#IF ITS MEANT TO BE IN THE FRIDGE WHY IS IT SOLD NOT IN THE FRIDGES. just cuz it doesn’t go bad???⁇ what if I am 21 and stupid????⁇

[isdalinarhot]

One of my most embarrassing “nobody in my immediate family drank and I was raised to Never Drink Ever and so grew up sheltered with regards to key parts of Alcohol Culture” things is that since the liquor store measures everything in liters (metric), terms about bottle size based upon imperial measurements are nonsense to me. I only recently learned that “a fifth” of vodka was 750 milliliters aka 3/4ths of a conventional bottle. I have no earthly clue how much a 40 oz is.

[ya-bug-boy]

Im so glad I'm not the only one obsessed with the self aware reader and submas story! If you dont mind, please continue the story! Its the one thing that helps me stay sane these days 🥲

Submas x Self Aware Reader! part 6

You're lost in thought, hands protectively holding onto your backpack which contains the royal honey you needed for your potion. There's a good chance that the potion could have a potential poisonous element in its brewing, so you required the royal honey and spring water from the Forbidden Forest to negate its affects.

Similar to before, the train ride that would ordinarily take hours to reach your destination happens in only a few seconds. The three of you return back to the safe borders of Moondrop, safe and sound. The twins immediately exit the train first, turning their bodies around to face you.

"Thank you," You say politely as you step off your train. "The journey took much longer than anticipated. Why don't you two step inside to rest?"

At first the twins aren't sure what you meant by this but you walk to your train office, which was also your home. This was usually an area not implemented into the game! So the twins are very excited to see what your home is like.

You unlock the door and the player characters fight to pass through first, momentarily blocking each other before they're allowed in. To the twins, they see the train station, a momentary black screen, before they see your wondrous home.

Your home is actually many times bigger on the inside. An elegant home furbished with black plank floors and white walls, decorated everywhere with potted herbs and plants hanging in glass bottles. Your living room was also your kitchen, there was the ordinary wood-fueled stove with a mighty large black cauldron a few paces away. The most modern piece of furniture you have is what resembles a fridge but its appearance suggests it's from three decades ago. There were many bookshelves filled to the brim with ancient texts of the kingdoms that fell out of existence prior to Moondrop. Specks of radiant light shimmered in and out of darkness, much like fireflies.

The two walk around your home, taking in delight of being able to see this. Emmet excitedly points out a certain window, which is where you sold your train tickets. Ingo immediately runs over and tries to sit in your spot, to which Emmet whines about taking his turn. You can't help but to chuckle lightly, it's strange how the twins found you to be so interesting, but you're thankful for it.

"Is my life and home so interesting that you two fight over a chair?" You ask out loud, with a light laugh. You hear Emmet go "Mm-hmm!" in person as he finally gets a turn in your station chair.

"What is this statue?" Ingo asks out loud as he comes across a shrine in your corner.

The statue is a creature with numerous hands, all yielding a different mask. The creature itself is faceless. "This here is a shrine dedicated to appearances. It allows me to change how I look. Though it takes an even greater magic to completely change your body, which is what I've done several decades ago. This statue mostly allows me to change the length and color of my hair." You demonstrate by standing before the statue. You take off your train conductor hat. Your ordinarily short hair suddenly changes into two times its original length." You hear the twins clap and applause, taking in delight over your new appearance. This was technically considered new character art that they've never seen before!

"I normally don't really don't care much for my hair and because I'm always wearing a hat." You stop to pause, about to change your hair back to its original length when you turn to the twins and stare. You glance away for a moment, being embarrassed. "Well. Since you two take so much delight in it, would you two like to help me pick a new haircut?"

A "yes" or "no" box appears for the twins and they immediately click yes! You can't help but to smile and laugh with how eager they are, despite your limitations with them.

You stand back in the center of the sigil on the ground. "Very well. I will continue to change my hair. Simply raise your hand when you think I've found something suitable." For the next several moments, your change your hair into various styles. Women's, men's, androgynous styles all appear for the twins. Sometimes you see one twin excitedly declare a certain look to be good, but it leaves the other twin dissatisfied. Ingo seems to prefer you with a longer length of hair where Emmet likes it cut short. It's impossible for them to decide and you laugh when you hear them bicker in person. But finally, they do manage to find something that works. They fight over the color of your hair as well. Ingo seems to prefer natural tones whereas Emmet wants to see you in every shade of color before deciding.

Long black hair tucked into a bun with your bangs cut short. Your eyes aren't usually seen under the brim of your hat, so the twins both agreed to keep your bangs short so they can see it. Your face is clearly visible and your hair can adjust its length at your free will, tied up or left down.

The twins finish deliberating and conclude with this. "Ah, thank you. This feels refreshing," you say as you pat your bangs. You reach for your hat but realize it wouldn't work with your current hair style. And after all the deciding it took the twins to do to reach this conclusion, you find yourself not wanting to put the hat on. You put it on the counter of your ticket station.

"My head feels oddly light without a hat now," you confess with another laugh. "Perhaps I should look into a new one." The twins get excited over another possibility of being able to customize you again but the option never appears.

You walk away from the statue and sigil and peer into your cauldron. You hum in thought. "I'm feeling rather hungry. If you two don't mind waiting for me to cook something." But both twins immediately stand up again, their character models offering you crops from their latest harvest. This leaves you perplexed. They had their crops with them their whole journey into the Craymore Moutains? Is that...what they were eating to recover their health? Raw vegetables? When did they catch that fish?? Did they consume it whole, scales and bones? You belly laugh again as you accept their crops, taking it into your hands. This world was certainly strange, strange beyond words or belief. No wonder either of the player character looks injured.

"Well, this does look high quality..." you say as you examine the crops. "Would you two like to help me?" The twins immediately get excited, but to them this is just another minigame with a cooking theme.

You decide to make several dishes, while explaining to the twins in real life how to make the recipes. You make roasted sea bass, mashed potatoes, a light tomato pasta, and for dessert, you give both twins the recipe for your strawberry pie. You look at the dinner, it all looks amazing, the smell of the food wafted into your home, lingering in the air...but the twins can't eat this food. Their player characters can't eat this because they hadn't taken any damage yet, they were both healthy. You got carried away with cooking because there was just a profound sense of joy of being with others to cooking and sharing a meal. But you can tell that the twins are proud of themselves for doing a perfect job on the cooking minigame, as the food literally radiates a shining glimmering light.

You're about to eat when you hear it, there was another noise in the distance of the twins' actual home. There's a momentary pause of silence as both twins disappear from their computers. You're not sure what to make of this but the twins exit the game. Their character models leaving in an instant as well.

Since you're limited to this world and aren't really knowledgeable about the technology that binds you to them, you grow worried. You run to your crystal ball and once again pierce through the veil that was blocking you from viewing their world. An extraordinary amount of magic is required to do this but to them, you're using the camera on their laptops.

You see them with food of their own. Oh. They simply disappeared to grab food of their own. But then you see that it's nearly the same ingredients you used to make your dinner from earlier. The only difference being that the fish they were using was red in hue.

The twins disappear through a hallway of their home. Where were they going? Surely there was another way to see where they were going? Maybe the crystal ball can access another point of view? You immediately get up from your seat, knocking over papers and materials from your desk as you go to your potion cabinet. It is no doubt that you had magic, no doubt you were in fact the strongest mage in this world but you were limited to this game specifically. In order to interact into the twins' real world, you needed a boost, akin to a caffeine drink.

You uncork a glass potion and down it, the magical energy of the potion surges through your body and you swallow heavily. It burns as you drink it, bubbling with electricity. With your eyes open and dazzling a certain kind of light, you rush back over to the crystal ball. Energy manifests and swirls around your feet as you pierce the veil again but through another connection!

You were on their smart phone now, looking at them through the camera. The phone was propped up against a bag of flour so the twins can look at it. It looks like they're actually cooking the food they made in the minigame, but in real life. Your heart falters at this, a blooming sense of joy deep in your chest. They were making the food so they could eat with you.

But why? You were simply a character made for their entertainment. But then you take note of the kitchen interior. It's a modern kitchen, unlike yours but you take note of the aprons the twins were wearing. It had your insignia, your mark of The Golden Eye.

But then you see it. A giant yellow spider beast crawling on the ceiling. It approaches Emmet. He does not take note of it! The beast is unlike any monster you've ever seen, why was it in their home?!

"Emmet, EMMET LOOK OUT!" You scream into your crystal ball, before clamping your mouth shut.

[lubdubsworld]

City Lights . ( Namjoon x OC)

Pairing : OC x Kim Namjoon.

Genre : Angst. Romance.

Rating 18 + 

Word Count : 2900

Warnings :  Mature Themes , Explicit Sexual Content . Slow burn. Like slower than a snail.

Summary :

Widowed and destitute, Son Yang Mi leaves the comfort of her small , secluded  fishing village and travels to the intimidating city of Seoul with her young son. She has a plan, one that involves finding a job, getting her son into a good school and building a life for herself.

Now, three years later she has a job , working as a live in house keeper for the Kim family, specifically for the son,  Kim Namjoon, a famous rapper and producer. 

Its a job that puts a roof over her head and she’ll do anything to keep it. 

But fate has other plans.

Chapter 1 ~

Akogare (ah-koh-ga-reh)Often translated directly as a sort of frustrated “yearning”, “desire”, or “longing” .

Seoul in summer was a sight to behold. I blinked back against the bright sunlight, staring out into the stunning skyline of the city as the sun rose over it , and although it was just a little past seven in the morning, the air was warm and invigorating. The mid July sun shone down with no mercy, and there was no trace of the rain that had lashed city just the previous night.

It had been three whole years but the relief that came from breathing fresh air, untainted by the damp musk of fishing trowels and sweaty men, was still unrivalled.

I shook off the feather duster in my hand, moving to carefully clean the wicker woven chairs on the artificial lawn in the balcony. Dusting the entire condo down was a mind numbing exercise in patience, so i tried to get it out of the way, early in the morning when my son was still asleep.

At six years old, Junsu was a bright , happy child. Summer vacation meant days sleeping in and evenings spent frolicking with the other kids in the building and he was content with being alone in our small shared room, reading or playing with his toys while I went about the day’s work.

I glanced at the clock, grimacing.

It was almost eight . And although Mr. Kim wasn’t due back home for another twelve hours, I felt a little jittery and nervous.

Kim Namjoon , renowned rapper, producer, writer , poet and what not. The apartment was his but he was usually on tour, traveling all over the world to promote his book and to perform in sold out stadiums. For an A list celebrity, he was surprisingly humble.

For the past three years, him and his model fiancée  Lee Mina had spent a total of maybe seven months in the condo. They were a sweet couple, or so I’d always thought , a bit formal with each other but clearly in love . Mr. Kim was a kind, soft spoken young man and I’d never heard him raise his voice unless he was in the company of his very dear friends.

Just a little over a week ago , both of them  had left Korea for the States , the tabloids screaming about a luxurious destination wedding in the Caribbean and I had been asked to take a few weeks off . The newly weds wouldn’t be back for quite a while and they would let me know when I had to come back to the condo.

I’d been toying with the idea of visiting my in laws in Gwangyog, maybe even dropping by to see some old friends there but yesterday , Mr. Kim’s mother had given me a call letting me know her son was coming home. 

[ 

The conversation went something like this :

Yang Mi, I hope you haven’t left yet?

No, Ma'am, I haven’t.

Joon-ah is going to be back tomorrow.

Oh, is Ms Lee arriving as well?

No, Just him He’s going to be alone.

Yes, Ma'am.

Please don’t mention anything about Mina or the wedding.

No ma'am of course not.

I’ll drop by later . Cook him something warm and filling. And make sure the house is cleaned well.

Yes, Ma’ am.

]

