#Juni gets a little a mercy

[ayy-junipei]

How many bruises does your dive bombing beast give you in the morning?

Not much mostly because my tummy big fat and absorbs most of the shockwave

[mapofthemazeinthemirror]

When you’re sick

Warnings: none, one Monsters Inc. reference I hope won't confuse people

Please let me know which is your favourite!

☆ gender neutral reader

Soobin

You'd tried everything, from warm baths to drinking god-awful concoctions people swore by on the internet. But you were still sick. You'd been holed up in your bedroom for almost a week, leaving poor Soobin to have to sleep on the couch. You missed him, but you couldn't let him catch what you had. The only contact you'd had with him all week was through texting, and the meals he'd leave outside the bedroom door for you.

Of course, you'd been apart longer than this before; being in a successful group, Soobin often went on tour for months at a time. But this almost seemed harder, maybe because you felt miserable physically and just wanted to be held and loved on.

"I just wanted to see you," came his muffled voice, a hint whiny. "I won't come any further than this, I promise."

Sighing, you retreated from hiding. You hadn't seen him with your own eyes for what felt like longer than it actually was. There was no helping how good it felt to look at him now. "I miss you."

His lopsided smile gave you a rush of warmth. "Please get better before I go crazy."

You felt guilty. "I'm sorry. You can go and stay at Taehyun's if you-"

Soobin's mouth quirked, his brow creased. "It's not that. I just want to see you, touch you, have a real conversation. I want to hold you until we fall asleep." You felt the longing for him increase. "You always take care of me when I'm sick, even if you might catch it. Please, let me do the same for you."

His eyes held a helpless look that tugged at your heart as much as his words did. You felt your resolve crack, and it must have shown in your face, Soobin crossing the threshold and shuffling towards the bed. Relief flooded through you as he crawled up next to you and tucked you into his arms. His warmth was everything you'd needed for the past week, and he sighed as you buried your face against his neck. You swear you started melting when you felt his fingers in your hair. This was home.

Yeonjun

You weren't sure how long you'd felt like this. Time seems a blur when most of it is spent in bed, falling in and out of sleep and dreams. It took a monumental effort just to roll from one side to the other, so you couldn't remember the last time you'd eaten or showered. One small mercy was the fact that your ears were blocked, muffling the noise of the world outside the window; birds and neighbours dogs and traffic sounds couldn't disturb your sporadic naps.

Suddenly there was soft skin against your cheek, a warm palm and fingertips that you leaned into without question, and a deep sound somewhere close by. It took a few minutes for your mind to kick in and realise that these things were real and not a dream. Opening your eyes to the dim room, you found a face smiling down at you; your Yeonjun. But something was strange about this. Hadn't you been alone? Wasn't there a reason you were in the middle of the big bed, his pillow trapped between your arms?

"Junie?" You whinced as your voice seemed to reverberate through your head, your throat burning as the word tore through it.

"Hey, baby," he replied softly. You felt his fingers swipe the hair off your forehead before his nose was touching your own.

With what little strength you had, you tried to sink further into the mattress to put space between the two of you. "Jun, I'm- I'm sick."

"It's okay." You felt his arm slither under your back and peel you off the bed, pulling you into him. "I'm here."

You sniffled, swallowing against the dryness of your mouth that comes with not being able to breathe through your nose for so long. "Why?"

"'Why?'" He laughed. "Because the tour ended and I came home to you. Aren't you happy to see me?"

You nodded weakly against his chest. "Junie... I'm sick," you said again, half warning and half complaint.

His hand began to rub your back soothingly, and it felt so good to be in his arms again that you sighed heavily, raspily. "I know, babe, I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't..." Words were too hard. Instead, you brought your hand to his chest and tried to push him, rather feebly, away.

A large hand wrapped around your wrist, softly pulling your arm up over his shoulder. "I don't care. I missed you."

Not having it in yourself to argue, you surrendered, letting your body totally relax into his. You had pictured him coming home after tour very differently than this. You wanted to kiss him. You wanted to talk about his trip, but you couldn't fight your body. You heard the rumble of his voice again. "What?"

"I'll make you some chicken soup," he repeated. But as he tried to turn to leave the bed you grabbed a handful of his shirt. You heard him chuckle, and his arms were back around you again. "Maybe later, then."

Beomgyu

One minute you were studying, the next you were being woken by your phone blasting the most annoying ringtone Beomgyu had set for himself. You scrambled to snatch the phone off the desk where you had evidently fallen asleep. "Gyu? What time is it?"

"Half past the time you were supposed to meet me at the cinema."

Your heart sank. How long had you been asleep? "Oh no. I'm so sorry, I fell asleep."

"Why do you sound like you're talking into a tin can?"

Now that you were more awake, you noticed the feeling in your throat, the pounding of your head. Sure, falling asleep with your head on a desk wasn't the best, but you'd never known it to make your head feel like this. Come to think of it, you couldn't breathe through your nose very well either. You thought back and vaguely remembered your roommate having had a cough before she left for the weekend. There was a knock at the door.

"Hang on," you said into the phone, crossing the small space to open the door and-

"You look terrible," Beomgyu said, to your face and in your ear before hanging up. His cheeks were flushed, telling you he'd walked all the way here, in the cold, probably to check on you.

"Wow, thanks," you deadpanned as you let him in. "When's the next showing? Maybe we can make that one."

Your boyfriend pulled his hood down and looked at you for a moment before pressing his palm to your forehead. Trying not to flinch at the coldness of his hand, you looked up at him, his eyes still studying you.

"You're hot," he told you.

You scoffed, but it came out as more of a cough. "That's not what you were saying a minute ago."

Without another word, Beomgyu's hands were on your shoulders, turning you around and steering you through the small dorm room and sitting you down on your bed. Then he disappeared into the bathroom, coming back with a towel that he pressed against your head.

"I'm fine," you sighed. "Let's go see the movie."

Beomgyu tisked, gesturing for you to hold the towel before dipping to his knees to pull off your slippers. "The only movie you're seeing tonight is the DVD I got you for Christmas." Standing up again, he shooed you up the bed and pulled the covers over you.

"But we've seen that a hundred times," you whined. You'd been looking forward to a night out with your boyfriend; the movie, popcorn, leaving the confines of your dorm room after so many days and nights of studying.

"But you love it," he retorted, mocking your whiny tone. He handed you the remote for the tiny TV at the foot of your bed. "I'm guessing you haven't had dinner?" You shook your head. "Got any cup ramen?" You nodded.

You opened your mouth again to complain, but the words never came as Beomgyu kissed you on the top of the head and walked over to boil the kettle. Instead you let yourself sink into the comfort of your bed, only now noticing how exhausted you actually were. So you weren't going to get your date, but how could you complain when you had a boyfriend like this?

Taehyun

You were up before Taehyun this morning - an unusual occurrence. You'd woken up with a funny feeling in your throat and quickly but quietly escaped his room to cough without waking him. Then you'd tiptoed to the kitchen to boil water, eyes meeting with Yeonjun's who was sitting at the table eating cereal. His smirk said it all.

You were sat on the couch when Taehyun emerged from his room, tired eyes searching for you. By now, Soobin and Beomgyu were also sitting at the table eating. Taehyun plodded over to you. "Morning."

"Don't get contaminated," Yeonjun called, looking up from his phone. You narrowed your eyes at him.

Soobin, who looked like he could've still been half asleep, whipped his head up in confusion, chewing his toast with a new expression.

Taehyun's eyes swept from his friend to you, scanning your face for signs of anything amiss. "Are you not feeling well?"

"M'fine," you croaked, arms wrapped around yourself inside your hoodie as you tried to hold off a shiver.

"Tried to cough up a whole cat this morning," Yeonjun snitched. Soobin looked between Yeonjun and Beomgyu, still puzzled, his messy bed hair comedically flapping side to side.

You rolled your eyes, looking up at Taehyun with a small pout. "I just have a cough. It's probably the change in the weather."

"Or bronchitis."

Taehyun ignored the oldest boy's comment as he crouched down in front of you. "Do you want me to go to the pharmacy?"

"Really," you persisted. "I'm fine. I feel okay, just an itchy throat." As if on cue, you started to cough again, burying your face into the crook of your arm, then quickly tried to recover yourself. "I don't want you to worry."

"Sounds like a duck," Beomgyu said with a tone that gave away his amusement.

Taehyun sighed and rubbed up and down your arms comfortingly. "I just want to help you feel better, so anything you need, you just tell me, okay?"

You nodded. He stood up and went to the kitchen to start breakfast, giving you a kiss on the cheek first. Suddenly there was a commotion, as Beomgyu grabbed his breakfast bowl and ran from the kitchen yelling, "twenty-three nineteen!"

Huening Kai

The first thing that you noticed was a dull ache in your head. You'd taken some pain relief, thinking it was just a normal headache, and pushed on to get ready for your dinner plans. Kai's parents were always so happy to have you for dinner, and to see him catching up with them and his sisters made you happy, too.

You started to feel a little weak halfway through your meal, participating in conversation less and less, and after dinner you'd slipped away to a quiet room for what was supposed to be a few minutes. Your body felt heavy, more exhausted than what would be expected, and as you sat on an armchair in the dimly lit room, you became aware of the dull ache in your muscles. Eyes closing, the sound of distant chatter and laughter from the dining room lulled you quickly into unexpected sleep.

Kai had thought you were gone for the bathroom, and after ten minutes of your absence, his eyes flicking to the door every so often in anticipation of your reappearance, he thought he should check on you - maybe something you'd eaten wasn't agreeing with you. When he'd knocked on the bathroom door and there was no reply, he'd let himself in only to find it empty. He checked the kitchen, then the garden, then walked back to the dining room to see if you'd returned there while he'd been away. His mother joined him as he went to check the living room.

The two of them found you dozing and lowered their voices to a whisper, Mrs. Huening commenting that you hadn't seemed yourself earlier. Kai gently touched the back of his hand to your forehead and found it clammy. This, along with the headache you'd mentioned before the drive up and how quiet you'd been, probably meant you'd come down with something, and he decided to take you home.

That's how you woke up in Kai's arms, in the cold night air, on the way to the car. "There you are," he said when he noticed you awake. "Have a nice nap?"

You noticed a sore throat was beginning as you spoke, glancing around the street. "We're leaving?"

His soft brown eyes met yours as he continued to walk. His arms kept you steady against his chest, so you barely felt like you were on the move. "You're exhausted. You fell asleep."

You hated that you were the reason Kai's family time was being cut short and that you hadn't said goodbye to anyone. "I'm fine, Hyuka. Let's go back. Please?"

He came to a stop as he reached the car, looking down into your eyes again with a soft smile. "You need rest. We'll go home, I'll run a bath, and then we'll get into bed." Seeing you open your mouth to argue, he added, "Let me take care of you."

You couldn't argue with that.

written by mapofthemazeinthemirror - do not repost my work in any form

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Faking It | Jeon Jungkook | Chapter Two

Summary: Seeing him again happened sooner than you thought it would but absolutely no one is complaining. Pairing: f!reader (30) x Single Dad Jungkook (33) (Arranged Marriage Slow Burn?) Word Count: 9.8k Warnings: Talking about Jungkook's wife who passed away in childbirth (Doesn't talk about her death but yeah) a/n: Took me three months but we're finally here 😭 And if any of you saw me post this and delete it...no you didn't. I posted it on my reblogs account on accident so sorry if that teased you a bit 😅 Anyways I hope this was worth the wait 😭 p.s. I only read through this once when I completed it so have mercy on me if there are typos

I wake up naturally this morning and it's honestly one of the best feelings in my opinion. Not having to worry about being woken up out of a sound sleep shows me that it's going to be a good day.

As I yawn and rub the sleep out of my eyes I hear my phone vibrate on my nightstand, telling me I have a new message. I roll over and reach for it lazily to check and when I read the sender's name I immediately shoot up, causing Salem to dart off the bed. "Sorry Salem" I call after him but then when I go back to read the message my heart is already beating out of my chest.

'Good morning y/n I hope you slept well. How are you?' a simple yet inviting message from the man I just met last night. Who knew waking up to good morning texts would still feel this good at the ripe age of thirty?

'Good morning Jungkook! I slept like a baby, best sleep I've gotten in a while actually. I just woke up so, so far so good. How are you? How's Juni? Did you guys sleep alright?' I send and at a second glance I can see how completely whipped I am for this man already. Why am I rambling on and on about sleep? I could've just said 'I slept well, I hope you did as well' or something like that.

'That's good, I'm glad to hear! Juni and I slept alright. She actually only woke up an hour ago which is unheard of since she's usually knocking on my door at six am. She's been talking about you since she woke up' he sends back and my heart flutters, loving that I've made that big of an impression on her already.

I check the time and see that it's already nine am which is a record time for me to sleep as well since I'm usually up by seven most days. Then again it's not everyday that you get to spend the night with a man like him...

Wait! That's not what I meant!

'She can't stop talking about going shopping for butterflies so I wanted to see if we could set up a time soon. Maybe this weekend if you're free?' he suggests and I have to restrain myself from kicking my feet, just thinking about this man asking to see me again, disguised by his daughter wanting to get butterfly decorations for her room.

'This weekend sounds perfect! I'm free tomorrow as well so either day is fine' I offer up and face palm, scolding myself for being too eager. 'Tomorrow sounds great! Should we meet around eleven? Juni and I would love to take you out to lunch if you'd like. You know, to thank you for the help' he sends and I can't help but think that maybe he's a little nervous too.

'Eleven it is! Should I meet you guys there? There's a shop that I'm sure Juni will love and it'll definitely have what we're looking for!' I send and I can see the bubbles popping up to show that he's typing but they go up and down a couple more times. He'll type for a little and then stop and type again and I can only hope that I didn't say something wrong in suggesting where to go.

When a few minutes go by I decide it's best to get out of bed and get a cup of coffee. That'll wake up my brain a little more and help me hopefully not make as much of a fool of myself while texting him.

I find Salem perched on top of his cat tree, still a little jumpy from me having scared him but I think it's made him playful more than anything as I watch his tail flick back and forth while he watches me walk up to him.

"I'm sorry for scaring you" I apologize again, scratching his between his ears but when I feel my phone vibrating over and over in my hand I jump again making him climb down off his cat tree and scurry under the couch. I sigh and scold myself as a result before taking a look at my phone, seeing an incoming call from Jungkook.

I almost drop it after reading his name but catch and answer before I end up dropping it.

"Hello?" I ask, slightly out of breath from the scare but try to hide it as best as I can. "Hi pretty lady!" I hear Juni call out in the distance, the phone no doubt on speaker phone. "Good morning Juni! How are you little one?" I ask, feeling more at ease talking to her first and my question awards me with a little giggle before she continues.

"I'm good! Daddy says we're going to a special store to pick out the butterflies for my room! Is that right?" she asks, clear excitement laced all throughout her tone. "Yes that's right Juni we are! Does that sound alright to you?" I ask and I can clearly hear how she's jumping from excitement from how punctuated her voice sounds now as she chants "Yes" over and over again.

"I wish we could go right now!" she says, her excitement too difficult to contain at the moment which makes me smile knowing that she wants to go right away. 

"Patience Juni, tomorrow isn't too far away" I hear Jungkook's voice coming through now and it makes my breath hitch, forgetting the fact that he had been there all along. He wasn't kidding when he said that Juni grabs everyone's attention right away. Given the chance I'm sure she would've talked to me for hours if her dad hadn't reminded her.

"That's right Juni, only one more sleep until tomorrow" I say and I can hear a little gasp from the other side. "Does that mean I can go to sleep right now and then we can go?" she asks, not understanding the concept entirely.

"Not unless you want to sleep for twenty four hours silly" he says and I hear a fit of giggles that could only mean that he might've tickled her but after a few seconds it's calmed down.

"How long is twenty four hours?" she asks, a constant roulette of questions gearing up if he doesn't answer this question correctly.

"You know how you woke up yesterday, went to school, came home, played with your toys, got ready, went to meet Ms. y/n, came back home, went to bed and woke up this morning?" he lists off and I can tell she's probably nodded her head all throughout his explanation.

"Yes?" she responds in a questioning tone, waiting for him to get to the point. "Well that's how long twenty four hours is" he responds and I hear jumping again once he's finished before an excited Juni calls out. "Does that mean we get to go see Ms. y/n again when I get home from school?" she asks and my heart melts at her excitement.

"Juni, we're seeing her tomorrow remember. I'm sure Ms. y/n is very busy tonight" he says and I hear a sad "Oh" from her and I contemplate my next words carefully before going for it. "Juni, would it be okay if I talked to your Daddy for a second?" I ask and I can hear her let out a disheartened 'Okay' before Jungkook takes the phone off speaker.

"Hey y/n, sorry she's a little hyper this morning" he says and I smile at his efforts to apologize for Juni's adorable disposition. "No that's okay, I love talking to her! She's a cutie" I say and he hums, "Try living with her" he counters and I smile, knowing that her excitable attitude might get a little tiring sometimes.

"I wanted to ask you if you would like to do something today after Juni gets home from school? Maybe meet you at the park? I forgot to give you Juni's dress last night after I washed it. I have to go back to my parent's house to pick it up anyway and theres a park around the corner. It's your call though. I don't want to go against what you told her" I say, rambling off nervously again but this time over the phone instead of texting and I regret ever offering it in the first place.

Why am I so freaking awkward?

"You sure you don't mind? I could always just get it from you tomorrow? I don't want to inconvenience you or anything" he says, giving me a chance to back out but not saying no to me, giving me a vote of confidence. "I wouldn't have offered if I minded" I say with a smile in my tone and he takes another second to think before giving me his response.

"She gets off at three, does that work for you or should we meet up later?" he asks and my heart skips a beat, knowing that I'll get to see him again so soon. "That sounds great, you can meet me at my parent's house if you'd like? The park isn't too far away so we can leave our cars and walk there" I offer and he takes a couple of seconds to think again before saying anything else.

"Juni, do you wanna go see Ms. y/n after school?" he asks and I can hear her little feet running around this time and repeating her response of ceaseless Yes's again. "Well I guess we'll see you later then. I can bring some food for us to take to the park if you'd like?" he offers and I shake my head before remembering that thankfully he can't see me in my sleepy state.

"No that's okay I got it covered. You already said you guys are taking me to lunch tomorrow so the least I could do is bring us food to share at the park today. Plus, I'm the one who suggested it in the first place" I explain and he chuckles before agreeing.

"Alright, thank you y/n. Should we show up around four then?" he asks, giving them time to make their way over after picking her up from school. "Four sounds perfect, I'll see you then!" I say and he calls Juni over to say goodbye. "Bye Pretty Lady! See you after school!" she giggles. 

I swear I'm never going to tire of her excitable disposition.

"Goodbye Juni! Have a good day and listen to your teachers okay?" and I can hear a faint 'I will' in the background, no doubt from her running off to do something. "Thanks again y/n, I know she's going to be so excited to see you today...we both are" he adds at the end and my heart skips at his confession. "Me too" I say quietly and we finish up our goodbye's before quickly hanging up.

I slowly walk over to the couch as to not scare Salem this time, grab the pillow next to me, put it over my face and scream into it. Although I tried to muffle it I still end up scaring him making him run off to my room, no doubt planning to be wary of me for the rest of the day but that's okay.

I get to see them again, I get to see him again.

I really hope I'm not wrong about thinking that there might actually be something between us already, something about this just feels right. I don't want to rush into this too quickly though since we don't really know much about each other. I want to take things slow and hopefully he does too.

Well...I hope he'll want to take things further but you never know, a man like him is sure to have a lot of options, right? I just don't want to set myself up for heartbreak. Gotta keep it together and not get too vulnerable with him, even if it feels like I should. 

I've already let him in a little, and he's definetly let me in a lot with letting me spend so much time with his daughter but I don't know, I guess only time will tell what's going to happen between us.

