#I had to explain that one to my mom and I was like no…. regardless of what they went by at the time you do not use someone’s deadname
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capetowncapers · 1 year ago
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If you “care about trans ppl” but will conveniently not respect the pronouns of (or worse, will deadname) people you don’t like or agree with, I don’t believe you and I think you’re gross.
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ccsainzleclerc5516 · 7 months ago
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Just Like His Father
Pairing: Lewis Hamilton x reader
Warnings: none, pure fluff, I actually saw this on tiktok and thought it'd be cute to make sth out of it
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You were in the kitchen finishing making dinner when your husband returned from a business meeting.
"Hey, love" Lewis greeted you as he entered the kitchen.
"Hey, baby" You smiled as he stood behind you and wrapped his arms around you leaving a kiss on your cheek. "You tired?"
"No, but I am starving." He sighed. "What's for dinner?"
"Curry chicken and rice. It'll be ready in a minute, you can sit at the table"
"Oh, yes, please.." He groaned. "Where's Marlo?"
"He should be in his room doing his homework. The young gentleman didn't have lunch today so he has to eat dinner" You chuckled remembering the talk you had with your son earlier today. Marlo was 5 years old and in preschool. He was the smartest, most lovable, but also unintentionally the funniest kid ever.
"Marlo, daddy's home!" You shouted. "Wash your hands and come sit at the table"
"Why were you laughing when you said he didn't have lunch today?" Lewis asked curiously.
"Oh you just wait till you hear it from him" You giggled taking the dish and walking with it over to the table.
When Marlo washed his hands, he ran into the kitchen extending his arms towards Lewis. "Daddy!" He screamed with joy seeing him.
"Buddy" Lewis softened, picking him up in his arms and hugging him tightly. "I missed you. Did you have a good day at school?" He asked.
"Yup" Marlo nodded.
"Tell daddy what happened at school today" You said trying to refrain from laughing so that Marlo doesn't think you're making fun of him.
"What happened at school?" Lewis was still confused. "Did someone mess with you? Did someone touch you? Y/n?" He was already visibly upset and paternal protective instincts kicked in within seconds.
"No, no-"
"Mom did.." Marlo blurted out and his gaze shifted to you. “Mom messed with me..”
"What do you mean?"
"Marlo, did you eat your lunch at school today?" You asked crossing your arms and leaning your elbows onto the table waiting for his response.
"I didn't actually" He said turning to Lewis.
"And why is that?" Lewis asked.
"Because my girlfriend was sat right across from me and you put a note that said I love you babe" Marlo explained pointing his finger at you.
Lewis paused for a second, blinking a couple of times before bursting into laughter. "Your girlfriend, buddy? You have a girlfriend?"
"I'm not sure if I still have one after today" He sighed.
"Oh, your girlfriend didn't like mom's note?"
"No! She got mad!"
You chuckled again remembering how upset he was about it earlier today when he first told you the story. You felt bad for him, but you couldn't help but laugh at the kid stuff that was concerning him.
"And what did you do after that?" Lewis listened intently as you put food on the plates for both of them.
"Nothing, I explained to her that she's married to my dad and I said that my dad is Lewis Hamilton."
"You hear how beautifully he emphasized that my husband is none other than Lewis Hamilton" You joked as Lewis held his head laughing.
"What? I didn't say anything wrong?" Marlo shrugged his shoulders. Love problems were clearly too much for the young man.
"Baby, no girl will ever love you as much as your mom loves you, remember that." You stood up from your chair and walked over to him placing his small face between your hands and kissing his forehead.
"Well, she doesn't have to know that!" Marlo defended.
"Okay, okay. No more notes in lunch boxes just so that your girlfriend doesn't feel like I'm a threat to her apparently" You playfully rolled your eyes going back to your seat. "Now, please start eating your dinner"
"But I still don't understand, regardless of the note, why didn't you eat your lunch?" Lewis asked him.
"Because I wanted to prove her how much I loved her." He sighed before continuing "Dad once told me how he proves his love for you by eating everything you cook even though sometimes he may not like it, but he eats everything because he loves you. I just did the opposite."
Your and Lewis' hearts melted when you hear him say it. You were so proud of your little boy who was too young to know what love was but he learned it so well from his daddy. you knew that one day he would make some girl the happiest girl in the world, just like his father made you and continues to do so day after day.
After dinner was over, both you and Lewis wanted to get Marlo ready for bed. After you gave him a shower and Lewis helped him brush his teeth, you read him a bedtime story and cuddled him before saying goodnight. You also made pinky promises that there would be no more "embarrassing" notes from mom in the lunchbox, and that Marlo would eat his lunch every day.
After that you and Lewis decided to relax on the couch in front of the TV in each other's arms.
"If one day we have a daughter and she comes to me at the age of 5 and says she has a boyfriend, I swear, I will lose my mind" Lewis said jokingly even though you knew he meant it.
"Yeah, we'll homeschool her so she doesn't have any contact with the boys" You said sarcastically rolling your eyes at him.
"Exactly! That's a great idea actually!" He seemed to love it of course.
"Oh stop it!"
"As you told our son today, so I will tell our daughter, no man in her life will ever love her more than me. That's a fact. I already love her."
"Baby, we don't even have a daughter...yet"
"Then I better get to work, no?" He smirked rolling you over and nuzzling his head into your neck making you giggle.
"Well, you better, Lewis Hamilton."
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natalchartnurtures · 9 days ago
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PAC: Your Person's Sexy (Thoughts+) Fantasies About You
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Let's expose your person's unfiltered sexy thoughts about you *evil smirks*
Pile 1
A little about your person to see if u picked the right pile:
Ok wow I feel like your person is an incredibly deep person. They don't seem like that at all on the surface tho lmao. They might have a bit of an RBF (regardless of gender). They don't express HALF OF THE EMOTIONS RUNNING INSIDE OF THEM. I'm seeing an iceberg in my head rn; their energy is like that uk... that's just how they grew up. I'm also hearing that they may have mommy issues of some kind that you may or may not know of, or it's just that their mom is a very practical person and doesn't enjoy showing affection much, which would explain your person's lack of overt emotional expression. But BOY do they have some deep-ass feelings for you! Let's expose them together through this reading, yea? 🤭 (after their mini energy check)
They might have a spiritual streak to them, but idk if they are conscious of it or not (could be different for different people here). But in any case, they have a pretty strong connection to both their intuition and God-source or whatever they like to believe in. Again, they might not look spiritual AT ALL, but the way they move through life screams "I'm divinely led by God himself." Haha, love this person tbh. They're giving me Stoic-with-a-mushy-heart vibes. What a cutie pie.
They almost look at you as if you are a dream. Come. True. As if you were bestowed to them as a gift for making it so far in life. For all the hard work they put in to build their life, you're at the other end waiting for them to come home to you. Jeez, do you SEE HOW DEEP THEY FEEL FOR YOU? That was directly channeled wow... it's almost as if they worship the ground you walk on (in their mind, cuz they a lil stoic cutie pie).
Extra messages on the side: You guys may be in a relationship now or will be in one soon. You guys dream about each other a lot. They have a strong and intimidating aura. They seem very sure of themselves. They might really stand out to you, especially in a crowded room.
I was hearing a song while reading for this pile too—Never Be the Same by Camila Cabello. So excited!
If that resonated, let's expose your person's (unfiltered) sexy thoughts about you cuz now we KNOW they don't always show what they feel. 😏 This should be fun.
K, this is what I see. This person DREAMS about holding you down and dominating you in bed and letting allllll their sexual frustration out. Cuz remember spirit told us about how stoic they are? They hold back their sexual desires towards you as well, and boy are they extremely sexually frustrated. They fantasize about being a beast in bed with you, and as I SAID THAT, I saw them wanting to make the bed shake while fucking your brains out hahaha whoa... This person is intense for you, phew! They wanna let all of their feelings out with you in bed, and that's something they fantasize about. They might be into light BDSM too. They looooove the idea of choking you, or if they have, they looooove thinking about it OVER n OVER n OVER again lmao.
This person is wild for u. Ur like stuck in this person's brain. They're addicted, like in that song I channeled earlier Never Be the Same. It says, "blurring all the lines, u intoxicate me." Wow. If y’all have already had sex, THEY CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT, and if y’all haven’t, they can’t stop thinking about what it WOULD be like. They imagine putting you in all kinds of positions, they imagine how you'd sound when you moan, and how you'd look if they did something you liked. 😏🤭👀
This person is honestly tired of being so uptight and stoic in life, and you give them a chance to be free and be themselves, I heard. Aw, and that's why they're so hooked on you—cuz u give them life again 🥺.
This person LOVES you bro idk what kinda love spell u cast on them—they’re fucking WHIPPED when it comes to you. They fantasize about making you really wet and eventually making you cum. They love the idea of very wet sex with you (lol that's what I heard). You don't know what you mean to this person, and the only way they think they can show u is through physical intimacy and sex. One of their love languages might be physical touch. They loooove the idea of kissing and hugging and loving on you for hours. They love the idea of touching your sweet spots till you can’t resist them anymore. 🫠🤭
They love the idea of sneaking kisses and touches with u in public or semi-public places. They like knowing that they're the only one who can touch u like that 🫢👀🙆🏾‍♀️.
You're everything this person ever dreamed of. To them, you're the light of their life, I heard. They loooove your body, your mind, and most importantly your coochie cuz girrrrrl he be whipped by that kitty cat purrrr hahaahah. Or if you guys are reading for a crush—if you DO have sex, he WILL be (he doesn't see this coming at all 😈🤭).
He prolly fantasizes about you first thing in the morning and wakes up with a boner lmao. Or maybe he has wet dreams about you and accidentally wakes up at night (well it ain't your fault u cute n sexy af 🤷🏾‍♀️).
Side note: He prolly masturbates to you more than u think/know cuz he sure as hell would be out here pretending he doesn’t lmao.
Yea, to sum it up, you have ur person on an energetic LEASH, and they yearn for your loving soooo much—doesn’t matter if you have had sex or not 🙃.
Tehe, that's all I have for you today, pile 1! Stay eternally sexy and juicy I love you!
If you'd like to keep this sexy party going and receive customized messages about your person's sexy thoughts just for you, you can book a reading with me! You can find the details here :]
Pile 2
A little about your person to see if u picked the right pile:
Your person has MAD big dick energy—I love that about them. They're hot, abundant, and very giving. They make a hell of a first impression, I hear. They seem so extroverted lmao; they remind me of a Leo, n they may have big Leo placements. If not, it's just their energy. Tho to you, they SHINE like the sun. U love their vibe and especially their childlike aura ✨️.
They may have some energy vampires around that want them only for their light, and it really does take a toll on your person... but you're different. They see you as a kind and nurturing soul, and boy, do they appreciate you SO MUCH for it. They're very grateful for your presence. They love your voice too, I hear... something about you is so soothing... healing and feminine. Ugh. It's so beautiful! It's almost as if in a world where they get taken advantage of a lot, the thought of you is their oasis... their safe haven. Aw, they love thinking about you 💚.
Extra messages on the side: This might be a workplace/school/college crush. This person loves your work ethic and vice versa. They love looking at you, especially during work lol; u distract them, and they love it :p.
I was hearing a song while reading for this pile- "Marvin Gaye" by Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor.
If that resonated, let's channel their (unfiltered) sexy thoughts about you!
First of all... you get their, ahem, horses RUNNING every time they see you. EVERY. TIME. Just something about you makes their body go nuts! Lol, they may have to hide their boners a lot at work/school/college 🤣.
It’s your feminine vibe tbh. You come off like an EMPRESS to this person—fucking irresistible! Gosh, they just wanna come and claim you for themselves and never let you go! You give them blue balls, I hear 😂 (aw, that's sad).
Oooh... they have baby-making fantasies with you. They love fantasizing about consensually nutting inside you—it makes them WEAK to think about that 😆😛💦.
They love your hair! They fantasize about pulling your hair in bed passionately while getting lost in your coochie, girl. Oooh, they might really enjoy imagining y’all doing doggy style a lot. Ughhh.
Your vibe feels very healing to them, and you feel very emotionally nurturing to them, as if you were made just for them. Ooh, I hear "Made For Me" by Muni Long if that resonates for anybody. That's how u make them feel! They love imagining themselves letting their guard down and just getting lost in you and with you, tehe.
They LOVE to fantasize about your boobies lol. They love your chest, boobies, and shoulders region. Oh! And your back as well—they could stare at them for hours 😆.
They fantasize about kissing and touching you in these areas especially, and... it keeps them up at night :p.
They love that you're different from the people they've known/come across in their life. They... fantasize about having healing pillow talks with you while y’all caress each other’s hair 🥺. Aw, this is too cute. Gosh... my heart—
Side note: This person has felt very misunderstood and lonely growing up, so with you, they fantasize about being accepted and loved for the very first time... sheesh. That's rough. My heart goes out to them. You're truly a gift to this person.
K, moving on. This person might really like your feet? Like fantasizing about giving you foot massages and maybe massages in general to take away your stress, to help you relax. They love the idea of TOUCHING YOU deeply. They might think u have really pretty skin, and they can't get enough of your touches (if u ever have).
They might fantasize about role-playing too? About you playing a damsel in distress, and they come in to your rescue, and then y’all cum together 🤭🤣.
This person might have a great sense of humor too lol.
Ooh, I heard they LOVE undressing you with their eyes... they might have really intense eyes, and your eye contact could really take you off to another dimension haha.
This pile is more emotional than it is dirty, so maybe y’all haven’t had sex yet. So, they kinda leave their fantasies open to possibilities, so there aren’t a lot of sexy details coming through.
But yea, this person feels an emotional connection with you, and it's so damn beautiful. More than anything, this person just wants to make sweet love to you... ugh, so precious.
That's all I have today for you, Pile 2! I love you, and stay sexy and sweet 🫂✨️
If you'd like to keep this sexy party going and receive customized messages about your person's sexy thoughts just for you, you can book a reading with me! You can find the details here :]
Pile 3
A little about your person to see if u picked the right pile:
This person might present as being super resistant to change. They might like their comfort zone A LOT and prefer to operate from it no matter what. They may have a stubborn streak as well. Honestly, they give me Taurus-in-the-lower-octave kinda vibes lol.
This person may like you but not overtly tell or show it to you? This may be my situationship pile… or many people in situationships have messages here. K, I'm also getting that this person might love partying and going out in general? May have a lotta friends and be very social in life, generally speaking. They might be someone who has commitment issues or they just struggle when it comes to romantic relationships, cuz it seems to me as if this person has yet to learn some hard lessons around romance and partnership. They may have player tendencies? (This isn't for all of you tho, you'll know if it's for you.)
They might enjoy instant gratification over long-term when it comes to relationships AS OF right NOW in their life. I'm getting that the universe sent this person your connection to help them mature 🤦🏾‍♀️ (isn't that fun 🙄).
Lol anyways...
Extra messages: situationship, FWB, sexting
Channeled song i heard while chanelling this pile: Ride It by Larissa and Jay Sean
If that resonated, let's channel their (unfiltered) sexy thoughts about you 👀🙆🏾‍♀️😈
Daytime sex. They loooove fantasizing about fucking you anytime they like lol. Something about that makes them sooooo horny lol. They fantasize about fucking you so good that you'll have no choice but to come back to them EVERY single time. They like to imagine "hitting it from the back," and you're all sweaty and up against a wall, and they have their hand on your mouth to keep you from screaming. (Goddamn that's hot!)
They may not have access to you right now, or maybe it's cuz you're both super busy people, but they wish they could have quickies or fun sex with you ANY time (this message be coming in STRONG lol).
They looooove watching your body when they do you (for those of you that have already had sex with this person). If you haven't, then they fantasize about fucking with the lights on lol. Something about watching you writhe under them and responding to their body just TURNS THEM ON HAARDD haha.
Also, I can't help but get an FWB vibe from this pile. Please take it only if it resonates. IF you ARE in an FWB situation, they ABSOLUTELY love it. They look forward to every time y’all are about to do it :p
This person may be quite emotionally immature, and so they have more sexual desire for you than actual emotion, but I feel like it's the same way for you too. I get a mutual, consensual vibe here. So if it’s not, please pick another pile, it’s OK. This pile ain’t for you, princess 🙂
I'm also getting that a lot of you have already had sex with this person, and THEY LOVE IT. They looove it when you ride it; it drives them WILD. And if you haven't, they drool over fantasies about it 👀🫠.
They love thinking about fucking you anywhere but on a bed lmao. Like, say, a car or in a parking lot? This person would have you anywhere and anytime, if they could—phew!
They touch themselves a lot when you're not around too. This is when their fantasies creep in like Santa through the chimney, and they think about having a chance encounter with you, giving in to each other's horniness, and getting caught up in the moment. They love spontaneously fucking. Some Sag energy coming through rn. They may love your ass and thighs too—gosh, they could love gripping it while doing you. Sheesh. You're the best sex they've had in a long time (your person's words, not mine), and they really appreciate your encounters being so mutual but fun at the same time. If that hasn't happened, that's what they want: mutual fun.
This person is never not horny for you lol.
That's all I got for you, Pile 3! This was steamy af! Stay sexy, and I love you 🫂
If you'd like to keep this sexy party going and receive customized messages about your person's sexy thoughts just for you, you can book a reading with me! You can find the details here :]
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egcdeath · 9 months ago
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something old, something new
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pairing: patrick zweig x f!reader
summary: when your childhood best friend asks you to get married, how are you supposed to say no?
word count: 7.2k
warnings: MATURE (mentions of sex but no explicit sex scenes), marriage of convenience, fluff, mentions of alcohol, patrick is a bad friend (but he improves), friends to spouses to lovers, fake dating, yearning and pining, everyone is bad at communicating, many feelings are being repressed, mentions of dieting in an athlete way, one singular creepy old man, no use of y/n
author’s note: i cannot get this tennis man out of my head!! i hope you all enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!
It wasn’t every day that you could count on hearing anything from your childhood best friend, but it seemed like whenever you did hear from Patrick Zweig, it was always an ask for something more shocking than the previous one. 
As kids, you spent many evenings doing the homework that Patrick didn’t want to do, despite the fact that you didn’t really want to do more homework either. At boarding school, you’d somehow become his personal designated driver, answering his calls no matter what time and groggily picking him up from whatever party he’d found himself at. In your adulthood, you found yourself becoming a go-to stand-in for him at events he didn’t feel like attending. The amount of times that you’d shaken hands at charity galas and introduced yourself as Patrick’s girlfriend, despite not having a single romantic encounter with him, was frankly astounding. 
It seemed like whenever Patrick needed something, you were the first person he reached out to. After his parents, of course. 
You dreaded knowing the reason behind the simple hey, text message you’d just received, but you were sure that you’d find the reason out sooner rather than later–and that whatever the reason was could not have been good. 
Like clockwork, only an hour after you’d received his message, Patrick appeared at the doorway of your apartment. He came to you equipped with his secret weapon, the kicked puppy look that he often used on you before he asked you for a ridiculous favor, like breaking up with his girlfriend for him or telling his mom that he still wasn’t joining the board of the family business. 
You sighed as you took his less-than-stellar appearance in. Downtrodden expression, wrinkled and sweat-stained shirt, as if he’d gone to the gym to sweat out his feelings before coming to you, and eyes so red-rimmed, you wondered if he’d been crying. 
If you had to guess, he’d either been arguing with his parents, who knew exactly how to get under his skin, or his tennis friends, who also knew exactly how to get under his skin, or his latest girlfriend, who probably confronted him about his own wrongdoings. Regardless of who had upset him, he had obviously come to you to lick his wounds. 
Like always, Patrick stalked inside without asking you for any further permission. The two of you had done this song and dance more times than either one of you would like to admit. 
“How are you?” he asked, stopping in your kitchen to steal an apple from your decorative bowl of fruit.
“I’m good,” you said with hesitation, eyeing him once more. He really looked like shit. If he hadn’t looked so sad, you would’ve told him exactly how much shit he looked like.  
“Aren’t you gonna ask me how I am?” he questioned, a little pathetically.
“No,” you walked off to your living room, fully expecting him to follow you. You were unsurprised when he did exactly that. “Let’s just get right to it. Why’d you come over here?” you asked as the two of you sat down on your couch. 
“My parents are cutting me off,” he explained, voice breaking as he spoke.
Surely, this couldn’t all be over an empty threat. They seemed to threaten Patrick with this every few days. In fact, you’d been in the room with him when his parents promised that he’d never see another dime from them–more than once. Every time, it ended with them coming to their senses and throwing more cash at him. 
“That’s what, the twentieth time?” you laughed. “They always threaten to cut you off. What’s different this time?”
“This time, they mean it.”
You laughed even harder in his face. If you had a quarter for every time you’d had this conversation, you’d be richer than the two of your families combined. 
“I’m serious,” he inched closer to you. “They’re tired of funding my ‘tennis habit’. They want me to get serious about life. To join the board and start a family. My dad showed me an edited draft of his will and everything”
“So?” you prompted, trying to figure out where you fell into the equation. Hopefully he wouldn’t try to put you up to something absurd, like seducing his father into convincing him to not threaten Patrick’s inheritance.
“So, tennis is the only thing I care about.”
“Okay…” you trailed off. “What would you like me to do about that?”
“I need you to help show my parents that I have a vision for the future.”
“Again, Patrick, what exactly are you asking me to do?”
“Marry me.”
You weren’t sure what you expected him to say, but it certainly was not that. Your mouth instantly dropped open and you were sure that you were gaping like a fish. Maybe if he had asked you ten years ago, you’d have instantly said yes, but you’d let that naive dream die after you’d come to realize the transactional subtext of your friendship.
“What?”
“I want you to marry me. I was thinking… you remember when we were younger and we made that pact, that if we weren’t married by the time we were adults, then we’d get hitched?”
You continued to stare at him, completely dumbfounded and not believing a single word coming from his mouth. “I�� I…” you couldn’t even form the words. “We were kids!”
He gave you a halfhearted shrug, as if that didn’t matter at all, and as if he didn’t just ask you to be legally and romantically bound to him forever.
“You are fucking unbelievable! You haven't talked to me for anything other than asking me a favor in years, I barely know you’re alive apart from the random drunk texts you send me, and now you want me to marry you? Do you even hear yourself?”
You scoffed and stared at him in disbelief. “And that has to be the worst proposal in all of human history. First you tell me that tennis is the only thing you care about and then ask me to marry you? You’re a joke.”
He let you finish your rant, but after a beat he finally asked. “…Is that a no?”
———-
Stranger things had happened to you than marrying your childhood best friend just a month after he��d randomly popped back up in your life. At least, that’s what you told yourself as you walked down the aisle on a beautiful beach off of the Amalfi Coast.