And that was that.

~~~~~~

It took the better part of the day to finish cleaning and setting up the house . I washed the window slats, changed the sheets, arranged the books that had been left scattered all over his bedroom. The walk-in closet was littered with a bunch of his clothes and I made sure his gym bag was stocked with fresh towels, spare clothes and his favorite head and wrist bands. 

For someone so careful and calculated, he was really quite a messy man. 

i did his laundry, making sure he had ample clothes at least for another two weeks, creasing the handkerchiefs and carefully removing lint from his jackets. 

I also carefully sorted out the feminine clothing from the laundry and from the cupboard, folding them neatly and placing them in the lowest shelf of the closet, where he wouldn’t find them. It wasn’t hard, hiding traces of his fiancee from the condo, because it had never really been her home. other than a few spare pieces of underwear and a couple of t shirts and skirts, there weren’t many articles of clothing belonging to Ms. Lee. 

But I still got rid of the bobby pins and hair ties, the spare lip gloss and mascara.

Junsu spent the entire day in our room, reading and drawing, only venturing out every few hours to grab a snack. I left him with his drawing tab ( a gift from Mr. Kim for his 5th birthday )  and his favorite book, asking the security guard at the end of the hallway to keep an eye on the door, while i went out to buy groceries.

Lots of meat, no sea food, healthy snacks and high protein fiber bars. I stocked up on sauces and bought a fresh batch of eggs, oranges and grapes . Mrs. Kim had sent a large amount of kimchi a few weeks ago and that was still in the pantry.

i stopped for a second, staring around at the almost deserted store. Most of the other housekeepers shopped at the bigger, more exclusive store on the other side of the residential complex. But Mr. Kim had a very selective palette, which meant that I had to be very particular about the brands i bought.

When i came back home at around six, Junsu was on the floor in the living space and i felt my heart jump in panic.

“Baby!! I’ve told you not to come out here when I’m not home!” I protested bleakly and he pouted.

“I need to show you my gift for Mr. Kim!!” He said softly. I smiled moving to put away the groceries and glancing at the clock. It was a little past six. I had to call Yungyu.

“Did you draw him something ? “ I asked curiously, checking to see if the beer shelf was stocked. probably should have done that before going out for the groceries, I thought regretfully.

“Yeah! Look!!” Junsu held his tab out and my heart dropped.

For a six year old, Junsu drew very well. And there was really no mistaking the very obvious wedding scene on the screen.

Oh, Good God.

“ That looks amazing honey.” I said gently. “ But, I heard that Ms Lee isn’t coming over this time..”

Junsu frowned.

“Why?”

“Well, I’m not sure. But remember how we spoke about saying the right things? When something upsets someone, we do not bring it up.” I reminded him gently. My son hesitated but nodded.

“Okay. I’m sorry. “ He said softly.

“No baby, its not your fault. It’s just that we want Mr. Kim to be happy right? We don’t wanna upset him...”

He smiled at that.

“When he’s happy, his dimples come out.” He said with a giggle. I laughed.

“yes they do... So let’s try and get those dimples out as often as we can alright? Why don’t you show him that picture you drew of yeontan the other day? He’ll really like that....”

“Okay...but i need to go color it!” Junsu yelled, already running back into our room. I watched him go before reaching for the phone and dialing, Yungyu, the chauffeur.

“Are you on the way here? ” i said briskly.

“Just starting from home...” Yungyu muttered, “ I’m supposed to be on vacation now! Why is he coming back so soon?” 

“Just hurry up !! We can’t keep him waiting!!” I said sharply, before hanging up. 

I made a quick check of all the rooms, filling up water bottles for his gym routine in the morning and stashing them in the fridge before moving to get dinner started. 

i set the water on boil for the stew, before moving to peel cucumbers for the salad. I chopped the cucumber , along with some fresh cherry tomatoes . I watched the water boil, thinly slicing an onion and adding it to the bowl as well. The dressing was pretty simple,  soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey and sesame oil . I sprinkled some sesame seeds on the bowl, used the salad tongs to give the whole thing a nice toss and set it aside. 

I braised the chicken first , peeling and chopping potatoes and carrots to add to the stew . In a few minutes, the rich smell of lightly spiced chicken and garlic and perilla  leaves began filling the kitchen and I turned on the rice cooker as well. 

The door bell rang at six forty and i opened the door to reveal Yungyu. 

I grabbed the keys to the Palisade, handing them over to him.

“Did you hear?” He whispered urgently.

I frowned.

“What?”

“They say Mr. Kim called off the wedding!” He whispered, wide eyed. 

I glared at him.

“Who told you that?” i demanded...

“Seojoon from the gate said-”

“Why don’t you ask Seojoon from the gate to mind his own damn business?” I snapped. 

Yungyu looked suitably chastised. i felt a little bad. Yungyu was still young and curiosity was hardly a sin. 

“His flight lands at eight exactly. Hurry okay?” I said with a smile, ruffling his hair.

He brightened, peering over my shoulder into the house.

“Where’s the little one?” He asked curiously.

“ Painting something for Mr. Kim... Go ahead, hurry up.” I shooed him away, locking the door behind him. I fixed a plate of food for Junsu and sent him to eat, before moving to check on the stew. +

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` 

By the time eight thirty rolled around I had the table set and ready. I washed my face quickly in the small bath attached to our room , making sure I was dressed well. Junsu wasn’t allowed in the main house unless Mr. Kim specifically asked for him and my son usually stayed in. 

Junsu and I stayed in a bedroom , not large by any means but big enough for a queen sized bed, a table and chair for Junsu and small dresser where I kept a comb and a tube of night cream. I stared at my face, licking my lips as I smoothed my hair out. 

I glanced at the bed. 

Junsu was asleep , having dozed off while coloring his picture and I carefully extracted the tab from under his fingers, moving him around to lay on the soft pillows. I tucked him in gently, brushing the hair off his face. 

“In peace , I will lie down to sleep, for You alone will let me rest in safety.” I whispered gently against his forehead, kissing the soft skin. I felt my lips wobble , a debilitating wave of affection flooding me as the sweet scent of my baby, filled my senses.

 I would die for you, I thought fiercely, kissing him again. 

The sound of the front door opening made me jump. 

Swearing, i smoothed the fabric of my skirt, running to the kitchen. 

“Thank you for picking me up Yungyu, I’m sorry you had to cut short on your vacation.” Mr. Kim’s deep voice filled the hallway and I quickly grabbed a glass, filling it with water and placing it on the dinner tray.

“Not a problem, Sir. “ Yungyu’s cheerful voice responded.

“How are you going home?” Mr. Kim asked. 

“I’ll take the bus.”

A pause and then, 

“Here’s some cash. Get a cab.” 

I could hear the relief in Yungyu’s voice as he let out a , “ Thank you sir.” 

I fixed his plate carefully, the bowl of rice, the bowl of chicken stew, and the salad neatly arranged next to the napkin and the chopsticks. I heard him move across the condo, the sound of his suitcases as he wrestled them towards his bedroom and I frowned. Yungyu should’ve have brought those in for him. 

I finished reheating all of the food and carefully carried the dinner tray to the bedroom. 

Mr. Kim’s bedroom was right at the end of the hallway and the door was open. The full length mirror on the opposite wall showed him sitting on the small couch in his room, legs spread and elbows resting on his knees as he ran his fingers through his hair. 

I raised my hand, ready to knock on the wood. 

“Fuck!” He shouted, kicking out at the coffee table with enough force to send the furniture skidding half way across the room. 

I froze in the hallways stunned. 

“You’re such a fucking fool , Namjoon !!” He muttered angrily and I swallowed, turning on my heel and quickly walking back to the kitchen. 

Maybe I ought to wait till he asked for dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He didn’t ask for dinner. 

I stayed sitting on the floor of the kitchen, waiting and lightly dozing as I heard him talk to his parents on the phone. I heard him open the liquor cabinet in his room, the sound of ice sloshing against glass, the sound of whiskey being poured carefully and i sighed. 

I had to get to bed. It was already a little past eleven. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime in the night, I woke up sweating.... 

Wondering what woke me up, I blinked groggily, glancing at Junsu. He was still sound asleep. 

Sighing, I climbed out of the bed, carefully making my way to Mr. Kim’s room, peering in carefully. 

He was asleep on the sofa.

I stared at the way his long legs stretched over the armrest, his lean hips twisted to accommodate his broad shoulders on the couch and I winced. He was definitely going to regret that in the morning. 

I stared at the half empty bottle of whiskey on the table and sighed, moving to take off his shoes carefully. He didn’t stir. 

I grabbed a pillow from the bed, carefully lifting his head and slipping it under. I placed a comforter over his shoulders, pulling it down to cover his legs. 

Force of habit almost made me brush his hair off his forehead but I stopped myself. 

The clock on the wall read three fifty am. God, I was going to feel terrible tomorrow. I carefully tip toed out, shutting the door behind me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I picked the comforter from the floor, carefully folding it and placing it on the bed, before grabbing the empty bottle of whiskey and glass . i could hear the shower running. The curtains were still drawn in and I tugged on the strings to get them to open. Sunlight spilled in through the floor length windows. The bed wasn’t slept in, so I opened the closet to grab a couple of towels, laying them on the bed for him. 

The bathroom door opened and i quickly straightened, wanting to race out of the room but it was too late. Thankfully he was dressed,  a pair of loose sweats and a loose t shirt . He was running a towel through his hair and his face brightened at the sight of me. 

“Yang Mi! You’re here....” He said cheerfully. 

“Good morning sir.” I said softly, offering him a small smile. 

He smiled brightly, hair damp and dimples deep. The white t shirt he had on was almost fully soaked through and he shook his head, sending stray water droplets all over the place, a few landing on my cheeks. 

“I didn’t see you last night...” He said casually, moving to drop the wet towel in the hamper, grabbing one of the fresh ones I’d laid on the bed. 

“I thought you would like your privacy sir, you looked exhausted.” 

He smiled.

“ Thank you for the blanket and the pillow by the way. And the shoes.” 

I bowed quickly.

“I’ll get your breakfast done, sir.” I bowed again before quickly getting out. 

I moved to the kitchen grabbing the oranges I’d got the previous day . Mr. Kim wasn’t fond of traditional korean dishes in the morning. He preferred freshly squeezed juice and toast, sometimes with an omelet perhaps. 

I fixed his breakfast quickly, setting it all in the tray . He was still moving around in the bedroom and I heard him drag his worktable to the windows, which meant he was going to stay in the bedroom. 

Pouring his coffee into a cup, I carefully picked up the breakfast tray , moving to his room slowly. 

I used my foot to knock on the door.

After a pause of a few seconds, 

“Come in Yang Mi!”

I carefully moved to the small table in front of the couch, placing the tray right in front of him. The scent of his body wash, green apple and strawberries, hit me hard. 

“Where’s Junsu?” He asked casually.

“Still asleep sir. It’s Summer so school’s out.” I smiled, grabbing his phone from the table to make space for his tray. 

The phone buzzed just as I was about to place it back down and I blinked.

 Mina calling.......

 I swallowed, not sure what to do, placing the phone down quickly.

“Uh..you have ...” I waved vaguely at the device before bowing again and moving back. 

“close the door on your way out, Yang Mi...” He said gently and I quickly obeyed. 

I moved to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee for myself. I stayed leaning over the counter and even through the locked door, I could hear him . 

“Just don’t call me Mina...i don’t want to talk about this!!!” 

I swallowed, glancing out of the window again. It was a bright, clear morning. 

A second later, the door to his bedroom slammed open and he stormed out. I watched him from my spot in the kitchen, his fists clenched as he rushed out to the front door.

The door shut behind him and I exhaled. 

Once I as done with my coffee, I moved to his room to clear the breakfast tray. His phone was still on the table.

It began ringing again just as I left the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mrs. Kim.” i said respectfully, bowing . She gave me a short smile.

“Where’s Namjoon? I’ve been calling him for the past hour.” She pushed past me into the house and I bit my lips.

“He went out about an hour ago. He left his phone behind.” I explained.

She stopped, sighing. 

“Fine, I’ll wait for him. “ She moved to sit on the couch, glancing around the room. 

“Should I get you something ma'am?” I asked softly and she smiled.

“Get me a glass of lemonade, Yangmi.” She said brusquely and i nodded, running to the kitchen. 

“Did Mina come over?” She called out as I got the lemons out of the cooler.

“No ma'am.” i replied.

“Did she call?” 

  I remembered the phone ringing, how upset it had made Namjoon, how he had stormed out.

“I don’t know ma'am!” I said softly. 

She nodded.

“Okay. You can leave.” She said quietly. i bowed and went back into the kitchen. 

I peered out of the window as I fixed her a glass , and my eyes fell on a familiar figure, coming back in through the front gate. Even from this distance there was no mistaking the long legs and messy blonde hair. 

I bit my lips, mind racing.

 Mrs Kim and her son had a volatile relationship, to say the least. 

And something told me that Mr. Kim was probably not in the right frame of mind to argue with his mother, now. The man was upset but apparently, neither his mother nor his ex fiancée understood that. instead of giving him space they were hounding him. 

I hesitated for a second  before making a quick decision. 

I grabbed the tray with her lemonade and moved to her quickly.

“Thank you.” She said sharply. “ Turn on the Air Conditioner for me, will you?” 

I fumbled with the remote, grabbing his phone from the table , turning it on before moving to the front door and rushing out. 

I almost ran into him as he came out of the elevator , and i jerked back stumbling a bit to stop myself from crashing into his chest. He let out a , ‘ Whoa, “  his hands reaching out to grip my elbows. 

“Careful. What’s wrong?” He asked gently and I swallowed.

“Your mother’s here.” I said quickly, “ Sir.” 

“Oh, fuck.” He groaned. I swallowed.

“You can leave.” I blurted out. “It’s Tuesday. She has her charity work meeting at ten. Its almost nine. She won’t stay long....” 

His eyes met mine, lips parting in surprise. 

“I really can’t meet her now.” He said apologetically.

I nodded.

“Of course, I understand , sir. Just be back in an hour , she’ll be go-”

The elevator buzzed , the doors nearly closing over my shoulders and I flinched. He swore and stuck his arm out to keep it open. 

I stared at him before holding his phone out.

“Here you go sir. “ 

He chuckled taking it from me and shaking his head.

“i feel like a kid, sneaking away from my mom.” His eyes reached mine, twinkling, “ Who would’ve thought the quiet, timid Yang Mi would be my partner in crime. “ 

I didn’t reply, just smiled. 

And then he hesitated. “ Is Junsu awake?”

I blinked.

“Uh...yes sir,...he’s playing in the park downstairs with the other kids.”

“Great... Would you mind if i take him out for ice cream?”

I stared at him. 

“Oh..uh...of course not. Sure.. I mean.. he’ll love that... Sir. Thank you.. You don’t have to -”

“Consider it thank you for helping me with my mother.” He smiled again and i found myself staring at his dimples again. i swallowed. 

“in that case, he loves butter scotch.” I smiled. 

The dimples appeared and i bit my lips. 

“Thank you Yang Mi.” He said slowly. 

“Yes, Sir.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note : Finally a hyungline fic !!! ugh... I’ve been wanting to write a Namjoon fic for ages and I really hope you guys will like this one :’( Feedback is much appreciated. 

[voiceswithoutlips]

Calico - Chapter Two

— pairing: Hybrid ot7 x Human Reader (Female) — genre: hybrid AU , fluff, angst, slow burn (like real slow), eventual smut — word count: 2K — Rating: M — warnings: trauma, mention of past abuse.

Click for Tag List

— chapter summary:

Y/N runs a animal shelter, Calico was built on a simple principle, to help those who were in need. What will Y/N do when her sanctuary is threatened by an unexpected hybrid?

— A/N: This is going to be a series, I’m just getting back to writing, so I’d really appreciate your input and feedback <3

Ch. 1  Ch. 3  Ch. 3.5 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6

I stumbled out of bed with a groan, it was almost noon and my hangover was killing me. Last night I was too stressed so I drowned my worries in a bottle of whisky. Why was adulting so annoying, ugh. The house was quiet, Jason had probably already gone to the shelter. I made my way to the kitchen, my zombie brain screaming for coffee. I like my coffee black and bitter, just like my soul. Kidding, I don’t have a soul. 

My phone rang somewhere in the living room. The place looked like a tornado had torn through it. The floor was covered with papers and cushions and clothes and other unidentifiable mess. What the fuck happened last night? By the time I found my phone the ringing had stopped. 28 missed calls from Jason and 2% battery ...great.  

I made my way to the exam room, the most likely place for Jason to be. It was just a five minute walk from the house. I was in my pajamas, my hair sticking out and the coffee cup in my hand. It was Sunday, I was grumpy.

There was a half-naked man sitting on the exam table, no not a man, a hybrid. His white fluffy tail was droopy. Long white ears poked from his long black hair, he desperately needed a haircut. His ears were limp on his back. There was a hole in his left ear, it was properly done but too big for a piercing. My eyes widened with realization, I’d seen that before on cattle, his previous owners must’ve tagged him. 

The hybrid showed no reaction as I went to stand beside Jason, and directly in front of him. His upper body was muscular, he had a thick neck and washboard abs. He was gorgeous. He had a strong jawline, cute eyes and a small nose. The combination of cute and sexy was deadly. His hands were clasped together and he was hunched over, trying to make himself look small, not an easy feat to achieve.  

“Y/N, this is Jungkook,” Jason introduced the hybrid. The bunny stiffened, he didn’t raise his head to look at me. What do I do? I wasn’t good with people, I preferred animals to humans.  

“Hello, I’m Y/N,” I greeted. He was sitting so still that you would think he wasn’t even there. Was he even breathing? He was still looking down. 

I looked at Jason, I didn’t know what to do. “I found him near the hatch this morning so I brought him in for a checkup.” I nodded. 

“Are you hungry? I’m practically starving!” I asked, extending a tentative hand towards the bunny, palm up. He flinched.  I kept my hand where it was. I would stand here for hours if I had to. My stubbornness knew no bounds. Minutes passed slowly, Jason was leaning on the counter perfectly at ease, he was a good actor. 

Slowly Jungkook took my hand. “Let’s go have breakfast,” I whispered, a smile on my face as I slowly led him to the kitchen. Well kitchen was an overstatement, it was a small room with six refrigerators and two freezers, most of them contained medical supplies. A sad, overused coffee machine and a small stove for “Emergency Ramen”, it was our own special recipe. 

I opened the fridge with a “No Science Allowed” poster taped to its door. I pulled out a bunch of greens to make a salad, rabbits need their greens. We always stocked the fridge for humans and the animals. I wasn’t a particularly good cook, I could cook enough to not starve but that was the extent of my cooking skills. A quick chicken salad, eggs and toast and a bunch of pancakes and breakfast was served. 

Jungkook was still standing near the door where I had left him, eyes downcast, ears flopped. I was an idiot, a massive idiot, I assumed he would sit at the table on his own. Bad Y/N! 

“Jungkook, come sit with me,” I mentally hit myself, it sounded like a command, I was terrible at this. I was used to animals, you tell them what to do, you can’t ask a dog if he’d like to sit with you, but Jungkook was a person. I can be an animal therapist but humans? They were beyond me. I didn’t know how to get to him.  

He sat at the table. I pushed the food in front of him, expecting him to eat, another mistake. Hybrids are supposed to obey, they don't do things on their own. I was supposed to tell him what to do. I wanted to pound my head on the table. Stupid Y/N. 

“What would you like to eat?” I asked in the gentlest voice possible, at least I hoped it was gentle. 

 No response.  

“Go on this is all for you,” I tried to be encouraging. 

 Nothing.

 “Tell you what, if you finish your breakfast, I’ll give you a treat,” his ears twitched. He tentatively picked up a fork and started eating. His movements were small, he barely made any noise as he chewed but at least he was eating. 

I was still confuzzled, it is a word, a made up word, but then again all words are made up words. Confused and puzzled. I had no idea how to approach him, do I treat him like a human or a rabbit. The ‘treat’ card worked but will it work every time? He was taking small bites, I wondered if the food tasted bad. Maybe I forgot to add sugar to the pancakes? Did I forget to season the salad? I sighed internally. He needed a proper meal but sadly, Jason and I were terrible cooks. We lived on take-outs and ramen. Maybe it was time to learn how to cook.

I stood up, he froze. I had to get him used to people. I ignored his stiff posture as I walked to one of the freezers and pulled out a container that held my favorite ice cream. It was ‘ice cream for breakfast’ kind of day. I didn’t bother with bowls, two spoons and I was back in my seat. 

“You know this is my absolute favorite ice cream in the entire world. It's called Chocolate Brownie Fudge with Marshmallows. It's like a little piece of heaven in a plastic container,” I offered him a spoon. He looked at it as if it was going to bite him. “Go on, it's your treat!” I encouraged with a grin. It was meant to be a small smile but he was too cute and the ice cream made me happy. 

I dug into the ice cream as if my life depended on it. Jungkook watched me curiously, the spoon still in his hand. He hadn’t finished his breakfast but it was a start. For me, it was Sunday, the day where I threw caution to the wind and ate what I wanted. He hesitantly took a spoonful of ice cream, watching me as if I was going to pull the container away from him and tell him it was a joke. 

As soon as the spoon touched his tongue his eyes lit up like christmas. “Amazing isn’t it?” I asked, taking another bite. He nodded excitedly. Apparently he had a sweet tooth. I pushed the ice cream towards him and watched him devour the whole thing in minutes. God he was adorable!

I settled down on the couch in my office, I desperately needed a shower but that’d have to wait. Jason had taken Jungkook back to our house, he was going to stay in the guest room for the time being. It's not like I was going to put him in the hybrid shelter building, nobody deserved that and he couldn’t stay as a rabbit forever. 

I had a file in front of me, a file on Jungkook. All hybrids are installed with a microchip and registered in the hybrid database as soon as they are born ...or rather created in the labs. Hybrids couldn’t procreate, they were made in labs owned by big corporations. Jason had scanned Jungkooks microchip, the file contained everything about his life.

He was created in Corebear Tech’s lab and sold at the age of six to a wealthy family as a pet for their son. He was sent back to the company when he was twelve because he had grown too big for a rabbit hybrid. Corebear Tech then sold him to Apexi Pharmaceuticals and I guess that’s where Yonu found him.

I felt …I didn’t know what I felt. Maybe a sense of defeat. Jungkook was twenty-three, he was in that lab for eleven years. He was just one year younger than me. I was lost. I couldn’t even imagine what he must’ve gone through. There was no way I was going to let Apexi take him back. I called Song Hwa and gave her the file. After all we had evidence to collect and a case to build.

“Not this again!!” I ran through the front door as soon as I smelled smoke in our kitchen. Jason was standing in front of the stove fanning a pot with a newspaper. 

“I was cooking rice, I don’t know what happened,” he said opening the windows.

I took a peek, the rice was black, utterly totally burnt. “Jason …you’re supposed to add water to cook it…”

“Oh,” Jason loved to cook, the problem was he just couldn’t. I was 200% sure that he was cursed by some evil witch. The moment Jason tries to cook, all hell breaks loose.  

“You’re on clean-up duty,” I grumbled. At least it wasn’t that bad, the cake incident was still fresh in my mind. Once upon a time, when we still lived in our dorm, Jason decided to bake a cake …in a pressure cooker. Needless to say, it was a disaster. The cooker blew up, damaging half the kitchen. Thankfully no one was injured.

I softly knocked on the guestroom door. Jungkook had spent the whole day in his room, not that I blamed him. New place, new people, it was bound to be scary.

“Hey Jungkook, you want to come out for dinner?” I asked. I could deliver him ramen to his room if he wanted but I hoped he’d come out and eat with us. Yes, we were having ramen, Jason and I still lived as we had lived in our dorm, the only difference was our house was nicer and we had a garden.

