#Now where would they ever get the chance to talk about Nightmare peacefully...

[somegrumpynerd]

I saw your last reblog Bruh tell me what's on your mind

'Am here for you men

LET THE DEMONS OUT

DON'T LET THEM RIP YOU APART

TELLLLLL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Okay so I went to bed before I saw this and I'm not wicked 100% sure what thing I reblogged this is about (cursed timezone and bad memory I'm sorry) but you wanna hear a thing that's been on my mind?

Dream and Killer are probably the two people who know Nightmare best in the entire world.

Like, Dream was his only best friend in the world as kids, he knows all his favourite stories and flowers and animals and colours. He knows what Nightmare loves and hates and why, but he doesn't think any of it's true anymore. He wants really badly to believe the brother he grew up with is still in there but on some level he expects that brother is gone forever, so he thinks he must be the person who knows him the least.

And then there's Killer, who was the first mortal Nightmare ever spent time with willingly after the corruption. Who spent a long time as the only other being Nightmare saw outside of battle, and he learned a lot. He knows what makes Nightmare upset and what he gravitates towards, even if he doesn't know why. He knows how to talk Nightmare around, how to spin things in a way he'll understand or like better.

And I think if the two of them had a chance to talk about him and share what they know, it would show Dream that his brother is very much still here, however different he may look.

[midnightlazule]

{NSFW} Tit-fucking [Marco x AFAB!reader] (2023 KT)

Summary | Marco has always enjoyed multiple things during sexual encounters, but when a sweetheart joins the crew with a pair of tits big enough to accommodate his size, he just can't help himself.

CW | AFAB reader / she/her pronouns / tit fucking / p in v sex / oral (reader receiving and giving)

Marco was always curious, being the old man he was, he was always open to trying new things. Though in his lifetime he's experienced plenty, from pegging to going as far as to using his devil fruit as a means of giving pleasure.

But there was always this one thing that had stuck with him since the first time he'd ever tried it, and that was fucking a woman's tits. The soft yet firm feeling of them, the way they grew slick from his pre-cum, just the overall feeling of it. That was one of the things that absolutely drove him mad.

That's why he considered himself lucky when you, the sweetheart of the crew joined. He had eyes for you ever since Pops invited you into his crew, a middle aged beauty with a nice set of tits. Ones he could easily fuck if ever given the chance.

He knew getting with you was not possible by a long shot. The few times he's thought you were interested in him was turned down when he saw you giddy and happy to talk to Thatch, now he wasn't one to be overly jealous or anything, he didn't have much room for negative feelings like those.

But seeing how happy you were to talk to Thatch was a real gut twister. And he hated it, often wishing that those pretty eyes of yours would look over at him, fluttering with interest and lust.

And maybe it was his imagination when he woke up one night to you at his door, gripping onto your pajamas as you tried not to cry. You claimed it was a nightmare, he wasn't going to judge, he too had his fair share of nightmares. He was just happy you came to him about it.

You showing up to his room became a reoccurring event, whether you couldn't sleep, or another nightmare scared you awake. He always accepted you with open arms, giving you his bed while he slept on the floor no matter how much you told him you could take the floor. He wasn't about to let a beauty like yourself sleep on these hard rickety floors.

He often thought it was worth it to wake up in a little pain, joints stiff from sleeping on such a hard surface. "Let me sleep on the floor next time" you said, pestering him to stop letting you use his bed when he could just have you sleep on the floors. You were persistent about it, until one night you grabbed his sleeve, pulling him back towards the bed.

"Can you... sleep with me tonight?" He remembered the way his face flared up at the thought, and it seemed you realized way too late what those words could imply. You had apologized countless times, face a deep red as you tried to explain to him that you didn't mean sex, you meant sleeping.

That night was interesting, finding himself spooning you while you slept peacefully against him. The smell of your flowery scent was like heaven to him, he often found himself leaning forwards, trying to get a better smell of your hair. It was always met with him scolding himself for being such a creep.

There was one night in particular that was engraved in his mind, you were sleeping in his bed, pressed against him as you dreamt of something. He had a good idea what it was, hearing you whimper and moan in your sleep was not something he had on his bucket list. He had to rub one out in his private shower that night, you still didn't know.

He felt awful for that, knowing he got hard from a dream where you were getting fucked by god knows what. He secretly hoped it was himself in your dream, but that was farfetched.

All of this happened within a few weeks, and tonight he was placed on night watch. Sitting in the crows nest, his eyes wandered lazily around the open sea, lit up by the light of moon. However, his eyes didn't miss the shadow that moved about the ship, walking against the walls and seeming a little too suspicious.

He watched with narrowed eyes as the individual looked both ways before disappearing down the hallway that led towards his room. Climbing down from the crows nest, he didn't bother to use his devil fruit powers, knowing his bright flames would only alert the person sneaking their way around the deck.

Sneaking towards the hallway, his footsteps were quiet. He heard a door close, the light screech sound it made let him know that it was in fact his room. His door always made that noise, the door was put on at an angle causing it to scrape the ground unless it was lifted a bit.

He was quick with his feet, getting to the door in a flash he took hold of the doorknob, quietly turning it and lifting the door a bit off the ground he slowly opened it. It took him seconds for his eyes to land on his bed, where he saw you.

You were laying there, pants down and hand on your cunt as you played with yourself, holding his blanket up to your nose. He stood there, completely caught off guard with the sight before him, feeling his cock hardening in his pants as you mewled his name.

His. Name.

Not Thatch's. His.

He reached down, and began palming himself as he watched you, not wanting to ruin this exceptionally dirty moment. The way your back arched off his bed, the slick sounds of your fingers diving into your soaking cunt. Fuck if this was a dream, he didn't wanna wake up.

Sweet melodic sounds left your lips, ones that left him yearning for more. His cock was straining against his pants at this point, throbbing against the tight fabric. He yearned to undo his pants and jerk himself off right there in the hallway, but there was a good chance that someone would wake up and catch him in the act.

Opening up the door further, he slipped inside without you noticing, too far gone in your own pleasure to even notice the man who you were fantasizing about standing there watching you. He itched to walk up to you, dive in between those sweet thighs of yours, and eat you like you were a four course meal.

God he could only imagine how you tasted.

A high pitched whine left your lips as you tilted your head back, lolling it to the side you nearly screamed at the sight of Marco standing there watching you. It felt like time slowed down as you covered yourself with the blanket you were just shamelessly smelling.

"M-marco! I-" words couldn't form, and you felt tears prick your eyes. This feeling of shame and guilt that swirled in your stomach came in full blast. Marco said nothing as he approached you, eyes lidden, and breathing heavily.

You watched him with wide, scared eyes. Does he hate you? Is he going to hurt you for doing such things on his bed? Your worries were cast away quickly when he leaned down, you could feel his breath on your lips. "Are you alright with this?" he asked, as if he didn't just see you pleasuring yourself, calling his name and smelling his blanket.

Giving a meek nod, he pushed you back against the bed, crawling overtop of you. Smashing his lips against yours, he licked your bottom lip, asking for entrance. Opening your own mouth, you didn't miss the deep, sultry moan that emitted from his throat as he finally got a taste of you. Your lips against his, the taste of your saliva, it was all so exhilarating to him.

Parting his lips from yours, his cock throbbed painfully at the string of saliva still connecting your tongues. Fuck, the faces you were making were turning him on even further, he wasn't sure how long he'd last with you looking at him like that.

Leaning back on his knees he slipped off his jacket, reaching down and undoing his pants he hastily slipped them down, having to awkwardly kick them off his legs and onto the floor. All that was left was his boxers, which he chose to leave on for now.

His cock strained against the fabric, at least it wasn't as constricting as his pants.

Focusing back on you, he removed the blanket you were using to cover yourself, eyebrows knitted he groaned at the sight of your beautiful body covered in a light sheen of sweat. Your cunt practically dripping and tits displayed, almost asking to be fucked.

But first, he slipped off the bed, grabbing at your thighs he pulled you forwards, ignoring the yelp that sounded from the sudden movement. Sitting down on his knees at the edge of the bed, he leaned himself forward and wasted no time diving into your sweet, soaking wet cunt.

Your back arched, a high pitched noise erupting from your sweet lips at the sudden feeling of Marco's tongue against you. He lapped his tongue across your lips, sucking and moaning as he finally got to taste you.

You tasted divine, a taste he'd only ever be able to get from you, and this delicious pussy of yours. Fuck he was going to make you his.

Sucking on your clit, he brought his fingers forward and collected the mixture of his saliva and your juices, using that to lube them up before pushing them in. Back arching, you cried out at the feeling, hands gripping the bed sheets.

"Shh... don't wanna wake the others now do we?" Marco grinned, diving back in he refused to miss a single drop of your delectable juices. Your wetness was smeared all over his face, covering his lips and chin, but he didn't mind.

Continuing to finger you, he watched your facial expressions, enjoying the way you shuddered or clenched when he did something right. It wasn't long until he found that special spot of yours, the sounds you made were loud enough to wake the whole crew.

He just hoped no one did wake up, or he would be in trouble for abandoning his post for the night. But getting trouble was worth it at this point, he'd get in trouble time and time again if it meant he'd get to do this to you.

Leaving one last lick up your cunt, he removed his fingers and sucked them clean. Pulling off his boxers, he sighed, glad to no longer have it restricted by clothing. Wiping your juices from his face, he used it as lube, pumping his erect cock. He chuckled, looking at your expression as you stared, "what? too big-yoi?" he joked.

"A.. little" you said softly, giving him a nervous smile, "don't worry, love, I'll make sure you're lubed up enough" he winked at you, though he wanted to ask you a question, he didn't want to pass up the opportunity to finally fuck you. He was positive you'd be wondrously tight, hugging his cock while your walls clenched and throbbed around him.

He shuttered at the thought, motioning for you to move back a bit, he crawled overtop of you. "I'll go slow, if it hurts let me know" he pecked your cheek, a sweet but simple gesture. Rubbing himself against your slick lips, he reveled at the feeling of you coating the underside of his cock.

It took one smooth motion for his tip to enter inside of you. A deep groan sounded from him, feeling your cunt practically dragging him inside with each throb. It was hard for him to not slam into you, wanting to mercilessly pound you into the mattress while you moaned his name.

"Please.. Marco" you whined, no longer wanting to wait. Any self control he had melted away, snapping his hips forward, the both of you groaned out. Grabbing your hips, he started at a rough pace, eyebrows knitted in concentration and pleasure. You wrapped your legs around him, feeling his cock deep inside of you, you could've sworn he hit your womb with how large he was.

It was hard trying to stay quiet, it was already embarrassing having Marco catching you, it would be even more so if the whole crew woke up to your pleasured screams. You wouldn't hear the end of it from the others.

"Fuck, you keep clenching around me like that, and I'm not gunna last much longer" Marco moaned, tilting his head back. Deciding that this was his moment to ask, he leaned forward, rutting against you while he hovered over your face.

"Tell me, ___, how would you feel about me fucking your tits?" he asked, figuring it was now or never to get a chance at enjoying his cock between your large breasts. It was hard for you to answer, eyes rolling to the back of your head as he continued to rut against you. This man was a treasure no doubt, giving you everything you needed to cum all over him.

Your words caught in your throat, feeling the tight coil in your lower abdomen snap. The sudden feeling of you fluttering around him caught him off guard, his hips stuttered, his own orgasm coming much quicker than he anticipated, he grew desperate, wanting to know your answer.

Pushing your breasts together for him was answer enough. Slipping out of you, he straddled your chest, shoving his cock in between your tits, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Fuck you felt amazing, the softness of your chest against him, it was something out of a dream.

His brain nearly stopped when you raised your head, sticking out your tongue and rolling it over his tip each time he thrusted forward. A deep, broken groan rumbled in his throat, his thrusts stuttered as he released over your face. Taking a moment to breathe, he sat there, giving a few more small pumps forward before almost collapsing while still straddling you.

Feeling your soft hands curl over his thighs, he gave a quick apology before climbing off of you. Looking down at your face, he had to admire his work for a moment, god you looked wonderful like this, covered in his cum, eyes lidded.

"Here- let me get you a towel" he chuckled, grabbing a couple towels from his bathroom. Handing you one, he let you clean off your face. Using the other one to clean you up down below, he couldn't help but stare. You really had one of the greatest looking pussies he'd ever seen.

"Marco?" Your voice brought him out of his thoughts, looking up at you he gave you a questioning hum. "Would you... like to do this again sometime..?" you asked, it seemed like you believed this was a one time thing.

A sultry laugh left Marco's lips, "I'd like to do it every night if I'm being honest" he winked, earning a relieved smile from you.

Though that smile quickly faded when you heard Whitebeards booming voice call out for Marco, who's face paled. "Get dressed and sneak out a little later after I leave, alright?" he winked, "also, don't feel bad for any punishment I might receive, being able to spend this night with you was far worth it-yoi" he chuckled, giving you another wink.

Getting dressed, he left the room, shutting the door behind him. You sat there on the bed, smiling like some school girl who's crush admitted to liking them back.

You looked forward to your next encounter with him.

[theromandaniels]

I know better than anyone. Truthfully, in that moment Roman zoned out, because it was all getting very 'me, myself and I' for his liking. Merely snorting at her answer about visiting Harrison's grave in response, Roman bit his tongue, deciding not to share his theories about her visits to his friend's final resting place not exactly being out of respect for Harrison or his family. "11th June 2019." And all the nightmares Harry had appeared in ever since that night.

It was strange, that she was trying to use serving him food as some sort of power play (at least, that's how he took it) as if serving him a meal he didn't want from her now or ever would do or mean something. "I'm not hungry." Was all he gave her, silently adding that if he were he'd be in the restaurant attached and not at the bar.

In fact, why the hell was he still here? Letting this stranger who didn't know him or Harrison talk at him like she was the leading expert, like she knew everything about the dynamic of Amethyst because she was fucking the pianist of the band. It was clear by the way she was waffling on that her Elijah — and even he sounded like a cunt — was extremely different from the man five years ago, or the man ten years ago. What did she think was going to happen anyway, if Roman turned around and decided Eli wasn't a useless sack of meat who was clearly being powered by some worm-like parasite lodged deep in his brain; that everything would be flowers and rainbows? That it'd change the last few years? That Roman's hand would get better? "Well, I don't care." It was petulant, and not the best comeback, but at least it was honest. He punctuated his statement by putting a few bills on the bar top and sliding off his seat.

"How about I don't seek out Elijah, he doesn't seek me out. Same with you and me? We live our lives peacefully or whatever, and you keep out of things that don't concern you." Silently, he wanted to request her to stop visiting Harry's grave too, but the only people who'd only be able to grant that would be his family. But, he'd take what he could at least. Without waiting for any confirmation, Roman left her, finding Ophelia and her friend where they had moved to grant him some privacy. When saying goodbye to them, he leaned in close to his sister, threatening her with disownment if she ever spoke to Nilay fucking Bailey about Roman, on the off-chance she was approached.

He'd have to go back to O'Shea's, because at least Leon knew how to keep out of it.

End.

"That's not true. Not even in the slightest bit. I told you: I'm an archaeologist. I know better than anyone that the opinions of the dead still matter, whether they've been gone since the Bronze Age or less than a decade." Sure, Nilay never knew Harrison personally. But she was a researcher. And ever since Eli told her more about the Amethyst front man, she did what she does best: she researched. Every video, every interview, every photo, every social media post, every article; She dug and she dug as she did everything she could to learn more about the man. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to understand who he was and what he's left behind in the world. She wanted to understand why Elijah fell in love with the man in the first place. And... She's been able to understand some. But not entirely. She knew that she needed to ask her boyfriend, but, considering how much with everything else he's been hesitant on talking to her about? She had better luck with her research. "At his grave yesterday," she answered matter-of-factly. "I've been visiting him for awhile now." At first, it was to chew him out for haunting Eli and to blame him for all this chaos. Then... Over time, she began to ask him for help. To talk to him about everything and what she needed to do. In an odd way, it's become... comforting. She didn't feel like she could talk with the living about this mess; Talking to Harrison's ghost, even though he couldn't talk back, has lighten her heavy heart. "When's the last time you spoke to him?"

What a fucking prick, she thought once she saw his smirk. If there was something that she absolutely hated, it was someone underestimating her. No matter what it was, it brought her back to when she was a scared little girl unable to protect herself, whether it was from one of her more horrible foster families or one of her old bullies in university. Only this time, she was capable of protecting herself. "What're your dietary restrictions? If you won't have dinner with the both of us, let me make you something in the kitchen right now. One that won't require any kind of utensils yet is still fulfilling."

Nilay stared at him for a moment. Until, finally, she let out a soft scoff. Though, there was also a hint of a laugh there. And soon enough, she laughed again, shaking her head as she looked away from the former bassist for a moment. "Oh, god, the stories I could tell you," she said, sighing before taking a drink. She thought back to the days of her pregnancy with Rhia. How Elijah got so scared and wasn't sure if he wanted to be a father or not that he left, couch-hopping at some of his friend's places for a month and a half. How they barely saw each other during that time, only twice: once, in which she was able to get him to stay at home for a night and then the other being the day they found out she had placenta previa again and he came back home permanently. "You're not the bad guy in this situation, Roman. No one is. Not even Eli, even though I do agree that it's unfair of him to not recognize that it was wrong of him to do that. But the Eli I know and love, the Eli that I've been watching grow these past four years, is capable of realizing that. You don't want to talk with him? Fine, I can't force you to. But don't you dare sit there and tell me what Elijah is or isn't capable of, because I can assure you that he is more than capable enough. And he will recognize that he's in the wrong. He has plenty of times before in the past throughout our relationship; He will again this time." Her partner was a stubborn man. But she believed in him. And lucky for Roman, Antonio, and Kaya, she had enough faith in Elijah for all of them.

📜@theromandaniels

[seidenbros]

Im sorry if this is too intense of a request, but I’ve been going through something lately and could use the comfort. Could you do a Eddie/fem!reader where they’re in a relationship and Eddie finds out your previous boyfriend was abusive?

Hello love! I'm really sorry to hear that, and if you ever want to talk, my inbox is always open, just so you know. If you just want to get something off your chest or want a shoulder to lean on: I'm here! That being said, I pushed this up on my to-do-list and just finished it (it's not beta'd though) So that you can hopefully get some comfort out of this and I didn't go too dark in some parts.

Requests are open | prompt lists for inspiration | Stranger Things Masterlist

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!Reader Word count: 2598 something Warning/Tags: angst, hurt/comfort, domestic abuse, child abuse (mentioned), scars, violence, fluff in the end, Wayne Munson being our hero again (let me know if I missed something) Read on AO3

Two months. For two months, you’d officially been Eddie’s girlfriend now, but you’d met even before that, had gotten to know each other better, before he’d made a move and asked you out on a real date. At first, you’d been a little reserved, the memories of your ex-boyfriend still very vivid in your head, and they even haunted you at night, but Eddie had been so sweet, and hadn’t given up, so you’d agreed. After all, you’d already spent your afternoons together studying.

That was how it all had started, because you’d been paired up for a project. You’d started talking about a whole lot more than just the project. While you’d gotten some mix tapes from Eddie to give a listen to, he’d gotten a book from you that he had to give a chance. Sure, you knew that nothing would live up to The Lord of the Rings, but it was still one of your favourites. In the end, you’d told him that you’d go on a date with him if he read the book. The next day, he’d stood in front of you, book in hand and had started a whole conversation about it.

