#I’ll wait until later when I’m not dying

[the-colours-system]

Ok I’m back again

That was weird

I’m sure I am a subsystem now

What do I do now???

[aliidarling]

writing this made me think of beth and now i’m sad. i miss beth😒

snowfall

DARYL DIXON x fem!reader

nsfw content — pls scroll if uncomfortable

summary: you’re out on a run with daryl when you stay overnight at a camp. the temperature drops to freezing and daryl notices how you’re shivering.

warnings: fluff and smut, more smut sided, mean daryl, a lot of banter, p in v, groping, riding, whimpering daryl, daryl learns his place, reader is on top but daryl is in control, hypothermia mentions, creampie, unorotected sex, cuddling with the tip in LMAO

no proofread cuz i’m lazy :P

nsfw content below!!

being on runs with daryl was hard. he was short tempered with a bitchy attitude all the time, gruff with his words and agonizingly quiet. you could hear a pin drop whenever you were with the older man, but the second he got angry it was like hell had been released.

it was a cold winter, to your luck. you were walking alongside daryl in the forest, the both of you sweating from the labor of having to put down walkers and walk miles.

“ya’ wanna settle down camp sum’ where?” he gruffs lowly, glancing at you through the corner of his eye. his words catch your attention, probably the first innocent words he’s spoken to you in hours.

“good with me.” you shrug.

he lets out a huff and nods, motioning you towards another direction. you mindlessly follow, wiping some dirt off onto your pants.

a few minutes pass before you eventually wander across a little clearing that seemed fit for a temporary camp. it was a small area, with trees surrounding it, completely silent so you could hear if any walkers came across you two.

“i’ll go hunt sum’ fish, make a fire.” he grumbles, throwing his stuff down on the grass and immediately making a beeline towards the sound of a nearby lake. you watch as he disappears into the distance, a frown painting your expression.

“uhh.. okay.. yeah, i’ll set up a camp n’ stuff.” you mumble to yourself, your words dying off as he leaves hearing range. he was just dying to get away from you, huh?

ten minutes later, you’re sitting infront of a small campfire, a tree stump under your butt as you wait for the older man to return from his little quest. picking at a piece of weed, you stared off as the fire blazed infront of you.

you flinch when you hear a twig snap behind you. you immediately turn, peering behind your shoulder with your hand hovering over your blade.

daryl appears behind a tree, holding a wiggling fish that looked big enough to feed you two plus seconds.

“do i look like a walker?” he says rudely.

“sorry.” you mutter, lowering your hand and relaxing your posture, staring at him as he steps forward and roughly drops the fish into the fire.

the impact sends some fire sparks towards you, making you tense and shield yourself lightly.

“could you not?” you snap, scowling at him as you sit back up. he rolls his eyes at you, sitting across from you without a word. the fire sat between the two of you as silence washed over the camp, the only sound being the fire sparkling.

“it’s pretty cold, huh?” you say quietly, giving him a small smile. your attempt at small talk was shot down as he immediately glared at you, making you shrink and feel quite silly.

“it should take up to ten, fifteen minutes to cook.” he mumbled after a few minutes of silence. you peeked up at him, frowning. what did he have against you?

you shivered as it began to grow colder every passing second, the wind picking up as the air grew thick. you wrapped your arms around yourself in hopes of warming your body temperature. he noticed but didn’t say a word, instead staring at the cooking fish and waiting for it to be ready.

“where are we sleeping?” you spoke up again.

he doesn’t respond until minutes later, hands occupied with skinning the fish and cutting it in pieces. he hands you a nicely sized portion, blank expression on his face. he never had much of an expression when it came to dealing with you.

“we’ll figure it out, but so far it looks like we’ll have to make do with the grass.” he huffs. he motions around the campsite with one of his over-exaggerated waves. “might snow tonight, so find a spot under a tree so you don’t fuckin’ die from hypothermia.”

you nod along to his words, munching on the fish he made with a hum. you glance back at him and narrow at his sleeveless arms.

“are you not cold?” you scoff lightly, a smile tugging at your lips. his lips twitch, readjusting his position as he suddenly feels very aware of the cold air brushing against his biceps.

“i’ll be alright,” he murmurs, taking another large bite of the fish. “what about you? you’re wearin’ a thin top.” he motions to your long sleeve henley.

“i’ll be alright.” you can’t help but grin, shrugging as you mock his words. he can’t help but chuckle lowly, glancing down at his half eaten fish before resuming his feasting.

after you both finish eating you’re quick to find spots under trees. both trees are next to each other but with a respectable distance, mostly because you both haven’t done nothing more then have a small conversation. a conversation that was less then twenty minutes ago.

the air grew more cold as the wind grew louder, leaves rustling and leaving you cold and huddled up into a tight ball. your weak attempt at warming yourself was proven useless when snow started to fall, painting the floor a frosted color.

“yer’ alright?” he breaks the silence. you peer over your shoulder and look at him. he was leaning against the tree next to yours, his biceps tense as snow fell on top of them. the sight was almost angelic, a big muscular man with snow falling on top of him delicately.

“s’cold.” you mumble quietly, curling back up as you quietly rock yourself. your lashes flutter close as you focus on your breathing and not dying of hypothermia. you shivered.

another few long minutes of silence pass, the sound of both your breathing the only thing audible. you can feel his eyes on your back but you don’t say a word, mostly out of stubbornness.

“jesus christ girl, you’re gonna die like an idiot, just c’mere already.” the words leave his mouth with a bitter tone. he didn’t want you that close to him but he would rather have you invade his personal space then straight up die.

you give him a confused look, your cheeks flushing as you see him pat his thigh in an impatient manner. a moment passes before you finally muster up the courage and shuffle onto his lap, your chest to his as you bury your face into his shoulder. the contact felt unfamiliar, but definitely not unwelcome.

his hands wrap around you immediately, one on your lower back and pressing you into him, the other gently petting your hair and twirling little strands between his rough fingers. you had never felt him be so gentle with you, heck, you were pretty sure this was the first time he had ever genuinely touched you other then the rude shoves and pushes.

you didn’t know why his body was so warm, but all you knew was that you wanted to be as close as possible to him. seek shelter in his arms and fall asleep by being rocked.

his rough fingers gently tug at your shirt hem, pulling it down in order to warm you more. his finger brushed softly against your flesh as he did this, making your heart skip a beat. you didn’t say a word, but the two of you could feel the tension thickening.

he stares at your body, your face, how your legs are straddling him and how your buried so deep into his chest. he brushes his finger against your skin lightly under your shirt again, wanting to see if he had imagined the way you reacted the first.

just like he assumed, your body language tensed just slightly, your hands wrapped around him tightening. a lazy smile forms on his face as he slowly pulls his hand under your shirt, resting against your bare back. you shivered, cuddling closer and tucking your head under his chin.

“you’re warm.” you hum quietly, trying your best not to let any more reactions slip as he rubbed his hand up and down your back.

“my bare skin is a lot warmer, sweetheart.” he says smoothly, no hesitance in his words. you gulp hard, blinking and processing his words before looking up at him through your lashes.

“i heard, uh, skin to skin is the best way at beating someone up.” you offer a sheepish smile, cheeks flushed from the cold and the feeling of being in his arms. he can’t help but chuckle dryly at your comment, his hands slipped to wrap around your waist and rub further up until one was playing with your bra clasp and the other was rubbing your belly. you curled up into his touch, a soft sigh leaving your throat.

“you want me to warm you up?” he says lowly, his voice a gentle whisper in your ear as he hoists you up further into his lap. his eyes flutter as he looks you up and down, taking in the sight of your body molding perfectly into his.

“yes please.” you nod and slowly sit up on his lap, your hands going to grasp ahold of his shoulders for balance as you started to lean in. he took the hint and gently cupped your waist, eyes flickering from your eyes to lips, watching intently as you grew closer.

a small moan left him as your lips connected to his. he tightened his grip on your soft skin under your shirt and rubbed it, kneading it as he kissed you. his adam’s apple bobbed as he leaned in, pressing his chest flush to yours and starting to slowly peel your shirt off.

you stopped him, frowning. “it’s too cold for that.” he rolled his eyes at your comment and reluctantly let your shirt go. a small huff left him as he looked back at your pretty face.

“let me at least—“ he mumbles, his hands slipping back under your shirt to grope your breasts. he runs his rough palms over your bra and pulls it down, letting your breasts out from its confinement. he could see your nipples poking through your top more clearly now, but he wished nothing more then to be able to feel them without anything in-between you two. maybe next time.

“so fuckin’ pretty.” a smile tugs at him as he gently gropes them, kneading and rolling your nipples between his fingers. he was gentle, watching your every reaction closely, fingers working at you like a professional. it felt like he was.

“please, i want more, daryl.” your voice sounded pitifully small as you pressed your face into the crook of his neck, straddling his thigh firmly and pressing your core down in hopes of relieving the tension. he watches you with a heavy gaze as you focus on rocking your sensitive core against his thigh, brows furrowed in concentration as you moan softly.

his hands continue groping and gently massing your breasts, rough fingers pulling at your nipples which earns a shallow gasp from you, and pulling you harder down on him. every moan that leaves your throat has him shivering and aching to be inside you more.

“s’enough, baby. c’mon, lemme put it in.” he mutters. his hands grab at his pants belt and he unbuckles it quickly, and in seconds his hard cock slaps against his abdomen, making your eyes widen at his size and his hard he was. you feel your pussy grow even more damp.

“y-yeah, okay.” you nod immediately and start to pull down your pants just enough to have your panties on display. you straddle his hips again, hovering over his cock, your pants around your ankles. it was cold as shit, but you chose to ignore it, too eager to feel him inside you to even care.

one hand on the back of your back and the other pulling your panties to the side, he slowly slides you down until his gruffy patch of hair above his cock brushed against your clit. your lips formed an ‘O’ shape as you felt the slow stretch of him entering you and opening up your inner walls. it felt so good.

“feels so good, daryl.” you cry out softly, shaky hands grabbing onto his shoulders to hold yourself steady on his cock. he hums in acknowledgment, nodding subtly as he wraps his palms around your waist. his fingers knead your doubly flesh, his eyes glued to where you both were conjoined.

“mmm, good girl, jus’ like that,” he grunts, his voice shaky as you start to bounce on his cock. his head leans back against the bark, almost whimpering as he feels your pussy go up and down so him. so god damn tight and wet, he could barely think. it hasn’t even been five minutes and he was already pussy drunk.

“you like that? does it feel good?” you ask breathlessly, eyes dazed as you repeatedly slam yourself down on him. you had never had such a strong and powerful man under you, whimpering as you rode him. you didn’t want this to end, ever.

“feels so good, baby. don’t stop— augh, don’t fuckin’ stop..” his hold on you tightens. maybe you would get bruises, it wouldn’t surprise you, he was holding onto you like you were his lifeline. your hip movements only quicken at his words, moans leaving your throat and eyes rolling back. his fat tip punched that sweet spot inside you everytime you slid down, making you repeatedly chase that feeling.

“i-i’m sorry baby, m’gonna cum,—“ he whimpers, grabbing your hips and starting to slam you down on him at his own speed. a gasp leaves you as your back arches, your hands going to wrap around his shoulders and bury your face into his neck. your body was repeatedly slammed down onto his cock, no break at all between thrusts. he was going fast and hard, eager to feel himself cum inside your soapy walls.

his eyes squeezed shut as he felt himself start to cum inside you, his hands growing faster in pulling you down on him. your tight pussy milked him dry as he whined into your ear, teeth gritted as his fat tip pressed hard onto your sweet spot. his large hand went to rub at your clit as he started to thrust upwards into you, looking to make you cum.

“cum ‘round me sweetheart, i’ve gotcha..” his fingers rub eight figures onto your clit. you shiver on his lap, whimpering loudly into his ear. your hole spasms around him and you clench down hard, making him groan. seconds later, your juices drip down his cock as you slowly go limp, laying like a lifeless doll on his lap with his cock still buried nice and deep inside you.

a few minutes pass of you panting heavily, the cold no longer a problem for you both. daryl held onto you tightly, rubbing your back gently as he calmed down. he eventually started to slide you off him, making you wince and grab onto him tighter.

“jesus— fuck, what’s wrong with ya?” he glares at you. back to his snarky personality, it looked.

“it’s warmer with you inside. just, don’t, okay, please?” you bat your lashes at him, sliding yourself down again, making him hiss at the friction.

“you’re gon’ be the death of me, girl.” he grumbles. he pulls your clothes back on the best he could without tempering with his placement inside you, trying to keep you both as warm as possible. you hum dumbly and snuggle back into his chest, nice and cozy.

[elllisaaa]

Svt reaction to first time kissing their cheek 🤭

first time kissing seventeen cheek

-> pairing : svt × gn!reader

-> words count : 3k words

-> genre : fluff

-> sorry if I made any mistakes, english is not my first language.

-> reblogs and feedbacks are appreciated !

-> masterlist | svt masterlist

CHOI SEUNGCHEOL

It was on one of the rare days where you were both off of work. You took advantage of that to sleep later than usual, and when you woke up, Cheol was already ready to start his day. You could hear noises and the distant sound of music coming from the kitchen, and you followed the enticing scent of whatever your boyfriend was cooking. You came up behind him, circling his waist with your arms and pressing yourself against his back. All this felt so domestic, it made Seungcheol’s heart crave for more of these little moments. You haven’t been together for long, but instants like these made him realize how attached to you he was. He turned around to look at you, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear : “Good morning baby, did you sleep well ?” You nodded, and stood on your tippy toes to kiss his cheek softly. “Thank you for the breakfast Cheolie, bet it tastes amazing.” The look on his face made you giggle a little before he engulfed you in a big hug. He didn’t want you to see how flustered he was, but he was dying inside over how cute you were.

YOON JEONGHAN

“It’s 2 am Y/N, I’m not going to go get you ice cream now, can’t you wait until tomorrow ?” - “Please Hannie ! I’ll do anything you want !” The mischievous smile spreading on Jeonghan’s lips told you that maybe, you shouldn’t have said that. You knew how much of a menace he was, and maybe you should be afraid of what he was going to ask for in exchange for the chocolate ice cream you’ve been craving. “Anything I want ?” - “Yes, I just want my ice cream.” - “Okay. Then kiss my cheek.” You looked at him in disbelief. You were waiting for something more demanding, like doing some chores for him, or buying him dinner the next time you would go out together. But no, and you smiled at the pout aborning his lips when you took too long to give him his kiss. You leaned over the kitchen counter and kissed his cheek, smiling even more when you noticed the faint blush covering his cheeks. “You could’ve just asked for a kiss if you wanted one, Hannie.” - “Don’t push your luck, or you’re not getting your ice cream.” You kissed his cheek again, and suddenly, he was willing to go out every night to get you ice cream. 

HONG JOSHUA

You’ve been working on your assignment for almost two hours when Joshua came back from work. You greeted him and asked him if he had a good day, while still writing and taking notes about your homework. “You should take a break angel.” - “Yeah, I know, I just want to finish this part and then I’ll stop for today.” He kissed your forehead before heading to the kitchen to bring you and himself a glass of water. He knew you too well, and when you were studying all day long, you didn’t always think about drinking water or even eating. Joshua saw a plate beside you, so he knew you had food, but he couldn’t spot any sign of water. He put the glass of water beside your laptop and kissed your forehead once more. But before he could go back to the kitchen to prepare dinner for both of you, you grabbed him by his wrist. “Thank you Shua.” And just like that, you kissed his cheek before casually going back to your assignment. But you must know that when you kissed him, he would always kiss you back, and give you one hundred more for the fun of it. 

MOON JUNHUI

Jun had asked you to come over tonight, because he missed you and because he had a long day and needed to see you to completely relax. Both of you were currently laying in his bed and cuddling, laptop open with a movie playing. When you started to move around as if you wanted to get up, Jun whined and tried to pull you back, but you only giggled and still got out from under the covers. “I’m just going to the bathroom baby ! I’ll be back before you know it.” But your boyfriend was sulking, and even if he was cute, you had the perfect idea in mind to distract him. You leaned in and kissed his cheek before running out of his room. Jun stayed there, fingers brushing against the spot you just kissed. When what you did really hit him, he felt his cheeks heat up immediately. And he was still trying to process this kiss when you came back and snuggled up to him again. “You can’t do that, baby !”, he scolded you. “Why’s that ?” - “Because you’re too cute, you’re going to kill me one of these days !” But you just smiled, and kissed his cheek again. Yeah, you were definitely going to kill him. 

KWON SOONYOUNG

“But I was saving these cookies for today specifically ! And you ate them ! That’s a betrayal !” Soonyoung had been screaming for almost five minutes about the last cookies you ate, and how you couldn’t even consider yourself his partner if you did things like this. Obviously, you weren’t taking these comments to heart because he was always like this when it came to food. And honestly, you knew Soonyoung had a long week and that he was probably tired. “I’m sorry baby, I really didn’t know you were saving them. Next time let me know and I won’t touch them, okay ? I promise.” Your boyfriend huffed, arms crossed on his chest as he stared at the empty pack of cookies still sitting on the kitchen counter. You grabbed his hands, forcing him to uncross his arms and let you step closer. “I’ll go and buy you new cookies, how’s that sound ?” - “Good…” You smiled and decided to kiss him in hopes it would cheer him up. Your plan must have worked because the next second he was holding you close and telling you all about his shitty day at work while you were caressing his hair. All he needed was a little push. 

