Him, fixing something or other. You, being all types of distracting and unhelpful.

“When are you going to tell everyone else?”

He glanced back at you slightly before continuing to do whatever it was he was doing. “Tell them what?”

“About Sarah.”

Your answer was plain and simple, but something about it had John B. standing upright and walking over to you.

“How do you know about that?”

Glaring up at him and the shadow now cast over you, you waved him off, “Can you move? You’re blocking the sun.”

“How do you know about that?” He repeated, not moving an inch.

Sighing, you sat up and placed your floppy hat besides you, “JB, I know everything. Frankly, I’m offended you didn’t tell me yourself. I had to see the two of you making out on the pier.”

John B. could only stare at you in shock, shaking his head slightly, “You couldn’t have seen us I… You’re not going to tell anyone, right?”

You shook your head, scoffing lightly, “Do you seriously think I would do that?”

“I don’t know… you and JJ seem pretty close. Maybe you mentioned it by accident.”

Ignoring the blush that dusted your cheeks at the mention of the blonde haired boy, you tsked, “I wouldn’t do that to you John, you know that!”

He nodded, leaning against the center console with a sigh. The two of you were silent for a moment, listening to the seagulls screaming overhead. But the silence between you two didn’t last long.

You were hopping up from your spot and nudging him excitedly in no time, “So… tell me more about it!”

He chuckles, “Listen, there’s nothing to tell.”

“Nothing to tell? Come on, that can’t be true. I’ve already seen the two of you macking on each other!”

“Right, but that’s all we do.”

“So…?”

“So,” he continued, “It’s like I don’t know how to act around her. I completely forget how to talk.”

You frown slightly at this, taking in his serious expression, “You just need practice.”

“Yeah, Y/N, lemme call her over and ask if she’ll sit there with headphones in—”

“No, idiot, practice on me.”

He shakes his head, instantly stepping away from you, “Nope. Uh-uh.”

“Come on! You need the help, you said so yourself.”

“No I did not.”

“Well, you implied it,” You say, taking a step closer to him. “And it’s just me. I won’t even make fun of you. Just… pretend I’m Sarah.”

Heaving a sigh, John B. sat down in front of you, muttering, “This is so weird.”

Kicking his shin softly, you gesture for him to continue, chuckling as he flips you off.

“Sarah… I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a complete idiot-”

“Just say it.”

“I really like you. Whenever I’m with you I just feel like…”

“Like you’re floating?”

“Floating? What? Who says that?”

“That’s a thing people say, in movies and stuff. Like on cloud nine.”

“What happened to clouds 1-8?”

“Dude just go with it.”

“Fine. Yes, Sarah. Like I’m floating. You make me so happy. And you’re absolutely gorgeous, and funny, and smart… and overall not that bad for a kook.”

You laughed, shaking your head, “Maybe leave that bit out?”

“Right… But you’re amazing. I really like spending time with you? Date me?”

“No ew. Don’t say date me. Be like, ‘Will you go out with me?’ or ‘Wanna go on a date sometime?”

Before John B. can respond, JJ hops onto the boat, Pope and Kie in tow, grinning at the two of them, “Am I late?”

“Are you ever early?”

Chuckles are shared between the boat’s guests, before John B. pulls the boat away from the pier.

Once further out on the water he glances over at Y/N, who had reclaimed her stretched out position on the bench, her head resting on JJ’s lap.

“So… you’re awesome. Like… one of the coolest girls I know. And you’re absolutely stunning.”

Immediately catching on to what he was doing, you smile, sitting up as you nod, “Awh, John B., you shouldn’t have.”

JJ looks between the pair before making eye contact with Pope, muttering, “He seriously shouldn’t have.”

“I love spending time with you. And I want to spend more time with you.”

“Okay…?”

“Do you think you’d want to go on a date sometime?”

Grinning, you stand up, high fiving JB’s free hand, “Yes!”

“Guys, do I have to remind you of our no pogue on pogue rule?”

The two of you ignored the others as you laughed, clearly enjoying the new inside joke between you. As he stopped the boat in the water, you continued.

“Oh, John B., I’m glad you finally asked me!”

“Finally?” JJ questioned, matching the other two’s confused expressions as they watched the interaction.

“Sneaking around was getting soooo exhausting.”

John nodded, “Now we don’t have to, it’s all out in the open. Everyone can know that I’m macking-”

“Me,” You nudge, shushing him before he accidentally says Sarah’s name.

“What the fuck?” JJ exclaims, out of the blue.

Pope pulls JJ back as he stands, but JJ breaks out of his hold, shoving John B. backwards.

“Hey!”

“JJ!”

“Seriously, J.B?”

John B. huffs, shoving JJ back, an annoyed look on his features, “Seriously what, JJ? I didn’t do anything.”

“You know exactly what you did.”

The pair glare at each other, only stepping back when Kie steps in between the two of them, “What is wrong with you guys?”

JJ scoffs loudly before moving to sit on the far end of the boat, “Whatever. This stupid trip was pointless anyway.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

“That’s funny,” JJ said, “Considering it was your idea.”

“Yeah, and this is my boat. You decided to tag along.”

“You invited me,” JJ scoffed.

“You coulda turned me down,” John B. waved him off, “Yet here you are.”

Flipping him off, JJ rolled his eyes, “Fuck you, John B. I’m sick of everything being about you.”

“What exactly was about me?”

“What wasn't?”