“Pick you up at seven tomorrow night,” he’d said when he’d left and ever since then, you’d spent pretty much every day together, still getting to know each other better, and falling deeper in love with each other. Still, there was a lot you hadn’t told him, but Eddie was patient.

While you loved feeling his hands on your skin, you hadn’t gone any further. You always tensed up when you felt his hands closer to the clasp of your bra. Not because you didn’t want this, but because of the memories that haunted you. Eddie always picked up on it, always told you, that you didn’t need to rush anything, but you couldn’t blame him for trying.

You’d slept over at his trailer a couple of times, had slept in his arms, or had at least tried to do so, but you were always scared that you’d wake up from the nightmares. So instead you’d stayed awake most of the night, had watched him sleep peacefully. Deep down you knew that Eddie would never hurt you, but that little nagging voice in your had told you that you’d thought the same about Luke. Until he’d raised his hand for the first time, until he’d done it again and again, had treated you like you were one of his belongings, not a human being. At one point, you’d gotten out, but only because he’d found some other girl that he’d liked more. You only hoped that he wouldn’t treat her the same way he’d treated you.

Luke was your past, not your present anymore, and it was a good thing that he’d left the school last year so that you didn’t have to see him anymore. Too bad, he hadn’t taken the memories with him. The scar close to your left temple would always remind you of him anyway.

Today, you’d spent all day outside, and were absolutely exhausted when you eventually lay in bed with Eddie, his arms wrapped around your middle, holding you close to him.

“You need your sleep, sweetheart. You can hardly keep your eyes open.” Eddie smoothed a hand over your hair before he pressed his lips to your forehead.

“I’m alright,” you whispered against his chest, stifling a yawn. You knew that you needed your sleep, but you were also afraid that you’d wake up drenched in your own sweat, yelling, because that had happened before. Your Mum had been by your side in no time, but even she didn’t know what had happened with Luke. You’d told her some sorry excuse that you’d tried to skateboard, because it had looked like so much fun, but you’d fallen off. You’d had to tell her something when the hospital had called her to pick you up.

“Sure you are.” You could hear the smirk in his voice, heard some rustling, before you looked up. “Just relax and I’ll read you something, ‘kay?”

How were you supposed to say no when he was holding your favourite book, the one you’d given him, that had led up to your first real date? He wasn’t even finished with the first page when you fell asleep with your head nestled on his chest.

It didn’t take long until you heard Eddie’s soothing voice, but it still held a hint of panick.

“It’s okay, it’s me, Y/N! It’s me, it’s Eddie!”

“No, no, no, no, no!” You mumbled still half asleep when your eyes suddenly opened, because you couldn’t move your hands anymore, hands wrapped firmly around your wrists. “LUKE, NO! Let me go!” You pushed yourself away, ripped your hands free and pressed your back against the wall behind you, chest heaving because you were breathing so hard. Your eyes needed a moment to adjust to the darkness in the room. Deep down, you knew where you were, but your nightmare was still so vivid, that it was hard to really comprehend what was going on.

“It’s not Luke, it’s Eddie,” he spoke to you again, keeping his hands up so that you could see them. His voice was still steady, but he was careful not to move too quickly. “It’s okay, you’re safe here!” While he didn’t yet know what had happened to you, he had a pretty good idea what might have caused your reaction.

“Ed… Eddie?” you whispered with a trembling voice, a sob ready to break out of you any moment now, and when he really came into focus, when you realised where you were that you were really safe, the tears started flowing. Eddie didn’t know what was the right thing to do now, whether you needed him to stay away or wrap his arms around you, so he just opened his arms for you, but stayed where he was to give you some space.

“I’m right here, sweetheart. Tell me what you need!” He wanted to help you, but he didn’t know how, but he was more than relieved when you threw yourself into his arms, curled up on his lap and buried your head in the crook of his neck. Eddie gently wrapped his arms around your body, placed both of his hands on your back and rubbed them slowly up and down. He could feel your tears against his skin, and he just held you in his arms, letting you cry your heart out, because it seemed like it was just what you needed.

You had no idea how long you’d been sitting there until you were finally able to raise your head again and look at him.

“I’m so sorry…” Your voice was hoarse from sobbing, which led up to a few hiccups. Your hands came up to rub at your eyes, brush the remaining tears away, because you were slowly calming down, feeling utterly safe in Eddie’s embrace.

“You don’t have to apologise, princess.” Eddie brushed his knuckles across your cheek, let his hand drop to take ahold of yours then. “You scared me there, but I’m more worried about you than anything else.” 

Your eyes landed on his chest, where you saw the damage you’d done. There were scratch marks from your fingernails that hadn’t been there when you’d gone to sleep.

“I hurt you.”

“That’s nothing, really,” he reassured you, raising your hand to kiss each knuckle, hopefully calming you down a little more. “You were whispering in your sleep and then you started yelling and flailing your arms around. I was just worried about you.”

“Still… I’m sorry about this.” You touched your fingertips to the scratches as if to soothe them. You never wanted to hurt him, but now you had, even if you hadn’t really been in control of your own body.

“No more apologies, okay?” Eddie leaned forward to brush a kiss over your nose, not really sure whether it was okay to properly kiss you right now or not. He didn’t want to overstep any boundaries and make you feel safe here with him. A nod from you made him smile again. “Do you want to talk about it?” He felt you tense up a little bit again, which made him add: “You don’t have to. Just know that I’m here to listen, alright?”

No, you didn’t want to talk about it, but you felt the need to say it out loud. You wouldn’t heal if you kept this to yourself and pulled away from Eddie. You’d realised that you loved him, but hadn’t been able to tell him that yet. You hadn’t found the courage to speak the words.

“It’s just…” you started, but needed to take a deep breath, before you kept on talking. Honestly, you didn’t even really know where to start. “My ex…”

“Luke,” Eddie provided, because he wanted you to use his name, because it was one person who’d done this to you. He didn’t yet know what exactly, but he was prepared to find out.

“Yes…” You wet your lips with your tongue, eyes firmly on his chest, because you couldn’t look him in the eyes. Your hands still in his, the one thing you were holding onto, that was grounding you somehow. “I don’t even really remember when it started, but when he didn’t like what I had to say… he raised his hand.” Another deep breath, trying to push away the memories. “And then it happened more frequently… One time he hit me again and again and I ended up in hospital. That’s how I got this scar.”

You disentangled your hand from his, pushed the hair away from your temple and showed him the fine scar. Your eyes closed, when his fingertips touched the delicate skin. In the next moment, you felt his lips there, just a soft brush, but it still managed to make your lips curl up into a smile for a moment.

“And you didn’t tell them.” It wasn’t a question, and there was no judgement in his words, it was just what happened most of the time, and he knew what he was talking about.

“I told my Mum that I tried to skateboard and fell.” Your mother had believed you, or had at least not asked any more questions, so you’d never talked about what had really happened up until now.

“Yeah, we tend to do that,” Eddie said softly, which got your attention.

“We?”

Now, it was Eddie’s turn to sigh. He took your right hand and guided it through his hair to the back of his head, where you could feel a small scar, your fingers gently stroking over the skin.

“There were multiple reasons why I ended up living with my uncle. That’s one of them.” It hadn’t been the first time it had happened, but the last, because as soon as Wayne had found out, he’d taken the steps to get Eddie to live with him.

“Oh Eddie…” Cradling his face in your hands, you captured his lips in a soft kiss. Thinking about little Eddie going through this… it broke your heart, but it made you appreciate everything Wayne did and had done even more. He was a saint, really.

“It’s been years, but I’ve had nightmares as well.”

“How… did you deal with it?” you asked quietly, leaning your forehead against his, closing your eyes. Your hands dropped to his chest, feeling his heart beat beneath them, reassuring you that he was here, that this was real and everything else had really just been a nightmare.

“I talked about it.” Eddie put his hands on your waist to pull you close again. “I know how that sounds, and I didn’t open up at first as well, but Wayne was always there, listening, and once I talked about it with him, the nightmares ceased.” His thumbs brushed over your waist, before he pushed them to your back, rubbing soothing circles all over it. “They come back occasionally, but they are not as terrible anymore.” “What’s changed?”

“I’ve got people in my life that love me… and that I love.” Eddie brushed your nose with his making you look into his eyes. “People I trust.” His lips ghosted over yours before he pulled back slightly to look at you.

“I do trust you.” Your voice was soft, quiet, but he heard every word, and it filled him with pride. “And I… And I love you.” There, the words you’d been too afraid to speak were out now, but after tonight, after you’d finally been able to talk about what had happened, you felt so relieved that you had to tell him.

“If that wasn’t clear before, I love you, too. You belong to these people that make my life a whole lot better.” Eddie leaned down and kissed you. A proper kiss this time that lingered, that touched your soul and made you crave even more.

“I should have told you sooner.”

“No.” Eddie quickly shook his head and sat up a little more. “You needed your time, and that’s perfectly fine. Just know that I’ll always be right here to listen, sweetheart. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there.”

“Stop, or you’ll make my cry again!”

“As long as you’re not crying in pain or fear… it’s a good sign, right?”

“Yeah, probably,” you had to admit as you wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him close again, connecting your lips with his in a sweet kiss. For a moment, you stayed just like this.

“I just have one question,” Eddie broke the silence, framing your face with his hands again so that he could look in your eyes. “That no good bastard… where is he?”

“Not in Hawkins anymore. He graduated last year and left the town as quickly as possible.”

“Good.” “Why you asking?”

“Just thought I’d give him a piece of mind, defend your honour and shit.” Eddie grinned at you, gave your waist a gentle squeeze.

“You’re an idiot,” you said with a laugh, shaking your head. It was the sweetest and at the same time the dumbest thing he’d ever told you, because you really didn’t want him anywhere near Luke, because he’d only get into trouble. But that he wanted to defend your honour was something right out of a book or a movie, and so sweet, you simply had to kiss him.

“Yeah, your idiot, don’t forget that!” he whispered against your lips, before he sealed them with his again.

No, no that was something you definitely wouldn’t forget. He was yours and you were his in the best way possible.

“How about you get some sleep now? You must be exhausted.”

“Yeah… I am.” The nightmare had been draining enough, talking about it had done the rest, but at least, you were feeling a lot more relaxed now, relieved even. “What about you?”

“Oh, I’ll just watch over you for a bit until I’m sure that you’re sound asleep and no nightmares will haunt you for the rest of the night.”

You had no idea how he wanted to achieve that, because he couldn’t control what you were dreaming, but it worked. No more nightmares woke you that night, and ever since opening up to Eddie, the nightmares were becoming less and less. You’d always carry the scars on your body and soul, but now you had someone who understood you, someone you trusted, and someone who’d do anything to protect you.

Tag-list: @violetpenguinkris @tellhound @ghosttownwherenoonegoes @spideyanakin-interacts @bellamy-barnes @beepisbeep @snapefiction @hardysbitch

Let me know if you want to be tagged for this series, or Eddie stuff in general 💚 

[anangelwhodidntfall]

After Hours I: Johnny “Coco” Cruz

Mayans MC Masterlist 

word count: 914

description: Inspired by After Hours by The Weeknd

Thought I almost died in my dream again (baby, almost died)

Fightin' for my life, I couldn't breathe again

Coco jolted awake shaking and covered in sweat from another nightmare a few nights ago when he saw his life flash before his eyes. A run had gone wrong which ended up with Coco pushed onto his knees as a gun was shoved into his mouth, he never prayed so hard before that night especially since he still regretted the way things ended between you two and wanted a second chance to make things right with you.

I'm fallin' in too deep (oh)

Without you, don't wanna sleep (fallin' in)

'Cause my heart belongs to you

I'll risk it all for you

I want you next to me

Whenever things got too heavy with the club Coco could count on you being there for him no questions asked even if you wanted to ask them. He hardly slept before you came into his life but that all changed when you started staying over, he got used to your peacefully almost dead-like presence beside him every night.

Coco knew from the moment he laid eyes on you that you were it for you and would do anything to make you happy. God, he missed you so much right now and wished that you were here beside him to help him instead of at your friend's house.

This time, I'll never leave

I wanna share babies

Protection, we won't need

Your body next to me

Is just a memory

Before he broke up with you, you two had talked about starting a family of your own as you both thought you were ready for that next step in your relationship but once again Coco let his insecurities get the best of him so he went out and did something he regrets more than anything.

He looked over at the side of the bed where you used to sleep and let out a disappointed sigh, he missed you more than anything. He missed the way your body automatically curled into his whenever he came home late at night, he missed waking up to having your hair all over him, he missed the way that you would reach for him in the middle of the night when you couldn't sleep, but most of all, he missed those early morning/late night talks that you two used to have.

I'm fallin' in too deep, oh

Without you, I can't sleep

It's on me, all on me, oh

Talk to me, without you I can't breathe

My darkest hours

Coco couldn't sleep without you here beside him and he had no one to blame for that but himself.  This is the worst insomnia that he ever experienced, He needed you here with him so badly, but he got scared and insecure about his future with you and instead of talking to you like he promised, he pushed you away so that it would be easier for you to leave him.

Girl, I felt so alone inside of this crowded room

Different girls on the floor, distracting my thoughts of you

I turned into the man I used to be, to be

Put myself to sleep

Just so I can get closer to you inside my dreams

Didn't wanna wake up 'less you were beside me

A week after he ended things with you, Coco went back to his old ways of hooking up with a different girl every night in hopes that he would stop thinking about you but that was no use because every time he closed his eyes, you were there and there. So now he was drinking himself to sleep because that was the only time he saw you and didn't plan on waking up until you were there beside him.

I just wanted to call you and say, and say

Oh, baby, where are you now when I need you most?

I'd give it all just to hold you close

Sorry that I broke your heart, your heart

A few nights later he still wasn't sleeping so he grabbed his phone unlocked it staring at your face smiling back at him before he went to his contacts and pulled your name up. He sat there with his finger hovering over the call button debating whether or not he should call you before just deciding to.

The phone rang a few times where he prepared himself just in case you actually picked up the phone but he figured you wouldn't since you had answered any of his calls or texts since you two had broken up. He was kinda disappointed when it went to your voicemail but decided to pour his heart out to you.

"I know you hate me right now but I just need you to know that I love you more than anything baby and how sorry I am for breaking your heart. I was scared that you would wake up one day and realize that you deserve so much better than me because you honestly do, I'm not good enough for you. I just wanted you to know that I may be an ass 95% of the time but I love you more than anything and would do anything to see you smile even if that means living without you, I hate that your not here beside me anymore. I just miss you so much Amour." He says as the tears streamed down his face.

[tommyspeakycap]

omgg write something about playing or braiding jack’s hair

oh em gee I love this !!!!! I loved his hair braid too omg

Jack had a very specific barber he liked to go to to get the same quality haircut he always got. He trusted that specific barber and his appointments were always made in advance to absolutely ensure he could get it done the way he liked by whom he liked at the right time so it never got overgrown or hard to manage. Jack was very specific about his hair and about keeping it the way he liked it to be. It was part of his image, part of him really. The Brummie boy hated when anyone else touched it. Be that joking team members giving his head a teasing push or his dad ruffling his hair each time he walks in the door, it irks the living daylights right out of him.

So it seems as though it’s Jack’s own personal nightmare now the barbers are shut with absolutely no sign of opening up for at least another month and Jack can’t seem to take one minute more of training with his hair getting all up in his eyes, dropping into his face and blowing wildly in Birmingham wind even with a headband in. It is driving him absolutely insane. It’s all he can think of in this moment.

And that is because he currently has your fingers tangled in it completely absentmindedly as he lays in between with your legs with his legs stretched out along the L section of the L shaped couch. Your eyes are fully focussed on the storyline evolving throughout an old episode of Greys Anatomy. Jack’s arms are around your torso as his head rests comfortably on your lower stomach with his eyes peacefully shut. He would usually engage in the TV with you, but the preseason after an unexpected break that had him doing less exercise than he definitely should have been doing had him absolutely shattered.

It was rare for even you to touch the locks he took so laughably serious, but it felt like the most soothing experience he’d maybe ever had to feel the gentility of your finger massaging over his scalp in the most relaxing manner he’d ever known. Even his sports massages after long matches weren’t this relaxing.

“Mmmhm, feels so good.” He murmurs, his voice ticking your stomach as he speaks against it, the sigh that leaves him making you giggle in response. “So annoyin’ in training.” He adds tiredly, but not lacking in the obvious irritation he feels towards it. Jack tends to feel a lot and often, and even seemingly small things like his hair getting in the way of his play was unimaginably irritating for him.

“I could cut it?” You suggest.

“Yeah,” he snorts, “And end up like the poor dog? I’ll pass love.”

“Aw come on! It wasn’t that bad.” You retort

“He looked like a street rat with curls, sweetheart.” He laughs, despite the disappointment he feels for your hands leaving his hair for the first time since he lay down tonight.

“Cheek.”

“Sorry baby.” He lulls, finally looking up at you for the first time, lifting his face to offer you a smile that strained him. Holding his head up like that was too much for his already tired muscles, so he’s quickly laying his head back to its resting place. You can’t think of anything else to retort with, knowing full and well the incredibly poor state of affairs that occurred in your household three weeks into Lockdown 1 after you attempted to give the dog a haircut out of pure boredom and lack of open dog grooming services. The state of affairs being Jack crawling to the bathroom on his knees and one hand with the other hand holding onto his crotch because he was trying so hard not to wet himself from laughing at the poor pup who looked so confused that his dad hadn’t been able to greet him as normal when he returned from the weekly food shop.

Jack very nearly did piss on your good cream carpet that day, so it was fair for him to not trust your barber skills either. Especially being the way he is about his hair.

“You know the old episodes make me miss Derek.” You announce after a moment of only the television speaking between the two of you.

“He the one with the hair?” Jack mumbles. You snort a laugh.

“They’ve all got hair, Jack. Go on, say it then?”

“Fine,” he huffs indignantly, “The one with the good hair.”

Your giggle makes his heart erupt into butterflies that dance through his stomach and chest just like it does every single time he gets to be lucky enough to hear it. Jack doesn’t like to admit when others have hair he likes. He prefers to live in a world where his hairstyle is simply the best, and truly he usually does. He tends to live in his own world anyway. The world where his hair is fantastic, he gets to do what he loves for a living and come home to you each and every day. That’s his world and fucking hell does he love that world.

In reality though, part of that world is that however fictional Derek Shepherd may be, his hair is fantastic and always looks rather immaculate. Something Jack can’t quite relate to at this current moment in time. “You know this episode is kinda about his hair,” you note softly, hands smoothing back over your boyfriends brown locks. He knows by the tone of your voice that you’re going to go into more detail about the episode currently playing through on Amazon Prime TV. Some people may well have been annoyed listening to their girlfriends recounting entire episodes of TV shows that they weren’t exactly inclined to watch, but Jack was not one of those men. He didn’t care what you were talking about, just the sound of you talking was enough to make him listen intently. He loved to hear you talk, and if that was the only thing that he ever got to hear for the rest of his life then he’d still be happy.

“They adopted a little girl and he hasn’t quite figured her hair out yet but everyone’s shocked ‘cause his hairs pretty good. Like you, a little. You got good hair, just haven’t learned to manage it yet eh?” You explain, weaving your fingers in and out of those stands of hair that make him hum in both understanding and enjoyment. He isn’t sure what you’re doing, but the weaving of stands, pads of your fingers dancing over his scalp carefully, softly feels like what he might imagine heaven to be. “Yeah?” He asks, “And what does he do then?” His voice is filled with genuine interest for what you were saying. It was the first time you’d ever known that in a relationship. He heard you snigger softly to yourself. “He learns from someone who knows a bit more about hair than he does.” You state pointedly, prompting him to roll his eyes even if you can’t see him.

