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fayeimara · 4 years ago

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Suna Rintaro || Found You | First Meeting

SUMMARY. What happens when your elementary school daughter arrives home unexpectedly with a surprise in tow?

PAIRING. You x Suna Rintaro

GENRE. Can I even write anything but fluff for this man?

WARNINGS. Suggestive, sexual innuendos & references, kissing - let me know if I need to add anything else

Haikyuu! Anthology Series | It's Fate When Your Kids Are Friends

SUNA | First Meeting > Second Date > Third Time's The Charm > Four Is Our Family

You're on your way back to your study after grabbing a snack from the kitchen when the sound of a key in the lock of your front door halts your steady steps. There aren't many people with a key to your house that would be visiting you at this time.

Even more concerning, however, is the light soprano of your daughter's voice echoing from the foyer to reach your ears, prompting you to quickly turn and rush to meet her at the door.

"Ryoka! What are you doing here?" You skid around the corner, already calling out in concern, "How did you even get home by your-"

You cut yourself off as you meet not only one pair of eyes, the copy of yours that you expect, but a second solemn pair, both wide in small faces that peer up at you.

"Mommy!" Your daughter's look of surprise and chagrin melts into a sheepish smile as she throws herself forward into your already extended arms. "I missed you!"

You hold her small frame close for a moment before gently pushing her out with your hands on her shoulders. "I missed you too, sweetheart. But you need to tell me what you're doing here and, more importantly, how you got here."

"Well school ended early today and.." She hesitates, peering up with big eyes and a small pout, "we thought we'd just walk home together."

You resist the urge to close your eyes and place a hand to your head in exasperation, aware that even at the young age of 7 years old, she's incredibly sensitive to your reactions. Instead you look at the little boy standing patiently behind her and ask, "And who's this?"

"This is my friend, Kiyoshi!" She's a little subdued, likely aware that she'll be hearing more from you later, but perks back up as she pulls away and grabs his hand to draw him further in your shared home.

"Hello Kiyoshi. Do your parents know where you are?"

He's definitely more guileless than your own daughter, answering directly and honestly in a quiet tone, "My dad's at work and my nanny was supposed to pick me up when school ended."

Okay, so clearly neither parent nor temporary guardian are aware that this boy is no longer at the school. They'll be frantic. Just as you're about to ask several more questions, hopefully leading to a quick resolution, you get a call, screen indicating it's your daughter's school, so you have both kids move into the living room as you pick up.

You're not too happy to hear about the early release at this point, given the lack of heads up and you make sure to give the school a piece of your mind, letting them know you'd be by at another point to discuss this further, before hanging up. If you're this upset and you know your daughter is home safe, you can't imagine what Kiyoshi's father is feeling at this point."

Crouching down in front of your daughter's friend, you wait until you're eye level with a patient, unhurried expression on your face, "Kiyoshi, do you know your father or nanny's phone number?"

He answers with a small nod, reciting the digits so clearly from diligent practice that you have to smile as you type it in and then stand back up to make the call, "Ryoka, why don't you show him your toys while mommy makes a call? Only the ones here in the living room where I can see you, okay?"

Your daughter dutifully nods but you catch the smug smile of success she throws her friend, likely having planned this improvised playtime with him. You'll definitely be having a serious talk with her later about safety and responsible decisions but you move slightly away for now, keeping an eye on the kids while the phone rings out.

"Suna." A deep voice answers on the other end, a little clipped but mostly unreadable.

"Hi.. Suna-san- I assume I'm speaking with Kiyoshi's father?"

There's a pause and then the voice gets sharper, "If you're calling back from the school, I don't want to hear it right now. I'm leaving now to find my son, but you can expect to hear ba-"

"I'm not from the school. My daughter is friends with your son and he's safe at my house."

"He's- he's with you." There's finally emotion other than anger and annoyance, it's an odd sort of relief and slight confusion mixed with a new wariness, "And who exactly are you?"

"I'm L/n F/n, as I mentioned, your son and my daughter are friends. I was pretty surprised to see them both show up at my house just minutes ago and have a bone to pick with the school too. But I would have wanted to know that she was okay before anything else if the positions were reversed so I'm calling you now. You said you were leaving work? Your son is safe, Suna-san, and he will be while we wait for you here. I'll text you my address."

As you're speaking you've already pulled your phone away to quickly text your address to the number you're on the line with. You can still hear if he speaks though but there's another pause from him and then, "Got it, thank you. You said they just showed up? How did they get there?"

"I'm pretty sure they walked, but I was going to cover that after I spoke with you. How far are you?"

His tone is back to unreadable but you think it's calm rather than neutral. "It's about a 30 minute drive, I'll be there in 20."

"Please don't rush, Kiyoshi is safe here. If it's okay with you, I'll make them snacks while we wait. There's no really no need to drive recklessly." It'll be easy to put something small together for the kids from the dinner you'd prepped for earlier.

There's amusement colouring his voice, "Thanks for the concern, L/n-san. I'll be there in 25, then."

You chuckle at the small compromise and there's a moment of silence between you both until you think to ask, "If you haven't left yet, do you want to quickly say hi over facetime?"

"You want to videochat?" He sounds confused again and you laugh in response.

"I meant with your son. You know, to check in on him."

He pauses yet again and then the amusement is back, "It should be fine.. unless you're going to tell me you're holding him hostage or something."

"Yeah, sure, or something." You roll your eyes with your dry response. What do you even say to that coming from a complete stranger? "We'll see you soon, then."

"L/n-san." You lift the phone you were lowering back to your ear when you hear him call out to you, "Thank you again."

"No need."

"Not everyone would have reacted as quickly and efficiently. Or maybe even bothered."

You can't imagine what parent wouldn't have been compelled to react in a similar manner but you don't say anything, uncomfortable accepting thanks for such a seemingly human reaction.

He seems to either understand or realize you don't have a response and you hear him chuckle lightly, the sound tugging at your own lips in sheepish acceptance, then he finally replies, "I'll see you soon, then."

You end your call and turn to fully face the two kids again. They've already managed to create a messy pile of toys they've pulled out and then discarded from Ryoka's toy box. Almost as if they feel you watching, they both stop their odd conversation about monsters and cats, and turn to face you simultaneously.

You suppress your smile at their adorable wide-eyed expressions and ask, "Who's hungry?"

After the snacks are quickly devoured, the kids try to convince you to play hide-and-seek and, thinking nothing of it since Suna-san should be arriving soon to pick Kiyoshi up, you tell them you'll all play later and convince them to build a Lego structure instead. Happy to have them work on an activity that keeps them occupied in one place for the remainder of their time together, the time passes by quickly as you help them put together their incredibly creative vision.

When the bell finally sounds through your house, precisely 23 minutes after your call, you find yourself opening the door and looking up to a much taller, and much younger man than you'd expected. He actually seems to be about your age, in his mid-twenties, which is surprising because you'd thought you were one of the youngest parents at your daughter's school.

There's a quick look of surprise that likely mirrors yours on Suna-san's face before it's replaced smoothly with a polite expression. You pull away from his startling, keen eyes to step back and gesture for him to enter your foyer as you welcome him, equally politely, "Please, come inside, Suna-san. They're in the living room."

He hesitates only a moment before stepping into your home, stopping again to toe off his shoes before following you deeper, into the living room. The sounds of the kids chatting reaches you both well before you enter and you notice him watching his son with a small smile on his face before he catches you looking. His only response is the quirk of an eyebrow as if daring you to say something.

You only smile and call out, "Ryoka, it's time to say goodbye to Kiyoshi. His father's here to take him home."

The two kids look up, smiles fading as their eyes tear up. It's safe to say neither you nor Suna expect what comes next, as both children break out in tears.

Suna exchanges a surprised look with you, then crouches down with his arms stretched out, voice soothing as he calls to his son, "Kiyo, come here. Daddy missed you. Didn't you miss me too?"

You're surprised at the sweet, gentle tone from the intimidating man, even more so by the pure affection he easily displays for his son. He's nothing at all like his first impression on the phone, the cold, clipped tone nowhere to be found. You relax a little, not having noticed the uncomfortable tension that had slowly crept in by the thought of inviting an unknown man into your home, even if for the most innocent of reasons.

It doesn't work to relax his son, however, who only breaks out into unbelievably loud wails, particularly unexpected from the quiet boy you'd gotten used to over the past half hour. Ryoka's cries rise with Kiyoshi's and their chubby arms encircle each other as if to send home the point that you'd have to literally pry them apart.

You're pulled from your thoughts when Suna looks up at you a little helplessly, also seeming to be thrown for a loop, "It looks like Kiyo has grown very attached to your daughter. I'm sorry, I can just pick him up and go but..."

He trails off and you find even more respect rising for the man, he's clearly trying not to just completely run his son's life on a schedule or in a way that works only for him.

"But you don't want to break his heart when he's having so much fun?" You finish his sentence with a grin that prompts a self deprecating smile from him.

"Yeah, great parenting, huh?"

"It's really different parent to parent and, trust me, no one's an expert." You pause as you consider an idea, his peridot eyes steady on yours as if he can see you might have a solution to present. Impressive perception, and patience too.

You have a positive vibe and good feeling, so you don't ponder it too long before offering, "Why don't we let the kids play a little longer? They still have an abundance of energy and excitement from the improvised change in their daily schedule but once they've tired themselves out, I'm sure it'll be easier to separate them."

It's Suna's turn to pause, still holding your gaze with a carefully neutral one himself as he contemplates your offer. "I don't want Kiyo and I to be an inconvenience..."

"Not at all, it's just me and Ryoka as it is and dinner's already prepped so we'll just play some games with them and wait them out."

It's just as you say the word dinner that you hear a low, hungry rumble and there's another moment of silence but this time, you only see the tips of Suna's ears, which tint red as he hangs his head for a few seconds.

Biting your lip to hold back your laugh, you add, "You and Kiyo are more then welcome to join us for dinner first. I only gave them light snacks before and if there's one other thing than playtime that makes children more at ease, it's food. As I mentioned, it's already prepared and there's more than enough for four."

He keeps his head bent for another second before finally raising it and with the motion, he stands back up to his full height so you're tilting your head back to look up at him again. His smile is both sheepishly thankful and appreciative when he accepts, "If it's really not too much trouble, we would love to. Thank you."

The children cheer, tears still drying on their faces, but it seems like they've actually been eavesdropping through their shared tantrum and have grasped that playtime is extended. What an eventful day for them.

Suna offers his help but everything's pretty much ready so you put him to work setting the table and helping the kids wash their hands. He's equally gentle and no different with Ryoka, chuckling and treating her like royalty when she insists she's a princess from her most recent favourite movie. He's got them talking about the structure they're building and the two almost seem to finish each other's thoughts, eliciting a grin from both you and Suna when you share another look.

When you're seated at the table, across from Suna with Ryoka at your side and Kiyoshi across her, you notice how relaxed and comfortable the atmosphere is, enjoying it for the space of several heartbeats before realizing you forgot to offer the man a drink.

"Suna-san, would you like a beer? Or something else to drink?"

"I'm good, thanks, I can't really drink right now." He must see the inquisitive look slide on and quickly wipe off your face because he laughs and elaborates, "I play volleyball, professionally, so I have to be strict with my diet even if it's off season."

Your mouth drops in surprise, his stature and build making perfect sense now. Of course, how fitting. Your tone is heavy with respect when you reply, "That's incredible! I was a setter in high school so I know the discipline that comes with going pro, I could never have thought to pursue it professionally. You must be really dedicated."

So it would seem the light blush doesn't just kiss his ears when he's flustered or embarrassed, you can see the flush dust across his cheeks, however faint. It's pretty adorable, not a word you thought you'd use to describe this towering man but here you are, eyes sparkling and a soft smile teasing your lips.

He pauses before placing the meat platter back down in the center, eyes definitely not shy as he studies your expression with a small smile of his own gracing his lips. "Ah..thanks. And you can drop the honorifics by the way."

You already have in your head so you're glad he brought it up because you would have hated to slip up accidentally. "You as well then."

There's a moment of silence in which you think to ask, "How about any alternatives? I've got wine but also various other options if you want to take a look through the fridge."

"A glass of wine should be good, actually. Thank you."

"Mommy, can I have some too?" Ryoka looks up at you with pleading puppy dog eyes which has Kiyoshi attempting to match the look aimed at his dad with a low, "Me too?"

