#I have not been spending the past however long thinking about it nooooo

[phantom-does-a-thing]

The memories in the spirit world while both represent like… a place I guess they are also very real, conscious beings forever trapped in an endless stasis. They cannot die or grow old, they can’t move or speak but they are definitely conscious (I can say alive bc well… spirit world). They are the objects left behind, a burning house, a rusted swing set, a broken tree swing. All those memories of either the last moments or what it used to be.

Burning house as a view of the last moments that anyone saw it standing, a rusted swing set before it was abandoned, a tire swing before it broke. They are stuck there forever almost as grim landmarks.

Dreams are… similar to memories. They’re an object or a place that has manifested in the spirit world but in contrast: dreams are created by a powerful enough spirit they are not manifestations of things or places that have died. They can be thought of like artificial memories. Unlike memories, they can fade away and “die” in a sense. All over the spirit world is littered with faded and broken dreams from a spirit that has long since ceased to exist.

All of the major places are dreams, created by a strong enough spirit to maintain for a while. Memories are unable to be sustained comfortably, sure you can camp out in a memory for a while but… it’s uncomfortable, oppressive, even more so than the rest of the spirit world. It just feels… wrong, desolate even.

The remnants are all that’s left of what once was a human, a ghost, or a spirit. It’s after they’ve lost all bits of their humanity, their personality, everything. They happen after something died so long ago that it no longer remembers who or what it used to be. It’s just… well… a remnant.

The wisps are a remnant. A special kind but still a remnant. Theyre… different. Not as faded but still just the faded remains of what they used to be—William is a remnant too. Much less faded but still just a broken memory. The spirit world affects him a lot because he’s not supposed to be there, or the real world. He’s stuck between both worlds… almost like the memories. He’s in stasis, a remnant of who he used to be and yet still… William I guess. He’s different he’s not the same but he’s still a person? Right?

The spirits and ghosts are just that, they’re verbatim who they were when they died, If not a little more exaggerated, more passionate. They don’t feel gray emotions, everything is some sort of white or black. They’re the same but just more intense. Also interchangeable I can’t think of a difference.

There’s also demons and other monsters, things that have NEVER been human and never will be. They don’t care about humans, they don’t care about spirits. They are their own being.

There’s also souls which are just spirits that have gotten lost in the void, or someone who wasn’t strong enough to manifest as a ghost. They’re like remnants, just a bit more human.

[ithebookhoarder]

Your sleepy head canons for the SW trio were adorable! Can I pretty please ask what the original star wars babies would be like with a sick reader? I just need some cuteness in my life right now and I'm rewatching the movies so yeah...

A/N: Um, yes you can! One fluffy dose of OG star wars coming up. 

Star Wars (Head-canons): Dealing with a sick reader

Masterlist:

Han:

This man is a marshmallow on the inside, even if years alone in the smuggling game has ensured that it’s deeply hidden away beneath that stoicism and devil-may-care attitude. 

You are one of the only people in the entire galaxy he lets see his softer side, whether it’s his casual affection during the day on the Falcon, or his little thoughtful gestures like fetching you caff when you’re flying or working your ass off on repairs. 

It’s why he’s actually rather sweet to you when you’re sick, ordering Chewie to take over whatever you were meant to be doing so you can get some rest.

“Han. I’m fine. It’s just a sniffle. I’ll live.”

“I know that, princess, but I don’t need you breaking my ship because you’re too busy coughing and sneezing to see what wires you’re tinkering with.”

You laugh, knowing his sass is his way of hiding the worry that’s brewing inside of him at the sight of you coughing and spluttering around the place. So, you surrender your tools to him and allow him to help you back to your quarters. It’s that or letting him drag you there over his shoulder, like some kind of deranged caveman. 

Once you get to your room, you half expect him to leave you there to fend for yourself, but you’re surprised to see him hovering around you, already working out a list of supplies. 

“You should lie down. I’ll grab ya some of that fancy tea you like so damn much.”

“Thanks, hon.”

“Do you need anything else? What about some more blankets? Some pillows? I can grab Chewie’s. He doesn’t need it-“

Who knew Han Solo could be such a secret mother hen?

Turns out, with all his travels, he knows a thing or two about fending off a cold. It’s actually rather cute. 

You’re too busy trying not to laugh to say no as he hurries about the place and effectively builds you a nest in your shared quarters. He’s also glued to your side, leaving his Wookie first mate in charge while he sees to your every need, even if it’s just holding you while you sleep off whatever it is that’s taken you down.  

“I told you you needed a better coat on that planet but nooo your stubborn ass said you didn’t need one.”

“Han. Stop. I didn’t catch this cold there.”

“Where else would you have caught it?”

“Things just happen. It’s ok.”

Han definitely doesn’t think it’s ok, but he doesn’t want to tire you out for arguing over something dumb. You’re just as stubborn as he is and arguments between you two have been known to go on for days sometimes. 

Instead, he agrees to disagree for now. As long as you rest and get better then everything else doesn’t matter. 

However, the next time you plan to leave the ship he just so happens to be waiting by the ramp, a thick, chunky coat in his hand. And a hat. And gloves. 

He grins and presses a kiss to your frowning face as you waddle out, almost suffocating but willing to endure for his sake and as a thank you for all his care the past week.

You also make a mental note to repay the favour next time he gets a little under the weather. You’re sure Chewie would enjoy the sight of his captain haggling with clients, while swaddled in knitwear. 

Luke:

Coming from a desert planet, Luke doesn’t know too much about handling things like colds. He’s more used to handling dehydration, sunburn, malnutrition or even the odd blaster wound or two from Jawas.

However, once joining the Rebellion, he learns pretty quickly after being struck down with surprising regularity. He’s an old friend to  colds and other conditions common on other planets and in space. 

That’s actually how he meets you, always being ordered to stop by the Med Bay by Leia the minute he starts sneezing. 

“I don’t need you spreading the plague, Luke,” she sighs, ushering him over to you and ordering him to let you take care of him. “You may be some mighty Jedi but even Jedis get sick.” 

You actually enjoy getting to spend time with Luke when he’s sick, and sharing your knowledge about cures and ways to avoid catching diseases in the first place. Luke also enjoys listening to you, admiring how clever you are and how kind, and careful, you are when handling patients. 

Thus, when you eventually get sick, he’s only too eager to return the favour. It’s time for him to take care of you, even if he knows you’re perfectly capable of doing it yourself. 

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, Y/N. Let me help you. Please?”

You smile, agreeing as he takes up residence at your bedside for the next few days. Turns out, he actually has a tender bedside manner, and is incredibly good at keeping you distracted when you get fed up of being on bedrest. 

He’s also incredibly aware of changes in mood or your condition, sensing them through the force before you even do. Hence why he’s by your side the moment you take a bad turn, despite him being half way across the base for training.

If he’s out of breath then that’s just a coincidence cause nooooo, he didn’t run here. No. He was right outside and just so happened to be coming in when you needed him most. 

“Luke? What the-?”

“Here. I brought soup and some more pain killers from the med bay.” 

You take his offerings, grinning in delight as the smell of food hits your nose. “Hmm, my saviour.”

His smile is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen as is his blushing cheeks. “I’m just taking care of you. Who else is going to nurse me back to health next time I’m the one who’s sick?”

“Anything for my favourite farm-boy.” 

“Your farm-boy.”

His kiss as he settles in bed beside you is almost enough to make you feel better all on its own. 

Leia:

Like mother, like daughter, this woman is a public servant. She may also be a workaholic, but she has her priorities in order and you come before whatever meetings or plans she has for the day.

In fact, the first time you got sick and didn’t tell her, she was hurt. It was C3-PO that had outed you, saying something about you being in your rooms and unable to join in the meeting scheduled that morning when asked where you were. (You knew you shouldn’t have trusted that golden tin can) 

Leia had been on you in seconds, bursting in your room and yelling at you for a whole hour about how stupid it was to suffer in silence. 

“We have medical staff, Y/N, for this exact reason! You’d rather lie here in pain, suffering, when you could have called someone? Or even me? Don’t tell me you’ve been around Han too much, Maker knows I don’t need two stubborn idiots on this base.”

“I love you too, Your Majesty.”

“Shut up or I’ll tell threepio to come and watch you.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” 

She would dare, but you were more than happy to put up with the lecture, however, given that she was busy wiping at your brow and tucking you in whilst yelling. That, and you had enough of a headache without threepio making worse. 

It felt rather surreal to think you had royalty waiting on you hand and foot - even if Leia would have yelled again if you said that to her face. She loved you more than anything and made sure to tell you at least once a day. She wasn’t just a princess, she was your partner and that was all that mattered. 

Needless to say, you’d learnt your lesson; whenever you got sick again, you made sure to let Leia know you weren’t feeling great. 

That way she could make sure to keep an eye on you, or assign someone to do so when she was dragged from your side for some super urgent meeting she couldn’t avoid any longer. 

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Leia. Go. You’re needed. I can survive an hour or so without you, but we all know this base won’t if you don’t get your ass over to mission control.” 

“You have a good point.” 

You chuckle as she steals a kiss before hurrying off to her duties. By the time you wake up from your nap, she’s back again and curled up next to you, watching you out of the corner of her eye whilst she works on the pad in her lap. 

She also sings you little lullabies when you’re sick and can’t sleep. They’re all songs her parents sang to her whenever she got sick as a kid. That alone makes you feel better, sharing something so private with her. 

Long story short, you may hate being sick, but you don’t hate being sick with Leia around to love and care for you. 

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

OKAY so last night i said something in tags about “ask me about my thoughts on atla post-canon polyamory” 99% because I had typed a bunch of shit in the tags and then accidentally CLOSED THE TAB thus losing said tags, so that was a bummer, BUT like 3 different people reached out wanting to hear about it so HERE GOES. (thanks to @taibhsearachd for rambling this out with me last night)

SO. this started bc we got somehow on the topic of how much we really disliked the whole Aang/Katara kiss at the end of the show.  Not because we’re against them kissing (Aang had to already have turned 13 by then, an innocent kiss is perfectly reasonable for a 13yo in my opinion), but because the placement of the kiss made it so... CENTRAL. We were talking about how we would’ve liked the kiss to have been earlier, preferably before the big finale, and then like... they still could’ve had a soft romantic moment on the balcony but it could’ve been like.  Hand holding or sitting together with Katara’s head on his shoulder.

And Birdie mentioned she’d always liked Zutara back in Ye Olde Tymes because the whole “Aang and Katara get together when they’re barely 13 and 15″ thing just seemed... really untenable if we’re going with endgame, AND it made a lot of sense to get Katara and Zuko together politically, especially since there’s nooooo princess up north anymore since she turned into the moon and all. But the resurgence of the fandom (thank you for once Netflix!) has opened our eyes to ZUKO AND SOKKA and that’s fuckin amazing but now we’re back to square one in re: Aang and Katara. But then I realized that we can fix all of this with a) allowing for healthy breakups of relationships that don’t work yet but might work when the people involved have grown/processed things, and b) extensive polyamory.

And so here’s my thought:

Aang and Katara break up for a while probably not long after the end of book 3.  They’re fucking kids, they’re traumatized kids no less, and they both have a lot of shit they need to deal with both personally and in the world that isn’t really conducive to “baby’s first serious relationship”.  They’re still friends, they view it as “well... let’s maybe try again in a few years if we’re both still interested”.  All their friends are aware of this and supportive and in the end it’s healthy for both of them bc their traumas and coping mechanisms didn’t always play nice with each other even BEFORE all the fallout from the finale and having to take on more responsibility in the world and such.

Zuko properly gets with Sokka and Suki during this time, though there’s no talk of like. Marriage or anything. Yes, Sokka’s politically got the same sort of appeal as Katara, but the thing about politically advantageous marriages at that level is there’s sort of the assumption that you’ll be, y’know, having heirs, so Sokka’s not really cut out for that and Suki flat out refused to be official Fire Lady or whatever.

So once Katara and Aang are older, like Aang’s 17 and Katara’s 19 and Zuko’s sitting over here at 21, and his advisors are all “ok but seriously Fire Lord Zuko, we really should look into at least a BETROTHAL of some sort” and he just sighs, and they’re bringing up all these Fire Nation ladies and he’s like “no it’s gotta be more diplomatic than that, she shouldn’t be Fire Nation” and so one of them’s like “well, uh, that water tribe lady you’re friends with, she’s set to be a pretty strong leader as she gets older, that would be a good way to do it.  Or that blind Earth Kingdom--” “NOT TOPH.” “ok but seriously, tho, think about it your majesty”

So Zuko’s torn because he really does like Katara, and she’d be an amazing Fire Lady in addition to being an amazing... whatever her title would be down in the Southern Water Tribe (I definitely picture her and Sokka basically being the leaders of the pan-tribal council - he handles military and adjacent stuff and she handles the rest).  But Katara’s with Aang again FINALLY not that they’ve made a big deal of it outside their friends.  BUT he knows that y’know... people can be with more than one person.  Hell, look at him and Sokka and Suki, right?

So he goes to talk to Aang like “I want to make sure I run this past you so she doesn’t have to try and do it, because I’m the one even bringing it up, and it’s obviously up to her, BUT here’s the sitch”.

And see, the thing about the Air Nomads is it really doesn’t make sense to me that they’d have the same kind of ideas about like.  Monogamy and parenthood and relationships as other nations, ‘cause like.... the kids are clearly raised communally.  Like, I vote ‘you probably know who your parents are but really all the adults are your parents, maybe you get an extra cake from them on your birthday but that’s about it’ for the most part. And y’know being with who you want to be with sort of thing. Sure you’ll have people you might be more committed to, but by and large the general consensus is “love who you love, whoever and however many people that is!”

So Zuko’s all prepared to angst for even ASKING if Aang would mind playing technical second fiddle in an heir-producing/marriage/inheritance/etc sense to HIM, ugh what if Aang hates him for even thinking it? and Aang’s just like “oh yeah that’s cool dude, if she’s down go for it! You wanna talk to her together? I don’t mind being there to reassure her it’s ok, and that you weren’t asking me permission to ask her so much as you were making sure it wouldn’t upset me if you did, and all that” and Zuko’s like “...what. I.  Ok sure?”

And Katara does like Zuko, she just y’know, also liked Aang and didn’t want to GIVE UP Aang, but Zuko’s like “it’ll be good for our people, and I’d never make you stay in the fire nation full time you have your own responsibilities and also you don’t have to stop being with Aang or even like hide it or anything, it’s not like people don’t know I’m with Sokka and stuff, it’s just, y’know, OFFICIAL HEIRS and stuff” and so she’s like “Oh!  Oh, yeah, that’s good, we can have a couple kids and stuff”

But ofc they end up a lot closer than “just a couple kids” but it’s sweet!  She has kids with Zuko and kids with Aang and really as long as one of them turns out a firebender (can the avatar have a kid of any bending type? NO ONE KNOWS but Zuko’s advisors are prepared to accept it at this point) so long as they end up with A VIABLE HEIR that Zuko will claim etc etc.

And of course Zuko and Sokka and Suki have a couple kids whose parentage is uncertain not that they really CARE, and Suki and Aang aren’t really into each other romantically but when they’re a bit older they discuss it and decide to have a kid just so they can have a shot at a potential airbender baby, because heck yeah rebuilding the airbenders, might as well get some extra genetics up in this ish.

And these kids are all largely raised together in this big pack of like 10 kids of varying ages who move between 2 or 3 different homes, and Zuko rules the Fire Nation and Sokka and Katara lead the southern water tribes, and Aang does his Avatar thing, and they all spend as much time together as possible with the kids and Suki and some of her girls from Kyoshi Island are the main people ALWAYS THERE for the kids.

And there’s at least one kind of each bender in the group (bc you can’t tell me it’s 100% you have to have a bending parent, considering neither Katara’s mother or father were benders, so one of Suki’s kids is DEFFO an earthbender) and they’re a chaotic bunch and sometimes the Gaang forgets which one of them provided the genetics for which kid but really it doesn’t matter bc they’re ALL the kids’s parents, and all the kids are ALL their kids, and it’s a big happy messy disaster of a polycule that the Fire Nation nobility and advisors despair over, but they can’t deny that it seems to be working out pretty well and that the Fire Lord is good at his job and pretty damn happy, so they don’t bitch too much about it.

...Also at some point Sokka and Toph discuss dating and end up sort of doing it for a while but then going back to being friends, but she does ABSOLUTELY get him to father one of her kids, which she then declares firmly she made out of a rock and bended to life, and most people are preeeeetty sure she’s full of shit but can’t fully discount the possibility and only the Gaang knows the truth.

so yeah that’s my avatar polyamory thoughts, it is not canon-compliant with legend of korra but who cares this is my imagination and headcanon and LoK doesn’t play into it at all. *nod*

[wenwenbittercake]

Two faces ✨✨✨✨

Warning:swearing, falling and the rest is for you to find out. ( ͡°³ ͡°)( ͡°³ ͡°)

It's been a month since you joined the Survey Corps and things are going pretty well. You made new friends and experience new things. One night, you and the girls are chatting in your dorm room. It was late but it helps you released the stress of fighting Titans. You sat on the floor, listening to what the girls are saying. Hisoria was joking about Mikasa having a crush on Eren, while she was denying the fact. You weren't paying attention but a question got your attention backback.

"Wait, what? " You nearly spill your tea.

"Who do you like? I'm sure you must like someone here right?"

Historia asked you normally but that question surely made you nervous. You've been liking Hanji for the past weeks. Yes! Hanji, someone who is obsessed with Titans. The girl who's always busy doing new invasions and interested in spending her time alone. You even question yourself sometimes.

You started knowing your feelings for Hanji about a few weeks ago, when Haji decided to steel liquor from the food storage. She begged you to come with her, in the end, you Are her assistant.

Luckily, you both get the liquor bottle out. Nearly getting caught! You both got to the top of the walls, which is Hanji's plan to drink there. You refused to drink because you knew you would be the one who carry her back to the dorm room.

There, she joked around and laugh about it. She even told you about her new research. However, it didn't take long for her to get drunk.

"Hanjiii let's go back, I don't want to get in trouble."

"Oh come onnnn, stop being so scared. Don't worrrrryyyy, that short stufffff won't yelllll youuu" Hanjiii was clearly drunk. You giggle at what Haji just said.

She got up and started walking. You started to get worried.

"Hajii come back, you might fall of the wall!"

You aren't joking when you said that. The walls have both fence or anything. Besides, she's drunk. She might fall off the wall if she miss her steps.

"You mean like thissss" Haji was bow standing so close to the edge of the wall.

You stood up and finally realized how hard the wind was blowing. You feared that she might lose her balance and fall.

"Hajii come back, it's not funny!"

"Oh come on! Come get me thennn" Haji teased.

"Hanji, you know I'm scared of heights"

"Oh really? Why don't you come seeeee the vieww?" Hanji invited you to come but your not that naive.

"Hajiii, plssss come back!" The cold wind hit you making your legs tremble.

"Oh so you mean like this?" She said as she took a step. Still on the edge of the wall.

"Hajiii! That's it! I'm leaving!" You stood up and walk to the stair case and turn back to see Hanji talking at leap into air.

"Nooooo"

You run toward Hanji and dived toward Hanji to catch but it's too late. She was gone. No way to be found. You flip on your back on the sky to get your gear out and attached to the wall but realizing.......

You left your gear on the walls. You were so eager to save Hanji that you forgot that you left your gears. Now you are falling hopelessly. You realized the last thing you saw was Hanji smiling at you. That's the last thing you will ever remember before you fall to your death.

But suddenly, a pair of arms caught you. You open your eyes to see Hanji catching you in her arms and flew you back on the walls. You then remembered that Hanji have her gear. That's why she's so daring in the first place.

She placed you back on the walls. You then noticed how pale her face was. She was obviously shocked.

"WTF is wrong with you!" She yelled at your face.

"Why who you jump out without a gear!" She yelled at you in a worried way making you speechless.

"Why would you tease me then?" You yelled back.

"Y/N I've been doing this for years! I'm not diving into mid air like you!" Hanji yelled back and then there was silent.

This is the first time you ever seen Hanji this serious and angry. Causing u to be speechless. You stared in her eyes. Almost as if you both were about to kiss. But Hanji hugged you instead. So tight that you feel like your bones are crushing.

"Don't ever do that, ok?" With that you both went back to your dorms.

After that, you felt award with Hanji. You would help her around but you would be blushing all the time. You would jolt ever times she called your name or times when she brushed her self against you in an accident. You know she wouldn't feel anything and falling for her is pointless. But you can't help but fall for her.

After the night with the girls, you felt as if you should confront her about your feelings. Your desires for her.

The next night, you couldn't sleep. The thought of Hanji warm arms holding you close to her make you melt. You decided to get a tea to clear your head. You walked out of the dorm to get some tea when you heard a whimper. It was coming from Hanji's room. You try to ignore it but your curiosity got the best of you. You placed your ear near the door.

You started hearing Hanji's moans and panting. Causing a sudden vibration in your body. On the other side of the door, Hanjiii was breathing heavily, her right middle finger, rubbing against her clit causing her to moan every second. Her other hand was playing her tits, rolling them playfully.

You started to feel a knot in your stomach. Feeling hot and uncomfortable. You were all wet and needy. Shivering. Suddenly, you heard your name on the other side.

"Y/N fuck!" You can hear Hanji moaning your name over. You felt like burning. You wish you could see what is going on. Then you heard foot steps, not from Hanji, but from the Hall way, you knew you would be on big trouble if you were found out. A sudden hand pulled you inside.

You were slammed against the door. You opened your eyes to see Hanji, half naked.

"Were you being a peeping Tom to me?" Hainji ask as she kiss your neck softly.

"No I was -ummm"

"Don't say a word! You know what naughty girl will get?"

With that, Hanji room was filled with moans and swearing.

(Sasha went out to steal potatoes from the cafeteria and came back. She saw you being pulled into Hanji's room. She suddenly got worried, thinking you might be getting in trouble. When she placed her ear on the door, she heard you moaning, causing her to jolt and walk away.)

( Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy❤)

[theroyalmenagerie]

Chapter One: Lazy Morning Interrupted

AO3 Link

Chapter Content Warnings: D/s Dynamics, teasing.

__________

The scent of bacon, fresh pastry, and sugary warm blueberries pulled His Royal Highness, Prince Lysander James Reginald von Friedrick Dairune II from sleep.  Through the curtains of his bed, he could see a sliver of bright sunlight, and hear the clinking of silverware as breakfast was set up. Stirring lazily, Lysander smiled at the slide of warm fur and skin against him and the instant complaining from his bedmates as he sat up.

 “Lyyysss nooooo,” Caleb whined, bright blue eyes peeking out from his copper curls as he reached up to pull Lysander back down, “It’s too early,”

 “Much too early,” Anders agreed from the other side, pressing close and placing a languid kiss against Lysander’s shoulder, teeth nipping softly.

 Lysander arched into their touch, luxuriating in the press of their lips against his skin.  Caleb’s tail wrapped around one of his legs and he moaned, pulling the little fox-fae closer for a heated kiss.  Surely breakfast would keep long enough for Lysander to indulge himself at least once.

 Or maybe twice.  

 “On the contrary,” A serious voice called out from the other side of the cavernous room, startling them, “It’s already past noon, and his Highness has an important meeting with the Elurian delegation in two hours, which just might be enough time to get him presentable,”

 “Uggghhh Devereaux, would it kill you to, just once, not be a killjoy?” Anders groaned flopping onto his back.

 Lysander cursed under his breath, moving to sit up, “He’s right, and I meant to tell you two I’d be busy today when you snuck in last night,”

 Caleb tried in vain to keep Lysander down, and when that failed he switched tactics to slide into his lap, pressing his hard cock against the Prince and moaning, “Wouldn't it feel better to postpone your meeting though? Stay here with us, in bed and just rela- HEY!”

 Devereaux ignored his outburst and continued to pull the curtains open, allowing the sunlight to flood onto the bed illuminating the trio, “His Highness knows where to find you if he wishes to relax      after    his duties for the day are fulfilled,”

  Caleb pouted shooting a glare to the interrupting Incubus, nuzzling into Lysander, “Lys! Anders! Back me up!”

 “Lovely though it would be to steal Lysander away, I have no wish to be lectured again about-” Anders stood his blond tail lazily swaying as he stretched and switched to a mocking parody of Devereaux’s voice, “respecting the importance of His Highness’ station and responsibilities to the kingdom,”

 “Perhaps you would not have to be lectured so often if you remembered your place,”

 “Devereaux, Anders, please,” Lysander rubbed his forehead, “I had a wonderful night and would like a matching morning, please don’t start bickering,”

 “Lyyyssss,”

 “I’m sorry sweetheart,” Lysander tilted Caleb’s face up taking his lips in an apologetic kiss, soft and lingering, “I really should start getting ready,”

 “Come along, my mate,” Anders pulled him off of Lysander’s lap, “let steal some of those yummy looking scones and go back to our nest, you’ll just have to settle for me taking care of you until Lysander rejoins us,”

 “It’s never settling with you, dearest,” Caleb purred but still looked over to Lysander, “you will rejoin us though right? You haven’t changed your mind?”

 “I haven’t, I won’t. I should be done before dinner, order a full spread and I’ll join you then,” Lysander promised, standing to see the pair of fox-fae out, not even bothering to wrap himself in a sheet.

 There was little need when everyone in the room had done more than just seen him naked many times before.

 Besides his outfit would be decided by Devereaux, who was already rifling through his wardrobes.  So Lysander bid Anders and Caleb farewell with another kiss for each and then went over to the fireside table laden with his breakfast.  It was beautifully arranged, and still hot, a cup of tea set to the side made exactly how he liked. Devereaux didn’t stand for anything less than perfection, and he demanded such from Lysander.

 “Would you like tea, sir?” Lysander asked, relaxing into the headspace he had when alone with Devereaux and looking forward to spending time with the Incubi Alpha.

 “No.”

 Lysander winced at Devereaux’s harsh tone, unsure for a moment what to do. What had seemed no more than a mild annoyance at finding Lysander lazing in bed with the fox-fae pair was clearly more serious than he’d thought.

 “Sit. Eat.”

 “I-”

 “Do not make me repeat myself, your Highness.”

 “Yes, sir,” Lysander sat down and began to eat slowly, mind spinning.

 The room fell to silence other than the sounds of Devereaux’s searching and Lysander’s uneasy eating. After a few tense moments, Devereaux closed the last of the wardrobes with a sharp click and came over to where Lysander sat, picking at a piece of peppered bacon.

 “Did you forget?”

 “Forget, sir?” Lysander blinked for a moment before the cause of Devereaux’s displeasure hit him like a mace, “Shit! I’m sorr-”

 “Watch your tongue, cursing is unbecoming of one of your station,” Devereaux chided, draping the clothes across the back of an empty chair, “I have no interest in excuses either when the reason for your lapse of memory is plenty evident,”

 “They just arrived back last night and Caleb’s heat is due any time now,” Lysander tried to explain anyway, knowing it was useless but needing the incubus to understand he hadn’t meant any disrespect with his actions.

 “That is not your duty to-”

 “It may not be my duty, but it’s the first time that Caleb has felt comfortable with me joining them for it, that’s why they came last night, to invite me, and frankly I was so honored and… lonely that I forgot yes.”

 “You were lonely for a reason,”

 “I know,”

 “So not only did you disobey me last night, ignoring my orders to remain chaste, you have spent this morning being rude, interrupting me and cursing,”

 Lysander winced.

 “What am I to do with you, your Highness?”

 Lysander’s already low hunger completely evaporated.