JEON WONWOO

Since you knew Wonwoo and his members would have a long day of practice because of the comeback coming soon, you doubted that he would take time to take care of himself today. So you decided to take it upon yourself and bring them all food and drinks, and it also allowed you to spend at least one hour with your boyfriend. Because between his job and yours, it was sometimes difficult to spend time together. And Wonwoo would’ve sworn he fell even more in love with you - if it was even possible - when you entered the practice room, with your arms full of bags filled with food for everyone. The fact that you were loving his members as much as he did, and that you took care of them and he was warming up his heart. “You didn’t have to do all that pretty.” - “I know, but I also know you wouldn’t have stopped for a minute if I didn’t come by. And you need to rest.” - “You’re an angel, I’m so lucky to have you.” You smiled at him, and kissed his cheek before handing him a bag filled with his favorite food. Wonwoo kissed you back, heart beating faster and with the conviction that he would marry you one day. 

LEE JIHOON

You often come by your boyfriend’s studio. Because of his hectic schedule, it was not always easy to go out on dates, or for dinner. But both of you preferred to stay in, and you loved to stay with him when he was working on his music. You found it fascinating that he could create such melodies as if it was natural for him, and he was always willing to explain everything he was doing to you. Plus, you were his muse, his inspiration, so it really was a win-win that you were there with him so often. But some nights, he would stay very late, and you would always end up falling asleep on the couch or on Jihoon’s lap. Tonight was one of those nights. You had a tiring day at work, but you still insisted on coming to see him and ended up falling asleep in his arms. “Can we go home soon ?” Your sleepy voice straddled Jihoon, and he pushed your hair away from your face, smiling at seeing you still half-asleep. “Yes jagi, I’m almost finished.” - “Okay… I love you.” And you kissed his cheek before nuzzling back into his neck and going back to sleep. But Jihoon couldn’t get over it, smiling like a lovesick fool - which he was because he immediately wrapped up his things and got you back home.

LEE SEOKMIN

“I’m home baby !” Seokmin announced as he took off his shoes, and dropped the bag full of food on the kitchen counter. You were too busy today to go grocery shopping, so your boyfriend offered to do it instead when he got off of work. He started to put away everything that needed to be refrigerated, while you got out of your office to help him. You worked from home today, and you had a lot to do, but you could at least take a break to help Seokmin. You kissed his shoulder and you passed behind him to put away everything that was going in the cupboards. “How was your day, baby ?” - “It was normal, nothing to say about it, except the fact that Soonie came to practice with a new tiger shirt.” - “I can’t say I’m surprised.” You rummaged through the bag until you found something that caught your attention. It was one of your favorite snacks, but they were hard to find, and the only shop that was selling them was thirty minutes away. “Did you get them just for me ?” - “Oh, yeah ! Thought you might use them with all the stressful things you have to deal with this week.” Maybe it was just your long day that was catching up with you, or your boyfriend’s sweetness, but you could almost feel tears pricking your eyes. You stepped towards Seokmin and kissed his cheek. “Thank you Minnie.” The boy chuckled and kissed your cheek right back, the biggest smile illuminating his face. “I’m always here for you baby.”

KIM MINGYU

It was Mingyu’s first date with you, and he was so nervous he thought he would pass out before he even got the chance to go out with you. He had been trying to grow the balls to ask you out for almost two years. You were one of Minghao’s friends, and he presented you to his members when you came back to Korea after having done your studies abroad. And Mingyu fell in love with you on the spot. He tried to get close to you over these two years, and also tried to gather enough courage to ask you out on a date. But when he finally succeeded, everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, as if the universe was reminding him that you were way out of his league, and that it was a miracle that you agreed. “I’m sorry for disappointing you, it wasn’t how I imagined our first date. It probably was the worst one you’ve ever had and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to see me again.” Mingyu felt bad, because he had promised you a dinner at a fancy restaurant, and that you dressed in consequence but you ended up eating an ice cream while walking around a random park in your classy outfits. “What are you talking about ? It was literally the best date of my life. I’ve never laughed so much during a date, and I must be honest, I prefer to spend time with you rather than these fancy restaurants. I like you anyways Gyu.” You stopped him in his tracks, grabbing his hand in yours and kissing his cheek. Maybe it wasn’t the perfect date, but it was for Mingyu who couldn’t help the blush and smile spreading on his cheeks as he walked by your side, fingers intertwined with yours. 

XU MINGHAO

You were aware of how much Minghao loved his members, and of how much they meant to him, so that was why you were so anxious about how it would go. You wanted to make a good impression on them, because you hoped your relationship would last, even if it was fairly new, you really liked him and didn’t want to fuck it up. And your boyfriend was so sweet about it, telling you that they were a lot to handle, but that if you stayed yourself, they would undoubtedly appreciate you. Minghao held your hand under the table the whole night, his thumb unconsciously brushing against your knuckles and sometimes giving it a little squeeze to reassure you. When both of you left and he walked you home, you were still holding hands. “- Do you think it went well ?” - “It did honey, don’t worry. How could they not like you ? You’re amazing.” You chuckled shyly, and kissed his cheek before turning your head away from his intense stare. “I was anxious mainly because I knew how important it was for you, and I plan on staying in your life for a little while, so I wanted to get along with them.” Minghao pulled you closer to him by your hand so he could kiss the crown of your hair. “Good thing they appreciated you, and good thing I want you to stay for as long as you want to, then.”

BOO SEUNGKWAN

You wanted to surprise your boyfriend by coming to his concert to see him perform. You never had the chance to, and you were dying to. So when he told you about their concert that was going to be on one of your days off, you jumped on the occasion. But you wanted it to be a complete surprise, so you told him you couldn’t come, and did anyway. The moment Seungkwan saw you in the crowd, his vision got blurry because of his tears, but he tried to keep his composure anyway. But as soon as he was backstage and he saw you smiling at him with your arms open, he didn’t hesitate one bit before running to you. “You told me you couldn’t come, you liar.” Seungkwan wanted to sound tough and tease you but he was just so happy that you were here, he couldn’t help the smile spreading on his lips. “I wanted to surprise you.” - “Well… You did.” You chuckled and held him tighter, turning your head to the side so you could kiss his cheek. “You did so good, baby, I’m so proud of you.” Seungkwan felt like he could cry again, but he simply held you closer, overwhelmed by the feeling of being loved, by the feeling of being loved by you. And words couldn’t even express how much this simple kiss meant to him. 

CHWE HANSOL

Taking advantage of the fact that you didn’t work this weekend, you decided to spend a calm and relaxing afternoon with your boyfriend at home. He currently had his head resting on your lap, laying on the couch while you were quietly playing with his hair and holding your book with the other one. You were not the most social person, and you always preferred to stay in rather than going out, and you were glad that Hansol was just like you. Some music was playing as a background noise, and you couldn’t help but smile at seeing your boyfriend so peaceful. You leaned in and kissed his cheek, before going back to your book like nothing happened. But Hansol just stared up at you with the most lovestruck gaze, flustered. You looked down at him once more, a little smirk playing on your lips. “What ?” - “You never did this before.” - “Oh, yeah, I won’t do it again if you don’t like it. You just looked cute like that.” And Hansol felt the need to look away from you, because it didn’t feel right to make eye contact with the deity you were. “I wouldn’t mind if you did it again.” You giggled heartedly and kissed his other cheek, your smile widening when Hansol nuzzled against your tummy to hide his blush. And both of you were asking yourselves how you could’ve been so lucky to find each other. 

LEE CHAN

“Love ?” - “Hm ?” - “Could you teach me one of your choreography one day ?” Chan turned to you so quickly it was comical. He had been begging you to let him teach you some of his group dances even before you started to go out together, but you always insisted that you weren’t good at dancing and didn't want to embarrass yourself, especially knowing that your boyfriend was one of the best dancers of the country. So to know that you were giving in made him feel over the moon. “Of course baby !” And that’s how you found yourself in a dance studio, learning the choreo of Chan’s solo song. Even if you couldn’t compete with your boyfriend's style and flow, you were still managing - God knows how - to keep up with him and not look too ridiculous. and even when you felt like you did everything the wrong way, Chan was complimenting you, a big , proud smile on his face. As you were leaving the company, you kissed him on his cheek, making him stop in his tracks and touching the spot you kissed with his eyes wide open. “What was that for ?” - “It’s me paying you back for teaching me your choreo even if I’m not as good as you.” He rolled his eyes and took your hand in his, but he couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Stop it, you know I’ve been begging for you to dance with me. Plus you could’ve been an idol with the way you’re dancing.” You knew it wasn’t true, but in his eyes, it was.

-> i don't allow any copies, reposts or translations of my work.

svt taglist (fill in this to be added) :

@lil-kpopstan @hann1bee @iraisswiftie @bewoyewo @lichyuu @foxinnie8

[sim0nril3y]

Deployment

Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Civilian!Reader Scenario: The time has come. It's his first deployment since you've become a couple. The goodbyes are difficult. Warnings: No mask Simon (It's my personal headcanon in his regular life he probably wouldn't wear it), lots of angst, talking of leaving, talking of dying, canon-typical swearing.

One more night. One more night in his arms. What if he didn’t come back? What if he got hurt? What if he went missing? Honestly, you weren’t sure that you could cope with the never knowing what happened. Please, please, let there be some type of miracle that might happen so that Simon wouldn’t have to go. Things had been going so well, it simply wasn’t fair. If only he had any other job in the world. If only he was still a butcher, or something normal like that. Why now?

“Sleep.” Even with his eyes firmly closed Simon commanded you to rest. “You have work tomorrow.” Simon sounded tired, you supposed it was 2am, he had a right to be tired. “I don’t care.” You answered with a sad and quiet tone, eyes fixed on his sleeping frame in the pitch blackness that filled the room. “The morning is going to come whether you sleep or not.”

There was silence for a moment and Simon wondered if you had actually listened and then he heard it. Sniff. Then quiet. Sniff, sniff. Then even more silence before. Hck. Sniff. Sniff. His eyes pried open, adjusting momentarily before finding your face crumbling with emotion, lips firmly frowned and trembling, eyes filling fast with tears that were trickling down your face and soaking the pillow beneath you.

“Babe.” He whispered, reaching out to gently touch your shoulder, squeezing in a comforting way. “Don’t… Don’t bloody cry.” Simon whispered, his own voice a little thicker than usual. “Oi, c’mere.” Then pulling you across the sheets into his arms, holding you to firmly in his strong arms. “You dozy bloody moo…” He whispered, soothingly rubbing your back in small circles as you hiccupped and sobbed into his throat. “I know, I know.”

Honestly, he’d never had to deal with this before. Of course, he’d been around other colleagues and watched how hard it’s been for them to be away from their loved once. For him, it had been a very long time since he’d been in this place before and it was never like he had someone waiting for him to come home. It added an entirely different layer of fear, there was that fear of exposing you to danger but there was always a fear of leaving you. It felt like it hadn’t been that long since he’d learned to love you, allowed himself to let someone new into his life and now there was the possibility it could be all ripped away in an instant. Simon wanted more time, but that wasn’t something he was going to be afforded.

Still, even as your tears flowed Simon just held you, strong and tight in his arms, shushing you and caressing you so gently until your body just succumbed to exhaustion. It brought him pain to think of you being apart from him in mere hours now, sobbing yourself to sleep without his strong arms and his kind words. Fuck, it had never been this hard before.

The following morning Simon was up bright and early to finish his checklist. It seemed that you were restless too and that early awakening lead to you following him around like a lost puppy, eyes watching the clock as if counting down the seconds. “Babe, I’m just going to put some fuel in the car. I’ll be back. I promise.” He’d assured when your eyes had filled with wayward tears as he nabbed his keys. “Sweetheart, can I take a piss in peace, please?” He’d begged as you chased him into the bathroom for the second time that morning.  “I’m just going to get a loaf of bread from the other freezer, stay here.” He'd commanded as he unlocked the back door. “Babe, if you wanted to join me in the shower all you had to do was ask…” Simon had purred before you two fell into the steamy shower.

Later that morning you were munching down some toast, eyes fixed firmly on Simon as he made himself a strong tea. It was difficult thinking that tomorrow morning you would be going through this routine on your own. The thought alone was enough for a lump to stick awkwardly in your throat. “Right…” Simon began then, causing you to push down any of those awful feelings and focus. “I’ve left a list of numbers over there…” Turning he held his mug in hand and nodded in the direction of a lonely notepad, it was full of names and phone numbers and occupations. “Reckon they’ll be able to fix any problems you might run into, alright? I’m not gonna be able to be in contact all the time, so I need to know that if there is a problem here, or with you, or with the car that it’ll be covered.”

“Right.” You agreed gently, taking another solemn bite of toast. “Against my better judgement…” Simon continued, stepping across to sit opposite you at the kitchen table. “I’ve added you to my car insurance, use it when you need it, please don’t write it off.” There was almost teasing to his tone. “My driving isn’t that bad…” You grumbled and this only earned a smirk as he took another sip of his tea. “I’ve got all the utilities set up. The mortgage is on direct debit. I’m even paying that kid down the road to come a mow the garden whilst I’m gone, he’s happy to be making a little extra money and it’s one less thing for you to worry about, which means one less thing for me to worry about.” Simon explained.

A frown found your lips. “I’m capable of looking after myself and the house, you know…” Simon lets out a soft sigh then and replies. “I know, babe. I…” He seems to pause, as if taking a moment to find the right words. “I like to know that I’ve covered every possibility at home so I won’t have to worry when I’m out there…” Simon said it like out there was a very distant place, very cold, isolated and very far from you. “Okay?” Silently he was asking you to just trust him and give him these final few hours to make sure everything was set up in a way that gave him comfort, the comfort of knowing that you were safe at home. “Okay.”

The way that you watched the clock on the wall was like you were begging it for more time, making some kind of trade so that Simon wouldn’t need to go. Regardless of what you promised the time still came. There he stood loading his bags into the waiting cab, you stood a couple paces back wanting to give some space. “Let me drive you-” You attempted to persuade. “It’ll be too hard.” Simon answered with finality.

He closed the boot with a shunt and then turned to be looking at you. “It’ll be better to leave you here at home and then call you once I arrive on base. Okay?” It sounded like he was trying to convince himself too. “C’mon now…” He muttered, watching as finally the emotion broke over your face, all that strength crumbled and the tears began to trickle once again. “Oi…” Simon muttered, wrapping you into his warm strong arms. Those same arms you wouldn’t feel again for month. Your last embrace. “It’ll be easier like this. I promise. Easier for you. Easier for me.” Simon whispered, squeezing you so tight in his bulging arms. “I love you.”

It was something so rare and so emotional that you actually gasped, glancing up at him through your watery eyes. “Love you too.” Your words came out less controlled, spoken through a sob. “Love you.” You added, as if to make up for the initial emotional sentiment like Simon might have not been able to hear you over the lump in your throat. “Call me-” “I will.” There was a solid promise.

Then one final kiss. It was searing, his lips pressed against your own so hard that you thought he might bruise you. You never wanted this kiss to end. You didn’t want him to climb into the cab. You didn’t want his promises or his declarations of love and devotion. No, you just wanted him…

A second later Simon detangled you from his arms and climbed into the cab. He knew that one of you had to be strong in this moment and that you were never going to be the one to walk away, so he needed to. Even if it hurt more than being fucking shot Simon needed to step away. He had duty. He had honour. Someday maybe you’d understand, or maybe you never would, but he hoped that at least you’d find some type of normality without him around…

Once he’d arrived on base Simon got back into a routine seamlessly, everyone thought of him as the emotionless and stoic ‘Ghost’. That was all that he wanted to be to these people. The less they knew about his life the better, that way he could shield you from anyone using you against him. He’d never forgive himself… however, there was one person that needed to know. Officially, he needed to speak to Price, if the worst should happen you’d need to know.

It was late. Far too late to be doing all this, but Simon knew that his Captain would still be up. Rapping his knuckles hard against his door a voice called out and in he stepped. John sat at his desk, pouring over paperwork on his desk and gifting Simon a very tired smile as he entered. “Captain.” He kept his voice firm and professional as he entered. “Lieutenant, what do you need?”

For a moment Simon stood quietly, mouth pursed as if he racked his brains for the right words. “My next of kin…” “It’s blank – like we discussed.” About to dismiss him when Simon spoke again. “I need it changed.” John seemed shocked by these words, the argument that they had over not having one and now to have him so quickly change his mind. “What do you need from me?”

John blinked, once then twice before collecting a form from his desk. “Just jot their details down…” Passing over a pen as he watched Simon began to diligently fill in the boxes. His hand-writing was just as he expected, messy and haphazard, but his mind only went to Simon’s homelife… John wondered, did he have someone special? Who was it? What were they like? How long had they known each other? What was the relationship? All these questions that John wanted to ask, but knowing Simon wouldn’t get a single answer. “If I die, tell her.” Yanked back to reality with one simple sentence. “Not some letter. No some top brass. You tell her, Captain.” Sliding the piece of paper back in his direction. “Don’t tell her how - she won’t cope with that.” John nodded. “For fuck sake, don’t show her a body if there is one. She’d never sleep again.”

“Need you to make sure she gets access to my pension. I want every fucking penny of it going to her.” Simon placed down the pen hard on the table. “My house. My car. The shirt off my dead fucking back. I want it all going to her. Okay?” There was desperation in his tone. This was a conversation they were meant to be having 6 weeks ago, with legal and suits around to sign it all off. Not the night before he was going to be put on a plane into a warzone. “Simon-” “John, please…” He didn’t need to see the rest of his face to know that Simon was in anguish, his eyes were enough. “I’ll see that it happens.”