You both laugh and Suna tries to explain that wine isn't good for growing kids but you shake your head at him, prompting him to arch an expectant eyebrow while he waits for you to handle the denial.

"Ryoka, Kiyo, the wine mommies and daddies drink would just make you feel sick and bad. But I have something better for little princes and princesses that even adults like your dad and I aren't allowed to drink.��Would you both like to have that instead?

Thank god they're not at an age to question every word out of your mouth just yet because they cheer for this 'special drink' so you move back over to the kitchen to pour it out, along with Suna who offers to help but by the playful look in his eyes, he's just curious to see what you'll pull together.

You direct him to the glasses and bottle opener as you take two plastic, stemmed glasses that mimic wine glasses in different colours and pour out cranberry juice in each. You hear Suna's chuckle and turn to find him already holding an open bottle in one hand and two glasses caught between his fingers by their stems in the other.

Wow, he looks really good in your kitchen, doesn't he? It's your turn to blush and he doesn't miss a thing, eyes tracking the heat as it flushes your face before his gaze drops to your lips, his own tilting from a grin to a teasing smirk.

Your only defense is to roll your eyes and turn to head back to the table, where the kids are now picking through the items they like versus the ones they don't and trading their unwanted portions off onto each other's plates. Okay, and that's even more adorable. It's only been weeks since they started classes and likely met, how have they become so close so fast?

"Cute, huh?" You startle at the low whisper in your ear, a small puff of air caressing the shell of your ear, when you realize Suna stopped right behind you to observe the same scene. His body heat seems to seek you out once you're fully aware of him, instilling you with the crazy urge to just lean back into his broad chest as he continues to whisper to you softly. Or just wrap his arms around you and hold you tight.

Wait, what- You stop yourself from looking back to meet his gaze, because you'd definitely expose your thoughts then but you have a feeling he's very aware of exactly what he's doing and not opposed to the reaction you just had. Either way, you just met this man today, right?

Ugh. You move forward instead, placing a cup in front of each kid, both reaching for it instantly. Ryoka tastes hers right away but Kiyo examines it first before tentatively attempting a tiny sip. And it works!

Each of their faces twists slightly at the tangy taste of the cranberry juice but seem to have picked up enough to know that 'wine' isn't exactly a sweet drink so both exchange a look before smoothing their faces out into haughty imitations of bored satisfaction. Haha. Little con artists.

You and Suna are grinning at each other too, as you each reclaim your seats and he pours out the wine for you both. The conversation flows easily once you're all settled and digging in, kids chiming in with random questions or requests for help with certain foods, but then zoning out constantly as they talk about their plans for the structure and something about cats again, as if it's just the two of them at the table.

Suna asks about your time playing volleyball and you ask him about his, noticing he has the same passion for the sport as you but definitely also an impressive dedication. He talks about his mindset in high school compared to now and you talk about your chosen vocation.

You both even have a chance to pull the full story about the events from earlier in the day, kids explaining that there was an unplanned early release, you and Suna putting two and two together to realize that the school did mess up big time. You both put it aside to deal with later and when he asks what you've covered with the kids already, you mention you didn't think it was appropriate to give Ryoka a lecture in front of Kiyoshi, keeping in mind that Suna might want to handle the discussion differently with his son.

He seems taken aback in a good way, throwing a very appreciative look your way and states that you're an incredibly considerate person and an amazing mom, prompting a full blush to work it's way back onto your face as your daughter throws her little arms as far around you as she can, agreeing very vocally with the amazing mom part.

You have to send her a teasing but firm look, adding that you're definitely saving a lecture on safety and responsibility for later since they shouldn't have left school grounds without an adult they know and trust. When Suna sees Kiyo's small look up at him, it's as if all he needs is a look to convey the same sentiment to his son but he places a hand on his head to ruffle his hair in a soft gesture.

It's near the end of dinner that conversation about each child's other parent arises. Your answer with a nonchalant shrug is to easily state, "Like I said before, it's just me and Ryoka."

Suna borrows a page from your book with a cheeky smile, right down to imitating your casual shrug and stating, "Likewise, just me and Kiyo."

There's nowhere to look but the steady gaze of his piercing eyes. Actually there are many other places but you're drawn in by a seemingly mutual pull.

"Mommy!" You're daughter's call has your eyes finally glancing away to meet hers instead, "You promised we could play hide-and-seek later!"

"Oh," You blink in shock at the long memory of children, "I did say that. But.."

"Please?" It's Kiyo's small voice that makes you pause and look towards Suna with wide eyes.

Oh, he's trouble because he's looking back at you and rounding out the group as the third pair of sparkling, mischievous eyes as he too asks with a teasing lilt, "Please?"

You have to laugh and agree, but only to a few rounds and only after the dishes have been cleaned. So Suna helps the kids wash their hands again before joining you at the sink, waving away your objections about being a guest and insisting he return the favour of an incredible meal.

Between the two of you, you make quick work of the dishes and it's time to deliver on your promise. You start of as 'it', counting down loudly by the front door while the kids rush off with Suna to find hiding spots around the house. You make sure to find Suna first and he trails after you as you hunt down the darling little treasures, finding Kiyoshi last. He really is good at hiding and staying quiet.

Suna's next and then Kiyoshi, then finally Ryoka is caught first and it's her turn to find the three of you. You follow the middle blocker's lead in allowing Kiyoshi to settle on a hiding spot and when he gestures to a closet in one of the guest rooms you quickly tuck yourself into the empty space.

But it seems the little boy has either run out of ideas of places to hide, or he's feeling rushed by Ryoka's faster countdown because he pushes his dad in with you and, frantically looking around after studying the lack of remaining space between the two adults, closes the door instead and you hear his little feet patter off.

Leaving you and Suna almost pressed together in the small, dark space. The silence between the two of you is heavy with restrained tension, the flirty comments and teasing glances throughout the evening hitting you full force as you realize the unintentionally intimate position you're in.

There's a thin beam of light streaking in from the crack between the doors that falls across Suna's face, making his already ethereal eyes appear even more unearthly, like glowing gems in the shadows that mask the rest of his face. They're trained right back on you as if he can see clearly in the dark, his intent gaze probing your own.

"I'd have suggested buying me dinner first..." His voice rings clear with mischievous amusement, quiet enough to reach your ears through the heavy gloom, "but I guess you already did."

You bite your lip to stop your smile, trying to shake off your overwhelming awareness of the man a breath away from you, "Isn't that supposed to be my line?"

Suna's chuckle is low, sending curious shivers resounding through you and his husky response succeeds in spiking your temperature, "If you want it to be. Or we could just save that part for later."

"Later, then." Why is it that your voice sounds so seductively throaty?! Is that really you?

In the inky darkness, all your other senses are on high alert so you almost jump when you feel his fingers brush at yours, trying to calm your racing pulse to no avail, as they tangle with yours oh so briefly. Then he's sliding them lightly up, brushing past your sensitive wrists, skating over your arms and shoulders and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake before one slides under the fall of your hair, to curve around the nape of your neck.

While the fingers there tangle into your hair, gentle pressure drawing you forward and up on your toes, the other hand only caresses the side of your neck before finally settling softly to cup your cheek. Is this really happening? With a quiet but charming man who was all but a stranger to you until today?

Any further questions slip from your mind and you only have a second to register the smallest shift of his head before his lips are softly pressing down on yours. Instead of butterflies or tingles, you feel as if the very floor beneath your feet tilts, disorienting you further in the inky darkness. But it doesn't matter much when his arms slide around you to gather you close, eliminating the already laughable amount of space between you.

Suna finally deepens the kiss when you give in to the urge to press yourself closer, a new ferocity seeming to overtake you both as you each devour the other. You have no idea where he ends and you begin, only focused on the sensational moment, as you chase each other's lips in the darkness.

It could have been seconds or minutes, or longer still, but you've lost track as you match his intensity. The desire only deepens when he elicits a deep groan, drawn out by your delicate bite on his lower lip and reverberating through you like am electric current. His grip in your hair tightens and you feel almost delirious, caught in this ardent spell.

You two finally separate for air, short gasps from you both gradually slowing until it's silent again. There's a new tension but also an undeniable relief in the air between you. You feel compelled to say something so you hastily drop the first thought that pops into your head.

"Talk about seven minutes in heaven."

He laughs, louder this time, as if he's forgotten why you're both hiding there in the closet in the first place. To be honest, so did you for a couple minutes there. And you suppose it probably only has been that long, an assumption he corroborates with his response. "Can I get the full seven, then?"

But before you can respond, the closet doors are yanked open with a dramatic move that can only be your daughter, her voice happily calling out her delightful victory, "Found you!"

You send a wry look Suna's way as your eyes slowly adjust to the light, "I'm sure your laugh just now gave our spot away."

He places a hand to his chest, acting wounded with a sad look thrown at Ryoka who only nods excitably in response. Kiyoshi is standing behind her with a smile on his face, proud that it took longer than usual and he makes it a point to state, "I gave them that spot. It was my idea."

They start to walk away with her congratulating him at being a hide and seek master, her acknowledgment prompting a change in their focus to discussing classic versus strategic spots at school. You're thankful for the moment to completely regain your composure and you make sure to settle your expression into something nonchalant when you look back over at Suna.

Yeah, you're probably not fooling him if that teasing smirk is any indication of his keen awareness.

"Suna, that-"

"Rintaro."

"What?"

"That's my name. Rintaro."

"Oh I- That wouldn't be very appropriate." You realize the irony too late as the rebuttal slips automatically from your slips.

His eyebrow raises in a sardonic salute, both of you aware that you're each well past the point of being worried about that now.

"Call me Rin, then, or any variation. But don't kiss me like that and then call me Suna." He sounds torn somewhere between teasing and serious but you understand the sentiment.

Licking your suddenly dry lips, conscious of the speedy pace your.. relationship with this man has been moving, you don't give yourself a chance to hesitate before you respond, "Then call me Y/n."

That slow, answering smile is everything you didn't know you wanted. You're not going to question this unexpected attraction. It's mutual, it's consuming, and it's something you don't think you can walk away from at this point. You're both adults as it is and, it seems, both in silent agreement to let this unfold as it may.

"Daddy," Kiyo pokes his head back into the room, "You're it this time! Hurry up."

Suna walks ahead to pick his son up and swing him in the air, asking, "Weren't you caught first, kiddo?"

"Yeah, but I'm tagging you in because I don't want to be it this round." He aims wide, earnest eyes at his dad. Suna chuckles, likely at the whimsical but simple reasoning, but unsurprisingly complies.

"Okay, but this is the last round, then. And you all better find some really great spots to hide." With a brief pause just before he walks out of the room, he looks back over his shoulder to you, gaze holding yours steady with a confident smirk, "I'm really good at getting what I'm after."

You're left alone to digest that pointed declaration, holding your hand to your warm cheeks for a quick moment before dropping them and following the others out.

As promised, you all play one more round in which you're found first, probably by design, if the challenging smirk Suna throws your way is any indication. Then Ryoka and Kiyoshi are found in equally short order, the latter claiming the title of ultimate winner - at least for today's game, as Ryoka makes a point to stubbornly state.

The kids are still really energetic, remnants from the excitement of the game, so you settle them down to continue their Lego project with the hopes it'll help them wind down quickly. For additional guarantee, you also set a children's movie to play in the background, hoping it'll catch their attention and hold it long enough to help finally relax them.

Suna joins you on the couch, handing you another glass of wine while he settles in just beside you so that his side is as close to pressed up against yours that he thinks he can get away with. Not that you're complaining, no, but it is very distracting when his thigh shifts against yours or his arm moves to settle on the couch behind you.

It's distracting every time he makes a comment in between the silent moments, teasing remarks that steal your attention for long stretches after he's done speaking. It's distracting when you think you're both engaged in pretending to watch the movie, only for his breath to brush your ear whenever he leans in to speak.

It's distracting when he tucks a lock of your hair behind your ear before letting his next playful words slip from his tempting lips. And it's distracting when you look over to make a comment of your own and find him already studying you.

You wonder what he sees, but it's undeniable that his interest in you seems to only get stronger rather than wane. You feel the same, undoubtedly drawn and inconceivably connected to this man you've known for hours. It feels more like you've known him for years.