“Uh, everything?” John emphasized. His hands are firm on the wheel, unmoving. Just like the boat. And also your trip, for the time being.

“This is a stupid argument guys,” Pope cut in, glancing between his friends, “Maybe we should all just, shut up.”

“You’re a stupid argument,” JJ retorted, launching all three of them into argumentative chaos.

Groaning loudly, you stood from your spot, throwing your arms up, “Pope, shut up. This isn’t about you,”

Kie nodded with your statement.

“JJ, shut up. This isn’t about you. John B., shut up. This isn’t about you. This is about me. I’m trying to enjoy my trip.”

With that, the boat erupted into arguing again. And this time, you and Kie weren’t left out of it.

THE ONE TIME HE DIDN’T 

You pushed open the door to John’s house, tossing your bag onto the kitchen counter. Ignoring the look he was giving you, you pulled open his fridge and grabbed a beer, holding one out to him as well.

“Uh, what’re you doing here?”

Ignoring the question, you set the beer you had taken out for the two of you down, before rummaging through his cabinets for some snacks.

“Don’t you have anything good in here- Ooh, never mind, I found some chips.”

“Aren’t you mad at me?’

Sighing, you turned to face the boy in front of you. God, sometimes he could be a real idiot.

“We had plans.”

He opened the bottle, shrugging, “So you’re just not mad at me anymore?”

“Of course I’m still mad at you! But, we said we’d watch this movie together today. And I want to watch it.”

“Okay… so you’re gonna not talk to me the whole time?”

“No!” You reprimanded. “I’m willing to overlook my anger for the next…” Checking your watch for dramatic effect, you grinned, “Two hours.”

Chuckling, the two of you made your way over to the couch, both making yourself comfortable before pressing play on the film. The movie started off slow but quickly picked up in speed, having the two of you roped in in no time. You were both on the edge of your seats, eyes glued to the screen.

The only thing pulling you from the action was a small knock at the door.

Glancing briefly at John B., you gestured to the door, “You wanna get that?”

“Nah, you locked it, right?”

You nodded, already facing the screen once more, “Yup.”

“Can’t be anyone important.”

As if on cue, another knock came, this time louder. Pressing pause on the remote, you glared at John, “Make them go away.”

Groaning, JB made his way over to the door, unlocking it before pulling it open. On the other side, an annoyed looking JJ was bouncing foot to foot.

“Do you have my hoodie?”

“What?”

“Do you have my hoodie?”

Blinking slowly at JJ, John B. leaned against the door frame, “Why would I have your hoodie?”

“I know you have it,” JJ continued, gesturing into the small home, “It’s in there-”

“Why would I take your hoodie?”

“Did I say you took it? No, I just… I know it’s here.”

John rolled his eyes, “JJ, why would your hoodie be here?”

JJ groaned, “Oh my god, John, because I left it here-”

“I think it’s right here.”

Narrowing his eyes, JJ tried to glance around John B., “Is that…?”

Poking your head from behind him, you smiled at JJ, extending his hoodie to him, “Here you go.”

“She’s here?”

“Yeah, she’s-”

“Lemme guess, helping you put sheets on your mattress?”

“What? No-”

“Is that why the door was locked?” JJ huffed, pushing past both of you into the house.

“What?” Glancing back as John B., you walked over to JJ, “JJ what’re you talking about?”

“Seriously, what is going on between the two of you?”

You and John B. burst into laughter at the insinuation he was making. You found it hilarious, but JJ did not.

“Shit, guys, I’m sick of catching you sneaking around-”

“What?”

“Woah, buddy, we have not been sneaking around!”

“You’re telling me,” JJ shook his head, “I’ve caught you two together a load of times!”

“We’re not together!” You shouted in defense of yourselves.

“Then how do you explain what you guys were doing on the boat?”

“John B. needed practice for talking to a girl he likes,” You said, shrugging your shoulders.

“And with the mattress?”

“We spent an hour fighting the sheet,” added John.  

“That doesn’t soothe my nerves.”

“Like, literally putting the sheet on his bed, you nasty.”

“And the party…?” JJ continued, suddenly feeling a lot dumber.

“You were there!”

“I know but-”

You cut him off, shaking your head, “I was just helping a friend out, JJ”

“But you wouldn’t sit next to me during the movie!” He whined, reminding you concerningly of a child in this specific moment.

“That’s what you-! I couldn’t, you make me nervous!”

John B. let out a low whistle, shaking his head, “I’m gonna let you two talk this one out. I’ll be in my room.”

The two of you were quiet as you watched JB leave, your eyes falling to the floor in embarrassment of what you had just said.

“Why do I make you nervous?”

You glance up at him, sighing at his confused expression,“Because I like you, you idiot.”

His shock was obvious, his mouth hanging slightly ajar as he searched for what to say, “I… Everyone thinks you like John.”

You groan loudly, walking away from him and into the kitchen, “No, JJ, nobody thinks I like John! You’re the only one who thinks I like John.”

“But…” he goes to explain, following behind you, but has no words.

“You really thought I liked John?” you ask, and he nods his head softly, eyes wide as if to say, “Uh, yeah. That’s what I just said.”

“I just kind of thought you didn’t like me back,” you said, and he laughs.

“Are you crazy? I thought you didn’t like me! I was ready to push John B. off of his own boat over you!”

“How could you think I didn’t like you? I’m always with you…” you mutter, as if to prove it.