Masterlist | Ask | 10-04-2024

[samandcolbyownme]

Colby brock hate sex makeup sex smut after argument?🎀🎀🎀

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, swearing, dominant!Colby, rough actions, choking, rough unprotected sex, pet names cute and dirty, creampie, biting, hair pulling, breeding kink? Pregnancy talk? filth

I’ve gotten a TON of this request, so if you sent in the anon about feeling like I’ve been ignoring you, I’m sorry!! I hope this makes up for it. Ily 🖤

Enjoy! | not edited

══════════════════

Arguing. That’s what you’ve been doing with your boyfriend, or ex? You aren’t sure at this point, for the last three hours.

Screaming and bitching back and forth between one another. Claims being made that aren’t true. Anger driving both of your minds without any clarity whatsoever.

“Can I just fu-“

“See! See.” Colby motions to you, cutting you off, “I can’t even fuck spe-“ You groan and he groans louder as you as you yell over him, “You should know by now that Jake doesn’t know shit when he’s shit fucking faced.”

Colby stands there, anger painting his face as he stays silent. You lift your arms and let them fall, slapping against your thighs as you sigh, “To add, two other girls had the same dress as me, so it could have been an-y-bo-dy.”

Colby stares at you for a few more seconds, “if you cut me off, one more fuckin’ time.” He blows air through his nose, “You’re not gonna like it, y/n.”

Government name. Someone’s is trouble.

You were tempted. Majorly tempted, but Colby was pretty pissed. You weren’t sure why at you, because you were literally with Tara the whole night. Not one person touched you in anyway Colby does.

You stare back at him, pretending to zip your lips and toss the key behind you. You motion for him to take the floor and you cross your arms.

“I ju-“ Colby shakes his head, spinning around to turn away from you as he laughs, “Jesus Christ.” He drops his hands to his sides, turning back towards you, “You drive me in-fucking-sane.”

He steps towards you, “I know.. I know, you’re telling me the truth, I just..” You innocently bite your lip, nodding your head as you look up at him. He looks down at you and licks his lips, “Just the thought of another man touching you..” he pauses, reaching out to brush your cheek with his thumb, “Literally drives me to the brink of insanity.”

You purse your lips, waiting for your turn to speak but he smirks, nodding his head, “I know what I’m gonna do.” You tilt your head and Colby nods, “Go to the bedroom and get undressed for me, sweetheart.”

Colby pats your ass as he walks by you, giving you a smirk as he walks up the steps and into the bathroom. You follow in his direction, but make your way into the bedroom, doing as he said.

You take a deep breath before taking off your t-shirt and sweats, dropping them into a pile at the end of the bed. You slowly crawl up, turning to sit down in the middle at the top.

A few minutes later, Colby comes in and there’s a towel around his waist. You can see that his cock is growing harder the longer he looks at you, so you give him a smirk.

“Good girl.” He smirks, watching your face drop as soon as the words slip off his tongue, “That’s what I thought.” He mumbles as he closes the door and walks over to you, stopping at the end of the bed, “Lay down.”

He watches as you move to lay down, eyes staying on him until he pulls his towel off, letting it lay with your clothes. Your eyes watch as he crawls up towards you, moving all the way up to pin your hands down by your head, “If you so much as say one word, I’m stopping.” He tilts his head, “and I don’t think you want me to stop, do you?”

You shake your head, biting down on your lip as his eyes stay on yours, “Since I’m so pissed right now, is it okay if I use that pussy of yours?” You nod and he smirks, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to your lips. You soak up the gentleness of his kiss now, because you know it’s straight roughness from here on out.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you after, I’m just so pissed at anyone that isn’t you right now.” He taps your hip, “Roll over for me.” You roll over onto your stomach and hold yourself up on your elbows.

When you’re least expecting it, a sharp sting is smacked onto your right ass cheek, causing you to yelp. You look back at Colby and he bites his lower lip, massaging the print of his hand on your skin.

He lifts his hand and you watch, whimpering out as his other hand comes down to deliver the same mark onto your opposite cheek. “Fuck.” Colby groans, making your ass jiggle with his hands, “I can’t blame anyone for wanting to touch you.”

Colby moves and is now straddling your thighs, “You’re so fucking beautiful.” He drags his hand up your back and your brace yourself for him to rip at your hair, but he doesn’t, instead he lifts your hips a little and you can feel spit sliding down to be collected by the head of his cock.

“Pussy is fucking..” he groans as he slides in, gripping your hips as he pulls you all the way onto him, “Sluttiest fucking pussy for me.” You let out a moan, heavily fighting back the urge to moan out his name. Colby pulls out, but not all the way, and digs his fingertips deeper as he rails back in.

He slides a hand up, fingers tangling around as much hair he can get. He gives your upper body a yank, lifting you up onto the flat of your hands with a whimper, his cock still railing into you from behind. Colby leans down, planting kissing up your shoulder until he reaches your ear, “Who are you?”

He pushes his cock all the way into you, holding it there as he breathes against your neck. He lifts his head, tone whimperish, “Who. Are. You?” He starts to thrust and you grip the sheets, crying out, “Yours, baby! Fuck, I-I’m yours!”

“That’s right.” Colby turns your head, planting sloppy kissing to what he can reach of your lips, “I don’t want anyone else feeling this pussy.” He groans out, “Who’s pussy is this?”

“Yours!” You whimper out squeezing his cock and he groans, “My little slut gonna cum for me, huh? I can feel that pussy squeezing me.” You nod as much as you can with his grip still on your hair, “Y-yes. P-pl-please.”

Colby’s thrust remain strong, hard and rough. He moans, “Have you been a good girl? A good little whore for me?” The whine you let out gets cut short by his hand sliding around your neck, squeezing, “Ye-s. I’ve been a good little whore.” Colby tilts your head back, “Do you deserve it?” You moan loudly as you feel your orgasm teetering on the edge, “Fuck.” You cry out, “I deserve your cock, baby, please please please.”

Colby sits up, pulling out to roll you onto your back, quickly resuming the thrusts he left off with. Your back arches and your eyes roll back as the pleasures starts to mix with a growing ache, “F-Fuck, Colby!” You squeeze his cock and your legs wrap tightly around his waist.

His hands have your wrist pinned down by your head, but if you had your hands on him, you know you’d be leaving red lines up and down his back, “F-Fuck.” Colby continues his pace, quickly causing a feeling of overstimulation to slowly flood in.

His thrust weren’t caring, the grip on your wrist and what he had on your hips weren’t either. You just hope they don’t bruise, but at the same time, you kind of wanted them.

Colby’s thrusts quickly grow sloppy and he leans down, lips connecting to your lips, “Can I cum in this pussy? Mark it as mine, sweetheart?” Half dazed, you nod and gasp as you feel his cock twitch inside of you. You moan out quietly as Colby leans down, “Maybe this’ll put a baby in you so people know that you’re mine.”

You close your eyes as you feel Colby’s cock slip out of you and your legs fall to the right when he moves from in between them.

You lay there for a few minutes, eyes closed until you feel the bed dip down beside you. You turn your head, slowly opening your eyes, “Are you still mad?” Colby presses his lips to yours and hums, “No. I know you wouldn’t ever do anything. You were right, I let my anger get the best of me. I’m sorry.”

You reach up, laying a hand on his cheek, “I think we both lost our cool for like three hours.” He sighs, smiling, “Are you okay? You good?” He looks over your body and back to your face. You take a deep breathe, “I think I want to go for a bath, and when we get back..” you smile up at him, poking his cheek, “You’re going to do what you promised me you were going to do.”

He turns his head to kiss the palm of your head, “Deal.”

══════════════════

Hi, thanks for reading! Tell me what you thought and as always, I love yas! 🖤

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

[cherryrikis]

LAST LOVERS ON THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN - 003 ! lipstick marks and coffee stains

PAIRING : producer riki x baker fem reader

SYNOPSIS: if it weren't for the two being on that last midnight train together, you would've never met. but when one person is wearing a white shirt while the other is holding a coffee cup without a lid, an accident is bound to happen. another 142 accidents later, and maybe riki would consider being your last love.

authors note - i keep inserting baseball into my works sorry

previous | masterlist | next

“just leave your shoes at the door.” you instructed riki, before allowing him to enter your apartment.

“cool, cool.” he replied with a nod.

you watched as he examined your home, glancing over every last picture frame and decorative throw pillow.

“it’s nice.” riki assured, as if he knew what you’re thinking. “very cozy. small, but cozy nonetheless. this definitely feels like a home.”

“do you.. do you not have a home?” you asked him hesitantly as he took a seat on the couch. “it sounds silly, i know. but the way you said it just had me thinking.”

riki smiled, letting out a soft laugh as he watched you struggle to find an excuse. “sorry, i know i kinda made it seem that way. its not that i don’t have a home, im just never home. most of the time i end up crashing at a friends place, or falling asleep in the studio.”

“this could be your home. i know it’s probably a little far, and even though we just met, you’re welcome anytime.” you comforted him with a small pat on the back. “now let me get that stain out.”

riki was sat on your bed, facing you with his legs crossed as you scrubbed at the stain.

“why are you scrubbing it before you wash it?” he asked curiously.

“pre-treating it. sometimes the washer doesn’t do a good enough job because it can set the stain in more.” you answered, briefly looking up.

you didn’t see it, but you felt and heard his presence slightly drift as riki got up to walk around your room.

he scanned the walls, and noticed a white shirt hanging by the bed. on one side, it had now faint lipstick marks in a small heart.

“what’s this?” riki questioned, pointing to it.

“oh that? it’s, uh.. old valentines gift for an ex. i was never able to give it to him, but it was too cute for me to throw away. so now its mine.” you explained with a shrug. not much too it.

“y/n?” “yeah?”

“can i spend the night? just ‘cause, you know. it’s late, and i’m sure we’re both tired. for the sake of convenience.”

you stared at him with your lips slightly apart, before they curled into a grin.

“what? what’s so funny?” riki pouted.

“of course you can spend the night you dummy. you probably won’t be getting this sweater back until tomorrow by the earliest anyway.” you rolled your eyes.

“i wouldn’t mind if you kept it.” he joked, before walking back to his original seat in front of you. riki watched as you continued scrubbing at the deep brown stain, until it eventually faded to a lighter shade.

“throw this into the washer for me, and you can sleep in my bed. i’ll take the couch.” you pointed your head in the direction of the laundry appliances.

“wait-” he paused. “why would you take the couch? it’s your house. you take the bed.”

“you’re my guest. unless you wanna share the bed?” you raised a brow teasingly, but he knew you were kidding.

“oh shut up, you’re just dying to make me look bad. how ‘bout i just sleep on the floor next to you?” riki pointed to the floor beneath you two.

“okay. but don’t complain if your back is hurting by the morning.” you joked as riki let out an annoyed sigh.

taglist ! @pshbites @r1kification @tasnemluvs @stvrriki @sirens-dreams @heartheejake @t0asterexe @ilovbeshotaro @prettiestgirlontheplanet @yourmyst4r @jiiyen @vixialuvs @ariluvssssss100 @mmurazz @sol3chu @who-tf-soddhi @domfikeluva @blvengene @tinyteezer @anqelkoz @theothernads @strawberrieswithchocolateo3o @lanaonlydaughter

[cloudcountry]

mer-shrimpy?

Genre/Tropes: No notable ones!!

Summary: The Prefect has an accident in alchemy (courtesy of Ace, Deuce, and Grim) and has turned into a merperson!! Floyd witnesses this and drags them to Octavinelle, where they hang out with the Octotrio until Crewel can reverse the spell.