If there's going to be an 'us'.

~~~~~

The day drags on as I unconsciously count down the hours until I get to see them again but it seems as though time is standing still.

I've spent most of my day editing the pictures I took for a family friend's wedding since that's usually how I get my clients these days. I know someone who knows someone who needs a photographer and my rates are pretty fairly priced so they tend to hire me.

Going through picture after picture and seeing how happy they look together makes me wonder what it would be like to be truly happy with someone like this. Be so openly and obviously in love that no one can say otherwise.

As time ticks by though my mind wanders off until I realize I only have about an hour to get ready before I have to meet them.

"Shit!" I say aloud and get up to hopefully make myself look presentable enough, luckily I took a shower this morning so we're all set on that front. I still need to figure out something for us to eat while at the park though and if I had paid attention to the time it would've been a brilliant idea.

The only option I have left is to phone a friend.

"Y/n? Is something wrong?" my mom asks, the call on speakerphone while I try to fix my hair. "Well depends on if you can help me or not" I say and I hear her sigh. "Please tell me you didn't end up in jail" she says and I scoff at her obviously sarcastic remarks.

"Very funny mom, but for your information no I did not end up in jail. This is seriously something I need help with though. Are you busy right now?" I ask, hoping and praying her answer is no. "No I'm pretty much free for the rest of the day, why?" she responds and I let out a huge sigh before responding.

"Good! Can you do me a favor and throw together a picnic lunch for three? Well...two and a half" I ask, not wanting to give up who it's for but by her gasp I can tell she already knows. "Are you and Jungkook seeing each other again already?" she asks, and I can tell her eyes are as wide as saucers with her hand over her mouth, her reactions being the same since I was a child.

"Yes" I say, giving a one worded response leaving me turning down the volume on my phone when I hear her squealing. "This is incredible! See I knew you two would hit it off! I can hear the church bells ringing already" she says, jumping to conclusions as she always does.

"Mom can you please get the food ready for me?" I plead, going back to the topic at hand while putting some makeup on, nothing too crazy but not wanting to over or under compensate. "Yes yes of course. Leave it to me!" and before I can say another word she's hanging up the phone. "Well that was easy" I say to myself before going to my closet to pick out what to wear.

As I'm flipping through my options I see Salem come out of the darkness, scaring me half to death leaving me scoffing seconds later, realizing he's given me a taste of my own medicine "Okay I guess I deserved that one huh?" I say to him and he meows in response.

"Okay Salem this one, or this one" I say, placing my options in front of him and he sniffs both before swatting at the one he's chosen. "You don't think a sun dress is too much?" I ask and he meows almost as if he was telling me to trust him and so I laugh and give in.

"I hope Juni likes it" I mumble to myself, quickly throwing it on and rushing to finish getting ready. A few minutes later I'm giving Salem a couple tummy rubs like I always do and rushing out the door, praying that I'll get there on time.

The drive to my parent's house seems like it's taking ten times longer than usual and I'm constantly glancing at the clock, making sure that I won't be late but thankfully I get there with plenty of time to spare.

"Hurry up they'll be here any minute!" my mom says, practically having babysat the door to make sure I arrive first. "Nice to see you too" I mumble, never getting a proper hello from her anymore. "The basket is on the table and I put a blanket in there as well" she says rushing me over to where she's put it and it's at that moment she finally notices my appearance.

"You really like him don't you?" she ask, smugness laced in her tone as her efforts of matchmaking are slowly succeeding. "No! Yes...I don't know" I deny but I backtrack immediately since I really do like him. "I haven't been interested in anyone in years and so I don't want to try too hard but I don't know" I somewhat admit to myself, as well my mom that I'm really starting to warm up to the idea of being with someone again.

"It's okay love, he hasn't been with anyone in a really long time either" she says and I furrow my brow, "How do you know that?".

"Well Mrs. Jeon and I were talking about it last night and it seems like ever since his wife died he's been really closed off to love or the idea of dating again. He's tried a few times but they never went beyond a second or third date" she relays and I nod my head, distracting myself with looking through all of the things she had placed in the basket. 

I try not to let any expression spread across my face since I don't know how to feel. I don't want to say I'm happy that things didn't work out between him and another woman but it's also sad to think about how Jungkook might've felt when his wife passed in such a traumatic way.

"Thank you for telling me but I think I should start learning more about him when he feels comfortable talking to me about it. It's only fair right? I'm sure he hasn't asked too much about me and my past so I guess shouldn't either" I say and walk into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"But he has" she says when my mouth is full making me spit it into the sink that was thankfully right in front of me. "He what?" I cough, trying to compose myself as I learn this tidbit of information. "He has asked about you. In fact I was on the phone with her right before you got here" I grab a paper towel to dab off whatever water I have left on me but before I'm able to respond we hear the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it" she say knowingly, giving me another second to calm down before I have to face him. I take a few deep breaths, fix my hair and check my reflection as best as I can in the smudged steel finish on the fridge while listening to my mother greet them at the door.

While Jungkook and my mother exchange a few words I peek around the corner and notice Juni slightly tugging on my mom's pant leg. "Excuse me but where's the pretty lady?" she asks and I have to hold back the coos I want to let out so badly, my heart already a puddle at the sight of her pleading eyes wanting to see me.

"Why don't you go look for her?" she says and when Jungkook looks up his eyes meet mine immediately for just a second but long enough to know my cover is blown. I duck back into the kitchen to hide, convincing myself that he didn't see me when he clearly did. 

"Go on" he says softly when Juni no doubt looks up at him for approval and my mother follows behind her as Juni walks in the completely opposite direction from where I am, my mom trailing behind her, giving no hints and letting her explore on her own.

I assume that Jungkook follows them but when I hear what sound like his footsteps get closer and not further away I tiptoe my way into the pantry, completely mortified that I know now for a fact that he caught me staring at them.

I close the door almost all the way and ten seconds later I watch as his form passes by the little crack in the doorway and I hold my breath as if that might help but there's only one way in and one way out of this kitchen and both him and I know that.

Why did I even hide? What was I thinking? Way to start things off on the right foot.

While I'm busy scolding myself I forget to pay attention and stumble back when he opens the door. "Got ya" he chuckles and I clear my throat, "Yeah I uh, I guess you did" I say, trying to lean back against one of the shelves, stumbling over a box instead but quickly recovering.

"Why are you hiding?" he chuckles, leaning up against the door frame and crossing his arms making me look down and notice how one of them is completely covered in tattoos. I had never specifically been attracted to tattoos before but on him...

I lose track of what he had said and only realize I had left a lull in the conversation when he clears his throat. "Oh I-" I start off but when I hear my mother and Juni's voices in the other room I grab his shirt and pull him in, making him stumble inside, closing the door right away.

It's only when he hits the switch to turn the light on that I realize what I had done.

"I-" I try to apologize but when I look up at him I notice that there's something in the way he's looking at me that I have never seen before, making my words die in my throat. We stand there for what feels like hours but had only been mere moments just observing each other, watching those small changes of expressions and I start to feel dizzy under his gaze. 

The tension between us clear and building but it's only when he opens his mouth to say something that the door is thrown open and we're met with a squeal from Juni. She runs into the closet and grabs onto Jungkook's leg making him stumble forward and as a result pins me against the shelf, his hands resting on either side of me.

It's like the universe is playing some sort of sick and twisted joke on us, constantly putting us in situations like these and yet we had only just become reacquainted with each other last night. 

"I found you!" Juni squeals again, giggles as her cries of victory and she soon pulls on Jungkook's leg to try and separate us. 

"Daddy I wanna play with the pretty lady" Juni pouts and in her efforts of trying to pull him off of me he actually loses his footing and stumbles, our bodies fully flush against each other now, his face just inches away from mine. 

I blink up at him and he does the same to me, both of us frozen and not really knowing what to do. It's only when my mother chimes in and asks Juni to come with her to get a snack that that little bubble that had formed around us had been popped.

"I...sorry... I uh, tripped...you know...with Juni and everything" he says, fumbling his words like a school boy, taking a few steps back to be at a respectful distance again. "Yeah no it's fine. I um, I shouldn't have pulled you in here in the first place" I admit and he smirks, remembering the point that lead us up to the little predicament we're in. 

"Why did you pull me in here?" he smiles, glancing over at where my mom has Juni plopped down on the kitchen counter with a popsicle in her hand. "I take hide and seek very seriously" I explain, me being the one crossing my arms now and he chuckles at my lame excuse for my actions but accepts it anyways. 

"Right" he says and offers me a hand to lead me out which I reluctantly accept.

"Mom she'll spoil her dinner" I say, scolding her with Juni just lost in the flavor and sheer size of it. To be fair it looks adorable in her little hands. "It's alright, a little sugar won't hurt her. Plus we're still going to the park right?" he asks and I look at him and nod. "Right" I agree and lift Juni off the counter to set her on her feet. 

"Hi Miss y/n" she says with a bright smile with her lips and tongue stained a bright shade of red from the cherry flavor. "Hi Juni" I say and fix her little sun dress that she's wearing, it's almost as if we had planned to match and when she notices me straightening out her dress she look at mine and also notices the similarity right away. 

"Look Daddy! Miss y/n and I are matching!" she says with the toothiest grin I've ever seen, her front two teeth standing out just a little bit more making it another cute little trait she shares with her father. Although who knows if she'll keep that once she starts losing her teeth I think to myself and quickly fix her hair as well since it's gotten a bit ruffled in the excitement of it all. 

"That's right baby, you both look so beautiful" he says making my heart skip a beat. When I look over at him he's giving me a similar adoring look he gave Juni just moments ago making it even harder for me to not melt into a puddle. 

I'm beginning to notice that these two really know how to tug on a person's heartstrings, it's almost as if it were as easy as breathing and that's something that's gonna take a while to get used to. 

"Can we go to the park now, please?" Juni asks, her eyes going back and forth between the two of us and when I look over at Jungkook he nods. "Sure, are you ready?" I ask, turning back to Juni and she jumps up and down and chants 'Yes' over and over again like she had done this morning on the phone. 

"Alright let's go" I say and with one hand clutching her popsicle for dear life she uses the other one to grab mine and drag me towards the front door. 

"Juni be careful" Jungkook scolds but I turn back towards him and assure him not to worry and I can see how he relaxes at that. She's a little bouncing ball of sunshine, emphasis on the bouncing since she can hardly sit still most of the time unless she's eating, and even then she's dancing around and smiling happily. I swear if this girl gets any sweeter I'm gonna start getting a toothache.

I let go of Juni's hand while my mother entertains her so we can make sure we have everything before we head out and when I try to turn around to grab my cardigan Jungkooks already grabbing it and holding it out to help me put it on. "Oh! I can-" "I know" he cuts me off but doesn't make any moves to give it to me so I turn my back to him and let him do as he pleases, sliding it up my arms and over my shoulders.

He runs his hands down my arms, no doubt as an excuse to smooth it all out but it causes a slight shiver to run through my system and he let's go, surprised at the reaction. 

"You sure you're gonna be warm enough?" he asks, a hint of amusement laced in his tone making my cheeks heat up but I nod my head and quickly rush over to the table where the basket is so I don't have to face him but he takes it from me as soon as my fingers brush the handle, making our hands touch. 

"I can carry that" I counter and he shakes his head, "No I'll carry it, someone's gotta hold Juni's hand while we walk there" he says, clearly delegating our respective duties and I smile and nod again. "Deal" and at that we're out the door. 

~~~~

"Higher Daddy higher!" Juni squeals while Jungkook pushes her on the swing, his arms no doubt getting a little tired since she's been on it for the past ten minutes now and I can see he's losing momentum with every push. 

"Daddy's tired Juni. Can you swing on your own now? You know, just like I taught you" he suggests and she thinks about it for a second before saying a quick 'Okay' and clumsily moving her legs back and forth to keep the momentum going.

I smile as I watch Jungkook stumble over towards where I've been sitting on the blanket and watching them, adoring their father daughter relationship. "You're so good with her" I praise when he sits down and hand him a cold water bottle which he accepts right away and downs half of it. 

"You think so?" he asks, always unsure of himself but I couldn't think of a more perfect father than him. "I know so. She's lucky to have a loving devoted father like you" I say and he smiles softly, grabing one of the strawberries that my mother had packed for us. 

"You flatter me" he says, a slight blush blooming on his cheeks making me feel almost smitten with him. "It's the truth" I reenforcing what I've said and he shakes his head, finishing off the fruit in his mouth.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm not enough, you know? Like there's only so much I could give her" he says and I can tell from how his body language has changed that he's really thinking about how he wishes her mother could be here for her too.

"What was her name?" I ask and he looks at me curiously, not knowing that I'm on the same page as him yet. "Your wife, what was her name?" I say tentatively but when he registers it I quickly backtrack. "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me that. I just figured that you might've been well..." I trail off and we sit there in silence watching Juni swing back and forth, back and forth until he decides to speak up. 

"Julie" he says softly, as if it had been years since he had spoken it. "Her name was Julie" he says softly and when I look over at him I can see the melancholy expression he's trying to hide. "That's a beautiful name, did you want Juni's name to sound similar to her's?" I ask, not wanting to make this conversation go dark but knowing that talking about her might cheer him up.

"Well, kinda. We wanted something that combined both of our names. It's silly, I know" he mumbles getting bashful about it. "It's not silly, it's wonderful to see in a way that both you and Juni are still carrying her with you everyday. It's a beautiful way to pay tribute to her" I reassure him and he smiles at me, mouthing a silent thank you. 

"I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have pried" I apologize again, seeing that it still has him feeling down. "No it's okay, it's nice to talk about her every once in a while. Thank you, for that" him now reassuring me and I nod, both of us left in silence for a while before Juni runs up to us. 

"Daddy what's wrong?" she asks, seeing the clearly deflated Jungkook as she gets closer and it's good to see that instead of brushing it off like it's nothing he doesn't hesitate to tell her how he's feeling. "I'm just a little sad, Ms. y/n and I were just talking about Mommy" he explains and she gets almost a look of understanding which is surprising for someone of her age. 

"Please don't be sad Daddy, remember you said Mommy is always watching over us right?" she say, giving him the talk that he's clearly had with her a time or two. "Right" he say, brightening up just a bit. "And she wouldn't want to see us sad when we think about her right?" she continues, an slightly stern tone creeping up which makes both Jungkook and I smile. "Right" he echos again and she nods her head in agreement. 

"You always tell me to look in the mirror and touch my nose, and my ears and my lips and everything else that you say reminds you of her and you tell me that she'll always be right here with me. So that means when I'm here with you she's here too right?" she asks again and he chuckles. 

"When did you get so smart?" he says, grabbing her and starts tickling her, making her squirm all over the place and when he finally has mercy on her and she catches her breath she answers, "Well I am turning five soon" she says matter-o-factly and I can't help but chuckle at that. "Oh right, how could I forget" he over exaggerates  and she giggles, grabbing his shoulder before leaning in to whisper something. 

"Daddy can we show the pretty lady a picture of Mommy?" she says almost at full volume leaving him flinching back. It's adorable how she still hasn't figured out this whole whispering thing. "Sure baby" he obliges and pulls out his phone, picking out one and handing it to her so she can show it to me. 

She surprises me by plopping down in my lap and putting the phone way too close to my face. "This is my Mommy, her name is Julie" she says proudly and my heart can't help but ache thinking this is the only way she's known her mother. "She's beautiful Juni" I say, putting my hand on top of her hand that's holding the phone and pulling it back so I can see the picture properly. 

"You really do have your mom's nose" I chuckle when I notice the same curved button nose they share leaving me booping her's and making her smile. She scrolls through a couple more photos giving me little bits of commentary that no doubt Jungkook has told her as she grew up and it's when I hear the soft click of a camera that I look back up at him. 

"Sorry, it was too perfect not to" he says, seemly enjoying watching the two of us and I can't help the way my heart skips a beat making me shy all over again. "Can we take some more pictures?" Juni asks, wrapping her little arms around my neck and squishing my face against her's leaving me laughing at how adorable this all is. 

Jungkook obliges and we take picture after picture after picture together until Juni is satisfied and has run off to play again. 

"I didn't even know that you brought that" I say, watching as he fiddles around with the camera, flipping through the photos he just took. "It was on the table right behind the basket" he explains and now that I think about it I do remember seeing the corner of a camera bag sitting next to it. 

He smiles as he looks at the pictures and I lean over to catch a glance at them but he pulls it back out of my reach. "Hey!" I chuckle and she shakes his head. "Not until they're edited" he refuses and I scoff. 

"You're not actually going to edit them are you?" I say, nervous at the thought of him spending hours looking at those pictures. "Why wouldn't I?" he asks as if I had said something confusing. "Well I mean, aren't you busy with work? I doubt you would want to take extra time out of your day to play around with them" I explain and he smiles. 

"Let me take a few more and then I'll let you see them" he says, angling his body so he's facing me. "Did you want me to call Juni back?" I ask but when I try he stops me with another click and I look back at him confused. "I meant of just you" he says simply but I can tell he feels a bit bashful from the way he's started to hide behind the camera. 

"I'm not used to being the one in front of the camera" I say, trying to figure out exactly how to pose but he chuckles and puts the camera down a little to take a good look at me. "I don't see why not, you're beautiful" he says casually as if those words hadn't sent my heart into overdrive. "I-" I start but the words just don't come out, especially when he places the camera down and leans in closer. 

He takes my hand and places it on the blanket so I can lean on it, places the other in my lap, angles my shoulders slightly away from him and takes my chin and softly tilts my head up, making the sunlight peer down on my face through the leaves of the tree we're under. 

"Just relax" he says, acting as if I could possibly relax after he had his hands all over me, posing me just how he wanted. 

I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to clear my head and once I start to get that sense of serenity I hear a few soft clicks from his camera, taking picture after picture, him adjusting my pose by hand every time. 

"Daddy!" is the next thing we hear after who knows how long with the sight of Juni running over to us all covered in mud. "Is this your daughter?" a woman who is clearly out of breath says while trailing after Juni. 

"Juni what happened?" I chuckle, seeing that she's as happy as can be with a few smudges of dirt on her face and her dress all muddy. "Her and my son were playing over there and I guess he convinced her to jump in the mud and well..." she says, motioning towards Juni where I'm trying to clean her off as best as I can. 

"I hope she didn't cause you any trouble" Jungkook says, now feeling a bit guilty about the situation since he had taken his eye off her for a second. 

"No, not at all. If anything I should be apologizing for my son. I swear we look away for one second and he's as dirty as can be" she chuckles, finally close to catching her breath. 

"Can you tell the nice lady thank you for bringing you back?" Jungkook tells Juni and she does as she's told and I can see that she has just about as much of an affect on this mom as she does with me. If Jungkook's not careful she can use her cuteness for mass destruction if left unchecked. 

We hear a boy calling out for his mom that looks just like the woman in front of us now with no doubt her husband trailing after him. "Mom, Dad says it's time to go home" he says, his state twice as bad as Juni's. What is it with kids these days and mud? I chuckle to myself and when the boy notices Jungkook and I with Juni he gets a little shy. 

"Oh, hello" he says before he goes and hides behind his mother's leg, "Oh so now you wanna be shy?" his dad teases and snatches him out from his hiding space and whispers no doubt an encouragement for him to apologize. 

"I'm sorry for getting her all dirty. She was just really nice and I wanted to have fun with her" he mumbles and I can see hints of pink peeking through the streaks of dirt on his cheeks just like Juni. 

What did I say? Weapon of mass destruction.

"It's okay sweetie, I'm just glad you had fun" I say, brushing off his apology and when he looks up at me now I can see that his blush deepens and opts to hide behind his Dad's leg this time. "Alright well say goodbye" his mom says and he mumbles a quiet goodbye and gives Juni a shy wave compared to hers being one to match her outgoing and bubbly self.

"Can we play again tomorrow?" Juni asks him and he looks up at his parents for approval. "We usually come here around this time everyday after school so you just have to ask your Mommy and Daddy if you can come again" she says and when I try to deny her claims Jungkook jumps in before I can get a word out. "We'll be here" he says and Juni smiles so wide. 

"See you tomorrow!" she calls out to them and the trio waves goodbye one last time before heading to their car. 

"Mommy and Daddy?" I turn to Jungkook while Juni is busy doing a little happy dance before taking a drink of her juice box. "Well I um, I guess they couldn't help but think we're her parents so it felt best to not correct them" he says while rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks dusted a light shade of pink just like the little boy's were when he was looking at Juni. 

"Right, and when they say something tomorrow?" I tease and he clears his throat, no doubt not thinking this whole thing through. "Well I guess there's no harm in faking it?" he says and now I'm the one that's nervous.

"Faking it? You mean you want me to pretend to be Juni's mom? Why?" I ask, flustered by the thought of it. "I'm sorry I guess I didn't think about how you might feel about it. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable" he apologizes but I rush to explain myself.

"I'm not uncomfortable I'm just shocked that you would want to go along with something like that to keep up appearances for people that we hardly know" I say, trying to figure out where his head is at. "Sorry that was a stupid suggestion we don't have to do it if you don't want to" he says and I shake my head.

"I mean I want to, but do you? I mean what about Juni? What's she gonna think?" I ask and watch as she chases a butterfly that has caught her eye. "We can just tell her we're playing pretend" he says and I raise a brow at him. 

"That's the best you got?" I ask and he chuckles nervously. It's funny to see that a tall, strong, handsome man like him is getting so shy about this but I'll play along, I just don't want to confuse Juni. 

"Juni can you come here for a second?" Jungkook calls and she turns and runs over to us right away, looking between the two of us since we're both looking at her with no doubt some very strange expressions. "You like to play pretend right?" he asks and she brightens up at the thought, "It's my favorite thing to do!" she says, twirling around in her very adorable muddy dress. 

"How would you feel if we started playing pretend with Ms. y/n?" he asks and she gets even more excited and does her little chanting of 'Yes' over and over again, a very adorable habit of hers. 

"So this is what we're gonna do, whenever we're out and about with Ms. y/n we're going to pretend like we're a family. You'll be the Baby, I'll be the Daddy and Ms. y/n will be the Mommy, does that sound alright to you?" he asks and she giggles and looks between the two of us, clearly loving the idea. 

"Yes let's do it!" she says, fully confident in her playing pretend skillset. "Alright Juni but there's one little rule" he says and she come in close, knowing that this part is probably a secret. "You can't call her Mommy in front of her parents or grandma and grandpa, got it?" he says and I fully agree with him, we don't need to get their hopes up when we still don't know exactly what we are. 

"Got it! Mommy?" she asks, getting my attention and trying on the name for size and I answer to it right away, somehow feeling almost natural already. "Yes Juni?" I ask, and she looks over at the playground for a second before looking back over at me. "Can I go play for just a little while  longer?" she asks, holding her hands together and giving me the cutest puppy dog eyes I've ever seen. 

"Go ahead" I say and she giggles and rushes off to run around just for a little while longer just like she said. "It suits you" Jungkook says and I look over at him curiously, "What does?" I ask with a tilt of my head. "You being a mom" he says and the words die in my throat. I've always been told I'd be a good mother when the time came but hearing it from him after what we just agreed to do just...

"Thank you" I say, my heart squeezing in a painful but also grateful way and he gives me a smile before he places his hand on my waist for a second to solidify his sincerity before walking a bit closer to the playground to watch Juni. 

I decide to start packing up the stuff we had brought and by the time Juni is dragging her feet back over to me and completely out of breath I've got everything ready to go. "You tired?" I ask and she nods her head, her blinks getting lazy as a clear sign that it's time for bed. 

"Why don't I carry her home...I mean back to my mom's house" I correct myself quickly but I can tell he liked the sound of what I had said, my implication being completely different from what he had imagined. "It's alright, I can carry her, we've got one pretty dress all muddy so I don't think we need another one" he chuckles. 

I pause for a second and pull out the picnic blanket we brought and hold it against myself before picking her up. "Problem solved" I say and he can't help but smile at my solution and quickly takes Juni's shoes off and wipes her feet clean as best as he can before taking the end of the blanket and  tucking it all up so she's practically wrapped up like a burrito. 

"You sure you can cary her? She can get a bit heavy when she's sleepy like this, especially since we've gotta walk for a little bit" he offers and I assure him I'm fine. "What kind of mother would I be if I couldn't carry my child home?" I tease and his eyes widen, clearly having forgotten the little game we're playing.

"How dare I doubt your capabilities as a mother" he chuckles and picks up our stuff, motioning for me to lead the way.

A few minutes go by and we're left in a comfortable silence on our way back to my parent's house and when I decide to speak up he does the same. "I-" "Tha-", "Sorry you go first" "No that's okay you go first" and we toss it back and forth a few more times before he hits me with the age old "Ladies first".

"Thank you for coming tonight and letting me spend some more time with Juni...well and you of course" I say sheepishly and he smiles. "I would hope you like spending time with me since you are my wife after all" he teases and now we've switched personalities. "You know, I think you're getting a little too comfortable with this already" I say and he smiles, playing with his lip piercing that I somehow only noticed right now, the silver glistening from the street lights.

There's so many things I haven't noticed about him yet, or even know about him but somehow everything seems so easy. 

"I mean can you blame me? You fit right in with Juni and I. Honestly better than I thought you would" he mumbles the last part to himself and I have to try my absolute hardest not to literally fall for him. I'm holding his daughter so I would one thousand percent say that now is not the time. 

"What?" I ask, needing clarification but he doesn't give. "Oh nothing" he smiles and picks up the pace, leaving me trailing behind him and right when I go to say something else Juni flinches leaving me slowing down and soothing her back to sleep. "Your Daddy is crazy, you know that?" I whisper to her as if she could hear me but the need to say something was too great. 

A minute or two later we're walking up to my mom's house and I twist my body to give him access to the small purse I brought with us and let him fish out the keys to open the door. 

When my mom hears us come in she goes to give us a no doubt overly exaggerated welcome home but as soon as she sees a very sleepy Juni in my arms she cuts herself off and switches to a hushed tone. 

"Looks like you all had fun" she chuckles and caresses Juni's head for a second, checking to see if she's really asleep and she very much is. "Maybe a little too much fun" Jungkook chuckles, seeing my mother slowly realize how dirty Juni had gotten. 

"She's a cheeky one isn't she?" my mom smiles lovingly and I can't help but wish this whole mom thing with Juni was real. "She is indeed" Jungkook agrees, and hands my mother the picnic basket. 

"Thank you so much for letting me steal your daughter today" Jungkook teases and I can tell that she absolutely loves this. "Honestly you can keep her. I hardly see her anyways" she says, giving Jungkook permission as well as sending a jab my way. 

"Mom" I groan and the both of them smile as if they delighted in my embarrassment. "I just might" he says softly while looking over at me and I can see my mom picking out the wedding venue as we speak, meanwhile I'm wrestling with myself to stay calm. 

We agreed to fake this relationship which means that everything he says is fake...right? I need to separate the real from the delusion but he unfortunately isn't making this any easier.

We say our final goodbyes to my mom and she watches until we walk up to Jungkook's car, no doubt still watching behind the curtain of one of our front windows, spying on us as if her life depended on it. I try to ignore it though because how we end tonight is really important to me. 

"Can I ask you something?" I say after he finishes putting Juni in the car, him closing his car door and walking me over to my car just a few feet away. "Anything" he says while ushering me toward it with a hand on my waist, a slight sign of protection since it's gotten a lot darker than we both realized. 

"When you said I fit in better than you thought I would...and that you might keep me, was that a part of this whole faking it thing we have going?" I ask, wanting to have an open line of communication with him. We're not shy teenagers anymore so as adults I feel like this is something really important to establish. 

"Do you want it to be?" he asks, standing in front of me while I lean against my car door. It still very much being locked as a very clear sign that I don't want this to end. "I mean we just met and..." I say, trailing off because I don't really know what I want. All I know is I like him. I really really like him and his daughter has got me wrapped around her cute little finger. 

"I know, we can take this slow. If this whole husband/wife thing is too much for you we don't have to do it" he offers and I shake my head, "No, no I want to. I just don't want the lines to get too blurry" I explain and he nods his head and leans his hand against the car right next to where I'm standing. 

"Blurry lines aren't a problem for me when it comes to you, it's your call though" he says and if my heart wasn't already racing it surely would've been now. I look up at him and hold my breath when he gets closer my eyes not leaving his and when he lean down I close my eyes, giving into whatever he wants to do to me. 

"Goodnight" he whispers, his warm breath fanning my neck making me lose my sense of reality for a second, wanting to lose myself in him without abandon. I can hardly breathe let alone think straight and he chuckles at that, standing up straight and ghosting his fingers along my jaw before stepping aside, a clear sign for me to get into my car and when I fumble with my keys he takes them and unlocks it and opens the door for me.

I sit down inside and look up at him, indulging myself for a few more seconds. When he hands me my keys he makes our hands touch only for a moment before saying a soft 'Drive safe'. 

When he closes the door for me I finally let out that breath I had desperately been holding back, watching as he walks back to his car with his little Juni still sound asleep.

I watch him pull out of the driveway and decide that even the way he drives is irresistible, giving me a small wave before he goes and while I'm lost in thought I almost jump out of my skin when I hear my phone ringing and my mom's name pops up.

"Mom I really can't talk right now" I say, putting her on speakerphone and starting to car. "Do not give me that y/n I am your mother and set you up with this man so tell me what is going on" she says and I sigh, checking all my mirrors and heading out as well just seconds later. 