“Yeah, you’re always with John B., too. We’re friends, we hang out, it’s what we do. I just… you never wanted to be with me though.” His eyes trace the lines in John B.’s floor, his arms crossed. He touches his face nervously.

“You were always sitting with John, or talking to John, and you’re always over at his house and-”

“Oh my God, JJ, get over yourself, please,” you force out. It’s almost angry and JJ can tell. He lets his shoulders fall. His puppy dog eyes burn through your entire body.

“I’m telling you right now, JJ, one hundred percent, I like you... Do you feel the same?”

“How could I not?” He says, and you notice how close he’s standing to you. His eyes are still soft, but he’s confident. For some reason, you acknowledge the blush (or the sunburn) that tints his cheeks rosy.

“What are you gonna do about it?” you taunt, but your words are empty, unlike your hands, which JJ places in his own.

Your breathing punctures the room’s atmosphere.

He kisses you.

You don’t know what to do besides enjoy it, wrapping your arms around his neck like something out of a romance movie, him cupping your face in his hands. Neither of you have any idea what you’re doing, but it feels nice to be in his arms, after having waited so patiently for so long.

“Hey guys,” John called, poking his head into the kitchen, as the two of you pull slightly away from each other. “I’m still here. I live here, you know. So… if you’re thinking of doing that, don’t.”

“JB!”

“What? I’m just saying… I don’t have a guest room… and-! And I just washed these sheets!”

“We know, John B., that’s what got us here in the first place.”

[angeli-marco-writes]

∘◦  ღ  ◦∘  Harrison Osterfield - Quarantine  ∘◦  ღ  ◦∘

A/N - I wrote this during the first lockdown that Britain were in. ow we’re in the third, and almost a year later, I’m uploading this onto my Tumblr from my Wattpad. And yes, before everyone says it, I am fully aware that the Holland’s and Haz were isolating in two different houses and haven’t been living together for months, but this makes it more amusing, and as I say, it was written a while ago. I do not know Harrison, nor do I claim to; this is a work of fiction and entirely my own. 

Warnings - cursing, smut, detailed sex, cockwarming, oral, kinky names, mentions of sleeping around... you know the drill by now.

Summary - Quarantine with a bunch of sex deprived twenty-odd year old boys isn’t your idea of fun, especially not when the only one you want refuses to pay even the slightest bit of attention. Taking measures into your own hands is only simple until you get caught.

YOU AREN’T SURE HOW, but in some strange twist of fate, you’ve ended up in self isolation with the Holland’s. But it doesn’t end there, no, not just the Holland’s, but Harrison and Tuwaine too.

You have a bed in the attic, the other side of Harrison’s room, but you’re hardly sleeping in it. Seeing as you’re the only girl among an entire collection of (ahem, horny) and barely adult boys, you were most certainly on their beckon call. You didn’t mind being called to Sam, Harry’s, even Tom’s rooms late at night; you simply wished that you'd be asked to sleep with the one you actually wanted. Harrison.

You and he had been friends as long as you could remember, neighbours from age 4 and friends ever since. Even through uni when you studied a double major and you had zero free time, he was still constant in your life. You’d met Tom and the boys, the twins being closer to your age, and gotten on with them all as well. It just so happened that you ended up on a job with Mr Holland, and that’s what brought all of you closer together with you being in their house often to work on this project it also just so happened that you’d been hanging around with them all when lockdown was announced, leaving you to be in trouble if you drove halfway across London to your own home, so they invited you to stay and had any and all necessary items mailed to you by your roommate. You were only trusted to stay with Harrison after your history together and nothing ever having come of you two, though Mrs Holland did not trust the other boys enough with you and therefore did a bed check every night and every morning to make sure you were alone, though it was always a deceitful check on everyone’s behalf. 

You didn’t thank Tom, Sam or Harry post-sex since you’d always have to return to your own cold bed, next to a sleeping Harrison, a sleeping Harrison who wouldn’t dare use you as a booty call like the other three did. It was safe to say that Harrison also had no idea of your truancies since he slept like a light and no one would discuss your actions at the dinner table to save your dignity, and their own necks.

Tonight though, you have other plans. Harrison has some papers to look through and will therefore be sitting at his desk, procrastinating before his computer for hours, only to be left to flick through the contract at an utterly ungodly hour, and he’d proceed to sleep tomorrow, all throughout the day. You were going to help him relax: maybe a massage, a cuddle, a blunt. Or you’d sit on his lap, watch to see whether he’d tense or relax beneath your bare legs, or whether he’d pick up on whose shirt you were to wear. That was the only tell: you’d steal a shirt from each brother to wear as a mark the next day, but you’d simply claim they were more comfortable than your own tight fitting button downs and crop tops. Harrison hadn’t noticed, not yet though as far as you knew, but each brother wore a slight smirk every day that you wore their shirt.

It hurt that Harrison wouldn’t be able to tell with his usual obliviousness, but you’d shower before seeing to him tonight, and wear one of his shirts so that when he got it back it might smell like you, a scent he claimed to enjoy.

As soon as dinner finishes, you leap away from the three boys all vying for your attention.

“I have work to do, and a shower to have. Plus, I’m tired.” You respond to all three on your journey up the stairs, hearing Harrison groan very loudly from the attic, followed by his head hitting the keyboard of his laptop. You smile sadly to yourself, a mix of nervous anticipation and excitement expelling from your body while the water lashes at your skin, soothing any pain or fear you may be feeling. You increase the heat, allowing the steam to fill your pores as you lean your head forwards to keep your hair dry, held in a messy bun.