The last few weeks had been an absolute whirlwind, with what felt like every second of your time consumed by making guest lists and invitations, booking hotel rooms, and finding a dress that you liked enough to get married in. Obviously, you knew this was more of an elaborate scheme than a celebration of love, but you wanted it to be nice anyway. For all you knew, you may never get married again.
You don’t know what possessed you to say yes to Patrick. Maybe the small, desperate part of you that had been begging him to truly see you since you were old enough to realize he didn’t, or maybe the desire to finally have that fairytale destination wedding you’d been dreaming about from the time you learned what a wedding was. Regardless of the reason, both of your families were overjoyed by the union. In one fell swoop, you’d been able to satisfy both of your parents’ desires for you to settle down, and you’d done it with someone both pairs approved of. 
You had to give props to Patrick, the ceremony was beautiful. Given the short timeline, the two of you decided to divide and conquer the planning of the event. You were sure that he’d outsourced the work, since he was still in the middle of his tennis season, but whoever he hired did an excellent job at giving you the wedding you’d always wanted. 
Despite the very short timeline everyone had been given, you were able to wrangle all of your close family and friends to Italy to watch you elope. Your parents had insisted on inviting second cousins and shareholders to your wedding, but you’d somehow convinced them that you and Patrick wanted a smaller, more intimate ceremony. It was probably better to have less people there, lest someone notices the artificial nature of your union. 
Part of you felt like you’d pulled off the greatest prank of all time as the two of you stood up in front of your small crowd, gazing as lovingly as you could manage into each others’ eyes while the officiant said his spiel, but the other, more logical part of you filled with dread as the reality of the situation began to set in. Patrick seemed to have a way of always dragging you into a shitty situation, and you hoped for both of your sakes, that that wouldn’t be the case for your marriage.
After what felt like a lifetime, Patrick began to recite his vows, claiming to have loved you since you were children, and promising to continue to love you ‘till death did you part. If you had been marrying literally anyone else, your knees would go weak with swooning. 
Unfortunately, you were cursed with the knowledge of the reality of your situation, one where your vows sounded more like: “We only have to stay married until I retire, which should be sooner rather than later. We don’t have to do anything together: no galas, no family dinners, no family vacations. Hell, you don’t even have to come to my games. And we don’t have to be exclusive either. This is basically just a title, so feel free to see anyone you want to. I can already see the worry in your face. Stop that. We can hire someone to make us prenups, so the divorce will be an easy, clean split of our assets. See? It’s not that bad.”
The dichotomy between the words he’d said to you a month ago and the bullshit he was spewing now almost made you laugh, but that was clearly not the reaction you were meant to be having when the love of your life was publicly declaring their feelings for you. 
Once he finished declaring his romantic, empty words, you began to read off your vows. They fell in a similar vein to his, a proclamation of a lifetime-spanning love that didn’t really exist in the first place. But when you glanced up at him from your slip of paper, he was really selling it. He stared at you like he adored you, like he wanted to study every inch of your face after running off with you into the sunset.
The ridiculousness of it all finally hit you like a freight train, and you managed to pivot the laugh that was creeping up into your throat into a weepy sounding crack of your voice. Surely people cried during their own weddings. 
You finished off your vows, doing your best to pretend like this whole ordeal wasn’t the most ridiculous scheme you’d ever been dragged into. You imagined a world where he was less selfish and you were less selfless, one where you were exchanging these vows with sincerity, and it helped you to get through the words that you knew were almost completely meaningless. 
The two of you then took turns placing the ring on each others’ fingers, with Patrick giving you a ring with the largest diamond you’d ever seen, and you giving him a band that had been passed throughout your family. He’d agreed to give you the heirloom back once you divorced, so you couldn’t complain too much about giving it away in the first place.
The announcement of being able to kiss the bride rang out in your ears, yet you still found yourself surprised when Patrick eagerly wrapped his arms around you and kissed you passionately. Cheers erupted around the two of you, and you pulled away as the officiant declared you Mr. and Mrs. Zweig.
You had successfully tricked your audience, and yet, you still had the strangest feeling. 
Your reception felt far more natural than your wedding ceremony. After a change of outfit, a huge bowl of pasta, and a few flutes of champagne, you were feeling substantially better about the arguably poor decision you’d just made. You chatted up your friends, who jumped at the opportunity to comment on how cute of a couple you two were, did some light matchmaking between single guests, and placated both of your parents with manufactured acts of affection. You even managed to get Patrick out on the dance floor, after he swore to you that he didn’t dance. 
By the time the two of you were stumbling back into your villa, the woes of the day had practically been forgotten. When you were having this much fun, who cared about a massive, potentially life altering decision? 
You immediately made a beeline to the bathroom, anxious to get into your comfortable pajamas and to wash your face after a long day of wearing tight, extravagant dresses and a heavy layer of makeup.  
“So what did you think of your big day, Mrs. Zweig?” Patrick called out from the other side of the bathroom door, where you were sure he was also preparing for bed. “Was it everything you wanted and more?”
“I think this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” you paused as you thought about something before confessing, “but it was everything I wanted and more.”
“Yes!” he celebrated from where you couldn’t see him, though you could perfectly envision the goofy look on his face. “I owe it to you after everything I’ve put you through. I just hope you weren’t too let down by the groom.”
“What?” you drew out before blowing a raspberry. “Of course not. You looked very handsome today,” you complimented in between splashes of your face. 
“You looked pretty beautiful, yourself,” he complimented you right back. 
“Aww, thank you, honey,” you emphasized the pet name. 
“Hmm, I don’t know if I like that,” you heard the squeak of the bed from behind the door as you assumed that he’d sat down.
“Hey, you’re the one who made me marry you,” you pointed out. “Am I more than you bargained for?”
“Of course not, babe,” he emphasized his own pet name, which sent you into a fit of laughter. “It’s just so weird to hear you refer to me as anything other than an asshole.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re still an asshole,” you replied as you walked out of the bathroom, donning an old shirt with the logo of your boarding school and an equally old pair of shorts. “Just a married asshole.”
You took in the sight of your now-husband as you made your way to your side of the bed, surprised to find that you quite liked the sense of domestic bliss you were feeling. The bed dipped as you sat down and glanced back at Patrick with the slightest bit of hesitation. 
“Is this weird for you? I can go to the spare room, if you want me to,” he offered, surely in reference to the two of you sleeping in the same bed. 
“Don’t worry about it,” you assured him, setting a steady hand on his knee. “What kind of couple would we be if we didn’t spend our wedding night together?” you teased. 
“The kind of couple that marries for convenience?” he suggested.
“Hey, who’s to say that this isn’t love? I had the biggest crush on you when we were kids. Maybe some of it lingered, or some shit.”
“Oh yeah?” he looked at you with that sleazy smirk that you both loved and hated. “What happened?”
“Hmm… I think I realized that you’re a dick,” you matched his smirk with a challenging one of your own.
“Huh. Did you have this realization before or after you started seeing Dan Thompson?” he questioned.
You were surprised by the mention of your first boyfriend, particularly because you weren’t sure that Patrick remembered any detail about your personal life, let alone your love life. “I realized it after you started treating me like your workhorse.”
“Oh okay, so you had a crush on me while you were with your boyfriend. Good to know.”
“Shut up,” you groaned and turned away from him as you finally full laid down. 
“Would it make you feel better to know that I also had a crush on you?” you heard the bed sheets rustle as he scooted closer to you, and you turned back to face him. 
“You’re lying.” You couldn’t see any world where that would make sense to you. In your youth, it seemed like Patrick was always off somewhere with a new person, and none of those people were you. Not that you had an issue with it, but the thought that the two of you might’ve had crushes on each other at the same time without either of you pursuing each other felt kind of weird. 
“Nope. You’re the first person I ever jerked off to,” he said as casually as if he were telling you what he ate for breakfast, not breaking eye contact with you.
“Ew, you’re so gross,” you gently pushed him, but your hands lingered where they sat on his chest. “Was that supposed to be romantic or something?”
“That’s not romantic to you?” he asked with all the sincerity of someone who was fully committing to a bit. 
The two of you broke out into laughter. Once you finally caught your breath, you began once more. “This is gonna be a long marriage.”
“Hopefully,” he remarked in response. 
“If you keep talking to me like that, I will literally go get our marriage annulled, like right now.”
“Please don’t,” he whined, grabbing one of your hands from his chest and kissing your fingers. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“Every time you promise to make something up to me, an inconsistent fairy gains its wings.”
“Hey,” his tone suddenly became very serious, completely catching you off guard. “I really am sorry that I’ve been a terrible friend. I don’t know that I’ve ever said it, but I am. You deserve so much better than me, and I don’t even know how I convinced you to do this for me.”
You almost started to laugh, unable to take the absurd situation seriously. You’d been waiting years to hear him genuinely apologize, and now hours after you’d married solely as a favor to him, he was finally telling you what you wanted to hear. 
“Please. I’m serious. I know you think I’m a piece of shit flaky ashhole, and I am, but I want to be a better husband to you than I ever was as a friend.”
You felt your heart stop beating for a second. The word husband sounded so foreign in his mouth. You couldn’t quite pin how you felt about it, but you knew you felt uncomfortable with the intimacy of his words. 
“Patrick, please shut up,” you squeezed your eyes shut, suddenly a little overwhelmed with the Patrick of it all. In fact, you couldn’t think of anything more encapsulating of your experience with him than the whiplash you got from that moment. He could be a complete asshat, but his occasional moments of earnestness kept you following him like a lost puppy, accepting his apologies and granting him ridiculous favors, despite your better judgment. 
“Are you okay?” he asked, moving closer to you to get a good look at you. You swore you felt your heart squeeze painfully in your chest. 
“I’m fine, I just-“ am overwhelmed by you being sweet? Can’t believe that I’m hearing you say this to me after so long? Also can’t believe that you and I are married?
None of the right words seemed to come to you, so you did the second best thing you could think of. 
You pecked his lips and pulled away as if you’d just touched a hot handle. You didn’t know what had come over you, and immediately began to apologize profusely. 
“Oh my god, I don’t know-“ you were cut off by his hands on your face, greedily and sloppily pulling you back in for another kiss, this one far more passionate and confident than the first. 
Your kiss was messy but fervent, years of pent up sexual frustration and non-sexual frustration behind your every movement. As you kissed, you moved to straddle him, feeling a little ridiculous in your ratty old clothes, but that didn’t stop him from groping you over your pajamas like you were the hottest thing on the planet. 
Maybe the strangest thing to happen to you that day wasn’t even your wedding.
——
That night was the first in a series of very strange events. You couldn’t even fully wrap your head around what was happening in your marriage. You just knew that the two of you had become closer friends than you’d ever been before, and that you slept together when either of you had the urge. It was basically a no strings attached situation, except, legally, all strings were attached. 
If you were confused by your arrangement, you were sure that your friends were even more lost, something they proved to you as they interrogated you over brunch. 
“So, just so we’re clear, you married him as a favor?!” your friend asked in complete disbelief. 
“Well… yeah, basically.”
“Shit. Can I ask you for a favor of a million dollars?” she joked, leading to the laughter of your other friends at the table.
“Well, that’s different. At least with our marriage, we both benefit. He gets his parents off his ass about being so focused on tennis that he doesn’t have any future prospects, and I get my parents to stop trying to marry me off to every single rich boy they find.”
“But you’re not like, actually married. Like you guys don’t have feelings for each other?” another friend questioned.
You sipped your mimosa before explaining your situation for what must’ve been the fifth time that day, “we’re basically friends with benefits.”
“But you’re legally married? Like, the wedding was official and stuff?”
“Legally? Yeah. But it’s literally just that,” you clarified. 
“Legal marriage and sex?”
“Yeah,” you nodded, hoping that they were finally catching on. 
“Then… are you guys seeing other people?”
“Oh yeah, what ever happened to that one model guy you were seeing?” another one of your friends pitched in. 
“It didn’t really work out,” you addressed that with an understatement. He rightfully flipped his shit when he found out you were going to be marrying someone else. “But neither of us are seeing other people. I don’t think either of us want to risk bringing anything back to one another.”
“That sounds pretty committed to me.”
“Not really,” you dismissed.
“Then why are you even together?”
“How many times do I have to explain how we both benefit from this?”
“No, not legally, or socially or whatever. Why are you hooking up with him? Aren’t you scared you’ll mess up your friendship or something?”
“Well, the sex is really, really good. But I’m really not worried. There's no romance between us. We’ve been friends for so long that it’s just… weird to look at him like anything other than my friend. It’s basically a loveless marriage of convenience.”
Your friend shot you a skeptical look. You just shrugged her off. 
———
The moment you found out your afternoon meeting had been canceled, you reached out to your assistant to make arrangements for you to go to Patrick’s tennis game. He’d been on a winning streak, and though he insisted that you didn’t need to come to his games, you knew that he secretly liked having you there. 
Over the past few months of your marriage, you’d grown to realize that he often didn’t say what he actually meant. Like the time he told you that he preferred to live alone, before breathily confessing in your ear that he slept better by your side. Or when he swore to you that he loved the pancakes you’d served him, despite the food being some of the worst you’d ever put in our mouth and him being on a diet. You almost found it sweet that he tried to prioritize your feelings over his own, which was surely a result of overcompensation from the way he had treated you for the majority of your lives. 
You arrived at his match just in time to watch him take a break, making your way into the stands and finding a seat where you’d have the best view of your friend as possible. You didn’t expect him to scan the audience and find you until much later on, but you were pleasantly surprised when the two of you made eye contact and he absolutely lit up. You waved, then gave him a thumbs up in hopes to communicate your support from far away. 
While you couldn’t always make it, you liked to play the role of supportive tennis wife. Getting dressed up and making an appearance not only publicly legitimized your sham of a marriage, but helped you to reconnect with some of your former boarding school classmates, who were often in the stands supporting a friend or a loved one. You also just liked to watch him play, as witnessing the passion and ferocity he had out on the court was extremely entertaining, and even at times, mildly arousing.  
With their break ending, Patrick went back out on the court and played just as well as you expected him to, crushing his competition, and looking up into the stands at you to celebrate once he’d scored the winning point. 
At first, it was surprising how proud his wins made you feel of him, a feeling that you explained to yourself by arguing that if he wasn’t giving his absolute all to tennis, then your marriage had basically been all for nothing. Although that did still ring slightly true, the truth was that you were simply proud of Patrick. Whether you liked it or not, the two of you were a unit now, which meant that his wins were your wins and vice versa. In some ways, it was kind of nice to be part of a team. Or at least his team.
You met Patrick down on the court, where he paused from packing his bag to immediately greet you with a kiss to the forehead, a small act of intimacy that was typically reserved for situations far different from the one you were currently in. 
“Hey! I didn’t know you were coming!” he exclaimed, pulling you in for a half-hug. 
“I didn’t know I was coming either,” you instinctually wrapped your arm around him in response to his half-hug. “Great job out there. You kinda demolished him!”
“I did, didn’t I,” he said just loud enough for you to hear, still wanting to appear like a good sport. “I have to go get ready for the press conference. Do you want to meet me at my hotel?”
“Of course. You don’t mind me staying for the night?” you probed, despite knowing the answer. He wouldn’t have asked you to go to his hotel in the first place if he’d minded.
“You know I never mind you staying for the night,” he gave you a cheeky wink.
“You’re so sleazy,” you commented with fake disgust.
“You started it,” he replied, reluctantly pulling away from you and reaching into his bag to grab his hotel keycard. “I’ll text you when I’m heading back.” 
The moment you received a message about him being on his way to the hotel, you made a very lengthy phone call and request to the restaurant in the building. Technically, he shouldn’t be eating any of what you ordered, on account of him being on a strict diet plan, but you figured that he deserved it after playing the way that he did. Besides, Patrick liked thoughtful acts of service, and you figured that this would count as one.
“You know me so well,” he practically gasped as he stepped into the room, taking in the platters of food you’d laid out for him.
“What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t?” you teased, though your sentiment was somewhat accurate, and it was clear that the two of you had grown to know each other far better over the past few months, you hoped that your friend wasn’t interpreting your words in too serious of a way. 
The two of you laid out on the pristine hotel bed, eating the feast that you’d ordered without much dialogue between you, other than a comment on how good something was, or a request to pass an item to one another. It felt oddly domestic, and oddly enough, you liked it. Maybe you liked it even more than you’d been willing to admit.
“I’m gonna go shower,” he announced after tossing his napkin onto a cleared off plate.
“Want some company?” you offered, raising your brows at him in a playfully suggestive manner.
“Is that what this is all about?” he feigned offense. 
“Maybe,” you trailed off. “Or maybe I just wanted to celebrate the greatest tennis player of all time,” you purred.
“Come on. You and I both know that is far from the truth.”
“Well you’re the greatest player in my heart,” you praised, much to his chagrin.
“Ugh. Shut up and come shower with me.” 
As you sleepily ran your fingers through his damp hair, you were surprised when he broke his silence with a comment seemingly out of the blue. It was more of a mumble than anything else, but you’d grown accustomed to his muffled words over the course of your marriage. 
“You’re so beautiful,” he randomly complimented you.
“You know you don’t have to compliment me to get into my pants, right?” you asked with a hint of laughter in your tone.
“I’m not trying to,” he pecked your arm–the limb he had the easiest access to at the moment–as if he was trying to emphasize his point, though all it did was bring heat to your cheeks at the reminder of the way he’d pressed slow and meaningful kisses along your calves and inner thighs while the two of you were in the shower. “You just looked so good today, I couldn’t not comment.”
“I don’t look good every day?” you asked facetiously, trying to deflect from the warm and fuzzy feeling his compliments and affection were making you feel. 
“Of course you always look good,” he reassured you rather than playing along with your game of joking instead of addressing your feelings. “I just don’t tell you that enough.”
You weren’t even sure how you could respond to that. Clearly, he wasn’t in the mood to mince words tonight, but you couldn’t bear to match his genuinity with cheap jokes. The only real, genuine thought to pop into your head were three ridiculous words that you immediately batted away. You couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing than randomly declaring your love to a husband who wasn’t really your husband in a marriage that wasn’t really a marriage. 
Out of ideas, you hit the lamp on your side of the bed. “I appreciate it. Goodnight.”
“Night,” he parroted back to you, remaining snug against your chest, despite the fact that your hands had stopped threading through his hair. 
Deep down, you knew that those three words had been on the tip of Patrick’s tongue, too.    
——
Being in the social circles of filthily rich people meant you often found yourself at random charity events, hosted by the nonprofits of families and business owners looking for a particularly large tax break for the year. Over the years, you’d felt that you’d seen and participated in it all: marathons raising awareness for a serious, but extremely rare disease, date auctions to raise money for a cause that certainly didn’t justify you having to go on a date with a man almost forty years your senior, or galas for nearly-extinct sea creatures that were essentially used as an excuse to stand around and network while drinking expensive alcohol and eating hor d'oeuvres.
You seemed to find yourself at a lot of events like the latter, including the one you were standing at now. The gala, which took place in the art exhibit it was raising money for, was a rather standard one, filled with the typical suspects who regularly attended those events. 
It was slightly ironic to be at the event with Patrick as your plus one, as this was the exact type of event he would’ve texted you about an hour before it began to ask if you would play his concerned partner for the night who told everyone a flimsy excuse about him being under the weather. 
It also served as somewhat of a reminder to you of the massive growth that your friend had undergone since the two of you became legally bound to one another. It finally felt like Patrick saw you as a true friend, instead of a reliable person who would do his dirty work. It finally felt like he cared. In some ways, your marriage was the best thing to happen to your friendship. 
Patrick returned to where you were standing, this time with two flutes of champagne and a delicious looking appetizer in his hand. 
“You’re too kind,” you said as he passed you your drink. 
“Anything for my wife,” he mockingly bowed in front of you and you chuckled and shook your head. Over the past year, the two of you slowly became slightly more comfortable with referencing each other as husband and wife, but only really as a joke. You guessed that in a lot of ways, that’s what your marriage was—a ridiculous inside joke.  
He was just about to feed you a hor d'oeuvre when you were approached by a wildly unwelcome figure: the man who had purchased a date with you a few years ago. Despite your one very awkward, stilted date, he never really seemed to get over you–which he made a point to prove at every event you both happened to be at. And unfortunately for you, his generous donations landed him on the guest list for the majority of these events. 
You were used to fighting him off on your own, as he seemed to come and flirt with you regardless of how inappropriate it was for the setting of the event, or even when he already had a beautiful young bombshell hanging on his arm. At this point, you’d learned to just tune his every word out and flee as soon as you possibly could. He was annoying, but he wasn’t dangerous.  
“Hey, honey,” he greeted you way too comfortably. You’d given up on asking him to call you by your name a very long time ago. 
“Hi, John,” you reached out to shake his hand and cringed internally when he kissed the back of your hand. 
“Oh honey, who is this?” Patrick immediately lept in, surprising you with his unsubtle passive aggressive tone and ridiculous use of a pet name. 
“You don’t remember me? I swear, we’ve met a few times.” John asked, trying to smile despite clearly being agitated by the presence of competition.
“Some people are more forgettable than others,” he said with a shrug. “How do you know my wife?” He emphasized the word and you pushed down the small inkling of pride you were feeling. Whether it was from watching Patrick try to scare this annoying man away from you, or being so proudly referred to as his wife, you couldn’t be sure.  
“Finally settling down, eh?” he directed at you, then directed his next statement to Patrick. “We went on a date back in the day.”
“It was for that one date auction thing,” you quickly added context, but paused when you took in John’s less than pleased look. He was a large donor at your own family’s nonprofit, and you were sure that your parents wouldn’t be too pleased with you if they found out he pulled out over you hurting his feelings. “We had a lot of fun, though.”
“We definitely did,��� he chuckled and smirked. You wanted to punch him in the mouth. “We should definitely do it again sometime.”
It was clear that Patrick was not taking kindly to seeing you be flirted with so brazenly in front of him. Part of you wondered why he would be possessive, since part of your initial deal was that you could see whoever you wanted, even if that happened to be a creepy old man with a lot of money. The other part of you was enjoying seeing him so fired up. Particularly, seeing him fired up over you. 
“Our schedule is just so busy. Between work and us trying to start a family, I just don’t know when we’ll have time to see you again.”
Trying to start a family? That was definitely news to you. Although, the idea didn’t sound awful. Wasn’t it everyone’s dream to start a family with their closest, most dear friend? 
“Well, she knows where to find me, right, honey?”
“Mhm,” you mumbled, looking into your glass like it was the most interesting thing in the world. 
“Now if you don’t mind, my wife and I are going to go check out the exhibit,” Patrick announced, grabbing your hand and taking a step away from John. 
“You two have fun,” he said before clapping Patrick’s shoulder and leaning in to begin a stage whisper. “Make sure you treat her right and cherish her. If you don’t, I might have to swoop in and do so myself.”
He winked at you and you bit back a gag. 