"To be honest mom I don't even know. He's showing me very very clear signs that he's interested in me but I can't really say much of anything else at this point" I admit, the realization that the state of our relationship is anything but normal. 

"We just met last night and things are progressing fast, like really fast" I sigh, stopping at a red light, thankfully giving me a second to think. "Well I'd say this is all a good sign. I mean you're both in your thirties honey so adult relationships can progress a lot faster than when you're younger. He's a man that clearly knows what he wants and he wants you. So go for it" she encourages and I take it all in. 

"You're biased because you're my mother and would love to have his parents as your in-laws" I say and she scoffs. "Yes but that's not the point. You would be a fool if you let a man like him walk out of your life" she scolds and I know she's right. 

"I'll do my best to keep an open mind. But please don't talk to his mom yet, or at least not tonight. I don't need both of you losing sleep over this" I warn her but I know she'll do as she pleases no matter what. "You know I can't do that, but I'll do my best" she says and that is the biggest lie she's ever told but I'm not surprised since we dangled this whole thing right in front of her face. 

"You called her already didn't you?" I sigh and she chuckles. "As soon as I closed the door" she admits and I sigh, not the slightest bit surprised. "Alright mom well I gotta go but we'll talk again soon" I say, pulling into my parking spot and turning off the car. 

"Okay well keep me updated" she says and I can't help but roll my eyes. "Between you and Mrs. Jeon I'm sure you can keep each other in the loop" I say, putting my keys in the lock and closing the door behind me when I step into my apartment. "But I gotta go alright, I'll talk to you later" I say once again and hang up as soon as she says goodbye.

"Hi Salem" I sigh, watching as he jumps down from his cat tree and stretches before walking up to me, rubbing against my leg before walking over to his food bowl, clearly requesting the very late dinner I'm giving him. "I'm sorry boy, I guess I gotta get you one of those timed feeders now from the looks of it" I apologize and give him his food right away. 

I put a couple treats into his bowl as well as an apology and make my way back to my room to jump in the shower and think about everything that happened today. 

Jungkook basically admitted that he wants to get to know me better because he clearly feels like he can see a future between us and to be honest I pretty much feel the same way. It could be that we've caught a severe case of puppy love but I think we both know that this could potentially go somewhere. 

I love spending time with him and Juni, granted this is only the second time we've spent time together but still I can't get over the fact of how natural it all felt. Then he goes and pulls this whole pretend to be married business and now he's telling me he doesn't mind if the lines are blurred between us. 

This is all way too much for one day but I can't deny that I'm not enjoying the journey. This is progressing a whole lot faster than I thought it would but that doesn't necessarily mean that's a bad thing. I guess we've both got a whole lot of learning to do. 

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PART TWO (the alchemy)

When the tabloids pick up photos of Aemond Targaryen with a beautiful stranger, he knows the only way out is through.

(TW: nothing crazy, low-key manipulative aemond, panicked Junie :( tension)

word count: 2.6k

NEXT PART (coming soon!)

June woke to the sound of screaming. Not the soft murmur of conversation or even laughter. No—this was full-throttle, blood-chilling screaming.

“Juniper Greyson! Why is our apartment door on the front page of The Landing?!”

Her head barely left the pillow before Arianne barged into the room, throwing herself down between June and the startled orange cat, who leapt up, arching its back in indignation. Arianne shoved her phone in June’s face, the screen blindingly bright. Squinting, June's eyes adjusted—and her heart stopped.

She screamed too.

It was their front door. Her red front door, with its sad wreath and worn-out doormat, plastered across the homepage of The Landing for the world to see. Her stomach dropped as her eyes skimmed the headline, then the photo.

Her face wasn’t visible, thank the gods, but the back of her head, her red hair glowing under the porchlight, was unmistakable. And standing beside her was Aemond, leaning in close. Intimately close. Her pulse raced—were they that close, or was it just the camera angle?

Her hand flew to her mouth, shock pinning her to the spot.

“June, what the fuck?” Arianne hissed, voice laced with panic.

“Oh my Seven,” June gasped, her words tumbling out. “He—he offered me a ride home last night. After everyone got kicked out. I didn’t even see any cameras!” Frantic, she grabbed her own phone, scrolling through the news. Every gossip outlet had picked it up.

“AEMOND TARGARYEN SPOTTED WITH GIRLFRIEND”“TARGARYEN’S MIDNIGHT TRYST”“WHO IS SHE?”

The nausea hit her hard, churning in her gut as each headline blurred into the next. The photos were worse—some grainy, others heartbreakingly clear. None of them showed her face, and she silently thanked the gods for small mercies.

But it wouldn’t last.

Arianne’s voice broke through the whirlwind in her head. “This might be a bad time to tell you… but there are reporters outside. Like, right now. Edith sent me the link, and I saw them on the way in. Maybe you can sneak out the back? I can get you a hotel for a few days—it’ll blow over. Right? How long can they stay camped out?” Her voice cracked with desperation.

June pushed off the comforter, her feet hitting the floor as if moving on autopilot. Pacing had always calmed her, but today it did nothing to still the panic clawing at her chest. Arianne’s words faded to a distant hum, overpowered by the pounding of her heart.

It had just been a ride home. She hadn’t even given him her name. But soon—too soon—her family, her friends, everyone would wake up, see the news, recognize the front door, recognize her. Someone would let her name slip, and then the wolves would come.

“Do you have Aegon’s number?” June asked, voice tight with rising fear. “Or Edith—can she get it? Aemond needs to make a statement. Anything to get those people off the lawn.”

Arianne nodded, already typing furiously.

June wandered to the kitchen, her trembling hands seeking refuge in the mundane task of making coffee. She needed to do something, anything to keep her mind off the panic surging inside her. From the other room, she heard Arianne’s muffled voice: “Get him on the phone now. I don’t care if he’s with the bloody prime minister.”

A few agonizing minutes later, June’s phone buzzed.

Unknown Number: This is Aemond. A car will be at the back entrance in an hour. See you then.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

June was pacing again. The cold air in the back alleyway did little to calm her nerves, and the sight of the black sedan pulling up only made her heart beat faster. The door opened, and Aemond stepped out, his face cool and composed, as if the chaos of the morning hadn’t touched him at all.

He approached her with the same calm, collected energy that had disarmed her the night before. Only this time, the air felt different. More calculated.

His silver cropped hair seemed to be perfected with gel and she was sure he had a 10 step skincare routine by the way his skin glowed. She scoffed inwardly at how ridiculous it all was.

"Get in, June." he said, his voice low but commanding.

June hesitated. She didn’t want to. She wanted to scream and run in the opposite direction. But she knew she couldn’t. Not with the reporters swarming her building.

She didn’t even want to think about how he knew her name. If there was a file somewhere, that some assistant had put together in the last hour. 

With a sigh, she slipped into the car, her stomach churning. Aemond slid in beside her, shutting the door behind him. The quiet of the car was deafening. The city outside was a distant hum, but inside, she could hear her own ragged breaths.

“What... what are we going to do?” she stammered, hating how small her voice sounded.

Aemond’s gaze flickered over to her, his sharp features unreadable. "I have a solution."

June’s stomach tightened. "A solution?"

He leaned back, his posture unnervingly relaxed, as if this were a simple business transaction. "It’s already out there. They’re spinning this as something more than what it is. But we can control the narrative. Or at least, redirect it."

June frowned, her anxiety twisting into confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Aemond's eyes locked onto hers, piercing and unwavering. "A relationship. We play the part—fake a relationship for the cameras, ride out the attention until something bigger comes along. You’d get protection, privacy—control over the story. I’ll make sure no one crosses any boundaries."

June’s breath hitched. "A fake relationship? You’re serious?"

"Very," he replied, his voice cool, almost clinical. "It benefits both of us. For you, this dies down faster if they think we’re together. For me… well, it keeps the media focused on something I can manage. The public thinks I’m cold. Unreachable. But if I have a pretty, smart, normal girl by my side, they’ll think differently."

She stared at him, her mind racing. Pretty, smart, normal. If she wasn’t in shock, she would have blushed at the compliment. It was insane. Absolutely insane. But the chaos, the reporters, the calls to her parents house—all of it was too much. Could she really do this? Fake a relationship with one of the most notorious men in the Seven Kingdoms—him?

"And what happens when it’s over?" she asked, her voice tight, afraid of the answer.

Aemond shrugged, nonchalant. "We release a statement. Say it didn’t work out. It ends when we decide it ends."

June’s head swam. This wasn’t her life. It couldn’t be. A fake relationship? With a Targaryen? 

"I don’t know if I can do this," she whispered, more to herself than to him.

Aemond’s gaze softened, if only for a moment. "You don’t have to decide now. But if you don’t, the media will keep digging until they figure out who you are. Once they have your name, it’ll only get worse. This way, we control it. You’ll have a say."

Her pulse was pounding in her ears. He made it sound so reasonable, so logical. But there was nothing logical about pretending to date one of the most powerful men in the country. Nothing logical about becoming tabloid fodder.

She bit her lip, trying to steady herself. "I—" The car’s interior was suffocating in its silence. June could barely keep her hands still as they rested on her lap, fingers nervously tapping. Aemond sat beside her, still composed, as if everything was perfectly under control.

“Look, this is absurd,” she muttered, her voice shaky. “I can’t just… fake date you for the media.”

Aemond turned to her, his expression unreadable, but his tone patient, deliberate. “You can. And it’s the best option for both of us.”

June scoffed, shaking her head. “Why would I even agree to this? I don’t belong in your world.”

He leaned forward slightly, his sharp gaze settling on her. “Because I’m not just offering you protection from the press, June. I’m offering you something that could change your future.”

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Aemond’s lips curled into a faint, knowing smile. “You’re an art history student, aren’t you? I’ve done my research.”

June’s heart skipped a beat. He knew about her studies? More than she had revealed in the car, she was sure.

“You want to run a museum one day,” he continued smoothly. “That’s no small dream. It takes connections. Money. The right backing. It’s a difficult world to break into—especially if you’re trying to build your reputation from scratch.”

June stared at him, her pulse quickening. Where was he going with this?

“The Targaryen family owns one of the largest art foundations in Westeros,” Aemond said, his voice low and persuasive. “We sponsor galleries, exhibitions, even entire museum wings. If you agree to this arrangement, I can make sure you have access to that network. Funding, internships, introductions to the right people. In six months, your path to an executive director position would be paved.”

June felt the air leave her lungs. The weight of his offer hit her like a wave, and for a moment, she couldn’t speak. The Targaryen Art Foundation was legendary. A foot in that door could mean everything for her career. But still…

“You’d… you’d help me do that?” Her voice was barely a whisper, thick with disbelief.

Aemond’s expression softened, just slightly. “Of course. You’re not just some pawn, June. I’m offering you something real. You help me, and I’ll help you.”

June pressed her back into the seat, her mind racing. She had spent years studying, dreaming of running her own museum, curating her own exhibitions. But the path to that dream had always felt like climbing a mountain with no clear way up. And here he was, offering her the fast track—offering her the keys to the very world she’d wanted to be a part of.

But it was a deal with the devil, wasn’t it? She’d have to pretend to date him, let the media spin whatever story they wanted about them. It wasn’t real. None of it would be real.

Except for the opportunities.

“And the money?” she asked cautiously, her voice trembling despite her attempt to sound calm. “What’s in this for you, financially?”

Aemond’s gaze sharpened, his tone remaining calm but calculated. “I’ll pay you, of course. You’ll be well-compensated for your time. Enough to focus on your studies, without needing to worry about working part-time jobs or scraping by. You’ll have complete financial security.”

He leaned in slightly, the air between them suddenly more intense. “But the connections, June—that’s the real offer here. Money comes and goes. What I’m offering is access to the art world’s most exclusive circles. Doors that would take you years to open will be unlocked in weeks.”

June’s mind whirled. She could already see the possibilities—working with the finest curators, studying priceless collections, gaining recognition in the field she loved. But it came at a cost. She’d be tied to Aemond. Her life would be a spectacle. Could she really do that?

Her voice wavered when she finally spoke. “This isn’t just a casual arrangement, is it? I’d be… giving up my privacy. My life.”

Aemond’s eyes softened, just a touch. “Yes, for a time. But think of it this way—you’re already in the spotlight now, whether you like it or not. The press will dig, they’ll find out who you are eventually. But with me, you’ll have control. We’ll dictate what they see. What they write.”

June stared at him, torn between the lure of the opportunity he dangled before her and the fear of what it would cost her.

“What if I say no?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Aemond’s expression hardened ever so slightly, his scar profound in the afternoon light. “Then the media will hound you until they find your name. Your face will be all over the tabloids. You’ll have no control, and it could take years to recover. But say yes, and you’ll come out of this stronger—protected, and with a future in the art world you’ve always dreamed of.”

"You can’t be serious," she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper, the disbelief in her tone clear.

Aemond turned his head, one eyebrow arching, his expression neutral, almost detached. "I’m always serious, June."

Her heart sank at the realization. Of course, he was. The Aemond Targaryen, politician and strategist, didn’t do anything without careful consideration.

What happens if this gets out of hand?" she asked, the anxiety in her voice creeping higher.

He exhaled slowly, as though he had anticipated this reaction. "That’s why I have something else in mind," he said, his voice smooth, calculated.

June frowned, suspicion rising. "What do you mean?"

Aemond shifted in his seat slightly, his eyes locking onto hers. "A contract. Something formal to protect both of us. We agree on the terms—how long this lasts, what we can expect from each other. It ensures there’s no confusion, no crossed boundaries."

Her stomach tightened at the word contract. It made the entire thing feel more like a business deal than an arrangement between two human beings. "A contract?" she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes," he said evenly. "It’s standard procedure for situations like this. We set rules, clear expectations, and, most importantly, it outlines how this ends when the time comes. It’s clean. Controlled." His eyes bore into hers, as if daring her to find fault with his logic.

June swallowed hard, her mouth dry. "So this is just… paperwork to you?"

Aemond’s jaw tensed slightly, though his voice remained calm. "This is about making sure neither of us is exploited. The media will be relentless, and we can’t afford to slip. The contract will define the terms of our public relationship, and in return, you’ll get the protection you need—and the benefits I promised."

Her heart pounded in her chest, a rush of anger and disbelief swirling inside her. "Benefits? You mean your connections?" Her voice dripped with skepticism, though deep down, the idea of access to his world—the Targaryen Art Foundation, the endless resources—was tempting.

Aemond leaned forward slightly, his gaze never wavering. "Yes, my connections. My family’s art foundation. Everything you need to build your career, to get where you want to be. Think of it as an investment—in your future."

The offer was cold, transactional, but so achingly practical that June couldn’t help but feel the weight of it pressing down on her. This wasn’t about love, or even attraction—it was a political move. And in Aemond’s world, everything was calculated, every step deliberate.

June felt her pulse quicken, the weight of his offer sinking in. She hated how reasonable he made it sound. Hated how tempting the prospect was, despite everything.

"I’ll have the contract drawn up tomorrow," Aemond continued, his tone decisive, leaving no room for argument. "We’ll go over the terms, and you’ll have time to review it with your lawyer, if you want."

A lump formed in her throat, and she could only nod, her voice lost somewhere in the haze of disbelief and confusion. It was happening too fast, slipping out of her control.

“If you don’t want to, I’ll do what I can. Put a statement of denial out. But those vultures in your front yard won’t stop for a few weeks, your name will still get out no matter how hard we try.” He sighed and June could have sworn the look in his eyes said I’m sorry. 

“Okay,” She reached for the door, “You have my number. Call me when you have the contract drawn up.”

With that, she was stepping out of the door and back into her apartment. 

What the hell did she get herself into?

a/n: AHHHHH okay. what do you think? is it worth it???? next part will be the contract itself and perhaps a first outing. super excited to continue!

[ddarker-dreams]

Thinking about HxH Feitan, Chrollo and Phinks and that dad energy. Chrollo and Phinks def give girl dads while feitan gives boy dad. Throw HWR as mom and it’s still the same combinations

PLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS i'm gonna lose it............. listen........... this is too cute.......... i must contribute my thoughts because this concept is living rent free in my head now.

phinks wants to be the cool dad. he is in his daughter’s eyes, but looks like a dork to everyone else. you’ll peak into her room and see him, this absolute menace of a man, sitting at her little table and conversing with the stuffed animal tea time participants. sometimes wearing a tutu. other times with smudged makeup she swiped from your bathroom to apply on her papa. he goes IN during play time/any make believe stuff. your daughter can tell him how mr. snufflewuggle has been spreading mean rumors and the man will suplex that stuffed bear. no mercy. no chill. no one shit talks his baby, imaginary or not. phinks probably forgets he shouldn’t cuss around her and one of her first words is 100% gonna be a giggly exclamation of shit! or something. he’s sweating. murmuring about how he’s gotta fix this before mommy finds out and suplexes him... 

chrollo is the cool dad that phinks aspires to be. you have to stop him from critiquing the children’s books that you both read to her at night. and yes he does voices for each character. he’ll hold onto his thoughts for when she falls asleep and later discusses the plot holes and such with you present in the story, offers macbeth or something as an alternative. you vetoed the idea. he’s extremely interested in hearing the unfiltered thoughts of your daughter. kids will just say anything that comes to mind and he finds it hilarious. maaaybe until she pokes the symbol on his forehead and calls it “weird”. he swears it didn’t hurt his feelings but you know the truth. your daughter is gonna be coming out on TOP for every summer reading deal. no competition. she wants to be just like her papa and mama so she joins you both in the living room with her own books. he’ll be reading one of the original king james editions of the bible, you’ll be reading pride and prejudice, and she’ll be reading junie b jones. it’s all as it should be. 

feitan would take a bit to warm up to his offspring, but by the time the little guy says dada, he’s ready to die for him. won’t ever admit it though. feitan doesn’t really understand the timeline of childhood development so he’ll be asking why the dude isn’t walking when he’s like. a month old. you have to explain those chubby little legs aren’t going places anytime soon. since you both fight with swords, it’s inevitable your son is going to take an interest in the art too. your style is a bit cleaner and follows techniques taught in branches of sword fighting, whereas feitan is entirely self-taught. your son would probably end up learning both and alternate between them depending on the situation. feitan is not looking forward to the day his son grows taller than him... it wounds his pride juuuust the tiniest amount. starts asking you if you can take milk out of the kid’s diet when it looks like he’s getting close to overtaking him in height. :(

[imreallyloveleee]

promptathon week 10

He’s still fiddling with the ring on her finger when she wakes up.

Half-asleep, Betty tugs her hand out of his grip, pressing it against her mouth as she yawns. “What…what are you doing?”

In the morning light it glints, gold with a little round ruby set in the middle. Jughead lets his gaze trace a lazy path from her drowsy eyes to her lush mouth, to her elegant neck, to the stretch of skin where the strap of her nightgown has slipped off of her shoulder. For seven years he thought he’d never see her again. Now he hopes he gets seventy more, just like this.

“Just admiring.”

Betty stretches her fingers out on the pillow between them. “I think you’re more obsessed with it than I am.”

Jughead limits his protest to a single scoff, because she’s not wrong. The first few times they’d talked about it, she’d insisted she didn’t need a ring. He’d bought her one anyway. For whatever reason, the symbolism weighs more heavily on him than it does on her.

“Are we doing anything today?” Though it’s a Saturday, he’s found that twenty-eight-year-old Betty Cooper is just as prone to filling up her leisure time with structured activities as she was back in the days when homework and cheerleading rehearsal dominated the schedule.

But Betty shakes her head slowly. “Mm, no. Veronica had to head into the city last night to deal with something for her mom, so brunch is out, and Polly says Junie and Woody keep passing some kind of cold back and forth so I canceled our reservation at the pottery painting place this afternoon.”

“Great.” Jughead smiles, fingers tapping lightly at her forearm. “So we have a day to ourselves.”

She smiles, too, reaching out a hand to brush his hair out of his eyes. “I guess we do. What do you want to do?”

He shrugs one shoulder. “We could get married.”

Betty laughs. “It’s only been two weeks.”

“So?”

She purses her lips. “Okay, where would we get married on zero notice? City hall is closed on weekends.”

“I dunno. Pickens Park? Something pretty’s probably blooming right now. We’ll have great photos.”

“You’ll be sneezing in all of them thanks to all the pollen.” Betty pokes his nose fondly.

“Indoors, then. The Sisters of Quiet Mercy. They can’t have much going on. They had a chapel in there, right?”

Her nose crinkles up in disgust. “If the building’s still standing it’s probably full of asbestos. Not to mention memories of the time I almost got lobotomized.”

“Fair enough.” Jughead sighs. “If memories are a dealbreaker, we’ll probably have to go somewhere out of town.”

Betty wriggles closer to him beneath the sheets, her cold toes sliding between his ankles. “I’m not opposed to a destination wedding.”

“Good to know.”

“But those take some planning.” She shifts even closer, snaking her hand over his waist to settle on his back. Her nails scrape lightly across his skin, sending a shiver through his body. “So I think we’ll have to come up with something else to do today.”

Betty yelps in delight when he flips her onto her back, giggles fading into a moan as his lips find her pulse point.

“Fine by me.”

(written for week 10 of @riverdalepromptathon! prompts used are: gold, sisters of quiet mercy, & disgusted.)

[wildernessuntothemselves]

Touch Me, Tease Me

Xiaojun, Hendery and Yangyang place a bet on who would be able to sleep with you first. One of them slips up and you catch on and punish them for all.

“So is anymore gonna tell me what the fuck is going on here?” You glare at the youngest member. Xiaojun and Hendery at least had the decency to look ashamed. Yangyang on the other hand stared you dead on, with the most nonchalant expression on his face, and shrugged. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.

The sharpness in your gaze does nothing to deter him, that brat. That’s okay, you’ll deal with him later. Walking closer to Hendery, you cock your head at him, “What about you? Do you have something to tell me?”

His eyes meet yours for a second before he looks down and shakes his head. You sigh, “You know, I really thought you were better than this, Hendery.”

His head shoots up and he laments, “Don’t say that.”

Brushing a finger across his cheek, you sigh, “I thought we had something special.”

He opens his mouth to protest but you shush him. “That’s enough out of you.”

Walking towards the last member, you see him fidget like a cornered prey, and before you even say anything, he bursts out, “It wasn’t my idea!”

“Shut up!” Yangyang hisses at him.

“What wasn’t your idea?” You cock an eyebrow at him, ignoring the other boy.

“Don’t say anything else.” Yangyang pipes up again, and Xiaojun casts a nervous look at him. You guide his gaze back towards you and brush his hair back gently. “I always knew you were the good one. Tell me everything, angel.”

________________________________________

"Ah fuck, ah fuck, ah fuck!” Hendery pants beneath you as your hand works over his dick, bringing him ever closer to his orgasm. “Please, baby. I wanna fuck your pussy, please.”

“You don’t deserve it.” You mutter, pinching his thigh and making him flinch.

“I’m sorry. Can’t you just forgive me? Please, I can’t last much longer. I need to fuck you.” His eyes fixate on your pussy that was directly above him. but he doesn’t dare lift his head up to bury his face in it like he wishes to. You were all bare right above his face, your arousal dripping down your thighs but he could do nothing but plead for you to have mercy on him and allow him to have what you were literally dangling right above his face.

“No, I’m disappointed in you the most.” You sigh, you hand continuing to move up and down his length. “I thought you really liked me.”

“I do. The bet doesn’t change anything. I swear!”

“Hmm, is that so?” You focus on the head of his cock, pumping him shallowly. “Why don’t you prove it then? Don’t cum and I’ll let you fuck me.”

His body twists left and right, trying to get away from you but the shackles don’t allow him to do so. “I can’t, I’m so close. Please, stop!”

“Hold it.” You order, massaging his tense belly while your other hand blurs over his cock. He throws his head from side to side, screaming, “Please, stop! Please, stop! Ahh shit----shiiit.”

His hips thrust up in the air, ropes of cum shooting out of his dick as he cries out, “Goddammit! Ahhh, fuck---damn you.”

You laugh and loosely pump his cock, barely giving him any pleasure from the forced orgasm. “You disappointed me yet again, Hendery.”

“You’re so fucking mean.” He pants, his hands clenched into fists in their shackles.

“Am I?” You ponder out loud, “Lets see what the other boys think.”

You look to the head of the bed at the two boys sitting there ,smirking as a flustered Xiaojun looks away from you quickly, his ears turning red. Yangyang on the other hand is shameless, staring you down as he thrusts his dick in his closed fist.

