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lifewithdavefarts · 1 year ago

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DaveFarts - Episode 24 “Windy Mountain”[Episode List]

Another summer, another camping trip for our heroes… and an even smaller tent than last time. On the mountain, the sounds of nature finally meet their match as Dave’s farts reach new heights in terms of loudness and power.

POV: Tim

Windy Mountain “Rise and shine, bro!”

I was woken up by a sudden thunder, a thunder which was accompanied by a peculiar scent. Considering how I could see a clear blue sky outside (somebody opened the window in my room), as my eyes adjusted to the light I recognised Dave’s ass in a pair of white basketball shorts hovering over me, effortlessly erupting a powerful morning blast directly on my face.

I probably woke up halfway through the rip, which was already around 10 seconds long. A short morning fart, for my friend’s high standards. The stench hit me and triggered my flight or fight response, effectively waking me up more efficiently than any alarm clock could. I pushed my friend’s ass away (as he kept farting), trying to remember what year it was.

“Alright, alright. I’m awake!”

Dave turned around and greeted me with a smile.

“Come on, we’re right on schedule.” he stated.

“Should I thank you or your ass?”

Dave simply looked up, making a funny facial expression, and ripped a quick loud one.

“Yes.” he simply replied, and left the room.

Those were natural, not even on command, but honestly who could tell the difference? Dave always had a fart ready, like you could ask him out of the blue to rip one and he’d probably be more than happy to go beyond your wildest expectations. One of his many talents: the incredible farts are like the cherry on top of this wonderful friend I’m lucky to have, a cherry that pleases my embarrassing and disgusting kink, a kink that, for some reason, my bud is completely okay with, getting some good immature laughs every time he teases me.

Like last year, the four of us (the other two being Greg and Adam) decided to get in touch with nature and go camping for a couple of days, like the hypocrite city slickers that we are. However, we’re pretty good at planning stuff like this, making sure it won’t interfere with our respective jobs and whatnot.

As Dave told me earlier, we were indeed right on schedule: it wasn’t even 6:00 AM and he was ready, a role-reversal compared to the last time we went camping, as I’m usually the one who hates being late. A quick shower, some casual clothes and I too was ready, just a shirt and pair of black shorts, whereas Dave was sporing a grey t-shirt and his signature, “summer style” camo cargo shorts which, given the context, immediately triggered my kinky ass as I just remembered how my friend mercilessly blasted me in our tent last year while wearing those.

I hated… that I fuckin’ loved it.

While farting wasn’t by far our main topic of discussion (believe it or not), I like to think that Dave too remembers… because he’s just a nice mixture of “the best bro you could ever ask for” and “your worst bully”. Or, much more realistically, he just doesn’t remember because while he does find the act of teasing me utterly hilarious, it’s not like our lives revolve around his farts.

Unlike last year we were actually much more independent as our other two buds travelled to our destination on their own, a relatively colder place where we could avoid this summer’s high temperatures, somewhere on a mountain not far from here. We’re hiking to some interesting sights, the most important being a big, lesser known waterfall located at higher altitudes and deeper into the forest.

We packed our stuff and as the Sun was setting we got into the car, Dave being the designated driver. My (much more important) role was choosing the music for the trip and sometimes checking the map. A true duo of rally drivers.

During the trip, me and my bro chatted about some random stuff and about one hour flew by. No traffic, no road works or anything, just a long but peaceful trip.

“Oh by the way.” Dave suddenly said, changing the subject. “When Dana and I went camping last year…”

He seemed embarrassed but couldn’t help but laugh. Knowing him, that was the kind of laughter he’d do whenever he did something stupid.

“Yes?” I asked, being annoyingly inquisitive on purpose.

“We broke your tent.” he simply said.

“Oh.” I replied, not caring that much.

Yes, after our trip last year, I let Dave and Dana bring my tent on their own trip. I totally forgot about it and it was a very cheap product anyway. Plus, I saw Dave putting a folded up tent into the trunk earlier this morning, so it’s not like we were gonna sleep with the bugs tonight.

“It was an accident, I’m sorry.” he said.

“You’re the worst person I ever met.” I replied, the sarcasm being almost tangible.

“I totally forgot about it.”

“Me too actually.” I admitted. “How did you break it? I deserve to know.” I asked, acting like I wanted to know how my grandpa died.

“Crazy sex obviously.” my friend said, with a smirk.

I stared back at him until he told me truth.

“Ok… I accidentally hit it while going in reverse.”

“How did it even happen?!” I yelled, amused. “Why was the car there in the first place?!”

“Girls, you know… she didn’t want to walk back to the car.”

I stared back at him again.

“We had beers in the trunk.”

“Unbelievable. Truly made for each other.”

We both had a good laugh at their laziness, and I made sure Dave knew it was fine: he bought a new tent after all, so we’re good.

“The new tent is a bit smaller though… not that you mind, right?” he said, and winked at me.

“Oh yeah, show me the infamous crazy sex you’ve been talking about.” I played along.

“Well that, obviously.” he joked. “But I was thinking more of… you know…”

He leaned a bit while driving and, as much as he could, pointed his camo-clad ass towards me; the fart was, well, one of his average ones, long, loud and proud, the sound partially muffled by the seat and car’s own noises, but I could still hear it clearly. A firm, strong, 7 seconds display of cocky manliness from my bro, something I pretend to be used to but for a number of reasons keeps surprising me somehow.

The smell hit me but the cars’ windows being open made it bearable.

Before I could stutter something, he sat back normally and resumed talking.

“Just like last year, you know.” he laughed.

He actually remembers it. The fact that he does gives me a mix of feelings. I remained silent, trying to focus on the road ahead, which he noticed.

“Aw come on, don’t act like you hate it, you hypocrite.” he playfully said, patting my shoulder. “You know you can relax when I’m around, right?” he then asked, a bit more seriously, keeping his right hand on my shoulder.

It took me a bit to answer that simple question, Dave being so open-minded he almost leaves me speechless.

“Yeah I know man. Thanks.”

“Good.” he said, again patting my shoulder.

This man’s patience is infinite.

And just like that, we resumed talking about the usual stuff, as if my kink never existed. I feel like Dave accepted my fetish more than I ever did with myself.

——

A few hours later we reached our destination, at around 10:00 AM, the mountains towering over us being so high we could see the peaks covered in glaciers. However, the town where we left the car was not at high altitudes, so while the weather wasn’t as hot as back home, you could still tell it was summer, a particularly hot one nonetheless, as some of the locals told us. From the small town we then begun our hiking towards a place called “Windy Mountain”, making sure our phones still got signal so we could keep our other two buds posted on our location.

As we got higher and higher, the temperatures got a bit lower, but still pleasing, despite our heavy backpacks.

“Call me hypocrite.” I said.

“I already did a few hours ago I believe.” Dave quickly replied.

“I’m just saying… I don’t blame you for parking the car next to the tent, when you were with Dana.”

“Ahah what, feeling tired already?” he mockingly said, tired.

“I could do this all day bro.” I boasted, lying.

“Well no worries, Greg and Adam set the camp right next to that river.”

Dave pointed to a location not really far from us, a bit more downhill than where we were, and I could indeed spot two people in the distance, which I assumed were our buds waiting for us. The view as a whole was also really nice, with the mountain overlooking the entire scene.

“You think they can hear us?” I asked.

“Only way to find out.”

My friend shouted our buds’ names, his voice echoing in the entire valley, but the two people didn’t seem to have any reaction. It was my turn to shout, but once again, nothing.

“Yeah it’s them.” Dave said. “I’d recognize Greg’ piss-yellow shirt anywhere.” he pointed out, as I too noticed that small yellow spot by the river.

“It’s weird they couldn’t hear us.”

“Let’s see if they can hear this then.”

Dave simply stood where it was, which was surprising considering the sheer amount of gas he started ejecting from his ass. The fart almost fake-sounding, but it was loud and powerful, my friend effortlessly showing off his skills, easily surpassing any natural sound around us. The fart truly echoed everywhere, and as the 9 seconds blast finished, I could still hear it propagating all over the valley. An impressive, almost terrifying display of what my friend is capable of.

Funnily enough, the guy in the piss shirt did seem to turn around; he then waved at us.

“Nice.” I said. “You probably scared the shit out of every animal in the valley, but nice.”

“It’s called ‘asserting dominance’, Timothy.” Dave said, acting all serious. “The valley now knows who’s in charge.”

“Wow I feel so safe now.” I said, letting my sarcasm do the talking… while trying to ignore my boner.

——

The moment we arrived, Greg and Adam fetched us beers and something to eat, just some snacks, as it was too early to set up a barbecue anyway. We started setting up our camp like we did last time: our two tents being on the opposite sides, facing each other, with a fire pit in the middle, not too close, not too far away.

“Isn’t that tent a bit too small for you two?” Greg noted, while rummaging through the snacks.

“We don’t need a bigger tent to compensate you know.” I replied, very maturely.

“Also, me and Tim like to snuggle in those cold summer nights.” Dave added, hugging me from behind. “Right, honey?”

I shook him off. “Oh yeah…” I played along. “Whisper me something soft and sweet, my stallion!”

What my ear received however was anything but a gentle whisper. Dave was really enjoying the beer and he decided to let me (and everyone) know by belching directly into my skull, the scent of yeast and water hitting my nostrils. My bro wants to make sure he can destroy me from both ends, if you know what I mean.

“Serves you right.” Greg snickered.

Like a Terminator, Dave changed his target and let me go, power-walking towards our snickering friend. Before Greg could beg for mercy, he grabbed his head and burped straight onto his face, earning mature laughters from me and Adam.

“The good news is that you’re probably scaring bears off.” Adam commented.

“He’s ‘asserting dominance’” I explained, making finger quotes.

“He’s the true alpha.” Adam added, sarcastically.

“He’s making me puke.” Greg managed to say, just as Dave’s belch ended.

Once this very mature display of manliness was over, my bro joined us in setting up the camp, with his classic smirk drawn on his face, pretty proud of making Greg almost lose it.

——

After setting up the camp we ate something, nothing too complicated, just some sandwiches and fresh water, because in the afternoon we planned to go hiking; the destination was this beautiful waterfall located deeper into the woods and at a higher altitude, a true sight to behold. Due to this however, the climate there was colder, and the temperatures started to lower even in the valley (where our camp was) due to the Sun hiding behind one of the tall mountains looming over us.

In our tent I was setting some things up before the hike, like the GPS on my phone, and pulling some things out of my backpack to avoid bringing something needlessly heavy with me. My back was facing the tent’s entrance but I could feel someone coming inside.

“Everything’s alright?” Dave asked.

For all the immature, sometimes gross pranks he plays on us (…you know what I mean), Dave was actually the smartest around here, and the one we trusted the most when it came to organizing trips like these. Just because he acts silly, it doesn’t man he’s stupid.

“Yeah man. All set.” I said. “If we die, they’re gonna find our corpses in no time.” I joked.

“That’s the spirit!” my friend cheered.

As the Dave got into the tent, I realized how smaller than the last one was indeed. The fact that my bro was taller and generally “bigger” than me, body-wise, didn’t help. There was room to breathe, lay down and all that stuff, but a bigger tent would have definitely been better.

My bro got on all fours to look for some of his own stuff and, due to the small size of the tent, accidentally brushed his camo-clad ass all over me more than once. This stuff can happen to everyone, so I just ignored it, though it was hard not to think of what that same ass is capable of, considering the person who belongs to.

“Looking for something?” I asked, turning to him, though my head was basically talking to his ass.

“Yeah, my rain jacket.” he said, while rummaging through his own backpack.

“Oh right, the waterfall.” I remembered. I too had a rain jacket after all.

“Nevermind, found it.” he told me, giving me an OK I sign.

I kept checking my stuff, his camo-clad ass still literally next to me. I noticed Dave’s hand now patting his own butt, like we all do when we can’t find our phones in our back-pockets.

“What are you looking for now?” I asked, without even turning to his ass, even though my boner really wanted me to take a closer look.

Dave didn’t answer, though I felt his hand pat my shoulder, then my hair.

“Your head, actually.” he said, trying not to laugh.

He quickly pulled me and planted my entire face into his ass, holding it still. As my nose touched the warm fabric of his cargo pants, I felt his buttcheeks relax and, surprise to no one, a fart came out, a loud blast that made my teeth shake for how strong and loud it was. The gas went down my nostrils and eyes, making me choke, but Dave’s firm grip on my head was merciless. As my bro kept his position on all four, he raised one of his legs a bit, easing the blast out, actually making him get even louder. He finally let me head go as he did this, but my kinky-self didn’t move at all, enjoying the blast until it was over.

And indeed it was over, at around 11 seconds, a fart fueled by beer and snacks. I heard my friend laugh as he gently pushed me away using his own ass. The turned around, with his usual smirk.

“It’s just too easy with you.” he said.

I didn’t say anything, turning my attention to my backpack again. Despite Dave’s best (worst?) efforts, I was always embarrassed by this. My bro probably noticed this and stopped the teasing, getting ready himself for the hike.

As I mentioned, the temperatures were getting lower, so Dave changed clothes accordingly: he was now wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt and the aforementioned rain jacket.

“Piss yellow? How the tables have turned.” I mocked him, commenting the color of the jacket.

“It’s ochre, you swine.” he said.

——

We were hiking in single file, with me being the last, in the woods, the temperatures getting lower; the mood was great however, and we occasionally improvised songs from a certain epic fantasy as we felt like we were marching towards a dark volcano or a dragon-infested mountain. The landscapes certainly helped the illusion of an epic tale: it was just a damn beautiful place; despite the Sun being still obscured by the mountains, we could still it was a picture perfect day, weather-wise: we couldn’t have chosen a better day to go camping and hiking.

My gay and kinky ass kept distracting me from truly appreciating the beauty of nature, as Dave was the one walking in front of me. Regardless of my fetish, Dave was a great-looking guy, so I couldn’t help but to stare at him for a few seconds whenever I could. My eyes would obviously land on his jeans-clad ass more than once, which were a bit loose but also wrapped nicely around his powerful butt as he walked. Disgustingly enough, I wished he could fart on me while wearing those, but I won’t deny I’d love to ask, but I will never do it, I’d feel like I’m crossing some boundaries I’m not supposed to cross, because at the end of the day Dave is straight.

I can at least enjoy the view… and considering that the human body is, well, not artificial, you can technically say I’m still enjoying the scenery nature had to offer.

——

The hype paid off: the waterfall, the main reason we came up here in the first place, was absolutely incredible. We were speechless, so stunned we didn’t even think to take a picture of it the moment we got there. We kept walking, following a route that would get us right in front of it, millions of small droplets of water already dampening our faces and clothes. This never-ending wall of water going down the mountain was a beast, and a loud one truth to be told: we had to yell because we couldn’t hear anything unless we stood really close to each other.

“I’m speechless.” I yelled everyone.

“What?!” everyone replied.

“I said that I’m speechless!”

“Then why are you talking?!” Greg screamed back.

We didn’t have anything else to say as we stood in front of that wonderful display of nature, letting the water do all the talk. Finally we decided to become a boomer’s worst nightmare and pulled our phones out, taking pictures, posting stories and selfies. I saw Dave making a short video-call with Dana, even though the two could barely hear each other (but knowing them, that was the entire joke) while the other three of us settled for posting our pics on social medias.

It was still daytime (around 5:00 PM) but after about 20 minutes admiring the scenery, we decided it was time to hike back to the camp.

Also, we were starving.

“You two want to make out or what?” Adam yelled, noticing me and Dave staying behind.

I explained (screaming like a demon) that Dave needed to send a couple more pics to Dana, but the phone’s signal was unstable, so I was waiting for him to not leave him alone there.

Adam gestured a “whatever” and he and Greg disappeared in the woods around the waterfall.

After a couple more minutes, which I spent sitting down admiring that cathedral of nature, Dave put his phone in the backpack and sat next to me, at first in silence.

“I gotta take Dana to this place.” he thought out loud.

We kept sitting there, the loudness of the water rushing down the only thing we could hear despite ourselves. I decided to ruin the moment by reaching for something in my backpack.

“Beer?” I said, handing a can of beer to my bro.

“Always.” he replied.

We had a quick toast and enjoyed the view a bit more.

“Man that’s loud.” I commented, the waterfall’s noise starting to piercing my ear-drums.

Dave slowly turned to me, sporting an exaggerated smirk.

“Challenge accepted.”

I guess it was his turn to ruin the moment.

He quickly stood up, now towering next to me, and I could once again admire that beautiful denim ass. He wasn’t gonna fart in my face, not there at least, but for some reason he just wanted to do it. It wasn’t because of me, I’m pretty sure: the guy just enjoys showing off.

I didn’t stand up, and just stared at Dave… waiting, until he turned his head down to me with a cheesy smirk.

“You can’t hear it?” he yelled.

I instinctively stared at his ass and focuses. I could barely hear it: it was one of his well-known farts, loud and proud, but he still couldn’t beat the waterfall.

Trying to hide my massive boner, I simply gestured my ear, as to say that I couldn’t hear it. My friend just laughed and I could see his eyes narrowing, as if he was forcing more gas out.

And truth to be told, I could hear the fart getting louder, still not as loud as the waterfall obviously, but damn that must have been incredible to hear in all of its glory.

Dave kept standing still, relaxing his ass muscles and pushing what was probably one of his longest and loudest farts out. I could notice the droplets coming from the waterfall being blown farther away once they got close to his denim ass, a sign of powerful that blast was.

Now I could hear it properly, which my friend noticed, as he once again stared down at me sporting a wide, silly smile, immaturely proud of his fart. Really putting the “ass” in the whole “asserting dominance”-thing he had going one since we got here.

I thought I was ruining the moment with that beer, but Dave is better at everything I guess.

The hardest thing (besides my penis) was fighting the urge to simply plant my face into that ass, so I could properly enjoy that massive display of farting-talent; I couldn’t complain however, since Dave is basically a terribly wonderful enabler for my fart kink.

Now I couldn’t hear the waterfall anymore, only the fart; that fact that I was right next to the source of the blast certainly helped, but that was impressive either way. Dave was visibly exhausted: that was too much even for him (and, probably, me), so he sat down next to me again, sighing in relief, and the fart ended. How long did that last anyway? Not only it was loud, it was extremely lengthy. If I had to guess, that was probably around 60 seconds!

I tried to focus again on the waterfall, while Dave proposed another toast.

“To us.” he said, sounding as corny as you think.

“Really?” I replied, skeptical.

Dave simply laughed in response.

“You’re a disgusting weirdo, Tim.” he said, smiling, but those words didn’t hurt me at all, because I knew he wouldn’t say things like that to hurt me. “But takes one to know one.”

“Wait.” I was confused. “What does that mean?”

“Don’t get any ideas now.” he quickly stated. “I just wanted to remind you how weird all of this is.” he took a sip of his beer. “How hilariously weird.” he laughed.

Dave, a straight guy, a good friend. Yes, I was the weirdo of the duo, but he doing what he does for me can be just as weird and the fact that he just doesn’t care only proves even more what a great bro he is, being ridiculously open-minded about all this stuff.

“You didn’t have to, you know?” I told him.

“Teasing you is hilarious.” he admitted. “Thanks for the laughs.” he patted my back.

I simply decided to remain silent, probably the best decision, and let the waterfall once again do all the talk, as the millions of droplets of water made our clothes soaking wet. Dave asserted his dominance, but the waterfall definitely had the last word.

——

Back to the camp, we quickly put some sausages with “Adam’s special sauce” on the barbecue (I’ll save you the mandatory jokes) and had a nice dinner all the 4 of us together, planning on what we were gonna do the next day; probably something simpler, not deep in the woods: the town were we left the car had a couple of good restaurants so like the bunch of city slickers we are, we decided to hang out there the next morning.

It was a windy night, but it wasn’t that cold outside, so both me and Dave lay down in our tent, next to each other, without sleeping bags. A small lantern lit the inside of the tent with a warm light. My friend was lying on his stomach, still wearing the long-sleeved shirt and the jeans from before, which I sadly immediately noticed.

Dave’s face was even more lit because of his phone inches from his nose, which he was using to message Dana, as the continuous tapping and notifications sounds confirmed. Honestly, that was kind of annoying.

“Bro…” I whispered. “Can you… please, you know?” I said, hoping to sound just as annoying.

“Mh?” Dave replied, distracted by all the messaging.

“Please?” I repeated.

Dave smiled and resumed the noisy tapping. “Yeah sure, give me a minute.”

“Nice.” I thanked him.

I simply laid down, staring at what can we consider the “ceiling” of our tent. That was a good day, we should actually do it more often.

“Alright.” Dave put his phone down, after indeed a minute passed.

However, he kept moving for some reason. He laid down on his back and turned his entire body so his legs would be next to my head. But then, he cocked his denim legs up and made those go over my head, now fully showing off his denim ass right next to my face, which looked like a wall of jeans given how loose (almost sagging) it was.

“Dude, what the fuck?!” I almost yelled.

“Huh?” Dave said. All I could see was his denim ass, but I could tell he was confused.

“What the Hell?” I kept asking.

“Bro. You literally asked for it.” he explained.

“I didn’t.”

“Yeah you did!” he insisted, this time laughing a bit.

That felt surreal.

Then I realized.

“I was… I was talking about all the tapping, dude! If you could put that damn phone on mute!”

We remained silent for a couple of long seconds, then Dave broke the silence by laughing like an idiot.

“Sorry bro, I totally thought you finally had the guts to just ask for it ahah.”

“I would never!”

We kept talking like that, with my head inches from his ass, Dave just casually lying down like that as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Well…” my bro finally said. “Do you want me to fart or not?” he whispered, as we both remembered that Greg and Adam’s tent wasn’t far from us, even though they were already asleep.

The way he just casually asked got me massively aroused already. How in the world I manage to have a friend like him is beyond me, beyond my wildest dreams.

“It’s not like I have anything better to do anyway.” he then said.

Indeed, we were in the middle of nowhere.

“Okay…” I finally found the courage to speak. “But only if you want to.”

Dave laughed.

“I don’t want to fart in your face, bro.” he said, reaching for my head, pulling it even closer to his denim ass. “I want to fuckin’ end it. Ready?”

That was a rhetorical question. The blast that greeted me was massive, my face shaking due to the power of that fart. Whatever sauce Adam put on those sausages really messed with my friend’s stomach, which was already infamously powerful as well all know. The stench was unbearable and the entire tent shook because of the wind Dave was shooting out of his ass.

The natural blast kept going for about 12 more seconds, with my friend letting my head go halfway through the rip, knowing that I wasn’t going anywhere. At around the 16th second mark, the fart finally ended, leaving an invisible gas cloud engulfing the tent. The smell hit my bro as well, but he was basically immune at his own poisonous attacks.

Without moving his ass, he slightly got up, staring down at me from beyond that wall of jeans, with a silly smirk, checking for my reaction, which was awkward and speechless as usual, something that he’d always find amusing.

“Are you ok there, Tim?” we heard Greg yell from his tent.

Both of us laughed like idiots this time. “It’s all good!” Dave yelled.

Maintaining eye-contact with me, with his ass still inches from my face, he started to suck air in. The facial expressions he made were just as hot as the sounds he was producing from his ass.

“Asserting dominance?” I casually asked.

Dave laughed again. “Nah, just making a thirsty bitch’s dreams come true.” he joked.

Once again, I wasn’t offended, nor Dave’s words were ill-intentioned. We always made fun of each other after all, and considering what was happening… I honestly deserved that.

My friend reached for my head one more time, pulling it close to his denim ass, now completely sagging, my nose rubbing against the red fabric of his sweaty boxer shorts. This time he was blasting me on command, but honestly there were no different from his natural ones. He was indeed really good at quenching my thirst, I couldn’t deny that.

It was a series of mid rips, loud and about 3 seconds long each. I wish Dave always had nothing better to do than blasting me, to be honest. I again heard our other friends’ yelling something, but the sound from Dave’s farts was so loud it reminded me of the waterfall.

The tip of my cock dampened as the barrage ended with a longer 9 seconds rip, which almost teared a hole through my friend’s red boxer.

He finally let me go and he resumed his previous position, lying down next to me.

“Dave…” I said. “I’ll never understand why you do it, but thanks.”

“I swear I’m gonna kick your ass if you keep saying that.” he replied, pushing me a bit.

I tried to relax, as if nothing happened, another thing that Dave was much better than me at. I closed my eyes and focused on having a good night sleep… but I heard all that tapping again.

“Really?” I said, turning to him.

“If you can handle the noises my ass makes, you can handle my phone, you hypocrite.”

“I… you… you KNEW I was talking about the phone the whole time!”

Dave simply turned to me, sporting the most annoying smirk he could mess me with.

“It’s just too easy with you.” he said one more time, and winked at me.

Truly asserting dominance, he raised one of his legs and a ripped a quick, loud one, effortlessly.

At this point I was just blushing like a fool. I turned my back to him to avoid eye contact because I was a mess. My bro is such a teasing bastard and I both hate and love him for this, but damn it’s getting way too hot in here.

Luckily, the cold windy night helped cooling me down, even though there was more wind inside the tent than outside, because of Dave.

Maybe that’s why they call it “Windy Mountain” (yes, you knew it was coming).

End of Episode 24

#fart story #eproctophilia #davefarts2 #gayfarts #malefarts #fart kink

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katsukikitten · 2 years ago

Text

Chapter Three | TW: suicidal thoughts .

He doesn't buy you coffee.

In fact he avoids you for two weeks straight.

Still you're on his mind a lot, especially when he tries to quiet it. He growls, fisting the fabric of his pants as he sits with his back to the perfect view.

He wanted to take it in, wanted to breathe in the biting, crisp air that came with higher altitudes, it was much better than the smog and pollution of the ever waking city.

He wanted to look over the tree line, how green still clung to deep, rich bark jutting from the rough gray surface of the mountain and how some looked like skeletal fingers. Ever reaching out to the sky wishing to be whole again.

Alive.

Instead he sees you, the disgust on your face when you're met with his hostility. How you side eye him whenever you make it back into your apartment and each time Bakugou stares after you like a fucking idiot who's too proud to apologize.

Worst yet he sees his friends, sees Denki with tear stained cheeks faking a smile the first time Bakugou caught him hiding it.

"M alright. Really Bakubro." Moments before Bakugou pulled him into a hug and Denki fisted his shirt and practically howled as he sobbed.

He must have been holding it in way too long.

He thinks of Kirishima, thinks of his friend's throat closing and lungs solidifying in a moment's notice in his panic. Thinks of talking him through it, of forcing the extra inhaler Bakugou kept on him into Kirishima's mouth for the medicine to do its job.

Of Izuku staring blankly into the cityscape, looking out over it and how the police sirens wailed in the distance. An ever present noise that most drowned out. Bakugou followed him up to the roof especially since Shoto was tucked away into a medically induced coma in hopes he'd heal faster. Bakugou never was good with words so he just watched with his clouded and clear eyes.

But he'll never forget Izuku turning to face him, face blank, eyes empty even as salty tears weep from his big dull eyes in a steady stream.

"Maybe you were right, Kaachan. I should have done a swan dive off the roof since I can't save anyone at all."

Bakugou thought he'd never moved faster, grabbing at Izuku's shirt and pulling him from the edge. Holding him close even as Izuku went limp in his arms.

His hands pop, scars burning as if the guilt were as every part of his nerve damage as the jagged tissue under his skin.

"You know, meditation isn't about clearing your head. It's about acknowledging the thoughts you're having."

Bakugou's eyes shoot open then, snarl on his lips, he'd come up here on his own but half way through he realized he was being followed.

Clair sits directly across from him, her own eyes closed.

"Wondering when you were gonna come outta hiding."

"I wasn't hiding at all." She quips, her breathing deep and even, mind calm as far as Bakugou could tell.

He scoffs, stretching, having grown stiff from how he sat before he lets himself fall onto his back.

Staring up at the clouds that float lazily through the atmosphere. He thinks how lucky the vapor is. To constantly have purpose and to actually fucking fulfill it. Each part of it's cycle clear and concise.

A stray rain drop hits his chest and he thinks of Izuku again. Of Ei, of Denks, of Sho, of Ochako, of all the people who soaked his shirt with their tears.

And how powerless he was to stop it.

He closes his eyes to try to dissipate the mounting frustration. Something blurry stands to his right.

His fucking blind spot.

It's not the right size or shape and again his body moves on its own. Arm coming up palm out already detonating an explosion before he can even pull in a breath.

He's on his feet, eyes snapped open facing the threat as the sound of his instincts echo around the open valley below. Birds take flight and a few trees crack and pop, falling as they snap from the force of his quirk.

But the shape isn't there anymore, now standing in his good peripheral and he adjusts slightly, hardly noticeable if one wasn't experienced in fighting.

"So much for not leaving a trace huh?" Clair looks over the damage although not with her milky eyes, it echoes back to her through the soles of her feet. She turns to him, hands behind her back, "You know you're very perceptive."

"Ya keep fuckin saying that and then don't tell me what the fuck it means." He growls, fingers splayed out as if he were getting into a fight.

"You can see. You just chose not to. You let it panic you." Clair tilts her head as she assesses him, her eyes make him uncomfortable. Not because of how they looked, never, he had his own milky eye he saw in the mirror every day.

No her eyes seem to cut right through him, a scalpel that traced along the seam of his soul making him seethe with each passing glance.

"Fuck off! I don't." Palms glowing orange and when he realizes what he's doing he shakes his hands.

He can't believe how much progress he's lost in his temper for the past three months.

He'd almost spent two months here and still no progress forward. All fucking backward, the thought mocking him as he counts down from ten.

He gets to five before she speaks again.

"When was the last time you've gotten laid?"

"You're fuckin joking."

"I'm not. You're wound tight. Too tight. But your eye is so open." She reaches out, hand hovering over his scarred cheek before he grabs onto her wrist and shoves her arm away with enough force she actually staggers.

Clair in her stocky strong stance, moved off balance and she smiles.

It had been a long time since she felt unsteady on her feet and even longer when she was sensed while she stood behind the veil.

In the in-between where she could see in full detail that most didn't even know existed. She flicks her long braid over her shoulder.

"Boy-"

"You're not even four years my senior." He snaps, "And technically I'm your senior since ya weren't even a hero til your late twenties."

"You did your homework." She smiles, he scoffs and she doesn't need the veil to know he's snarling, "You need an outlet, working out, training. It's not enough.

"What are you suggesting?" He glares at her and she stares, unblinking.

"That you find someone to have a connection with."

"I've got connections. Friends." He scoffs, eyes shifting and focusing on the damage he'd done. Several trees fallen over, the smell of sap floating in the air competing with the smell of damp wood.

The fine was going to be heavy and he planned to double the cost of it for his donation even if no one ever found out what caused such damage to these old trees.