“Don't you worry your wrinkly little head. Nobody lov- cherishes her more than I do,” he theatrically patted his back much like he’d initially done to him. “See you around.”
Did he almost say what you think he almost said? Surely you misheard him, or he was just playing up your relationship to scare away that creepy man. It really wasn’t anything to think twice about. 
Once the two of you had walked away far enough to be out of earshot, you finally addressed what had just happened. “Thank you, bodyguard. You don’t even know how much I despise that man.”
“He seems like he’s the worst,” he agreed with you, looking back over his shoulder. 
“That’s because he is,” you emphasized. “This is so random, but did you mean what you said earlier?”
Patrick suddenly paused, his face going pale like he’d just seen a ghost. You were a little confused by this reaction, as he’d said nothing to warrant that level of fear. 
“Do you actually want to start a family? Obviously not now, while you’re still playing tennis, but maybe eventually? I know we don’t have the most traditional marriage, but, I don’t know. Neither of us are getting any younger, and it might be fun to co-parent with my best friend,” you were clearly rambling now, but luckily, Patrick came in to rescue you for the second time that night. He looked far less aghast now. 
“I would love that,” he said to you with a genuine smile. You matched his with one of your own. 
———
“Do you have any big plans for retirement?” a reporter asked for the final question of the press conference. 
“Mostly just eating a lot of burgers. And maybe learning how to play pickleball,” Patrick responded, never one to give a serious answer to questions that weren’t explicitly about tennis. 
It was a ridiculous note to end on, but it felt right. You’d found that to be the case with most things in your life that pertained to him–most notably your marriage, which ended up being far more than you ever expected it to be.
After the press conference had come to a close, Patrick met you outside by the car, pressing a sweet kiss to your lips, then leaning down to peck your baby bump. 
“How does it feel to be retired?” you asked, ruffling his hair while he was still bending down.
“It feels like you might divorce me,” he joked. Obviously your marriage deal was only meant to cover the time that he was still playing tennis, but after years of a complicated marriage that suddenly became significantly less complicated once you finally confronted the fact that the two of you very obviously loved each other, it seemed unlikely that your union would end any time soon. 
You glanced down at your baby bump, then back up to him skeptically.  “I hope you’re not being serious.”
“Come on, I never know with you. You’re the one who friendzoned me the entire first year of our marriage!” he exclaimed.
“That was a lifetime ago,” you countered before taking his hands in yours. “If you’re really worried, I have zero intentions of ending our marriage.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear,” he grinned, stepping away from you. “Let’s get going. I don’t want us to miss our reservation.”
You nodded and obliged, passing him the keys before heading to the passenger side of the car.
Once you sat down, you were overcome with the urge to say something. You had spent so much time bottling up and pressing down your own feelings, that it was now hard to resist letting things out when they came to you. 
“I’m so proud of you,” you blurted. “And I love you. So much.”
Patrick smiled at you genuinely, before his look turned into a slightly more devious one. “I love you so much, too. One might even say I love you more.” 
“Don’t even start with that,” you laughed, not in the mood to have the kind of back and forth with him that you had at least once a week. Considering that you were carrying his child, you were pretty sure that you were the winner of the love competition.  
“Fine. We love each other equally,” he conceded.
“That’s more like it.”
You tried to think back to one specific moment where your marriage had crossed over from being one of convenience, into a union with genuine feelings attached, and realized that you weren’t exactly sure. It could’ve been the first night you spent together, when you’d finally allowed yourself to consider what your relationship might look like beyond a simple friendship, or maybe it was even earlier than that, when you gazed into Patrick’s eyes as you read off your vows. The look of pure adoration he gave you was one that you had grown familiar with throughout the course of your marriage, but you hadn’t realized at the time just how genuine he had been. Or maybe even the moment Patrick asked you in the living room of your apartment, when you’d been the first person he thought of to carry out his ridiculous scheme, and you’d said yes despite every logical part of your brain that screamed at you to say no. 
Whenever it began didn’t particularly matter. What mattered now was that the two of you fully intended to spend the rest of your lives together. 
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1d1195 · 5 months ago
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Honey II
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Read Honey here | ~6.2k words
Warnings: Angst, fluff, pining, maybe a daddy-kink if you don't blink. There's a shitty guy, some jealous Harry (from said shitty guy as well as NIALL 😍) and some mentions of self-care 😉
Summary: You cannot flirt with my nanny. He texted Niall while Cece ate.
Someone should, Harry. By all means YOU should. But I’ll handle it if you cannot.
Harry scowled and threw his phone aside. “Sorry m’gonna kill Uncle Niall, Cece,” he told her. “But he’s stupid.”
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The routine became easy. Breakfast with Harry, tummy time with Cece, cleaning during naptime, laundry at lunch time. At eleven in the morning, she sent Harry three pictures of his baby regardless of what she was doing which he didn’t respond to other than reacting with a heart to each of the pictures.
Cece loved Miss Honey. Her smile was bright when she saw her and her giggle was coming easier and easier while she played with her.
Niall is stopping by to grab something I left. He was already out. You can let him in.
Okay, thank you for the heads up.
Other than delivery drivers, people didn’t really come by. She hadn’t had friends over not that she necessarily wanted to have them over... not after her first family. From then, it was always kind of weird to have people visit someone else’s home to hang out with her. She preferred dinners or going to their houses. If Harry were to throw a party or cookout at his extravagant pool, she would invite her friends—at least that’s what she did with her previous family—but Harry didn’t seem much like a party-thrower.
“Hello?” The Irish voice sang into the house. “Miss Cece, where are you?” He called.
She smiled and brought the baby toward the front door holding her in front of her stomach. Cece giggled at the sight of Uncle Niall. “Who’s that, Cece?” She asked pressing her lips on to the top of her soft hair. “Is that Uncle Niall? Did Uncle Niall come to see you?” She kicked her feet and Niall looked like he was melting as he took her from Miss Honey. “Is it this folder?” She asked. “I found it in the garage,” she said. “It must have slipped out of his bag. When I took Cece to the store, I was going to swing by myself."
Niall was in awe. The house was clean—to be fair, it almost always was, but it was different now. Plus it smelled like the citrusy fall candle she was burning on the counter; only adding to the fresh clean feeling of his friend’s place. Whatever was cooking in the oven smelled delicious. “Do you... cook for him?” Niall asked.
She blushed. “Well, it’s mainly for me, but obviously there aren’t a ton of recipes for one person, so I always have extra,” she rationalized. “I cooked for my old family.”
Niall bounced Cece as he looked around. There was a throw blanket on the sofa adorned with leaves and it’s fall y’all patterned across it. that wasn’t there before. Along with some fall pillows. It matched the little pumpkins on the side tables and the leaf and flower centerpiece on the coffee table. Harry had decorations? “Did Harry buy those throw pillows?”
“I... I have this tendency to fall asleep on the sofa watching movies and wanted something softer than the sofa arm,” she felt weird explaining all this to Niall. “I should probably get them out of here and back in my room. Did Harry say something? He doesn’t like it?”
Harry hadn’t mentioned it. Which was insane because when Cece’s mom wanted all new living room furniture in the middle of her pregnancy, Niall wasn’t sure Harry was going to let her live at his house after all. Harry was very particular and liked things to be his way. “No, no. He’s fine. It just looks...cozy,” he said. “It’s nice he’s got a woman’s touch that he likes,” Niall said encouragingly.
Her phone vibrated on the counter and she glanced at her watch reading the message. Can you tell Niall to let go of my daughter and get his ass back here before I fire him?
She smiled sending a thumbs up in response. “I believe you’re going to be fired.”
“What a drama queen,” Niall muttered. “I love you more than Dada does,” he cooed and kissed Cece sweetly on the cheek. “You should decorate the outside, too,” Niall said as he handed the baby back to her. “Harry would like it,” he smiled. “If you have a ton of leftovers, send them for lunch with Harry tomorrow. With the way it smells, I bet it would taste delicious reheated as well... Bye Cece!” He waved and blew a kiss at her.
“Say bye Uncle Niall,” she cooed shaking her head at Harry’s best friend.  She waved Cece’s hand for her. “Bye Uncle Niall.”
*
His office door slapped open against the wall, and he looked up from his desk even though he didn’t need to.
“Niall’s here,” his secretary called. He rolled his eyes.
“You love her,” Niall gushed.
“I do not,” Harry scowled defensively at his paperwork in front of him. “Love who?”
“Your nanny obviously.”
“I absolutely do not,” he shook his head. “I am not in love with someone I employ.”
“So we’re not in love either?” Niall frowned.
“Do you have something you need, Mr. Horan?” Harry deadpanned.
Niall rolled his eyes. “Harry, she’s sweet, funny, and intelligent,” he listed. “Not to mention your house has never looked cleaner nor cozier and she can cook.”
Harry used to order out each night since he was too tired to cook when he got home. Then with Cece, it made even more sense. But now, since he was very much glued to his schedule of coming home on time for dinner so he could see Cece before bed and relieve Miss Honey of her duties for the evening.
He hadn’t anticipated her making dinner for him. In fact, he hadn’t anticipated much of anything she did for him. He thought taking care of Cece was going to be it. The cleaning and cooking was beyond what he expected.
He ignored Niall.
“And hello? She’s good with Cece.”
She was great with Cece actually. But he wasn’t going to give into Niall’s teasing. He continued looking at his computer screen ignoring all the reasons Harry thought she was perfect as well but had to ignore because he would rather die than ruin what he had with her for the sake of his daughter. There was no one better to trust Cece with—even after a month or so of her working, it was obvious. He was so sure there wasn’t anyone better. “Also, she was going in the pool when I got there, so she was in this itty, bitty bikini—” Harry’s gaze snapped to Niall and his eye twitched as he scowled again. “I was joking, but I think I’ve proven my point.”
“I’m not in love,” he grumbled. Harry didn’t love anyone beyond his baby girl, his company, and his family.
“Say it all you want. But I’m not the one that got his underwear in a twist over the thought of seeing her in a bikini when it’s not summer anymore." Harry ignored him still. "You let her decorate," he reminded him.
"We have similar tastes," Harry mumbled not wanting to let on that he didn't give two shits if the house was decorated but when he came home from work watching her sip hot apple cider on his sofa and reading a book to Cece, he wanted to move to a place where it was fall all year round.
"Are you going to let her decorate the outside of your house for Halloween?”
He was not in love. “It’s a holiday,” he reminded Niall. “I want Cece t'have a—”
“Uh-huh. Sure. It’s definitely for Cece... by the way, make sure I get the leftovers from dinner tomorrow. I already asked Miss Honey,” he said. “Here’s your folder,” he laid it on his desk and left with a wave and mischievous smile. "She found it in the garage and was going to swing by herself. Because in case you haven't noticed, she's perfect."
If there were leftovers of whatever delicious thing she had decided to cook, Harry was going to throw them in the middle of the road on his way to work just to spite him.
*
The weekend was unfortunately eventful.
Cece fussed a ton. Harry sighed when the monitor alerted him to her waking. He got up and headed to her crib where he spent several minutes rubbing her little belly as he watched her. “Y’need t’sleep, Miss Cecelia,” he smiled at her tiredly. It was nearly one in the morning, and he had been fortunate enough to have Cece sleeping soundly overall for the last couple months. But for whatever reason, her little cries woke him up today.
He checked his phone and noted there was an alert from the front door camera. He saw two people standing under the entrance. His favorite nanny and a man that he didn’t recognize.
Given the situation, this was suddenly and very much her house as much as Harry's. As evident by the pumpkin décor on the steps visible in the video as well. So she could do what she wanted. Even if that meant going on a date.
Even if that meant Harry was painfully aware of how upset that made him.
Her arms were wrapped around her stomach and Harry felt something painful ache in his stomach. She looked completely uncomfortable. The guy leaned closer toward her, forcing her to step back until she was against the side of the entryway. Harry’s blood boiled. She pressed a hand against his chest, maintaining distance between them. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the screen and briefly noted he forgot about Cece’s waking. But Cece was asleep again. Therefore, Harry was able to worry about the other woman that lived in his house. He quickly sent her a text before he kept his eyes glued to the camera. If this was some kind of flirting thing, fine. He would confront the boiling jealousy in the comfort of his own bed. But Harry had a sister, female friends, female employees and now a daughter. He knew when someone was uncomfortable.
The camera signaled someone was outside, so I checked the feed... Are you okay?
He didn't want to listen in. There was a boundary he wasn’t willing to cross. Fortunately, she pulled her phone from her pocket and read the message--clearly looking for a distraction and further fueling his worry. Without answering, she tucked her phone back in her pocket and Harry thought that he was overreacting. She was fine. He just needed to go to bed.
But then, she shook her head repeatedly, slowly.
Harry dropped his phone on Cece’s floor where it landed on the rug with a quiet thud. He took off downstairs nearly missing the last step before he was at the front door, yanking it out of the way blindingly fast. She jumped at the sudden movement in the middle of the night—even though she only saw Harry’s message seconds before. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he lied. He was very grateful to interrupt. “Cece has been awake, and I’ve tried—”
“No problem,” she rushed out not even glancing at the man. She brushed passed Harry hurriedly.
The guy blinked in surprise at her quick departure. He tried to peek behind Harry’s frame that blocked most of his view. “I’ll call—”
Harry smacked the door shut and waited for him to leave—watched him walk to the end of the driveway where he waited for an Uber for three minutes. She sighed, putting her hands on the back of her head, breathing heavily. “Harry, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She began pacing behind him, but Harry’s eyes didn’t move from the end of his driveway. “He was completely fine and then I needed to Uber and—”
“I told you not t’Uber,” he scowled at the window beside the door waiting for the man to disappear.
“Well, it was one in the morning, and I don’t know how your driver situation works—”
“Then you call me,” his voice was rougher than he wanted it to be. The thought of something happening to her hurt. Hurt a lot.
She ignored him, feeling guilty but trying to explain her side of things. “My friend had left with a guy she met, and she was my ride. I didn’t even know she left,” her voice cracked. “I Uber all the time, Harry. Alone at night, I don’t care...it’s... whatever... But he was insistent. He wanted to make sure I made it home safely. Which didn’t set off any alarm bells and I pride myself on having a good gauge of that kind of thing. So, I didn’t think anything of it. I thought he was just being a gentleman. When he got out of the car and the driver took off...” she shook her head. “I’m just so sorry. I didn’t know—” Her voice cracked again, harsher this time. Then she pressed her lips into a line as she looked down. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered trying to force the tears to stay behind her lids.
The man was gone from the edge of his driveway. Harry shook his head confused how she could be apologizing for literally nothing. She didn’t do anything wrong. “What are y’apologizing for?”
“For him coming back here! I don’t bring people back to the house I’m living in for free. I would never want to put someone like that within a three-mile radius of Cece. I was just trying to get him to leave and I—” her voice choked off again.
“Love,” he said gently. “S’okay,” he promised reassuringly. “Y’can invite friends over. I wouldn’t really want him, but it sounds like we’re on the same page.”
She sniffled, breaking Harry’s heart. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated.
“Did he hurt you?” Harry asked. She shook her head. “I need a verbal answer, love.”
“No, he didn’t hurt me,” she whispered. Barely loud enough for him to hear.
“You’re sure?”
She nodded. “I was just trying to think of a way to get inside without him following me,” she whimpered. “He just wouldn’t shut up about how nice it would be to...” her tears started to flow. She shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.
Harry didn’t think. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed up and down her back. “S’okay,” he promised. “You’re okay,” he repeated. “You could have banged on the door or something,” he assured her.
She sniffled. “I didn’t want to wake the baby.”
He smiled softly. Of course she didn’t. “Please call the driver next time. Day or night. I should’ve told y’that,” he murmured. “It would make me feel better. And he’ll only let y’have someone else in the car with you if y’say so,” he promised.
She nodded. “Okay.”
“You’re allowed t’have a life here, love,” he promised. “Friends, dates, whatever y’want.”
“Well, I’m not dating for a while,” that was fine by Harry. Gently, she pulled from Harry’s embrace, and he felt completely cold. It wasn’t from his lack of clothes either.
She wiped her eyes. “Do y’want me to...get y’anything?” He asked.
She shook her head of the thought. “No, I’m sorry to have interrupted your sleep—”
“Don’t be. But y’didn’t. Cece was up, I was checking on her when I saw m’phone’s notification,” he explained. “But even if she wasn’t up... I wouldn’t have minded,” he promised. “Really.”
Her eyes trailed over Harry’s body. It hadn’t occurred to her that he was wearing nothing but boxers. His shoulders were broad, his arms were taut with lean muscles that didn’t bulge massively but were still beautifully sculpted. His hair was in disarray, probably from his pillow. His stomach was flat, ridged with muscles, and covered with tattoos. “I didn’t realize you had so many tattoos.”
He smirked. “Yeah, um...guilty pleasure of mine.”
Harry really shouldn’t say pleasure around her. It made her think of things that would give her immense pleasure. Like the boxers that outlined a plump dick (which wasn’t even fully hard it seemed. Jesus Christ, she wondered if she was going to get pregnant just from looking at it) and showed off his muscular thighs. She shook her head trying to keep her eyes focused on anything other than Harry’s groin area. “I um... thank you,” she whispered. “For getting me.”
“Of course, love. Any time,” he promised. “I know y’work for me and I respect your commitment and seriousness t’your job. It’s something I value in m’employees at the office too. But Niall also works with me too and he’s m’best friend and he’s very comfortable asking me t’bail him out of dicey situations. So if y’need something, y’jus’ have t’ask.”
She nodded. “Okay... thank you,” she repeated. “Good night, Harry.”
“Good night, Miss Honey.”
*
Harry was frustrated. It was a busy time of year, so he had been staying an hour, sometimes two later than he was supposed to. He ate reheated food that she had cooked (which was still delicious) but mostly he was upset because he wasn’t getting to see Cece before bed. The pictures she sent in the afternoon and just before bed helped but didn’t make up for the real thing. He missed his daughter.
And honestly? If he was real with himself, he missed eating dinner with the pretty woman that was kind enough to make dinner in the first place. He missed watching an episode of whatever show she liked before she went for a swim in the pool and then to read in her room. Up until Harry had started staying late, she had gone for a swim every night and Harry was in awe. The pool was heated sure, but the air was cold. But she was insistent—all to get her laps in so she could work out. Now, when he got home, she was already in her room. Only coming out to say hello, give the lowdown on bedtime and making sure he knew which food was for Niall the next morning.
It seemed she wasn’t dating, so at least Harry had that. Even though he told her she could, he was glad she wasn't. It wasn’t right or fair of him to feel that way, but he couldn’t help it. The few times he saw her out in the pool in a bathing suit (that was not an itty-bitty bikini like Niall had described) he felt possessive. If she had an itty-bitty bikini, Harry thought he might lose his mind--the pretty one piece with a cutout created by a crisscrossing bow around her middle was tantalizing enough. He didn’t let his gaze linger for long (he didn’t want to be creepy) but he thought back to the guy that followed her home and terrified her. No one deserved her kindness. No one deserved to see her vulnerable and alone in anything less than what she wanted. She made Cece feel safe. She made Harry feel safe.
“Why don’t you go home?” Niall suggested. “You’ve been staying late all week, and I know you miss Cece. Take a half day, go spend some time with your daughter. Or even Miss Honey,” he wiggled his eyebrows.
Harry shook his head. “I already took a ton of time off—”
“For a very good reason! Harry,” Niall sighed. “You have an adorable baby daughter. She’s only going to be little for so long. You need to enjoy it.”
With that thought, Harry couldn’t get out of his office fast enough. He entered the house using the keycode. It didn’t even faze her. If someone used the code, then she assumed it was someone who was allowed to be there. But also, the sound of the vacuum cleaner was humming and creating more noise than she could have heard with the door opening and closing. But she must have sensed it because she glanced over her shoulder and smiled finishing the spot she was working on. Harry could make out the wrap around her body while she vacuumed. Wearing Cece like a body ornament. It was adorable. “I could hire someone for that, y’know,” he called over the droning noise.
She turned the vacuum off and turned around showing off the little babe at the same time. She kicked her feet. Harry thought his heartstrings were going to snap with how much love flooded him. Someone that loved him so unconditionally. It felt like he didn’t deserve it.
“You’re home early,” she smiled and loosened the wrap around her and pulled the headphones off her little head to keep her ears safe from the vacuum sound. “Is Dada home to play, Cece?” She smiled excitedly. “Is Dada here to play?” She repeated, passing her to Harry. Cece immediately settled into his embrace, making his heart hurt. Niall was right, this was well worth it.
“I was just going to do laundry,” she said. “Do you want anything to eat?” She asked.
“I have people who could do your laundry,” he told her, his lips attached to the crown of Cece’s head. “And y’don’t need t’do my laundry either,” he frowned. “Or Cece’s.”
“Yes, but you are saving money by letting me do it. I’m all about coupons. I’m like a BOGO sale, you know? For a business owner, you don’t see a good deal when presented.”
He rolled his eyes. Niall listed a lot of great qualities about her. But he didn’t list how stubborn she was. Especially when it came to things like using the driver or doing his laundry. Harry wanted to shake her sometimes.
“Niall said you have a business trip next weekend?”
His eyes snapped to meet hers. “You talk to Niall?” Like regularly? Casually?
He was so going to fire him.
“Yes,” she smiled and then laughed to herself, a private joke Harry wasn't privy to.
“What?”
“It’s nothing. Niall’s just funny.”
Harry was going to kill him. Then fire him.
“Oh?”
“He just he tells me he’s going to marry me if I keep making such good food for him to eat.”
So fired.
“Speaking of,” she continued while Harry let that linger in silence. “Little miss needs to eat,” she said. “I can do it if you want—”
“Thank you,” he was sincerely appreciative. “But I have it covered,” he smiled. “You can take the rest of the afternoon to yourself if you’d like.”
She smiled. “That would be great. I just have a few more things to do but I’ve been dying to go to the bookstore. They’re having a sale on all paperbacks,” her eyes glowed.
Harry smiled. “Sounds lovely.”
“Just shout if you need something.”
Harry went to the kitchen, took the bottle that was warmed and ready on the counter (she must have just put it out while she was vacuuming nearby).
You cannot flirt with my nanny. He texted Niall while Cece drank from her bottle.
Someone should, Harry. By all means YOU should. But I’ll handle it if you cannot.
Harry scowled and threw his phone aside at the pretty fall throw pillows. “Sorry m’gonna kill Uncle Niall, Cece,” he told her. “But he’s stupid.”
*
Harry often found himself defaulting to her and all her knowledge. She had a background in psychology, as that was what she studied in college—a concentration in child development. All of which he knew from her application. Harry was well educated, but he would never feign to have more knowledge that he didn’t have.
Which is why when Cece continued to fuss and fuss more than she had since she’d been born, Harry didn’t know what to do.