“I’m not letting you cut my hair, (y/n). Not happening, I’m sor-“

“Alright, Jack. I bloody know! That’s not what I meant.” You grumble. Jack can immediately imagine your disgruntled pout already, with those irritated narrowed eyes and the playful scrunch of your nose. “Sorry.” Every time he sees that look on you, he moves to kiss that furrow out of your nose. It makes his heart smile each and every time he sees it. You are simultaneously the most beautiful, more adorable and hottest woman he has ever laid his eyes on. “Sorry baby,” he reiterated, “Go on.”

“I could braid it for you?”

That earns a belly laugh from him that reverberates through your body, jostling with the force of his whole body laughter. “So you will,” he bellows in breaks between the ever comedic gasping from breath after each loud laugh. “Not a chance.”

He pushes himself up to sit back on his knees, trapping your legs between his as he looks down at you with a huge grin still stretching his lips and creasing his eyes, yet they still sparkle in adoration for you. “Oh yeah?” You muse with a giggle to follow despite the firm attempt to seal it behind clenched lips. The giggle sets those dimples into your cheeks, his eyes just drinking you up as you lounge back on the huge couch there in front of him, sinking back into the pillows just like he had been sinking against you in comfort for hours only moments ago. “Yeah.” He repeats firmly, the playful jest of his words not lost on your ears as he leans forward.

With the emission of only a small, surprised yelp from you that turns the head of the dog in his bed for only a moment, Jack has grabbed your legs to tug you down so you were laying flat on your back on the L of the sofa. He leans over you, hands and strong arms keeping him above you with ease. “Realllly?” You tease, one eyebrow quirked. Jack loves it when you do that, mostly because he can’t and he finds it beautifully funny.

Your hands reach up to his face, cupping over the beard on his cheeks to bring his face down to peck his lips before letting him press back up like a simple press up over your body. This was a common occurrence between the pair of you and Jack had always loved to show off. “Not cuttin’ about with a braid in my hair baby, sorry.”

He dips down for another kiss and you break out another giggle that parts your lips from his. “You already are, bub.”

“Ya what?” He pops straight up, sitting again back on his knees. “Not falling over your face now eh?” You taunt with a cheeky grin that makes him furrow his brows. Jack removed his hands from beside you to run one after the other over the top of his hair, a weird mix of a grin and disbelief washing over his face. Your sweetheart smile warms his heart as you lay there looking up at him with tired eyes and a lazy smile, cheeks flushed and one of his old cotton shirts keeping you warm long after his body raises from yours.

“Wait there!” He yells, bounding off the couch to all but leap through the living room until he reaches the mirror in the hall just outside the door. “Babe!” He cheers through the house, appearing back in the doorway of the room. “Nah it’s kinda cool, you fuckin’ smashed that!” You sit up and turn around towards him with your hand covering your mouth in a giggle that makes him stride forward and tug your hand away so he can see that beautiful smile. He jumps back again. “And look; stays in when I move around like-”

An immediate howl of laughter breaks out of your mouth with your head tipped back in hysterics as you watch him run on the spot, jump on the spot and then shake his head around like your puppy when he had a cone on his head. You laugh so hard your laughter looses its noise, simply existing as a elongated wheeze and a sudden gasp for desperate air to aid and allow for only more laughter. “Why you laughing for?” He yells, his words split by his own laughter as he tugs you to your feet, standing taller than him when your on your feet on the couch. Jack wraps one arm around your waist and moves the other down to the bend of your knees to sweep your legs from beneath you, perching you on the edge of the back of the couch.

“It,” kiss, “is,” kiss, “perfect.” Kiss.

“Just like you, baby.” He rumbles lowly, “Perfect just like my girl. Gonna wear it to training. Keep hair out my face, remind me of you, perfect.” He just keeps talking, keeps praising you between kisses while he brings you closer and closer to him until you can wrap your legs around him. Locked in place, he takes your face in his hands.

“So you’ll let me braid it again?” You chime, eyes lighting up. Jack chuckles, thumbs smoothing over your cheeks with a kiss pressed to the tip of your nose. “Course baby. Every day.”

True to his word Jack Grealish is. Every night he comes home from his training, he’s laying on the couch letting you massage the days stresses out of his mind, letting your fingers weave the tension out of his scalp. Jack’s never let anyone take care of him so much. He’s never felt comfortable to be taken care of like this, but you are his exception. His one single exception. And every morning he sits in the floor at the foot of the bed while you sit with a leg on either side of him, fingers weaving the strands into place for the day and tighter for match days. People make comments but Jack doesn’t give even half of a shit. His hair is how he likes it; out of his face so he can concentrate on his game and it gives you more of a reason to actually be up in the morning when he leaves before the sun rises above you. That’s perfect for Jack.

Until his next haircut, the only time that footballer doesn’t have a braid through his hair is when your fingers are tangling in it while he’s between your legs for another very enjoyable reason.

[jikookiekosmos]

When I Dream of You || jjk

➥Pairing: best friend!jungkook/reader, husband!jungkook/reader

➥Summary: Jungkook always imagined being with you was like a dream come true, and after years of pining he can finally say it’s all he could have ever hoped for and more. But what happens now when Jungkook’s dreams about you no longer have a happy ending?

➥Genre: established relationship, (somewhat?) heavy angst, smut, fluff, hurt/comfort

➥Rating: 18+

➥Words: ~6.2k (little much for a drabble i know, sorry)

➥Content warnings: story mostly told from jungkook’s POV, jungkook has a nightmare, feelings of insecurity and anxiety, mentions of harassment (not much), yoongi to the rescue (seriously he’s the voice of reason i love him), making out, grinding, slight hair pulling, riding on top, reader is in control (and jk is happy about it), unprotected sex (safe sex is great sex), cumming inside, cute times in the shower, jungkook is actually the sweetest, reader and jk are so in love with each other it hurts, also jk saying ‘only for you’ is a thing i started and can’t stop now oops

A/N: hello! This is part of my Only for You (OFY) Drabble series, but it can be read as a stand-alone! Their relationship will make a lot more sense though if you’ve read OFY beforehand. This fic takes place roughly around a year after the events of OFY. (I also mentioned this in the post for OFY but for those who haven’t read it, the Kun in the story isn’t referring to any other irl person specifically, it was just a name I chose to make the initial story easier to write.)

As always, thank you to @dntaewithluv​ for being so supportive of me and motivating me to keep writing when there are times I feel like I shouldn’t. And for also being my beta-reader and just generally an amazing person, one of the best friends I could ever ask for.

I’ve written a few other drabbles and will list them below, along with a general timeline:

Use My Best Colors For Your Portrait - ~6 months after OFY

Stay With Me - a few months after this dream drabble

I know this is the most angsty thing I’ve written so far (update: Stay With Me now holds this title), but I got attached to these characters and wanted to tell more of their story so here we are. I basically wrote this all in one sitting because I’ve had this idea in my head for a little while and I was excited to get it out. I hope that if you read this, you enjoy it~

➥OFY Spotify Playlist (songs I listened to for inspo)

➥Series Masterlist

➥All Works Masterlist

taglist: @inlovewiththemoonn​​

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

Jungkook was dreaming again.

It was a dream he’d had many times now, and it always started the same way. He watched as you appeared in the doorway of the chapel, ready to make your trek down the aisle.

You looked dazzling in your dress, and through the thin veil that covered your face, Jungkook could see the brilliant smile you wore, which caused him to break out into one of his own. Each step that brought you closer to him made his heart race faster, and it didn’t take long for you to finally be in front of him.

Well…somewhat in front of him.

He could only watch as at the last second, you turned slightly and were now standing in front of Kun, the man you were originally meant to marry. Jungkook’s stomach twisted with fear as he observed Kun lift your veil over your head and take your hands in his as you both stared into each other’s eyes. You, looking at Kun with all the love in the world, because that’s just how you were. And Kun, looking back at you, with a sinister expression that made Jungkook feel dizzy.

He opened his mouth to object, to speak, to do something but no sound would come out. Everyone around him that had gathered to see you get married were either oblivious to Jungkook’s obvious distress, or they just didn’t care.

They weren’t here for him, after all. They were here for you, in the same way that he was here for you, too.

When his legs could finally move without crumpling underneath him, he walked over to stand next to you and Kun as he tried to reach out to you. He couldn’t touch you, though, because it was like there was an invisible wall in between the two of you now. A wall he could still see through but couldn’t reach past. He moved back at the realization, only to be met with something similar hitting his back.

Jungkook whirled around and was met with the same thing, now surrounding him on all sides, trapping him inside some sort of box. A box where he could still see what was happening but couldn’t stop it despite what he did. He felt suffocated.

He was shouting from inside his new prison, banging on the walls, trying to make any sort of sound that would reach you. And he knew you couldn’t hear him; you didn’t spare even one glance his way. But he still had to try. The longer he let this go on, the greater the chance of losing you grew to be.

And the possibility of that, of losing you in any capacity, was something he couldn’t bear to even think about.

Jungkook could hear everything coming from your mouth. The cheerfulness in your voice was usually something he loved to hear under any given circumstance. But in this case, it was threatening to tear him apart. He listened dismally as the two of you started reciting your vows to each other.

And his heart started to break when he heard the words from the letter he’d tried to give you all those years ago. Tears were forming in his vision as he listened to Kun rattle off the words he’d written for you. Words he never got to claim as his own until much later, when it was almost too late.

He could feel his heart shatter at the sight of the breathtaking smile on your face as you two finished your vows, moving now to kiss each other and seal the deal.

He tried once more to call out to you, but any sound he could’ve possibly made would’ve been immediately drowned out by the cheering from everyone around you.

His legs gave out as he knelt down to the floor, helplessly staring at you as you linked your arm with Kun’s to walk back down the aisle as a newly married couple. It took the last bit of his strength to look up as you passed, and you didn’t notice him.

But Kun did.

Kun paused in front of Jungkook, still separated by that invisible wall, and he grinned. It was the kind of grin you’d expect from someone who’s sole purpose in life was to sabotage others’ happiness. Which, ironically enough, is exactly what Kun was now known for.

All Jungkook could do was look on while you left the chapel, followed by the many guests who had gathered for the ceremony. Only when everyone was gone was he able to move about freely, but he opted to remain seated on the floor there instead as the chapel slowly started to fill with darkness once the doors closed.

Jungkook awoke with a start, bolting upright and inhaling a sharp intake of air. He was covered in sweat that dampened his hair and made it stick to his forehead. His breathing was shallow, and it took him a few seconds to remember where he was.

He was at home, in his bed. It was nighttime and sleeping next to him was a figure who’d remained undisturbed by his sudden movement.

He cautiously looked over at your sleeping form. You were turned on your side, facing away from him, breathing peacefully. His eyes softened at the sight and he could feel his heartbeat start to slow down into a pace much less frantic.

He pushed his hair out of his face as he took a deep breath. He knew he should probably wake you, especially since you always told him to do so whenever he had nightmares. Lately, he hadn’t been having any bad dreams, so it had been a while since he last had to rouse you from your slumber.

He reached an arm out, only for it to gently fall by his side. He hated waking you unless it was really important, because he knew you sometimes had trouble sleeping, and this included falling back asleep if something made you wake up during the middle of the night. You’d been especially exhausted lately, what with the new exciting event that had suddenly happened in both of your lives.

Well, exciting wasn’t really the right word. Terrifying fit way better.

After managing to avoid Kun for over an entire year, he somehow turned up at your new place of employment one day, surprising you and frightening you all at the same time. He told the staff at the front desk that he was an ‘old friend, here to congratulate you on your new position.’ And they believed it, so they let him come up to your office unsupervised.

Let’s just say when Jungkook heard about that little ordeal, he was not pleased at all.

Ever since then, Kun had been borderline harassing you, even sometimes going as far as to try and talk to Jungkook during his shifts at the bar. That lasted for all of maybe 2 encounters before Kun found himself banned and unable to return.

You both thought he was out of your life for good after the break-up, but he was proving to be much more of a plague than you or Jungkook initially imagined. So yes, these recent events had maybe been causing Jungkook to have intrusive thoughts once again that translated themselves into the one recurring nightmare he used to have shortly after the two of you got together.

The nightmare of him losing you. You obviously didn’t end up marrying Kun, but you came a lot closer to it than Jungkook liked. And that wasn’t because he’d been pining after you for years; he could’ve dealt with that, if it ended with you being happy. It was more so the reason that your relationship with Kun hadn’t seemed genuine on his end, and Jungkook wanted better for you than that.

Sometimes he wondered if he was the right one to give you what you deserved.

He shook his head to keep more thoughts from seeping in, but he knew sitting here alone in the dark wouldn’t help with that for long. He glanced at the time on his phone. It was 2:08 A.M., so not too late, but most people were usually sleeping at that time.

Nonetheless, Jungkook pulled back the covers and swung his feet over the side of the bed to stand up. He moved as gently as possibly to not risk waking you, but on his way to the bathroom he had to pass by your side of the bed.

Your sleeping face was free of worry, and your lips were slightly parted as you were breathing softly. The sight made Jungkook’s heart thump. He couldn’t help himself when he leaned down to plant a gentle kiss on your forehead.

If you woke up, he’d just tell you he had to use the restroom and try to coax you back to sleep. You looked too cute for him not to kiss you, though, so he deduced it was worth the risk.

He padded off to the bathroom then, only wearing a pair of gym shorts. Every step he took was calculated so he didn’t make much noise, and when he finally made it to the bathroom, he closed the door as quietly as possible, listening to the faint click before he leaned against the sink.

He sighed and fished his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through his contacts until he found the name he was looking for. After dialing the number, he put the phone to his ear, and within 2 rings someone picked up.

“Kook? You ok?”

Jungkook smiled. “Yeah, Yoongs, I’m ok. Just needed to talk to someone, that’s all.”

He heard shuffling from the end of the line and he felt a small pang of guilt at the fact that he may have woken his friend up. But then again, it was Yoongi, and he wasn’t a stranger to being up at this hour.

Yoongi hummed. “Y/N not awake then, huh?”

Jungkook shook his head, despite Yoongi not being able to see him. Yoongi took his silence as confirmation.

“Hm, well you do know I love talking to you, but I am wondering why this time of night?”

Jungkook sighed. Better to get it over with than beat around the bush. “I had a nightmare.”

“Oh no,” he could hear the somberness of Yoongi’s tone. “Is it the same one, or…”

“Same one,” Jungkook answered without hesitation.

“Kook, we’ve been over this-”

“I know,” he groaned, running a hand down his face. “I know. Trust me, I don’t want to keep having this happen either.”

“Can you think of anything that may have triggered it?”

Jungkook tongued his cheek then. The more he thought about it, the only thing he could see as being a potential trigger for these dreams to come flooding back would be Kun’s unwanted reappearance.

While he was still thinking, Yoongi continued.

“Do you think it has anything to do with that asshole showing up again?”

Jungkook smirked. He knew how much disdain Yoongi had for Kun, and for good reason.

“Yeah, it’s exactly that, I’m almost positive.”

It sounded like Yoongi was moving again and Jungkook could just picture him now, sitting up and shaking his head in disappointment, not at Jungkook, but at the situation.

“Jungkook, I’m gonna level with you.”

Jungkook gulped.

“I honestly have no idea why you’re letting someone like that affect you. He’s not worth your time, he’s not worth Y/N’s time, not worth anyone’s time if you ask me. Letting him continue to have this kind of effect on you isn’t healthy.”

Jungkook sighed again, his breath coming out somewhat shaky. “I know, it’s just…it’s hard. It’s really hard, Yoongs. I can’t help but think of how close I came to losing her and fuck it hurts every time I think about it.”

“First of all, you wouldn’t have lost her, and you know that-”

“Yeah but seeing him is a reminder that I came close.”

“Jungkook,” Yoongi’s tone was stern now, and Jungkook immediately stopped talking.

Yoongi took a deep breath. “Like I was saying, you wouldn’t have lost her. You mean too much to her and she means too much to you for either of you to have let that happen. Give her a little more credit, yeah?”

At the mention of you, Jungkook’s lips curved upwards into a smile. He knows you’d never allow anything to take you away from him, outside of maybe some things beyond both of your control. But you certainly would never let someone come in between the friendship you both shared.

A friendship that had developed over several years and had now blossomed into a beautiful, loving partnership.

There it was again: you. Anytime Jungkook thought about you, it always made him happy. He was so in love with you and had been for so many years, so it was sometimes still surreal to him that you two were together now. Your smiling face was all he needed to get him through some days.

But right now the vision of you playing out in his head was the sight of you the night he found you in your house kneeling on the floor after Kun broke your marriage off. You looked so utterly broken, and Jungkook made a promise to himself then and there that he’d do anything in his power to make it so you never felt that way again.

“Kook? You still with me there?”

Yoongi’s voice roused Jungkook out of his thoughts. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“Good. You know I worry about you, kid.”

Jungkook smiled. “I know.”

“This is the first time you’ve had this dream in a while, right?”

Jungkook leaned against the sink again, looking at the tiled floor underneath his feet. “Yeah, it’s been months.”

“Then I want you to do something for me, ok?”

Confused, but intrigued, Jungkook shook his head. “Yeah, sure.”

“I want you to take a look at your left hand.”

Jungkook did as he was told, splaying his fingers out in front of him.

“Now tell me what you see?”

Jungkook’s breath caught in his throat as he looked at his gold wedding band as it glistened faintly in the light of the room.

“My wedding ring,” he answered softly.

“Exactly. Your wedding ring. It belongs to you. And it means you’re the one who’s married to her. Not him, not anyone else, but you.”

Jungkook could see exactly where Yoongi was going with this, and the thought made him almost tear up. Yoongi knew exactly what to say and when to say it whenever Jungkook needed reassurance about something, and this was one of those times.

“Jungkook, I’m gonna tell you this, and it’s something I want you to remember. Y/N loves you. She loves you so much. My God, sometimes it’s hard to look at you two because you’re always so lovey dovey like-”

Jungkook laughed. “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

He could imagine Yoongi smiling on the other end. “Good. I think as long as you remember that, you’ll be ok. It’d probably still help to talk to her, though. You know how upset she’d be if she knew you were suffering in silence about your dreams again.”

Jungkook shakily inhaled, his grip on the sink behind him tightening. “I know. I’ll talk to her, probably in the morning since she’s still asleep-”

Jungkook cut himself off when he heard the soft sound of you calling his name. “Yoongs, I gotta go, thank you for answering and for everything else.”

Yoongi chuckled. “Anytime. Night, Kook.”

Jungkook hung up the phone and peered from behind the bathroom door. He saw you sitting up in the bed now, rubbing your eyes before you stretched. He was so fond of you, the sight made his heart swell.

He also noticed how the t-shirt you were wearing had ridden up some during your stretch and he could see the exposed skin of your thighs now now. He even thought that something as simple as you wearing a t-shirt was breathtaking. And when it was one of his t-shirts, like it was now – on some days it was enough to drive him crazy.

Now wasn’t the time for that though. He watched lovingly as you focused your eyes on him and smiled. He wasted no time getting back in the bed with you, seated with one leg crossed under him, his hand coming down to rest on top of your own.