“I think you should forget about him and come sit on my dick.” Yangyang rasps, his eyes raking over your naked figure straddling Hendery’s face. They slow down when they get to your breasts, his tongue peeking out to wet his lips at the sight of your nipples poking out in arousal.  

"You little shit.” Hendery curses at the younger boy, craning his neck up to glare at him, but that only brings him closer to your pussy and he gets distracted by your glistening lips, a little whine forming at the back of his throat. “Please, sit on my face.”  

“The more you beg the more I want to tease you.” You say cruelly, wiggling your ass above him. His head falls back to the bed with a groan.

Turning to Yangyang, you arch an eyebrow at him,"You think you can do a better job, cutie?"

"I know I can." He boasts confidently and you chuckle, beckoning him over, "Come closer, baby."

He scrambles to the foot of the bed where you are and you reach out to take a hold of his dick. He was clearly smaller than Hendery, but you thought it was cute how hard and red he was for you. "What a big boy, Yangie."

He blushes, knowing you were teasing him but his cock jumps at your words anyway. “Oh, you like that, baby? Such a dirty boy.” You twist your wrist, stroking him slowly, and he bites down on his lip, suddenly shy.

Not pleased, you slap his dick lightly, forcing a yelp out of him. “Don’t get shy on me now, baby. I want to hear how filthy you really are.”  

“He’s a little pervert.” Hendery pipes up, his soft lips fluttering kisses over your inner thighs, tongue peeking out to lap up the tiny drops of arousal that drips down skin. He was being bad, but you were aching to feel his tongue on you so bad. It wasn’t where you needed him the most but you let him anyway. “He hides behind his cute innocent looks but he’s been telling us all about what he wants to do to you once he gets you in bed.”

"Is that true?" You arch an eyebrow at Yangyang, your grip growing tighter around his dick while your other hand flicks his nipple.

"Yes, you’re so fucking sexy. I can fuck you so good if you’d just let me.” He moans, leaning down close to your face as if he was gonna kiss you. You turn your head to the side and push him back. “We’ll see about that.”  

“What about you, Junie?" You turn to the boy who has been quiet ever since this whole thing started, and he quickly rips his hand out of his pants and looks away, blushing fiercely at having been caught touching himself. He was the only one still dressed.

Worried that he might be uncomfortable with this whole thing, you gently tell him that if he wants to stop, you’ll stop, making the other two boys groan loudly.

"He doesn't want to stop." It is Hendery who speaks up, and Yangyang agrees. "Yeah, he drools over you, same as us. You should see how hard he gets when you so much as look in his direction.”

"Is that true, sweetheart?"

"I'm sorry, it's gross." His blush deepens, and he picks at the cloth of his pants.

"Ugh, stop playing innocent. Forget about his cheap act and suck me off already." Yangyang complains.

Once again, you slap his dick, harder this time and he flinches away. “That’s not how you ask for something.”

“I’m tired of your games. Are you gonna let us fuck you or not?”

“I swear to god, Yang--” Your blood boils as he rolls his eyes. With steam coming from your ear, you look down at Hendery.  “You want to get back on my good side, don’t you?”

He nods quickly.

“Good.” You undo the shackles around his wrist and hand them to him. “Put these on Yangyang. The baby needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Hey!” Yangyang starts backing away, but it only takes one look at Xiaojun before he springs into action, tackling the younger boy to the bed and pushing his weight on top of him so he won’t get up.

You bend down to be eye level with Yangyang, cupping his cheek in your hand, “You better choose a safe word right now.”

“You don’t scare me.” He glares as Hendery pulls his hands behind his back and clicks the shackles around his wrists.

You let your hand trail down to his neck, and apply the slightest bit of pressure on it. “Your safe word, Yangyang.”

He frowns, and tries to get his hands loose as soon as Hendery lets them go, but all he does is hurt himself. You let him struggle, knowing he’ll give up soon. And he does, glaring at you as he mutters, “Düsseldorf.”

“Good.” You clip, and gesture the other two boys to back off. You turn Yangyang on his front and pull his ass up, smoothening a hand over it. “I’ll give you that attention you want so bad.”

Swinging your hand up, you let it fall, smacking against his flesh and ringing inside the room.

“Shit.” He hands curl up into fists as you keep spanking him. With every contact of your palm with his ass, he gets louder. At first, it’s just hushed gasps and muffled grunts, but as you widen the surface area, smacking his sensitive upper thighs too, his knees start to buckle and he starts whining.

“Does it hurt, baby?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” You push his knees apart to see that his cock was still hard and dripping onto the sheets. “It looks like you’re enjoying it. Was the baby acting up so he’d get punished?”

“No.” He shakes his head, gasping when your hand slips between his legs to tug on his dangling cock.

“Don’t lie to me, baby.” You purr, landing another smack on his ass while your other hand milks his cock, flicking your wrist up and down his hot member. He doesn’t reply, his breathing getting heavy as whimpers and groans keep falling from his lips.

“You’re close, aren’t you?” You drawl, feeling him shake under your hand that was massaging his red skin. “Baby boy can’t help himself when he’s getting disciplined.”

He opens his mouth to say something but the only thing that comes out is a shout as you pull one of his asscheeks up and bend down to lick a stripe along his little hole. Warmth covers your hand as he cums, and you still your hand to let him fuck his cock into your clothed fist, his hips erratic as you continue to swirl your tongue around his asshole.

Finally, his legs give up and he falls into the sheets he had just dirtied up. You take your mouth off him and run your hands up and down his sides, letting him breathe. “Will you behave now?”

He pushes his face into the sheets, hiding from you.

“What a baby.” You chuckle lightly, bending over him to whisper in his ear, “Do you wanna see what good boys get?”

He opens one eye to peek at you and you smile at him. “Watch.”

“Come lie down here, my sweet prince.” You gesture for Hendery to lie down next to Yangyang. Once he’s where you want him, you straddle him and call out to Xiaojun next. “Since you’ve been the best out of them, you get to fuck me.”

His eyes widen and he splutters, not knowing whether to believe you or not since the other two boys had gotten punished. “Go on, angel. Take your clothes off for me.”

Xiaojun awkwardly moves to take off his clothes, hesitating when he’s down to his boxers.

“Come on, angel. I wanna see you. All of you.”

He nods, his ears red as he pushes his boxers down his thighs and kicks them off. He quickly moves behind you, burying his face in your neck. You reach a hand up to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck, “Come on, angel. I can’t wait to feel you inside of me. I bet you’d feel so good filling me up.”

He nods, pulling back and hesitantly reaching out to grab your waist. You fall down on your arms, presenting your ass to him.

Grabbing his dick in one hand, he reaches out with the other to spread your wet lips apart, his body shivering at the contact with your soft flesh. Pushing himself inside you slowly, you both moan out in pleasure. But interrupt yourself when you feel Hendery’s mouth at your breast, his lips wrapping around your nipple and sucking on it.

“Fuck!” You cry out, reflexively pushing back onto Xiaojun’s cock, making the other boy gasp in surprise.

You push Hendery’s head back down, panting as the cool air hits your now wet nipple. “Hendery, do I have to tie you up again?”

“I just want to make you feel good.” He sucks up to you.

“Is that so?” You challenge, and he nods enthusiastically. “Alright then.”

You grab a hold of his hand and pull it down your body, pressing it against your cunt, letting him feel where you and Xiaojun were joined.

“Fuck, I wish that was me.” He moans, rubbing his fingers on either side of Xiaojun’s cock, heightening your pleasure and making you fuck back into the boy behind you.

“You’re clenching around me so much.” Xiaojun cries, unable to keep his own hips from driving forward against yours despite his protests. “Mommy--ah!”

You all suddenly stop, all eyes turning to stare at Xiaojun in surprise.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. Please forget it.”

“What the fuck?”

“Bro, seriously.”

They all speak up at once.

“Shut the fuck up, you two.” You shush Hendery and Yangyang, not wanting to make Xiaojun even more mortified than he already was.

“Xiaojun, do you have a mommy kink?” You ask gently.

“I--I… I guess I can’t say no now, can I?” He replies sheepishly.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, angel.” You coo at him, starting to move your hips along his length once again. “Mommy likes it.”

If it was possible, the boys’ eyes widen even more.

“Shit, that’s kinky.” You hear Hendery mutter under you.

“Do you have a problem with that, Hendery?”

“No, ma’am.” He grins, pushing his head up and going back to mouthing at your breasts.

Wanting to pleasure him too, you rest your weight on one arm while the other snakes between your bodies and wraps around Hendery’s cock.

“Oh.” He moans between your breasts, his hips bucking up from the bed a bit to get you to touch him more.

“You like that, my little prince?”

He nods, his head falling back to the bed so he can stare at you, mouth wide open as his long fingers stroke up and down your slit and his other hand rises up to cup one of your breasts in his hand.  

“Good boy.” Your hand pumps his cock in languid strokes, starting loosely at the base and getting tighter near the head where you rub the heel of your palm over his slit before you go back down and repeat the same motion again.

“You look so fucking sexy. And you’re making me feel so good.” He moans, synchronizing his own movement with yours, running his fingers up your pussy and rubbing tight circles on your clit, making you clench even more around Xiaojun.  

Despite your deliberate pace, his hips soon begin to buck up into your touch. "I don’t want to cum in your hand again. Please don’t make me." He protests, but his hips keep moving as if with a mind of their own. "I need to be buried inside you when I cum."

“Oh, you would. With the way you're begging, you’ll probably only get one stroke in before you shoot your load, and all I'll be getting out of it is a dirty pussy full of your cum."

He shivers at your vulgar words, liking it too much to admit. “Please…”

You contemplate for a minute, sizing up his pleading face. “If you can last longer than Xiaojun, I’ll blow you. How about that?”

“Okay.” He accepts eagerly, his gaze shifting to focus on the boy behind you. “Why aren’t you going faster, Xiaojun? If I were you, I’d be pounding into her pussy until she’s screaming my name.”

Xiaojun groans, his hips involuntarily bucking forward roughly. “Stop it.”

“Why? Don’t you want to make mommy feel good?” The boy under you smirks, riling up Xiaojun.

“Of course I do.” He frowns, his grip tightening on your hips.

“Then what are you waiting for? Fuck her like a man or let someone who can do it.”

Xiaojun scoots closer to you, and you gasp as you feel him pull you up flush against his body. He wraps one arm across your chest while the other drops between your legs.

“Oh.” You barely have time to gasp before his hips start moving, fucking you fast and hard.

“Holy shit.” Hendery’s eyes widen and you laugh breathlessly.

“Good boy, Junie.” You grab Hendery’s dick again, jerking him off fast. His hand reaches out to wrap around your wrist. “Slow down, please.”

“Why? Are you gonna cum just from watching Xiaojun take me? I thought you were gonna fuck me like a man, but here you are, ready to blow your load again like a little virgin.”

“Come on, Hendery. Paint mommy’s tummy with your cum. I know you want to see it dripping down to her pussy.”

Hendery yells at Xiaojun’s sudden boldness, and he can’t stop himself from cumming.

"You don't play fair." He whines.

“Can I be rough, mommy?” Xiaojun whispers in your ear and you shiver. He can fuck you harder than this?

You nod, giving him the go ahead and he pushes you back down on top of Hendery, going down with you and squishing you between him and the other boy. You don’t have time to gather your wits before he’s rutting against you, his cock driving in and out of you at a fast pace that makes you glad you’re held secure between their bodies so you wouldn’t fall.

“Shit, baby, you’re so good.” You moan, and Hendery whines under you, his hands stroking up and down your sides.

You were so focused on the two of them that you almost forgot that there is a third boy present. It’s only when you feel something pushing against your lips that your eyes blow open and you see a needy Yangyang with his cock standing at attention once again.  “It hurts. Will you please make me cum?”

You narrow your eyes at him,  “So now you wanna be good now?”

“Yes. I’m mommy’s good boy.” He uses the pet name to try to appeal to you, acting all cute and innocent.

You know you shouldn’t encourage this type of behavior, but fuck he was cute when he wanted to, and he took full advantage of it. “Please, mommy.”

“You’re such a brat.” You grit, grabbing his cock and putting only the head of it inside your mouth, swirling your tongue around it like a lollipop. Yangyang thighs clench as he struggles to keep from pushing his cock deeper into your mouth. At least he had the sense to do that.  

“Now how is this fair.” Hendery complains, “Even the brat is getting more than me.”

You pop Yangyang out of your mouth, your hand stroking him while you speak to Hendery. “Be good and I’ll make it up to you next time.”

“Fine, but I get to have both your mouth and your pussy next time.” He grumbles.

“Don’t push it.” You warn, your voice breaking off into a moan as Xiaojun’s thrusts move you against Hendery, rubbing your pussy against his navel. Yangyang takes advantage of your open mouth to push his cock back inside. He can’t push it too far with his arms restrained behind his back, just putting the tip in so you can use your tongue to lap at it, but it’s enough for the needy boy.

“Ah, mommy, I’ll cum soon.”

You look up at him, your tongue running over the ridge on the under his head, flicking up and down the sensitive skin, driving him to the edge. His cum shoots out, landing on the three of you.  

As he falls back down to the bed, you twist your head to look back at Xiaojun. “Come on, angel. You’re the only one who didn’t cum yet. I want to let go. You’ve been so good. I want you to fill me up.”

“Ah--y-yes, mommy.” He grunts, his pace turning ruthless. With the way his cock was hitting so fast inside you and the movement of your pussy over Hendery’s body, you feel your orgasm building up.

“Shit, baby, you’re gonna make me cum. Ah---ah--fuck!” You cry out, clenching around him for the last time as you cum.

“Shit, I made you cum just from my cock.” He wonders breathlessly, his hips going sloppy as the realization pushes him over the edge.

“Baby, get off me. I can’t breathe.” You grunt, and Xiaojun jumps up, apologizing profusely.

“Shh,” You cup his face in your hands and kiss him. “You did so good, angel.”

He somehow manages to blush and look sheepish after what he’s just done.

“Ugh, can someone please untie me now?” Yangyang groans.

After you untie him, you bring his wrists to the front of his body and gently stroke them, soothing the red marks imprinted on them. “Was I too rough on you?”

“Yes. You should make it up to me by letting me tie you up next time.” He grins cheekily. You don’t get the chance to smack him before Hendery beats you to it.

“There won’t be a next time, brat. You heard her before. She likes me so you two can back off npw.”

“Why should we back off? She also said she was most upset at you. All you got was a lousy handjob.”

“She said I’m the most behaved one so I should be the one--”

The three of them break out into an argument.

“Quiet, all of you!” You shout sternly, glaring them down. “You were all bad. None of you deserves to have me.”

“But, I--”

“I can make it up--”

“If you’d just--”

“Enough!” Your voice rises above theirs and they fall silent. “It looks like you all still haven’t learned your lesson.”

___________________________

A/N: hope you enjoyed this filth. feedback is greatly appreciated mwah. oh and which one of the three boys did you enjoy their dynamic with the reader most? like which do you want to see more?

[thornfield13713]

So, if you could construct a Lovestruck worldstate like you do with DA, who would your 'canon' LIs be? And what did you call your protagonists for each game?

So, this one is tricky. First of all, ‘favourite’ and ‘canonical’ aren’t always the same thing. For instance, while my favourite Love and Legends route is Helena’s...I still wouldn’t choose it as my ‘canon’ route, because I find the ending so profoundly unsatisfying, and I wanted my heroine to be able to stay in the Domains with her newfound friends. I enjoyed the rest of the route enough for that not to matter, but that doesn’t mean I’d choose it for something as big as being the ‘one true’ route for my protagonist Lacey. Similarly, sometimes I have chosen my second-favourite route because I like the idea of the canonical kids from that route meeting the canonical kids of another route and possibly forming some sort of relationship. Also complicating matters is the fact that a lot of games have cameos from other routes where you get to see that a given route is 'canonical' to another - for example, in Diego's route in Havenfall is for Lovers, you get to see Reiner Wolfson and the Love and Legends MC during their stopover in Chicago, and Robin Sanders from Villainous Nights - a major character in all routes - is the child of the MC of Astoria: Fate's Kiss and Chimera, and has an older sister married to the son of the Gangsters in Love MC and Yoshimitsu.

...all of which you probably know if you're a fan. So, sorry about that little rant. But, sure, a grand unified Cat's MCs Lovestruck universe. Why not? I mean, it would lead to some massive changes - I'd probably need to change out the Villainous Nights MC's roommate for one of the other possible MC kids, to name the most major change. 

With that in mind, here’s the list of my MCs names and partners (I have not included partner listings for the shorts, as there usually isn’t a choice there. Likewise, routes like Della Falke’s in Tales of the Wild where there is only one possible LI have also been excluded.)

Full Games

Love and Legends - Lacey Caldwell (Altea Bellerose)

Ever After Academy - Thomas (Lucas Charming) and Iris (Arin Langdon) Thorne

Starship Promise - Alcyone Celaeno (Zhora Leonis) and Tarazed Tsih (Antares Fairchild)

Havenfall is for Lovers - Faith Harker (Jordan ‘JD’ Davies)

Villainous Nights - Willow Petiver (Juliette Optima)

Reigning Passions - Maris Wilder (Amara of the Summer)

Immortal Heart Society - Zoraida (Alanna McKenna) and Arístides (Emilio Espinoza) Escarrá

Astoria: Fate's Kiss - Juniper ‘Junie’ Peacock (Alex Cyprin)

Queen of Thieves - Inés Barba (Nikolai Stirling)

Wicked Lawless Love - Mercy Aaskster (Sascha Orosco)

Sweet Enchantments - Cordelia Rhymer (Zain Blackwood) and Hero Silkwater (Nysa Dawnvale)

Sin With Me - Audrey Liu (Nahara Byrd)

Gangsters in Love - Marilyn Moore (Irving Monroe) and Rosario Silver (Aurora James)

Edge Case: Love’s Pursuit - Ai Shiratori (Korin Reyes)

Tales of the Wild - Philippa Hölzer (Evina Arwel)

My Siren Crush - Coralee Seaver (Maxime Okun)

Castaway: Love’s Adventure - Hōkūlani Kalawai’a (Arthur Singh)

Speakeasy Tonight - Josephine ‘Josie’ Gray (Gerald O’Fallon)

To Love and Protect - Caroline Marchesi (Madison Lane)

Shorts

Three Tattoos - Jessica ‘Jessie’ Digory

Drawn Together - Evangeline Raines

Loving After Midnight - Veronica Fell

[bosspigeon]

hurts like hope

Pairing: M!Detective/Mason Word Count: 3100 Summary: Detective Juniper Fenn tries to figure out just what the limit on his incorrigible hope is, and when he’ll finally be able to stomp it out.

Hello I Am Here With More Self-Indulgent Character Study Nonsense. For $8000 a month, I Will Stop.

CW for vague descriptions/references to sex

Nothing has ever hurt Juni like hope has.

He wouldn’t call himself an optimist by any means. He’d probably settle on “optimistic pessimist” if pressed, which means always expecting the worst, because at least then he’s either right or pleasantly surprised.

But in spite of that philosophy, there’s a stupid, naive part of him that won’t die, no matter how much it’s beaten down—his dumb, desperate hope.

He hoped doing the best he could in school, never getting into trouble, never arguing with Mum or making her feel guilty for leaving him behind would show her he was good enough to acknowledge in more than impersonal letters and distracted phone calls on major occasions.

He was always disappointed.

He hoped working a job he didn’t care about, that didn’t suit someone as soft-hearted and anxious as he was, would make him feel closer to the memory of his father, would make him feel like he was doing something good enough to make people care about him like they did Dad.

Disappointed again.

He hoped letting Bobby walk all over him, use him, and placate him with saccharine-sweet murmurs of “Oh, angel, you’re so good to me” would make him see Juni as more than just a convenience, a doormat and a stepping stone to bigger, better things that would always matter more than Juni’s ever mattered to anyone.

The repetition got exhausting, after a while.

When he meets Mason, he thinks he’s given up on hoping. At that point, he just wants something for himself. He wants to be selfish. He wants to be wanted, even if it’s just for a tumble or two. Even if it’s just because his stupid, special blood suddenly means he’s catnip for supernaturals. Even if it doesn’t mean anything.

I’m doing this for me, he tells himself when Mason’s touching him for the first time, when strong, calloused hands are dancing up his sides, and he tries to shrink away, suck in his gut, and Mason squeezes with a pleased little growl that makes Juni whimper. I’m doing something for me, for once in my fucking life.

The lights are off. They crashed through the door without turning anything on, but Juni knows Mason can see him just fine anyway, and he wants to squirm, wants to hide, but Mason distracts him with a very thorough kiss, his touches gentle until Juni responds positively, his sharp eyes picking him apart, like figuring out what the detective likes is the only assignment that’s ever mattered.

And then Mason calls him stunning, and he’s done for.

He’s sure that’ll be it. One and done, and Mason will forget all about the messy, bumbling detective now that he’s whet his appetite. It hurts to think about, it hurts to hope, so he doesn’t.

(That’s a lie. He does. He always does, because he’s stupid.)

He tries to bury the hope like he’s done before, but it’s no use. Every time Mason sits as close to him as possible without physically touching him, every time he gives him one of those long, smoky looks, every time he puts out a cigarette when Juni asks or just doesn’t light one at all, every time he touches Juni with a gentleness that feels almost reverent, like Juni is something worth treating carefully, it fights back harder, hopes louder. In just a few months, the vampire’s got Detective Juniper Fenn’s fragile little heart on a string, and he doesn’t seem to know it.

If he did, would he even care?

Juni gets his answer before long.

He’s only seen me naked.

He told himself he wouldn’t hope. He wasn’t hoping. He knows better. He should know better.

But he hoped, and it hurt, and it’s exactly what he deserves, isn’t it? Once bitten, twice shy, and all that, but Juni’s been bitten so many times, and he never shies enough for it to matter. He walks right on into the hurt with open arms, like a moth to a flame, to a fucking bug zapper, and just licks his wounds until the next flame comes along to reduce him to ash all over again.

When will he learn?

If nothing else, he’s resilient. It’s one of the few things he’s got going for him. He knows how to roll with the punches and pretend everything’s fine, because he’s been doing it since he was old enough to know crying for his Mum wouldn’t do anything but give him a headache. So he runs out of Haley’s in tears—she’s known him since school, so she knows he’s a crybaby and won’t tell a soul—but at least he knows how to calm himself down before he walks into the station. He plasters on a smile, cracks a few jokes, and everything’s fine and dandy.

And then Juni’s fucking ceiling explodes and his room floods, because nothing can go right in his life. At least it wasn’t some supernatural attack this time, he supposes. Small mercies.

Of course, it’s got to be Mason who greets him, when he’s soaked to the skin and covered in plaster, and still recovering from seeing Mr. Yu naked.

And Mason apologizes.

The hope he thought had finally, finally died the slow, painful death it deserved springs back to life in his chest like one of those inflatable clown punching bags. He wants to be annoyed, because an apology doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot if you don’t even know why you’re apologizing, and it feels more like Mason’s blaming Juni for having feelings (stupid, stupid feelings) rather than actually taking accountability for causing hurt, but he’s an idiot, so of course he reaches out, takes Mason’s hand, and asks the dumbest question he’s asked in his life. And he still has to Google literally every odd sound his car makes, because the poor thing is held together with duct tape and dreams at this point.

“What does this mean for us?”

And he’s blown off again, and when the hope shrivels up this time, he wants to grind it into the dirt with his heel, salt the earth so nothing grows there again, because really, when is he going to fucking learn? He wonders how Mum just turns off her feelings, and if that sort of thing can be taught. He wonders if she’d make the time to teach him, now that she’s “trying.”

He wonders if Dad was as much of a raw nerve of a person as he is, but it’s not as if he can ask anyone about it.

"You two… One of you is going to have to make the big leap, and he has no idea how."

Felix has never been shy about needling Juni about his ridiculous and obvious whatever-it-is with Mason (calling it a crush seems as childish as it is reductive, since he doubts it can be called a crush anymore once you’ve, uh, had sex) but this time it comes out... Softer. Gentler. Definitely annoyed, groaned out with a hearty eye roll, as if the two of them are personally responsible for all of Felix’s woes, but still... kind. Kinder than he expected, and that is enough to throw him off for Felix to leave him behind before he can even shake him and ask him what the hell that’s supposed to even mean.

No idea how?

Mason’s confusion when he apologized strikes a new chord, suddenly. Mason doesn’t know how he fucked up, just that he did. In a normal circumstance, with a normal guy, Juni would assume he was just being a dick. Of course he didn’t do anything he saw as wrong, he’d just be apologizing to get back into Juni’s good graces—and also his pants. It was certainly Bobby’s MO.