Bakugou comes back to look at her and her face says it all. When she opens her mouth to voice her thoughts he cuts her off.

"Fuck love." It's sharp, jagged and raw. A tic forms in his jaw as he clenches his teeth.

"I'm not telling you to fall in love. I'm telling you to open your heart." She rolls her eyes, "Really open it Bakugou. You have friends, yes but I have a feeling that they are far more open and vulnerable with you than you are with them. Especially as of late."

She walks past him, purposefully going to pass his right as he moves his body to keep her away from falling out of sight. He's so tense, shifting his weight and looking more like a predator following prey in tall grass than a collected, assessing hero.

She stands on the cliff's edge and it makes Bakugou nervous, makes the scene flicker and all he can see is shitty Deku for a moment. She isn't in arm's length if something happens, he comes closer keeping her to the left of him.

"The world born in chaos seeks balance." She takes another step, and another. Stopping only when the edge of the rock digs into the arch of her foot as she distributes her weight, "If it's tipped too much…"

She starts to fall as she leans forward and Bakugou yanks her back by her tight hero costume, she almost falls backward but Bakugou steadies her. Hand on her back and the other on her solar plexus to keep her from falling too far forward from his rough adjustments. Panting uneven breaths, about to growl a threat when she finishes speaking.

"One could fall." She's smiling at him, standing perfectly still now. Silence weighs heavy between them, Bakugou trying to keep the tremble out of his arms as a flash of emerald curls clouds his mind again.

Finally his breathing evens enough for his anger to take root again, lips parting to berate his supposed mentor.

But she speaks first.

"Did you see the height of the river? The snow caps must be melting." Clair says before she steps out of his grip, "I'll see you in two days. And I mean it Bakugou, two full days of rest."

She starts to walk down the trail but all Katsuki can think about is the river, could she hear it? How could she tell it was higher than normal without the visual cues of the choppiness of the current or the swallowed banks?

When he thinks she's far enough down the mountain he goes to the cliff's edge, glaring over the view to see trees that normally wouldn't grow within any depth of water swelling from the flow of water that beat against its tough bark.

He looks back down the trail and for a fleeting moment he thinks he can see a blurry outline in his right eye. Between the trees a woman with a long braid moves with the grace of a cat.

Bakugou stews in the negative emotion.

Marinates in it.

Letting it wrap it's thin sharp fingers around his bones and burning him from his marrow outward. As if he were rotting from the inside out, turning to dust on the wind.

He roughly swipes over his scar, suddenly the long sleeve of his winter outfit is bothering it. Harshly pushing the fabric to his elbow and it alleviates some of the discomfort but not all of it. Hiding his pout behind the high neck of his body con suit, stalking the streets as he makes his way home.

He didn't bother wearing his cowl and mask, no one seemed to know who he was, that or they didn't seem to care. That was the case the last time he was here and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't thankful for it.

The busy streets packed with people that just want to get through life without any trouble.

With ease.

To follow their purpose like the rain that still threatens to burst from the gathering clouds overhead. As if the gray cloud followed him from the mountain.

Hell probably from Japan.

On almost every corner there was a liquor, each having something different on sale but the last one before his shitty apartment had a sale on wine.

His eye burns and his fingers twitched, maybe wine would be a better olive branch as he stalks into the store. The chime rings out overhead but no one welcomes him or bothers to look up.

Bakugou liked being a ghost here. It allows him to blend in even with his bulking size and burning eyes.

With his scary fissure snaking down the majority of his body. A woman in the corner glances at him before she looks away quickly, staring at the vodka as if it could talk.

So maybe he wasn't fully a ghost, catching his reflection in the warped view of the security mirror that seems to exaggerate his features.

It's almost enough to make him walk away until he thinks of you, who kept eye contact with his good eye.

Not even glancing at his scar or his hazed eye.

He grabs a red and then a fruity Moscoto. Most people either hated or loved a good red wine, at least with the Moscoto it would be sweet.

His empty apartment greets him and since you helped him with his door, he imagines you saying welcome home all sweet before he shakes it off.

Wine on the counter, a quick shower and a few replies to his friends on his phone, he's finally ready to confront you.

Low hung dark gray sweats, charcoal pullover, the two wine bottles in one hand and two glasses waiting on the counter in the apartment that you'll hopefully step into.

Had he been smarter he would have asked the liquor store clerk where he could get a good ass greasy pizza from but instead he was going to have to man the fuck up and ask you for help on not just one.

But two things.

And yes, Bakugou Katsuki, Pro Hero Dynamight, who ranked Number One for eight years straight, still couldn't figure out how the fuck to build his Ikea couch.

Katsuki is a bit nervous when he knocks on your door, hulking in the threshold as he swallows thickly. A large part of him hopes you aren't home, that you won't come to peek through the crack the chain creates. Then he wouldn't have to worry about choking to death on his pride.

Luck was not on his side as you glare through the chain, opening the door with your arms crossed.

"No. I don't have your bed frame or mattress." It's clipped and tone biting but nothing as harsh as the glare you give him.

He sighs trying to calm his racing heart, was it always this hard to talk to people?

To someone he might actually be fucking attracted to?

"I ain't here about the damn package." He grits his teeth, looking you in the eyes "Look the other day-"

He stops abruptly, leaving a heavy pause to linger in the air as he realizes he never bothered to remember your introduction.

You catch on quickly, watch him shift his weight uncomfortably and spy the olive branch he's hiding when the glass clinks together from his movement.

Cat smile blooming on your plush lips as you delight in his squirming.

"So you forgot my name? What do you want to call me?" It's playful but there is some ire in your eyes that he's mindful of, "Little thief? Bitch?"

"No!" He growls too quickly, too loud, "No." It's softer this time.

"Look, sweetheart I'm not trying to-"

"You call every woman you see sweetheart?" He can see you're trying to bait him now and he scoffs, before his own smirk dances on his lips.

"I only call the pretty ones sweetheart. That or Princess." He leans closer, so you won't have to crane your neck as much to look up at him, "So which do ya want, Princess?"

"Either is fine." You purr, "Now, get back to begging me for help. Go on, grovel."

He laughs, loudly and it's infectious, makes your stomach flutter. He didn't seem the type to burst out so genuinely, to tilt his head back just a bit before pressing closer.

Any other person might have taken a step back if a large man imposed on their personal space but you decided he smelled far too good to resist. His body wash mixing with his spicy sweet musk was dizzying.

Like a sip of heady whisky that burns your throat just right.

You keep your feet planted where they are and giggle softly.

He decides quickly he likes the sound of your pretty little laugh briefly be wonders what other sounds you make.

"Yea? Ya want me to beg?" He chuckles darkly, "Normally I make pretty girls beg first. But just for you…"

He steps back, holding out the wine for you to see.

"Come over and help my dumb ass build this fuckin couch." He sighs as if the next part is harder to admit, grumbling it even, "Help me find good take out. I've been eating shit food all week."

"Hmm I dunno." You cock your hand on your hip, bringing your manicured fingers to your chin, pretending to think as you tap your soft skin, "I didn't hear a please."

"Fuckin hell." He shakes his head with a smirk, leaning close, trying to keep himself from whispering it in your ear, "Please, Princess."

Why the hell was he flirting with his pretty neighbor?

The answer was obvious. Because you made it easy.

A victorious smile on your face as you push him back just enough that you can step outside of your apartment to close the door.

"I guess I can help. But you've gotta buy."

"Done."

You're quick to take charge and surprisingly, Bakugou is quick to obey.

Helping him rearrange the parts as you looked up an English PDF on your phone after some rough google searches. Reading the directions step by step and telling him exactly how much of each part he would need beforehand.

After the better part of two hours, a bottle and a half of wine, and two large everything pizzas from Tonio's later, the dark green and expensive couch was finally built.

"Move it to the left a little." With ease he picks up the couch, still following your orders and stupidly mindful of the shitty hardwood floors so that the feet wouldn't scratch the surface. Before he sets it down, your mouth quirks to the side as you look to see if the couch lines up with the island in the kitchen.

"A smidge more." Your brow furrows in concentration, it makes you look undeniably cute. Makes his heart stutter.

"I think you just like to watch me pick it up, Sweetheart."

"Maaaaybeee." You giggle, "Maybe I just want the room perfect."

"Yea?" He sets the couch down, "That mean you'll visit me if my bachelor pad is in order?"

"I dunno, you've got such a large blood stain by the window. How can I trust you?" A glint to your eyes as you pretend to be scared of him, shifting so he's opposite of you each time he makes a move towards you.

"Guess you can't." He lunges for you over the couch and you squeal as his strong arms wrap around your middle and pin you to the couch.

The wine makes both of you bold before it takes Bakugou a second to realize that your breath is fanning his lips. Quickly he puts you both into a seated position before he plants his hands firmly onto his dark gray sweats. Wiping the sudden dampness from his palms onto the fabric.

You clear your throat.

"Soooo you're not gonna ask me to stay for a movie?" You pull the blanket that was on the back of the couch onto your lap, fluffing it on him as well, "To test out the couch I helped build?"

"Are you sure you can trust me?" He tilts his head to you, teasing smirk on his lips.

"Maybe I'm into psycho killers." He snorts at your answer but turns on the TV and flips through the channels until he passes a title that catches your eye.

"Stop stop!" You grip at his arm as he stops, "Back two!"

"You're fuckin jokin." He groans, going back two like you said and selecting the movie you wanted.

"What?! You don't like pretty woman?!"

"I've seen it a million fuckin times. My ma made me watch it any chance she got." Annoyance in his tone but you see the warmth in his eyes.

"She's got good taste." You smirk before making yourself at home. Like a stray cat that walked in and acted like it belonged.

Like the cat had always been there.

And maybe you had.

Curling into his side and sighing softly as you two had just missed the opening scene but not more than five minutes into the movie.

Slowly, so fucking slowly, he wraps his arm around your shoulder, pulls you closer and you relax even more. Relishing his warmth.

About halfway through the movie his phone blares from his pocket. He growls, fishing it from his right side pocket, about to ignore the call until he reads the caller ID.

He pauses the movie.

"M sorry. Gotta take it. Don't move." He stands from the couch and steps into the kitchen, it's not far, you'll definitely be able to overhear his half of the conversation but he was pretty sure you didn't know Japanese anyway. Mainly he wanted to be able to keep an eye on you, oddly enjoying your company.

"Denks?" No mean nickname, not when the bubbly Denki is calling at 3am Japan time, "Ya alright, Denki?"

Just barely Bakugou can hear how breathless he is, almost panting. Bakugou can faintly hear the nightlife of the city and the thunder that rolls across the phone line.

"I-" It feels stuck in Kaminari's throat, like he can't catch his breath. His deep scar tissue lights up with electricity that begs to meet the charge of the sky. A positive ever reaching out to a negative, it explains why he's always so restless. He chokes on a sob, Kaminari was just so fucking tired.

"Yer okay. Gotta remember to breathe." Bakugou's voice is rough but there's no bite to it, he shows Denki how by taking a deep breath through his nose, holding it for a second until he exhales deeply. Letting his body dispel the tension on its own. After a few controlled breaths Denki finally mimics his friend.

"There ya go. Ya with me?"

"Ye-yea." It's shaky, like he's been crying, like he didn't want to call Sero again or at all, like he knew that Bakugou was built like Atlas, "Just had that dream again."

It clicks for Katsuki then, he glances over at you and you take a sip of your wine, back still to him.

Immediately he knows what dream, the one where he relives somethings Denki wished he'd forget.

The one where Jiro and Sero almost died, trapped on a sinking ship while Denki was across the city before it plays all of his fears on loop. Bakugou's brush with death is there, Katsuki knows it is from how often Denki calls when it rains and they haven't had a chance to catch up.

"Ya wanna talk?"

"No. Yes. I dunno. I just-" It sounds stupid to Kaminari as he presses his palm into his eye until he sees a blooming galaxy chased by lightning, "I guess I just wanted to hear you. Make sure you're alive."

"M alive. Screamin and fuckin kickin." Katsuki let's the reassurance sink in before he goes to his gruff tone, "Why ya miss me? Ya buttering me up so I'll fly ya out here to eat twelve large pizzas again?"

Kaminari laughs for what feels like the first time in weeks, instantly feeling better as he pictures Bakugou sucking his teeth at him while Kaminari downs six large pizzas like he did three years ago when they were on a mission together in the same concrete jungle Bakugou stood in now.

"Yea. That's it. I'm calling to get that crispy pizza, you always go to the coolest places. It was six but I can try for twelve." Denki starts to calm, rain coming down in fat drops that slowly force him inside of his quiet apartment.

"Should've been a competitive eater." Katsuki teases before he gets serious again, "Ya still hitting maintenance? Your kal count is high for a good reason."

Denki would normally groan at Bakugou's nagging but tonight he's happy the hot head is being mother hen like he often would be.

"Today I didn't. Not much of an appetite."

"Well tomorrow's a new fuckin day. Ya better snap me all yer fuckin meals or I'll let Kyoka Kaminari know that someone isn't eating like he should." Katsuki's tone returns to playful but Denki knows there's truth in it.

Knows because Bakugou has shown up to his house before. Bullied his way in with plenty of homemade food before sitting Denki down and Kyoka to find out what the hell was wrong with Denki.

"Wow, that's cold to tell on me to my old lady." The electric blonde chuckles.

"I'm fuckin heartless remember? Now get to bed. Staying up half the night on your day off and you still can't beat my personal best on Mario kart."

"Ugh okay mom. I'll go to bed." Denki looks up at the sky, watches the lightning dance in the dark clouds, "You'll be home soon?"

He isn't sure why he asks Bakugou that, Denki knows it will be at least a year or so.

"Yea I'll be fuckin home soon. But if I come back and you're sticks and bones again. Imma kick your ass. Bed Dunceface." Bakugou hangs up with a finality and you dare to glance at him over your shoulder.

To see the angry knit to his brows that softens with worry the more he looks at his phone.

You look back to the paused screen quickly and take another sip of your Moscato.

Bakugou's fingers tap against the lit screen as he composed a message that he knows his friend will see in a few short hours.

Kaachan: Oi Deku, take shitty hair, duct tape, space cadet, alien head and dunce face to dinner for me would ya? Tell em it's my treat. I'll send the cash and you better send me the fuckin bill.

He comes back to the couch, settling into the comfortable cushions.

"Seems like they really needed you." You comment, setting your glass down that you used to keep your hands busy. You couldn't understand what he was saying but certain actions transcend language and helping someone breathe was one of them.

"Least I can do." He gruffs, looking at you for a second, taking in your beauty and he's just glad you don't look upset with him.

That you beam at him when he lets his fingers ghost over the soft skin of your arm.

That he's the cause of a smile for once.

From your view his smile looks pained and you try to keep yours as it was.

But it falters as realization washes over you.

"Are they there for you?" He sighs at your question, cracking his neck with a harsh tilt of his head.

"As much as they can be," a humorless snort "'ts not like I let 'em in"

His hand comes to squeeze at the nape of his neck and when his shirt lifts you can see the bruises on his stomach. He watches your face, follows your gaze.

"From work. Mentor won't tell me shit and hits almost as hard as Ei's unbreakable."

"Underground fighter?"

"Psycho killer, remember? Since that's what you're into." Bakugou likes that you didn't even think hero, still he doesn't like to tell a lie, even if it was by omission and it made you giggle, "Hero actually."

"Hero? Really?" You squint like you can't see it and he playfully shoves you when you can't keep a straight face.

"Really. Overseas." It was nice you didn't know what Bakugou was or what his past may hold. He lets his eyes fall over you, drink you in and he decides he likes you better than the cheap wine.

Much better and he tries to swallow down his bitter thoughts, that maybe you were just too good at playing dumb.

Still your pretty eyes were like a truth serum and he tells you about his day despite himself not wanting to.

"Apparently, a bad one. I can't even fuckin meditate properly." He rolls his eyes.

"Why don't you try that." You point to the kitchen and all he sees are empty pizza boxes and wine bottles.

"More wine? More pizza?" It's not a joke, he really doesn't know what you mean. Still you giggle.

"No, the breathing. Like you did with uh…Denki?" You were hoping you said it right, you'd only assumed it was his friend's name since he said it a few times but it wasn't as if you understand Japanese.

"Yea Denki, Denks. Ya want me to breathe deeply?" This time his gaze is serious, boring into your eyes and you swallow thickly.

"I'll do it with you." The wine mixed with the rom com has your guard all the way down climbing into his lap to straddle him without thought. Hands at his ribs that gently squeeze while his large palms find rest on your hip and thigh.

He looks up at you, eye hazy from the booze. Normally Bakugou would shove a woman away if she straddled him or touched him first. He didn't like the idea of someone over him, of being 'pinned' even if he knew he wasn't.

But your weight is comfortable on his lap. Welcoming even as your manicured hands rest on his ribs hovering over them as if you wanted him to take deep enough breaths for his ribs to touch your palms.

He isn't sure why he does it but he pulls in air deeply through his nose until his chest expands enough to touch you.

"Very good." Your praise does something to him, makes him feel more drunk than he is. He wants to hear it again and releases his held breath when you squeeze the tender meat at his side, "Again."

Pulling in air, holding it for a few seconds and letting out longer and heavier sighs. He never felt this relaxed before, begins to wonder if this is your quirk but his gut tells him otherwise.

That it's just you and who you are. A softness under a prickly surface, kinda like him. Except Katsuki was sure his softness was shriveling up.

Dying.

"Now close your eyes." This earns you a glare, the spell starting to break but you're sure he's so close to relaxing enough he could meditate like his mentor asked. You aren't sure why you care so much, why the idea of him shifting and taking you off of his lap bothers you so you bring your hands to where he can see them.

"I can put them here." You place your hands on his shoulders close enough to the juncture of his neck that your fingers brush over his scar. He bristles and you do too, not from disgust but from worry.

From delight on how his bare skin feels on yours.

"Maybe that's too close to your throat." You murmur, sliding your hands down to rest on his thick biceps, "Does this bother you?"

You squeeze his right side harder, "If it's tingling or biting I can hold your shirt."

"It's fine." His gruff answer, his scar tingling for a different reason now, he'd never had someone who was gentle with him that didn't have pity clouding their eyes. Aimed at him as if he needed it.

Like he was lesser or pathetic.

He swallows down the thought and slowly, so slowly lets his eyes flutter closed.

"Now what Sweetheart?" His voice is dark, mind racing but your firm grip on his arms is grounding and with his bruising grip at your hips he feels more secure.

More prepared in case this is some long con where you take what little cash he has and never see him again.

Or worse sent to kill him.

The smell of your body wash is stronger now with his eyes closed and for a second Bakugou thinks

Well everyone has to die sometime.

"Now keep breathing. Like you were." Soft guiding voice, "That's it."

After a few minutes you lean forward, pressing your lips to the scar on his jaw. Cheek rubbing against some of the rough stubble he has and he stiffens beneath you. Holding his breath and when you bring your lips to kiss at the tip of his split ear his grip on you tightens like he's about to lift you off of his lap and toss you through the wall back to your own apartment.

"Wait." It's soft, maybe a little desperate and you hate it but he's so close. You don't know how you know but you feel it in your bones.

Gently covering his eyes with your hand before they snap open, letting them hover over his skin so that you won't put any pressure on his lids. Still one of his hands grabs onto your wrist with a deadly grip.

"If you open your eyes now, we'll have to start over again." Your voice is soft despite the pain shooting into your arm, soothing even. Katsuki notices your choice of words right away.

As if he wasn't alone.

He loosens his grip against your wrist, gently placing it on his shoulder for now before his hand drops back to your hip.

You press your lips to the scar just above his eyebrow and follow it all the way down to his jaw, stopping just before his throat. You assume he's sensitive about anything touching the skin there, just barely able to tell from how his collar is pulled lopsided and away from that side of his neck after coming back from talking to Denki.

You blow on it first and his own breath hitches, fanning warm air against him until his breathing is normal again. Pressing your lips to the thickest part of his scar and you wonder how he survived it at all.

Smoked caramel fills the air, thick enough to coat your throat. His hand is quick to come to the nape of your neck, instinct most likely from how his grip makes your vertebrae creak from the pressure and you stay still until it loosens.

Before his thumb gently caresses your skin and he returns back to the fat of your hip.

"You're okay. Doing so well for me." You whisper before leaning back, repeating it on his left side and he has no reflexes to speak of as you press your lips to him. Only stiffening when you get to his throat again, from the vulnerability, from the idea of you sucking dark circles onto his throat that has him trying so hard not to think about how your heat is pressed against his soft length. How at any second the switch could flip and his cock would ache from how hard he'd be.

"I'm going to move my hand now okay?" This time you start with his left side. Sliding it up his arm, fingers feathering over his jaw and cheeks. Trying not to get lost in how handsome he was.

How his scar added to that but you'd get to that side soon.

Pushing some of his ash blonde hair out of his face and watching his long lashes flutter, saving his throat for last.

Tracing over the veins beside his Adam's apple that bobs from your touch before you repeat it on the right side. This time tracing his scar with a lighter touch, watching a shiver run down his spine.

"Does it hurt?" You ask, pulling away some.

"No." Gruff tone but he keeps his eyes closed, "It's like a ghost sensation. Like you know something is touching you but you can't actually feel it."

You stop yourself from tracing his lips as badly as you want to, mind trying to distract you from the task at hand.

Although you weren't so sure why you were doing this little exercise with him, helping out a neighbor that was so terribly rude to you.

Maybe it was the wine amplifying the shared laughs earlier.

Maybe it was the sadness in his voice when he was talking to his friend in a foreign tongue.

You stop on his scar on his throat, splaying out your fingers before you slide alongside the juncture of his throat back to his shoulder. Giving it a squeeze before you let go of him with the hand on his scarred side.

Holding it at a distance with the palm angled towards him. When you move an inch closer his hot palm is quick to find your arm.

His skin is almost burning yours although it isn't glowing orange.

At least not yet.

"Do you see it or feel it?"

"I feel it." He growls, "I don't fuckin like it."

"Trust me. Just for tonight. I won't hurt you." It's serious before you giggle at the thought, "I'm not sure I can."

But Katsuki was sure you could. Especially with how gently you're treating him now, how his heart is lodged in his throat. How he still keeps his eyes fuckin closed for you.

The two of you stay like that for a long moment like a stalemate until Katsuki relents, bringing his hand back to your grounding frame. This time grabbing at your ribs, making you bite your lip.

You leave your hand there until your arm cramps before slowly bringing it closer.

"Your hands are small. A lot smaller than Shitty Deku's." Bakugou comments aloud, just barely getting the shape of it in his mind's eye. Of how wide your palm was, how sharp your nails and exactly how long your fingers were. Coming to connect with the soft, comfortable weight that sat on his lap making the picture in his mind's eye clearer.

Your pretty figure in a stark silhouette against a black background. Your extended arm was the only thing that was hazy.

His eyes snap open with the realization, from what he saw at the office last week, to what he saw in the woods this morning, to what he just saw now. To what Clair or whatever the fuck her name was talking about this morning.

You can see. You just chose not to.

Bakugou could see especially if he had a mental measuring tape and of course the basis would be that shit head mop of green curls he couldn't seem to shake.

But he saw you, saw exactly how your arm would line up against Izuku's in his mind's eye. Obviously knew where to grab, how tightly he needed to close his hand around you earlier.

It's quick, how his hands push you closer to him. How one hot palm presses the nape of your neck urging you closer to him before he closes the gap himself. Kissing you with a ferocity you'd never felt before.

Stealing the breath from your lungs as he gave delicious gnashing kisses. His tongue invading your mouth the second you gasp, the wet muscle sliding over yours in a way that sends shivers down your spine and warmth straight to your cunt.

His cock grows from the kiss quickly and when it twitches you make sure a pretty sound it makes Katsuki dizzy.

You grind against him for relief and he growls into your mouth. Flipping you onto your back where he can pin you into the expensive cushions of his new couch. His warm hand up your shirt, moaning when he feels the weight of your soft breasts in his hands, knowing you didn't have a bra on. Pawing at them, pulling at the perk bud so he can swallow your loud moans that you made for him. Deepening the kiss before he brings his hand back down to your dark leggings, cupping your mound before he presses his fingers into your cunt. Growling when he feels a growing dampness, pulling away with hot puffs of breath in your face, looking like a predator salivating over a meal.

Until his phone rings again and his eyes widen.

"Who the fuck?" Pure venom as he pulls you up roughly, seeing the face time from his ma and seeing red.

"What? What the fuck do you want hag?" He growls as he answers it and triggering Mitsuki into her own yelling.

"I haven't heard a goddamn thing from my son and I call before heading into work AND I GET-" She stops when her she spies you just barely in the frame, "KATSUKI ARE YOU ON A DATE?! Lemme see her, son!"

"MA!" He goes to turn the phone away, suddenly embarrassed, whispering to you in English, "My ma wants to see you…she's going to be so annoying if I don't but I'll deal with it if-"

You giggle as you whisper back "Its okay."

"Oh I'm so sorry to interrupt." She says in English, choosing that over Japanese for the rest of the call, "Is my son being rude? Answering the phone in the middle of a date."

She chides and you laugh.

"Isn't he always rude? I know he didn't learn that from his mom." Mitsuki laughs.

"You're right he didn't. Who knows where he got that attitude from." She winks, "So what's the pretty girlfriend's name?"

"Oi! She's just my neighbor." You try not to let his definition bother you. Keeping the mask on your face nicely.

"Is that what they do in America? Neighbors sit on your couch? Drink wine?" Mitsuki teases as Bakugou looks over his shoulder to see the boxes and bottles can be seen in the viewfinder.

"Ma. Not now." This time he's frustrated enough to speak in Japanese.

"Okay okay. Well. I'll let you two 'neighbors' go. It was nice meeting you." She says your name with such kindness it makes your heart squeeze before she talks to her son in their first language, "She's pretty and funny. Don't fuck this up. I already like her."

Bakugou just glares as his mom adds, "I hadn't heard from you much since ya got there. Was just checking in."

"M fine, ma." She stares at her son.

"Ya look better than last time." The last time he talked to his mom they got into a huge screaming match before he even set foot through the front door of his childhood home. He was coming by to tell her he'd be leaving. Knew she'd want to say goodbye in person like she always did.

He was sure their last words to each other were FUCK YOU echoed around the neighborhood.

"Anyway. I love ya. I know I'm hard headed and-"

"It's okay ma." He bites the inside of his cheek,"I love ya too."

"Bye son."

"See ya."

Bakugou turns off his phone and tosses it onto the coffee table, gripping his face with his hand before rubbing at his features. His eyes burn.

"I can go." You say softly and he grabs onto the hem of your shirt, collecting himself.

"Ya can't. We still have to finish the movie, test out the couch you helped build. Remember?" He looks up at you and there's that sadness again. You swallow thickly, try to remember that you two were "neighbors" but his strong arm wraps around you, pulling you into his chest before he hits play.

In this position you can hear his heart, hear how it beats like a caged bird. Fluttering as it tries to escape his ribs that hold it hostage and how it starts to settle and slow with each swipe of his thumb against your bare skin.

The skin he sought out by pushing up your short sleeve so that his fingers could feel you. As if he was grounding himself like he was before.

Ironic how the scene that plays now is how the main character explains no kissing, that it was too intimate and vulnerable for the business man to endure and how the female lead is happy for now to be in close contact.

How fragile the whole thing is and you look up at him, the tv light making his eye glow and his features soften and you wonder if this was the most you were going to get.

Just a little preview, the smallest insight into the intimate and intricate details of his life and if this was the last you'd see.

Because as the movie goes on, as his heart slows you think you feel him stiffen as he realizes what he's done.

As the credits roll across the screen of his TV, they seem to roll across whatever this was too.

Ending this little relationship, this vulnerability shared between two strangers before it ever even began.

#bakugou x reader #Katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #kitten writes 🖤🐈‍⬛🖋️#tw suicide #tw suicidal thoughts

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cuddlepilefics · 1 year ago

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Fuzzy Socks (Enhypen)

Fandom: Enhypen

Sickie: Jungwon

Caregivers: Enhypen

Prompt: @sicktember

No one’s POV.:

Jungwon was known to be the sneeziest member of the group. That was also why no one got worried when he started to sneeze a little more frequent during the last week of their tour. The slight rasp to his voice could also be explained by the almost nightly performances, as could be the fatigue. Jungwon knew better though. His nose was never that runny and his head rarely hurt, except for when he was sick. They were about to board the plane, finally getting back home from an exciting but equally as draining tour, and the young leader realized the downside to their fame….

The airport was crowded and Jungwon pulled his hood lower over his face, giving an itchy sniffle behind his mask. He had taken his temperature back at the hotel, shortly before they had to leave, so he knew he was already running a low-grade fever. Not wanting to worry the members, he had kept that to himself. Jungwon couldn’t help but feel guilty. He knew he should be there for the members and could see Niki looking so uncomfortable but he couldn’t find the energy. Feeling an arm around his shoulders, Jungwon looked up. “Everything’s okay, Jungwonnie”, Heeseung whispered, “We made it through the crowd and will get on the plane in a few minutes. Once we’re in our seats, we’ll have a couple hours to nap and relax.” The leader nodded, biting down on his lip. Had he really looked that anxious? He glanced over at Niki, checking whether their maknae was alright. Jungwon didn’t have to worry though, Niki sat between Jay and Sunoo, joking around with them.

Jungwon weakly plopped down in his seat, heaving a sigh. They had finally made it on the plane and would not have to move for the next few hours. There was still some shuffling around him as the members traded seats but Jungwon drowned it out, closing his eyes. Giving a thick sniffle, he massaged his forehead and startled when Jay tapped his shoulder. “You look exhausted”, the older commented, “Hope you’ll be able to sleep once we’re in the air.” The leader hummed hoarsely. Exhausted was an understatement.

Jay knew Jungwon wasn’t feeling his best. Heeseung had pulled him aside and initiated the new seating order, so Jay could sit next to their leader. The oldest didn’t know what exactly was going on with his dongsaeng but he had looked out of it, tense. Jungwon winced earning a concerned look from Jay. “Just a headache”, the leader mumbled, having to clear his throat as his voice cracked. Comfortingly squeezing the younger’s knee, Jay hummed: “Did you already take something for it?” – “’s not that bad”, Jungwon denied, sniffling into his sleeve, “Might take something later though.”

Jungwon regretted his statement. With the thick congestion in his sinuses, the takeoff was pure torture for him. He felt like his head would explode from the pressure change and he dug his fingernails into his thighs. “What’s wrong, Jungwonnie?”, Jay frowned, a panicked edge to his voice. A sob tore from Jungwon’s throat, the boy in too much pain to speak. All he could do was grip his hyung’s hand tightly.