“Hey,” you greeted him with a lazy kiss. Jungkook melted into the kiss when you deepened it, because after everything he just went through, any touch from you now was igniting all his feelings for you.

All of them, which is why he pulled back to rest his forehead against yours.

“Hey,” he said with a smile, nuzzling his nose against yours before pulling away to look at you. He could tell you were still sleepy, but you wouldn’t attempt to go back to sleep without talking first. Especially since he knew you could tell something might be off.

Your brows furrowed. “Koo? What’s wrong?”

Jungkook took a deep breath, intertwining his fingers with yours. “I had another nightmare.”

The immediate look of concern on your face made his heart lurch, and not in a pleasant way. “Baby, what happened?”

He brought up your hand to place a kiss on your knuckles, right above your ring.

“I had that nightmare. You know the one…”

You frowned. “Jungkook-”

“But it’s ok, really. I talked to Yoongi and I feel a little better.” He was looking anywhere but your face now, so you placed a hand under his chin, tilting it up so he’d look at you.

“You know you can always wake me up and talk to me.” You brushed your thumb across one of his cheekbones and he sighed into the touch.

“I know. You’ve been having trouble sleeping lately so I-”

“You also know that if I have trouble sleeping, usually cuddling with you helps. So please don’t use that as an excuse.”

Jungkook felt guilty again because he knew you were right. Before he came along, sleeping wasn’t always easy for you, but in the comfort of his arms, you found slumber much faster these days.

You took Jungkook’s face in both of your hands, your own chest twisting with pain at the sight of him. His big, doe-like eyes were shining with so much emotion, and all you wanted to do was take away all his worries.

“Do you know why you had that dream again?”

Jungkook nodded, absentmindedly brushing his thumb along your thigh. “Everything that’s happened with Kun lately, it- I don’t know, it just bothers me. It bothers me way more than it should. And I guess it just made me think again about- well, you know.”

Jungkook’s head hung then, and you leaned down so you could look into his eyes once more. He brought his head up to keep you from having to lean uncomfortably like that for too long.

“Koo,” you brushed a piece of his long, dark curly locks out of his face. “I love you. I’m in love with you. I know that things happened in the past that we can’t erase or change, but what we can do is focus on our future. Our future that we’re building together.”

He started to smile at your words, his heart lurching again now, but in a good way this time. Every time you told him you were in love with him, he felt like he could conquer the world.

“So please don’t worry about what almost happened or what could’ve been, because what matters is we’re here now. We’re here together. And I don’t plan on going anywhere,” you placed a quick peck on his lips, “Unless you want me to, that is.”

Jungkook quickly wrapped his arms around you and pulled you so you were straddling his lap, making you giggle as you tried to steady yourself. His hands rested comfortably against your waist and you placed yours on his shoulders. He looked up at you now with so much love and adoration.

“Never. I’m not planning on ever letting you go,” he accentuated his words with his grip around you by wrapping his arms more tightly around your waist to pull you closer to his chest. “Not until the day you decide you don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Well I don’t see that ever happening, so I guess we have nothing to worry about then, do we?” You booped his nose and he grinned, placing a hand on the back of your head to bring your lips down to meet his once more. The kiss was soft, yet passionate.

And it quickly turned into something more.

You deepened the kiss and Jungkook groaned into it, kissing you back now with a fervor that had you unconsciously moving your hips against him. He broke the kiss to lean his head back against the headboard, eyes shut and mouth parted.

“Fuck,” Jungkook panted. “I’m so fucking in love with you, Y/N. And right now,” he opened his eyes to stare at you again, tongue darting out to wet his lips.

His hand snaked underneath your t-shirt to brush at the skin he found there, pulling your head back down for another kiss.

“I want to show you how much I love you,” he whispered against your lips. “Will you let me?”

The sound of his voice shot straight to your core, and you were nodding before he could even finish his question. He chuckled against your lips before he started trailing them down your neck.

“Need to hear you say it, baby,” he spoke as his lips ghosted over your throat, his hold on you tightening.

“Please,” you breathed out, pulling at his dark tresses and making him grunt. “Please, Koo. I want you to make love to me.”

That was all he needed. Jungkook started placing kisses along your neck and down to your collarbone that was exposed from the collar of his shirt, his fists clenching around the material at the bottom of it.

“I love you,” he kept saying in between kisses. “Gonna take care of you.”

He started tugging your shirt up and you met him halfway, ridding yourself of the garment fast enough that it made him chuckle at your eagerness. He started peppering kisses all over your chest, kneading at your breasts, rolling your nipples in between your fingers and making your hips move faster.

You could feel him growing harder underneath you through the thin fabric of the shorts he was still wearing, so you sped up your movements, making him moan.

“These need to come off, don’t you think, baby?” You tugged at his shorts. Another moan came from Jungkook as he nodded, helping you move up so he could shimmy out of his shorts. He still didn’t think he could ever get used to that pet name coming from you, and he thought it was the sexiest thing ever when it fell from your lips.

Of course, Jungkook thought nearly everything you did was sexy. That was just the effect you had on him. Everything intimate was intense in the best way possible, and if this was what being in love felt like, he never wanted to stop being in love with you.

He loved you. He needed you. He wanted to be with you for the rest of his life. And he’d never felt this way about anyone else for.

He felt all of these things for you. Only for you.

Jungkook was pulled out of his thoughts of how much he loved you by the feeling of you grinding down onto him again, this time the only barrier of clothing between the two of you being your own panties.

Yeah, Jungkook wasn’t having that.

He made quick work of removing your soaked panties, laughing again at your enthusiastic impatience. He loved seeing that you wanted him as much as he wanted you.

“Be careful, angel,” He cooed at you as you tried to steady yourself on his lap once more. He rubbed his hands up and down your thighs while you huffed, a cheeky grin plastered on his face.

“Just wanna feel you already,” you said breathily, and the sound of your voice mixed with the words that fell from your mouth made him twitch. He knew he probably wouldn’t last long inside of you, and with the way you were already worked up, he figured you might not either.

But tonight wasn’t one of those nights where he planned on going for hours anyway (even though you both definitely could at times and boy did he love it when that happened). No, tonight was about him proving to you how much he loved you, telling you through his words and soft caresses and the way he took care of you.

And you did the same for him. Jungkook had never had anyone care about him before the way that you do. He knew you’d do anything to ensure his happiness, the same as he would for you.

And that’s also why he thought you were destined to be together. And he hoped he would never fuck that up, that anything would ever fuck that up.

Jungkook heard you whine from your place in his lap, still grinding against him to find some much-needed friction. You felt so good on top of him that he let himself enjoy it for a few moments, soft moans escaping his lips as he watched you through half-lidded eyes. You leaned down to give him another kiss, and in the same movement, he picked you up by your thighs under your ass and placed you back down where his tip was at your entrance.

He grunted against your lips as he felt you sink down onto him, waiting for you to accommodate to the stretch as you’d done many times before. You always told him you could handle it and sometimes you wanted him to be a little rougher with you from the get-go. Jungkook wasn’t at that level where he was comfortable with that yet.

But one day, he thought, especially with how good you feel around him, he just might be.

When he was finally completely inside of you, he waited just enjoying the feel of your warmth around his length. He brushed some hair out of your face, noticing how your eyes were glinting in the faint light of the room.

God, he could never get enough of staring into your eyes. He’d happily get lost in them over and over again.

Now, though, they were starting to close as you picked yourself only to drop down again a moment later. The action caused Jungkook to let out a throaty moan, eyes fluttering closed at the motion.

Hm. That was new.

Usually, Jungkook would guide you with his hands on your hips, and it wasn’t that he didn’t let you have control, it was more that you never really wanted to take control. So, seeing you decide to do it now was exciting and something he’d gladly let happen if that’s what you wanted.

To be sure though, he placed his hands on your waist. You placed yours on top of his and shook your head.

“Let me take the lead,” you said as you pushed his chest to where he was lying down more. “You can keep your hands here, but I want to do the work.”

Jungkook frowned, only because he knew you still had to be tired. “Angel, are you sure? I can help- fuck.”

You cut him off as you clenched around him before you started moving again, his hands constricting around your waist. You placed your hands firmly on your chest to help you get more leverage as you continued moving.

As you sped up, Jungkook leaned his head back into the pillow he was lying on, eyes screwed shut and the prettiest sounds falling from his lips. You watched as the muscles in his neck strained with the movement, and that alone made you want to mark him up.

But now wasn’t the time for that.

Jungkook managed to open his eyes and look at you riding him, the sight making him twitch inside of you. He thought you looked so beautiful like this, and you taking the lead was so hot to him, he knew he’d definitely not last long if you kept this up-

“Do you know,” you broke off to moan as his cock hit a spot inside of you that made your breath hitch, “do you know why I wanted to take control tonight?”

Jungkook swallowed and shook his head, rubbing his hands along your waist.

You smiled at him lovingly, taking one of his hands and bringing it to your lips before linking your fingers. The action made his heart soar.

“It’s because you always take such good care of me. I want to take care of you in that same way,” you squeezed his hand, letting your words wash over him.

“But you do take care of me,” he started to say, only to be interrupted by the feeling of your walls clenching around him again.

“I know. But tonight, I want to show you I know how to take care of you in this way, too. I want to show you how much I love you.” You leaned down, hitting a new angle that had both of you moaning as you brushed your lips against his. “Will you let me?”

Jungkook felt himself getting closer as you repeated his words from earlier. He nodded vigorously, kissing you with so much passion that you thought you might topple over. You sat up straight again and started moving faster, now pulling out as much as possible before dropping back down.

Jungkook’s high was approaching fast because of the combination of you taking control, the way you were riding him, and your words. He was feeling so many things at once and he tried to will himself to not let go.

He didn’t want to let go yet, not until you were there with him.

To help you along, he reached down in between both of you and started rubbing your clit, relishing in the feel of you around him as you stuttered in your movements. He smirked, knowing that even when you were in control, he still had an effect on you the same way you did him.

“Come on, angel, I’m right there, I want you to cum with me.” Jungkook’s voice was husky now, the pleasure threatening to overtake him any second. He bit his lip as he stared at you, watching as your head lolled forward on your neck and you started shaking from the overwhelming sensations coursing through your body.

“I’m almost there, Koo, I love you so much,” your sounds were increasing in pitch and becoming more frequent, so he knew you were close. All that was left now was for you to reach your high together.

He took your hand that was still intertwined with his and placed a kiss on the inside of your wrist. “I love you, too,” he said softly.

His response was enough to finally provoke your orgasm, it being so powerful that you fell forward on top of him. As you did, you were clenching so tight around him that his release wasn’t far behind. He grunted as he placed his head in the crook of your neck, filling you up, the familiar sensation of warmth making you shiver in his hold.

Both of you were trying to catch your breath, you now completely laying on his chest and his arms snaked around you. He placed a kiss on top of your head and you both just laid there for a few moments.

Jungkook was the one to break the silence. “Well, that was certainly something.”

You giggled. “Yeah, I enjoyed that, Don’t know why I haven’t done that before.” You felt his chest rumble with laughter underneath you.

“Me neither, but you can absolutely do it more often. I know I won’t be opposed.”

“Deal,” you said as you leaned up to place a kiss on his nose. “But only under one condition.”

“Oh?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow, intrigued at your proposition.

“You,” you said as you traced patterns on his chest, “need to stop being so cautious with me.”

A tiny frown etched itself onto his features. “Angel-”

“I mean it, Jungkook. I’m not some fragile thing that’s going to break anytime you stick your dick in me.” He couldn’t help the laugh that erupted from him, immediately apologizing afterwards because he knew you were being serious.

“I know you’re not, I just- I never want to hurt you.”

“And I’d let you know if you did. So promise me you’ll at least try to treat me a little less like I’m gonna break under your touch?”

He ran his fingers through your hair as you laid your head on his chest again. “I promise to try. I don’t just do it for you, though.”

You brought your head back up to look at him, quirking your own eyebrow. “Oh? What do you mean?”

He chuckled darkly, his stare alone making you throb. “I also do it so I can maintain some self-control.”

You laughed. “What’s so bad about losing control?”

He smirked. “Nothing, I guess. We’ll have to see though, won’t we?”

The suggestion made you tingle with desire, but you were unfortunately too tired to go again, so you figured it’d be best to leave it alone for the night. Jungkook finally pulled out of you, making you let out a small whine at the loss. Before you could say anything, he picked you up and carried you with him to the shower, as he did most nights when you two shared these intimate moments.

In the shower, he helped you clean off, and as he was washing your hair, you stared up at him, seeing his dark locks falling into his face with the weight of the water that drenched them. His lips were parted and his tongue was slightly sticking out as he concentrated on making sure he lathered every inch of your hair with shampoo. He looked so adorable like this that you couldn’t help but giggle.

You ran your hands along his chest now to help him wash off the soap, and your ring caught the light, glimmering faintly. Jungkook picked up your hand and turned it this way and that to watch the ring shine from different angles, before he linked your fingers together.

“I told you I’d get you a better one, didn’t I?” You rolled your eyes in amusement at the cocky smirk that tugged at his lips.

“You didn’t just tell me, you promised me.” You continued washing all the suds off of him as he wrapped his arms around you to bring you closer.

“And did I follow through on my promise?”

You pretended to think about it for a second, making Jungkook tickle you under the shower’s waterfall. “Ok! Ok! Yes, you did,” you said as you laughed. “You always follow through on your promises.”

“I try,” was his soft response. He nudged your cheek with his nose, which is something he did when he wanted a kiss, a habit you were very quick to pick up on in the early stages of your relationship. You wrapped your arms around his neck and stood up on your tiptoes, placing a gentle kiss on his lips that had him letting out a small sound of contentment.

“I love you. And I’m in love with you. Nothing, nor anyone, will change that.” You reassured him as you pushed his hair out of his face. Any doubts he still had you wanted to erase them all.

You wanted him to know that you loved him with everything you had.

He smiled, brushing his nose against yours. “I know. And I love you more than anything. All the love I have to give is for you.” He placed another soft kiss on your lips before he pulled back to quietly add, “Only for you.”

Those three words meant so much to you, and every time you heard him say them it made you fall for him even more, if that was possible. The two of you continued to hold each other and exchange lazy kisses until the water turned too cold to bear. After drying off, you both snuggled back into bed, with you falling asleep almost instantly, feeling safe in Jungkook’s arms.

He kissed the back of your neck and wrapped his arms around you securely, resting his forehead against your shoulder as you both laid on your sides. Your soft breathing let him know you were already asleep and he smiled, elated that he could provide you the comfort you needed to help you fall into peaceful slumber once more.

When Jungkook inevitably followed behind you, he was met with nothing but pleasant dreams, and all of them were about you.

[nofoundboy]

Idk how this works, but can I request some Boomerang x Polka-Dot man? Maybe some angst or hurt/comfort?

I feed of this, tysm 👀

Sweat made the thin blankets cling to Digger's back.

It was the cold sweat that accompanies fear, the one that was present every time he had a nightmare.

He had lived his whole life in torment but nothing even came close to the overwhelming feeling of being on the brink of death. That moment when you were everything and nothing all at once, just waiting for everything to go black.

But there it was, wasn't it? Battered and horribly scarred but still alive. Perhaps someone would think that, in fact, those scars were attractive.

He kicked the blankets aside. Beside him slept Harley peacefully, clutching her pillow and with a calm expression on her face. Digger couldn't help but smile, he was happy to be able to be with his friend again.

Everyone on the team, the remaining ones, seemed to be resting perfectly.

Except for the hunched figure who was shaking like a leaf in the wind, seeking to cling to the dusty wall, his expression lost and his own scars glowing in the moonlight that streamed through the stained window.

Digger carefully pulled himself up to stand beside it, dodging the rat girl and the big shark, who lay huddled on the ground taking up a large portion of the floor.

"They're shit, aren't they?" asked Digger, sliding his back down to sit beside Abner, who was holding his head in his hands.

He knew exactly what he meant, so he nodded. All his life he'd had them, with his mother. But that moment after the euphoria, the one where he felt himself being crushed by that gigantic creature, he even dared to fear not seeing his mother everywhere anymore. His nightmares became about that moment.

"I guess we couldn't get out of there intact," Digger pointed to his forehead. Up close, The scars on Abner were much more noticeable, probably like his own. He thought about the texture of them, how would it be to touch em'...and how would it be if Abner touched his scars.

"I've never been intact...from here" Abner replied in a whisper touching his own forehead.

"And? This is different than anything I would have felt before and I bet it's different for ya' too" Digger just wanted to talk to someone who had been through pretty much the same thing, to share the experience about what it had been like to be on the brink of death, feeling every part of your body aching while your mind didn't know whether to start projecting your life before your eyes or give you another chance.

"I still feel the way my bones were exposed as they collided inside my skin" a shiver ran down his spine. He hadn't seen it, but he had felt it and heard it. And that sound was the worst sound he could have ever heard.

Digger nodded softly.

"I still feel the propellers going through my flesh. Shit, I hear them every time I close my eyes" Digger didn't want to die, he wasn't ready for it to happen, and while he valued and cherished his life much more than he had before because of that, he had no idea what to do with it to make it worthwhile. He was a fucking criminal, a failed one and he didn't know how to do anything else, how could he even aspire to have a less horrible life, a life worth the second chance he had been given.

Abner seemed to follow his train of thought, glanced sideways at Digger, and let out the strangest sound he had ever heard. An abnormal mix between a sigh and a laugh.

"So now what should we do? If we're supposed to be using a second chance?" At first, he thought Abner was being sarcastic, but his tone had no sign of it. The situation, by itself and without needing a push from both of them, was already sarcastic enough. The jet's question was genuine.

Abner had been a superhero, Digger knew. In Abner's eyes, Digger had been one too a few years ago but their instability and backsliding into crime didn't help them to think that they did, in fact, contribute anything to the world.

There had to be something more, Digger knew it, he needed to know it.

Perhaps in the form of the new mission, they were about to undertake or else, in those sad, dark eyes that demanded answers from him.

"I guess live, shit" he sighed. Abner snorted, again in that sound he was halfway between a laugh and a sigh. Digger loved it.

Abner laid his head on Digger's shoulder, and the sudden warmth that began to spread sweetly in his gut made him immediately tense up. Abner tried to hide with success the way his body was trembling, 'cause finally, he was getting close to the only one he never saw as his mother. An actual crush.

"We're not going to go on like this, are we?" Digger had no idea what to say because deep down he knew something like this wasn't going away so easily. Neither the memories of how close and infinitely painful his death was, nor the certainty that they weren't doing enough after his forgiveness. It didn't matter how much of a son of a bitch Digger was, for he did feel a debt on his shoulders.

But maybe, they both ventured to think, everything was more tolerable if they had someone to share that burden with.

"Maybe you don't, maybe you do. But I guess you remember it really makes you a damn superhero" Abner couldn't see Digger completely not in that darkness, however, he watched the flash of his silver teeth in the moonlight, as if that sideways grin remarked his words to reassure him.

Digger no longer preferred to die rather than express what he felt, but even so, he didn't want to ruin anything that was happening at that moment with some retort that would probably end up being more than stupid.

In any case, he didn't need to, as Abner slipped his cold hand into Digger's. He briefly felt Digger's calluses on his hands. He briefly felt Digger's calluses with his fingertips in a fleeting, careful caress and kept his grip firm.

Digger did not respond, only let out a brief chuckle and stood there, biting his tongue so as not to ruin the idyllic peace he had so longed for.