But these aren’t normal circumstances, are they? And Mason’s not a normal guy.

Juni doesn’t want to think about what he saw in the mirror at the carnival, but if he were any good at not thinking about things that upset him, he wouldn’t be in this mess. He squeezes his eyes closed and shakes his head, trying to clear it of the splashes of red, of the screaming, and he swallows until he can calm himself down.

At least he can distract himself with drumming up signatures for the blood drive. He thinks he can. But Mason is there, and he’s distracting, aloof and unamused and annoyingly gorgeous, and Juniper Fenn never professed to be a terribly strong man. There’s a gut-deep urge that draws him to the vampire, an itch under Juni’s skin to get close, poke at that sneering facade and see the softer bits underneath.

Juni’s seen so many of those softer bits, far more than he thought he could ever get when he tumbled into bed with Mason for the first time. He honestly expected to be ignored entirely once he gave him what he was after in the first place, but instead he was given little fragments of something more, and sentimental idiot he is, he’s been hoarding them and trying to cobble together something from the scraps he’s been given. So he drifts closer, pulled helplessly into Mason’s orbit, and he doesn’t even know what to say, so he just laughs awkwardly and needles Mason about not helping.

Which… works, somehow?

It doesn’t exactly go where he’s expecting it to go, conversation-wise, and he’s left reeling with Mason’s stark, shameless honesty. There’s something that warms him, knowing that the vampire seems to, if nothing else, respect him, in his own way? That anyone, much less someone as difficult to impress as Mason, thinks he’s good enough? Not just good enough, but ‘better than pretty much anyone’ he knows? Juni’s known Mason long enough at this point to understand some things about him, and one of the most obvious is how loyal he is. Loyalty is everything to Mason, and he’s fiercely protective of those that have earned it. 

Juni’s fingers are slack enough with surprise that Mason can take the board from him and wander off to frighten the general populace into signing up for the blood drive, and Juni is left with his heart fluttering in a very damning way.

Don’t be an idiot, he tells himself fiercely, shaking his head as if that will rid himself of the pointlessly painful affliction he’s tried for years to shrug off. Just because he likes you as a person doesn’t mean he wants anything else with you.

Whatever weirdness still lingers between the two of them, Unit Bravo’s company makes what would have been a really boring, lonely task actually pretty fun, between Felix dancing around and chatting happily at any citizen of Wayhaven drawn into his orbit, Adam and Nate working together like a well-oiled machine to collect and transfer signatures, and Mason looking genuinely confused whenever someone is brave enough to weather his thunderous expression for the chance to chat with him, however briefly.

It’s nice to be with them all, and their comfortable rapport and playful banter makes it surprisingly easy for Juni to brush his confusing feelings aside and just be, for a while. At least until the banter halts sharply, and every eye is looking over his shoulder. “Hello, angel.”

Juni closes his eyes and stiffens, jaw clenching as a shudder ripples through him. No, no, no, not him. Not today.

Juni's relationship with Bobby was never terribly comfortable, but he’s always been something of a boiling frog cautionary tale. Bobby is not the sort of person who ever turns off the persona. He was rarely ever just Bobby, and Juni knows that hasn't really changed. While they dated, even when they were dumb kids, Juni was always stuck in the shadow cast by someone so desperate to stand in a spotlight they stepped on everyone they claimed to love in order to feel even a shred of that artificial warmth. Juni supposes he wasn’t much different, only the artificial warmth he craved came from Bobby.

He has no idea why Bobby is still so hung up on him. Juni always got the feeling he was never more than the road of least resistance  to Bobby. He was easy. Low-maintenance. Didn’t kick up a fuss over being talked over and ignored, because not only was he used to that sort of thing, he was just so grateful to be anyone’s anything, he’d let the man get away with murder just to keep that illusion of happiness.

“What the hell did you just call him?” Mason snarls, stalking to Juni’s side. Juni’s trying to keep calm, trying not to turn into a complete disaster of a person under the sudden stress, but his fluttering awareness of the vampire is crashing into his shrieking fear of confrontation and turning into a messy cocktail that he knows all four vampires can sense. Vaguely, and a little frantically, he wonders if he just smells like anxiety all the time, if anxiety has a smell. It probably does.

“I… always call him that.”

He does, always has, and back when Juni was blindly obsessed with everything he pretended Bobby was, he convinced himself it was cute. Looking back, it always felt sleazy and fake, but Juni’s a master of nothing more than he’s a master of ignoring his own discomfort.

“Not anymore you don’t.” Mason takes another step forward, and for a moment Juni’s terrified he’s going to start a goddamned brawl in the middle of the square. There’s a mean little part of him that wouldn’t completely hate that, but thankfully that’s outweighed by the sensible part that knows he’d be the one stuck dealing with the aftermath. He’s reaching out to try and stop Mason from escalating things further when Adam, thankfully, intercedes.

And then Mason returns to Juni’s side, and a strong arm slips around his waist and hauls him close. His heartbeat goes crazy, and he can only be grateful that none of Unit Bravo are telepathic, because he’s sure his brain is making godawful dial-up noises. It’s a struggle to maintain politeness, but he does his best. Bobby, at least, seems to realize now is not a good time to try and pick at Juni’s defenses, with four government agents backing him up, one of whom has a possessive arm looped pointedly around him.

"Just because he's being polite, doesn't mean he wants you here.” Well, Mason’s greatest skill is reading people, and he’s probably figured out that Juni’s go-to defense mechanism is to pretend everything is fine and dandy and smile, smile, smile no matter what. Still, his protectiveness (if that’s what it is?) makes Juni’s stomach squirm. Mason’s almost baring his teeth at Bobby, who hopefully will not notice that his canines are a bit sharper than a normal human’s should be. “So piss off.”

Thankfully, Bobby is the sort of person who doesn’t like to start fights he’s not sure he can win, so he leaves with, of course, a sleazy parting shot that makes Juni shudder. He really, really hopes Bobby doesn’t find him when he’s alone. He’s got enough mental stress on his plate at the moment, thank you very much, Bobert.

He tries not to make a sad little noise when Adam ushers them back to work, which means Mason pulls away from him, but he’s not sure how successful he is, given the long look he gets from those smoky grey eyes. He throws himself into the work of cleanup to avoid anymore uncomfortable conversations, because he thinks he’s exceeded his quota for the day.

Of course, he thinks that, but he never knows when to quit, and he winds up sidling up to Mason again, fueled, once again, by hope.

He wants to smack himself with a rolled-up newspaper.

What’s the definition of madness, again? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? He wonders if Mum still has his old therapist on retainer. He bets she’d have a field day with whatever the hell he’s doing now. She’d probably be able to retire with the royalties from a paper picking apart his myriad neuroses and subtle self-destructive tendencies. Maybe he should ring her. Someone deserves to profit from his ridiculous inability to take a bloody hint, and it’s certainly not going to be him.

But, God, Mason’s hands are on him, tugging him in, and he’s helpless under that stormy stare, he had not a chance in hell to resist, not when Mason is being soft, and open, and what the hell does any of this mean?

Juni sometimes wishes he’d resisted when Mason first started teasing him, turned him down, tried to keep things professional and friendly rather than stumbling all over himself at the first sign of interest. He wouldn’t mind at all if Mason just wanted to be friends, because at least then he could still be close, still bask in the steadfast loyalty and companionship of a man who would take a bullet for any one of his team—his family—and Juni could keep his heart intact. But he knows without a doubt he never stood a chance. So he sinks into the attention, leaning into it like a flower towards the sun, bares his soft throat and softer heart and hopes against hope he won’t be torn open and left to bleed.

It’s never gone well for him before, but optimistic pessimism and all that. He’ll either get exactly what he expects and deal with the painful consequences like he always has, plastering on a smile until he can go cry alone and listen to sad music to remember how to face the world again, or the battered, bruised hope that won’t fucking die will finally, finally be rewarded.

Mason’s smile when Juni pitifully asks “That’s it?” leaves him breathless and dizzy in a way just a smile has no right to, but it’s so warm, so open and sweet, it blindsides Juni when he’s already weak. He’s completely helpless. Absolutely done for. Nate’s disapproval is hardly a blip on the embarrassment radar, because Juni is floating.

And, as if Mason isn’t satisfied with just completely rendering him a puddle, he hops off the table with a quick peck on the cheek and saunters off to clean up, leaving Juni’s scrambled thoughts to chase themselves around in a circle. It was just a chaste little kiss. It shouldn’t even mean anything.

Of course, to Juni, it means everything.

For once, just once, without mentally whacking himself with a broom, Juni tentatively allows himself to hope.

[statichvm]

🖊🖊 for Juliana, 🖊🖊 for Lily, and 🖊🖊 for Junie?

— ju

🖊- she can and will leave the tv/radio volume on a number that isn’t a multiple of five because she does indeed want to watch the world burn. if she’s with someone that she knows will be bothered by it, she’ll even do it on purpose. in short: every single day, julie wakes up and chooses violence.

🖊- she doesn’t sleep well at night. she’s always been a light sleeper, but since the outbreak she’s even worse. the constant need to stay hyper-vigilant of her surroundings makes it difficult for her to fall asleep in the first place, and any little noise will jolt her awake. even when she’s in relative safety at the sanctuary, she still struggles. of course, she insists she’s fine and totally getting enough sleep. totally not about to collapse from exhaustion, nope.

— lil

🖊- she’s a “no i’m not hungry so i’m not gonna order anything but yes i will eat fries off your plate” girlfriend. dating her is just slowly coming to terms with the fact that you need to order an extra side of whatever because she can and will steal food without mercy or consideration.

🖊- she loves wearing lingerie under her work clothes! it’s a bit of a self care thing for her, honestly. knowing she’s got pretty underwear on is a confidence booster, and almost always puts her in a good mood for the day. she’ll pull out the expensive stuff whenever she’s got a big day ahead of her for a little extra boost.

— junie

🖊- you can immediately tell she’s a mechanic by looking at her hands. they’re calloused, often covered in smudges of grease. a few of her fingers are a bit crooked at the joints from years of smashing them periodically. she’s been told she has “man hands” because of it, but it’s never been anything she’s been self conscious about.

🖊- i swear she hasn’t heard a new song since like... 1988. she can’t remember the last time she had her radio in the shop set to anything except a classic rock station, and she hasn’t owned a car with a working radio since... yeah, probably the 80’s or 90’s.

[collectorscorner]

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[forevealuna]

So, I’ve been posting about her on DeviantART— but if there are some Creepypasta kids still out there— check this shit out. She is the first Creepypasta OC I’ve made in a couple years. Her original concept was just a slasher/horror sona— but I’ve fallen into hold habits and fell back in love with the Creepypasta fandom. Lemme know what y’all think!

--The Final Girl Becomes The Slasher--

Name: Juniper Adora Villanueva

Nickname (optional): Juni-- (a nickname her family and friends name her growing up, she stuck with it since she only wants to remember that as her name).

Kill count (How many characters has your character killed? optional): about 20 people, including the slasher that failed countless times to take her life, resulting in emotional, mental and physical scarring and losing vision in her right eye. (your left-- just for verification).

Proxy for (optional, you don't need to pick a side if you wish to be neutral): she’s pretty neutral, but likes hanging out with “s-man,” as she likes to call him.

Weapon(s): a barb-wire, nail-coated, and wooden baseball bat.

Gender + Pronouns: cis-female (she/her)

Sexuality: Demisexual

Age: 19

Date of birth/death: July 8

Height + Weight: 5’2 and 154LBs

Species: human

Scent: floral, like a mix of roses and baby powder

Appearance (picture is acceptable at bottom of ref): Juni is at a whopping 5’2, making her more on the short side. She’s also a little pudgy, which isn’t a bad thing. Her natural hair is curly and black, but she dyes it and straightens it-- then throwing it into a shorter version of Sailor moon’s iconic half-bun, half-pigtails. Her hair currently is dyed a bright red, mostly to match her long cyberpunk coat. She is blind in her right eye, and there is a nasty scar around the area, making it impossible to grow back her, so she shaves her eyebrows into sideways tear drops. Her make-up is a bit clownish, having dark purple eyeshadow around her eyes, then winged, spiked eye liner in a navy blue color. Her under eye is two thin, red triangles with dots at the bottom. In the middle of her forehead, a loose “v” shape, a few small markings above that, and a dot in the center of that. She also sports wearing very messy, dark purple lipstick. Her skin color has become more dull, and pale over time-- since she rarely goes out in the sun anymore and prefers covering up her scarring by wearing a coat all the time. Under the coat is a crop top with two buckles-- one on the neck, the other one the chest. It also twists downward, being sure to show the dark mesh top underneath. Juni also has a long pencil skirt being held up by a dark, corset-like belt. Under the skirt is a pair of dark panty hose, since she wants to cover up as much as possible, and she wears platform boots to appear taller. The amount of piercings Juni has is two facial piercings, an eyebrow piercing on her left side, and a lip piercing on her left side. She has no tattoos.

Hobbies (welding, reading, gaming, etc.): reading comics, playing video games, cooking, having a collection of creepy toys

__

Personality (including flaws in personality): Juni can often be a very bold person depending on who she is with, which can be a bad thing-- meaning she can get herself and others into trouble very quickly. She’s very care-free, and will sometimes just speak her mind without thinking-- another trait that can be bad. Like a lot of people who are trouble-makers and very bold, Juni is quite the softie. Kids, troubled teens, and people similar to her in ways are what makes her heart change tone, and she’s willing to protect them like a sister/mother figure. When Juni is overwhelmed, her personality flips a switch and she becomes very reclusive and would rather be left alone or talk to people she is closer to or can relate to.

Occupation (before becoming a pasta): she was a waitress at a family-run diner

Mental disabilities (do NOT add disabilities to your characters that you know little to nothing about, it avoids stereotyping and misrepresentation): Juni suffers from C-PTSD and survivor’s guilt-- both stemmed from surviving years worth of torment from the Slasher out for her life and losing those she cared about around her. Because of her C-PTSD, Juni will often forget how to regulate her emotions or recall good things from her past--sometimes even in that moment she’s interacting with someone and/or doing something. When she does, it is immediately plagued by the guilt she has of being the only one left alive out of her highschool friend group. This will lead her to push others away, even if she’s pretty close to them, since she’s afraid she’ll get that person hurt or even killed.

Strengths (name at least 3): With her weakened vision, Juni’s sense of hearing has heightened. Juni also is pretty strong, since learning how to wield her bat (and without accidentally injuring herself). Another thing, Juni is pretty swift and can usually take down her targets with ease.

Weaknesses (name at least 3, if your character has a strong ability like super strength, its 2 flaws to the one strength.): Juni’s vision is weakened and her blind spots are bigger because of her eye. Guns, and anything that requires two eyes she can’t do. Juni has to rely on audio cues at night.

How did your character become a proxy? (third party doesn’t need to answer, proxies do): Juni spent her days hiding out in the abandoned campsite outside of town after ultimately defeating her attack, bludgeoning him with his own weapon-- being the bat. One day, while on a limited amount of food, not having showered for a long period of time, and still caked in old blood, she saw someone in a mask looking through the campsite. Still very on edge from what happened, it being dark, and suffering from poor night vision, she grabbed her bat-- prepared to bludgeon the mysterious figure lurking in her territory-- only to find out it was someone who wanted to help her. This was after she was about to swing at the figure, a little confused by the pleas and begging for mercy. She was taken in, cleaned, fed, and sadly couldn’t get her vision correct.

Backstory: Juni had a pretty normal life growing up. She had a loving supportive family, a great friend group, and an amazing boyfriend. Also, she worked a pretty decent job, being a waitress at her family’s diner, and was top of her class. Life was pretty good.. Or so she thought. Sophomore year was here soon enough, and it would be reminding some people of how much homework, essays, or studying for final exams you’d have to do-- with the addition of planning for college-- but for Juni’s situation, that wasn’t the case. On the morning of April 20th, Juni-- and everyone in the school-- got an invitation to a party. Juni happily accepted, since she already knew her friends and boyfriend were going to be there. The party led to her seeing a mysterious figure with all black clothing--except for the coat, a red eye on the mask and a jagged smile. Juni thought her drink might have been spiked, not knowing this would be the person targeting her and all her friends. The day after the party, and Juni returned to school, everything wasn't like a typical school day. People were whispering about her, looking in her direction, and everything felt to quiet. Juni still pressed on to her locker, not minding the quiet discussions going on around her. Her locker had a putrid smell, and when she opened it-- a pool of blood and an almost unidentifiable body fell out of the locker. The body barely missed Juni, but smeared her in blood. The only way Juni recognized who it was, was because of the Letterman Jacket with her High School Boyfriend's last name on it. She screamed, sobbed, and was eventually interrogated by police about it.

Months had passed, and Christmas break was around the corner. Juni, who still mourned the loss of her boyfriend’s death, didn’t want to do anything except stay home with her family for Christmas. Sadly, her friends had booked them a trip to a ski resort in the area. It was the only thing the friends could think of to cheer Juni up. She reluctantly obliged, not wanting to upset her friends. This could definitely be a turn around in her mood, since she still had her friends, right? The ski resort was packed. It began to remind Juni of the party from April… the masked figure… then her boyfriend’s body. Her heart began racing, and she began to look for an exit, a way out. It took a lot of friends to convince her no masked man was after her, her friends, or even at the resort at all. This was reassuring to Juni, at least at the moment.

After settling in the cabin they were assigned, their hostess reassured everyone that what happened at the High School wasn’t going to happen at the campsite, for the ski resort has police strolling and people checking up on the guests. Juni felt a lot better about this. She regained confidence after being told this, and planned to really enjoy Christmas break now. That night, while everyone was settling into the cabin, one of Juni’s male friends discovered the bathroom wasn’t working too well. Instead of wanting to call someone to come take a look, he decided to go out in the dead of night. The next morning, he didn’t return. This worried Juni a lot and her friends tried to reassure her that it wasn’t anything bad. They knew the guy closely, and he probably got lost or ended up sleeping in the wrong cabin. Juni still insisted they looked, becoming a little on edge about it. Everyone finally came to a decision, and began searching for their missing friend. Not too far from where they were, they found the body. The head trauma was very similar to Juni’s boyfriend. She retched and began crying, while the rest of her friends panicked and cried as well. This time, Juni saw the figure not too far from where they were, still watching, a bloodied wired and nailed bat in his hand. Calling the police was a sham, for when they arrived, the man was nowhere to be found.

It was finally the summer of her Junior year, she had lost more friends to the hands of the figure that has been tormenting her for a year now. Juni experienced a lot of sleepless nights, set up traps during the night to keep her safe, had to take medication, and keep a journal on her for when she forgot about something or even wanted to document her night terrors. It was all the same. The figure, her friends, her boyfriend, then her. The friend group was now her, and two of her friends since elementary school. They were like sisters to her. She would tell them everything that happened, her nightly rituals, and then go into paranoid ramblings or simply murmurer herself into a state of dissociation that lasted 20 minutes-- simply because it was too overwhelming or she tried to remember something and another thing hit her intrusively. After more reassurance-- and safely snapping her out of her zone, she felt better. Her friends invited her over for a sleepover, since their parents were going to be out of town for that weekend and they got the house to themselves. Juni, of course, had to be talked into it. It could be fun, right? Juni got to the house, looking around before knocking. Her friends answered, and welcomed her in. Snacks were set up, drinks, and they got the backyard to themselves, completely fenced in, a security system that would sound and contact the police if an unknown figure forced an entering. The neighborhood was also supposed to be on watch for any suspicious activity. Juni felt very safe. After deciding to go swimming and chatting outside, the soda Juni drank went through her system and she needed a bathroom bad. She got out of the pool and began wandering through the house, going upstairs, and finally finding it. After washing up, it oddly sounded too quiet downstairs. She didn’t hear music, or laughing, or indication that anyone was there. Slowly, yet quietly, she came down the stairs and began looking around. As she drew towards the living room, there was a movie playing. Oh! They must be okay! Juni reassured herself for once, but went to talk and touch the top of one of her friends’ heads, instantly pulling back. Blood.. Was on her hand. She began to walk around the couch, no noise could escape her lips as she nearly fell, her hands drawn to her face. Both of them were bashed quite brutally, then propped up on the couch to look alive. This was her breaking point. She began yelling, both in Spanish and English, calling the killer a coward and wanting her to take her next. She wasn’t afraid anymore, until he actually appeared from behind the stairs. She panicked and began running to the kitchen to find anything. The police won’t do anything or believe her. The kitchen had a rolling island counter! If she could somehow push it fast enough and get the wheels stuck, the killer wouldn’t be able to escape! She went and hid in the kitchen behind the counter, waiting for him to draw closer. It took forever, but finally.. Footsteps! Counting down mentally in her head, she jumped up and pushed the counter as hard as she could. One of the wheels broke off as it collided with the killer and pinned him against the wall. Now, time to get out of here and call the police! Before Juni could even pick up the phone, something came hurling at her eye, suddenly blacking out.

She woke up in the hospital after a few days, hooked up to a monitor. Something felt off, she couldn’t seem to see out of her.. Eye! What happened to her eye? She panicked when seeing the doctor and demanded for a mirror. The doctor asked many questions before handing it over, standing there to assure she wouldn’t do anything drastic. The right portion of her face was bandaged up, soaked a tad in blood. She whimpered, putting fingers close to the bandages. She asked how it happened, and the doctor informed her they found her unconscious, face down with a puddle of blood next to her head. He also informed her that her friends were long gone when they arrived on the scene and couldn’t find the attacker. Overwhelmed by this, Juni broke down and began screaming that the doctor and nurses leave while thrashing and throwing stuff. Juni was released a couple weeks later, since the doctors did a psych evaluation and somehow deemed Juni well enough to leave, despite still being in complete shambles. She couldn’t work, couldn’t go to school or do school work, leaving her to drop out of High School. The new medication she had to take to help with her insomnia only made it worse for her. She officially was at the edge and felt like she had nothing else to hold onto to keep her going.

Late one night, she swore she could see the figure standing at the end of her bed. She kind of laughed and shrugged it off. Her bad vision and sleeping issues were to blame. Sleep-deprived hallucinations were common after a period of time without proper sleep. That’s when she was thrown out of bed by the figure, not believing it was a hallucination anymore. She stumbled to her feet, dodging and juking the killer as he began swinging at her. Dents in the walls, stuff on her desk becoming destroyed. This really seemed like the end, or so she thought. Juni had accidentally knocked over a chair! She kicked it towards the attacker, practically knocking him over and getting scuffed on the shoulder in the process. She pulled the bat out and from the attackers weakened hands, then pulled the mask off. Her eyes widened. It was.. Her boyfriend? No..he was dead, she saw the body.. Unless.. He had a twin she didn’t know about? She demanded to know who the man was, and it was indeed a sibling of the boyfriends, but not a twin. He longed for Juni’s life and friends, being an outcast of the family, and admired Juni for still gaining friendship while also being an outcast. Juni only knew that her bf had a brother and that was it. She didn’t know what happened to him, but that he went to juvie several times. Juni’s mouth quivered into a smile before she started laughing. “Admire me?? You did all of this.. Out of admiration? You killed your own brother, my friends, took away my vision and my future, all because you couldn’t handle your emotions and can’t make friends of your own? You call that admiration?” she exclaimed, lowering the bat close to his face. “If all of this was you wanting my life and admiring me, then let me show you how much I admire you!” she said as she began bashing him with the bat. Over, and over, and over. She stopped once she became too exhausted to swing again, and spat. “It’s finally over..” she said as she slumped onto her bed. She suddenly realized what she had done. Panic sat in and she looked around, writing a quick note to her family, grabbing the bat, the jacket the man was wearing, her shoes, and climbing out the window of her home. She fled and never looked back. No one she cared about will ever hurt again as long as she’s not there.

Rp example (must at least be one paragraph, please use proper spelling and punctuation!):

Juniper sat at the edge of the couch in the lounge, caught up on a comic book, since she can’t really read novels all too well anymore. Her leg was crossed over the other, and she didn’t look too bothered by anything around her at the moment. After a few minutes, she realized someone standing in front of her. Looking up, she closed her book and set it aside “you know I can’t see well. Use an audio cue, instead of just standing there,” she grumbled. “What the hell do you want?” she added on, folding her arms over each other. It definitely was a change adjusting to the mansion, but she still hates it when people sneak up on her or not let her know anyone is there. Not like could do much though, since it was a part of a job description to be sneaky and not heard. She’ll just have to let it slide, again.