Finally winding down near the end of the movie, Ryoka and Kiyoshi move to the couch, one on each lap and holding hands between them as they start to slump down with heavy, sleepy eyes.

"I'm sad to say, I think it's time for Kiyo and I to head out." Suna's caught it too, the kids are well past the capability of throwing a tantrum again. But even more so, they're both happily sated with their time today, left with great memories of a fun, impromptu play date.

It's time for them to leave, and you and Ryoka see them off to the door.

As he helps Kiyoshi with his shoes, Suna thanks you once again, sincerely and without motive, "Thank you so much for everything today, Y/n."

"Me too, but as I said before, don't thank me for any of it."

"Hm. Well, it wasn't really a great situation to start, but I'm glad with the way it turned out. Meeting you is something I can't regret." His smile is flirtatious but sweet, and you do get butterflies now, finding yourself at a momentary loss for words.

You're thankfully both distracted once the kids move to give each other hugs and when you and Suna comment on their closeness, Ryoka simply states, "Yeah, of course. He's my brother now, right Kiyo?"

"Mhm. We both said we wanted a brother or sister-"

"So now we have each other!"

That's so completely adorable. You glance back over to Suna, who's already looking at you with amusement. Children can be so heartbreakingly precious.

Of course, Suna just has to comment, trademark smirk right back on his face, "Brother and sister, huh? Sounds good to me. What do you think, mom?"

Did he really? Just.. wow. You're definitely red all over, that was so highly suggestive on so many levels. You're okay with the fast pace that swept you off your feet today, but really- acting like co-parents... buy a girl dinner first. Damn.

"I think it's great you two have such a strong bond. You'll keep watching out for each other, yes?"

They enthusiastically nod their agreement and you send a challenging look Suna's way to see if there are any more awkward comments he wants to drop on you before the night is over. He takes pity with a small smile though, sending you a playful wink before turning to open the door with Kiyo's hand slipping in his.

They both wish you and Ryoka a good night as her own hand finds yours and two of you watch them walk over to, and settle in, Suna's car before you finally close and lock the door. Looking down at your daughter with a gentle smile, you say, "We'll save the talk about your choices from earlier today for tomorrow. But I hope you had a good day, munchkin."

"Yes, yes! Thank you so much, mommy!" She wraps her arms around your legs as you place a soft hand on her head, "I love you!"

"I love you too, baby. Let's get you to bed. Why don't you go pick out your pajamas for the night while mommy quickly finishes up here?"

She nods before running off to her room while you go over to the living room to turn off the TV and lights. When you're placing your wine glass in the sink, thinking of the moment Suna had brought it to the couch for you as if he somehow knew what you might want, you hear a text come in from your phone.

A/N: Okay so this is the final draft of a scenario that's been taking some space in my head every night when I'm trying to get some sleep. It was initially planned as a set of short scenarios for my Fayevourites (you can find the link to the anthology series up above, the other character concepts are explained there) but when I started writing Suna's story, it stretched much longer than anticipated. He has a habit of doing that to me but regardless, all it means is I've had to change some ideas and break the rest up into more manageable chapters. That said, there are three more chapters I plan to release. I'm hoping to start working on the other characters for this series first to keep it even, but I'll basically go where my writing takes me (: I hope you all enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it <3

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zintranslations · 4 years ago

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Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 130

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 130: Another World

The familiar queen bed, the familiar decorations. Everything about the apartment was exactly as Lin Qiushi remembered. Lin Qiushi took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He tried going to the living room first.

"Mrow…"

A faint catcall suddenly came from the living room. Lin Qiushi looked up and saw Chestnut perching on the corner of a sofa, looking exceptionally sweet. Chestnut tilted its head, watching Lin Qiushi with emerald eyes, and chirping out a litany of meows like it was urging Lin Qiushi to do something.

Lin Qiushi was more than familiar with this call; he looked at Chestnut's food bowl and sure enough, it was completely empty of dry food. The cat wanted Lin Qiushi to quickly refill its bowl.

If this were reality, the first thing Lin Qiushi did would surely be feeding Chestnut, but he was quite clear on the fact that he had entered a door. As a result, he did not take immediate action, instead looked around the apartment first.

The interior of the apartment was exactly the same as when he'd moved out. There were even some freshly washed shirts drying on the balcony and fresh fruit in the refrigerator. The entire house was filled with the breath of life.

Lin Qiushi took a large lap around the apartment and slowly approached the door. He took the doorknob and twisted it lightly open.

A crack appeared in the door, enough for Lin Qiushi to see what was beyond.

The sight that met Lin Qiushi's eyes was a long corridor, with door number plates hanging on both sides. It was no different from Lin Qiushi's memory.

Chestnut began to meow again. It hopped down from the couch and came over to Lin Qiushi's feet, rubbing and bumping its body against Lin Qiushi's ankles. Lin Qiushi looked down and stared at Chestnut for a long while, before slowly bending down to pet the cat in front of him.

Soft fur and warm skin. It had to be said that the moment he embraced Chestnut, Lin Qiushi let out a huge sigh of relief. He took Chestnut in his arms, scratched under its chin, and called out Chestnut's name.

A satisfied rumbling came from Chestnut's mouth, and the creature looked to be in perfect bliss. Still holding it, Lin Qiushi went to the kitchen and fetched the cat food, filling up the entire bowl.

Chestnut hopped down from Lin Qiushi's arms, stood in front of the cat bowl, and began eating with vigor.

Lin Qiushi watched it eating and remembered something. He fished his phone out of his pocket and called a number, but as it went through, the display showed that the number that Lin Qiushi called was not connected. When he heard this spoken through the phone, sweat began to dot Lin Qiushi's palms. He looked through his call log with a number of awful possibilities surfacing in his mind—most of the numbers in the log, Lin Qiushi still had some impression of. Many key people were missing though…every member of Obsidian had disappeared, and Ruan Nanzhu was naturally included.

And when Lin Qiushi called Ruan Nanzhu's number just now, it showed that this number didn't even exist.

A feeling like suffocation churned in Lin Qiushi's chest, and he was forming all sorts of bad conjectures. In the end Lin Qiushi changed out of his pajamas and left the apartment. He took the elevator all the way down and came to the entrance of his residential complex.

The time was mid-summer, and it just hit 6PM. Everybody was leaving work, and the busy sight of people come and going was everywhere he turned.

Lin Qiushi stood at the entrance, called for a ride, and headed straight for a location outside the city.

The taxi cab driver was a chatty middle-aged man who kept saying this or that, here and there. Under normal circumstances, Lin Qiushi would most likely offer him a reply or two, but today his mind was a mess. From start to finish he didn't say a single world, lips pressed tightly into a thin line.

An hour later, the cab arrived at the location Lin Qiushi gave him.

Lin Qiushi paid and got out of the car. He saw the mansion standing grandly before him, looking the same as it did in his memories. Orange lights spilled out from the windows, indicating there were people moving about inside, but this didn't bring Lin Qiushi any relief. In fact, the sense of dread in his heart just got worse and worse.

Lin Qiushi took the few steps forward to get to the doorway. He rang the mansion doorbell.

"Who is it?" Moments later, from the other side of the door came the voice of an unfamiliar man.

"I…" Lin Qiushi said. "It's me, Lin Qiushi. I'm looking for Ruan Nanzhu."

It went quiet on the other side, before the person said, "you've got the wrong place. There's nobody named Ruan Nanzhu here."

The moment he heard this Lin Qiushi felt his mind explode with a ringing buzz. With the last of his willpower he forced himself to calm down, saying, "I'm sorry, would you mind opening the door? There's something important I have to…"

The door was opened, and a tall man he did not know appeared before Lin Qiushi. He looked at Lin Qiushi and asked, "what can I do for you?"

"I…I have friends who used to live here…" Lin Qiushi said, wondering about the best wording. "They're named Ruan Nanzhu, and Chen Fei, Yi Manman…"

"I'm sorry," the man said. "You've got the wrong place. There's nobody you've mentioned here."

Behind the man, Lin Qiushi could see the inside of the mansion through the open door. What was most shocking to him was that everything inside looked exactly as he remembered—even the color of the carpets were the same as his memories.

But despite the identical scenery, the people Lin Qiushi was looking for were gone.

"Are you alright?" Lin Qiushi's expression was probably too distressed, so the man asked him that question.

Lin Qiushi forced himself to smile.

"I'm fine…Sorry, for bothering you."

He turned around and left this place. The man watched him go with a light furrow in his brow, clearly wondering what the heck Lin Qiushi came for.

After leaving the mansion, Lin Qiushi called another car and returned to the city. His manner sitting inside was dazed; he was having hard time accepting everything that was happening here.

Ruan Nanzhu, who had gone into the door with Lin Qiushi, had disappeared.

No matter how normal this entire world seemed, this single fact was enough to trip Lin Qiushi into the most indescribable sense of terror.

Back at his residential district, he stood in his doorway watching people come and go. Lin Qiushi had a feeling like he'd been abandoned by the world. What was supposed to be a rich and active city scene only made him feel utterly incompatible with his surroundings.

Lin Qiushi stuck a hand in his pocket and discovered, to his surprise, a pack of half-smoked cigarettes. He stared at the cigarettes in his hand for a while, before lighting one and tucking it between his lips.

The taste of tobacco tendriled into his mouth. It was different from the drying sweetness of candy, and was actually a bit grating. Lin Qiushi only took one inhale before stopping, extinguishing the cigarette in annoyance and tossing it into a trashcan nearby.

It was at this moment that Lin Qiushi's cell phone suddenly rang. He pulled it out and, when he saw the number displayed onscreen, fell into a deep silence.

There was a name above the number, a name that should not be appearing now—Wu Qi.

Lin Qiushi stared at the name on the screen, and very slowly pressed the call button.

"Oi, Qiushi, where are you?" came Wu Qi's loud and carefree voice.

Lin Qiushi's throat bobbed. "I'm at home. You…"

For a moment he didn't know what to say.

"Why are you still at home? Didn't you say we're going to get dinner? Get down here," Wu Qi said in a strange tone.

Lin Qiushi, "I said we're going to get dinner?"

Wu Qi, "yeah, didn't you say we're getting skewers tonight! Damn, you haven't forgotten have you?"

Lin Qiushi, "…where are you now?"

"I'm in front of your neighborhood," Wu Qi said. "What is it? Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine. I'll…be right there," Lin Qiushi said. He hung up the phone, looked outside into the district, and sure enough saw Wu Qi standing casual as anything at the residential entrance, head down and playing on his phone.

Lin Qiushi stuck the phone in his pocket and quickly ran over to Wu Qi.

"That was quick," Wu Qi said after seeing Lin Qiushi. "You didn't have to run. It's so hot, look how you're sweating."

Lin Qiushi made a noise of agreement, gaze falling on Wu Qi's face. The same appearance, the same mannerisms, and even the same tone of voice. The person in front of him was definitely Wu Qi. Wu Qi walked in front, telling Lin Qiushi everything that was happening in the office, and even reminded Lin Qiushi a few times to go get a check-up.

A fine sheen of sweat had once again appeared on Lin Qiushi's forehead—it was just that he felt cold all over, and even his perspiration was cold.

They came to the grilled skewers place in front of the micro-district. After taking a seat, Wu Qi ordered the food.

Lin Qiushi hardly said anything the entire way. Wu Qi noticed his odd state, and asked dubiously, "Qiushi, are you okay?"

Lin Qiushi, "I'm…fine."

"Is it too hot? Or are you not feeling well?" Wu Qi turned to the store owner and ordered a few additional bottles of beer. Popping one open with familiar motions, he poured Lin Qiushi a full cup. "Drink some, and cool down a bit."

"Wu Qi," Lin Qiushi said, "what's the date today?"

"The 16th," Wu Qi said. "Why?"

Lin Qiushi blew out a breath.

"Nothing."

The dishes they ordered came quickly. Wu Qi could tell that Lin Qiushi wasn't in a good state, but he could also see that Lin Qiushi didn't want to answer any of his questions, and so could only let it go.

Lin Qiushi didn't have much of an appetite. All his attention was on the street beside them, but by the time they finished eating and left, something that was supposed to have happened still had not.

The year that Lin Qiushi first entered the doors, he came out the door and ate at this grilled skewers place with Wu Qi. At the same date, at the same time. But the car accident that was supposed to happen in the street did not happen. Everything was just so peaceful. It almost seemed like there had been an illusion in Lin Qiushi's memories, and he'd become a strange sort of dreamer, making up things that didn't exist at all.