 He may be a Prince, but years ago when Devereaux had first crossed his path as an advisor to visiting Incubi dignitaries it was clear to both of them that aside from Lysander’s attraction to the Alpha, he had a craving for a firm hand.  It hadn’t taken long for Lysander to convince Devereaux to take him to bed for a night.  What had started as an intense night then bled into the next and the next.

 Devereaux as he’d promised had taken Lysander in hand, pulling pleasure from the Prince that Lysander didn’t know he could have.  While part of that could be attributed to the incubi’s naturally heightened sexual prowess, part of it was that never before had someone dared demand that the Prince submit.  Despite the fact that he was an omega, no human concubine would ever think of trying such a thing, not that many had the chance to try.

 Lysander never had much desire for the humans that filled his siblings' harems and had begged to be in his, to begin with.  They were all so simpering and bland, hiding any sort of personality in a bid to win a place within Lysander’s harem while refusing to even attempt to truly get to know him.  To add insult to injury, the few he’d tried out of loneliness and need had balked at any attempt by Lysander to control their encounters, so certain that all the omega Prince should want is a knot while being panderingly praised to.

 So for many years, Lysanders bed was rarely filled.  After Devereaux so thoroughly upended the Prince’s world with the fulfillment of his basest desires Lysander had spent weeks convincing the incubus to stay instead of returning home with the delegation.  Promises of riches, status as the Prince’s own concubine, an easy life, Lysander promised it all, desperate not to be left alone and unsatisfied.

 Devereaux nearly said no until Lysander admitted how badly he needed the incubus to stay for more than just his own pleasure, how he wanted to learn from his hand not just to submit but to one day make others submit as he also longed to.  It took a promise to take Devereaux’s training seriously, to heed his advice and his orders when issued, to get him to stay.

 It was the best thing that had happened in Lysander’s life.   Under Devereaux’s tutelage Lysander better understood himself and his desires, and without that Lysander would not be as fulfilled as he was now nor would he have the menagerie he was building of lovers that not only suited his ranging desires but were friends and confidants outside of bed.

 It had been a while since Lysander screwed up this badly, and he hated the feeling of disappointing Devereaux not only as his Dom but his dear friend and mentor.

 “I don’t know, I am sorry truly and I accept the consequences of my actions whatever they may be, sir,”

 Devereaux sighed, “I will ponder it while you attend your duties, for now, we need to get you dressed and that hair tamed, you know the Elurian’s will not look kindly on you being late let alone disheveled,”

 Lysander just nodded and stood, knowing even as Devereaux was upset with him he would still take control of overseeing the Prince getting dressed. Devereaux quite enjoyed dressing Lysander up, it had been one of the first bits of submission he’d demanded from the omega. His enjoyment came from the ritual of the act itself but more importantly the rush from having such control over the Prince, one of the most powerful people in the kingdom, that how he was presented to others was of his choosing.

 It was very clinical compared to how it would otherwise usually go, however; there were no lingering caresses or sprinkled praise for his stillness and compliance and form.  No teasing rolling of his nipples before pulling tight the corsetry that kept him flat throughout the day.  Just quick, efficient movements of pulling and lacing and tucking.

 The clothes were - as always - well picked, better than Lysander would ever have put together. The tunic’s deep green hue echoed those in Lysander’s hazel eyes and matched the stitching of the soft leather pants.  Then there was a richly embroidered vest with gold buttons and matching capelet that made one think of nature, knee-high shiny black boots, and the simple gold circlet that was Lysander’s crown would finish it once his thick black curls were tamed.  It was a good pick for meeting with the Elurian’s who hailed from deep within the forests of Mylsavar, it could evoke pleasant thoughts of their home.

 Much better than the silver and blue idea Lysander had thought he’d go with. Lysander did try when he dressed himself, but there was something about Devereaux’s sense of style that always made him feel more put together and impressive.

 Devereaux’s touch soften a bit as he finished dressing Lysander and moved to carefully comb through the Prince’s curls, braiding and arranging them into the careful half-up-do that he preferred on Lysander, as it emphasized his sharp cheekbones and in the Alpha’s own words, “Entices one to pay attention that they may stay in the presence of such beauty, and encourage them to agree so they please you,”

 “There we go, that’s much better,” Devereaux said after placing the crown, careful to make sure it was straight and secure, “and you don’t even have to rush to make your meeting, your Highness,”

 “Thank you, sir,” Lysander bit his lip, “and again I am sorry,”

 “And you will be forgiven once you receive your punishment,”

 “I… do you want me tonight?”

 “No. You’ve already promised your company to those incorrigible foxes,” Devereaux reminded him gently, turning with him towards the door and walking out with him, “I will not make you break your promise, tomorrow morning will suffice provided Caleb does not begin his heat,”

 “If he does…”

 “Then enjoy satisfying his heat, do not forget to take a dose of your suppressant before you join them, and see me the moment it is over,”

 “Thank you, S-Devereaux,”

 “You are welcome, your Highness, if you have a need of me I’ll be in the gardens,” With that Devereaux faced Lysander and gave him a small smile and a soft touch to his cheek before turning leaving the Prince to walk the rest of the way to his meeting by himself.

       Lysander wanted to scream, this was the third set of meetings this year with the Elurian’s and they were no closer to having a trade agreement that satisfied both nations than they were before the first.   To make matters worse this whole bit of politics was far from Lysander’s usual duties, he much preferred being charged with running more internal logistics rather than ones that required diplomacy with the other nations.

 Give him an infrastructure project to plan, tax laws to adjust, anything but meeting with foreign dignitaries and having to navigate the complicated social interactions to avoid war.

 “I understand your concerns, but until the solstice harvest is over even I am not allowed in the groves,” Lysander tried to calm the increasingly irate delegates.

 “How can we be assured of your ability to fill the needs we have if we cannot confirm that your groves are producing the quantity that you claim?”

 “If you are willing to wait until-”

 “We have already waited! Six months!”

 “I am aware, but the first party you sent to us were invited to tour the grove when such a visit was acceptable and they said that was unnecessary, by the time you returned demanding access we’d reached the season where only the Hyla were allowed inside,”

 “Surely your gods will not strike you down for allowing us to simply see the grove, we need not touch anything,”

 “The fact the grove is blessed is why you wish to trade with us, please do not then disrespect our beliefs with demands we cannot concede to,”  Lysander struggled to keep his tone calm and pleasant, to draw every bit of patience he had on not starting an incident, “You are more than welcome to come after the harvest,”

 “It will be too late after the harvest to get everything in order to have the Kysri brought back to the Elra this year, that would leave us till next year before we can have its aid,”

 On and on it went for hours, too tense to even have food brought in.  With neither side willing or able to concede no progress could be made. By the time they had to call the negotiations for the day Lysander had a pounding headache and all he wanted was a stiff drink and a tongue buried in his cunt.

 “We will have to table this for now, I’m afraid I have other appointments I must keep tonight,”

 “Our convoy leaves tomorrow,” the head delegate hissed, “What are we to do then?”

 “If you are still interested, as we are, in opening trade between our nations I suggest you come back after the harvest season to see the yield, we are more than willing to work with you to ensure if you are pleased that a shipment of Kysri can be brought back with you.  I know that is less than you were hoping for but it would ensure aid to some of your people at least,”

 That led to another hour of debating before Lysander managed to convince them to leave him be, and as the last of them left Lysander finally let out the frustrated groan that would have to do because he didn’t feel like explaining why he was screaming to his guards.

 “Well that certainly was something,” a low, dark voice drawled out from behind Lysander suddenly.

 “Sebastian! Goodness, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” Lysander spun around to see Sebastian melt out of the shadows, bright red eyes shining.

 “Goodness? You’ve been spending too much time with Devereaux” he snorted, giving Lysander a heated once over, lingering on the exposed length of his neck.

 “He has a point, you know, about my speech needing to represent my station,”

 Sebastian just rolled his eyes, “Way too much time,”

 “Well at least he wants to spend time with me,” Lysander huffed, trying to ignore the twinge in his chest as he addressed the vampire, “If I didn’t know better I’d say you sound jealous,”

 “Of that better-than-thou priss? Never.” Sebastian stepped forward, crowding against the Prince, “Was he? When he found you in bed with the foxes?”

 Lysander blushed a little but didn’t move, looking up at him deliberately, “Do I even want to know how you know that?”

 “Well he abandoned his precious garden hours early today to go pace in the library, and you still smell of them,” Sebastian leaned down and ran his nose down Lysander’s neck and following it with a featherlight kiss against his heartbeat causing the Prince to shiver, “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why his panties are in a bunch,”

 “Devereaux doesn’t get jealous, you know he doesn’t care for me that way, he was just… disappointed… I disobeyed him,” Lysander breathed out, pulse-pounding and heat curling low from the presence of the Alpha who moved so his hands rested against Lysander’s hips.

 Sebastian tsked, his warm breath teasing against the Prince’s neck, “Naughty boy, you know better,”

 “I know,” Lysander couldn’t help tilting his head up further.

 “Pity it’s Devereaux’s right to discipline you for it,” Sebastian let his teeth scrape against Lysander’s pulse point, teeth aching to sink in as the omega’s arousal heightened and that wonderful scent of warm honey and cloves filled the air around him, “Is that where you’re heading now?”

 “I… Uhm...”

 “What was that?”

 Lysander took a shaky breath, trying to clear the arousal from his mind long enough to answer, “I’m rejoining Caleb and Anders, actually,”

 “Oh? Are you joining for all of Caleb’s heat? Going to play Alpha with a fake knot while wishing it was you hot and fertile and being bred like a good little omega?”

 “I-I’m going to join them, yes,” Lysander swallowed hard, “are you jealous now?”

 Sebastian chuckled and straightened up, leaving Lysander feeling bereft, “Oh no, little Prince, not at all, I hope you enjoy your little game,”

 It was a lie but the little Prince didn’t need to know the growing possessiveness that burned in the back of Sebastian’s mind.  He had no right to those feelings. Sebastian had known better than to begin having them in the first place, but the little Prince was so addicting, so intriguing, he hadn’t been able to convince himself to leave him behind yet.

 Lysander was more than a little flustered, wanting to reach out and pull Sebastian back or maybe just drop to his knees and beg.   Instead, he cleared his throat, “I will, now if you don’t need anything else? I’m already late,”

 “Go, have fun Lysander, I’ll catch up with you when you’re not so busy,” Sebastian turned to leave looking over his shoulder before fading back into the shadow at Lysander breathing hard and still blushing and tried hard to ignore the pang in his chest that he wasn’t taking the omega to bed instead.

[dayseternal-blog]

Dude.

Over 10,000 Hits 🎉

I am alarmed, I have been alarmed from the start.

This is still a celebration post, but unlike my unashamed Nightdreams celebration post, this one is an unashamed reflection celebration post 🌱.  On something I’ve spent quite a bit of effort and time on, whether I actually finish this story or not (lol I will), it’s a story to be proud of.  And it’s something I’d like to articulate my feelings on before I end it for good 🎀.

Below the cut is a very long trash love letter 💌 to myself and anyone who’d like a peek at my narcissism.  I am a slut for self-reflection.

Ahead of that, thank you for enjoying my stuffs everyone 💝. 

I often think to write for myself and for fun, that no one else will love my fic more than me or have more fun than me...  That’s idealistic.  That’s a mindset to keep.  Especially as a new fic writer when no one recognized my username, it was a way to keep myself from losing motivation.  May agitosgirl always be my inspiration and role model🙏🏼.

But I wonder how can I return to that mindset in its purest form?  When I wrote It’s No Secret, I was ecstatic to hit 500 views.  I had about 5 readers who motivated me with their comments, and it was all very precious.  And It’s No Secret continues to be my favorite fic even though it’s far from my tightest writing.  (Isn’t it because I actually wrote that one just for myself?  Comments and kudos were all just bonus points.)

White Lilies is probably one of my least favorite stories.  If I were to rank my fics in order of preference, it would be near the bottom.  If I were to rank my fics in order of “fics I’d like NarutoDays (DAYS8) to be remembered for,” White Lilies would not be at the top, either.  I almost dislike that White Lilies is the story that caught people’s attention.

The best entertainment to me is inconsequential shows like HGTV, Say Yes to the Dress, and sparkly shoujo manga.  How is it that people don’t feel the same way??? lol jk

But to persevere in a story, that is a part of growth as a fic writer, too.  And to write for others’ enjoyment more than my own, that’s not a bad thing, even though I felt more stress...

OH but those White Lilies arts are certainly my faves.  Gorgeous and very good.  Yes.  Amazing on all accounts.  I wonder if I would have kept writing without them.    No?  Probably no, right?  Yeah, I would have stopped.  Since I started the story to just scratch the itch “Medicine” gave me.  Once that mosquito bite faded around chapter 3, I was ready to move on.  But now, very tangibly, other people I admire very much in the fandom spent actual time and effort in creating lovely pieces for the story.  I was blessed and that’s not something to ignore.  I mean, I could have.  At the most, that would just be disappointing.  At the least, White Lilies would be another hiatus fic in my list.  

Jeez, but it would be even more hypocritical to not acknowledge that the attention was very nice.  I can go so far as to say that I expected someone to keep giving me the affirmation that this junk was good since I wasn’t giving myself any kick of enjoyment.  Is that still dishonest.  I think I told a reader of White Lilies that I don’t ask people for comments or kudos.  That’s true, I don’t ask.  But I’ve expected it for White Lilies for the past few chapters.  Ew.  That’s gross Days, I hate that.  What if I closed comments on the last chapter of White Lilies.  That might be good.  Well I don’t have a good enough reason to do that.

I wonder if that’s why I dislike White Lilies.  Not for its angst.  Not for its difficult feelings and its difficult romance...well, actually, no, I dislike White Lilies for those reasons.  But on top of those things, the story has altogether gone against my foundation and motivation in fic writing.  Did I have fun.  ?  The comment section at the beginning was very stressful.  OMG no I shall never forget that one reader who got way too emotional about the story and made my comment section such a mess!  Why didn’t that reader put their little comments into one big comment.  For real.  Plus, it was an anon reader.  Don’t anonymous readers need to put their email address in every time they comment?  How humbug is that?  My goodness.

Oh ho ho nooooo that one reader who freaking told me to fix my writing using Grammarly.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  AHHHHHHHHHH.  AHHHHHHHHHH

...

So after that when I moderated the comments, I actually started to enjoy reading comments again.  Huh.  SO ACTUALLY when did I finally not feel anxiety anymore about the comment section.  Not until Chapter 5?  But that was the chapter I wasn’t happy with and ended up revising the ending after I published it.

I mean to tell myself that it’s only this most recent Chapter 6 that I felt good and normal and 安心 and ホッとしている to update.  I’m not kidding myself, what I terrible thing to realize now.  No wonder I dislike White Lilies.  The overall experience has not been that great.

Well “great” is too general a way to describe writing this story.  There’s been many wonderful things.  The new attention and recognition and compliments and gratitude were amazing.  The art.  The playlist.  The funny reader impatience in the asks 👏🏼.

OOOOOOOh the Bookmark summaries!!!!  

Hilarious 😂😂😂😂😂.  I love these too much.  These summaries give me life.  White Lilies in a nutshell.

Ahh yeah.  So funny.  Those are so good.  gogohai been making me laugh since August.

Remember at the start, I was so confused by the hit count on chapter 1 🤔.  I thought it was a bunch of antis accidentally clicking in, or SasuNaru fans or something, so I made those notes at the top that clearly stated how I’m not anti-NH.  It turns out everyone’s masochists for angst lol.

Anyway, I know I’ll finish this story.  What a strange feeling.  I think it must be because I worked so hard through the slumps already between Chapter 3 & 4, and Chapter 4 & 5, and Chapter 5 & 6, I know Chapter 7 will certainly happen, too.  How nice.

You know, White Lilies, it is what it is.  I have desensitized from mean comments.  Like, I think comments can’t hurt me anymore.  I’ll just be like 🤷🏻‍♀️ in response.  The attention on this story boosted my ego so much that I now know without a doubt that my writing is good enough and anyone who tells me otherwise can go ahead bumbai get bachi.

That’s really good.  For how unenjoyable it has been at many times, I have definitely sacrificed “fun” for “the sense of accomplishment,” and it’s not wrong or less valuable to spend my free time seeking accomplishment and completion in something so inconsequential as fanfiction.

However this story flipped my sense of purpose in writing, where accomplishment became tied to reader feedback.  Accomplishment usually ties to my sense of fun and enjoyment.  Instead I’ve been seeking that sense of fun in the readers, whether through their own personal enjoyment or through the number of comments/kudos/likes/reblogs.  How boring is that?  Ah!  Very boring.  It’s not wrong to seek validation through the readers.  Many writers and artists want their work to be seen and enjoyed by many because the act of sharing is in itself joyful.  Fine.  Haven’t I just found this a very tiring way to go about posting my stuff.  

I am nostalgic for my mentality of two years ago.

It’ll be good to finish White Lilies.  The excitement will be done and over with certainly, and this same amount of attention will never happen again.  As one of the nerdiest nerds in one of the nerdiest corners of nerdy fandom called Fanfiction, it’s a privilege to have my imagination on so many other people’s browser, to transport so many people away from their real life problems to fake problems instead lol, and to participate in an exchange of ideas with other writers and artists in the Naruto fandom.  What a great thing!

It’ll be even better to focus completely on stuff that I actually like, though, won’t it 💖.

[peaches-of-1]

Day 5 | Gingerbread

Black!Reader x BTS

You weren’t sure if this was really the best job for you seeing as it included talking to people a lot and explaining in excruciating detail how things went even though there was clear instruction on the back. What was worse were the children who tried to eat the Christmas display even though there was a sign that said, “DO NOT EAT” in red glitter letters. Parents wouldn’t even try to stop them.

Still, you needed a job since you lost yours recently for not accepting the creepy and borderline stalker advances of your boss’s son. So here you were in a clear apron and green sweater with comfy jeans and Converse on working in the newest addition to BigHit, its café. Unlike most corporate cafés, BigHit Café was not attached to the main office building of BigHit Entertainment. Instead, the dark wood and green marbled setting was near Han River.

This means it was where a lot of families came to visit as well as beautiful couples, not to mention foreigners and bloggers. It was a very varied clientele, so you were usually very busy. Especially today.

Because you were “one of the best workers”, the manager decided you’d be here during today’s LIVE episode of Run BTS which would be a competition to build the best gingerbread house within the span of 90 minutes. You had spent all day yesterday decorating the café to look like such a sweetened dwelling on the outside.

Today, you were in your Christmas attire and one of the judges of the competition along with a lucky fan and another co-worker. There were more cameras than usual, and you saw the seven beautifully exhausted idols walk through the door in their own holiday merch. Jungkook’s gray sweater had a picture of their logo filled in with a green and red vertical ombre. J-Hope was wearing the same one underneath his thick padded coat.

Jin’s and Jimin’s sweaters were that of the logo surrounded by a wreath. Because of Suga’s new significant other being Jewish, he was wearing the Hanukkah version, a blue sweater with a silver and lighter blue ombre BTS logo. Namjoon and Tae were the only ones wearing the Kwanzaa versions. It warmed your heart that the boys were doing their best to support all the holidays that ARMY might celebrate.

You were wearing the Kwanzaa one today, of course. That was one of the perks working here was that BigHit merch was part of your uniform, so you got one free shirt/sweater a month. It was also the reason why the aprons were clear, so that patrons could see what you were wearing and ask where they could get it.

Of course...you needed more than one shirt a month, so you had to buy merch in order to be in uniform. But like, other than bills what else were you gonna be spending your money on? BTS merch, duh.

Anyways, the fact that you were wearing the green version of the Kwanzaa sweater and Namjoon was wearing the black version got you a polite smile from him. Taehyung stood in front of you as you greeted the group and their managers...as if he wanted to say something. However, the young man stayed silent until he was called to get his makeup touched up.

Maybe you were just being paranoid or hyperaware, but it seemed like the guys were talking about you. However, they were nothing but professional. You and your co-worker brought out the now cooled down trays of gingerbread that had already been cut into the proper shapes. The very excited fan helped to uncover the selection of candies they could use on their houses.

“Can I use the cute employee too? I think she’d make my house look the best.” J-Hope said, a smile on his voice.

You looked over to Kara who was always getting hit on, but it soon clicked that he was looking at your face. That very same face soon got heated cheeks because what? Was J-Hope hitting on you? Nooooo. No. He was just playing around.

“That’s cheating to put something already so beautiful next to whatever you make, hyung.” Jimin replied with a giggle.

Jin then added, “Leave the pretty girl alone. She’s just doing her job. Besides, she should only be paired with someone who is almost as attractive as she is.”

Jungkook gasped loudly, “Oh, hyung, you just admitted that you think she’s more attractive than yourself. You’re just as bad as the others.”

The oldest member blushed, “I just, what I meant was--” he looked over at you and bowed. “I am sorry.”

“It’s ok. It’s fine.”  You replied and couldn’t help but feel your cheeks.

Taehyung blurted out, “We have matching sweaters!” with no follow up.

“Oh, look what you’re doing. You’re embarrassing her.” Suga said and then looked at you. “What is your name?”

“Y-Y/N.” You stuttered out. “Please call me Y/N.” You said with a bow and pointed to your name tag.

He said that he had already read your name tag, but just wanted to hear me say it. Your heart felt like it was just about ready to explode with all of their kind compliments as they began to focus on the competition. Even though you had thought you’d be judges, you were simply there to help the guys and do touch ups so that they weren’t horrible. The public would be voting on them tomorrow.

Was there even fridge space for three finished gingerbread houses? Each young man was basing it on whatever they wanted. The thing they were having the most trouble with was putting the pieces together. Even when a building went up, it would crash seconds later because of too much or too little frosting. You were called in when they had broken a piece past repair.

They could call on any employee or the fan to help up to three times, and it felt like your name was the one being called all 9 times. However, Kara was helping Hobi with his roofing and the fan gave team JinKook inspiration to do a Bt21 themed house. Kookie got excited and started trying to create the characters out of marshmallows and frosting while Jin decorated the actual house.

“Y/N-nim!” Jimin called sweetly. “Can you help me with something?”

You walked over and asked what they needed help with. He wanted to know how to do the dripping icicles on the roofing, so I started to do it for him.

“No, no, no. Show me how to do it, please.” He said, his grin becoming more mischievous by the second.

Taehyung smiled, “I’ll work on the gingerbread man. I need green frosting.”

He got up to do so while Suga asked me how the front was already. You told him it was very neatly done before showing Jimin how to get the pointed dripping effect using some of the discarded bits of spiced cookie to pipe out some examples.

“You are really good at this, Y/N-nim~” The mochi like blonde said with smiley eyes.

“Thank you. I think you have the hang of it, so I will leave you to it.” You gave a bow and then went towards Kara before being called by Namjoon who had his hand up.

If this was another broken gingerbread person, you were going to just tell him to glue it with frosting. Kara gave you a cheeky head nod to go to them. You felt bad for the fan as she was supposed to be the center of attention for this event.

He didn’t look at you in the eye as he asked, “I um, we are not sure what to do. I’m pretty sure we won’t be getting first place, but it just looks bad.”

“So just a general help?” You giggled.

“Yes, please.” He replied, scratching the back of his neck, getting frosting on it.

You just handed him a napkin and quickly fixed up the roof to let them put candies on dots placed on the empty shingles. It was the 500th time you had been doing it this holiday season, and it was just November. Him and J-Hope thanked you before you went back and sooner or later, time was up.

Then it was time for voting. The sloppiest of the three houses was the one Namjoon and Hobi made since they didn’t have artists in their groups. The BT21 house had collapsed halfway through, so JinKook quickly made a simplified but still amazing house to present.

Still, it was too simple compared to the others. The one that Suga, Jimin, and V made together was the perfect mix of the two houses. That’s the one that ended up winning.

The prize was a Christmas themed date with the fan. They were glad to get to know her better and ended up leaving with her. The others had to help clean up. You’d be putting their houses up for sale for an auction and the money would go to UNICEF. The winners had well hidden pouts behind their smiles, wishing they had lost instead while the losers were glad because they got to spend more time with you.

They kept asking if you needed help with things and to let them do things instead. However, Namjoon kept eating the candy he was supposed to be putting away. He gave you such a charming smile in return, you didn’t care that he was chomping away on inventory. It seemed that he was a nervous eater.

“I’ve been craving this taste for a long time, too.” He said and then helped to keep the door open while you put his house into the fridge.

It wasn’t long until you and Kara were bowing to the four remaining idols. There were gift bags for the both of you, and you were glad to get such compensation for a stressful overtime. Both of you were sure to go fast asleep since this was all you had to do today.

You wanted to go through your bag first. CDs, signed mini poster, a Christmas Cooky, and...a KKT. After typing it into your phone, you nearly chucked your phone across the room. One by one, the boys greeted you and asked if you would date them, all seven of them.

[itskimtaehyung]

When the Stars Align (M)

Part of the Bangtan Assortment Collaboration 

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Genre: FakeDating!AU with a hint of roommates (well actually more like apartment-mates but roommates is catchier), College!AU, fluff, angst

Word count: 10.5k

Content/Warnings: Mentions of heavy drinking, drug usage, strong language, but also cute things like adopting a dog together

Summary: With cuffing season approaching its end, you thought you had escaped the pressures of finding a boyfriend for the holidays. That is, until your friends set you up on a blind date that goes horribly wrong. This prompts you to enlist the help of your roommate, Yoongi, to fake a relationship so your friends will stop meddling in your love life. And it turns out Yoongi is a lot better at this romance thing than you originally thought...

Spending Valentine’s Day alone sucks.

Even though some people claim they don’t care about being single on one of the many holidays created by capitalist overlords solely to profit off the purest emotion we as humans can experience, everyone cares, just a little bit.

Valentine’s Day is just about the fakest holiday known to man. Does anyone even remember the original meaning behind it anymore? You’re just painfully reminded of how single you are. No one even gets the day off, so can it really be considered a holiday? Although you admit you still can’t help but fall for its charms: The cute little teddy bears that line the grocery store shelves; pink and red, heart-shaped balloons, boxes, and pretty much everything; and candy, half-priced the following day. Also, seeing all the couples being lovey-dovey with each other kind of makes you wish you had someone to cuddle for yourself.

You’ve never really been in a long-term relationship. (Unless you count that boy in high school, who helped you raise your very own sack of flour in health class, equipped with its own voice box to cry every couple of hours, and you two were together all day, every day, for two months straight. Let’s just say that was a bonding experience in more ways than one, and you did very well in health class that semester. The two of you dated for a year after that.)

The thing is, in this fast-paced, ever-changing world, you get bored easily. Some of your relationships don’t last more than a month, a day, or even past the first date.

There is only one person you want to spend Valentine’s Day with this year, and you know he absolutely does not feel the same. And probably never will.

Let’s take a little trip back to last December.

You and your group of friends decided to go out for sushi at your favorite all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. All of you had just finished finals, so you went out to celebrate.

“Y/N! Are you going with anyone to the New Year Ball?” Jungkook asked loudly over the chatter in the restaurant.

The annual New Year Ball is a huge holiday party put on by your school’s Student Association at the end of each calendar year. The original purpose of this social was for frats, sororities, and clubs to recruit new members, but the event is now used as a way for burnt out college students to drink and blow off steam after final exams. The Student Association books out the entire student center (all three floors of it) for the party of the year. You have no idea why the school would allow such a function, let alone fund it, but you can’t complain. You’re a sucker for free food and alcohol.

“No, I was just gonna go with you guys,” you said before stuffing a too-big piece of tiger roll into your mouth.