They had finally reached their travelling altitude and Jungwon sat with his face in his hands, silent tears streaming down his face. Jay was thoroughly scared for his dongsaeng, watching worriedly when the younger suddenly pulled his sleeves over his hands. “Hit'choo!! Hih-tschh!! Hihh…hih-tschiew!!” Sitting back in his seat, Jungwon groaned: “Ugh, findally adjusted to the altitude.” – “Woah, do you sound stuffed up”, Jay winced, “No wonder that hurt your sinuses.” Sunghoon turned in his seat, reaching a hand back. He had pulled a travel pack of tissues from his bag and handed it to Jay, who handed one to Jungwon, so he could clean himself up.

“You’re not coming down with something, are you?”, Jay asked worriedly when the leader gave a scratchy cough. Rubbing his face, Jungwon sniffled: “I-I, I thigk I mbight be catch’g a cold.” That was lie, Jungwon knew he was already in the thick of it, having come down with it over the course of the past week. “You should really try to get some sleep then”, Jay advised, shrugging out of his sweat jacket when he saw the boy shudder. Draping it around Jungwon’s shoulders, he repeated that the leader should get some rest and watched how the other put in his earphones, so he wouldn’t be woken up again. When Jay was confident that his dongsaeng was asleep, he carefully felt the boy’s forehead and frowned.

There had been a bunch of delays, so the group was relieved when they finally made it back to Seoul. Jungwon had to realize that this didn’t go in his favor at all. As the leader, he had a meeting scheduled for the day after their arrival. Seeing as they got back later than expected, the other members were taken back to the dorm, while Jungwon had to go to the company building and meet management. He wished to at least have a change of clothes, not wanting to face those higher up in the clothes he had slept in, but there was no time. His throat ached and he wasn’t sure he even had enough voice left to have a meeting but figured he wouldn’t be the one talking anyway.

Just as they had to part, Jake pressed a bag of cough drops into Jungwon’s hand and shot him an encouraging smile. “We’ll have some tea ready for you when you get back”, Heeseung promised. By now the entire group knew their leader wasn’t feeling well. Jungwon shook his head and sniffled: “You should be sleeping off your jet lag when I get back.” – “Yeah and you should be in bed, not working with a fever yet here we are”, Jay pointed out, “We can’t always do what we should be doing, so….”

Jungwon didn’t know how he did it but he somehow managed to get through the meeting, only mildly humiliating himself with how croaky his voice sounded. When the meeting was over, his head pounded and he felt like he had been hit by a car. Everything ached but that was to be expected with how much he had been dancing and the hours he had slept in a plane seat. Sucking on a cough drop, Jungwon pulled out a tissue and tried to blow his nose but he wasn’t too successful. Just when he thought he was finally able to go home and crawl into his own bed, Jungwon was met with the next misfortune.

“I’m sorry, it looks like the road is closed. This is the closest I can take you to your dorm”, the driver hummed apologetically, glancing out the windshield. The rain was drumming on the roof of the car and with how much was coming down, Jungwon wouldn’t have been surprised if a fish had swum past their vehicle. Giving the young idol a sympathetic smile, the driver grimaced: “I sadly don’t have an umbrella that I could lend you but maybe if you put your hood up and walk really fast, it won’t be too bad. It’s only two blocks down that street.” Always polite, Jungwon thanked the driver, pulling up his hood. HHe already shivered just thinking about opening the car door but it couldn’t be helped. He wanted to get home and he could take a hot shower as soon as he made it. The others should be done taking turns showering by now, so he could stay under the hot water as long as he wanted.

Jogging through the rain, Jungwon was soon soaked to the bone. He slowed his steps, growing dizzy from the exertion, and braced himself against one of the buildings. “Huh-tshh!! Huhh'tsch!! Huh-tchoo!!” Sniffling into his wet sleeve, Jungwon fought back some tears. He didn’t feel good at all and he just wanted to be home and in bed. With every step he took, Jungwon could feel the water in his shoes. His legs felt heavy but he dragged himself back to the dorm. He didn’t even know if he was shaking from the strain or the cold that had soaked through his clothes like the rain. All he knew was that it was incredibly difficult to type in the code. Eventually, Jungwon just knocked on the door and waited for one of the members to open it for him.

“Oh shit”, Jake gasped as he looked at his dripping dongsaeng, “Straight to the bathroom?” Jungwon gave a pathetic nod, holding onto the doorframe. Leading the younger to the bathroom, Jake promised: “I’ll fetch you some comfortable clothes, just get warm.” That was exactly what the leader did after shoving his clothes into the wash. The hot water hitting his stiff shoulders and back was soothing, yet he still trembled.

“What happened?”, Heeseung frowned when Jake returned after bringing Jungwon his clothes. They could both hear the desperate sneezes as the steam of the shower cleared the leader’s congestion. Jake bit his lip, humming: “Can’t say for certain but he looked like he was soaked all the way through. Don’t know if he walked all the way from the company building but that would be cruel.” – “I’m making some soup”, Jay announced, “He was already feverish when we got on the plane, so he should be able to take some medicine now. Tea’s ready by the way. Maybe you could put the thermos on the coffee table?” Jake complied while Sunoo went to the room he shared with Sunghoon, Jungwon and Niki and fetched a few blankets.

When Sunoo finished setting up the couch, he ran into Sunghoon, who placed a tissue box onto the coffee table. He had already put one next to Jungwon’s bed, knowing the younger would need it. Niki lingered next to Jay as the older cooked, unsure how to help. “Hit'choo!! Hih-tschh!!” Rubbing at his face, Jungwon shuffled into the common area, his face flushed, eyes brimming with tears. “There you are”, Jake smiled, pulling the younger into a hug. The leader couldn’t help but melt into the embrace as he still felt cold after. While Jake pulled the younger to the couch, Heeseung went to fetch a towel.

“Here, let me dry your hair properly. We can’t have you getting worse”, the oldest hummed, rubbing Jungwon’s hair dry. Jake had taken a seat next to the leader, holding his hands in his own to warm them up while Sunoo draped a blanket around the boy’s shoulders. Pulling one of his hands from Jake’s, Jungwon lifted the edge of the blanket to his face as his breath hitched. “Hit'choo!! Hih-tschh!! Hihh…hih-tschiew!! *sniff*” Handing him a wad of tissues, Niki asked: “Do you still feel cold, hyung?” The leader nodded and pulled the blanket tighter as a shiver ran down his spine.

While the maknae scurried off, Jay handed Jungwon a bowl of steaming soup, smiling: “I don’t think you’ve had a chance to eat in quite a while, so once you have something in your system, we can get you some medicine.” – “Thanks, Jay-hyungie”, the leader rasped as he accepted the soup. The warmth felt nice on his sore throat but he had to be really careful not to spill any with how badly his hands trembled.

When Niki returned, he knelt in front of the couch smiling: “I got you some fuzzy socks, hyung.” He carefully slipped them onto Jungwon’s feet, hoping the leader would feel warmer soon. “How did you end up so drenched anyway?”, Heeseung asked worriedly, grabbing another blanket to cover Jungwon’s legs. Scrubbing at his pink nose, Jungwon sniffled: “One of the roads was closed. I odly had to walk two blocks or somethi’b buh with how hard it rained….” Sunghoon winced at how stuffy the boy sounded and snuck off to their room to set up the humidifier. They’d probably all go to bed soon, exhausted from their tour and the long flight home, so hopefully Jungwon would feel a little better once he had gotten some proper rest.

#fanfic #fluff #comfort #fanfiction #sickfic #sick #snz #sicktember2023 #sicktember 2023

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notstinky · 8 months ago

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TIMING: Late 2023 FEATURING: Luci (@luci-in-the-stars) & Thea (@notstinky) LOCATION: A hill somewhere SUMMARY: Thea is looking at stars when she's joined by Luci, who was hoping to do the same. The two get along well, but Thea's HAIR has other ideas...

Thea adjusted the knob on the side of her telescope, bringing Neptune in all its bright glory into focus. She’d never been more pleased with a birthday purchase before; it had been a little treat to herself considering the rest of her birthday went a little bad, to say the least. Eating an entire camping family was pretty bad but, hey, at least she had the telescope! Thea always thought it was important to look at the positives. Other than a few bumpy nights out of the month, she was a totally normal girl. And now, with her bald hair fixed via a strange hair tonic, there was nothing stopping her from enjoying the night sky and all its splendor. With Neptune at its annual opposition, it was the best time to view the planet—the summer triangle still hung high in the sky, Jupiter was bright as always, and Pleiades was getting ready to illuminate winter skies.

The crunching of grass behind her, shrill in her ears, caused her to snap around. Thea’s vision easily adjusted to the dark, observing the figure that approached with their own telescope. Thea wondered if she should have felt more alarmed at a stranger invading her carefully thought out stargazing spot (she’d run her own research, running around town to find just the right altitude) but the sight of the telescope both instantly calmed her and endeared her to this stranger. “Hello!” She waved, her words tumbling from her mouth at a rapid pace. “Come to see the sky too? I’ve got Neptune locked in on mine and I think I can get Triton too, if you wanna take a peek.” She paused. “Oh, sorry.” Thea stuck out her hand, “I’m Thea. Sorry, I get excited.”

—

Luci had wanted to figure out the star maps here before she asked potential friends to come with her. After all, it would probably be embarrassing if she wasn’t able to name the stars over here. It was just so much brighter then where she had lived, where only the brightest of the stars could get through - even with her telescope. So she had asked around where a good stargazing location was, and had carefully packed up the telescope she’d gotten for her fifteenth birthday and set off.

Although she hadn’t expected someone else, Luci wasn’t at all frightened seeing a scope set up. After all, it was a beautiful night to stargaze and as nervous as she was to do it in front of friends and get things wrong, others weren’t a bother at all. Especially when they seemed friendly. With a smile that reached her eyes she said, “Hi - yeah I did. It’s a lot brighter here than where I’m from. - Oh you can see Neptune here? I hadn’t realized it would be bright enough.”

Without thinking Luci nodded her head excited at the idea of seeing Neptune with her own eyes on a screen - only stopping as the other remembered normal customs. “Oh - no worries. I got excited too. I was going to look at your scope before even getting your name. You see -I’m trying to make some star maps and - well you know,” Luci said with a blush starting on her face. At the hand Luci took it and shook it gently and said, “Oh I’m Luci - It’s nice to meet you Thea.”

—

“Yes!” Thea perked up. “It’s in opposition right now, which means it’s opposite the sun and—“ Thea shook her head. “What am I saying? You probably know this, you’re trying to make a star map. Anyway, it’s right in front of Pisces, so the trick is making sure you’re not actually looking at Bélénos or something.” To anyone else, it probably sounded like gibberish but Thea trusted that to her new friend Luci, who was definitely now her friend, it was comprehensible. “And by my angle, if I’m right…” Which she usually was, she’d been stargazing since she learned how to speak and ask about the bright dots that populated the night. “…I should have Neptune.”

Thea grinned, asking, “where are you from, Luci?” She gestured to her scope to allow her friend Luci—she was going to force them to be friends if she had to—to look through it. “They’re a lot brighter here than where I’m from too. I grew up in the city and you probably know, city stars are…” Thea sighed. “…hard to see. Toronto has never been known as a great astronomy location. There’s a dark sky preserve like two hours away from the city but that’s like, two hours away.” Not that she didn’t regularly make the trip anyway.

The hair did not like this conversation; it was not about hair. The hair had awoken with the sound of another flesh sack sloshing around and that was particularly tantalizing. How easily did Luci bleed, it wondered. Maybe they could make a star map out of that.

—

Luci’s eyes glittered in excitement as she followed what the other was saying “Oh! That would make Neptune a lot easier to see. Oh to be fair I may not have known it. So you’re absolutely fine.” After all, Luci herself had a habit of over-explaining herself, and if she was honest she loved hearing people talking about things that they were passionate about. It didn’t bother her at all. Nodding along she continued, “I bet you are.”

Going closer to the telescope and looking into it just confirmed that her new friend was. For a moment Luci was more concentrated on Neptune, taken with how bright it was here before going away from the telescope, “Yes that’s got to be Neptune! Wow, it's pretty.”

Looking at Thea now she said, “Oh I’m from the Bronx. - Oh New York City.” She quickly corrected herself, knowing that she shouldn’t just assume that people knew what the Burrough was even if it was a habit of hers to lead with it. “I could see some of the stars, but - not like all of this. I bet in the winter it’s even clearer I can’t wait to see them. - Oh you’re from Toronto?” Luci said liking to know new facts about people and gave a smile and nod. “Oh wow I’d never heard of that! It must be so nice to see the stars without any light pollution.”

She wondered idly how the stars must have looked like, and wondered how she’d feel seeing them all bright in the sky. Would Luci feel small, or in awe of what the universe could produce just outside of her reach? Part of her wanted to ask Thea what she thought, but figured that was too much of a conversation for first meeting and instead stuck with, “I know it’s a bit of a lame question, but what’s the coolest astrological body you’ve been able to see? - Oh I am kind of assuming you got to go to the dark sky preserve, but if you did you know?” She said smiling at Thea, hoping that there was an answer.

—

Thea brightened, at her own emotional height—if she could be seen through a telescope, she probably glowed. “Yeah! Isn’t it just?” A lot of people had a passing or romantic interest in the stars; they might look up and think it was pretty and learn a few names but few people were scientifically fascinated. Finding celestial bodies in the sky wasn’t just as easy as pointing some lens at the sky; there was measuring, finding the ecliptic, charting a course though other known bodies, adjusting and fine, yes sometimes looking at an app. Did anyone ever appreciate that she was using an apochromatic doublet refractor telescope? Sure, it wasn’t the same as the Sky-Watcher Evostar 150DX that she had in Toronto, after she’d saved up all five thousand dollars for it, and sure it couldn’t look at deep space objects but at least it wasn’t a Powerseeker 70EQ, or something.

“New York City…” Thea repeated. She’d always thought of New York as the sort of place people wanted to escape to, not escape from. How much of a right did she have to judge when the same could be said about Toronto? Which was as Thea saw it, the New York City of Canada. She decided not to comment on it. “Oh god,” she grinned, memories tumbling into her head, “like, so many things: a couple of nebulas standout, Dumbbell and Crab; clusters like Hercules and then you get to the shit that doesn’t even have proper names like M5, M12; and every planet in our solar system, every bump on the moon, comets, asteroids…” Thea’s eyes swelled with water. She gestured up at the inky sky, jumping in place. “How can I pick? It’s all so cool, it’s all so beautiful: there are billions and billions of things out there, and they’re billions and billions of miles apart and when you stare up at them all you see is the little dots but far off, far away, farther than we’ll ever go, they’re burning beautifully and brilliantly and for this moment--this cosmically small grain of time--I get to see it. Me. The universe is so grand, so big, so unfathomable and I get to see it.” Thea sighed, clutching herself as tears streamed from her face, emotions of existential wonder. “I don’t think you pick a favorite. It’d be like picking your favorite drop in the ocean, or something. I don’t think you do that. I think the first time you look up at the sky, like really look at it, like the first time you see a celestial body, you accept that that’s the greatest fucking thing you’ve ever seen and there’s a billion of those. More than a billion. A stupid, unthinkable, infinite number of beautiful things. The first time I saw Jupiter, I had nightmares for months.”

And like that, with Thea holding herself against the cosmic beauty of the universe, The Hair lunged, darting out of the darkness. It aimed to slice Luci’s skin and spill the red nectar of her body.

—

Luci was easily in awe of the sky. She often felt small, and it was no different now but there was something comforting when it was the cosmos telling you. Her notebooks and star charts couldn’t match the feeling of peering up and knowing that the stars flickered on no matter what you did. There were rules and laws that guided them into their place and they were wholly unfazed by her. It should make her feel lonely, Luci thought lightly but her eyes grew instead thinking about how they flickered and she wondered what secrets they could tell her. Just because they didn’t know her didn’t mean she couldn’t know them. “Your telescope is amazing, wow the winter up here’s going to be phenomenal.”

“Yeah,” Luci said at her home wondering if she was connected to it. She certainly thought she was connected to her family but the place itself wasn’t all that important to her. No place really felt all that special, but right now the stars twinkling at her did. At the others' explanation she nodded slightly, listening carefully, and trying to find a way to write it down. It was beautiful, in a way that Luci couldn’t articulate and she liked Thea - and she wanted to remember what she said. It made her pause though as she saw the other get emotional at the stars and for a moment Luz wondered what that felt like. She was in awe a lot of the time and she felt the emotion and the amazement that you could see all the stars and planets in their own universe but - Luz was always a little outside. She always felt like an observer and not a participant but that might be too much to express to someone she just met. How you were in awe of something but couldn’t feel the emotions of it as easily. Instead she turned to show Thea her notebook to ask if she wanted to see the list of elements related to the different stars to share some of her knowledge as a thank you - when suddenly there was a flash of something coming at Luci.

Without thinking, Luci tried to move away her hopeful smile turning neutral as she felt her arm suddenly in pain and wet. Looking at her friend her eyes grew wide and she said, “Thea - not to alarm you but I think - You have something on your head. Oh -” Without room to finish her statement Luci side stepped again trying to avoid whatever it was moving to her bag instinctually.

—

Curiosity built up on the edge of Thea’s tongue; questions dug into her mouth. She wanted to ask Luci what celestial body was her favorite, if she agreed with her take, if it was totally lame that she was crying about Jupiter, if they could be best friends for real because she’d never met anyone else that got it like this. Then her hair streaked across the sky and for the first time since it’s started attacking people, Thea was sad about it. She probably should have felt sad about it sooner, considering all the damage it had done, but this time was more personal; she was desperate to be Luci’s friend. “No!” she shrieked, but her hair had never listened to her before and wasn’t going to start now.

The Hair stabbed the earth, thousands of strands of dark hair woven together into large spikes. It was slow, always going where Luci had just been rather than where she was, but slowly it was learning. Each piercing blow, safely nestled into the earth, gained momentum, chugging along like the starting engine of a train. Soon, its speed rendered it a blur in the air, stabbing wildly in the direction of Luci.

“Um, it’s just hair!” Thea called out, dancing from foot to foot. She tried tugging her hair back, but it tugged back on her and she hissed as it ripped at her scalp. “I mean, It’s pointy! And it wants to eat you! But like, if you have scissors…it’s just hair!” If her new friend died before they could officially be friends, she was going to cry.

—

Luci wasn’t exactly scared, now curious about why her new friend’s hair was - trying to eat her? Maybe this was something Milo was worried about as she moved again to miss the hair again, her arm stinging where it had gotten to her. She was bleeding now, and she should be concerned about it. It did seem to want her blood. While not ideal, it wasn’t something that was going to make her abandon Thea who seemed rather distressed.

“Fascinating - how long has it been doing this?” Luci said moving again to get out of the way, almost dancing dodging as she tried to think of what was happening. Her tone was more relaxed than her movements as her brain whirled with the possibilities. She had a pair of clippers in her bag, and a lot of her wanted to take a bit if only to see what the hair was made of. Still, that couldn’t have been the solution right? “It’s just hair? - Did you put something on it or does it have a mind of its own? Oh sorry that’s probably rude of me I just meant has it always been like this or is it new?”

Luci probably couldn’t dodge the hair forever, but she wanted to at least see it closer. If only because Thea looked like she was in pain too. It wouldn’t be good to leave her upset, and besides she wanted to ask her more about the stars. Still, it was getting faster and faster and while Luci had been on the track team she was still a human. “This might sound weird - but did you use something magical on it? Or get an object or something?” Holding her bag in front of her she heard a thud, where the case of her telescope stopped the hair still pushing Luci back. She might have to fix that later too - wouldn’t be the first time.

—

“Fascinating? Fascinating!?” Thea screeched, digging her heels into the dirt. The Hair didn’t relent in its volley, charging after Luci with fury. “It’s trying to kill you and this is fascinating?” At least Luci wasn’t running away screaming; that boded well for the potential friendship Thea was aiming for. Eventually, when she realized Luci’s questions wouldn’t stop, Thea decided to answer them. She did so all at once, whimpering into her violent strands of hair. “Yeah! I put something on it. A hair serum? From the internet? It said it was totally safe!” It had actually said ‘100% sock’ but Thea took that to mean safe. Although, she had noticed her hair had a strange love for socks. “Um, I guess it was magical? I mean, magic doesn’t exist but…I guess?”

The Hair recoiled off the crunch of the telescope case, disoriented. It returned to Luci with an animated hunger; the strands pooled together to form thicker missiles, plummeting the ground. The Hair throbbed with its hunger. With each moment, it only grew more desperate.

“Can you do anything?” Thea called out, desperate. “Anything at all? I don’t want you to die!”

—

Luci was a bit put off on why the other thought it wasn’t fascinating, but she still huffed out, “Yes I’ve never seen hair that can do that. I would love to study it - once it’s not trying to kill me.” She managed to stun the hair for at the moment letting her get a little father away from the hair and to her bag to pull out the bag.

Pulling out a notebook she grinned,“ Just stay there for a minute Thea! I’m not leaving but I think your hair will take a second to get back up. I think I can help if it’s magic. If it’s a hair oil it can only have so many compounds. I’m just going to change one of the compounds okay?” Luci knew it probably wouldn’t make much sense but she flipped through the pages she had already filled out. Vera had wanted a hair oil before and - bingo.

“Okay I’m coming back! When I do I’m sorry but I’m going to have to give you a hug okay? It might be scary but your hair won’t hurt anyone,” She said getting up and ripping the page out. She’d need to touch Thea’s hair to the paper, but she figured it would be easier if she gave a hug to do so. That, and it kinda seemed like Thea needed a hug with how upset she was. Milo often gave people hugs when they were upset, especially to Luci so it shouldn’t be so wild right? “Ready?”

—

“Study it? My hair?” Thea wasn’t sure if she should feel complimented or worried; either her new friend Luci was weird or she was the weird one. She hoped it wasn’t her; she’d gone her whole life trying not to be weird. Sure, she was a weird child but everyone was a weird child, right? “I guess you can? I mean, you can have it!” But not, like, all of it. Thea hoped that part was implied; she didn’t want to be bald again. Then Luci started talking about compounds and Thea grabbed wildly at errant strands, trying to hold them back. “Like chemistry?” she asked. “You’re going to do chemistry on my hair?” But she couldn’t wrap her head (and hair) around what that meant. Sure, everything was chemistry, technically. Everything had compounds; everything was made up of something else. But what could Luci possibly do?

“A hug?” Thea blinked and the offer startled The Hair as well, which slackened just enough for Thea to close the distance between them, arms outstretched. Hugging Luci wasn’t at all like what she thought it would be like—not that she’d been thinking of hugging Luci. It was precisely her not thinking that this could happen that was surprising about it. Luci was soft, warm, and she smelt nice. She felt like a friend. Thea’s eyes started to fill with tears. It had been so long since she’d been hugged, really. Her throat tightened. And what if her hair ate Luci? What if she did? Here was this nice young girl who shared so many of her interests and there she would be, impaled by hair or—as was more likely—having to be picked out of Thea’s teeth. Maybe she didn’t deserve nice things like friends or hair.

Maybe it would be okay if she was bald after all.

The Hair didn’t agree. Unlike the wet meat body it was attached to, it had a hungry desire to live and thrive and it was going to eat. It was going to—

—

Luci nodded a little, “Like chemistry.” It was the thing that she knew best after all next to magic which - in all fairness was linked in her mind. Alchemy and Chemistry twisted and folded together that while they were separate fields it was only just barely. She liked that about her kind of magic though, to be so close to what regular humans could do if only just a little twist.

Running up to Thea wasn’t hard wrapping her arms around the other girl she thought that it was - not unpleasant to hug people. She wasn’t a hugger normally, that was usually Milo’s job - but it wasn’t bad either. Pressing the page into the hair Luci felt the now purple sparks flowing from her hand into the page dodging the hair that seemed hungry for flesh and blood for some reason. There was time to answer questions later, but there seemed to be a shuttering stop of hair as the sparks flew.

For a moment everything was still, the page disappearing as the compound changed subtly - just one off to what the structure had been before and Luci waited still holding her new friend cautiously as if worried the hair would start up again. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to do anything if it did hit her.

“Um - How does it feel? Murdery?” Luz said moving back just a little.

—

The ends of The Hair lit up, and the mass recoiled, tightening into a hardened lump. Slowly, the strands burnt up, fizzling into particles of non-magical dust. In the end, there was no more hunger, no more desire to murder either. There was no more hair.

Thea opened her eyes; she felt lighter. She felt cleaner. She felt…colder. Cool air traced the top of her scalp and without raising her hand to her head to check, Thea knew; she’d been bald long enough to remember how it felt. What she didn’t know was how Luci had done it. All she’d taken from her bag was some paper, as far as Thea could remember. Did she paper-cut her hair into non-existence? But then what was all that she was saying about compounds and chemistry? Questions swirled in Thea’s head, followed by the swamp of bald-sadness. Above, the stars continued their flaming luminescence. It was chemistry too: a series of compounds smashed together that would eventually burst and float away and reform into new stars. Thea reminded herself of the expanse of the universe, and how tiny she must have seemed to any star. Her baldness felt trivial.

But Luci didn’t. “Not murdery.” Thea shook her head, forcing a small smile. “Oh, but I think I’m getting a special transmission…” Thea rubbed her bald head, which sprouted a small field of fuzzy, new hair. “Hmm, I think Neptune is saying we should look at it some more.” She gestured at her telescope, which miraculously hadn’t moved. Slowly, her smile grew. “If you want to say Luci, I think the universe is waiting for our eyes. And I think we should be friends.” And she wasn’t going to think about how her new friend just made her bald. Again.

There were an infinite number of beautiful things out there, somewhere. Down there, with them, Thea thought they possessed a perfect fraction of it: a new friendship and the stink of burnt hair.

#c: luci #a hairy situation #writing #s2 #// i love luci #like the tv show #but for the character #if you read this and you dont also love luci....idk what 2 say... she is loveable #nerds being nerds #hair being hair

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imkattymae · 10 months ago

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Travel: Fighting jet lag.

If I look back at all the trips I’ve taken overseas, the only time I ever recall being excited is when I finally try to get to sleep the night before - I’m hopeless. It’s like my brain flicks on ‘stay awake’ mode just before I know I need to get to sleep because I have to wake up early for a flight. It’s both frustrating and very annoying! Not to mention that I’m worried about feeling jet lagged and really tired.

It’s funny; I can wake up early in the morning and be really tired but can still last the day without falling asleep.

I must say, I don’t think I’d never actually experience jet lag until I travelled on multiple flights last year over five months.

First... what is it?

Jet lag is medically referred to as desynchronises, it's a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms resulting from rapid long-distance trans meridian (east–west or west–east) travel on a jet airplane. (Wikipedia)

In regards to symptoms, apparently everyone reacts differently. If you are traveling look out for these:

Headaches, Fatigue, irregular sleeping patterns, insomnia, disorientation, mild depression

It’s said that jet lag isn’t caused by crossing the International Date Line or the length of the flight, its affected more when traveling across a number of time zones which your body clock is not in sync with, and the rhythms are different from your natural body pattern. It also depends on how quickly your body adjusts to these new schedules, so the fact that I’ve never felt like I have been affected may just be because my body adjusted quicker than most people – thank god! Sometimes I wonder if it’s more a state of mind than anything else, and people overthink it too much. But I agree with my friend, I think it’s all about common sense.

If you have experienced jet lag before and often do, here are some tips that I have found from fellow traveler blogs and friends.

Tips to help you fight Jet Lag

Avoid overeating and caffeine

OK, like me I can’t usually go a day without a cup of coffee or tea so this one is a tricky one for those who do drink a lot of caffeine. Caffeine does keep you up and awake longer, so it will be harder to try fall asleep and reduces your sleep time.

2. Don’t eat too much on the plane

I do think this should depend on how hungry you are and how long the flight is - you do have to eat. But if you do get hungry often during the flight, try and eat snacks and keep in mind that airline food is cooked at least twice because it’s almost impossible to maintain moisture at altitude.

3. Stay hydrated

The plane can get really dry and with the circulating air – quite annoying, trust me – that is why I don’t wear my contact lenses on the plane anymore. So it is important to stay hydrating during the flight, you might even want to bring a hydrating spray for our face, and moisturizer.

4. Try to avoid sleeping as soon as you arrive to your hotel

This can really push your body clock, so try and stay up until it’s actually the time to sleep at your destination. If you are really tired from traveling, take a nap – 20 minutes at most but be careful it doesn’t turn into a 3 hour one. I find that I don’t sleep straight away, even if I arrive at 8am in the morning– you have to let your body adjust to the local time so sleeping at the right time is key!

5. Limit alcohol intake on the plane

Alcohol can actually worsen the symptoms of jet lag, so try and avoid too much alcohol. If you feel that having a scotch or wine helps you sleep then that’s fine but remember alcohol can also dry you out and its worse when the cabin air dehydrates everyone – not to mention the effects of alcohol when the altitude changes. Did you know that one drink in mid-flight is the same as two or three on the ground! (I didn't know that lol)

If you really are worried, you can try taking pills like ‘No Jet Lag’ pills on Amazon.

Do you have any tips?

#travel #tips #imkattymaeblog

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adventurewhitehimalayas · 9 months ago

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Do You Need Oxygen to Climb Manaslu? My Personal Journey

Introduction: Hey there, fellow adventurers! Today, I want to share my personal experience and insights on a burning question for many mountaineers: Do you need oxygen to climb Manaslu? Join me as I delve into this topic and shed some light on what it's really like to tackle this majestic peak.

Understanding Manaslu Before we dive into the oxygen debate, let's get acquainted with Manaslu itself. Standing tall at 8,163 meters (26,781 feet), Manaslu is the eighth highest mountain in the world, nestled in the breathtaking Himalayas of Nepal. Its name, which means "Mountain of the Spirit" in Sanskrit, reflects the awe and reverence it inspires in climbers worldwide.

The Oxygen Conundrum Now, let's address the elephant in the room: the need for supplemental oxygen on Manaslu. Traditionally, climbing such high peaks has often required the use of bottled oxygen to combat the thin air and reduce the risk of altitude-related illnesses like altitude sickness, HAPE, and HACE. But does this hold true for Manaslu?

My Personal Experience As someone who's had the privilege of trekking in the Himalayas and summiting several peaks, including Manaslu, I can offer some firsthand insight. When I set out to conquer Manaslu, I faced the same question: Should I rely on supplemental oxygen? After much contemplation and consultation with experienced climbers and guides, I decided to go au naturel, without supplemental oxygen.

The Oxygen-Free Ascent Embarking on my journey without supplemental oxygen was both exhilarating and daunting. With each step closer to the summit, I felt the intense challenge of the altitude and the thinning air. Breathing became laborious, and every movement demanded extra effort. Yet, there was a raw beauty in embracing the mountain on its terms, without artificial aids.