“Love?” He knocked on the door. It was two in the morning, and she was obviously well off the clock. Harry battled for several minutes trying to decide if it was worth it. He didn't want to bother her, but frankly, he was exhausted. But she answered anyway, hurriedly.
She was wearing a pair of leggings and a blue tank top. One that was thin and made Harry’s stomach ache with desire. Something lower ached with desire too. But fortunately, he had enough foresight to put on a pair of sweats before waking her. She rubbed her eye looking like a toddler coming to their parents’ bedroom. Her hair tie had fallen from her braid letting the strands fall haphazardly out of the twist.
He thought about kissing her. God he shouldn’t have allowed himself to be alone in the middle of the night with her.
Gratefully, Cece called out. Reminding him of why he had woken her up in the first place.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can you check on her? She’s so fussy. I don’t know if m’doing something wrong?” It killed him that the baby was fussing. He hated to wake her almost as much. However, she didn’t even bat an eye to it and hurried to Cece’s room. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“Don’t be,” she yawned. “I was... actually reading,” she smiled. “I shouldn’t be, but I can’t put the book down.”
How was that so hot sounding? It shouldn’t have been. He had watched her read on the couch a hundred times. But it was hot. So hot he was glad there was an extra layer to hide how it made him feel.
Harry was glad he was going away for the weekend. He needed to clear his head of the pretty girl that was invading his every thought when he had no right to think of her that way. “Oh yeah, Miss Cece just wants to party, huh, sweet girl?” She smiled and pulled her from the crib and hummed. “Daddy has to work early tomorrow, Cece. can have our own party tomorrow, okay? But Daddy’s got to sleep,” she whispered. “I know you’re a party girl,” she cooed. “But you can’t party when you’re sleepy,” she reminded her.
Harry was not thinking of it like that but the way she said Daddy (twice) made his chest ache with something he wasn’t used to feeling. It probably didn’t help that her tank top did little to hide two hardened, protruding bumps on her chest that made Harry want to lick his lips (and her). He was going to turn the heat up before bed because it must have been chilly.
Harry tried to keep his gaze PG, but she was so pretty, he was thanking himself for the moment of clarity he had that made him put on pants because he wouldn’t be able to hide the way he felt about seeing her sleepy and beautiful.
Fuck Niall and his stupid observations. He is so fired when I get back from my trip.
After a few more hums and coos, Cece fell back to sleep. She kissed her hair and gently laid her back in the crib. “She’s almost four months, of course—she might be hitting a little sleep regression. It’s perfectly normal. I’ll do some research and see what I can do to help alleviate—”
“Thank you,” he felt exhausted. Sleep deprived and sad about leaving—even if it was just for the weekend. “Seriously. Thank you.”
She smiled. “Of course, Harry. That’s what I’m here for. Probably a good time to stop my book too,” she reached out and squeezed his arm. “Get some sleep. I’ll have breakfast in the morning before you fly out,” she promised.
“I didn't mean t'interrupt your book,” he said softly. “Y'don’t have t'get up earlier, she can lay in bed for a bit,” he offered.
“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ll just nap when she naps,” she shrugged. "Cece will want to see you before you leave," she smiled so effortlessly. Like Cece would really know if he was gone. But the way she said it made him believe it. She squeezed Harry's forearm. “Goodnight, Harry,” she said sweetly.
*
Harry was staring at Cece like she was going to disappear while he fed her. She gently pushed the cup of tea she made him (with three sugars) in front of him. “I haven’t left her once for this long,” Harry reminded her.
“I know,” she frowned. “She’ll be fine,” she assured him.
“I know.”
“Really, Harry. I won’t let anything happen to her. I love her beyond belief,” she promised.
But Harry felt something creep into his stomach. Something that felt like an overwhelming urge to kiss her. A way that had him aching to make Cece a sibling and he thought that maybe he could shift the real estate in his heart that was reserved for his company and open it for someone else. He shook his head as if a bug had flown in his eye. Ridding himself of the unrealistic thought that was wriggling it's way into ever inch of his mind.
No, he didn’t love her.
That would be ridiculous.
It took her two weeks to figure out what Harry liked to eat for breakfast most. As stubborn as Harry was, she was more so. Every day she made something new: omelets, waffles, French toast, everything he could think of, she tried. But when she told him she was going to make crepes, he stopped her and told her: just scrambled eggs and toast.
So, she made him scrambled eggs, toast, and sliced up some avocado on the side. “Thank you, love. Y'really didn’t need to.”
“I have it on good authority you rarely eat until like two in the afternoon if I don’t feed you,” she smiled. “Happy to help,” she promised. Because that’s what she did. Helped and helped and helped.
“Why don’t y’tell your friend m’going t’fire him if y’don’t stop talking t’him.”
She laughed and Harry enjoyed the sound more than he thought possible. “Niall?! Shouldn’t you fire me?”
He shook his head. “No way, love. You’re the best there is for Cece, you’re stuck here,” he smirked. Her heart fluttered and she realized she hadn’t spoken as Harry glanced at her. He cleared his throat. “I mean... as long as you like it here,” he attempted to recover (poorly).
“I love it here,” she nodded excitedly. That beautiful smile that Harry had honed in on during her interview spread across her beautiful face. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you,” he smiled. Genuinely.
It took every ounce of Harry’s shaky control to keep himself from saying he would miss her too, while he was gone. Maybe as much as he would miss Cece.
*
It was only a two-night stay. But the first night was hardest. He called as soon as his last meeting finished. He watched her play with Cece through the video call. When her phone died, it took five minutes for her to get rebooted. She grabbed her laptop to continue the call and set it up on the floor for Harry to see Cece during her tummy time.
Cece didn’t seem to notice much that Harry was on the computer screen. In fact, she didn’t pay much attention to either of them while they chatted at all. Even when Cece fell asleep, he found himself asking her all kinds of questions about school and work. How she decided to become a nanny and the like. He asked about her family and if she missed them. Her family was still hours and hours away from her, so he was confused as to why she wouldn’t move with the previous family she nannied for.
“Truthfully?” She sighed. “I love this coast so much,” she smiled fondly. “I grew up here and I went to school here. I loved my nanny family, but there’s just something about it here,” she explained. “My family kind of... they don't..." she sighed. "They don't visit much and I think they would come up to visit even less if I lived across the country. I adore my family. They mean so much to me. It would have been hard to be even further away from them.”
Harry wanted to hold her and never let go. This woman loved hard. Harder than anyone he knew.
Eventually, when it was so much later than it should have been to be chatting on the phone with someone he was employing to take care of his daughter, without talking about said daughter, Harry said goodnight and got ready for bed. As he brushed his teeth, he opened his text messages.
Niall...
Yes, Harry? It’s eleven and I’m in bed.
... she’s perfect.
Who Cece?
...
No shit, Harry. You’re an idiot.
When Harry closed his eyes, he couldn’t help but think of her.
*
When Harry returned home, he rushed through the door, dropping his bags and hurrying to the living room. Harry was on the floor beside the coffee table where he showered Cece in kisses all over her little face. The only pause he had was looking at the lovely girl giggling on the couch at their reunion. “Ugh, Cece, you’re making me jealous! I wish someone would be that happy to see me when they get home,” she giggled.
But Harry couldn’t let her think that for a moment longer. He crossed the room, pulled the book from her hands and straddled her, locking her in place. He cupped her face before she could question anything and kissed her. Kissed her long and hard. Eventually he nestled his hips between her thighs. “I like you so much. I’m so happy t’see you when I get home,” he groaned peppering her face and skin with more kisses. “I trust you with everything. You have my whole world most of the day. And... when I get home m’so happy t'see Cece. But love, m’thrilled t'see you as well”
“Harry,” she whispered. “She’s right there."
“She's not looking,” his voice was husky as he pulled on the neck of the blue tank top that stared in all his dreams. He tugged it down her chest a bit hoping to see those pretty, hardened—
The phone call waking him up for the day put him nearly in a cold sweat. “Ugh,” he moaned reaching blindly for the nightstand for the phone. He pulled the phone to his ear. “Hello?” He grumbled.
“Hello, Mr. Styles this is your wake-up cal—”
He smacked the phone back into the receiver and begged for the dream to come back before it went away. What was underneath that tank top? He glanced at the clock. If he fucked his hand, he wouldn’t have time to shave. That wasn’t very business owner of him. Or maybe it was. He was CEO, the meetings wouldn’t start without him.
“Fuck it,” he muttered and wrapped his hand around his hard dick. Maybe he shouldn’t have, but he pretended he knew what was hiding beneath the thin tank top of the woman who lived in his house.
*
The weather fucked him royally. He was supposed to be home that evening. Supposed to be eating dinner with his little baby and the pretty nanny. It felt completely unfair that the weather had made it so he would be stuck in a stupid airport, and he would have to go directly to work in the morning.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she promised. “Maybe you can take the day off later in the week,” she suggested. “Actually... I was going to ask you if it was possible for you to do that anyway, so maybe this works out. Or maybe your mom—” He knew she was trying to distract him. Which he was grateful for but he was still so frustrated.
"What do y'need?" He asked, his voice stiff. He didn't mean for it to be. He was just upset.
She cleared her throat. “I just have some appointments I’ve been rescheduling over and over trying to find a day that's best for them. I don’t want to make you take the day off, but I know you’ve been nervous about your trip. I’ve been waiting—”
“Of course,” he said hurriedly. “Which day?”
“Wednesday, if possible. If not I can reschedule again.”
“Sure,” he’d take the whole week off if she asked. Cece time and helping the perfect angel? She didn’t need to say anything else.
“Thank you, Harry," the gratitude in her voice made him ache.
“You’ve worked nonstop for almost two months, love. Y’do more than I ever expected. S’least I could do. Plus, staying home with m’daughter isn’t a bad thing.”
She smiled. “She misses you,” she promised. Harry was pretty sure Cece wouldn’t know if he was away or not; work or overnight stay irrelevant. But it was nice she was saying it for his benefit. “She does, I swear,” she continued, somehow understanding his silence. “Especially at bedtime and when she wakes up. Little Miss doesn’t sleep well without you here,” she cooed. Harry imagined her holding the baby on his couch looking utterly comfortable and natural.
“Well tell her I miss her, love her, and kiss her for me too.”
She pressed a bunch of kisses to her skin loud enough for Harry to hear and that soft little giggle as well. Harry smiled, feeling marginally better about his cancelled flight. “See you tomorrow, love.”
“Can you say, bye bye Daddy,” she whispered. “Come on you can do it,” she encouraged. It was much too early and of course she knew that, but Harry loved that she tried anyway.
He wanted to tell Cece to give her a kiss from him as well.
--
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maddie-dog-story-blog · 1 month ago
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Christmas at his Family's House
"The Thanksgiving Incident."
As you drove to your boyfriend's house for Christmas, you couldn't help but feel nervous after what you have not-so-lovingly dubbed "the Thanksgiving Incident." How were you going to spend three days with his family after accidentally messing yourself in a highchair and spending the rest of holiday diapered?
Maybe they forgot or were willing to ignore the incident, you thought to yourself. Brandon's mom and sister had clearly never told Brandon about what had happened. Or, at least if they had, he had never brought it up.
Regardless, you steeled yourself as you approached their front door with your bags, ready to endure whatever humiliation necessary to make a better impression on the family of the love of your life.
"You're finally here!" Brandon's mother said as she wrapped you up in a big hug, "I'm so glad that you're back! Oh, and look at all of those bags! Why don't you go put them in Cindy's room. We've got a bed set up for you in there."
"Cindy's room?" Brandon asked, a hint of protest in his voice, "Mom, we're adults! Can't she sleep in my room?"
Brandon's mother just shook her head and rebuffed her son's complaints. It was her house, and you were going to follow her rules. That meant not sleeping in the same room until you were married.
You couldn't help but blush as you walked into Brandon's older sister's room and saw the bed you would be sleeping in this weekend. Clearly a toddler bed brought down from the attic, the undersized bed was painted pink and made up with a unicorn bedspread.
Worse, when you set your bags on it, you could hear the tell-tale crinkle of a plastic sheet covering the mattress underneath. Before you had much time to ruminate on your sleeping arrangements, however, you were accosted from behind.
"You're finally here! Sorry about the bed, it was all we had. It should work fine for you though!" Cindy said as she enveloped you in a hug. "I'm just so excited you came with my brother to spend time with us again!"
You couldn't help but blush as the larger woman smothered you in her embrace. However, you also couldn't help but feel comforted by her exuberance at seeing you, and the fact she didn't bring up your humiliating Thanksgiving experience.
You also couldn't help but feel more relieved as the rest of the day went normally. Brandon's parents had picked up an extra chair for you for meals, keeping you out of the dreaded highchair. No one mentioned your messy incident earlier in the year. And, just like at the last holiday you attended, everyone was incredibly friendly and welcoming.
So, it took you by surprise when you went to Cindy's room to sleep to find a childish night-shirt and large diaper laid on top of the toddler bed that was yours for the weekend. You picked up the babyish article of clothing clearly meant for you in one hand and looked at it in disgust as Cindy walked into the room.
"Do you need help getting it on, sweetie?" She asked kindly, watching you examine the dreaded reminder of your last visit here.
"Um, no, I'm fine. I'll just wear my normal panties and pajamas," you responded, unable to hide the notes of timidity and fear in your voice.
Cindy walked up behind you and placed her hand gently on your back.
"Oh, baby, that's just not an option. Mom and I don't want to embarrass you, but, after what happened last time, we both agreed a little extra protection was in order, at least at night, until you could prove it wasn't necessary."
You looked up at the taller, older woman with desperate eyes.
"Please," you pleaded.
"Well," she said, taking a step back, "I could go explain the situation to my brother. He probably would have some sympathy for you. You could get a hotel room with him and wear whatever you want to bed! Mom and Dad would be sad, but I'm sure they'd understand."
You could feel your cheeks turn bright red at the just the thought of asking your boyfriend to get a hotel room for the night to avoid having to avoid wearing a diaper to bed because you had messed yourself at his parent's house just a month ago. Not wanting to make a fuss and determined to keep your secret, you took a deep breath and handed the diaper to Cindy.
"Yes, a little help with the diaper would be nice. I've never, um, diapered myself," you said as you began to strip away your adult clothes, and dignity, in front of the other women.
Cindy, for her part, only let one small, victorious grin cross her face before she agreed to help get you ready for the night.
When you woke up in the morning, something felt wrong. Not just the wrong of waking up in a small bed in a strange room. Something else was wrong, something worse. The padding between your legs felt bulky. Bulkier than last night. It also felt cold and clammy.
"No," you whispered as your reached down and pressed your hand to the crotch of your diaper, finding it soaked.
"No!" You said a little bit louder, trying not to cry.
You hadn't wet the bed since you were a little girl. Why was this happening here and now? What was wrong with you? Maybe the internet had answers.
Desperate to find a little bit of reassurance, and maybe to slip out of the room and change before anyone else noticed your soggy predicament, you started quietly searching your boyfriend's sister's room for your cellphone. For some reason, it wasn't where you left it. Before you could locate it though, Cindy woke up.
"Hey, are you ok? What's going on?" She asked kindly when she saw you on all fours on the floor, looking under your bed for your phone, your wet bottom on perfect display to her.
"Oh, sweetie, did you have another little accident? Just potty or did you make stinkies again?" She asked as if she were talking to a child.
Her voice and unexpected accusation caused you to jump, banging your head on the bed. Tears started to form in your eyes as you sat on the floor, immediately regretting your choice as you settled into the cool, soggy padding taped around your waist.
Cindy quickly got out of bed and started rubbing your back, comforting you.
"Don't worry, sweetie! It's ok! You're dating my brother. We're like family now! Your big sister's got you!" She said as she helped you stand up, discreetly checking your diaper for a messy load.
"Oh, wonderful, you're just wet! How about this," Cindy said, dropping to her knees in front of you, "I'll get this soggy thing off of you, then you can go shower? I'll help you change when you get feeling all clean. Doesn't that sound nice?"
Without waiting for your response, Cindy ripped the tapes of your diaper free, letting it fall between your legs with a wet plop. Desperate to escape your shame, you executed the older woman's plan without question, practically running to the bathroom to shower.
When you returned to the room draped in a towel and feeling much better, you immediately found yourself blushing again. The small bed you had just slept in was completely made. On the unicorn bedspread, next to your missing phone sat a clean diaper. Cindy, still in the room, looked at you with sympathy.
"I know, I know! It's embarrassing," your boyfriend's sister started, "But, sweetie, you have to agree it's for the best. We don't want a repeat of Thanksgiving, but, if we do have one, it's best to be prepared."
You sighed in resignation, not wanting to make a fuss. With almost no resistance, you assumed the now all-to-familiar diapering position on the floor and closed your eyes as Cindy diapered you for the third time in as many days spent with her.
After you were diapered, Cindy left the room to give you privacy as you finished getting ready. As you did, you noticed a large plastic bowl with water in it on her nightstand. It was curious to you, but you didn't give it much thought, as you spent most of your mental energy trying to figure out how to keep Brandon's hands off your ass for the rest of the day.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon went uneventfully, just like the day before. Brandon's family continued to treat you wonderfully, and, aside from occasionally having to remind your handsy boyfriend that you were in his parent's house, the diaper turned out not to be much of an issue.
At around 2:00 pm, Cindy went to the dining room to set the family table for Christmas dinner. At 2:03 pm, you heard a crash and swearing from the other room. Everyone jumped up to see what had happened.
"Shit, fuck, what the hell," Cindy said as you all walked in the room, finding her standing in front of a chair that had somehow completely fallen apart in front of her. "The damn thing just fell apart! I don't know what happened!"
She exclaimed as everyone looked at her with concern. As the debris was cleaned up, Cindy looked at her mother with concern.
"Mom," she said, "do you know what this means? We're short a chair again!"
Your boyfriend's mother immediately looked at you, blushing a bit herself as she made the next suggestion.
"Well, I think… I think we'll be ok," she then turned to you, "Baby, I hate to ask you to do this again, but, without an extra chair, I don't have much of a choice. Would you mind sitting in the highchair again? We know you fit."
"Of course she doesn't mind," your doofus of a boyfriend responded from behind you, clearly trying to appease his mom and earn you some brownie points with her. However, he was also completely unaware of your current situation with his family.
"Wonderful!" Brandon's mother said, embracing you in a hug before scampering to the attic to pull back down the dreaded highchair.
And that's how you found yourself yet again, strapped into a highchair at yet another of your boyfriend's family's holiday dinners, sat between your boyfriend and his big sister.
As you ate and conversed, you couldn't help but feel nervous. Those nerves sent butterflies to your stomach that were soon causing an all-to-familiar desperate feeling.
"Hey, Brandon," you whispered to your boyfriend, "do you think you could let me out of this thing? I need to use the restroom."
Brandon smiled as he got up and began to move your chair, ready to aide your escape from your childish confines. However, before he could unlock your chair's tray, Cindy called out.
"Brandon, get over here! I need help with the dishes!"
Brandon gave you an apologetic look as he stopped what he was doing and moved towards the kitchen.
"Sorry, babe! You know how needy Cindy is! I'll get dishes done quick and be right back."
You started to wiggle wildly as he turned his back to you, giving you all-to-familiar flashbacks to Thanksgiving. You looked for anyone that could help you, but your body was wracked by a cramp before you can call for help.
"Brandon!" You chirped out weakly as, suddenly, you lost control again.
You bent forward and grunted as, for the second time as an adult, you loaded your pants with a warm, brown mess while sitting in a cursed highchair.
Not wanting to make a scene, you just sat in your mess until your boyfriend came back with his sister.
"Babe, what's that smell?" He asked as he approached you.
"Sweetie, you didn't? Again?" Cindy asked as she walked over. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised after your little message last night."
"Didn't what? Little message?" Brandon asked, just as confused as you felt.
"She messed her pants, again," Cindi said, somewhat exasperated, "At least this time, you were wearing a diaper, right sweetie?"
You tried to move your head away from Cindy's light touch as she stroked your cheek like a child's.
"But, this is what you wanted, isn't it? You told me as much last night when you texted me about wanting to be my baby sister? My ~real~ baby sister. The family baby, really."
"I did what?" You yelled out stunned, Brandon's family starting to form an audience in the room.
"You know what you did. It's all right here," Cindy said, handing her phone to her brother.
After a few minutes if scrolling, he looked up at you with big, caring eyes.
"I didn't know, baby. I'm sorry, but I didn't know. This is definitely something I can give to you though," he said, way too supportively in your book, given the context of the conversation.
"I knew you'd be on board, and so are Mom and Dad," Cindy said, looking at her parents, who, in turn, were looking at you and nodding their heads supportively.
"No!" You yelled out, "I don't know what this is, but, no!"
Your protests were useless, however. After Cindy whispered quietly in his ear, Brandon pulled you from the chair, lifted you onto his hip, and began to carry you to another bedroom in the house.
You thrashed in his arms, but he held you firmly.
"I know you're going to fight this. I know you want to fight it. It was in your text to Cindy. But, I want you to know, I love you, and I know this is what you really want. Your messy butt here proves it."
Brandon patted your poopy diaper for emphasis.
"I just want you to know. I'm committed, my whole family is committed, to giving you what you want completely, even if that means 'convincing' you it's okay to let yourself give in."
"Put! Me! Down!" You screamed as you unsuccessfully tried to force your way out of his strong arms.
Your struggles stopped temporarily as he opened the door to the new room--a fully stocked nursery.
"Mom never could bring herself to change this room. Good thing for you, huh?"
"Noooo!!" You yelled, even more desperate to get away.
You weren't a baby. You wouldn't be treated like a baby. This wasn't right.
"You were real honest in that text, hm? You're going to make this hard. Oh, well!" Brandon said as he carried you to a rocking recliner in the room and threw you over his lap, messy diaper thrust up into the air. "Have it your way. Just remember, I'm just doing this because I love you. My whole family loves you."
Tears began to flow down your face as, for what felt like forever, your boyfriend ruthlessly spanked your upper thighs and padded ass until you let your body go limp in complete and utter submission.
Brandon then popped a pacifier in your mouth and proceeded to change your diaper and dress you in suspiciously large baby clothes, all at the direction of Cindy. You couldn't bring yourself to fight back, humiliated, and literally beaten, battered, and bruised as you were.
You spent the rest of the evening acting like a perfect infant for your boyfriend's family. Letting them hold, coddle, bottle feed, and burp you.
Eventually, your torment came to an end when Cindy decided to pick you up and carry you to the nursery for bed. As she changed your well-used diaper, you pulled out your pacifier and spoke just one word.
"Why?"
Cindy smiled, patting the front of your fresh diaper, causing powder to shoot out of the waistband.
"I already told you at Thanksgiving, sweetie, I've always wanted a baby sister. And now I have one!"