Jungkook opened the door, he hadn’t locked it. He scrunched his nose as soon as he stepped out. The house was full of burnt smell from Jason’s cooking adventure. The smell must be stronger for him.

“Yeah, Jason tried to cook rice. Pro tip, never eat the food that Jason makes, he’s a terrible cook. Do you want to come eat with us?” I asked. I got a small nod in return.

“Let’s gooooo!! Do you like ramen? We have a really good recipe, well its nothing special, we just throw in some bacon and rice cakes and of course a fuckton of cheese,” I rambled as he followed me to the dining table. “You can never go wrong with cheese, unless you’re Jason,” Jason made protesting noises, I rolled my eyes at him.

Dinner was a bit awkward. Jason and I kept trying to make Jungkook talk but it didn’t work. The poor bunny hadn’t spoken a single word since he’d arrived at Calico. The only thing we got out of him were small nods and silence. I wondered if we should consult a therapist. He was human after all and he needed help.

I heard a sharp gasp from my left. Jungkook’s eyes were huge, he was frozen in his chair. He had accidently knocked the salt shaker off the table.

“I’m so..sorry. Please don’t punish me. I’ll do anything,” his voice was so small, it made my heart ache.

“Oh honey no!” I said as I held his hands. “It was an accident. You remember what I told you? This is a safe space, you’ll never be punished here. I won’t let anyone hurt you, okay?” I was mentally cursing myself for holding his hands on impulse. What if he didn’t like people invading his personal space? My worries were put to rest as he squeezed my hands.

“Okay,” he said in the smallest voice.

 Previous || Next

[abundanceofnots]

Fic idea if you’re still take my them! Sandy, Tami, and Mickey drunk at the house one night swapping stories about their dumb Gallaghers. Do they get Mickey a little too drunk and he shares some TMI bedroom things?

Inspired by @milkovichy‘s post, my very own ramblings and this prompt from, like, December (sorry! I’m the worst), I give you this. Set some time after 11×03.

Mickey could hear them all evening, howling with laughter every so often, a low hum of soft rock music trailing behind their voices. Usually, he wouldn’t give a damn. The Gallagher house existed in a constant uproar, and a moment of quiet always felt more tense than calming. 

Tonight was a special night though. The Gallaghers all went fuck-does-Mickey-care-where for some Frank-related business, and he had the house to himself—well, except for his annoyingly loud cousin and Lip’s baby mama, who apparently decided to have a fucking ladies night in his kitchen.

In all honesty, he found their little unlikely friendship somewhat sweet, but that didn’t matter when their girly cackles kept disrupting his attempt to have a nice long wank over the video that he and Ian filmed on their wedding night. 

His hand was in his boxers, tugging gently at his still mostly soft cock as he watched wedding-night Ian kiss down his naked back, pausing just before the curve of Mickey’s ass to send a cheeky grin down the camera lens when the next barrage of laugher came. Mickey groaned, dropping the phone on his chest. He rubbed at his face and felt his dick lose all remaining interest.

Pulling his sweats on, he figured he could use the time before Ian came back by getting something to eat.

“Well, well, if it ain’t the macho slut himself!” Sandy greeted him from the kitchen table, earning herself and her giggly companion an uninterested middle finger when Mickey passed them on his way to the fridge. “Was almost worried about you last night. You’ve been going at it for a good couple of hours.”

“Oh, please,” Mickey said as he browsed the contents of the fridge. “Last night was nothing.”

“My mistake. RIP to your asshole, by the way.” Sandy muttered, meeting Tami’s eyes for a second. “Hey, you wanna join us? We got some pink stuff that one of Carl’s old girlfriends left behind.”

“Just because I like getting fucked up the ass by a dude doesn’t mean I’mma drink some faggy shit.“

“We also got beer.” Tami motioned to the opened six-pack laying on the table before tapping the half-empty bottle standing closest to her reach. “And some whiskey.”

“And some weed brownies,” Sandy added, her smile suggesting she already knew Mickey wouldn’t be able to say no.

“Sold.“ Mickey dropped down on a free chair and immediately reached for one of the brownies, unwrapping it messily from its foil. “But if you start talking about your menstrual cycles or some shit, I’m leaving.”

“Don’t worry. Your fragile soul is gonna pull through this fully unscathed by female agenda,” Sandy shot back, moving one of the beer bottles in front of Mickey. “We were actually just talking shit about the Gallaghers.”

Mickey hated to admit that was a topic he could gladly get behind.

“I could tell you about the first time me and Lip fucked,” Tami suggested as she took a swig of her beer.

Mickey grimaced at her. “Why the fuck would I wanna hear about that?”

“Cuz for a long time after that, I called him Jabby.”

Sandy snorted into her drink.

“Wasn’t that creative,” Tami continued, trying to downplay how proud she clearly was of that nickname. “It’s quite literally what he did—jab, jab, jab. No form, no style. Just jabbing.”

Mickey clanked their bottles together. “I like your style.”

“Did you come?” Sandy asked.

“Fuck no.” Tami scoffed. “But I did puke on his shoes.”

“Judging by Mickey’s face, I don’t think Lip will be able to live any of that down now.” 

“Damn fucking right.”

“Ah, it was a long time ago. He’ll survive.” Tami waved off their fake concern. “I’m kinda mad at him anyway—and surprised I haven’t caught him jerking it to our new kitchen backsplash yet.”

Mickey took a beat before asking: “Fuck’s a backsplash?” 

“The father of my child’s current object of sexual desire.”

Sandy turned to Mickey. “You two ever had any problems in bed?”

“Jesus, no,” he replied, stuffing his mouth with small bits of his brownie. “If Ian were a bad lay, we’d be over before this whole thing even started.”

“Even if it meant he’d never use his ‘giant fucking hands’ to hold you down and pound into you until you ‘moaned all sexy’?” Sandy asked bluntly, struggling to keep her poker face intact.

Tami’s eyes widened. “What the fuck,” she breathed.

“Their door is basically non-existent,” Sandy explained. “We can hear every word they say.”

“Whatever. It’s true. Dude’s hands are fucking massive.” Mickey said, shrugging. “So’s his dick.”

Sandy nodded appreciatively and clanked their bottles.

“Okay, but you got together when he was what, like, fifteen, right?” Tami said. “Lip showed me a picture of them from around that time once. I’m sorry, but Ian was a tiny kid back then. He looked like a frail twig with a mop of ginger hair on top.”

“Yeah,” Sandy chimed in, exchanging a meaningful look with her cousin. “Who could’ve known back then that he was gonna turn into such a goddamn hunk.”

Mickey arched his brow, smirking. “What can I say. Guess I hit a fucking jackpot with that one.”

[nightlight-firelight]

Hi everyone, I’m really hoping you guys like this one! I’m hoping to continue this story, if you all like this. I’m not used to writing for other people, so please give me some feedback on how I could make this more enjoyable.

“Small Things Come With a Awkward Price”

Chapter 1

Getting home was a nightmare and getting back into your room is the top priority in your mind. The trip from Walmart had you exhausted due to the unexpected heat. Looking at your phone, you swear that today was only supposed to be in the seventies. You drop off your grocery bag onto your bed and pull out the item you have been waiting to open up. The Sonic Boom season one DVD set came with Sonic and Dr.Eggman figures. Even though the box was banged up, you bought the set anyway. The thought crossed your mind that a kid tried to open the box to get the figures but luckily didn’t succeed. You opened the banged-up box and pulled the figures out and set them on the bed. Then, taking out the two DVD cases, you set those on the bed and take a walk to the kitchen with the busted box and the excess plastic.

On the way to the kitchen, your thoughts began to wonder why you had picked up the box set to begin with. It was a good price and with the addition of the figures, you thought yourself lucky to get the last one they carried. Looking back, however, you did remember that this box was just under one of the shelving units next to the videogame isle, not even covered by a speck of dust. You had only seen the box when you went to look closer at a price tag, seeing the corner of the disheveled box and its contents. Pacing your dominant foot on the small peddle of the garbage can, the lid lifts from its closed positions and you gently toss the trash into the bin, only seeing a slip of paper glide out of the now trashed box.

You groan in annoyance that you have to take care of the fallen slip and pick up the small piece of paper after a try or two keeping it slightly stick to the floor. You take a closer look at the paper and see that it had some writing to it.

‘Hope you like my surprise!’

Staring at it puzzled you. Who was this for? I wasn’t meant for you to find, at least that what you believe. Was this put in here as a joke or an accident or-,

‘Clack!’

You jump ever so slightly from the odd noise that had pulled you away from your thoughts. The noise appears to come from your room, from the way the sound was only slightly distant and lightly muffled by the walls. You take more of a pep in your step and get to your room to investigate the noise. Taking a look around your room, you find after a minute of looking to see your Sonic figure on the floor. Picking him back up you take a look at him and see that his paint job was really impressive for a small action figure. You rolled him around in your hand and were impressed that the figure, all around, was correctly put together and made. No chip marks, no lack of paint, or extra paint where it shouldn’t be. No mistakes. You smile a bit at the thought and set Sonic on your small table next to your bed. You see that the Dr.Eggman figure, however, was almost to the edge of the bed, laying on his tummy, and had his arms pushed out in front of him. ‘Looks like he pushed Sonic off.’ You laughed at that thought of the plastic toy throwing its plastic arch-nemesis over the edge of the bed.

You pick the doctor up and examine him as well. He just like Sonic with the most impeccable paint job you’ve seen. You blush a bit and hold him more gently. You won’t lie and say that you may have had a crush on the doctor for a while now, not trying to deny it anymore. The first time that you had seen him on screen when watching the cartoon, you had butterflies swarming inside of you. The way he spoke was like music to your ears, and the way that he got when he thought he was about to win was so cute to you. You wished that they had made a third season to keep going with the cute doctor, but alas, good things must come to an end.

Taking the doctor and placing him onto your mountain of pillows you take a new pair of clothing into your bathroom and get cleaned up again, remembering that the heat had not been kind to you earlier. Once done, you put your old outfit into your laundry hamper and grabbed your portable DVD payer from the corner of your room. You had gotten this for the holidays and once you had gotten it, you never put it down for more than a few hours. You open up the player and take the first DVD case and open up the side of it up to show you the contents inside.

Your mood changed to a sour one when you saw the DVD itself. A plain disk with the words ‘Sonic Boom Season One, First Disk.’ repaced what would have been the official disk. You were upset that this was a false product and went to look at the second case. When you opened that one you were greeted by the bootleg copy of the second disk. You set both cases down and head to the kitchen you grab your favorite drink.

‘Really should have grabbed this earlier when I went to throw out the box.’ thinking bitterly as you swing open the fridge door and grab a bottle of your elixir that would of relax the current mood you were in. Opening the cap and dowing a few gulps of the drink, you realized that maybe you might have had gotten a copy that may have been a gift to someone or a factory error. You put the cap back on and take a deep breath. You had wanted to watch the show and still hope that the disks were holding the content you crave.

You made your way back to your room again to find your DVD player’s disk tray opened with the first seasons stuck in the correct spot. You freaked. You KNEW that you did not put the disk is the try, not even taking it out of its case, what is it ended DOING out of the case? You panic for a second and take a look around your home to make sure no one was in the house with you. After a check of the windows, rooms, closets, and even checking under furniture, you concluded that no one could have been in your house. You take a calming breath and sit down on the edge of your bed. You try and come up with some sort of explanation. Mabey you had put the disk in your DVD player and forgot about it. You were a bit sleep-deprived due to the last week of finals, so maybe you may have forgotten? You try and relax and after a few minutes you calm down enough to stop thinking of making scenarios of how this could have happened. After getting a grip, you push the lid down of the DVD player and start up the system. Sitting on your bed, you get to the main menu and sigh of relief that it was a copy of the show and not a knock-off. “So this must be a prototype or an unreleased version, cool.” Speaking to no one in particular. You press play on the first episode, ‘The Sidekick.’ and lean back the ride.

At first, the episode appeared normal. That ended when it got to the scene where Dr.Eggman got the poster for the sidekick tryouts and when the fourth wall gag kicked in and dropped the camera away from the doctor’s face, when he picked it up, however.

“Lousy security camer-.” he had stopped and looked dead into the ‘camera’. His eyes widened and he gave off a soft gasp, and you swore he was looking dead into your eyes, however, the scene quickly changed into the next stop before he could react. You pause the clip there and lean back.

NO WAY that happened. Your brain at the moment was fried and you KNEW he looked at you. Your heart was pounding a mile a minute and you had to take a few deep breathes to make sure you didn’t hyperventilate. ‘Breath,’ You keep telling yourself. ‘Breath!’ After few minutes of reconciliation, you looked back to the paused screen and ponder on what you should do. This has to be edited or who knows what. You were too far into this to give up now. First, the way the box was hidden was now becoming way too suspicious, second the way the figure looked way too good to be sold in a box set like that, and now this? You realized that this might be bigger than what you anticipated. Your eyes connect with the figure on your bed. You wanted to see where this goes. You had to see where this leads. You press play again.

You kept watching and when it got to when the doctor was introduced it was normal until it got to the Doctor entering the try-outs. He would keep going with the same dialog but kept taking glances over to you. The episode kept playing. The ending was different, however. Once BurnBot was destroyed via growing in the ice lake, Sonic and Tails didn’t kick the doctor away from the area. Instead, they did kick the Egg-Mobile out into the distance, but the doctor jumped out, landing in the area around the lake, letting Sonic and Tails leaving the scene. The camera focused on Eggman again as he lifted himself from off the ground and into the camera’s range. This time there was absolutely no way that the Docter did not see you as his expression look of that of confusion and worry. You decided to test out to see if you were going insane or if this was just an amazing edit. You wave to him. He hesitates for a moment. “Who-” But before he could finish that sentence, a very large light appears from the screen, blinding you. You cover your eyes and try to maneuver your body away from the small screen, only forgetting that you were seated in your bed and had just flung yourself off of it. You yelp out of fright and waited to hit the floor. You felt something grab you by the waist and pull you back up on the bed slowly. Uncovering your eyes you were met with something that happens only in fanfiction. A, very real, Dr. Eggman holding you in his hands, keeping you from falling off the bed.

“Hello.” His voice wavers from either the awkwardness of the situation or the fact that he just showed up into your room.

This is awkward.

[chil2de]

How are you today? If its alright with you, can I request a Atsumu x fem reader where she has a super tomboy style and ALWAYS wears baggy clothes, but one day atsumu comes over to hang out and the only outfit she has left is kinda a tight fitting shirt and for the first time ever Atsumu realizes just how curvy his girlfriend is

sorry if thats to specific! feel free to ignorethis!

warning - miya atsumu x reader

hiii! i’m doing okay anonie, thank you and i hope u are faring well!!! so um this ended up being a LOT longer than i expected pls forgive me it was supposed to be a cute lil drabble but now its like uh 2k words aJdhfhhd, i really loved this idea!!! don’t worry ab it being too specific i actually like that and it helps give me a general idea about the req

well whilst this isn’t tooooo nsfw there are a few small themes in the beginning + swearing since i write atsumu like that and implications of sexual content ig at the end but aside from that? just some fluff for our fav king. characters are aged up and i am unsure how it would work but call it anime logic and enjoy! thanks for requesting! (okay rereading the ending is lowkey smut why am i like this)

“b-cup.” atsumu huffed with confidence. he took a large swig out of his water bottle, nodding his head wisely in affirmation.

“really? i’d say c-cup.” suna chimed in, his half-lidded gaze narrowing.

“nah, it’s b-cup”

“what the hell are you two talking about?” osamu interjected, concern and disgust thick on his features as he came over carrying a few towels.

“(y/n)’s bra size” suna nonchalantly responded, his eyes flicking up for a few seconds as he accepted the towel from osamu.

“‘tsumu i knew you were messed in the head but, suna? have you caught his germs?”

“fuck are you making it sound like i have some viral disease?”

“you don’t?” suna snorted, plopping down onto the floor to sit cross-legged.

“why don’t you just ask her?” osamu’s gaze flickered onto yours from across the court. you felt your ears burn from the way the three of them were staring at you.

was something on your face?

a bug? dirt?

“huh? like i’m supposed to say, hey baby girl, what size are your tits?”

“i’m still saying b-cup”

“c-cup”

“i think b-cup” osamu joined in, watching atsumu screw his face at him

“you goddamn hypocrite-“ “who’s being a hypocrite?” kita inquired with a half-hushed tone, making his way over with a few protein bars

“oh my god i’m going home” atsumu groaned, resting his palms on his knees as he stood up. he beelined towards you, his exhaustion painted his lazy smile beautifully. he still had the energy to turn around over his shoulder and flip his middle finger up at his team whilst his right hand snaked around to your waist.

somewhere around your waist. it took him a little bit of digging through all the fabric.

it didn’t matter to him, though. as much of a jackass as he might’ve been, he never judged you for the way you dressed. even if it meant that sometimes you looked a lil bit homeless, at the end of the day- he still had that glimmer in his eyes whenever he saw you.

you would be his favourite baby girl, no matter what.

“is that my shirt you’re wearing?” he hummed, glancing down to look at it.

it was, in fact, one of his shirts. it was matte black in colour, with a small dip that would showcase atsumu’s collar bones. it was a little bit faded from the many wash cycles it endured throughout its lifetime, but he would always notice the small tear in the bottom right section of the fabric.

“sorryyy, i know you just washed it but it smelled so nice. also, wow, did you put on deodorant? you actually smell like a man it’s kinda creepy”

“i always put on deodorant you dipshit, you’re always crying about how pretty my face looks so your nose doesn’t pick up the scent. it’s verbena citrus, buy your own because i know you’ll try stealing mine so i’m putting a padlock on that shit.” atsumu scoffed, digging his fingers into your sides to tickle you as you walked. you squirmed, swatting him away as you dug your hands into the pockets of your joggers. they were not atsumu’s, unfortunately, for you found out the hard way that you would literally have to drag the excess fabric behind you like some train dress or bundle it up and fold it, which, in retrospect- did not look too aesthetically pleasing. you settled for your own joggers and favourite high-top sneakers to match.

“you know you’ll say all this but give me your deodorant anyway, right?” you stuck your tongue out at him. he rolled his eyes, ruffling your hair.

“hey.” he called out, causing you to direct your attention towards him.

he nudged your arm with his elbow.

oh.

“give it here.”

you uncurled your left hand out of your pocket, zipping it up to make sure the contents inside didn’t spill. atsumu slid his right hand away from your waist and opened his palm up, intertwining his fingertips between yours into a tight lock. he grazed his thumb over the back of your hand, giving you a small squeeze.

“that was the cheesiest and most corniest thing you’ve done and i hated it” you made a mock gagging sound, averting your gaze.

you could feel the blush fresh on your cheeks, heart pounding in your chest like it was about to explode.

“wait, you thought i was holding your hand because we’re dating? i’m just doing it because i know your dumbass would get lost” atsumu snorted, throwing his head back in laughter.

well,

you could still see the light blush tinting his cheeks. and it wasn’t the sunset.

“mmm, should i wear this one- wait-“ you grabbed the shirt, folding it upwards as you took a small whiff. well,, you did wear it yesterday… yeah, you did put it in the laundry basket,,, no, it didn’t smell toooo bad, but..

you groaned, tossing it back into said basket as you furrowed your brows in concentration.

you heard the doorbell ring which only caused you to panic even further. you just needed a shirt. literally any shirt. you were about to cut your freaking pants out and sew them together to another pair for a shirt.

since it was a friday, you had atsumu walk you halfway home. you only lived a street away from him, and the apartment was conveniently built on a fork between the road down to his house and the supermarket. hence, he dropped you off and went to the store all by himself like a responsible adult to grab some snacks for the weekend.

“it’s open!” you called out, leaning your jaw back as you shouted in hopes for your voice to travel further.

in that moment, just in the corner of your eye- you saw a familiar flash of black.

you swooped the fabric up, quietly humming in pleasure when it smelled like laundry detergent and fabric softener.

you lifted the shirt over your head, struggling to pull it down for a few seconds.

you admired yourself briefly in the mirror.

it was a casual t-shirt. it reached down to the middle portion of your arms, though it was significantly less baggy than all of your other clothes. you liked to sleep in it during hot and stuffy summer nights, but rarely found yourself using it otherwise.

it’s not like you didn’t like these kinds of shirts.

but when given the option to look “stylish” or comfortable, who wouldn’t pick comfortable? that’s what was important to you above all. clothes that made you feel like you were constantly in bed were a godsend from the heavens.

“hey dipshit, i spent twenty minutes jumping stores for you but no one sold any (favourite drink) so i got you-“ atsumu halted in his steps, the grocery bags curled around his fists were suddenly forgotten and discarded as he caught sight of you through the doorframe.

you were clad in a pair of old white shorts and a black t-shirt, complimentary of the fact that everything else was currently in the laundry machine. atsumu could outline every single damn crevice and dip on you, and he burned that shit so deep into his retinas that he would still see it when his eyes were closed.

he felt his breath hitch, something deep inside him resonating, growing feral like hunger.

he still stood by what he said,

baggy clothes or not, you were beautiful.

but he wasn’t expecting this

“so you bought what?” you inquired, twisting your torso halfway to greet him as you finished brushing through some knots in your hair at the vanity.

“huh?”

“you said there wasn’t any (favourite drink) so you got what? did you fall and crack your head open on the way here? cause it looks like it”

you could feel your heart squeeze, body temperature increased twofold as icy hot waves wracked every inch of your skin. there was a cold sweat that rolled down the back of your knees.

“shut the hell up, i hate you” atsumu grumbled, forcing himself to turn away from you and stomp off to the kitchen with a pout.

“jesus christ give me strength i hate this woman, where the hell does she get off thinking she can get away with looking so good like that” atsumu mumbled incoherent curses underneath his breath, shakily unloading everything he bought out onto the counter and stuffing the groceries into cabinets and the fridge.

“‘samu, i hate you but dude i need twin telepathy, give me strength so i don’t deck this woman right here right now” he cursed, gritting his teeth. his self-control was about to fly out the window.

“you okay?” you popped your head through the door, leaning into the kitchen.

he could see the outline of your prominent collarbones, the way the shirt still fell a little bit and hung loosely off of your frame. he could see the start of your stomach.

god, it should’ve been illegal the way he wanted to grab your thighs. he wondered for a second what it would look like with his fingerprints etched into your skin there.

“want a few tissues and some lotion?” you snorted, nestling up beside him to help. you gazed at him, watching him keep his eyes narrowed on the packet of pistachios he was fumbling with.

you thought it was cute.

“listen- if you’re not ready yet then i’d suggest that you find something else to wear cause holy shit if you don’t get away from me right now i swear i will not restrain myself-“