In the company of that most desired and idyllic person.

[stcveskent]

his comfort ; andy barber

warnings: fluff, some old trauma idk?

pairings: Andy Barber x Reader

requested by cevansmarvel

----------

you were working on some papers, when you heard your phone ring, you sighed and looked for your phone, and looked at the contact name, Andy💞

A huge smile on your face as you pressed the green button, and placed it on speaker.

"Hey Good Morning!!" His cheerful voice made you chuckle.

"Good Morning to you too, Andy, how are you doing?" You asked as you continued talking and doing your work at the same time.

"I'm great, now that i heard your voice." He flirted, typical Andy . You mocked him on this one and he laughed, at how funny you sounded. Andy's been your everything since you were 5. You went to same kindergarten, to same school years later, and your friendship never changed into anything. You were always with him, no matter what. Your mothers, both were great friends, and had kinda similar pasts, but other than Andy's dad, your father abandoned you and your mother because he didn't wanted both of you.

But Andy, was always there for you, and you were there for him too. He always loved seeing you, at his place, anywhere. During college, Andy met a girl, Laurie , who he eventually fell in love with and got married too. It hurt you a lot, because you were in love with him since your 6th grade, but never told him. Laurie, started being friends with you first, and then started her plan of stealing Andy from you.

When he got married, you've never felt that broken, ever in your life, and he forgot you later. You never married, never dated never did anything, because you felt that if you too, would get married, then you couldn't give him the love he deserves in your life.

Everything turned upside down, when on work you were talking to your colleagues while they randomly switched on the T.V and randomly pressed the news channel number, and the news stated something which shocked you.

Jacob, Andy and Laurie were displayed on the screen, and it showed some murder news, Jacob could ever do that? you were shocked, and you saw  Andy after millions of years....the look on his face showed how broken he looked, and you wanted to rush towards him right now. Your collegues started to call you, at how shocked you looked.

You walked out of your office, right then, and started driving towards his place, which he hasn't changed since the time he got married. You knocked on the door, feeling uneasy, but he needed you, and you too needed to see his face. Just a minute later, a sad Andy opened the door, and his eyes widened at the sight of yours.

"Y-y/n?" He stuttered, and you passed a small weak smile, and he hugged you. The warm feeling of his, hugging you, and your burying your face in his chest, just comforting for both of you.

"I-i missed you, so so much." He confessed, a smile over your face as you kept hugging you.

"I missed you too, Andy, so much." You replied and he smiles pressing a kiss on your forehead.

"Come in." He says and you walk in with him, you two got comfortable, and he started talking about how he felt, and started talking about Jacob's case, you felt bad for that man, he looked so broken, as he talked. He even told you about how him and Laurie were not the same anymore. Just then you heard Jacob and Laurie get in the house.

"Y/n? After so many years?!" Laurie asked and you smiled, and she hugged you before she excused herself to go upstairs, and there comes Jacob.

"I remember you." He said and you chuckled.

"Me too, Jay!! How are you doing?" You asked and he smiles before answering.

"good actually." He says and goes upstairs to his room, later, you and Andy talk about olden times..and then you leave the place..and try to always stay in contact with him, since then.

It was four years ago. Jacob, died in a car accident, and Laurie, its wasn't a surprise that they filed for a divorce and also, got married the next month with someone.

Since then you always visited Andy, and never left his side.

"Can you spend the night at my place? Movie nights just like the old days?" He asked and you smiled, only if he saw how happy he made you.

"Yes, i'll be there. See you tonight!" You said and he greets again before you hang up. Your smile wasn't leaving you the whole day, and everyone has noticed it. Well, you then got into shit load of work and concentrated, and got of work as soon as possible.

As soon as you stepped at your place, you knew what you were going to be looking like, natural. And so you did, and drove to his place.

You met Andy, and he gave you the biggest hugs as possible, and all your stress would just leave, and then he plays some series on the T.V. You two are focusing on how the two lovers are trying to tell how much they love each other, but don't know how to talk. A smile on your face as your head on the pillow.

"What're you smiling at?" He asked, getting closer, sipping, a glass of soft drink, because you're non alcoholic and he always backs away from alcohol near you.

"Two people, so much in love, can't express how they feel." You replied and he chuckles.

"Romantic, Y/n, i missed the girl." He confessed, and everytime he mentioned something like that would make you go red. He would do it often, lets say, Andy loves getting flirty with you.

"God that smile!" He says and you hit him playfully before pulling the blanket a little bit more closer, and he noticed it why you did that, and pulled you closer to him, that you were on top of him.

"What're you doing?" You asked as you laid on him comfortably, and he pulled the blanket on both of you.

"Giving you more warmth, you feel cold always." He says and you smile before concentrating on the scene again.

An hour later, you were asleep, soft snores made him smile, he was feeling something, he wasn't sure of and later, his head rested on yours, sleeping.

"You could've saved me, Dad, but you didn't."

"I tried my best! Jacob, i love you."

"You're a liar Dad, a big liar!" Jacob points his finger and Andy's tears falls, at the sight of his son, being so angry, that he couldn't solve it.

"I hate you Dad!"

"Jacob no—"

and just then Jacob is hit by a truck, making Andy scream in horror.

He wakes up gasping sweat on his forehead and he looks at you, sleeping peacefully. His hand on his chest, as he tries to calm himself down. He moves you gently and walks to the bathroom.

He stares in the mirror, he looked awful, he missed his son so much, he was having nightmares about him, only if Laurie didn't do that years ago.

You woke up, loss of warmth woke you up, and looked around, to see no one there, but you heard sniffles, and you knew whom it was.

You walked in the bedroom, as the bathroom door was open and he cried, burying his face in his hands, not gonna lie, that sight broke you into millions of pieces, and you stayed strong, walking in, lowering your voice, so it would be calming for him.

"Andy?" You softly called and he wiped his tears looking at you.

"You're awake? Sorry if i woke you—"

"You saw it again?" You asked and he nodded, tears forming in his eyes again, you felt worse. He hugged you, burying his face in your neck, you were his comfort, he never told anyone about.

"It's okay, its okay." You said as you rubbed his back.

"My son hates me." He says, stuttering.

"No! Andy that's not true at all, Jacob loves you, you were the best dad, Andy you and I both know what happened and what killed him. You knew his last words, he said he loves you, forever." You spoke, and every of that word was right, and he nods.

"But what if i could've save him? He would be with me—"

"You didn't know that, its not your fault, Jacob always loved his father, because his father never lost his trust in him. Jacob loved his Father, because he made him feel like he mattered in the world and no one else, Jacob loves his father very much." You said, and he nods before hugging you again.

"Thank you, you really are the best!" He spoke and kissed your cheek.

"I get that a lot, from you honestly." You said and he chuckled before you kiss his forehead. He loved these little small gestures you did. Now you brought him to bed, and he starts to talk to you, and you get involved in the conversation.

"Come on Andy, now you really need to sleep." You said and he nods, you stoof up before he questions.

"Hey where are you going?"

"Couch?"

"No we're sharing our bed, come on you'll get cold." He teased and you rolled your eyes.

"I want you to sleep comfortably, you won't be able to sleep with me."

"We've shared beds many times y/n, come on, I won't hurt you." He said making you laugh as you join him.

While talking both of you fall asleep, your head on his arm and his other arm, pulling you closer. Maybe if you and Andy were together this would be so normal for you, to feel it every day, but you felt like you lost your chance there, with the love of your life.

------

hope you like it 🥺💞

[isabellabrodar]

Rely on You✖️JJ Maybank✖️

word count: 1573

warnings: mentions of alcohol and drugs, death/loss

JJ Maybank x Reader; JJ Maybank x John B’s sister

Everyone in my family has left me at some point. My mother ditched us for Colorado when my brother and I were only three years old. John B took that pretty, hard but I knew we were better off without her. Caring for her children wasn’t really a strength of hers anyways, so we barely talk about her now.

Then our dad went away to find the lost gold on the Royal Merchant and never came back. This time the loss of a parent broke me. I didn’t dare hope that he was just stranded somewhere, slurping on a coconut and waiting until someone comes to get him and although his body never was found, John B and I silently agreed on moving on. Accepting that your dad died isn’t the easiest thing for two teenagers to do. So I tried to lose myself in school stuff and John B took over our household. I think it was just his way of coping with the situation, but it became annoying pretty quickly. Every time our friends came over, it seemed like he was trying to prove that he was taking care of me.

And then he died. Or at least we all thought he and Sarah did. But turns out they were alive the whole time and now everything can go back to normal. But losing almost everyone that you have learned to rely on hurts you in a way that cannot be undone.

I was gripping the red plastic cup tightly as I tried to make my way through the dancing and drinking crowd. My eyes were moving rapidly over every face nearby, searching for my brother’s hazel eyes and curly brown hair. But I didn’t see him. So I pushed further into the mass of people until I passed a group of Kooks, standing on the edge of the boneyards, seeming to be staring at a girl dancing her heart out only a couple of feet away. I usually would’ve said something to them but I just walked by, my breathing becoming quicker as I whispered John B’s name over and over again.

When I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder, I turned around in a quick motion.

“John B?” I said before I looked into clear blue eyes.

“No, Y/N. He left about five minutes ago with Sarah. They’re fine.” JJ’s voice was calm but his look was drenched with worry and his grip didn’t loosen up as my breathing slowed down a bit.

“Sorry, J. I…I just didn’t know where he was. I was…I am sorry.” I felt a small tear of relief roll down my cheek as the panic started to die down and JJ moved to put a strand of my dark brown hair behind my ear.

“It’s okay. No need to apologize, smarty. We’ll go home yeah? I’ll get Kie and Pope.” I could hear a slight slur in his words, probably coming from more than just a couple of beers. Other than that he sounded tired and I knew that was my fault.

“No, J. I can get home by myself. Let them enjoy themselves, I don’t want to ruin the whole evening.” I put the empty cup on a rock wall next to me and straightened out my white summer dress. JJ looked me up and down once and then shook his head. I knew he wasn’t going to let me walk home alone after that panic attack.

“I’ll tell Pope that we’re going home. Meet you at the truck.” And before I could argue once more, JJ was already on his way over to our friends who were chatting with some other Pogues that I had seen before at school. So I went back into the crowd and saw that one of the Kooks from earlier was now dancing with that one girl and his friends weren’t staring anymore but looking around for something or better someone else to watch. I made my way over to my old truck, dodging several elbows and spilling drinks, while thinking about all the other times the panic had taken a hold of me and JJ had been there to help me.

Our friendship used to be very easy, I would say. We met through John B in third grade and have been inseparable ever since then. With the others we would go surfing almost every day but when it came to talking about serious matters, JJ and I usually kept to ourselves. Occasionally I had noticed the forming bruises on his cheeks or ribs whenever he came back from his house, but he always said it was nothing or an accident and I didn’t pressure him into telling me more, although I made it a point to come with him to his house as often as I could, so his dad wouldn’t get a chance to touch JJ.

And in return JJ didn’t ask about my nightmares that would wake me up every night after we thought John B and Sarah died. He’d move closer to me on the mattresses that we put into the living room for us four to sleep on. Kie and Pope mostly slept at their houses though, which was good, because then I didn’t have to explain myself to even more people. The problem is, that even after my brother and Sarah came back, the nightmares didn’t stop and I started having panic attacks when I felt like I lost them again. Just like at the party. And since JJ was the only person who knew about that, he felt obligated to take care of me.

This is pretty far away from us calling each other smarty and pretty boy, reducing each other to what people mostly noticed about us and never talking about anything besides parties, surfing and how many grams of weed we would need to get for the next tour on the HMS Pogue.

I grabbed a hoodie from the passenger seat of my truck and closed the door again when I heard footsteps approaching.

“You know I am fine. No need to deprive all these pretty girls from their favorite pretty boy.” I said in a mocking but tired tone whilst nodding my head towards the dancing crowd. JJ was now standing next to me, smiling.

“They can wait ‘till the next party. Let’s go home.” He held out his arm for me to loop mine around and then we started walking through the Cut. This kind of intimacy between us had become normal, but it never seemed to be anything besides friendship and we were both grateful for that. The summer air was cold on my legs and small goosebumps started to form on my skin.

“You really need to wear more… I don’t know, fabric I guess.”

“You sound like my dad. Or worse, like John B.” A small laugh escaped his lips as we made our way further along the street, arms still intertwined.

“I think you should talk to him about your nightmares.”

“And I think you should tell your dad he can rot in hell.” He let go of me and put a little distance between us.

“Damn, Y/N, I get it. Don’t talk to John B then.” It always came to this. Both of us telling the other what to do and to confront their problems, but we couldn’t do it and then we would get pissed off at each other, but that’s just the way our friendship worked.

We got to John B and I’s house a couple minutes later, which we had spent in silence. I opened the door and went straight towards John B’s room. The light was turned off already and I saw him and Sarah sleep peacefully. That’s when my heart beat finally went completely back to normal. When I stepped into the living room I saw JJ sprawled across one of the big mattresses. He was still wearing his clothes but that didn’t seem to matter to him.

“I’m going to sleep in my room today, J.”

He mumbled a quiet “ok” and turned his back towards me as I stepped past him.

I was standing on the beach and watched John B and my dad go into the waves on a small boat. Then thunder started and the heavy rain made it hard to see anything out on the ocean. There was lightning and then suddenly the sound of the thunderstorm stopped as I saw the lightning hit the boat that my family was on. Then they were just gone.

I woke up, breathing heavily with sweat on my forehead. My room was dark but I could hear quiet steps coming towards my bed. I scooted over to the side and started to relax as JJ planted himself next to me, still fully clothed. I laid back down and closed my eyes as the boy next to me but his arm over my side and started to calmly breathe onto my neck. This is something that has happened a lot the past two months. Always the same dream, the same horror in which I woke up and then JJ being there and helping me back to sleep just by getting closer. But this scared me. How can I let myself rely on him when everything that causes me pain comes from the people that I am closest to disappearing, getting hurt or leaving?

✖️Soo, I usually don’t write but I just wanted to try it. I know this is not a complete story or whatever and it’s kind of all over the place, but if you guys like it, then I might rewrite it or add more:)

[theblackswanuniverse]

could u do a bit where Raya is telling Namaari how much Noi loves to make her life a nightmare and Namaari is like ...??? Raya she is a baby, and a cute one.

Turns out Noi only bothers Raya and is an angel with everybody else

Hi, thanks for the prompt! This is a bit long and slowly turned from 'Noi is been a nightmare to Raya' to 'Noi is being a nightmare and wants the girls to stop being useless and just get together already'. I have a feeling Sisu would approve.

I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

For a long time in both of their lives it had been them with their parents, and no one else.

Raya opens up to Namaari one sleepless night, the both of them sitting on one of the Fang Princess’ large concrete windows, looking at the silent sky.

“It was hard for my Ba, having to lose the woman he loved and raise a six-year-old child all alone”

“I don’t remember much about my father, he died when I was two or three years old. Mother never really liked to talk about him”

It had been a pretty sudden shift after the last battle with the Druun, Raya inviting the girl to taggle along with her as much as she possibly could – it had been a hard task at first, but slowly Namaari stopped resisting her and enjoyed her company being requested.

All of the sudden it’s like they had a family, a weird and loud yet somehow functional family.

And if Chief Benja was surprised to see her daughter befriend the quirkiest group of people he ever saw in his life, he didn’t say anything, just welcomed his daughter’s new friends.

They all saw each other at least once every two weeks, usually it was Boun that would accompany the others with his boat in Fang or Heart, the Princesses incredibly busy in their kingdoms now that no one was made of stone anymore.

It came as a complete surprise to Raya that Namaari bonded the most with Little Noi, becoming her favourite if Tong wasn’t around, and all of her warnings felt short and were amusingly dismissed by her friend.

“You’re not listening to me, I’m telling you to be careful, Princess Jewellery”

“Please, you’re just jealous because you’re awful with kids”

“I’m not awful with kids! I was the one who recruited her!”

“Raya, you realise what you just said doesn’t make it better, right? She is a toddler”

“She is a con-baby! She tried to steal the dragon gems, I told you!”

Little Noi had been in Namaari’s arms while they were arguing, playing with the dragon earring the girl had on her ear, making babbling noises.

“Sometimes you got to make choices if you want to survive, she is just a smart baby, and she is an angel now. I mean, look at her”

Both of the girls turned to look at the toddler, who started to pinch Namaari’s cheek, letting out a ‘Maari’ which the girl responded with a – disgusting, if you ask Raya – ‘ahw’ sound.

“See, nothing to worry about”.

The thing is, Raya knew that baby was a cunning little thing, and playing a baby was only a façade Noi put on. Every time the gang would reunite in Heart, suddenly something in her room or the palace would go missing.

At first, she thought she just forgot where she had put her stuff, but one time she caught Little Noi stealing a golden plate from the kitchen, and it all clicked for her.

She started to alert her staff in the kitchen to be careful of the baby, but everyone looked at her like she was the crazy one.

She tried to tell her father who laughed at first, and once Raya started to argue with him about it, Benja told her that it didn’t matter and to let the toddler have fun if that was the case.

Raya didn’t let it go.

She played like she did, suggesting that they meet in Heart for their next hang out, and put a few objects in sight for the baby to steal.

She was going to catch her this time.

She knew Noi liked shiny objects, so she placed a few items of unused jewellery on her bedroom, applying some wood glue to the objects so that she couldn’t get away with it.

To her disappointment, Tong couldn’t come this week, busy with some family matter in Spine, and Boun could only stay for a few hours, having to return for the night to help his parents with the new chain of restaurants they were opening.

“Sorry guys, but what about…the baby? Is her mother going to pick her up?”

Boun chuckled at her words, knowing how much Little Noi had been a nightmare to deal with as of lately. He was the only one who believed her, and told her that, for some reason, the baby did it only with her.

“She knows it drives you insane, I think you should pretend it’s doesn’t affect you and she will stop”. But Raya couldn’t really let it go.

“No, I was thinking she could spend the night here” said Namaari who was making funny faces at the toddler and making her laugh.

“Oh, well. This is just great” muttered the other girl under her breath.

Raya kept both of her eyes on Noi for the whole day not saying much and suggesting that they all slept in her room so the baby would feel safe for the night. She noticed Namaari slightly blushing at her words but decided to not say anything. A lingering tension had been growing between the two of them for a while now, starting when they realised they both had trouble sleeping without a nightmare eventually waking them up. They silently shifted to sleeping in the same bed when with each other, even tough it would often end up with them talking for the entire night instead of trying to sleep.

Little Noi, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have the same problem, and after an entire day spent playing and running around, she was sound asleep, curled up on the bed between the two girls.

“Still thinking she is a nightmare?” asked Namaari, soft smile turning into a smirk when her eyes landed from Noi to Raya, who was looking at the baby with her brows furrowed.

“Have you checked her pockets by chance?” retorted the girl. She had saw Little Noi put something in them earlier that day but hadn’t seen what.

Namaari scoffed, but did it anyway, as if to prove a point. Her hands seemed to find something, brows furrowing in confusion.

“Aha! Told you s—” the words left Raya all of the sudden, smug expression replaced by a an embarrassed one.

“You…you managed to find it again? Why didn’t you tell me?” Namaari was holding the pendant in her hands, the one who started everything between them six years prior and that Raya had been keeping after the Druun battle.

“I was planning on giving it to you for your birthday, actually” she whispered, hoping her friend couldn’t see her blushing in the darkening of the night.