[b-ap]

[181117] B.A.P Forever Tour in Philadelphia - Highlight of my Life

This was really one of the best concerts I’ve ever gone to. Despite being skeptical of JSJ from the beginning, I was still willing to risk it and buy the tickets. I was debating for a while to drop $400 or not for m&g but when you think about it, it was only $30 per photo with each of the boys (+ a hat, hoodie, and whistle) so that’s HELLA worth it.  So I dropped nearly $600 for this concert but for real it was SO worth it. I was even willing to go down by bus all by myself and possibly wandering the streets of philly late at night for it but luckily was able to catch a ride! 

These two BABYz gave out numbers from the very beginning like they marked down if you were plat or baby package and in the end JSJ and fans actually honored them! It was really great cuz we were able to leave the line to go to the bathroom or get food! BABYz around me were so nice and friendly too ;u; When it was time to go in to soundcheck and for the concert, we all actually got in order! It was REALLY nice like wow thank you philly babyz!! We were let in a little late for soundcheck cuz apparently bap was doing some kind of interview?? As for soundcheck, it was sooOOOoooOOO good!!! They kinda mixed up plat and baby but oh well whatever I still got like 3rd row so *^* WOOHOO! The stage was up really high and the venue was quite small, but philly crowd’s passion was explosive and powerful!! At the beginning of soundcheck Zelo kept like peeking out from the backstage door *^* they were ODing the fog machine so you could only see silhouettes at the door sometimes OTL. Daehyun was the first to come out! He came in this big puffer jacket and had earphones and and was smiling so cutely!! That wonderful wonderful kitty smile!! OH MY HEART PLEASE HAVE MERCY!! And then the others came out! <3 Zelo was wearing like PJ pants lmao the same one he wore in that IG pic of him in the truck, jongup was wearing leather (i think.....), himchan wore the tour hoodie, and youngjae wore a long coat. BUT YEAH the first song they did was TMJ and the crowd was hella LIT!!! Like everyone was singing their lungs out and jumping and being really really excited! We all started jamming out hardcore at the very first note of TMJ and I just knew it was about to be epic. BAP was sooo happy!! They really enjoyed it as well!  And then they did DWIF and omfg daehyun was soooo cute cuz we were so loud during the OH!! part that he was like :O!!!!! and gave us two thumbs up!! The others were really happy too!! And then Zelo was controlling the crowd with his hands LOL like he was making us go side to side like a wave and then jongup was doing this weird dance too lmaooo we hyped up each other so much! It was soo much fun ;A; too bad we couldn’t record but JSJ got a ( video )~!! Like just listen to BABYz singing along at the beginning!! ( dh shocked at 0:41, thumbs up at 0:51)

We had to go back outside again after the concert and that’s when the line got a little messy since now there was also GA peeps and the sidewalk is only so big to fit like 3 different lines. But it worked out in the end and we got in order!! AND YA GIRL GOT FCKN 2ND ROW HEEEEEEEEELLLL YEAHH!! I had a GREAT view!! There was actually quite a lot of space and like NO pushing!! (except this one bishhhh but whatever that’s another story -.- i’ll delete her from my memory) But wow pit was fCKN great like wow the fanchants!! The whistles!! NO PUSHING!! LIKE WHAT WOOOW I LOVE YOU (this was an all standing venue btw). When we were waiting for the concert to start, they played a bunch of their songs and everyone was scream-singing the lyrics (well more like trying to LOL we can’t korean) We had our own bap concert with an empty stage lmaooo 

AND AHHHH BAP WAS SOOOO GOOD AT FANSERVICE!!! Himchan noticed me like several times i fucking cRy!! He looked and waved at mee TWICE and like gestured to focus on zelo for recording and taking pics when it was his part AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Like last year he saw me struggling in pit (cuz that was HELL) and looked worried I CRY and he smiled at me too huuuhuuu himchan youre a fckn angel I LOVE YOU!!! I made a half heart at daehyun and hE FCKN COMPLETED IT I WAS ABOUT TO FCKN DIE RIGHT THEN AND THERE LIKE !!!!!!!!!!!! JOngup threw so many hearts and kisses at the crowd and youngjae blew so many kisses!! They were waving as much as possible to fans and daehyun, bless his heart, kept saying thank you!!thank you!! at any chance he could get!

During Q&A, bap spent the longest time arguing about harry potter houses pmsl and then yj was just like idk i never watched it (shame on you bro) and then himchan was like EXPECTRO PATRONUM!! (nerrRRRddddd). Jongup said he was fckn Dobby like bruH thats not even a house!!! YJ was like forget this!! and said, “PASS!!” Himchan said that he was Slytherin and then jongup said that Himchan would be fkcn Snape and did this dramatic coat sweeping straightening up his back thing LOL so himchan said Jongup would be a muggle pmsl Zelo did like a broom riding imitation??? irdk.... Next question was what was your favorite song that you’ve ever made. Jongup answered Photo and sang a little of it (so then where is the studio version biiSHHHhh) but lol BABYz were like SEXY CLAP!!!!!! Youngjae pulled out a question, looked at it and was like NOPE! and put it back pmsl! The next question was what tricks can Mochii do and then youngjae was frckn like body slamming zelo and jongup lmaooo. Zelo was sooooo cute he was telling the story of how Mochii bit in all in English!! He said how he was eating and was struggling to explain that Mochii was under the table so BABYz were helping him! He said that he dropped cheese and then Mochii went to eat it but Zelo tried to stop him. Mochii bit and and then Zelo was like “ooh! bloood! my dog is ...wildlife” but the way he said blood was soo cute like the oo in moon instead of “blud”  This sweet precious boy!! His English was so good!!!! The next question was to sing happy birthday to a BABY named Jenny (wow you LUCKY girl im sooo jelly omfg). So Zelo sings her hbd really dramatically lmao and they give her their sweaty towel and Zelo gave her a water bottle too!! They’re so sweet!!!!!!! 

During their other talk segment, Youngjae was like since our tour in america, philly has been the most passionate! So we all SCREAMED and cheered like crazy! Daehyun was like hold up!! AGAIN! and went to grab a phone. He made us all scream and cheer again so he could record it. The boys kept gesturing to scream louder and more and were totally enjoying the cheers! I hope we conveyed our love for them well enough!! Also Daehyun release that footage soon pls!!! He told us we did a good job screaming lmaoo! Youngjae kept making sounds for us to repeat lmao like ooOOoooo (idk how to describe it LOL) and then was like “maestro!” when trying to silence us with his fingers like a conductor LOL but we kept screaming things LOL someone was like “this is my first kpop concert!!” so youngjae was like “sounds good!” and gave a thumbs up. Jongup also did the conductor thing hahahah Daehyun promised to come back again next year and I REALLY REALLY hope that they do!!!! 

The solos were beyond amazing. Like rewatching youngjae and daehyun’s solos made me tear up like how do such beautiful voices exist in this world? Did I really hear those ethereal voices in real life? It was sooo mesmerizing and breathtaking! Youngjae’s gorgeous baritone voice singing that smooth ballad huuuhuuu my heEArt!!! Daehyun’s heartwrenchingly beautiful voice, song, and lyrics wow let me just lie down and drown in my tears rn bYE! DaeUp’s duet was so cool, Jongup’s TML was perfect as usual, Zelo’s solo was sinful oh my those hip and that peach *blushes* it was suuuper fun and Zelo enjoyed it a LOT too!!! He lifted up his shirt!! 

THEN IT WAS M&G TIME!!! They set up the background right in front of the stage. We lined up to go in and bap was standing like: jongup, youngjae, daehyun, himchan, zelo! It was plat individual photos first, then baby group + hi-touch, then plat group + hi-touch. BABYz really went for it!! Like a lot of us got hugs! We were able to watch the whole m&g but they didnt let us have our phones out ;A; (and I also had used up all 6.5 GB of space on my phone OTL) BAP were SOOOOOOOO sweet UGH we stan literal ANGELS!! They love BABYz so fricken much!! JSJ was sooo nice to allow a lot of fan interactions AHHHHHHHH BAP did a lot of cute poses and played around with BABYz! LEt mE TELL YOU THAT BAP IS SERIOUSLY SOOOO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL, HANDSOME, GORGEOUS, STUNNING, MESMERIZING, UP CLOSE HOW DID MY HEART EVEN SURVIVE?????? I GOT TO BEAR HUG EVERYONEEEE THEYRE ALL SO TALL AND IM HELLA SMOL SO THEY HAD TO SQUAT DOWN FOR ME HUUHUU THYE LIKE PATTED MY BACK DURING THE HUGS TOO AHHHHHH WE HAD A DECENT AMOUNT OF TIME WITH ALL OF THEM!!! I TOLD DAEHYUN I SAW HIM IN KOREA IN ASU AND HE WAS LIKE OOOOOH THANK YOU!!! CURSES TO MY TINY AF VOICE CUZ I DONT THINK THEY ALL EVEN REALLY HEARD WHAT I SAID SOMETIMES!!! I told Zelo he was too tall for me lmaooo I really wanna see how much he had to bend down for me! I seriously wished that my m&g was recorded but :((((((((((( After my m&g I legit squealed and hugged my friend lmao but the staff yelled at us for being too loud LMAO BUT GIRL WE JUST HUGGED FCKN KINGS LIKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to contain ourselves as much as possible LOL Daehyun said thank you out loud to a lot of BABYz after their m&g! Zelo kept dabbing at BABYz lmaooo a lot of them didnt notice tho cuz he would do it after they had already passed him HAHAHA when it was my hi-touch I dabbed at Zelo hahah and he dabbed back :D I wanted to get a group hug from them but i got too excited and FUCKING FORGOT to ask for a group hug *kicks myself* Now I wish I had written my name on a name tag (like “HI I’M JUNIE”) and hope they wouldve said “HI JUNIE”  but I didnt OTL 

I really wish I could relive the whole day. I wish I was able to record my m&g and got a group hug or them to say my name or I had said something more to them but it’s ok my heart is very very happy and I love bap soo much. My 7 year love for them continues and I will really love them forever. Let’s meet again soon, my loves! I’m looking forward to then~! 

[junionigiri]

Peony Pink and Cherry Blossom Tea Ch 2: Can We Pull This Off

Story Summary: Todoroki Shouto, 3rd year Neurosurgery Resident, needs to find a date for the annual Pro Heroes’ Gala by tonight, or else Endeavor will do the choosing for him. Having to resort to drastic measures, he convinces the OR nurse Uraraka Ochako to pretend going out with him. On top of having to deal with the media frenzy, the relentless hospital gossip, and the expectations of Japan's #1 Hero, Shouto and Ochako struggle with the complexities of their own feelings for each other.

Relationship: Todoroki Shouto/Uraraka Ochako; background KiriMina :)

Rating: T

Warnings/Notes: This is a direct continuation of my submission for bnha rarepair month d 26 - fake dating AU. There are MAJOR changes to that chapter though, which I won’t repost here because of redundancy. so please look for this story on AO3 (JuniRiceBall) or FFNet (Juni Onigiri) to read those changes :)

Tongue tied, every time I try to talk to you In time, I’ll find the right line

Ochako opens her eyes to a mess of spotty bright lights, various shades of pinks, reds, and greens in candy-shades.

“She’s opening her eyes,” someone says above her. The red blur moves closer to her. She feels something heavy prodding her cheek. It’s bothersome and she wants it to go away, but coordination comes late to her arms, and she misses swatting it away completely.

“Ochako-chan? You okay, honey?” The pink blur moves closer to her too, so that her vision is all shades of reds and pinks.

A legitimate question makes it to her lips in a slur: “Am… I awake…?”

Her head has a vague feeling of emptiness, like a crashing web browser with a hundred and fifty tabs open at the same time.

“You tell us,” the pink one says with concern. “Ei, are you sure she didn’t hit her head back there? We might need to bring Dr. Kendo here to see her…”

“N… no… don’t. I’m fine. I’m f…” Her arm regains feeling, and finally she has enough strength to rub her eyes.

Clarity comes to her soon, and she’s treated to the sight of the Kirishimas staring down at her with concern. Mina already has her hands on her phone, ready to make a phone call. Eijirou is squatting next to her, one hand ready to shine a light in her eyes and the other pressing fingers to her pulse point.

“Hey there,” says the red-haired Kirishima gently. “How are ya, babe? You scared us back there.”

Ochako gives him an eloquent mumble. Slowly, she rises from where she lay and struggles to orient herself. “… when did I get in the locker rooms?”

“Kiri and Sero carried you after you fainted in the cafeteria, babe.” Mina still has a worried look in her dark eyes, but puts her phone away all the same. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for five minutes now. I’ve been telling Ei to bring you to the ER already, since it might be serious, but the boys insisted on checking up on you here in private.”

Scattered around them are all sorts of tools to check her vitals, her blood sugar, and even a spare cardiac monitor they probably nabbed from the recovery room. She’s a little stunned that they ‘borrowed’ so many stuff for her without the nursing service knowing, but then again it’s what she expects of the smooth, conniving Mina. At least they didn’t see anything that warranted an ER visit. For now.

Eijirou nods and tells Mina, “I just had a feeling that those two probably don’t want any more people rubbernecking over them? You should have seen the cafeteria. People ugly-crying left and right. Women on the verge of a riot. They had to call in a Code Grey at one point.”

Ochako furrows her brow, trying to recall. She does remember people screaming things like I’m too late and it can’t be true, not him, not Todoroki-sama~~~ as if they’re at a fan meet and Doctoroki is a pop-idol who just announced that he’s engaged to be married to a cryptid or something. What kind of a fucked-up dream sequence…?

Oh, but they’re talking about it as if it happened in real life. She squints her eyes and stares at the husband-and-wife in confusion, wishing that they’d give her something tangible to go on.

“Mhm. I can just imagine,” the pink Kirishima says flatly. She turns to Ochako with an odd look. “Honey? You okay?”

Her brain refuses to further process anything that they’re saying. “Um. What… happened, exactly…?”

“You don’t remember anything?”

A stoic voice whispering in her ear. Mismatched eyes, pleading with her about something-- ”I need you Uraraka. Please.” A floating old man who falls to the ground.

Warm and cold hands around hers. A shiver down her spine. A decision in her head -- “Okay, I’ll do it”, and then--

She shakes her head vehemently, even as warmth starts to invade her cheeks. Nope, that can’t be real, that has to be a complex dream sequence that her brain made up because she’s a mess of a human being who can’t function properly around attractive people.

The Kirishimas give each other an odd look. Eijirou scratches the back of his head and tells her, “Well, I guess we have to wait for him to give you the details of what happened, ‘cos we sure as heck don’t know what went down.”

“... him?”

“Yeah.” Mina, for some reason, pouts at her and gives her a look as if she’s double-crossed her somehow. Seeing that she’s stable now and could handle a good shove at the shoulders, she gives her a really good shove at the shoulders. “You sneak, Ochako! Here I was, teasing you with him like an absolute idiot, not knowing the real deal between you two. How long were you going to keep it a secret, huh?”

Ochako is a little confused at the playful-accusatory looks that the couple is giving her. “What are you guys talking about? Have mercy on me, please? I just came back from the dead and all…”

They squint her eyes at her in disbelief. Now she’s feeling annoyed. The inside of her head feels like crushed uncooked instant ramen noodles. She does not deserve this treatment.

“Uraraka? You’re up.”

Her entire body straightens up automatically in attention when Dr. Todoroki Shouto’s face peeks out from the doorway. The blank expression on his face lightens up very subtly when he sees Ochako fully functional again.

Well. As fully functional as Ochako can be in front of him, she supposes. A silly noise that doesn’t sound like any proper word in any real human language escapes from her throat.

“Doctoroki! Finally!” Eijirou opens the door for him and snorts at the sight of him carrying way too many things in those big… muscly… arms of his, bulging underneath his crisp white doctor’s coat. “What is all this, doc? Did you steal everything you could get from the supply room?!”

The nurse helps him sort out all types of IV solutions, tubes, and needles. “I brought everything we might need,” he explains nonchalantly. “IV hydration, tube feeding, blood extractions.”

“W-what?! That’s overkill! No!” Ochako yelps with a sudden burst of energy. Despite being a nurse who has to subject her patients to them, she hates, hates, hates needles--she had nightmares in middle school about a villainess in a middle schooler’s uniform who goes around poking people with a giant syringe--and not even Doctoroki and his perfect face will calm her down enough for her to take a needle through her skin quietly. “Please, I’d die if you stick any of those needles in me--”

She’s visibly distressed enough that Mina holds on to her to calm her down. Todoroki just gives her an amused smile. “It’s okay. I don’t think we need to use these if you’re up and about now, Uraraka.”

That smile. That look he gives her, right in the eyes, as if he sees nothing else. Her mind is instantly blank and weak and soft, like jello. It’s… unfair. She forgets about her needle-induced melodrama and stammers, “Y… yeah, I am…”

“Okay.” He uses a different tone this time--a soft, comforting one, probably the same quiet voice he uses with his patients when he tells them that he needs to drill through their skulls to take a diseased portion out of their brains. “I need to check you out now to be really sure. If it’s okay with you.”

“... okay…”

She struggles with her composure as Todoroki bends down on one knee and stares her down at first, and then puts one cold finger to her chin, tilting it this way and that and she wonders how she hasn’t frozen like a popsicle under his touch. His voice is astonishingly gentle in her ears, as he murmurs one command after another: look at the light. Look at my finger. Show me your teeth. Hold my hand, grip my fingers… just like that, yes. Nice and strong.

Good. Very good, he murmurs to her, every time she does what he asks. The rumble of his voice activates little earthquakes in her chest and stomach, and strangely enough she wants more of it.

When he’s done, he nods and stands up, leaving the points of contact between them cold and empty. Ochako hopes that her face isn’t too pink when he regards the Kirishimas with gratitude. “She’s okay now. Thanks for taking care of her, you two.”

The bright smiles on the husband-and-wife’s faces can light up a small village. “Our pleasure, Doc,” Eijirou says in amusement. “Um. It’s weird for us to say this now, but thanks for taking care of Uraraka too… I guess?”

“Yeah,” Mina pipes up with a pout, one hand on her hip. “Really, Doctoroki, you should have asked us for permission first. Don’t you know that Ochako’s like our adopted Hosu Gen daughter? We should have been the first to know that you’re dating!”

Dating. Dating? Doctoroki… and… me? Ochako feels her diaphragm freeze when the hazy images from before finally, finally flood through her brain.

You can help me by going out with me. His voice in her head is finally clear. As is Endeavor’s, who looked at her and judged her and then respected her after she sent him crashing to the ground and then told them, I’ll see you tonight. Don’t be late, Shouto.

Oh my god, thinks Ochako. It’s happening. Her completely ordinary, disaster-bisexual self has somehow become a good and proper K-drama heroine. Complete with a brooding, supernaturally handsome male lead, a judgmental potential parent-in-law, and an unnecessarily convoluted plot that led to a harebrained fake-dating scheme.

What in the actual fuck?! Wide-eyed, she turns to Todoroki, who is infuriatingly unfazed by all of this.

“I see. I apologize.” He pauses thoughtfully. In all seriousness, he bows his head in the next moment like a proper son-in-law. “Please allow me to date your adoptive daughter.”

“You have our blessing,” Mina says immediately with a satisfied smirk as Ochako continues to silently choke on absolutely nothing. Ignoring her so-called daughter’s lack of oxygen, the pink-haired girl pats her on the back gently. “My baby girl is a proper woman now. Don’t forget to use protection and invite us to the wedding, ‘mmkay?”

“Mina!” she squeaks in horror. No, please, mental images, do not bombard Ochako’s brain now, she still needs to understand what in the holy fuck just happened in the cafeteria, okay?! “D-Doctoroki and I, we’re not… we just--”

Eijirou ignores her less-than-intelligent stammerings and pats the blank-faced Todoroki at the back. “Take good care of our round baby, okay, Doctoroki?”

“Okay.” With that weird, soft look in his eyes that makes it look like he’s perpetually shimmering behind a rose-coloured lens, he looks at Ochako in the eye. “Uraraka… you good to go?”

He holds out his hand to her and gives her something other than a blank stare, instantly killing her last two remaining brain cells.

Still, she manages a weak nod, and reaches out to hold on to him. The chill of his right hand shoots through hers, like a bolt of frost through her veins piercing her heart, making it run marathons in her chest.

“Okay. You’re steady,” he murmurs again, oh god can’t he just speak in a normal volume, not this really sensual low tone he uses on her please she still needs to go home in one piece.

“Come on.” The look in his eyes tells her that they have other things to talk about, though, and thankfully she understands well enough that they need a nice, quiet spot to talk. Definitely not there, where the Kirishimas are watching their every move and grinning ear to ear like a happy pair of Shibas.

“... okay,” she squeaks. With a weak goodbye to her so-called Hosu Gen parents, she follows her brand new, non-imaginary, bishonen-as-fuck boyfriend out of the room.

*

“First of all, Uraraka. I’m really sorry about this.”

Ochako listens to his sincere apology in a secluded booth in Satou’s Coffees and Cakes, as she stares at a giant tower of fluffy pancakes and a large strawberry mochi parfait.

Easily her favourite things in the world, but for the first time in her life, she is not overcome with the immediate urge to stuff her cheeks to the limit. Instead, she carefully stares back at Doctoroki and the thick layer of gloom surrounding his aura like downtown smog.

“No, Doc,” she says gently, twiddling the pink pads of her thumbs anxiously. “I… did tell you that I’d help you, and… I guess you did what you had to do…?”

“I… did. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I got you in this mess without you knowing all the messed-up details of it.”

Ochako laughs awkwardly. “You mean how your father Endeavor, Japan’s #1 pro-hero, thinks that we’re datin’ and how we’re gonna be all couply an’ stuff in the Pro-Heroes’ Gala and how the media’s goin’ ta go crazy over it and how it’s gonna change our work relationship with erryone else in Hosu Gen?”

Ignoring the slip of her aggressive Kansai dialect, the doctor nods solemnly.

“Heh… I’m over it now, Doc. I’m okay with it.” As if to prove her point, she takes a slice of the pancake and chews through it, ignoring how her taste buds are malfunctioning somehow and all she’s able to taste is sponge and nothing else.

He blinks at her. “Uraraka, you literally fainted thinking about it. In front of everyone, too.”

Ugh. Ochako, you anxious failure of a human being. She fights the embarrassment and tells him, “Please don’t worry about that anymore. You told me that I was okay earlier, right?”

He hums. “I just meant that it didn’t look like you had brain damage or anything like that. But I have to make sure that you’re really okay with... this whole arrangement with me.”

She makes an effortful swallow . Geez, did Chef Satou just mess up today, or something? What kind of universe is this that Uraraka Ochako suddenly can’t enjoy free food? But it’s really hard to enjoy the blessings, not while Dr. Todoroki Shouto looks downright miserable.

“Doctoroki--I mean, Dr. Todoroki,” she tells him carefully, sincerely. “I--”

“Todoroki’s fine. Or Shouto,” he tells her.

“Okay…” she attempts, and chickens out at the last minute, “Todoroki-kun.” She tries to ignore the drumming of her heart as she feels his name in her mouth. “I was really, really honest when I told you that I wanted to help you. But… maybe, tell me why you… had to do this in the first place?”

“All right.” He takes a long moment to reflect on his words silently, tenting his fingers in front of his face, drumming them against each other. Ochako quietly pushes the dessert spoon in her parfait, smooshing all the strawberries anxiously as she waits for him to sort through the mess of his past.

When he finally opens his mouth, it feels like she’s watching him pull out his own teeth with a pair of rusty pliers, and she almost regrets asking him anything. “My father and I… well, we don’t have the best relationship, contrary to whatever you know about us from the media.”

Ochako tries to remember what the media has to say about Endeavor. She knows all about his heroics, but when it came to his family life, absolutely nothing comes to mind. An odd thing, indeed, considering he’s the biggest public figure in the country next to the prime minister.

“I’m one of his biggest disappointments,” he tells her flatly, like he’s describing the weather and not his potentially messed-up childhood. “Because even though he trained me and I took a heroics course in high school, I didn’t go pro.” He makes an odd sound through his nose, and clarifies, “… at least, not for long.”

She nods quietly. She’s heard this being talked about in the hospital grapevines, how he only lasted as a pro for a week before he quit the agency for an unknown reason, and how he applied for a pre-med course and finished it a year ahead of the others.

“I’m not going to bore you about the details of why he’s… the way he is about quirks and power.” Ochako can tell that he’s putting a lid on his emotions then, keeping the annoyance from bubbling to the surface. “But because none of his four kids became pros, he’s keen on producing at least one strong grandchild, good enough to inherit the title of the next number one hero. He’s putting the pressure on all of us.” He sighs. “Me, especially, since I’m his so-called masterpiece with both the fire and ice quirk.”