“Uh uh,” Hoseok interjected. “We all have dates.”

Taehyung, who was seated to your right, reached across you to grab the soy sauce. “Seriously, you don’t have anyone to go with?”

You shook your head, still chewing.

“What about Kai?”

Kai was a guy you met on a dating app last semester who you ended up hooking up and then never seeing again. He was a terrible person, so arrogant and full of himself. You felt your personalities clash the second you two met. But he was also a beautiful god of a man and you weren’t going to let him slip away from you before banging one out with him. After that, you deleted the app and blocked his number.

You forced the colossal piece of sushi down your throat so that you could finally speak. “Nooooo.” You shook your head vigorously. “That ship has sailed. Plus he’s a Capricorn.”

They all gave you a puzzled look that said they needed more explanation.

“Hello? I’m an Aries?” You waved your hands around, gesturing toward yourself, nearly whacking Taehyung with your chopsticks. “Aries can’t stand Capricorns.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes. “Oh no, you didn’t ask him for his birth chart on the first date, did you?”

“No.” You shifted your gaze away from him and sipped your drink.

“Jesus.”

“Okay,” Seokjin chimed in with half an edamame pod hanging out of his mouth, “but you really need a boyfriend. You’re the only one of us that’s single.”

Namjoon motioned for Hoseok to pass him the wasabi and ginger. “Yeah, sometimes we want to invite you places but worry you’ll feel awkward because all of us are bringing our girlfriends.”

“That’s fine! I love hanging out with your girlfriends! Sometimes it’s too much testosterone when it’s just you guys.”

“No.”  Namjoon shook his head. “We need to find you a boyfriend, too.”

“Joon, I don’t want–”

“How about Taeyong!” Jimin suggested.

“I don’t know, isn’t he kind of a fuckboy? I don’t want our Y/N to get hurt.”

“It’s just one date. Plus they’ll be with us. We won’t let anything bad happen.” Taehyung gave you a reassuring grin.

You huff. “Fine. Can you pass me the rainbow roll please?”

So, that New Year’s Eve, you got ready for the party as your roommate (flatmate, housemate, or apartment-mate are probably more accurate descriptions for what he is, since the two of you share an apartment/flat, but have separate rooms. However, for simplicity, let’s use “roommate” from now on) made dinner in the kitchen.

“Oooh, got a date tonight?” he teased, whisking together some eggs in a bowl as you were leaving.

“That’s none of your business,” you replied, shoving a gold hoop earring into your ear.

He eyed your outfit. “Don’t you think that dress is a little… I don’t know… Short?”

You resisted the urge to flip him off. “Shut the fuck up, you perv. I can wear whatever I want.”

Yoongi chuckled to himself. “Whatever.”

“Bye, Yoongi!”

“Don’t get too crazy out there, Y/N. You know how NYB can be.”

You simply rolled your eyes and left, shutting the door behind you without saying anything further.

You had to watch how much you drank that night, because your friends had declared you the designated driver for your date, which you’re still salty about. The six of them arrived shortly after you did, with Taeyong in tow. You had never met the boy before, but right off the bat you could see that he is undeniably handsome. Now you knew why people called him a fuckboy. With a face and body like that, you would use it to your advantage, too.

You greeted your friends in the lobby and before you could say anything further, Taeyong walked straight up to you.

“We’re going to find our girlfriends,” Jungkook informed you. And then the six of them left you alone with your date.

“Hi, I’m Taeyong,” he held his hand out, intending for you to shake it.

Wow, a gentleman. “Hi. Y/N.”

“I know, your friends have told me quite a bit about you.” He shot you a flirty smile.

Since you’re here, you might as well have some fun. “Well, that’s not fair, I hardly know anything about you.”

“Then we should spend the rest of the night getting to know each other, shouldn’t we?” He smirked, not breaking eye contact with you for a second.

Oh, he was good. A smooth talker with shiny brown eyes that could pull you in, hypnotize you, and leave you wanting to give him all of your attention.

“AY, TAEYONG!” The shout rang across the lobby of the Student Center, pulling you out of the little moment you just had with Taeyong. It was one of his frat brothers, marching over carrying three shot glasses. “Let’s do some shots, bro!”

“You know it!” Taeyong greeted his brother with a shoulder bump and took two of the shot glasses from him. He offered one of them to you.

Hesitantly, you took it, suddenly feeling a bit shy since you don’t really know either of these guys. Both of them took their shots and Taeyong looked toward you expectantly, waiting for you to take yours. You downed it quickly, and gave the tiny plastic cup back to Taeyong’s friend.

“Thanks, man.” He clapped his friend on the back.

“Yo, of course, bro. Listen, this really hot ABG was getting all up on me earlier, so I’m gonna go back over to her. I’ll catch you later, alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later, man!” Taeyong waved his friend off. “Let’s get some more drinks!” Before you could say anything, he grabbed your hand and pulled you toward the drink table.

There was a lot of alcohol. More than enough for the entire student body to get absolutely wasted. The Student Association definitely did not skimp out this year. It looked as if they bought out the whole alcohol section of the nearest Costco.

“Oh shit!” Taeyong’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. “We gon’ get turnt tonight!” He whooped.

“I have to drive you home later, so I can’t drink too much,” you reminded him.

“All good, Y/N,” he said while pouring himself some beer into a red plastic cup. “I’ll drink enough for the both of us.” He then added two shots of soju to his cup and chugged it quickly until it was all gone. You must have made a concerned face, because Taeyong placed a hand on your shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, I can handle my alc.”

For some reason, that didn’t reassure you too much.

“So how did you and your friends meet?” Taeyong had to shout over the music and the overall loudness of all the people around you.

You two were in one of the study rooms, which had been converted into a lounge for the party. Sofas lined the edges of the walls. You and Taeyong were now sitting in one of the more secluded ones in the corner behind some fake potted plants.

“I met Jungkook in elementary school, the rest of the guys were accumulated throughout high school and college.”

“Mhm.” He responded in a way that didn’t seem like he was actually listening. His hand was on your thigh, slowly inching its way upward. Maybe Yoongi was right, maybe this dress was a little too short.

“How did you meet them?” you asked.

Taeyong took a sip of his drink. “I know Jungkook, Jimin, and Hoseok from dance. The other three I just met tonight.” He was a little too close, and his breath smelled strongly of beer.

“Ahh, I see.” You were running out of small talk. You didn’t know what you could possibly talk about with him. From what you’ve gathered, he’s an economics major with enough units to graduate already, but he’s staying so that he doesn’t miss out on any of the parties his fraternity hosts. All he seems to do is drink and fuck, and tonight was no different.

As you were talking, his hand made its way even higher up your thigh, and at this point it was right at the hem of your dress. Taeyong teased the edge with his finger, looking into your eyes to gauge your reaction.

You shook your head and pushed his hand away. You couldn’t deny he was attractive, and you wouldn’t have minded sleeping with him, but this was not the time nor the place. “I’m not having sex with you on school property.”

“Come on, why not? I’ve done it before, it’s no big deal. Plus, I used to work here, so I know which closets we can get into without a key.” He winked at you.

You leaned in so that your lips were right next to his ear. “Save it for later.”

The boy smirked at you. “Fine.”

“TAEYOOOOOOOOOOONG,” you heard someone shout from across the room. You and Taeyong looked over to find an obnoxiously handsome guy in a letterman jacket holding a bottle of tequila. “SHOTS?!”

“HELL YEAH!” Taeyong leapt up from the sofa, throwing his plastic cup onto the floor, and bounded over to his frat brother.

You stayed behind and watched them from afar. A small crowd of dudebros gathered around them, holding out tiny plastic cups as letterman-jacket-guy filled them to the brim with alcohol. Taeyong took six shots, one with each of the guys, and bellowed triumphantly as soon as he downed the last one.

“BEER BONG?!” One of them shouted.

Taeyong hooted in agreement and followed his friends into the next room, completely overlooking your existence.

Where were your friends? You hadn’t seen them throughout the entire party, and you definitely were looking for them. In all honesty, you didn’t really like being alone with Taeyong. The two of you just didn’t click, and he’s very touchy when he’s drunk. Therefore, you were hoping that you would be able to find your friends and hang out with them as well, but you hadn’t seen them the whole night.

You took the elevator up to the third floor, where an actual, literal rave was taking place. The third floor was one big ballroom, and tonight, multicolored lights flashed and loud electronic music thumped as hundreds of sweaty, drunk college kids danced around. If your friends were up here, there would be no way for you to find them, so you gave up on the cause and took the elevator back down. You could still feel the pounding of the bass even after the elevator doors closed, and on your way down you wondered if that was safe, or if the vibrations from the music would compromise the strength of the cables and the elevator would come crashing down, inevitably leading to your tragic death. Yoongi would probably know.

With a ding! the elevator doors opened and you arrived back on the second floor. You were greeted with the sight of your date, a funnel connected to a tube which fed into his mouth, and one of his friends pouring an entire keg of beer down said funnel.

“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” The crowd around him chanted.

You sighed to yourself. Frat boys will be frat boys.

“It’s just one date. We won’t let anything bad happen.” You grumbled. That’s what your friends had said to you, but where were they now? Nowhere to be found. You tried texting your group chat with them, but none of them replied.

You went back to the secluded corner from earlier and sat down. You checked your phone again, and still nothing from your friends. You pouted and opened your messaging app.

You: how’s your night going?

You waited a few seconds and then felt the device vibrate in your hand.

Nerd: Shhhhh Halsey is performing You: smh you and your obsession with halsey Nerd: Not so much obsession as admiration Nerd: She’s on my list of top 5 people i want to work with one day You: haha in your dreams Nerd: It’ll happen just you wait Nerd: Also why are you messaging me? your date not going well?

“Y/N!!!!!!!!!” As if on cue Taeyong drunkenly stumbled over to you. He was so inebriated that he could barely walk. His friends had to support most of his weight.

“Oh my god,” you muttered.

When his friends let him go, he collapsed onto the floor, and was too drunk to pick himself up.

“What happened to being able to handle your alc?”

Taeyong struggled to lift his head up. “What are you talking about? I’m totally fine.” His words were badly slurred as he spoke, and you almost couldn’t understand him.

“Oh, jeez. Okay.” You stepped around him and bent over so that you could hoist him up by his armpits. “We need to get you home.”

“No! I’m totally fine!” When you got him to his feet he grabbed a shot glass from someone walking by and poured it into his mouth. The alcohol dribbled down his chin and the passerby shot him a look of annoyance because Taeyong just stole their drink.

You smacked Taeyong on the back of the head. “Stop drinking! You’re gonna kill yourself if you keep going.”

He stomped his foot like a child. “Noooooo!”

You began dragging him toward the elevator and he didn’t resist. When the elevator arrived, you pushed your date into it and pushed the button for the first floor. When the doors opened, you pulled Taeyong out and almost bumped into Jungkook.

“Hey, Y/N! Are you having fun?” He still hadn’t noticed how inebriated Taeyong was.

“I’m not in the mood for small talk right now, Jungkook. Where have you guys been?” You didn’t even try to hide your annoyance.

“Whoa,” Jungkook gasped, noticing your drunk friend for the first time. “What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Can you tell the rest of the guys that I’m taking Taeyong home now?” You pulled Taeyong toward the entrance.

“Okay. Are you coming back? It’s still pretty early.”

“I think I’ve had enough for one night. I’m never forgiving you guys for this. Goodnight, Jungkook.”

Jungkook waved you goodbye. “Okay, get home safe, Y/N.”

You opened the door to your apartment and saw Yoongi sitting on the couch, sipping on a bottle of beer, and watching the ball dropping ceremony on TV.

“You’re home early,” he remarked. “Didn’t like your date?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” You kicked off your shoes and walked right passed him and into your room, slamming the door shut behind you.

“Goodnight, I guess.” Yoongi shrugged and returned to watching his program.

You and your friends regrouped for brunch on the following Sunday morning. Even the barely noticeable smell of alcohol from the mimosas that Jin and Jimin ordered brought back nauseating memories of the party.

“I can’t believe you set me up with Taeyong, who I later found out is a Cancer???? Aries are the least compatible with Cancers!!!”

“I thought that was Capricorns,” Hoseok asserted before stuffing his face with french toast.

“Them too! Capricorns and Aries usually can’t stand each other but when you find two that are compatible it’s like–”

“Anyway,” Taehyung interrupted. “It wasn’t even his personality that you didn’t like, it was his lack of control.”

“It doesn’t matter!” You protested. “It was doomed from the start!”

“Whatever. Enough of this fictitious mumbo jumbo.” Taehyung waved his hand dismissively. “So, Taeyong was an utter failure. Who else do we know who’s single?” The question was directed at the other five boys at the table.

“I don’t want you setting me up with anymore of your friends,” you told them.

“Too bad, we need to find you a boyfriend. You can’t let one bad date stop you from going on others.”

They didn’t seem to be taking no for an answer. You needed to put a stop to this fast. But how? You didn’t have time to think. Before anyone could respond with their suggestions, you blurted out, “I’m dating Yoongi!”

Taehyung nearly choked on his strawberry. “What? Your roommate? Isn’t he a Pisces?”

“And?”

“Aries aren’t compatible with Pisces.”

“And how would you know that, Tae? Aren’t you the one who made fun of me for looking up Kai’s birth chart? Aren’t you the one who just – not even a minute ago – called it fictitious mumbo jumbo?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jungkook holds his hands out to stop everyone. “How did this happen?”

Jimin looked at you curiously. “Yeah, Y/N. You’ve been living with Yoongi for almost a year. Why now?”

“Uhhhh.” You wracked your brain for an explanation. How did you get together with Yoongi? You had to come up with an explanation that your friends would believe. “After I dropped off Taeyong the night of the New Year Ball, I came home crying.” Your palms started to sweat so you rubbed your hands together. “Yoongi was still awake watching the ball dropping ceremony, so he comforted me, and we ended up falling asleep on the couch together.”

“Did you fuck him?”

You kicked Seokjin under the table. “No! Jin, don’t be gross!”

“Owww! What? You’re the type to move pretty fast. I don’t know.” He bent down to rub his shin.

“Wait, hold up,” Jungkook cut in, ready to poke holes in your story. “Since when do you cry?”

“Hey! I cry! What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know. Sounds kind of fake. I’ve known you for more than ten years and I’ve only seen you cry once when your turtle died.”

“I can cry! I’m perfectly capable of crying!”

“If what you’re saying is true, then bring Yoongi with you the next time we get dinner together. Does Tuesday night work for everyone?”

All the boys nodded their heads.

Shit. You could feel your face getting hot. “Uhh, since the relationship is still pretty new, I’m not sure Yoongi would want to make it public just yet,” you lied.

“Come on, Y/N. We’ve known Yoongi for over a year, and we’ve known you for even longer. There’s no reason for you guys to hide from us.”

You groaned. “Fine, I’ll bring him. But don’t think I’ve forgiven you guys for setting me up with that trainwreck.”

“We’re sorry, Y/N. Really.”

How would you possibly explain this whole situation to your roommate? “Hey, uh, I told my friends we were dating so they wouldn’t set me up with another fuckboy, and now they want to do a septuple date.”???

You just know he would give you endless shit for this. For as long as you’ve known him, Yoongi has always been the sarcastic smartass who loves to poke fun at you.

From commenting on what you wear: “That’s not a shirt, Y/N.” (Also, remember your dress on New Year’s Eve?)

Giving you “helpful” hints when you try to fix something that broke: “You know that’s not going to work, right?”

To helping you with your math homework: “You get to ask me one question per month. After that I’m going to start charging you a fee.”

To some, his treatment toward you may seem harsh or mean. What a lot of people don’t understand is that you two are this way because you’re comfortable with each other. It’s not one-sided. You definitely roast Yoongi back. And it’s never serious. It’s a sibling type of banter.

Although the two of you are comfortable with each other, Yoongi also keeps to himself a lot, only sharing bits and pieces of him with you. He’s serious and stoic a lot of the time, and when he’s home, you mostly see him studying or watching TV. But you guess this is typical behavior of someone who’s studying to be a sound engineer.

He rarely tells you anything about his dating life. He had a girlfriend when he first moved in. You know this because he would bring her over every weekend, and you would hear them in his room. Every. Fucking. Weekend. But all of that stopped a couple of months ago. You know they broke up, but you don’t know why, or whose decision it was. Yoongi rarely talked about her, so you couldn’t tell if he actually liked her or not, or if it was just a sexual thing. Come to think of it, you couldn’t remember the last time he expressed feelings for anyone.

You turned toward your roommate, who sat next to you on the couch, reading one of his textbooks.

“Are you a sociopath?” You asked him, casually of course, as roommates do.

Without even looking up he replied with, “What in that tiny, little brain of yours prompted you to ask me such a thing?”

You smacked him with one of your throw pillows, which took Yoongi a considerable amount of convincing to let you buy because he thought they were “useless and a waste of money.”

“Because I’ve never seen you express emotion toward anything. Not even food.”

“Just because I don’t have an orgasm every time I eat pizza like you do, does not mean I’m a sociopath. For your information, I am perfectly capable of emotion. I just prefer to channel it into my music.”

You rolled your eyes. He’s so pretentious. “Then why aren’t you dating anyone?

He closed his textbook. “Jeez, Y/N. Not everything is about dating. I just got out of that messy relationship with Nayeon, remember?

“I thought you were just with her for sex? I didn’t know you actually liked her.”

“We were together for four fucking years, of course I liked her. You don’t just share such a big chunk of your life with someone and not feel something for them.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that you were together for that long. You never really told me much about her.”

He shrugged. “That’s because you entered my life during the last year of our relationship, and at that point we could already feel our relationship start to all apart.”

“She was here all the time, though.”

“Yeah, we thought seeing each other more would help fix us, but after a while it just got kind of tedious. So we called it off.”

This was good, this was the most information you’d gotten out of him in a while. “Do you still have feelings for her?”

“Of course, but it didn’t work out. It’s in the past now and I need to move on. My friends think that finding someone knew would help me get over it, but I need to take some time for myself.”

You nodded understandingly. “What were you like with her? You know, before all the bad stuff. I can’t imagine you being romantic in any sense of the word,” you jested.

“Hey! I was romantic! I took her to the beach and bought her flowers and stuff.”

“Wow. A real stunner, you are,” you said sarcastically

Yoongi rolled his eyes

“Hey, here’s a nutty idea.”

Your roommate raised an eyebrow at you. You thought long and hard about how you were going to do this. All the scenarios that played out in your head seemed utterly ridiculous, but you had to tell him somehow. This seemed like the least weird way to broach the subject with him.

“What if we like….. Pretended to date?” you asked hesitantly, wiping your sweaty palms onto your throw pillow. See? It’s not entirely useless.

“Why the fuck would we do that?”

“You know… Because my friends are trying to set me up with people… And from what you’ve said, your friends want you to start dating again, too.”

“Yeah, that’s what my friends want, but I don’t have to do what they want.”

“I’m just saying, you know… It might be beneficial for both of us.” You couldn’t look Yoongi in the eyes. Instead, your gaze shifted just about everywhere else: out the window, the TV, the ceiling.

Yoongi definitely noticed and could tell you were hiding something. His eyes narrowed at you. “What’s the real reason, Y/N.”

You shrugged and shook your head. “That is the real reason.”

“You’re a terrible liar.” His gaze grew more intense and you could feel his gaze burning holes into your face.

You sighed deeply. “Fine. So I… Uhh…”

Yoongi looked at you expectantly. Were you really going to tell him? You had to own up to your stupid decision. But it was exactly that: stupid.

“I may or may not have told my friends that you and I are dating.”

“Fucking hell, Y/N.” There wasn’t even any surprise in his voice. It was more like disappointment, exasperation. Like his exact thoughts were, typical Y/N, always up to the same shenanigans.

“I’m sorry! I panicked! I didn’t want to get setup with another Taeyong and you were the first person who came to mind! I just kind of blurted it out during brunch!”

Yoongi was silent for a long time, and you couldn’t tell what he was thinking. What would you do if he said no? What would you tell your friends?

After an eternity, he finally answered. “Fine”

You let out a sigh of relief. “Great. Our first date is tomorrow.”

“Fucking hell! Thanks for the warning!”

“See you then!” You jumped up from the couch and ran to your room before he could verbally abuse you further.

“Oh my god. Are you seriously wearing that on our first date?” Yoongi was standing in the doorway to his room as you eyed his outfit, which consisted of a white t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned red and cream plaid flannel, accompanied by ripped light wash jeans and old tennis shoes.

“Yeah? What’s wrong with this?” He gave you a mildly annoyed, confused look.

“Nothing’s wrong with it if you’re going to class. But this is dinner with my friends! Our debut as a couple! You can’t wear that!”

Yoongi sighed. “Fine. Then what do you suggest I wear.”

You huffed and pushed past him into his room, him following closely behind. You stared into his closet, eighty percent of which was completely black. Somehow, today, he managed to throw on the only non-black outfit he owned.

“No. No. No.” You grumbled as you sifted through his clothes.

“Why do I even need to dress nicely? I’ve already met all your friends. It’s not like I have to make a good first impression or anything.”

“Still! They would never believe I would date someone who’s dressed like that.”

“Hey! You know, you’re such a bitch sometimes.”

“I know.” You pulled out a red and black swirly patterned button down that was squeezed between two black sweaters. Ugh, there was no method of organization to this closet whatsoever. You caught a glimpse of the tag as you removed it from the closet. “Dior? Damn. I didn’t know you were the type to wear designer.”

Yoongi snatched it out of your hand protectively. “I’m not. Nayeon gave it to me.”

You gently took it back from him. “Okay, so it’s a touchy subject. I guess we’re not going with that one.” You put it back on to the clothing rack and pull out a long wool coat. “Valentino? You’re kidding me, right? Is there any nice stuff in here that you bought yourself?”

Yoongi shook his head.

“Now I know why she bought all of this stuff for you: so you don’t embarrass her everytime you two went out in public.” You sighed. “Well, I guess we’re just going to have to work with it.”

You pulled the red and black shirt back out and handed it and the coat to Yoongi.

“No peeking,” Yoongi warned. You nodded and turned around.

As he changed, you rifled through his closet for some suitable pants, so you wouldn’t accidentally catch a glimpse of your roommate shirtless. You found the pair of black ripped jeans that Yoongi always wore and decided to go with those.

“I don’t like this jacket,” Yoongi whined. You took it as a sign that it was safe to turn around.

The jacket reached almost to the floor, and his arms were tight against his sides, like he could barely move them. “You’re right. You look so stuffy. Like a little old man.”

“Hey! Listen up, bitch.” Yoongi squared his shoulders and took a couple of steps closer to you. “I may be older than you, but I’m also taller.” He prodded your shoulder threateningly with his finger.

“Not if I wear heels. Which is what I’m planning to do tonight.” You smirked at him.

“Fine, then I’ll wear my platform sneakers.”

“That still won’t be enough,” you teased.

He frowned and you chuckled at his reaction.

“I’m kidding. I’m not going to wear heels tonight. So, you still get to be taller than me.”

“Why does it feel like I’m receiving some sort of consolation prize?”

You rolled your eyes. “God, you’re so annoying.”

“Can I just go without the jacket? It’s not that cold outside.” Yoongi struggled to take off his coat so you walked up behind him and helped pull it down his shoulders.

“Okay, but if I get cold, what are you going to offer me for protection? How are you supposed to romantically give me your jacket if you don’t even have one?”

Yoongi groaned. “God, your ideas of romance are so antiquated.”

“And your ideas of romance are nonexistent!” You countered.

“Whatever,” he spat. “Just pick a jacket you want to wear then. It’s too warm out for me to wear one.”

You grudgingly agreed and grabbed a simple black blazer from the closet. The tag on the back said H&M.

“You guys! I’m so excited to try this place!” Taehyung ran up to where you and Yoongi waited outside the new omurice restaurant that opened up across town.

“I hope it’s good,” Yoongi said. “This would be the first omurice place here and I haven’t had decent omurice since I went to Kyoto a couple of years ago.”

“What is this? You? Min Yoongi? Getting excited about food?”

Yoongi shot you a warning look, which you ignored.

“If you miss it so much, why don’t you try making it yourself?”

“If you paid any attention to me at all, you would know I make it all the time, but it’s never the same.”

You frowned at him, offended that he would accuse you of not paying him any attention at home. “I totally pay attention to you!”

“Then you would know I made omurice just last Thursday!”

“Thursday is my busy day! I wasn’t home all day!”

“Okay!” Taehyung interrupted, clapping his hands together. He was probably afraid you two would either start throwing punches or angrily making out. Neither of which he wanted to witness at that moment. “Let’s get a table and wait for the others inside.”

“So did you enjoy it? Was it as good as the one you had in Kyoto?” You looped your arm around Yoongi’s and rested your chin on his shoulder.

Yoongi set his spoon down onto his now empty plate and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “It was pretty good.” He didn’t turn to face you because he didn’t want his face that close to yours. “But to be honest, nothing can top the one I ate in Kyoto.”

You moved your hand toward Yoongi’s, which was now placed limply on his thigh. He squirmed as you got too close to his crotch.

“Hold my hand, dumbass,” you whispered so that only he could hear. “And smile please.”

Yoongi turned his face toward you and gave you a soft smile so convincing, your heart fluttered for a split second before you came to your senses. He leisurely intertwined his fingers with yours.

“Thanks, you’re doing a great job,” you told him. Yoongi was never really one to seek out praise and validation, but you wanted him to know that he was doing a good job.

“Awww, you guys are so cute,” Hoseok cooed. “Y/N, I’m glad you’re finally dating someone again.”

“I don’t know why y’all are so damn concerned with my love life. It’s none of your fucking business.”

“It’s just that you haven’t been in a relationship in so long, this is quite interesting to watch.”

You twisted your face at Jungkook.

“So tell me more about how this whole thing happened.” Jungkook sat up attentively, putting his elbows up on the table and resting his face in his hands, wanting to hear every word you had to say.

“I already told you everything.”

“Okay, but I want to hear it from Yoongi’s perspective.” He nodded at your fake boyfriend.

“Shit,” you muttered and squeezed Yoongi’s hand. You raised an eyebrow at Yoongi, an expression that said, “You remember what I told you, right?”

Yoongi nodded. “Well, I don’t know what Y/N told you but, she came home really upset after the New Year Ball, thanks to you guys, and that’s when it kind of happened.”

“We’ve apologized so many times for that.” Jin rolled his eyes.

“And yet I still don’t accept your apologies,” you quipped.

You looked over at Jungkook to see that he was eyeing you warily. Your cheeks burned under his scrutiny. Did he still not believe you? Even after you and Yoongi’s blatant (albeit forced) displays of affection? Maybe because he knew neither of you were big fans of PDA. Or maybe because he’s known you for more than half your life and can tell when you’re lying 90% of the time.

Just when you’re about to crack under his gaze, the waiter comes over with the bill.

“So how are we going to do this?” Namjoon addressed everyone at the table.

“I don’t know. You’re the math major; you tell us,” Jimin retorted.

Yoongi grabbed his wallet from his back pocket with the hand that wasn’t holding yours. “I’ll pay for Y/N and me.”

“How noble,” Jungkook scoffed.

You leaned closer to Yoongi. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Of course, it’s our first date. Let me pay.”

You blushed. “Okay.”

Then the unexpected happened. Yoongi leaned in closer and gave you a quick peck on the tip of your nose.

You gaped at him momentarily and then immediately regained your composure. You turned around to see Hoseok and Jin looking at you fondly, Taehyung and Jimin making disgusted faces, Jungkook with his eyebrows raised in a look of surprise and horror, and Namjoon too distracted by figuring out how to split the bill.