You imagine his touch all over your bare body, his finger tracing your jaw, but a knock on the door and a yell to hurry up snaps you from your trance, making you turn off the water and wrap a soft towel (that you know to be Harrison’s) around yourself. You scowl at Harry on your way out, in response to which he sticks his tongue out childishly. 

You end up mostly dry after taking a longer than usual walk up the steps to the attic, lingering on each one until the balls of your feet become sore. You peek your head around the door, only to see Harrison in a hoodie and boxers, a grimace on his lips while attacking his keyboard with a ferocity that you’ve scarcely seen. His anger causes you to furrow your brows, silently wishing that you succeed in calming him instead of making him feel worse. 

You slip into a pair of panties and grab your favourite of his shirts off one of the hangers. You pull out your phone under a guise if he spots you, absentmindedly scrolling through your feed while eyeing Harrison. He slows his typing and begins clicking his mouse at the screen slowly, intently reading the reams of white on his laptop. 

It’s time, you tell yourself, standing up from the bed and walking behind him. You place your hands on his shoulders, splaying your fingers and digging your thumbs in. Harrison’s body goes lax, his hands falling from the laptop to the desk, laying his hands flat on the wood. He lets out a groan and rolls his head back, falling right onto the pillow of your chest. You continue to rub his shoulders, enjoying the way he’s slowly relaxing under your therapeutic touch, that is until he swats you away with a small, sad smile. You sigh, having none of it, and crawl your hands down to the hem of his hoodie.

“What are you doing?” He asks, his tone dripping with boredom. “I have this contract to read, you know I do.”

“Exactly.” You reply after thinking for a moment. You want to say the right thing, you want this to go seamlessly, so every word has to be perfect, not to mention every action.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t battle against your bid to remove his hoodie, and obligingly lifts his arms up over his head so that you can pull his jumper off. You toss it to the side and hear something fall to the floor, but that’s somehow the least of your concerns. You reward Harrison with a kiss to the soft, unblemished skin of his neck - but it won’t stay that way, not for much longer. 

You thread your fingers into his beautiful brown locks and tug a little, just to let him know that you mean business. His lips part as though intending to let out a groan of some kind, but it doesn’t come, so with disappointment you continue to play with his hair the way you love to. He doesn’t stop you, so that’s something, right?

When he hasn’t given you attention for too long, albeit about five minutes, you walk around in front of him. His eyes are forced to retrain from his screen to where your breasts show in his top. Apparently, going braless in one of his tops has its perks, not talking about your nipples.

“Looks good on you,” he murmurs. He pushes his chair out and gestures for you to drape yourself over his legs and lap, which you do more than willingly while wrapping your arms around his neck and tugging at the wonderfully soft curls at the nape.

“I know this isn’t ideal, you need to do proper work and be having contact with your girls, but I’ll get you out soon, I know the boys are a lot.”

You simply hum in acknowledgement, adjusting your seat on his bare legs. Skin on skin, electrifying in every sense of the word. 

“That is why you’re doing this, right?” He asks, nervously almost, and you instantly feel as though you’re molesting him, until he wraps his strong arms around your back. You could moan at the contact, his muscles tensing all around you, the feel of Harrison and his smell radiating around you, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

You move your hands to his shoulders and begin to massage again, just from the front this time, a feeble attempt to procrastinate against your goal. Harrison’s gone back to reading his screen, so while he’s still gathering what he’s reading, it’s your only shot.

You twist on his lap until you’re completely straddling him, your forehead pressed to his. The beautiful blue-green of his eyes sends you into a trance, melting your insides. You can swear that you see him nod a little, so you begin to move your hips. You grind and swirl on his lap, undulating your hips in a perfect figure of eight when you feel him harden beneath you.

With your ministrations paused momentarily, you take a sharp intake of breath and say, “This was never about attention because I’ve been stuck with the boys, this is because I want you.”

Harrison’s face instantly melts into an expression of relief, a goofy smile on his (what you hope to be) soft lips.

“I thought you didn’t want me because you were sleeping with the others,” he says, and you shake your head, tears of relief and happiness almost spilling from your eyes. You feel warm and fuzzy despite the guilt, shame and anger bubbling from your truancies with the Holland boys. 

“You knew then?”

“How couldn’t I?” He remarks, “you’re all they talk about when there’s no adults and no Paddy in the room. What they did to you, how many times they made you cry out their names, the marks they tried to leave on you until your own dominant side came out. Every conversation I had to excuse myself out of mainly respect from you, because what they said upset me but I just couldn’t say so, but then I just came up here and imagined what you’d be doing to me.” Your heart hitches in your throat, butterflies filling your stomach and travelling into your every limb, making your skin tingle. Your stomach rises in goosebumps, as does the skin of your thighs, and you notice that it’s because Harrison has his hands underneath your (his) shirt, and he’s skimming over your waist and legs, holding you and savouring the feel of your skin beneath him. He kisses your neck, once, twice, and it’s gone.

He turns back to his computer and continues his work, looking over your shoulder and letting his eyes train every tiny black line of script on his screen. Your neediness is at an all time high, one hand resting absently on your hip, just above your bum while his other hand clicks at his keyboard and mouse like it’s second nature. The speed of his fingers makes you even needier, craving for him to be inside you already, so you climb onto his bare thigh and trap it between your own. 