Namaari scooted closer to her, hand cupping her cheek. “You flushed, dep la?”

Both of them could feel the tension growing in the room, and Raya decided to break it and stop this cat and mouse game they had been playing for a while, pressing her lips firmly on Namaari’s, finally shutting her up.

They slept peacefully that night, holding each other, Namaari’s arm protectively on her waist, the baby between the two of them.

Raya was the first one to wake up, sunshine beginning to illuminate her room, the other girl’s arm still resting against her skin, and Little Noi nowhere to be seen.

She scooted closer to Namaari, head nuzzling into the crook of the girl’s neck, drifting herself to sleep once again, smiling when she felt the girl hugging her tighter.

Maybe Little Noi wasn’t such a nightmare after all.

[scathecraw]

BBRae Week 2021 - Day 1: Unconventional Kiss

Raven had been dancing around the issue for weeks now, and both she and Gar knew it. There had been a few near misses after a date gone well, a few breathless close calls during training, and one precipitous moment in the kitchen that fell apart when the smoke detector signaled their distraction.

They had been good dates. Very good dates, to be quite honest. Raven had expected that they would go nearly that well, and that had been why she had held off for so long. With all the emotional vulnerability and insightful talks and fantastic company and so many other things that came with dating someone you had been attracted to for years, she knew that the other shoe would drop, and she would have to just plunge in headfirst. And Gar had been patient – he wasn’t one to rush, especially with her. But he wanted it. And, god help her, she wanted it, too.

A perfect first kiss. The First Kiss, for both of them, hung up on each other for so long that they had never made any real attempts to find anyone else. Kori’s magazines had promised that the first kiss was always awkward and had to be refined by, hrm,repeated practice, but that was only a small part of the fear that gripped Raven when she thought of actually, really putting lips to lips.

It wasn’t Gar. She fully expected him to be just as bad as she was for a while (and likely longer given how quick she could pick things up). It wasn’t even what might… come after. Not as such. It was just… just… it was Important. Capital “I” Important – that things go well. Despite the promise of a bad first kiss by seemingly everyone who had ever kissed, it had to go right. Too wet or too dry, wrong head tilt, wrong duration, whatever – but she wanted to kiss him and do it over and over again and what if he didn’t want to or what if there was no chemistry or what if she sneezed or got so nervous she vomited or any number of things that would, according to all her latest nightmares, put him off wanting her the way she wanted him.

And he seemed so damn blithe about it. Like he couldn’t be less worried, even though she had felt his pulse race and could practically hear his internal monologue turning into a full blown soliloquy. He had that placid smile and those sparkling eyes and smelled like warmth and pine and it was so stupid how he wouldn’t just admit how nervous he was so they could be nervous together.

No, she had to be the mature one and feel all the butterflies for them both. She could practically hear his corny joke about never getting butterflies because he was vegetarian. Stupid Gar and stupid kissing.

It would happen. She would make it happen. And it wouldn’t be perfect, or probably even a very good kiss, but it would be right. Eventually.

____

There was an awful lot of noise and fleeing civilians for an evening out, even at the pier.

Nightwing sighed from atop his favorite ride at the boardwalk, the Ferris Wheel, as he retrieved his communicator and alerted the team. “Titans, we’ve got work to do. Something big is causing trouble at the east entrance. Star and I are on our way and will meet you there.” With that, he stood up in the precariously rocking carriage and Starfire lifted him by the arms, taking off in the direction of the disturbance. Cyborg, heretofore incognito on a date, immediately excused himself and waded through the crowds, shedding his holo-disguise. He was alerted to his passing teammates by a green blur, and called out to Raven as she passed, asking for a ride on one of her ink-black levitating discs. She obliged and they took off after Changeling’s racing avian form.

Gar was the fastest one to respond in these situations. Superhuman reactions and mobility got him to the trouble faster than any of his teammates, and he was proud of it. It meant that he was the first one to  engage the enemy, which was a dangerous gambit when he didn’t know what the enemy was, but someone had to be first on the line when every second was a danger to innocent people. In this case, it was more an annoyance than any real threat. Kitten was throwing a very public and destructive temper tantrum, as she tended to do within a few weeks of release/escape.

Her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Fang, was nearby and suffering the brunt of the auditory assault while a swarm of mutated grubs ate their way through stalls and prizes alike. Kitten was waving the control device as she gesticulated wildly, and the chance to end the whole debacle in one fell swoop was too tempting.

Without waiting for backup or giving away his presence, Changeling darted forward as a seagull, beak agape as he neared the remote. He had timed it perfectly, if not for Fang’s suddenly outstretched spiderleg. The blow sent him tumbling into a pile of cheap stuffed animals and he transformed back into himself. The arguing couple immediately turned their ire on him without ever stopping their argument.

“And now look what you’ve done! Your stupidity got this idiot involved! Why couldn’t you just win me a stupid teddy bear like a normal boyfriend?” Kitten raged as she hammered at the controller, causing the grubs to turn their attention towards the dazed and prone Changeling. Fang launched webbing at him, working at cross purposes as the grubs and giving Changeling just enough time to roll out of the way.

“This is not my fault. You know these games are rigged! Why would I give the money I stole to these scam artists?”

“Because you are supposed to! It’s what boyfriends do! They do stupid stuff because I want you TO!” Kitten screamed and threw her remote onto the ground where it cracked and fizzled. Instead of the expected de-metamorphosis from vicious gnawing grubs to harmless caterpillars, there was a rumbling from deep inside the snack stall and a mass exodus of larvae from the vicinity. Gar had just gotten to his feet when a much larger, toothier, and more armored wriggler burst from the shoddy wooden confines, writhing and shrieking even more shrilly than Kitten, and headed directly towards her and Fang in a headlong charge.

Apparently Kitten’s shouting was enough to distract both of them from their imminent death by squirming tank, and Changeling had to make a tough split-second decision – let them suffer the consequences of their own stupidity, or put himself in harm’s way to save them.

It wasn’t much of a choice. Leaping forward, he transformed into a rhino, a fast moving locomotive of heavy armor and muscle and slammed headfirst into the tank sized larva, diverting it and being whipped aside by the unexpected followthrough of the tail end of the grub.

Raven’s disk touched down just in time to see his head collide with a thick support post that held up the boardwalk, and the sounds of argument fell silent as Kitten and Fang wordlessly assessed the situation and fled. Cyborg called out “Get B. I’ll get the worm,” and launched after the creature.

Raven raced to Garfield’s side, seeing the heavy gash and road rash from sliding across the wood. She assessed him as quickly as possible, noting the broken ribs, bleeding, and, most concerning, the lack of breathing. She channeled her power, reaching her soulself into the unmoving shapeshifter on the ground, and urgently repaired his most vital injuries.

The head wound would wait, they always bled more and looked worse than they were. First the broken ribs, eased out and stabilized enough to hold for a little while. Then the badly punctured lung. As the trapped air was removed and the hole patched, she expected him to cough, sit up, and make a dumb joke. Instead he just lay there, silent. His pulse was fine, and there was no reason for him to be so still.

She did all the steps that the Titans’ first aid training laid out for her, making sure his airway was clear, no pressure preventing his breathing or hidden wounds that would cause more damage, then started mouth to mouth.

It only took a few breaths, as if his body had simply not realized for some seconds that he was able to breathe normally again, before the first unassisted rasps began. Raven let out a sob of relief, feeling like his breath resuming was directly connected to her own oxygen. She continued healing him, clearing his head of blood and strengthening the broken ribs before his eyes opened with a groan.

“Did ya get the license of that truck that hit me?” he said, weakly.

Raven nearly hit him. “That was by far the stupidest thing I have ever seen you do. What were you thinking, charging in like that?”

“Aww c’mon, Rae. I had ta’. And I’m sure you’ve seen me do stupider things.”

“None of them had you puncture a lung and stop breathing, you fool. You didn’t need emergency resuscitation when you tried to do a standing backflip.” A jolt of power zapped him with an icicle of cold to the chest, and he coughed.

“At least I stuck the landing this time, heh. I think I can sit up. Thanks for fixing me up, Doctor Rae.”

She glared, and kept glaring as Nightwing checked in. Fang and Kitten had been apprehended almost peacefully by him and Starfire, and Cyborg had incapacitated the grub easily. She reported the situation, not once taking her eyes off her idiot of a boyfriend.

He rolled to his feet, only a little gingerly, and retrieved the broken pieces of the remote control for Cyborg to repair and reverse the changes to the swarm.

As he stooped down to pick up the last pieces, he stopped, and a look of realization dawned on him.

“Wait, you gave me CPR? Like, mouth-to-mouth?”

“Of course. You weren’t breathing and you needed oxygen before any working brain cells died.”

“Y’know,” he said, sitting back down beside her, “I think that counts as our first kiss.”

Raven went still. It couldn’t. It wasn’t even a kiss, it was legitimate medical treatment. But then again, it wasn’t very good, it was at a weird angle, and there was even the terrible fear that she’d vomit out of worry. It checked all the boxes for the perfect terrible first kiss.

He interrupted her musing, “Too bad I don’t remember it. Maybe we could see if trying again might jog some memories.” He reached his arm across her shoulders, waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh shut up,” she said, and pulled him in for a completely butterfly-free second first kiss.

AO3 FF.net

[lizbotw]

hi!! can I ask for some shouto headcanons with a s/o who has frequent nightmares? ty! ily

Todoroki With a S/O That Has Frequent Nightmares

hi! wow, i really loved this request and enjoyed writing it! once again, it's a bit on the longer side and more scenario-like than just plain headcanons, so i hope you like it! tysm, ilyt!!! ♡

Todoroki Shouto

Everyone knows school is just plain hard and going to the top hero school in the nation meant things were… less than easy for you and your classmates.

All-nighters were common, especially now that everyone was living in the dorms together and were up to antics at all hours of the night, even despite the scolding of Iida (Aizawa admitted he couldn't care less what the class did as long as they kept it down and didn't cause too much trouble—just don’t interrupt his sleep and everything is all good).

It’s not like it was unusual for someone to complain offhandedly about being tired one day, or for your classmates to be spotted with eye bags, so no one ever thought to point out the sleepy look you seem to sport regularly from being kept up all night.

Everyone was basically kept up later than intended one way or another, whether it be finishing an assignment last minute or staying up to finish a movie, so they sympathized with your plight, assuming that it was similar to their own—but what they didn’t know was that the reason you were up was much different than any of their reasons.

While they slept peacefully only a few floors away from you, or sometimes even a few doors down the hallway, you were plagued by dark images, the type that twisted around in your mind, growing in ferocity and coiling around your heart with sticky, inky blackness so tightly that you felt as though you couldn’t breathe—any attempts against them that you took seemed futile and you always woke up gasping for air, a cold sweat breaking out across your forehead as your chest heaved, heavy with emotion.

You'd gotten used to hiding it, having been dealing with them for quite a while now, and while you eventually learned to brush them off due to their frequency, in the dead of the night, whenever they struck you, you felt as powerless and hopeless as the very first time they arrived.

It was only in the light of day that you were able to be reasonable with yourself and in which the fears lost most of their power (they were never completely gone though, the thoughts lingering in the back of your mind and causing you to mull over them whenever there was a dull moment in class and your attention started to drift).

Perhaps it's because you had these nightmares that you made the most of the energy you had during the day, fighting in your own way in the light to prove that you were still powerful, even if you were stripped of that power every night.

You'd adapted to running on only a few hours of sleep and tried to take short naps throughout the day to make up for lost time (although it was still hard after particularly difficult nights where you got almost zero relief from the terrifying images), so by the time life in U.A. came about, you were able to tough it out and focus on your training.

Speaking of training, you were vicious in class battles, taking many by surprise and were able to render several of your weaker classmates immobile in capture exercises and swept them off of their feet relatively quickly in one on one fights, including a certain “IcyHot” boy (although the way in which you swept him off his feet was much different—it was hard to beat him in normal fights anyway, but when it came to matters of the heart he was forced to surrender).

Your pure power may have caught his attention at first, but it wasn’t until Shouto spoke to you more and your personality came out that he was truly faced with the fact that he was falling for you hard.

A series of mishaps and a fair share of intervention from the rest of Class 1-A later and you two were miraculously dating and even could finally rest easy—they definitely had their work cut out when it came to getting you two together, but they ultimately bit the bullet because they could not stand the mutual pining and hopeless romanticism that continuously went on between you two.

It may take a while for Shouto to realize that spending the night at each other's dorms is a romantic™ thing couples do and that he should offer that up. That would be a great alternative actually versus the current are arrangement of that whenever you come over to study during the afternoons with him (which quickly turns into night because wow, time sure flies when you're being tortured by textbooks), and once it gets late enough, he comments about what time it is and how both of you should start getting ready for bed—effectively forcing you to leave his dorm. Don't blame him—the thought just never crossed his mind.

It was actually Mina, wanting to pry in on all U.A. relationships and resident sucker for romance, that probably brought the idea to his attention.

Something about asking how you two spent time together turned interrogation when she realized he could be clueless about certain things and made it her personal mission to school him on all things romance.

And then came the question, “So, have you guys had a couple’s sleepover yet?”

“A what?”

“Mina, please stop, just leave the poor guy alone,” came Jirou’s chiding from somewhere in the background. Mina had dragged her along with her for unknown reasons, but Jirou had made it very clear that she did not want to be there, slowly distancing herself from the conversation and discreetly trying to slip away.

While Mina took up arguing with Jirou about the “necessity” of these questions and Jirou facepalming and asking Mina why she didn’t just bring Hagakure (second in command on all things romance) with her, Shouto took the chance to mull over Mina’s words.

“And what does this... ‘couple’s sleepover’ entail exactly?” he interrupted their bickering after a few moments of contemplation and being unable to come up with an answer himself.

Mina absolutely lit up at that and turned to him once again, scuffle with Jirou long forgotten. “I am so glad you asked! Well, first of all-”

“She just means spending the night at each other’s dorms,” Jirou interrupted before Mina could go off on another tangent. Shouto turned to look at Jirou now and found her boredly examining her nails before then switching to nervously clinking the ends of her earphones jacks together when she noticed he was watching her.

“Then why-”

Jirou interrupted him this time. “Why did she call it a ‘couple’s sleepover?’ I don’t know, why don’t you ask Mina herself?”

It only took her a fraction of a second to realize her mistake when Mina opened her mouth to unleash the lengthy explanation she had prepared and Jirou immediately cut her off again before the damage could be done.

“Actually, never mind, don’t ask her. I don’t think I have to explain the sleepover part. Just spend the night doing fun things, like playing games or watching a movie or something, I don’t know. Typical sleepover things. And the couple’s part is because… well, you’re dating aren’t you? Bam, a couple.” She did unenthusiastic jazz hands at that. “Hmm… and I guess that means the sleepover activities will be more romantic than a typical sleepover too.” She scrunched her nose at the idea, not even wanting to imagine what that sort of description would entail.

Mina was getting antsy next to her, desperate to jump into the conversation with her own input and Jirou finally seemed to notice it. “Looks like Mina wants to go-” (“What? No, I don’t-”) “So see you later, Todoroki.” She grabbed Mina’s arm with one hand and gave Shouto a small wave goodbye with her free hand—one that he returned—as she pulled Mina away. “Oh, and don’t worry too much about it,” she said over her shoulder, “It’s literally just spending some time together and you do that already, right? The only difference is that this time it’ll be overnight, so just act natural. It’s not some big fancy event despite what Mina’s name for it might suggest.” And with that the two were gone, disappearing down the hallway in a fit of distant, mumbled bickering about how Mina is no longer allowed to give unsolicited love advice and how Jirou needs to learn the ways of love to truly understand, leaving Shouto all alone with his thoughts, trying to decipher what the fuck just happened.

Truthfully, he was always sad to see you go after a day of hanging out, wishing he could spend more time with you. For some reason he thought that as soon as night came, you deserved to head back to your own dorm for a proper night’s rest. He was just being concerned for your well being, isn’t that what proper boyfriends did? He considered the idea once of what if you spent the night together?, and despite that literally addressing all of his issues from before, he still brushed off the idea because it was preposterous. Shouto, where are your thinking skills???

After a while of back and forth with himself over the wisdom Mina and Jirou had bestowed upon him, he made the decision that next time things would be different.

Another late night study session had you packing up your things once you noticed the blinking alarm clock on Shouto's desk had stuck 11 P.M., the process routine at this point and you no longer waiting for your boyfriend to end the study session himself.

You rose and starting gathering the papers sprawled across his floor into a neat stack in your arms, absentmindedly talking about the things you had to do tomorrow as you went—it was like you were just inputting some closing remarks before calling it a night and Shouto fell easily into the conversation as he slipped stray pens and highlighters back into his pencil case.

You two usually cleaned up amongst the quiet hum of your words—discussing how you felt about the upcoming test, subjects either of you needed more help on next time, and what you were looking forward to eating for breakfast in the morning—but this night had Shouto's eyes straying away from the mess at his feet to you. Your back was to him most of the time, but even when you were facing him as you gathered up your books, your attention was focused on said objects, rather than him.

You guys didn't look at each other much as you cleaned, he realized—it was an obvious observation, but he still had the thought as he watched you, taking note of how this was just the perfect chance to admire you.

When you turned to him at one point though, gaze piercing, he quickly averted his eyes, shifting them to a highlighter that lay in front of him in your general direction, reaching to pick up. He ran his thumb over the smooth, bright yellow cylinder of it as you walked over to him, crouched down, hands planted on his shoulders, and leaned in to brush your lips against his. His eyes fluttered close and he leaned into the kiss, pushing back against you. He moved to deepen it, about to grip onto the fabric of your shirt for leverage, the highlighter rolling out of his grip, but the kiss was over in a matter of seconds and he opened his eyes, finding your smiling face right in front of him. You gave him a brief kiss on his cheek, as though to sign it off, and he had to admit that the heat of your face against his felt nice.

“Night, babe,” you said as you got up and turned to walk over to your bag that lay by the door.

“Night…” Right, that was just one of your normal goodnight kisses. That was also part of the routine but… something about the idea that that was the last kiss of the night didn’t sit right with him.

Shouto studied you once more, tongue in cheek, as he watched you stuff the papers and books you had gathered up back into your bag. The contemplative look never left his eye—it seemed as though you hadn’t noticed his staring from earlier so he was a bit more bold and confident about doing it now—and he almost lost himself to a trance of watching your methodical movements of picking something up from the pile of books you had lain at your feet and slipping them into the bag one by one.

When you slung the bag over your shoulder and moved towards the door, turning back to give him a final wave goodbye, he stiffened, remembering his plan.

“Wait-” He scrambled to his feet as you watched him in confusion, hand already on the doorknob. “Um… do you want to stay the night?” He flinched internally at the unsureness in his voice and straightened up, crossing his arms to create some semblance of nonchalance. “I mean, only if you want to. We don’t have to keep studying. I have a… movie? If you want to watch that together?”

Shouto’s eyes carefully tracked your movements, trying to gauge your reaction.

You tilted your head in bewilderment at the sudden offer, but then you grinned brightly and dropped your bag back at your feet, it landing on the ground with a thud from all of the heavy books inside. “Okay,” you beamed and Shouto was sure he was about to faint.