"Wu Qi," Lin Qiushi suddenly spoke up on their way back. "How's your girlfriend been recently?"

"Her? Why are you suddenly bringing her up?" Wu Qi was a bit bewildered, but still answered Lin Qiushi's question faithfully. "She's doing pretty well. What's up?"

Lin Qiushi, "…nothing."

"Hey, you've really been weird tonight. What the heck's going on?" He looked at Lin Qiushi with furrowed brows, eyes filled with concern. "Are you really not feeling well? If anything's happened you gotta tell me."

Lin Qiushi nodded yes.

Wu Qi walked Lin Qiushi to the first floor, and only left after seeing Lin Qiushi upstairs. Lin Qiushi got back to his front door, got out his key, and opened it—but his expression just looked lost.

It was all too absurd. Wu Qi was still here, and his girlfriend was fine. So why was Ruan Nanzhu gone? Lin Qiushi changed shoes and went inside, spotting the backpack on his sofa. Thinking of something, he dashed over to the backpack and pulled out everything inside.

When he saw those things, Lin Qiushi let out a violent breath of relief—there were, objects for daily use aside, three very special items inside. The first was a plain old notebook, the second was a baby's skeleton, and the third was a silver gun. Only after seeing these three items did Lin Qiushi feel a sense of reality again—he was definitely inside a door. Everything around him was on the inside, only that the inside of this door seemed perfectly identical to the environment he lived in.

It was truly too terrifying, Lin Qiushi thought. But if this was the inside of a door, why was it that Ruan Nanzhu and the people from Obsidian were gone? Where had they gone…and why was he all by himself inside this door? And given the givens, didn't that indicate that the rule of the doors was no longer applicable?

Even if one person remained, they won't enter a state of invincibility. If they committed any mistakes, they faced death as a finale.

Chestnut slowly prowled up to Lin Qiushi and hopped into his arms. Petting Chestnut's soft fur, Lin Qiushi observed how sweet Chestnut's behavior was, feeling momentarily discombobulated.

Ding dong, ding dong. The hour hand pointed to ten, and the clock on the wall rang out its crisp melody. The sky outside was already dark, leaving behind sparse lights that gave off a sense of life.

Lin Qiushi picked up the remote control and turned on the television, getting ready to choose a channel. As he flipped through them, he spotted a familiar face…Tan Zaozao.

In the advertisement, Tan Zaozao wore a long red dress—elegant and beautiful, just like a blooming flower. She looked exactly as she did when Lin Qiushi had first met her.

Wu Qi was still alive, and Tan Zaozao was still alive. Every dead person had now returned. Lin Qiushi didn't know what this meant.

Everything that seemed unremarkable and ordinary was actually filled with a weird sense of disharmony. As if the calm before the storm, the tiny stirrings on the ocean surface seemed to foreshadow some oncoming terrible truth.

The TV noises were monotonous as it cast its light over Lin Qiushi's face. It had been a long time since Lin Qiushi spent a night all alone like this.

Ever since he and Ruan Nanzhu made their relationship official, they'd spent practically every night together; all they had to do was open their eyes to see each other's faces.

Now, however, silent solitude had returned.

Lin Qiushi's only company was a cat named Chestnut.

The night deepened. The lights outside the apartment extinguished one by one. Lin Qiushi sat on the sofa and, unknowingly, fell asleep.

Ding dong, ding dong. The hour hand met the minute hand; twelve AM came.

The program on the television suddenly flashed with white static. The snapping, sizzling sounds it made woke Lin Qiushi from his dreams, and when he opened his eyes, he discovered the TV had changed to another channel. Only, there weren't any channel logos. It looked to be playing some sort of historical program, stopping on a set of very old-looking stairs.

The scene felt slightly familiar; Lin Qiushi had a faint recollection of seeing it somewhere before, though he couldn't place it at the moment. Then it changed, and a man wielding an axe appeared right before Lin Qiushi's eyes.

With a malicious grin on his face, he followed the stairs up, footsteps finally stopping in front of a particular room. Arm outstretched, he began to bang on the wooden door.

"Wang Xiaoyi, open up. Wang Xiaoyi, open up—"

"Help me, help me—" came a woman's terrified pleas for help from inside.

When the man heard this voice, his expression only grew more savage. Guffawing loudly, he hauled the axe in his hands up into the air and brought it crashing down on the wood of the door. What was already a flimsy door splintered open, and on the other side of the crack was a woman's face, covered in tears.

"Help me, help me—"

The man made to swing the axe again, but it got stuck inside that hole. Seeing this, Wang Xiaoyi quickly shoved open the door and dashed outside. The man's attention was so fixated on that axe that he didn't notice for a whole moment that Wang Xiaoyi had gone.

Wang Xiaoyi stumbled down the hallway, crying desperately for help as she ran along. And just when the tension ratcheted up to breaking point, a door suddenly opened, saving Wang Xiaoyi by pulling her inside. And inside the door…appeared Lin Qiushi's own face. Standing beside Lin Qiushi was clearly the first version of Ruan Nanzhu he'd met.

Indeed, what was happening on the television was everything that had happened in his very first door.

A man in their group had gone crazy, and it was Lin Qiushi who'd saved the girl being pursued.

But when the scene in the TV cut again, in the very next moment, the girl that Lin Qiushi had saved was being split in half by a shovel. Red and white formed liquid splatters on the snow. She stared with huge eyes colored with resentment, so vivid that it was spine-chilling even through the screen.

Lin Qiushi tried to change the channel, but found that the remote control had stopped working. He even pulled out the power cord of the television, but the scenes continued.

The screen was frozen on the moment of Wang Xiaoyi's death when, all of a sudden, a knock came at the door. Lin Qiushi sat on the couch, not moving, but the knocking continued. It got gradually more violent, until it seemed keen on smashing the door apart.

It was very loud; logically speaking, even if Lin Qiushi didn't open the door, it would be enough to disturb other people. However, the knocking continued on for minutes without anybody reacting in anyway. Lin Qiushi looked out the window and saw that all the lights in the residential district had been extinguished. As if, once twelve AM hit, this had become a whole other world.

The person knocking was growing increasingly impatient. Lin Qiushi slowly approached the door, and through the peephole, saw the person outside…It was a man holding an axe, exactly like what Lin Qiushi had just seen on the television.

He seemed to know that Lin Qiushi was watching him from the other end, and so increased his efforts to bang down the door. Through the hole, Lin Qiushi could even see the fresh blood dripping from his axe.

Lin Qiushi stepped back, taking a deep breath. He went to the kitchen and took up a knife hanging on the wall for self-defense. When he got back to the living room, however, he found that the floorboards were already soaked in a pool of dark red blood. Lin Qiushi searched around, and found that not only was the television still on, but it was also pouring out fresh blood by the liters. And Wang Xiaoyi, who had been dead inside, was starting to twitch. Her skull, split in half on the ground, lifted up, and with pale dead eyes stared out of the television right at Lin Qiushi. Her mouth split at an odd angle, and her hand came reaching.

At such a sight, Lin Qiushi couldn't help but curse. The worst didn't stop there, because Wang Xiaoyi's bloody hands were able to burst right through the television screen and extend outside.

At precisely the same time, the man with the axe began to swing it at Lin Qiushi's door. He broke open a huge hole in what should've been a solid metal security door, eyes peeking inside. When he spotted Lin Qiushi standing in the living room, a strange, spine-chilling cackle left his mouth.

Truth was, any normal person who saw such a sight would probably have already gone crazy with fright; they might've been so scared that they'd jump off the building without the ghouls needing to do anything.

But how many such terrifying scenes had Lin Qiushi seen? He remained calm, and stood in a spot slightly farther from the TV. As he stared at the almost-broken door, an idea popped into his mind, though he didn't know whether or not it was an idea that would work.

The murdered Wang Xiaoyi had almost made it out of the TV, and outside, the man once again swung his axe down. When he did so, however, the axe seemed to get stuck inside the door, and as soon as Lin Qiushi saw this, he pulled open the door, dashed through the threshold, and began sprinting like mad for the elevator.

Because his axe had gotten stuck, the man's motions were stalled. Lin Qiushi threw himself into the elevator and pressed the first floor. Right before the elevator doors closed, the man appeared on the other side—Lin Qiushi even spotted his twisted expression through the crack.

"Fuck."

Lin Qiushi held the kitchen knife and wiped at his face with his free hand. Then he grabbed his phone, once again hitting Ruan Nanzhu's number. This time, what had been an unconnected number managed to connect, and Ruan Nanzhu's voice came from the other side in a rush.

"Qiushi? Is it Qiushi?"

"Nanzhu—Nanzhu—" Lin Qiushi was covered from head to toe with sweat, and he asked quickly, "where are you? Where are you?"

"I'm inside the door," Ruan Nanzhu said. His voice sounded a bit distorted. "Qiushi, how are things on your end? Are you alright?!"

Though he wasn’t saying anything about his own situation, Lin Qiushi could very faintly hear a woman's grief-struck sobbing on the other end—so he knew that Ruan Nanzhu likely wasn't in a good situation either. He hurried to say, "I'm great, don't worry about me. I'm hanging up first, take care of yourself!"

He was scared that Ruan Nanzhu would be distracted by being on a call with him, and so made the decision to hang up.

Ding dong, the elevator reached the first floor. Holding his breath, Lin Qiushi watched as the elevator doors before him slowly opened.

[Ch. 129] | [Ch. 131]

#kaleidoscope of death #xi zixu #cnovel #chinese translation #死亡萬花筒 #there's a review on novelupdates that expresses disappointment about the 11th door arc #'cause the reader thought it was lazy #but let me tell you no other door made me anywhere as anxious as this door did #from start to finish #it's quite literally my worst nightmare lmfao

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moon-stars01 · 3 years ago

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First Impressions

Mingyu x Reader

Author:Deko

Summary:In which Mingyu is a regular and your positive your into him.

Gene:fluff,Swearing,Romance

Rating:General Audiences

~First Impressions~

You'd developed a crush.

One, which you'd hoped was fleeting because you only ever saw him around once a week whenever he'd come into your shop.

He was peculiar in the way he carried himself, he'd nestle himself in a corner and play with a trinket he found interesting and made himself laugh on plenty of occasions.

To others, you guessed, he might look half insane laughing to himself like that – but to you, you found it rather sweet.

Sweet, because he indulged in the company of himself. So few are lucky to have enough confidence to carry themselves freely without reserve or judgement, so while he struck you as peculiar, you also found him irresistibly charming for this fact alone.

He came up to you one day and completely shocked you out of your daydream – and you shuffled to hide your book to make it look like you were actually working.

He met your eyes, "Do you make this stuff?"

He pointed around the shop, and you tried to focus on the question but your mind was more drawn to the fact that his voice did not match his pretty face. You'd always imagined him more soft spoken.

"Y-yeah. Well, no" You exhaled slowly, calming yourself down. "Some. My dad makes most of it."

Ahh, wonderfully spoken. Beautifully enunciated.

He hummed in wonder, and you saw a faint smile trace his lips for a moment, before it disappeared.

He said nothing more and began to walk out of the shop.

You gasped, not wanting him to leave. He'd finally talked to you and that's all he'd had to say? The shop was empty so now was your chance to... say something, anything!

You leaned over the wooden counter, "My name's Y/N!" you half shouted, grasping onto the edge.

Really? Your name? That was the best you could do?

He turned around, eyes wide in wonderment, before they softened at the sight of you. "I'm Mingyu. See ya."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, walking away. He used his shoulder to push open the door and left the shop without another word.

You slumped back in your chair and took your book back out from its hiding spot, and tried to focus on the words. You were sour upon him leaving, his presence alone had always made you feel giddy, and the shop suddenly felt colder without him there.

—0–0–0–0–

The next day, Mingyu came in.

This shocked you because he never came in more than once a week; you wondered what must have been so important.

Shock was evident on your face, and when your eyes locked as he walked in the door he wore an unreadable expression.

You watched him out of the corner of your eye as you were stacking wooden toys and trinkets onto the shelves, and noticed that he wasn't acting the way he usually did. He seemed off.

You bit your lip and approached him quietly; he didn't look at you though, as you spoke into the air – only able to admire his side profile.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" You treaded carefully, sounding a little too meek for your liking. You didn't like the effect he had on you.