You dig your hips down into his leg, grinding and aching for friction, and you already know that you’re dripping onto his skin. The fine hair on his thighs gives a delicious amount of friction - not too much but not too little. As you go further, your mouth parts a little more, allowing you to let out a strangled whimper. Your thigh brushes Harrison’s cock through his boxers, and you feel his hand grip your waist tighter, almost painfully.

Your pussy starts throbbing, aching for more of him, while your hands rake his back, leaving scratch marks in their wake. Your head falls to the crook of Harrison’s neck as you approach your high, moving your hips more fervently and letting out moans is anticipation. You wonder if Harrison is even able to pay attention to his contract anymore with what you’re doing to him, but that thought is set to rest when you’re right on the edge, but both of his hands grip your hips and move you off his thigh, the skin glistening with your essence. 

For a minute, you think he’ll be angry, make you clean it up, but instead he just kisses you. His lips catch yours more desperately than you could’ve dreamt, immediately biting down on your lower lip, trapped inside his mouth. You let out the loudest moan you could in the moment, but Harrison finds it heavenly, delving his tongue into your mouth to deepen the kiss while his hands grip your ass. He pulls away, looking at you with those puppy eyes that he knows you can’t resist. 

“Sit on my cock? Just ‘til I finish this section, then I’ll take you as hard as you want.” 

You look sceptical, and Harrison can tell, you know because he kissed you again and moves his hands from your bum to wrap his arms around your whole body and keep you close to him. His lips pressed against your own is enough convincing, so you move your panties aside and accommodate while Harrison takes his boxers off.

When he does, you’re surprised at how big he is, bigger than any of the lads you’ve been with before. Long and substantial, you want to drool just looking at his dick standing proud against his stomach. Nervously, you slide down on him. His girth stretches your every wall and his tip hits new spots until finally you’re balls deep. He groans and exhales, eyes closed while trying to gather his bearings. 

“Fuck.” He says. “Your cunt bottomed out on my cock, keeping me warm and hard, you’re an angel.”

His words drive you crazy, making you moan and involuntarily clench around him, but he doesn’t seem to mind. You wrap yourself around him like a koala bear, craving to have as much skin to skin contact as is possible. Your head lays on his chest to stay out of his way, and he seems thankful to be able to see the screen but also feel you. 

You stay seated on Harrison for no more than ten minutes as he taps away at his keyboard and scrolls through the pages. Occasionally he moves, stimulating you enough for you to gasp or tighten around him, and in those instances he kisses behind your ear. 

You listen to his heart, slowing or increasing its speed depending on your movements. The steady heave of his chest moving with his breathing is strangely calming, making you feel closer to him, more stimulated and comforted, something like love.

Suddenly, his laptop slams shut and he thrusts up into you. You yelp a little and snap your head up, nose nudging with his and your lips grazing. 

“You’ve been driving me crazy, and you’ve done it on purpose. Were you sleeping with the others to get my attention? Am I better than them already? Bigger?” You whimper, his words building a fire inside you. “You don’t have to answer, love, I can already tell by your body.”

You cling to him even tighter than before as he clears everything off his desk, breaking a pencil pot while he’s at it, and you can’t help but chuckle.

“You choose a desk to fuck me on when we have two beds up here, both of which will make a lot less noise?” 

He looks downcast and releases a giggle. “Yeah, didn’t think of that.”

“It’s fine,” you say, cupping his jaw and caressing his stubbled cheek, “you can fuck me harder on this and let the boys know who I belong to tonight.”

He places you down beneath him on the desk, still hard inside you, but instead of attacking you again in a ferocious kiss, he looks down at you and marvels in your beauty just for a moment, his scrutiny surprisingly doesn’t phase you, it only makes you feel treasured, so as your eyes follow the movements of his rippling muscles, he smiles faintly and kisses you softly. 

“Fuck me Haz,” you whisper, those simple words being all the motivation needed, because he pulls out, leaving you whining at the emptiness of only his twitching tip inside your core, but within seconds he pushes all the way back in. 

He feels heavenly, your eyes rolling back into your head and a surprised moan leaving your lips. He smiles down at you before pulling out and thrusting back inside you, setting a steady pace. Every move feels like paradise, every jolt of his hips swindling shockwaves of pleasure through your craving body, having been desperate for him for a good while.

He feels heavenly inside you, his tip grazing that special spot inside you. “Harrison!” You cry, as quietly as you can. He leans down and pulls the neck of your (his) shirt down so that he can get access to your breast, immediately latching his lips onto your nipple, biting at it viciously while pressing his hands onto your spread thighs. You feel yourself approaching an edge, a timed coil curling inside your stomach as his ministrations continue. 

He’s so much better than the others - not that they weren’t good, they have a basic idea of what to do with you and how to use you, and they’re decently sized, but they can’t make you feel the way Harrison can. 

“I’m close...” you whisper between incoherent murmurs. He’s not too noisy, which may or may not be a blessing paired with the slamming and squeaking of the desk beneath your bodies, it’s mostly just breathy grunts and occasional curses.

“Me too, beautiful.” He dances his forefinger up your thigh and rubs circles around your wetness, allowing you to let go.

The coil within springs open, and you feel your body fall loose, vision blurring with stars in your eyes and core clenching around Harrison - it feels like heaven. Feeling this, he climaxes soon after you and to save from screaming, kisses you in a messy fight of teeth and tongues, half muffling the pornographic moans that would otherwise be bound to spill.