The Power of Acclimatization One crucial factor that enabled me to forgo supplemental oxygen was the power of acclimatization. Prior to my summit push, I spent weeks acclimatizing to the altitude, gradually ascending and descending to allow my body to adjust to the reduced oxygen levels. This proved to be invaluable, as it significantly reduced the risk of altitude-related complications.

Conclusion So, do you need oxygen to climb Manaslu? The answer is: It depends. While some climbers may opt for supplemental oxygen to mitigate the challenges of high altitude, others, like myself, choose to embrace the natural elements and push their limits without artificial aids. Whatever path you choose, remember that safety should always be the top priority, and proper preparation and acclimatization are key to a successful ascent.

Closing Words: As I reflect on my journey to the summit of Manaslu, I'm reminded of the profound connection between humans and mountains. Whether we rely on supplemental oxygen or test our limits without it, the mountains remain steadfast, offering us the opportunity to challenge ourselves, connect with nature, and discover the true extent of our strength and resilience. So, fellow adventurers, whatever peak you set your sights on, may your journey be filled with awe, wonder, and a deep appreciation for the beauty of the mountains. Happy climbing!

#trekking #nepal tour #travelling #travel #trekking in nepal #himalayas #nepal

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highpowerrocketryspace · 2 years ago

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Introduction Model rockets are an excellent way to explore the wonders of space travel. They come in various shapes, designs, and sizes, and their advancement relies on the ceiling set by the altitude limit. To ensure the rocket achieves its maximum potential, an altimeter is a must-have instrument. An altimeter for model rockets determines the distance that the rocket has climbed into the air. In this article, we will explore the importance of the device when launching a model rocket and how it works. We’ll also provide an FAQ section to help mitigate any doubts or questions that you may have. The Importance of an Altimeter for Model Rockets The main goal of a model rocket is to lift off the ground and fly as high as possible before it stalls and begins to drop to the ground. Thus, to ensure optimum flight altitude, an altimeter is essential. The altimeter will give precise measurements of the distance the rocket flies into the air, making it easier to ascertain how high the rocket has flown and identify the rocket's performance. By utilizing an altimeter, you can adjust the rocket’s configuration or the engine’s power for improved height in subsequent launches. How Altimeters for Model Rockets Work Altimeters for model rockets use a variety of techniques for tracking the rocket's altitude. A few models depend on air pressure and slope the altitude based on a predefined standard barometric pressure reading for the location/humidity, etc. Other altimeters utilize sensors and direct acquisition of the height of the rocket from a set reference point. The most widely used technology for modern altimeters is known as accelerometer-based altimeter. Small accelerometers detect the rocket's motion during ascent and integrate the acceleration changes to the height of the rocket. Therefore, an altimeter can accurately track a rocket to a fraction of a meter regardless of other conditions like humidity or air pressure. There are also wireless communication-based altimeters that update the pilot on the data acquired through a smartphone app. FAQs 1. What Altimeter Do I Need for My Rocket? The altimeter you’ll require will depend on the size and complexity of the rocket. Several altimeters are specifically designed for small and big model rockets. For example, altimeters created for class 1 rockets lose their accuracy when deployed in large rockets. As such, it is important to determine the distance you want your rocket to cover and then purchase an appropriate altimeter. If you are not sure about the altimeter to purchase, your local hobby supplier or community will be happy to help. 2. How Do I Connect the Altimeter to the Rocket? You connect a prepackaged altimeter by relying on the instructions that accompany it. It will usually involve tapping into the wire that connects to the recovery system of your rocket. “Wireless” altimeters must be attached to the rocket’s recovery system, where it can track the rocket while sending data to a smartphone app. 3. Do I need a Professional to Install the Altitude? Most people should have no difficulty installing an altimeter. Prepackaged altimeters are packaged to be plug-and-play. However, if you’re unsure after reviewing the instructions or have a complicated rocket, it may be more desirable to reach out to a professional. 4. Is the Altimeter Reusable? Yes, an altimeter is reusable. Most altimeters have a battery life of roughly 6-7 launches. Therefore, you’ll need to "recharge" the unit or purchase a new one after it gets exhausted. Some providers supply replacement or re-chargeable batteries. Conclusion In conclusion, an altimeter for model rockets is a crucial piece of equipment, especially if you’re aiming for peak performance. Hitting maximum altitudes with a model rocket is an art that many model enthusiasts, academics, and space professionals relish. With the right equipment, and with the help of this article, you will be well on your way to achieve that level of performance with your model rocket.

If you have any questions or comments Please contact us on our contact page or via our Facebook page. #altimeter #model #rocket

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mountainstory · 2 years ago

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The Ultimate Leh Ladakh Travel Guide (2023) – Explore the Unforgettable Land of High Passes!

You'll find that everyone here is itching to say Hello to you when you say Julley from Leh.

You should visit Leh, a super friendly mountain city.

The most spectacular panoramic views of snow-capped mountains, ancient palaces, and Buddhist stupas await you here, whether you arrive by bus or plane.

In addition, it's a welcome escape from Delhi and Rajasthan busy, dirty cities.

Learn how to reach Leh, what to do, where to stay, and what to eat in this ultimate Leh Ladakh trip guide!

The ultimate Leh Ladakh travel guide

Where is Leh Ladakh in India?

Since Leh Ladakh is on the border of China and its history is closely related to Tibet, it has an interesting mix of cultures and food!

When you're here, you'll probably wonder what country you're in, and that's what makes Leh so unique.

What is the best time to visit Ladakh?

As Ladakh is a dry spot in a country of constant rain, the best time to visit is in the monsoon season between June - September.

The road is also closed after mid-September, so it's best to visit before then or fly!

It's incredibly sunny at this time of year, and everything almost looks saturated from the higher elevation and closer proximity to the sun!

It's also perfect trekking weather, which is why most travelers come here.

How to reach Leh Ladakh: flying vs. the road

When it comes to approaching Leh Ladakh, there are usually two options.

Most travelers prefer to fly directly to Leh Ladakh from Delhi in order to skip the long bus rides through Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

However, you may suffer from altitude sickness and need a few days to adjust since you cannot acclimatize easily.

Taking the long bus journey from Manali to Leh is another option if you are prone to altitude sickness.

It is the cheapest option and is not as dangerous as people make it out to be.

Although the roads are crazy, the views are absolutely breathtaking and well worth the trip.

There's no sign of life in many parts of the hike, and you'll pass through valleys, mountain passes, and waterfalls.Throughout the trip, you will travel through valleys, mountain passes, and waterfalls. Many parts are completely devoid of life, making it an unforgettable experience.

Taking the bus from Manali to Leh

It was actually a 20-hour bus trip from Manali to Leh, and I arrived at midnight.

When our bus driver dropped us off in the backpacker district of Changspa, we had no idea that none of the guest houses were open after midnight.

The same Ed Sheeran song played over and over in a bakery which turned into a bar late at night with some other travelers from the bus.

As we discussed the next plan of action over chai, we decided to check out every guesthouse in the area.

We couldn't find anywhere and KC garden offered us a place to stay for the night. It was a place used for group gatherings and parties.

The room had no windows, was freezing cold, and let in sounds of dogs barking. However, it was a cozy place to crash for the night.

I thought he was really generous since he didn't have to offer anything and he didn't charge either.

We were stranded in Leh Ladakh

We were told we could sleep in until noon, but when the workers arrived at 7 a.m., they played really loud music to wake us up!

Initially, it was just Buddhist chanting music, which was really nice.

At 9.30 am, they upped the ante with techno music, waking everyone from their slumber.

Afterwards, we had chai together, thanked the guys at KC Garden, and searched for a room together.

Where to stay in Leh Ladakh: Changspa

In the end, we stayed at Hotel Asia because it was the cheapest option.

With a shared bathroom, it was 500 a night. I barely slept each night due to the light and noise, but it had hot water every single day.

The top things to do in Leh Ladakh

Leh is the main city in Ladakh with good connections to Nubra Valley, Pangong Lake, and Srinagar in Kashmir.

In Leh Ladakh itself, there are plenty of things to do.

There are epic mountain ranges, historical palaces, and the iconic Shanti Stupa to explore as well.

Even if you just gaze at the scenery around you, you won't be bored.

Leh Palace

You would probably want to start your adventure in Leh here. The ancient palace overlooks the rest of the city.

Modeled after the Tibetan Potala Palace in Lhasa, this was the home of Ladakh royalty.

While the palace was built in the 17th century and is steeped in history, few of the ancient artifacts from the royal family still remain.

There are nine floors of empty rooms except for the antique pictures hanging on the walls.

Taking in the views from the rooftops is the best part of wandering around this palace!

Getting great panorama views is possible from all over the city. There aren't many restrictions here, so you can explore wherever you like!

Castle Tsemo

Overlooking the Leh Palace is Castle Tsemo, which stands high on a hilltop.

You can take the steep winding trek uphill in Leh Ladakh or take a taxi for around 250 rupees to get there!

A Buddhist temple, as well as the castle and the Namgyal Tsemo Monastery, make up Castle Tsemo.

The golden Buddha inside is perfectly preserved once you've caught your breath after the walk.

You can enter the monastery for 20 rupees after climbing up the mountain.

Initially, I thought it was awesome because it was so cheap, but then I realized you needed ladders from hell to climb the rooftops!

As the ladders were not attached to the wall in any way, it was a dodgy climb!

Despite being low, the others were almost vertical!

Even though the views were incredible, how was I going to get back down?

As my boyfriend literally placed my feet on each step of the ladder, I was petrified.

As soon as I reached the bottom, I was literally gasping for air!

This is totally ridiculous, so if you're afraid of heights, don't attempt it if you're afraid of heights.

Shanti Stupa in Leh Ladakh

In Leh Ladakh, the Buddhist Shanti Stupa was one of my favorite attractions. It was donated by the Japanese, built in 1991, and blessed by the Dalai Lama himself.

Even though it's a 500-step climb to the top, the views and stupa are so worth it! We arrived around 10 am and there was hardly anyone around.

At sunset, when the temperatures aren't too hot and the mountains are illuminated by the red glow of the setting sun, is the perfect time to visit the Leh Ladakh Shanti Stupa.

Buddhist chanting music is also broadcast live from the temple nearby, which is quite beautiful.

Due to the limited light pollution in Leh Ladakh, the Stupa lights up when the sun goes down. It was a magical experience.

There was a government official there when we visited in the evening, so there were Kashmiri soldiers on guard.

I was able to hold this one! Stranger things have happened...

Leh Market

I had this awful feeling there wouldn't be anything around when I got to Leh.

There were mall roads in most places in Himachal, but I wasn't sure about Leh. I was pleasantly surprised!

The main market in this city has everything you could possibly need.

The basics are easy to get to, including restaurants, shops, supermarkets, chemists, and more.

Local farms here also had great fruit and veg markets. The mini peaches, locally called aadu, were delicious!

Trekking Leh Ladakh and Day trips from Leh Ladakh

Trekking options in Leh Ladakh are endless.

Also popular were trips to Pangong Lake and Nubra Valley, which lasted two days and one night.

You can do a guided trek out of Leh for 3, 4, 5 or even 20 days. So, it will be up to your personal preference.

It is also possible to do self-guided treks. The Nubra Valley trek is around a 3-day trek each way and is supposed to be easy.

However, you won't be able to use Google maps here because there is no phone signal!

Alternatively, you can buy a map from the local shops here or download one beforehand.

Multi-day sightseeing tours in Ladakh

Several interesting multi-day tours can be organized from Leh.

The famous tours are the 2-day Indus river tour where you get the chance to visit some of the most impressive monasteries in Ladakh (Alchi, Likir, and Lamayuru among others), a 3-day Nubra valley tour via the famous Khardung La pass (the world's highest motorable road), and a trip to the high-altitude lakes of Pangong and Tso Moriri.

It is difficult to find buses in Ladakh that go to these places. Alternatively, you can hire a car with a driver, but transport is not cheap in Ladakh...

Where to eat in Leh Ladakh: wonderland restaurant and bakery

Most mornings, I ate breakfast at the wonderland cafe.

Many of their breakfast combos include coffee and apple juice!

A great bakery downstairs offers some delicious doughnuts and pastries. It has a really relaxed atmosphere.

These guys also do the best falafel I've tasted in India so far. It was light, crispy, and delicious!

World Garden Café

Providing a wide variety of international cuisines, the world garden café is a great place to eat any time of the day.

Here, the guys speak excellent English, are really friendly, and the food is really good.

I loved this restaurant in Leh, so don't miss it!

Dust pollution in Leh Ladakh and harsh temperatures

As the terrain and surroundings are in quite harsh conditions (sometimes it looked like how I imagined Mars to be like) you’ll find it to be dry and dusty.

In Leh Ladakh, the pollution around the main town was quite high, so if you have asthma, you should be prepared.

It was common for me to use my scarf to protect my mouth, nose, and eyes from dust on most days.

You should always wear suncream here since it's closer to the sun.

I visited in August and it was boiling hot every day, so I definitely needed summer clothes.

Most people were wearing tiny dresses and shorts, which is a nice change from covering up, but watch out for sunburns!

Staying connected and WiFi in Leh Ladakh

I lost service and data for my UK and Indian SIM phone numbers as soon as I crossed the Rohtang pass. I thought it would come back when I reached Leh.

In Leh, there is no phone service at all. I'm sure you could get a SIM if you have an unlocked phone, since most Indian phone packages are regional.

It would lock you into their phone service here, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle for a few days.

On the first day we arrived there was no wifi in the whole town, and most cafes and restaurants offer wifi services, but these don't always work.

I could only use certain apps if I had wifi, including WhatsApp, which I used to let my mum know I was alive (mum worries a lot).

I actually liked not having wifi and being able to contact people. I'm a 90s kid, so I remember a time before the internet!

It just means that you have a few days to actually enjoy where you are. You aren't constantly checking your phone, but actually enjoying the scenery and meeting people.

Sometimes we get so caught up in social media that we need a break. Get a map, read a book, talk to people. There was a world before Wi-Fi, after all.

That’s my complete travel guide to Leh Ladakh, save it for later!

In India, I would highly recommend traveling to Leh Ladakh.

This is one of my 'must-sees'. It's a beautiful mix of culture, color, history, and scenery that will take you to a different world!

#ladakh #leh ladakh quotes #leh ladakh #ladakh bike trip budget #Leh Ladakh Bike Trip

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omegasmileyface · 2 years ago

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Of All the People - ch. 1

Chapter 1 of the fanfiction that @attackradish and @ectolemonades and I wrote together for @invisobang! Starring art by the esteemed @toasty-ghosti! Their art for this chapter is also posted on their own blog here!

summary: After a stupid dare puts Dash Baxter in the lab at Fentonworks during the middle of a ghost fight, he finds himself a little more spectral than usual. Apparently Danny Fenton's gone through the same thing (someone has got to call OSHA on these guys eventually), and who could better help Dash than his hero? His lame, stubborn hero?

warnings: nothing for this chapter, but later chapters have existential crises and Spectra.

total words: 12k

chapter words: 2231

AO3 link

next chapter

===

Why did Dash agree to this? Fenton Works was fucking creepy, and wasn’t that the whole point? He'd been dared to break in because “that place is spooky as hell,” and here he was, shocked to find it spooky as hell. He should have known the air in the house would be dark and heavy like the middle of a ghost fight, but silent like the grave. He had half a mind to just turn around and walk right back out that front door— which, looking from the inside, was armed? —and go home. He didn’t have that option, though, when the point of the dare in the first place was to prove he wasn’t a coward. Earlier he had let out what Kwan called “an absolute Primadonna screech” while the A-listers were attempting to film a found-footage style fake ghost hunt. He was sentenced to a pilgrimage into Fenton Works in the dead of night to steal something cool from the lab. Now, just the entryway was making him wonder if being a coward was such a bad thing.

Since entry, the house had greeted Dash with breathless quiet. He knew there was all that creepy tech shit in the basement, so why wasn’t there any electric humming? It was like the house had noticed him and taken away any sounds he could have used to orient himself. He had to adjust to it, like when the pressure from an altitude change wasn't quite enough to pop your ears.

A sudden shriek broke the silence, and a shadowy figure burst out of a hall closet towards Dash. His legs burst into a sprint before he had time to think, taking him deeper into the suburban labyrinth. He ground to a halt by a hallway (that he could swear wasn’t there before) and ducked into its shadows to catch his breath.

A peek around the corner revealed no monster. Cautiously, he snuck back out for a better look. Maybe he could make a run for the door? He wasn’t going to die just to prove he wasn’t a coward. Let them show the video to the whole school. Hell, throw it up on national news! Anything was better than getting ripped to shreds by whatever that thing was.

Coast looked clear. As he crept back, his ears strained to make out any sounds masked by his footsteps. Slowly but surely, he crossed the Fentons’ living room. The door was just a couple yards away. He could make it. He grit his teeth, ready to outrun the devil itself, and bolted.

Just an arm’s reach away from the door, a claw snapped shut around his ankle and pulled. Dash fell helplessly to the floor.

This was it. His death was at hand. He would die on a stupid dare in a town that took “dead end” to a new level, offed by some entity whose name he didn’t even know.

…Why hadn’t anything happened? The oppressive silence of Fenton Works beat into his temples. The claw around his ankle slowly felt less and less like a vise. Dash turned to face his attacker… a pair of coats and a vacuum cleaner.

God, he felt stupid. The house lost some of its horror when it was so obviously domestic. He got up, dusted himself off, and turned back to the living room with a renewed sense of confidence.

Once he crossed the threshold into the much darker kitchen, the feeling of dread tickled back up his spine. He rested his hands on the table to steady his nerves. It’s just a house, Baxter. Remember what got you spooked last time? …But what if it’s actually something dangerous next time? And I’m not ready for it? He focused on his breathing. Listened for the anxious thump in his chest. After a bit, he regained some calm.

Without warning, he lost his balance. It was like the table had suddenly moved up and pushed his hand. At a glance it seemed a little taller, but it was too dark to see if the legs were still touching the floor, and Dash knew better than to check.

Maybe the kitchen was a bad place to be right now. Kitchens have practically everything dangerous for humans and just about nothing dangerous to ghosts— at least the lab should have something to defend himself with.

Dash wasted no time trying to escape the room. In his sprint, an open cupboard cracked against his forehead. He staggered backward and nearly flipped over an open silverware drawer. He overcorrected, stumbling forward into the stove, limbs sprawling over the cooktop. He froze at a distinctive t-t-t-t next to his ear— the igniting of a gas burner. The burner opposite his face erupted in a flash of blue. Then another a bit closer. Shitshitshit—! As he jumped away, the remaining burners lit all at once like a fireworks show. He bit back a scream (like that did anything for all the noise he’d already made) and sprinted through the kitchen with arms raised for cover. This house was absolutely haunted! Was it built on an old cemetery? Did the Fentons kill off some forgotten child of theirs? Had they finally pushed the spirits past their limit with their meddling in the paranormal?

Exhausted, his nerves shot, Dash pried open the metal door to the lab stairs and descended into the radioactive glow.

===

Danny hadn't particularly planned on waking up at 2 a.m. because he felt someone break into his house. He especially hadn't planned on that someone being Dash. But an opportunity to torment that pain in the neck with little to no consequence? He couldn't pass that up.

The first few minutes of watching Dash flail around in the dark and attempt to stifle panic over anything and everything were hilarious without any ghostly influence. By the time Dash made it to the kitchen, Danny couldn't resist stepping in. When Dash tripped over the silverware drawer, he’d had to react quickly to hold it and keep it from breaking. The trick with the burners on the stove was quite genius, if he did say so himself. Some ghostly side of Danny was taking a dark pleasure in the way Dash’s fear wafted through his house.

Once he reached the lab, though, Danny had to draw a line. That place was a mess, and even someone wearing protective equipment could be seriously hurt. In fact, depending on how much denial he was indulging in at the moment, he might even say he'd proven the lab lethal.

He only watched Dash rummage around for a moment before regaining visibility on the steps while his back was turned.

"You shouldn't be in the lab unsupervised. You could get hurt down here, y'know."

Dash nearly jumped out of his skin. The ectoplasm sample he was holding fell as he whipped around and threw his hands in the air.

"I'm so sorry I swear–! Oh, Fenton, uh," Dash spluttered, clearly trying to play off his panic. "What are you doing here?" Danny raised his eyebrows at him.

"This is my house, Dash. You were making enough noise to wake the dead," Danny smiled at his own joke.

"Well it's not my fault your family doesn't know how to close cabinets! Hey, shouldn’t you have a gun or something? What if I was an armed robber? What were you going to do, try to fist-fight me? You’d hardly weigh 100 pounds soaking wet!"

"Aw, you care if I can protect myself! How sweet," Danny snarked. "Let's see.” He ticked things off on his fingers as he spoke: “First you break into my house, then you judge my family's kitchen habits, and then you snoop around a lab full of dangerous equipment and manage to break a sample. Which, by the way, you have to help me clean up now."

"Why is it your business what I'm doing?" Dash snapped.

"Once again, this is my house, Dash." Danny sighed. "Whatever, if you help me clean up your mess, I'll give you whatever it is you came here for so you can leave and I can get some sleep."

Dash seemed visibly taken aback by how Danny spoke to him. Danny shrugged it off and went through the motions of cleaning up a spilled sample. Gloves, broom, rag, Fenton Disinfecto spray.

He walked Dash through the process, explaining vaguely how the spray would neutralize any potential ectoradiation in the area of the spill, just in case it was a particularly potent sample. He wasn't sure why he even bothered to explain it, or how he felt about Dash silently following his instructions with a somewhat solemn look on his face. Whatever. He couldn’t sulk his way out of cleaning up the mess he made after breaking into Danny’s house.

Mess cleaned up and cleaning implements properly sanitized, Danny started rummaging through cabinets with more confidence than Dash had.

"So, what were you trying to get? Wrist ray? Fenton Th—" Danny cut himself off with a small gasp at the feeling of cold air sliding up his throat.

"Uh, what was that?" Shit. Danny had hoped he wouldn't notice anything. He coughed, a weak attempt at covering it up.

"I, uh, thought I heard someone upstairs," he said. Dash didn’t get the chance to ask any more questions before there was a burst of green light and Johnny 13 was roaring through the portal.

Oh, just perfect. Danny had held out hope that it would at least be Boxy or some innocent blob, but why would he ever get someone nice at 2 a.m. with his biggest human tormentor in the room? He made eye contact with Johnny, who seemed surprised to be greeted so soon. Danny tried to look scared, or at least shocked, but it was the middle of the night in his own house. Sue him if he wasn’t feeling up to theatrics.

There was something like a ping in the back of his mind, and his attention was drawn to the side, where Dash was backing up away from the portal. He was shaking like a chihuahua, but he kept his movements slow, like Johnny wouldn’t see him if he didn’t move.

Whatever Danny did had to be fast and effective to keep Dash from getting hurt.

Johnny was over his surprise, his green eyes narrowed with determination. This wasn’t the time for an identity reveal, but Danny didn’t have any accessible thermos on him at the moment. Maybe he could find a weapon to force him away? The lab was pretty empty of weapons at the moment, except a Fenton Bazooka lying half-assembled in some work-in-progress “upgrade”. He didn’t trust it. His best bet was the Weapons Vault, 6 or so yards away.

“Hey, Twerp!” Johnny started revving his engine to charge.

Danny tried desperately to communicate don’t you dare act familiar with me or you’ll get a month of Soup Hell after this with a look. He turned to Dash. “Getting weapons. Stay here.”

In his rush, he didn’t wait for Dash’s stunned nod. He bolted for the vault door and hoped he was keeping Johnny’s attention.

===

What the FUCK was going on? First Fenton was acting all weird and nice and bold, and then some vaguely familiar goddamn ghost came out of the vortex, which was apparently some kind of portal just left open, and then Fenton stared the thing down and zoomed off into the front of the room but it wasn’t like he was running it was like he was gearing up, and the ghost wasn’t paying any attention to Dash and how was he supposed to protest? Then as the ghost chased after Fenton, who was off like a wild fucking cat, it started charging some kind of shot in its hand, and Dash had seen attacks like that one too many times watching Phantom fight. He had to cover Fenton’s back somehow, he wasn’t going to be responsible for letting the kid die because of his stupid dare.

His eyes darted around the lab. There had to be weapons around here somewhere, and Fenton was just overlooking them. There! On the workbench. It was big and looked partway disassembled, but it was the green and silver of ghost weaponry and it had an obvious trigger and he had to act fast. He hauled the thing up to his chest, aimed the best he could, and pulled the trigger.

For a second, he thought he succeeded. There was a massive flash of green light and the sound of a small explosion. But then he noticed the shockwave, coming from the gun itself and not its target. And he noticed the pain, blooming out from his chest like he’d broken more ribs than he even had and the broken bones had grabbed up his heart in their claws and eaten it whole. His vision stayed green as he noticed he was falling. And as his head hit the ground, his left leg exploded into pain, taken by the same hungry god that took his heart. He thought he heard a scream through the white noise, and he had no idea if it was his. If his own throat even worked. Then, there was nothing, except the thought that he had predicted his own death a few minutes too early.

#danny phantom #invisobang 2022 #my writing #swagger bishie #halfa!dash #halfa dash au #teddy ghost #check ao3 for more tags!#dash baxter

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austarus · 3 years ago

Text

HR Wells x Reader - Reversal of Denouement

*A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owner.

**Please don’t forget to comment, like, and reblog. It means a lot to content creators of all kinds!

***I’d also like to thank @grimtamlain-writes for being my beta reader.

Word Count: 8251

MASTERLIST

A low groan left HR's lips. His body felt numb, his chest ached - tingled as his heart beats steadily. Is it beating? The darkness of his eyelids eased the stinging coming from his mind – it wasn’t so bright. The headache formed there. His body screamed at him as the novelist made the slightest of movement. His left shoulder in particular had protested in desperate agony. He couldn’t move it very much, the area succumbed to restraints of some sort. HR’s throat felt raw as his body throbbed, the blood coursing meticulously through his blood vessels. The sound of a soft voice greeted his ears, but his eyes refused to open.

"I... you, HR... even if... see it." The voice was so familiar, so gentle. So sweet. "Should... better." A drop of water hit his numbed hand, static still prominent there from the little movement his body had done. “I wish…” The dark-haired doppelganger could only understand fragments of what the speaker was saying. He felt a pressure on his hand, tender skin holding onto his before something tickled his forehead. Feather-light. What was it? Who was it? A few moments passed and he heard nothing, the novelist only assumed that the voice’s owner had left. He didn’t want to be alone right now though, not with the darkness.

It had become unbearable.

Since... Since when did…? How...? Oh. Right. Savitar... Am I dead? Is this where spirits wait for their turn to pass into their designated afterlife? Have I really...? Events from earlier resurfaced to his mind, his senses coming together. Right, had to protect Iris. For Barry – it was my fault Savitar had gotten to her. My big mouth. Even if Barry didn't really see me as a helpful friend. At least... At least I proved Savitar wrong, who ironically is a version of Barry. That's hella twisted. He huffed out a breath before venturing back into the calmness of sleep. Maybe a little more rest will help?

***

HR cracked an eye open: this time, harsh filtered light had greeted him. The novelist grunted in pain, adjusting himself slightly to assess where he was. What day was it? What was the time? How long have I been here? A yawn left his lips this time, his throat and mouth as dry as a desert.

“Well look who finally decided to wake up?” HR’s eyes met Cisco’s, who stood with a tablet in hand. “How’s sleeping beauty feeling?”

The Wells doppelganger cleared his throat. “Like I’ve gotten assaulted by an Amtrack bus, and not the good kinds.” HR’s baby blue eyes scanned the room, landing on the flower vase that was set on a table near him. Blue forget-me-knots and pink hydrangeas stood proudly in their vases, nurtured well. HR felt his heart swell, his eyes not daring to leave the delicate petals that accented the med bay in better tones. Cisco handed him a cup of water to which HR downed it immediately.

“Amtrack does trains.”

“Not on my Earth, Francisco.” The author couldn’t help but ask, his eyes lingering on the flowers once more. “Did Tracy bring those?”

Cisco pursed his lips, an odd look present on his face. He wanted to tell HR, but… “No. Um, she didn’t.” Tracy had been visiting, though it had become some sort of a nuisance to all her complaining at this point. She hadn’t even known HR for that long, anyway.

“Oh?” His shoulders dropped subtly in disappointment. “They’re beautiful, I was just wondering and…”

“Let’s just say, a special someone’s been… dropping by and bringing a new flower each day. That’s all you’re getting from me, Aurora.” Cisco reasoned with the Wells doppelganger. The mechanical genius knew, but it wasn’t his place to say. It killed him, but… “I wouldn’t move around too much, if I were you. You’ve got a fractured shoulder and that chest wound. I’ve been told to relay the message that you’re to be on strict bed rest until that shoulder further heals.” HR lowered his gaze to see the cross-body sling. He clenched his slinged hand and unclenched it to bring some feeling into the limb.

“What about my chest?”

“Miraculously, that’s been healing really well since day one.” Cisco kept the talk real, showing the injured doppelganger the schematics and pictures. “You got lucky that it missed your heart by a centimeter.” A stab wound like that should have… I wonder if she knows that I know.

HR blinked at the seriousness in his injury, the looming idea of death from his decision. “How long was I out?”

“A week and a half.”

“What?” HR’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I-”

“HR!” Tracy’s sudden voice pierced the room, stunning Cisco and triggering an ache in HR’s head. The grad scientists shuffled over to him, both forgetting that Cisco was in the room. “HR, my love, how are you? Are you feeling okay? Is there any pain?” He continued checking his friend’s vitals and adjusting dosages to the IV and morphine administered – as per your request. The room was growing ever louder with HR and Tracy. Tracy embraced him, minding his injuries as she continued to fuss over him. It made the Wells writer smile, yet… his heart didn’t swell as much as it used to.

Odd.

Cisco sent you a quick text while the two were preoccupied, but you were already at the Labs. You stopped just outside the entrance, the wall and dimly light hallway obscuring you from who remained in the med bay. They wouldn’t be able to see you from where you stood. A shaky breath left you as you clutched the Freesia flower in hand. Your heart shriveled in your chest as you backtracked. Hearing his voice is enough. After all, with Tracy around you couldn’t be near him – those dirty and hateful looks she’d send you. Best to keep my distance, I guess. You couldn’t help but sneak a peek at him though, the man who had unknowingly captured your heart and would never reciprocate your love. You pushed down the lump in your throat. Hastily, you sent Cisco a text to check on the flowers. Silently, you trailed away from the med bay and to the upper levels of STAR Labs. I wonder if he liked the flowers. Standing at such altitude with the wind blowing lightly had calmed you a bit. Looking down at the flower, you gripped it tightly before you began to pick off the petals one by one. The little moments you had with the goofy novelist surfaced to the forefront of your mind with each petal you held. Your little curious escapades. The little talks. The nights you’d visit him when Tracy wasn’t around.