Ochako remembers the fierce dragons decorating his back. Before, she wanted to sing praises about its beauty and perfection, but now she knows about the heavy meaning of the design. All she wants to do is give those dragons a big comforting hug, strangely enough.

“So he’s actively looking for a woman he deems worthy enough of bearing my children. As disgusting as it sounds.” His fingers are tapping incessantly against each other, hot and cold, forming little contrasting puffs of steam that fades in the air between them. “I don’t want any poor woman to go through that hell again--”

“Again?” Ochako asks.

He pauses. “Never mind that.” He shifts in his seat and stares at her right in the eyes. “The thing about Endeavor though, he cares about his public image. Now, more than ever. He thinks he can corner me into an arranged quirk marriage in front of the country, starting with this ridiculous gala. So if I show everyone that I have someone that I like… a woman that I chose for myself, regardless of the quirk--”

She feels the pink rising to her cheeks again, feels her pulse rushing at the phrase woman that I chose. Ochako, it isn’t true, it’s just pretend, get a grip--

“--then there isn’t anything he can do about it. Whoever he’s planning to pressure into marrying me will get away from our family scot-free. And… no-one gets hurt.” He nods, as if to convince himself that there’s no other acceptable outcome to this.

Ochako nods numbly all throughout his explanation. She’s overwhelmed, definitely. She wonders what the heck happened to him for things to end up this way. She thinks of the gap between him and his father, and how different her life is from his--growing up poor, but with loving parents, a loving father who only wants her happiness--and Todoroki…

Simply put, she’s worried for him. “Todoroki-kun…”

He looks up at her, and then at her hands. Which reached out to hold both of his, across the table, seemingly on their own.

Ochako tries not to blanch too much when she realizes it, but to her relief, he doesn’t pull away. “I’m okay with this. Promise. I’ll help you.”

He blinks. “… you sure?”

“Yes.” There’s no hesitation in her voice. No urge to faint this time, although there’s a little nausea at the back of her throat, when she thinks about how this mission is bigger than it seems. “I’ll date you for as long as you need me to, Todoroki-kun. I’ll be there for you. And… no-one gets hurt.”

He looks right into her eyes again. Piercing blue and onyx, shooting into her heart like laser beams. A smile slowly forms in his mouth, very small and subtle but very real, like the tremors in her heart.

“Okay.” He pulls away from her hands briefly, only to take her hands into his own. She’s encased in contrasting temperatures, and all she wants to do is melt. “I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you. So…”

She smiles warmly at that. It’s the sweetest thing that a pretend-boyfriend has ever told her in her life ever. Even though she isn’t sure that it’s true. Because she knows the media, and now she knows about Endeavor.

“Thanks… Uraraka.” That smile can cure disease, no exaggeration. She wonders why he needs to do neurosurgery at all, if he can just smile like that to every sick patient he sees.

You are fucking ridiculous, girl. And lovestruck. “Ochako. Please,” she tells him, as a strange current of courage pulses through her.

“Okay. Ochako.” She tries not to die on the spot then. “But you have to call me Shouto.”

She steels herself and gives him a smile. “Okay. Shouto-kun.”

He hums. “Good enough. For now.”

“Ohhhh my gosh~~ This is a dream, isn’t it…???”

Ochako blinks, wondering if she gained a new telepathic quirk and everyone can hear what her mind is saying out loud, only to realize that the voice isn’t hers and that it came from a floating maid uniform set, who came by with glasses of water.

“Oh,” the waitress--Tooru, according to her nameplate--falters in embarrassment, as if she accidentally said her words out loud. “I’m sorry!! I’m just really surprised, Doctoroki! This is the first time you brought a date here, and I just can’t believe it! A lone wolf like you, being so lovey-dovey… You just… look so cute together, I can’t…!! I might explode oh my god--”

Ochako feels her cheeks burn up. She looks down on their hands, making sure that Todoroki--no, Shouto--hasn’t accidentally activated his quirk on her.

Okay. No actual fire. Only real and palpable embarrassment. Ochako puffs her cheeks to get a hold of herself.

Shouto, as usual, appears unfazed. “Yes. I think this is the first time we went here together,” he tells Tooru naturally. “This is Ochako, by the way. She’s a nurse from Hosu Gen.”

“Oh~ yeah, I see you here sometimes, Ochako-chan! You like Satou-san’s chiffon cake too, right? Right?”

The invisible waitress is nothing if not perpetually overexcited, it seems. Ochako thinks it’s terribly cute. “I do! I also like the crepes, the parfaits, the cafe liegeois, the madeleines--”

“Yes, yes! And the eclairs, the tiramisu, the creme brullee--”

The girls sigh in unison. “Yeah, Satou-san’s just that good at making pastries,” says the waitress dreamily, before snapping back to reality. “Ah, sorry, I totally went off the rails again. Doctoroki, I was supposed to check if guys needed anything more…”

Ochako looks across from her, and sees an uncharacteristically warm smile on Shouto’s face for a split second, before his face goes back to normal. “We’re good. Just the check, please.”

Gosh… I must be dreaming, huh. She looks down on her hands as Tooru chirps and turns away to get them the check.

An unnatural silence falls over them immediately. Ochako dares herself to look up, and sees that Todoroki is staring at her unabashedly.

“So,” he starts, suddenly awkward. “I’ll pick you up later? Is seven okay?”

Oh. In her lovestruck haze, she almost forgot about the actual mission. “Yes. Seven is okay.” She looks at her watch. It’s already past four. Fuck. “Yeah. I can… make it by seven.”

She has an old rose-coloured jersey dress somewhere in her closet somewhere, hidden among her mess of scrub suits and sportswear. It’s a little outdated, and she’ll smell like naphthalene, and she isn’t sure if she gained weight since she last wore it, but it’s better than nothing. Doctoroki, you should have really pretend-asked-her-out to the biggest gala of the year a little earlier!

“Okay…”He’s a little uneasy when he tells her, “If you want--I mean, only if you need help, that is… I asked someone to help us out.”

She gasps happily. “Oh, that’d be so great, Doc--I mean, Shouto-kun! I mean, if it’s not a bother for them, of course… I mean, I don’t want to smell like mothballs…”

“It’s okay. They owe me,” is all he says, not even bothering to look confused at what she said. He takes out his phone to send them a message, most likely. “I’ll drop you off there and come back for you at seven. Don’t worry about anything else.”

“Okay,” she says, breathily.

Todoroki stares at her with concern. “It’s still okay to back out, Ochako,” he says carefully.

His left hand reaches across the table and touches the back of her right hand. Warmth fills her from the inside out.

She nods. “I’m… okay, Shouto-kun.” She smiles at him. “Let’s date Endeavor’s brains outta their frickin’ minds! Or something. Yosh!”

He laughs for a grand total of five seconds, and Ochako thinks that it’s worth it to faint and to listen to his childhood fears, if it meant hearing that lovely sound again.

*

Is this a good idea?

Shouto finds himself asking this question over and over as he drives Uraraka to their next destination. At their first stoplight, he catches the pensive look in her eyes from the reflection of the window on the oftentimes-empty passenger seat, and he wonders if she’s thinking the same thing too.

Can we pull this off, Uraraka? He thinks of this as he appreciates how well she fits in the seat next to him, but doesn’t voice it out.

(No, not Uraraka. Ochako, her name is Ochako. Tea, like his favorite drink. And child, as childlike as her bright eyes and round cheeks are.)

The drive doesn’t take long, and they make it with exactly two hours for her to prepare. When they get to the place, Ochako stares at him in disbelief. “Oh… we’re back here.”

“Yes,” he says, helping her out of the car and to the entrance of Illusion Ink. She reaches for his hand, and again he feels the soft fingerpads pressing into his palm.

Pink. Soft. Round.

“Um,” she says with clear hesitation as they walk in the cool, pink-and-purple interiors of the tattoo parlour. “Am I… getting another tattoo, Doc--I mean, Shouto-kun?”

“I’d love to ink your awesome bod again, fam, but not tonight.”

Utsushimi Camie saunters out from the back, wearing her usual form-hugging dress that shows off her curves and exposed enough of the skin of her arms, legs, and chest to show off her arsenal of tattoos. She’s a beauty, a walking canvas, and you know she knows it by the way she moves. A lazy smile is on her face as she spreads her arms in front of the couple. “Hey, Todobroki and Ura-rocka~ I feel like I haven't seen y'allz for an entire day!”

“Oh… Camie-chan,” the nurse stammers. Ochako’s mouth is open wide in astonishment, as if she’s looking at an actual work of art. Shouto doesn’t have time to wonder why this bothers him before they’re simultaneously engulfed in a half-unwelcome hug (on his part only, much to his chagrin).

“Utsushimi-san is also a make-up artist,” he explains to the still star-struck Ochako, once they’re released from her embrace. “I also asked for her help for your formal wear, since I know it won’t be easy looking for one on short notice.”

He tries not to mind the way that Utsushimi is circling Ochako, looking at the smaller woman from all angles. His pretend-girlfriend doesn’t seem to be bothered by her hungry eyes, so he really shouldn’t be either. Right.

“Ya~ Really, Todobroki, you totes shouldn’t put your new day-old bae through so much trouble,” she tells him with a playful pucker of her lips, as she makes a show of fluffing up Ochako’s soft-looking strands. He sees her long, manicured claws gently brush soft, reddening cheeks. God, just stop being so flirty, won’t you, Utsushimi? She isn’t yours, she’s--

He stops that train of thought right in its misinformed tracks.

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” Ochako says with an overwhelmed laugh. “It’s so awesome of you to lend me a dress, Camie-chan! My old one’s going to stand out in a bad way…”

“Oh no, bae, you’re gettin’ new duds, ‘kay? When Todobroki texted me a couple hours ago, I just went wild and bought the nicest thing they had on the shelf.”

“Huh?” Ochako looks at him with another look of disbelief. “Shouto-kun, I can’t just--”

“It’s fine.” He promised Utsushimi that he’ll pay her back for all of Ochako’s things, plus interest for making her go out of the way. The artist texted him the prices--just a little under 100,000 yen. It’ll be no trouble at her to compensate her for her efforts.

Well, it isn’t so bad. But maybe the two of them shouldn’t tell Ochako the price. She looks distressed enough as it is. “It’s the least I can do. Don’t worry about it.” He gives her the most comforting look he can muster. He isn’t sure if it works to ease her discomfort.

“Yeah, it’s just chump change, fam! Anyways, time’s a-wasting.” She pushes Ochako towards the washroom, and finally gets her claws off of her. “Now go and wash your face, so we can start workin’ on your make-up. This is going to be lit AF!”

Dazed, Ochako can do nothing but do as the artist says. When she shuts the door to the washroom, Utsushimi huffs and turns to him. “You can go home and get ready, Bro. I got this.”

“Okay. Thanks again, Utsushimi.”

“Mhm. Always here for you, fam. You really helped me out that one time, with all those kids, after all.” There’s a mischievous smile on her face when she saunters closer to him. “You know, Todobroki...”

Her tone is a little too teasing. He rolls his eyes. “What is it now?”

A shit eating grin is on her face when she declares, “Jealousy isn’t a good look on most people, but you wear it well.”

He scowls and looks away in annoyance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She flicks the skin of his right cheek, making the thickening layer of frost that’s formed on it crack under her manicured nail.

“... shut up.” Thoroughly embarrassed and cursing his quirk, he puts his left hand over his cheek, making the ice melt. Utsushimi cackles victoriously.

“I’m not going to steal your girl, Todobroki, and from what I’ve seen, she ain’t going anywhere without you. Different story though, if you don’t treat her well. That’s all I wanna say.”

“Right.” Noble words, but at that moment, Shouto makes up his mind that Utsushimi absolutely mustn’t know about the fake-dating scheme. He won’t ever allow Ochako to fall in the clutches of her ridiculously painted claws. “I… should go.”

Without sparing a second glance, the dual-toned man leaves the parlor, with a quiet anxiety residing in his heart.

*

Shouto comes back to Illusion Inks at exactly 6:58 PM, with an ostentatious limousine that his father sent for him. He steps out and leans against the door, waiting for his date. For the meantime, he adjusts his cuff-links, his navy-blue silk tie, and smooths the contours of his dark dress suit.

He stares at himself in the mirror: he’s combed his hair back and styled it as best as he can. He doesn’t look too bad, he supposes. Although, like this, his scar is unforgivingly exposed for all to see. He doesn’t care that it is--in fact, he’d flaunt it in front of all of Endeavor’s admirers, but…

I hope Ochako won’t be too uncomfortable seeing it like this, he thinks. And then stops himself. He’s sure she has seen it before, so he shouldn’t be worrying about stupid things like that.

Yes… she’d be okay with it. They’re not really together, but somehow he’s sure. She’d be okay with what he really looks like.

Not like the rest of the world who’s come to see his father, probably. But he doesn’t care about them. And they shouldn’t care about him, an ex-pro hero who retired at the age of 17. Whose father, the top hero of the country, beat him up and bruised him up and made his mother hate him--

No. Stop. Your hands are trembling. The night hasn’t even begun yet.

Deep breaths, Shouto. His breath comes out as a fog in the humid air.

Deep breaths.

The door to the shop opens, interrupting his reverie. Utsushimi steps out, gives him a smug little smirk, and calls out over her shoulder, “Ochako? Babe? Your bae’s here, looking like an absolute snack~”

He hears her voice, bright and a little awkward and warm. “Coming~ Sorry, the dress is a little tight--”

Shouto raises his eyebrows in concern. He doesn’t know what he expects from Utsushimi’s fashion sense, and he momentarily worries that she got her a gothic-lolita type of garment, with those Victorian-style bony corsets that were notorious for making women faint. And Ochako has fainted enough for one day...

“It is not. It is perfect on you. Come on, let’s blow his mind already!” The voluptuous woman is absolutely giddy as she waits for the smaller woman to come out, and Shouto’s worry escalates.

Oh.

He blinks seeing the vision before him. He knows that logically, it can only be Uraraka Ochako, but he’s never seen this breathtaking version of her before. Her hair is done up in an elaborate bun. The skin of her face and her bare shoulders shimmered and glowed under the neon signage of the parlor. Utsushimi dressed her up in a deceptively simple tube dress, the colour of which reminded Shouto of peonies. When she moved, light reflected of it like pinpricks, giving the illusion of starlight.

Ochako looks back at him with a bashful look on her face. “Um… do I look okay?”

He nods numbly. It’s all he’s able to do. He can’t even look at anything else, much less the self-satisfied grin that Utsushimi probably has on her face at that moment.

“You look more than okay, bae! You’re like, the personification of the 100 emoji. That’s how amazing you look. Right, Todobroki?”

He nods again. Ochako’s cheeks turn a little pinker and begins to descend the steps. It’s only then that he sees the thigh-high slit on the left side, exposing a cream-coloured, toned thigh. "It's a little tight at the hips..." she mumbles bashfully.

“It is not. It is, like. Bam! Perfect gams, perfect yams, all in a pretty pink package. You can thank me later, Todobroki,” Utsushimi says, in response to his astonished silence.

“Camie-chan, stop!!!”

She giggles. “So, I guess this is where I say adios and have fun, my kids. You take care of Ochako-chan now, you hear me Shouto?”

He nods vaguely in her direction. “Okay.” He holds out his hand, and Ochako takes it easily. The soft fingerpads brush against his calluses again, making the air around him lighter.

“Ready?”

The girl nods at him, with steely determination in her wide brown eyes. “Yeah. Ready.”

They get in the limousine, swallow down their nerves simultaneously, and drive off into the night.

[dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition]

Au where Magnus accepts the offer of the Temporal Chalice

send an au

i think what always stumps me with this is. does magnus remember the BoB? i’m gonna say he does, because we love a comedy of errors. i know this is “darkest timeline”or whatever, but, listen, griffin, this is a comedy show. let me explain:

he’s taken back to the end of that final battle, and this time, he doesn’t show mercy to kalen. so fruitful & happy was the city of raven’s roost, so on, so forth. and he’s a little bit haunted over the idea of these relics being out there–what will he do if he can’t save phandolin? will noelle, bbj still die? will taako and merle survive? has taako’s show even ended yet? is lucretia gonna kill him? is refuge safe? so on so forth. but the show must go on, right?

right.

 a wedding is planned, and a gazebo is built.

and julia thinks that magnus seems… off. he’s out of it, lately. it’s probably the end of the war–he never wanted to kill kalen. he just wanted justice. he doesn’t have family that he remembers, he doesn’t even know where he’s from.

so she decides that she’ll surprise him with the one thing she’s seen that reminded him of home.

and lucretia thinks, my best friend is about to get married. i’m about to go off into what is evidently a torture chamber, per my research. even if he doesn’t remember me, even if i am saddened by it, i need to remember who i am doing this for. i need a reminder that i did something right.

so she decides to take a detour on her way to the felicity wilds and stop by a wedding.

and taako thinks, okay, i ditched sazed, duh, and i’m living my truth, but i do need to yell at magnus for fucking up the timeline. not for moral reasons, but more as just, like, a brotherly ribbing. because, uh, hey, he’s never had a sibling figure before. and then he gets a letter from a woman named julia who is from raven’s roost about catering a wedding. so, context clues, magnus is from there. magnus was married to a gal named. julie or junie or something, so this might be her.

so he takes a job.

and magnus thinks, i fucked up so bad and if julia ever finds out i did this she’ll never forgive me and this town is named LITERALLY after the goddess of the natural order of life and death and why the FUCK did i do this oh god. AND i’m an emissary of the goddess of fate. and the chalice is like. Well, Tits. This Is Day One Stuff, Magnus. and magnus is like whoever made you can choke.

cut to the wedding. it’s a lovely autumn day. and at the reception, magnus sees two familiar faces, one of whom is busy preparing a dish, and the other of whom is DEFINITELY HERE to tell him he fucked up. also holy shit she looks young. Like. 25 years younger. huh. did the chalice do that.

so julia’s talking to some cousin, and magnus runs up to lucretia like “OH MY GOD I’M SO SORRY LUCRETIA I FUCKED UP”

and lucretia’s like, “how did i not take into account the amount of dumb shit you put in your mouth.”

“What?”

“What?”

and of course, this is when taako notices, like, “HEY FUCKUP GUESS WHO FUCKED UP.  LUCRETIA DO YOU REMEMBER US? BECAUSE IF SO, AND I’M ASSUMING AS MUCH BECAUSE YOU’RE HERE, MAGNUS FUCKED UP SO BAD.”

“okay, if any of us fucked up, boys? it was me, and i’m not really sure how you are both interpreting this to be magnus’ fault.”

“don’t blame yourself for my myopia, ma’am. or as i call it. MY-opia.”

“ma’am?”

“myopia?”

enter, julia, “hey babe what’s going on?”

(magnus makes a couple of MY WIFE references that make lucretia actively wish she had fed fantasy borat to fisher.)

“ohhh-kay so i maybe defied fate and death so that–”

“okay, taako, somehow, you’ll give me a better answer about magnus’ situation, here: what the fuck is going on. also, how do both of you remember?”

“istus, probably.”

and lucretia takes a vial she was saving for her sorceror companion out of her bag, and is just like, “look, just so we’re all on even footing.” all the while julia is like “HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT SOUND WITH YOUR MOUTH.” and also “ISN’T THAT THE WOMAN WHO BROUGHT YOU HERE.”

and magnus is already drinking Lucretia’s Special Stuff, and he’s like, “aw, shit, taako, gotta try this,” and then.

well. an argment ensues, and a lot of people are staring at these three people just yelling at each other in static.

and look. from what we know about julia, she is the type of woman who WANTS a fistfight at her wedding, so by this point she’s just magnus’ hypeman, even though he’s the fucking MEDIATOR in the current part of the argument.

basically: your fault from into the woods, but it’s a wedding and taako is there.

[laurelsofhighever]

The Falcon and the Rose Ch. 16 - The Carrion Hours

It is the spring of 9:32 Dragon, and Ferelden is gripped in the midst of a bloody civil war. Driven by fear of an old enemy, the traitorous Loghain Mac Tir has stirred the people against the king, and every day new factions vie for power, waiting to take advantage of the chaos now that it is certain a new peace can only be won with swords.

In the north, Arl Howe of Amaranthine has seized control of Highever, and only Rosslyn Cousland, last scion of a slaughtered noble house, stands in the way of his greed. Aided by King Cailan’s uncle and his bastard half-brother, Alistair, she is determined to seek justice for her family’s murder and right the wrongs done to her people.

But politics is a complicated game. War has a cost; nobility comes with obligation; and beneath the machinations on both sides of the conflict, an even deeper threat stirs, biding its time to come into the light and bring Ferelden to its knees. 

Words: 5960

Chapter summary: With the battle over, Rosslyn must count the cost - and there's no word of Alistair.

Chapter 1 on AO3 This chapter on AO3 Masterpost here

posting for @alistairappreciationweek​ art in this chapter by the wonderful @junie-junette 

“My lady, please. Reconsider.”

“I said, bring me another horse!”

Rosslyn turned back to inspect Lasan’s hoof and the stone wedged in his shoe. He jerked when the hoof-pick hooked under one corner of it, but the trooper at his head kept a grip on the bridle, and she forced herself to be calm despite her awareness of every moment slipping by. The dogs were out in the dark, trailing for a scent now hours old, their eyes glowing orange where they looked up towards the western edge of the sky. The light was fading. Soon, they would only be able to see by torches, and then Howe – her vengeance – would be truly lost to her, and every life sacrificed on the battlefield would mean nothing. The evening brought a breeze that chilled the sweat on her forehead and seeped into her bones, uncaring.

Finally, she pried the stone free. They had been at full gallop when Lasan came up lame, every trooper still able to wield a sword behind them, and even the few strides he had taken to slow to a halt had been enough to bruise the soft sole of the horse’s foot. It would need treatment, or else an abscess might form, and she couldn’t ride him back or risk making the injury worse.

“And that’d be the end of you,” she said quietly to him, letting go of the hoof so she could pat him on the neck.

Her hand came away wet with blood and lather, shining black in the torchlight. The other horses were in similar shape, blowing hard and trembling with fatigue, slow targets for anyone waiting to ambush them on the road ahead, especially with riders injured and glazed from battle. At the centre of the ring of torches, Irminric watched her grimly, waiting for orders as she glared down the road. It was truly dark now.

“My lady?”

She gritted her teeth. “Recall the dogs.”

With one last look over her shoulder, she mounted the spare horse led over to her, and turned to lead the way back to the camp. Resistance dragged at her limbs like cold water, sound fell away, her head felt thick and heavy, and only the flickering lights ahead kept her path in the right direction.

As the battlefield neared, she fought the urge to gag on the smell. Soldiers picked their way through the bodies, first the Swords of Mercy looking for any last survivors, and after them the salvagers, squabbling with the crows as they searched for weapons or armour no longer needed by their owners. Some had presence of mind enough to pause in their grisly work and salute as the cavalry rode past, but Rosslyn kept her eyes forward, not daring to turn in case she found one of the endless corpse with a face she recognised.

A waste. She wondered if her parents had ever felt so hollow after a battle, if they had mourned for men whose names they would never know. Lady carry you on soft wings to more peaceful lives than the ones you left, she thought, and rode on.

Her horse shied slightly on the ice-and-wood bridge constructed over the river, but she settled it with a slight dig of her heels, distracted. There was the royal banner of the War Dog that had led the disastrous charge into the enemy’s rear, flying over a cluster of unfamiliar pavilions set in the middle of the camp. They blazed with merry light, servants buzzing around the tent flaps like moths, while all around the air was rank with the stench of blood and churned earth.

She spotted Franderel emerging from the closest one, as well-preened as ever, and her patience snapped. With a grunted order to her standard bearer, she swung off her horse, exhaustion driven away by the anger swelling in her chest. He started when she came hulking out of the dark towards him, but he recovered quickly.

“Ah, my lady, there you are, we were just starting to wonder –”

“Where is he?”

“What?”

She yanked off her helmet, teeth bared. “Do not test me, Franderel. That pestilential, nug-humping son of a pig nearly cost us the battle. Now where is he?”

“Now, my lady,” the Bann of West Hill replied smoothly, “I hardly call that civilised language. Perhaps you should calm down, before –”

“Half of my men are dead!” she shouted, flinging her arm out towards the dark. “The ground we had is lost and Howe has disappeared, all thanks to whichever fool it is decided to ignore the rules of engagement and charge blind into my ambush.” She leaned closer. Franderel flinched backwards. “Now you, my lord, will get out of my way or I swear by the breath of Winter that I will knock you down.”