Harrison falls down onto you, chest heaving and breathless, but nonetheless he still places open mouthed kisses to your neck.

“I’ll wait for you to get your breath, shall I?” You tease while running your finger up and down his spine. He chuckles and climbs fully on top of you, cuddling you into his chest. “Well, now I can see why you don’t have a girlfriend yet. Can’t even go for one round without ending up flustered. Lucky that I’ll have you no matter.”

He hums into you, holding you and savouring the silence filled with only your breathing and a few sounds from downstairs, but soon the wood becomes too uncomfortable.

Harrison slips an arm beneath you and carries you across the room to his unmade bed, as opposed to your neatly tucked in one with your entire collection of clothes and makeup on top of the sheets, but his bed is probably comfier since he’s always in it. 

“Round two?”

Your heart rate increases, a burning blush rising to the tips of your ears as well as a shy smile snaking its way across your lips, still swollen from Harrison’s attack, not to mention the swollen parts of your skin where he paid a little more attention, leaving marks and memories for days to come.

“I’d like to see you try.” You tease, keeping your cool resolve despite feeling anxious straddling him, his eyes flitting between your chest, eyes and lips, unsure of what to do or how to use his mouth, a definite rarity for someone like him.

He seems desperate, putting his hands on your hips and thirstily jolting his hips upwards - if you’d been a few inches further down, he would’ve been straight back inside you, and maybe that’s what he was hoping for.

“Any hole’s a goal, isn’t that what Tom says?” 

He loves it when you tease him, that much you’re learnt over the years. Every girl he’s been with you’ve found a way to tease him about it, anything he says, anything he does, and he loves it since it usually ends in a play fight and him surrendering control of the tv remote to you. This time however, it ends in something far different.

He tugs the shirt up further and pulls you roughly so that your calves are either side of his neck, your once again dripping core hovering above his face and awaiting tongue. 

“Only if it’s yours.” He says, his breath sending shockwaves through your body straight from your core.

His tongue deftly finds its way through your folds and inside your tensing cavern, and it feels heavenly. His nose nudges at your clit while his tongue laps up all around you, his lips working in tandem while his tongue dances inside you. The moans leaving your mouth are otherworldly noises that you’ve never quite made before, maybe because you’ve never sat on anyone’s face, never mind someone as experienced as Harrison, something that you’re now learning is far from a bad thing. 

“Harrison!” You cry when he delves a little deeper. His eyes remain between your own and the way your boobs bounce inside his shirt while you squirm on top of him. Every noise the pair of you make masks the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs to the attic, and muffle the sound of knocking on the door.

Harrison’s mouth continues its assault on your needy heat, your one hand weaving into his hair while the other massages your breast through your shirt, bringing stimulation to your nipple and bringing your climax closer and closer...

“Haz, we get that you hate work but you really don’t have to make so much noise- OH MY FUCKING GOD!”

You freeze, your recently shut eyes shooting open and darting over to the door, ajar with Tom standing just over the threshold, staring right at the two of you with a face of horror and disgust. Harrison however, bites down on your sensitive nub in his state of shock, and your second orgasm washes over you in such a state of unexpected euphoria that you lose all your bearings. 

You cry out Harrison’s name like a prayer, chanting it while he cleans you up, and it’s not for a solid minute after your climax ends that you realise Tom is still in the room with you, rendered speechless, mouth agape and dumbfounded. 

When you clock what’s happening, you grasp Harrison’s duvet and yank it up to cover you both while you climb off Harrison’s face, his lips still glistening with your cum. He seems lost for words, too, blanching more and more with every passing second. He gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. No one moves, except for Harrison’s cock twitching under the duvet.

“It’s not what it looks like...” you say, your words getting lost in the thick tension of the room, like a rubber band pulled so tightly that it could snap at any given moment.

“Really? Because it looks like Harrison was just eating you out!”

You can’t fault Tom's logic, it is exactly what it looks like, so you just blush and pull the duvet up to your chin while wishing for a black hole to swallow you up. 

You can’t help but notice how beautiful Harrison looks though, plump lips and that wonderful glint in his eyes, messy hair and no top. 

“Ok, so it’s exactly what it looks like, surprise?” You can’t figure out what to say to him in the current situation, but instantly feel relaxed when Harrison begins to rub his palm up and down your thigh beneath the duvet .

“What- oh, this is why you called?” Sam now makes an appearance, folding his arms and standing next to a resolute Tom. You can’t decipher if he’s angry, amused or something else. “Our plan worked!” He suddenly shouts, and within seconds, Harry arrives beside the pair, a smirk on his lips.

“Really? So shagging Y/N and talking about it in front of me was all a ploy to get us together? And if so, why does Mr Fancy Pants here look so angry?” Harrison asks, and you can feel him willing his boner to wilt while in the presence of the brothers.

“Yes!” Comes paddy’s voice from the doorway, swiftly standing in front of Tom. 

You smirk, but Harrison scowls, unable to accommodate this situation within his mind.

“He’s probably shocked because he walked in on you two... you know. But yeah, it was all a plan, sorry by the way.” Harry says, you just wave it off but Harrison’s grip on your leg tightens.

“Don’t be angry, it worked didn’t it?” Sam chimes in, patting Paddy on the back before making his way out.

Tom has to have the last word, you can see it on the settling lines on his forehead, so you brace yourself closer to Haz. “And don’t I bloody know that it worked!”