“He loves me, he loves me not,” You murmured, a stray tear trickled down your cheek. The freesia symbolizes unconditional love and honor. “He loves me, he loves me not,” Your voice cracked as more tears fell. “He loves me, he loves me not…”

***

A frown presented itself on HR’s lips as he tilted his head to crack his neck. The crack relieved him tremendously. It didn’t make sense. The novelist mused to himself, setting aside the current chapter draft he was working on. The voice I heard was… different. It didn’t sound like Tracy’s. HR couldn’t get that voice out of his mind – the tenderness that was laced in the tone of that voice. Nothing like the slight shrill in Tracy’s. He eyed the flowers once more that day, their presence was prominent. If Tracy hadn’t brought those, then who had?

The team had helped situate HR in his room in order to vacate the med bay should another imminent event occur. He had overheard Cisco tell Wally that you were preoccupied with something in Star City – a bit of disappointment twinged inside him. HR had taken up doing bits of physical therapy for the rest of his body without moving his shoulder as much. His shoulder and arm remained in a crossbody sling. The flowers sat on his bedside counter; he tended to them as best as he could with the limited movement he had. Tracy protested that they don’t need to be around, but the novelist was vehement on keeping the plants. HR won’t deny the fact that he had gotten annoyed several times with her around when he needed thinking space for his writing. He couldn’t write with noise and nonsensical chatter, especially if it’s mainly coming from someone who doesn’t want to really listen to his input. She’d go on and on about her scientific research and such, but wouldn’t hear a word from HR regarding his writing. The longer the novelist was confined to his room for rest, the more he had time to think – to contemplate. Yes, he liked Tracy, but… it just seemed that she didn’t really see HR. She does all the talking; she doesn’t really ask about how I feel about things or ask me about my life, even things about Earth-19… It’s like she doesn’t see me for anything other than a pretty face. It’s not even my face that Tracy sees, just Randolph’s. Was I too quick to jump at the first person who showed interest in me? Had I rushed into ‘forever’ with her?

He tabled those thoughts for now. HR reached for his laptop; one hand opened it to start it up. While the device loaded, he grabbed his black-clear glasses and set them on his face. If anyone saw him as such, they wouldn’t be able to tell the physical difference between him and his handsome, yet grumpy doppelganger. Except for the eyebrow scar, but that was obscured by the glasses. HR did a couple of searches with a concentrated look. Surely, it was the person with that… angel-like voice.

“Hydrangeas,” HR whispered as his eyes skimmed over the text that had popped up. “The hydrangea represents gratitude, grace and beauty. It also radiates abundance because of the lavish number of flowers and the generous round shape. Its colors symbolize love, harmony and peace.” The Wells doppelganger scrolled further. “Pink hydrangeas symbolize heartfelt emotions.” Interesting. HR continued his research, glancing at the other flower type that resting in the vase. “Forget-me-nots symbolize true love and respect. When you give someone these tiny blooms, it represents a promise that you will always remember them and will keep them in your thoughts. They are also considered a symbol of fidelity and faithfulness.” A particular link caught his eye, he clicked on it. The novelist read to himself the text once more, “Based on Christian lore, the story about forget-me-nots is that God was walking in the Garden of Eden. He saw a blue flower and asked it its name. The flower was a shy flower and whispered that he had forgotten his name. God renamed the flower as forget-me-not saying that He will not forget the flower.”

HR swallowed thickly; contrary to popular belief around here, he wasn’t stupid. Sure, he wasn’t a science-based genius, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t an expert on other aspects of life and had basic common sense. The author was emotionally intelligent and intact with the world around him. These flowers weren’t picked out on accident. But who would do that? Who doesn’t want me to forget about them? The dark-haired man shook his head slightly as he shut his laptop. A surge of sadness welled inside him at the notion of ‘being forgotten’. Who had he done that to? He’d get to the bottom of this mystery in due time. Right now, I need to jog my memory on what I was writing. A hand found a rough draft paper, his eyes scanned over the words he had typed out. His brows creased as the written notes he’d made on the paper as well. (Y/N) … I had… What had I been writing about again? The novelist read each line, each note he had made no drafts and scratch paper.

The hairs at the back of his neck stood up as realization hit him the more he had read on. The drafts, the notes, all of it – the little novel he had been writing regarding his adventures. But this particular part of his story – the ‘angel’ in his story. The one who stuck by him since coming here, the one who had given him a safe space… And the one he hadn’t seen since waking up. How could he forget? HR lowered the paper; his eyes became half-lidded as guilt shot through him. Before Barry had gone to the future and gotten hints of Tracy with her Speed Bazooka, HR had been working on his book. A book that he had pushed off to stick with Tracy and help in any way that he can to make the speed weapon possible. He had gotten distracted from doing the things he loves. A few conjectures arose in his mind as he slipped his glasses off, one arm end pressed to his lips. His heart hammered into his chest; you were among the last faces he had seen before passing out that night.

The irony. How could I forget that (Y/N) was the ‘angel’ in my story?

***

“Look at you, up and at ‘em.” Cisco strolled into the lounge with a cheeky grin. The mechanical genius didn’t take HR for granted anymore, not with the stunt he pulled. No, Cisco willingly checked up on him – not just for you, but for himself. HR had truly become one of his close friends in the end, especially with all the advice about Gypsy. “What are you cooking up this time?”

“Just an omelet with a side of bacon and toast, Francisco,” HR turned to the mechanical engineer who continued to tinker away at the schematics to get Barry out of the Speedforce. He offered Cisco some with a gesture only for the scientist to politely decline. “I haven’t seen (Y/N) anywhere. Um, is she also…?”

“Oh, you know how she’s like. Either up in the vents or chilling in her birds’ nest on the roof. And on that note, our resident hummingbird has become quite the firecracker.”

HR raised an eyebrow at his friend. “How so?”

“She punched Savitar square in the face then decked him multiple times over when Barry brought him in. Harry had to be the one to pull her away – well, more like carry her away kicking and screaming bloody murder at him. It sounded badass; wish I had been there to see it.”

The Wells doppelganger gritted his teeth at the mental image of Harry carrying you – touching you. The thought ruffled his feathers for some reason. HR expertly masked his irritation, turning the stove off and assembling the food on his plate. “Why?”

“Because he hurt you, HR.”

“…”

“He almost killed you.” And that was unforgivable, especially to her. “We almost lost you. She almost lost you.”

A rough sigh escaped HR as Cisco had sent him a knowing look before exiting the STAR Labs lounge. The Earth-19 man chewed on the inside of his cheek. Only a fool would misunderstand Cisco’s subtle intentions. HR knew what he had to do – he’d been reflecting on his time here, thinking about the people around him, about the relationships he’s formed. The novelist glanced outside – the sun shined, the birds chirped, and the trees rustled with the wind.

And the world continues to move on.

***

“When are you going to tell him?”

“…” You tensed at the abrupt voice. You snapped your head up, eyes darting to find Cisco approaching you with pocketed hands in his gray-black jacket. He wore a Bulbasaur shirt. The clouds surged by with the intensity of the breeze. Your hair blew over your shoulders slightly. Tilting your head, you turned back to watch the city. Days had passed and you refused to see HR, content on what Cisco had been telling you. He’d been recovering tremendously well, but… you didn’t really want to hear about what he and Tracy were up to. It wounded you. “Tell who, what?”

“You know exactly who I’m talking about, Ms. I’m-going-to-put-my-feelings-in-a-box.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ohohohoho, no. I am tired of the love eyes, the lingering gazes, the pining. It ends.” Your best friend came to sit down next to you with that frustrated look on his face. “I know you have powers.” Your heart stopped in your chest at his accusation. “I know you used your powers to heal HR.” You bit down on your lip, not wanting to validate his statement. Cisco saw “I analyzed the wounds, looked at his healing at a microscopic level. I’m not Caitlin, but even I can pick up a few things. His cells were excelled to heal, but there were residues of your genetic markers at the wound point. You stitched his wounds together, cell-by-cell. My point is: why didn’t you say anything? Your powers are a-”

“-A curse.”

“What?”

“They’re a curse.” You threw a hard look at Cisco, making sure your hands wouldn’t touch him. “I can’t be playing God, Cisco. And… it’s unpredictable, volatile. I could either heal the life in my hands or take it away. I could rip someone ‘cell-by-cell’, Cisco. There’s no ‘in between’, not this time. He got lucky with my powers. He got lucky I didn’t make things 100% irreversible.”

“But why didn’t you say anything?” Cisco eyed the gloves you wore; it wasn’t the season for leather gloves.

“Because I didn’t want to give anyone false hope.”

“You don’t want to give yourself false hope, you mean.”

“…I can’t even heal a plant, Cisco. No matter how hard I tried, it wilted further. It’s a curse.”

“That’s not guaranteed every time, you know. It takes practice – discipline to get your powers to work with you instead of for you.” He nudged your shoulder with his, turning his gaze to the flock of birds drifting through the wind. “You know, he broke up with Tracy.”

“Ok?”

“Happened a week ago. She didn’t take it well and let me tell you. Tracy Brand was livid – the rage and yelling were off the charts. I think she has Harry beat. I knew it wasn’t going to last anyway, it was too superficial to begin with.”

“Uh huh.” You tried to sound uninterested, but deep down you were relieved. You heard a little ring in your ear. You wondered…

“She’s gone, won’t be coming here anymore.

“Ok.”

“So, go make your move.”

You turned abruptly to face him. “Cisco, have you thought that maybe HR doesn’t want to dive into a relationship right away? That… maybe he needs space to focus on himself?” All were things you had contemplated for yourself before.

“And what better way to do that than with a new roommate.”

“Excuse me?”

“Surprise, you’re getting a temporary roommate while we fully fix up things around the labs. I volunteered you since you have the space and the patience to deal with HR.” Your blood froze in your veins.

“Francisco Ramon, I am going to-”

“-Thank me, you’re going to thank me.” He had already breached away before you had the chance to strangle him. Heat rushed to your cheeks at the idea of HR living with you, even if it was a temporary living arrangement. You scolded your heart for beating loudly in your chest. One hand gripped tightly to your other. An audible sigh escaped you as your mind played with the idea.

Shit, what am I going to do?

***Day 1***

Cisco blew out an exhausted breath, setting down another box on top of a box in the guest room. You and the mechanical genius had been breaching back and forth with HR’s things as said novelist was crippled. His arm would take about another four weeks to heal. About 20 percent of shoulder fractures are displaced and may require some type of manipulation to restore normal anatomy. Occasionally the rotator cuff muscles are injured or torn at the same time as the fracture. Fortunately for HR, his rotator cuff muscles weren’t as damaged. This can further complicate the treatment. Therefore, in that time, HR would just be handling the lighter stuff, bless his heart. The novelist entered the room with his black backpack slung over his functioning shoulder – it was the last thing that he could carry.

“I think there’s one more box left,” HR pointed with his thumb towards his back direction, the breach closing behind him.

“I’ll go get it, not a problem. Why don’t you two get started on unpacking, huh?” HR shrugged with one shoulder and stepped away to set his bag down by the bed. Cisco threw a cheeky look your way when HR had his back turned, his eyebrows wiggling. ‘Have fun love birds,’ the scientist had mouthed at you. You flicked him off with a deadpanned look. Instantly you dropped it when the Wells doppelganger turned as Cisco snickered before he breached away. He gave you a confused look, but you waved it off.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For allowing me to stay obviously. And for all the help since I’m, well, a bit tangled up at the moment.”

He was referring to the cross-body sling that clung onto him like a spider. HR rubbed the back of his neck, and you didn’t miss the way his bicep flexed at the motion in that gray short-sleeve shirt. Calm the fuck down, it’s just a toned muscle. You’ve seen things like that before. The puppy-like smile HR sent you had your cheeks warming up. The gentle smile that made your heart melt all over again. You cleared your throat as you reached for a box. “It’s no big deal, HR.” Undoing the tape seal with scissors, you opened the box- and the first thing you see are a pair of handcuffs accompanied by a silky black blindfold.

“What’s in the box?”

A little noise left you as you shut the flaps of the box, trying to seal it again. The flaps remained downward in the box. “Nope, nothing. Just some clothes here. I’m going to get that one box from the living room.” You had backtracked right into the door, your nose throbbed in response at the collision. “Ow,” you muttered to yourself, rubbing the skin.

“You ok?”

“I’m fine,” your response was quick, but not rude. A deep chuckle made its way to your ears as you scrambled out the room, your heart hammering in your chest. Your thoughts scolded you for being so awkward and flustered around him. Be cool, just chill out… The man you’re hopelessly in love with is just living with you temporarily, it’s not like anything will amount from this. You picked up the last box in the living room, hoping that just clothes would be in here and not anymore kink toys. I mean… I have toys, too. AW SHIT, I HAVE TO HIDE THEM!

HR’s eyes never left you as you made your panicked exit. He let out a little breath before shuffling over to the box you had been attending to. Immediately, he face-palmed hard when he had opened it with one hand. His face felt impossibly hot at what you had seen. She must think I’m an idiot or something. His mind thought back to when you helped him shop for some new clothes then it had gotten ruined from a meta. His hand fell away from his face, the image of your kind grin imprinted in his mind. I am an idiot, though. A fool.

Once Cisco returned, you three continued unpacking HR’s things for the time he’d spend here. The labs were still in ‘piss-poor’ shape according to Cisco and that he’ll need to consult with Harry and Wally regarding repairs.

“HR, how are you showering?”

“Um, like a normal person?” A dumbfounded look crossed HR’s features as he set the plate of sandwiches down. The novelist had knitted his eyebrows at Cisco. He had taken up to experimenting in the kitchen when he wasn’t writing. The tea and coffee were still brewing in your kitchen.

“No, I mean with how your shoulder is injured,” Cisco snuck an evil look at you, you returned it with a glare, “must be hard handling it alone.” You knew exactly where this dumbass wanted to take this conversation, so you stayed silent as to not get caught in the crossfire.

HR thought to himself for a moment. “Just a bit, but I’ve gotten used to the mild discomforts and pain. I can mostly reach everything thanks to my long limbs. But I think the nice thing is that it’s an internal issue, not an external one. An external injury or wound would require me to really have help with showering that way the area doesn’t get infected or irritated with the contents of soaps.” A laugh fell from his lips, but his mind wondered what his friend was playing at while you were around.

“I’m just saying, if you ever need a hand well,” Cisco trailed off with a smirk, chomping on his third sandwich.

Oh, I see. Devious, but a futile effort. “I’ll make sure you’re the first one I ask for help,” HR teased with a smirk of his own for Cisco to drop his in disgust. A cough escaped you, which had HR’s eyes land on you. Your eyes met for a moment before you deviated your gaze. HR felt hypnotized for a moment. Hm… The engineer quickly recovered from HR’s snide remark.

“Alright kids, I’ll be going now. The labs require some diligent work that I, a capable and distinguished engineer, could only do.”

“Yet, we still have the occasional security issues,” You sipped your tea once the snarky comment was out. HR stifled a chuckle, but you heard it. The corners of your mouth lifted slightly at the notion.

“Hey, that’s not fair. They always come up with something new to invade our space by.” Cisco pointed a finger at you, mocking a hurtful expression on his face. It dropped into a sneaky smile. “Make good choices and always use protection, you two!” He breached away before you could throw your cup at him.

***Multiple Days Pass***

Through his time here, you noticed HR fueled to write what’s on his mind in the guest room. You could only assume that he continued his adventure story. Sometimes he would venture out for some coffee or take a walk to give his creativity a break. Keeping that in mind, you gave HR the space he needed as well as all noises to a minimum. You knew he liked the quiet atmosphere to pour his heart and soul into words as he did research for a scene. Pulling your jacket on, you compiled a list of groceries before you stepped out of your apartment. Locking the door, you headed out to the store picking up a few necessities as well as some snacks for HR. Like Harry, the novelist can easily lose himself in his task – which meant that he tended to forget about eating and such. You found a bag of Jitters coffee beans, adding it to your cart of items. Buying some snacks and fruit, you’d leave a note in the kitchen of the snacks when he emerged from his writing cave.

On the way back, you stopped by at Iris’ studio to check up on her. A few groceries for her as well were in hand. Cecile and you did your best to visit Iris. But you can’t deny that you blamed her to a certain extent. Had she spoken up once she had left Savitar’s place disguised as HR, HR wouldn’t have been hurt that night on Infantino Street. Surely, she could have contacted her father or Cisco or something. The transition could have been smoother. HR wouldn’t have been… The journalist was faring; she pushed through the pain and as Barry had told her ‘to keep living’. So, Iris did. She hadn’t been herself since Barry went into the Speedforce – she pushed too much, the smile wouldn’t reach her eyes sometimes. You sympathized; she lost the love of her life. But you almost had too.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine, just… taking it one day at a time.” You nodded at her response, a small smile on your face. “How are things with you and HR? I heard of the temporary living conditions.”

“It’s fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m in my bubble and he’s in his doing his writing.”

“Right. Nothing going on whatsoever?”

“Iris.”

Iris set her cup of hot chocolate down and raised both hands in mock defeat. “We all saw it. We all see it.”

“See what?”

“How smitten you are for him.”

“I’m not-”

“-Don’t say you’re not. If you weren’t you, Harry wouldn’t have to pry you off Savitar before you clawed his eyes out.”

“…” You just looked into your tea, the honey that settled at the bottom. Iris placed a sympathetic hand on your shoulder, but you didn’t look at her.

“The heart will want what it wants, (Y/N). Pushing your feelings into a box and denying it out loud won’t change things.”

“I know.”

And my heart wants him, over and over again. Even if he can’t see me.

***

HR tapped his pencil against the desk at a steady pace. His mind wouldn’t focus on the words in front of him, on the scene he wanted to set. Instead, it kept drifting further from it. Further towards you: your eyes, your smile, the kindness that you held; the serenity that your existence held as the world continued to turn and chaos had unfolded at each turn. HR didn’t see much of you while he was here, the novelist missed your company. You were here, but you weren’t really here. You were either in your room or at the balcony with a book or on the couch with your Switch. He didn’t want to bother you, but… sometimes HR just wanted to sit beside you and pull you close to talk. To hold you in his arms and ask you about your day, to understand what you were thinking. HR cracked his back in a stretch from where he sat on his bed, being mindful of his injured shoulder. It didn’t hurt as it had originally done a few weeks back. The Wells doppelganger noticed that you were careful to avoid touching him or him touching you. Not even a hug that you used to graciously give him. You were especially guarded with your hands. A rough sigh left him as he threw his pencil down. The frustration was setting in, he was getting nowhere. You consumed his thoughts. HR wondered if you were revolted by him but doesn’t verbalize his thoughts to you. He didn’t think you’d give him your truthful answer. Maybe she is revolted by me. She did find the cuffs and the blindfold… No, she knew about the cuff stage thing well before that.

The sound of the front door greeted his ears followed by the soft tune of music. A frown made its way onto his face. Might as well take a break. HR stretched once more when he fully stood up, a little noise of relief left his lips. He cracked his back once more before smelling himself. For safe measure, the novelist sprayed a bit of cologne on himself and turned off the candle he had on. He mentally noted to take a shower after dinner since his last was yesterday. He liked the feeling of being clean, to be honest. HR carded a hand through his hair. I need a haircut soon, too. Yeesh, I feel like I’m letting myself go. Once I’m all healed it’s back to proper cuts and the labs’ recreation room. He wanted to go back to lifting weights and doing yoga for body stability purposes – especially now because of his shoulder. HR rested a hand on his chest, the wound had healed completely, but a scar remained. Upon entering the kitchen, he saw the groceries on the table and heard you whisper along with the lyrics. The music was set to a low level that your whispers were audible enough. He watched you sway a bit with the tune.

So please don't break my heart

Don't tear me apart

I know how it starts

Trust me I've been broken before

Don't break me again

I am delicate

Please don't break my heart

Trust me I've been broken before

The guitar tune pulled at his heart, feeling the raw emotion behind the lyrics. He eyed you for a moment. HR cleared his throat to make his presence known, he knew you didn’t like to be snuck up on. However, a little gasp left you from where you were. “You went out shopping?”

You looked up from where you crouched to put away the cereal. “Uh yeah, we were running low on some stuff.” You shut the cabinet and went to the other items you had bought. The music continued to delicately play.

“Need any help?”

“Um, sure. Uh, just set these into the cabinet on the left.” Normal, be normal. He’s not going to eat you or anything. Distance is good. Distance keeps you safe. You didn’t meet his eyes, the eyes that’d pull you in and never let you out – your heart shook with him here and the song that played. You were hoping HR wouldn’t come out while you prepped dinner to have a sort of peace of mind. The next song played before you could stop it-

My last made me feel like I would never try again

But when I saw you, I felt something I never felt

Come closer, I'll give you all my love

If you treat me right, baby, I'll give you everything

“I like this song,” HR started as he was finishing up with putting his side of the groceries away. Another guitar-like song that brought out the soft feelings of love and rejection. HR mused to himself if fate had planned this out. If this was some sort of sign or a cruel joke… You had stopped yourself from clicking the button to skip the song at his comment. You don’t know what possessed you to let him indulge in another song that you’ve cried to late at night. “Hey, I can cook dinner tonight. I have something I’ve been wanting to try. I’m not that crippled so I can manage with a few cookware.” HR chuckled to himself, a goofy grin on his face. Your heart leapt in your chest; his grin caused a small smile to pull at your lips. “You can wash up first?”

You swallowed thickly, your eyes meeting his icy blues. You felt your cheeks warm up slightly as the nerves crawled up your spine. “Oh, ok. Cool, yeah. Can’t wait to see what you cook up.” You nodded, ducking your head away and shuffling out of the kitchen with that shy smile on your face. You missed the longing look he had sent you as you fastened your steps to head to your room.

God I love that smile. What goes on in that little head of yours? We used to be so close… before Tracy came into the picture. HR pulled out the spices and the chicken breast. He shook his head and proceeded to prep the food with his one useful hand. I need to consult Francisco.

***

“We need to talk,” HR’s voice broke the silence in the side lab of the Cortex. He had breached to the labs using the Breach Extrapolator after he had showered and such. His damp hair was pushed back in HR’s normal style.

“About what?” Cisco raised a concerned eyebrow at the writer, stopping what he had been doing.

“(Y/N).”

A nervous laugh left Cisco as he went back to attempting to make the necessary modifications to the Speed Bazooka. Tracy was reluctant to help the mechanical engineer after the breakup. “What about (Y/N)?” Cisco put down his screwdriver. “Did you do something weird to her?”

“What? No! I- we used to be closer. We always talked, we’d hang out after a long day here at the labs.”

“Uh huh.”

“And, maybe it’s just me, but things have changed.”

“How so?” Cisco was wondering what conclusion HR was leading himself to.

“Things changed when Tracy came into the picture.”

Cisco made a little ‘o’ with his mouth with a little nod before closing it. He pushed a rough sigh past his lips, he was getting really tired of this puppy love game. “Why do you think that?”

“Francisco, she flinches when I get close – almost when I touch her… Does she hate me?”

“I think you and I know the answer to that one. But I think the real question should be: Why do you care so much? Why does it bother you? Do you love her, HR?”

The novelist tensed a bit. “…” HR pursed his lips as Cisco walked around the table that the speed weapon was mounted on. Blueprints were scattered on one table while the glass board held variables and equations he could not decipher. “What?”

“I said what I said,” the mechanical genius smoothly responded. One look at HR and Cisco knew that he was baffled by his forward words. But they needed to be said. “Now run along and use that head of yours to think about what your heart wants. Barry isn’t going to get himself out of the Speedforce.”

***

Cisco’s words mulled through HR’s mind as he breached back to your apartment’s living room. Only the lamp light on the side table was on. HR’s eyes landed on you, who laid on the couch with the book you had been reading on the back ledge of the couch. The novelist took off his shoes and set down his bag. He had detoured to the bookstore, looking for the next installment of your current book. The Wells doppelganger had assumed you didn’t buy it yet as it was vacant from your bookshelf. The gentle giant stepped silently closer to you; the dim light cast over you like a glow. There were slight bags under your eyes. She hasn’t been sleeping well lately. Spotting a large and fluffy blanket near, HR grabs it and lays it on top of you. He remembered you mentioned to him prior that you easily get cold, especially at night. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, HR contemplated something before his body moved impulsively. The novelist placed a gentle kiss on your forehead; his lips lingered for a few more seconds. Pulling back, HR watched your chest rise and fall. He turned the light off and stumbled over to his room with his phone light guiding him. He knew what he was going to write. Cisco’s question pestered him enough though.

Do you love her, HR?

HR took one look out his door before shutting it, his heart squeezed tightly in his chest as he whispered, “Goodnight, my angel.” Only the shadows that lingered were a witness to the fondness laced in those simple words.

***

You woke up with a start, you hand instantly smacking right into your chest. Heavy breaths left you as your nerves were in overdrive. Cold sweat beaded your skin as you gasp for air. It was another night terror – the same one for a few weeks now; a new way in which you caused HR’s death. Swallowing thickly, you screw your eyes tightly shut and whisper the mantra that calmed you down. After a few minutes, you started to regain control of your breathing – the thoughts that ravaged your mind finally ceased like the tides subsiding after a tsunami. You blinked languidly, hating nights like these. They weren’t rare, but they weren’t an uncommon occurrence. Deciding that you needed to step out for some air, you did so with the intent of getting a glass of water from the kitchen. Your fingers found the lights for the dimmers in your room, setting it to its lowest setting for you to see yourself out.

Cracking the door open, you were instantly met with the scene of HR passed out on the couch again. He’s been doing that for around two weeks now, the couch his new base of operations. His mouth was slightly open as little snores escaped him. A lovestruck smile crossed your features at the sight. Papers were littered around him, on the ground, and on the tables. Must be the manuscript he’s working on for his final draft. I hope I can read it at some point. Coming back from the kitchen with the water in hand you couldn’t help but stop to admire the sight. You noticed the glasses still perched on his face. Moving as silent as a ninja, you inched closer to pull off the glasses from his face. They’ll break if he keeps them on while he sleeps. Then he won’t see for shit when reading things. You nibbled on your bottom lip as your eyes drifted to the papers. One peek won’t hurt anyone. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

Seating yourself on the ground, you leaned your back against the foundation of the couch. You were opposite to where HR’s upper body was. If there were any telltale signs of him waking, you’d hightail out before he could fully wake up and process what you were doing. Picking up a small stack, you started sifting through them. Your mind became engrossed with the words – the beginnings of the story he had spun about his adventures as to how he came to Earth-1. Then… mentions of an angel eluded you. It couldn’t be Tracy, could it? I know they broke up, but… on the other hand, it doesn’t mean that he can’t say that she was his angel at the time. Like a character development thing leading to their break up?? Well fuck, I don’t even think he’d mention such a personal thing in his book. I know I wouldn’t… would I? I don’t know. A little smile danced at your lips while you read on about the synonymous things regarding Team Flash that you failed to notice HR rouse from sleep.

“Do you like it?” Lethargy intertwined his words. A stunned noise left you as you clutched the papers. You turned to see HR rubbing his eyes before gazing at you.

I could get lost in those eyes if I stared too long.

“Uh, yeah, its- it’s really good,” you stuttered, setting the papers down in your lap. Embarrassment of getting caught gripped you. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I don’t mind you taking a peek. I don’t have anything to be ashamed of in it.” HR shifted his lithe body to sit next to you on the ground.

“Oh.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“No.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“It’s not that important, I’ll be ok.”

“If you say so,” HR’s shoulders sagged slightly. “I’m here if you want to talk.” You nodded at him, whispering a little thank you. HR ran a hand over his knee, he took a glimpse at you who stared at the papers. He noticed what chapter you hand been reading – the angel was making an appearance in the story. The hair at the back of his neck stood while you thumbed the words on the paper back in forth, just lost in your mind. Your hair was messy from sleep, the bags under your eyes were still there. It killed him how you wouldn’t confide in him anymore. But he didn’t push you. You would open up to him if you wanted to or not, even if he wanted you to do so as so his mind can be at ease with knowing what’s going on with you. Cisco’s question sprang up in his mind once more before he licked his lips, his eyes watching you. “I do.”

You gave HR a strange look. I do, what?

“Tracy wasn’t her.” Realization struck HR the more you whispered with him.

“Huh??”

“I heard this voice before I woke up.” The novelist fully turned to you with intense eyes, the enlightenment in them – the fire that burned brightly. “The tenderness in it could rival any tasteful delight in the multiverse.”

“A voice?”

“Mm, it made me think that only a heavenly deity would have such a voice.” You remained silent as he spoke. “I never got to hear that voice since my coma… until now?”

You tensed at what he was insinuating. “Now?”

“How could I forget?”

“I-I don’t understand.”

“How could I forget about you?” The baritone huskiness in his voice made you melt with the way he said those words. You swallowed, trying to calm the butterflies that raged in the pit of your stomach. “The flowers that were left – beautiful, delicate, yet meaningful. You left those after visiting me.”

“…”

She didn’t deny it. “But you never visited when I was awake because of Tracy.”

“She hates me.”

“And I was too blind to see that until I broke up with her, she threw quite a fit.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because you must have loved her so much that it would be hard to let go.” She was your angel, after all.

“She didn’t even know me. Truly know me.”

“… Did she hurt you?”

“Slightly, but the bruise is gone.” You and he were silent for a moment. Only the sound of a distant car horn was heard from the streets. “You didn’t deny it.”

“Deny what?”

“The flowers, the visit…” HR licked his lips as a rough breath left him. His nerves were climbing, but he needed to do this. “Cisco told me what you did to Savitar when you saw him. How angry you were that Harry had to pry you off him – I was so angry.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t know then… but I know now.”

“And?”

“Tracy was never the one written in my story – she didn’t care. She didn’t see me for anything other than a pretty face obsessed with coffee. You did.” HR tucked your hair behind your ear, carefully gauging your reaction. He saw how you tried not to flinch away from him. “Do you hate me?” He asked as he retracted a hand from you, happy that he was at least getting through to you.