He followed Jirou’s advice to a T, or at least he tried to. He meant to ask if you wanted to play Monopoly but Kaminari had stolen it from the dorm’s game closet and refused to hand it over because his plans for the night included kicking Sero’s, Kirishima’s, and Bakugou’s asses at the game (Mina was there to be the unbiased banker because the boys were so sure that one of them kept stealing money out of the bank whenever no one was looking and Jirou was just there to bask in the chaos that was sure to ensure—when Mina and Jirou caught sight of Shouto, they both gave him a knowing look).

The loss of the Monopoly board meant you two instead played with the dingy Uno card deck Shouto found buried in his school supply drawer (he was pretty sure it was Midoriya’s and in his mind sent him a silent thank you—as for if he was going to give the desk back or continue “borrowing” it… well, that depended on how much you enjoyed playing with him).

You won three times in a row, but also Shouto seemed to keep getting distracted by something (spoiler alert: it was your smile) and you realized he wasn’t even playing his best cards most of the time so you easily crushed him. You clapped your hands in celebration at every victory and Shouto noticeably increased his speed while shuffling the deck whenever you did that (oh yeah, he was definitely keeping these, sorry, Deku).

You two eventually got around to watching the movie he had brought up before on his laptop, you slotted comfortably under his arm while it hung around your shoulder, and even had a late night snack run per your request (snack run = sneaking into the kitchen and stealing the plate of hot pockets Kaminari was making to supplement his game night—better yet, you made Shouto do the stealing with him timing his crime perfectly and waiting for Kaminari’s back to be turned.)

(You supervised the whole thing by peeking around a hidden corner, barely containing your laughter, and then jumped in to distract Kaminari right when he was about to turn around before quickly taking your leave once Shouto was out of sight. Kaminari’s screams once he realized what had happened could be heard down the hallway as you two rushed back to the elevator, stolen goods secured and you laughing freely.)

(You’re pretty sure you heard Shouto mumble, “How’s that for Monopoly, you electric bitch,” and while you’re honestly not sure what he’s talking about, you support his energy nonetheless.)

Soon it was time to actually sleep and you two were curled up under his blanket, limbs tangled together. You had taken brief naps together before so this wasn’t exactly anything new (even though it was, judging by what a big deal everyone had made of it, including you two), but you found yourself appreciating once again how Shouto was the perfect person to sleep against—he regulated his body temperature exactly how you liked it and you found yourself nodding off to sleep easily in between the quiet whispers about nonsensical late night topics between you two.

The brief concern about your nightmares had completely slipped your mind at this point—you found that short naps meant that they didn’t have much time to strike and since said naps were what you were used to with him, you forgot that this was a full night ordeal. When he had first proposed the idea of a sleepover, you had thought it would be good to have someone else there to comfort you, but then felt guilty about being selfish and wondered if your reaction to the nightmares would scare him off—although you eventually pushed those thoughts to the side because no way would you turn down spending some quality time with your boyfriend, and the night of fun had led to never returning to mull over that internal conflict.

You two fell asleep at some point without even realizing it, peaceful in each other's arms—that is, until a few hours later when disaster struck because of course something just had to ruin your perfect night.

Shouto blearily blinked his eyes open, confused at the sound that reached his ears and brain slow to comprehend what exactly was going on. It took him a moment to suck in a breath to clear his mind and decipher the situation, shifting in place—that is, until his arm brushed against yours and he stilled, mind suddenly clear as it recalled the events of the last hour he had been awake. You were spending the night with him.

Carefully, he sat up, head pounding a little. He brought up a hand to rest on top of his head, fingers curling around his hair and massaging away the beginnings of a headache. And then he heard it again—the sound that had woken him up. A quiet whimper maybe?

He was back to being confused, except now his eyes were darting around the room suspiciously, ready to go on the defensive, especially because you were next to him. U.A. had a proper security system, didn't it? He shouldn't be worried. Although, then again, his mind kept returning to those thoughts of uncertainty and how villains had been able to endanger his classmates time and time again recently.

The shuffling of blankets and a sharp intake of breath had him refocused within a second and he looked down at you. Eyes now adjusted to the darkness, he could make out your face against the backdrop of his pillow, your features twisted into a troubled expression, teeth pulling on your bottom lip. Your hands gripped the blanket in a tight fist, your arms shaking a little.

You continued squirming under the blanket until you eventually kicked most of it off of you, almost as if there was someone there that you meant to hit. Your mouth curled into a silent scream, ragged breaths coming out in huffs as your chest rapidly rose and fell. He could tell you were mumbling now, voice low enough that he couldn't exactly make out what was being said—the syllables coming out in quick bursts and half formed as your focus seemed to jump from topic to topic, each of them bringing you increasing distress.

Shouto had been watching you in horrid fascination, unable to take his eyes off of you as much as his mind screamed at his body to just fucking move, but when a sliver of moonlight coming in from his window—peeking out from behind a gap in the drapes he hadn’t pulled together close enough—caught the glint of tears brimming your eyes, he was quick to react, gripping your upper arm and, as gently as he could while still being firm, shook you. "(Y/N)!" he hissed, not wanting to startle you, "Wake up, please. What's wrong?"

It took a few tries—him wanting to snap you back to consciousness right away, but also afraid of hurting you or making things worse—but before a minute had passed you were coming back to reality, forcing your eyes open as you realized the images plaguing you hadn't been real. You sat up quickly, almost bumping your head against Shouto's (not that you even noticed he was there), your breaths coming hard and fast.

You completely forgot where you were for a moment, just focusing on calming down, and it wasn't until Shouto managed a quiet, "(Y/N)?," concern clearly lacing his voice, that you whipped your head around to face him.

And then your eyes slowly traveled around the rest of the room, recalling where you were. If he hadn't been there, the unfamiliar environment probably would have made you feel alarmed when you came to and make you start wondering if you were stuck in another nightmare again.

You heard Shouto clear his throat as he looked at you curiously, and your eyes snapped back to him. Just the sight of him had your eyes watering and before you knew it, you had flung yourself into his chest, fingers finding purchase in the loose fabric of his shirt.

He easily managed to steady you two from the momentum of you crashing into him and wrapped his strong arms around you, squeezing you to him as you sobbed into his chest.

It would take a little while for him to calm you down and although he was incredibly concerned, he made sure to be the rock you needed and let you take all the time in the world to stabilize yourself.

You would probably be a little embarrassed to tell him about your dream, especially now that you were more lucid, and may even start apologizing for your behavior earlier until he cuts you off because you had every right to react as you did.

After a bit of coaxing, along with you realizing you felt comfortable around him and that you shouldn't worry about him judging you for something as trivial as this, you opened up and told Shouto about your frequent nightmares. He would play with your hands as you talked to let you know it was okay and a silent kiss—soft lips against yours—would confirm that he loved you no matter what.

Shouto wouldn’t mind staying up late into the early hours of the morning with you if you wanted to talk about what you had experienced and may even suggest that you two sneak down to the dorm kitchen and get something to eat and drink (now that was fun—teasing him by pretending to be on a spy mission and forcing him to glance around all of the corners with you, as though you were suspicious about someone catching you? absolutely gold).

Just laying together and talking because you didn’t want to go to sleep would be fine with him, even if you insisted that he should get some rest. He didn’t want you to feel bad about the situation or think that you were a burden, so he did his best to take your mind off of it.

If you wanted to stay up longer, you might watch another movie or even play a few more rounds of Uno (Kaminari, the bastard, still had Monopoly locked in his room for some reason and hadn’t returned it to the game closet—now not to say that Shouto considered leaving an anonymous tip to Iida about the blonde breaking the unwritten rules of the dorm by not returning the game as soon as he was done with it but… yeah, he definitely considered it).

Expect sleepovers to become a lot more common between you two from then on, especially after you admitted that having Shouto there made things a lot more bearable. Whether it be in your dorm or his, both of you were always open to falling asleep in each other's arms whenever the other person asked.

At your next late night hang out session, you two even played Monopoly!

(Shouto had frozen Kaminari’s feet to the ground when he saw him running towards the game closet to snag the game again, and then calmly walked off with his prize after plucking it from the shelf while Kamianri wailed in distress and tried to unstick his feet and pull them free. Shouto couldn’t help but crack a small grin to himself in victory as he walked away.)

Per your request, you two invited some of the other students to play Monopoly because it was always fun with more people (for some reason, Shouto expressly stated that Kaminari was not to be invited and while you were confused, you just shrugged and agreed, even when you heard him say something about forcing the blonde go through “Monopoly withdrawal” as a punishment—you decided not to question him on that point), and a few of those who didn’t want to play just came to watch as well.

(Midoriya was one of those who came to play and while he was glancing around the room, his eyes landed on Shouto’s desk and he squinted in confusion, scrutinizing the little deck he saw tucked in the corner.)

(“Hey, Todoroki, are those my Uno car-”)

(“Nope. Oh look, you just landed on Boardwalk and Uraraka has a hotel there. You only have $200, right?”)

(“Wha- oh, fu-”)

Shouto had to deal with his fair share of nightmares as a child and if you ever want to talk about what the latest disturbing image that had haunted you was, he’ll always be available. In turn, he feels ready to open up about his own fears to you, all while soothing away yours. Talking with him feels natural, just like anything else involving him, and not keeping everything bottled up has definitely helped you more, causing your performance both in class and out in the battlefield to improve.

Your chest definitely feels a lot lighter these days and your dark circles seem to be fading. You probably owe those to your wonderful boyfriend turned portable heater (what? he’s perfect for when you want to take naps and now that he knows about your nightmares during the night, you no longer have to explain to him why you like to sleep so frequently during the day).

Shouto is nothing short of supportive and if there’s anything you ever need to ease the nightmares and lull you off to sleep—whether it be him buying you a diffuser you saw online, getting you a custom sleeping mask, or just you needing him to whisper sweet nothings into your ear and pepper kisses along your temple to help you fall back asleep after being jolted awake again—he’s always there to provide it.

[justcourttee]

Trigger warning: After posting one too many of Lila’s lies, the ladyblog faces severe backlash and lawsuits. One of the recent is from a respected journalist that Lila lied about being friends with their kid. Alya is facing defamation and the journalists Child had recently passed away further upsetting the latter. Alya tried to explain, but Lila quickly throws her under the bus. This is not Bashing, except actions have consequences and have to live with them. Lila salt is welcome though

I hope this is kind of what you were thinking about. I did my best to keep it as accurate as I could with French Law :)

Here

Alya couldn’t believe she was here.

As she stared at the multitude of cameras, all vying for her attention, she felt the sudden need to make herself smaller. Nino’s strong hand on her back, urging her forward gave her the strength she needed to make it up the courthouse steps. Her eyes scanned the crowd looking for one person in particular but alas, they were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, she found two people she had hoped would miss this little event. Front row stood Marinette and Adrien, they’re eyes feigned with concern as she took the last step before the entrance. If only she could reach them, get them to testify on her behalf, but why would they change their minds now? It’s not like she hadn’t begged them too at the beginning of the month before everything had gone south so quickly.

As the doors were opened, the blinding light subsided as she was quickly ushered to a small room away from her adversaries that had lined the hallways, all ready to testify against her. She couldn’t believe how many there were.

“We should be safe here Miss Césaire, you didn’t talk to anybody on your way in, right? Journalists are like sharks, one small taste of blood and they’ll turn it into a frenzy.”

Alya scoffed at her attorney. She knew how journalism worked. You needed to make the story big and eye-catching otherwise nobody would bother to read it. It’s why she loved Lila so much. With her, the LadyBlog never had a dull moment.

“We have thirty minuted to prepare. Normally, they would not allow this public prosecution, but you and your friend have managed to upset a lot of people, Miss Césaire.”

Alya bit her tongue as she sunk lower in her seat. Where was her friend now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “All rise for the honorable Judge Bethany Abadie.”

Alya stood slowly, trying not to let her stance waver as the sound of dozens of cameras sounded through the room.

“You may be seated.”

She felt a small hand lightly press down on her shoulder as her attorney tried to get her to sit, but she couldn’t. She felt frozen in place. Seeing the judge made everything feel so real and not seeing her made Alya see red.

“Miss Césaire, I suggest you sit down. Your charges today are quite serious under the eyes of French law and with the number of people attempting to sue your website, you better hope your defense team has an ace up their sleeve.”

It was like something snapped inside of her as she curled in on herself, trying her best to disappear in front of the courtroom.

“Now, let’s get started. In the case of the people of France vs. Alya Césaire, the defendant is charged with defamation of character and defamation of the deceased. How does the defendant plead?”

“Not guilty, your honor.”

Her eyes wandered over to her defense attorney who looked no better than she did when the words came out of his mouth.

“I see, you were given an option to accept the price that the collective individuals offered you in addition to taking down your blog, instead you chose to fight their lawsuits. You do realize Miss Césaire that if the jury finds you guilty on these charges, that could mean up to a year in jail in addition to €12.000 per assailant?”

Alya mustered enough strength to nod much to the judge's dismay.

“Very well then, the prosecution team may lead with their first witness.”

One by one, every scoop she had posted unfolded and crumbled before her eyes. Jagged Stone denying writing a song for her friend, denying ever having a ‘filthy feline’. Clara Nightingale denying her friend’s involvement in any of her choreography, claiming it would be child labor. And worse of all, Nadja Chamack and her claim that her friend never knew her daughter, that Alya saying her child was brash and rude and an overall unpleasant kid was defamation.

“And what proof do you have that my client isn’t telling lies about your daughter, you do know that every child is different when they’re away from their parents.”

Alya breathed a sigh of relief as her attorney laid into the reporter. Just maybe, she had a chance of walking out of here unscathed.

“Because she’s dead.”

An eerie silence fell over the courtroom as Alya’s face ashened. No. That couldn’t be true. She had seen Manon the other day. She just knew she had. She went over to Marinette’s and the girl was there, as bratty as ever. But now she couldn’t remember the last time she had been to Marinette’s.

“How long has she been dead?”

“Councilman, I object!” The judge’s hammer slammed down, echoing throughout the room.

“No, no, it’s alright. Those two monsters need to hear what they put me through.”

Nadja met Alya’s eyes, not even bothering to wipe the tears that streamed down her face as righteous anger poured into her stare.

“My daughter died five months ago, a terrible car accident. I begged my team to leave it out of the report and only told my closest friends and family. The funeral was a week later and my heart remained shattered at the thought that some reckless driver hadn’t paid attention to her crossing the crosswalk, just like I had taught her.”

Nadja took a breath, trying to level her voice as the lump in Alya’s throat grew bigger.

“Three months ago, I ran across the Ladyblog. While it had mostly turned into a gossip column for this Lila Rossi person, I used to check it all the time when it had just started out. I honestly considered Alya as the next big reporter as she was always at the scene throwing herself into danger to get the scoop. It was admirable.”

Her praises caused the girl to flinch as if she had been struck.

“But as I clicked on the newest video labeled ‘Angel or Devil?: Is Manon Chamack really as everyone believes her to be?’, my heart immediately sank. Both girls sat on-screen as Lila Rossi went on for ten whole minutes about the time she babysat Manon during my interview with Prince Ali. She said my baby was a horror show and Alya agreed saying the few times she had helped Marinette were nightmares.”

Nadja lost her composure as the final word fell out of her mouth. Her tears were ugly as she barely managed an audible ‘could I be excused?’. The judge nodded calling for a recess before allowing the defense team to call their testimonies on character, but Alya couldn’t move. Nadja’s face was burned into her mind. She waited until the courtroom was cleared before standing, trying her best to swallow the lump in her throat but to no avail.

As her feet trudged behind her attorney, she kept replaying Marinette’s words from the beginning of the month.

‘You don’t want me to be expert testimony to your character because I’ll tell them the truth. And I’d doubt you’d like that very much at all.’

She couldn’t understand where all that anger had come from, all that pain, but now she did. Alya didn’t even want to know what her attorney had up his sleeve because honestly? She felt like she didn’t deserve a defense at all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Only one testimony?”

Her attorney nodded weakly as the judge sighed, probably already having determined Alya’s fate. She knew if it was her up there looking down on someone else, she would have given the maximum punishment the court allowed.

“The defense calls to the stand Lila Rossi.”

Alya sat up straight in her seat, her blood running cold as the sly fox breezily took the stand. Her smirk was brief and directed toward the auburn-haired girl, but it dropped into fake sympathy, a single forced tear rolling down her face.

“What can you tell us about Alya Césaire?”

“Oh goodness, where do I start?” Lila brought a tissue up to her eyes, lightly dabbing at the nonexistent tears.

“She coerced me into telling all those terrible lies about the good people of Paris. Every single one of my interviews was typed up and rehearsed several times before we even shot the tape. Here’s the proof,” With a fake sob, she handed the judge several transcripts, all seemingly printed from Lila’s email.

Alya clenched her fists underneath the table. She was lying. Straight through her teeth. Alya was wondering how Lila managed to evade the charges that were on both of them, but here it was lying in front of her. Lila was going to throw her under the bus.

“She’s a monster. She ditched her own best friend because she wouldn’t lie for her on the stand. She threatened to make everyone hate me if I didn’t keep up the lies. She knew about my disease and took advantage of it.”

Alya gritted her teeth as her attorney tried his best to get the girl off the stand, but it was too late. The damage had been done. One look at the jury and Alya knew. She was done for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …

The jury took a whole thirty minutes before they returned with her verdict.

Guilty.

€48.000 to settle each lawsuit, the permanent closure of her LadyBlog, and 300 hours of community service. Lila received none of it.

“That’s not fair!”

Alya’s head whipped around to where the voice came from, her eyes landing on her former best friend.

“Young lady, I advise that you sit down and allow this court to adjourn peacefully. The verdict has been decided.”

“But Lila was just as much a part of this as Alya. In fact, if you even bothered to look at the interviews, Lila egged her on, there’s no way it was all scripted. Scrub Alya’s computer, I bet you won’t find a single email.”

“Young lady, I’ll give you one more chance, Sit down.”

Marinette opened her mouth, but she abruptly closed it when she felt a soft touch on her shoulder. Her gaze shifted down to where Alya stood, a small smile peeking through her tears.

“Thank you Marinette, I really do appreciate it, but it’s time I took responsibility. I should have never trusted her too good to be true stories in the first place. I should have never hurt my best friend in the first place.”

Marinette hesitated, but as she stared into the auburn-haired girls glassy eyes, she understood as well. With a nod, she returned to her spot between Adrien and Nino, her own eyes glazing over as she watched her former best friend escorted out by her attorney and a few cops.

Once more, Alya was blinded by the flashing lights as she was ushered to her attorney’s car. As the doors shut firmly, her attorney released a sigh before jumbling his keys around, trying to find the ignition.

“Well, it could’ve gone worse if we’re honest here.”

Alya didn’t bother to respond. She simply stared out the window, her mind racing at a thousand miles a minute. Only one thought stood prominent above the rest.

Alya couldn’t believe she was here.

[freebooter4ever]

A fic inspired by @kanhatomame 's Lovely Drawing of Eugene dreaming about Snafu ^_^ Set in Mobile after the war, Eugene deals with pining and memories, and that wordless connection to another person that never really leaves you. (angst ish with happy ending)

__________

There are so many ghosts in Eugene's head it's quite crowded there. But the only one he clings to is Snafu's. Naturally, this also means it's the one that feels most nebulous and impossible to chase down. Sometimes, when Eugene sees other couples together, touching each other, looking at each other, the connections to his own vivid memories feel stronger.

But he and Snafu were never a couple, should never have been a couple. Their few kisses were stolen behind doors and in the shadows. They could never have danced hand in hand like the boys and girls are doing now at the OMM ball.