Author's Comments: i love these absolutely menaces they're my favorite ever i want to hold their hands and hugs them (and give azul smooches.) this ends in kind of a choose your own adventure way?

~~~~~

A bright, multicolored puff of smoke erupted from the cauldron in front of you as Ace and Deuce argued, Grim scurrying around your ankles as he cackled. The noise stopped immediately after the smoke cleared, but you still couldn’t see much of anything. It was only when you realized that you couldn’t breathe very well that you started to panic, flopping around the floor.

Wait, flopping?

You looked down at your legs, only to see the bottom half of a shrimp of all things.

“Bad pups! Stay!” Crewel yelled, quickly approaching your tiny form on the ground, “Ramshackle Prefect, are you alright?”

“Shrimpy?” Floyd leered, peeking over Crewel’s shoulders, “What did you guys do to them, huh?”

Ace and Deuce stepped back a bit, intimidated by the sharp glare Floyd sent their way.

“The water breathing potion must have backfired. What did you add into your potion?” Crewel glared.

“Um…dunno.” Ace mumbled, “I’m sorry, Prefect. I didn’t mean to make you…tiny.”

You tried to voice that it was okay, that you weren’t dying, but nothing came out but sharp shrieking noises and ragged gasps.

“It’s hard to breathe-!” you gasped, choking on air.

“Ehh? It's hard to breathe? You need water or something?” Floyd hummed, his words sending Deuce running to the nearest large plastic container to fill it up for you.

You were more impressed that he’d deciphered what you’d said.

“You can understand me?” you choked out, the sound coming out garbled and raspy.

He tilted his head, kneeling down to you, “Of course I can, Little Shrimp! Did your brain get tiny too? You’re just speaking mer.”

You were about to speak again before Floyd lifted you into his arms, curling his arms around your body and holding you close. He nuzzled your forehead affectionately, his teeth scraping against the skin.

“Leech! Unhand the Prefect!” Crewel demanded, swooping in with the container of water Deuce filled, “This is why you all needed remedial lessons in the first place!”

“Aww, no fun. I wanna play with Shrimpy!” he pouted, turning away and using his upper body to hide you away.

“It’s okay, Floyd. I’ll play with you later.” you promised, “Just please let me breathe.”

“Fiiiine. I don’t want Jade and Azul yelling at me for not taking good care of you. Whatever.” he huffed, annoyed at the idea of letting you go.

He dropped you into the water unceremoniously, the small splash briefly disorienting you before you became used to the feeling of breathing water. It honestly felt like the bathtubs at home, with the container just barely fitting you. Your tail was bent at an odd angle in order for you to breathe properly, and Floyd looked annoyed at your mild discomfort. He brightened up a second later, eyes glinting with mischief.

“I know! Shrimpy, let’s go to my dorm! We have a lot of water, and you can swim all you’d like! Then we can play all we want!” he grinned, sharp teeth gleaming in the light.

“That may be the best idea given the situation.” Crewel agreed, turning his gaze to you, “What do you think?”

You nodded, heart jumping at the thought of a bigger pool. You could breathe and have leg room in the Octavinelle pools, though you’d need to learn how to use your new bottom. You couldn’t imagine how hard it had been to transition from a tail to legs for Floyd and Jade, and in Azul’s case, tentacles. You kept trying to move how you would with your legs, but it felt you only had one big leg and only moved one way. Crossing your arms over your chest, you blew annoyed bubbles in the water.

“Aww, Shrimpy’s so cute!” Floyd cooed, scooping up the container with ease, “Come on, we’re going on a trip! Just me and Shrimpyyy!”

You tried your best to hold onto the container as Floyd slung you around the hall, yelling cheerfully about how much fun he was going to have with you. You squeezed your eyes shut, hoping you’d reach Octavinelle soon.

“Floyd, what are you doing?” someone questioned, the amused tone all too familiar.

“Jade!” he beamed, shoving the container of Jade in Jade’s face, “Look at our Shrimpy! Aren’t they cute?”

Our?!

“Indeed.” Jade chuckled, raising a brow as you floated aimlessly around the water, “I assume you were taking them to the pool in Octavinelle?”

“Where else? We need to keep our little Shrimpy close, don’t we?”

“That we do. I’ll walk with you.”

You wished you could chew them out about this stupid “our” business, but all that came out were more little shrieks and yelps. Floyd laughed, and that’s when you remembered that they could understand you.

“Poor thing. You sound so sad when you talk like that. I can barely understand you.” Jade sighed, acting all disappointed when you knew he was teasing.

“Mean!” you shrieked, and they both laughed.

Sinking back into the water, you blew annoyed bubbles until you found yourself in Octavinelle. The dorm was beautifully decorated, no doubt part of Azul’s influence. You furrowed your brow, looking from left to right. Where was Azul? It was after school, so there was only one other place he could be.

“Don’t fret, Little Pearl.” Jade hummed, staring down at you with half lidded eyes that scream trouble, “If you’re looking for Azul, he’s in his office. Of course, our priority lies with you as of now, but Floyd can retrieve him if you so wish.”

“Ehhh? Why me? I wanna play with Shrimpy.” he moped, holding the container of water closer to his chest.

“Oh, but Floyd, the Little Pearl doesn’t know how to use their tail. Wouldn’t it be more fun to play with them when they can run away? I will teach them the basics while you fetch Azul.” Jade hummed, attempting to placate his brother.

Floyd thought on it for a few seconds before brightening up, showing the container into Jade’s arms. With a loud promise of playing with you later, Floyd bolted towards the VIP Room.

Poor Azul.

“Well hello there.” Jade smiled down at you, his face distorted in the still sloshing water, “What do you say we get you in the pool, hm?”

You nodded, blowing more bubbles in the water. Jade chuckled politely, carrying you off into a hallway near the back of the dorm. You stood stationary inside the water as Jade hummed a tune, finally stopping in front of a door and pushing it open with his hip. The water sloshed over the side of the container, wetting his glove. Jade muttered a quiet apology and set the container down next to the wide expanse of clear water, his soaked gloved hand reaching into the water to pet your head.

“Do you mind if I lift you up? I hardly think dumping someone as delicate as you into a pool would be kind.” he hummed, pulling his gloves off one finger at a time, “I will also be shifting into my merform, so you won’t be lonely.”

You nodded, poking your head above the water. Jade’s bare hands were a sight you’d never seen before, and you were surprised at how soft they looked considering most of his free time was spent digging around in terrariums and even mountains. He noticed you staring, eyes crinkling in the corners as he chuckled. Without any warning, he swooped down gracefully, closing on you far too quickly for your liking. You jerked back, water sloshing over the sides of the container once again as Jade’s fangs glinted in the overhead lights.

“Don’t be shy, Little Pearl.” he cooed, dipping his bare hands into the water and scooping you up as though you were a plant ready to be repotted, “I won’t hurt you. I’ll treat you delicately, with all the care a little morsel like you deserves.”

Your eyes went wide at the morsel comment, but before you could see anything Jade had set you in the pool. Even though the water looked clear on the surface, there was a light fog settling within the water that made it hard to see much of anything. You jumped when you heard a splash a little ways away from you, but when you looked you couldn’t see anything. Fear coursed through your veins as you waited, unable to use your tail to swim towards where you hoped Jade had dove in with you. Gulping water through your gills, you tried to take deep breaths to calm down. They wouldn’t eat you, obviously. This was Jade. He just wanted to see you jump.

And jump you did, when a green blur gently tapped your tail from behind.

You jumped backward, whipping around to face none other than Jade. Crossing your arms, you glared at him as he chuckled, eyes narrowed.

“Apologies, Little Pearl. I wanted to see how you would react. It’s quite entertaining to see you out of your element.” he hummed, swishing his tail around as he darted in circles around you, “Now, do you think you’re ready to try swimming?”

“How do you guys work these things?!” you blurted, flopping in the pool like a fish on land, “It’s so hard to manage-”

“Don’t move it like you’d move your own two legs. Move like your legs have been merged into one.” Jade hummed, smirking at your struggle.

You jerked your tail as you managed to go forward, a small accomplishment in the grand scheme of things. Jade looked so proud though, and you tried not to let him feed your ego too much. He was probably laughing at you internally anyway.

“Good Little Pearl.” he hummed, swimming a bit further away, “Keep going. I’m certain you’ll be able to use that tail of yours efficiently in no time.”

With that praise, you tried even harder to swim towards him. It wasn’t as hard as it used to be now that you were thinking of your bottom as two legs merged together, and it occurred to you that merpeople had to pretend that their tail had been split in two. You wondered how they got used to feet, or even if they’d had a foot cramp before. Did merpeople have tail cramps?

You were too in your own head. As you snapped out of it, you realized that Jade had moved a bit farther, and had gone deeper into the pool. In the dimmer lighting at the bottom, you could swear his golden eye was glowing, beckoning you deeper into the pool like a siren. You almost didn’t go deeper.

Almost.

Curiosity killed the cat, as they said, and curiosity was about to kill you.

So you swam down, chasing after Jade as he darted between the various types of coral, their jagged forms rising from the sand like nature’s fortified towers. Octavinelle was truly a beautiful dorm.

With beautiful people, you thought as you watched Jade look back at you, his eyes gleaming. His expression was playful as he twirled in a circle, darting into some faded yellow coral. Without a second thought, you swam after his, elated that you were finally getting the hang of your tail.

“What are you doing here?!” a loud hissed reverberated in the water, and Jade immediately darted in front of you like a guard dog.

A familiar face poked out from the coral, his blue gray eyes narrowed with annoyance.

“Azul?” you gasped, eyes widening at the surprise, “I thought you were back in your VIP Room?”

“Wh- Angelfish? Why are you a…?” Azul trailed off, head tilting to the side as he examined you, “...Nevermind that. You need to get out. Out! Leave!”

“Azul, it’s okay.” Jade spoke, his voice calm and collected.

He still hadn’t moved away from you though.

“Azul, is everything okay?” you asked, keeping your distance.

The last thing you wanted to do was annoy him.

“Angelfish, please leave. You shouldn’t see me like this.” he sighed, shaking his head as he shrank back into the coral, “It’s not a pretty sight, I assure you. Now, if you will-”

“There’s no part of you that I wouldn’t find nice.” you said, voice so stern it surprised you, “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to show me, but I promise I won’t judge you for anything. I’m literally a shrimp right now.”

You flicked your tail in his direction for emphasis, and Jade snorted. He seemed to have drifted off the side since you two figured out it was Azul and not some other random student.

“Aaaaazul!” Floyd called, darting out of nowhere into the coral Azul was hiding in, “Come play with us!”

“Floyd, no-!” Azul yelped as he was slammed out of his hidey hole, a writhing mass of black following his front as Floyd cackled. Your eyes widened at the appendages as he struggled to hide them, trying to make himself seem as small as possible. He kept shooting you panicked glances, his chest rising and falling rapidly as Floyd swam circles around him.

“Azul? Why are you on edge? Is it because Little Shrimpy’s here?” Floyd teased.

“Azul, I highly doubt Little Pearl cares about such trivial things.” Jade hummed, pressing a hand against your lower back and pushing you the slightest bit forward.

Azul froze on the spot, finally taking the time to look at your expression. There was no disgust, no amusement, no fear. There was just awe and curiosity. He swallowed thickly, feeling like a specimen on an examination table. You slowly swam forward, reaching out slowly, giving him time to pull away. He slammed his eyes shut but didn’t move, feeling your hand slide down one of his tentacles. You hummed as your other hand cupped one of them, flipping it upwards to reveal the suction cups. Azul cracked his eyes open just a bit to see you staring down at his chubby hideous revolting body with such much adoration that it made his heart jump into his throat. He couldn’t breathe.

“You’re really pretty, Azul.” you murmured, pulling the tentacle closer and letting it wrap around your hand, its actions shaky and slow, “You’re gorgeous like this.”

“See? What did I tell ya? Little Shrimpy doesn’t care.” Floyd laughed, poking Azul at the base of his tentacles.

“I’m not so sure about that, Floyd. They seem to care quite a bit.” Jade chuckled.

Another black tentacle wrapped itself around your waist as his purple tinted skin turned pink. He refused to meet your gaze as you accepted his touch without a bit of repulsion, your eyes affectionate and happy as if asking him to keep going. He yanked himself away before he could pull you into his chest and hug you for hours.

“Come swim with us, Azul!” Floyd called, snapping at him with his teeth as he giggled, “You can’t hog Shrimpy all day! That’s not faaair!”

“Floyd is right, you know. You should thank him for going to get you in the first place. That was very generous of him.” Jade hummed.

“I was here the whole time.” Azul mumbled, and you shook your head at their antics.

“I’d like to make the most of this form while I’m still in it. It’s been fun so far!” you bounced a bit in the water, curling your tail in and out.

“Aww, Shrimpy’s so cute!” Floyd giggled, his expression immediately shifting to annoyance when he processed what you meant, “Ehh? What do ya mean? We’re going to have you over like this again, Shrimpy. You’re not getting away that easily.”

“Indeed.” Jade began circling you, a sinister look on his face, “You’re such a small little morsel, it would be the same if we didn’t have a chance to catch you.”

A shiver shot down your spine as Floyd followed his twin’s example, the both of them circling you menacingly as Azul stared disappointingly at them.

“If you two keep freaking them out, they’ll never come back again.” he pointed out, tugging you closer by the tail, “Don’t scare the poor angelfish. ”

“It’s just a little fuuun.” Floyd giggled, brightening up at the thought of forcing you over again, “Come on Shrimpy, wouldn’t you like that?”

“Sketchy undertones aside, I agree. I think it’d be nice to try this out again, even just swimming in my human form. It’s like stress relief.” you mused.

“Professor Crewel should be working on a cure already. We best make haste if we’re to enjoy you to the fullest.” Jade smiled his close-eyed smile, “Little Pearl, if you will.”

He gestured to the coral around you as Floyd’s yellow eye gleamed mischievous. When Jade opened his eyes, you noticed his yellow eye was glowing too.

“You may hide, and we will seek you out.” he chuckled, tilting his head slightly, “Wouldn’t you enjoy that?”

“Oh yes, Shrimpy! It’ll be so fun. We’ll try to take a bite out of you.” Floyd laughed.

 Azul shook his head exasperatedly, holding out a hand to you.

“If you do not wish to join their game of cat and mouse, I can show you around the deeper ends of the pool.” he murmured, “I’m sure you would enjoy the secret’s I’ve stashed away.”

You looked between the three, contemplating which to try first. Well, what’ll it be, dear Prefect?

[aphroditeinthesea]

will solace x chaotic daughter of dionysus reader where he's the responsible one thats like "don't do that. you'll die" and reader's like "yeah whatever" ?

" long story short i survived "

will solace x reader ☀️

three times when y/n was crazy and three times when will loved her anyway

tw none

⋆ ˚｡ ⋆ 𖤓 ⋆ ˚｡ ⋆

“Funny meeting you here,” was all Will heard as he walked past a room in the infirmary. He stopped in his tracks and peered into the room. There, lying on a bed, was his girlfriend.

“Y/N,” he spoke as he entered the room, “what happened?” Concern filled his voice, but at the same time, he couldn't be too worried. After all, her winding up in the infirmary was a common occurrence.

“Silly story actually, you're gonna laugh,” she prefaced, “so, you know how there’s like archery practice?”

He nodded along, “I pretty much know the concept.”

“Good, that's good,” she continued, “so there was this really crazy looking bug like you should've seen it, and then-”

“Please don't say what I think you're about to say.”

She aggressively nodded, “if you think I’m about to say that I accidentally walked into the middle of an archery practice and got shot in the foot, then I’ll just say quiet.”

“Y/N,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “can you go one day without almost dying?”

“Is that rhetorical? Because I don't appreciate that, Will Solace.”

He laughed, he leaned closer to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “I’d just like to not be worried about you 25/8.”

“Twenty-five eight, really?”

“Will!” Someone yelled from the hall.

“Coming!” He called back before turning back to the girl, “I love you, don't die,” he quickly kissed her before rushing out of the room.

It was late at night, not even two days later, that y/n ran into cabin seven, slamming the door behind her. Several of Apollo’s children gave her strange looks, except for Will, who only looked confused.

“Y/N?”

She smiled, making her way over to him, “Willy!”

“Willy?” He questioned with a laugh.

She sat on his freshly made bed, “I need to stay in your cabin tonight.”

“As fun as getting in trouble for you sounds,” he began, sitting beside her, “can you at least tell me why?”

“Funny story-”

“Is it actually though?”

She bit her lip and looked away, “for spectators, not victims,” she answered, “basically, Annabeth let me borrow this book and I forgot about it and then I accidentally spilled orange juice all over it, so I left iron the doorstep of the Athena cabin and I’m gonna wait until she notices, where then she will ultimately try to kill me dead.”

“Rather than kill you alive?” One of his siblings interjected.

“Kill you alive blah blah,” y/n muttered in a mocking voice.

Will chuckled, placing a comforting hand on her back, “you can stay. Only because I’m also scared of Annabeth.”

She pressed a kiss to his lips, "you're the best.”

Another day, during Capture the Flag, y/n had decided to climb a tree, being too tired to actually participate in the game. However, she hadn't actually put into consideration how she was going to get down.

“Y/N?” she heard the all too familiar voice from the ground.

She looked down to find Will standing with his sister, Kayla. “Hey, sweetheart. Hi, Kayla,” she waved down.

“What are you doing?” Kayla called up.

“It’s a funny story actually-”

“I really don’t think it’s gonna be,” Will mentioned.

Y/N huffed, “I’m about to come down, one second,” she stood on the branch, about to jump down.

“Y/N, Baby,” He yelled, “as a doctor, I can tell you the chances of you not breaking a bone are close to none.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve done this before.”

“That actually makes it worse, y/n.”

She prepared herself to jump down despite the yell of the two children of Apollo and several other campers who had come over to watch the spectacle. She took a deep breath and leaped off of the branch.

You could think that this was one of those things where she jumped and landed in Will’s arms and like rode into the sunset or whatever. It kinda was like that actually, except might have landed on Will’s arm instead. The left one specifically.

“I guess you could say you fell for me,” she giggled, beginning to stand up. She grabbed his hand to help him up too.

“I’m actually surprised we’re both still alive.”

“I told you it would be fine, you worry too much, love.”

[anipgarden]

What to Do Once Things Are Planted?

This is my seventh post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert--just an enthusiast--but I hope something you find here helps! 

So you’ve gotten started on making a garden to boost biodiversity! 10/10, excellent work! So, now what?

First, you’ll need to keep watering the plants--especially if you’re going through a dry season. Native plants will be more acclimated to your area’s seasonal weather, but they’ll need a helping hand while they’re getting established--especially if you’re starting with young, tender seedlings. With that in mind, if you accidentally skip out on crucial watering days, don't panic! There's been tons of times where I haven't watered for an entire summer and had perennials come back the next spring! Even this year, during a heatwave, I completely did not water my swamp milkweeds, but they're already popping back up! You may also need to go in and weed, especially if you’re seeing invasive species popping up in the garden. Invasives are no good--if you do anything, do your best to get those out as effectively and safely as possible!

If you’re needing to maintain your shrubs in spring and summer, double check to make sure there are no active bird or insect nests within them. If it’s possible to wait until later to cut your shrubs, it could be extremely beneficial.

When fall and winter come around and your plants begin to die back, don’t cut them away if you can! Many insects overwinter in the plant stems left behind as perennials die back to the roots. In addition, birds will use seed heads as a source of food over the winter. Try not to clean things up until late winter/early spring, when other food sources are beginning to come back and things are growing again. By then, the insects should be waking up and leaving the plant stems as well.

However, don’t let this discourage you from collecting seeds! Collecting seed from your plants is a great way to continue gardening at low cost, as well as making friends and encouraging others to garden by trading seeds or offering them as gifts. If you're in an area where you do need to cut back, this is a great opportunity to collect the seeds and save them for the future. You could also cut back what’s dying in the front yard and keep things to overwinter in the backyard. Some overwintering habitat is better than no overwintering habitat.

Want to know how to collect seeds from specific plants? I've found YouTube to be a great source of info for this! Knowing what you're doing and when is key to getting a viable harvest.

As your mulch begins to break down, you’ll need to keep adding more to top it off, if you can. It can get a bit repetitive, but no worries--the mulch breaking down means your soil is improving! 

If possible, add to your garden! Expand, add in new things, and keep encouraging the growth of native plants. If you couldn’t add that water feature in year one, see if you can in year two! New interest in birds? Add a birdhouse, or more bird feeders. Loving the butterflies? Add plenty more nectar-rich plants, or do more research into what they lay their eggs on! Want more color? See what else you can add in! Came into some new pots to expand your flowerpot garden with? Find cool native plants to put in them! I always encourage people to start small and then expand over time, as opposed to starting big and getting overwhelmed.

Keep learning and observing native species of birds, insects, mammals, etc. See what’s coming to your yard now, and look into how you can improve things more for them on your budget. If you aren’t seeing what you were hoping, see if there’s other actions you can take that’ll attract what you’re hoping to see in your backyard habitat. Knowing more about the world around you makes it easier to know how to help the world around you. Talk to others about what you’re doing, the changes you’ve made, and the results you’ve seen! Curious neighbors? Work friends? Your closest homies? Your family? All fair game! You just might be the one who gets someone else interested in making their space a habitat for local wildlife!

That’s the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about the secret Other Thing you can do to help biodiversity--tackling invasives! Until then, I hope this advice was helpful! Feel free to reply with any questions, your success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!

[honey-milk-depresso]

⋙l o a d i n g…

loading completed!✓ …━━━━━☆

┏ ⋙fries- Tim Drake x Reader┛

♧…━━━━━☆

“Hey Tim.”