“Never could I feel such a way towards you.” You hesitated for a moment before testing the waters. You started to explain, “I- the night you were stabbed by Savitar I… I just broke. I pushed Tracy away, I had Barry rush you back to the labs. You were dying, unconscious on the gurney and… I got to work trying to resuscitate you. I had Cisco take care of Tracy while I worked, I needed space to think clearly, but I couldn’t. When- when the others were preoccupied with Iris’ appearance, I used these powers.” It was now or never. “I was desperate. Your life was hanging by a thread- I didn’t think it was going to work, but nothing else was working. You were bleeding so much. But I had to try. I…” Your glassy eyes locked back on his, your hands pulled close to your body. HR understood now why you never tried touching him. Why you are avoiding getting too close. “Cisco found out, he confronted me. But these powers, life isn’t guaranteed. They’re volatile, unprecedented – regardless of how I feel in the moment the balance can tip between giving a life and taking one.” There was a tightness in your chest as your voice cracked, “I’m cursed, I could hurt you.” I’m dangerous.

“I don’t think you will.”

“You don’t know that!”

“But I do,” HR reached a hand out to hold yours. Tension filled your heart as panic started to settle. “You wouldn’t let yourself hurt me. It would pain you too much.” HR squeezed your slightly shaky hand, his other hand still bound by the cross-sling. “My life is in your hands.”

“How can you trust me so much?”

“Because love cannot be built without a foundation of trust.” He placed a sweet kiss on the knuckles of your hand. “And understanding.” He took the other and kissed it, baby blue eyes shifted back to yours with such intense emotion. The adoration that filled the author to the brim for you. Just for you. Only you. The one who saw him for everything and anything that he is. His safe space – the one other thing he wanted to be for you as well. He wanted to eliminate any fears that resided in your heart, the pain and doubt that remained.

“Do you hate me?”

HR cupped your cheek tenderly as he leaned close, your heart wanted to stop as blood rushed to your cheeks and ears. Your half-lidded eyes shut slowly as his lips skimmed over your own. “Never in my life, angel,” the novelist whispered as he captured your lips in a tender and sentimental kiss.

Never in my life could I hate the one who my heart has yearned for.

#harrison wells x reader #harrison wells #hr wells x reader #hr wells #hr wells imagine #the flash cw #the flash #harrison wells imagines #earth 19 harrison wells #cw #cisco ramon #tracy brand #iris west #Iris West-Allen

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quintessenceofdust73 · 3 years ago

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This is a WIP that I started on tonight. It’s going to be a Voltron Plance Steampunk AU...

💚💙💚💙

“Well, how did it go?” Pidge Gunderson heard Hunk Garrett ask when Lance took his usual seat upon the long bench at the far end of the galley’s last dining table. The three friends had favored this table because it was nearest to the large starboard portals of the HMS Atlas, and the view from the airship at this altitude was spectacular.

“I didn’t ask her,” the young man replied. “She wouldn’t have said yes anyway.” Lance had removed his heavy brass-studded leather bandolier of ammo and set it beside him on the bench. He wore it nearly all the time when he was on duty. He seldom went anywhere without it or the twin double-barreled pistols that were holstered low upon his slim hips.

“You don’t know that for a fact,” the burly young mechanic replied. “She might not have rejected you. Anyway, we’re all expected to have dance partners for the Prince’s cotillion. You should try asking her after supper.”

Lance glared at his friend. “Hunk, have you forgotten that I’m nothing more than a poor farm boy and she’s a princess?”

Pidge shuffled nervously and adjusted the tweed newsboy cap and goggles that he always wore. It was warm in the galley that evening. Hunk had the sleeves of his sturdiest work shirt rolled up beneath his orange mechanic’s bib overalls, and Lance wore only a lightweight blue vest over his white high-collared work shirt. He had left his usual navy long coat in his quarters. Pidge, however, had taken to wearing his bulky, oversized grey coat over his dark green vest and mandarin-collared work shirt all the time, no matter the weather conditions. Hunk had often wondered if his young friend suffered from some ailment, but then abandoned that notion. Perhaps Gunderson was just an eccentric, the way many brilliant people often were.

“What do you know, Gunderson?” asked the lanky sharpshooter suspiciously.

“Yeah,” said Hunk, glancing down at their young companion, who was far shorter than most boys his age. “What is it that you’re not telling us, Pidge?”

“Lance,” the young boy began, “I’m not sure you want to hear this, but...”

“Out with it, Pidge,” said Lance impatiently.

“Princess Allura asked Commander Keith to escort her to the ball, and he said yes.”

“WHAT?!” Lance exclaimed.

“See, Lance? Commander Keith started out as a poor orphan but he had a chance with the princess—“ Hunk began.

“Were you listening, Hunk?” Lance asked angrily. “The princess asked him! That means she likes him! I never had a chance with her.” Lance huffed in annoyance, then crossed his arms and stared at his bowl of stew while his two friends ate in silence, knowing that Lance had been grappling with his unrequited infatuation with the Princess of Altea since the day they first met.

After several long moments, Hunk broke their silence. “Have you considered asking Miss Romelle?” He asked carefully, hoping that he wouldn’t further upset his friend. “She’s a real beauty, that one.”

Lance chewed upon a savory morsel beef stew before replying. “Captain Sven Holgersson has already asked her.”

“What about Miss Jenny Shaybon?” asked Hunk. “As I recall, you really used to fancy her.”

Lance frowned. “She made a complete fool out of me when we were younger. I was ready to lay the world at her feet, but all she cared about was taking advantage of my devotion to make all of her other wealthier suitors jealous.”

“You shouldn’t waste your time on women like that,” Pidge observed. “A manipulative minx like her isn’t worth your time.”

“Hunk is escorting Lady Shay of Balmera,” Lance said. “The princess is going with the commander, and everyone else we know has a dance partner except me.”

“And me,” Pidge said in a small voice. Hunk thought he may have been imagining things, but the boy seemed embarrassed by his own admission. When had their little Pidge cared about cotillions or romances? The boy seemed to have a mind only for alchemy and automatons, mathematics, and all of those mad scientific experiments he had set up in the airship’s laboratory.

Lance chuckled. “Don’t tell me that our little Pidgeon is finally starting to take an interest in the fairer sex!”

Pidge shook his head vehemently. “No, there definitely aren’t any girls that I am interested in waltzing with.” Pidge’s wide hazel eyes met Lance’s deep blue gaze for a fleeting moment, then the boy blushed and looked away. “I may know someone you could escort to the cotillion though,” Pidge’s eyes darted back and forth as if his brilliant mind was rapidly calculating the solution to a very complicated equation. “I’ll let you know for certain when we make port at the Garrison.”

💚💙💚💙

What I have in mind is this: Lance and Hunk have been friends with Pidge for a few years and no one on their airship has realized that she is a girl disguised as a boy. Pidge has a crush on Lance and she has a plan! 😉 I am thinking Pidge Gunderson will go to the ball with Lance as herself, that is, her “cousin” Katie Holt. She’s been looking for her missing father, the inventor Dr. Samuel Holt, who was kidnapped and is being held prisoner by the Galra Empire. Prince Lotor’s ball is a trap for our heroes. Prince Lotor and Commander Keith are going to cross blades while Lance helps Katie rescue her father. I don’t have an outline. I’m just making this up as I go. I have never written Steampunk before either.

Advice is welcome. What do you think of what I have so far?

#pidge #katie holt #lance mcclain #plance #steampunk #Voltron steampunk AU #vld

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cheri-translates · 4 years ago

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[CN] 3rd Anniversary Love Carnival - Victor

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for an event which has not been released in English servers! 🍒

Victor’s Prologue: here

3rd Anniversary Masterlist: here

[ PART ONE ]

The moment we step into the carnival venue, my gaze is completely consumed by a gigantic merry-go-round.

MC: What a dream-like merry-go-round! Let’s ride this as our first attraction!

When Victor sees the golden coloured merry-go-round before him, his expression freezes in place for a moment. However, he still stands in the queue with me.

MC: Eh? You’re agreeing just like that?!

MC: “I don't waste my time on such senseless things”.

I mimic Victor, channelling a stern expression.

MC: Don’t you typically say that? Why did you agree so quickly today?

I make a face at him. When Victor sees this, he furrows his brows and gives me a gentle knock on the head.

Victor: Spending my time on a pointless rejection is even more of a waste.

I turn around, glaring at Victor. However, all he does is stare back plainly at me.

Victor: Because of a certain childish individual, my tolerance levels have increased by quite a lot.

I specially pick a double-manned horse. Along with the romantic music, the horses start ascending and descending, moving in a circular motion.

Couples in the surroundings are raising their phones, taking photographs with various poses. Every screen is filled with brilliant smiles.

Somewhat influenced by such an atmosphere, I turn my head to look at Victor.

As expected, Victor, who is sitting on a black steed, looks so stern that it’s as though he’s participating in some investment report meeting.

Sensing the gaze I tossed at him, Victor looks at me.

Victor: What is it?

MC: Victor, do you want to smile a little?

Victor: Why?

MC: Because when people are happy, they’d subconsciously want to smile. In the happiest place on earth, and having such an adorable lady in front of you, don't you feel even the slightest bit of happiness?

Victor: You aren’t humble at all.

Despite what he says, I can clearly see a handsome arc at the corners of his lips.

MC: Can you appreciate the joys of being on a merry-go-round now?

Victor: That’s only if seeing you look silly counts as one of the joys.

MC: Can’t you just honestly say that you’re very happy when you’re with me?

I wave my fist at him in a threatening manner.

Victor sighs. Looking back at me, he says in resignation:

Victor: I’m happy. But it has nothing to do with the merry-go-round.

As the music gradually softens, and the merry-go-round is about to complete its turn, I realise that we haven’t taken a picture yet.

Just as I adjust the angle, attempting to include Victor into the frame to obtain a “group photo”, he senses what I'm planning to do.

Victor takes my phone, then leans down closer to me.

Victor: Look at the camera.

He lifts the phone up, pressing the shutter.

[ PART TWO ]

MC: High-altitude glass platform bridge…?

In order to try a more unique attraction, Victor and I have come to the high-altitude glass platform bridge with the direction of the guide.

Victor: Want to try it?

After a moment of hesitance, I nod.

MC: Since we’re already here!

Looking death calmly in the face, I stare at the pathway, resolutely joining the queue.

Although I’ve already mentally prepared myself, I regret it the moment I step onto the platform bridge.

MC: I can’t do this. People need to stand on the ground!

I grip the railing at the side, carefully inching forward at a tortoise’s pace.

Just as I plan to tell Victor about my regret of overestimating my confidence, I lift my head and see him waiting for me composedly.

Likely seeing that I haven’t moved after such a long time, Victor sighs softly, walks towards me, and offers me his hand.

I immediately reach out, holding his large palm.

A warm sensation sprouts from our laced hands. Victor follows my pace, walking slowly to the other end of the platform bridge.

MC; You aren’t afraid?

Victor: Why should I be afraid?

He pauses for a moment, then gives me an explanation which leaves me unable to retort.

Victor: Since it’s open for visitors to experience, there are definitely sufficient safeguards to ensure the safety of the amusement facilities.

MC: …

For a moment, I actually don’t know where I should begin.

The person is the one feeling scared. What does that have to do with the safety of the facilities?

Or should I be in awe that because of such a reason, he can overcome the fear that humans have about falling from high altitudes?

Victor: If you’re really scared, don’t look under your feet. Look forward.

While doing that, I still can’t help but mutter:

MC: During such moments, shouldn’t you say things like “If you’re scared, hold me tight”, or “If you’re scared, just look at me”?

Victor casts me a glance.

Victor: Do you think that’d be useful?

MC: Mr Victor, do you know the power and vigour comfort brings?

Victor: The next time you can’t finish your proposal, I think I could reuse this saying. You can use your vigour to increase efficiency, and not ask me to postpone the meeting.

I look straight into Victor’s eyes, the discipline of the working class enabling me to harden my backbone and face this investor even at a high altitude.

MC: Are you a monster? Must you bring up things that’d upset me at this time?

Victor looks at me, a slight smile in his eyes.

Victor: You’re so full of vigour. I think you aren’t afraid anymore. All right, you can finish the rest of the path yourself.

Hearing this, I realise that the transparent glass platform has already reached its end. The following path is lined with carpet.

In the midst of our banter, I’d actually completed the entire journey without even realising it.

MC: Victor, were you deliberately criticising me earlier to divert my attention?

Victor: I should be the one with questions. When I’m by your side, where else could your focus be diverted to?

I’m left dumbfounded. Victor chuckles, as though he doesn’t care how I’d respond to his question.

Like earlier, he walks in front of me unhurriedly, not releasing the hand holding onto mine.

Victor: The next attraction probably has a queue. Follow closely.

[ PART THREE ]

MC: I didn’t expect the restaurants in the carnival to serve pretty tasty food.

I take a bite out of a heart-shaped lemon cake, and can’t help but exclaim in awe.

Initially, I had only noticed that the food laid out on the tables for patrons was shocking.

The extremely big and bold words on the leaflet - “Carnival Special Couple Set Meal” - stirred my heart.

Without another word, I pulled Victor in, pointing at the leaflet excitedly.

I didn’t expect that no matter whether it was the presentation or the taste, they left one pleasantly surprised.

MC: Victor, should Souvenir also introduce a couple set meal in the future? Like this heart-shaped cake - I’m really optimistic about its popularity in the market! I think it can attract quite a number of people.

Victor: No.

Unsurprisingly, Victor rejects my idea.

I sigh.

MC: CEO Victor, as the most ambitious and most knowledgeable on how to advance in the market, LFG is a business miracle. What does it receive most praise for? Isn’t it how it’s bold enough to try expanding its capabilities? Also, as the manager of Souvenir, are you really not considering including such a mentality into your dishes?

On the spot, I present a report involving how to expand Souvenir, and anticipate his reaction.

Victor is the same as always. Both arms are crossed over his chest as he listens to my report seriously, then he gives his comments.

Victor: The report lacks proper thought. Rejected.

MC: Why’s that?

I feel slightly indignant.

Victor sets down his hands, signalling that I should shift closer.

I have no idea what he’s planning to do, and lean over while confused.

Victor’s fingers brush against the stray hairs near my ear, rescuing a strand of hair which has been entangled with my earring.

When his finger brushes lightly against my earlobe, I suddenly think of how Victor was the one who put on this pair of earrings for me before we headed out this morning.

Victor: Souvenir isn’t a business. Its existence is unrelated to any business models.

MC: What is it related to then?

Victor: The manager’s personal preferences.

He retracts his hand, looking at me calmly.

Victor: The presentation and image of such dishes don’t suit Souvenir’s usual style.

Regretfully, I split the heart-shaped strawberry pie, placing half onto Victor’s plate.

MC: Since the manager has already put it that way…

MC: It looks like I can only seize this opportunity, and experience the fluffy, soft strawberry pie here.

I let out a soft sigh. In my mind, I can’t help but imagine - if Victor were to make this, I wonder how it’d taste.

MC: It’d definitely be several times more delicious than this.

Victor finishes the strawberry pie, and doesn’t seem to hear my soft mutter.

After a short period of silence, Victor’s serious voice pipes up.

Victor: It won’t be an item on the menu.

Victor: But this doesn’t mean I can’t make it for you once at home.

Victor elegantly cuts the food on the plate, not much expression on his face.

Only I know the warmth underneath that quiet display.

MC: When the time comes, I’ll invite Mr Victor to appraise it with me.

[ PART FOUR ]

We walk and pause, finally ending up before the Pendulum ride.

Pointing at the attraction, where shrill cries can be heard constantly, I think of that children’s day when he had taken the “Time Traveler” ride with me.

And how time had stopped for a few seconds during the descent.

[Note] This is a reference to Fairytale Date!

MC: Want to give this a try?

I turn my head, looking at Victor expectantly.

Victor: No.

As I expected, Victor rejects me.

MC: Victor, could you be scared?

Victor: Of course not.

His expression is stern, and he looks forward.

MC: In that case, ride it with me!

While saying this, I pull him along with me and we sit down.

There’s still some time before the ride begins. The chatter and laughter from people in the queue before us continuously drift over.

Enthusiastic visitor: A friend of mine took the Pendulum before. When it was over, he calmly said that it wasn’t much. In the end, he started puking after taking a few steps.

Happy visitor: Hahahaha, the same thing happened to my colleague. He sat for the ride in another place once, and screamed until his voice was hoarse at work the next day. He had to drink chinese medicine for the entire day.

I’m somewhat tickled by the conversations.

MC: They’re speaking so exaggeratedly. How could that be possible? What do you think?

The criticism I expected doesn’t arrive.

Finding this a little odd, I look at Victor, realising that he’s strapping on his seatbelt seriously, his expression stern.

Oh…?

I really wish I could take out my phone and snap a picture of this Victor before me.

The Pendulum truly lives up to its name.

At first, I even thought it’d be so-so.

But when the Pendulum’s amplitude grows increasingly larger, till it feels like I’m being tossed around, I can’t help but scream.

MC: Ahhhhh–

This! Is! Too! Scary!

Just when I’m forced to sit through these parabolic motions, my left hand is gently held onto by someone.

Bracing against the violent wind, I open my eyes. Victor is sitting straight and quietly in his seat. His posture is tense, yet he looks as though he’s very calm.

Amid the shrill screams, I can vaguely hear his voice.

Victor: Don’t be afraid.

Stepping off the Pendulum, I immediately grasp for the railing at the side.

However, when I see Victor’s crooked tie and slightly unkempt hair, I can’t help but burst into laughter.

This time, I don’t let this chance slip by, and keep this dishevelled Victor in my phone.

I make a decision to have this picture printed out to be placed at the bedside.

Victor: …what are you doing this time?

MC: Nothing, nothing! Oh yes, what do you think of this attraction?

Victor: …so-so.

MC: If you’re afraid, you can just say so. It’s a normal human reaction, and I won’t laugh at you.

Victor: I’m not afraid.

MC: In that case…

I look at Victor, my smile growing wider.

MC: Let’s ride it again!

Victor: …

MC: You aren’t going to prove that you aren’t afraid?

Victor: Let’s go then.

MC: Eh?

Victor: Since you’re so enthusiastic about this ride, you’ll definitely experience it together with me. Am I wrong?

Seeing Victor arch his brows slightly, and turning my game against me, I respond with certainty–

MC: I’m sorry! We’ll head to another attraction right now!

[ PART FIVE ]

Perplexed and not knowing which attraction to go to next, an uproar in front attracts my attention.

MC: Eh? Did something happen?

I pull Victor forward with me.

I see a man holding a large bunch of roses and pink balloons, kneeling down on one knee in front of a woman.

The woman’s face is red from shyness, and her eyes are filled with touching emotions and surprise.

MC: Someone’s proposing!

Looking at the scene before me, I can’t help but tilt my head and whisper into Victor’s ear as he stands beside me.

MC: It’s so sweet. I hope they can be together for a very long time!

Victor turns his head slightly, as though sensing the envy in my tone.

Victor: You’re very envious?

MC: A little.

Victor frowns slightly, looking as though he can’t comprehend it.

Very quickly, however, he seems to think of something.

Victor: Stand here and don’t move. Wait for a while.

Before I can react, Victor has already left.

I stand rooted in place.

At the side, the proposal is still ongoing. The man stammers as he takes her down a walk through memory lane, clumsily taking out a ring box.

The girl’s eyes have long since been brimming with happy tears.

I look at Victor, not knowing what he’s going to do, and not knowing what will happen next.

Under my expectant and nervous gaze, he walks over to the person selling balloons, and buys a small balloon flower.

MC: …

I knew it!

Victor: Give me your hand.

When Victor returns, he speaks in his usual tone.

Then, he holds up my hand, lowers his eyes, and ties the balloon flower to my wrist.

Seeing this childish action contrasted with Victor’s serious expression, I can’t help but chuckle.

With me, he’s done so many things that are, according to his standards, a waste of time, meaningless and utterly childish.

It doesn’t seem to be a bad thing though.

My heart is encased with a sweetness. Raising my wrist happily, I crinkle my eyes as I look at the balloon flower under the sunlight.

MC: It’s so pretty!

My gaze is completely absorbed by the balloon flower, and I don’t even notice that the crowd afar off has burst into applause. That man’s proposal probably succeeded.

Victor: You’re satisfied just like that?

MC: Hehe, the most satisfied person in the world! Let’s go, we still have to head to the next attraction.

I turn my head and prepare to leave, but Victor grabs my wrist.

MC: What…!

Pink coloured balloons and flower petals fill the air, spreading happiness all around.

And in this corner with only the two of us, a gentle kiss descends on my forehead.

Victor: The most childish person in the entire amusement park is probably right in front of me.

Victor looks at me, saying the critique that I couldn’t be more familiar with.

In his eyes, there’s also a smile and gentleness that I couldn’t be more familiar with.

The celebration and clamour have nothing to do with me.

All the happiness and clamour, all the ribbons and fresh flowers, can’t compare to a word from him.

Nor can they compare to the somewhat childish balloon flower on my wrist.

I smile while standing on my tiptoes, wrapping my arms around Victor’s neck, and giving him a kiss.

MC: He’s also in front of me! Being childish with you is the happiest thing in the world.

I hear a soft chuckle, then a warm breath. Following this, my forehead feels a tender touch for the second time.

Victor: Dummy.

Fireworks event: here

#this is just a re-post of the love carnival translations!#I'm doing some mild renovations to the blog so don't mind me #the previous translations were split according to parts rather than love interest which I find really disjointed!

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yoonia · 4 years ago

Text

About Time // Part 19

Character: Jungkook x reader / Jimin x reader (feat. BTS)

↳ Type/Genre/words | Angst, Fluff, Alternate Universe (Time Travel!au/Time Leap!au, Soulmate!au), Eventual Smut / 13,5k words

↳ Prompts | “What if you find your soulmate… at the wrong time?” - Lauren Kate, Passion

↳ Summary | Be careful for what you wish for, because you may never know how to deal with them once it comes true. What would you do when your wish for a second chance actually came true? But was it really a fulfilled wish? Too many questions lie when it actually happened. Were they real memories? Or perhaps a part of a past life? Was it only a dream all along? Will everything be different this time?

↳ Ratings | Mature/+18 and up

↳ Warnings | this chapter contains multiple smut scenes: involving public sex, first time sex, thigh riding, explicit scene of sexual intercourse and intense foreplay (finger fucking, f receiving), mentions of cancer, (probably) inaccurate medical and law terms

↳ Author’s Note | If you find a few scenes within this chapter that seem a bit familiar, perhaps it’s because you have read it before in a different form. The final scene for this chapter was taken from a short drabble that I created during a muse game for this story, with a few adjustments on the scene itself to make it seem more fitting into the timeline. I do hope you’ll enjoy this one. I know there are lots of you who have been waiting for this moment to come :)

↳ ⤎ Previous Chapter | Series Index: About Time | Next Chapter ⇢

Song Companion | Live - Lightning Crashes

—Present life, year 2017—

Jimin had become silent ever since the two of us left the pub. But my mind had never been so loud as it was at the moment and it had been this way since I stepped out of that place, leaving behind the memory of his altercations with Jungkook earlier.

Questions after questions kept coming while the events and pieces of the conversation they shared back at the pub continued to replay themselves inside my head.

While Jimin kept his eyes locked on the road, his posture was tense and his grip on the wheel remained hard and tight that I could see his knuckles turning white. I could even begin to faintly hear the sound of its leather cover cracking and pulling beneath his palms. Yet I kept quiet beside him, letting my mind wander as I had my eyes looking away and out the window. I had no idea what to say to him or how to react, while at the same time, I was trying to ignore the way his tension and rage kept rolling out of him in waves as he drove us further and further away from the pub.

Between being afraid that any word I said would come out with accusations, or perhaps being called crazy if I should talk to him about my predicament or to hurt him if I admitted to him why I kept being pulled to Jungkook for some reason, I decided to give him some time and space to calm down. Hoping that maybe once he did, he would be able to talk about it and I would be able to question him.

The silence thickened as each second ticked by, until a deep sigh came out of him, breaking the stillness that had grown between us.

“I’m sorry,” he suddenly said to me. His voice was soft, and I could feel his remorse lathering every word he said that I could not help but to turn to look at him.

“Sorry? What for?”

He gave me a rueful smile as he glanced my way, briefly, before looking back on the road. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. I shouldn’t have let him rile me up the way he did.” He sighed. “I must have ruined the mood for tonight.”

I opened my mouth, ready to argue and try to make him feel better. But I held my tongue, knowing that the words might come out wrong and I would probably be pushing his guilt further instead of urging him to move on.

Shaking my head, I told him all that I could say at the moment. “It’s—whatever. It’s fine,” I said, even though there was a huge part of me that begged to understand. But must this night be filled with wondering and analysing things?

Did I really want to know the answers?

Did I really want to know what those words meant? The words Jungkook said which had brought out dizziness that silenced everything running through my head at the point of hearing it?

I may have said that it didn’t matter, but my mind betrayed me by voicing out the questions once again.

Why would he say something like that? Why did they seem to hate each other? Have they met before aside from the night I introduced them together? Or did they know each other before?

Thankfully, neither of those questions had ever slipped my mouth. It was close enough to, but his soft chuckled came out before I could speak and it was enough to silence the voices in my head. Especially when this time, the small smile he was giving me finally reached his eyes even if I could still see his remorse coming out clearer in them. “I promise. I’m not always like this,” he said. He took a hand off of the wheel and rubbed his palm over his face.

My chest tightened when I saw the distress on his face, and the words just came spilling right out of me before ie realised it.

“I know you’re not.”

His eyes grew wide at my words and his gaze came back to me before his smile returned a bit wider. And he was giving me the one smile that was familiar to my eyes, one that was honest and free. The same exact smile that had me falling in love with him in a different lifetime. With its presence, my heart clenched tight the same exact way it did the first time I fell for him. It felt stricken with longing and despair, while at the same time, it was making me feel warm inside.

“And how would you know that?” he asked me.

While there were lots of different answers that I could choose from, one of them being something which could reveal the secrets that I had been keeping away from him, I held my tongue once again. Keeping things to myself before I could ruin this moment.

But I didn’t hold back from reaching out. I rested my hand on his thigh as I whispered with a sigh, “Because I know you, Jimin.”

I felt his body growing tense under my touch for a brief moment, before he easily softened into my touch. So I carried on, telling him what I needed him to hear. Something that according to my memory was the one thing that I had failed to say to him.

“I know that you are not a violent person or anyone who has any vile intentions,” I told him, while images of Jimin confronting Jungkook at the pub blended together with the sight of him fighting Jungkook at a hospital, something that had come into my dreams more than once. “Anyone else would snap when confronted and riled up the same way it did to you. I’m not putting the blame on anyone but the situation, but you had handled it really well.”

His shoulders fell down with relief and I felt lighter, glad to be able to somewhat reassure him and change the mood after he was feeling down ever since we left. Before I could pull my hand away, Jimin placed his hand on mine and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you for believing in me.”

Laughing a little, I squeezed his hand in return and tried to lighten the mood further. “Now, I also believe that someone had promised me a good night.”

He chuckled without looking away from the road. Though his eyes glistened with a promise and hope in them. “That I did,” he hummed softly, taking my hand to his lips. He pressed a kiss on my wrist before letting me rest my palm on his thigh once again. “I’m taking you to a place that I know you would love. At least, I hope you would.”

“I trust you. As long as I’m with you, I know I’d be happy,” I told him truthfully, knowing that it was exactly how I felt whenever I was with him.

The conversation felt lighter once Jimin had gotten everything that was bothering him out of his chest.

As he continued to drive, we talked about how the whole day went—about his day in campus and his practice, about my job interview and the day I spent with his cousin—sans the part about my meeting with Taehyung since we avoided bringing up any event regarding the pub earlier once again.

The drive felt far and long. The night was getting late, yet I didn’t mind being out so late at all when he made me feel completely safe when I was with him. This trip reminded me of the night he took me out to the city park on new year’s eve, where he took me up to the hill overlooking the city. Except that I knew the destination we were heading tonight was going to be further away from the place where he first kissed me and asked me to be his girlfriend.

It seemed like a long time ago when in fact only months had passed since then. It sure felt like I had been with Jimin for a lifetime when everything just seemed right when we were together.

I kept my hand resting on his lap as he drove on, letting him brush against it once or twice as we talked during the drive. The city passed by alongside us. We had somehow passed the main roads from the city and into the highway, and he kept on driving until the city lights became few and far in between, the buildings that had filled our view out the window were replaced by trees. Then he drove out of the highway, until we were surrounded by nothing but dirt and rock and the asphalt road slowly turned into gravel pathways with scrub bushes lining up on our sides.

“Where are we?” I asked him curiously as the terrain we were passing by turned rough, joined by a few bumps over ruts and ridges as we drove away from the main road and the path started to ascend to a higher altitude.

“Someplace quiet,” he simply said, giving me a secretive smile as the mirth in his eyes grew stronger.

I should be worried or concerned to find us driving to a strange place outside of town. But I only grew curious. The excitement came over me just as the road in front of us cleared out to an opening. The car had been driving further up until we reached to a certain plateau located right at the top of the rocky hills, way higher than the place he had once taken me to look over the cityscape. Way higher than any place that we had ever gone to. As Jimin slowed the car to a halt, I looked out to see the lines of trees and the edge of the cliff opening up to a broad sky over the horizon, the blanket of city lights covering the lower ground was nothing compared to the bright night sky above and the sparkling stars that seemed to welcome our presence.

“It’s not perfect or glorious, but I know that this is the place that you would love the most. A high place, quiet, where you could watch the wide sky above and the stars painting the sky—”

Before he could finish his sentence, I turned to him, finishing his words with a grateful smile and with my heart swelling in warmth, “—an open space where I could breathe the clean, fresh air.”

He turned to look at me. The warm gaze he was giving me spoke a thousand words. The questions were still there, hanging right at the tip of my tongue, but I brushed them away.

Enjoy the moment, I remembered Taehyung said. Enjoy the present. You will find your answers there.

“You were right. You knew exactly what I’d love.”

Jimin leaned in, pressing his lips against mine. His kiss was gentle but enough to bring forth the heat in my belly to want more. But he pulled back before I could have my fill, handing me a blanket to carry.

“Come. We haven’t seen the best part of it yet.”

My eyes grew wide. “We haven’t? You mean there’s more other than you taking me to a secluded place where you could hide me and nobody would find my body?”

Jimin’s head fell back as he laughed. “That sounds tempting, though you were right about this place being secluded,” he said, teasing me with another kiss that was gentle and chaste, letting me have a quick taste with a promise for more. “It’ll be nobody here but us.”

“I bet,” I whispered against his lips. I brushed my hands on the blanket he gave me, just as he reached for another that seemed thick enough for us to lay on top of. “Don’t tell me that we’re going to camp out.”

“Close, but not quite. I remember promising you dinner too,” he teased, giving me a wink before he reached out to the backseat, pulling a whole bag of groceries onto his lap, filled with snacks, chocolate bars, two bottles of mineral water, and best of all, microwave heated mini-market bought lunchboxes. “Our fancy dinner.”

I laughed and kissed him on his cheek. “Perfect.”