He looked to be lost in thought for a moment, before turning to look at you. "What kind of gifts do girls like?"

Your heart sank into the floor.

As your eyes trailed his face, gaze sweeping over his perfectly symmetrical features from his soft brown eyes to his pretty pink mouth you realised the insanity of your previous sentiments.

Of course he had a girlfriend, look at him for gods' sake.

You masked your sadness aptly, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. It wasn't as if he'd lead you on or anything, you'd just been living in your own delusions for far too long, allowing them to manifest into actual feelings.

"The things my father makes..." You walked ahead of him around the corner and through shelves, using your index finger to indicate you wanted to be followed, "Are good for tourists, and gifts for old people."

You lead him to a little corner of the shop, one that only stocked the things that you yourself had made. It was your father's idea.

"As for me, I like to make prettier things. Things other girls might enjoy." You used your hand to gesture up and down the shelf.

Mingyu looked at you for a moment with a quirked brow, and then set his gaze to the shelf.

You watched on as he reached out to touch the eclectic weeping willow you'd made. It had taken you forever to create, hence the maybe a little outrageous price tag. You'd had many customers grumpily try to haggle the price with you, but you were fond of it, maybe you didn't really want to let it go.

"You made this?" He questioned, gaze still on it. His long fingers were delicately tracing the decorative beading on it.

"Yes." You murmured shyly, clasping your hands behind your back.

"It must've taken you a long time." He noted.

"It did." You couldn't really think of much else to say, so you continued to watch his form.

He finally leaned up, as if breaking away from his transfixed state. You'd be lying if you said you weren't flattered.

"I'll take it, then."

You blinked up at him, "Are you sure?"

He raised his eyebrow at you, small smile playing on his lips.

He picked up the tree and set off towards the direction of the counter without another word, prompting you to follow.

You rushed ahead, pushing the small wooden entryway to go behind the counter, before meeting his eyes again.

He placed the item down and you looked back up at him, searching his face for any uncertainty.

"Can I ask you a question?" You murmured, avoiding his eyes.

He put his elbows on the counter and sat his head in his palms, watching you expectantly. "Sure."

Too close, he was too close!

You stepped back a fraction, hopefully to an unnoticeable degree. "Is the person this gift is for...special?"

The prying question left your mouth with little hesitation, and he too answered without it.

"Yes."

You watched as he pulled out his wallet and started fishing out notes, but you stopped him with your hand, lowering his gently.

"Then it's on me."

He looked at you, "Huh? No, I couldn't." He ignored you and set the money on the counter anyway.

"I made this a long time ago" You whispered gently, scanning the item to let the system know it was no longer in the store, "It's collecting dust here. You've also given us more business than I care to admit." Your tone was teasing when you looked up at him.

Again, his expression was unreadable.

"Would you like me to wrap it?" You asked, fighting down a sigh.

"Yes, please." His nice voice sent your heart into mini palpitations, and turned your stomach into a fluttering mess.

Stupid, traitorous body.

"Just a moment then." You took the item and walked into the back, exhaling deeply when you were out of ear shot.

You carefully wrapped the tree in bubble wrap, before setting it onto some pink wrapping paper and folding it all together nicely. You sealed it with tape before you heard the entry way doorbell ring.

You left the item in the back and wiped your dewy hands on your pinafore. Stepping out, you looked at the older woman who'd stepped into the store.

"Welcome!" You smiled at her, not familiar with her face. It was always customary to welcome newer customers, the regulars never cared quite so much.

She smiled back and set about the store, and you turned back around to go and retrieve the wrapped gift.

You brought it back out and noticed the money was still sitting on the counter, so while his attention was diverted in his zoned out state, you sneakily placed the money in the bottom of the paper bag, and put the wrapped gift on top of it – effectively hiding it.

"Here you go." You set the paper bag in front of him, and he took the handle and let it fall to his side.

"Thank you." He gave you a quick smile before heading out, and this time instead of using his hands like a normal person, or even his shoulder like he had the day before – he used his foot to push the door open and set out.

You watched his hair fly around in the wind as he stepped outside. The door shut and the bell jingled – leaving you to watch his figure through the glass doors.

His hair was so fluffy. You sighed, putting your elbow on the counter and resting your head in your palm. You wondered what it might be like to run your hands through it.

Sadly, though – that wouldn't happen any time soon. Any girl worth spending 89 dollars on an artisanal craft tree, must be special indeed. It seemed rather frivolous.

—0–0–0–0–

The next morning passed without any drama, and you found yourself during lunchtime nose deep in a book. This week had been slow, dreadfully slow – despite Mingyu and his more than occasional visits – to bring you out of the ordinary.

Your dreamlike state was shattered with a loud ringing of the entry bell, signifying the door had been opened with a little more force than necessary.

A gasp caught in your throat at the sight of Mingyu– and while you were overjoyed at his visit (3 days in a row was a new record) you couldn't help but notice the scowl on his face.

"Y/N."

He'd never said your name before, it sounded like heaven coming from him. But maybe a little bit of slipping from the clouds and plummeting down to earth kind of heaven because his tone was heated.

You watched as he rummaged through his pant pocket, before he pulled out a familiar wad of cash.

He unceremoniously dumped the notes onto the counter in front of you, and his eyes drew you to them, even though the first thing you wanted to do was look away.

"I said no. Why did you do that?" He sounded affronted, and he ran his pretty long fingers through his soft mop of hair to emphasize his frustration with you.

You wanted to say sorry, but you weren't. And if not for a faux apology, what were you supposed to say to that? So you kept quiet, hoping it would pass.

He narrowed his eyes at you sharply, and if gazes could kill...

"So, do you just go around giving away the things you make to anyone for free?" The angry set of his jaw was as frightening as it was handsome. You knew this boy – you'd been watching him for so long. His goofy, light-hearted demeanour could not be clouded with a foul mood.

And as if you were psychic, your silence seemed to stun him. He'd come in here hoping for a reaction and when he realised you weren't going to give him one it calmed him down. You watched as his tense stature relaxed, and his frown mellowed out.

"My sister loved the gift, by the way." His tone had gone soft, "She said it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. I thought so too."

Your heart rate quickened – his sister? You had a nasty habit for jumping to conclusions. It's not as if he'd come into a craft store to buy handcrafted wooden condoms.

Your heart had a pessimistic way of thinking, you'd liked him so much and for so long that your brain turned to non-functioning mush in his presence, clearly.

His sister. The tree was for his sister.

You chewed on your lower lip, trying to concentrate on evening out your breathing and heartbeat. To no avail, naturally.

His gaze was on you so strongly you could feel it. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I'm...sorry?" Wow it's like you didn't even try to be convincing.

"No you're not." He chuckled, low and quickly – and it built up into laughter much lighter "You're not sorry at all."

You looked away, caught.

From your peripheral vision you saw him slide the notes over to you, even closer than they were before. "Put the money in the register. Now."

His tone didn't leave much room for debate, it was low and persuasive and you found yourself trembling at the thought of saying no.

"I want to watch you do it."

You detected hints of flirtation in his tone but you didn't want to get ahead of yourself, so you reached out to grab the money and just get it over and done with, but he was quicker.

He snapped the money back up and held it between his middle and forefinger, just for the purpose of keeping your gaze. "And don't try this again, I live too far away to keep coming back like this."

You tilted your head in question, he lived far away?

You held your hand out and he gave you the money, allowing you to put it in the register underneath his watchful gaze.

You shut it, and looked up. "Satisfied?"

He grinned at you, "Very..." A pause,

"Don't sell yourself short, don't ever try to give some guy free things, especially when they're so beautifully and carefully crafted."

You felt mildly affronted by his accusations. "What do you mean by some guy?" your lips fell into a thin line, the previous mood shattered. You chose to ignore the latter half of the sentences flattery.

"I don't know. Maybe if some guy you like comes in with his friends and charms the pants off of you and I don't know... you just give away your things for free."

You gave him a look of complete confusion. Was he daft?

"I like you, jerk."

Your hands came up to your mouth, as if it would do any good. Why had you said something so rash?

His eyes went wide, and if you didn't know any better you might have seen his face flush.

"What, why? You don't even know me..." He scratched the back of his head, "For how long?"

How coherent of him?

"Why? Because I can. I might not know you but, that doesn't mean I don't want to! And, uh, a while..." You huffed indignantly at the end of your mild outburst.

"No, god I mean..." He ran a hand through his hair, "I wouldn't say I like you, it's more of a crush... I don't know how to explain it, how can you like someone you don't know? You know?"

He had a fair point, in all his jumbled musings, perhaps blurting out your affections so carelessly made him think you were someone who used those words often.

"Well..." you thought, deflecting, "how can you have a crush on me then? Or whatever it is you want to call it."

"I asked first."

You almost scoffed, folding your arms. "Because I see you looking around and you're always happy. This is my father's store, and it makes me happy seeing you happy inside of it."

How many times did you just use the word happy?

He looked pleased at your admission, a sweet sly smile playing at his lips.

You sighed, "Now you."

"Alright" he shifted his balance onto his other leg, looking far taller and more imposing than he should have for someone so pleasant. "You make me curious, that's why."

Huh?

He rolled his eyes at your blank stare of confusion, "You make me curious. Whenever I come in you scramble to hide the books you're reading, to pretend like you were working." There was laughter in his voice, "It's cute..." he leaned in closer over the counter, "and it makes me so curious, I always wanted to know what you were reading."You felt your cheeks warm in embarrassment, "You could've just asked."

"No..." he hummed in reply "Because I spent my time in here day dreaming about what you might be reading. It entertained me."

You huffed, "Nice to know I'm a good source of entertainment."

"And whenever you look over at me..." He ignored you and carried on, "And I notice from the corner of my eye and look back, you always look away. Why do you do that?"

All of this time he'd never let on just how attentive he was to you. Knowing this embarrassed you to no end.

You didn't answer him.

"Why do you do that?" He tried again, his voice sounded closer than before. He looked so handsome with confusion lacing his features."I don't know." You bit back shyly

"You're a shit liar, do you know that?" he bit his lip and gave you a once over, "I'll ask you one more time, why do you look at me like that?"

You played with the frills on your sleeves out of nervousness and pat down your store pinafore one too many times than was necessary, desperately needing a distraction from your ever fluttering stomach.

"Y-you know you're nothing like I thought you'd be." You muttered

He smirked and gave you a look as if to say, 'no shit.'

"Wrong answer." Was what he whispered back instead.

The two of you just stood there staring at one another, and you couldn't discern whether or not the silence was comfortable, or unbearable.

You could've sworn his eyes darted to your lips for a moment, but the spell was broken when the bell sounded and a customer came in through the door.

"Welcome!" You got out, albeit breathlessly.

You met eyes with Mingyu again, and he looked as if he was on the brink of saying something. He sucked in an annoyed breath and looked away. But that façade didn't last long because a second later his attention was back on you.

"What time do you get off?"

Your eyes darted to the clock. 5.20. You had 10 minutes left but you'd rather clock out early than have to wait through the tension of, well, whatever the hell you'd call this.

You watched as your final customer left after looking around extremely briefly.

"Now." You whispered, taking off your pinafore gently and setting it beneath the counter.

You went out back for only a moment and switched the power off, coming back out to meet Mingyu.

Your nervousness was palpable, and you patted down your jean skirt that was beneath the pinafore, hoping that your blouse was presentable enough.

It felt like time was moving very slowly as the two of you walked out of the store together, his beautiful features were darkened in shadow – illuminated only by the soft cloudy light emanating from the glass doors.

The two of you slipped out wordlessly, but not before you flipped the sign at the door around to 'Sorry! We are CLOSED.'

—0–0–0–0–

Mingyu took you to a park that was close by, and while the sun wasn't out shining, there was a real charm to the dull grey – with little hints of blue dotted throughout the sky.

The two of you sat on a bench overlooking a field of grass and trees, with flowers scattered about, growing in sparse groups.

"You know, I'm sorry for teasing you." He murmured, looking forward.

You smiled, only a little.

You often day-dreamed about Mingyu taking you out, but back then he didn't have a name to his face. He was just the smiling boy who'd come in whenever he felt like it, with no routine.