Cindy popped the pacifier back in your mouth as she lowered you into your crib.
"Don't worry, baby sis, I'm sure you'll come to love it as much as I do! Ni-night!"
The taller woman, ~your~ big sister, kissed your forehead before turning out the lights in the room and closing the door, leaving you alone to ponder what your life had just become.
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clownakai · 2 months ago
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Hi! Let's talk about: Conan's terribly kept secret, and how come he doesn't seem to mind that Akai has pretty much figured it out (and teases him about it)
I'm not going to lie, I think about this a lot and I've wanted to make a post dissecting the whole thing for a while. It's one of those details within two characters' relationship that says a lot about their overall dynamic, in my opinion.
So, to start off, let's address the secret in question and what it means to Conan. Basic stuff, but it's a useful starting point.
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The first and greatest motivation behind Shinichi's efforts to keep his situation a secret from Ran is that he doesn't want to endanger her (good idea in theory, not so easy in practice, but this post isn't about that).
In time, this also becomes valid for everyone who associates with Kudou Shinichi and/or Edogawa Conan, given all the stunts he pulls as the latter. Just to be on the safer side, those two identities should remain separate.
Now, here's the first real "outsider" who figures out Conan is Shinichi.
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I'm kind of reading this as Conan attempting to call Hattori's bluff, but as soon as he realizes that the guy is serious about telling Ran everything, he drops all pretenses and comes clean about the APTX.
Now, since this is still pretty early on in the manga, we can argue that Conan's identity hasn't been solidified just yet and Shinichi doesn't know how dangerous the Organization actually is, and combining that with the fact that Hattori is pretty much a stranger, the pros of conceding defeat on the matter and explaining himself to a fellow detective definitely outweigh the cons.
(This also gifts us with the funniest swaggest most whimsical duo ever, but I digress /silly)
And after Heiji, we have the man, the myth, the legend. Hondou Eisuke. His case is kind of particular, in that he doesn't really try to get the secret out of Conan. The truth is presented to him due to something unrelated (asking Ran out), which is apparently reason enough for Shinichi to out himself.
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I do believe that Shinichi felt secure enough in doing this for a couple reasons: first and foremost, Eisuke is at least marginally aware of the Organization and the danger it represents, and he knows the importance of keeping secrets given both his sister's situation and his career choice. Secondly, Eisuke is leaving Japan: sure, there's a chance he might stay in contact with his friends via text, but he has no reason to tell Ran about Conan's real identity in the first place.
The real "danger" here was the possibility (very, very small. Basically non-existent, to be honest) that Ran would say yes to Eisuke's proposal to go to the States together (where, in Shinichi's mind, he wouldn't be able to follow, where he wouldn't be able to watch over her, where he felt he would lose her in every way that matters), and that chance, no matter how small, warranted an intervention. Not exactly pure logic, but that's teenagers for you (affectionate).
Alright, so what about people like Masumi? She even has an advantage in that she already knows about the existence of a drug that makes people shrink: her own mom looks like a middle schooler because of that. She's in danger no matter how you look at it, and she's clearly been keeping that secret the same way Agasa, Hattori, and the Kudous have for a good while. So how come she doesn't get to join the club?
The answer is, of course, the risk factor.
Masumi, as we all know, wouldn't know the meaning of subtlety if it hit her in the face with a baseball bat. We love and cherish her regardless, but admittedly, that's not a trait that would inspire trust in a pair of teenagers hiding their continued existence from an evil syndicate.
That's right! We have her timing to keep in mind as well. Masumi is added to the scene well into the main timeline's events, which means multiple things:
Conan's identity is finally well-established and separate from Shinichi's. Ran has had her suspicions in multiple instances, but they've been assuaged every time. Still, that balance is hard to maintain.
Shinichi is now fully aware of just how dangerous the Organization is: he's now much more reluctant to just share his secret willy-nilly with random strangers, even though they might prove to be useful allies in the long run.
Conan isn't the only shrunk teenager running around anymore: Haibara has just as much reason as him, if not more, to want to keep the number of people in the know as low as possible. By revealing his own secret, there would be virtually no way for Shinichi to keep Haibara out of the metaphorical line of fire.
Therefore, a variable that behaves like this...
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Or this...
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Isn't very likely to garner much favor from either of these two.
Something to take note of, though, is the fact that Conan pretty much only ever panics when Masumi brings up his identity if she's making an active effort to also bring the matter up with people who are firmly on the "Absolutely Cannot Find Out" list (Ran especially).
In multiple other instances, when Masumi alludes to being aware of Conan's ruse but talks to him one-on-one and makes it clear that the comment is a one-off occasion (and that she's not going to push it this time), Shinichi doesn't really lose his cool.
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He may stumble over his words a bit, but the moment isn't played as dramatic or high-risk, per se. It's more as if he were being privately teased about his situation— sort of like as inside joke. It's not exactly welcome, but it also doesn't raise any alarm bells since it stays between him and Masumi.
Now, would Conan's problems with Masumi's nosiness be solved if he gave up and admitted the truth she already knows? Of course, but that's not really the point.
The issue is that this wouldn't be happening on his terms. He would be giving in to someone's else's demands, and in addition to that, Masumi has been asking non-stop about the antidote that Shinichi intermittently uses to get back to normal.
That, above all else, is what makes the endless dance of denial necessary, I think: admitting the truth also means outright admitting that prototypes of an antidote exist, and that means exposing Haibara (both her past work and therefore criminal background, and what she's been working on these past few months: letting Masumi have even a single pill would mean the MI6 getting their hands on it in turn, and that's pretty much not something anyone wants), which in turn would probably set off a very unpleasant chain reaction for everyone involved.
When Shinichi conceded defeat with Hattori, it wasn't on his terms either, but at least he knew the guy didn't really have any ulterior motive apart from his one-sided beef with the Detective of the East.
With Masumi there is no such certainty— quite the opposite, in fact, which is why I think this is the reason he's been so insistent on denying the truth even when he now knows full well that Masumi's can be no mere suspicions.
With all that said, let's get to the point of this bad boy! (I did not think this analysis would get so long. Holy shit)
Let's start with the fact that Akai operates on a pretty simple need-to-know basis. If something isn't relevant to what he's trying to do, he tends not to mention it. Still, he's not exactly strict about this: when Conan mentions Akai and Masumi's familial relation, he takes it in stride and gives his own confirmation because he sees no reason not to.
Now, this of course doesn't mean that he can't get curious about things himself, or that he won't conduct his own investigations on said things. His M.O., however, is very different from that of, say, Hattori or Masumi. It can probably be chalked up to maturity and years of experience, along with the simple matter of his personality, but Akai doesn't exactly make a spectacle of things.
He knows when to push and when to let go in a manner that still gives him the answers he seeks. He easily manipulates Conan into giving himself away as Shinichi while still making sure to be the only one witnessing that moment.
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And then he decides to be a bastard and give Conan a heart attack... for about a tenth of a second, since as he does that he also carefully words things in order to give the kid an easy out.
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All Akai wanted was to figure out the mystery in front of him (he's by admission a curious guy. He likes solving puzzles): now that he has his answers, he's not really going to do anything with them because he has no reason to— Conan is already willing to cooperate with him and the FBI (and has already done so before), after all. They already share intel more or less freely. He's literally living in the kid's house. For free. Why would he jeopardize any of that by falling out of favor with him?
This, I think, is a pretty solid basis upon which I can build my beautiful sandcastle.
Of the couple times in which Akai respectively asks Conan about his identity outright and mildly teases him about his circumstances, the context always plays a huge role.
In the first scenario, the two are speaking in public, yes, but at the same time the conversation is:
Pretty much kept private
Initiated by Conan (he asked for information first!)
Framed as a proposal of a mutual exchange by Akai, who also backs off immediately as soon as Conan turns him down
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Of course, Shinichi is already reasonably sure Akai has him figured out anyway, so the point is moot, but it's still nice to get plausible deniability and still be somewhat in control of when he's going to come clean to the guy of his own volition.
In the second scenario, the situation is even more "secure" so to speak, as:
They're sitting in Okiya Subaru's car
They're completely alone
They're in a hurry to do something else (God fucking dammit, Shuukichi)
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In this case, Conan doesn't outright react to the jab. Maybe it's because he doesn't really know what to say, or maybe it's just that he doesn't have enough time to come up with a reply before Shuukichi picks up the call. Either way, he does perhaps look a little put on the spot, but there's no real panicked reaction, no telltale change in what Conan's pupils look like in true DetCo fashion, which I'd say confirms he doesn't feel threatened at the moment.
(If we really must give it a critical interpretation, maybe the bit feels a little like a joke falling flat because it was made during an otherwise tense moment and it has nothing to do with the bigger issue.)
It's also worth noting how Akai's dig directly ties into his own circumstances, which possibly helps with lowering the "offensive" charge of the words. It's not a direct accusation, but rather a mildly humorous, harmless observation about their shared status (presumed dead by the enemy).
The biggest thing about both scenes is still, however, the fact that Akai unfailingly frames the subject in a way that leaves the choice of whether to actually talk about it completely up to Conan. He definitely recognizes his position as privileged/advantaged, but actively chooses not to make use of that, and he hasn't treated Conan any differently ever since verifying his suspicions either.
(Sidenote: I do believe that keeping the kid's identity from his own colleagues is also a strategic choice. Like I mentioned before, outing Conan would mean outing Haibara, and I do believe Akai's promise to protect Shiho also includes keeping her far away from any government agency who may be interested in what she knows— and what she's done.)
In conclusion: I am extremely normal about random interactions between these two and also I think that Conan's unshakeable trust in Akai stems from how the guy has been treating him ever since they started collaborating— with genuine respect (and even admiration) and never actually making him feel cornered the way so many others do, whether intentionally or not. This results in occasional sillygoofy privileges because Akai can recognize the time and the place in which it's acceptable to tease the Cone.
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moonstruckme · 1 year ago
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Omg Mae more Spence please!! I love him ❤️❤️ what about the team is out at the bar after a case and some guy is flirting with reader and not taking no for an answer and spencer steps in even tho it’s out of character for him bc he’s so so jealous
Thanks for requesting :)
cw: minor assault, fictional confirmation that most guys are douchebags
Spencer Reid x bau!reader ♡ 926 words
“Right,” JJ says, “so Henry had actually been trying to say ‘fork,’ but of course everyone heard ‘fuck.’” 
You double over, laughter bubbling to the surface even easier than usual with the help of the couple of drinks you’ve had. Garcia has far surpassed you, tears leaking from her eyes as Morgan all but holds her upright. 
“And Will’s mom was…” JJ shakes her head with a smile, taking a sip of her drink. “Well, she was pretty upset. She accused Will of using that language around Henry, because she said he’s always had a potty mouth.” 
“Will?” Garcia cackles. “Our sweet southern beaux? There’s no way.” 
“I don’t know,” Emily muses. “I can see it. But he wouldn’t do it around Henry, for sure.” 
“Actually,” Spencer pipes up, “studies show that many children pick up swear words regardless of their parents’ usage. Even if they don’t know what they mean, most have a vocabulary of thirty to forty offensive words by the time they start school.”
The humor drains from JJ’s face. “Like, kindergarten?”
“Sometimes earlier,” Spencer says, before seeming to realize JJ finds these facts more alarming than fascinating. “I’m sure Henry will have a higher vocabulary than that by the time he gets to that age, though.” he adds hastily. “Probably won’t even need to resort to swear words.” You grin at him, laying your head on his shoulder consolingly. You might not have done it if you were completely sober, but right now it feels like the most natural thing in the world, and Spencer only tenses for a second before relaxing.
It’s Garcia who notices first, stiffening and straightening in her seat, but Hotch is the one to ask, “Can we help you?”
“I think so,” drawls a voice from behind you. “You can give me your friend’s number.”
You turn, finding yourself too close to the man standing with his hand presumptuously on the back of your chair and grinning like your agreement is a done deal. 
“Thanks,” you say, not unkindly, “but I’m not looking for anything.” 
The man tilts his head as if to say come on. “But don’t you just love when you find it anyways?”
“I’m here with my friends.” 
“And I’m not asking you to leave them.” He moves his hand to your shoulder, undeterred when you lean away. “Just give me your number, and next time you can be here with me.” 
“She said she’s not interested.” Emily’s voice is hard. If this guy weren’t so unpleasant, you’d be impressed that he’s still here, with your whole team staring daggers at him. 
The douchebag only smiles. “She didn’t say that, though. Did you, sweetheart?”
Your blood runs hot at his disregard of Emily. A man like this, you know—the assertive, overly masculine type—can be dangerous to piss off. But so can you. “I’m not," you say, finally letting the disgust you’ve been holding back seep into your voice. “Leave us alone.” 
Anger sparks in the man’s eyes, just like you knew it would. You don’t expect your gaze looks much different. His grip on your shoulder tightens as he gets in your face, close enough for you to smell the alcohol on his breath. “I know you don’t mean that.” 
You tense, ready to shake him off you and drag him back to whatever musty corner of the bar he’d come from, but Spencer beats you to it. 
“Okay, that’s enough,” he says, prying the fingers from your shoulder. You stand, a protective instinct moving you in front of Spencer, but he pushes past you, badge outheld. “FBI. Do you really wanna pursue this? Because if so, I’ll have no problem cuffing you and explaining it to the local police.” 
The guy makes like he’s going to dart for you again, but Spencer steps in his way, pushing him back with a hand on his shoulder. His voice is quiet but clear. “Do not touch her.”
“Fuck off,” the guy shakes Spencer’s hand off, stalking away. He’s drunker than you thought, wobbling his way back to the bar. 
“Spence,” you say, taking his hand as though mere contact with the man’s shoulder could hurt it. “You didn’t have to do that, I could have handled it.” 
“You shouldn’t have to,” he replies, pulling back the collar of your shirt distractedly. His fingers skim over tender skin, and you look down to find your shoulder is red where the man had gripped it. It’ll probably be a bruise tomorrow. Spencer’s eyes darken. “I can still arrest him. That’s assault.”
“It’s fine.” You move your shirt back into place, pulling him back to your seats. “I’m fine, really. Sorry about the scene, guys.” 
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” Hotch says severely, still eyeing the man from across the room. 
Morgan lets out a low whistle, relaxing back into his seat. “Way to go, wonder boy. Got a little jealous there, did we?”
Spencer lets out a little laugh, though it sounds more strained than usual. “I just did what all of us wanted to do.” 
“Agreed,” Emily says gruffly, toasting with her beer. “I thought I was going to have to go all the way around the table to kick that guy’s ass.” 
You laugh. “I appreciate the support, but I can take care of myself, you know.” You adjust your collar self-consciously, and as soon as you drop your hand back to your lap, Spencer’s taking it in his under the table. 
“Yeah,” he says casually, thumb stroking soothingly at your wrist. “We know.”
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wlntrsldler · 10 months ago
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poisoned mercury | now you got me
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ix. now you got me by inhaler
series masterlist | previous | next
the happy little bubble you and luke made for yourselves inevitably bursted a few days after you made it official– though if you asked luke, you rejected his advances, which always earned an eye roll from you followed by a long kiss to his lips that had him silent for the next five minutes. you knew he was milking the hell out of you saying no to his question until he let you listen to the song, but you were his and he was yours regardless of the title. 
you stared at yourself in the mirror, blushing as you ran your fingers down the marks on your neck. you added a turtleneck under your chb shirt, not having enough energy to cover up the marks on your neck with makeup, and you definitely didn’t have the energy to explain to people how you got them. thankfully, the weather cooperated with you today. it was unusually cold for the summer, a slight breeze entering your room from your opened window. as you continued to get ready for the day, your phone buzzed with a text from your dad. 
‘hey kid, can you come to my office real quick?’
you hadn’t spoken to your dad in weeks, not since he stormed out of the cabin after finding out what started the fight with your teammate. this was the longest you’d gone without speaking to him. you texted a thumbs up and made your way out of your room. 
luke was sitting on the coffee table in the middle of everyone, looking at you with wondering eyes, “where are you going?” 
“my dad wants to talk.” 
“do you want me to come with you?” luke got up from where he sat. you told him last night that you’d been avoiding your dad as much as possible, and he did the same with you. as much as you guys butted heads, luke knew that it was taking a toll on you. you shared that you were scared about what would become of your relationship with your dad. luke, being as close to his mom as you were with your dad, understood. he knew what it was like to feel like your biggest supporter was giving up on you. it wasn’t a feeling he’d wish on his worst enemy, and definitely not a feeling he’d ever wish on you. 
“no, it’s fine,” you clenched your jaw, shaking your head. 
luke’s shoulders slumped over as he stuttered in his actions to sit back down, “oh, okay–uh, let me know if you need anything.” 
you nodded and waved a small goodbye before exiting the cabin. your heart was pounding the entire time you made your way to your dad’s office. a lot of things had been weighing on you this summer– your probation, a possible dent on your record, your estrangement from your parents, luke– and it was a lot to handle. camp half blood was supposed to keep you away from the problems that existed in your day-to-day life, but it seemed to follow you. 
you entered your dad’s office to see him typing away on his laptop. his eyebrows raised when you walked in, motioning for you to shut the door. he closed his laptop and placed it in one of the drawers of his desk. he took a deep breath, “hey, kid.” 
“hi, dad,” you replied, suddenly feeling like a little kid again. you sat on the usual chair in front of his desk and leaned back, “what’s up?” 
“i, uh,” he cleared his throat, “i just wanted to say i’m sorry for how we left things. i shouldn’t have stormed out like that. i was just angry. but not at you, at myself for making you feel like you had to fight these battles for me.” 
he leaned across his desk to hold your hands, “you’re my kid, y’know. my job is to protect you, not the other way around. so i apologize if i ever made you feel like you had to come to my defense.” 
“and i’m sorry for being mia the last few weeks,” he chuckled, squeezing your hands, “i’ve been in contact with my lawyers and they’re working on making sure the charges against you don’t stick so i’ve been pretty busy with that.” 
“you think it’ll get sorted out?” you asked. 
“yeah, don’t worry about it. it’s finishing up and i think you might even be able to play this season,” your dad smiled. “but i have to deal with a pr crisis right now that sprung up on me this morning.” 
your shoulders relaxed at your dad’s words. at least your probation was getting sorted out. that was one less thing to worry about. you tugged on the sleeves of your turtleneck as you got comfortable on your chair, “what’s the pr crisis?” 
he sighed, pulling out his laptop, “something with the band.” 
you hoped your dad didn’t notice the slight widening of your eyes. because you hadn’t been talking to your dad, he didn’t know about the recent developments between you and luke. you two didn’t show much pda outside of the cabin, scared that one of the campers would break their nda and post a picture of the two of you. neither of you were ready to tell the world about you two yet. it’s too soon. you didn’t even have the “what’s going to happen to us after summer?” conversation yet. 
“what happened?” 
“some pap pictures leaked. it’s of this new actress in hollywood and a guy leaving her hotel room. the press is reporting that the guy is luke. it looks a lot like him and you know the media– they run any story that’ll get them clicks even if it’s not fully fact-checked as long as they add the word ‘allegedly’ to the article,” he rolled his eyes, turning his computer to face you. “nobody knows where the pictures came from, so we don’t know if it’s actually luke or not, but i’ve been on the phone with may and their team all morning trying to do damage control. she’s telling the guys about the pictures right now.” 
at first glance, your heart dropped to your stomach. the guy did look an awful lot like luke. the rational part of you knew that this was probably taken before the two of you met because you’ve seen him every day since and he was practically imprisoned at chb all summer, but then you thought of your impromptu trip to achilles’ arcade and it made you want to throw up. if luke could sneak away with you like that, it would’ve been easy for him to do the same when he was alone. 
were the nights he didn’t spend in your bed because he was “writing” just an excuse to sneak off to meet up with the girl in the picture? she was gorgeous, after all. blonde, tall, the perfect new hollywood star. they’d make such a great power couple. the two rising stars in their respective industries, the perfect pair. 
the boy’s face, who may or may not be luke, was covered by his hood, but you can clearly see that he was kissing the girl deeply, with his hand placed on the curve of her back. the next picture was them with their fingers laced together as she led him into the hotel, giggling at something he said. the guy had a similar build as luke and dressed the same way as he did when he was having a lazy day– sweatpants, hoodie, and converses. 
bile made its way up your throat as you continued to scroll through the pictures. you looked at the time stamp of the photos and closed your eyes, wincing, when you saw that they were taken two days ago. luke didn’t sleep in your room two days ago, nor was he in the cabin. he showed up the next day saying that he was in the studio, trying to finish up the song so you would officially accept being his girlfriend. 
you squinted at a close-up picture of the pair, zoning in on the guy's hand. you breathed out a sigh of relief, fingers immediately clutching the ring that rested on your index finger. you turned the laptop back to your dad, “that’s not luke.” 
his eyebrows shot up, looking between you and his laptop screen, “how do you know?” 
“look at his rings,” you pointed at the bands around the guy’s fingers, “luke doesn’t wear a ring on his ring finger anymore. and look, the guy has a ring there and it’s gold.” 
“how are you so sure? what if he just decided to wear it that day?” 
“trust me,” you waved off, “he’s particular about his jewelry. he stopped wearing one on his ring finger a while ago. and luke doesn’t wear gold jewelry.” 
your dad narrowed his eyes at you suspiciously, shutting his laptop, “i didn’t realize you were that close to luke that you had his accessories memorized.” 
“ah– well,” you cleared your throat, looking down at your feet. you felt caught. “s’your fault, really. you made us live together.” 
“is there something you need to tell me, kid?” 
you got up from your seat, quickly making your way to the door, “geez, dad, i didn’t realize the time! i promised clar that i’d help her with camp duties, so i gotta go. thanks for all your help on the probation and permanent record thing. you’re the best!” 
you didn’t bother to turn around to see your dad’s reaction to your excuse. you knew that he could see right through you. 
you dad called from behind you, his joking tone camouflaged by his “dad” voice, “tell castellan that if he does anything wrong, i’ll kill him and his career!” 
“love you!” 
your dad shook his head, biting back the smile on his face, “love you too, kid.” 
as you were rushing back to your cabin, you ran smack dab into luke who was frantic, worry evident on his features. his eyes widened when he saw you and he placed his hands on your shoulders, steadying you so you didn’t fall at the impact. 
“five star,” he sighed out, out of breath, “i don’t know if mr. d told you but those pictures aren’t me, i swear!” 
you had two options– you could one, tell him that you knew it wasn’t him and put him out of his misery or two, you could pretend to not believe him and make him sweat. luke looked like he was about to get on his knees and beg you to believe him. you wouldn’t be surprised if he made a powerpoint presentation listing the reasons why it wasn’t him in those pictures. 
you pursed your lips, “i saw the pictures luke.” 