This side of the mountains would probably have been scorching hot under the sunlight if Jimin had taken me here during the daytime.

Tonight, however, the sky was clear enough to show all the bright stars overhead. The air was a bit cold and windy, but not so much that it would make me wish we were cuddled up inside his warm car instead of out here in the open air.

Jimin kept a tight hold of my hand as he led me tramping around the landed bushes, jumping over and around a few rocks that we came upon on our path, before we reached the embankment that Jimin had pointed out to when we first arrived in this place. Jimin climbed ahead and pulled me up with him. There was a flat rock on the top, wide enough for us to sit and lie down on, and safe enough to set out our small picnic without being afraid of getting too close to the edge.

This far high up, I could see the plateau over the edge, a wide flat space between hills and valleys, with sparkles of lights coming from the houses and small buildings located down there. I was filled with all nerves and anticipation, the joy of being up and above was mixed together with the fear of falling. But then I looked up at Jimin, and it made me feel all better knowing that we were here together. That he would be there by my side, ready to catch me before I could ever fall down.

We straightened the blanket on top of the flat rock and laid back, looking up at the sky above.

Being there under all of those stars made me feel small and insignificant, as if everything that I had to face and deal with, all the concerns I have had, they all meant nothing. Just a small blip in the universe. A mystery to unfold but never a necessity as we continued to exist.

As if being thrust back into the past had no significant value compared to everything else in this whole universe.

Being under the wide open space overlooking a small part of the universe really brought me to look at things in a new perspective, and suddenly, everything that Taehyung had told me finally made sense.

There was no point in dwelling in the past or the future that had been supposedly written for me or what I was trying to rewrite for myself. What mattered was now, this moment. I looked to my side to find Jimin lying on his side, looking at me. While it felt like I was the only person in the world when I looked up at the sky with all of my concerns weighing me down, looking at him made me feel less lonely. We could be the only two people in the world, and I found there was no need to change any of it all.

“You have that look again,” he mused softly, holding back a smile as he kept his eyes on me.

“What look?”

The smile broke through, and his eyes were filled with mirth when he answered, “The kind of look that tells me you are overanalysing things that are happening.”

I couldn’t help but return his smile, all while holding back from leaning in and kissing his plump lips the way I wanted to. “Do I make that look a lot?”

He merely shrugged. “Sometimes. I’d usually let you because I like seeing all the expression you make.”

There was an emotional tug happening inside my chest. I had gotten used to it at this point to know that it only happened whenever he was around. Whenever I was with him.

“Didn’t know that you’ve been pretty observant,” I could only muse as he grew closer. Our shoulders touching as he leaned in.

“It’s not hard,” he said. “All I had to do was pay attention. A lot of attention. And it’s easy to do that when I’m with you.” He licked his lips when he stopped talking, looking down on mine before meeting my gaze again. “You’re the only one I want to look at the whole time.”

Everything around us was dark, but for some reason, I could still see his face, as if the moonlight and all the stars above had served like multiple spotlights to illuminate him for me. He was probably seeing my face the same way, with limited lights helping him to find me. I could feel his warm breath before I noticed just how much closer he was.

“Will I miss if I try to kiss you right now?” he jokingly whispered to me when his lips were practically brushing against mine already.

I couldn’t help the laughter that came out so easily. “It is pretty dark around here,” I told him, whispering as I tried to reach out, finding his jaw with the tip of my fingers. The night did seem to grow darker at this point. Or perhaps it didn’t feel this way before when he weaved his way through the pathway, using only the flashlight from his phone to guide us. “Should I reach for the flashlight?”

He hummed. “There is no need,” he whispered, before pressing his lips at the tip of my nose. “I can always find you, even in the dark.” Then his lips finally found mine, and I welcomed him with a sigh as I sank down against him on top of the blanket.

His mouth felt like home. His kiss was warm, enough to help me forget about all of my concerns, all of the questions that had been circling in my head. None of them mattered anymore, when he was here, he was real, his hands moving gently up and down the curves and lines on my body over my soft sweater while he slowly pulled me to him, deepening the kiss in the process.

I was breathless when he pulled away, giving me a moment to take a deep breath and control my heartbeat. My palms had somehow found their way onto his chest, pressing down on where his heartbeat was pacing to the touch and the warmth we shared.

The wind blew across the valley, passing us both to remind us about the cool night air. So he pulled another blanket around us, covering us both from the chill autumn breeze. Only to have me grounded further later as he swiftly moved on top of me, his mouth making a trail of kisses from my lips, down to my jawline, then he slowed down as he traced the column of my throat.

His hand made its way to the hem of my sweater, tugging and pulling before he pulled it up so he could touch my bare belly beneath it. While his hand kept tracing upward, finding the elastic band of my bra, his lips continued tracing downward. He laid his head on my chest for a moment, closing his eyes as he listened to my heartbeat. He looked up to me after a moment and he kept his gaze on me when he pressed his lips on my covered breasts, capturing the covered tip between his mouth, releasing it when I sighed only to move to the other.

Weaving my fingers through the strands of his hair, I arched my back, giving him more as his hand slid in and tweaked a nipple from beneath my sweater. In a flashing moment, my sweater was gone, and nothing was getting in the way for him to finally taste my skin. I cried out as his fingers and his mouth worked together, pinching and biting, tuning my whole body as if he knew just which buttons to touch, to play with, to tweak, just to thrust me into the peak of my pleasure.

It didn’t take long before he brought me there, surges of bliss rushing all over my body, centered right at my core where the pulse felt the strongest, where the heat of my body pooled together into a puddle.

His eyes found me again when he brushed away the lacy front of my bra, pushing it down so he could reach more skin. My body was moving against his, my hips rolling in circles in the same rhythm as the pulse that kept rising between my legs. With my legs spread, I pressed my center against his thigh, searching for release by brushing myself against him and I could feel his muscles tensing against me as he pressed himself back to me for a short moment before he continued to move down. My fingers had somehow found their way back through his hair, where I clutched him tight, keeping him close to me at all times even as he was crawling down on me.

His lips spoke of promises and sin, and he revels in the sounds I was making to every bit of ministration he was giving me.

I felt it through his warm breath that came trailing down my skin as he continued climbing lower, his grunts coming out softly with each kiss he gave on my skin. His fingers kept dancing down my curves, as if he wanted to engrave every inch of my skin into his mind, even all the goosebumps that came out from the mixture of his warmth and the cold air around us.

He kissed his way down along my hip bone, his hands were getting busy to unbutton my jeans, freeing me further from any restraints. I lifted my hips when he tugged the waistband lower, only so that he could push my pants away. He swiftly moved his hand between my legs, delving into my panties, until he finally found the source of my pulsing heat.

His fingers danced their way down teasingly at my mound, before he found the cleft and gently spread them open for him, letting him touch me where I needed him the most. His fingers moved around the bundle of nerves hiding between my folds, circling around it until I could hear the slickness of my arousal as he gathered every drop with the tip of his fingers. Each gentle brush he gave sent fireworks through my body, the pleasure kept on rising more and more.

I cried out when he pushed a finger against the slick opening. His thumb pressing down on my throbbing clit as he inched deeper, pushing slowly through the pulsing walls. I barely felt him pushing my jeans and panties lower, exposing me to him. Then his soft tongue licked down between my folds, tasting my essence just as he continued to work his fingers inside my walls to make me release more.

“Jimin!” I called out when he took my swelling clit between his mouth, doing it so before I felt a hint of pressure when he added a finger into my pussy, pushing in and pumping softly. He stopped when he found restraint, pulling back only to push back and reach further inside, letting my walls clench tight around his digits.

“Relax for me, baby,” he grunts against my hot cunt, placing his free hand on my belly to push my hips back down when I had been pushing myself up against his mouth, tensing my muscles at the same time.

Opening my eyes to look down, I found him looking at me with a heated gaze. Hunger and lust were mixed together with the kind of look which had my heart turning warm. I released a deep exhale and let my body relax beneath him.

“Good girl,” he whispered to me, before he came back down, planting his mouth right between my legs again and expertly finding my clit for him to devour. “Now, don’t hold back on me, love. Let go and let me taste you.”

With that, his mouth came back to my nether lips, another finger came to join the others as he worked them in and out of my pussy, sending my legs trembling around his head, my fingers tightening on his hair to hold him down. My hips moved in circles, swivelling and dancing with the same rhythm he made on me to chase the surge of pleasure that continued to rise.

He kissed, licked, bit, all the while pumping his digits continuously against the sweet spot right through the hot entrance of my cunt, and I was instantly thrust into the edge. My climax came to me like a wave of warmth slowly building from my center and flowing around my body. Enveloping me with pure pleasure that had me screaming out into the wind.

A whisper of the cold breeze came upon me just as I shuddered into his mouth, an instant reminder of where we were.

I opened my eyes just as I had his fingers locked tight inside me, my pussy clenching him tight, his mouth locking tight around my clit. As I saw the ocean of stars above our heads, a surreal moment came upon me. It felt like I was flying high, drunk in pleasure and bliss with the stars around us and the moonlight lighting us both.

The sinful thought of him pleasuring me under the wide sky above and of being exposed to the universe pushed me back into another climax, thrusting me off the precipice of my orgasm that I couldn’t even cry out for it being too much for me to handle.

With a gasping sound, I embraced the pure pleasure. Letting myself to be brought up high with his touch, feeling free and elated at the same time as my orgasm came to me in smooth spasms, humming through my body, giving me the most beautiful feeling I have ever felt in the world.

Once the spasms of my release waned down to a shiver, Jimin gathered me in his arms. His touches soothed me as he gently tugged my jeans back in place. He pressed his kisses on my skin as he pulled my sweater back down, covering me from the cold.

“Should I get you warm? Or should I take you home?” he whispered, his lips brushing on my temple before he looked down at me, his eyes glinting with his desire. The haze in my head dissipated under the one word that had me clutching his shirt tight, anchoring him to me to let me know that I was not dreaming.

Home.

Glimpses of my dreams came back to me just then, and once again, I was swamped by a flood of warmth. Hope and love filled my heart, and the answer was clear.

“Take me home.”

—Present life. Jimin’s Apartment, year 2017—

His studio apartment had always felt warm and cozy.

But this night, it felt different. The good kind of different. No matter how often I had spent my time here, sleeping here almost every night instead of back in my dorm, it never truly felt like home unless he was there with me, holding me tight to him. Because he was my home. And though this place was every bit of his, I would still need him as my anchor.

Over the past few months, I had been leaving my things behind, marking my territory in his apartment. Tonight, as we entered his home with his arms wrapped around me, his kisses distracting me from looking around us, I found that the air was filled with the scent of my perfume. It washed over me so suddenly that I broke away from the kiss only to glance around, making sure that we were actually in the right place.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he whispered huskily as he caught my jawline with his mouth simply because he couldn’t stay away.

“Nothing,” I whispered in return, pressing my palms on his chest as I looked around for a few more seconds, sighing dreamily as I caught the sight of the foot of his bed on the far corner before finally letting myself melt into him. “I just—”

I looked up to him, catching his eyes looking down at me with wonders in them. “Your room smells like me.”

Jimin chuckled. “It does. And I love it,” he whispered, giving me a soft peck on the lips before he sheepishly confessed, “Sometimes, when you’re not sleeping here, I’d spray a bit of your perfume into my pillows so it would feel like you were there. I let your perfume sticks around more than mine because I want to feel your presence here.”

I gave him a dubious look. “Oh, Jimin,” I laughed. “That sounds a tad bit creepy yet also endearing I don’t even know how to feel.”

He laughed with me, his head falling back when he did. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”

I placed a palm on his cheek, urging him to look at me again before I could kiss his cheek. “I actually like the fact that I’ve marked your place not only with my things but with everything else too.”

He caught my lips in his for a brief moment. “You’re welcome to do more than marking,” he said, suddenly looking a bit hesitant to continue.

“Really?” I asked him, teasingly feigning innocence to him. “Is this your way of asking me to move in with you?”

His lips twitched but he held back his smile. “Would you?”

“Would I what?”

His grin slowly came back, even if his eyes kept glancing away with uncertainty before he finally spoke. “Move in with me.”

I felt my eyes sting. There was something about all of this that made me want to cry. Like there was something inside me that was slowly coming together. Which was why the answer came out easily. “I’d love to. My home is with you, Jimin.”

He breathed a sigh of relief, his gentle smile came back onto his face and I couldn’t stop myself from brushing my lips over his. The quick peck on his lips turned into a hungry kiss when he pressed me tightly against him and kissed me back. I felt his chest rumbling with a deep grunt just as my knees started to turn into jelly. What held me up were his arms around me, keeping me pressed to him before I could even attach my arms around him.

“Take me to bed, Jimin,” I said, breaking the kiss with a sigh.

When I pulled back to pull him into his bedroom, he groaned and refused to let me go. With his arms tightening around my waist, he carried me up, making me kick off my shoes and wrap my legs around his waist as he began to take me into the bedroom, hastily kissing my lips on the way there.

Jimin was almost breathless when he laid me down onto the bed, then climbed up to follow me after kicking his own shoes off. He didn’t wait long before capturing my lips on his again, pinning me right at the center of his bed as if he was afraid I would run away.

“Are you tired?” he asks me softly as he nipped on my jawline, giving me a moment to breathe.

“Kinda. Why?”

He sighed. “I just—you are so irresistible.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Who? Me?”

Instead of answering me, he lowered his head, kissing the side of my neck and I felt all the goosebumps forming on my skin. It was almost the same as they did when he touched me under the clear night sky. Except that it was no longer windy and I was still terribly sensitive to every touch he gave me. “I want to make love to you so bad,” he whispered, not bothering to wait until I responded when he bit down playfully on the exposed skin right above the neckline of my sweater.

He splayed his hand on my stomach, the warmth of his touch seeping through my sweater. Then his hand slipped under the hem, stroking my bare skin, sending tremors through me as he reminded me of how he touched me before.

“You already gave me so much pleasure and made me cum under the stars,” I said to him, my voice shaking and breathless as I arched against his palm.

“I certainly did—” he said, giving me a lazy grin. There was a hint of pride glowing in his eyes, no doubt reminiscing on how he brought me up to bliss right at the top of the hills, where only he and I existed.

Already, my body grew hot with need, calling him to touch me again. His delicate fingers tracing along my belly and up to my breasts felt good, but it was nothing compared to when he slid his fingers down, drifting lower until he could slide under the waistband of my jeans and under my panties so effortlessly as if he already knew every curve and every ridge of my body to find his way.

Jimin pressed his lips at my ear, nibbling gently as he pressed his fingers into my folds, spreading me open. My breath became a rush of short pants as I rocked into his touch and he began stroking me, giving me long, firm thrusts that sent electric shocks up my spine and liquified my bones almost instantly. My hips rolled against his hand and the pleasure peaked incredibly fast, as I was still too sensitive after the intense pleasure he gave me tonight, after what we had shared back on the rocks, after what he made me feel. My panties were still wet, and it was about to get even more drenched as he kept touching me with all the right ways he knew just exactly how to.

“Oh god—” I moaned while my body kept moving on its own accord, seeking release to the mounting pleasure rising inside me. “Jimin, please—”

“So sweet. You always look so pretty when you cum. When you release your climax on my fingers or my tongue,” he murmured while scraping his teeth on my skin, tasting me. “I want you so bad, _____.”

He pushed his fingers inside, pressing his thumb on my clit, and I gasped and shuddered as white pleasure came shooting through me. It came in waves, much softer than the one he gave me before, but it was still enough to send my body quaking in his arms. As I came down, I found myself lying on my back. Jimin was hovering on top of me, licking his fingers clean with a few soft moans rumbling from deep within his throat. Each sound he made rocked something inside me that I felt the urge to touch him.

So I pulled him down on me, kissing his lips hungrily before muttering softly. “Take me, Jimin.”

I kissed him again before he could say a thing, relishing on the taste of his mouth on mine. He had been giving me so much pleasure that I wanted to give it all back to him, to get him naked and vulnerable the same way he did to me on the rocks, or any other times I was with him. The idea of touching him until he would be lost in his pleasure sent shivers down my body. I remembered the beautiful look on his face that he would make when he embraced his pleasure, the wonder in his eyes and the smile that it brought him, and I wanted to see it all again.

Then he suddenly pulled back, his eyes lost in wonders already as he took me in silently. His eyes looking so dark and deep that I felt him embracing me with his gaze.

“What are you thinking?” My voice was hoarse, already deeply affected by him.

“I’m thinking—” he whispered, licking his lips as he ran his gaze down on me one last time before meeting my eyes again. “—that I’m going to take off your clothes, piece by piece.” He reached out to tuck my hair behind my ear, something that I had found to be the small gesture that he loved to do when he touched me, then trailed his fingers down my neck, feeling my pulse pacing beneath his fingertips.

“I’ll kiss you everywhere, taste every inch of your bare skin. And then I’m going to sink inside you so deep you will remember me being a part of you.” His palm rested on my cheek and he leaned in. His eyes were hooded when he looked at me, letting me see the clear desire burning in them when he whispered huskily, “And then, when you come, I’ll make you feel so good that the only thing coming out of your lips would be my name. In fact, I’ll make sure that everyone will hear you when you call my name as I make you come.”

“Jimin—”

My heart raced inside my chest. My whole body was throbbing with excitement, but there was a bit of fear between them as well. I have waited for this moment for a long time, yet the fear of making all the same mistakes, the fear of losing him, everything had always come together to send me to the borders of pain that were so intense that I had always kept holding back.

And now, as he kept telling me everything he wanted to do to me, all the sinful things he wanted to show me as he showed me what he truly felt for me, I knew then that I needed him more than ever.

Jimin lowered his mouth to my exposed neck when I couldn’t find the will to speak, sucking on my pulse, pulling me back to the present while chasing away all of my fears. I knew that I loved him. I always had. And every kiss that he gave me reminded me of that feeling, while he showed me just how much I could trust him. With every kiss he gave me, I slowly began to relax, relishing on the gentle current of pleasure that was beginning to grow stronger inside me I could no longer feel anything but.

His hands dropped to the hem of my sweater and skimmed up to my ribs. As promised, despite the filthy thoughts he placed into my head, he was gentle. Moving so slowly while never looking away, keeping his gaze on my face, on my eyes, as he continued to read through my expression to see if he was crossing the line that I was not ready to go over. That was when I knew that he would always take care of me, just like every single time we were together.

Through my memories, I knew that he had always put me first above all else. The days that I had spent with him had always shown me that he was still the same, so I trusted him for putting me first tonight as he reached up, caressing my breasts through the flimsy fabric of my bra.

His gentle touch played with my mounds until I felt a tight ache forming right at both tips, while at the same time, his kisses traced my pulse along my neck, sending heat pooling between my legs.

“I love touching you like this,” he whispered, making me moan as he slipped my bra down and his hands were on my bare breasts, stealing my breath as he pinched the nipples one at a time. With his touch, the electric currents I felt instantly picked up, rising from my breasts and down to my core.

Then he started peeling my clothes off—my sweater, my bra, making good of his words while kissing every inch of skin that was exposed to his eyes. His lips were soft against my skin when he returned after tossing my clothes away, making me sigh at the connection as he kept climbing down to my chest. But as he licked at the tip of my breast, taking a nipple into his mouth to suck, I arched into his mouth, wanting him to take more.

His hands traced down as he continued to nibble on my sensitive bud and tugged at my jeans. Through my hazy mind, I felt him pulling them off and down my legs, together with my panties, until I was finally completely bare beneath him.

He bent over me, kissing his way down, brushing his lips over my belly, lightly tracing his hot kisses until he reached to my thighs.

“Jimin—I need to touch you,” I whispered, reaching out to his shoulders to let him know just how much I needed to feel his body on mine.

He looked up to me with hooded eyes and a lazy grin. He pushed himself up and began to drag his shirt off, revealing his bare chest to me. He stepped back and climbed off of the bed so he could slide his jeans down his hips together with his briefs, and I immediately lost my train of thoughts. His cock jumped up, bumping against his belly when he straightened himself up. The sight of his length bare and twitching made my core throb. I knew he could see what he did to me when his grin returned and he stroke himself for me.

Jimin opened his eyes to the sound of my soft moan, locking his gaze on mine, giving me his devastating half-smile when he saw me reacting to the sight of him touching himself. He reached over to grab a condom from his pocket, deftly tearing the foil open and swiftly slipping it on before coming back to me.

He leaned over me, stretching his body over mine, and my mind went blank for a moment before I blinked and realised that it was truly happening. His arousal that was pressing hot against my belly became proof that this was real. That he was real.

“You have no idea how beautiful you look, lying naked under me,” he softly whispered, brushing his mouth over my cheek, my jaw, then coming back onto my lips. “Are you sure you want this? Are you sure you’re ready?”

“I want you, Jimin. I want this,” I practically begged him, whining when he pulled back and his lips left my skin.

I’ve wanted this for so long. The words rang inside my head, but I bit my lips to stop myself from saying it out loud. But he must have seen something in my eyes that was telling him just how much I meant every word I said, because I felt it when he finally let go every bit of his inhibitions, and something else grew in his gaze.

Looking deep into my eyes, Jimin made me a promise that had me almost crying. “I’ll be careful. And do things gently so I won’t hurt you.”

Blinking the tears away, I reached out to cup his face. “I’m not made of glass, Jimin.”

He smiled, looking both sad and relieved when he sighed and whispered, “I know you’re not.”

Jimin kissed me again, taking it slowly and gently this time. Then he was pressing into me, his hand reaching between us to guide himself at the center of my heat. He kept whispering my name as he slowly pushed in, spreading me apart as he slid deeper, stopping briefly to kiss my lips to distract me right before he suddenly gave a little push, filling me up entirely with his girth. It was shocking and painful and amazing at the same time that I couldn’t even make a sound. The only thing that came out of my lips was a breathless cry, and my body arched towards him instead of moving away. Soothing me from the shock, Jimin began kissing my neck, my breasts, my mouth, until I finally began to relax and the pain began to fade. I felt full and hyperaware of his existence inside. The thought of our bodies joining together made me clench around him tightly. As if my body wanted to keep him there.

“How are you doing?” he asked me, his voice sounded strained as he held very still on top of me, afraid to move and to hurt me by moving too soon.

But I was no longer hurting.

As the pulsing pain began to form into something else entirely new, something else that felt wonderful, I gave him a reassuring smile to stop him from worrying. “I’m okay. You can continue now.”

My answer made him chuckle, then he exhaled softly before beginning to shift. His hands were pressing onto the bed, then one moved to my hips to hold me as he began pulling out, pushing back inside, moving steadily slow at first before the muscles inside my walls allowed him to move more easily.

“You feel so good, ______. So fucking good around me,” he grunted, and his pace began to pick up.

With each drag of his hardness inside me, the pleasure mounted gradually. A throbbing, maddening pulse began to rise from the depth of my core, rising along with the pressure coiling around my middle, sending me breathless, my brain was muddled as it was thrust into a certain height of bliss.

As my body adjusted and I was slowly getting used to the rising rush of pleasure, my hips were lifted against him and I clutched at his back, drawing him deeper inside.

“Fucking hell, _______,” he cursed as I clenched, gritting his teeth before he increased his pace, pumping his cock in and out of me more frantically until my head spin and his body grew tight against me.

He was close, I could feel it. Just as I was coming close to my own end.

Kissing me again, Jimin tried to make it last by kissing my nipples, my neck, taking my mouth again to swallow the moans that I didn’t even realise I was making. I must have been calling for his name in the midst of crying in pleasure because I could feel him smiling into the kiss.

“You drive me fucking crazy, _____,” he whispered against my mouth while continuing to work on his hips, pounding gently into me even though his pace had grown more rapidly than it did before. “I don’t know how long I could last. You’re so tight around me.”

“I—I think I’m close. Come together with me, Jimin.”

He thrust his cock inside me again and again, every time he came back it felt better than the last when the tip of his shaft pushed through my walls until he reached so deep, right the hilt. Jimin let out a moan and rolled his hips while I continued to move mine, chasing him and chasing our release together.

He rocked inside me, going as deep as he could reach until I cried out his name. I clenched tight around his cock and he pounded straight into me, hitting all the right spots, sending me jolts of pleasure with each thrust which then became my undoing.

Sparks came shooting up from my core just as he began twitching between my clenching walls. The feeling of him quaking inside me set me on fire. The flame of my pleasure burning me deep inside before I finally plunged over the edge. My orgasm must have triggered his own to come, as the moment I cried out his name with each intense pulse of my climax, he erupted inside me and into the condom with a deep groan, a soft whimper following behind as the spasms of his release rocked him to the core.

It took a while until the waves of my climax began to come down into smaller spasms. It took his soft touches and his gentle kisses to bring me back, to help me open my eyes until I saw him. Somehow, I must have blacked out. Because he was already lying on my side, his heartbeat still rapid as I rested my head on his chest, while my own body was still humming with the remnants of my climax.

“Are you okay, baby?”

I closed my eyes, refusing to let my tear drop when the first thing he did after our first lovemaking was to make sure that I was doing alright. Sighing contently, I looked up to his face and gave him a smile.

“That was amazing,” I whispered to him, pressing my lips on his bare chest while pressing my body tightly against him, just so I could feel his warmth around me.

I felt his lips brushing against my temple. “I didn’t hurt you?” he asked me as he tilted my chin up, making me return his gaze.

“No, it felt so good.” I swallowed deeply, making sure that my voice would stay steady when I said the words that had been hanging right at the tip of my tongue ever since the moment he claimed me. “I love you, Jimin.”

He sighed deeply. “I love you too, _____,” he whispered. Then he kissed my lips, gently, before finally letting me go once he realised just how exhausted I was. “Go to sleep, _____. I’ll be here when you wake up,” he promised me, kissing my face as he bid me goodnight and started pulling the blanket to cover our bodies, still naked and entangled on his massive bed.

With my body growing lax, the exhaustion engulfed me like a tidal wave and I began to slip away into slumber with his arms around me. Too tired to even say goodnight to him, I kissed his palm when he ran his fingers through my hair. The last thing I felt was his lips pressing gently on the top of my head. I barely heard his voice, already falling into my dreamless sleep when he faintly whispered to me—

“I’ve waited for you and for this moment for a long time.”

—First life. St. Vincent’s Hospital, year 2027—

“Are you sure you will be okay with this?”

I tilted my head as I waited for his answer. Jimin merely gave me a meek smile, his eyes were drooping lazily as he returned my gaze. Funny how the situation had turned around. When only a few weeks ago, he was the one who first came into my room, asking for my permission to join me in my bed. Tonight, I was the one waiting for him to invite me in, while he was the one who needed the companion.

“I’m sure,” he whispered softly with his voice sounding low and hoarse, as if he needed everything in him just to get those words out of his lips. “In fact, I’m sure you will only make it better,” he chuckled lightly as he patted the side of the bed.

I looked away, following his dainty hand, thin and sickly pale that it almost matched the colour of his linen sheets. The sight nearly broke me down that I had to close my eyes before I could look into his eyes again. Just as our gazes met, he must have seen the hesitance building up inside me, because he slowly began to shift on the bed and scoot backwards, leaving a small space beside him just enough for me to squeeze in.

His movement was careful, doing his best to shift around under the restraint of the infusion tubes attached to his arm. Settling on his side as he waited for me to climb on top of the bed, I could hear him breathing heavily, letting me know just how much that subtle move had already drained enough of his energy.

“Come here,” he said, patting the empty side of the bed once again to beckon me close. “Don’t worry, they change the sheets every time they have a chance to.”

I gave him a light scoff, chuckling softly on his effort to make a light joke. As if I had to be reminded of the hospital’s routines when I had to endure and witness all the same thing as well. Jimin’s eyes kept forcing themselves to close, yet he was persistent, holding back from dozing off just to make sure he would see me come to bed with him. So I gave in. With a sigh, I set up the IV stand that I had dragged along with me all the way from my room to be next to his bed, before I crawled on top of it. It was a struggle to climb up, as I had to maneuver everything from locking my wheelchair in place, to pushing myself up and onto the bed. My flimsy pyjamas kept getting in the way while my stiff back made it hard for me to move easily. I was glad to have taken enough painkillers to numb down the pain, even if it was just a tad, or else I wouldn’t even be able to move at all with how strained my spine had become for the past few weeks.

“Be careful,” Jimin whispered when I let out a hiss the moment I pulled my legs up. I responded only with a smile and a soft murmur of, “I’m okay,” as I held back the pain and settled down beside him, trying not to make him too worried about me when he already had too much to deal with in his current condition. It took me a while, with careful shifts and turns, before I finally managed to lie down next to him.

As we laid on our sides, facing each other with our hands entangled together, I let myself get lost in his eyes while he kept his gaze locked on me. For a moment, everything else around us seemed to disappear, just like how it always had been whenever we held on to each other like this. Every painful moment of our battles against our demons, the illness that was eating up our souls from within, seemed so far away. His painful treatments and therapies, the forthcoming life-threatening surgery I was set to deal with within the next few weeks, all seemed irrelevant.

All the fright and pain seemed insignificant compared to his warmth and comforting touch, but I still held his hand tightly in mine, afraid that he may disappear once I let go.

Being in this hospital for a long time, everything around us had become redundant. We had somehow gotten used to the scents, the mixture of antiseptics and drugs, all the voices coming from the hallways even as we were asleep at night, and the chill temperature in our rooms that had always felt like ice picking into our skin. Even the pain that we both had to endure became a part of us, expected but never welcomed, as if they would always be there, the eerie reminders of why the both of us had ended up in this place together.

Yet everything became bearable because of Jimin. Because we had each other.

By now, the nurses and doctors no longer found it odd to find us sleeping side by side at night. A few requests had even been made to have us being roomed together to make it easier for us to be with each other, since the night trips down the hallways to each other’s rooms had started to become obstacles that were getting in the way of our recovery.

But every trip, even with its pain and exhaustion, had been worth it. Our nights together had kept us strong. They gave us both hope, something to look forward to.

Even when the days like this one would come, when either one of us would be taken away for our special ’treatments’ and ‘test runs’, before we were returned into our rooms only half of what we were before we had left.

“How was it?” I bit my lip the moment I realised that I was questioning him the one thing I knew he would be most reluctant to talk about. I knew how hard the day had been for him, because I had been there too. Despite my worries, I wasn’t sure if making him relive everything that he had gone through today would be a good idea, but sometimes talking about it helped, which was why it came almost instinctively for me to let him talk about it.

When his gaze was shadowed with disdain, I instantly regretted for even asking. Yet, he quickly smiled, chuckling lightly with his eyes closed before he answered, “It was marvellous. Astounding, joyful, completely relaxing. My whole body feels light, just like air, and now I am as strong as ever.”

The last words he said was accompanied by a bitter chuckle. When he opened his eyes again, they were glowing with unshed tears, and my chest tightened.