Eugene stares at the dancers, himself half hidden behind a potted plant. A silly form of camouflage, and one that wouldn't even work if someone looked his way. It certainly fails to hide him from his brother. He can see Edward eyeing him disapprovingly from across the room. Edward's arm is wrapped lovingly around his wife's waist. She leans into his shoulder slightly - Martha is small and petite and fits perfectly.

Eugene takes a deep breath and refocuses his eyes to the center of the dance floor. He slowly allows himself to relax, concentrating on one memory of a touch. Snafu was never one to lovingly cradle Eugene, but whenever they would sit down around camp - at the slop shoot, or the movies, or when naked on the beach after a swim - Snafu would sling his arm behind Gene's back and angle his whole body in Gene's direction. He kept it casual, usually joking and laughing as if using humor to distract the rest of the guys from this habit of his. Except there were always times when Snaf would make a particularly ridiculous wisecrack and Eugene would feel compelled to turn his neck to roll his eyes at Snafu, and the minute his eyes would meet Snafu's, the other guy's face would be glowing with joy. Joy reserved only for one person - Eugene.

There's a specific shine in Snafu's eyes that he saves solely for Gene. And those delicate bits of eye contact were more intimate than all the loving touches in the world. And often they preceded Snafu pulling Eugene into some dark hideaway, and pressing his full body up against Gene, still teasing him, tempting him with no kisses, no gentle lover's touch until Eugene finally got fed up and molded their mouths together.

Eugene will never forget the shape of Snafu's hands.

"Eugene? Baby brother?" Edward is snapping his fingers in front of Eugene's face.

Eugene blinks rapidly, comes back to himself, completely loses the relaxation in his body, and glares at Edward.

"Thought you were in a trance or something," Edward grins lopsided.

"I was thinking," Eugene sighs.

"No duh," Edward says, "You do too much of that, little brother."

"What else is there to do?" Eugene sighs continuously. He shouldn't have opened his mouth because the next thing he knows Edward tells him 'don't move' and disappears further into the house to find some poor victim to foist awkwardly on Gene.

It's been like this all evening. Eugene's talked to more girls in the past hour than he ever has in his life. All of them brought to him by Edward, eagerly introducing the girls to his younger, naive brother.

This latest one is named Victoria, and she's got long curly brown hair that looks soft to touch, and a porcelain face like a doll.

"She's very pretty," Eugene says truthfully when Edward corners him and demands to know what he thought after Victoria is called away by friends.

"Gene, I don't understand you," Edward shakes his head, "You're the son of the city's best doctor, you've got all your limbs intact, you're a war hero… why I'll bet you're the most eligible bachelor here. If you just learn to play it up a little bit…"

"I'm going outside to smoke," Eugene interrupts flatly, "Come get me when it's time to leave."

His voice brooks no argument, and he promptly ducks out of the house with only one direction in mind. He fills his pipe, lights it, and slowly lets the smoke start to relax him again. His lips suck on the wood between them, and the ghost of Snafu seeps in with the nicotine. The memory of the first time when Eugene sucked Snafu's finger clean (of mashed potatoes) - after Snafu tried (and failed) to start a food fight. It pairs well with the memory of sucking off other parts of Snafu too… certain parts he doesn't have a clear picture of in his mind. He sort of blurred the image as it happened, out of embarrassment or sheer awkwardness. If he ever got the chance to do it again, he'd memorize every square inch.

"Eugene, your brother asked me to come find you," his mother breaks his reverie, "Your father is having the car brought around."

Eugene nods, his shame from his thoughts bright red on his face, but luckily hidden in the dark. He follows his mother to the driveway and wordlessly climbs into the backseat. Martha and Edward are taking their own car. So Eugene has plenty of room to forego seatbelts and lie down across the back. His head is swimming a little bit, from that punch he kept drinking. He couldn't taste it, but he suspects it was spiked.

The car starts up, and starts rumbling, shaking his entire body. The seat is warm - the heat from the engine flows through the entire undercarriage. Eugene closes his eyes. He listens to the sound of the road under the wheels, a smooth wash like constantly crashing waves.

Waves lapping at the toes of his feet, and bathing half of Snafu's entire leg in water up to his knees. Snafu lying naked on his back in the sand, with Eugene straddled on top of him bouncing vigorously. All Eugene remembers is the intensity, the sounds, and the feeling. Half weird gritty discomfort, half absolute pleasure.

The car turns and rolls Eugene against the back of the car. He turns his face to the smooth leather, seeking that pressure of something - anything - against his skin.

Eugene recognizes when they reach their house's street because he can feel the jittering rumble as the car crosses the wooden bridge. The jitter shakes him to his bones, and he shivers although the night is hot and sticky. He closes his eyes and counts the streetlights behind his eyelids until they reach the driveway.

Had Eugene been paying attention at all, looking out the window of the car instead of losing himself to ghosts, he might have noticed the beat-up rusted brown truck parked just outside his family's gate at the end of Georgia House's long private drive. Though truthfully, even if Eugene had been looking he might not have seen it. The cloud cover darkens the sky until the only light source is the single lamp marking the start of the Sledge's driveway. And the truck is parked under a tree, throwing even more shadow over it. The only hint that someone is there is the soft glow of a cigarette luminating a haunted face and skinny legs dangling over the truck bed where he sits.

Snafu arrived in town hours ago - just in time to watch Eugene leave. He's been sitting on top his parked truck ever since. Judging from their fancy clothes, Snafu knew they'd likely return that night from an outing and sure enough. Here they are. He wedges the cigarette tighter in his mouth and jumps down from the truck bed.

Eugene's window is on the first floor, so it shouldn't be hard to reach except for the damn kudzu covering a mass of bushes and thorny plants underneath. Snafu suspects they might have been roses at one point. They're dead now. There's live ones elsewhere in the garden, but the ones under Eugene's window are long gone.

Fucking symbolic maybe.

Snafu shoves the window open unceremoniously and throws his leg in. He sits on the sil and stares down at Gene in the bed. Eugene didn't bother to change, he's still in that same expensive looking suit, his tie askew and his shoes kicked off with one sock missing. Snafu settles himself comfortably against the window frame, puffs on his cigarette, and watches Eugene sleep.

He doesn't get to watch for long - Eugene sleeps fitfully, just as Snafu remembers, and ends up kicking and thrashing in his bed. Snafu watches him with intense regret. When Eugene fell asleep peacefully on the train, for the first time since that initial week on Pavuvu, Snafu thought maybe civilization had kicked Eugene's nightmares. That maybe Eugene was gonna be able to go back to 'normal'. Clearly Snafu was wrong.

He waits a few more seconds, till Eugene's fit is at its peak, and whispers sharply, "Sledgehammer."

Gene sits bolt upright immediately and silently. He stares blankly for a split second, till his eyes snap to Snafu's. Then he stares silently at Snafu.

Snafu takes his half finished cigarette and grinds it into the wood of Eugene's window. It leaves a mark. Eugene watches this without expression.

"You're real," Eugene whispers.

Snafu shrugs.

"I mean you're not a dream… for once," Eugene says.

"You've been dreaming about me?" Snafu grins.

Eugene lunges forward, grabs Snafu's forearms and drags him onto the bed. Snafu falls awkwardly on top of Eugene, but it's easy to shift their positions and overpower Eugene to pin him to the bed. "I really hope those nightmares of yours wasn't you dreaming of me, cause if they were we might have to figure out a way to give you better ones."

"My dreams of you only come during the day," Eugene says, much more serious in tone than Snafu.

"Good ones?"

Eugene nods.

"It isn't enough… is it?" Snafu asks. He already knows the correct answer. That's why he's here.

In response Eugene pulls him down into a kiss.

[gobletofweasleys]

Not Really Mine

Summary: Draco Malfoy asks for unconventional help. You agree. (Fake Dating AU)

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x reader

Word Count: 2,602

Requested by: @agentpegcxrter :  Hi!!! Could I request a Draco fic with fake dating au? Thanks! If you can’t there’s no problem! ✨🥰

You shouldn't have been surprised. 

You watched Malfoy where he sat beside you, rigid in posture and eyes trained on the common room fire. The flames danced around the space, making shadows flicker across his skin. You were biting your lip in thought as you pondered what he'd said. 

"And this will get your parents off your back?" 

He nodded slowly, fidgeting in his place. This entire conversation had been laced with discomfort the moment it had started. You and Malfoy were mere acquaintances. Sure, you both hailed from strong, long standing pureblood Slytherin families, had been in the same school for five years, saw each other often at lavish dinner parties, but you wouldn't consider him a friend. 

"You could ask Pansy Parkinson." You finally voiced what had been bothering you the most in this entire situation. Why you? 

Malfoy pursed his lips and made a face. "No, she gets annoying after a while. Can't stand to be around her all the time."

You whistled lowly, tutting. "That's going to break her heart. She really fancies you."

"That's the whole problem."

You looked at him again, waiting for him to elaborate. 

"If this fake dating thing is going to work, we have to complicate it as little as possible. You barely know me, so no chance of feelings or second thoughts to our agreement."

You stared at him. "Wow, you've really thought this through, haven't you?" 

He finally looked at you, grey eyes meeting your own in the dim light of the fire. He shrugged. 

When Malfoy had asked to talk to you in private, him asking you to be his fake girlfriend was the last thing you had expected him to say to you. It had taken a while to let the thought even sink in, and you had asked him to give you time. Now here you were, two days later, seriously considering going along with his plan. 

He was doing it because he somehow thought dating someone from a very prominent Slytherin family would win his parents' approval, and you…. you hadn't yet decided what you would do. 

"I don't know about this, Malfoy." Your tone hinted hesitation. "What if someone finds out we're faking it? And how long exactly do we have to keep this up?"

Malfoy sighed and leaned back into the couch, his lean frame almost disappearing into the soft cushions. 

"We'll just have to make it convincing then, don't we?" He replied. "I was kind of hoping we'd figure it out as we went…"

You sighed and rolled your eyes, thinking about your own parents. Oh, they would be over the moon when they heard about this. You dating Lucius Malfoy's only son? It was too good to be true in their eyes. 

Oh, the looks on their faces…. 

"Okay." You heard yourself say, making Malfoy's head jerk towards you. "Let's do it."

"R-really?" His eyes were wide as he sat up again. It was almost as if he was prepared for rejection. "That's- okay. Yeah, let's do it."

You didn't know what you actually expected from this whole fake dating thing, but it turned out to be ten times more enjoyable than you thought. For one thing, your housemates already thought you and Malfoy had conquered the sun or something. But both of you as a couple? Slytherins starting worshipping you. 

Malfoy had been right, his parents and yours were both pleasantly shocked, your Mother pointing out in a letter how you'd never mentioned an interest for the boy. You replied with a fantastically romantic story about your realization of feelings. Of course it was all a load of crap, but she didn't have to know that. 

You didn't have to do much. Hold hands with him while you walked to classes, sit next to him in the Great Hall, cheer him on during, before and after Quidditch matches. To your surprise, it turned out to be quite fun when he'd return all your gestures with some of his own. Like carrying your books to class, or loudly talking about what a wonderful person you were. Once or twice, he'd even gone as far as laying a little kiss on the back of your hand when it was intertwined with his. And to your surprise, you didn't hate it. 

You should've known you'd fall for him. It was almost too cliché. 

Having to glue yourself twenty four seven to Draco's side meant you'd spend most of your day talking with him. It came to a point where you'd randomly talk about anything and everything. One night, after a night of patrolling as Prefects, you both somehow ended up sitting at the top of the North Tower, talking about astronomy and pointing out the constellations. 

"And you see that one?" You leaned closer to him to follow his finger properly as he traced a constellation. "That's Cassiopeia. In Greek mythology, she was a vain queen who often boasted about her beauty. She was actually forced to the sky as punishment. Apparently, she boasted that her beauty was greater than that of the sea nymphs, and she was banned to the sky for all to gawk at."

"Wow." You mumbled, turning your head to look at him again. Your position put you in very close proximity to him, his face shone even paler than usual under the silver sheen of the moonlight, and you felt your own face burn at the intimacy of the situation. "How do you know so much about this?" 

He shrugged a bit, lowering his hand. "I spend a lot of time up here. Had to find something to do. It's actually pretty fun."

You watched the little twinkle in his stormy eyes, the porcelain skin lit beautifully under the moon, his hair almost silver. Involuntarily, a smile twitched on your lips. 

"Yeah, I guess it is."

He turned his head to look at you then, giving you a small smile, face inches from yours. You swallowed and looked away, willing your racing heart to calm down. You had to chastise yourself again at your childish antics. The whole point of Draco asking you to fake date him was that you had no romantic feelings for him. You were breaking the basis of your pact with him. You cleared your throat and stood up. 

"I should go. This uh, this is your time. I'm intruding." You moved to walk towards the trap door leading you back to the main castle. He grabbed your wrist though, frowning at you. 

"I don't mind you being here." He replied. "I quite like the company, in fact."

You hesitated, not knowing what else to say. So when he gave your arm another soft tug, you just lowered yourself to the ground again. The rest of the night was spent peacefully stargazing and hearing Draco talk about the moon. 

……………… 

Things only got worse. Or better. Depended on how you looked at it. 

The longer you spent with Draco, the more you realized that he was less of a pompous ass and more just a boy with a slight temper and an irrational streak. As his personality in your mind became more and more fleshed out, taking shape of a genuine person, you fell for him more and more. Suddenly, his light touches on your waist or back weren't just something you let happen because you wanted people to believe you were together. It was something you wanted. You would wait for him in the common room every morning so you could walk to classes together, nearly sighing in relief when his fingers would slip into yours. It brought you more comfort than it ever should have. But you pointedly ignored that and tried to enjoy what you had. 

Some things were harder to ignore though. Pansy Parkinson had always seemed to get on your nerves before, but now she was an actual nightmare. From the day she'd found out about you and Draco, her voice had become shriller, her remarks about you sharper and more accusing, and her glare more piercing. She'd never had a specific problem with you before, but you'd basically just given her a reason to hate you. Once or twice, Draco had to actually tell her to shut up when one of her remarks about you would go too far. 

You hadn't really been bothered by it until recently, since you'd really accepted that you liked Draco. 

Like right now. You could practically feel her eyes on your back from her spot on her bed across the dormitory from you. You ignored it, folding your next shirt and placing it back neatly in your drawer. Just when you were about to say something, she spoke up. 

"I know you and Draco are not really a thing."

Your hands froze for a second only, before you took a deep breath and started folding again. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She scoffed at that and you heard the bed creak under her as she shifted. "Come off it, Y/L/N. Draco dating you? You can't possibly expect me to believe that."

You didn't know why her tone held such incredulity, finally turning around to scowl at her. 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why can't Draco date me?" 

"I don't really have to explain that do I?," she was smirking, but her tone was as if she was talking to a toddler you couldn't understand. "the thought of you and him is laughable. Draco's mine. You two can't be a thing even if you wanted to."

You didn't know why her words made you so angry. Nothing she said was wrong. In fact, she was absolutely spot on in pointing out your fears. Draco wasn't yours, not really. This was a deal, like a contract, what was going on between you two. And as much as you wanted it to be real, it wasn't. But the mere thought of her declaring that Draco was hers made your blood boil. 

Maybe that's why you did what you did the next morning. At exactly 11 o'clock, the entire school was at the Quidditch ground for Hufflepuff vs Slytherin. The team was still on the ground, ready to mount their brooms. Draco's hair flapped in the noisy wind, giving you a smile. It was kind of an obligation, a show for the people, that you be there before the match. 

"Wish me luck." He grinned, walking to you and laying an obligatory kiss on your cheek. You knew, even without looking, that Pansy was watching. You didn't know what came over you. 

You cupped his face with your hands, pulling him down to lay a kiss on his lips. 

He went rigid under your touch, and you gave him no time to even process what was happening before you pulled away. 

"Good luck." You whispered, only loud enough for him to hear. His silvery eyes were wide in shock. 

You walked right off the grounds. 

……………… 

Slytherin won, of course. Almost half an hour into the match, Draco caught the snitch. You were obviously happy about the victory, but you were more relieved about what the victory meant. That Draco would be surrounded by happy classmates for at least a few hours, giving you time to think of an excuse for why you did what you did. 

When the satisfaction of Pansy seeing you two kiss had worn off, the panic had started to set in. What the hell had you done? Kissing was off limits, it was his number one rule. Hand holding? Sure. Hugging and maybe cuddling in front of the common room fire when people were around? Of course. But kissing? Hell no. 

You were in your empty dorm room, pacing around and listening as the conversation down in the common room gradually dwindled. Any minute now, Draco would either come find you or send someone to get you. Then he'd ask you why you did what you did. You still had no answer. And then… 

Then this whole thing would be over. 

You didn't know why the thought hurt you so much. Almost as if it were an actual breakup. But it wasn't. It wasn't. You squeezed your eyes shut and willed yourself to think it wasn't a big deal. But somehow, you could already feel your heart breaking. 

By the time late afternoon hit, you had worn yourself out with your nasty thoughts. You sat on your bed, staring out at the water outside your window. Today would be the perfect day to drown yourself if you could manage it. 

"You didn't come downstairs."

Your head whipped around at the words, finding the one person you were dreading to see standing in the doorway of your dorm. You gulped and shrugged before standing up, wringing your fingers in nervousness. 

"Draco, about what happened, I just wanted to say I'm sorry-" 

"Why'd you do it?" He stepped into the room, hands buried deep in his pockets and looking hesitant. 

"I-" you sighed, shaking your head. "It was stupid. Pansy said something about how you and me were a joke and could never be together and I just- wanted to shut her up."

"So you kissed me?" 

Him saying it made you blush, looking up to see that he'd halted about two feet from you. Looking at him for the first time since morning, you couldn't help but remember the kiss, something you had pointedly not thought of all day. You remembered his lips, soft but slightly chapped. His surprised intake of breath. How you wished you had had more time, so you could properly savor it. 

His little laugh broke you out of your thoughts, and you saw he was staring at his feet. 

"So that's why you did it." He muttered softly. "I- well, I just thought- never mind."

Your eyes widened and you stepped closer to him. "W-what did you think?" 

You already had an inkling that you knew, if the dark blush on Draco's cheeks was anything to go by. His train of thought was so obvious, you would have laughed if the situation weren't so charged with tension. 

"Never mind." He repeated, taking a step backwards. But before he could go farther, you closed the distance between you two, your hands behind his neck and your face so close to his that your noses brushed each other's. He froze.

He was the one who closed the gap. 

There was something so... intense about the way he kissed you. So desperate. His hands dug into your sides, holding you firmly in place as he deepened the kiss. You didn't hesitate in reciprocating his action, hands burying themselves in his hair, tugging at it slightly. His moan of satisfaction only made you keen as well, his arms now wrapped tightly around you, his body flush against yours. 

A tiny gasp made you two break away, still slightly dizzy and disoriented. You turned your head to see Pansy Parkinson in the doorway, mouth open and eyes nearly popping out of her head. 

Instead of pulling away, you felt Draco slide a hand under your shirt, making your face burn hot. She apparently saw that too, mouth opening and closing like a fish. 

"D'you mind?" Draco spoke up in that characteristic sneering voice of his. You nearly laughed as Pansy stumbled back out, slamming the door behind her. 

You looked at him with a grin, feeling extremely satisfied with what had just happened. 

"Where were we?" He mumbled cheekily before his lips were on yours again. 

..................

 Draco Malfoy Tags:

@i-only-signed-up-for-fanfiction