“i’m ready” you hummed, giving him an innocent smile. you toyed with your hands behind your back, fiddling with them as butterflies swept your abdomen.

atsumu snorted, eyebrows creasing in confusion. he turned to face you, setting the pistachios down.

“alright i’m not saying this to boost my ego, but, what did you say?”

“i said i’m ready”

you watched his brain stir, gears ticking and turning like clockwork.

atsumu let out a low sigh.

“yeah, yeah. well, then.”

his right hand slammed against the wall, caging you in. he leaned into you, looming over you as his half-lidded eyes burned holes inside your soul. you felt the air tense and switch around him, carnal desires swirling behind his gaze. his chest was so close to yours, practically flush, save for the tiniest gap. you could literally feel his heart hammering.

he was so invasive, so close, yet so respectful. he still kept his distance, just n case you changed your mind.

“are you sure this is what you want?” his voice was hot and slick against the shell of your ear, voice husky and octaves deeper. you could feel the sexual tension dripping from him.

you wrapped your arms around his neck, resting your forehead against him.

“i’m sure, ‘tsumu.”

a loud chuckle ripped from the depths of his chest. it was so hearty, and fuck, it made you clench.

atsumu swooped you up all in one swift motion, hands hooking underneath your thighs as he shoved you against the counter. he sent everything clattering and thudding in the process.

“don’t say i didn’t warn you, doll.”

[random-imagines-blog]

Hysteria {Henry Wu x Reader}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 2793 Summary: You’re an up and coming scientist hand chosen by Henry Wu to be a part of his team at Jurassic World. But you feel for him in ways more than a boss and a team member should. Warnings: Contains spoilers of Jurassic World; and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

You had the feeling that something bad was going to happen the whole time that you were working on the top secret project with Dr. Henry Wu. But you wanted to trust it because you trusted him whole-heartedly. The Indominus Rex was really a huge innovation in genetics, and you were honored to be a part of it. Being one of the younger scientists working inside of Jurassic World meant that you were often skipped over, considered to be too youthful to have the experience needed. But Dr. Henry Wu took a chance on you, and you had proved yourself, becoming one of the head scientists on the project. And you were very grateful to him for doing that. Maybe grateful wasn’t the right word. You weren’t an English major, but perhaps the word you were looking for was smitten. That seemed to fit the ticket.

Who wouldn’t be attracted to an older, very intelligent and handsome mentor? You admired his brain as well as that crooked smile that he rarely had in the lab but seemed to give to you a couple of times a month. With his serious demeanor, you couldn’t ask for much more than that. The only thing that you didn’t fully admire was his constant need to put the work in front of lives. Not only those of the other scientists, working you day and night on little sleep to get a project done and not alerting others to what sort of DNA he was extracting. But those of the patrons of the park. He wasn’t in it for the people, the fame, the money. He was in it for the creativity. The mad genius, some of your colleagues would call him behind his back.

But as long as things continued on smoothly, things should be fine. As long as the Indominus Rex remained in it’s area, things would be okay. As long as nothing in the slightest went wrong... things should be okay.

But chaos started to happen. Voices came over the loud speaker that the project you had been working on with Henry, the very dangerous dinosaur that you had created - it was loose.

Henry didn’t want to go. After he had been told that there was a helicopter ready to take you and him off to safety, he stayed standing around, watching the chaos. “Dr. Henry, we really should go,” You said, putting your bag with your few personal belongings and some scientific equipment over your shoulder. It seemed unlikely that you would ever be returning here. All of your work - and it was just going to get killed. You couldn’t bear to watch, though you understood how much of a danger the Indominus Rex could be if out of its confines. Safety first, science second.

“All of this ... exists because of me,” He said, looking at the monitors which would probably be shut down very soon. “And now, it will be gone.”

“But think of what else that you could create out there,” You said, watching as the last of the other scientists left. You would be missing the flight if you stayed much longer. And this was not a place you wanted to be if your creation was still wandering around. “But you’re not going to have a chance to if you don’t get your butt on that chopper!”

He sighed, but he did eventually give you a smile. “Go and save me a seat,” He asked and you nodded, taking his permission to leave. But as you walked through the white halls, then ascended the staircases, you wondered if he was going to pull some sort of stunt. Try to stay behind and save all of his work. The chopper was almost filled, and you jogged towards it, a man extending his hand to help you aboard. You took it and took your seat, noticing that there was only one left. You put your bag on your lap, secured your seatbelt and waited, just hoping, just hoping...

Eventually the door to the roof opened, and Wu came jogging, only a single bag with him. He seemed a little out of breath as he approached the chopper, and this time you were the one that got up and offered your hand, pulling him aboard. He collapsed next to you, wiping a bit of sweat off of his forehead. “Thanks,” He said, and you nodded in response.

-

You continued to work with Dr Wu on many different projects, but most of them concerned dinosaurs. You had different agendas, him wanting to see how far that he could take science, and you having an actual love of the dinosaurs. You grew very invested in each and every one, so the events that happened at Jurassic World had broken your heart. But at least you still had your specimens, your DNA, all of it, in the lab. You practically lived there now, as did Henry. Living off of take out and taking turns sleeping on a small couch took a bit of a toll but you wouldn’t change where you were for the world.

“Did you finish the chinese food?” Henry asked. You looked over to see that he was deep in the only fridge that was for personal use, his rear sticking out beyond the door. You gave a grin at that, took out your cellphone and snapped a picture because the image was just a little too adorable for the otherwise-grumpy scientist. “Y/N?”

“Yeah, I did, sorry,” You said, putting your camera into the pocket of your ever-present white coat before he caught a glimpse of it. “Maybe we should go out for dinner tonight. How long has it been since you’ve set foot outside?”

The fact that Henry was silent, and actually had to think about it, made up your mind. “There’s an Italian place just down the street, we could walk? I know I need the exercise.”

“I guess I could use a break,” Henry said, and his stomach gurgled in response making you laugh. “I’ll be ready in .. twenty minutes?”

“Sounds good to me,” You said with a nod, and went to your own personal little cubby where you kept your belongings. Your heart was beating fast as you looked through your clothes to find something a little more special than what you usually threw on to be around the lab. Pushing past all of the white clothing, you spotted a bit of color. The blue dress that you wore to the opening of Jurassic Park years ago, still in it’s dry-cleaning bag. You unzipped it and took a look at the fabric, feeling it between your fingers, wondering if it still fit. Would it even be appropriate for something like this? Would Henry even notice that you were wearing something that wasn’t your usual lab attire?

So many questions went through your mind, and cut through a big chunk of time. Henry would be ready soon. So, as they say in science - fuck it. You pulled your coat off, and put on the dress, only to find that it fit absolutely perfectly, just like it had all of those years ago. You weren’t even sure why you had kept it for so long. You never had reason to dress up anymore - but then along came Henry, and though he wasn’t concerned much about what humans looked like, you wanted to have something just in case there was a chance. This was that chance.

You didn’t have the right footwear to go with it though, so you went with your walking shoes. They were better than your bulky lab boots anyway. A quick brush of the hair, a touch of chapstick, and you met up with him in the hallway. And to your surprise, he had dressed up somewhat as well. And if you didn’t know any better, you might think that he was blushing, just a little. “Are you ready?” He asked, in his usual upfront and business like manner, making you snap out of any hopes that you had. You gave a nod, and together, went out to the restaurant, staying close for warmth against the wind that had picked up in the last few minutes.

The dinner had gone well, and for the first time, he seemed to open up about things other than work. You’ve never heard about his childhood before, but he was giving you little glimpses into it. He had always had an affinity for science, and had originally thought about becoming an actual MD. But a trip to a museum and seeing the pictures of dinosaurs had opened up something in his brain, had started him on that course. You opened up a little about yourself as well, but you had never been as guarded about your life before work as he had been. Your own love of dinosaurs had come when you had heard about Jurassic Park. And you had made it your mission since then to work under the highly esteemed Dr. Henry Wu, and you completed that mission.

“It’s been an honor working with you,” He said, lifting his glass of wine to you.

“The honor is all mine,” You said, lifting your glass.

--

Things didn’t change with your new job. You followed Henry, as you would have to the ends of the Earth since you were completely crazy about him against your better judgment, to work for a private company. Creating dinosaurs for auction. God, it felt so wrong. You thought that every time that you ran tests, or experimented with the DNA. You were creating things that could destroy the world as you know it. Not just an island. Not just a park. But the entire world since you were on the mainland.

And things went wrong. The prototype was apparently sold, but then the dinosaurs began to escape because of a couple of former co-workers, and people around you were dying. Again.

“I think we need to stop, Henry,” You said from the driver’s side of the car that you stole, speeding away from the mansion, probably breaking about fifty laws while peeling out of there. And your heart broke at all of the lives that had been lost because of you and Henry. Because of what you had created. “All that we’re doing is killing people. We’re creating life, and then it’s getting destroyed so it’s barely even life at all.”

Henry remained silent for a couple of minutes, his head against the window, looking out in front of you. You knew you were lucky to have even gotten him out of there. All he wanted to do was run to the basement, where the dinosaurs were, and get the samples. But when you heard the bidding for the prototype, your brain had just completely given up on all of the work. You just couldn’t put yourself, or other people, in that position anymore.

“Pull over,” Henry requested, pulling you out of your thoughts. You still figured you were too close to the mansion to be anywhere near safe, but you moved the car to the shoulder of the road  nonetheless. You kept the key in the ignition but you turned the engine off to save gas. Or electricity, you didn’t even know - you didn’t check what kind of car it was.

“What is it?” You asked, looking over at him. His face was awash with orange light from the streetlight above him. He looked stressed, he looked a bit angry even.

“Without my work, I am nothing. That is something that you could never understand-”

“No, you’re right,” You interrupted. “That is something that I just - can’t understand. And I don’t even want to try. You put work above everything else, including the lives of other people. Including your own life. Like, Henry, do you not understand how lucky we are that we just got out of there? So many people didn’t make it.”

“I realize that-” Henry said, then it was like the enormity of the situation hit him. “They’ll be loose.”

“And it’s going to be a whole different world because of that,” You said with a frown. “And as the creator of these things... we’re probably going to be hunted down and put before the grumpiest jury to ever exist.”

“Fuck,” He said, rubbing his lips, running his hands through his hair. He was jittery, and it wasn’t from coffee. It was from the realization of what he, and you, had done.

“So we really need to get out of here and find somewhere to bunker down for a while,” You sighed. You wished you knew of a place where you could go, but nowhere would be welcoming to you right now. Your only intention was to drive and drive and drive and hope that the police were too busy with dinosaurs to realize that you were in a stolen car. As far away from here as possible.

“Shouldn’t we separate?” Henry asked. “It’s me they’re going to be coming for. You can still get out of this...”

“I’m just as responsible as you are - and I don’t have anyone else, Henry. And - I don’t want to be with anyone else. I’ve gotten quite adjusted to your company,” You admitted.

He looked at you for a long while. You could feel the weight and the intensity of that gaze, and it made you feel uncomfortable. Your fingers tapped against the steering wheel, waiting for him to say something.

“Let’s drive,” He said, and you nodded. It wasn’t what you had wanted to hear, but it was better than nothing. You started the car back up and continued along the road, watching as the sun started to come up on the horizon. People would be waking up and turning on the news soon. And their lives would be changed forever.

“I don’t know where we’re going,” You said, as you came to a stop at a red light. You looked over at Henry again only to find that he was still looking at you. He looked like he wanted to say something, which was an odd expression because he rarely ever took the time to stop and think about what was going to come out of his mouth. “What are you thinking?”

“That it doesn’t matter where we go,” He said, slowly. “I want you there.”

Your heart started to beat again, quickly, though it had just started to slow down to a normal pace. I want you there - those words would be echoing through your mind forever. “I love you.”

You hadn’t even meant to say it but it slipped out. Everything was coming out tonight. Dinosaurs, the disgusting and greedy nature of men to own everything - and the truth.

“You’re young,” Henry said after a moment’s silence. “I am nearly twice your age.”

“Exactly. I’m young, and you still took a chance on taking me on as a part of your team. That means that you saw something in me that a lot of people just refused to look at. But it’s okay if you don’t love me back, Henry, I can live with that. But I guess I couldn’t live without not telling you.”

Henry was not an emotional person. In fact, he was either very concentrated on his work, or he was frustrated from not being consumed by his work. It was one or the other, so you weren’t expecting much to come from him. He had even tried to give you a logical reason not to care about him. But love wasn’t the most logical thing in the world. He knew that from experience. You were in diapers while he was getting his PhD. He had no reason to be feeling things things for you. But yet...

“I love you too.” He said. And he reached out and put his hand on top of yours on the center console, his rough hands - cut up from broken beakers over the years - felt warm against yours. You took a glance over at him, feeling touched that he made even that little move.

The light turned green. You kept looking at Henry, up until there was an angry honk from a car behind you. You laughed and pressed down on the gas pedal, running away from your problems, and going towards the brand new world.

[spencers-renaissance]

baby, you’re my new years’ eve

Summary: You and Emily are hosting a New Years’ Eve party for all of your friends, but she’s acting a little weird. You finally find out why when the clock strikes midnight.

Tags: fluff, nye fic, proposal, getting engaged, domesticity, romance, flirting, day in the life 

Pairing: Emily x Reader

Word Count: 3.6k

Masterlist // Read on AO3

It’s almost 10am by the time you get back from your morning errands, laden with bags and a dusting of snow decorating your coat. You shrug out of your coat and scarf, peel off your gloves, and kick off your boots as you venture further into the house you share with your girlfriend, a warm safe haven from the frozen wind outside. All the Christmas lights the two of you had put up together a few weeks ago are turned on, and the warm and happy feeling settling in your chest only intensifies when you shoulder the kitchen door open to see Emily awake and drinking a cup of coffee at the table.

“You’re up,” you smile, knowing that Emily likes a lie-in on her days off, and she damn well deserves it, too.

“You’re back,” she echoes, a matching bright smile lighting up her face. She’s still in her pyjamas, a dressing gown thrown around her shoulders, and her hair has been let down from its bun, a slight curl to it after having slept with it up. She looks absolutely beautiful, naturally.

“I am.” You walk further into the room and put your bags down on the kitchen counter, beginning to unpack them. “I picked up some stuff for the party tonight, but I also got you breakfast.” You grab a plate from the cupboard and load it up with the pastries you’d bought from the local bakery, sold to you by the baker who knows both you and Emily by name.

“Oh,” she gasps in delight. “Have I told you lately I love you?” She reaches eagerly for the plate to place it on the table before reaching around for a kiss.

“You have,” you confirm, amused, “you tell me every day, Em.”

“Because it’s true,” she nods with wide eyes through a mouthful of almond croissant.

Laughing, you grab yourself a plate and a few pastries before joining Emily at the table. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Mm, it was a bit broken,” she admits, not quite meeting your eye for some reason. “But I made up for it with a little lie-in this morning.” Emily never sleeps badly at home. She’s always said that sleeping in her own bed with you wrapped around her is the best sleeping tablet she’s ever tried, but you don’t dwell on it too much.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” you say sympathetically. “You could always have a nap early this afternoon. Need to be in the best shape for partying the night away.”

“Yeah, I might do,” she says, looking back up at you. “If I start to feel tired I’ll try and sleep. Anyway, how did you sleep, Y/N?”

“Like a baby,” you smile. “Woke up early so I thought I’d beat the New Years’ Eve rush to buy up the rest of the snacks. Plus, pastries for breakfast�� can’t beat that.”

“You definitely can’t,” Emily says, a smudge of icing on her lip. “Thank you for doing that, sweetheart.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you say, leaning over to wipe the icing off with your thumb, kissing her for good measure. “Icing,” you explain with a grin as you pull away.

“Ah,” she says knowingly, winking at you before leaning back in for another kiss. “Right, come on. Finish your breakfast and we’ll get on with the day.”

The rest of the morning is spent in the kitchen. You’d decided that as much of the food on offer at the New Years’ party the two of you had planned should be homemade as possible, which meant a fridge full of baked goods you’d already prepared but a short list of items that still needed to be made. It was a bit of an undertaking, but it kept you busy. Despite having known the rest of the BAU for years and having been fully incorporated into their family, you still get nervous before each gathering. Being surrounded by powerful, smart, successful FBI agents was always going to be intimidating, no matter how much you considered them your friends.

“Emily, please don’t stick your finger into the butter and then plunge it into the sugar,” you sigh, a little exasperated as your girlfriend shoves her greasy finger into her mouth for the third time.

“What?” she asks, pretending to be insulted. “It tastes good.”

“Yeah, it’s also not very hygienic,” you point out, rolling out the cookie dough.

“Oh, please, what’s a bit of my saliva when you kiss me everyday anyway?” she asks.

“Well, I might think that,” you reason, “but I’m not sure our guests will. Unless you’ve been running around kissing them, too?” You point your rolling pin at her accusatorily as you wait for her response.

“No!” she cries, kissing you in promise of her devotion. “I only have eyes for you, baby. By the way is it too early to have a glass of wine?”

You roll your eyes at that, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a fond laugh. “It’s 11am Emily,” you giggle. “What’s got into you this morning?”

“Nothing,” she says defensively. “I’m just… excited for the party later.”

“Hmm, okay,” you say dubiously, raising an amused eyebrow in her direction. “In that case, you get started on the samosas. Fry up the filling I prepared and roll out the pastry for me? Then all we need to do is put the chips in later on and set it all up.”

“Anything for you, baby,” she smiles, kissing your cheek before getting on with her assignment.

You work together with your ‘happy’ playlist playing over the kitchen speakers for the next hour and a bit to get all the food ready, and by the time the samosas are being fried, you’re both in desperate need of a sit down. “Right, let’s order something to eat and watch an episode or three of Parks and Rec before we need to get ready and set up, how does that sound?” Emily asks as you both begin the mammoth task of cleaning up the bombsite of a kitchen.

“I don’t know, Em, we have so much food in the fridge,” you say, worrying your lip at the decision.

“Yeah, but it’s all for the party tonight, you don’t want to eat it now,” she says, reaching for your hand and squeezing it comfortingly. “Come on, we’ll tidy up afterwards. I’ll order in some UberEats and we’ll relax for a little while. We deserve it after all this.”

“Okay,” you relent, offering her a grateful smile and letting yourself be guided to the sofa by Emily’s hand.

“You’ve done an amazing job at making all this food, sweetheart,” she says warmly, running a hand through your hair. “You should rest for a bit now so you can properly enjoy tonight, yeah?” She tucks a blanket around you and hands you the remote before she pulls out her phone to order you both some lunch.

Sandwiches eaten and two extra coffees polished off, you get started on setting up the house for the party. The leftover decorations from Christmas make the house bright and pretty enough, so it’s fairly easy to make the house look welcoming, but you still have to sort out the food and drink, move the furniture, and put away the valuables. Not to mention getting yourselves ready.

“Everyone’s arriving at 8, right babe?” Emily calls from the kitchen as you move the coffee table to the side in the living right.

“That’s right,” you call back. “But Spencer and Penelope will probably be here early.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Emily says, walking into the living room and leaning against the doorframe as you finish pushing the table aside to make the room more accessible.

“Does this look okay?” you ask, putting your hands on your hips as you survey your living room.

“It looks great, baby,” Emily reassures you, pushing off the door and pulling you into a side hug as you both look at the decorated room. “The Christmas tree is still up which makes the whole room look lovely, and the New Year banner is nice, too. It’s absolutely perfect for what we need it to do.”

“Okay,” you agree, turning to the side to press your face into her neck, kissing her briefly before pulling away again. “Let’s tidy away the expensive stuff and then go and get ready, yeah?”

“Y/N, there are like 15 people coming and nobody’s gonna get off their tits; we don’t really need to put this stuff away,” she promises, but it’s to no avail.

“Well, I’d rather be safe. Even tipsy people can do some damage,” you point out, putting Emily’s mother’s vase in the cabinet along with a few decorations from the mantle.

“Fair enough,” she agrees, heading into the kitchen to continue tidying up after your earlier cooking adventures. You join her a moment later and the two of you work quickly to do the washing up, tidy the counter, and put the dishwasher on. You’re soon looking at a spick and span kitchen, nearly party-ready, and you smile at your girlfriend in satisfaction. “Looks amazing, doesn’t it?” she smiles back at you.

“It does indeed,” you nod. “It’s only 4. You wanna sit down for a bit before getting ready?”

“Absolutely I do,” she says. “Wanna nap with me?”

“Please,” you sigh, grabbing her hand to lead her down to your bedroom. The two of you ditch the trousers and bury under the covers, setting a timer for an hour before promptly falling asleep.

“Want me to wash your hair?” Emily asks as you both stand under the hot jet of water. Your favourite part of moving in with Emily was definitely the shower; you’d moved from a flat with a from a tiny bath and shower combo unit to a beautiful house on the outskirts of DC with a large walk-in shower and the best water pressure you’d ever experienced; it was quite the upgrade.

“Only if I get to do yours afterwards,” you grin, leaning in for a rather wet and soapy kiss.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” she says, spinning you round and pouring a generous dollop of shampoo into her palm, lathering up your hair as she massages her fingers into your scalp in a delicious massage. You can’t help but lean into the touch, just as you always do with Emily, making her chuckle fondly. “Feel good?”

You just let out a happy moan in response, sighing as the water washes the shampoo away and Emily quickly applies some conditioner. “Your turn,” you say, doing the same for your girlfriend as she sighs appreciatively.

You both shave your legs and underarms quickly before finishing up in the shower and towelling off next to one another in the spacious bathroom. “Right, it’s 5.30,” you say, checking your phone while Emily wraps her hair up, “so we’ve got like… two hours, probably, until Pen and Spencer show up.”