“and they weren’t me!” he said, exasperated. his eyebrows knitted in anxiety, as he chewed on the nail of his thumb, “you gotta believe me, babe. i don’t know who that guy is but i can promise you it’s not me.” 
you tried not to swoon at the pet name that left his lips. “how do i know that? you weren’t home the night those pictures were taken.” 
“i know it looks bad, but look,” he ran a hand through his curls. “i finished the song the boys wrote and you can go listen to it right now, but then that night, i got caught up with a song idea about you and i stayed up all night to write it. you can listen to the demo right now if you want. you can listen to all the demos you want if that gets you to believe me. i think the recordings have timestamps too, so you’ll see i was in there all nigh–”
“down, pretty boy,” you couldn’t keep it up any longer. luke looked like he was two seconds away from bursting into tears and as much as you wanted to hear him yap, you didn’t have it in your heart to drag it on. you chuckled, wrapping your arms around his neck. you pressed a soft kiss to his lips and he instantly relaxed at the feeling. 
your lips moved in sync as his hands found your waist, pressing you closer to him. his tongue licked your bottom lip, asking for permission, which you gladly granted. it was the sound of clarisse and chris inside the cabin, tapping against the windows that pulled you and luke apart. you both turned to look at your friends who all had shit-eating grins on their faces. 
travis and connor were behind the couple, shaking their heads, “get a fucking room, you heathens.” 
luke flipped them off and pressed a softer, more innocent kiss on your lips before you spoke. “i knew it wasn’t you. just wanted to see you sweat a little bit.” 
“that was mean,” he pouted, but he couldn’t fight off the smile on his face. he always seemed to smile after he kissed you. it made you want to kiss him again, starting a never-ending chain of kisses that would surely lead the two of you to be unproductive for the rest of the day. “i was so scared, five star, you have no idea. the fucker looked so much like me.” 
you laughed, playing with the curls on the nape of his neck, “trust me, i know. my heart dropped to my ass when i first saw them, but i knew it wasn’t you.” 
“how’d you know?” 
“the rings,” you flushed, thinking about how crazy you must sound knowing these small details about him.
“shit, five star,” he whistled, surprised. there was a warmth in his chest that spread throughout the rest of his body at the idea of you paying attention to these things about him. “nothing can get past you, huh? i didn’t even notice that.”
“yeah, at least you know not to sneak around behind me because i’ll find out,” you teased, lacing your fingers together as you slowly made your way up the steps of the cabin. luke stood in his spot, pulling on your hand to get you to to turn around. you walked over to him, confused, “what’s up?” 
“y’know i wouldn’t think of doing that, right?” he asked, voice suddenly serious. “i would never do that to you.” 
your eyes softened as a wistful look appeared on your face. you kissed his cheeks, relishing in the feeling of luke wrapping his arms around your torso in a tight hug. you pressed your face into the crook of his neck, placing a feather-light kiss on his jugular, “yeah, yeah.” 
“‘m serious,” he pulled away, holding your face in his hands. he was staring at you intently, making sure that you were hearing his words. you never gave him an indication that you didn’t trust him, but luke knew that it was better to tell you these things straight up if he wanted to have a real relationship with you. he knew it takes a toll on the people he dates (not that he’s had any relationships like what he has with you) to see these bullshit stories online. if he was in your position, he knew the reassurance would help. luke placed a kiss on your forehead, “i wouldn’t do anything to mess this up if i can help it, five star.”
you let out a forced laugh, awkwardly shifting in his grasp, “yeah, given that my dad controls your contract, i know you wouldn’t.” 
luke frowned, “not because of that.” 
“uh huh,” you said, feeling too vulnerable right now. you didn’t know how to handle this situation, so you coped with humor, “he likes you so don’t worry, your contract extension is practically in the bag.” 
“y/n.” 
you tensed at luke’s use of your real name. he never called you by your name. he always called you by the nickname he gave you when he first met you. five star. you knew luke wasn’t in the mood to joke around. “luke, it’s fine.” 
“i don’t want to pick a fight,” he sighed, playing with the hem of your shirt, “but i just need to hear you say that you believe me when i say that. i wouldn’t cheat on you or do anything to make you feel like i ever would.” 
your voice shook as you spoke, “what if you’re just saying that because it’s still summer and we see each other every day? what’s gonna happen when i’m back in school and you’re out in the world traveling and living your rockstar life?” 
luke’s heart broke at your words. did you really think that he would forget about all of this once september rolled around? as if you didn’t consume his thoughts every day since he met you, as if he didn’t count down the minutes until he got to see you again when he was forced to be away from you because he had things to do, as if he didn’t have a sinking feeling in his stomach when you weren’t next to him. he was starting to think you didn’t understand just how deeply he felt about you even when you assured him that you did understand. 
“i’m not gonna lie, long distance is gonna be hard,” he said, “but we can figure it out. i know it.” 
“i never knew you were such an optimist, castellan.” 
luke laughed at that. if only you knew how many times he psyched himself out of making a move on you because of his own pessimism. it only changed recently, when he finally decided to say fuck it and go for it. “for you? always. i’d be stupid not to be. you’re a good thing, five star.” 
luke fucking castellan. you pressed your head into his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat against your face. he gave you a tight squeeze, placing a kiss on the crown of your head. he loved having you like this, all soft and cuddly with him like you didn’t want to let him go. he should be scared at how quickly he was falling for you, how attached he already felt. 
you kissed his lips again, pulling away with a smile, “so babe huh?” 
“babe, baby, sweetheart,” he mumbled, leaning over to kiss you again. “anythin’ you want.”
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fantazygirl-blog1 · 6 months ago
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So tired of everyone (or almost everyone) making Misa into a kind, weak little victim, manipulated by Light.
That woman may seem sweet, but she's absolutely ruthless. She's selfish, obsessive, stalkerish and emotionally abusive (perhaps not in the traditional way but I will explain)
Way before she even met Light, she managed to kill law enforcement (which might I add, she probably didn't even know was law enforcement) and news reporters just to prove a point. They were just a means to an end to her. She wanted to thank Kira for killing her parent's murderer, but she didn't even stop to think once if the people she killed had families of their own, children of their own. She only had one goal: what she herself, wanted. More than that, Misa literally offered to immediately off her friend, that helped her with the tapes (and if someone offers to help you with that, they're a very close friend for sure) and it wasn't even Light's suggestion. It was all Misa, who saw killing her friend as a way to get Light to trust her. It's clear that girl is willing to kill anyone and anything if it'll help her achieve her goals.
Also, she's super obsessive. My girl traded half her lifespan with no hesitation on the off chance that she might be able to meet Kira. (Yes, she had a plan but there was no guarantee that her plan would even work)And the instant she saw Light, she started stalking him (even though she herself had problems with stalkers) to the point that she just turned up at his house with no warning. Imagine if a stranger just shows up at your house like that, pretending to be a friend and your mom lets them in. That's fucking horrifying.
Also, Misa barely knew Light for like a few seconds and she decided that he was going to be her boyfriend, and NOTHING was going to stay in her way, not even Light himself. She pressured him into being in a relationship with her, even though it was clearly unwanted, Rem literally threatened to kill him if he refused, and then she had the gall to tell Light she would kill any girl she suspected would go out with Light if she saw her with him. This is where the emotional abuse comes from (even though I dunno if I should call it that but I don't know how else to classify it). Misa doesn't really consider Light a person. For her, Light is more like a doll she can project her feelings on. She attributed him emotions according to her whims and acted like those were the reality regardless of Light's real feelings. She made herself the main character in his story, even after told and shown repeatedly tha she wasn't and got mad when years later she was still neglected and barely paid attention to.
I'm not saying all this to hate on Misa and this in no way a Kira appreciation post (my favorite Light is Yotsuba arc Light, I hate Kira tbh) but I'm just saying, if you're a Misa fan you should be able to accept the reality: she's not a weak, sweet little girl, manipulated by evil Light. She's capable of all the horrible things she does all on her own thank you very much and I'm tired of reading fics where Misa is treated like only a victim and given leniency while Light is treated as the only true monster.
I'm just saying, the girl didn't need a boyfriend, she needed a therapist. Badly.
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reallyromealone · 11 months ago
Note
Sorry the anon for the part 3 to bakugos brother. It’s part 3 to kirishima x male reader bakugos little brother plz.
Title: bakugos brother
Chapter: 3
Fandom: my hero Academia
Warnings: male reader, fluff, angst, complicated family relationships
Notes: I'm giving him a quirk for plot purposes
☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️🐟☁️
(Name) Knew his parents weren't as attentive to him as they were his brother, at some point he grew to be fine with it.
What he wasn't expecting was that his parents didn't want him going to U.A because he would outshine his brother; this left a bitter taste in his mouth when he learned this.
Kirishima didn't know what (name)s quirk was, all he knew is that (name) didn't like talking about it but what he wasn't expecting was (name) inviting him to a chess tournament he would be playing at, at U.A. "there's a nice cash prize, maybe after we can get food if Aizawa allows it" (name)s soft and calm voice said over the phone and Kirishima grinned, swooning ever so slightly at his boyfriends casual romanticism "I would love too! Oh there's a place that sells cakes that look like sheep!" He could hear (name) huff out a soft laugh "sure, whatever"
When (name) arrived at U.A with his visitors pass, he was greeted by Aizawa who would be accompanying him, where all players being escorted? "Hello again, Mr. Aizawa" (name) said blandly with a respectful bow, the hero always shocked at how different the Bakugo siblings were "I hope my brother isn't giving you to many grey hairs" Aizawa huffed, amused at the other who was so calm and collected while joking "you think you're gonna win?" The man asked the teen when they made it to the event room, set up with nice chess sets on multiple tables "I know I will"
(Name) Was calm as he defeated his opponents in less than 20 moves, refusing any draws and even managing to make one person cry.
Kirishima watched with rapt attention though he couldn't help but notice that none of (name)s family showed up, not even Bakugo who was in the same location as (name) at the moment and it made the redhead want to support (name) even more, having gotten a bouquet for him as a "you won!" Gift as he watched his handsome boyfriend lay absolute hell upon his opponent.
What they didn't know is that someone was also watching this, with eager eyes and chaos thoughts brewing as he watched every game with rapt attention.
"He was supposed to be the best from Shibuya but he got cocky" (name) said calmly as Kirishima asked him countless questions, he didn't really get chess but he thought it was hella manly and badass at how collected (name) took down his opponents "they aren't my enemies, I would have to care for them to be an enemy" (name) explained when Kirishima said they were his enemies, the redhead smiling with a stupidly happy expression on his face as (name) held a trophy and a cheque of 100k, this was a huge open after all.
"(Name), could you follow me" Aizawa said calmly and (name) looked a bit confused but followed regardless as Kirishima told him he would see him later.
"What's this about?" (Name) Asked as they walked through the halls "Nedzu wants to talk to you" Aizawa said as he knocked on a door, the doors opening automatically as the rat god himself sat at his chair with a smile "please do sit, tea? I know you like your coffee black Aizawa" Nedzu said happily and (name) seemed uncomfortable as he sat down "no thank you" he said softly "congratulations on your win, I see you have never lost a match-- quite impressive"
"Thank you" (name) kept composure as Nedzu sipped his tea "now why didn't you tell us you had an intelligence quirk?"
"Because I don't? I have my grandpa's quirk, a weaker version of my mom's, I basically just have good skin"
"Then it seems you were lied to" Nedzu said looking at the teens grades "you get perfect scores at everything and you learn things at a rate no other student can achieve not to mention the chess tournament" (name) was confused and frustrated as he listened to the principal explain his quirk. "Intelligence quirks are nearly as rare as healing quirks, I am going to have to contact your family as lying about quirks is no joking matter, do you think there's a reason they may have kept this a secret?"
(Name) Knew why, it was always the same reason for everything.
So he didn't outshine his brother.
They did tests after tests, Aizawa there for it all just to make sure the principal didn't go overboard as he often tended to do "... You have indeed an intelligence quirk" Nedzu said simply and (name) felt his world crash just a little, his fears confirmed "so what happens now?"
"I would like you to attend U.A as my student" Nedzu said simply and (name) looked confused "he likes that you don't have that cockiness that those who grow up with intelligence quirks have, you have compassion" Aizawa explained simply and Nedzu nodded in agreement "perfect for a hero" not to mention he saw (name) carefully move snails and usher a mouse away from danger through the cameras, the teen though blunt and cold was willing to help anything in need.
"Why didn't you apply to U.A?" He was often asked and now when the two asked, he answered honestly.
"Because my parents didn't think I would be good enough for it" (name) said genuinely and the room grew quiet "and three people from the same school? Felt incredibly unlikely" he said awkwardly and fidgeted with the trophy in his arms "did you wish to attend?"
"Didn't everyone?"
(Name) Left the office sometime after as Kirishima was waiting with his homework in his lap on a bench just down the hall and perked up when he saw his boyfriend "it's late, do you have a parent to walk you home?" Aizawa asked the teen who shook his head, (name)s parents typically didn't pick him up and simply got him a bus pass-- hell he learned to forge their signatures just so he could do things.
Like chess opens, it's how he made his cash.
"I'll walk you home" he said simply and (name) sighed softly as Kirishima seemed excited at this "could I join sir?!" He was practically vibrating as the teacher sighed before agreeing.
"What did you do!" Mrs. Bakugo barked out angrily, seeing her son being escorted by a pro hero and a hero in training "your son is being escorted home as he had no one to do so after his chess match, crime is rising in the area so it's better to be safe than sorry"
"I see, im sorry he inconvenienced you"
"Actually, I'm also here on behalf of U.A, do you have a moment?"
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lyrenminth · 6 months ago
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a cute idea with Joe. in which he and the reader have a 5-year-old daughter, and she comes home from school angry because Joe left a note saying “daddy loves you” in her lunch box, and her “boyfriend” classmate saw the note and got jealous. the reader picked up her daughter from school and when she heard the situation, she laughed a lot, and Joe finds out about the situation as soon as he arrives from training, and he is outraged by the boy's audacity, and he makes a point of highlighting that he will always love her , regardless of how old she is
Julie got into the car frowning and crossing her arms, all mad. You were confused because usually she was in a good mood after school.
"Hello, sunshine!" you said "Everything is ok?"
"No!" She yelled, her blue eyes looking through the window.
"What happened?"
"Isiah don't talk to me!"
Isiah. You blinked a couple of times. The boy was in her class, and played together during playtime. You knew his mom, he was a good boy.
"Oh, darling. What happened?"
"He saw a note in my lunchbox and now he says he won't play with me because I have a boyfriend" you frowned. Joe packed her lunch in the morning, so you didn't have a clue of what Joe could have written in the note. "Can you show me the note?" you asked. She looked in her lunchbox and gave you the note. It was Joe's handwriting.
"Julie, daddy loves you"
You heart melt. Joe got used to writing notes for Julie and put them in a hidden place for her to find them. But she has never been upset before, she actually loved it.
Her outrage was something funny for you. "Oh, you shouldn't be upset that daddy loves you. Why should Isiah be mad?" you wondered "He's your best friend, isn't he?"
She blushed. "Yes, I guess so"
Later that day, Joe arrived from practice but Julie didn't receive him like she usually did. Instead, he found you in the kitchen making dinner. "Where's Julie?" he asked. "She's in the living room" you said "But she's not very happy with you" Joe frowned.
"Why?"
"One of her little friends got mad at her for the note you wrote" you explained, trying not to smile.
"What friend?"
"A boy called Isiah" Joe frowning deepened, and he put his hand on his hips like a mad mom.
"What?" his blue eyes were astounded. "He got mad at her because I -his dad, the one who put fifty percent of genes in her creation- love her?"
"Apparently" you shrugged, enjoying his antics.
"What the hell?"
"Joe, he's five"
"That's worse!"
"No, children have strong emotions like that. Tomorrow they're going to be together again" you explained. He snorted. "I'm not ready for her to have a boyfriend. I know I told you I wouldn't be the jealous type but I don't know anymore" he declared.
"Baby, she would date at one point in her life. What we must do is to teach her to love herself so when the time comes, she can choose wisely"
He sighed, clearly affected. "I'm scared" it was a surprise, because Joe never acted like this before. Julie was a smart kid, she had a character so you didn't worry about her.
"You are teaching her what she should expect for a date, Joe. I think she'll be fine, so now go and talk to her" you prompted.
"Okay, mama"
You went too. Julie was playing with her dolls when Joe arrived and she frowned at him. They had the same eyebrows and the same expressions.
"No hug for daddy?" he asked, squatting.
Her blue eyes moved from you to his dad. "Isiah don't talk to me" she repeated.
"Your friend?" Joe asked in a soft voice. Julie nodded. "Why?"
"Because you love me"
"Is it that wrong?" he said, patiently. "Daddy loves you more than anything, Julie and I think that's wonderful"
"Super cool" you added, so she would understand better.
"Yes?" she wondered.
"Yes, so are you going to hug me or what?" he said playfully stretching his arms. Julie giggled and jumped to hug him. "That's my baby girl"
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halcyone-of-the-sea · 1 year ago
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TOWER OF BABEL (VII)
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NAVIGATION || RAVISHING ALLURE MASTERLIST || NEXT: CHAPTER VIII
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PAIRING: Nikto x F!Reader (Soulmate AU)
WORDCOUNT: 7.4k
WARNINGS: Angst, intense stalking & stalking behavior, talks of death/injury, toxic modeling standards/expectations, dark implications, symptoms & descriptions of dissociation, scar descriptions, etc. (Series 18+)
A/N: This is where some of the more serious/dark aspects come into the story involving Seraph's job and the pressures that are put on her. It's only implied in this chapter, but in the next, it'll be talked about more. Just to let you all know.
*I do not give others permission to translate and/or re-publish my works on this or any other platform*
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The day after your meeting, your gifted clothes came to the lobby of the penthouse. 
You’d gone down with Nikto and picked up what you could, bags and bags of designer goods including purses, makeup, and jewelry. It was excessive—like Fedorov was trying to buy your silence; buy your affection so you’d cozy up into bed with him. 
This job tried you every day, but that was a line you would never cross. Never.
Still, the items needed to be taken and packed for the trip regardless. Eyes would be on you from the moment this adventure from hell started until it ended in what hopefully was a peaceful fashion. 
But you severely doubted it would be anything close to peaceful. 
You take another gray dress and slip it into the garment cover, legs folded on the floor of your living room as you hum under your breath. Music wafts out from your record player, and you’re desperately trying to focus on the task at hand. Nikto reads from the couch. 
“Have they called you yet?” You ask, not looking up as you slide the cover’s zipper, missing it once as your hand shakes unexpectedly. 
The Russian responds with a slow and even, “Нет. No calls.”
You sigh, licking your lips. 
No one had been telling you what was in that last gift at AMA—not even your mother. Aly had said it was probably nothing when she’d been briefly over to assist with the clothes, on a tight break in her schedule, but you weren’t too sure of that. 
Pale eyes blink slowly, and a page turns. “No use thinking. Pack.”
“You make it sound like it’s that easy,” you huff, body leaning back and spine resting against your various rugs. The penthouse was warmer today, and you wear comfortable loungewear; shorts, and a dark baggy t-shirt. Your head shifts, arms out beside you. “How are you so calm about everything? My heart feels like it’s constantly going to break out of my chest.” 
Your phone goes off on the coffee table, a short buzz that has to be either your mom or Alyona. Rubbing a palm into your right eye, you hear the bear grunt and close whatever he was reading, finding it pointless to try and focus if you continue to speak to him.
He stares for a moment, hidden face a mystery you long to solve. With a tap of his finger on his thigh, he explains.
“Training,” you blink, intrigued. Nikto seems to notice, tilting his head and looking down at you. “You are scared, Woman, yes?”
“Of course.” You had no trouble admitting it. “Anyone would be.”
“In military,” the air of the penthouse moves with the weight of his broken words, the rough bleed of vocals. You really did like his accent—it just added so much to his already intimidating form. Just a stack of bricks being constantly grated against one another. “We were taught how to become used to it—the adrenaline. Fear. In the end, it held little over many; failure was the only fear that never left.” 
Your brows furrow, lips frowning. “You fear failure, Nikto?”
You expected a blunt refusal, quick words. But the man had been softening to you over the time you’d known him—if that was your own doing, or something more, you can’t quite tell anymore. Any talk on soulmates has feld you like a rabbit in a dark wood to shy away from the looming presence of something bigger; parties and scorned maniacs.
You still wonder if ignoring the gifts was the right thing to do. Would that make it worse? You think you’d read about that somewhere. 
A trigger. But the stalker had already pushed one of those, hadn't he? What could he do that was worse than killing three men? Mutilating animals?
Nikto surprises you. 
The man blinks, not looking away from your pleasing eyes—even now, your pupils were small with anxiety; he’d noticed how you adamantly avoided social media and the news, plastered with your pictures and the case. The window had never been opened fully since he’d been here, only a creak of natural light slipping from the crack of the half-risen blinds. 
For a gruff beast of action, his eyes missed nothing.
“Yes,” he grumbles, blinking away for a moment before his attention returns. “But it is…lesser than what you feel. Незначительный. Minor.” 
A small smile flickers your lips, skull to the ground even as it aches slightly. 
“I like it when you speak to me—it helps,” you mumble honestly. It wasn’t flirting, not really. 
The Russian looks slightly confused at your sentence, but that doesn’t stop his shoulders from minutely tightening. You chuckle, shifting your head to the ceiling where your little bits of painted glass hang. 
“Nikto,” you point upwards. “That one—the bird. What color is it?”
This was a game you’d taken a fast liking to. You’d point and ask the color; Nikto would answer. 
“Red,” is his monotone reply after a glance. Eyes from behind his mask shrouded in dark paint. You doubted the face grease could come off anymore, the chemicals already bone deep. 
“I thought it was orange,” you sigh. “I still can’t tell the difference.” 
“Obviously,” is the dryly amused response, with you glaring without venom and putting your hands to the ground to help push you back up. 
“Hey,” you try to hide your teasing smirk. “I’m getting better at it—”
Your voice is strangled off as a sharp inhale, eyes blinking rapidly, and your vision blurs in a moment of ricocheting pain flaring in the base of your skull. Snapping one hand to the back of your head, you strangle down a small scream, reducing it to a whimper of utter agony. 
Neck bending forward, your mouth fills with saliva as your spine pulls in, yet you can’t even focus on that. You feel like if you even have a single thought, your brain will explode out of the back of your head. 
Nikto startles, eyes widening, but he doesn’t waste time on shock. Feet already rush over at the slighted change in the air, a hand grasping the base of your neck tightly, attention snapping into place. Your breath puffs as your frantically moving face tenses and eyelids twitch. Your nerves were on fire. 
The Russian watches, confusion and a certain unease striking him through his pounding heart. What had happened? One second you were speaking and the next your body was so steel-like it shook harder than he’d ever seen it. 