Maybe the drama was worth it for the laugh out of Tom’s reaction, though Harrison would argue with you there.

[marvelousstevetony]

Okay but those ways to say I love you prompts are all so cute 🥺 what about on a post-it note for Steve and tony if you’re feeling inspired? Thank you! 💖

Ahh, they are! Thank you for this prompt, friend, it is so sweet. I hope you enjoy this small thing 💖

~ ~ ~

“Please don’t leave me in this hellhole.”

Steve bites the inside of his cheeks to stop the laughter from bubbling out of him as he lets his eyes wander over to the bed where Tony lies, face smushed into his pillow.

His arm hangs limply over the edge of the bed, the blanket pulled up so it covers most of his naked back, apart from his shoulders. His skin has that sleep-warm glow to it, and judging by the soft, relaxed expression on his face, Tony is only about fifty percent awake as he lets out a small whine.

Now Steve is unable to keep the smile from gliding over his lips. “You’ll do great, Tony. And you know I’d much rather get back into bed,” Steve responds as he zips his bag and places it by the door.

“There’s nobody stopping you…”

“There kinda is, though,” Steve says, walking towards the bed, then sits down after nudging Tony’s leg to make space on the edge of the bed. “Besides, I’ll be back tonight. You won’t even have time to miss me.”

He threads his fingers through the mess of dark curls, softly untangling the knots that always come as a result of Tony nuzzling his head against Steve’s shoulder, chest or back, depending on whose turn it is to be the small spoon. It looks a little like a bird’s nest, Steve notes, all disheveled and mussed, but definitely the most adorable bird’s nest Steve has ever seen.

“’s not true,” Tony mumbles into the pillow. “I always miss you when you’re not here.”

Steve knows the hoarseness to Tony’s voice is probably from sleeping, but he can’t help but feel like it’s from emotion, too, and just the thought of Tony missing him even when they don’t see each other for mere hours makes something in his chest catch. Because Steve feels it, too; the constant want and need to be with Tony, as if Tony’s presence is the oxygen Steve breathes to keep him alive.

Steve clears his throat to prevent an emotional voice crack. “I won’t be away for long, okay? I love you, sweetheart,” he murmurs, smiling even though Tony can’t see it with his eyes closed.

Tony hums, leaning into the palm Steve rests on his cheek. It’s only for a quick second though, because then he sighs heavily and feigns a pout. “Apparently not enough, since you’re leaving me to go to a stupid meeting. In D.C.”

Steve chuckles softly as he brushes his thumb over Tony’s cheekbone. “I’ll make it up to,” Steve promises and leans down to press a gentle kiss the corner of Tony’s lips. “You’re going to smash that presentation like you always do, and those investors are going to be every bit as smitten by you as I am.”

“I know,” Tony says, smirking even in his sleep-hazy state. “Still don’t wanna do it, though.”

“You’re gonna be great.” Steve gives his cheek another quick kiss before he stands and heads for the door, grabbing his bag on his way. “I’ll see you tonight. Love you.”

“Mm, love you too,” Tony mumbles, already falling back into the warmth of the blankets and the comfortable unconsciousness.

***

Tony curses under his breath as he woken up by the ear-splitting sound of his alarm going off, and for a few seconds he wonders who he is going to have to sue for making such a vile, atrocious sound. It doesn’t take much longer for his sleep fogged brain to register that he isn’t woken up by the ticklish feeling of Steve’s breath behind his ear that he’s used to.

Steve usually comes to rouse him from his slumber with that low, fond voice whispering good morning in his ear, and a steaming mug of coffee. Today, he gets neither, and it feels like a bad start to what Tony can only imagine is going to be a bad day overall.

He stretches out on the bed, joints clicking, and gives a jaw-crackling yawn that’s followed by an equally dramatic sigh. He lets himself revel in the softness of the mattress and warmth of the blanket before draping one hand over his eyes and reaching for his phone with the other.

He frowns when his hand identifies a piece of paper on the screen of his phone, then rubs at his tired eyes with a fist to clear away the blurry vision. He has to narrow his eyes to make out the words on the post-it, and god he feels old doing so, but the feeling is quickly replaced by the affection that pools in his chest when he reads the note.

Good morning, my love. Hope you slept well.

- S ♡

Steve might not physically be in the Tower, but Tony knows that he left his heart right here.

His heart is apparently not the only thing Steve has left in New York, because throughout the routine of showering, brushing his teeth and getting dressed, Tony finds another few colorful notes with small, sweet messages and cute little drawings on them.

Wish I could join you, the one on the shower cabinet had said, and, well… Tony definitely agrees.

When Tony had showered, sadly all by himself, and finished up in the bathroom, he’d gone to choose what to wear for the meeting with the investors. What screams genius, billionaire, philanthropist and a damn good businessman? he had thought, staring into a closet full of suits.

That’s when he’d noticed another post-it, a red one that said: You look amazing in all of these. Those investors are so lucky. Love you. Steve had added a small smiley face with hearts as eyes. Tony rolled his eyes fondly before settling on a dark grey suit and the maroon-colored tie Steve had bought him.

Now, as he enters he kitchen, he feels a little better, a little less like this day is pure agony.

Because he is Tony Stark, a caffeine-addict, he heads straight for the coffeemaker, his most treasured item, and he can almost hear the birds chirping and angels singing the closer he gets. His focus quickly switches to the piece of paper that’s stuck to it though, and the fact that he reads the note before starting the machine is truly a testament to how much he loves Steve.