“Plenty of time,” Emily says breezily, waving her hand in your direction as you open the bathroom window to air out the humidity.

“Still, better to be early rather than late,” you say pointedly, grabbing Emily’s hand and dragging her away from her perch by the radiator and into the bedroom.

She hums as she drops her towel and peruses her wardrobe. When she turns back around with the dress she plans on wearing, you don’t bother to hide your blatant appreciation. After all these years you’re still somehow blown away with how sexy Emily manages to be. “Naughty girl,” she gasps in mock admonishment. “We don’t have time for that. Your words not mine.”

“Life’s tough,” you sigh heavily, walking over and squeezing her ass lightly, taking great pleasure in making her jump as you pull out the dress you’d decided on earlier in the week. “What do you think?” you ask her.

“It will look absolutely gorgeous, Y/N,” she promises, kissing your cheek. She passes you your bathrobe and pulls her own on as you both head to your adjoining dressing tables to sort out your hair. “Straight or curly?”

“Hmm, straight, I think,” you reply, “you know I love your natural hair. I’m gonna go curly though, so we’ll compliment each other perfectly.”

You put on some music and get ready together in tandem, and it goes about as simply as it can when Emily’s involved. You only have three make-up brushes chucked at you and her desk isn’t a total disgrace by the time you’re finished, so you take it as a win. It’s just gone 7 by the time you’re both dressed up to the nines and ready for the party.

“You look… breathtaking,” Emily says dreamily as she drinks you in, kissing you gently so as not to smudge either of your lipsticks.

“Thanks, Em,” you say shyly. “You look absolutely beautiful, too.” She’s wearing a gorgeous full-length black dress with a deep v neck line and a slit in the right leg. She’s a vision next to your colourful outfit and bright makeup, always complementing one another in just the right ways.

“Right, well, if we both look amazing, it’s time to set out the food, isn’t it?” she asks, winking at you as she leads the way out to the kitchen, shutting and locking the door behind you to prevent any stray party guests from wandering in.

The next hour passes quickly and soon guests are spilling through the door, brightening the whole house with their chatter and laughter, getting started on the wine and party food. Emily is marginally quieter than usual, but you brush it up to her just being tired, especially when she’s roped into a conversation with Hotch and Rossi and immediately perks up.

The whole of the BAU team is here, along with your best friends and the few Couple Friends you and Emily had made over the last few years that made you both feel far too grown up and sophisticated. Your friends quickly mingle in with the rest of the guests, though, which was your biggest worry, so with that relief you let yourself relax and enjoy the party.

Spencer and Penelope snag you into a conversation, plying you with champagne and the samosas you’d made with Emily earlier until you properly let go and enjoy yourself. “Wait, Emily made these?” Spencer asks, slightly incredulous at the idea of his most chaotic friend being even somewhat capable in the kitchen.

“She was supervised, don’t worry,” you laugh, biting into one delicious samosa after another.

“I wish I could cook,” Spencer says as he accepts another one from Penelope’s proffered plate.

“Aw, I’ll teach you baby genius,” Penelope grins. “But I once watched you try and put a croissant in the toaster, so you may be a lost cause.”

“Hey, that was when I’d first joined the BAU,” Spencer protests. “It was the first time I had a salary and could afford such luxuries, you can’t blame me for not knowing what to do with it.” His defenses fall on deaf ears, though, as you and Penelope laugh loudly at his expense. “Derek will defend me,” he eventually mutters before running off to find his boyfriend.

You and Penelope chat easily for a while, introducing her to a few of your friends as you orbit around the downstairs of your house. Eventually, you cross paths with Emily again, who still looks a little tense and quiet. “Hey,” you say, catching her arm and subtly drawing her to the side. “Is everything okay, baby?”

“Yeah, of course,” she says, plastering on a smile you know is fake. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Just enjoy the party, okay? We’ll talk later.”

You can’t really enjoy the party when the back of your mind is continually worrying about your girlfriend, but you’re able to circle around the house a few more times, chatting with all of your guests as everyone tucks into the alcohol and food. Before you know it it’s nearing midnight and Emily’s in the corner of the kitchen having a serious-looking conversation with Hotch.

Tentatively approaching, you tap Emily on the shoulder. “Everyone’s gonna watch the ball drop in the living room,” you say. “You coming?” You try and smile as encouragingly as possible, taking her soft hand in yours.

“Yeah,” she says, looking a little flustered and you can see a little sheen of sweat on her forehead, “yeah, of course, baby. Let’s go.” She hands her glass of champagne to Hotch in a sort of weird gesture that has you furrowing her eyebrows, but nevertheless she grips your hand firmly and you swan into the living room which is already housing most of the guests, everyone chatting and laughing loudly. The sight of so many people you love and adore has you smiling warmly, and you press your arm up against Emily’s, resting your head on her shoulder as the 2 minute countdown begins.

“I love you so much, you know,” you whisper, just for her to hear in the loud, excited room. “I can’t wait to spend a whole other year together. I feel so lucky to have you.”

She moves her neck slightly causing you to lift your head and you’re met with a happy, excited smile, all traces of the nervous Emily that had been swanning around the party all night disappeared. “I feel even luckier to have you, sweetheart,” she murmurs. “You have no idea.”

You both lean in for a kiss which is quickly interrupted by Derek. “Bit early, ladies,” he calls across the room, “it’s not midnight yet.” He’s got Spencer curled up under his arm on the sofa, resting comfortably next to JJ and Penelope who have also cuddled up together. Hotch and Rossi are standing by the Christmas tree rolling their eyes fondly at their agents.

Emily responds with a purposeful middle finger and a well-practiced sneer, but Derek can’t reply because soon the room fills with a swell of noise as everyone starts to count down.

Everyone cheers as the new year is rung in, but as you turn to kiss Emily, you’re instead faced with her on one knee, offering an absolutely beautiful engagement ring. You gasp loudly, gaining everyone’s attention and everyone stops their celebration as a happy, expectant hush falls on the room, the TV’s celebration the only sound.

“Y/N, I can’t express how much I love you,” Emily starts, voice confident but you can hear the undercurrent of emotion written all over it. “All I want to do for the rest of my life is be with you. Ring in each new year with you, celebrate every Christmas with you, come home from every hard case to you, eat pastry for breakfast with you. You’re all I need to be happy, and you’d make me impossibly happier if you’d do me the honour of being my wife. So, Y/N, will you marry me?”

“Yes, oh my God,” you reply tearfully as soon as she’s finished, tears spilling down your face as she carefully pushes the ring onto your finger and stands up to hug you. Everyone around you is clapping and cheering and celebrating your love but your whole world is shrunk down to the two of you, Emily’s hands on your lower back, her ring on your finger, the press of her body up against yours.

Eventually though, you pull away and kiss her, turning to face your guests with the happiest smile on your face. Hotch is smiling proudly and all the events of the evening slip into place, so you turn to kiss Emily on the cheek fondly. Penelope is crying, naturally, as are most of your friends and everyone crowds round in excitement, congratulating the two of you.

When you finally get a bit of space later in the night, you ask Emily where she’d kept the ring all evening.

“In my bra,” she answers, grinning widely.

“God, how did I not guess that,” you smile fondly, rolling your eyes. You kiss her anyway, though, because she’s hot and you’re very much in love.

“I’m so fucking happy you said yes,” she whispers, keeping her head pressed closely to yours.

“Did you seriously think I would ever say anything else?” you ask, surprised that Emily could possibly think you’d say no.

“Well, I obviously had a feeling,” she admits. “But you can’t help but feel fearful of the tiny probability you’re wrong.”

“Well I didn’t,” you say happily, leaning forward slightly to kiss her softly on the nose.

“No, you didn’t,” Emily replies, gripping her hand. “I seriously love you so much, Y/N.”

“And I seriously love you so much, Emily,” you grin. “I can’t wait to call you my wife, but I’m dead happy with fiancée. That will definitely suffice for now.”

The guests slowly trickle out as the hours tick on, eager to leave the newly engaged couple to themselves. Penelope and Spencer make you promise to have a catch-up brunch in the next few weeks to which you eagerly agree, and Hotch and Rossi both congratulate you like they’re both you and Emily’s dads. Derek gives you both massive hugs and JJ follows up with much gentler hugs and congratulations.

“Tidy up in the morning?” you propose, making Emily’s eyebrows shoot up; you usually insist on tidying up there and then, but she quickly understands as you start to unzip your dress and walk backwards towards the bedroom.

“Tidy up in the morning, indeed,” she agrees, running after you.

“My fiancée,” you sigh happily as you enter your cosy bedroom, pausing to kiss Emily softly.

“Your fiancée,” Emily agrees with a wide grin gracing her lips, leading you to the bed as you both start off this next exciting chapter of your lives together in the most appropriate way you can imagine.

@strippersenseii @criminalmindsvibez

[x0401x]

Jeweler Richard Fanbook Short Story #11

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Delicious Recipe

I would soon be at an age where I could envision my 50’s. My only daughter was a college student. I didn’t think of myself as too much of a passionate clerk, but I was fond of my current job at a mass retailer. Said shop was on the line of so-called “luxury supermarkets” in a way, so it had many products that weren’t available at supermarkets in my neighborhood, which meant stocking shelves was a hassle, but it was fun to look around. It had things such as assortments of high-quality cheeses or pouches of cold soup called vichyssoise. Since the shop was within walking distance of one of the largest stations in Tokyo, its clientele was diverse and there were many first-time customers, but on the other hand, that was exactly why it was so easy to remember the face of repeating customers.

“Hmmm...”

The young man glaring at the syrup shelf for a while now, who seemed old enough to be a university student, was actually a regular customer as well. Said regular – who stood out like a sore thumb in this shop, which had an overwhelming elderly customer base – always asked for simplified receipts. The name on them was “Jewelry Etranger”. Must be from a jewelry store. I believed him to be about as old as my daughter.

He was pacing back and forth in front of the shelf. Even though he usually came to buy snacks such as youkan and cookies, he was groaning in front of the cocktail syrup shelf today. Was it for private use instead of an errand? While I was staring at him, our eyes met, and with an apologetic face, he came over to my counter. There were no other customers.

“Hum, excuse me.”

As I welcomed him with a “yes, what might it be?”, he asked for a strange piece of advice.

“I want to make melon soda.”

“Haa.”

“The kind that you can quickly make into cream soda, with vanilla ice cream floating on top...”

“Haa.”

Then wouldn’t it be all right if he just bought the melon-flavored shaved ice syrup and carbonated water over there and mixed them in the appropriate proportions?

Before I could say this, he cut off, a crease rippling between his brows as he furrowed them, “I want it to be tasty. Very tasty.”

“Haa.”

A tasty melon soda. A very tasty one, no less. What kind of melon soda would that be?

I fumbled around my memory for the latest experience I had with a melon soda. The last time I had gone to a fast food was when my daughter was about ten years old. It had already been quite a long time. But I didn’t think there were any revolutionary changes in taste since then. It was carbonated, green and simply sweet. It didn’t have the same variety as tea or coffee. As if pressed with a stamp, melon soda was just melon soda. It was different from those confusing flavored-tea leaves.

He had actually already bought the melon syrup, he told me. But no matter how he changed the proportion of carbonated water, it didn’t have enough of a punch to it.

“I did some research at bars about how different the taste was from the melon sodas that we drink out there, but I kind of couldn’t tell... I think it might be best if I mix it with something. That’s why I’m looking for syrup, hmmm...”

With the exception of standard syrups for shaved ice, all syrups we handled were meant for cocktails. Bottles of vivid colors, in flavors such as apricot and mint, were lined up there. But I didn’t know whether any of them could be the secret ingredient for melon soda. The prospects were dim.

For starters, why had he decided to make something so troublesome by hand? To the point he was thinking of purchasing a bottle of syrup that was by no means cheap.

Of course, I didn’t say such things in front of the customer, but as if seeing through my hesitation, he smiled, as though a bit embarrassed. “No, hum, I have a friend who likes cream soda. She will be coming to the shop I work at one of these days... so I wanted to surprise her. Ehehe,” he laughed, looking happy.

I would guess that I did nothing but blink silently for a moment. It was an astonishingly good motive. I didn’t know what kind of friend she was or what kind of shop she would be visiting, but if nothing else, she seemed to be someone important to him.

If it were me, that would probably become a memory to last a lifetime.

A secret ingredient for a sweet juice. What suddenly crossed my mind was a time when my daughter was still little. A time when she caught a cold. I once made her a sweet juice when she didn’t want to take her medicine. I had a memory of being troubled as she was reluctant to drink water, saying it was painful. This had happened either in September or October, so there was still some leftover shaved ice syrup from the summer in our fridge. Making sugared water using it as colorant apparently gave it a special vibe, so she cheered up and drank it. Was it just sugared water? Hmm, if I wasn’t mistaken, in order for it to feel refreshing in the mouth, I had added—

“Ah, lemon juice.”

“Eh?”

“Mr. Customer, I’m not a bartender or anything, so I might be giving a wrong guess, but...”

Lemon went surprisingly well with sugared water.

As many cocktail recipes had lemon juice in them, I believed it strained the flavor that tended to unilaterally turn into “sweetness”. I didn’t think there was freshly squeezed lemon in the melon sodas of fast food shops, but if he was in pursuit of tastiness, wasn’t it a possibility?

When I told him this, he looked at me with a happy face, bowing his head with a “thank you very much”. And so, when he was about to leave the store without buying anything, he came back as if remembering something, lining up in front of the register and buying a package of specialty cookies from a certain place. When I was about to make the receipt, he told me he didn’t need it today, so I could tell it was his own pocket money.

“Really, thank you so much,” he said with an uplifting face, and this time, he exited the shop for good.

I didn’t think the suggestion I gave him warranted such consideration, and yet, what a proper child he was. His mother certainly must be happy to have a son like that, I thought, but afterward, I changed my mind, as he might surprisingly not be like that at home. My daughter, too, was an unfettered general at home, but the boyfriend that she discreetly brought over at the end of the previous year said some dreadful things about her, such as that she was a “refined young lady”. I thought they wouldn’t last for long, but it seemed they were still dating. It might be that people possessed many sides, just like those stylistic syrup bottles. Like the gemstones sold in jewelry shop. And he had showed me a wonderful, brightly shining side of his.

As a clerk, I wished from the bottom of my heart that his peculiar act of hospitality would go well.

   On Thursday morning, while I was extremely busy with stocking items, someone called to me with an “excuse me”. Even though I wished people wouldn’t talk to me at times like these, I couldn’t let it show on my face. When I turned around with a “yes, what might it be?”, my facial expression froze up. A blond, blue-eyed man was standing there. He was such a beautiful man that you’d end up asking yourself if it was okay to be breathing the same air as him. My face stiffened. He was speaking in fluent Japanese.

“Do you have canned cherries?”

“Eh, hah—aah, cherries?”

“Cherries. I need them urgently,” he said with a sour face.

Whatever might be the situation that required such a pretty young man, who looked like he had fallen from Heaven, to purchase canned cherries, it was beyond me. Anyway, with a manner of walking that looked like a frantic penguin, I guided him to the canned fruits corner and bowed with an “it’s this way”. He smiled as if relieved, leaving me floored.

“Much obliged.”

You’d think of it as an ordinary expression, but it was difficult to describe this with any word other than “bombshell”. His smile was like the glowing summer wind. As a result, you’d find yourself wondering about even unnecessary things, such as if this person had lived a life full of hardships. Was he an actor? Could be a model. His beauty was so removed from this transient realm, so I couldn’t think he was someone from the same world as myself. If a person like him were playing the hero in a tragic drama, I had the feeling that the audience would be a bit turned-off. As in, wouldn’t the role of charismatic villain suit him better? After a brief moment of escapism from reality, I came back to my senses and returned to stocking the items.

Once the checkout of the canned cherries was finished at the register, the elegant man left the shop while cursing someone’s carelessness with an “honestly, that heedless guy,” using a word that even a Japanese person seldom would.

At that moment, for some reason, the figure of that regular customer boy suddenly surfaced in my brain. The one who had told me he wanted to make melon soda. The kind that could quickly be made into cream soda, with vanilla ice cream floating on top. Melon-flavored soda aside, if you wanted to make a cream soda, the cherry was the last thing you should forget - that was what I had always been thinking, but unfortunately, he hadn’t showed up in the shop yet ever since then. Well, someone who had been so obsessed with the melon flavor probably wouldn’t do something like forget about the cherry, but there were instances such as the blond Onii-san of today. If he ever showed up again, I would make sure to mention the cherries.

On that day’s afternoon, I finally gave it a thought, and just as I was going home, I went into a family restaurant for the first time in ten years, and while tasting an awkward embarrassment, I ordered a cream soda. I had actually been wanting to drink it all this time ever since I saw him. My first cream soda in a while had the painfully sweet flavor of childhood.

[capri-ramblings]

It's finally here! The third Installment of my 'Mother's Reluctance'' ✨ Sebek,Deuce and Epel will be featured in the fourth part! Thank you for your patience!

Warning; Toxic/unhealthy relationships. Mentions of substance.

Please take note every work of mine here is purely fictional and meant for entertainment.

Please do not indulge in my yandere works if you are triggered by its dark, heavy themes.

Trey Clover

- Trey had wondered when the question was going to be asked. The two of you have been together for almost five years and he's noticed how you've adapted to his...darker tendencies as a partner

- He'll be honest,he's impressed. When it all first started he thought he'd have to break you to make the whole relationship work,but it seems you've proven him wrong

- Children are a must have for Trey. He grew up with a fairly large family himself and he couldn't really picture a lasting relationship with you without any children. Plus,his parents had began asking too.

- He had no problems with it,of course. He was more than ready to handle a few more children aside from his younger siblings,the only issue here was you.

- Trey was aware that you weren't so confident in parenting as he was,and he also noticed your reluctance regarding it.

- It annoyed him to a certain degree, and with his subtle charisma,Trey made sure you were aware of it.

- And you were. You just thought that as long as you acted like you didn't,he wouldn't get too frustrated over it.

- Oh,how wrong you were.

- Trey's cunningness hides behind a veil of his usual friendliness towards everyone, and by forgetting that, you were bound to fall for his trap.

- The two of you were closing up the family bakery one night when Trey came out of the kitchen with freshly baked tarts settled neatly on a white plate.

- "Were there extras? I thought we sold out everything..."

- Trey let out a small laugh as he shook his head. You noted how pleased he looked and quietly wondered why he was in such a good mood all of the sudden.

- "No,I made these for us. Your favourites too" He took one tart off the plate and plopped it into his mouth in one go, and the corners of your lips twitched into a small smile.

- "Thanks,but I think I'll pass. I just wanna get into bed and sleep"

- The whole day was a chore. You were used to a bustling bakery filled with customers,but today most of those customers were children, kindergarteners who had their teacher bring them all into the town's favourite Bakery because it was one of their friends' birthday. It was a sweet occasion,you weren't going to lie,seeing those small happy faces filled with sweets had you grinning,but the amount of energy those small human beings demanded was exasperating.

- Trey rose his brows,taking in another tart into his mouth. You missed the dark look he gave you when you turned around to flip the shop's sign from outside.

- "You're missing out" He mused, "It could help rejuvenate that tired body of yours"

- You laughed,shaking your head. You should've expected him to treat you like some worn out kid,Trey always had that habit.

- Though, you weren't expecting his body to press against yours when you turned around to face him. His lips suddenly close enough to just hover above yours.

- "Trey—"

- He leaned down to kiss your lips faster than your words could reach you, and in the moment you pressed yourself into him,Trey slipped one arm around your waist.

- His lips tasted sweet, a mix of vanilla and citrus mingling on his tongue that came to intertwine around yours. When you felt him closing the gap between bodies,the kiss deepened and Trey had you wilting in his grasp. The way his heat engulfed your entire being then gave a sense of high you failed to find in anyone else,and when he finally broke the contact,your lips were swollen and aching for more.

- The look in his eyes before he pulled away from you was tinted with wanton fever. And for a brief second,you thought you saw hunger in them.

- You're stumbling on yourself,of course you are. Trey isn't the type to suddenly pull you into such an intimate thing after all, but you regain your composure fast and with a gentle if not wary nudge, you put a space between you and Trey as you walked pass him and towards the scounter.

- "What was that for?" You asked and heard him chuckling before the sound of the front door locking caught your attention. It was meant to be locked,you remind yourself. The backdoor was always how you and Trey left after all. You wondered then why it bothered you so much in the first place.

- "Can't I be mysterious and kiss you whenever?"

- It sounded harmless,how the words just seem to bounce in your head and you paid it no mind.

- The tray of tarts placed beside you caught your eye a second you were about to reach out and take one for yourself, but something held you back.

- Trey is,above all else, a patient person and that patience you found so comforting is what he'll use against you.

- That night, after getting home and finally be able to just throw yourself onto your mattress. You woke up feeling thirsty and decided to slither out of bed as quietly as you could so Trey wouldn't be disturbed.

- In getting yourself a cold drink, you wonder if the tarts he made earlier were still there and to your pleasant surprise,Trey had kept them chilled in the fridge. Somehow feeling giddy about how spontaneous he was today, you take one and pop it into your mouth.

- Oh, sweetheart. Didn't you realize they tasted a bit too sweet? Trey's Doodle suit should've worn off by now but maybe it was just the exhaustion of the day that made you oblivious to the slight tingling sensation you felt after successfully eating three tarts in a row.

- Then again,how could you have known he slipped in a longing potion in them? He knew if it worked too fast it would seem suspicious and so Trey gave you the leniency of time by making it in small doses.

- He's waited years for the moment you'd beg him to have his seed inside you, a few more months is nothing.

- So,he'll wait and watch as the potion sets into your senses and you start wondering why you ever disliked the thoughts of children in the first place.

- They're so small and harmless and filled with joy...and they the way they'd resemble their parents so perfectly...

- How would your child look like? Would they have Trey's sharp gaze and your complexion? His patience and your wits?

- The thoughts circle through your head like a hypnotising lullaby.

- It began to hurt to wake up and see you don't have a kid of your own with your partner.