Luckily, because of this stunt, Jungkook forgot about grilling Yoongi with the questions.

“Okay, so I’m going to cover it with my credit card and I’ll charge you guys on BuddyPay.” Namjoon announced, still totally oblivious to the kiss that just shocked the whole table.

Everyone else grumbled in agreement.

After the payment was sorted out, your friends trickled out of the restaurant while you and Yoongi stayed behind. The second they were gone, Yoongi dropped your hand as if you had the plague.

“God, your hand is so sweaty,” he griped, wiping his hand on his jeans.

“Sorry! I was nervous!”

“Aww. You get nervous around me?”

“It wasn’t because of you, asshole.” You slapped his arm. “It’s because I’m a terrible liar! I almost popped a blood vessel everytime one of them looked me in the eye. Especially Jungkook! I know he suspects something.”

Yoongi shrugged. “Well, if it means anything, I think you were pretty convincing.”

“Thanks. It doesn’t. Also why did you kiss me? We never agreed to any kissing.”

“Did that kiss really affect you that much?” Yoongi smirked and got up from his seat.

You huffed. “Fuck you, Yoongi!”

“A kiss is as far as I’m gonna go.”

You scowled and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, jogging a little to catch up to him.

By the time you caught up, he was waiting by the door for you. “How are we going to make it convincing if I never kiss you?” Yoongi rolled his eyes. “Also, if you pop a blood vessel, I’m not driving you to the hospital.”

You frowned. “Whatever. Let’s get out of here.”

“God, I’m so full,” you groaned once you got outside. “Can we walk around a bit?”

Yoongi nodded. “Sure. I’ve never been in this plaza. We can check out what they have.”

Out of the corner of your eye you notice a Critter Castle on the other side of the parking lot.

“Ooh! A pet store! Let’s go in!” You grabbed Yoongi by the wrist and hauled him across the parking lot.

Immediately when you walk in, Yoongi gravitated toward the puppies. There was a small one, with curly brown fur that he took a particular liking to.

“Hey there, little guy.” The puppy perked up and started hopping around in its pen. “You’re an excited one aren’t you? Hi.” He brought his hand up to the barrier, allowing the puppy to stick its nose through and lick Yoongi’s fingers.

It wasn’t often that you got to see Yoongi’s soft side. He was always either serious or sarcastic around you. But seeing him like this made the corner of your lips tug up and your heart feel warm.

What was this weird feeling? It couldn’t possibly be… Could it?

You shook off the weird feeling. “What’s its name?” You asked Yoongi.

Yoongi looked at the sign the hung on the edge of the play pen. “Holly.”

“So it’s a girl?”

“The sign says it’s a boy. Awww and he’s only two weeks old! So fucking tiny!”

You giggled. “Do you want him?”

“What?”

“Do you want to adopt Holly?”

“I– yes. But would you be okay with that?”

You nodded.

“Oh my god. Then yes, I want this dog more than anything.”

“Okay wait here, I’ll go talk to a worker.”

You returned a couple of minutes later to find Yoongi sitting on the floor, sticking his fingers in the holes of the pen and playing with the little puppy.

“So, I have some bad news.”

Yoongi sighed. “Y/N, always gotta ruin things.”

“Shut up! The worker said Holly is still too young to be adopted, but we can come back in a month and a half or so and if he’s still here we can adopt him.”

“Can we like, preemptively adopt him? Like put him on hold or something?”

“I asked and she said adoptions here don’t work that way since it’s not a shelter. We’re just going to have to come back later and hope for the best.”

You could see Yoongi’s face fall. “Okay.” He stood up. “It was nice knowing you, Holly. Hopefully we can meet again soon.”

“We’ll come back for you, Holly.”

The little dog yapped and hopped with joy, but when the two of you began walking away, he whined and put his head to the floor.

About a month passes and now it’s the present again. Pretending with Yoongi has gotten a lot easier and more comfortable. Your friends have invited you and Yoongi out to septuple dates with their girlfriends, and you genuinely have fun.

But having a month pass means it’s now February, and everyone knows what dreaded holiday comes in February.

You fling yourself onto the couch right next to where Yoongi is sitting. “So it’s Valentine’s Day next week.”

“And?”

“And are we going to do something special?”

Yoongi makes a disgusted face. You grimace at his grimace.

“Come on! Jungkook will definitely think something is up if we don’t post something cute on Instagram,” you whine.

For the last month, even when your friends didn’t invite you and Yoongi out to do stuff with them, you still took pictures of the two of you together to keep up appearances on social media. Yoongi was surprisingly good at it, knowing exactly how to pose or what caption to write to get a reaction out of people. Everyone seems to love sharing their relationship with the world, and Valentine’s Day is the prime time to do so, so it would definitely be odd if you and Yoongi didn’t do something sickeningly romantic for the special day.

“How about we just get one of those long candles and light it next to a rose and take a picture of that, then we can go back to living our lives like normal? Most of social media is fake anyway, so I don’t see why we actually have to do something special instead of just pretending we did.”

“Ooh! What if I get a bunch of rose petals and sprinkle them from the front door to your room? And then I caption it something like, ‘Came home from class and was greeted with this, *suggestive emoji*.’”

“No! No offense, but I don’t want to imply that I’m having sex with you.”

“We’re dating, it’s already implied.”

Yoongi’s face twists. “How long are we going to keep this up, anyway? I’m not going to fake date you forever.”

“Oh my god!” You exclaim, ignoring his question. “I’ve got it!”

“What?” Yoongi asks, his tone fearful.

“The pet store has discounted pet adoptions on Valentine’s Day.”

“Okay…”

“Let’s adopt Holly together!”

Yoongi’s eyes light up, but he tries to contain his excitement when he says, “So you’re serious about it? You really want to adopt a dog together?”

“Of course! I’ve always wanted a dog.”

Your roommate raises an eyebrow. “You never said anything.”

“Because I didn’t know you liked dogs.”

“So, you’re actually serious about this?” He asks again, just to be absolutely sure.

“Yes, Yoongi! I am 100% serious.”

He jumps up and gives you a big hug, squeezing you so hard that you almost can’t breathe.

That Valentine’s Day, you and Yoongi walk into your apartment with a new addition to your family. Yoongi insisted on holding him on the car ride home, and wouldn’t even let you hold him in the elevator ride up to the apartment. He is still cradling the small, brown puppy even after you’re inside, where it’s safe to let him run around.

“Hold right there,” you tell Yoongi after you both take your shoes off, with Yoongi struggling because he still will not let go of Holly the entire time. “Let me take a picture for Instagram.”

Yoongi holds up Holly so that he’s obscuring his face.

“No! We need to see your face!”

Yoongi sighs and lowers the little animal.

“Great, now kiss him.”

Yoongi puckers his lips and brings it closer to the curly brown fur.

“Perfect!” You snap the photo and post it to Instagram, captioning it, Father and his brand new son. Happy Valentine’s Day, babe *heart eye emoji*.“Cuuuute!” You exclaim.

“I know I am, but how’s Holly look?”

You give your fake boyfriend an exasperated look.

“I can’t believe we have a puppy now!” Squeal isn’t exactly the right word to describe how Yoongi says it, but it’s a pretty close description.

“I know right? We’re parents now.”

Yoongi plops himself on the floor and lies on his back. Holly hops around him, leaping across his legs and stomach. The feeling that you experienced in the pet store when Yoongi first met Holly returns, and you are filled with an inexplicable fondness. You get down on the floor and join them, and when you look at Yoongi, he smiles at you.

“Thank you, Y/N. I am so happy right now.”

“You’re welcome, Yoongi. I am too.”

A couple of weeks later, you come home after a rough shift at work. There was a huge dance contest going on at school tonight and afterwards a lot of the spectators flocked to the nearest boba shop– which happened to be the one you worked at. The line was long, the store was crowded and loud, and it didn’t help that your manager was yelling at all of the workers to put out drinks faster. At the end of the night, you had to turn some customers down so that you could close up shop, and a few of them weren’t too happy about that.

You’re exhausted when you step through your front door, your feet are sore and your muscles tense. When you enter, you see Yoongi sprawled on the couch as always, your nostrils assaulted with a pungent odor, quite a juxtaposition to the sickenly sweet smell of the boba shop.

You let out an exasperated sigh. “How many times have I told you not to smoke inside?”

“I wasn’t smoking.” Yoongi shifts his bloodshot eyes back and forth.

“I smelled weed the second I walked in the door.” You saunter over to the screen door that leads to the balcony and pull it open to let in some fresh air.

“That’s….. a skunk got in here.” His voice is mellow in a way that confirms your suspicions.

You cross your arms and give him an incredulous look. “A skunk?”

“Yeah.”

“We live on the third floor in the middle of the city. There are no skunks here,” you scoff. “Raccoons, I would believe, but not skunks.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes.

“At least share, will you?” You drop your aching body onto the couch next to him, resting most of your weight against Yoongi.

“Since when do you smoke?” He asks.

“I don’t usually. I get a really bad case of the munchies when I do. One time I smoked at Jungkook’s place and ended up eating six of those spicy cup noodles. My intestines were not happy afterward.”

Yoongi chuckles. He then pulls a blunt out of his pocket and lights it for you. You put it up to your lips and smoke it.

“Who’s smoking in the house now?” he teases.

You shake your head. “Where’s Holly?” You ask, ignoring his silly rhetorical question. You shift so that your head is now resting on his chest.

“He’s in my room sleeping. All he does is sleep.”

“Of course, he’s a puppy. He’s still growing.” You pass Yoongi the blunt and he takes a hit before passing it back to you.

“I love him so much.”

“I know you do.”

“He’s so small.” Yoongi remarks, except it comes out more like a whine.

“I know he is.”

He notices that you’re not being your characteristically talkative self, which leads him to suspect something is wrong. “Rough shift?”

“Mhm.” You nod with your head still resting on your roommate’s chest.

He slings his arm lazily across your shoulder. “Want to talk about it?”

You take another long drag from the blunt. “Nope,” you exhale.

Just as before, your cravings set in about thirty minutes later. You haven’t eaten since before your six hour shift, and you're now starving.

“Oh my god I want pancakes!!!!” You wail, springing up from your where your head rested on Yoongi’s lap. “I want pancakes so bad.” Your stomach grumbles at the thought of the fluffy stacks of cinnamon swirl pancakes that they serve at the Pancake Shack, lathered in thick, golden maple syrup, and smothered with butter.

“Y/N, it’s 2 in the morning. Everything is closed now.” Yoongi is always one to burst your bubble.

"But I want Pancake Shack!"

"Pancake Shack is closed."

“Make me pancakes!!!!!”

“I am not making you pancakes.”

“But I want pancakes!! Like so bad. I think I might die.”

“You may be the only person who gets more high-strung when you smoke.” Yoongi doesn't budge.

You pout at him.

Finally, he resigns. “Fine, I’ll make you pancakes.”

“Thanks, Yoongi.” You hug him and rest your head on his shoulder. The two of you lock eyes and your gaze lingers for longer than it should, and for a second, your heart stops. The intensity of the moment startles you and you pull away from him. “You know what. It’s late. Never mind, you don’t have to make me pancakes.”

“Y/N, I don’t mind if you really want me to.”

You shake your head. “No, it’s okay. I should go to bed. I have class in the morning.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Yoongi raises an eyebrow. You were just insisting that he make you pancakes. What made you change your mind so suddenly?

You get up off the couch and make your way to your room.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he calls after you.

“Goodnight, Yoongi.”

Jungkook: hey jieun just broke up with me :’( can you come over?

You get the text late at night, a couple of days later. You’re already in your pajamas and getting ready for bed. But still, you don’t hesitate, because Jungkook is your best friend, and you could really use something to take your mind off of the forbidden feelings you’re starting to develop for Yoongi.

You: yeah i’ll be there in 10

“Hey.” Jungkook greets you with a sad smile when he opens the door to his apartment. His hair is a mess and he’s also wearing his pajamas.

You return the greeting and enter. “How are you holding up?” You ask him.

“Honestly, a lot better than I thought I’d be. I’m not as heartbroken as I expected.”

His place is a one bedroom studio apartment, so inside is just his bed, desk, kitchen, bathroom, and video game system. It’s cozy, and the two of you have had many heartfelt talks here. You used to come here whenever you wanted peace and quiet when you still had two other roommates at your old place.

“Why did you call me over? I thought you’d be a mess.” You kick off your shoes and jump onto the bed.

Jungkook shrugs as he sinks down next to you. “You’re my best friend. I just wanted someone to talk to.”

“Well, I’m here for you. Whatever you have to say. Whatever you want to talk about.”

He smiles at you. “Thanks, Y/N. How are you and Yoongi doing?”

“We’re alright.”

“I can tell he really likes you.”

You sigh, wondering if now is a good time to break the news to your best friend. What are you really waiting for? Why keep this going? Who does it benefit? “Jungkook, I have to tell you something.”

Jungkook raises an eyebrow.

You take a deep breath. “It’s fake. My entire relationship with Yoongi is fake. We were never actually dating.”

“I don’t believe that.” He shakes his head.

But it’s the truth.

Jungkook shakes his head again. “No. I know you both really care for each other. I can tell your feelings for each other are real.”

You remain silent. You and Yoongi have definitely grown closer in the last two months, especially after the two of you adopted Holly together, and you were having some feelings toward him, but you knew Yoongi didn’t feel the same. In the beginning, he made it explicitly clear that he had absolutely no romantic feelings toward you. Just last year, you two had The Talk about not being attracted to each other.

“You guys even adopted a dog together for god’s sake. You don’t just do that with anyone.”

Still you say nothing.

“That was real right? That dog is yours?”

You nod.

Jungkook runs his fingers through his hair. “I’m not going to brag, but I knew it was fake at the beginning, especially because it lasted more than a week, which is some sort of record for you.”

“Shut up.”

“But as time went on, I could tell you were growing to like each other, genuinely.”

You shake your head, still refusing to believe it. “He’s a Pisces, though. Aries aren’t good with Pisces.”

“Stop making excuses, Y/N. I think you should talk to him. Sort this out.”

"I may have feelings for him, but I'm positive he doesn't feel the same way about me." You grab one of Jungkook’s pillows and fiddle with a loose thread on the pillow case.

Jungkook sees what you’re doing and takes the pillow away from you, setting it down on the side of the bed that you can’t reach. "If you think that way, then you should end it. It's not fair for the both of you.”

You sigh deeply, knowing he’s right. “I thought we were here to talk about you.”

“We were. But I feel much better now, having my best friend with me.”

You give him a half hearted smile.

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too, Jungkook.”

He holds out his arms. “Come here.”

You crawl forward and give him a firm hug.

“Can I, like, at least practice in front of you? Because I have absolutely no idea how to approach this.”

“Of course. Anything you need, I'm here for you.”

You squeeze him a bit tighter. "Thank you, Jungkook."

The next night, you pace back and forth in your room, trying to figure out how you're going to bring it up to Yoongi. He's right on the other side of the door, on the couch, watching TV and petting Holly, as usual, and can probably hear you burning a hole in the carpet. You take a deep breath. It’s time. But what if he’s not watching TV anymore? What if he’s studying or doing homework? You shuffle over to your door, slowly cracking it open and peeking your head out.

He’s still exactly where he was when you got home earlier. Doesn’t he have things to do? Why is he always watching TV? You then realize that you just want an excuse for him to be too busy to talk, so you can avoid this conversation and postpone it for another time. Another time when you’re more prepared, when you’re older, and therefore wiser. But for some reason all the signs (really, just Jungkook) are telling you to do it now, providing you with the perfect opportunity, the perfect setup for you to break up with your fake boyfriend. Nothing like the present, right? You just gotta do it. Rip it off like a bandaid.

Apprehensively, you tiptoe out of your room. "Hey, Yoongi, I need to talk to you."

He turns his head toward you. “What’s up? What’s wrong?” His brows furrow when he notices your unease.

You walk over to the couch and sit down next to him. "Nothing’s really wrong, per se. But we do need to end this fake relationship."

“Well, it’s about time.” He sighs and picks up Holly from his lap and places him onto the floor. “We’ve been going at this for what? Almost two months?”

Your heart drops at his words, feeling like it's shattered into a million pieces. You know he didn’t feel the same way about you, but hearing him confirm it hurts a lot worse than you imagined. So, it really was all just pretend to him? You had been so stupid to let yourself fall for him, and now you have to deal with the consequences.

“I– Wow– has it really been that long?” You force a chuckle, trying your best to hide your disappointment.

“Yeah. It’s about time we start dating for real, right?”

“W– what?” You stutter, completely caught off guard. Out of all the scenarios you thought of, this was not one of them.

“Y/N, don’t tell me you don’t think there’s something between us.”

“I– I do. I just didn’t think you did.”

“Of course I did! Are you really that dense? I wouldn’t have volunteered to make you pancakes at two in the fucking morning if I didn’t.”

You breathe out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. You just saved me from a really difficult talk.”

“Were you going to break up with me?”

You nod.

“Did you plan out everything your were going to say? Rehearse it in front of the mirror and everything?”

“No.” You cross your arms in defiance. “I rehearsed it in front of Jungkook.”

Yoongi chuckles and it makes your heart warm. “You got Jungkook to help you?”

“Yeah. Don’t make fun of me.” You pout. “I’m not good at this type of thing.”

“You’ve broken up with plenty of guys before, though.”

“But none that I’ve cared about as much as you.”

Yoongi takes both your hands in his. "Don't worry. You don’t have to."

You feel as if a tremendous weight has been lifted off your chest. "So what now? What's different?"

Yoongi uses his hand to brush aside a stray chunk of hair that had fallen from your ponytail, and then delicately caresses your cheek. "Well, this, for one." He leans in and places a firm kiss on your lips. Yoongi had given you soft kisses on your cheeks and nose when the two of you were just pretending, and for a long time you wondered what it would be like to kiss him for real. Now you know, and it's so much better than you ever imagined.

You know how in those cliche movies, when a couple shares their first kiss, fireworks explode in the background and everyone cheers? That's what it feels like. It feels like every bad date, every disappointing hookup has led to you finding Yoongi. It's like the spring finally arriving and the clouds getting clear after a long, cold winter. Jungkook's right. Who cares if you're an Aries and he's a Pisces? The stars aligned in just the right place for you to find each other.

"And this," Yoongi breathes, softly brushing his hand against your breast and running it along your body until it reaches your thigh, all while still kissing you. "And this."

You squeal as Yoongi's hand moves under your legs and he scoops you up as he stands. You wrap your arms tightly around him, giggling and burying your face in the crook of his neck while he carries you bridal-style to his room.

Holly follows closely by his feet, wanting to follow his parents and see what they're up to. Once Yoongi gets to the threshold of his room, he gently shoos the little puppy away with his foot. "Not now, Holly. It's special mommy and daddy time." He then enters the room, letting the door close behind him.

Epilogue:

“I can’t believe we adopted a dog together. That’s so incredibly stupid. What if we break up?” You slip on your boots and put a harness around Holly, getting ready to take him out for your daily walk.

Yoongi slings on his jacket and shakes his head.  “Y/N. We’re literally getting married next week. I don’t think we’re breaking up any time soon.”

“But you admit that it’s a possibility!”

“I never said that.”

You peek outside the window to see that it’s still drizzling a little bit and grab Holly’s raincoat off the coat rack and put it on him. “There we go, baby.” You then attach Holly’s leash to his harness as Yoongi grabs an umbrella. “Damn, I can’t believe I still like you. I can’t believe you still like me!”

“Hey! How many times do I have to tell you! I have feelings!”

“Yeah, horny.”

“You’re insufferable.”

You step forward to fix the collar of Yoongi’s raincoat. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re right. You’re very right. I love you very much and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” He leans in to kiss you on the nose.

You react by scrunching up your face. “Damn, that’s a long time.”

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you? Do you want to call off the wedding?”

“Of course not! We’ve been planning this for over a year! I definitely still want to marry you!”

“Okay, but I think I want to marry you more.”

“Will you stop that?”

“Stop what? Wanting to marry you? Uhhh… Not possible.”

You get on your tiptoes so that you could kiss him, and while you’re kissing him, Holly starts barking and pawing at your boots. “Okay! Okay, Holly! We’ll take you on your walk now!”

You give Yoongi one last kiss on the lips before the three of you set out into the rain.

A/N: Yoongi and reader’s dynamic is pretty much how one of my old housemates and I used to treat each other (except we never dated, however, we did adopt a fish together). Also this story in no way reflects my opinions on astrology. It’s all light-hearted I promise.

[dramaqueeenamby]

Waves [AU] [2]

A/N: Part 2 of 2. Only tagging the few of you who expressed interest (that I can remember lol) as I don’t want to spoil anyone else’s perfect couple.

THIS IS AU! NOTHING IN HERE IS REAL! I REPEAT! NOTHING IS REAL!

one

Words: 4K

Warnings: Angst, over the top shit, etc.

TAGS:  @purple-apricots @sisterwifeudaku @idilly @honeyybey @letsshamelessqueen-m @amazonian-strap-queen

Waves

It started out small.

Minute.

Barely even noticeable to anyone on the outside, but Summer wasn’t an onlooker.

She was a participant, a member, a wife.

The “I love you’s” that typically accompanied the ending of every phone call or Facetime sessions shortened to “Love you,” shifted to “love ya,” and eventually dropped to “you too.”

But she tried not to think too much of it. Christopher had been extremely booked and busy in the past year. It felt like his schedule consisted of shoot, promote, repeat. His visits home were far in between and shorter in duration. Sometimes lasting only a day before he was back on a plane leaving Australia.

As an adult, as a fellow actress, she understood. For someone with his level of fame, he was constantly being requested, his presence demanded everywhere at the same time. The Hollywood life was one that never closed.

And as he’d shared in a few interviews, he wanted to ride the wave as long as he could because he understood how fickle the industry was. Not even a year from now, his offers could dry up as they moved on to the next “it” actor. He was taking advantage of any and all opportunities. Again, Summer Hemsworth, the actress fully comprehended that.

But Summer Hemsworth, the wife and mother, couldn’t.

Not only were the kids getting older, their demands were steadily increasing. Emmett with his lacrosse practice, Elysha with her ballet classes, both in soccer, not to mention school and all of the project and homework assignments that included. Summer was playing both roles of mommy and daddy and shooting a Netflix show about an hour from where they lived. It was a lot, even with the help of Christopher’s family, and it was starting to take a toll on Summer’s health.

She’d been feeling slightly unwell in the past few weeks, but she chalked it up to exhaustion. She was constantly on the run. The stomach pain was irritating but tolerable, and the increased urge to urinate made watching the kids practice a bit harder. Her appetite was also changing, suddenly taking less time for her to become full, definitely a big change considering how much Summer loved to eat.

But, again, she had her kids to worry about. She’d put off her check up for as long as she could, finally penciling it in on a day the twins went to their Uncle’s house after school.

The ride to the appointment consisted of Summer discussing a potential role with her manager, Mercedes. The ride back, however, was dead silent. Summer turned her phone completely off to make sure of that.

Later that night, the twins managed to get their father on the phone, the first time they’d been able to talk to him in almost a week.

Of course, they talked and talked and talked. They had to fill him in on every single thing that happened, minute by minute, in his absence. It made them feel more connected with him despite the continents separating them.

“Papa, when are you coming home?”

Emmett was the one to pose the question, his normally lively demeanor dampened as he thought about the last time he’d been able to hug his papa. Almost two months.

“Yeah. We miss you,” Elysha added, looking over at her mother. “Right, mama?”

Summer naturally hit the lock button on her iPad. She blinked a couple times, lifting her eyeglasses onto her head, forcing a small smile. “Of course, mija.”

Emmett’s eyes widened. “Can we come see you!” He looked over to his twin to see that his expression was mirrored. “Please, papa? We’ll be good!”

“Yeah! Really really good!”

Christopher cleared his throat. “I don’t-”

“I have a few days off,” Summer added, forcing herself to mentally join the conversation. “And the school can accommodate whatever they miss.”

Christopher’s eyes furrowed. “How’d you get out of filming?”

His question unnerved her. She hadn’t thought of an excuse. “Not sure. Some hold up on Netflix end.” She shrugged and quickly moved to change the subject. “It would be nice to see you, babe. I-I really do miss you, and-”

“I miss you all too, you know that,” he sighed. Summer looked over at the kids, their excitement evident in the way they started bouncing up and down on the bed. “I just-I don’t want to have you all travel this way to spend what? A couple hours with me before I have to shoot.”

Summer rubbed her forearm. “It’s a couple more than what we get now.”

Heavy sighing from his end let Summer know that he was still not in agreement. “Well, what about this weekend?”

“What about it?”

“Could you come see us instead? Would that be easier?” She offered, the twins even more elated at that proposition. They hated traveling.

“You want me to take a 15 hour flight to come stay for like two days-”

“You’ve done it before.” Summer was confused. They’d both made travel sacrifices in the name of family. What was so different about this time? “Didn’t you say that you had off from filming?”

He was caught off guard. “Not any more. I have to do some reshoots.”

She frowned. “This early? It’s not even in post-prod-”

“Damn,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry, Summer, I have to go. That’s the director calling now.”

A chorus of “no’s” erupted from the twins. Summer gave them a sympathetic smile. “Come on, guys. You can talk to papa later.”

They weren’t happy, but they acquiesced, telling their father that they loved him. As they scuffled out the room, Summer cleared her throat and lowered her voice. “Can you call me when you get done? I-I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah. Of course. You too.” Was his distracted and nonchalant reply.

She sighed. “I l-” The beep that accompanied an ended call was her reply. Licking her lips, she brought the phone to her chest, her head immediately returning to that place.

“Mama! Emmett broke the TV!”

“Did not!”

She wiped at the tear that managed to escape, thankful for the distraction when her brows furrowed. She suddenly had an idea.

“Kids, come here!” She shouted, waiting for the rapid patter of their frenzied footsteps as they appeared before her. “Mama has an idea.”

-------

“Are we almost there yet?”

Summer rolled her eyes.

“Not since the last time you asked, kiddo, which was five minutes ago.” Looking in the rearview mirror, she watched Emmett cross his arms and slump in his carseat. She chuckled. Any other time, she would have probably grown frustrated with the incessant questions. But today...today she was thankful. Beyond thankful.

Then again, her weekly appointments to the doctor were the driving reason behind her improved outlook.

A lot of things that typically evoked irritation were suddenly being welcomed. Her perspective was changing.

Elysha giggled and wagged her legs, pulling her Build A Bear close to her chest. “I can’t wait to see papa!”

“Me too!”

Contrary to what Christopher suggested, a couple hours with him was more than worth the lengthy time travel. Sure, all three were exhausted, but the idea of being reunited with him made it all worth it.

She’d done some digging in old texts and got the location of the condo he was staying in while he filmed and arranged so that they’d arrive while he was still on set in an effort to surprise him.

“Can we order pizza, mama?”

“Nooooo. Chinese!”

“Pizza!”

“How about both?” She suggested. They cheered. She laughed. Repeat.

Fifteen minutes later, they’d arrived, unpacked, and tried to settle down. Mostly, the kids ran around, exploring their new environment as Summer tried to prepare for Christopher’s arrival in a few hours.

Wiping at her forehead, she felt herself growing weak. She needed to eat something but feared that whatever she tried to consume would come up one way or another. Instead, she tried to busy herself.

Summer explored her husband’s place, picking up on a few things. He had more food than what was necessary for a single man. Not to mention, there was a lot of junk food.