But now that you knew the kind of flirtatiousness and deadly charm of which he was capable, it got you to thinking. Just what exactly was it that you liked about him? He had every right to tease you, and to question – because in his eyes you were just a silly girl with an even sillier, baseless crush.You turned to look at his side profile, marvelling at the perfect sculpture of it. "You are?"

"Yeah. Can I tell you the truth?" There was an odd sort of smile on his lips – that met somewhere between a grin and a grimace.

You nodded – hopefully he caught it in his peripheral vision.

"At first I was annoyed with you – for telling me you liked me so carelessly. I thought maybe you'd said it to lots of people before me, I got jealous I suppose." He leaned off to the side of the bench and sat back up with a daisy in his hand, and when he started picking at the petals you supposed it was to put his energy somewhere. "But seeing the way you act when I even... look at you. The way you look at me, it's..." he sighed softly, thoughts dribbling off into nothingness. You hadn't even realised he thought so deeply about you, you felt awful for making him uncomfortable – even without realising it."What I'm trying to say is that I understand you." He finalised "I'm drawn to you, too, more than I can understand why."

You smiled softly, suddenly feeling very warm.

"But, you don't know me, Y/N." He looked at you – looking far too beautiful in all his earnest composure. "Can you live with that?"

"For now." You whispered, "But I meant what I said before, is it so wrong to want to get to know you?"

"Which..." He inhaled and reclined into the bench, legs splayed out in a boyishly charming manner "Which me did you start to like, how was I?"

You thought about the confusing question for a moment, "You smiled a lot. Made a lot of weird, goofy faces at inanimate objects my father and I made. Ridiculously charming stuff." You giggled "And you'd always buy the silly things that my dad loves and I loathe. You know, the wooden sculptures with odd anatomy. I told him there was no market for it, but you became the market." You bit your lip to keep from laughing harder.You paused, "I'll only be a little upset if that isn't the real you."He pulled his lower lip through his teeth and turned to look at you, there was something indiscernible about his gaze, "Only a little?" he whispered.

A.Lie.

"Yeah..." You trailed off

"Do you make it a habit to lie?" he scoffed, turning away from you. "I already told you, you're a bad liar."

"'Shit', I believe was your adjective of choice."

You watched him grin, if you were brave enough to call it that. "I'm serious, Y/N. If you want my truths you have to give me yours, it's the only way we can figure out..." his index finger flicked between the two of you in an exaggerated gesture "Whatever this is."

He was right. He was probably always right.

"I'd be upset, but I'm sure I could get used to every part of you."

Satisfied, he seemed to drop it. "Good, because it is a part of me, before you that is."

You quirked your brow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You make me nervous." He concluded simply.

"I make you nervous? You never let that on, at all." You murmured, truthfully confused.

Mingyu seemed very well put together. He was a person who you'd always assumed never gave two shits about the thoughts of other people. But the more time you spent with him alone, the more you realised your awful habit of projecting personalities onto people was a dangerous game to play.

The Mingyu you had feelings for was only a small part of his personality, there was more depth to him than he let on.

"I'm a better liar than you." He was looking at you fully, now.

It was silent for a while before he spoke up again, "My mom took me to this area when I was a little younger during the holidays. You didn't work at the shop at that time but I vaguely remember seeing your face. I loved the eccentric toys your father made, so I always asked my mom to bring me back."

This was news to you, you didn't remember him at all. But listening to him recollect so fondly about your store made your heart swell with pride. That's all your father had ever wanted, a homelike store full of warmth and treasures people of all ages could enjoy.

The store was especially bustling during holiday season and irrevocably dead during off season, so it was understandable you didn't recognize his face.

"I always drive down here when I get the time. I feel at home here for some reason because I have good memories of the store – it was so magical and big when I was a kid, not so much now, naturally."

"Yeah, you're huge." You cut in.

He snickered before continuing on, "Since I felt at home in your store I always got a little comfortable, entertaining myself. But then I noticed you looking at me once, and I don't know what it was about it, but, something happened to my heart that day."

You blinked a few times, trying to absorb all of this information. He was a wonderful speaker – his voice was so calming and deep you found it hard not to fall in.

"Your heart?" You questioned delicately, just trying to make sense of the connection the two of you seemed to have – which until today had gone severely unnoticed.

"Yeah. And before I knew it I was nervous, I couldn't act the way I usually did because I was afraid it would scare you off or something. I felt like I couldn't be myself around you, you were too beautiful for that." He ran a hand through his hair after the statement, and you felt blessed to have seen him do it up so close.

"That's...shallow. You were willing to change who you are, for me? Because you thought I was pretty?" You laughed lightly at the notion

He raised his eyebrow at you and leaned in close, "Shallow?"

You swallowed at the close proximity.

"You never answered my question, and I've been so truthful I think I deserve an answer..." He ran his tongue along his lower lip, following the teasing lilt in his tone. He was teasing you, and he wasn't attempting to conceal it this time.

You knew exactly what question he wanted the answer to.

'Why do you look at me like that?'

He fucking well knew the answer to it too, and you wondered if he was 50% kindness and 50% mischief – maybe 60/40.

But you were certain, even after everything he'd divulged to you – you'd take all 50% of his teasing, of his bullying and smirks and eyebrow raises and every other bloody thing that came along with Mingyu's personality – if it meant you got to see him laugh with glee from time to time.You'd gotten caught up in your thoughts while watching him, and you shook your head to shake you out of the dazed reverie.

"You were doing it just now." He fell back dramatically into the bench, leaning his head back "Christ."

"Sorry."

"No you aren't!"

You giggled, then.

"No really. I am, I'm sorry. I didn't ever want to make you uncomfortable. That's the truth. It was the last thing I wanted." You felt a little ashamed of yourself, at not ever being able to hide your feelings well.

Your inability to do so had caused the person next to you a great deal of confusion.

"Whoever said I wanted an apology from you? I love the way you look at me. But I told you before, I'm curious." He shifted close to you, impossibly so. Close enough that your thighs were touching – but his were clothed.

"If you don't tell me, I'll kiss you."

You looked at his mouth and had to fight back laughter. That was a threat? Oh boohoo, that would be awful.

Perfectly annoyed by him, you grabbed gently at the collar of his shirt and brought his mouth to yours. He let out a low, pleased noise – melting into your touch.

His lips felt like heaven on yours, they were soft and warm – and the noises of pleasure he was making was doing little to stifle the rampant thumping of your heart. He kissed back with fervour, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you into him further.

When it had all gotten too much, he pulled away slowly and hesitantly, before putting his head into the crook of your neck and letting out a soft sigh. "That was unfair." He whispered, leaning back to look at you. "You're avoiding giving me an answer."

"Are you done being a brat or are you going to admit that you already know the answer?" You wound your arms around his neck and played with the back of his hair, admiring the feel. It was as soft as you'd imagined.

"Is it so wrong to want to hear it from you?" He murmured, leaning forward and pressing his lips to yours again quickly.

You laughed softly into the little space between you, effectively ignoring him.

"I really am sorry about liking you so early. But I think it'll be very easy to like all of you,Mingyu." You hoped you sounded sure.

"You're not sorry." He bit his lip, smiling through the gesture.

"You're right." You whispered, leaning up and placing a delicate kiss to his forehead, and lingering far longer than necessary;

"I'm not."

#seventeen #seventeen fanfic #stories #kpop #mingyu x you #mingyu x reader #mingyu x y/n #kim mingyu #seventeen x y/n #seventeen x you #seventeen fluff #mingyu fluff #mingyu fic #seventeen kim mingyu

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devildom-tyrant · 4 years ago

Note

Hi, sorry to bother you if you've done this already, but I've read your drabble where MC is comforted after a nightmare by the brothers (Mammon, Beel, and Satan) and it just makes me so soft I love it so much I keep rereading it. So I was wondering if you could do another with Asmo and Levi (and possibly Lucifer)? Obviously no pressure or anything, I'm a writer myself and understand that inspiration can be fleeting at times. Anyways, thank you, have a nice day/night!! 💖

You wake up yet again, jolting from your rest with your heart pounding in your throat. It takes you several panicked breaths to realize that you’re in your room, safe in your bed, and it was just another nightmare that jarred you from your slumber.

The details are foggy, but you can still remember the laughter, and the feeling of someone hating you with every fiber of their being to the point that they wanted you dead, that they were thrilled that you were dying.

Your bed sheets are a tangled mess around your legs, and you hastily kick them off, sitting upright and rubbing the sleep from your eyes with one hand, while you blindly reach for your D.D.D. with the other. The screen lights up, showing that it’s past 3AM, and you fight back a groan. You’re exhausted, but you know you won’t be able to go back to sleep like this. And if you show up to class half-asleep again, everyone’s just going to worry about you.

You switch on your bedside lamp and weigh your options, your gaze riveted to your D.D.D.

Lucifer

Automatically, you scroll to Lucifer’s name. At this hour, he’s likely to be asleep, though you know that his work usually keeps him up rather late. If you texted him, he would likely be worried... After all, you rarely reach out to him for help, not wanting to burden him when he has enough on his plate with Diavolo.

Several minutes pass with your screen pulled up to your text messages with Lucifer, before you finally suck in a deep breath and hastily type out: “Are you awake?” Before your mind talks you out of it, you hit Send and then immediately panic. You really don’t want to tell Lucifer about the nature of the nightmares, nor do you want to admit to them in the first place and skew his view of you.

An R for Read pops up next to the text, followed by three dots to indicate his typing, and you mentally flip your shit.

“I am now. Why are you awake?”

Shit, did you wake him up? You chew on your bottom lip, and carefully type out your response.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just having trouble sleeping and wondered if you might be up, that’s all.”

You follow that text with a sticker that’s sweat-dropping and smiling apologetically to keep it light-hearted. Lucifer texts back immediately:

“Oh?”

“Come to my room then.”

You hesitate at that, your heart pounding in your chest. Did he just--? Is he asking you to--?

“We can talk or listen to one of my records if that might help you. Or I may have some tea that could help.”

Oh. Your panic eases a bit, and you acquiescence, typing out an All right before rising to your feet and making your way to his bedroom. You feel as if you’re sneaking through the house, and it almost makes you feel guilty; it’s too quiet when everyone’s asleep. However, you make it to Lucifer’s room without incident, and he opens the door before you even knock. His expression is neutral, until he catches a glimpse of your tired, haggard appearance, which brings a light frown to his features.

“You look like hell,” he bluntly states, moving aside to let you in.

“I’m in hell,” you shoot back, to which he chuckles.

“Essentially. But that’s never stopped you from sleeping before.”

His tone is pointed, and you feel as if he knows exactly why you can’t sleep. He’s always been sharp, usually one step ahead -- or so it seemed until recently. Now, you know he’s not infallible, and he doesn’t know your every move. He’s fishing, hoping you’ll take the bait and talk to him about it. But as much as you’d like to, you’re also stubborn -- and so very tired. It’s a talk for another time.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up. I thought you might be working late or something,” you admit, skirting the issue and taking a seat on the edge of his bed. He quirks an eyebrow, but moves to sit at his desk.

“Not this late on a school night.”

You can’t help but laugh, your thoughts a little more uncensored thanks to your lack of sleep. “Sorry. That sounded weird coming from you.”

“What? It’s the truth. Our little sleep study proved the importance of rest before classes, didn’t it?” A smile plays at his lips at the thought of that, and the memory makes your cheeks heat up. Suddenly, his bed feels huge, yet this room feels so small, drawing the two of you together. You shouldn’t have come up here this late.

“I--” Part of you knows you should say that you can sleep now, that you’re fine, but you’re not. “I wish I could sleep, but I’ve been... having nightmares, and they’re stupid, but I just...”

Your voice trails, and Lucifer moves from the chair to the bed in an instant, all traces of his teasing smile gone as he pulls you against his chest. He doesn’t have to ask what they’re about; he knows.

He holds you in silence for a moment, while your heart hammers so hard, you know he can feels it. Finally, his deep baritone murmurs, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Your name comes out on his lips, and you feel your eyes watering, but you blink it away and shake your head. “I’m okay. I’m okay now. Can we... lie down for a bit?”

The request comes out small, fearful of rejection, yet afraid of the acceptance as well. Wordlessly, Lucifer lies back on the bed with you, his arms wound around you tight, one hand lightly trailing along your back. You curl into him, burying your face in his chest (his heart’s beating quickly, too, some part of you registers), and slowly begin to drift asleep.