The young boy with black curtain bangs looked towards you, sipping on his milkshake as the two of you sat quietly at a fast food diner in the heart of Gotham at night, waiting for the rain to pass as neither of you brought an umbrella.

“Hm?”

You smirked mischievously, twirling a crisp, golden fry between your fingers. “Try stealing a fry from me.”

Tim blinked, taking in your words for a few minutes before he raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I’m bored.”

The boy rolled his eyebrows, huffing a bit as he shook his head, although he wasn’t really annoyed. Just amused.

“Fine, whatever. You’re a weirdo though,” he teased, smiling a bit as you grinned.

He casually tried to intercept your fingers to take the fry from you, but of course, you lifted your hand up to prevent him from snatching it from you.

His hand followed you up as you moved your hand down. Then right. Then left. Then diagonally to the right again. It looked rather comical to see the young CEO of Wayne Enterprises trying to take a fry from a gremlin who asked for it.

Tim irked slightly, pouting. “Hey now…”

You smiled cheekily. “Who said I’ll make it easy to steal it from me?”

Tim huffed, standing up slightly as he bend his torso forward in your direction and tried a little harder to take the fry from you. Why did he even bother trying to do this with you? God knows why, but now with a goal in mind, he’s not going to stop until he gets the fry from you.

After a while of moving from left , right, up, down, front, back…

you just ate the fry, smiling childishly to yourself as you imagined the annoyed look on his face.

You didn’t take into account though, that trying to take the fry from you became mechanical to him. So mechanical he subconsciously leaned his face onto yours and kissed you to “take the fry from you”.

The two of you blushed profusely seconds later, with Tim immediately pulling back when he taste the slight taste of sweetness from your milkshake and saltiness from the fry you ate, as you tasted the sweetness of his own milkshake and mild spiciness from him eating his chili-dipped fry he ate long ago.

“I… er…” Tim stuttered, blush not dying down.

He didn’t know why, but he liked it.

And he kinda hoped you liked it too…

[bluehoodiewoozi]

Happy to Help

Xu Minghao x GN!Reader

Genre: sickfic, fluff.

Word Count: 8k

Warnings: adult language. food mentions. mentions of death/funerals (no one even comes close to dying though). a very bad case of the common cold.

[Series: Serenity Street 17] The heating in your apartment is broken and the landlord is not in a rush to fix it. By the time you gather the courage to ask your neighbour for help, you’re sick and now he’s stuck nursing you for a week.

note: Serenity Street is back, y'all!

For four whole days, you had gritted your teeth and smiled when Jihoon promised to get your heating fixed. For four whole days, you tried ridiculous Tiktok hacks to warm up even just your bedroom, and when that failed, wrapped yourself in three blankets and drank all the tea you could afford.

But everyone has a limit, and you finally met yours.

“Listen, I am only one man,” Jihoon told you – and frankly, he seemed to be on the verge of crying as well – when you practically broke into his apartment in search of justice, “and I do not know anything about heating systems or why yours specifically has broken.”

“Then tell someone else to fix it,” you complained, completely sick and tired of this treatment. “There has to be, like, a million people out there who could fix my heating.”

He sighed. “My parents have a contract with one specific company. Unless you want to pay for a breach of contract, you’ll have to wait until they get here.”

“It’s been four days already,” you spoke through gritted teeth, wrapping your coat tighter around yourself. “My apartment is colder than the basement right now. It’s February – do you know how freaking cold it is outside? Are you going to pay my funeral fees?”

Jihoon raised a brow – half in concern and half in annoyance. “I don’t.. I don’t think it’s that bad…” 

You countered with an eyebrow raise of your own. 

That seemed to do the trick: he sighed and sat up straighter, reaching for his phone. “Fine, I’ll give them another call. Maybe they’ll come quicker if I offer an extra fee or something, I don’t know. Just… hang on until then.” 

Scoffing, you stared at him. “And what? I’m just supposed to go back to the Arctic and pray that your handymen will come before I freeze to death?”

He frowned at that. “You’re not going to die. It’s only been four days.”

“You try turning your heating off for four days in winter and tell me how you feel after that,” you practically growled, challenging him.

Jihoon rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. “Just go stay with someone on your floor. Minghao has a spare bedroom. I’m sure he’ll share if you asked nicely.”

You wanted to physically fight him at the mention; not because he was wrong (god knows Minghao wouldn’t hesitate to let you take over his spare bedroom if you, or anyone, just asked nicely), but because he knew what you felt for Minghao.

As one of your very few friends in the building, Jihoon was more than aware that you had been harbouring a crush on your quiet artistic neighbour. You had had your eye on Minghao ever since he brought you a package – the mailman had mistakenly delivered it to his apartment and Minghao brought it to you with a heart-melting smile. 

A whole year later, your knees still felt like jelly every time Minghao smiled at you in the hallway and you had to refrain from squealing out loud every time he spoke to you. You were, as the youths would say, ‘down bad’ for your neighbour. 

And that’s why you couldn’t bear the thought of asking him for help in this situation.

When you didn’t reply to his suggestion, Jihoon sighed. “I’ll give him a call–”

“Don’t you dare!” you threatened. “If you as much as tell him my heating’s broken, I will kidnap Peaches.”

“Peaches?” he wondered, blinking at you in confusion before glancing back at where he last saw his fluffy cat. Once he was satisfied to find his pet snoring away in the armchair, he turned to glare at you. “I’m just trying to be a good friend and you’re threatening my child?”

You gave up then and there, turning on your heel and marching back to your apartment.

The next morning it appeared that Jihoon, as magnificent and powerful as he was, unfortunately had no power over the heating company. They rejected his attempts at bribes and offered him what they called ‘a tentative date’. 

The problem? It was a whole week away.

[i asked my parents if they’d let you stay in 5a until then, but apparently they rented it out just a few days ago. the new guy’s coming tomorrow. nothing i can do. srry.]

You sniffled as you read the messages on your phone, hidden under three blankets and two sweaters. Groaning at your bad luck, you got off the bed and stumbled towards the kitchen to make yourself some tea. The hot drink was the closest thing you had to heating at the moment, besides a tiny and barely useful (and frankly one step from being a fire hazard) space heater Jeonghan and Sunny had left behind your door the evening before.

As you walked, you concluded you were a little dizzy and your nose wasn’t letting in as much air as it should have. While the water boiled, you also realised your throat was strangely scratchy. It didn’t take much to figure out the lack of heating had finally defeated your immune system.

Frustrated at the realisation, you pulled out your phone again and sent a text back to Jihoon.

[u owe me cold medicine]

The reply arrived just as you began pouring hot water into your mug. The soothing smell of tea filled the kitchen and you couldn’t help but lean a little closer to the heat of both the kettle and the mug as you read his message.

[you’re sick???!]

You chose to not entertain his much-too-late worry spree. After all, had he worried a little sooner, you’d probably have a warm apartment by now – or so you bitterly chose to believe as you shuffled back towards the bedroom.

But before you could even make it out of the kitchen, a knock sounded on your door. 

Burdened by the onslaught of what appeared to be the common cold, your brain failed to realise opening the door usually meant a whole new set of problems.

You put your mug down on the counter and went to open the front door, revealing the one person you wanted to see the least in your condition.

Minghao couldn’t even muster a smile when he saw you. “Are you okay?”

You blinked at him. “Why?”

“Jihoon texted. He said your heating’s broken.” (You made a mental vow to find and kidnap Peaches the Orange Cat – full government name and all.) “How bad is it?”

“I’m fine,” you lied through your teeth. In retrospect, this was not one of your brightest moments. “It’s just a little chilly. I manage.”

He gave you a once-over, growing more confused and concerned by the second. “How many blankets is that?”

“Three.”

His eyebrows rose. “... You manage, huh?”

“One hundred percent. You don’t need to worry about me,” you confirmed with a smile and tried to shoo him away. “I’m sure they’ll fix the heating soon.”

“Well,” he took a deep breath, as if hesitating, “if you get too cold, you can always come over to my place. My apartment’s warm.”

You shook your head even as your freezing body screamed at you. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”

“You wouldn’t be–”

“My tea’s ready, so I should go,” you interrupted him and waved him goodbye before closing the door. 

Once you were no longer confronted by his worried eyes, you sighed in relief, before cursing yourself for damning your body to another week of frost.

Your bad luck just never seemed to end.

What you thought would be just temporary discomfort was quickly turning out to be the worst cold you had suffered in years: sniffles quickly began to look like needing to go to the store to buy a few more boxes of tissues, your scratchy throat turned into a near-complete lack of voice, and you didn’t need a thermometer to know you were too feverish to really leave your bed.

You sent a mostly typo-free text to Jihoon to inform him that this was all his fault and burrowed back into your blanket cave. All you wanted to do was sleep – and sleep you would.

In your feverish and sleepy daze, you failed to register that someone was knocking on your door until you heard a familiar voice call out, “Hey, are you home? (Y/n)?” 

You contemplated if opening the door was a good idea in your state. After all, one can only imagine the kinds of things you could accidentally confess while in a paracetamol-induced daze. So, you told yourself, Minghao could wait another day.

Except – as you’d soon realise – your body refused to acknowledge that decision. Like a drunken sailor following the call of a cursed siren, you stumbled out of bed and just about dragged yourself to the front door. You had half a mind to wipe away your snot before unlocking the door, revealing a distraught Minghao.

He had his phone pressed to his ear, a muffled voice sounding from the speaker. His eyes lit up at the sight of you. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got it.” He rolled his eyes at whatever the person on the other side of the call was saying. “Yes, they opened the door. I’m going now. Bye.”

Finally, he turned his attention to you. “What were you doing? We’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”

“Why?” you wondered all the while trying to force your eyes to focus enough to admire his pretty eyes. And his hair. Had he dyed his hair? You were sure it was blonde yesterday, so how was it brown now?

“Because Jihoon thought you were dead,” he deadpanned, reaching to place his hand on your forehead. He sighed at the touch, disappointed but not surprised. “You’re really sick, you know that?”

You snorted out a laugh – and quickly came to regret it when you almost choked on it – before croaking out, “Of course I know that. I’ve been trying to sleep it off.”

“I don’t know if just sleeping will–”

“It’ll be fine,” you chuckled and reached over to pat his hair, silently marvelling at how soft it was to your touch. Reality called you back soon enough and you reiterated yourself under his disbelieving gaze, “Yeah, I’ll be okay. I just need to sleep, drink a lot of tea, and take some more medicine and then I’ll be good as new.”

He was still struggling to take your reply seriously. But finally, under your unrelenting smile full of content, he agreed. “Right, take good care of yourself. Sleep is good. Do you–” He hesitated for a moment. “Do you need anything from the store? I can get it for you.”

“Nah, I’m fine,” you told him and waved before closing the door. “I’ll see you once I’m better.”

And with that, you made your way back to your tiny somewhat warm base in the bedroom. A nap would soon claim you once again, your dreams filled with Minghao’s smiles and soft voice.

You sat up suddenly just as you were about to fall deep in slumber, eyes widening: you could’ve asked him to buy you more tissues. You groaned and fell back into your nest – snotty noses are a curse.

Hoping some fresh air would clear up your nose and the headache your condition had brought along, you went to check your mail in the morning. ‘Went’ might be a bit of a strong word, you’d soon realise, as you nearly blacked out just crossing the doorstep. ‘Attempted’ – that might be a better word.

As you gave up on your mission – after all, how would you go down a whole floor if you couldn’t even get out of your apartment without nearly fainting? – you noticed a bag on your welcome mat.

Suspiciously squinting, you picked up the bag. The squint quickly melted into a grateful smile when you recognised Minghao’s name signed on a note on the very top of the goodies. 

Suddenly filled with a much-needed extra ounce of energy, you took the bag to your kitchen and began unpacking it. You found various cold medicines, a large pack of undoubtedly expensive tea, and some snacks, tissues, topped off with a bright-yellow post-it note from your neighbour. 

Please take good care of yourself and get better soon. You can always come to my place if you need anything at all. – Minghao, 2B.

A giddy smile appeared on your face as you hugged the note to your chest. You rushed to find your one heart-shaped magnet before using it to stick the note onto your fridge, right in the centre. You’d cherish this note for as long as your crush would last – you knew this even in your feverish state.

But before long your joy was replaced with annoyance and despair as a cough fit paired with cold shivers up your spine shook your body. Your rational brain came back online soon after. Perhaps it was the words on the note, or perhaps you were finally just defeated – either way, you reached for your phone.

[hey, this is weird to ask but… can i come stay over for a while until my heating gets fixed?]

“Are you awake?” you heard Minghao ask as the door of his room creaked open. Too exhausted and relaxed to move or even speak, you only let out a throaty hum. His face – albeit a little blurry – appeared in your line of vision. “How are you feeling?”

Your reply was not legible to Minghao.

“What?”

You sighed and cleared your throat the best you could before repeating, “I feel as awful as yesterday…”

“But?”

“But way warmer,” you mumbled and burrowed back under the blankets he had wrapped you in the night before when you arrived at his door. “I missed heating.”

He chuckled sympathetically at that and placed his hand on your forehead like he had the day before (the touch made you feel just as giddy as it did back then too). “Heating’s nice, isn’t it? I hope yours gets fixed soon too.”

“Me too,” you whispered, closing your eyes as you basked in the warmth.

“Your fever’s still pretty bad. I guess the medicine’s worn off.”

He sighed and gently brushed your cheek with the back of his hand. (You couldn’t help but imagine the touch as that of a caring boyfriend rather than just a concerned neighbour.) Feeding your fever-induced delusions, he kept stroking your cheek as he stayed in front of you, contemplating his options.

“Do you want some tea?” he offered after a long minute of thinking. “I think someone said lemons and honey in tea help.”

“I’ve had so much tea though,” you croaked.

“Clearly not enough,” he joked. “Stay here, I’ll go make you some. Maybe some food too? I made waffles earlier, if you want any.”

You smiled at the thought, sighing dreamily, “Waffles and tea...”

“Right?” he chuckled and gave your cheek one last affectionate pat before walking out of the room.

When he returned, he was carrying a tray. He carefully placed it on the bedside table before handing you a steaming mug, a plate of waffles and a handful of cold medicine pills. 

“I don’t know how sweet you like your tea, but it has a lot of honey,” he warned gently, smiling proudly when you took a sip and hummed happily. “Is it good?”

“It’s better than what I’ve been drinking so far,” you told him with a raspy chuckle. 

He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that, but he did feel a slight concern over your tea preferences. Wordlessly, he reached for the second mug on the tray and took a sip. His confusion only grew: this wasn’t his best attempt at making tea at all. In fact, he’d argue he hadn’t made tea this bad in years – maybe he was just so worried that it was affecting his performance.

“Drink your tea, eat the waffles, take your medicine,” he sternly told you instead of thinking about it any longer, “and then you can go back to sleep if you want.”

“I do love sleep,” you mumbled before taking the medicine, barely aware of what you were saying in your feverish state. You took a bite of a waffle to wash away the bitter aftertaste. “I love you, Minghao.”

He snorted and took another sip. “Sure.”

“I mean it!” you decided to declare, glaring at him for not trusting you. “I love you so much. I’d do anything for you.”

Dumbfounded by your confession, he blinked. “How about you just get better quickly, hm?”

You hummed. “Will you love me back then?”

He chose not to answer that.

Jihoon had more important things to do than nurse a sick neighbour back to health, but he felt he had no choice when Minghao practically dragged him to the apartment by his sleeve. 

“Why me?” he wondered groggily, barely awake enough to even take care of himself. “Why can’t you take care of them yourself?”

“Because I have an actual job,” Minghao pointed out with a roll of his eyes. “Just make sure they don’t leave and that they take their medicine. Remember, they have to take these pills every four hours.”

Jihoon’s eyes twitched as he tried to blink. “Why me?”

Minghao was tempted to just lock him in the apartment and not share a word of explanation. But he supposed he owed him that much. He sighed. “Because you’re their friend and they’re completely out of it – I can’t leave them alone.”

“They’re a grown adult.”

“Poor (Y/n)’s very sick,” he said with a worried look in his eyes. “They must be hallucinating or something too, because they said they loved me? Can you imagine?”

At that, Jihoon’s jaw dropped. Then, he began laughing – not just giggling or chuckling, no: fully cackling. 

“Don’t be too entertained by my misery. They’re your problem now,” Minghao deadpanned, arms crossed over his chest as Jihoon all but folded over the sofa’s backrest in his fit of laughter. As the man finally calmed down, gasping for air but laughing no more, Minghao sighed and asked, “So, will you watch them for me?”

“Can I bring my cat?”

“Hi, Peaches!” you cooed a few hours later, the cat snuggled in your arms. She purred loudly in reply, kneading at the blankets you had piled over yourself. It was a welcome sensation, you decided.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Jihoon leaning against the doorframe, smiling in a way that seemed just a bit too smug to be well-meaning. Your eyes narrowed at the sight.

“You’re not Minghao,” you deadpanned.

His smirk widened. “Yeah? Too bad you can’t confess your undying love for me then.”

You groaned. “Fuck off, Jihoon.”

He let out a hissing noise. “Can’t do that. Minghao asked me to look after you for a bit.”

“So no Minghao?”

“Only your best friend and a cat.”

You snorted. “For a cat, you sure are talkative.”

Jihoon only sighed at that. “I think that means it’s time for you to take your medicine.”

“I feel fine though.”

“But you’re talking nonsense.”

You chuckled and hummed in agreement. “You brought Peaches. You never bring her to my place. I’m a little offended.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” he joked and handed you the pills and a glass of water. “I just brought her over so she wouldn’t be bored.”

“I bet you were worried about me,” you teased and took the medicine, groaning at the stupid bitter aftertaste. “Those pills are so gross. Why can’t medicine taste more like candy?”

“How would I know?” He placed the back of his hand on your forehead. You silently sighed at the realisation that it didn’t feel half as nice as when Minghao did it.

Jihoon pulled his hand away to glare at you. “You don’t get to diss me just because you’re sick and I’m not Minghao.”

Your eyes widened. “I didn’t– Did I think out loud?”

He stared at you for a moment before blinking and looking away. “I’m starting to think that medicine is not very effective.”

“It’s kept me alive this far,” you shrugged.

“Alive and loopy,” he concluded with a defeated nod before smirking again – god, you hated it when he did that. “I heard you confessed to Minghao.”

“I did wHAT?!”

Peaches startled at your sudden rise of volume before settling back into her oddly cat-shaped hole in the middle of the bed, but you did not care. You had more urgent matters to worry about than the comfort of a spoiled orange cat. 

Confessed to Minghao? You? There was no way. Surely Jihoon was lying – right, he did that sometimes, after all.

Jihoon only laughed though. “What? You didn’t even know?”

“I didn’t– There’s no way I could have, right? I’m not that out of it?” you reasoned.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged nonchalantly as if you weren’t going through an actual crisis right in front of him, “he seemed kind of distraught when he told me this morning. Thought you were hallucinating or something.”

You could only pray the mattress would swallow you whole before Minghao’s return. Either that, or maybe the universe could send a sign that Jihoon was indeed lying. You were half-sure he was anyways – he probably thought it would be funny to see your reaction. Right. That had to be it.

But, as always, your prayers were met with disdain and spite, and the front door opened. Wordlessly, you begged Jihoon for mercy as Minghao’s voice echoed from the hallway. 

“Are they awake yet?” 

You shook your head and clasped your hands together and tugged at Jihoon’s sleeve, but he seemed to be dead set on causing you more misery. “They’re awake! Just took the medicine.”

Minghao appeared in the doorway, a relieved smile on his face. “Oh, good. You look a lot better today than yesterday– Not that you ever look very bad, but–” he seemed to panic and it was an odd sight because this was, after all, the ever-so-calm Minghao. He cleared his throat and smiled again. “You look healthier!”

“I… feel… healthier,” you slowly said, trying to take all of it in. 

“You’re home early,” Jihoon noted, already gathering the orange loaf of a cat in his arms.

Minghao’s ears seemed to go a little more red at the mention. He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Ah, yeah, I– I left work early. Got worried.”

Jihoon smirked and leaned closer to you to whisper, much like a co-conspirator when he was the villain of your tale, “He got worried.”

“Count your days, Lee,” you told him with a deadly glare as he backed away, a carefree smile on his face. 

“I’ll see you guys later then,” Jihoon announced and waved. “Get better soon!”

“Kim Mingyu, I swear to God— No, I know I asked for the recipe— But that doesn’t mean— Mingyu, I asked for a soup recipe not for your grandmother’s life story!” Minghao argued with his friend on the phone. His attention was soon diverted though, just to glare at you. “You should be in bed! –no, not you, Mingyu– Why are you up?”

“I feel better,” you croaked. While your body didn’t feel like it was made of lead-filled balloons anymore, your throat still hurt and the sniffles and coughs weren’t really helping with that. 

Lowering his phone, he rolled his eyes and pointed towards the sofa. “You’d better lay down.”

“I’m fine–”

“I can see you struggling to stand upright from here,” he deadpanned before lifting his phone back to his ear. He sighed right after. “Yes, you did tell me about the time she went to Tokyo already, Gyu. So about that soup–”

When you still didn’t budge, choosing to admire the decor instead of following his directions, Minghao grabbed your hand and led you to the sofa himself. You were practically forced to lay down, a blanket thrown over you with care, the cushion fluffed for your ultimate comfort. With the phone still tucked under his ear, he pointed a warning finger at you and slowly told you, “Stay right here.”