Christopher didn’t eat junk food. She tried not to overthink things and instead moved up to the bedroom, deciding to take a shower after putting on a movie for the kids to keep them preoccupied for a good thirty minutes.

Pulling out a change of clothes and a shower cap which felt strange considering she was used to trying to fit in her mass of curls. Curls that used to cascade down her back but now grazed her shoulders.

She was allowing the warm water to rush down her body when she noticed two separate body washes, one specifically for men and another infused with Shea Butter.

Christopher hated the smell of Shea Butter but tolerated it for her sake. What was he doing with it?

Again, she ignored it.

Summer was out the shower, sitting down on the bathroom seat, trying to catch her breath. She could have fell asleep right then and there, but she powered through it.

Standing up, she reached for her lotion in her travel bag when something black sticking out of the drawer caught her eye.

Frowning, she pulled the drawer open and paused.

It was a bonnet. Not only that, the drawer was filled with Bobby pins, rat tail combs, and small thing of Creme of Nature edge control.

Summer had never used that brand a day in her life.

“What the hell?”

It was rhetorical. Slightly. Mind in a million and one places, Summer distractedly pulled her clothes on, popping in her evening cocktail of medications before exiting the bathroom.

“Mommy!”

Elysha’s excited voice managed to make her smile only for it to drop seconds later when she hears another voice.

“Come on, Lee. I’m sure your mommy’s busy.” Actually, mommy was very confused, not busy. Sauntering our the bedroom and into the hall, she stood at the top of the steps.

Emmett and Elysha stood at the bottom laughing and giggling, pulling on the persons pants leg. Elysha was the first to speak.

“Look, mommy! It’s aunt Yanda!”

Sure enough, Summer’s longtime best friend awkwardly swayed at the bottom of the stairs. Summer observed the singer. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and her feet were bare. She wore a pair of black, adidas joggers and a white and blue Emery hoodie, size XL, a small bleach spot on the inner hoodie.

Summer knew that for a fact because the hoodie belonged to Christopher. So did the joggers.

“Hey, girl.” Siyanda spoke with a tentative smile, laughing as the kids continued to hug her side. “What-”

“Yanda!”

Before either woman could react to the new voice, the kids were already running full speed ahead.

“Papa!”

Emmett and Elysha followed the sound of the shout, tracing it to the front door where a surprised Christopher was ambushed.

“Whoa,” he stumbled, bending down to scoop them up in his arms for a bear hug. “What are you two doing here?”

“We wanted to surprise you, papa!” Elysha shared excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

“Surprise!” They both yelled at the same time, making the actor chuckle.

Emmett suddenly asked. “Did you miss us?”

“Of course, I missed you.” He replies warmly when he thought of something. “Where’s your mother?”

“Right here,” Summer answered for them, walking in with Siyanda not too far behind her. Christopher stood up, his smile gradually dropping as he tried to make eye contact with Siyanda. She kept her gaze on the ground.

Christopher forced himself to meet his wife’s surprisingly calm gaze. She smiled softly.

“Surprise.”

And just like that, he knew that she knew.

———————-

For Emmett and Elysha, the rest of that evening was a ball, they were with their parents and their aunt Siyanda, who Summer insisted stay and have dinner with them.

The songstress was visibly uncomfortable with the offer, but Summer simply laughed softly and smiled. “Please. You’re family. Right?”

Silence.

It was uncomfortable as could be for both Christopher and Siyanda who watched as Summer carried on like nothing was wrong, like she hadn’t figured out what was going on. She even helped deflect when Emmett pointed out that his papa had the same sweatshirt.

Summer was providing a real life example of kill em with kindness.

Even as she and Christopher put the children to bed, she managed to coexist with him in a way that relayed absolute serenity despite the turmoil boiling within.

“Let’s hope they stay asleep,” she chuckled, walking down the stairs, Christopher and Siyanda on her tail. The two of them communicated in nonverbals, each unsure how to approach and the woman that they both cared for yet had betrayed in the worst way possible. “They wore me out.”

Being that he was her husband, Chris was the first to speak. “Summer, I-”

“You know, it’s funny.” Summer smiled as she walked into the kitchen, hands over the knife set. Watching her evaluate and pick up the largest one, Christopher instinctively placed a hand in front of Siyanda. “In the back of my mind, I always wondered what I would do if you ever cheated on me.”

As she stood around, eyeing the knife with boredom, both her husband and best friend wondered how to keep a safe distance between them and her. The lackadaisical tone of her voice was deeply unnerving.

“If I would cry, breakdown, whoop that ass which you both know I’m more than capable of doing,” she spoke with a humorless chuckle. It was true. While both Chris and Siyanda had backgrounds in martial arts, Summer was a beast at various forms of martial arts, MMA, taught by her brothers military combat, and had a hell of a temper. They knew of the stories from her childhood, from how she would both start and finish a fight. Boy or girl. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. Her hands were universally crafted for a wide variety of ass kickings.

“And yet, all I can do is laugh.” She shrugged, walking over to the remaining slices of pizza, starting to cut them into smaller slices. “Do you guys want some?”

Siyanda swallowed, pushing Chris’s arm down so that she could approach the island, stopping when Summer lifted the knife. “But don’t test me.”

The singer took a deep breath. “Girl….I-I am so sor-”

“No, you’re not,” Summer interrupted gently. “Sorry you got caught? Of course. Why wouldn’t you?” She giggled, pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. “It could have been worse. I could have caught you in the act. Now that would have been something to see.”

“I never meant to hurt you, Summer. I-this-”

“Now Christopher, you know I hate stammering,” she sighed with faux disappointment. “Come on. Spit it out. She was here. I wasn’t. You got lonely, vulnerable, which of em’ is it? Not that I care, but humor me.”

“You know,” Summer repeated slowly, laughing quietly. “Let me tell you what I know. Actually, no. Why don’t you tell him?”

“Damnit, Summer.” He ran his hands over his face. “Can you please be serious?”

She froze, her smile icy. “Serious? You want to get serious?” She pushed her lips together and nodded slowly, wiping her hands to shake the crumbs off. “Alright. Let’s do this. Let’s put that Teen Choice Award or was it The People’s Choice? Aww, whatever, one of two awards you’ve won in your entire career to work.” She leaned back against the counter, pointing to herself. “Or do you want me to go? I prefer least to greatest so….”

“Summer, please. We just want to talk.”

“Is that what you call it? Talking?”

Chris closed his eyes. “Sweetheart-” He was silenced by Summer extending her arm and knocking over the entire box of pizza, watching it spill onto the granite floor.

“Don’t,” she whispered, clasping her hands together in a praying motion. “Don’t you dare.”

He looked away with shame, unable to even allow his eyes to watch as her jaw trembled.

“You want serious, Christopher?” She questioned rhetorically. “Serious is how I wake up some mornings so weak that I can’t even get out of bed. I have to crawl to the bathroom, where I sit on the floor, trying to force myself to hurry up and vomit because I know that I have to get kids up and ready for school. And god forbid they find me like that.”

“Serious is going to work every day sometimes filming for hours upon hours only to rush and pick the twins up from school and rush them to their practices all while praying to God that I don’t pass out from exhaustion.”

“Serious is going to that goddamn hospital twice a week for four hours of chemotherapy all while taking 10 different medications three times a day which sorta, kinda, not at all help with the side effects.” She gestured to her hair. “And it gets shorter by the week-”

Christopher was at a complete loss of words. “W-what? Chemo? What are you-”

Summer laughed bitterly, gasping quietly. “Oh, she didn’t tell you?” She motioned to a misty eyed Siyanda. “What, ya’ll two don’t have pillow talks?” She shook her head. “Silly me. You probably don’t like all that greasy ass Afro Sheen she uses on those balding edges on your pillowcase.” A beat. “Go on, girl. Tell him.” She encouraged with that same stoic smile. “Don’t be bashful now. You certainly weren’t bashful when you were fucking him.”

Siyanda winced. “Summer, pl-”

“What is she talking about?” He asked quietly, quickly growing angry when she remained silent. “Answer me!”

Summer rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to do it? Fine. Allow me.” Despite her best efforts to maintain her icy grin, it gradually dropped as Summer bitterly forced out the next statement. “I have cancer. Ovarian, to be specific.” A beat. “Stage IV.”

Silence. And then, denial.

“Wh-what? No.” He shook his head, placing his hands behind his neck. “No, you don’t.”

“Ask her.” Summer was staring directly at her former friend. “She was on the phone with me the day I found out. “One of three people I told because I trusted her.”

“Cancer?” He whispered, hands on the counter. His heartbeat was erratic as were his thoughts. “You have cancer, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to worry you.” She replied, staring at the ground. “Imagine that.”

“Summer…” She forced herself to look up. He was crying. She swallowed back the sob in the back of her throat and turned her head. “I-I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t be sorry for me,” she informed softly, gaining back her small smile. “I know I’m going to be okay.” She spoke more to herself than to them. “I actually feel sorry for you. For the both of you.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “Because let me tell you what else I know.”

“I know that I did nothing to deserve or cause this. Not the cancer and certainly not you cheating on me with my best friend. Well, former.” Siyanda sniffled, wiping the tears that continued to spill. “I know that it was probably the insecurities got to you. Right? I make a film, it shatters the box office meanwhile are your movies still even bringing in a profit? Is single digit still considered a success?”

She shrugged. “Ally, Bashira, Storm, my relevancy covers a vast collection of roles, but you? You, my dear husband, will always just be known as Thor, and when those Marvel checks dry out, which they will….you’ll be lucky if you can land a fucking one season only, CW program,” she spat coldly. “You couldn’t handle being with a strong, successful, beautiful, black woman like myself, and that’s okay. Really.” A beat. “I’ve always had a soft spot for the less fortunate.”

“And you.” Summer turned her gaze on Siyanda and tilted her head to the side. “You know, my grandma always said not to trust you because you looked like the type of whore to look another woman in the face and laugh and converse all while sleeping her man behind her back….wait till’ grams hears about this.”

“Summer-”

“I really feel sorry for you though because for all of the fans who adore you, for now, at least. We both know this new girl. What’s her name? Shayera? She took the number #1 spot didn’t she? Damn, when is the last time you had a number one?” She groaned and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “Never mind. It would take too long.”

“S-”

“All of these accolades, awards, talent, it all means absolutely nothing because you know, and I know, that at the end of the day, you return home to a cold, empty, barren house because, let’s be real, no one likes their cum rag to spend the night. That’s what you are, a disposable bucket for men to fuck as they please and discard like the scum that you are.” She motioned to Chris. “Ask him.”

Summer covered her mouth. “Oh wait. Can I? Please. Let me.” She bounced on her heels with anticipation. “You want to know how this plays out? He’s done with you, sweetie. See, as fucked up as a person he is to have done this in the first place, and not that it makes it any better, I can almost-no, I know that if you had told him that I was sick, you? Gone. This film? On hold. He would have had his ass on the first available flight home. Why? Shit, I forget, you don’t know what love is. After all, everyone who has ever loved filth like you….is gone.”

Summer gave a faux, sad, sigh. “He’s going to return home and do everything he can to try to make recompense, and one day, I will forgive him. But you, sweetie? You’re dead to him, and me. My kids, our kids, they’ll be hurt, yes, but when they’re older and they find out what kind of dirt you are? They’ll despise you.”

“God,” she laughed. “There is literally no scenario where you win. Now imagine that, all of that fucking for tracks, betraying people who actually gave a damn about that, playing house with my husband, not to mention the other taken men you fuck on the regular….all of that….and where does it leave you??” Her smile dropped. “The same place where you started, you seasonal bitch.”

Summer took a deep breath, closing her eyes, and placing her hand over her heart. “Well, that was intense.” She yawned. “It’s been quite a day, hmm? I’m going to head to bed.” She smiled sweetly, walking past a devastated Christopher and humiliated Siyanda. “Enjoy your lives.” A beat. “I know I am.”

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Burn the Ships, Chapter Two

A/N: I totally did not stay up until almost 2am this morning finishing this like the responsible adult that I am. Nooooo, of course not. ;P . . . . .

Chapter Two

Alex was bored. But, he conceded, at least he wasn’t still handcuffed in a frigid interrogation room. And he finally had dry clothes, albeit they were a little big. They belonged to Commander McGarrett and when the man had offered, Alex hadn’t asked why he kept extra clothes in his truck; he was just glad to be dry again.

But, as it was, there was only so much time he could spend reading the award plaques on the walls and looking at the model battleships before there was nothing left to do. He didn’t dare leave the office, either. Commander McGarrett had deposited him there and, in no uncertain terms, had told him to stay put or he’d find himself back in handcuffs again.

Alex figured he really could leave if he felt like it -- there was only one guy left up here, and he knew he could easily take him out -- but he honestly didn’t want to. He hadn’t wanted to come to Hawaii in the first place, so handing off his mission to Five-0 was kind of… nice.

On the other hand, it should have been over hours ago, and he should be on a plane back to DC right now. He had no one to blame but himself for those two guys getting away. Maybe if the Coast Guard hadn’t been so preoccupied trying to rangle him out of the water, they would have seen the other two swimming in the opposite direction. He had completely dropped the ball on this one. If he was lucky, maybe that would mean they’d be done with him. After all, he couldn’t even finish since he was stuck in the Five-0 headquarters for the foreseeable future.

He scoffed to himself at the thought. Yeah, right. They won’t be done with me until I’m dead.

The sound of the door swishing open caught his attention, and he lifted his head from the couch cushion to see Commander McGarrett leaning through the doorway. 

“Just thought I’d let you know that we’ve caught a lead, so I’m headed out to meet up with the rest of my team. You --” he pointed one finger at Alex, brow raised -- “are still not to leave this office, got it? Jerry is staying here, and he may not look it, but you won’t get far past him.”

If Jerry is the big guy at the holotable, that’s definitely a bluff, Alex thought, sitting up all the way. “Take me with you.”

“No. Not gonna happen.”

“I know several martial arts, so I could easily leave if I wanted to, and --.”

“And -- what? You don’t even know where I’m going.”

Alex paused, glancing away for only a moment. “Look, I need to see this through. Please.” He may not want to be here, but he also couldn’t afford to let this fail. He had to finish his mission -- no matter what.

McGarrett was silent for a moment before he sighed and said, “Under one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You stay in the truck. No matter what happens, you do not get out. You understand me?”

“Yes.” Not a chance.

“Then let’s go.” . . .

The house they were going to was in a wooded area on the edge of Manoa. Police were already on the scene; Commander McGarrett parked -- what felt like to Alex to be -- at the very farthest point back, behind all the other vehicles, down the road from the house they would be raiding.

As soon as he cut the engine, McGarrett turned to him and said, “Remember our deal: you do not leave this vehicle.”

“Promise.”

The man nodded, hopped out of the truck, and disappeared behind the rest of the vehicles barricading the street.

From where the truck was parked, Alex couldn’t see much of anything. Thumping his head back against the headrest with a defeated sigh, he realized the commander had parked here on purpose. If he couldn’t see anything, he’d be less inclined to get involved. Theoretically, anyway.

Alex lasted a whole five minutes. He wasn’t used to other people doing his job, and he was going stir crazy waiting. As long as I’m back in the truck before he is, then he’ll never know, he thought as he unbuckled his seatbelt and quietly slipped out the door. Staying low and close to the other vehicles, he cautiously crept forward.

Crouched behind a police cruiser, he peeked out just in time to see Five-0 moving in on the house. A moment later, shots echoed through the air. A moment after that, Alex spotted a figure running for the woods with no one in pursuit. Before Alex could process that what he was going to do was probably stupid and definitely reckless, he was already sprinting in the same general direction the man had disappeared in.

He didn’t get far, however; the man was nowhere to be seen, and Alex didn’t think getting lost in the forest trying to track him down was probably a good idea. Disappointed, he turned and started back the way he’d come. He almost made it back undetected, but his luck ran out as he neared the truck and spotted McGarrett and another man (he looked to be a native Islander) standing between him and his destination. Quickly, he ducked behind the nearest car before they could see him.

“Steve, calm down. He might have just gotten antsy sitting around. I’m sure he’s not far.”

“I knew this was a bad idea, Chin. I’m handcuffing him to my desk when we get back -- if we can even find him.”

“You think he’s in on it somehow?”

“I don’t want to think that, but right now he’s missing and if we can’t find him, I’m gonna have to assume so.”

Alex sighed and, bracing himself for the lecture he was sure he was in for, stood up and started over towards the truck.

The other man -- Chin? -- spotted him first. “Steve.”

McGarrett spun around, and the look on his face said it all. His expression morphed from concern to anger in the blink of an eye, and Alex had to admit he wished he’d stayed in the truck after all. No one had looked at him like that since Jack.

And then Commander McGarrett exploded. “Just what were you thinking? I told you to stay put, did I not? And you promised that you would. What if you have gotten hurt, huh? What were you thinking?”

Alex took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, reminding himself that these people had no idea who he was. “There was a guy getting away --.”

“And you thought it was a good idea to go after him, is that it? You could have gotten shot, do you understand that?”

“You don’t understand! You can’t expect me to just sit by and do nothing!”

“Actually, yeah, I can. Because you are a child, Alex. You shouldn’t be involved in this at all. Besides that, you did already do something -- you did exactly what you needed to: you told me, and we are handling it -- just like I said we would --.”

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Alex snapped. “That’s why one of them got away!”

“Steve,” Chin spoke quietly from behind, placing a hand on the commander’s shoulder.

McGarrett spun around. “What?” he snapped.

“Go see what Max can tell us about these guys.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll keep an eye on him.” Chin nodded in the direction of the house. “Go.”

McGarrett sighed, sharing a look with the other man before he snapped, “Fine.” and stalked away.

Chin sighed, turning back to Alex with a small smile. “He cares a lot more than it might seem. He’s not really angry with you; he was just pretty worried when he came back to find you gone. I’m Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly, by the way.” 

Alex turned away. “Look, I’m sorry I worried him or whatever, but that guy got away, and all of you let him.”

Lieutenant Kelly nodded. “Yeah, we had to. When the DEA found out where we were headed, they warned us ahead of time that that particular man might be here. When we got inside and saw him -- Alex, he’s an undercover agent for the DEA. We had to let him ‘get away’ to keep his cover. Apparently the DEA has been onto them for quite awhile, and with some time, they’ll be able to turn this thing inside out -- in less time now that we’re on it too -- but they need to keep him out there in order to do so.”

“I guess these guys aren’t as good as they thought,” Alex scoffed.

Lieutenant Kelly chuckled. “I guess not.” He paused for a second. “Hey, uh, do me a favor? Steve means well, so just try not to antagonize him too much? If you had gotten hurt, he’d be blaming himself for it right now. I know you want to help, but the best thing you can do is listen to Steve and do what he asks. Even if you don’t trust anyone else, you can trust him. He knows what he’s doing. Okay?”

“I’ll… try.”

“Good enough.” He turned as a woman approached. “Hey, Kono.” He turned back to Alex. “This is Officer Kono Kalakaua, also of the Five-0 task force.”

“Hi, Alex. Steve sent me over to see if you can identify these guys as the ones from the boat.” She flipped a tablet around so he could see the screen. “Either of them look familiar to you?”

He examined the photos for a minute before shaking his head. “The one on the right was, but I don’t recognize the other one.”

“Alright.” She swiped the screen. “How about this guy?”

Alex shook his head again. “Nope. Is that the guy who got away?”

“The DEA’s inside man, yeah.” She flipped the tablet back around. “I’ll let Steve know. Thanks, Alex.”

“So I guess that means we’ve still got one out there from this morning,” Lieutenant Kelly commented as Officer Kalakaua walked away.

“Yeah,” Alex murmured, “and this is just one small part, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“From what I could gather, it’s a pretty extensive network. I don’t know anything about the rest of it though -- just what I already told Commander McGarrett.”

“Hm. Tell you what,” Lieutenant Kelly started, pushing off from where he’d been leaning against the truck, “why don’t you and I grab some lunch and head back to the Palace? There’s no reason for you to stick around here, and I promised Steve I’d keep an eye on you anyway, right?”

Alex shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“Alright. My car’s over there. I’ll text Steve so he knows and, maybe by the time he gets there, he’ll have cooled off a little bit.”

“I sure hope so. Honestly, he’s a bit terrifying when he’s angry.”

Lieutenant Kelly chuckled. “That he is, Alex; that he is.”

. . . . .

Tag List: @diekatimitdemhutohnehut

(Let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!)

[softspideys]

Pet Names (Tom Holland x reader)

summary: you and tom are broken up, but continue to use old pet names for each other

warnings: none

word count: 2.7k

pairings: tom holland x reader

a/n: this concept is near and dear to my heart, plz enjoy

When you and Tom told your friends that you’d broken up, their reactions were about what you’d expected.

You weren’t sure whose idea it had originally been. All you knew was that after two years of dating, you and Tom were . . . bored. You still liked each other and enjoyed being around each other, but you just didn’t want to date anymore. Breaking up and staying friends, you figured, was the best way to handle this. No fights, no drama, no messiness. Everything would go back to how it was before.

None of your friends were convinced it would work. They claimed you and Tom were too close, had too much history. There was no way you could switch all of that off.

“But I was rooting for you guys,” Zendaya wailed while you patted her back. “You were so good together.”

“I know,” you said soothingly. “But we’re still going to be friends. Nothing has to change. Right?” You shot Tom a look, since he was pretty much just standing there.

“Right,” he agreed quickly. “It’s for the best, Z.”

Zendaya stopped, lifting her head to stare at the two of you. “What do you mean, you’re still going to be friends?”

“It means we’re still going to be friends,” you said, slightly confused. “We like spending time together; we just don’t want to date anymore.”

Zendaya went from being heartbroken to utterly disgusted in about two seconds. “You can’t do that,” she said. “You’ve seen each other naked.”

“I’ve seen you naked,” you pointed out, ignoring the amused expression on Tom’s face.

“Yeah, that’s because you don’t know how to knock.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s because you don’t know how to lock a door—”

“The point is,” Tom interrupted, “just because we dated doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends. That way you guys don’t feel like you have to pick sides or whatever. We can all hang out and be normal.”

Zendaya shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said skeptically. “Everyone always says that, but it never works.”

“We’re not everyone,” you said lightly. Tom nodded, pointing at you. Zendaya rolled her eyes.

* * *

I. Baby

“I still don’t see why I have to be with you,” Tom complained as he dutifully followed you through the grocery store.

“Because Harrison’s your best friend and you know what he likes better than I do,” you said, pushing the cart. Harrison’s birthday was tomorrow and you were in charge of getting the cake for his party, so you’d enlisted Tom to come help you.

“You didn’t hear? He’s no longer my best friend,” Tom said.

“Since when?”

“Five minutes ago.”

You snorted and rolled your eyes at him. “Well, you’re already here so you might as well help me pick out a cake for him anyway.” He let out an over-dramatic groan, dragging his feet as he walked with you. You were used to him by now, so you just ignored it.

You stopped at the bakery and peered into the case, looking at all the cakes on display. “Alright, now which one would Harrison like?” you said. When there was no response, you turned around and saw Tom was several feet away, his attention currently occupied by another case full of bagels, muffins and doughnuts.

“Seriously?” you said, exasperated. You’d forgotten how annoying it was to go shopping with him.

“What? I didn’t have breakfast.”

Shaking your head, you turned back. “Here, what about this one?” you said, pointing to a plain white cake that had some colorful frosting balloons on them. “We can get them to write his name on it in the middle.”

Tom came up behind you and looked over your shoulder, wrinkling his nose at it. “No, baby, that’s so boring,” he said, and then abruptly stopped, stiffening.

“What?”

His cheeks were tinged pink. “I called you ‘baby.’”

“Oh,” you said. Was it your imagination, or had the air just gotten a few degrees warmer? “That’s okay. Um, so what were you thinking?”

Tom cleared his throat. “Maybe this one.” He pointed to one that was decorated like Batman.

“Yeah, sounds good,” you agreed. The cake could’ve had a princess on it for all you cared. You just wanted to move past the weird moment. You bought the cake and left the store in silence.

It was only once you were in the car that Tom said, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t—”

“Don’t worry about it,” you interrupted. “It’s fine. No big deal at all.”

He eyed you. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” you said, nodding. “Positive.”

* * *

II. Babe

“Tom?” you called, opening the front door. “You better be ready.” Tom had promised to go to the gym with you this morning, but you weren’t convinced he was actually going to follow through.

Sure enough, there was no answer. Sighing, you walked back to his bedroom and peeked in the door, hoping he was at least dressed.

But of course he was in bed, fast asleep. You went inside to go wake him up, but something in you hesitated. It felt like you were witnessing something you shouldn’t, something private. You’d forgotten how peaceful and young he looked when he was sleeping. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and you knew it was because he ran warm, no matter how cold it was. His bed was big, but he was curled up on one side. You wondered if that was because he was used to sharing the other side with you.

It made you miss the days when you got to wake up next to him. Sometimes, if you had extra time before work, he’d pull your closer and nuzzle his face into your neck. Other times, he’d roll over so he was on top of you, grinning and pulling you in for a kiss while his hands wandered lower.

While you were lost in thought, Tom cracked one eye open, groaning when he saw you. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

“Gym time,” you said, trying not to look at him or his shirtless chest. “Remember?”

“How’d you even get in? I lock my door every night.”

You held up your hand, where a key ring dangled from your pointer finger. “You gave me a spare key, remember? I never gave it back.”

“Great,” Tom said sarcastically, rolling over. “Can’t we go another day? I was out late last night.”

“Nooooo,” you whined. “You said you’d go with me today!”

“Get Zendaya to go with you. Or better yet, go alone.”

“You know she gets weirdly competitive when she works out with other people,” you said. “And I hate going to the gym by myself.” You didn’t mind it, actually. You just didn’t want Tom to bail.

“What time even is it?” he asked, picking up his phone and immediately putting it face-down again. “9:00? Are you out of your mind?”

“It won’t be so crowded if we go now!” you said defensively. “We’ll get the first pick of the machines.”

When he didn’t answer, burying his face in the pillow, you said, “Come on, babe, please? Just for—” You stopped when Tom lifted his head, staring at you. “What?”

“You just called me ‘babe,’” Tom said quietly.

You blinked. “I did?” He nodded. “Oh. Sorry. Um.” An awkward silence fell between you.

Tom broke it by sitting up and swinging his legs out of bed. “I guess I’ll come,” he said. “Since you’re already bothering me anyway.”

You smiled a little, relieved the moment had passed. “Good.”

The rest of the day passed without incident, but you couldn’t help but feel like there was an underlying tension between the two of you, like you were walking around eggshells around each other, being careful not to slip up again.

* * *

III. Sweetheart

You rarely got sick, and when you did, it was usually just a minor cold. Your friends always joked that you could have the plague and you’d still get out of bed: you hated having to stay home and rest when you could be doing something productive or having a good time.

But this time was different. Every part of your body ached. You hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, spending it bent over the toilet or curled up on the bathroom floor. Your mom said it was probably food poisoning (you knew you shouldn’t have trusted that gas station sandwich), and there was nothing you could do except wait for it to pass.

You called out of work and texted a few of your friends to let them know you were okay (relatively speaking), just sick. Tom hadn’t responded when you texted him, but you assumed he was just busy. However, you forgot that he also had a spare key to your apartment.

You were still lying in your bathroom when you heard the front door open. It dimly registered in your mind that someone could be breaking in, but honestly, you felt so close to death at the moment that you didn’t really care either way. But then Tom called out your name and you realized who it was.

“In here,” you managed to croak. There were footsteps and then the door was opening, hitting you in the legs. You groaned, but didn’t move.

“Jesus,” Tom said, staring down at you. “You really weren’t lying when you said you were sick.”