Please drink a glass of water and eat something too. Coffee is not a real breakfast!

Tony laughs out loud. He can imagine the look on Steve’s face and the sound of his voice so clearly in his mind as he reads it. Normally he’d argue this point, just because he can and because coffee deserves to be acknowledged as a necessity in his diet, but he doesn’t have it in himself to disregard Steve’s request, so he fills a glass with water and puts a bagel in the toaster while the coffee brews.

When it’s done, Tony goes to grab his favorite mug from the cupboard and is not surprised to find another post-it stuck on it.

From the day I realized I love you, it says and Steve has drawn a tiny ferris wheel on there, too.

Tony smiles reminiscently, thinking back to the day Steve had gotten him the mug. He had bought it in the gift shop in Coney Island when the team had gone there on a day off. Steve had told him how he and Bucky used to go there, he even told him about the time he had thrown up after Bucky made him ride the Cyclone. Neither of them had been able to stop blushing and smiling that day.

He snaps out of his absorption of memories when the toaster chimes, fills his mug and takes a seat a the breakfast bar, scrolling through his phone as he eats. He contemplates calling Steve but remembers that he and Sam are going to be in and out of meetings all day, so he settles on texting him a single red heart emoji.

For the next hour, as he gets ready for the investor meeting, Tony finds several other post-its. Some are messages saying stuff like I love you more than Nat loves knives, others are small drawings with cute texts like the one of them with grey hair and wrinkles that reads Growing old together. Tony may or may not have teared up at a few of them, and if he does, no one will know.

He imagines this is what it would’ve been like if he had ever been hunting for easter-eggs as a child. However, notes from Steve are a lot more rewarding than those cheap, poor quality chocolates.

With each one he finds, Tony’s chest tightens and his heart squeezes. Most people believe Tony is the one who’s always super over the top when is comes to romantic gestures, which, to be completely honest, is true. He does the grand, romantic gestures because he likes to spoil Steve whenever he gets the chance to. He likes watching Steve’s cheeks turn pink and that shy smile that crosses his face when Tony’s done something outrageously extravagant.

But… Steve has always been good at the small details. Things that seem insignificant but really aren’t, because they’re intimate and heartfelt and the most Steve things to do. Like leaving a million post-its around the penthouse to make up for being away.

As the collection of vibrant-colored paper notes grows, Tony finds a small box to gather the messages and drawings. The last one he finds is inside the elevator as he goes to meet Pepper before the meeting with the investors.

Good luck, baby. I love you.

***

Tony can’t recall when the last time a presentation went this well; everything went smoothly and the investors were immensely impressed.

He’s still tired as he stands in the elevator though, head tipped back against the wall, and he can’t wait to drop himself onto the couch and wait for Steve to come home.

He frowns when the elevator door opens and something seems… different, is the only way to describe it. The light are dimmed and instead, the room it lit up by candles. The Netflix logo is big and bright on the tv screen in front of the couch, which has been turned into a nest of blankets and pillows, and on the coffee table, there are two pizza boxes that give off a comforting smell that Tony can detect all the way across the room. In the middle of the whole affair is Steve, wearing his favorite pair of sweats and his old cable-knit, smiling widely at Tony.

Tears of happiness well up in Tony’s eyes as he walks towards the couch, shedding his shoes, jacket and shirt until he’s just in his undershirt, and drops himself directly onto Steve, burying his face in his neck. Steve holds him closer, chuckling a bit at Tony’s excited welcome home hug.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” Tony echoes, the sound muffled into the fabric of Steve’s sweater.

“Did you have a good day? Good. I’m glad,” Steve says, smile growing impossibly wider when Tony hums and gives a small nod.

They lie there for a while, breathing in the scent of each other, feeling their muscles relax the longer their bodies are pressed this close, fitting together like a perfect puzzle. Tony’s head is the perfect size to fit into the crook of Steve’s neck, and Steve arms makes the best embrace around Tony’s smaller frame.

After a few minutes though, Tony catches a whiff of the Italian spices and lifts his head to look into Steve’s sparkling, blue eyes. “Pizza?” he asks hopefully, and Steve’s smile is answer enough.

Tony sits up to open the box and on it, there’s a post-it. It’s short and simple and it might be Tony’s favorite.

I love you, Tony Stark ♡

“You still think I don’t love you enough?”

Tony swallows hard around the lump that has suddenly appeared in his throat. “I never doubted that you do,” he says soberly. The words feel heavy as they leave his mouth, because it’s true; Steve has never given Tony any reason to question his love for him. Tony knows that Steve loves him.

He knows it by the way Steve runs his hand through his bird’s nest of a bedhead even though it’s greasy and it has gotten too long because he doesn’t want to go the the hair dresser. He knows it in the way he makes sure Tony doesn’t kill himself by only consuming coffee. He knows it by the way they can tell each other embarrassing stories about throwing up after riding a rollercoaster and buy ugly mugs from gift shops. He knows it in the way Steve writes hearts above the i’s and j’s, in the small curves of his handwriting and in the drawings and texts that tell Tony that he wants to grow old with him. He knows it by the way Steve looks at him with his blue eyes and long lashes and by the sincere smile that plays on his lips when he says his name.

They’re silent for a moment, but then Steve leans in, his lips ghosting over Tony’s as he whispers, “I love you, Tony.”

“I love you,” Tony says, closing the final gap between them, sealing their lips in a gentle, sweet, perfect kiss.