“But I feel fine?” you mumbled but made no attempt to escape your fate. The sofa was nice enough you concurred and melted into the cushions, pulling the blanket further up your chin to hide your fully rubbed-red nose. 

Just as you got comfortable in your new spot, listening to Minghao’s desperate attempts to pry a soup recipe from Mingyu’s mind, he appeared in front of you again. You were handed a mug full of…

“Tea? Again?” you groaned softly, but he silenced you with a warning glare and put on the TV instead of addressing your complaints. It was enough, you decided, as a drama rerun played. 

After what felt like forever, Minghao’s arguments with Mingyu quieted and all you heard was the TV, the simmering of something in a pot, and your temporary roommate’s humming from the kitchen.

“What are you making?” you asked him when he came to check on you.

His hand on your forehead just like many times before, he smiled. “Some soup. It should help your throat. How are you feeling?”

“A little chilly,” you half-joked. Half because it was still a relief from the freezing temperatures in your apartment, but the living room area was still much colder than the bedroom Minghao had set you up in. It wasn’t meant as a complaint, but,  judging by his deepening frown, Minghao seemed to take it as one.

“You’re cold?” he worried and, to your surprise, straightened up and reached over his head to pull his own sweater off. 

Thoroughly confused, you watched as he shook the clothing item a few times before handing it to you expectantly – as if you were supposed to know exactly what to do with it. 

(Newsflash: you had no idea what to do with it. Your brain was running at 20% power and still stuck on the fact that he had taken off his sweater in front of you – and looked so damn attractive doing that.)

When you made no move to grab it from him, Minghao’s frown only deepened even more. He sighed softly and took the matters into his own hand: he shoved the head hole over your head and guided your arms into the sleeves before rolling the hoodie downwards until it covered your torso. 

To top it all off, he adjusted your blanket to make sure not a single gust of cold air could get you. Once he was done, he offered a sweet smile and patted your cheek as if you were a beloved household pet. “Better?”

You could only stare at him in response and dumbly nod.

“Good,” he nodded and smiled wider before glancing at the clock. He hummed in thought. “The soup needs to simmer for another 15 minutes. If you’re still cold…” He hesitated, eyeing you almost shyly and averting his eyes when your gaze met his. He cleared his throat. “If you’re cold, we could cuddle. You know, to share the warmth.”

Embarrassingly enough, it only took you half a second to agree. But thankfully, he didn’t seem put-off by your sudden enthusiasm. Ears reddening as he shuffled closer, he reached over to wrap an arm around your shoulder and pull you to rest your head against his chest instead of the pillows. 

To this day, you’re half sure you hallucinated the entire thing (and that he definitely didn’t go to check on the soup at the 15-minute mark. You had no memory of having that soup at all).

Your barely blissful sleep was interrupted by a vibration under your pillow. You startled awake and looked around until you found the source of your disturbance – the phone under your pillow, Jihoon’s name flashing on the screen.

“What?” you grunted into the phone after swiping to answer the call. No sooner had you spoken than your head slammed back into the pillow — you had no interest in fighting gravity today.

Jihoon snorted at your response. “Good day to you, dear neighbour. Glad to hear you’re better.”

You had no interest in small talk when dreamland was still at hand’s reach. “What do you want, Ji?”

“The handymen finally came. I just wanted to ask for your permission to enter your apartment.”

“Handymen?”

“To fix your heating,” he reminded you softly. “This cold really took you down hard, huh?”

“Oh, the heating!” you perked up, sitting up again. “Of course you can go inside. Should I come too?”

Jihoon hummed in thought before concluding that “Minghao probably won’t let you leave his apartment yet.”

“I’m an adult!” you argued. “He can’t keep me here against my will.”

“I think you’ll be surprised at how convincing he can be,” he laughed, “but I guess you can try. I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

But when you went to tell Minghao about your plan, he proved Jihoon’s point a little too perfectly.

“No,” he told you sternly before you could even put on your shoes. “You’re still sick.”

“I’ll just be next door,” you argued.

He was having none of it. “Two days ago you almost collapsed on your way to the bathroom – that was even fewer steps away! You’re not going.”

“Why not?” you whined, frowning at him. “I’m fine! I’m standing up, see?”

His stare was one of disappointed disbelief. “You’re leaning against the wall, (Y/n).”

“There’s walls in my apartment.”

He sighed. “Please just go back to bed. I’ll go myself.”

“But I wanted to get some things–”

“Send me a list and I’ll bring them to you,” he solved your problem easily and you had no room to argue.

Minghao had never actually been in your apartment – not since you actually moved in and packed your things anyway.

He knocked softly on the door before walking in to see Jihoon and a pair of handymen chatting away. The former offered him a polite smile and a nod before returning to the discussion.

Minghao took that as a sign to look around. He took a deep breath and found himself shivering, his breath fogging up in front of his very eyes. How you had survived in this apartment so long without getting frostbite was beyond his comprehension so he decided to not think about it anymore – the idea of you shivering in your bed, desperate for warmth, upset him anyway.

He shuffled into the kitchen where he quickly found the phone charger you had told him to get. He also found a familiar bright-yellow post-it note on the fridge, his hand-writing proudly on display under a heart-shaped magnet. 

He scoffed before smiling at the sight; why would you keep that? It’s just a note? He hadn’t even spent a full minute on scribbling it.

Did you actually like him? He shook his head – there was no way. You were too good for him anyway.

Without another thought, he opened the list you had texted him and began gathering the belongings you so dearly missed: some sweaters, shirts… 

A single small plant stood in the middle of your bedroom, somehow still green (if not a little droopy) and not frozen over like its compatriots on the window sills. He picked it up – perhaps having even this tiny plant survive would cheer you up, he reasoned. 

As he looked at the other, less fortunate plants, Jihoon wandered into the room.“That thing is still alive?”

Minghao hummed in agreement. “It seems a little frostbitten, but it’s still alive, I think.”

“I think they’ve had this thing for ages,” Jihoon told him with a chuckle, leaning forward to inspect the plant. “Who knows? Maybe you can bring it back to life.”

“I sure hope so,” Minghao whispered in response before offering him a smile. “So, what’s the latest on the heating?”

Jihoon grimaced. “They said the system is entirely screwed. They’ll have to replace most of it – might take a few weeks.”

“Weeks?” 

“At best.”

Minghao was already mentally drafting the best way to deliver the news to you – he didn’t see it going very well either way. “I guess I will have a roommate until spring then.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Jihoon sighed. “I know they’re a lot to deal with – especially when they’re sick.”

He felt insulted on your behalf. “They’re a delight!”

“You’re lying,” Jihoon laughed. “Mingyu told me how you had to scold them to lay down yesterday.”

“They're just a little stubborn,” Minghao defended you to his best ability, trying to limit his lying.

“If you say so.” Jihoon nodded at the bags at his feet. “Do you need help getting all that to your apartment?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Minghao told him with a reassuring smile before picking everything up. Sure, he struggled, but he’d struggle even more if he hurt his pride by asking for help with something this easy.

Even if getting back to his apartment took him a little longer than he’d like to admit, he still made it all on his own. And he was decently proud of that.

“Minghao?” you called out his name the moment he opened the door. 

Oh, what he’d give to hear this every time he returned home. He froze at the thought – he was starting to become delusional and that was not his brand. No, he had to get himself together – you were just a friend staying in his spare bedroom because of an emergency. Yes. So it was.

But he couldn’t help but feel a little deluded when he spotted you sitting on the sofa, his white hoodie around your frame, smiling at him hopefully. His heart was about to fail him.

He didn’t even have to try hard to smile – it came naturally at the sight. “I got everything you said.”

“Oh thank god,” you breathed out in relief before sneezing. “No offence, but I miss wearing my own clothes.”

He laughed. “I’m sure you do.”

Your smile faded a little as another thought came to your mind. “Did they say how long the repairs will take? It shouldn’t be too long, right?”

“Jihoon said they have to replace the whole heating unit,” he regretfully told you. “It’ll take a few weeks.”

The remnants of your smile disappeared. You threw yourself backwards on the sofa, pulling a cushion over your face to scream into it in frustration. After a beat of silence, you removed the cushion and stared at the ceiling. “Where will I go?”

“You can just stay here,” he suggested, a little too enthusiastically perhaps. “You’re already settled in.”

“I don’t want to inconvenience you–”

“Nonsense,” he reassured you with a laugh and held something out for you to take. “You and this little guy can have the spare room.”

“Little guy?” You sat up to look at the item in his hand – the small flower pot he had brought along. Your eyes just about started watering at the sight. “It’s still alive?”

“I think so.” Minghao shrugged and gently handed the pot to you. “It looks like it could use a few days in a warm spot in the sunlight, but the other plants looked a whole lot worse.”

You sniffled – from tears or from your health conditions, you weren’t sure. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” He gave your head a gentle pat. “I’m just happy to help.”

To say you were growing a little annoyed with your health would be an understatement. A whole week of sniffling, coughing and sneezing had passed, but you felt only marginally better. 

“I’ve never been sick for this long before,” you complained to Minghao as he handed you a cup of tea and placed a bowl full of snacks between the two of you on the sofa. There was a drama playing in the background – you both agreed to watch it but, to tell the truth, neither of you was particularly invested in the plot. 

You took a sip of the hot beverage, hummed in appreciation, and continued your rant, “It makes no sense. I should be feeling better by now.”

Minghao chuckled. “Well, you were pretty sick when you came here, all feverish and snotty. I think you’ve gotten a lot better since.”

“My doctor still won’t let me return to work though,” you groaned. “How am I supposed to pay rent if I can’t work? It’s not living in this building is cheap.”

“Can’t Jihoon lower your rent until the heating gets fixed? It would seem fair.”

You froze. Why hadn’t you thought of that? “Wait, you’re right! Why am I paying full rent when I can’t even live there because of the temperatures? And it’s not even my fault?!”

Before you could get more fired up about it and start harassing your landlord, Minghao changed the topic. “Do you need anything else? Are you warm?”

Snapping out of your rage, you offered a sheepish smile. “I’m a little chilly actually.”

He sighed and reached over to once again place his hand on your forehead, as he often did. It was almost a routine at this point – not that your heart could ever stop fluttering at the simplest of physical contact with him. 

“You’re not running hot today though,” he worried but picked up a blanket anyway and threw it over your lap. Then, uncharacteristically, he hesitated for a moment. “Do… Do you mind if I–?” 

He lifted the corner of the blanket and shuffled under it as well, pulling his feet under the blanket for extra warmth. 

“You’re cold too?” you wondered.

He offered you a funny look – as if you had asked him if unicorns exist. “Do you think you’re the only one who feels cold sometimes?”

You blinked. “Well, no, but–”

“Then stop asking dumb questions and watch the drama,” he told you and forced himself to do just that. But if it hadn’t been for the sudden red-ish tint of his ears, you wouldn’t have questioned him to begin with.

Instead of asking any further questions, you decided to settle further into your (by now designated) spot on the sofa, engulfed in the warmth of the blanket and Minghao. 

You fully planned on blaming your illness for the way you leaned further and further into his space as you slowly began dozing off to sleep – even if it was fully intentional. Who could really blame you? You were sick, tired, and sitting next to your crush of god-knows-how-many months. 

And so, inch by inch, your head lowered not in the direction of the head- or armrest but towards his shoulder. Finally, your eyes closed as your cheek pressed against the fabric of his cardigan. 

It was a little rough from the wash, no longer as soft as it had once been, and you’d be lying if you said it felt comfortable against your cheek, but it was a sacrifice you were willing to make for just five minutes of something akin to affection from the man of your dreams.

You fully intended it to only be five minutes – just a short moment to bask in your delusions. But then you felt his arm shift under your body, lifting to rest around your shoulders. He pulled you closer and rested his cheek against your head and before the fourth minute passed, you were more than halfway into Dreamland. 

“I wish this happened more often. I really like you, Minghao.”

(And maybe if you had been more awake, you would’ve noticed the way his breath hitched and his smart watch vibrated to warn him of a sudden spike in his heart rate. 

Maybe you would’ve noticed the way his embrace tightened just the slightest bit and he pressed his lips against your forehead in a careful gesture of reciprocation. And that his world got a whole lot brighter at the idea that perhaps this time you knew what you were saying and that maybe, just maybe, your feelings were mutual.)

You couldn’t believe you almost squealed with joy at the prospect of going back to work. You loved Minghao – really, you did, in many ways – but being stuck in an apartment with him for almost two weeks turned out to be your shortcut to insanity.

So, of course, you took the very first chance to return to work. And of course you hated every second of it – reality really is much less rosy than daydreams.

“Minghao, I’m back,” you called out as you returned to the apartment exactly 20 minutes after the end of your workday. Frankly, you weren’t expecting any kind of answer – you had just spent the past two weeks fantasising about calling out that specific phrase to feed your delusions. 

You just had to try it out once, or maybe twice. Who knows what tomorrow brings.

But, just as you started to accept that it was dumb and not as much fun as they make it seem in those sitcoms, you heard a cough and a raspy, “I’m here” from his room.

You froze at the sound. A glance at the clock said that Minghao should still be at work. The art museum didn’t close until late at night so… 

“Minghao?” you called out again just to make sure you weren’t hallucinating. Perhaps you had already come down with a new fever and weren’t even aware of it.

Another cough. Now you were sure you weren’t imagining it.

You headed to his room, finding the door ajar and a Minghao-sized lump curled up under a pile of blankets. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you heard a muffled croak and you wondered exactly how high his fever must have been for him to think it sounded even remotely convincing. “Just had a rough day.”

You pursed your lips in thought before approaching the bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress near him to gently peel the covers off his face. His eyes narrowed into an accusatory glare at the sight of you and the light flooding his room. 

“Yeah?” You laughed at the sight of his reddening nose. “You sure it’s not the sniffles?`”

“Who even says ‘the sniffles’ anymore?” he mocked and buried his face in the pillows. Like a sulking child, he sharply pulled the blankets from your grasp and pulled them over his head. His voice once again came out muffled, “I’m fine. It’s just a little cold. Can you turn up the heating while you’re here?”

You went to do as he said but were taken by surprise by the thermostat. “It’s already maxed.”

“Is it?” he wondered, one eye peeking out from under the covers. “I don’t remember doing that.”

“I think you’re not that fine,” you realised and went back to him to check his temperature as he had done to you just some days ago. “Hao, you’re burning up. Have you taken any medicine yet?”

“I don’t need medicine,” he whined. “I need a nap and more blankets… and to get rid of this stupid cough.”

“So,” you concluded, amused all of a sudden – is this what he had been dealing with all this time with you? – , “some cold medicine?”

“... I don’t want to bother you.”

You let out a scoff. “Dude, I practically moved into your apartment when I got sick and you’re worried taking care of you will bother me? If anything, I have to do this to pay back the favour.”

“Can’t you just do it because you love me?” he wondered, drowsy and barely lucid.

You froze. “Because I— What?” 

“Because you love me,” he reiterated, turning his head to pout at you. “You said you loved me and if you loved me, you’d take care of me because of that and not because you’re paying back a favour.”

“When did I–” Your breath got caught in your throat – so Jihoon hadn’t lied after all. “Did I really say that?”

“You did – twice,” he declared, “I heard it myself.”

As you prepared to apologise, he added, “But it’s okay because I love you too. So, now you have to take care of me, right? You’re, like, legally obligated.”

A part of you was screaming on the inside, kicking and jumping and squealing and dying all at once. The other part was wondering how he had gone from “I’m fine, stop worrying about me” to “you’re legally obligated to care for me” in two minutes. You weren’t entirely sure which part of the situation worried you more.

Eventually, you decided that the second part was far more worrying. 

“Let’s get you some medicine and we can discuss the legal aspect once you’re better, okay?” you told him, gently stroking his hair off his (admittedly gross) sweaty forehead.

He hummed in agreement.

But when you went to leave his room to get some comfier clothes and medicine, his fingers wrapped around your wrist. You looked back to find his eyes squinted open, an accusatory sparkle shining in them. “Where are you going?”

“To get you some medicine–”

“Stay.”

“Hao, I have to–”

“Stay,” he told you a little more assertively. The gentle pulling at your wrist contrasted the force of his demand. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Begrudgingly, you sat back down. You could use a few minutes to process the information anyways, you decided, and reached up to play with his hair. Before long, his soft snores filled the room, yours joining not too soon after.

Days passed by and Minghao was recovering way faster than you – probably because he had half a mind to not stubbornly spend the first couple of days of his ailment in a freezer-temperature apartment. That’s what he told you anyways when you went to bring him tea and check his temperature one morning.

“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” you argued under your breath as you tilted and rotated the slowly-dying thermometer to see what numbers it was displaying. “Your fever’s gone at least.”

He sneezed and groaned right after your comment. “I wish everything else went away too.”

“At this rate, you’ll be back on your feet and bossing me around by tomorrow,” you joked to placate him (because realistically he would spend another three days feeling like death itself, as per your own experience) and fully sat on his bed. “Any plans for when you get better?”

“So many,” he admitted with a slow grin which dropped soon after in a near-comical manner, “first of which is to go to the tea shop because I’m pretty sure you’ve cost me most of my supply.”

“Fair,” you sighed and leaned against the headboard. “I’d bring you some tea myself but–”

“Please don’t,” he all but begged. At least you both agreed that your tea tastes and knowledge did not align. He then sighed dreamily, “And when I’m done with that, I’m going to work on my paintings, and maybe redecorate, and take you on a proper date, and–”

Your jaw dropped. “You what?!”

He blinked. “Do you… not want to…?”

You could only blink back – baffled, befuddled, bewildered, dumbfounded, stunned.

Like a normal person, he took your lack of agreement as rejection. Clearing his throat and twiddling his thumbs, he avoided your eyes as he admitted, “I just thought that since you confessed, and I confessed, and– Actually, nevermind, maybe the thermometer’s wrong and I still have a fever–”

“I’d love to go on a date with you, Hao,” you whispered just as he began his downward spiral.

“–maybe I do need to go to that doctor Junhui suggested and get my head checked and– Are you serious?” His apologetic wide eyes widened some more as they snapped to meet yours. “You– You want to go?”

“Well, yeah,” you shrugged, ears and cheeks burning and, damnit, were those butterflies in your stomach jumbo-sized? 

His lips spread into a wide, relieved smile. “Oh thank god. I almost had a whole breakdown.” 

Too busy trying to take in the situation and calming the butterflies wreaking havoc in your stomach, you found yourself jumping in surprise when his fingers wrapped around your own. 

And suddenly it hit you – this was your reality. Daydreams full of his smiles, long nights wishing he held your hand, sick days spent longing for the tender care of a lover – it was all real now and you no longer had to wish. 

All because of broken heating and long weeks of recovering from a cold from hell.

[xrenjunniesx]

Wait can you do when dreamies we’re about to kiss you BUT when they were about to you SMELL a hint of cigarette and refused to 💋because you didn’t like them 🚬 and they convince you they won’t 🚬 that ever again if you give them their 💋💋 something about nct smoking is giving me 🦋🦋🦋🦋

I love youuuuuuuuuu 🫶🫶

you refuse to kiss them since they smell like smoke

bf!nct dream

a/n ; this is such funny timing considering haechan just got caught for vaping LMAO

mark

it had been a while since you saw your boyfriend and you both wanted nothing more than to share a loving kiss and spend time together. until you smelt the smoke.

“really mark..” He is a little confused at first but then when you held your nose as a bit of a joke he realised. he laughed and apologised, saying he will go get some gum and brush his teeth as soon as possible but you’re shaking your head,

“until you give up smoking you won’t get a kiss.”

“oh!”

he ends up getting a kiss once he has some gum and a fresher breath, he claims the kiss is motivation to stop.

renjun

you were beyond excited to see your boyfriend after so long and give him hundreds of kisses, but when you did see him and pulled him into a tight hug, leaning back and about to kiss him, you smelt the smoke.

“renjun… the smoke smells..”

he reaches into his pocket and grabs a piece of gum, putting it into his mouth and immediately chewing it quickly to get rid of the smell.

he kisses you before you can move away but when he breaks the kiss you’re glaring at him. “when you stop smoking, then I’ll kiss you.” And you walk away from him.

“babe-You’re kidding?! right?! I’LL STOP! BABE COME BACK!”

jeno

you two were hugging outside when you caught a smell of his jacket. it smelt like cigarettes but you didn’t know if he smoked it or not. before you could ask, he was kissing your face. he definitely smoked.

“jeno..” He hummed in response, pulling back to look at your face. “I won’t kiss you unless you stop smoking.”

his smile drops a bit. he was a little confused but then figured you probably smelt it. “I can’t just… stop instantly. it’s an addiction.”

“promise me that you’ll try to stop?” he does agree to that. you pull out a piece of gum and give to him, “eat this and then I’ll kiss you.” he laughs and does as you say.

haechan

he came up to you, lips puckered and all, only to get pushed away.

“I am NOT kissing you when you smell like cigarettes.” “babe-“

“in fact I won’t kiss you at all until you stop smoking.” “baby… seriously..?”

over the next few days, he is trying every method to stop smelling like cigarettes. showering before he goes to see you, brushing his teeth immediately after smoking, chewing a LOT of gum. but you still somehow know.