“Ho, what’s this, another battle already?”

The new voice was light, jovial, completely out of place. Rosslyn snapped to face the newcomer, bristling, but stuttered to a dumb halt when she caught sight of the man’s golden armour and the War Dogs fluttering as he emerged from his pavilion. She dropped to one knee, mind racing.

“Your Majesty, I…” The apology died in her throat as she chanced a look upwards at the king. For a second, she could have sworn… She shook herself out of the fantasy, her cheeks itching red with embarrassment. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, I didn’t know it was you.”

“Oh, now none of that,” Cailan replied, offering her a hand to her feet. “We’re old friends, after all.” He smiled. “Now then, would you care to accompany me? We shall have to get you cleaned up, and fed, and maybe rested a bit – Bann Franderel, are accommodations prepared for our wayward Teyrna of Highever?”

“I believe so, Your Majesty,” came the clipped reply.

“Excellent. Perhaps you could find us some food, then – maybe a little wine?”

Franderel bowed. “It will be done.”

“I won’t rest yet, Your Majesty,” Rosslyn interrupted. “There is still a lot to be done.”

“Of course. This way.”

He tucked her arm into the crook of his elbow and Rosslyn allowed herself to be led towards the pavilion, fighting against her confusion at finding Cailan not in Redcliffe, and also against the rage eating at her like acid but which now had nowhere to go. To show anger towards the king went against every lesson in protocol she had ever learnt, especially knowing she needed his support to retake the North. Besides which, whatever remained of the army was still depending on her for leadership, and she had precious little energy to spare on anything so personal as a tantrum.

“When I heard about your family, I could hardly believe it,” Cailan told her quietly. “I’m sorry. Howe’s treachery will be redressed; you have my word. Whatever is in my power to give.”

Rosslyn suppressed the urge to grind her teeth. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

A servant stood just within the pavilion’s entrance with a pitcher of water and a clean towel draped over his arm. Cailan left her for a moment of privacy, for which she was grateful. The water, cold enough to sting, turned murky almost as soon as she dipped her hands below the surface, but a moment of scrubbing was enough to get rid of the worst of the gore, and a quick swipe of the towel across the back of her neck left her feeling remarkably refreshed.

Dismissing the servant with a gesture, she made her way through to where Cailan’s men had set up a trestle table with maps and early reports of the battle. Arl Eamon was there, still in armour and looking worse for wear with puffy eyes and deep wrinkles trailing into the edges of his beard. He bowed to her, as did Auldubard and Loren, who stood a little further back, unsure of themselves among such lofty company.

“Teagan?” Rosslyn asked.

“Badly injured, but alive,” Eamon answered in a gruff voice. “His troops took the worst of the final assault – it seems they plugged the gap so that the rest could get a better defensive line. My brother’s right-hand saw to that, I’m told.”

“Ser Alistair?” her heart jumped against her ribs, and again when she realised how her outburst must have seemed. She couldn’t afford to be distracted, not now, but the things she had said to him... the memory left a yawning darkness that made her fingers shake. “Is he alive?”

Eamon shrugged. “The messenger didn’t say.”

“I see.” Her mouth was dry. “What about Bann Telmen?”

“I saw him fall myself, my lady,” Auldubard replied. “There was nothing I could do.”

Rosslyn was grateful when Eamon took charge then. Casualty reports trickled in with inventories of items recovered from the field, names passed through the moments like sand through a glass – Morrence had survived, and Gideon, as well as most of Teagan’s captains, with only minor injuries. It soon became apparent, however, that crippled as it was, the army would have to make the best of fortifying its position instead of finding somewhere safer to rest its soldiers.

“At least until the mages can stabilise the most badly injured,” Eamon added. “The fact that we lost so many of them is unfortunate.”

“Ser Alistair’s defence made sure we didn’t lose more, my lord,” Audubard told him. “He’s the one who ordered the flank to focus on protecting them until Captain Morrence’s cavalry could intervene.”

“Did he now?” Cailan asked with an idle stroke of his beard. “This young man seems to have made an impression on all of you. What do you think, Uncle? I will have to meet him.”

Rosslyn frowned down at the table, rankled by the careless amusement in the king’s voice. “Our first decision is what to do next,” she said. “I recommend sending scouts as soon as possible along the Imperial Highway here –” she stabbed at the map – “And here. We can’t begin planning a counter-action until we know where our enemy is and how much strength he has left.”

Eamon nodded his approval. “Agreed. However, I’m afraid Arl Howe has most likely retreated to Deerswall. We sent outriders in that direction earlier today and they reported seeing Amaranthine troops digging ditches around the palisade.”

Her fists clenched. Of course Deerswall had been taken from them. Howe was opportunistic, and even with all the traps they had laid, and the garrison left to guard it, its position overlooking the road would have been too tempting to resist. They should have burned it to the ground instead.

“Lady Rosslyn?”

She jumped. Someone had asked her a question about supplies. “I – yes. We have rations enough for tonight. Requisition parties can be sent out in the morning.”

“Perhaps it’s best to leave things as they are then,” Cailan said. “We can do little more now in any case. With a bit of rest and some decent food in us, I’m sure we’ll have a brighter outlook.” He gave a subtle wave to one of the servants, and within seconds the table was being cleared of maps to make way for plates of meat pies, bread, cheese, and a jug of heated wine. “Come, my Lady Cousland, will you join us?”

Rosslyn shook her head, her mind already wandering. “Thank you, Your Majesty, but if you wouldn’t mind, I think I’d rather like to go to bed.”

“Of course,” he replied, covering his disappointment with a beaming smile. “I’m told you were up before the sun this morning, so I wouldn’t dream of keeping you. Lieutenant Mhairi,” he added, “show Teyrna Rosslyn to her quarters, if you would.”

A short, round-faced woman stepped out of the shadows and bowed crisply. “Yes, Your Majesty. This way, Your Ladyship.”

The lieutenant led the way through the camp in silence, her arms held stiffly behind her back. Rosslyn, too tired to make conversation, allowed her the mask of professionalism.

“Is there anything you require, You Ladyship?” Mhairi asked when they reached a pavilion with the standard of the Laurels dug into the earth by the entrance. “Should I call a servant for you?”

“No, thank you. I can manage well enough.”

Mhairi started to say something in reply, but was cut off when a brindle mass of fur streaked out of the pavilion’s entrance and all but knocked her over. Rosslyn barely had time to react before Cuno was rearing against her chest in a mad scramble of licks and high, whistled whines, doing his best despite the frantic wag of his rear end to climb into her arms like he had when he had been a puppy and considerably less heavy.

“I guess that means he’s pleased to see you,” Mhairi said.

Rosslyn barely heard her. She had to brace against her dog’s bulk to avoid sinking into the mud, but she held onto him tight and scratched her fingers along his shoulders and buried her face into his ruff even though it was matted with gore, until sense reasserted itself and the wriggling turned into a polite request for down, please, I don’t like heights. With a sound that was half a giggle and half a sob, she let him go, then staggered when he turned and thrust his rump against her knees.

“Fat lump,” Rosslyn accused, indulging the demand for scritches. “Thank you for your service, Lieutenant. That will be all.”

Hiding a grin, Mhairi bowed and left.

The inside of the pavilion was much warmer than the night outside. The only light came from a brazier by the central tent pole and a single candle that had been set out on a low table next to the bed, but it was enough to see by, and it offered a privacy she could not remember feeling for days. Next to the candle was a water pitcher, and a set of clean clothes was draped over her chair, though it was clear whoever had removed them from her trunk had not thought to iron out the creases. Trying not to think about what Graela’s reaction would be to seeing a shirt in such a state – or to the mess Cuno had already made of the bedsheets – Rosslyn looped the toggles shut, set up the privacy screen to block any gaps in the canvas, and carried the pitcher over to the brazier so she could wash in relative warmth.

Her shirt and breeches stuck to her skin as she peeled them off. She discarded them in a pile with her armour and followed with her smallclothes, grimacing when dried blood flaked off the cloth like rust. Shivering, she washed mechanically, letting the long, repetitive motions lull her into a trance that stripped her of everything but the need to free her skin of every single grain of dirt. Before, she might have lived with the itch of old sweat if it meant she could give in to the restless energy twining through her limbs, but King Cailan’s arrival made everything different. She felt it in the air, in the way the soldiers sat straighter around their fires and how the watchmen kept their eyes up and alert to the dark. For her, it meant her own desires needed to be an afterthought to propriety, just like on the morning she had stood on the parapet of the castle tower and watched her father ride to war without her.

Don’t think about it.

There was no helping her hair. The matted sweat and blood would take hours to wash and brush out properly, and she had no mirror to help her. It was dark, and her hair was black anyway; nobody would notice. She scooped it into a low tail out of the way and dressed swiftly in the new clothes, before easing her feet back into her only pair of boots, which she had been wearing since that morning. They squelched.

“Let’s go, dog.”

Cuno, patient until now, whined and cocked his head with a questioning wag of his stubby tail.

She sighed. “I have to know. I can’t just –” She remembered the argument, and Eamon’s dismissive shrug when she had asked. “I need to see that he’s alright.”

Nobody bothered them as they crossed the camp. The night was quieter now, the groans of the injured mostly silenced by sleep or something more permanent, and now only a few soldiers not on watch sat awake around their fires. Cuno trotted over to greet some of them, and others nodded towards Rosslyn as she passed, but on the whole they ignored her. Her place was not to comfort them, nor theirs to expect it. She kept her gaze fixed on the infirmary and measured a stately pace, hoping that the appearance of calm might inspire it in her troops, though every fibre of her being strained to break into a run and damn the consequences.

The young templar on duty outside the infirmary didn’t notice her approach. He was standing close to one of the mages, his hand resting lightly on her upper arm and his head lowered to offer comfort. The pair startled when Rosslyn whistled Cuno back to her side, and the mage flashed her a tear-stained glance from beneath a shock of dark hair before slinking away into the darkness.

“It’s been a long day for them,” the templar said, rubbing a sheepish hand along the back of his neck. “Many of them haven’t seen this kind of bloodshed before. Is there something you needed? I’m afraid the infirmary is closed to visitors until the morning.”

“I was hoping to speak to Wynne, if she hasn’t gone to bed yet,” Rosslyn replied.

“The senior enchanter? I’m afraid I don’t…” He peered more closely at her, his blond curls falling low over his forehead. “Andraste preserve me – Lady Cousland, forgive me, I didn’t realise it was you.”

She smiled wryly. “It seems to be a night for mistaken identities. Is Wynne around?”

“I’m sorry, my lady, but she retired about an hour ago. Now that the worst of the injuries have been seen to, the Knight-Captain ordered most of the mages rest for the morning. I could have a messenger run to fetch her, if you like.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Rosslyn said, already stepping past him. “As you were, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Inside, the infirmary was warmly lit by shaded lamps that hung from the crossbeams holding up the canvas roof. The air smelled of bitter herbs and the sweetness of lyrium, but underneath it lingered a strain of blood and cauterized flesh that made bile rise in the back of Rosslyn’s throat. The whole place held the kind of quiet that only comes after a storm, when the clouds roll away and the sun shines down on the broken bits of flotsam left behind. Some of the soldiers whimpered quietly as she passed.

In one corner, a group of men in Highever colours sat in a loose circle, playing a game of cards by the light of a lamp and every now and then checking on a man who lay next to them with his eyes closed and his head in bandages.

“Lady Falcon!” It was the Amaranthine deserter who had once called her father a traitor. “It’s ‘Steal the Queen’ - will ye care for a hand?” He waved her over with the cards fanned between his fingers, smiling broadly as if she hadn’t once held a sword to his throat.

“I’m afraid I play terribly,” she replied, hesitating to cross over and join them.

“Can’t be worse than Jammy over here.”

Jammy gave him a swift dig in the ribs. “Leave off, man. Me luck’s not that bad, or I wouldna be sittin’ here, would ah? Dinna fash yeself owa this’un, lass,” he added. “As ye can see, weh’ve still gotta learn ‘im some manners.”

“Take a load off, lass,” interrupted one of the others, an older man with deep, weathered lines around his eyes. “Ye look like ye could use it.”

Rosslyn couldn’t help but smile as she shook her head. “You’re very kind to offer.” Then, feeling something else should be said, she asked, “How’s your friend?”

The soldiers glanced at their unconscious mate.

“Marvin? Aye, he’ll be alreet. Got a head like a rock, that’un. Yon mageling just asked us te watch ‘im, is all.”

“I’m glad.” She turned to leave, but they called her back.

“At least have a drink before ye go, milady,” the Amaranthine soldier said. He held up a corked glass bottle. “As thanks.”

“Thanks?” Rosslyn asked, discomfited by how they all looked at her through their bandages and bruises, with a trust she didn’t deserve. “For what?”

“Weh’d all be up the cundie if not for you, lass,” said the old man. “We saw well enough what happened on the hill.”

For a moment, Rosslyn couldn’t reply. She looked down at the bottle pushed into her hands.

“Well then.” She shrugged, and pulled the cork out with a hollow pop. “What’s your name?”

“Riley, Ma’am.”

“Well, Riley, here’s to not being up the cundie.” She raised the bottle and swigged it backwards, coughing when the strong, smoky liquid hit the back of her tongue and burned its way down her throat.

The soldiers laughed when she passed it back and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I’ll leave the rest of that to you, I think.”

“What’s going on here?” The soldiers quieted as the healer in charge of the ward emerged into the lamplight, attracted by the noise. “You do know there are people here trying to heal, don’t you? They need rest. I don’t think – wait, is that a dog?”

Cuno cocked his head, his tongue hanging out of his mouth in what he no doubt thought was a winning smile.

“It’s not allowed.”

“I’m sorry?”

The healer drew himself up, mistaking the soft tone of Rosslyn’s voice for genuine confusion. “This is an infirmary – it must be kept clean.”

Her eyes narrowed, but before she could form a response, Cuno uttered a low wuff and bumped against her legs, before looking back at her expectantly with a wag of his tail.

“Dogs cannot just be allowed to wander willy-nilly around – hey, wait!”

The pulse in her ears drowned out the healer’s complaints. Cuno was keen on a scent, and glanced backwards every few steps to make sure she was following, through to the back of the pavilion until he found what he was looking for and ducked into an alcove blocked from view by a heavy curtain.

It was Alistair.

He lay without moving. A thin sheet was pulled up to cover his bare chest, a thick crust of gore caked his scalp and the left side of his face, and the skin beneath it shone pale with sweat. Was all the blood his? Someone had splinted his left arm and tied it in a sling. If he were dead, then surely they wouldn’t have bandaged his wounds, or propped him up with so many pillows for comfort. Surely.

Cuno, sensing his mistress’ uncertainty, came to lick her hand. He whined and nudged her hip when she only batted distractedly at his ears, and then with a perfunctory sneeze padded over to the bed and jumped up so that his large paws landed squarely – heavily – on Alistair’s stomach.

“Cuno!” Rosslyn hissed. She started forward, but halted again when Alistair groaned and cracked open his eyes.

“Ow, gerroff… ugh… where’d you even come from…?”

Relief hit her with such force that her knees sagged and she had to catch herself against the doorpost, her throat choked with every emotion she had kept in check since riding into the camp. He’s not dead. She squeezed her eyes shut and listened to the creak of the straw mattress, the rustle of blankets, sending her thanks to all the gods who cared to listen. He’s alive, he’s alright, he’s not dead. The barbs of their argument loomed out of the darkness, still mocking, still powerful enough to sting her with shame, but their potency was lost with the fear that he might have died thinking she didn’t care.

“Who’s a cute and adorable puppy?” Alistair crooned, oblivious to everything but the dog snuggling against his arm. The words were slurred and a laugh bubbled in her throat.

“Andraste?”

She opened her eyes. He was peering into the shadows where she stood, propped up on one elbow to get a better view. The blanket covering him slipped down to his navel, bare except for the bandages, and she quickly turned her gaze away.

“Not quite.”

His confusion broke into a drunken sort of smile. “Rosslyn?” He settled back onto the mattress. “Good. Much prettier than ‘draste.”

Her hand froze against the tearstains on her cheek. The mages must have given him a soporific – blood lotus, perhaps, for the pain of his broken arm – and it was distorting his perceptions. She didn’t know what to say.

Then, after a moment, a thought seemed to occur to him, because he leaned up again and narrowed his eyes at her. “You are real, aren’t you?” he asked. “You’re not some sort of ghost, or apparition, or – or a demon, right? Because I really, really don’t want you to be a demon.”

“If I were a demon, would I tell you?” she teased.

He relaxed. “It’s you. Nobody else mocks me like you do.”

She chuckled as she moved towards him out of the darkness, determined to ignore how her face heated under his scrutiny. “It’s me.” She fiddled with the edge of the bedsheet. “I –”

“There you are!” The healer appeared next to the curtain, more puffed up than ever now that he had been made to exert himself. “My lady, please, I’m afraid I cannot allow you back here. These patients need rest, and –”

“I thought they were here to be healed,” Rosslyn said.

“They are. Which is why I will have to ask you to –”

“Perhaps, then,” she interrupted, “you could tell me why this man is lying here still covered in blood, and still with such severe injuries?”

“My lady,” the healer replied, indignant. “His injuries have been treated, and he has been given a draught to help control the pain –”

“If he needs the draught, then his injuries have not been treated,” she snapped.

From the bed, Alistair giggled.

“Answer the question I asked,” she ordered. “Or will I have to go to Senior Enchanter Wynne to find out why it is you’re so reluctant to be helpful?”

Mention of Wynne’s name deflated the last of the man’s bluster. “M-my apologies, my lady. The volume of patients we received from the battle, we had to prioritise our time and the mages’ energies.”

“Prioritise? You seem to have enough of both time and energy spare to follow me from one end of this place to the other hissing at me like a goose,” Rosslyn said dryly. She let the healer wilt for a beat longer as he tried to think of a response, before drawing herself up to her full, commanding height. “Fetch me a bowl of warm salted water, a clean cloth, and some elfroot salve,” she ordered.

“My lady…”

“Now.”

He did as he was told, mumbling an apology as he stumbled backwards out of range of Rosslyn’s cold glare.

“It’s nice when you’re angry at someone who isn’t me,” Alistair mused before turning his attention back to Cuno. “Who’s a good dog? Yes, you’re a good dog, yes you are!”

She frowned. “You say that like I’m always angry at you.”

The healer bustled back in, keeping his head low as he laid a water bowl and a small clay pot on a collapsible table he set up by the bed.

“That will be all,” Rosslyn said when he remained hovering a few feet away, only relaxing when the sound of his footsteps retreated out of earshot. She turned and shrugged off her cloak and gambeson, laying both across the foot of the bed before rolling up her shirtsleeves.

“Um, what are you doing?” Alistair asked as she sat down. The bed was very narrow. He tugged the blanket back up to cover his chest as far as possible, for decency, suddenly light-headed and rather warm to feel her thigh laid alongside his hip. Water plinked into the bowl as she soaked and squeezed the excess out of the cloth.

“I refuse to talk to someone so unkempt,” she breezed. “It’s undignified.”

“Unkempt?” He looked down at himself, pouting. “I am not.”

“At least tell me this isn’t all your own blood.”

“I – hm. I’m not sure.” He focussed on the way Cuno was butting his head into the crook of his elbow, because the only other thing to focus on was Rosslyn’s studious frown, the way her lips parted slightly as she trailed the cloth over his forehead. It was hard to think when her touch brushed so gently over his skin. “I remember there was a big guy with an axe and an even huger moustache, and then I think someone fell on me, but I was trying to get – Teagan!”

He shot upright and yelped as the movement wrenched his injuries. The next thing he knew was Rosslyn’s hand pressing his shoulder back against the pillows.

“Lie back, or you’ll make it worse,” she instructed. “Teagan’s alive. A lot of people are, thanks to you.”

“Thanks to…? No. I didn’t really do anything.”

She rinsed the cloth. “You saved half our mages and kept our lines from collapsing even when you were overrun.” Her mouth quirked. “His Majesty is very impressed.”

“King Cailan is here?”

Panic churned in his gut. Now – now was the time to tell her everything, about his past, his heritage, every secret about who he was that he had ever kept hidden away. But the drug the mages had given him fogged his brain and fear weighted his tongue. She searched his face, watching him with the kind of patient silence that waited for castle walls to turn into ruins. A memory of Isolde offered itself up then, the pinched force of her glare as she waited for him to confess just who it was spilled paint on her favourite dress.

The image clamped his jaw shut. Rosslyn was a noble. He was a bastard. That was all they would ever be.

“I thought you sent the king to Redcliffe?” he checked, trying to turn her attention away from himself.

She snorted. “Nobody tells a king to do anything.” For a while she wound the cloth through her fingers, chewing her lips together so hard it must have hurt. “He’s the one who led the cavalry.”

“Oh.”

“Still,” she added brightly, “He’s out of Denerim, which was our main concern, and his presence has certainly put new energy into the soldiers. And as for you…” The smirk returned. “There’s talk of making you a proper field commander and everything.”

“What?” His eyes widened in mock horror. “No. no, nonoo no no no. I can’t command an army. Baaaaaad things happen when I lead.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t look at me like that. Before you know it, we’d be stranded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by – by giant nugs, and I wouldn’t have any pants. Maybe not the last bit, forget I said the last bit,” he added. “Unless…” He leaned forward, eyebrows waggling, before he could stop himself. “Are you now imagining me without any pants?”

It took a beat for her to respond. “You are a very strange man.”

“Some women would call it charm,” he retorted.

“And you’d find most of them serving drinks in taverns.”

“That’s cruel.”

Conversation faltered after that. When most of the dirt was wiped away from his face, Rosslyn shifted closer and set to cleaning out the deep gash on his cheek, wincing in sympathy every time he grimaced at the sting of the salt. It was an ugly wound, but the edges were straight enough that it ought to heal with little scarring. She had to pause every few seconds to tilt Alistair’s head back towards the light, because he kept turning to study her face no matter how she told him to hold still, and after a while it became easier just to leave her fingers resting against his jaw, with his stubble prickling against her skin.

“There, done,” she said, and leaned back with a satisfied curl of her mouth. “You look almost presentable now.”

“There’s no need to be patronising.” He watched as she rinsed out the cloth for the final time, his giddiness from the sedative and from her touch wavering when he noticed the stiffness of her shoulders, the tension in the line of her neck. “You’ve spent all this time on me, and I haven’t even asked,” he muttered. “How are you?”

“That’s a fine question coming from the man lying in a tent with at least three broken bones.”

Alistair shook his head. “What happened to Howe?”

He got no immediate answer. Instead, Rosslyn busied herself folding the cloth, the muscles in her jaw tight and her gaze turned deliberately away from him as she unstoppered the lid on the clay pot. A bitter-sharp whiff of elfroot and peppery knightsfoil caught in his nose when she scooped up some of the salve on her index finger and held it to the wound.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said.

“I’m sorry for before,” he pressed. “This morning – yesterday – whatever day it is now. There were things I shouldn’t have said.”

“Hold still.”

“Rosslyn.”

She slumped, her hand falling from his cheek to wipe the excess salve away on her breeches, turning her body away again with an unsteady sigh. Should he reach for her, try to bring her back to him? He cursed his splinted arm, and his ignorance, and his cowardice as he fought the urge to pull her closer, to trace his fingertips along her hairline, to bury his head in her shoulder and tell her in no uncertain terms how glad he was to know she was alive.

“I had him, Alistair.” She still didn’t look at him, her gaze instead softening on Cuno, who came to push his head into her lap and lick her hands clean. “He was right there, right in front of me, but…”

He realised. “You came back for us instead.”

She nodded.

“Well, err, I’m quite glad you did choose to come back,” he said, unsure of what else to say.  Tentatively, he stretched out his hand and brushed her arm. The unexpected contact made her jump; her gaze flicked between his face and the warmth of his fingers on her skin, her expression frozen in shock.

“You saved a lot of lives.”

She frowned, her words no more than a whisper. “And now all of Highever will suffer for it.” Then propriety asserted itself again, and she shrank away, leaving his hand to linger on the empty air as she reached for her discarded gambeson and cloak.

“It’s late,” she said. “You should get some rest.”

“I… of course.”

Alistair settled back down into the pillows as comfortably as possible and tried to ignore the cold squirm forming in the pit of his stomach with every brusque step she took further away from him. When she paused in the doorway to let Cuno amble past and licked her tongue over her lips, he leaned up again, hopeful for whatever she would say.

“Rosslyn?”

“I… About yesterday morning…” She shook her head, the words lost. “Forgive me.”

And then she was gone.