“Go away,” you mumbled. “I don’t want you to catch this.”

“It’s food poisoning, dumbass, it’s not contagious,” Tom said. You merely grunted in response. “How long have you been here?”

“Since last night.”

“Did you get any sleep? Have you eaten anything? Or had any water?”

“No.”

Tom sighed, lowering himself to the floor so he was sitting beside you. “You need to take care of yourself or you won’t get better.”

You groaned again. “Tom, I feel like literal ass. I can’t do anything right now.”

“I know,” he said. “But you have to at least try.”

You didn’t answer, and he reached over and touched your head, gently carding his fingers through your hair. That was one of your favorite things, and something he always did when you were sick or sad. You closed your eyes, the nausea being replaced with something different, more nostalgic.

“Sweetheart,” Tom said softly. “You gotta get up. Please.” It had been so long since you heard him sound like that, so tender and caring.

The old pet name made you shift a little, lifting your head so you were looking at him. He seemed to realize what he’d said, but didn’t take it back. “Okay,” you said finally.

“Okay,” Tom repeated. He held out his hands, grabbing yours, and slowly pulled you to your feet. He half-walked, half-carried you to your bedroom. “You should get changed,” he said, gesturing to your sweaty, old clothes. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

By the time he came back with some Saltines and a bottle of water, you had changed into a clean pair of pajamas and gotten into bed, a trash can on the floor beside you. “Here,” he said, putting them down on your bedside table. “Try to eat those. And drink all of that.”

You managed to have a few sips of water and a bite of the saltines, keeping it down for the moment. “Better?” Tom asked. You nodded. “Good. You should get some sleep now.”

You were pretty exhausted after your horrible, sleepless night. “Thanks for taking care of me,” you muttered. You were already beginning to drift off, so you couldn’t be sure if the soft “I’ll always take care of you” was part of your imagination or not.

* * *

IV. Love

You and your friends had a tradition that at least once a month, somebody would host a movie night. You watched at least three movies and made tons of popcorn and snacks. It was a lot of fun, so much so that missing it was pretty much equivalent to a crime in your friend group.

So when Jacob, Laura, Zendaya and Harrison all canceled on you when it was your turn to host, you were more than a little suspicious. At least Jacob’s excuse was valid: he was getting over a cold.

Harrison claimed he had to watch his niece, Zendaya had accidentally made plans with her mom, and Laura didn’t want to go out in the rain. So that just left you and Tom. It almost felt like a set-up.

“You don’t have to stay,” you told him. “I understand if you have better things to do.”

But he shook his head, gesturing to the pizzas you’d ordered. “Who’s gonna help you eat these then? Besides, they finally put The Godfather on Netflix and I’ll be damned if you go another day without seeing it.”

You laughed. “Okay, okay. Isn’t it like four hours long, though?”

“Yup,” he said with a grin. “Get cozy.”

You turned the lights off and got comfy on the couch together. Tom insisted on putting his feet in your lap, wiggling his toes just to gross you out.

Throughout the movie, your attention was partially focused on what was going on, but mostly on the funny comments Tom made throughout. If you got too into it, he would throw candy at you to distract you again, or poke you lightly in the cheek. It was just as fun as it would’ve been if everyone was there, maybe even more so. You were glad that the two of you could hang out without things being awkward.

By the time the credits rolled, it was past midnight. Tom had shifted and was now fast asleep, his head on your shoulder. You didn’t want to disturb him, so you didn’t move, preferring to watch him instead. It was almost like old times: you and Tom, snuggled together, falling asleep on the couch after the movie was over and everyone left. You wished you could stay this way forever.

At last, though, you were beginning to get uncomfortable, so you nudged him gently. He let out a soft groan, opening his eyes slowly. “Hey,” he said through a yawn.

You couldn’t help what came out of your mouth next. “Hey, love.”

Tom went still, and so did you, knowing the affection in your voice was plain. He sat up after a second, looking at you. “Love?” he repeated.

“Is that what I called you?” you said, trying to play it cool. He nodded. “Oh. Well.” You swallowed, closing your eyes and debating whether you should say what had been on your mind for a while now.

“Is everything okay?” Tom asked.

“Why did we break up?” you said, catching him by surprise.

“What?”

“Why did we break up? What was the reason?” you repeated.

“I—we—we were getting bored with each other. Things weren’t fun anymore,” Tom said, looking bewildered.

“Yeah, well, I’m over that,” you said, hoping this burst of courage would last. “I miss you, Tom, like . . . all the time.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I don’t want space. I want you. And I know we said we’d try to be friends but it’s clearly not working for me. I keep slipping up and—”

You didn’t get to finish your sentence, since Tom cut you off by leaning in and pressing his lips to yours. “I keep slipping up too, remember?” he whispered. “Being your friend has been so fucking hard for me.” He kissed you again, grinning. “So screw that. I love you.”

“Screw that,” you agreed with a smile. “I love you too.”

His eyes brightened. “Now I can call you ‘baby’ without it being weird!” You laughed as he pressed kisses all over your face, mumbling “Baby, sweetheart, darling, angel, love of my life,” in between each one.

Needless to say, when you and Tom announced to your friends the next day that you were back together, no one was surprised. Instead, everyone groaned and pulled out their wallets, handing various amounts of money to a triumphant Zendaya.

“What did I say?” she crowed. “I knew they wouldn’t be able to do it. And I told you guys that set-up would work.”

“You planned this all along?” you said, raising your eyebrows while Tom laughed.

“Of course,” she said, shrugging. “I knew you’d find your way back eventually. You guys love each other too much.”

Looking at Tom, you had to agree.

[magicalspacepanunicorn]

Time is weird, so is science

AuN: YEAH! HI! Today didn’t forget I was posting today (I did...) Uh, so here! Warnings: crying, shouting, swearing, small injuries, mistaken relationship (??) Word count: 5110 Summary:  Logan sighed. He had been at this for a few days straight, often forgetting to eat unless someone reminded him. He was only doing this so the other scientists would stop laughing at his theories during meetings. BOOM! A large crack appeared in the middle of the room. “Holy sh—” He was cut off by a deafening screech as he was sucked through this… bizarre thing, and to the other side. Can Logan perfect his theory and make it back? @ts-storytime  Lovely artist: @logicallycorrected Beautiful beta: @nottodaylogic

Logan

The lab was grey in the darkness, white tables were barely visible under the mixture of tattered paper and lab tubes, stained every colour of the rainbow. The only noise was the loud pulse of Logan’s heartbeat. ‘Of course, I just had to try and do THIS, this impossible feat never before conquered by ANYONE.’

Logan sighed. He had been at this for a few days straight, often forgetting to eat unless someone reminded him. He was only doing this so the other scientists would stop laughing at his theories during meetings. Logan ran his fingers, warm with rapidly moving blood, through his hair as he tried to calm himself from the stress and anger he was feeling. “Okay, okay. Maybe if I try the, hmm, and this.” He picked up a red tube and added it to his concoction. 

BOOM! A large crack appeared in the middle of the room. “Holy sh—” 

He was cut off by a deafening screech as he was sucked through this… bizarre thing, and to the other side.

He was blinded by the brightest light he’d seen in a long time. After spending days in the lab alone with little to no sunlight it was almost a new sensation on his body. He paused as his eyes came into focus. A cold rush of air blew up into his face followed by the smell of fresh bread, whirling into his face.

Roman

Roman awoke with a start and rubbed his eyes. He immediately donned the clothes he had prepared last night, a light suit with tattered patches. The white shirt had a slightly torn, pointed collar hanging over his rough red tie. He stretched and put a hand over his mouth. As he turned to face the door to the hall, he almost screamed at the sight in the mirror hanging on the door frame. 

“My hair! I can’t show up to work like this.” Roman reached for the brush and started carefully styling his hair into a wave-like style, almost floating above his head. 

Despite the close call, once he actually got to work, it actually started off as a pretty normal day for Roman. He had a few annoying customers at the bank, but it was a fairly slow day anyway. He was on his way back home when he saw a large flash of light and a man appeared. Out of nowhere. 

A man with dark brown hair wearing a long white… was it a robe? “What just happened, who are you and what ARE you wearing?”

There were a few shops around, mostly cafes (probably where the bread smell is coming from, I wonder how much it would cost, it smells so good) and others of the sort. There were some people around, but none had seemed to notice the sudden appearance.

“Salutations. My name is Logan. I’m not sure where I am, do you know?”

“Umm, we’re in New York. What happened with the weird light and the—well, you?”

“I believe I have time travelled to the past or the present in your case. May I ask what the year is?”

“Finally something interesting! Oh, It's like May in 1927.”

Logan's eyes widened as he came to a sudden realisation.

“Something wrong? You look a bit tense.”

“I went back 90 years. Oh, something’s wrong. I knew what I was doing but I didn't think it was entirely possible. My colleagues are going to be so worried.” More to himself than anything, he added, “They might steal my work. I need to get back.” 

“You’re from 90 YEARS IN THE FUTURE?!” Roman grabbed me Logan’s hand and ran to his house just down the street, slamming the door behind him when they entered. “So, first things first, am I like a big deal in the future?”

“Really, that's your first question.” Logan rolled his eyes when it seemed Roman was entirely serious. “Sigh. I honestly don’t know, I didn’t get out much.”

“Okay, did you just say sigh?” Logan just stared blankly at Roman until he continued. “Next up, how are we getting you back to your time?”

“We? I was planning to do this alone so there are no...” He looked Roman up and down. “Complications.”

“Ugh, rude. I know my way around here I can help and I’m pretty sure you don’t own a house ninety years in the past. Please let me help! My life is soooooo boring.” Roman shook Logan, begging the other to let him help. 

“Fine.”

Over the next few hours, Logan started explaining what he needed to get back. Roman barely understood half of what Logan was saying, understandably as one was a scientist and the other was not. Soon it was 10 pm and they were both very tired from the previous events, so Logan borrowed some of Romans pyjamas and they both fell asleep, Logan on the sofa and Roman in his bed.

The next day was a Saturday so Logan and Roman had plenty of time to gather everything they needed. It was only a matter of making the concoction and getting back to Logan’s own time.

It had reached November by the time they had finished it. The potion swirled with oranges and yellows practically glowing, even in the light. 

“We almost did it, oh yeah!” Roman started dancing wildly around the once clean room, now covered in different shades of the rainbow as the light shone through the tubes. 

“We’ve almost done it. And be careful, you’re going to knock over my hard work.”

“Rude, we did this together.”

“I did most of it though. Changing the subject, I just need to figure out what to put in to go forward to my time.”

“Ooh, ooh, try the red thingy! It looks really cool.”

“NO!” Roman stepped back in shock. “Sorry for raising my voice but that’s how I got here in the first place. I’ll use this one instead.” Logan grabbed a tube filled with light blue and purple and poured it into the mixture. A sudden flash of light later and both Roman and Logan were somewhere new, sweating in the immense heat that had just blasted into them.

Patton and Virgil

Virgil awoke to the smell of honey and warm bread. “Nooooo, it’s too early,” he whispered.

“Oh, hey Virge, you’re up… kinda.” Patton shook Virgil gently. “Come on it's already 9, you have to do your duties.” A slight chuckle came from Patton. 

“Ha, ha very funny.” Virgil rolled over and yawned. “You know how much I hate this.” Virgil started to get dressed into his tattered linen clothes; he was often pressured into getting something more princely but always refused. 

He looked around the room. It was bare apart from a few paintings of the family and the two beds, one that Patton had decorated with teddy bears he had gotten over the years. Their mum always looked so elegant in the paintings, however, their dad looked annoyed with having to stay in the same position for so long that he almost looked like a teenager annoyed at his parents.

“Yeah, I know but you have to get ready to become the pharaoh sooner or later, so either way it’s going to happen.” Virgil frowned a bit at that “Okay, we need to go to breakfast. You coming?”

“Fine, fine.” Virgil and Patton left the room together trying to navigate the twists and turns of the temple. The walls smelt earthy and were covered in ornate golden swirls. 

As they entered the dining room the servants escorted them to their cushioned seats and served them sweet honey bread and delicate meats. Virgil just played with his food as his parents dragged on about him being late for breakfast and what duties he had. 

“Please stop playing with your food and actually eat it,” His mother sighed. 

“Whatever, mum.” Virgil stood up and started walking out of the room.

“Get back here, we haven’t finished this conversation.” Virgil paused and turned back toward his family, leaning on the door frame, knowing if he didn’t finish this conversation now, he would have to later. Virgil had heard this lecture a hundred times, so he already knew what was coming. 

“You know we love you, but you have to start taking your duties seriously if you want to be a good pharaoh and stop leaning on the walls you’re going to ruin your clothes.” Virgil mouthed the words simultaneously with his mother. 

Patton wasn’t paying attention to the conversation instead choosing to focus more on his food. 

“I’m gonna go now. Bye.” Virgil left and tried to politely wave off the servants trying to escort him to his lessons. Patton stopped eating and ran off to Virgil. “I’m fine Pat,” Virgil insisted before Patton could ask. 

“I know you’re not. Come on, I hate it when you, mum and dad fight.”

“Didn’t count as a fight Pat. Just a disagreement.”

“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I’m not gonna make my special dessert tonight.” Virgil groaned and crossed his arms slightly curling in on himself, pouting. Patton just giggled. “Viiirge, Virgyyy, Virrrge.” Patton poked Virgil as he dramatically whined. “Oh, no. Have I upset my prince, talk to me, brother!”

“My prince?” Virgil chuckled.

“Yay! Words from my dark strange son!”

“We’re brothers, you are not my dad, you’re, like, less than a year younger than me.”

They walked the rest of the way chuckling as Patton mimicked his parents in an attempt to keep Virgil’s spirits up. Virgil was very prone to anxiety, stress and guilt and Patton often helped him find coping mechanisms or just keeping him happy.

The main lesson today was camel riding (they were better in the sweltering heat than horses). Virgil hated it, he always fell off at least once, Patton, however, could ride for days without falling. He loved all animals, even if he was allergic to some of them. 

Virgil could only last in the heat for four hours before he had to go inside or risk heatstroke. Patton could last a little bit longer before he needed to go inside too.

It had been yet another unsuccessful camel riding lesson for Virgil, earning him a record-breaking seven times falling off in various fashions. He now had several bruises and a small scratch on his elbow. After swatting off Patton, insisting he was fine, Virgil walked most of the way to the throne room before a large flash of light and the sudden appearance of two men he’d never seen before.

Virgil swore very loudly. “Osiris help me. What happened? Give me a minute.” Virgil panted, leaning one hand against the wall as support. Roman and Logan looked at each other with looks of confusion and worry. This was not where they were supposed to be. “Okay, okay, I’m good now. Now onto the matter at hand. WHO ARE YOU!?”

“Stop shouting, you’ll draw attention to us.” Roman stage whispered as Logan glanced around the hall to make sure there were no other people. 

“We’re good.” Logan whispered to Roman as he started heading towards the room closest to them, yanking a now worried Virgil behind him.

“LET GO OF ME!” Virgil tugged his arm back once in the room. luckily, the room they entered was just a spare bedroom. “Who are you, I’ll get the guards.”

“Good luck getting out of this room.” Roman moved in front of the door. 

“Okay, I’m sure we can talk about this. Roman lower your protective stance, there’s not much point guarding the door.”

“How do we know we can trust him, hmm?” Roman said not moving.

“Because, clearly, he’s afraid. Look at him. It’s not like he could do anything anyway.” 

Virgil looked annoyed. “Don’t underestimate me.” 

“See, he’s threatening us right now!”

“Sorry about him.” Logan gestured towards Roman. 

“Hey.”

“Roman, stop whining. May I know your name?”

“Only if you tell me yours.” 

“I’m Logan and, as I believe I said earlier, this is Roman.” Logan said indicating whom he was talking about. 

Don’t trust anyone. especially with your identity These words rattled around Virgils head, his father had told him this ages ago and it had always stuck with him.

“Okay. I’m…. Anxiety.”

“Huh, that’s a weird name.” 

Logan sighed. “Roman, shut up. We need to know what the date is, if you would be so kind?”

Virgil furrowed his brow. “1557, I think.” Logan stared at Virgil, eyes wide in worry.

“We only went back a few hundred years, and we already know all of the stuff we need so why do you look so worried?”

“I don’t think we just went back a few hundred years’. Ancient Egypt was in the B.C’s which means we went back over a thousand years. We might not have the stuff available to fix this.” Logan’s eyes started leaking tears. “I’m never going to be able to go home. I never told my family I loved them and now I’m going to be stuck here forever or die!” Roman was shook. He, in the few months he’d known Logan, had never seen Logan cry.

Virgil shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “I can get him some support if you let me leave. I know a person who is amazing at feelings and that stuff. Let me get some help.” 

Roman nodded and moved to a dusty bed, his own mind was racing now with similar thoughts. When Virgil returned he now saw Roman crying too. 

“Okay, Pat, do your thing.” Patton nodded and lifted Logan to the bed so he could hug both of them. He let them cry on him until their tear ducts were empty. Logan stood up after removing himself from the hug, adjusted his tie and wiped his eyes.

“Sorry for that.”

“Why are you apologizing kiddo?”

“I caused an inconvenience.” 

Roman finally stood up too and fixed his clothing. “You never cry. To be honest I was starting to think you were a machine. Good to know you have emotions.” Logan jokingly scoffed, he was kind of used to it at this point.

“You not going to introduce me to your friends, kiddo?” Patton turned towards Virgil.

“Patton, meet Logan and Roman. Logan, Roman, meet Patton. My brother.”

“Salutations.” Logan adjusted his glasses. “Apologies, Patton, Anxiety. But we must be going if we are to return to our own time..s.”

“Where are you going to sleep? What are you going to eat? I can’t let my kiddos starve.”

“Kiddos?” Logan stared at Patton, ignoring the questions for the time being. “I am unfamiliar with this term.”

“Don't tell me the word kiddo doesn't exist in the future!” 

Logan shrugged, “I’m not sure. I’ve never heard it before but I didn’t, as they say, ‘get out much’.”

“Me neither. The outside world is much too scary.” Virgil shuddered.

“Not so much scary as annoying. And I had no friends to go anywhere with.”

“That’s so sad!” Patton hugs a very awkward Logan. 

“Shouldn’t have told him that…” Virgil mutters, not making any move to help Logan. “Well, you’re my friend now, and I will help you get home. but you’re staying with me.” Logan tries to dislodge himself from the hug, but fails. 

“There isn’t much point in friendship, I’d rather not.”

“Too bad! We’re friends now and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Logan sighs and accepts his fate. 

Patton releases Logan. “You kiddos feeling better?” Roman nods and Logan regains his neutral expression. 

“Yes.”

The next week isn’t completely without its troubles. They almost get caught several times and Virgil returns to the room they agreed to meet at to work on the project, groaning and refusing to help sometimes after arguments with his parents. By the time the week has ended they have gathered all the things they need. Logan sits, trying to concentrate on the potion as Roman sings loudly and Patton makes jokes in the background. He almost drops the vial he was holding when Roman belts out a note. “Shut up!” 

Everyone freezes. “I’m trying to get us back to our times and your loud, annoying displays aren’t helping! I want to go home…” Patton steps closer as Logan sniffles, even if he was ignored back then, at least he was happy. He had a family, and a nice home and a cat that made sure he was taking care of himself. Emile...he missed Emile so much, that special tabby cat…

Logan felt tears prick at his eyes. “what if we never get home?..” The dam broke as Logan sobbed into his arms. “Aw, kiddo...you’re going to get home. I know you will!”

“But I might not… I should have just listened to them when they said I wasn’t good enough..”

“Who said that?! I will destroy them!!” Roman grabs a pen Logan had on the table and holds it as if it were a weapon. 

Logan takes his pen back. “Careful, you’re not a professional in murder.”

“.....” the whole group falls silent as they stare at Logan. “and you are?...” 

Logan shrugs. “I’ve read books, hurt a few people.” 

They stare in disbelief at him. “That’s interesting..”

“Self defense is important and now I can be either FBI or an assassin when I’m done with my current career.”

“What’s an FBI?”

“Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The three pretend to have understood that with small nods and noises of agreement. Logan isn’t falling for any of it but he’s going to ignore it as these people won’t ever see it. “Can we just try to get back to our own times?”

“I guess, but I’m gonna miss you kiddo’s.” Logan nods in agreement, sighing quietly as he picks back up the concoction and the dark blue vial. “I guess we should say goodbye before I do this?”

Virgil doesn’t speak, not wanting to say goodbye, and hugs Logan gently instead before walking over to Roman and hugging him too. Patton did the same and Logan did nothing, not wanting to drop the important liquids he was holding. Roman, in true Roman style, sang a goodbye song before Logan poured the blue into the mixture of swirling colours.The rift reopened and sucked Logan in.

Back to the future 

He smiled widely as he looked around at the lab only for his jaw to drop at the sight of tunic clad Patton and Virgil and suit covered Roman to be standing there to. Logan dropped is head into his hands, sighing. “Do I have to do this again?..”

“What’s wrong with being around me?” Roman swoops his hair back, smiling. “Although, this isn’t my home..” He looks around confused as Patton hums and opens the blinds. Logan looks up, hissing at the sudden light only to freeze at the floating cars outside.

Virgil starts shaking, new place, cold place, no. Need to leave, not safe. Roman picks up Virgil, who’d fallen to the floor, and holds him to his chest, letting the other listen to his steady heartbeat as Virgil slowly calms down.

“Where are we?”

“I believe we have gone too far in time, into the future.” Logan pushes up his glasses, acting calm. Patton giggles and claps. “That’s so weird! I think it’s cool too though. What are those?” He points the the hovering vehicles outside.

“Updated cars.” Logan fixes his tie and smiles as Emile, the cat, walks into the lab. He’s older than he used to be, but still has the same kind presence as he brushes up against Logan’s leg, who leans down and picks him up in response.

Patton walks over, about to pet the cat before Virgil jumps off Roman and stands in front of him. “No, Pat. No. You can’t.” Patton sighs and pouts.

“Pwease!” Virgil shakes his head.

“Fine, then can we find some doggo’s to pet?” Patton perks up at the thought.

Logan puts Emile back down after nuzzling him and nods. “Emi can stay here, he knows how to look after himself anyway.” He starts walking out of the lab, to the outside with Roman, Patton and Virgil following.

Logan looks around, admiring the faster technology. Patton just looks around for dogs with Virgil. Roman put his arm on Logan’s shoulder. “So, you gonna show us what this is or not?”

Logan is about to respond, only to be frozen at a sudden shout of his name by a complete stranger. The whole crowd of people look over and suddenly Logan and his friends are surrounded as they try to get him away. “WHAT THE HELL!?!” Logan clings to Roman and Patton who try to pull him back into the lab with Virgil shaking at the loud screams and cheers.

Virgil is the first to get back inside, followed by Logan, then Roman and Patton who shut the doors quickly. Logan’s shirt is ruffled, with his collar half and tie loose. His hair is a big mess, fluffing out all over the place, with his glasses lopsided. “What the hell..” Logan quickly fixes his glasses, shirt and tie before searching for a mirror, only to be handed one by Roman. Of course he always carries a mirror on him.

Logan fixes his hair, pushing it back to its previous position before giving the mirror back and closing the blinds on the large crowd. “Heckity heck, five abs and one peck.” Roman sighs, shaking his head slightly.

“What?” Logan stares at Roman in confusion.

“Oh it’s just something I use to make sure everyone else is as confused as me.” Roman shrugged slightly. “Where is the light? It’s dark.”

Logan sighs and snaps his fingers to create a sudden glow from all the corners and centre of the room. “A little trick I designed years ago.” He walks over to one of the glowing things to show it’s a mini aquarium filled with tiny sharks, all glowing in the dark.

Patton’s excited squeal was expected as he rushed over to one of the tanks and sat down, watching them move about in the water. “Pwetty...” Virgil sits by Patton and leans on him, calming down from the panic the crowd caused.

Roman hums looking around. “Hey, Lo. Did we stand out because of the weird clothes they were all wearing and we aren’t?”

Logan freezes for a moment before nodding. “That could be it, however I did hear someone ask ‘how does it feel to be famous for inventing time travel?’ so I may very well draw a lot of attention just by being me.” He sighs and walks over to a draw in the corner of the room before throwing a white button up shirt, red jacket and black jeans. “Put those on.”

“Hey!” Roman caught them and went to throw something back at Logan before realising he had no idea what any of this did, so he probably shouldn’t throw anything around.

Logan walked over to Patton and Virgil, after some consideration and handed them a pair of jeans each, a ripped shirt, a polo, a grey cardigan and an oversized hoodie. Logan made it a point to have extra of his outfits, as well as anything anyone else might need.

Patton and Virgil got changed in one corner while Roman got changed in another, Logan looking away to give them all privacy. They took a while, not used to this kind of clothing, but when they were finally dressed the outfits suited them well. Virgil was able to hide into the hoodie, Patton was in a bright blue that perfectly fit his personality and Roman was checking himself out in his mirror.

Logan rolled his eyes and peeked through the blinds to see if the crowd had left. They hadn’t, of course. Logan sighs and walks out past the lab and into a smaller room, grabbing a bowl and some cereal. “We might be stuck here for a while.” He sighs quietly and makes the cereal before eating it and closing his eyes to think.

If you knew Logan well, and these three did, you would know there are only 2 times Logan’s eyes are closed for more than needed. Reason one: He’s asleep or, reason two: He’s thinking. He’s thinking so much the rest of the world isn’t there.

Patton skips around the lab, waiting for Logan to come back so he can see what he’s allowed to do. He takes a while, he usually does, before walking back into the lab, smiling. “Pat and Ro, can you go out the front and say I’ve left? Virge, follow me.” He smirks and takes Virgil’s hand without an explanation before leading him down, past the smaller room, down a hallway and into a secret passage.

Roman and Patton were confused but went outside anyway, once the other two had left. “I’m sorry but Lo..gan left! You can all leave now!” Patton smiles softly as he speaks. “How do we know you’re not lying? You are his boyfriends, you two and the dark one.”

Roman stifled giggles before bursting into laughter. “You think I’m dating that nerd! No, no, no, no, no, he’s aro and definitely not my type.” Patton laughs along, nodding. “I’m not even a boy! I can’t be dating Ro!”

“You’re not?” Patton freezes and gulps, shaking his head as the crowd disappeared to them both. “I’m not really any gender...I don’t know if there’s a word for it though..” Roman nods slightly, jumping at the sudden shout of “Non-binary” from the crowd. Someone stepped forward, a smaller person following behind. The first wore an orange beanie and the other wore makeup. “Joan.” The first one said. “I go by they/them and I’m non-binary.”

The second speaks up, even if it’s quieter. “I’m Tayln, also a they/them nb.” Patton froze, starting to smile. “Non-binary? So not a boy or girl?..” Talyn and Joan nod as Patton starts clapping, the crowd mostly gone. “Non-binary! That’s me! I’m that!”

Roman smiles at his happy, bouncing cardigan clad friend. “So, are you gonna go by they/them too?” Patton shakes his head.

“I like he/him.” Roman nods slightly and lightly pats Patton’s back. “Glad you found who you are.”

Patton hums as he walks around outside, too happy to remember what the next step was. He skips straight into Logan anyway, smiling, Roman close behind. “Logie! I found it out!” Logan is confused as he sighs, Virgil’s hiding behind him but he comes out when he sees Patton. “What?”

“Non-binary! I’m non-binary!” Patton jumped around, making Virgil smile slightly. It’s a rare thing, but that just makes it more beautiful. “Oh, are you changing your pronouns then?”