- Did Trey still wanted them? You hoped did because this house has started to feel a bit too big for just the two of you.

Jade Leech

- Jade can be cunning and cruel when he wants to and that's what made him such a terrifying partner to anger.

- He had control over himself,he knew when to pull back and when to shove fear down your throat.

- Jade is someone you never want to rile up or provoke even when you never really had a way of seeing the earlier signs of it.

- Possessive and sadistic, whenever Jade wanted a certain type of attention from you, he never failed to make you flinch from it.

- He was also very observant of you, and so he already knew from the start that the topic of having children was something you never wanted to delve into

- But, he liked seeing you squirm with discomfort. So, naturally,the topic often came up. Much to your dismay.

- "Say,why don't you want children, ____?"

- The way he curled his tongue around your name at the end made you shiver and Jade fought back the urge to snicker behind your back.

- Your lips pursed, and you tried to calm your nerves, but even knowing fully well what he was aiming at, you always tend to come off snarky.

- And though he adores your fighting spirit, Jade also loves giving you small punishments afterwards.

- Jade is wickedly patient however, so his process of manipulating you into giving him a child is more likely a slow burn. You don't even notice you're leaning into his fantasies until it's too late.

- He starts subtly at first, as always, pointing out the physical differences between him and you. Reminding you that he isn't human and thus the act of making children would be vastly different from how he'd usually have sex with you.

- His eyes seem to flicker when he sees you squirm underneath his scrutinizing prowess, but the conflicting acts of gentleness that comes afterwards has you cornered.

- He was throwing you out in the cold waters only to reel you back up into his arms,so you'd never know the warmth of another. So you'd depend on him.

- And it was working.

- Jade will choose to tire you out from your refusal. Easing you ever so tentatively into the idea of having children. The idea of truly becoming his wife and partner for life.

- Whether he had you as your current self or somehow altered you into one of his own kind is something he doesn't really mull over. As long as it's you, Jade doesn't care.

- You're both facing the mirror in your bedroom when Jade comes from behind you, his arms swiftly snaking its way around your waist. You fit in his grasp so perfectly,how could he imagine losing you to someone else?

- "Have children with me,my little starfish. Can't you imagine them swimming about? Calling you their mother and swarming you with loving hugs and kisses?"

- His words sounds so peaceful,so serene, you can't help but look into your reflection and see the swollen bump growing in your womb. See how easier your life would be if you surrendered yourself to him completely.

- "You'll make a lovely mother, and your brood will be the light of my life. I'll do anything to make you all happy."

- You breathed in his scent,his skin against yours a solid comfort you've come to yearn for.

- Would he always be this gentle if you gave him what he wanted?

- Days when he'll leave you all alone seemed to make you cringe. If you had a part of him, those days wouldn't bother you,would it?

- Jade intertwined his fingers with yours, a knowing look etched into his expression as he hears you murmur your reply.

- "Please be gentle."

Cater Diamond

- If Cater really wanted kids, he'd have cum inside you from the beginning really.

- He looks like a man with plans and at times he is, but when it came to personal things he always gets too emotionally invested to actually plan things out.

- But truth be told, he had to take a few years to sort his thoughts out to finally be comfortable with the notion of having kids.

- It's not that he disliked them, kids were great most of the time but he didn't exactly enjoy the idea of sharing his sweet Cupcake with an infant.

- After all, children required a lot of caring for and that's what good parents do, and what you and him have to face up to.

- But Cater didn't want that. He wanted you to himself. His Cupcake's time and effort should be showered onto him and him alone.

- A child would be a hindrance to that.

- But then a light bulb beamed in his thoughts and Cater came to a conclusion that if he had kids with you then your life would be completely in his hands!

- Unlike his carefree facade, Cater's yandere side is controlling and extremely possessive. If a kid is what it takes to have you forever, then he'll have twenty of them without a doubt.

- and they'll all call him Papa

- And you'd be their sweet,caring, mommy.

- This fantasy of his is a nightmare to you, and chances are Cater already guessed you were against it

- Though if you think that'll stop him, you're wrong.

- He's your capable Senpai,after all. He'll know the perfect tricks to get you on his side.

- You're extremely off the edge with how suddenly gentle and thoughtful Cater's been the last few weeks, how he hasn't played one of his manipulative mind games on you or increasing the 'rent' for staying with him, and you're half believing that maybe he's back to his old self. But there's this sick feeling in your stomach that doesn't seem to budge the more you spend time thinking about it and you keep telling yourself that he's baiting you into some sort of trap.

- So, you keep your guard up. Taking in the smallest gestures and carefully analysing them, making sure you hadn't somehow made Cater upset

- You knew how crafty he was after all.

- But being crafty wasn't his only strong suit,omitting that made you vulnerable to him.

- Cater has his charms, at times you don't even see him get all possessive over you until he has you trembling underneath him on the bed.

- Maybe it was the fact he always hid his true expressions, growing up with bossy sisters gave him the upper hand of disclosing any bitter thoughts and gestures.

- So,no, you don't realize it when he slips in the aphrodisiac in your drinks and snacks little by little everyday.

- No, you don't seem to wonder why you're always hot and bothered when he's not even paying you any attention.

- You don't even know why he hasn't even touch you at all in any way. No hugs from behind or pecks on the cheek. Not even a single wink.

- He's feeding you stuff to throw your hormones into a turbulent storm and he's going to let you starve.

- The doses are so small,so damn meticulous, you'd think it was ridiculous for anyone to even pull off but Cater does.

- Because he's determined to make you beg for it, because he knows that if you beg then you can't tell him otherwise later on.

- He's pushing you into a steep edge of a cliff and then he'll blame you for acting scared and asking him for help.

- Out of the manipulating yanderes out there,Cater is the most shameless.

- He wants you to hear you say it, needs to have a deluded sense of consent.

- You're his Cupcake after all, if you weren't willing, then it's not exciting. He doesn't like seeing you cry with all that sad, desperate pleadings.

- He wants you to welcome him,to accept him.

- When you finally hit your limit, Cater is quick to come to your side and give you whatever you needed from him.

- Thirsty? Oh sweetheart,he already has a glass of cold water for you here!

- Feverish? No problem, he'll stay up to monitor your temperature!

- You're starting to get all grabby and clingy too? Teling him how you didn't want him to leave and that you felt all lonely. He doesn't mind. He'll let you do whatever you wanted to him.

- Those aphrodisiacs can be such a bother, right? Of course. He understands. He won't tell you off for it. Not yet at least.

- "You don't look at me anymore, you don't touch or even hold me...Did I do something wrong? Are you angry? Please say something. It's like you're not even here anymore."

- Your mind's all muddied and scrambled, your skin burning and senses stirred. Half of what you say don't even make it to your own ears but somehow the way Cater looks down at you with such sympathetic eyes gets you all teary eyed.

- "Aw, Cupcake. Don't cry,hey,I'm not going to leave you, okay?"

- "Listen,I'm the one who made you stay with me right? Why would I leave you,hm?"

- "Come on,don't be sad. You know I hate it when you start getting sad..."

- Cater wipes away the tears on your cheeks,the heat from his palms cupping your face sending chills down your spine. It felt so good to be touched. It's as if you've been deprived of a crucial living necessity.

- You even started calling out his name, looping it around your tongue like a mantra as you bury your face into his chest, melting into his embrace.

- Cater's holding back a laugh when he runs his fingers through your hair, his eyes dulled and glazed over.

- Intoxicated.

- "Come on, Cupcake, if you don't stop that I'll have to eat you up tonight."

Silver

- He's surprisingly very straightforward with it.

- One of the mildest yanderes amongst the boys, Silver doesn't resort to violence or manipulation.

- It's not that he isn't good at either one, he is, you've seen multiple times how easily he overwhelmed past suitors who thought they could take you away from him, how easy his tongue told lies that crafted everyone into his scheme, but Silver simply doesn't see the point.

- Why would he put in so much effort into something that could be dealt with normally?

- If he wanted children, he would tell you and then he'll wait for your reply. He'll watch how your body reacts to him wanting to set his mark on you permanently.

- You can tell him no, and he'll nod his head.

- The next day, he'll ask you for your reason, and you can tell him that you aren't ready, that children were hard for you to handle.

- Again, he'll silently let your answer seep into him.

- The third day, he'll give you his answer,his reason and he'll make you choose.

- "If you give me a child, you can stay with your parents until you deliver."

- And then suddenly,your entire world comes crashing down on you.

- You're not sure if you're hearing him right and patiently,Silver repeats his offer and you're staring at him as if your eyes are adjusting to some sort of light you were hidden away from.

- He knows why you're stumped, though. Silver took you away from your family and friends the moment he had you in his grasp.

- You were his precious songbird,his treasured magpie. No one else could hold open the doors to your cage save for Silver himself.

- He lets you think it over, because that's just how he is despite how impatient he seems to look,Silver could wait for over a year for your reply. He won't lay a hand on you, never has really, but the way his gaze seemed to freeze over whenever he looked to you gave you the impression that if you ever came to displease him, you'd be cut down in a second.

- How terrifying it was to not know when a trap has been disarmed.

- Silver was not an easy man to read.

- So,you think and you think and think until your mind is burning from the lack of rest. You're trying to sort out the possibilities of him lying to you but it doesn't add up, because that isn't the sort of person Silver is.

- He doesn't lie. Doesn't need to.

- You're always stumbling on your feet when it came to him.

- He's stirred awake from his nap when you came knocking on his study's door, your dress finely ironed and fitted perfectly to your figure. He admires how lovely you look in his home and Silver reaches out a hand to touch your sleeve, a small smile curled on his lips.

- "Your beauty makes me happy." He coos, somehow as if he's still in a dream. If only you could share his easiness.

- You're fighting the urge to turn stiff from his softness towards you, but are left relieved when he pulls away.

- "You've decided." It's not a question, and you look up to him,brows furrowing.

- "I haven't said anything yet"

- "No. But your skin is flushed, and your eyes are warm. You've already found an answer" Silver sounds so sure, effortlessly charming with how languid and smooth his words leave him. And the way he's able to read out your profile makes you wonder what else he seems to know about the thoughts your kept from leaving your lips.

- Truth is, the reason why Silver knows you so well is that his obsession over you has made him revolve his life around you. From the way you dressed to the very way you sleep,he keeps a detailed picture of it in his mind and they play in his thoughts when he dreams.

- A yandere Silver is one who's immensely enamored by his sweetheart, and ensures that their life is never too far from him to miss out.

- He knows you never wanted children,more so with him, but instead of making it seem like a permanent imprisonment, he'll make it a momentary freedom.

- Have his child and you'll get to see your family,go back to your childhood home and spend your days there until the child is born.

- There would be no lingering gazes or looming shadows watching you, you'd have your old life back if not a glimpse of it before you go back to his suffocating arms.

- But be wary,and be smart. Silver isn't a fool, once you're carrying his child he'll also place a small curse on you which will ultimately harm the life you hold inside you.

- This curse is triggered only if you try to escape him.

- You're only informed of it only after you're well under six months into the pregnant of course, and Silver will have the same calm, almost lazy demeanor when he does so,his gaze never once leaving yours as he watches you break down crying.

- He'll come up to your side though and gently run his hands up and down your back.

- "Don't worry,my love. As long as you keep to our promise, our young prince will be nothing but perfect."

[spectacularlyignorantt]

From the dining table

March 2017

Louis sat in the kitchen looking around, dust covering every possible surface. Princess Park, their first home, the place they bought together without telling anyone and then never sold after the breakup. Maybe because they couldn't see each other and not end up in bed, regretting it in the morning. Maybe because they both knew this time apart meant nothing. They were destined to be together, a love no one could understand, right?

The last time he saw Harry was after the presentation of his single Just Hold On on the X-Factor, but they had not been a proper couple for around a year. If you didn’t count the sex, of course. Louis didn’t. Sex didn’t mean much, not when he knew what it felt like to be in a relationship with Harry Styles for 5 years. They would have stopped seeing each other when the band started the hiatus if it wasn’t for his mom's health getting worse. Harry stood next to him all those months, giving him comfort, keeping her company when Louis was too tired to stay awake. Harry was part of his family, after all. And Louis knew Anne, Gems and Robin felt the same way about him. 

The reason for their break up was a mystery for everyone, a question never answered. They belonged together, no one could say the opposite after expending time with the couple for 10 minutes. Either you were blind or disgusted by their love, in a cute way. 

Louis knew, of course. It was a decision, more than anything. They felt like the only thing holding them together was the band and decided to take a break to figure out if there was more than that. So they never sold their first home because there was no chance they weren't going back together. 

Lately, Louis wasn’t so sure about that. To be honest, he wasn't sure about anything. The sky was pouring like it should be, for mood purposes. The lump in his throat made breathing hard, the weight in his chest holding him down in the chair. He closed his eyes, he wasn’t going to cry. The promise he made to his mother was still clear in his mind and it was killing him. Because lately, it felt like Harry had forgotten about them. With his solo music, the movie, all that pr girlfriends Louis knew he hated. All that glamour, all those lights. Why would he be thinking about Louis? Maybe they were right, maybe it wasn’t destiny but circumstance. 

Things got worse recently, after Niall went to his flat a couple of days before, wearing that big old tee and Louis told him he smelled like Harry. He wasn’t jealous, not really. It was Niall, for god’s sake. But Niall was around his baby a lot, they had a close friendship not many knew about. Something about the unusual sadness in Niall's eyes told him much more than the calls Haz never answered. Harry didn’t want him anymore. They were done. 

The pressure in his head felt compressive like the one in his heart. All those shots, pints and pot weren’t a good combination. Neither was that boy with curls but the wrong shade of green when he woke up that morning in a hotel room, unable to remember much about the night before. But what else could he do? How could he go to Harry right now and tell him he was sorry for his insecurities? For ruining everything without a good reason? How could he tell him he was sorry? Liam and Oli said he needed to give it time, but everyday felt a little bit more far away from home. So he came back. 

There was a notepad where they used to write the grocery list sitting on the counter, next to the fridge. He took it and the pen on the table, the dim light coming from the closed window. He didn't know what to do, how to get out of this pain, this love. How to be himself again. 

So Louis did the only thing he felt like he could do right: he wrote a song. It was more of a letter, really. But it was shaped like a song, that was his strong suit after all.  And Harry loved to see him write, once upon a time. Used to dance with him in that kitchen, used to make him pancakes in the morning. They used to talk and fuck and chat for hours between those walls. 

To Harry: 

Woke up alone in this hotel room

Played with myself, where were you?

Fell back to sleep, I got drunk by noon

I've never felt less cool 

We haven't spoke since you went away

Comfortable silence is so overrated, Harry

Why won't you ever be the first one to break?

Even my phone misses your call, by the way

I saw Niall the other day

He said you feel just fine

I see you gave him my old t-shirt

More of what was once mine

I see it's written, it's all over his face

Comfortable silence is so overrated

Why won't you ever say what you want to say?

Even my phone misses your call,

And by the way

Maybe one day you'll call me and tell me that you're sorry too

But you, you never do

Woke up this boy who looked just like you

I almost said your name

We haven't spoke since you went away

Comfortable silence is so overrated

Why won't you ever say what you want to say?

Even my phone misses your call

By the way…

 He stopped there, unable to continue. His hand was shaking, the tears were smushing the ink on the paper. What a fucking cliche, crying after promising himself he wasn’t going to do it. Nothing could hurt as much as losing his mum, nothing could compare. So why was he crying? Why couldn’t he just fucking stop?

Louis got up from the chair and walked away from the dining table, leaving the notepad there. He knew deep in his broken heart that the next time he came back it was going to be there. Left and forgotten, just like that house and those memories. Louis left it there next to his allowance to feel sorry for himself. He needed to grow up, get away from those parties and false people. He was going to get his shit together, write away his feelings and find his sound. 

And if Harry didn’t want him in his life, then there was nothing left to do, right?

May 2017

 The recording of Back to you was finally over and now they need it to work in the music video and he wanted to film it on Doncaster. It felt right to go back to his ‘home’, if he couldn't go back home, you know what I mean? It went well with the theme. 

Louis was driving back from the studio to his flat when a notification popped out in this phone: Harry’s album was out and apparently, people thought a couple of songs were about him. Louis wasn't going to be surprised if they were, both wrote about each other a lot along the way. And the fans loved to link things, made up theories about the Larry situation. Something he wished he could out and say ‘yes it was true but it's over now, please stop tagging me, it hurts’. It didn’t. not as much anymore. 

Or that’s what he thought until he heard track 4, Two Ghost. He knew those lyrics, Harry had written them years ago. That is what they used to call each other’s public images: ghosts. Images without a soul. What a young and dramatic pair they used to be, back in 2013. 

He didn't cry with that one, maybe because of its familiarity. And he wasn’t even mad about the songs about girls, he knew Harry better than that, even after all this time. 

Next was Sweet Creature, the one everyone was speculating about, and honestly Harry, ‘two hearts, one home’? The song felt different. Maybe because he thought that Harry didn’t really remember about their lost home, about being young and in love. Too young to know, most people used to say. What a fool he was for listening. Now he knew, and it was too late. 

Kiwi was funny in the most depressing way for him, Woman felt like an anthem, it felt like Harry’s jealousy, his deep and most dark possessive behavior. But then, when a chord from a guitar came in he went to his phone to check the name. He wasn’t quick enough, tho. The first verse stopped him right there. It was a good thing he parked in his apartment building a couple of songs ago. 

Because there, in the shape of the last song of H’s first album, it was Louis' letter. His feelings in a notepad, in the shape of an awkward song. Almost word by word, Harry’s voice filled the car with calmness and longing, a branch of olive. He was giving the first step. If those little easter eggs along the album weren’t enough, he took Louis letter from two fucking months ago and put it there. He probably had to push the label to do it, with such short notice. Harry went out of his way to let him know it wasn’t over. 

Harry went back to Princess Park, just like him. He went back home. 

 ----

His friend picked up the phone after two missed calls. 

‘Oi Lou, how ya doin?’ the thick Irish accent wasn’t enough of a distraction. 

‘Hey lad, I’m fine. Sorry to bother but I need to ask you something’ he could hear the urgency in his own voice. 

‘Never a bother mate, whatever you need’ Niall, always the optimistic. Louis loved him. 

‘Is Harry staying here? In London I mean’ 

‘What? What's going on?’ and then ‘Oh, the album is out, innit?’ 

‘Yeah…’

‘Okay, well, Harry was going to be with Nick today so yeah, he must be doing press shit’

‘Of course, makes sense, thank you mate. I will explain later ’

‘Sure, use protection’

Louis rolled his eyes but didn’t deny the implications. The car came to life once again and he started driving to Harry’s house. The one they used to spend time in when they had some time between recording and touring. He didn’t even feel annoyed by the traffic, listening to the album all over again. Letting his body welcome Harry once again.

Of course, he still had his keys, drowned deep in the glovebox. He wasn’t going to enter the actual house, but it wouldn’t have been smart to stay outside on the street, someone could recognise him. 

So once he parked in front of the building and noticed Harry wasn’t home, he closed his eyes and took a breath after what felt like hours. The next time he opened them there was a hand taping on his windows, he had fallen asleep.

It was a big hand adorned with rings and some nail polish. Louis knew what it felt to hold it more than he knew his own face. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Harry was waiting outside, a small smile making just one dimple appear. It was the first time they had seen each other in months but Louis felt like no time had passed. And if Louis was going to turn into an idiotic helpless cliche then it better be because of a boy as wonderful and beautiful as him. There was no one else. Harry was it. 

‘I thought it was going to take you longer ’

‘To listen to the album or to get my shit together? ’

Harry seemed to consider his answer for a second, the dramatic little shit that he was. Then he smiled and Louis forgave him immediately. 

‘Both’

Louis laughed and took a step closer to the love of his life. 

‘I’m sorry, baby, I'm really sorry ’

‘Me too’

‘If you let me kiss you right now I’m never letting you go again. It's your choice’

‘Never wanted you to go in the first place’

‘Right answer’

And then they kissed because there wasn't much left to say. At least not right now. The conversation could wait for the next morning, once they had sex, pancakes and maybe a little dance in the kitchen. For old times sake.

----

Soooo, I wrote this because I couldn’t get the idea of Louis writing this song out of my head. And like, it sounds so much like Harry’s writing, this is not a theory at all. But I liked the idea so yeah. It’s probably gonna be my first and only fic about Larry, hope you like it. 

All the mistakes are mine and its noy my first language, sorry if the grammar is trashy. Thanks. 

[avengerscompound]

Running to a Standstill - 7

Running to a Standstill: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  1767

Rating:  E

Square filled: @star-spangled-bingo​ - Poly Fic

Warnings: none

Synopsis: While on the run from an unknown organization trying to take your son, you meet two super-soldiers.  While they try to help you get to the bottom of who is hunting you and your son, feelings come out and admissions are made that make your personal life even more tricky.

Chapter 7

Bucky had a problem.

There had been a strange level of domesticity between you, he, and Steve since you'd moved in.  It reminded him of when he and Steve had lived together before the war.  That was problematic in of itself because Bucky couldn't remember a time when he had been more completely and hopelessly in love with Steve than when he would wake up and make pancakes while Steve sat on the fire escape smoking one of his asthma cigarettes and drinking hot water in the hopes it would settle his stomach.  Bucky would pretend they were married and he was about to go out and earn a paycheck while Steve took care of the house, or that they were planning their wedding and living in sin.  It didn’t even matter that two guys couldn’t get married back then, it was always what he imagined.  He would stare at Steve’s lips whenever he wasn't looking, always so pink and plump, even when his anemia was at its worst and he’d imagine what it was like to taste them.  What they’d feel like against his own and he’d imagine pulled that bottom lip between his teeth as he pulled back.