“Seraph,” he barks, face close to your head, looking at the spot you grasp at with your visible knuckles, the sound of your gasping pants leaving his throat echoing with reverberations of unease. 
Nikto pulls at the skin of your wrist, peeling your hand back before you draw blood, trying to assess what to do. He only sees it then.
It’s a rabid-looking thing, the scar. With your hair as such, your fingers stuck in the knots, they’re pulled back just perfectly to see it. Pale blue eyes stare unabashedly, struck dumb for a moment in their concerned sheen.
It spans from the base of your skull upward, a jagged bulge of healed tissue and fissures—the shade of skin is different there, hyperpigmentation just as Nikto had. Halfway up the back, the rough line breaks into two places, creating a ‘Y’ with the one nearest to the right stopping sooner than the other. 
But it was deep. Deadly-like. An indent lives at the middle point.
For someone so in tune with the ways of the body, Nikto was horrified and fascinated at the very implication; how had you…survived this? Your entire skull might have been broken open from the force of whatever had happened, judging by the strength needed to achieve such brutality. Was this the injury that you’d been speaking about? 
An overwhelming emotion takes him by the lungs. 
Your body had scars just like his did.
Form curling even farther forward, your legs pull into you, and Nikto finds that at the moment, none of that even matters. 
“Seraph,” he orders again, equally as urgent but noticed less sharp. His thumb curls your wrist to trap itself at your pounding pulse; running as if being chased by whatever nightmares he hears you whine from in your sleep.
You swallow down your bile with a clicking of your throat and a small cough, eyes stinging. 
“Burns,” your lips whisper, lids closing firmly. “God, my head burns.” 
It’s a brief thought—a small moment of slip-second thinking that had saved his life many times. 
A chilled palm spreads itself over the back of your head, directly over the broken fracture of flesh, without an utterance of a word. The effects aren’t immediate; you don’t just calm down and stop panicking. But it helps. Like a light in the dark, it helps. 
After a minute, the chill seeps into your bones. It goes deeper and deeper, the large grip of Nikto’s fingers stuck into your hair perhaps a little harder than they needed to be, but you weren’t about to complain at the pressure. After two minutes, your panting slows to a small ragged wheeze—feeling like a sick duck as your beady eyes finally open. You see the unblinking pale orbs directly to your right almost immediately after the abyssal dots go back to wherever it was they came from. 
He doesn’t speak; you didn’t expect him to. Nikto was arrogant, prideful, but he never spoke unless he knew he had something he needed to say. A blunt hound who never hesitated to bark, but only when he could see something was up in the tree. 
When you’ve seemed to calm down, the hand on your wrist leaves with a brush of rough gloves to the skin, making you shiver. You notice the hastily tossed material of the matching product, belonging to the other limb, near your knee. 
Cold fingers. Cold hands. A corpse would be jealous, but you’d never felt so thankful. 
Nikto studies your face rapidly, and your raspy voice levels out a meek, “Sorry.”
Barely visible brows furrow tightly, almost disgusted. You perhaps misinterpreted that expression the wrong way, because just as you’re about to rush into a wild explanation as to why, how, and every excuse you can give, you’re once more taken off guard today. 
Bulky arms circle your waist and under your vibrating knees. 
With a sluggish reaction, you blink rapidly as you’re settled against the hard Kevlar of his chest—kept firm in his grip. Your legs hang, hand stabilizing yourself on Nikto’s pec. 
“What did I say?” He asks heavily, looking down at you as your shock bleeds away to focus on how to calm your heart. “Seraph?” Nikto prompts, his fingers digging into your clothes. 
You try to think, stuttering, “You don’t like it when I apologize.”
“So do not,” the Russian grunts, clenching his jaw out of sight. His words are low, and he rolls his shoulders. “That is the end of it.”
He sets you down on the couch, sinking into the multiple plush pillows. You feel weak—limp. Not looking into the man’s eyes, you curl your hands around your waist, leaning back and being careful to not hit your head on the back. 
Nikto watches with hidden concern. 
“Explain,” he utters, not moving an inch from in front of you. It’s a minute or so before you can find the words. All the Russian does in that time is shift his arms over his chest—fix the stance of his feet. You can feel his eyes like a knife, but you can’t feel how his brain is on high alert; vigilant to any pain that may be hidden from him. 
“Happens sometimes,” you whisper, one vibrating hand coming up to lightly run over the back of your skull. You trace the scar softly, feeling the pulse underneath. “It’s just… sensitive.”
Nikto’s eyes narrow. 
After a pause, where it’s obvious you feel some sort of embarrassment judging by your avoiding gaze, the great beast sighs long. A slow blink makes his dark lashes up and down. 
He hated how he despised that look on your face.
Moving, Nikto sits beside you, leaning back with a grunt and extending an arm behind you on the hardwood of the couch’s frame. 
“Tell me. I want to know.” You side-eye him, knees pulled up to your chest. It has a distance to it, your focus. Everything feels like it’s underwater. 
“It’s not a good story,” you force a broken huff, smiling wobbly. Numb eyes don’t waver over the lines of your face. 
“No,” Nikto bluntly says. “I did not expect it to be. Nonetheless…” he trails. “I am asking if you are willing to answer.” 
It wasn’t like you were against saying what had transpired, but there was a lot of history there—so much. The event had happened when you were young, so many years had passed to a point where the mental pain of it had dimmed to all except the consequences. The aftermath. 
This was a give and a take; you consider yourself a fair person. 
“How did you lose part of your finger?” You turn it around, licking your lips and staring at his neck. The man’s body stills at the question. 
Nikto slowly loosens a grumbled scoff. But it isn’t a feral thing. Perhaps he was even impressed that you had the forethought to gain something of his story when you’d already told so much of yours. 
He reminds himself once more, not dumb. 
“Very well,” Nikto’s head tilts like a wolf, his knee hitting the place where your feet hang over the edge of the cushion. He looks you up and down as his finger taps the wood behind your head. “Second year with PMC. Operation in far-off country—we do not care to remember which anymore.” You listen, heart calming with every scrape of vocal cords. Nikto explains slowly, thinking over every word carefully as his vision trails to rest at your nose. “Hostile hiding under floorboards.” The Russian rolls his shoulders. “I was reaching down to grab at the hatch; it confused me because it was partially open.” 
Your body lightly turns his way, the side of your skull meeting the hard build off the inside of his forearm. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath, getting everything under control again one second at a time. As if a book, you turn the pages of Nikto, painting a picture of his tale, oblivious to the way his eyes are stuck on your face. His arm stays completely still for you.
He longs to look at that scar again, and he can’t understand why.
“...Large knife came up through the wood. Cut it off and damaged the others near it. It is numb most days. Barely can tell I still have finger. Very inopportune, but all was not lost.”
“What wasn’t lost?” You hum, sighing, and open your eyes again. The Russian’s gaze darts away. 
“I killed him,” he says numb-like, a vicious smirk in his voice. “In the end, it was only us who could tell the story, yes?”
“Does it hurt?” You change the subject back to his scars, liking how his forearm acted as your pillow. You could feel his tendons as they pulled.
“Sometimes,” Nikto shrugs at your quiet question, thighs over the couch cushions. “Like all the others. Natural.”
He doesn’t need to ask if yours do.
You dwell on what he insinuates about his body—the scars you already thought he’d have; why he wears that mask. 
“I fell,” you share, not letting a long silence linger. Nikto’s feet shuffle on the floor, but otherwise, like a waiting cat, he was completely beholden to your soft voice. “Far. Cracked my head open on a rock.”
There’s so much more to it—but this is the version you always tell everyone. It’s less…complicated. Gets you less looks of pity, even if you’re not sure Nikto is the type to do that. 
The large man hums, nodding. He wants to know more; he’d have to look into it further on his own. “You are lucky to be alive after an injury like that.”
“Yeah,” you whisper, lips twisting. “Lucky.” 
Your skull pulses. 
“But, anyways,” you wave a hand, locking gazes. “Thank you.”
Nikto’s knees crack as he stands, moving away; his heat leaves. Hands situating themselves at the collar of his vest, the Russian’s throat rolls with a noise of acceptance. 
“It is my job. Do you require anything?” 
“I think I’m okay,” you admit, feet delicately moving to the rug on the floor. It’s back to packing, pushing this to the back of your mind just as you do the remembrance of his fingers tight in your hair; tight at your wrist. Nikto’s hard voice in your ear, saying your angelic title. 
Your throat clears itself, blinking, as you stand. 
The man takes it as lightheadedness, one foot moving closer. Your hand raises, and he stops. A small chuckle moves out of your mouth, side-eyeing him with a crinkle to your lids.
“I’m okay, Nikto. Trust me, please.”
He sighs, fingers twitching. But he doesn’t grumble any blunt vitriol, he just watches. Always watching. 
Your spirits are lightened by his presence. 
Brushing down your t-shirt, you close your eyes and shove away the memories, tiny tingles of pain still present as they go up and down your spine. 
“Now, we have to get to work,” you brush past the episode, used to them. “It would be helpful if you lent a hand, Big Guy.” 
Your joke leads to a huff, fingers taking back their book from the table—all in Russian script, so you didn’t know what it was—and a roll of eyes.
“That is not my problem. Your clothes, your parties.”
“The parties you’re going to have to go with me too,” you smirk, eyes glimmering as you grasp your phone, flipping it over to turn it on and look at the text you’d received. “I hope you like suits.”
Pale eyes widen before a growled Russian sentence wafts over the music from the recorder. You laugh, already knowing the contents of curses and refusals. He was so much like a child sometimes it takes you aback. A brute, utterly refusing what was in front of him and owning a short fuse. 
“Oh, calm down,” you blink, signing into your phone. “I’m good at finding clothes as long as you tell me colors and shades. You’re in the best hands in the business, Nikto.”
“Do not say it like that,” he barks, eyes narrowed and his body moving forward to pass you, most likely to go back to your bookshelf and return the book, seeing as he’d get nowhere with it now. “I do not want your hands, Whelp.” 
“You’re saying that now,” you tease, pointing with your free finger. “Everyone says that before they have a taste of—”
“Quiet.” 
You laugh, spine lightly bending forward, and Nikto’s back turned to you to where you can’t see his face soften at the sound. His body unconsciously loosens, orbs gaining a distance that has nothing to do with his condition. Your existence is a curse to him, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.
It’s only after you’re able to calm down, the Russian putting his book away with a large hand, when you finally look down at the text you’d gotten. 
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
‘I sent you a gift and you didn’t even open it?’
Your face freezes mid-smile.
 ‘I’m giving you everything you wanted—you didn’t open the letter I gave you in the grocery store, either, did you? I waited for hours for you to show up! Hours for you! I’ve waited YEARS to be near you! I love you more than anything in my life and you’re ignoring me? How can you do that when I’ve risked so much? Please, Seraph, I love you but you’re breaking my heart—I’m trying so hard to be kind to you. Please, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Это любовь с первого взгляда! Я не могу жить без тебя! 
I’m trying to forgive you, my Сладкая, I promise. I’ll always forgive you, but let me show you how much you mean to me.’ 
Images pop through, scent quickly as your glee stiffly drops like glass to the floor. You’d never felt yourself go so still as when you’re halfway through the block of text and you see yourself at the grocery store, alone, and Nikto’s shadow disappearing around the aisle. More—so much more. You in AMA...in…in the photoshoot wearing nothing but the lingerie, skin on full display.
Your eyes flood with tears, jaw open.
He had been in that fucking room. He’d been there when your manager had brought in the dead birds—he, he had…
He’d been right there.
You can’t speak, you’re only looking down at the continuing barrage of photos. 
Outside of the Consulate building, walking down the street, talking with Aly on a girls outing from months ago. Your phone vibrates with every one, quivering hands already moving but now more so. Like a rabbit being hunted down. It shows an escalation—the more you see the closer this freak was getting in each, slowly slinking with vile intentions until the last. 
An image of the direct back of your head, a hand reaching, and almost touching, exactly where your scar lives.
You’re going to vomit.
The entire device is snatched by gloved fingers.
Nikto glares in confusion, ears twitching at every buzz of your phone. “What is wrong with—”
The man is suddenly more wound up than a dog under a noose.
Rushing past, you only reach the kitchen trash can two seconds before your bile rocketed from your mouth, heaving what little you’d managed to eat of Nikto’s cooking into the bottom with a tight sob. 
Nikto’s hand holds the thing—reading, looking, with dead eyes. Dead eyes that gradually become enraged with a certain type of anger that breeds in silence. The skim, a ruthless finger tapping the screen and dragging the conversation back to the top before he stares. He stares and stares and stares at the pictures. At you. 
The way you live your life, oblivious to the threat right behind you. Stalking closer.
Nikto can’t remember a time he’s felt so angry at an enemy before. Not just an enemy, no, an animal. This wasn’t like the rules of war, this was for pleasure; for a selfish need. He knew how to keep himself separate—had to for his sanity—but this was something no one could not get wrathful at. Even him.
He hears you wretch, vomiting into the trash just below the island where he’d made the both of you lunch, the choke of your sobbing breaths. The sounds make his hands tighten over the phone, to smash it to pieces like a toddler with a block castle. 
And then the device buzzes one more time as Nikto silently finishes reading the first text you’d been sent. 
‘Don’t worry about the bodyguard, Seraph, I can take care of him, too. We can finally be together, just like it’s supposed to be.’
Nikto is hitting the call button before his brain catches up to his finger.
Slotting it to his covered ear, he breathes like an afflicted hound, eye buggy and chest rattling with air. Panting echoed from behind his mask, the hot breath moving back to warm his slashed and burned flesh. 
It picks up on the second ring, but nothing is said. No words from the other end. 
In the corner of his eye, Nikto sees you hyperventilating. The former soldier speaks entirely in Russian, slipping back into his native tongue as easily as he slips into violence—it is nothing more than a slide of sandpaper.
“I am going to watch the life bleed from your eyes,” he grinds out. “And then I’m going to make your corpse wish it had been set on fire instead.” 
Nikto hangs up, tossing the phone to the coffee table and making a mental note to get Yaromir and Galina to trace the number. Stomping over to you, your body was away from the trash now, hand to your mouth. 
“I’m okay,” you say hurriedly, tears tracking your cheeks. “I’m okay.”
“You are not,” Nikto wishes he could go to the shooting range—wishes he could spar and slam someone down to a wrestling mat. He needs flesh under his fingertips. 
The Russian’s chest is wide and rising with the pulse of untamed lungs. The bulge of his pecs stuttered over their course and the old scars he carries itch under the barrier of his gear. 
Growling, the man clenches his eyes shut, shaking his head to the side firmly. 
But there was something about the implication of you being threatened that made Nikto need to feel the weight of his service weapon in his grip. To feel the recoil of a bullet being sent into someone. A nameless figure; a silent phone call. 
Nikto scoffs, rolling his neck and shoulders. 
Thinking like this was making him reckless. 
“I guess I should have told you about the letters, then,” you taste bile on your tongue, images swirling in your head—paranoia was firm. Suddenly, every memory was tainted. You gag on your saliva, coughing. 
Nikto doesn’t respond to the self-deprecating comment. 
Once more today, hands move to touch you, pulling at the space under your arms and lifting. Blinking, you’re moving around when your feet are flat on the ground—hands going to rest on the edge of the counter behind you.
Nikto’s hands stay stuck at the meat of your limbs, great head tilted. Eyes lock on the tear tracks spreading down your skin, and he pauses. 
A thumb slowly pushes at them, spreading the liquid along your flesh as your blurry vision stays at his neck. With a shuddering inhale at the unneeded attention, your head lightly sags forward—connecting with Nikto’s chest. 
He tenses, looking down at you from the corner of his eye.
After a minute, his nose releases an unheard sigh, and his arms lower to his sides.
Nikto lets you rest there as long as you need.
You’re in the bath tonight, and Nikto listens to the water sloshing as he pushes the envelopes around from inside the lockbox. 
It was safe to say you hadn’t gone back to packing.
That woman, Alyona, was here—she’d made a big fuss about the texts before she’d taken you with her and led you into the bathroom to clean yourself up. You were both in there now—talking. Nikto wasn’t going to act like he wasn’t eavesdropping; he didn’t care if your friend or you knew it. It was mostly about the parties, the talk, and the Russian could understand that Alyona was trying to occupy your mind. 
His mission was more important. 
You’d passed him the box and watched as Nikto had retrieved the letter from your coat pocket. The former soldier had already called the investigators and promptly told them to arrest Sergi, or they would have him to deal with—there hadn’t been time to respond before he’d hung up and smashed his phone to the nightstand of your rented room. The resounding echo had made both parties in the bathroom go silent for a minute before hesitantly starting back up.
And now, there was the scratchy English script of a stalker in his hands. He felt disgusting even touching them; he was glad he’d put his gloves back on. A permanent sneer was stuck to his hidden face like a curse, eyes narrowed.
Standing, the man trades weight from his thighs as he reads the letter that had been stuck in your jacket. 
‘My Сладкая, 
This is the one-hundredth letter I’ve written to you, though you haven’t been sent all of them yet. I’m still waiting for you to notice me, and I’ve grown disquieted by your response to the way I disposed of your three guards. Was that not what you wanted every time you looked at me?’
Nikto’s hand comes up to rub at the fabric over his neck, digging until he feels the bulge of his scar against his fingertips.
‘I thought you would be thankful, but now you have that man following you everywhere. He took your doves from you—the doves that were supposed to make up for the misunderstanding about the dead men. You looked beautiful with the red fire moving over your face that day, you know? It caught every curve and the softness of your skin perfectly. Here—I even took a picture for you to enjoy as I thoroughly have. I hope it brings you the pleasure it brought me to run my lips over your holy image.”
Fingers crumble the side of the letter, creasing it. Not once do they delve into the envelope to look for that picture. If he had the choice, Nikto would rip this entire thing into little bits.
‘I think it’s time that we meet—alone, Сладкая. I’ll be waiting tonight at the café for you, so we can run away together. And start this life together. I think it’s time. Yes. I will ravage you with all of the beautiful things in life; jewelry, dresses, makeup, my body. It is mine, isn’t it? You? You’ve told me with your eyes, so why are you still ignoring me? You look at me every day. I look back—you love me! I know you do! Why are you still being such a—’
It falls off into nothing but rabid script; illegible even to Nikto’s best abilities. The letter is saturated with something—spots of the paper pulling in on itself with droplets off…
Nikto stills, disgust and insult moving in his gut. There wasn’t any DNA on the box, but they certainly had some here.
Dropping the letter into the lockbox on the nightstand, the man takes the top and rams it shut with a rattle of the nesting dolls on the upper shelf. Nikto removes his gloves and tosses them into the garbage bin. 
Stalking to the bathroom door, he moves on instinct. Ever the animal. 
Knuckles rasp to the wood. Conversations halt once more.
“Seraph,” he eases, accent tight. “You are well?”
A bead of silence, the moving of water. 
“Yes, Nikto,” your voice is still shaky, but it comes out from under the door. 
Nikto stares at his feet, blinking. With a grunt, his feet shift and he forces out, “Good. You will call if you need us.”
It wasn’t a question.
Moving back, he nods to himself firmly, shaking out his right hand—he can’t seem to stop being on edge. Every creak, every shadow of your decorations moving, made his eyes dart to them, honing in as if behind the scope of a rifle.  
Nikto brought his hands to the side of his skull, pushing in. You were messing with his head, he tells himself again. The moments of dissociation were becoming more frequent as of late, and he could feel it in the back of his mind even now. A glaze over his brain that made everything feel like it was worlds away from him—it was sharp and sure of itself. Words jumbled, ‘I’s came out as ‘We’s, things were lapsed from his brain; important things. Moments of confusion—aggression. Leaving you behind in a grocery store at the flip of a coin. Snapping at you in real anger when you were just curious. 
He can’t do that. He can’t lose his grip. 
From inside the bathroom, your eyes stay locked on the door, your head resting on the wall behind you as your skin soaks in the claw-footed tub. 
“I don’t know if this is good for me, Aly,” you confess lowly, eyes shifting back to the wall ahead of you, a little black and white ceramic fish on a shelf. Candles let off the scent of linen and pine. 
Alyona sits on the stool a few feet away, watching your face worriedly. 
“Солнышко,” she starts slowly, “we both know it isn’t. It’s going to pass—I can’t hope for more than that.”
It’s like a repeating record—It’ll be okay, just keep strong, push through.
It wasn’t Aly’s fault; she’s involved in this too. 
“Is Nikifor worried about you?” The woman’s head perks, her lips twitching as the orbs inside of her head soften.
“Seraph, you don’t have to change the subject—”
“Truly,” you move a hand up from the water and rub at your face. “Really, Aly, I need a distraction. Please, just…talk. You know I love to hear about the two of you.” 
She sighs, looking to the wall. After a moment, she chuckles, head tilting down. “Yes, he’s worried. He worries about you as well. You have a home with us, little Солнышко—I want you to know that, yes?” Alyona brings a hand to your cheek, pinching in good nature. 
You shuffle away in mock annoyance, lips twitching. 
“...I know, Aly.”
“Good,” she huffs. “I would not be a good friend if you didn’t. At least that brute is taking care of you, it seems.”
“He’s a good cook,” you ease out. “You should try it sometime.”
Gray eyes blink at you, shocked. “He got you to eat a meal?” 
“You’re saying it like I never do,” you chuckle, eyebrows pulling in as the dimmed overhead light shines down on your avoidance of the problem at hand. 
“No, it’s not that,” Aly’s eyes rove with unseen emotion, her concerned heart gaining a smidge of affection for the man outside of the door, whose shadowed feet can still be seen pacing. “I am…glad, Seraph. Food is always the way to someone’s senses, eh?”
Your lips twitch, but the weight on your chest remains. A tense pause grabs the both of you.
“I wish you were coming with,” you have to admit on a stiff tongue. “Ever since I first got here, you’ve been with me for all of it—the parties especially.” Your open mouth stutters. “Aly, I don’t think I can do it again by myself. All of those people; what some of them expect from me, it…it’s just…” Getting choked up, you move a hand to your mouth, covering it. From behind the flesh, you mutter, “I can’t do it again, it’s just the same as staying here, as a matter of fact, I think staying would be better.”
“You need to think rationally,” Aly shakes her head, getting closer to take your hand in both of hers. She squeezes, her top shiny in the light as it moves. “Nothing is worse than staying in this city. The man outside the door agrees. It is the safest option for you, even if,” Alyona closes her eyes, looking away as she opens them. She never finishes her sentence. 
“I don’t want to,” you fight a whimper. “Aly, we tried so hard to get out of them sending us like meat.” 
But there’s nothing that the woman can do to you when you say it like that, and even her expression gets far away. Alyona’s eyes blink fast, getting glossy before they avoid your eyes for the rest of the night. 