“What?”

“He/him, she/her, they/them, xe/xir. They’re all pronouns.” Logan sighs quietly, letting a slight smile slip. All of them liked seeing Patton happy and they would protect him at all costs. “Oh. No, I’m still a he/him, I just don’t get the whole gender thingy.” They all nod. “Great..” Virgil hugs Patton quickly before looking away and catching sight of a grocery store. “What’s that?”

Logan looks over. “Why don’t I show you?” He takes a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and puts them on, placing his normal glasses into his pocket (but he can still see and it is baffling the others), loosening his tie and putting on a leather jacket he’d grabbed on his way out. “This is uncomfortable.” He sighs and walks across the street and into the store, getting a few looks but no one seemed to notice him.

Virgil hid in his new hoodie as they walked, Patton skipping alongside and Roman humming. Logan looked around the store, smiling widely once he found the crofters. “Oh thank the gods, they still have crofters.” He looks across the labels and freezes. “and they have one named after me..” He picks up a flavour named ‘Logans berry’ and drops it in the shopping basket he’d grabbed on the way in.

Virgil and Patton had disappeared, distracted by a small section with fluffy animals in bright or dark colours. Roman sighs and takes Logan’s hand, dragging him along to the others. Virgil was hugging a black bat while Patton was holding a puppy teddy close. “Can we get them? Please!!”

Logan nods, who can deny Patton’s perfect puppy dog eyes next to a puppy teddy? He just hopes he has enough money as he gets the usual things he’d get to last the week only four times as much as now he had four people to look after instead of just himself. Roman, Patton and Virgil were looking around in wonder. Patton and Virgil had never seen a light or a wall like the ones they had. Roman was mainly checking himself out in every reflective surface he could find.

Logan sighs as he takes Patton’s hand, who was holding Virgil’s hand, and starts walking over to the cashier to pay, leaving Roman to fend for himself. He swipes his credit card, only to freezes and try to cover the name showing up on the screen. “Are you really?! Oh my gosh! I’m such a big fan!”

Logan groans quietly. “I’ll do anything, just shut up. You’re going to draw attention.” Virgil hugs his new black bat teddy close, smiling softly.

The cashier nods slightly and takes out some paper, holding it and a pen out to Logan. “Can I get an autograph?” Logan rolls his eyes as he does what the person asked and gives them back their things before leaving, Roman finally noticing the others weren’t around any more and following them out.

Logan sighs quietly and rushes back to the lab with the others. “I need to change that…” Virgil never lets go of the bat, always nuzzling or flying it around. It’s like he’s getting the childhood he was never able to have. “Change what, kiddo?”

“My card shows my name and I don’t want...that to happen again.” Logan says, referencing the crowd situation as he puts the food away and gets some water and cat food out for Emile, petting him gently as he walks over to eat. Patton nods slightly, smiling at Virgil.

Roman smiles at the little squeaks and bleps Virgil does as he flies the bat around. Logan takes out his phone and starts videoing it, saving it so they can all smile and have a happy memory to look on in the future. The future’s future…

Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

[heyyyharry]

Date 

(from the Flatmate!Harry Series)

...in which Harry and Y/N go on their first day, and it turns out quite unexpected.

Warning: language, mention of smut, fluff, boyfriend Harry.

Harry’s never done this before.

He’s done some crazy shits in his life (he’s got more than just a few meaningless tattoos on his body to prove it) and never been afraid of taking risks, but now when it comes to Y/N, Harry must admit he’s a little bit frightened. He’s never taken a girl out for a romantic dinner or bought her flowers or written love notes. That’s not who he is, well, was, in past tense. Because with Y/N now in the picture, he kind of wants to be that person for her. He’s more than willing to change, which, he believes, shouldn’t be too hard since he hasn’t been the same since they first met. However, he cannot help but feel like there’s still so much more to work on. After all, he doesn’t want Y/N to leave him, that’s the thing he fears the most.

“I want to take you out on a date,” he says to her the next morning, one day after their first kiss. “I stayed up last night to plan the whole thing, you just need to say yes.”

Y/N, still in her PJ, stares at Harry from her bedroom door with her eyes widened.

“You really didn’t have to.” She crosses her arms in front of her chest. “We hang out all the time, and we’re also living together! I mean, you fell asleep in my bed last night during The Notebook! We already look like a married couple to me, we don’t need a fancy date.”

“Are you kidding me? Yes, we do.” Harry scoffs. “If we’re going to be boyfriend and girlfriend, you’re getting a proper first date!”

They’ve never discussed this topic before, but Y/N honestly finds him referring to them as boyfriend and girlfriend kind of sexy. She immediately walks up to Harry and throws both arms around his neck, as a result, making him smile so wide.

“I like this Harry. Let’s keep him.” Y/N’s comment makes her flatmate chuckle. He cocks his head to the side and rests his hands gently on her lower back.

“He’s not going anywhere. I guarantee,” Harry tells Y/N with certainty.

...

Y/N spends almost two hours digging through her closet, trying on clothes for her date with Harry tonight. She eventually comes to a decision to wear this basic flowered black dress she hasn’t worn again since her sixteenth birthday, because her boyfriend back then said it made her look old. But when Harry finally sees Y/N in that dress, he tells her without a second thought that she looks ‘very beautiful’. He could lie and she wouldn’t care, she’s never been more sure of her feelings for anyone else.

On their way leaving their flat, Harry and Y/N run into their next door neighbor Ben who just came back home from work. In contrast to the cheerfulness on the young couple’s faces, the man appears a bit irritated and upset, though he immediately hides that look behind a smile when he sees them.

“Good evening, lovelies. Where are you going?”

“Uh...Dinner,” is Harry’s answer as he exchanges looks with Y/N, such behavior can never pass the eyes of their experienced neighbor.

“Oh my God, are you two going on a date?” he gasps, only receiving two smiles as a confirmation but that’s all he needs.

“Finally! I was rooting for you guys!” Ben squeals, clapping his hands excitedly. “Wait until the gossip lady downstairs hear about this! She thinks getting money from me is easy? I’ll show her!”

Harry stares at the older guy with bulging eyes. “Ben, you made a bet on us?!”

“Nooooo, I actually made a bet on you. That woman said you would chicken out but I believed in you mate.” Ben gives Harry a pat on the back, making Y/N crack up whilst Harry just stands there squinting his eyes, unsure whether he should get upset or say thank you.

“So which one of you made the first move? How did this happen exactly?” Ben asks, quickly switching his finger back and forth from Harry to Y/N. 

The pair just look at each other, shrug and speak at the same time, “long story.”

“You know what they say! Couples who speak together stay together!” Ben says as he turns the key to open his front door. “Sorry, that was rude of me to take so much of your time. You kids have fun on your date, okay!”

“Have a lovely night, Ben!” Y/N tells him with a smile, and when she turns away, Ben secretly winks at Harry and gives the young man, who’s grinning from ear to ear, an encouraging thumb up.

...

It only takes fifteen minutes driving to their dinner location, but Harry swears those fifteen minutes seem like a whole fucking lifetime. He remembers his first time going to school, his first time going to the hospital after breaking his arm, his first kiss, and first time having sex, none of those things made Harry as nervous as he is now. Just the simple thought of Y/N not liking the food or service at the restaurant makes his palms heavily sweat. Then he starts to wonder to himself how some of his friends can make going on dates look so easy. 

Harry’s worry doesn’t go unnoticed. As soon as she sees him puckering his forehead while tapping his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, she immediately reaches for his shoulder. 

“Don’t stress too much. You could just take me to McDonald’s and I’d still be very very happy.” 

“Fuck,” Harry blurts out. “I love you.”

It was supposed to be a thought in his head only, but the words slipped right out before Harry could even stop himself. As a result, his face turns bright red. Little does he know, Y/N swoons over those words just like the first time he said them to her. She leans over from the passenger seat to kiss him on the cheek, then lets him know that she loves him too.

The traffic is clear tonight so Harry and Y/N arrive at the restaurant a little sooner than scheduled. When they walk in, the place is already packed which is understandable for it’s Saturday night. Harry’s told Y/N that this is the best restaurant nearby, he knows it because he came here once with his sister when she was still in town and he’s wanted to take Y/N here ever since.

“Table for two. Harry Styles. 7 PM.” 

“Sir, I apologize for the inconvenience but your table may still not be ready yet. You would have to wait another five minutes, would it be alright?” says the small lady in the uniform.

Harry presses his lips into a smile and tells her they don’t mind at all, then watches her hurry back inside, probably to take care of his reservation. Harry takes a quick glance at Y/N, who’s holding his hand and grinning to herself, that’s all it takes to boost Harry’s confidence to the max. Usually he’s not into sappy stuff like this, but now he finds going on a date strangely enjoyable. As long as she’s happy, he’s happy.

However, the enjoyment doesn’t last long for Harry, because he quickly recognizes a familiar face in the crowded room. That young waitress is too busy writing down orders to spot Harry at the entrance. The problem is, she’s not just a familiar waitress.

“Let’s not eat here! I’m taking you somewhere else, okay?” Harry speaks fast and grabs Y/N by the hand to pull her out of the waiting line. 

The lady from earlier calls after Harry to say his table’s ready, still he ignores her, and keeps on walking away. Poor Y/N doesn’t know what’s going on, too confused to even protest and just lets her date lead them back to the street without any clear explanation.

“What happened?” She asks once they’re already outside. 

Harry heaves out a sigh as he reads her facial expression, thinking they haven’t got to dinner yet and he’s already made her mad. There’s no point making things up now, so he straight off tells her he knows a waitress in there and is not comfortable of running into her. 

He wants to curse himself out loud for the look on Y/N’s face when she comes to realization. He wants to change, but he cannot change his past and he feels threatened by the possibility of it one day being the reason Y/N walks away from him and never returns. He hangs his head and apologizes for what happened, even though it wasn’t his plan to run into one of his one-night-stands.

“It’s okay really.” Y/N takes a step closer to Harry then presses her palm to his cheek. “Thanks for being honest with me. Let’s just go back inside, I won’t mind.”

It’s confirmed, he thinks. She’s an angel.

“No, I don’t want to have her serve us dinner. It’d be really weird and uncomfortable. Tonight should only be me and you, no other distractions.”

“Then do you have a back up plan?”

“Of course I do.” Harry nods with confidence. A wise man always has a back up plan, and he believes he’s a very wise man. 

Harry’s back up plan is his second favorite restaurant in this area, he also went here once with his sister, to whom he owes a thank you after tonight. This restaurant is smaller and cheaper than the first one, but it’s outdoors, which he thinks Y/N may like since they’ll be eating in a garden, surrounded by fairy lights, under the stars. If this isn’t romantic, Harry doesn’t know what is.

“This place is beautiful,” Y/N exclaims as she grabs a menu on the table. Harry does the same with a huge smirk on his face, pretty proud of himself for successfully planning out this perfect dinner. It almost seems like nothing else can go wrong.

But...

Yes, there’s been a lot of ‘buts’ tonight. The biggest problem Harry doesn’t seem the notice yet, is the fact that they’re sitting outdoors with no roof above their heads.

Harry’s scanning his eyes through the menu when the first rain drop falls down on his shoulder, he doesn’t feel it. Then comes a few others on his arms and face causing him to look up at the sky. Large pillows of dark clouds are forming, a very bad sign indeed. Five seconds are all it takes for the rain to come pouring down like a water fall. Harry grabs Y/N’s hand as they run to take shelter under the nearest roof, unfortunately, they’re not as dry as before when they get there.

Harry brushes his wet strands of hair out of his eyes, trying to catch his breath as he turns to Y/N, who doesn’t look any better, all soaked from her head to toes.

“Harry, I’m wet, let’s just go home,” Y/N says and Harry stares at her with his eyes and his mouth wide open.

“Y/N Y/L/N, we’re in public!” he gasps, instantly receives a playful swat on the chest.

...

The heavy downpour obscures the view from Y/N’s bedroom window as the wind and raindrops beat on the glass with violent force. Harry’s a bit glad that they got home just before the heavy shower made it impossible to drive, still and all, he’s also disappointed for their date was canceled halfway. It was all perfectly planned out in his head, if it hadn’t been for the series of unfortunate events, tonight could’ve been amazing.

Y/N’s kneeling on her bed in front of Harry, drying his hair with a towel after she’s finished drying her own. 

“I like rain, always sleep better when it’s raining outside,” she softly says.

Harry stays still with his legs crossed and hands on his lap, like a little puppy as Y/N takes care of him, and she knows he loves being taken care of. At moments like this, he’s just glad they’re living together.

Y/N puts the towel aside then grabs Harry’s face to peck him on the lips, telling him he’s good to go, but he’s certainly not going anywhere now that he has her under his fingertips. As Y/N intends to rise from the bed, Harry slides his hands up to her hips, making the young woman flinch and blush a little bit when he slowly guides her to sit on his lap, facing him, legs wrapped around his torso.

“Why are you wearing this tank top, huh?” he asks with a husky voice when his eyes make a trip down from her lips to her chest. Y/N swallows hard, shifting a little bit in her flatmate’s lap while his eyes are burning holes on her flushed skin.

“Because it’s comfy?” she almost whispers.

“It’s too revealing. It does things to me.” Harry literally growls as he starts nosing at her jaw, she smells like lavender, and he cannot get enough. Y/N’s eyes fall shut. Her fingers soon find their way to his hair then she feels herself melting into their eager kiss.

“Harry, we-”

“I know,” he whispers against her lips, his eyes are close, too lost in her scent and taste but he’s aware of his own intentions. “We’re not gonna do anything you don���t want to. I just want to kiss you.”

Harry’s thoroughly surprised by his own words. Of course he’s always got good self-control in situations like this, but whenever he was making out with a girl in bed, one way or another, they ended up fucking. This is something different on a whole new level. He’s not gonna lie, he wants Y/N without a doubt. Sometimes when he’s alone, he even lets his imagination get a bit too wild with the thoughts of them having sex. But Y/N is not one of his hookups, she’s special, and he cannot risk losing something so special by rushing this. 

When Harry lays Y/N down on her back, she’s already a mess beneath him, half-heartedly wanting him to take her all at once, but for some unknown reasons, she’s afraid. She’s afraid that this is only special to him because they’re not having sex. As soon as they have sex, it’s very unlikely that everything stays the same. Having gone through all those shitty past relationships, Y/N didn’t want to fly too high to come tumbling down at the end, but now there’s no turning back, so she can only hope he won’t leave her alone.

“Harry, stop!” Y/N nearly shouts as she sits right up, forcing Harry to do the same. He looks rather shocked than confused by his girlfriend’s reaction when just a few seconds ago she seemed like she really enjoyed it.

“D-did I do something wrong? Did I hurt you?” Harry asks, a painful look displays upon his face. Y/N, now is already standing by the bed, shakes her head no as a response. 

“You didn’t hurt me. I...Well...”

Her sentence is left unfinished, suddenly interrupted by the loud shouting in the hallway. The gay couple next door are arguing again, but this time it seems pretty serious because they start using really harsh words to call each other. Y/N immediately rushes outside to see if they’re alright, and Harry has no choice but to follow her.

When they open the door, they only see Ben, his fiancé Mark has probably left. Ben stands with his head against the door to his flat and he seems absolutely devastated, so Y/N hurriedly walks up to him and asks if he’s okay.

“He cheated on me, Y/N,” the poor guy says between sobs. Y/N and Harry exchange looks with each other but no one speaks a word since presumably he still has a lot to say.

“I saw the texts on his phone to one of his colleagues. I confronted him about it and we argued, then he walked away...”

Y/N swallows hard as Ben turns around to give her a hug. She stands like a statue with her hands on his back, letting her heartbroken friend cry on her shoulder.

“He said he loved me and that he would change...I should never have believed him.”

The words strike down hard on both Y/N and Harry like a violent hit on the head, each for a different reason. So when they’ve said goodbye and good luck to their distraught neighbor, walk back into their flat and close the door, Harry just has to come forward and ask, “can we talk?”

Y/N’s not in any way fond of those words. Every time she hears it, it’s never news. However, she still calmly turns to face him and gives him a slight nod. Harry takes his seat on the sofa then Y/N follows right after to sit down beside him.

“I want to know what you thought about tonight,” says Harry as he maintains eye-contact with Y/N.

“Despite all the things that happened, I loved it.” Y/N smiles at him. “Why?”

“Because I noticed the way you looked when you heard what Ben said, and your reaction earlier in the bedroom. Is there anything you want to tell me, Y/N?”

“I...I can’t tell you, you won’t understand.”

Nothing’s ever hurt her more than the look on his face when she tells him those words. They sit in silence for a couple seconds, then Harry’s the first one to speak up.

“You don’t trust me.”

“That’s...not true...”

“Then what is?” He frowns, looking so disappointed it breaks her heart. “Because you’re obviously not telling me the truth, Y/N.”

When he intends to stand up, she immediately grabs onto his arms, eyes begging him not to leave her hanging. 

“Please don’t go,” she pleads.

And he softens all at once. “Then tell me what you’re thinking, baby. We promised to be honest to each other no matter what.”

“Okay, but promise you won’t be mad?”

He nods and gives her his word.

“Well...The truth is...I was afraid you will leave me once we’ve had sex...”

His eyes grow wide in reaction to her words. Then without saying a single word, he rises from the sofa then marches away, toward his room. Y/N becomes frantic with worry so she chases after him.

“You promised you wouldn’t be mad!”

Harry instantly stops, then turns around to face his flatmate who’s standing in front of him with fear in her eyes.

“I’m not mad at you. I’m hurt.”

And Y/N’s speechless. Harry exhales sharply, placing both hands on his hips, and he’s not even looking at her right now.

“I did everything I could to make you happy, Y/N. I tried to prove to you I’d got better. But how do you expect me to feel when I put so much effort in planning out a date which turned to shit then heard my girlfriend say she thought I only wanted her for sex? It...It seems like no matter what I do, I’m still the same old me to you, never gonna be good enough, aren’t I?”

Every word he says is like a knife pierced right through her chest and Y/N feels as if she’s already on the verge of crying. She closes the distance between them then wraps her arms around his torso pulling him in. Harry hugs her back despite how downhearted he is by her, because no matter what she says or thinks of him, she’s still the one he loves.

“You are always enough,” she mumbles into his shirt, though it’s muffled he still hears every word very clearly. “It’s just...When something’s too good to be true happens to you, you cannot help but feel scared you might lose it...You falling in love with me is still very surreal to me. My worst fear is one day you’ll realize that it’s all an illusion and whatever feelings you’ve had for me aren’t real.”

“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve heard, Y/N. If I could just unlove you, I wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble just to prove it to you I’m worth it.”

She looks at him timidly, but is now more at ease hearing what he has to say.

“I mean, fuck, have you ever seen me stay up all night to google ‘how to impress a girl on your first date’ before?” Harry rolls his eyes skyward and starts beaming when he hears her snort.

"And when I said I only wanted to kiss you, that was really what I meant. I just wanted to kiss you, nothing more. If it was too much, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. But baby...” Harry heavily breathes. “...I’m a fool for you, and it’s embarrassing how much I enjoy it.”

Y/N is in transports of delight as she wraps her arms around his neck. Honestly, she thinks she’s even a bigger fool than he is in this relationship, because just a look of his green eyes or his beautiful smile or the way her name sounds on his lips can send her straight on cloud nine. And now he’s standing in front of her, saying all that, Y/N is just barely breathing.

“Don’t you dare not kiss me again, understand you fool?!” 

“Okay, ma’am. Shall we carry on where we left off?” Harry smirks and leans down to reattach their lips, but Y/N is quick to stop him with a hand on his chest, slightly pushing him away.

“Later! Now I’m going to make us dinner. Then we’ll finish our wonderful date night by watching Netflix, you’ll get to pick the movie this time.”

“Need some help in the kitchen?”

“No. You’ve done enough, mister! We’re all about gender equality in this house!” Y/N announces loudly as she dances her way into the kitchen, pointing her finger at Harry, who simply shakes his head, smiling uncontrollably. 

“That’s my girl.”

[scribble-fics]

You accidentally ignoring them

(Requested by @theaticalwriter as what if the reader was unintentionally ignoring the rottmnt turts and april due to being engrossed in something.)

Raph-

🍕 at first he was fine with you getting into a new show. And he's fine with you having a life outside of him. It's what humans do he can't expect you to be with him 24/7.

🍕 when you first don't pick up the phone when he calls, "eh they're watching their show probably. Shouldn't bother them."

🍕 later he calls later but you don't pick up, again. He decided to leave a text maybe you would see it- "hey pumpkin when you can give me a call luv u❤"

🍕 when you don't answer his text, not even read it, he's a bit worried. No way your phone is dead or else it wouldn't have ran when he called.. And you didn't even open his text- WHAT IF YOU ARE HURT?!

🍕instantly hits up your place to see you curled in a ball on your couch, tv shining light on your features. Empty soda cans and bowls of popcorn kernels litter the floor as your eyes watch the screen.

🍕 he lets himself in and pauses the tv snapping you out of your t.v. trance, "raph?" When did he get here you have no clue.

🍕 he crossed his arms as you looked at your phone in confusion normally he called when he was about to come ov- 5 MISSED CALLS AND 8 UNREAD TEXTS ALL FROM RAPH!!??

🍕you groan and get up going to your turtle boyfriend who has now opened his arms and scooped you into them. "Raphie I'm so so sorry. I've been watching my show all day.." You honestly felt heartbroken he must have worried so much about you.

🍕 "that's okay y/n, but please next time I want you to atleast say you are watching (insert favorite show here) you scared me."

Leo-

🍕new video game? HE'S IN!

🍕"it's single player, sorry Leo you can watch me though!" Watching his s/o play a new video game? Sure why not.

🍕 when the game starts you are instantly pulled in by it. And actually very good at it too. Way to go you.

🍕 after a while of watching Leo tries to talk to you, "so y/n-" "shh Leo I need to focus"

🍕 he gets it. Yeah he would be focusing too. So he waits for a better time, he tries again, "oh! Wait cutie you are not going to believe- "hold on a sec Leo"

🍕hmpf. Fine you didn't even notice him get up with a huff, "hey uh, I think I'm going to go stretch my legs up top." He looks back at you, yet your eyes haven't left the screen.

🍕 after being out for what had to be hour/hour and a half maybe. He returns to find you- still playing at game. Great.

🍕 "hey cutie I'm back, I went to April's and talked for a bit- uh y/n? You listening" nope. You were shooting zombies rapid fire.

🍕"OH NO Y/N I BROKE MY LEG!!!!....really nothing? Thought that would have broke you...OH COME ON!"

🍕 after ignoring him, and his one liner he finaly reaches forward and pushes the pause button on your controller making you snap out of your video game mode. "Leo?"

🍕 "oh so now you notice me. I don't want you focusing on the game so much y/n, I want you focusing on me."

🍕 you feel guilty. Setting the controller down and giving him a big hug, "I'm sorry leo, I was just excited for the game."

🍕 yeah well. Rip the game, you didn't come back to it after that. spent your time with your boyfriend for the rest of the night.

Donnie-

🍕 keeping your boyfriend up to date, you had told him before of your new book interest.

🍕 and he approved. Books are good for the mind and how could he say no to you reading a series of books you like?

🍕 oh but he was about to. He was about to burn every book in the world.

🍕normally you poke and pester him when he's working in his lab. Which he loves. He loves how much you are interested in him and what he's doing.

🍕BUT NOOOOO ALL HE HEARS ANYMORE IS SOFT SOUND OF PAGES BEING FLIPPED AFTER A MINUTE OR TWO

🍕 he's loosing his mind. You always interact with him first, it's like a gentle nudge for him to comfortable get in a conversation.

🍕 he looks up a few times here and there- still sees your perfect face and beautiful eyes glued to that book and not him.

🍕 jealous? You can't get jealous of a book that ridiculo-UGH HE'S GOING TO RIP THAT BOOK IN HALF WITH ALL THE OTHER ONES THAT COME BEFORE AND AFTER IT THATS HIS S/O WHO DOES THAT BOOK THINK IT IS?!?!

🍕 he's had enough- "ahem, hey babe" ....silence..s-silence? SILENCE?! ALRIGHT FINE!

🍕 he walks over, takes the book, "hey-". He'll cut you off by putting one finger to your lips. Then placing your bookmark in the pages he closes it and-

🍕YEET BYE BOOK- throws it far away from you out the door and turns back to you "much better."

🍕" enlighten me, why did you just yeet my book?"

🍕 I yote your book-" "did you just use yeet in past ten-" "don't interrupt."

🍕 after explaining to you why, you just smiled rolling your eyes and now paying attention to your needy nerd boyfriend.

Mikey-

🍕 podwhat? "Podcasts. It's people talking about topics and stuff its very enjoyable"

🍕awesome! It's good you found a cool thing you like. Even if it sounds boring to him he supports your taste in activities.

🍕 "hey y/n~ we're about to go out want to come? I know how much you like the stars" no answer.

🍕 he looks over at you with your eyes closed, looking so peaceful with your earphones in.

🍕 he wouldn't dare bother you. He sees you looking so peaceful he'll let you listen to your pod thing in peace.

🍕 after coming back he gets to see if you're done listening- nope..man this sucks.

🍕 he just kinda sits around and waits. Watching you and pouting a bit. Then feeling sad.

🍕 why would you want to listen to other people talk. When he was right here and you could talk to him. Or you guys could listen to his brothers talk.

🍕 he taps your shoulder after a while making you open one eye and pull out one earphone, "hm? Mikey? What's up?"

🍕 you see him hang his head a bit and he looks kinda sad, "is your um. Peapod done?" Peapod???OH THE PODCAST!!

🍕you turn off the podcast and nod. It is now. He instantly brighten up "GOOD! I uh I mean you know, uh want to spend some time together or something?"

🍕yes. You would want nothing more than to be with him for however long you can.

April-

🍕her s/o has a new hobby? She interested!!

🍕when you tell her that you enjoy watching most satisfying videos on YouTube she giggles.

🍕not because it's funny but because it's cute. She finds you so adorable.

🍕 on the other hand when you start ignoring her texts because you are watching youtube. She gets irritated.

🍕 "hey baby. Did you see my text" "ah no sorry April I was watching a thing"

🍕oh HECK no. She almost blocked YouTube on your phone. Expect a long talking to. One with her explaining how much that hurts when you just ignore her to watch some paint being smeared.

🍕 you thought about it and yeah. You have been accidentally ignoring her kinda. You just weren't really thinking about it.

🍕 from now on- you answer every text as soon as you can from your loving girlfriend. And when you two are together she'll give these videos a chance and watch them with you.

(This was hella fun to write lol so I hope you enjoy. And sorry about the inbox thing, requests are going to have to be sent through messaging until I set up the inbox.)

[uruhabuns]

Sickie

Genre: fluff Pairing: girl!reader x jaeyoon, suggestions of reader x other sf9 members Word Count: ~3000 words a/n: i’ve been in a v v jaeyoon mood recently and i know how shitty it feels to miss out on performances you’ve practiced hard for when you’re sick, and that there’s not much writing centred around our precious honey boy :( so here’s a fluffy scenario no one asked for <3

__________

It was another chilly day spent studying at the university library. Atop the table sat your laptop, textbooks, and thermos filled with hot chocolate, ready for a day of powering through a knowingly procrastinated assignment that was due in two days.

After a few hours of typing up your essay, you decided to take a short break. You took a sip of hot chocolate as you scrolled through your Twitter feed. A single tweet then caught your eye: “Jaeyoon to not participate in SFDay due to illness”. You couldn’t help but sigh. You knew this was going to happen. Late night practices and gymming, dieting, and not to mention the freezing weather, had finally taken a toll on his health. It didn’t help that he was as stubborn as most guys were when they deny their deadly sickness in order to do something they wanted that they knew that was bad for them.