he is dying to get a damn kiss so he does stop smoking cigarettes. he vapes instead. you’re against it, but at least he doesn’t smell as bad anymore. so he gets his kiss.

jaemin

you didn’t even know he smoked until you caught him outside one time smoking with his friends. since that moment, you refused to kiss him until he promised not to smoke again.

“baby, seriously?”

“I’m serious, it smells horrible and it’s bad for your health.”

he instantly tries to promise you but you weren’t buying it, you knew he wasn’t being sincere and he just wanted a kiss. a few days later he comes up to you, “I won’t smoke anymore.”

“really?”

“I really won’t and if I do I’ll tell you and you can give me a kissing ban.”

“You’re only quitting because of a kissing ban…?” “yeah.” he deadpans.

…. At least he quit I guess?

chenle

“god chenle, why do you keep smoking.”

you hated that he smoked and despite the fact that you never outright told him to stop, you made it very clear you hated him smoking.

but it wasn’t until you refused to kiss him that he realised you reallyyyy hated it.

“what can I do to get you kiss me?”

“go brush your teeth and also stop smoking.”

he goes and brushes his teeth, reflecting on his smoking habit as he did so. he didn’t even like the taste all that much it was more so just a habit he unfortunately gained.

he comes back to you with a fresh breath, pressing multiple kisses to your lips.

“I’ll stop baby, I’ll try to stop.”

jisung

he pulled you into a hug, kissing your forehead before trying to kiss your lips. you back away immediately.

“jisung… you reek of cigarettes. I am not kissing you.”

he pouts, repeatedly saying “just one. just one kiss.” but you keep denying him.

he ventures off to find some gum and comes back with two pieces of gum in his mouth, actively chewing them.

“now?” he asks

“jisung.. why don’t you just stop smoking…”

he is quiet for a bit, before nodding, “okay i’ll try to stop. but do I get a kiss?”

[bakugosworld]

Bitter not sweet

Endeavor x f! reader

platonic shoto x reader

Enji Todoroki and Y/N used to be a power couple. They used to be the most applauded couple at UA. Key words, used to be. Something disturbing happened to destroy their relationship, and now years later Y/N (a pro hero) is now helping teach and support her ex’s son in the same school she met his father.

Warnings: slight angst? Endeavor being Endeavor, trauma dumping, personal grudges

Endeavor could hear nothing but his own boots walking through the halls of his own agency. The place is empty due to the major villain attack that had happened earlier that day, and many of his sidekicks stayed to clean up the fight while Endeavor went to file some important paperwork due that day.

He shuffled inside his office and slowly shuts the door. As he makes his way to his desk his cell phone begins to ring. He quickly fishes it out of his pocket, recognizing the tune to be Fyumi calling. Thinking that there was an emergency he tenses up as he answers it. “Fyumi, what’s going on?” His voice alert. He hears her laugh from the other end of the line, his shoulders relaxed a bit. “Hey dad, I just wanted to know what you wanted for dinner? Shoto just finished his first day of UA and I want us all to eat together to celebrate tonight!” She seems excited as per usual.

Endeavor wraps up the conversation and stuffs his phone back into his pocket. Sighing as he sits down.

*earlier that day, Y/Ns perspective*

I had been hired as a new Heroics and Law teacher at UA high this year. I walked into the building for the first day of school and had passed a few familiar pros along the way. Once I reach my classroom I set down my bag and log into my computer. I had gotten the class environment set up during my orientation with Nezu who had provided me all the safety protocols and instructions. Once my computer is loaded I pull up my seating chart that EraserHead had provided and projected it to the wall, not even bothering to look at it.

I didn’t have a class untill an hour or two later considering I’m not a homeroom teacher, so I had decided to sit in the Faculty Room while I waited and caught up with a few long term friends. Once the bell went off I started walking to my classroom with Present Mic whose class is right next to mine. We stand outside the door chatting while watching the students trickle in one by one.

Eventually I had walked in to begin class. “Hello class my name is (pro hero name) but you can all me miss (last name)” I greet as I stand at the podium in the front of their seats. The class greets me back and I hear a few students talking amongst themselves quietly. “I going to call attendance so when I call your name just say a simple ‘here’. And if I mispronounce your name, please inform me right away. Understood?”

The students mutter words of acknowledgment. Going through the list, I seen a few surnames that are recognizable. “Next is shoto todo…roki…?” My jaw slightly agape as the last name rings in my head like a steel drum. The name Todoroki repeating itself over and over again. “Here” a monotone voice rings from the back of the classroom. I slowly turn my head up to look at the boy with split dyed hair. There’s no way. He looks exactly like him. Like her too. My heart squeezes in my chest. I thought I was over it.

I break myself out of the thought. I’ll just look into it after class. “Katsuki Bakugou?” I continue with roll call despite being shaken. I hear an angry grumble “here” from the opposing side of the classroom. I sigh and continue with class as normal despite me screaming internally.

A few students came to talk to me after class, some of them wanted to know more about my pro hero life *cough midoria cough* while others wanted to know more about the subject I would be teaching them this year. One student in particular left the class without a word to anyone. Yep. That’s his kid alright.

*back to the todoroki household*

“So shoto.. how was your first day?” Endeavor asks before shoving food into his mouth. Shoto sighs “it was fine..” Endeavor looks up to his youngest son. “What about your teachers? What teachers do you have, I want to make sure you have the best of the best so you can reach your goal” endeavor shoves more food into his mouth while waiting for his son’s response.

“My homeroom teacher is Mr. Aizawa. Then I have Miss (L/N) for Heroics and Law. Then I have Present Mic for English.” Shoto muttered quietly but it was loud enough for Endeavor to hear. Endeavor choked on his rice and slammed one hand on the table to stabilize himself while the other beat at his chest to dislodge the food from his throat.

Fyumi panicked and started to pat her father on the back, while asking him if he’s okay. Natsuo held back a very slight smile and kept eating. Endeavor finally cleared his throat and started down at the table in disbelief. ‘…y/n??’

After that incident he had finished his food and left to his room muttering a small ‘thank you’ to Fyumi for the dinner. Endeavor sat on the edge of his bed, looking towards the ground and his hands cupped around his mouth to help calm him down. He sat there for hours, thinking back on memories of you two in your high school days. It had been a long time since he had thought of you, he tried to suppress the memories due to the guilt that ate him alive.

—flashback—

“Enji!” Your voice rang through the halls of UA, he can hear your footsteps grow increasingly louder. He glanced over his shoulder to see you running his way. He smirked slightly and faced away from you, unsurprisingly, you jumped onto his back, like you always did, and wrapped your arms around his neck, and legs around his waist. He chuckled a bit “Hey hun, have a good day?” He asked while pushing you up his back by your thighs and holding you there. You nod into his neck. “It was good, Toshinori helped me push even harder with my quirk today during training” you say smiling. Enji slightly frowned at the name but was still happy for you. The truth is Enji never cared for Toshinori but didn’t absolutely hate him either. “That’s great darling, I’m happy for you” Enji bounced you on his back jokingly. You laugh as he spins you both around. “Thank you beef cake” you tease, and plant a sweet kiss on his cheek.

—End of flashback—

Enji sighed and sat up a bit more. He looked around his room, seeing pictures of his kids and a few with Rei. He walks to his closet and grabs out a small box. He sits down on his bed again and opens the box that contains photos. Sifting through a few, he finally found what he was searching for. It was a picture of you and him together outside of UA on the first day of your third year. You were wrapped in his arms standing infront of him, both of you smiling widely.

He set the photo on his bedside table and threw the box under his bed. Finally deciding to go to bed since he had to leave early for work tomorrow morning. He lays down and stares at his ceiling. Little did he know, his dreams will be filled with memories of you that night.

A week later

You were sitting in your empty classroom, it was half hour before first period started when you heard a knock on your door. You looked up from your computer, wondering why anyone would be here so early to talk to you. “Come in” you project your voice so they can hear you. Slowly the door opened to reveal Shoto Todoroki himself. “Sorry to bother you so early Miss (L/N)” he gave a small bow to you. “You’re not bothering me at all Todoroki. Is there something I can do for you?” I say turning towards him to give him my undivided attention.

He looks sort of puzzled. “Yeah actually, I wanted to talk to you about something” he says still standing at the door. You pull up a chair next to you and pat it, signaling for him to sit down. “What’s on your mind kid?” You say as he sits down.

“I guess I’m just confused.” He says tilting his head slightly. “How so?” You asked him, slightly mirroring his actions. “I found this in my dad’s room.” He says lifting up the photo of you and Enji together. You sucked in a breath and felt your heart drop, now understanding what this is about.

“What is this about? Clearly you and my father know each other. Very well. So what exactly happened?” He says looking up to you. noticing your shocked face he immediately felt bad. “I apologize if I had made you uncomfortable Miss (L/N).”

Finally, you shake out of your shocked state. “No, no. Don’t worry about it Todoroki. And to answer your question, your father and I.. well.. we used to be together.. but that was a long time ago.” You say quietly. Todoroki nodded.

Todoroki had asked a few more questions to which you were happy to answer them. He then left to go to his first class, leaving you completely alone to think about Enji.

Aizawas class had a field trip today, so the only classes you had to teacher were 1-B and 1-C. Which was relatively easy considering they are both calm classes. For the most part. That was untill you were getting ready for your next class when Mrs. Midnight burst into your room. “(Hero name)!! we need you to help immediately!! Class 1-A has been attacked by villains at one of our training centers! Your class is getting covered by nezu, please hurry!!”

Chills ran cold down your spine. You immediately bolted out the door and ran as fast as you could to your car. Breaking the speeding limit as a hero looked bad, but your students were in danger. You were doing 80 in a 30. The only thing you can think of was how scared your students must be, but you know they can handle themselves.

You were, unsurprisingly, the first hero on scene. Bursting through the doors, you took in the battle before you. Immediately jumping into action, you protect your students with your life. You hold off the villains untill the rest of the pros show up.

—a sort few days later—

(I’m not good at writing fighting scenes sorry)

You thought it was a horrible idea. Anything can go wrong. It was absurd. Hosting the sports festival directly after a villain attack?? That’s just disrespectful to the students who fought hard to stay alive during the attack.

You angrily grumbled to yourself. You were walking around the stadium to ease your mind. The first task just finished, Midoria taking first place which shocked everyone. You huffed and leaned your back against a wall. “Enjoying the festival so far?” You heard a voice ask.

You peak up to see nezu approaching you. “Yeah I guess so” you mumble. “What seems to be on your mind (y/n)?” Nezu asked while sitting on the ledge next to you. “Is this the right thing nezu? Having the festival right after the attack? Won’t it put everyone on edge? What about the villains? Wouldn’t they show up here if they really wanted to?”

Nezus face never changed. “I see why you’re concerned (Y/N), but this festival is supposed to take the students minds off of what happened. And for the safety, we have plenty of pros here incase anything does go wrong. It would be the villains downfall to prey on the kids now”

You relaxed a bit more with that statement. “Yeah you’re right” Nezu nods. “I am, well I do have to go now. If you need anything else you know where to find me” nezu says as he wanders away.

You once again are alone. You stand up and start walking down the hall. “So. You’re a teacher now?” You shiver at the deep voice and you stop in your tracks. “Yeah. What about it?” You snap back. You turn around to see endeavor who had just turned the corner. “You’re teaching my son.” He replied with his casual RBF.

Scoffing, you cross your arms over your chest. “Really? I had no idea.” Your voice dripping with sarcasm. He didn’t seem to appreciate that but he stayed quiet for a moment. “Is that all you wanted? If so, I’ll be on my way.” You turn around to leave once again.

“It wasn’t my choice”

—flashback—

“What the hell enji?!” You screamed at him. His eyes dropping from your face down to the floor. “Did you have this planned the whole time??” You you yelled a bit louder once more, tears brimming your eyes. He, too, teared up. Feeling ashamed of himself.

It was the day before your graduation from UA, and Enji was here before you telling you, after three years, that things won’t work out. “Was I a joke to you?” He didn’t respond..

What was worse. Is he had proposed to Rei, your best friend of thirteen years. “How long were you together for?” Your voice filled with venom and tears. You weren’t even sure if you wanted to know the truth. Was this even real? Who would propose to your girlfriend’s best friend and not the girlfriend?

Even after all the talks of ‘I can’t wait to marry you’ ‘we should have kids’ ‘I’m gonna grow old with you’. You had foolishly believed it all.

He wanted to say something to soothe you, he wanted to hug you, to kiss you, to tell you everything is gonna be okay. He wanted to make the whole situation go away. He felt a deep hatred for himself, and for his father.

—flashback ends—

“The hell do you mean ‘it wasn’t your choice’” you mock, growing more irritated. He sighs. “I didn’t want to marry her” you scoff “yeah right. Now you’re just wasting my time.”

Enji grows agitated now, but still hurt. “It was my father. He forced me into the marriage. For benefits of the quirks. He threatened to ‘get rid’ of you if I didn’t cooperate. I knew you’d be safer staying away from me, so I left. I did as he said. Because I loved you. And truth is, I believe I still do.” He mumbled the last part. Sure, you’ve seen him several times throughout the years. You kinda had to considering he’s the number two pro hero. He’s at your meetings, on the same patrol route sometimes, on the scene of a crime. He’s everywhere. But this is the first time he’s addressed you since the break up.

Hearing his words though… you wanted to believe him. You had found the piece of yourself that still loved him too. It that didn’t change the fact that he was married with several kids. And you couldn’t do that to them. Especially shoto as you’ve grown fond of the boy.

“I’d love to believe you. Truly. I still care for you Enji, dare I say I love you. If I could, I’d be with you right now. But we can’t be together. Never again. As much as I do love you, you must think of your family first.” You say as you turn away and walk down the hall, heading towards the stands to watch the rest of the festival. Enji watched her walk away for what felt like the hundredth time, and his heart shattered.

But little did either of them know, shoto was standing just around the corner, listening to the conversation. He too, had grown fond of you. He had even started looking up to you as if you were the mother that he never really had. Needless to say, he was just as disappointed in his dad as his dad was with himself.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.18

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Grieving. Word Count: 1,338

prev | current | next

“It’s okay to cry.”

“Hm?”

“It’s okay to cry,” Ji-su reiterated as she sat down beside your criss-crossed knees. You spent the morning listening as your brother and sister recounted their times spent in Mr. Han’s room upstairs. How he had been so kind to them and welcomed them into his home without hesitation. You were enormously thankful and made a mental reminder to tell him so later on. They also told you about Hyun-su. How he went out of his way to rescue them from the apartment and bring them to safety, rescuing them even after he went through a round of monsterization symptoms. You told yourself to pay him another visit to say thanks for that, as well.

After that, you let them play by themselves, enjoying just watching them laugh and have fun. It was nice to hear them laugh when they were playing with Yeong-su’s dinosaur, especially after only hearing them cry since you saw them for the first time after a week. For the past half hour, in particular, you enjoyed your time watching Jin-ok teach Yeong-su how to read, smiling softly at his progress whenever it showed. “You lost your father, just like they did.”

You gave the beautiful red-dyed-haired girl a gentle smile but shook your head. “It’s not the same though. I’ll never understand what they went through when they saw him fall. That’s something I can only help them overcome. Besides, if I’m not strong for them, they have no one else.”

“I don’t agree. You can be strong and grieve at the same time. They don’t need you to be their rock all the time, especially with Jin-ok being there,” she placed a hand on your knee comfortingly. “You’re their sister, not their mother; and that’s okay. You don’t need to take on that responsibility.”

You stared at your siblings blankly for a moment before nodding to her words, looking down so your teary eyes would be hidden. 

“I’m afraid if I start crying I’ll never stop,” you joked. “I just never got to say goodbye to him, you know?” You sniffled softly, blinking away the tears to send her a forced smile. “Not really, anyways. That’s what sucks the most about it. I’ll never be able to tell him how much I love him. How good of a dad he was despite the circumstances.”

“I’m sure he knew,” she reassured and you nodded. 

“Thank you, Yoon Ji-su.”

She smiled and nodded, reaching over to squeeze your hand. “I know we’re practically complete strangers, but if you need someone you don’t have to be strong in front of, I’ll be around,” she told you before standing from the chair she sat on and leaving the room.

You wiped the fallen tears from your cheeks and stood up, walking over to the reading group on the floor and waiting until they finished with the paragraph they were on before speaking. “You better keep up the good work, okay, Yeong-su? Gotta make sure your reading is sharp so you can read all the secret messages I’m gonna write you, yeah?” He nodded enthusiastically and you smiled, kneeling in front of him and fluffing up his hair before placing a kiss on his forehead, doing the same to Su-yeong afterward. “I gotta do something, but I’ll be back in an hour or so, okay? Just stay with Ms. Cha, yeah?” They both nodded and you smiled at them, sending a different smile to Jin-ok before standing and stepping out of the room. 

“Um… Hi. Han Du-sik, right?”

The man wheeled around in his chair to look at you from where he’d just crossed your path, instantly recognizing you as the girl Su-yeong and Yeong-su raved on and on about for hours, always with loving remarks and adoring tones. “Ah, you must be the eldest Kim. Is that right?”

You nodded. “Yes, that’s me. I just… I wanted to thank you,” you told him. You were never the best at talking with adults so your stance was a perfect portrayal of your awkwardness the whole time but he didn’t seem to notice; or if he did, he didn’t show it. 

“Huh? What for?”

“For taking care of my baby brother and sister. They speak very highly of you and Hyun-su for taking care of them. It’s something I appreciate more than I can say and I just wanted to let you know.”

“It was my pleasure. They’re great kids; and from what I’ve heard about you, they’re lucky to have you in their lives.”

You blushed at the compliment. “Thank you. I just hope I can live up to those words.”

He smiled. “I’m sure you will.”

“Well, I’ll let you head to wherever you were before I interrupted you. Again, thank you for everything. I know your hands are ones that I can trust the safety of my brother and sister in.”

He smiled again, nodding at your words in a display of gratitude before turning and wheeling away. You turned too, heading towards the arcade room and opening the door to find…

Nothing.

The room was empty except for a snoozing Seok-hyeon. Not a Cha Hyun-su in sight. 

“Shit,” you cursed quietly, running towards the staircase entrance in hopes of catching the two before Eun-hyuk sent Hyun-su on another possible suicide mission. You knew he was in his golden hour. You weren’t stupid. You knew he fell from the 9th floor and survived with injuries that healed within hours, you just didn’t think that was probable cause to subject him to more. 

You weren’t in luck by the time you got to the staircase, seeing neither boy in sight and knowing he was long gone. 

“Eun-hyuk!” You said loudly as you walked into the security camera room. He sighed with his head down before spinning his chair around to face you. His face was blank of emotion, which just made you angrier. “Why are you using Hyun-su like this? He’s not just a puppet you can play around with and use as a little delivery service!”

“It’s the only way,” he said bluntly, starting to turn his chair around when you rushed forward and placed a hand on each armrest, caging him in. 

“No. It’s not the only way. I can go, or you could send out teams to go. It’s not fair that you’re using Hyun-su just because of a golden hour which we don’t even know will save him each time! You’re using him to do your dirty work based on something that happened once! One time! You can’t just force him to do your bidding, he’s a real person who deserves to have a choice!” You growled at him. “Every time he goes out there, there’s a chance that he won’t come back.”

“Hyun-su is dangerous, but he’s our only hope. He can’t die which makes him a valuable resource for us. I know it’s not morally correct, but it is what needs to be done.”

You breathed heavily, staring into his eyes while he leaned back in his chair, as calm as ever. You took a deep breath instead of screaming all your emotions at him and slowly rose from where you were leaning over him, your hands releasing the armrests and returning to your side. “You’re using a vulnerable boy and throwing him to the wolves each time you send him out there. Just know that, okay?” You told him in a calm and almost friendly voice, your words like a knife in contrast to your tone. 

You turned around, ready to exit the room and leave him with that thought when you saw Hyun-su standing in the doorway. Your fake smile turned softer and more genuine as you walked towards him, squeezing his arm gently in a form of contact he seemed to flinch away from but lean into all at the same time. With a final glance cast over your shoulder at the glasses-wearing boy sitting in front of the cameras, you left. 

[ghostface001]

Surprise Me

Fields of Mistria | March x Reader (platonic) | 1.3k words

A rewrite of March's 2 heart event in Fields of Mistria based off of my own experience in the game of dying in the mines and waking up the next day to his heart event, and I thought it would be funny to write about. Some minor swearing, but no other warnings.

Hey.

Meet me at the Blacksmith’s, and don’t keep me waiting. 

March.

Well, at least he was to the point. You rub under your eye, wincing as you accidentally graze a cut that Valen had patched up the day before. Whatever medicine she gave you made you drowsy, resulting in you oversleeping. So much for not keeping him waiting. 

Stuffing the letter in your pocket, you head into town. If it was important, he wouldn’t waste time writing a letter. But if it wasn’t important, why would he bother writing to you? It wasn’t like he didn’t spend every moment in your presence reminding you of how much he disliked you for no apparent reason. You didn’t know what it was, but everyone in town assured you that was just the way he was. Even Adeline, despite you seeing the difference in how he treated her. 