Now he was making pancakes for Steve, and you and a little kid and thinking how much this was like a family, and pretending like you were his wife and that was his kid.  Or maybe Steve was the one he was married to because you could do that these days.  It didn't just have to be a fantasy.  Except for the fact he wasn't with either of you, you were with each other.  You'd even started sleeping in Steve’s bed.  And god, if you both didn't deserve to be happy, which was one thing Bucky definitely didn't have in common with either of you.

So that was a problem.  But it wasn't the problem.

The big problem Bucky had was you both kept coming to him for advice.

Every time one of you came to him to ask some kind of relationship advice it felt like a little piece of him died.  It chipped away at the hope he had that maybe one day he might get this with someone he cared about because if he cared this much about you and Steve and Geo then who else was there for him?  It also made him hate himself a little because it was Steve, and Steve deserved to be happy.  The guy had practically given up on a life outside of Captain America and Bucky was honestly proud of his best friend now he was taking a chance of having romance and family too.  So every time one of you came to him and asked for advice he would grit his teeth and give it because it was the right thing to do.  But he was jealous and he hated himself for that green-eyed monster.

Lately, the questions had been about sex and he knew from the things you each asked it hadn't happened yet but it would soon and all Bucky could think that when it did that was it.  He wasn't getting that for himself.  Which was maybe what he deserved.

He came out of the bedroom after putting Geo down.  You and Steve had gone out again and he’d agreed to babysit.   Sam was sitting on the couch eating a slice of leftover pizza.

“You’re looking pretty grumpy for a guy who just read the little prince,” Sam said, as Bucky flopped onto the couch.

“Why are you here?”  Bucky asked, ignoring the dig at him.

“Forgot Steve was going out and we just got some intel back,”  Sam answered, getting up and going to the fridge. “You want a beer?”

“Yeah, alright,” Bucky answered, watching Sam move around Steve’s apartment with a comfortable ease.  “What was the intel?”

Sam came back over, handing Bucky the beer as he took a seat again.  “There’s word of a designer drug being sold in Madripoor.  Gives people temporary superpowers.”

“Shit, really?”  Bucky said.  “Guess we’re going to Madripoor.”

“Guess so,” Sam agreed.  “It’s not exactly known for lawful activity though, so we might be just going into another dead end.  I think the army lead is better.  They were definitely manufacturing that shit for the army.  What are you so surly for anyway?  The kid give you a hard time?”

“No,” Bucky said.  The way Sam didn’t pause between topics made Bucky feel like he’d been railroaded.  “He’s a good kid.  I kinda like babysitting.”

“Then what is it?”  Sam asked.

“Nothing,” Bucky grumbled.  “It’s nothin’.”

“Oh don’t give me that, Sergeant Grumpy,” Sam teased.  “Something’s bothering you.  Spit it out.”

 Bucky sank back into the couch and rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands.  He knew he should just tell him.  Sam had a tendency to bug people until they coughed up what was bothering them.  Besides, maybe just saying the words out loud might make him realize how ridiculous they actually were.  “Just jealous, I guess.”

“I am awesome,” Sam teased.

“Not you, you dumbass,”  Bucky snarked.  “This -” he waved his hands around.  “Them.”

“You mean the domestic thing?”  Sam asked.  “Or you just want to date someone, ‘cause I could set you…”

“No.  Not anyone… them,” Bucky said, the frustration he was feeling coming out through his voice.

“Her?”  Sam asked.

“You’re not listening, Sam,” Bucky snapped, pulling his hair.  “Both of them.  This.  All of it.”

Sam didn’t say anything for a while, he just stared at Bucky like he’d grown an extra head. “Wow,” he said eventually.  “Do they know?”

“Fuck, I hope not,” Bucky said.

“How long?”  Sam asked.

Bucky scratched his head slowly, letting his fingers drag over his scalp and tug out the knots in his hair.  “Steve since we were kids.  Probably started getting feelings for him when he was about fifteen, I guess.”

“And he really doesn’t know?”  Sam asked.

“Either he doesn’t know or he does and he’s been pretending not to, to save me embarrassment,” Bucky said.  “And fuck, Sam, if it’s the second I might as well just end it.”

“Don’t joke about shit like that, Buck,” Sam scolded. “That’s serious.”

Bucky huffed and took a long drink of his beer.  “It wouldn’t be so bad, they both deserve some fucking happiness, but they keep asking me for relationship advice.  You know how fucking hard it is to tell them what to do to make each other happy when all I want to do is have that myself?”

Sam nodded and took a drink of his beer.  “Think you might need to talk to them, man.”

“What?”  Bucky yelped. “And have them keep giving me pity looks?  No thanks.”

Sam shrugged.  “Maybe one of them feels the same way about you?”

“That’s worse!”  Bucky groaned, letting his head fall back against the back of the recliner.  “I don’t want them to break up and then be mad at me for being the cause of it.  Besides, it’s fucking ridiculous.  I’m a fucking monster, no one is looking at me like that.”

“Oh cut the shit, Buck,” Sam scolded. “You’re as worthy of happiness as any of us here.  Maybe more given what you’ve been through.  You just gotta get your head in the space where you’re ready to accept it.”

“You sound like my fuckin’ therapist,” Bucky grumbled.

“Good,” Sam said.  “That means you’re listening to them.”  He sat forward in the chair and looked directly at Bucky.  “Tell them.  Then at least they know to go talk to Nat about relationship advice.  Why they’d be asking you anyway, is beyond me.”

Bucky knew he was right.  Almost all the advice he’d given to both you and Steve was based around communication.  Talk to each other.  Tell each other how you feel.  It was only reasonable to take the same advice himself.  He just didn’t want to make things awkward between the three of you.

“Buck,” Sam said, and Bucky’s eyes flicked up, meeting Sam’s.  “You never know.  Things are changing.  People are more open to different things.  Maybe telling them will work out better than you think.”

Bucky looked at Sam not even sure what that meant exactly.   Sam got up and patted Bucky on the shoulder.  “I’m gonna head to bed.  Talk to them.  And don’t forget to tell Steve about Madripoor.”

“Yeah.  Alright,” Bucky said.  “Thanks, Sam.”

Bucky sat up with the TV on but not watching it after Sam left.  He didn’t know what Sam had meant by things changing and how it might work out better, but his mind kept flicking back to Natasha telling him to let go of the idea of monogamy being the only way that people could get their happily ever after.  That some people had none and some had many.  Maybe… maybe Bucky could get lucky and have both of you and the family.  But maybe he had to be okay with getting nothing too.  It wasn’t fair to hinge his happiness on you or Steve or anyone else really.  He had to heal too.

But first, he needed to talk to you and Steve about how he was feeling because he definitely wasn’t ever going to be happy if he resented the two of you for coming to him for help all the time.

He was tidying up and turning on the dishwasher when the door opened.  Both your lips were puffy from kissing and you’d obviously had a few drinks.  Now was a terrible time to bring up anything.  It was late, and if you were tipsy you couldn’t be making relationship decisions.

“Hey, Buck,” Steve said, warmly.  “How was your night?”

“Did Geo behave?”  You added, coming over to him and kissing his cheek.

Bucky smiled and nodded. “Yeah, of course.  We had pizza and played some games on his tablet and then I read to him and he fell right to sleep.”

“Thanks for watching him,” Steve said.  “We appreciate it.”

“Sam stopped by, got a new lead,” Bucky said as he stalled for time.  It was easy to tell that you and Steve wanted him to leave so you could both head to bed.

“I’ll check it out in the morning,” Steve said.  “Thanks again, Bucky.”

Bucky nodded and let out a breath.  “Right,” Bucky said.

Steve looked at Bucky and furrowed his brow.  “What’s wrong?”

Bucky shoved his hands in his pockets.  Late at night after you’d just gotten back from a date was probably not the best time to do this, but he felt like it was now or he’d chicken out and it would be never.  He’d end up being the best man at the wedding.  He took another deep breath and shoved his hands in his pockets.  “We need to talk.”

// NEXT

[takingcourage]

A Stroke of Serendipity

Pairing: Luke Harper x MC

Word Count: 1,850

Rating/Warnings: General; no warnings

Summary: During her first term at university, Helena discovers that there’s more to her housemate than meets the eye. 

Note: I'm not usually one to write AUs, but @choicesficwriterscreations​ ’s post about Silly Love Stories crossed my dash and I couldn’t resist trying a few. This story was written to fulfill the the prompt of "Roommates/Neighbor,” and takes place in a modern setting.

Despite the chill in the air, it was unseasonably warm for November. For the first day in weeks, the lawn was cluttered with students choosing to linger in the sunlight for just a bit longer than necessary before heading inside for their lectures. 

Making her way past the crowds, Helena unlocked her bike and mounted, finding equilibrium easily. She felt a tinge of shame with the memory of how daunting the task had seemed just weeks before. Keeping her coat out of the spokes and her backpack balanced had presented an unexpected challenge at the start of the term, and it had earned her more than one pitying glance from passersby.

Pumping the pedals, she picked up enough speed to glide over several lengths of sidewalk. Fellow students blurred as she moved past, their forms merging with her thoughts before they faded altogether, consumed by her ever-growing list of assignments.

When her estranged father had insisted on paying her way through university, she’d jumped at the opportunity -- goodness knew she didn’t want to work the till at Morrisons forever. At first, Vincent’s offer had seemed too good to be true. Nearing the end of her first term, however, reality was stripping away much of the mystique.

She gripped the handlebars a little tighter.

Being a student again was hard. Sharing a house with her brother and his roommates meant that the transition had been a little smoother, but being a first-year student in her twenties was complicated. Life away from Grovershire was complicated. Life without her mother was complicated... 

How she wished sometimes that life could be simple again.

Helena pushed herself through the next turn, traveling quickly enough for the wind to leave a pleasant sting behind on her rosy cheeks.

At this time of the afternoon, their street was still quiet. Students weren’t back from classes, and most everyone else wouldn’t return home from work until evening. Helena coasted up to the curb, taking a quick glance at their windows in an effort to determine who might be home this early in the day. For all appearances, she had the house to herself.

With a sigh that had more to do with relief than exertion, she put her bike away and unlocked the side door. Time alone would be welcome.

As the doorknob clicked open, the strains of a violin floating through dispelled any notion of solitude, though her momentary disappointment was soon replaced by curiosity. Was someone playing Tosca?

She halted briefly, shaking off her deja vu to find eager curiosity in its wake. Slipping her shoes onto the mat, she proceeded up the stairs toward the lounge. In spite of her quiet footfalls, the music ceased as soon as she hit the first creak.

“Don’t stop!” she called out, dismay lending her a boldness she rarely showed.

After a pause, the aria resumed with steady conviction.

It wasn't her stepbrother or Annabelle, of that she was certain. She might not have learned everything there was to know about Edmund in the past year, but she did know that guitar was the only instrument he dabbled in. She was equally sure that the closet she and Annabelle shared didn’t house a violin case either. Ernest had rushed home the night before to deal with family matters, which left her with only one possible conclusion: Luke. 

He was the roommate she knew the least, always so busy between his studies and his time in the lab that no one in the house saw very much of him. With a quirk of her lips, she decided it was entirely possible he could be a proficient musician without her knowing.

Her suspicions were confirmed as soon as she crested the stairs.

Violin still snug beneath his chin, he turned to face her slowly. Light streamed in from the window behind him, and Helena couldn’t help feeling that she’d stumbled upon something almost divine. Somewhere between the quality of the music and the intensity in his brow, she found herself enchanted. 

She’d known he was attractive: that much had been obvious since the day she’d met him at her father’s home some months before. He was tall and broad shouldered, and his eyes were a mystery she’d been trying to puzzle out since their first meeting. Sometimes, they were honeyed gold; others, they seemed impossibly green. As she watched him now, they fell closed in concentration. 

Helena’s breath caught before the final strains had begun to fade.

"I must have lost track of the time,” he started, lowering the instrument to his side as he addressed her. “I apologize."

"I'm back early.” She tucked a loose curl behind her ear. “The fire alarm went off in our building, and after twenty minutes on the lawn they decided to send us all home." She tried not to draw attention to the fact that her eyes kept drifting toward his long, elegant fingers as he worked to secure the violin in its case. 

It had been months since they’d met: why wasn’t she used to the sight of him yet?

“I imagine you’ll be grateful for the time to study.”

Raising her eyes from the floor, she met his tentative smile with one of her own. “I am,” she agreed, shrugging her bag into the nearest chair. Though her studies were nothing rigorous compared to his own, she found herself grateful that he recognized her kindred spirit.

The click of the case snapped her back to reality. “Well, I won’t bother you."

With an accommodating nod, she turned away from him and toward the hall, but her mind lagged behind. Somehow, going upstairs to study wasn’t quite as appealing a prospect as it had been mere minutes before. "Actually, I think I’m going to make some coffee first,” she rushed before she could lose her nerve. “Would you want any if I did?"

"I'd like that."

"So," she began, attempting to stoke the conversation as she measured out the scoops of grounds. Somewhere between the second and third spoonful, she started to feel a little mischievous. "Do you always perform your concerts solo, or is that right reserved for Puccini?"

"You know Tosca?" he inquired, following her into the kitchen.

She smirked at the incredulity in his tone. “Not what you’d expect from a shopgirl from Grovershire, hmm?”

His face froze, and she immediately regretted the jest. “I didn’t mean to offend--”

“I'm joking. My mother loved listening to operas. I think I'd heard more arias by the time I started primary school than most of my classmates did by Year 10. There was always music playing somewhere in our flat."

“Ours too.”

They shared another small smile that left her feeling like the roof had opened and the sun was shining into their modest kitchen with full force.

“To answer your question...” he continued. “No, others suffered through my performances for years. Growing up, I think my family was sometimes sick of how much I played, though I always wondered if they hadn’t brought it on themselves by putting me in lessons. No one here signed on to hear it at all hours, so I mostly play when I’m alone.”

“I’m sorry I intruded, then.”

“I don’t mind. It was rather nice to have someone listen for a while.”  

“Maybe you’ll play again for me sometime?”

“I’d like that very much.” He gave a quiet laugh, and she felt heat rush over the fullness of her cheeks.

Hiding her blush, she put the cabinet door between them and began peering onto the shelf for her favorite mug. Though she’d lived in this house for several weeks, this was the first time she’d spent more than a couple of minutes alone with Luke.

Not the first time you’ve wanted to, her conscience reminded, and she could feel the warmth returning to her cheeks with further thoughts of him. The man was driven and intelligent, studying biology on scholarship with the intent of becoming a veterinary surgeon. He was quiet, but had shown himself to be exceptionally generous and kind. If she wasn’t careful, the intrigue that had been building since they’d met could easily develop into full-blown infatuation.

“Do you play any instruments?” he broke in, handing her one of the spoons he'd withdrawn from a nearby drawer.

“Piano, but not in a very long time. Father doesn't have one, and we sold mum's a few years ago to pay for treatments."

As the reservoir bubbled noisily, she darted instinctively to the fridge, arm extended to retrieve the sugar bowl from the top. Luke beat her there, his height making short work of the task. Again, her attention was drawn to the way his long fingers splayed over the object. They were unmistakably musician’s hands: it was a wonder she’d never noticed it before.

“Thank you,” she intoned, wishing that her voice didn't sound quite so breathless.

“You’re welcome.” He placed the sugar on the countertop before stepping aside. “I’m sorry; I'm sure you must miss it.”

It took a moment for her to realize that he was still talking about playing piano.

“I wouldn't have much time for it now," she told him with a shrug, moving back to the coffee machine to pour them each a mug of the steaming liquid.

“My brother used to play. Mother keeps the piano in the front room in case he comes round, but he hasn't done anything with it in years.” He fell quiet for a moment, considering. “If I asked, I think she'd be willing to part with it for the next four years. There'd be room for it on that wall, next to the bookshelf." He indicated the space with his free hand.

Helena took a sip of coffee to disguise the fact that his offer had rendered her speechless. Fortunately, the shock of caffeine was just enough to restore her senses. “You’re very accommodating, Luke Harper. Quite the gentleman.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Not to me.” Hoping to prove her sincerity, she met his eyes, green with a vibrance that made her forget it was the middle of autumn. “I’m not planning to hold you to it, but I appreciate the offer.”

"It's no bother. Besides, I think she'd be glad to know it was being used." His voice lowered as he studied her face. “Would you play if if I brought it over?”

Helena's throat thickened. Much as she'd craved that next taste of coffee, it would be impossible to swallow now. As it was, she could barely manage a nod in response to his question.

Luke beamed, a wide, guileless smile that left her feeling as if her insides had been scooped out and replaced by the contents of her mug. "I'll ask when I talk to her Sunday.”

She was still fighting back the threat of tears when Edmund burst through the door, shattering the stillness that had descended between them. Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to mind the interruption overmuch. 

Somehow, the last twenty minutes had felt more like home than anything since she’d moved in. As she exchanged one final smile with Luke before her brother joined them, she knew it wouldn’t be a foreign feeling for long. 

[ginnyweasleywannabe]

Treasure Hunt Chapter 3

Final Word count 5272

Find on AO3 at "Inthemiddle2"

Marlene wouldn’t normally consider herself a light sleeper but she was on edge. Which is why she was groggily looking at the clock on her night stand to see it read 6am. She was hoping to get a little more sleep before what was bound to be a long day. She had just closed her eyes when she heard a clang in the kitchen. She shot up remembering what had originally woken her up was the sound of the front door jingling and then opening. She looked to her phone seeing if she had received any new messages. Last night, after packing, she sent Marc a text asking him to text her when he knew he would be coming home, he hadn’t responded which meant the rudding in the kitchen wasn’t him. She looked around her room for anything that she could use, the best she could find was an old coffee mug.

Marlene quickly and quietly moved down the stairs, she made her was down the hall. The kitchen was open to the living room, she was at the corner. OK it was time to buck up Marlene, she turned the corner eyes closed and tossed the mug at the intruder. It wasn’t her best plan but the mug smashed into the cabinet as the man ducked. Marlene didn’t see anything as her eyes were closed but she could hear the mug shatter.

“What the fuck, McKinnon?” Sirius Black was just looking back and forth between the shattered mug on the floor and the girl standing, in a very small tank and shorts set he noted, with her eyes closed and arms to her chest.

“Oh thank Merlin, it’s just you” She released a breath and lunged wrapping her arms around him.

“’Doing alright by myself’ my ass” he rolled his eyes.

Marlene stepped away from him and glared. She instantly missed the heat he was providing.

“What are you even doing here? You’re early.”

The truth was Sirius had always had issues sleeping. Something Marlene was unaware of because he slept relatively peacefully with her. Anyway he had been up early and he knew she had been missing Marc. Also yesterday was a big day for her and he felt bad her day was ruined. His plan was to sneak in and make her blueberry pancakes. He wanted to start their little adventure on a good start.

“Couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d use the spare and get here early. Might as well make pancakes.” He just shrugged, he wasn’t in the mood to go into all the under feelings for their situation.

“Oh” She blushed at his admission. Marlene wasn’t sure what she expected but him coming over to cook her pancakes was not it. That was unexpectedly sweet of him. “Well you still could have sent me a text so I wouldn’t have been scared shitless.” Her words didn’t have much bite to them. He was just looking back at her, god why was she blushing so much. “Well I’ll go get changed and you can get cookin’ good lookin’”

Marlene froze with what she just said---and why had she used finger guns. She just turned on her heal. Once she was out of sight she mouthed ‘oh my god’, Why did she just have to blurt out everything she thought.

Sirius on the other hand was holding in a smile. He could tell she was embarrassed, she practically ran out of the room. He got to work making the pancakes

Marlene came back down dress in cut offs and an old t-shirt of Marc’s. Sirius passed her a plate.

“Thanks for this, I haven’t eaten a proper meal since Marc’s been gone.” Marlene was digging into her pancakes.

Sirius just laughed, the girl could eat, especially something sweet. “Yeah I saw all the left overs in the fridge. You got me hooked on Foo Lin’s orange chicken.” They ate in silence for a few minutes before Sirius felt like he needed to tell her, “Congratulations on yesterday by the way. I know how hard you worked for it.”

He was looking at her so sincerely she was sure he could the red in her face.

Marlene needed to snap out it, “So are you ready to go? I’ve just packed a small weekend duffle.”

Sirius nodded and picked up her plate to rinse.

After gathering up the last of her belongs, they made their way to the front door. Marlene stepped outside and looked around for Sirius’ car. He took pride in owning nice things which is why she was confused as to why she didn’t see the latest black Jaguar he usually drove.

“Um, Black? Where’s the car?”

Sirius just smirked at her, “Oh James didn’t tell you?” This was going to be fun he thought, “I sold it and bought that.” He was pointing to the black BMW motorcycle.

Marlene’s eyebrows shot to the top of her hairline, “A motorcycle? You want me to ride five hours on a motorcycle? Why didn’t you say something last night?” Her voice was rising in pitch.

“Come on, McKinnon, it’ll be fun!” He was loving every moment of this.

“Where do we even put our bags? It’s just not practical. No. I mean nope, not gonna happen” She couldn’t believe he thought that this would work. She couldn’t believe she thought this whole trip and plan between the two of them would work.

Sirius took her duffle from her shoulder and lifted up the seat to the bike. Marlene peered over his shoulder, hmm it was surprisingly spacious in there. Sirius gave her an I told you so face and the sat down. Putting on his helmet then turning to hand her the spare. Marlene was still standing. Unfortunately she didn’t have many other options…

She begrudgingly took the helmet, “You bought this when?”

“March” Right after they broke up.

“Merlin, what midlife crisis were you going through in March.” Marlene huffed and wrapped her arms around him.

Sirius knew she was also making a jab at their breakup but he was choosing to ignore the remark, “Hold on tight, McKitten.”

She dug her fingernails into him with the teasing nickname.

Five and a half hours later the bike rolled into a small diner off the main square of Godric’s Hollow. Marlene hopped of the bike and ran inside telling Sirius to order her a fizzy. She HAD to pee. Sirius rolled his eyes, the bike was practically still moving. This was also after they stopped twice on the ride up because she had to pee.

Marlene emerged from the bathroom. She glanced around the cozy pub to land on a young waitress laughing at something Sirius had said, her hand resting on his shoulder. Hmph. Marlene slid into the booth across Sirius. Plastering on her sweetest smile she said, “Sorry Lover, you know how the baby pushes on me.” Rubbing her stomach, she turned to give the waitress her an it is what it is face. The waitress just grimaced and went to get their drinks.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, “Jealous McKinnon?”

Marlene just smiled sweetly, “Not a bit Black but her face was so worth it and anything I can do to make your life harder.”

They had placed their orders. Sirius was watching Marlene, despite having already ordered her food she held the menu up to her face. Her eyes were glancing around the room never quite settling.

“Okay what are you doing?”

“Hmm?” She didn’t even fully look at him