“It was that bad, huh?” I could feel my throat tightening, my voice cracked as I held back my tears. I hated what his treatments would do to him. Nobody should wake up early in the morning only to face an entire day of painful procedures. The only reprieve I could have about him getting through them was knowing that these procedures were the ones keeping him alive, giving him more time to fight as they tried their best to find the exact cure to free Jimin from his demons.

“I survived. There is nothing more fun than having people pricking and poking on your skin, and needles being jabbed through your tailbones,” he stopped, his lips twitching as he grimaced in defeat, as if he could still feel everything happening as he was talking about it. “At least I didn’t have to see it when they drew the blood from my be—”

I stopped him from finishing the sentence by pushing myself forward and landing a kiss on his lips. It startled him at first, before he sighed and returned them. Our dry lips meshed together into one in a delicate manner, too afraid to add any more pressure as either of us refused to hurt the other, even if we were desperate for one another.

His smile was present when I pulled back. His gaze softened as he opened his eyes, the pain and anger he felt almost gone when he looked at me. I didn’t move too far away, staying close with my hands on his chest just to feel our bond.

“I’m sorry for asking,” I told him, lowering my eyes to avoid his gaze. The next thing I felt was his chapped lips pressing on my forehead.

“It’s okay. A kiss can always make it better,” he said to me with a grin. My shoulders started to fall with relief, my fingers tracing the collar line of his pyjama top absentmindedly until I grazed his skin, and felt his prominent collarbone under the tip of my fingers.

“Don’t—” he hissed, surprising me enough that I started to pull my hand away with guilt. Except that he caught my hand before I could and kept it there. As I looked up into his eyes, I knew that he was not talking about how he didn’t want me to touch him. I didn’t understand it until he reached out to me, brushing the tear that I didn’t realise have made its presence on my face.

A sob finally escaped me, while he gave me a sad smile as he kissed my knuckles.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t feel sorry for me. Don’t feel sad for me.”

“I’m not—” I sobbed, clutching his hand that was holding mine so desperately. “It’s not that. It’s—”

He raised his eyebrows as he looked at mine, which he later kissed to make my frown go away. I relaxed against him when he kept his lips pressing there, giving me a chance to find my voice again before I could continue to speak. “I feel sorry for both of us.”

Jimin pulled me closer and let me rest my head on his shoulder. He did everything ever so gently, knowing that he would risk pulling the infusion tube that was attached to my forearm if he had tugged me too hastily.

“It will be over soon,” he whispered. I could feel his lips pressing on my thinning hair, his breath falling on my temple. He still had his hand holding mine in one, as the other was rubbing my back. The pyjama top I was wearing suddenly felt too thick on my skin. His touches felt too delicate that they were barely there.

“Soon, there will be no more of these cables, tubes, needles. No more nurses and doctors poking our bodies or running those tests on us. No more nauseating drugs and stale hospital meals. And there will be music around us instead of the sounds of the steady heart monitors we keep hearing from down the halls,” he kept whispering to me in a soothing voice. His body, his touch, his kisses, and his words started to replace the cold temperature in the room as I relaxed further in his hold.

“Soon, we will be sleeping in our comfy bed, in our own bedroom instead of these suffocating hospital rooms. And we will be able to walk and run freely with our heads held high without having to lean on the walls or being pushed on wheelchairs wherever we want to go. Soon, we will be walking out of here, our bodies strong enough, our face less pale, and our hair thickens. And I will be holding your hand as we do so.”

I kept my eyes close as I listened to him, picturing everything in my head until they all felt real. “That does sound nice. Every single one of it,” I told him with a sigh, pressing my cheeks on his chest to listen to his heartbeat. “Where should we go first after we leave here?”

“Hmmm—” his voice was soft with the familiar hum which I loved when he thought about it for a moment. “First, I will take you out on a date. I will make up for all the dates I had promised you and missed. The list is already so long, so I know we won’t be done with each and one of them in one day.”

“Obviously,” I chuckled.

“We can start light. I can take you to a fancy coffee shop. We will find the hippest one in the city, the one that youngsters love to hang out in. Because I know how much you love your panini.”

“Um,” I moan playfully, earning a deep chuckle rumbling from his chest. “Yes, I do.”

“And then we could go to the movies. No horror movies, just some of those drama flicks you like most. And then we’ll go shopping, and we could go sightseeing in the city—” he continued. I could clearly see his eyes glazing when I looked up to him, lost in wonder, and it was much better than the usual painful look they usually emitted at the end of his treatments. So I said nothing, opting to listen to his words instead and joined him in imagining us going through every part of his plan.

In our minds, we were healthy. With no restrictions in our bodies to hold us back from walking and running, and laughing together while we were at it, as we were enjoying our lives together just the way we had planned them to.

“What if we run out of places to visit just in the city alone?” I asked him. “Pretty sure we would be bored with going to the malls and the zoos after a while. I’m okay with sitting in the park during our free time and the frequent trips to the coffee shop, but what then?”

“Hmmm,” he hummed, closing his eyes. The wondrous look in his gaze returned when he opened them a little bit later. “I really want to take you to other places, of course. I would love to take you for a whole weekend down the beach.”

“The beach?”

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Wouldn’t it be nice? I mean, I love going to the mountains and all, but the beach would be a really good idea after we spend weeks inside these walls without the sun falling on our skin, don’t you think?”

“The warm sun does sound more lovely compared to this,” I answered him while snuggling closer, searching for the warmth that I could barely acquire from my pyjamas and the hospital’s blanket alone. Jimin tightened his arm around me, either knowing that I needed it and also needing to warm himself at the same time.

“We can stroll down the beach, the white sand slipping between our toes. I would chase you down as we run with the waves, probably dunk you into the water once I catch you,” he said, chuckling when I swatted his chest.

“You know I hate wearing wet clothes,” I protested with a pout, making him laugh.

“Who said we’ll be wearing full clothes on?”

I looked up at him with a frown. “What are we wearing then?”

Licking his lips, he looked down to stare at mine. “We’ll be in swimming suits, of course. You’ll be wearing the bikini you once showed me, the yellow pair you wore in your photos from college, and I’d wear a trunk that is just as revealing as yours.”

I started picturing us in the same way he described it. Before I could even stop it, I felt my smile fading, as my own insecurities blanketed me.

“What? What’s wrong?” he lifted my chin gently so that I was staring straight into his eyes. And I realised then that I was mirroring his frown. Although when his face was showing curiosity, mine was giving him something else.

“Nothing,” I whispered.

He shook his head. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I just—” I could only sigh, hating the feeling I was having, dreading the lump that was stuck in my throat. His imagination and his dream were all beautiful. But I was not. “Look at me. I look ugly. I can’t imagine myself wearing those outfits again, revealing myself to you like that. Everything about me has changed so much since I got sick. I could never return to how I was before—”

“Stop saying that. You are beautiful,” Jimin scolded me, stopping me by pressing his thumb on my quivering lips. His eyes were dark, but his voice was soft. And it only got even softer when he spoke, “I don’t care if you will look different, if the bikini won’t fit you anymore. You are beautiful.”

I lost every word that I was going to say, not having a chance to answer him when he leaned in to kiss me, drowning my thoughts and insecurities and replacing them with comfort as he pressed his lips on mine. He never stopped until I stopped crying, until I returned the kiss with my own and stopped with a content sigh. He pulled away with a gentle smile on his face, looking at me just as I mirrored his smile. The terrible, painful thoughts no longer bothered me as much as they did. Not when he was looking at me the way he did. Like I was something special.

But then I began chastising myself for being so vulnerable. This had been such a tough day for Jimin, and I was supposed to be the one comforting him by coming here. Not the other way around. Again, as if he could read my thoughts, he pulled me back to him by tilting my chin up and forcing me to look at him instead of avoiding his eyes and getting too lost in my head.

“Do you want to know what I think about when I picture myself taking you to the beach?” he asked me all so suddenly, and I nodded.

“I do want to know. What do you have in mind?”

Jimin’s lips curled into a sly grin. His glazed eyes filled with mirth as he held my hands, pressing them on his chest when he spoke,

“I want to lay you down on the sand when night comes, hold you close to my chest as we look up at the stars in the sky, the sound of waves running in the background would be the perfect music for our night together. And then I will kiss your lips—” he stopped, leaning down to give me a chaste kiss right on the corner of my lips, “—and your nose.” I laughed softly when he kissed the tip of my nose, teasingly pressing his kiss a bit longer before pulling away so he could continue.

“I will continue kissing you, down to your chin and then to your neck. I will probably lick your collarbones, finding the sensitive parts where they tickle,” he said, grinning wide when I laughed.

“You know which spots they are,” I told him, earning his wide smile in return.

“I do know,” he said. “And I will kiss them all, before I continue lower.”

I raised my eyebrows, curious to listen to his plans even more. “How much lower?”

Jimin bit his lips. His eyes slowly turned away from my face and he looked down between us.

“I will start from your breasts, although I might have to take your top off first,” he said, keeping his eyes on my chest.

A gasp came out of me and I instantly pulled my hands away from him, crossing them over my chest and looked away when my face felt hot. “But—they no longer look the way they used to, and—”

“And perfect for my small, skinny hands,” he cut me off while prying my hands away and held them close to his chest again. He lifted my face with his finger on my chin and said, “They are the softest thing in the world, ____. And I love to admire them. To touch them, to kiss them.”

And he kissed me. Right on my lips, before I ever got a chance to respond. “I remember you being sensitive there,” he whispered, keeping his forehead pressed on mine while his hand brushed gently on my covered breasts from over my pyjama top.

“I’m sensitive everywhere. Whenever you touch me,” I whispered. My heartbeat started racing as I felt his palm kneading my breast softly, moving carefully so he wouldn’t hurt me. His touch made me shudder, and I almost failed to process his words before he moved his hand to my back, pulling me closer to him, while his other hand stayed behind, pinching gently on my hardened nipple until I gasped against his lips. I could barely question how or why this conversation had suddenly led to this, and I could only guess where he was leading this to. I knew because his eyes were telling me all of his intentions as they looked at me with darkness behind their sleepy glow.

“So would you let me touch you then? Without anything getting in the way, I mean. Would you let me kiss you there?” he asked, practically begging me softly with an adorable look on his face that I just had no choice but to nod. Smiling to me to show how my response had pleased him, he leaned in, tracing my jawline with his kisses while he whispered, “I will take my time, taking one peak and lick it, bite you tenderly until I feel the tip of your breast hardening in my lips. And then I will do the same to the other—”

“Jimin—” I gasped. And my body suddenly started heating up all over, from my chest and down to my core. He pressed his lips on my neck, right where I pulsed for him, and I almost came right away just from listening to his words and feeling his gentle kiss alone.

“Are you going to push me away?” he asked me, nipping at the tender skin on my neck when he felt me shuddering against him.

“N-no—” I shifted on the bed, moving my legs and started pressing them together to tone down the intense pulse rising inside my core.

“Good, because then I can continue kissing you,” he whispered, pressing his lips on mine before he pulled me in until our chests were pressing each other. “I will kiss every part of your skin until you arch your chest, pressing your body to me. Then I will continue lower, kissing down your stomach, licking around your navel until you reach down to pull my hair. Just don’t pull me too hard, I might lose the hair that I have grown by then.”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Appalled to how he could still throw a little joke in the middle of his sweet yet sinful talk. “Stop, you’re being silly.”

“You love me being silly,” he immediately responded. His lips turned to a smirk when I glanced up, making me want to kiss it away. But he had my body pressing close to his, making it hard for me to reach up. All I could reach was his neck, and that was where I let my lips rest, making him chuckle before he grunted softly when I nipped at his skin playfully in return just before he continued to whisper, “And I bet you will stop thinking that I am being silly once I reach your bikini bottom and start lowering them down your legs.”

I hid my face on the nape of his neck as I groaned desperately, the heat between my legs making its appearance once more. But I didn’t stop him.

“I will shift between your legs, never stop kissing you until I am there—licking, and sucking, and drinking every drop of your release until you scream my name.”

“Oh, Jimin,” I gasped. My body reacted before my mind could even process it. I was pressing my whole body onto him, my legs rubbing each other in desperate need to press the intense throbbing that was happening between them.

“Would you like that?” he whispered, sounding breathless when he spoke to me. His own desire was coating his words and I felt him trembling against me.

“Hmm—” I sighed, not even minding that he had one of his legs slipping between mine and I was practically grinding on his thigh. “Yeah, I would like that a lot.”

Jimin fell silent for a moment. But I could feel his eyes on me, studying my face while I had my eyes closed, embracing the warmth that was throbbing inside me, started deep within my core before it began to spread all over my body. I hummed softly as I was enjoying the warmth coming out of his body, when I focused on his thigh that was pressing down the heat between my legs. I waited until my heartbeat steadied and opened my eyes.

“Do you think I would stop there?” he asked, smiling gently as he watched me slowly falling apart.

“Oh? You won’t?”

“No, that’s just the beginning, my love,” he shook his head, pressing his thigh harder onto my heat. The pressure hit right where I needed him and I instantly started grinding against it while his words came flowing as if he was guiding me into making love to his body. And I complied with my eyes closed, my body dancing through his words, my hips kept swivelling with the same rhythm of his heartbeat under my palms.

“Once you come down from your climax, I will lift your legs, open them apart so I can move between them. I’ll keep touching your skin and kissing all over your body while I crawl on top of you. I won’t stop kissing you, and I will only look into your eyes when I make love to you under the stars and the moonlight. The sky and the universe as our witness. You will keep your eyes on the night sky, at the bright stars lighting us from above when I am deep inside you, filling you up until all you could see is more stars. I will bring you pleasure, the kind that you had never felt before, until your body explodes to another climax while you are in my hands.”

And that was it.

His words pushed me right into the edge, my hips moving voluntarily as I pictured him making love to me, his hands strumming my whole body the way his words did it to me. With each throb of need, I pressed my hips down, pressing myself harder onto his thigh while my hips rubbed against his covered hard-on. We moved together as I continued to swivel, rolling my hips against his body, thrusting my pulsing heat against his thigh, chasing my end. His voice started fading out when my whole body shuddered, the rush of pleasure came climbing up steadily until it reached to the peak, and I came apart with his arms around me. I kept whimpering his name, gasping for breath in between as the electric waves of bliss came coursing through my body. He never let go of me as he kept whispering to me sweet nothings, kissing my face gently until I was coming down from my high and I started to calm down.

“That was—” I gasped, when a few small spasms of my orgasm ran through me with his hands rubbing on my back. I gave him a smile which he returned with his own. “All of it, it all sounded beautiful.” I licked my lips, and let out a soft chuckle. “And completely unsanitary.”

Jimin laughed, sounding delighted and relieved. And then he kissed me, as gentle as he possibly could, yet still deep and intense. It felt like giving me my release had him letting go of his own apprehension. I was beginning to dread the fact that he had pleasured me while I failed to help him reach his end, until I felt his soaked pants and saw the dark stain forming between his legs that had proven otherwise. I was breathing a sigh of relief when he tilted my face up again.

“Will you do it with me one day? Run away to a place where we could be alone, together, just the two of us? Make love to me under the stars?” he asked me while looking deep into my eyes.

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” I answered him without ever looking away so he could see that I meant what I said. “You know that I’ll be happy as long as I’m with you, Jimin.”

Jimin’s eyes widened for a brief moment. I could see through them glints of happiness, hope, and joy, before they all disappeared in a blink and he was breaking down in front of me again. He pulled me into a deep hug, just when I felt myself breaking down with him. Neither of us could allow ourselves to pull away, to see the unspoken truth that lingered between us, that was shown through our eyes when they finally met each other again.

And then, as he gently pressed his lips on the top of my head, I felt him smiling through his tears.

“Everything will be okay,” he whispered. It was never clear whether he was trying to convince himself or to calm me down, but I took it all in, allowing the hope that was coating his sentence to reside in my chest.

“We’re going to be okay,” I said then, as I kept breaking down silently with tears.

“Yes, we are.” He kissed my forehead, repeating the words over and over again until his voice started to sound heavy with sleep. A sign that his medicine had finally taken effect on him. That our little tryst was enough to make him feel a bit more relaxed than he was before.

“Go to sleep, Jimin,” I told him as I wrapped my arms around him, feeling myself being dragged into the darkest of night at the same time, when my own body started to give in to sleep. I was halfway into my dreams when I heard his voice speaking softly to me,

“Thank you, ______. Good night.”

That night, I dreamt of us making love under the stars.

The ground and the plateau around us became nothing else but a blanket of darkness, overshadowed by the bright night sky above. Nothing else mattered but us, together, joined as one. Everything else became insignificant when all I could see, and feel, was him. And I could never look away from him as he made love to me, making me whole again while he brought me pleasure. Nothing else could make me look away, for he was the most beautiful star in my eyes, and he was the only one who could mend every piece of my broken soul until I was completed once again.

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brywrites · 4 years ago

Text

Flight Risk VII

Summary: An answer to the age old CM question, “who’s flying the plane?” And the story of a pilot and a profiler. Part V: In which there are some distances that must be maintained and others that are simply begging to be crossed.

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Something is off. She can tell by the way Spencer sits alone, looking so focused on a book that it’s clear he’s not actually paying attention to it. He’s trying to give the impression he’s busy. He doesn’t want to be bothered. There is a tension he carries, and she notices that JJ carries it too. They wait on opposite ends of the hangar. When it’s time to board, she peeks out from the cockpit and notices they’re sitting on opposite ends of the plane. JJ is curled up in a blanket, staring blankly out the window. Spencer stares down at the book he’s clearly not reading.

Y/N wishes she could lighten the burden the same way a plane suddenly seems weightless at the moment of liftoff. This large thing speeding down a runway is propelled into the air and lift and thrust make physics feel like magic. There’s a strong bout of turbulence over the Great Plains, and she and Arthur have to focus on keeping Geff as steady as possible. In a smaller jet like this, an air pocket can feel so much rougher than it would on a commercial liner. One they navigate through it, it’s smooth sailing. The sun is setting behind them as they travel through time zones back to the east coast. The sky around them turns from orange to pink to violet. The stars begin to appear, blinking their salutations.

As they get closer to the airfield, she calls out over the radio. “This is niner-two-two Foxtrot Bravo, checking in, requesting clearance to land at Quantico base.”

“Foxtrot Bravo, enter the holding pattern at Quantico base, while runway is cleared maintain seven thousand feet,” replies a controller.

“Foxtrot Bravo, roger, hold at Quantico. Maintain seven thousand feet,” she echoes back. Together she and Arthur adjust the instruments, setting the proper altitude and speed, and reset the Chronometer. There’s a few planes in the queue ahead of them, and they enter the holding pattern, circling slowly around the sky. So close to home.

She asks, “Do you think something’s wrong?”

“At the base?” Arthur asks. He begins to initiate their first left turn. “Holding patterns are quite standard.”

“No, I mean with the team,” she says. “I don’t know something just seems… off. It’s unusual.”

“Y/L/N. It’s not our job.” They’re not profilers. Their concerns are with the navigation instruments and smooth landings and weather conditions. Not the behavior of people around them. “I need you present when we’re flying. Not worrying about whatever horrors they’ve seen on a case.”

She nods. “Sorry, sir.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I know you care. And I know you’ve found friends with them. But I’ve told you before – they don’t let people in. And it’s best if we try not to get involved.”

The controller cuts in before she can reply. “Foxtrot Bravo, cleared to land, runway Romeo seven.”

“Cleared to land, runway Romeo seven, Foxtrot Bravo,” she says. She can be present. She can be here, in this seat, doing what she loves. And that can be enough, can’t it? She can ignore the text from Penelope Garcia inviting her to join her and the female agents for a drink this weekend. She can stop finding reasons to spend more time with Spencer than she needs to. She can be objective.

Arthur addresses the agents they’re supposed to stay away from. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’ve just been cleared to land at Quantico base. Please make sure your seat belts are securely fastened and all personal items are stowed away.” His voice reaching to another part of the plane, another world.

On final approach, they guide Geff back down to the ground, a beautifully smooth landing.

“Welcome back to Quantico, Virginia,” Arthur says into the speaker. “Local time is 7:15 PM and the temperature is thirty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. Please wait until we have parked at the gate to move about the cabin. And as always, please use caution when opening the overhead bins, as items may have shifted during the flight.”

She and Arthur sit in the cockpit, the sound of agents shuffling out down the stairs muffled behind them. “You know,” he says, “Malik wants to have a dinner party soon. Maybe next weekend you and Martin could come over. He could bring Theresa and the baby. It might be nice, to spend some time altogether.” Their little misfit crew of pilots.

She’s not sure if it’s his way of apologizing for earlier, or perhaps a way to remind her of her own team and duties, but she says, “I’d like that. Thank you.”

They collect their own go-bags and descend the stairs. When the door has been closed once more and they turn the corner to leave, she’s startled by the familiar figure waiting by the hangar lockers. He’s busying himself with staring at the walls around him, but when he hears them, he lifts his head and looks right at her. As if asking permission.

Y/N glances at Arthur, who just sighs and shakes his head. “Go on then,” he says. “I think it’s too late when it comes to this one.”

With his blessing, she walks over to Spencer. “Hey,” she says. “Is everything okay?” Though if it were, he wouldn’t be standing here.

“Um… not – not really. I’m sorry, I know it’s late. But would you mind giving me a ride home? I’ll order us takeout to make up for it. I uh, – I was hoping that maybe we could talk. If that’s okay?” He adjusts the strap of his messenger bag. “I just need someone to talk to right now, and I really want it to be you.”

How can she say no to that? “I’ll grab my car from the lot. Should I meet you outside of the Bureau building?”

“Yeah. That’d be great. There’s something I have to finish first.”

Soon enough she’s parked under the awning of the Academy entrance, waiting for him. She starts the engine up when she spots him coming out of the double doors, pulling his coat a little tighter against the chill of the winter air. His eyes trail curiously over her car before he opens the door to get in. It occurs to her that he’s never seen her car before.

“What?” she asks. “Is this not what you were expecting?”

“I guess after your conversation with Garcia I was expecting your taste to be… more flashy?”

Y/N laughs. Her blue Prius is far from flashy. “Well, as much as I’d love to drive a Plymouth Fury or a vintage Ferrari, I thought I should get something that’s a bit more kind to the environment if I’m burning jet fuel all day, and a Prius is a decent hybrid. Not to mention, it’s got a great safety rating. Do you know how much more dangerous it is to fly than it is to drive?”

“On average, it’s about nineteen times more dangerous. The odds of dying as a result of a car accident in the United States are roughly 1 in 114, but the odds of dying in an aviation accident is closer to 1 in 9,821. You’re far more likely to die from choking on food than in a plane crash.”

“Of course you know that.” She grins at him, letting him know that she’s not making fun of him. She’s impressed by him. She always is. “I don’t know why I bother asking at this point.” The smile he offers in return is only half-hearted. The drive into the District is quiet. Given the tension she felt earlier, she decides not to push him for conversation. Yeeqin is away visiting her sister for the weekend so she offers to take them back to her apartment. He calls to order takeout to be delivered from the Indian place around the corner. They arrive at her place only moments before the food does, fortuitous timing.

It feels strangely intimate to invite him in. She’s been to his apartment twice for their LOST marathon, but this is the first time he’s seeing her space. She wonders what it looks like through his eyes, what a profiler can discern about her life from the books on the coffee table and the pictures on the walls. They sit at the tiny kitchen table she usually shares only with Yeeqin and split the samosas down the middle.

“So what’s going on?” she asks, taking a sip of mango lassi.

Spencer purses his lips and pushes the tikka masala around on his plate before answering. Whatever has happened is still bothering him. “This case was hard,” he says. “There was a cult. They were separating kids from their families and it just became something awful. Seeing someone taking advantage of all these people who put their trust in him, it just… I try to distance myself from things when I’m in the field, you know? I try to be objective and treat it like a puzzle, but it’s not. And sometimes it’s harder to keep that distance.”

“Yeah. I know.” She doesn’t have to push down her emotions to solve a killer, but she does know the difficulties of keeping one’s distance. Of trying not to feel something.

“The case was hard enough, but then I had a… a fight, I guess with a team member. Not like we were arguing more just, like I made them upset I guess. And I didn’t mean to. But I think in trying to be helpful, in trying to be objective, I hurt them. I think that I know things or that I understand people because of this job and then when I don’t… I feel like I’ve failed.”

“I’m sure you haven’t,” she says.

“They were struggling with something. And I thought breaking it down to a science would make it easier. Maybe because that helps me. But it just made things worse and then I didn’t know how else to comfort them.”

“What happened, exactly?” she asks.

Spencer hesitates. “Uh, I can’t – I can’t really say. It’s not mine to share.”

“Oh. Of course.” But it stings slightly. You can’t get close to them. Arthur’s words of warning echo in her head. They don’t let people in. After all this time, she’d begun to think that maybe it was different. Maybe they would trust her – maybe he would trust her. But perhaps the BAU is still an impenetrable world, one she’ll never truly be welcome in. Even now. Even with him. He still won’t let her in.

He looks down. “I hate knowing that the way I am made someone I care about feel worse. I don’t have a lot of friends outside my team. And sometimes I wonder if maybe that’s because I’m not a very good one.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she says, trying to push her own frustrations aside.

“It is. The only people I’m close to who aren’t colleagues are my mom, a former colleague, and… well, I guess my girlfriend. Before she died.”

The words instantly steal her breath. She had no idea. “Spencer, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

He shrugs. “It’s okay, it was two years ago, and I don’t usually talk about it. But it’s just so easy with you. I feel like I can tell you anything.”

The sting subsides. The way he looks at her so softly like a salve for the bitterness. He’s trying. He is letting her in. He is sharing things with her he doesn’t usually share. And small bit of knowledge lifts her hopes once more.

“Well I’m glad about that. And thank you, for telling me. Although I guess what I was trying to say was that I don’t think it’s true that you’re not a good friend. I mean, I haven’t even known you a whole year and I think you’re one of the best people I know. You’re thoughtful. You’re smart. You have a tendency to be passive aggressive sometimes,” she teases, and he nods in bashful acknowledgement. “But you’re a good friend. And I’m really, really happy that you’re my friend.”

“Me too,” he says. “I really like having you in my life.”

They stand at the sink together, washing the few dishes they’ve used, and she tries not to think about the way his arm rests against hers, his fingers touching hers when she hands him a plate to dry.

“I want to be a good friend to you,” Spencer tells her. “Which means I should probably ask how you’re doing now that I’ve talked about myself so much.”

“I’m good,” she answers. “I guess I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to belong somewhere. My parents haven’t spoken to me since I took this job. I think they had higher expectations for me and I don’t think any of us really knows how to start to repair this rift between us. So it’s been strangely lonely. But I have Yeeqin, and our neighbors. I have Arthur, and Martin. And I think I’m finally starting to feel like I have a place with this job. Like I belong here.”

“Of course you do, Y/N. I mean we all think you’re great. Garcia always asks me about you. Ever since you came along, things have been different. Flying feels different. You’ve become part of the team. Not that Captain Dobson wasn’t,” he adds quickly. “But I get the sense he likes to keep a distance from things, while you…” He pauses, looking for the right words. When they don’t seem to come he just smiles. “You’re you. And you fit right it in.”

“Thank you, Spencer.”

“I’m sorry, though. About your family. You have a gift for flying. And for lifting people’s spirits. I don’t understand how who you are wouldn’t make them proud.”

Flying is her gift. Something she has always intrinsically understood. The world makes so much more sense to her from the sky. But it’s nice to know that someone outside of her world of aviators sees it as something worthwhile. It’s not just jet-setting and traveling and steering. It requires communication, a knowledge of physics and the earth and the weather. An ability to think fast and act faster.

Spencer sees her. He understands her. And he knows exactly what to say to make her feel at home.

“See?” she says, gently elbowing him. “You are a good friend.”

She decides that there has been enough trauma bonding for the night, and scoops them both a bowl of ice cream. They sit on her couch and she flips through the channels before settling on one playing one of her favorite old movies, Sabrina. It’s a nice way to unwind, with a the soft distraction of the television and the sweetness of the ice cream. And the simple pleasure of sitting beside each other.

Humphrey Bogart is sitting in the back of a car as his beloved Sabrina’s father, the chauffer, reprimands him. “I like to think of life as a limousine. Though we are all riding together, we must remember our places. There’s a front seat and a back seat and a window in between.”

Y/N is struck by the parallels. A cockpit and a cabin. A door in the middle. Two completely different worlds, inhabited by heroes who save the day and the pilots who ferry them from place to place. It’s easy to imagine Arthur saying those exact words to her, trying to protect her from her own heart.

Then she feels Spencer’s hand against her own. Glancing down as subtly as she can, she finds his pinky and ring finger stretched out over her own. So close it might be an accident. Maybe it is. But maybe for tonight she can let herself pretend it isn’t. Let herself believe that she is allowed to be close to him. Testing the waters, she slowly leans her head against his shoulder. He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t pull away. But he does, seconds later, respond in kind, resting his head against the top of hers. It’s warm, and his cardigan is soft against her cheek. Is this really the same man who didn’t want to shake her hand when they first met? Now they sit together, not quite embracing, but close. It’s so gentle. It feels so tender.

Neither of them says a word. They just sit there, in silence, sharing the same space.

And then the next thing she knows, she is blinking awake in the morning light. Her arm is around his waist. His hand on her shoulder. Her back incredibly stiff from falling asleep sitting up. The television is still softly playing.

She carefully pulls her arm away and sits up. His hand falls away from hers. She isn’t sure what is okay and what is too soon and what this is even supposed to be. What they are supposed to be. Y/N carefully inches to the opposite end of the couch and lies back down, pretending to still be asleep. But she stretches her leg out and allows her ankle to touch his. Holding on to some little connection. Soon, he awakes himself, and she pretends to startled out of slumber by his movements. Spencer looks at her, at their tangled legs, at her bedhead, and laughs. And she does too, giggling at how tired they must have been to fall asleep like that, how silly. How incredibly comfortable next to each other.

They walk downstairs and grab coffee and pastries at the bakery next to her building. She drives him home. He concedes that she’s far better at the helm of any vehicle than he could ever hope to be. She stops outside his building and he grabs his satchel and coffee.

Door open, he pauses, turns to her and says, “Thanks for this, Y/N.”

“Anytime, Doctor.”

He climbs out of the car. “Bye,” he says. “I l-” He blinks. “Um. I – I’ll see you on Monday.”

He closes the door. She waits until he gets into the building to start the ignition again, but lingers there on the curbside a few minutes more. Wondering what he would have said if he’d woken up to find them with their arms around each other like that. Wondering what exactly they are to each other.

#criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid x reader #reid x reader #spencer reid #criminal minds #brywrites #flight risk

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