~~~

March folds his arms over his chest and nods toward the cooled copper ingot. “Go on, pick it up.”

Adeline visibly brightens, clapping her hands together. “How generous of you to give away a resource like that for free, March!”

His expression freezes in an amusing combination of confusion and disgust as March’s cheeks turn pink. You swear you see his eye twitch. “Y— yeah! Sure! Why not!” He grits out, baring his teeth in a poor attempt at a smile. 

Either ignoring his strain, or simply not noticing it, Adeline winks at you with a knowing smile. “What did I tell you? He’s a big softy, really. I’m sure March will be happy to lend you this forge whenever you need it.”

You’re preparing for him to pop a blood vessel. March’s jaw sets, like he’s about to give Adeline a piece of his mind. “I… I… Fine!” Your brow furrows. You weren’t expecting him to just… give in like that. He refuses to look at either of you, turning and stalking towards the door of the blacksmith’s building angrily. “I have other work to take care of!”

The door slams, leaving you and Adeline by the forge. She chuckles, rubbing the back of her neck as she looks to you apologetically. “Sorry about that. March… he holds himself to a really high standard. You should have seen him before Ryis moved here. He’s actually come a long way.” 

After Adeline excuses herself to go plan some revitalization project for the town, you let out a sigh and go inside the blacksmith’s. 

March doesn’t look up when the bell above the door jingles. He’s at the front desk, writing in what appeared to be the account books. Maybe marking down the loss of a copper ingot. When you set the ingot on the counter, he acknowledges your existence, his eyes narrow. “I said I was busy.”

“You can keep this.” When his brow knits together in confusion, you roll your eyes. “Look, you obviously didn’t want to give it to me. I have a hard time saying no to Adeline, too. I won’t tell her if you don’t. Happy?”

The corner of his upper lip lifts in distaste. “I’m not afraid to say ‘no’ to some noble. Obviously Lady Adeline knew you needed a freebie, I’ll have her pay me back later.”

He was so full of it. You grit your teeth and shove the ingot closer to him. “What am I going to do with one lousy ingot anyway? Keep it." 

Before he could say something scathing in response, you turn on your heel and leave.

~~~

Maybe it was her being the daughter of a baron. Maybe it was just being used to her presence. But March was… nicer. Prickly, but not as downright rude. Part of you thought he might have had a crush on her until Ryis laughed at the theory, saying she wasn’t his type. Whatever it was, you were too tired to deal with his usual attitude this morning. The walk to the blacksmith's doesn't help the ache in your leg from where you had been electrocuted by some lanterns. Still, you push open the door. 

This time, the bell ringing above the door does prompt March to look. “I didn’t think you’d actually show,” He begins gruffly, wiping his palms on his apron and stepping out from behind the counter. You can’t tell if he’s disappointed, hoping that you would have ignored his letter and justify his dislike of you. “I hear you’ve been making yourself useful around town. Everyone only has good things to say about you.”

You raise a brow. “Does this mean you’re going to apologize?” You ask, stuffing your hands in your pockets. 

March laughs. “Not a chance!” It’s like a joke to him, as though his standoffishness and your response to it had been a fun little game all along. He smirks at you, smug and infuriating. “We both know what’s actually going on here.”

Your features scrunch up in confusion, causing slight pain in your face from the little scrapes and scratches. “What? Is something else going on?”

Approaching you with his arms folded over his chest, March looks down at you, his eyes narrowed in challenge. “Oh, please. You’re in way over your head. You come out here, no money, no experience, and you think you can just fake your way through running a farm? And now everyone in town acts like it was you who won the first-place blacksmithing trophy three years running.”

Pure befuddlement paints your face. You’ve been awake for, what, thirty minutes? After getting dragged to Valen’s for emergency medical treatment, and then oversleeping because of it, he wants to talk about trophies? “Have you ever heard of the term ‘projecting?’” You ask, your headache coming back as Valen’s meds begin to wear off.

He ignores you. “It’s all fun and games now, but the second things actually get tough, I’m sure you’re going to ditch Mistria and its problems.”

“Okay, man, whatever.” Given the furrow in his brow, you’re sure March expects you to take the bait and argue with him, not brush him off with the roll of your eyes. “I’m pretty sure the ankle I’m currently standing on needs a splint after I got my ass handed to me in the mines yesterday, but sure, it’s ‘all fun and games.’ Why did you invite me here, exactly? To force me to listen to you bitch about some stupid trophies? I have too much work to do to just stand here and listen to you complain, so if you’re done, I’d love to be on my way.”

He glares off to the side when you mention your injury, as though he hadn't noticed before you said anything. Maybe he felt guilty? When you finish your own rant, he lets out a ‘tch.’ “Whatever. You think you can hack it for the long haul? Here.” He grabs a copper hoe from the table next to him and holds it out to you. “If you fail, you can’t blame it on lack of help from me. Who knows, maybe you’ll surprise me. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

You take the copper olive branch, weighing it in your hands. It was good quality, obviously, and lightweight. It would make planting crops a lot easier. “Thanks, March,” You say softly, the tension lifting from your shoulders. You prop it over your shoulder and feel yourself smirk, unable to help yourself from returning the jab. “You used the copper ingot from the other day to make this, didn’t you? Maybe Adeline’s right about your being a softy.”

His face reddens as he glares at you, the corner of his lip lifting in visible disgust and embarrassment at the accusation. “Didn’t you say you have work to do? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

You laugh and turn, heading towards the door. “If you wanted to see the farm, you could just say so.” You turn your head and wink. “But you’re right. I’ll see you around.”

Once the door closes behind you, you let out a sigh and head to Valen’s clinic, wondering if the tool on your shoulder could be a step in the right direction with the walking cactus of a blacksmith.

[zayn-210]

little black dress ~ mammon edition

fem!reader x mammon ~ suggestive, swearing

Mammon had been dying to get to the casino, so you offered to tag along, as long as he bought you bottomless Demonus while you sat beside him for the night. “Anythin’ ya want, Mc! I just need my good luck charm to come with me.” 

You roll your eyes playfully as he leans down to give you a kiss. You slip into your room and pull out the dress you’d been saving. It was black, skin-tight, and had quite a few cut-outs exposing skin. You knew it would drive Mammon insane when you wore it, so you wanted to wait until the time was right. 

You slip on your tallest black heels and add gold jewelry. You had just gotten your nails done, courtesy of Asmo. You had gotten a full set and painted them white to match Mammon’s. You quickly finish getting ready before grabbing your D.D.D. and your wallet. 

“Mc, let’s go! Would ya hurry it up…” Mammon goes speechless as you enter the front hall. He can’t take his eyes off you. 

“What? Is this okay? I thought you would like it,” you say, faking sadness and giving a little twirl. You admire his outfit as he struggles to find the words to respond with. Mammon was dressed simply in a pair of black jeans, a white button-up with the sleeves rolled up, and black dress shoes. His belt accentuated his waist, making you bite your lip gently.

“No, no, baby! Ya look perfect. I love this,” Mammon assures you, wrapping his arms around your waist. “It would just look a lot better on my bedroom floor,” he says, playfully nipping at your neck. 

You giggle and smack his chest gently. “Maybe if you win big tonight, I’ll let you take it off later,” you reply with a teasing wink as you walk away. He nearly trips over his own feet as he rushes to follow you. 

As you enter the casino, Mammon keeps a protective arm around your waist, warding any curious eyes off with a viscious stare. 

“Would you relax?” you mumble to him as he sits you down at a blackjack table. 

“I’m totally relaxed, don’t know what yer talkin’ about,” he replies.

“The tension in your shoulders says otherwise,” you whisper in his ear. 

Mammon’s grip tightens on your thigh as you sit prettily beside him. You ask the dealer to deal you in, leaning over the table slightly to pick up the chips he gives you. You can see Mammon watching you from the corner of his eye. You were almost as good as he was at blackjack, and you never failed to give him a run for his money.

In perfect harmony, you both began wiping the table clean, and soon enough, you were the only two players remaining. 

“I’ll make ya a bet, Mc.”

You turn to look at Mammon, a grin on your face. “What’s that?”

“If you win, I’ll let you drive my Demonius,” he says.

“Mhm, and what if you win?” you reply.

“If I win,” he leans closer to you, “that dress ends up on my bedroom floor tonight, but the heels stay on.”

You feel your face turn bright red. “You’re on.”

back to masterlist! ⇒ 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