In your semi-consciousness, you realize Lucifer’s humming a melody you’ve never heard before, yet it makes you feel so safe.

Asmo

You know Asmo isn’t awake at this hour; he’s always told you that he needs plenty of beauty rest for his skin. Still, you can’t help but click on his name, wishing that he was up so he could comfort you. He’s so light-hearted, smiling and looping his arm through yours, and that casual intimacy has always put you at ease when you’re around him. It makes it feel like you’ve known him forever.

It’s that feeling that makes you type candidly, your thumb flying across the buttons.

“I can’t sleep.”

If he doesn’t respond, then that’s fine; he’ll likely ask you about it tomorrow or give your tips to combat the bags that will surely be beneath your eyes. To your surprise, however, an R pops up next to the message, followed closely by Asmo typing.

“Then sleep with me, darling.”

That’s a dangerous double-meaning coming from the Avatar of Lust, but with your anxiety ramped up to an 11, you’re definitely not in the mood for that kind of distraction. As you make your way out into the corridor and toward his room, you type out a clarification.

“Just sleep, okay? I had a nightmare.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take your mind off it.”

When Asmo opens his door, you give him a lop-sided grin. “You perv.”

“On the contrary, darling, what I said was completely innocent. Check the chat log. If you took it wrong, well... then, I must be rubbing off on you.” Asmo smirks, automatically looping an arm around your waist and pulling you close. To his credit, he’s never groped you (without implicit permission), so you’ve always felt at complete ease with his physical affection.

“You’ve definitely been a bad influence,” you joke, not that your mind wasn’t dirty before you came to the Devildom. “But I’m really tired. I wanna be able to sleep.”

“Of course. But you’re so tense! Here, lie down on the bed and let me loosen you up.” There’s a dirty joke on both of your tongues, but you’re too drained to make it, and he’s trying to be on his best behavior. You comply, however, plopping down face-first onto his luxurious bed, while he sits beside you and begins rubbing the tension from your shoulders. Asmo knows what he’s doing when it comes to massages, and his bed has a heavy floral scent, likely from the lotions and perfumes he uses often. It’s so relaxing.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks, surprisingly energized for this time of night. It’s obvious that you woke him up, but strangely enough, he isn’t complaining about the interruption to his beauty sleep.

“Not really.” You’re starting to feel guilty about keeping him up. “Hey, I think I’m good on the massage. Do you mind... cuddling?”

His hands still on your shoulder blades. “You don’t have to ask me twice. I always want to cuddle with you!” Grinning excitedly, he climbs beneath the covers beside you, and wraps you up in his arms. He’s so warm, and you feel so at ease, surrounded by his soothing scent. You wind your arms around his slender frame, and he grins, pulling you in tighter, facing one another.

“You’re such a cute human. You sounded embarrassed to ask just then.”

Your face flushes. “Shuddup. I just want you to get your beauty sleep,” you mutter, which only causes him to hug you tighter.

“Aww, you were worried about me? You’re so sweet! I’m supposed to be the one comforting you, silly.” His hand trails along your back, just barely beneath your shirt so you can feel his skin on yours. He tucks your head beneath his chin, but you can tell from his voice that he’s still grinning broadly. “Just relax and fall asleep with me. You won’t have a nightmare as long as I’m holding you.”

Asmo rocks you gently, until your abashment fades and you feel yourself succumbing to sleep at last.

He’s right.

You don’t have another nightmare that night.

Levi

If there’s someone you know is going to be awake and gaming at 3AM, it’s definitely Levi. You click on his name, and type out a quick text: “I can’t sleep. Do you wanna come to my room and binge something?”

He reads the text within seconds and starts typing, just as you anticipated.

“Raiding. Come to my room instead?”

Even if you can’t sleep, you want to. You want the company, a distraction, some comfort. You would go to his room -- you’ve pulled plenty of all-nighters there, but... that’s what they were. All-nighters. His bed is literally a bathtub, and the one time you decided to take a nap in it, your neck had a wicked cramp in it for days.

“I’m tired, though. I was hoping we could watch it in bed and maybe fall asleep halfway through?”

This time, he reads it and doesn’t reply right away. You see the three dots start and stop, and you’re not sure if he’s at a pivotal point in the raid, or if he’s too flustered by your invitation to properly respond. Levi’s stayed in your room plenty of times, but he’s usually camped out with pillows in the floor, and if you happen to drift off, he keeps telling you random trivia about the show and shaking your leg until you make a noise that you heard him. You’ve never fallen asleep with him.

Your D.D.D. finally chimes with a notification.

“Did you send this to the right person??”

“Yes, Levi.”

“Oh. Then you meant you want me to stay until you fall asleep. For a second, I thought you meant sleep with you in your bed lolol.

Okay, after the raid.”

You know it’s just Levi being Levi and assuming you don’t feel that way about him, but with all the nervous energy you still have over the nightmare, you can’t help but feel your eyes water. As childish as it sounds, you just want him to hold you so you can feel like everything’s okay. You know you need to spell it out, but you leave his message on Read and pull the covers up to your chin, closing your eyes.

... It’s too restrictive. You kick at the covers and pick up your phone again, but... you can’t bring yourself to send another text, begging him to hurry. You can always go to his room; the invitation stands. Instead, you waste your time weighing your options, becoming more anxious, and ultimately, getting up to pace around your room.

About fifteen minutes pass before you hear a knock at your door, but it feels as if it’s been an eternity. “It’s open,” you say, loud enough for him to hear, and Levi steps inside with a box set tucked beneath his arm.

“Okay, I brought I Accidentally Became a Magical Girl, but the Transformation Sequence Takes So Long that the Villains Keep Attacking Me Halfway Through, and I Keep Losing but at Least I Get a Rose for Trying. It got really good reviews, and I know you said you wanted to see more comedy anime.” He smiles with such sincerity that you can’t help but feel guilty over tearing up a little earlier. Just being around him makes you feel more at ease.

“Thanks Levi, that sounds great. Pop it in, and let’s give it a go.” You smile doesn’t quite meet your gaze, and even though he’s a shut-in, it doesn’t go unnoticed that you’re acting different. He pauses, but then shakes it off and starts setting it up, while you sit down on your bed. As the first episode starts, he sits down beside you on the edge of the bed, while you’re sitting with your back against your pillows. He starts telling you trivia about the animation studio and apparently, how the manga is actually more ecchi than the anime. “OHHH, but I didn’t mean that I brought an ecchi anime for us to watch! I mean, it’s sure to have some fanservice, but... but that’s just to be expected, right? I wasn’t trying to be -- to be an Asmo or anything, I just thought you’d like it because it’s, uh, it’s supposed to be funny, and I--”

You lean forward and rest your forehead against his shoulder, cutting off his flustered explanation. “You know I don’t mind that, Levi,” you assure him, before reaching out and grasping his sleeve. He’s tense; even though you can’t see his face, you know it’s bright red, and you can feel the weight of his stare. “I’d love to watch it with you. I just... Will you lie down with me while we watch it?”

“L-l-lie down with you?! Just-- just like that?! Is this a joke? Is this some kind of weird normie--?”

He breaks off as you finally raise your head to meet his gaze. Levi can tell something’s amiss; he isn’t oblivious, he just lacks self-confidence. He softly says your name. “Why can’t you sleep?”

“I had a nightmare. About, well... what happened back then. In the foyer. When... Belphie, uh...”

“Oh.” He slides an arm around you, pulling you closer against his shoulder. You feel so weak admitting that, but Levi isn’t judgmental; he just offers you the comfort you so desperately wanted from him. “I didn’t know. I thought you were just awake because you drank too much coffee or were bored or something. If... If it’ll make you feel better, ye-yeah, I... I’ll lie down with you. If you really want me to!”

He’s still flustered, but he doesn’t think you’re joking anymore, so you smile and nod against his shoulder. “I’d really like that, Levi. Thank you.”

His face turns even brighter. “Y-yeah, no problem!”

Levi slides under the covers after you straighten them out, and you settle in beside him. His back’s up against the pillows now, so you snuggle into his side until he lifts his arm and gingerly puts it around you. Your cheek settles on his chest, and he audibly gulps, but doesn’t move.

Halfway into the episode, he starts pointing out the manga differences again, and you both laugh along with the gags and tropes throughout the show. Levi becomes more comfortable and trails his fingers along your back, and you throw one of your legs over his, cuddling closer. He keeps talking, this eccentric, passionate part of his personality being something you absolutely love about him, and the low murmur of his voice lulls you into a peaceful sleep.

#obey me imagine #obey me drabble #obey me lucifer #obey me leviathan #obey me asmodeus #obey me shall we date #omspoilers #kinda #nightmare #turns out that i had this half-finished in my drafts for months #Queued post

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obx-snippets · 4 years ago

Text

Round Two || JJ Maybank

Summary: After the beer pong game at the boneyard, Y/N has been reluctant to play another game with JJ. But after she plays another round with him at one of Topper’s parties, the date is inevitable.

Pairing: JJ x reader

a/n: So I decided to make a part two from Newton law of beer pong. You can read it below if you haven't already! But I sort of went overboard! Anyway hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear your feedback! xxx

Newton’s Law of Beer Pong (Pt. 1)

Masterlist

Word count: 6k (SORRY)

Warnings: underage drinking, cussing? Making out but that's about it.

**^ gif credit to the lovely @ptersparkers ^**

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Y/N's eyes are close to spinning out of her head as she exchanges a glance between Sarah and Kiara. The two polar opposite girls are standing before her, spitting out excuses to hold Y/N back from attending Topper's party tonight. Kook parties are usually jampacked with coke and expensive rum, which is generally topped with a beer pong table. And the Pogues wouldn't be the Pogues if they didn't crash a party in Figure Eight.

Once Kiara was sober enough to hear Y/N story about JJ making a move on her, she objected to the whole idea of meeting him again. She knew all JJ wanted was a quick hit, and he would only break Kiara's lovely friend's heart. Besides, Y/N was too sweet and calm ever to mix herself with JJ, and she simply thought they weren't a match.

Sarah Cameron, on the other hand, though it would be good for Y/N to open up and try something new. Though the kook princess and Kiara were on unfavorable terms, they decided to link mutually to discuss their friend's decision.

Though Y/N was only gawking up at them from where she sat at the edge of her bed, it almost felt right hanging out with the two girls. Sarah is midway through stating her case while Kie is deflecting every one of her points, trying to get her to understand that JJ would only hurt her. "Um, guys?" Y/N chimes in quietly, raising her dainty finger to catch her two friends' attention. Both girls hear her silent plea and quiet themselves to listen to her opinion, seeing as they haven't let her talk since they arrived. "Maybe I shouldn't go to the party. I'm not really feeling it anyway."

Kiara shook her head, frantically, "No, no, it's totally fine if you go. I'm just saying that you avoid the beer pong table at all costs."

Sarah crossed her arms with a pout touching her rose-tinted lips. "Then she won't be able to see JJ," she sassed, rolling her eyes.

"Uh, that's my point." Kira rebooted sarcastically, mimicking Sarah's tone.

"Well, I don't mind playing him again..." Y/N mutters nonchalantly, suddenly finding a loose thread of her comforter quite fascinating. She misses the look of utter betrail from Kie and the giddy, triumphant smile from Sarah.

Kiara rakes her hand through her dark curls, her fingers getting lost in the knots she formed. "He's playing you, babe, " she whines frustratedly, hating that her point wasn't getting across. Of course, she thought JJ deserved the best after all that he's been through, and Y/N could be the perfect candidate, but she knew the blonde surfer's routine. Then again, JJ has never offered another go at beer pong in exchange for a date. Especially against someone who is likely to beat him.

In Sarah's eyes, realization sparks as she stands straighter, taking in her friend's flustered state at the mere mention of the Maybank boy. "Oh my god," she beams with a sparse squeal, making Kiara cringe and slightly flinch away from her. "do you have--like do you like him or something?"

Y/N's mouth fall's agape, her tongue is twisting in itself, not able to find the right words. She is silent for too long before Kiara's lips oddly turn upward into a smirk. "You didn't say you actually liked him." she giggled, "I thought you were just horny for JJ."

Y/N gasped and shoved Kiara somewhat away from her, the girl barely budging, letting giggles surpass her lips. "Oh, she is totally horny for JJ." Sarah nodded. Y/n turned to her with an exasperated look, and she shrugs with a semi-panicked look on her face that was fighting off a smile.