“You are looking around the room like two big men in black trench coats are going to walk through the door with gun to Marcs head.”

Marlene let out a sigh and set the menu down, “Well I don’t know. I just thought maybe we’d see something that would give a us clue on where to start.”

“Alright, Well we know that this is where Godric Gryffindor is from so why don’t we check the library to see if there’s anything in the towns history.”

Oh that was a smart plan. Why hadn’t Marlene thought of that, “Well no, not all of us knew that. How did you know that?”

“My family, they were nutty about the history of Hogwarts.” He just gave a shrug, his family was always a sour subject.

“Hmm, why didn’t you say anything last night when I brought it up?”

“It just slipped my mine really until we were riding up here.” The truth was last night he kept getting lost in thought about Marlene rather than what was coming out of her mouth. It had only been one night but he was really enjoying spending time with her again. She always made him laugh and kept him in line. He wanted to use this trip to make things right between them.

When the waitress came back with the check Sirius paid, stating Marlene could get the next one. He gave the waitress his dazzling smile, “Could you tell us where the library is?”

She smiled back to him, “Sure love, its just around the block. Across from the old graveyard. You probably passed it on your way in.” She then turned to Marlene, “You’ll love it! It has a big selection of ‘How to be a better mother’ books.”

Sirius held in a laugh, “Well that sounds perfect doesn’t it, Lene-y Babies” He stood up, gave the waitress a nod and proceeded to walk out. Marlene just shuffled out of the booth behind him with a scowl.

The two made their way into the library. It was beautiful, Marlene couldn’t believe something like this existed in a small little town like Godric’s Hollow. She was taking in the big atrium that stood in the center with two story halls branching off in all directions. Sirius was watching her. She loved to read, they would often have nights where he would play games and she would read. They loved to just sit there and enjoy each other’s presence.

“C’mom nerd, we’ve got work to do.” He place his hand on the small of her back and ushered her towards the sign that read ‘Town History’.

The two of them pulled a few books about Godric Gryffindor. Marlene was reading one about the town history and Sirius reading about Hogwarts.

They had been there for a few hours and Sirius was really starting to get bored. Well actually he was bored of reading about an hour after they started but he knew she wouldn’t leave that soon. Now he was also hungry, it was almost 6. The library was about to close anyway.

“Marls”

“Mars”

“Mars Bars”

“Marlene!” Finally he gave her a poke in her side. She let out a yelp. The librarian gave them a glare. She looked to be a hundred years old and sharp glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose.

“Huh, sorry! Merlin look at the time.”

Sirius stood up to stretch, “Whatda say to ordering some takeout and finding a place to crash for the night. We can go over the notes at the hotel.”

Marlene looked conflicted, Sirius knew she would stay here all night if they would let her.

“They’re about to close this place anyway Mars.” He offered her a hand up.

She took it but with more force than she was expecting so she was pulled into his chest.

“Sorry” She stepped away from him sheepishly. The two walked to the front desk to check out.

The old librarian had a permanent scowl on her face. Her name tag read ‘Pince’

Sirius turned on his best charming smile, “Madam Pince, I hope you have a lovely night,”

She just let out a humph eyeing the books they were holding “The town seems to be very popular these past few weeks. First that handsome gentleman,” She said it a whispy voice, “And now you two.” That part coming out very unimpressed. Sirius smile fell. But Marlene seemed interested in the comment. She quickly pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of her and Marc from this past hols. She practically threw it in the old women’s face, “This man??”

Pince stared at the photo lips pursed but eventually stated that yes that was the handsome man she had been talking about, he was so kind. He had been into the library a few days ago. Marlene to turned to Sirius with the biggest smile, “He was here! He was here, Sirius!!” She thanked the librarian like she had just told her she was cancer free.

The two walked to Sirius’ bike, Marlene smiling like she had just won the lottery.

“Alright, chill Cheshire cat, she just told us what we already suspected. Marc had come to Godric’s Hollow” He lovingly rolled his eyes at her antics

“Yes but she saw him a few days ago! We’re not far behind him, he could still be here!” And then in smaller voice, “and he’s ok. He’s alive.”

Sirius knew she was trying not to think about the other possibilities, “Of course he’s fine McKinnon. Didn’t you know that Marc walks on water! He soooo handsome and sooo kind, no one could harm him”

His teasing voice had worked, Marlene let out a giggle.

The bike roared into a small dingy parking lot. As Sirius switched off the engine he looked over his shoulder to Marlene, “You’re sure this is the only place in town?” It was an old one story ruddy motel.

Marlene grimaced, “Maybe its not that bad on the inside.”

They walked into a little 2 by 2 meter room. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Marlene gave the little bell a ding. An old man hobbled out of a door in the back corner.

“Hiya, I’m Tom! What can I do for ya?”

Marlene smiled at the old man, “Hi Tom, we were hoping we could get a room?”

“Oh sure! You guys are lucky! We’re all booked up except for one room!” He leaned forward and gave a sly smile, “The honeymoon suite”

“Oh, Well actually-“ Marlene started but Sirius cut her off

“That sounds perfect!” He grabbed the keys with a little heart keychain and steered her out of the office. He was smiling wide while they walked to their room. Marlene was just scowling at him.

“Relax, McKinnon its nothing we haven’t done before. Besides he said it was all he had left, it’ll probably be the nicest room here.”

He swung the door open, boy was he wrong. Marlene concluded the only thing that made this a honeymoon sweet was the extra flowery patterns all around the room. The bed and the wallpaper matched. Also there was hot pink shag carpet.

Marlene let out a bark of a laughed, between breaths she said, “Oh my… Merlin…” She finally caught her breath. She had caught sight of the single bed, she knew it was going to be, obviously but seeing it sobered her up. “Well pal, you’re going to pick up the pizza. I need to shower and read over the notes.”

“Or we could deliver and I could join you” He wiggled his eyebrows

“Pfft, dreaming Black” She gave him a shove out the door.

Sirius walked to the office to ask Tom where the best place to get pizza was. He wandered into the small office to find it empty once again. Sirius gave the bell a little ding. Tom came hobbling out.

“Hiya, I’m Tom! What can I do for ya?”

“Hi Tom, I just checked into the honeymoon suite. I was hoping you could tell me where the best place to get pizza is from?”

“Oh yes, yes” Tom was a classic old man seeming to remember and forget every few minutes, “You and that pretty blonde” He kept giving Sirius this knowing smile and raising his eyebrows up and down.

“One and the same!”

Tom never seemed to stop smiling, “Well as for pizza the best place would be the leaky cauldron just off the square. The best restaurant in town!”

Sirius was pretty sure it was the only restaurant in town seeing as it was the same diner they had ate for lunch.

“Right, well I guess I’m off” Sirius made to leave but Tom stopped him.

“Wait! Why don’t we just order it here and I can call your room when its ready! You see not only do I own this fine establishment but I also own the cauldron!” Tom didn’t even really give Sirius a chance to answer. He was already on the phone ordering them a medium pepperoni.

“So what brought you and your bird to this little town?” Tom was definitely a chatter.

“She works for a university and his doing some research on the towns history.” Sirius figured this was close enough to the truth without giving too much away.

“Oh! Well if you’re doing town history you should talk to Bathlida Bagshot! She not only wrote all of the books,” Tom leaned in like he was about to share a secrete, “She’s as old as they come. Been around from most of the history that’s been written.”

Sirius thought this was an interesting secrete to be sharing seeing as how Tom also seemed old enough to be around when the towns history was happening.

“That’d be great! I’d love to get her information.”

Tom began digging around in different cabinets around the office, “So how long have you and your lady been together?”

Oh great now here come the personal questions. Sirius figured it was karma, he had been the one to imply that they were together.

“Since February” He was convincing himself that this was just the easiest answer. He figured it would be weird to say that they weren’t together after they had accepted the one bedded honeymoon suite. Also he wasn’t going to unload all of their relationship drama on an overly friendly man who asked a simple question. So yes, that’s why he said February. Not because that’s when they had officially started. Not because he hasn’t even truly given another girl the time of day since February.

“Oh well that’s sweet. I would’ve guess longer just by the looks of ya. You can see the love between you. I see the way you look at her, you’re in love.” Alright so Tom was officially a batty old man.

“Right.” Sirius wasn’t sure how to respond to the man. “So Bathilda?”

“Oh Right!” Tom snapped his fingers, and turned to the desk, suddenly finding the record book he had been looking for. Right by where he should have started Sirius noted.

“Well here you go, now you go back to your bird and I’ll give you a ring when the pizzas here”

Sirius took the little card Tom had scribbled the information on and made his way back to their room. He was NOT in love with Marlene. He liked her, yes. He may have even loved her at one point but in love? No definitely not. He would admit to himself (only himself) that yes he had loved her at one point. She was perfect, even in her flaws he saw her as perfect. Marlene was too good for him. We they were dating things were great. He was starting to get it when people said you person is just different. He felt that with her, she was so easy going. But Marlene had been abandoned once by her parents, Sirius felt this pressure that if they were together it meant they were going to stay together forever. He wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. He had also been burned by his parents. They destroyed everything they touched. He broke up with her for selfish reason but now he was choosing not to give into his want for her sake.

Sirius opened the door to their room to find Marlene in nothing but a towel wrapped around her.

Marlene let out a shriek “Black!!! Get Out!!” She pulled the towel tighter.

Sirius was just grinning at her. The bastard was actually grinning at her. Not moving!!

He let out whistle, “Well this is quite the welcome, McKinnon”

“Get out!!”

Sirius placed his hands on his hips, “Now McKinnon this is my room too you know.” Marlene rolled her eyes, “At least turn around, Perv!”

Sirius held his hands up in surrender and slowly spun around while she changed. “Its nothing I haven’t seen before.”

She huffed and told him he could turn around.

He was just smiling at her, not saying anything.

“What?” Marlene asked with an annoyed huff

“Nothing… you’re hot” Still just smirking, hands on hip

“I know that.” Marlene was scowling on the outside but flushing on the inside as she bit out.

“Okay.”

“I get told that a lot”

“Okay.”

“By lots of people, boys and girls”

“Okay.” Why did he keep drawing out his okay like he was teasing her.

“Not that I need validation from strangers or you!”

“Never said you did, McKinnon”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

The pair just stared at each other. Marlene was trying not act unaffected by his gaze, she felt like he was looking into her soul. Sirius was admittedly not looking into her soul but rather her wonderfully long legs in her short sweat shorts.

She couldn’t take it anymore and turned to get on the bed, “So what about the pizza you were gone for like 15 minutes?”

Sirius moved towards the bed where she was laying out papers and books, he let out a puff of air, “Yeah well apparently Tom owns this 5 star hotel and the 5 star diner we ate in earlier. Serving the best pizza in town. He was insistent that he would just have it delivered and call when it was here, so I could ‘get back to my super hot blonde bird’” The smile again.

Marlene shoved, “He did not”

Sirius shrugged, “Maybe not but that was the gist of it.” Wink. “Anyway he did give me the information of some old lady who he thinks we could talk to about town history.” He handed Marlene the card.

“Wait, I recognize this name! She wrote like five of these books!” Marlene stared digging around the bed.

Sirius reclined with his hands behind his head. He went to turn on the tv but Marlene snatched the remote from his hands,

“We have work to do.”

“Alright tell me what you got Sherlock”

Marlene turned to face him.

“Ok Well you were right this town is named after Godric Gryffindor, he was born like a million years ago. He and the other founders each gave some special item to be buried under the school. Almost like a time capsule, it was supposed to be opened this year.”

“Why this year?”

“Apparently this was the year was the 300 hundred year anniversary of the something called the Hallows, I’ll explain that in a minute. Anyway, this guy Dumbledore became head of the school but his assistance wanted to steal the items because of some old wives tail that they’re magical. So he hid them, BUT THEN one of the students named Tom Riddle stole it all which is why we’ve never heard anything about opening the capsule because it’s gone and since forgotten.”

“Okay yeah I read a little bit about the items in,” He rooted around and found the book he was looking for pulling it into his lap and opening it to the pages. “Here. See it says that that Godric Gryffindor gave a sword. The sword could supposedly slice through anything and it was unbreakable. It was supposed to have belonged to Lancelot. Rowena Ravenclaw gave a Diadem?” He quirked an eyebrow

“It’s like a crown”

Sirius looked up from the book and found that Marlene was closer than he had expected.

“Right. Um Well, the Diadem had once belonged to the Queen royals and apparently the queen who wore it could live and rule forever. The Helga Hufflepuff gave a golden chalice, yes that chalice, the Holy Grail. If you drank from the cup it would heal you of any wounds. And finally, Salazar Slytherin gave a locket. The locket gave you the power to hear the voices in others heads. The wearer could use it to exploit others darkest thoughts and fears.”

Marlene let out a whistle. “Do you think its real? The magic?” Sirius wanted to know.

Marlene turned her whole body towards him, “Yeah I think I do. I mean I feel like I have to otherwise what was all of this for? I know it sounds crazy but my mom told me a story once… before she left.”

“Marlene…” Sirius whispered and move to grab her hand but before he even got close she sat up straight.

“She told me that she was working in Peru one winter and studying these writings on a cave. They spoke of this great love, that the people bonded together under the stars and in the cave would be together forever, they wouldn’t have love for anyone else. Anyway that’s where she met my dad and they got married there. Sometimes I think it has to be true and that’s why they leave to go around the world with each other. There isn’t love for anyone else, just each other. Its dumb I know but it was the best excuse I could come up with as kid for why they didn’t stay. And its nice to think that they’ll always have that powerful love for each other.”

“So yeah it has to be real, otherwise Marc is missing for nothing and my whole career becomes really boring”

They both let out a small laugh at the end of that statement.

“I hate to tell you McKinnon but your career is boring and you’re still a major nerd no matter what”

Marlene shoved him down, “Anyway….Tom Riddle. He was this Nazi sympathizer during the war. He believed all their propaganda about the science branch. He thought if he could find the founders items then he could live forever and help Germany win.”

“Aka he was barmy”

“Exactly. But I guess he briefly got a job at the university to get access to ideas as to where it was. Dumbledor trusted him and Riddle stole it all and any gold he could find in the university. He disappeared, most guessed to Germany but it was never confirmed. So that’s really where the story ends but Marc found his diary and in it Riddle said he went to Germany but the fall of the axis powers happened almost as soon as he got there. He came back with Nazi treasure and the founders items. I don’t know much after that besides Godric’s Hollow. I’m not sure where to go from here but maybe Bagshot will have answers.

Marlene shrugged. She felt exhausted. Sirius could see it, she looked like she had just told someone their dog had died.

He moved his hand to her thigh, “We’ll figure it out Marlene. Marc with be okay.” He squeezed her thigh, “I promise.”

They had somehow moved close, their faces only inches apart. Marlene’s eyes flickered from his eyes down to his mouth then back up to those piercing gray eyes. Sirius was searching for something in her eyes, something telling him to stop but maybe it was just because he didn’t want to see something that screamed stopped so he started to lean in. Their eyes closed, his lips about to brush hers…when the phone rang.

Sirius let out a sigh.

“You should get that” Marlene’s voice came out small, she was worried if she spoke any louder he would hear the shake.

He rolled over and picked up the hot pink (roto dial? Where were they?) phone.

As he turned his back to her to talk, she released the breath she had been holding in. She could feel the red on her face. What was that?? God he says some sweet thing and she turns into this stupid melt at gray eyes girl. She would pull it together.

Sirius stood up and turned to her, “That was Tom. The pizza’s here.”

Silence

“Okay so I’ll go grab it.” He spun on his heal and was out the door.

Closing the door behind him, he leaned his head against the wall outside. What was that?? He wanted to kiss her so bad in that moment. He wanted to reassure her everything would work out. That he would make sure of it. He needed to pull it together. He was here to prove something to her. He didn’t want to throw it away on some silly kiss, first she needed to understand what he meant when he kissed her.

Sirius gave his head a shake and pushed off the wall. He opened the door to the office and once again found it empty. Where did this man go? He gave the bell a ring and out came Tom.

“Hiya, I’m Tom! What can I do for ya?” Yep. Batty old man.

“Hey Tom, uhh Sirius” He pointed to himself hoping to jog the old mans memory. He had just called him about the pizza.

“Oh yeah! I got your pizza right here!!” He pulled a box out from behind the counter and opened to show Sirius a heart shaped peperoni pizza. “For you and your lady’s special getaway, on me!”

Sirius thanked the man and took the pizza, he hoped Marlene would get a laugh out of it and not blame him.

He wouldn’t have to worry though because he opened the door to a sleeping Marlene. He just took in the sight. All of the lights were still on, papers and books spread out over the bed. She had one on her chest, clearly falling asleep while reading it. He could tell she wasn’t faking by the way her mouth hung open. Marlene was mortified that she was a mouth breather when she slept, she wouldn’t fake that. Also he could just tell, he knew her too well.

Sirius sighed and set the pizza down on the dresser, he took a slice for himself quickly eating it. He went over and gave her a small nudge. She didn’t even open her eyes.

“mHmm”

“I know you’re tired Love but you should eat” It was the softest whisper

Eyes still closed and more than half asleep, she just rolled away from him, “no too tired, come to bed baby.” Burying her head into the pillow. She was already snoring again by the time processed what she had said in her sleep state. He tried not to think too much on it. She was sleeping but still there was this warm feeling in his chest as he moved around the room picking book and papers off the bed.

Sirius stripped down to just his boxers flicked off the lights and climbed in the bed. As soon as he was settled in the darkness a sleeping Marlene rolled to him. Her head going to his chest and swinging a leg over his.

Sirius knew he should try to roll away but she just looked so peaceful snuggled up to him. He couldn’t turn away not when he knew she had been losing sleep the past couple weeks. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. Sirius pressed a kiss to the top of her head and closed his eyes. He would deal with the rest in the morning.

[bytheangell]

Love Is an Open (And Not Broken) Door

(Read on AO3) (based on this instagram video of Dom fixing a door) “Why did you touch it?!” Jace asks, glancing back over at the door that was now officially missing its handle while he rummages through Simon’s sad collection of tools… which mostly consists of things that came with furniture he had to put together himself, a single screwdriver, and maybe a wrench.

“It’s not my fault!” Simon insists. “Well, I don’t think…”

Simon knows the door handle didn’t just fall off on its own. And he knows it’s been a bit loose after forgetting about his vampire strength more than a few times and pulling way too hard. But surely he can find a way to blame this on some universal karma or something, right? One of those ‘this was going to happen no matter what’ things.

Jace grabs a very small screwdriver and makes his way over to the door. He’s wearing a white long sleeve shirt, dark jeans, sandals, and a beanie, a much more casual look than his usual all-black, leather-clad getup. They’re meant to be relaxing, but of course, Simon has to go and somehow ruin a night in. He can practically feel the frustration radiate off of Jace as he prods at the hole in the door and curses under his breath. More than once.

“It’s fine, just leave it,” Simon says.

“...leave it to do what?” Jace asks. “Do you think it’s just going to fix itself?”

Jace has a point. But Simon doesn’t care about their future door problems, he just wants to cuddle with his boyfriend dammit.

“I pulled it off, can’t I just… shove it back on?” Simon offers.

“One, thank you for admitting this is your fault. Two, no, that is not how this works. Do you have something magnetic?”

“I have… magnets?” Simon is very aware of how dumb that sounds the second it leaves his mouth. “Like, the ones on the fridge?”

Jace considers this answer. “That might be enough. Bring me two.”

Simon continues speaking as he walks back to the fridge to pick the best two, though he’s pretty sure these all cost him $0.99 at some point so that isn’t saying much for their quality. “Listen, if you don’t know how to fix it, it’s fine. I can just… break the door and replace it later.”

Jace furrows his brow. “We know a warlock, and your solution isn’t to ask for a portal out but to just snap the door off the hinges and replace it later? When you can’t even replace the handle?”

Simon huffs. “I’m just saying. You don’t have to keep trying. You’re not a repairman, you don’t have to pretend to know how to do everything.”

Jace smirks at that and Simon sighs. Of course he’d see it as a challenge. “Who am I kidding, you’re Jace Wayland, of course you do. Go ahead, be annoyingly perfect and prove you know how to fix a door handle.”

Simon watches as Jace pokes and prods a bit, using the magnet to fish out something that dropped into the door when the handle broke, at some point giving up on the screwdriver and using the blade of a pocket knife to turn something and Simon isn’t even sure where the wire on the floor came from, and--

Jace presses down on the now re-attached handle and the door swings open.

“Oh my g--” the word catches in Simon’s throat. “You did it! You actually fixed it!”

“Don’t ever doubt me again, Lewis,” Jace says, brushing his hands off matter-of-factly.

“Was the idea of being trapped in here with me really that bad?” Simon pouts.

Jace looks up at him with half an eye-roll as he gathers the pile of makeshift tools off the floor. “Normally, no,” Jace says. “When I happen to have tickets to that sold-out concert you wanted to go to…”

Simon’s pout is immediately replaced by his jaw-dropping in disbelief. “You got tickets to the Queen show?”

“Floor tickets, which a little birdy told me are the best ones. And if that birdie lied she’s going to have ichor duty for the next year,” Jace adds, and Simon laughs because of course Jace got Clary’s help with this.

“It was going to be a surprise but luring you out of the apartment became a much less casual task when it involved needing to rebuild the door,” Jace adds with a glare that’s too fond to hold any heat.

Simon mentioned the concert in passing weeks ago when the tickets sold out before he could save up enough money for them, and certainly couldn’t afford any of the inflated resale prices. He can’t believe Jace remembered at all, let alone went out of his way to get the best seats. In fact, with the amount of rambling Simon does on a daily basis, he just sort of assumed Jace tunes the majority of it out. Clearly he’s wrong, and that realization brings a smile to his face so wide it actually hurts his cheeks a little.

“I was kidding when I said you were perfect before, but I think I mean it now,” Simon only half-jokes.

“I think we both know I’m far from perfect,” Jace says. “But you tend to bring out the best in me.”

Simon leans in and lifts himself up on the balls of his feet to place a gentle kiss on the corner of Jace’s mouth. It’s his favorite ‘If I kiss you for real I won’t be able to stop and we have things to do so this is as close as I’m getting’ spot.

“Remember that the next time I break something,” Simon promises.

“Or you could just stop breaking things,” Jace suggests in return.

Grabbing his jacket, Simon starts for the door to leave when Jace moves to cut him off.

“I’ll be opening the doors tonight, and not out of chivalry, but self-preservation,” he adds pointedly, glancing down at the recently re-attached handle.

Simon laughs. “Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, my knight in shining leather.”