“I’m sorry, My Seraph. I’m so, so, sorry.”
And that’s all that can be said.
When night comes, you don’t think you sleep at all, and by Nikto’s pacing of his room, the occasional pause to peek his head through your doorway, neither does he. 
The time to leave came far quicker than you could anticipate as the days blended. Chelyabinsk was nearly a three-hour drive if you went the fastest route, and in the time before it, you and Nikto hadn’t spoken much about the letters. They’d been taken by the investigators the next day, along with your phone, for testing and tracking. While you’d been given a new device, it was a tiny thing that died more times than not; you had three contacts—Alyona, Nikto, and your mom.
You’d been assigned a driver by AMA for the trip, and thus, the all-black vehicle had arrived in the small hours of the morning as you had finished a hurried call to your matriarch. 
“I’ll be back soon, Mom,” you’d explained. “Business. I’ll keep me busy.”
She had said it was a good idea like everyone else. Aly and you were the only ones to know the truth. Dread was a fishhook in your throat, but the fear of staying here was just as prominent. Those pictures haunted your mind.
“Nikto,” you ask, grabbing one of your suitcases on the street with a grunt. “Can you…?” The item is taken and easily lifted into the trunk. “Thank you,” your voice breathes out a sigh into the early morning air.
You hadn’t been to Chelyabinsk in a long time. Your brain knew that it would be most of the same—you needed to be careful of who you spoke to and how you did it. While regular crime was only moderate, corruption and bribery was your main problem when entering the place. You were on Allurement’s payroll, would your CEO’s influence be enough to stop anyone from trying anything with you? 
If you stuck to where you were told to go, you should be fine. 
Along with yourself and Nikto, photographers and media know-hows would be tagging along; makeup artists and stylists. A team of people who mostly refuse to look at you at all, only a few familiar faces among them. 
But, thankfully, only you and your guard would be in this car. 
“You can get in,” Nikto comments, blinking at you in the dark street, the lights of the car and the penthouse behind you all you have to differentiate between shades of black and gray. Your eyes had been constantly narrowed so you could try and see better. “I will load the rest.”
“If it’s all the same to you,” you smile sheepishly, “I’d like to stay out until we leave. I get fidgety when I’m in the car for too long.”
His shoulders shrug, taking another of your bags from the ground. “Very well. You will eat on the way there, then.”
Your eyes blink, attention pulled back from the shadow of a man walking across the street, raising hair on your arms. 
“What was that?” You tilt your head.
Nikto huffs. “Eat. On the way there.” He raises a brow. “You need breakfast.”
“Oh,” you at your neck slightly. “Sure, yeah. But what about you? Do you want me to turn around or something so I won’t see your face?”
“No need. We ate as you dressed. Packed the remaining for you.” You’re brushed past, the purse around your shoulder connecting with Nikto’s thigh as his boots clop over the concrete. 
Your lips twitch, expression still worried but the tease sneaking out instinctually. “I need to start calling you Mother Bear, Nikto.” 
“It will be the last thing you do, Whelp,” he grumbles, eyes looking over his shoulder as he packs the last suitcase away. Amusement is like liquid stone inside of them. 
So the trip ensued. 
You entertained yourself by staring out of the window as the cityscape rolled back, already missing the sanctity of your penthouse as you fiddled with a small stuffed bird in your grip. 
“I spy…” you mumble twenty minutes in, trying to be normal again. “Something tall and gray—”
“Tree,” Nikto grunts, trying to read one of the books he packed. 
“No,” you say, defensively. “It was,” your mouth opens and closes, scouring the passing scene but finding nothing. “Fine, yes, it was a tree.”
“I spy something blue.”
“That’s not even funny.”
“I believe it was funny. Perhaps you do not have a good sense of humor, Woman.”
You glare, throwing your stuffed bird directly at his forehead and watching it bounce off. Nikto doesn’t even look away from the words on his page, flipping to the next with a deep chuckle in his neck. 
Rolling your eyes, you groan and slouch into your seat.
You had to say, though, that as the city disappeared, so did your anxieties. It felt good to be near dense croppings of trees again—only an open and uncrowded highway and Nikto beside you. His pale eyes would watch you every so often, and you would do the same, studying each other as time passed and a gradual silence fell.
“Can I use you as a pillow?” You ask with only an hour left on the trip. 
Nikto’s halfway through his book, and up until now, you’d kept to yourself, lost in thought. 
“I am not comfortable,” he utters, leg shifting. He glances, but his numb eyes don’t do much until they move back to where they were prior. “And my Kevlar is hard. It will aggravate your head.” 
You had to wonder how fast he caught onto that fact about you. A smile grows on your face, and you shift to grab your jacket, folding it and tossing the item onto Nikto’s thigh. His head darts down right as you move to rest there, body sideways and legs folded against the door. 
“I like it when you worry—it’s cute,” you stifle a yawn, ignoring his digging eyes. “Wake me before we get there?” 
Your ears don’t wait for an answer, your fatigue from missing an entire night of sleep catching up where Nikto’s never would. He watched you rest for the remainder of the ride, hand hovering over your shoulder until it slowly slipped down to rest on it with a grumble of exasperated Russian under his breath. But the man had noticed the bags under your eyes—unable to be hidden by makeup. He found it in himself to let you sleep, even if the infection of your warmth made his head go loose; how your slackened face looked peaceful. 
The knowledge of what you’d just experienced was still with him, even as he linked his feelings together as pointless. This was a waiting game, and everyone else seemed to have time except for you. 
He didn’t like it. There was a nagging in the back of his gut—instinctual understanding as a hired gun who’d gone through many deployments. This was bigger; something was going to happen soon. A tipping point.
Nikto had a feeling you felt it too, as your head nuzzled his thigh in your sleep, shoving yourself into your jacket as tiny grunts moved from your lips; eyebrows furrowing. 
Bad dream, the Russian clocked immediately, his book long placed at his side and his one elbow against the window frame. 
Pale blue eyes watched for a moment, looking at your deep red blouse and the long back skirt that lightly cascaded over the side of the seats. His hand at your shoulder—hard and immobile, twitches as it tries to keep you steady, feeling the muscle under your flesh writhe. 
Only when you can’t seem to calm down does he do anything at all. 
Nikto can easily stamp an expression of annoyance on his face, of bored numbness, but instead, a sliver of something that could be considered softness bleeds from behind his eyes; something that even if he were to look into a mirror, he couldn’t name himself. 
A finger brushes up your neck, scarred and broken, most of a finger missing and the nearest ones fuzzy with nerve damage. It hovers, steady, before his hand moves to massage along the base of your scar. It’s an awkward angle, no mistake. After all, he was practically grabbing the side of your neck to reach, but it was all he could offer short of waking you. 
When he couldn’t sleep, he’d do the same to himself; it helped, he thought, feeling skin on skin—a caress that eases aches. Call it pathetic, but the sensations he was feeling doing the same to you were nothing short of trance-inducing. To understand the pulse of your heart—your breath returns to a slow puff; brows settling back down at only his circling thumb. 
A bit of that infectious pride trickles into his eyes; smug. 
Nikto grunts, and leans back into his chair, continuing his work to settle you, and smirks softly under his mask. 
Only roughly half an hour to go, and then it was back to guard duty. But perhaps he could close his eyes and rest as well. 
You made for quite the distraction.
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cringe--is--dead · 2 months ago
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⋆˚。⋆୨✧୧˚ 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝑶𝒏𝒆: 𝑺𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍 ˚୨✧୧⋆。˚⋆
⋆˚。⋆୨✧୧˚ 𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒐 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 ˚୨✧୧⋆。˚⋆
𝒮𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎: When your crush, Kuroo, agrees to help tutor you, neither of you anticipated the freak snowstorm that would trap you at his house.
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"God, please," You felt your brain quite literally throbbing in your skull, "Stop talking for five seconds."
You didn't have to lift your head from your hands to imagine the look on Kuroo's face; a stupid mixture of smug, concern, and amusement. Every time you were subjected to that stare you were tempted to slap it off of him. Or kiss it off of him. One would more than likely result in the end of your friendship, so you kept your lips to yourself.
“Oh come on,” You heard him try and hide his laughter, and doing a poor job of it, “It’s really not that hard.”
“Says you,” You glared at him through your fingers, “Mr. Know-it-all.”
He rolled his eyes, putting the pencil that he was twirling down, “You were starting to get it earlier.”
“Then you started adding to it!” You took one of the crumbled sheets from the floor and threw it, watching as he did nothing but let it bounce off his head, “And you just thought because you get it, that I would too!”
He laughed, deep and loud, and you ignored the flutters in your chest, the way the sound was enough to make your hands sweaty. He leaned back on his palms, “We can call it if you want, the test isn’t till next week anyways.”
You nodded, conceding. “I think if we continue my head will quite literally explode.”
Laying your head on the little table he set up, you let your eyes shut for a moment, the warmth of his room soothed your body, while the coolest of the desk soothed your head. You startled, doing your best not to jump when you felt his fingers move through your hair, hesitantly. It was silent for a few moments, the movements of his hand was soft and light, and the headache you had felt coming on was disappearing.
“We wouldn’t want your head to explode,” He spoke finally, tone teasing but voice soft.
You grumbled, not having a snarky retort or quick jab. You didn’t want to move, but you knew you had to. With a heavy heart, and an over the top, loud groan, you lifted your head up, rubbing at your eyes.
Kuroo was watching you, quiet, not wanting to interrupt the brief moment of tranquility that had fallen upon the two of you. You were clearly tired, still clad in your school uniform, though you had stolen one of his hoodies. He was hoping you forgot to give it back to him, and continued to do so going forward. He hoped you forgot for a good while.
“Ugh,” You stood up, stretching your legs out, “You gonna be a gentleman and give me my bag?”
He rolled his eyes at the sarcasm, but moved regardless, grabbing your bag from his bed. You didn’t ask, but he started packing your notebooks away for you.
You pulled your phone out to check the time, moving to grab your bag from Kuroo, before pausing. You had a several missed calls from your father, as well as unread texts. Telling Kuroo to give you a second, you put your phone to your ear, calling your dad back.
He opened his door, aiming to give you some privacy, jumping as he nearly walked into his mom standing in the hall way. Her hand was raised, as if she was going to knock on his door. He raised an eyebrow towards her questioningly.
“Oh,” She looked mildly worried, “I was hoping she had gone home by now.”
He was grateful that you were on the phone and not standing there, narrowing his eyes, and his mom, realizing how her sentence may sound, quickly waved her hands.
“No, no, not like that! You know she’s always welcome over! I just meant—”
“Snow storm?” Your voice was sharp, cutting off whatever his mom was going to explain.
He heard the sound of his curtains opening, and he turned, seeing the sheer amount of snow outside. There was at least half a meter of snow on the ground, if not more, and the snow was still heavily falling.
He heard his mom sigh, “The weather report says it’s going to keep snowing throughout the night too, and because it came out of nowhere they can’t get any plows or trucks out to clear the roads.”
Whatever conversation you were having with your parents had finished, and you walked over to Kuroo, looking both stressed and rather frazzled.
“Neither of my parents can get over here to get me,” You sighed, tucking your phone into the hoodie pocket, “And they don’t want me trying to walk home.”
“Heavens no,” Kuroo’s mom shook her head, “Neither of you are stepping foot out there any time soon. Honey, you’ll stay here tonight. And however long it takes for them to clear the roads safely enough for either your parents or I to take you home.”
You felt your cheeks warm up lightly, “Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose—”
“It’s not imposing, dear.”
“What other option do you have?”
You laughed lightly as Kuroo’s head was smacked, his mother sending a scolding look his way for his comment, “I’ll go grab you some of my pajamas dear, give me a moment.”
“Aw,” Kuroo turned to you as his mom walked off, “Our first sleep over.”
Rolling your eyes you half heartedly raised your hands in faux excitement, “Yay.”
He pouted, and you weren’t fast enough to avoid his stupidly long arms, wrapping you in a too tight hug that nearly swept you off your feet, “Don’t worry— Kenma says my snorings gotten better.”
“I’ll smother you in your sleep,” You threatened, voice muffled from his shoulder digging into your cheek.
He let you go, but you weren’t able to get your footing, swaying and nearly falling backwards. His arms retightened, this time around your waist to keep you from toppling over.
“Sorry,” The teasing tone was gone, and for a moment he actually sounded sheepish, and you tilted your head up, ready to scold him.
Your noses were millimeters apart, and this close you could feel his breath against your face. With anyone else it would be uncomfortable, but with Kuroo it felt… nice. He smelled like the coffee he had gotten on his way home, and whatever cologne or deodorant you had begun to associate with him.
"I found- oh!" The sound of his mothers voice startled the two of you, and his arms quickly released you, doing nothing but allowing you to lose your balance.
Thankfully you caught yourself, both your faces warm, and his mother stood in the doorway, some folded-up clothes in her hands, "I'll leave these here," She placed them on the dresser, closer to Kuroo's door, moving to walk back downstairs, "Keep the door open tonight!"
She called the last bit over her shoulder, and you watched with amusement, and your own embarrassment, as Kuroo's face reddened more, calling after his mom in shock.
You and Kuroo had been friends for years, ever since middle school. You and Kenma got along, but you both knew Kuroo better than the other. Though you and the blonde weren't above teaming up against the older one.
"Sorry about her," He rubbed the back of his neck, "She's... well..."
You waved him off, laughing quietly, "It's fine. She means well."
The silence between you two felt a bit more awkward now, neither sure of what to say to break the tension. You moved first, grabbing the clothes, "I'm going to go change."
Kuroo watched you scurry off to the bathroom, waiting till you were out of earshot before groaning, burying his face in his hands, and falling onto his bed. A ping from his phone distracted him, and he checked it, no surprise at seeing Kenma having messaged him.
snow storm tonight
really? had no idea it interrupted our study session
you mean study date?
it wasn't a date! i'd take her on a better date than studying for chemistry NOT that i'm saying i want to take her on a date
you're a bad liar even over text
i'll make you run laps with yamamoto next practice
He watched the text bubbles pop up, Kenma no doubt cursing his entire existence in the safety of his bedroom.
you're cruel
He snorted at that, ready to respond when-
just tell her you like her please the pining is hurting all of us it's sickening
"Should I be concerned your mom has cute taste when it comes to pajamas?"
Your voice startled him, despite fully hearing you wander back down the hall to his room. He threw his phone back onto his bed, panicking that you'd, somehow, read the texts from all the way in his doorway. You didn't, and wouldn't have, but you were now suspicious, eyeing him weirdly.
"Everything good?"
"Just dandy," He smiled, trying to convey some type of calm attitude, "Just texting Kenma."
You nodded slowly, folded clothes in hand, and you moved, placing them with your bookbag, "Hopefully he's trapped at home and not somewhere else."
Kuroo snorted, "He's at home. Probably already playing whatever game he got recently. No school, no practice, it's his own personal heaven."
You laughed, organizing your items meticulously. He was very aware of the buzzing of his phone, no doubt it was still Kenma, calling him a coward in some form of the word. You were talking to him, something about school, or practice, or literally anything, but he couldn't hear you very well. His heart rate had yet to slow down since you wandered back in, Kenma's texts still in his mind.
just tell her you like her
It sounds so simple, yet as he sat on his bed, staring at you, it felt anything but. You were everything he liked in a girl, and even more. You were snarky and sweet, you got along with Kenma and Kuroo's parents, you didn't fully understand volleyball but you went to games to cheer them on whenever you could. You were dedicated and kind, but you were also so quick to put Kuroo in his place whenever it was needed. Which, according to Yaku, was a lot.
His thoughts were on a roll now, a runaway train where you were the only passanger.
" - are you even listening to me?"
"Are you free next weekend?"
His question came out almost as a shout, and it stunned you for a moment. You had been telling him about the stupid drama going on in your foreign language class, gossip he normally was absorbed in, but he was far away, stuck in whatever thoughts were going on in his mind. He had gotten fidgety where he sat, staring at you.
"Next weekend? Why?" You looked at him, trying to understand the anxiety that was creeping over him; a rare look for him.
"Like... Saturday?"
"I should be?"
"Doyouwanttogoonadate?"
“Do I—” You processed it a second after you started asking the question, face burning, heart hammering.
A date? He was asking you on a date?
“I—”
He turned away, forcing his gaze to focus on the heavy snow still falling outside, thicker on the ground than it had been minutes ago.
As subtly as you could, you grabbed a bit of skin between your fingers and pinched, the sharp pain sending prickles through your arm. Not dreaming. Okay.
Holy shit Kuroo just asked you on a date.
You licked your lips, noting the way he sat tense, as if waiting a blow up or rejection, “As long as it’s better than studying for school, yes.”
His head snapped towards you, eyes wide before the shock melted away, a giant grin forming on his face. “I dunno— I’d say we have pretty great chemistry together.”
“I take it back.”
“Nope!” He nearly leapt off his bed, crowding your space, “No take backs! We’ll go on a date next week. No studying, no text books, hopefully no getting stuck somewhere because of a snow storm.”
His energy was contagious, and soon you found yourself giggling with him, laughing at absolutely nothing.
“I really will need you two to sleep with the door open tonight,” His mom’s voice startled you two again, and you laughed, a bit sharp and surprised as he turned towards his door, calling out a sharp, “Mom!”
A/N: my biggest red flag is I have no idea how to end chapters or one shots
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taylanix · 7 days ago
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Boom SonShadAmy/Sonadamy rambles
Ight that Boom sonshadAmy post is getting blown up kind of so I thought I should explain the dynamics of them and what each part of the relationship looks like.
SonAmy
Sonic and Amy are not so secretly secretly dating. They both like to sass each other but they do clearly love each other. I mainly am basing them off my mom and stepdad because they act rude to one another but actually love each other. Been dating for a solid 2+ years now and Sonic still hasn't popped the question. Was the one who made Sonic's bandanna. Sonic will crash at her place sometimes but he usually sleeps at his beach house thing. Both looked at shadow and was like "I wanna date him" and they made it a race as to who can get him first.
ShadAmy
Shadow and Amy are a lot more tame. Shadow still broods a lot but that is because Amy yoinked him out of his cave and made him live with her (still figuring out why). Amy can backtalk him without fear of getting punched. She is the one who wears the nonexistent pants in the relationship and Shadow listens reluctantly. Regardless Shadow has cuteness aggression towards her which just ends up with him squishing her face. Should mention that she won the race into getting Shadow to date her first before Sonic was able to.
Sonadow
Sonic and Shadow had the longest time getting together just due to Shadow's hatred of Sonic. Very similar to his relationship with Amy just this time he has a grumpy hedgehog instead. Him and Shadow watch reality TV together for fun once dating. They play fight more often than not after the first while of being together. They are literally ADHD (sonic) vs Austism (shadow) and sometimes their special interests line up and they can end up talking about something for hours on end.
SonShadAmy dynamics
Shadow is stuck with two sassy hedgehogs that he ends up loving oh so very much (no matter how much he wants to punch Sonic). Still the most reserved out of all 3 but has slowly calmed down with Sonic and Amy's help. Also if all 3 decide to share a bed (which is rare) he gets stuck in the middle with the other two cuddling him. He gets uncomfortable sometimes which means he just turns over onto his stomach and then can sleep. Sonic is the most affectionate behind closed doors ironically (he hates PDA). He gets in trouble for being too messy but has slowly been getting better. Gets all 3 of them into trashy TV dramas or game shows. Actually has the best movie taste whenever new movies reach the island. Amy is the one who mainly cooks just because it is her house and Shadow ends up helping after a few months of staying there and learns how to make edible meals after not knowing how to cook. Both boys get on her nerves sometimes and they get in trouble for it. Shares a hobby with both of them with Shadow's being dancing and Sonic's actually being reading.
Thats all I have for now, bye!
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chiquititaosita · 8 months ago
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girl dad! geto x mom! reader
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-literally cannot I MEAN CANNOT!!! Mimiko and Nanako LOVE THE BABY! Like not even joking they think of her as a baby doll.
- geto puts his little princess in braids and cute hairstyles because of post partum depression. He takes charge sometimes
-“what do I do? Why is it crying?” He asked a little worried. While baby girl yuikiko is throwing herself back and closing her fists as a newborn. She’s so hungry. The nurse explains everything to him. He takes it with a grain of salt.
-takes care of you during pregnancy and your postpartum journey
-the first diaper change is hilarious. “Oh my god!-“ hello covers his mouth gagging looking away as the baby laughs. Because she has a full poopy diaper.
-the twins just laugh, when geto struggles changing yukikos diaper. “Ah little flower is going to give me a hard time.” He mumbles.
-he doesn’t understand what breast milk is until you were legit breastfeeding. “Wait can I try some?” Mother fucker inhaled that shit because it was pleasing to the tongue. puts it in his protein shake 😭
-if you feel insecure about your new mom body he’s not going to be the type of husband that says “fuck get over it.”
-he keeps on admiring your body, like when y’all had y’all’s first time together. “I have so much more respect for you now [y/n]..” he’ll whisper
-one time you came home from work watching the twins, the baby and Suguru all fall asleep, luckily the baby was alive and breathing well. Even sleeping in the portable bassinet around the house.
-is so proud that yukikos first word is mama but when he hears dada he goes feral crying. It’s giving “I’m not crying you are!”
- he is willing to teach his girls his techniques in order to defend themselves when geto is not present.
- now he calls y’all’s daughter a monkey “y/n! this damn monkey baby is putting things it’s in mouth!”
-(when the baby learns to pull hair he regrets it) “okay okay I’m sorry it’s a her my bad!!” 💀
- like fr though he loves your daughter even when she eats her food in nothing but a diaper and strapped in a high chair because she’s exploring taste and texture
-“I’m gonna protect you from everything that’ll potentially and will put you in danger on your mama.”
- one time he let gojo babysit it did not end well (he lost her by almost sealing her with another curse because he wasn’t watching her while she was crawling around) 😭😭
- the baby is very much a daddy’s girl so whatever baby girl wants baby girl gets
-also he holds your hand while holding the baby when she gets her ears pierced. (He shedded more tears than the baby) then the baby was fine after she was given a bottle of milk.
-“she’s fine?”
-the baby tries to hit Suguru for no damn reason ON PURPOSE (when she’s a bit older and can move her arms during that development)
-“OW SHE BIT ME!” the twins will laugh
-the twins will try to feed the baby baby food but wanna watch the baby feed herself.
-“ why is yukiko eating her foot?”
-“ask y/n”
-“why is yukiko eating her foot?”
-“I think she discovered it”
-he’s there for every milestone and trying to record it.
-lots of pictures and videos of the baby with the girls and you.
-when the baby is tired and screaming crying, and you’re not there singing to her. Suguru discovered his singing soothes the baby (regardless if it sounds bad on purpose or not) or if he sings bad lmao
-and geto would never want anything to change because he loves his little family
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