Irritated, you opened Kakaotalk to see the red notification to show that you had 300 new messages. You rolled your eyes, opening the app to message the group chat you and the boys put together (which you had on mute, because of how rowdy they could get, even in their chats). The messages kept coming, to which you assumed that they were in the middle of a conversation about something else, but you decided to interrupt for the sake of worrying.

[ _______ ] : Hey, is everyone okay? Have y’all gotten enough sleep? Eaten enough?

Not even moments later, one of them replied.

[ younggyun ] : yes mom, we have ㅎㅎㅎ

[ hyukie ] : ________!!!!! YOU’RE HERE!!!!!

[ taeyang ] : __________!!! We missed you ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

A chuckle escaped your lips at how cute they were, no matter how annoying they could be. You could never stay mad at them.

[ _______ ] : Come on I haven’t been dead for that long ㅋㅋㅋ

[ hyukie ] : Yeah you have

[ hyukie ] : FOR THE PAST THREE HOURS

[ ________ ] : I WAS WRITING MY ESSAY YOU LITTLE SHIT

[ hyukie ] : R U D E

[ hyukie ] : HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT TO YOUR BEST FRIEND

[ seongseong~ ] : Stop procrastinating, _______!!

[ _________ ] : Oppaaaa~ help me with my assignment ;_____;;;; I’m not as smart as you

[ seongseong~ ] : I would if we had the day off ㅋ

[ ________ ] : Speaking of days off how’s yoonie-oppa doing? I heard he got sick ㅠ WHY DIDN’T Y’ALL TELL ME??

[ jjuongie ] : uhh...because we didn’t want you to worry?

[ ________ ] : HOW COULD YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME, JUHO?! I WOULD FIND OUT WHETHER YOU’D TELL ME OR NOT!!

[ jaeyoon ] : I feel like I could sink into the arms of sweet, sweet death

[ ________ ] : NOOOOO!!!!

[ jaeyoon ] : uggggghghsjklfgdjlf;d

[ ________ ] : Will you be okay? ;_;;;;

[ youngbin ] : OF COURSE NOT HE’S DYING, _______

[ ________ ] : Oh my god...

[ ________ ] : Boys...😒😒😒

[ chanhee~ ] : Noona, I think Jaeyoon-hyung might need some looking-after...

[ youngbin ] : Chan, she needs to concentrate on her assignment. Don’t distract her 😑

[ ________ ] : No, he’s right; I’m gonna head over to your place rn since y’all need some home-made food in your life anyways

[ seokwoo ] : Did you forget that my cooking exists?

[ _______ ] : 😉😉 love u too~

[ taeyang ] : OMG MAKE SOME FOR ME TOO I’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!!

[ younggyun ] : Pls noona we love your food

[ jaeyoon ] : ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, ________?? Don’t come here, you’ll get sick too!!

[ _______ ] : 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Figuring that you had enough of the chatroom for the day, you locked your phone, and placed it in your bag. You then packed up your things, and headed out of the library to catch a bus to the boys’ apartment. Though the essay was due in two days, you figured you could do it at their place, since they weren’t around until late at night anyway. Thoughts of worry flooded your mind throughout the bus journey. You wished they didn’t work their bodies so hard. You wished they didn’t agree to multiple comebacks within months of each other. And above all, you wished they would listen to you, and look after themselves.

The bus then came to a halt at the bus stop in front of the apartment block. You tapped your travel card before stepping out, and rushing inside the building. Once you reached the door of the boys’ unit, you took out the extra key card they gave you in case you wanted to visit, and tapped it at the doorknob. You quietly opened the heavy door, careful not to wake Jaeyoon up in case he was sleeping. You entered the apartment as silently as you could, closing the door slowly. You slid your shoes off before placing your bag, thermos, and slipped off your two coats to put onto the coffee table.

You then headed into the kitchen to salvage whatever ingredients available to make chicken soup. While you were waiting for the water to boil in the pot, you felt a presence coming closer from behind you.

“_______?”

You jumped in surprise at the hoarse voice. You turned around to see a tall,  sleepy, fluffy pink-haired man pouting at you.

“Oppa, you shouldn’t be up!” you exclaimed, grabbing his wrist, and dragging him back into his bedroom. “Nope, nope, nope.”

“But, _______,” he whined with his sore, stuffy voice that was usually cute. You ignored his pleas, and pushed him back into bed. You then threw his quilt and blankets over him, despite his whining.

“Shush, I’m gonna make you soup and tea. I’ll call you out when it’s done, okay? You are not leaving this bed. That’s what you get for overworking during winter! Gosh. Why do you guys like to stress me out?”

Jaeyoon only continued to pout and sulk in response. How you got along with these man-babies, you had no idea. But you didn’t mind; they brought you happiness, and always seemed to bring a smile to your face no matter how shitty your day was, or how busy theirs were. In a way, you were thankful you had them in your life. You guessed meeting and pulling through with your noisy best friend Dawon since high school had paid off.

When you finished making the soup, you turned off the stove, and poured some into a ceramic bowl. You then placed the bowl onto the kitchen counter along with a spoon and pair of chopsticks. You then quietly made your way into Jaeyoon’s room to see that he was fast asleep again. A small smile curled on your lips at his sleeping figure. You couldn’t help but softly stroke his pink hair with the back of your fingers. He looked so peaceful.

“Oppa,” you whispered, gently shaking his shoulders. “Wake up, soup’s ready.”

After a few nudges, a sleepy grumble sounded from him as he finally woke. You giggled softly as you slowly helped him sit up.

“I’ll go and make the tea. Come out when you’re ready, but don’t take too long, ‘cause the soup is gonna get cold, okay?”

You knew coming over was cutting down precious time that could be used to write your essay, but you decided that you would only need coffee, good bullshitting skills, and at least eight references that you could pretend to have read.

Jaeyoon, however, used this as time he could spend with you alone. It was probably the only time he could.

“_______, wait,” he said, making you stop in your tracks and turn around.

“Yes?” you replied and made your way over to him again.

Once you were close enough, Jaeyoon hugged you around your waist abruptly. You gasped, holding up your hands next to your head as you stood in between his legs. A blush began to burn on your cheeks as you were caught in surprise at his actions. The proximity between the two of you caused your heart to race, and that you shouldn’t be this close to him when he’s this sick. “O-oppa-”

“Please don’t leave me,” he said, and coughed a few times as he rested the side of his head on your chest.

“I-I’m not going to leave,” you stuttered, placing your hands on his shoulders. “W-what are you talking about?”

Jaeyoon only sighed. “I...I don’t know if you know but...” he trailed off.

You furrowed your eyebrows. “But what?”

He hesitated slightly, breathing in once before saying, “I really like you.”

You froze. “You...what?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Jaeyoon said, “I like you, _______.”

You bit down on your lower lip, not knowing what to do with the information. You didn’t know how to react. “Oppa...”

“Please, _______,” he begged, holding onto you tighter, “I wanted to tell you before any of them could.”

You blinked in shock. “Oppa, w-what are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you seen the way they look at you? And the way they look when we talk about you?”

“W-wh-”

“If it weren’t for you coming over today, I would’ve thought Inseong or Taeyang would confess to you first if they had the chance.”

You inhaled in attempt to calm yourself down at the amount of information that was fired at you. Your heart raced as your hands trembled on Jaeyoon’s shoulders. How could this happen? You always thought no one would take any interest in you. But this whole group proved you wrong. It didn’t seem possible.

“Jaeyoon...”

“Please accept my feelings for you, _______,” he said, gripping onto your shirt, and closing his eyes in hope that you would. “I don’t want anyone to confess before I do.”

“Jaeyoon...” you said again. You took another deep breath before finishing your answer. You then wrapped your arms around his neck, resting your hand behind his head, and gently stroking his hair. You had to prepare him for your answer, as you knew it would break his heart. “I love you, and I do accept your feelings...but...”

He looked up at you with his hopeful, puppy eyes that made you melt inside.

“I can’t be in love with you,” you said softly. You saw his face fall, making your heart clench. It hurt you as much as it hurt him to say that. “Not if the others feel the same way. I can’t let this ruin your relationship with them. I don’t want to destroy what we have. I’m so sorry.”

Jaeyoon let out a sad sigh. “What if they didn’t have feelings for you?”

“I don’t know...” you said, resting your chin on top of his head. “I want to be selfish and say yes and give us a chance, but I don’t know what consequences there would be if I do.”

“...I guess you’re right...” Jaeyoon mumbled, loosening his grip on your waist. “That’s what I love about you; you’re so considerate and thoughtful.”

You chuckled, pulling back to face him and cup the sides of his face with your hands. “Hey, I still love you, okay? I don’t want our relationship to change,” you assured, tapping his nose gently, “And besides, I now know that you like me. It’ll be our little secret. The other guys don’t have to know.”

“Yeah, I guess. At least you’ve accepted my feelings...”

You leaned down to place a soft kiss on his forehead. He blinked in surprise.

“That’s for being brave enough to tell me that you like me,” you said. You then did something you’ve never done before with any of the boys: you moved down to place another kiss on his cheek, leaving your lips there a little longer than usual. “And that’s for being understanding about my feelings about it.”

Jaeyoon felt his face burning up. “Th-thanks.”

A shy smile stretched across your lips. “We should head out. Your soup is getting cold,” you told him as he let go of you.

“Okay, mom.”

You laughed softly as you made your way out of the room to make some green tea for Jaeyoon. As you were doing so, he sat on one of the high chairs at the counter and began to sip the soup.

“It’s still warm,” he said, the pain in his throat still present.

“Shh, don’t talk,” you replied, pouring the boiling water into the mug with the tea bag inside. “Just eat.”

He only pouted. “Okay...”

You giggled softly as Jaeyoon ate, pushing the mug in front of his bowl. “I’ll be in the living room. I gotta do this assignment, but let me know when you need anything, okay?”

“Alright.”

You went over to his side to give him a side hug, and another kiss on his cheek before you skipped off to the living room. Another blush crept on the poor boy’s cheeks as he took a sip of the tea. You took your laptop out of its bag, and unpacked your notes and textbook from your backpack to continue working on the essay.

About another 500 words in, you felt the couch dip beside you.

“Why haven’t you gone to bed?” you asked, your eyes not leaving the laptop screen. “You should be resting at every chance you get.”

Jaeyoon took another sip of the tea before resting his head on your shoulder. “I wanna spend some time with you before the others come back.”

Sighing, you decided that having Jaeyoon around would not help you with concentrating on your assignment. You closed your laptop shut, placing it back on the coffee table with the rest of your things. You couldn’t resist those puppy eyes of his, and you hated it when he used it against you to get what he wanted. You only needed another 1000 words to write anyway. It could be easily done in a day.

“Okay, come here, you big baby,” you said, rolling your eyes, and spreading your arms out.

A happy smile spread across Jaeyoon’s face as he put the mug on the coffee table, and practically flew into your arms. You giggled as you pulled him down to lie on the couch with you. He wrapped his arms around your waist again, resting his head on your chest. To be fair, you were quite sleepy, since you had to wake up early that morning for a 9am lecture. A nap at the boys’ dorms wouldn’t hurt. You felt your eyes becoming more droopy before you blacked out completely.

A few hours later, you heard a click that sounded like the doorknob opening. Consciousness came back to your brain when the door opened up, and the sound of chatter followed.

“What the- JAEYOON, WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO SLEEP WITH HER?!”

The both of you jolted awake at Youngbin’s yelling. You then looked down to see your legs tangled with Jaeyoon’s as you two were snuggled up against each other.

“Oh my god, Chani, don’t look,” you heard Rowoon say in the background.

“Wait, wha-”

“HYUNG, I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!” Dawon screamed before ripping a confused Jaeyoon out of your grip. You were now fully awake to see the rest of the boys chasing after Jaeyoon.

“I WASN’T SLEEPING WITH HER, LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Shocked, you got up and ran after them just to see Dawon and Zuho beating Jaeyoon up with his giant Ryan plushies.

“Hey, leave him alone!” you exclaimed, “He’s still sick, you know?!”

Dawon stopped harassing Jaeyoon to glare at you. You kept your firm glare at him before he stormed up to you and dragged you out to the living room by your arm, leaving the rest of the boys to do his job.

“What the hell, _______? Are you crazy?!”

“If you’re asking, no, we didn’t do anything inappropriate!”

Dawon pressed his lips together and grumbled before saying, “Okay, that’s one thing. But why did you come over when you’re gonna catch his cold?!”

“You guys can’t even take care of yourselves when you’re not sick, so I had to do something, geez...” you mumbled, crossing your arms.

“Okay, fine. But if you get sick after today, you’re not allowed to look after us when we get sick ever again, got it?”

You sighed, reluctantly agreeing to his compromise. “Fine.���

“Also, I think you can go home to do your assignment. It won’t be easy with those us around.”

“Yeah, whatever. I have tomorrow off, anyways.”

Dawon offered to drive you home, which you gladly accepted. During the car ride back, he told you about what happened that day, how it was SFDay, and that they had a special food event with the fans. You thought it was cute, but your concentration was on messaging Jaeyoon.

[ ________ ] : Get well soon~ don’t let the boys torture you too much >.< if they aren’t gonna let you live it down, tell me and I’ll beat some sense into them ㅋㅋㅋ

[ jaeyoon ] : I’ll do my best ㅠㅠ btw, the soup was really good~ I’ll make sure to spit in the pot so the others won’t touch it ;)

[ _______ ] : ...gross

[ jaeyoon ] : I’m kidding! Though, I still won’t share it with them...it’s still my recovery food

[ _______ ] : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ you better hide it well so they won’t find it!

[ jaeyoon ] : I’ll try e_e

You chuckled before locking the phone screen, looking up to see that Dawon had just pulled over to your place.

“Thanks, Hyukie,” you said as you grabbed your bag, ready to leave.

“It’s okay. If I catch you sleeping with one of the guys, or any guy for that matter, I’m not gonna let you hang out with us again.”

You rolled your eyes. “Pfft, you’re crazy. You know I’m not like that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up and get out; you need to finish your assignment, you lazy butt.”

“Whatever, loser,” you replied with a cheeky smile. You gave Dawon a quick hug before getting out of the car.

The next morning, you woke up with a pounding headache, and felt like you were in a sauna. From past experiences with colds, you knew this was bad.

Oh SHIT! You thought violently.

On the other side, the boys were busy getting their hair and makeup done for the music show’s pre-recording when their phones lit up to see a new message in the group chat.

[ ________ ] : ...

[ ________ ] : I hate you, Jaeyoon!!!!!

[cefstickles]

Vulnerable Information

Hello everyone! I’m sorry once again that this isn’t a request. I have them almost ready to go I promise. Thank you for being patient with me. This is just to hold you guys over until I get done with stupid finals!! Anyways please enjoy this tickle fic I threw together last night for my friend @tinysidestrashcaptain! (She is so awesome and a really go writer! Go follow her and check out her stories.) I’m also gonna tag another amazing tickle fic writer @ticklyfandoms and you should also follow them because their content is beautimous!

Love you all and thank you so much! Hope you enjoy!

Vulnerable Information

(ships): Logicality

Words ~ 2,499 ~

Warnings: Tickle fic, some angst at the beginning, very teasy at the end

It was one of the moral aspects clumsy weeks. Patton had been dropping just about everything he touched. From breakfast yesterday morning, to Roman’s sword collection later on, and finally just now he dropped an entire stack of papers he was helping carry for his boyfriend Logan. As he watched the papers fly everywhere across the mindscape, Patton’s emotional threshold about had it. He broke down, sobbing right there in the middle of the hallway, unable to follow Logan down the steps he had traveled down not a minute before.

Logan heard the sudden exasperated cry from his boyfriend upstairs and he instantly abandoned his own stack of papers he was carrying. He raced up the steps until he saw the papers flying past. The logical aspect frowned knowing exactly what had occurred. Patton had managed to yet again drop something else. Normally he would be angry, but the last thing that Morality needed right now was his wrath. Logan took in a deep breath as he walked around the corner and swept away the enormous loose pile of papers that was covering his wailing boyfriend.

“I’m *hiccup* sorry Logan!! *hiccup* I can’t do *hiccup* anything write.” He picked up a pencil trying to make a pun, except he dropped that too causing himself to cry more. Logan frowned sadly as he tried to lead his boyfriend off the floor, only to see him to slump back down again.

The thump the moral aspects’ rump made when it hit in contact with the floor alerted the other two aspects of Patton’s current distressed state. Roman and Virgil were in the kitchen not a moment later, helping pick up the loose leaves without question. Logan tried one more time to pick his sobbing boyfriend off of the floor and this time succeeded, wrapping one of the moral aspect’s arms around his own shoulder.

“Take care of dad, Logan. We’ll clean this up.” Roman nodded with Virgil in agreement, and the logical aspect thought, knowing the two probably wouldn’t put them back in alphabetical order like he had them. He shrugged the matter off however, knowing his boyfriend was more important than any sort of information he could filing at the moment.

Silently thanking them, he exited the room with the moral aspect leaning onto him like his life depended on it. Seeing his boyfriend in such a state as this about broke his heart in two. Logan then led him, runny-nosed and teary-eyed, to his own room, opening and closing the door behind him. Before Patton knew it however, he was picked up bridal-style and placed on top of Logan’s bed, his eyes transfixed on the ceiling, and then his love’s  face came down to his level.

Patton felt his tears and cries began to slow as the logical aspect began to wipe his eyes and his nose lovingly with some Kleenex™. Logan then pressed a gentle comforting hand to his face, watching the emotional myre slowly relinquish its hold on his boyfriend, until all that was left were gentle sniffles. Patton finally turned his head, but was kindly shushed by Logan.

“My dear Patton. You do not need to apologize for the papers. I understand it has been a hard week for you. Do not worry about what I need to do. My primary focus right now is taking care of you.” Patton sniffled once more and sighed leaning his head against the logical aspect’s hand for grounding and reassurance. Logan smiled and signaled for his boyfriend to scoot over.

“May I lay with you dear Patton?” The moral aspect lifted his head, giving Logan a small smile as he made room for his boyfriend beside him. Gingerly, Logan laid down beside him, and immediately grasped the hand closest, raising it up to his lips kissing it gently. Patton gave a tiny giggle and a final sniffle, as the sadness finally subsided from his eyes and facial features. Logan gave content sigh of relief and stared into Patton’s beautiful brown eyes, his own lighting up as Patton’s happy smile returned.

“T-thank you Logan!” He wiped his nose with his cardigan once more, before cuddling into his boyfriend and wrapping his arms around Logan’s sides. The logical aspect flinched slightly, but allowed himself to be trapped by the moral aspect.

“Anytime my beloved.” After about five minutes of an absurdly long hug however, Logan began to squirm out of Patton’s grasp, to which the moral aspect whined persuasively.

“Nooooo...stay with meee...please?” Logan rolled his eyes fondly.

“Patton. I would cuddle with you, but I have work to attend to.” Patton only squeezed tighter.

“Nooooo!! Work can wait!!” He nuzzled his face into the logical aspect’s chest, causing Logan to raise an eyebrow.

“Are you positive you only want me to stay Patton? Or is there something else you were getting at?” Patton stopped moving in his grasp for a second to think of his answer, before desperately shaking his head.

“No I just want to spend time with you.” The little giggle at the end of his sentence betrayed his true thoughts to Logan. The logical aspect chuckled at this.

“I am not sure I believe you, dearest. I think I’ll ask again. Was there something else you wanted?” He pushed himself down until he was eye-level with his boyfriend, their noses touching and Patton’s arms now wrapping around his neck.

“Nope!” Patton blushed knowing full well he would be found out eventually by his preceptive boyfriend and found out he was not a moment later.

“I’m not quite sure I believe you Patton. Perhaps we should test your null hypothesis, if I reject it...then there should perhaps be some consequences involved, don’t you think, Patton?” The logical aspect rested his fingertips, starting at Patton’s wrists and slowly began to travel their way down his arms stroking slowly. Logan didn’t take his eyes off of his boyfriend once, even as his giggles began to increase. Once he felt the sleeve of Patton’s shirt he stopped, watching Patton squirm closer and not away from him.

“Patton?”

“Eheheh. Yes Logan?”

“I believe I found out what it is that you wanted.” He gave him a knowing smirk slowly making tiny circles with his thumbs on the undersides of his arms, that were still currently wrapped around his neck. Patton began to give a series of soft squeals, as he did his best to keep his arms around the logical aspect’s neck. “But...for research purposes, I need you to tell me what you want.”

Patton shook his head defiantly unable to speak from the delightful sensations coming from Logan’s strategic hands.

“Now Patton. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is you can deliberately tell me what it is you want right now and I will give it to you. I can assure you that this course of action will cause you to blush less in your cheeks than the hard way. The hard way entails my hands resting right where they are and a large amount of verbal teasing, until you decide to comply, telling me what it is you want.”

Patton grinned through his giggles, deliberately choosing the hard way from Logan’s perspective.

“I see the hard way is the path you have chosen. Do you wish to continue? Because there is no escape once you have made your choice, dear Patton.” Logan’s hands gripped Patton’s arms, preventing escape. Patton blushed and closed his eyes, shaking his head furiously.

“As you wish then.” Logan began to move his thumb once again, only this time in a quicker and lighter fashion. “So...I will state my hypothesis in question form and you must repeat it back as a sentence if it is true. Patton Sanders, do you enjoy being tickled?”

Patton’s eyes widened as he shook his head vigorously refusing to open his mouth. The speed of Logan’s thumbs quickened as he let out a low and growly chuckle.

“Lying will get you nowhere. How am I able to get results if your stubbornness inhibits your ability to cooperate? Allow me to try again. Do you, Patton Sanders enjoy my fingers gently wiggling against your skin, the rush of adrenaline as I squeeze your tummy, and the tiny kisses I apply to your sides?” Patton’s laughter flushed with his face, growing redder by the minute at Logan’s teasing voice. The moral aspect once again shook his head through his laughter, continuing to deny the logical aspect’s words.

“Patton you are only making this harder on yourself.” Logan began lightly squeezing the area under his arms now. “I will state my hypothesis once more, do you Pat-”

“YEEHEHEHS!! Yes I do!!”

Logan raised an eyebrow in victory. “Oh? Do what Patton?” He left his thumbs there hovering just outside of Patton’s armpits.

“Ihihihih doo like it!”

“What is this ‘it’ that you like, Patton? Please. Do tell.” Logan smirked gladly he was finally getting the upper hand of the battle.

“I LIKE BEING TICKLED!!” Patton practically yelled it and arched his back of the bed, badly wanting Logan to stop hovering and get on with it, but Logan moved his thumbs away just in time.

“Well why did you not say so in the first place, my dearest Patton. So...is there anything in particular you would like me to do with this piece of information?”

Patton shrunk back and made eye contact with his boyfriend, surrendering himself to his vulnerability. “...tickle me? Please?”

Logan smiled fondly as his fingers creeped back towards their target. “With pleasure, dearest.” It only took his digits a second to enter into the defined arches of his armpits, wiggling his index fingers lightly and stimulating as much area as possible. Patton shrieked at the touch and held Logan’s body firmly, refusing himself to respond to the fluttering touch.

Logan chuckled at his boyfriend’s antics. “You are quite adorable in this state, Pat. I know you adore the act of gargalesis and your responses to my touches are quite entertaining to watch. Could you tell me how much you are enjoying this...by...let’s see here...a show of hands? Raise your arms to the sky dearest Patton. It is my intention to maximize your pleasure from this stimuli.” Patton’s chuckles heightened as he shakily stretched his arms to the sky, doing his best not to clamp down. In response, Logan slowed his tickles too, until it was only gentle stroking and gentle giggles. It was then that Logan attacked in the deepest part of his armpits causing an enormous amount of laughter to bubble out and Patton’s armpits to come clamping down.

“You seem to be quite ticklish here my dear Patton? Are you enjoying yourself? Would some verbal teasing put your over the edge per se, however? Tickle tickle tickle my dearest Patton. I know you like it!”

“NAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!”

“No? I thought we just established that you did...perhaps a different area is in need of a tickle however.” Logan smiled fondly. “Where should I tickle you next? Your ears? Your nose? Your ribs? Or your toes?” He gently stroked a fleeting finger over each body part as he named it, soaking up the tiny giggles Patton expelled from his lips. “Perhaps your belly would suffice for now.” As Logan reached his hands down Patton’s arms flew off of Logan’s neck as he tried to protect his tummy, shying away from Logan’s touch.

“Ah ah ah. None of that Patton. Hands down at your sides please. You know you are going to enjoy this.” Patton’s face couldn’t blush anymore as he complied slowly lowering his hands to his sides and letting Logan lift up his shirt, slowly.

“Eheheheheheh!! Go faster!!”

“What? Am I not allowed to tease you?” He slipped his index finger gingerly into his bellybutton wiggling it a bit, before lifting up the rest of his shirt and proceeding to gently squeeze across Morality’s abdomen. Patton’s whole body shook with laughter as he gripped the bed sheets, enjoying all of his boyfriends touches. “You are truly adorable Patton.” He then moved from squeezes to subtle scuttles all about his tummy, scratching at various speeds and intensities.

“AHAHAHHHAHAHAHAH!!!” Patton tried not to squirm, but his self defense mechanisms were fighting against his freewill. Logan slowed down his tickles until it was only two index fingers drawing obscure equations on Patton’s bare belly, his laughter subsiding into tiny giggles.

“Lohohogan?”

“Yes Patton?”

“Can you...please tickle my sides?”

“Why yes of course my dear Morality! Thank you for asking.” His fingers then lightly trailed to either side of his stomach beginning to flutter again at a more intense speed. Patton’s laughter skyrocketed once more as he almost jolted off of the bed. “Judging by your responses, you must be very sensitive here. Perhaps some kisses are in order.” Patton’s laughter when silent as he felt Logan’s lips trailing up and down his right side, peppering him with kisses and blowing the occasional teasy raspberry. He switched to his other side soon after, giving it the same treatment fondly. He ended his escapade on Patton’s belly, with one final gigantic raspberry, right on the top of his navel, causing a silent shriek to course through the entirety of Patton’s body.

Patton thought his tickling session was over after that glorious ending, but he was wrong. Logan’s lips then shot up straight to his neck, peppering the area with kisses and sending the moral aspect back into happy hysterics. He nipped with his mouth and tickled with his fingers, soaking up every beautiful sound that gave way out of Patton’s mouth. He only stopped however when he felt the joyful tears trickle down off of Patton’s face and onto his own cheeks.

He retreated and memorized the way Patton looked after a tickling session, hair tousled, eyes happy bright, and his smile. Oh goodness his smile is what got Logan everytime he looked at the moral aspect. It was like a whole world of opportunities was waiting for him, and all Logan had to do was explore it. In how many ways could he get Patton to smile like that? He could only wonder because he was sure the possibilities were endless.

It took him a few minutes to regain himself, the ghostly tickles beginning to subside leaving a yawning and tired Patton in their wake. He grabbed out towards Logan once again, pulling him back into his embrace and dozing off quietly.

Thus Logan found him in the same position again, but this time he didn’t want to move Patton. He too found his eyelids growing heavy and his personage tired. His real work that he needed to do had already been completed, as far as he was concerned. Perhaps this is what the moral aspect had needed all along. Logic quickly filed away the new found information in his mind, that if Patton was ever having another clumsy week, all he needed was a good tickle.