"I'm not horny for anyone!" Y/N whines, falling back on her soft bed, covering her face with one of her cushions.

"Damn, even I'm horny for JJ sometimes." Kiara snickered before a cushion went flying toward her face. "I'm joking, I'm joking!" she laughed, tossing the pillow back on time when Y/N sits up to catch the cushion and places it on her lap with a huff.

The girl was clearly frustrated, and Sarah softened her teasing smile before kneeling to meet her eyes. "Come on, you can't tell me there's not a small part of you that finds him attractive." she quirked a brow, noticing a tug on the corner of her lips.

"Well yeah, of course, I find him attractive." Y/N shrugs, "You'd have to be mental not to notice him. But saying I like him seems a tad over the top when I've only ever spoken less than a couple words to him.

Kiara placed herself next to Y/N, the bed slightly dipping from her weight. "You don't have to like him." she sighed, the look in her eyes indicating her next words would be regrettable. "You and I both know--actually the whole damn island knows about JJ's body count. He's never settled down, and seeing that you could possibly just be another person on his list bothers me. You're so much more than a quick fuck, and I want JJ to see that. That's why I am allowing you to go through with the beer pong game and go on a date with him."

A snort slipped Y/N's lips, and she tilted her head toward Kiara, raising her brows. "You're allowing me?"

Kiara placed her chipped painted nail upon her friend's lips, quickly shushing her. "Just let me have this moment to feel like I have some authority."

Sarah rolled her eyes, resting her hand upon Y/N thighs before laying her head down to peek up at her friend through her mascaraed eyelashes "Well since you're going on a date, I can't let you go to a party looking like that." she says with a tinge of hope lacing her tone, shaking her head disapprovingly towards her friend's outfit choice. Y/n frowns, looking to Kiara to see her opinion, only to be met with the girl painfully nodding in agreement. She looked down at her outfit, not seeing the problem of always wearing a large t-shirt sported with a tennis skirt. It was comfortable, and she quite honestly didn't see the problem.

Y/N looked up, squinting her eyes in defeat as she watched Sarah's mouth turned up into an ever-growing smile that she could finally dress up her friend who thought fashion was overrated. "I'll agree to the makeover and act like your words didn't hurt just now."

Sarah is quick to her feet and peppers Y/N face with soft kisses while Kiara giggles happily, wrapping her arms around her torso from behind. While their laughs boom around the room, Kiara lies back, pulling Y/N down against her stomach, the girls piled up on top of each other while Sarah continues her kiss attack.

•••

Y/N going to a kook party was a rarity in itself. She was always known to keep count of how much her friends drank, maintaining a perfect tally in her head. Unlike the keggers, the kook parties were more intense. It was usual for teenagers to be enticed with the fanciest alcohol and the finest drugs. But being in the circle of friends that included, Rafe, Topper, and Kelce, sellers steered clear from Y/N.

While the music was bouncing off the walls of Topper's ample living room, Y/n was squeezed between Kelce and Sarah while they looked head at Rafe and Topper on their second line of coke. After seeing the Cameron boy take another swig of his fourth beer, Y/N rolled her eyes ever so slightly, adding another tally to Rafe's list. He was only allowed five, and she wasn't afraid to slap the cup out of his hand if he dared go for a sixth.

As she eyed the crowd trying to find the familiar face of Kiara Carrera under the flashing lights of red and green, she felt Kelce glancing at her in the most obvious way possible. Before her lips could touch the rip of her red solo cup, she turned her gaze to the boy seated next to her; his mouth slightly gaped open. "You okay?" Y/N asked, an amused smile gracing her lips.

Kelce chuckled bubbly in embarrassment that he had been caught shaking his head before sipping his beer. "Nah, nothing. You just look weird." he shrugged. Sarah's keen ear enabled her to catch up on Kelce's comment and jolted her body forward to stab the boy with a malice glare. The boy having realized the look on y/n face as she looks down at Sarah's wardrobe's choice, he quickly trampled over his words. "Wait, no, I mean that in the nicest way possible. You just don't usually dress like that."

While Sarah snapped at Kelce, Y/N leaned back, letting her back rest while the two began roasting each other over the smallest things that wouldn't hurt them in the slightest. As much as she loved the loose, soft material of her brown shorts that Sarah provided, the white short-sleeved turtle neck was suffocating. Sarah was sure to match everything with simple gold jewelry and leather-strapped sandals that let her feet breathe, unlike her usual tennis shoes. But as soon as her lovely blonde friend asked to curl her hair, that's where she denied. Instead, she let a loose ponytail drape over her shoulder, already feeling soft strands breaking free from the black velvet scrunchie.

Letting her head drop back against the couch, a silent groan vibrated in the back of her throat as she pressed her palms against her eyes, making stars flicker behind her eyelids. She was thankful she settled for a bare face tonight with the exception of a tinted moisturizer and cherry chapstick that was resided in her flimsy pocket.

A harsh flick to the forehead brought the girl to pull her hands away, her sight blurry as she tried to make out the person whose head was hanging over hers. JJ's blonde hair tickled her chin, and his blue eyes piercing into her's made her face go red. "Round two y/l/n?" he quietly questioned, his mint breathe fanning her face, his gum squeezed between his smug smirk. She smelled the lace of weed on his muscle tee, but it was nothing out of the ordinary considering where they were.

"Sort of busy," Y/n sighed, pushing his face away with her hand before he could notice her flushed expression over the proximity of his face. But JJ had already seen her cheeks tint and was proud of the effect he had on her without even trying. Sitting up, she twisted in her seat to face him again. His fellow pogues didn't surround him, so she assumed that they had dispersed to dive into the free alcohol. Sarah and Kelce were already maneuvering to the other side of the couch, both infatuated in the conversation like hearing the latest gossip. Unlike Rafe and Topper, Kelce never had a problem with JJ, but he did enjoy the rivalry every so often.

"Busy lounging around?" JJ quirked his brow, leaning his arms on the back of the couch, his veins straining.

"It takes some effort. You know us kooks, lazy as hell." she shrugged, her voice laced with chaste sarcasm. Since having more interaction with him at the boneyard, her reticence toward the blonde felt like a fleeting memory.

As JJ tapped his fingers to ponder her words, his lips pursing, Y/N eyes quickly dropped to his rings, admiring how the luminescent party lights glistened off them every so often. "I think you're an exception. Considering you use at least more brain cells than I do, I'll give you some credit and lay off the kook card for tonight."

Y/n slowly peered over her shoulder to see Sarah already nodding furiously and waving her hands to shoo her away. Kelce narrowed his eyes at the interaction, looking between the two girls to wrap his head around what was going on.

"You comin'?"

Y/n hummed in response, her brows pulling into a deep furrow having muffled out any voices as she faced JJ. Her heart began beating against her ears as she registered what he meant. The beer pong game would mean having to go on a date, but she hadn't fully agreed to the rules. Kie's words lingered in the back of her head like a taunting siren. She didn't know what she felt toward JJ besides fighting the urge to kiss the smirk playing on his lips at the moment, seeing her face begin to flush while deep creases formed on her forehead. She didn't want just to be one of JJ's flings or whatever he liked to call them. Maybe it would be a date and nothing more. It didn't necessarily mean anything would happen. As long as she doesn't let him make a move, everything would be fine.

At least that's what she hoped.

Too deep in her rambling thoughts, Y/n didn't notice JJ lifting his thumb to caress the worry lines on her forehead, smoothing them out until her face softened. He could practically feel the warmth beaming off her skin, which only boosted his ego more. His blue eyes never left hers, and she was squirming under his gaze. The effect he had on her was becoming terrifying for her, and she swatted his hand away, a small scowl etching on her face that JJ found quite adorable regardless of her attempt to be annoyed.

Y/n pushed herself off the couch before spinning on her heel to heave through the crowd of dancing teenagers. She was sure JJ was following not too far behind to meet her at the beer pong table that resided in Topper's backyard. The pool was splashing out water from the riled boy's taking turned jumping in while music was becoming muffled out as she approached John B and Pope, who was setting up the table for the game they knew was about to start. They had picked a grassy area where fairy lights hung above them held by tree branches, and they were sure no kooks would bother them. Kie, who was chatting with a Touron about the environment, was the first to spot her. She was quick to abandon the other girl with a quick goodbye before skipping toward Y/n and tugging her into a tight hug as if they hadn't just seen each other a couple of hours ago.

Y/n quirked a brow once she pulled away, seeing the suggestive grin on Kie's face as she wiggled her shoulder in a little dance. "You're goin' on a date with JJ..." her tease was breaking off into a squeal with every word, making Y/n bite back a smile and shoved her away by her shoulders.

Rolling her eyes, she ignored Kie's giggling as she approached John B, seeing that he was filling the last cup with beer. The brunette stole a glimpse in her direction before focusing back on the work at hand. "Yo, y/l/n. Glad you could make it," he said, lining up the cups, so they were perfectly in place. "ready for round two?" a side smile tugged on the side of his lip as he finally let his focus drift to her.

She wondered if JJ told his friends about the bet he made with her and began absentmindedly tugging on the golden charm bracelet loosely draped around her wrist. "As ready as I can be, I guess." she laughed softly.

"So that's a no?" Pope commented, sipping his kombucha juice, knowing he had to be sober for this game.

"Nope," she popped, already dreading that she had to withstand going on a date only to be bailed a day later.

Pope hummed, nodding in understanding. "Kombucha?" he offered, stretching his cup out toward the girl. JJ would kill him if he admitted that he was the only one that was told, besides Kie, about the bet he made with her. Since JJ was owned by Y/n that night at the boneyard, he had taken a more liking to her and thought his blonde buffoon of a friend could use a companion that actually thought before taking action.

She nodded promptly before making her way around the table to sip the sweet herbaceous beverage. She had never made much of an interaction with the pogues. They were always friendly with her anytime she saw them drifting by on the HMS or when she would pick some food up from the Wreck. She felt like she had one foot in the Cut while the other was, unfortunately, in Figure Eight. She stayed out of the Kook and Pogue nonsense, and both sides respected that, not pestering her anytime she would hang out with either tribe.

"Hey, this is my side," JJ grumbled from beside her as he let the ping pong ball drop on her head before he caught it.

"Both sides are the same, " Y/n pointed out, passing the cup back to Pope, looking down at the back table with red solo cups decorated for the game.

Kie was already behind Y/n to push her by her shoulder to the other side of the table. "Best not to argue with him," she whispered, patting her shoulder once more before giving her space to warm up. Sarah was stumbling out from the house crashing into John B's arm, her face red from the short run. Y/n wasn't sure if the girl was really athletically inclined, and swatting birds with a tennis racket wasn't an exception.

Y/n let out a shaking breath, wringing her hands as she took in the table's appearance. She peeked upward through her lashes to see JJ already fixed on her, casually tossing the ball from either hand. He passed a quick wink in her direction before bouncing the ball and making it into one of her cups with ease. Y/n was suprised with his sharp point and let the warm liquid from the cup he scored flow into her mouth. As soon as she finished her drink, she paused, letting the liquid settle on her mouth before swallowing. She narrowed at the table, slightly tilting her head to see that it was tilted.

She laughed under her breath, realizing why JJ wanted that side of the table. His chances of winning were higher on his percentage, perceiving that since his side was heaving upward due to the small inclination of the hill under them, gravity would assist in his ball landing into her cups without much effort. JJ and Pope exchanged glanced, practically seeing the gears shifting in her brain. Now JJ was never the person to say he was in love, but he was in love with Y/n Y/l/n brain. How it was quick to fix a dilemma or figure something out without so much as a glance. He knew he wouldn't get away with his scheme long enough for her to analyze her next moves.

The wind blew her loose strands in her face, and she didn't bother to fix it, too focused on probing the next move. JJ's eyes were fixated on her, swallowing hard. He knew she was always beautiful, especially when he would see her lounging at the beach with Kie or beating Sarah at golf anytime he would deliver groceries with Pope. He knew she played early in the morning on Saturdays and always made sure to take that route on his way to specific houses. He loved overhearing her and Pope having a philosophical conversation and her effortlessly winning at constant debates. But something about her right now took his breath away. She was in her element, his heart warming at the sight of her rose-tinted lips curving to a smile as she appeared to figure out her game plan.

"I'll hand it to you, you almost had me there." Y/n said, closing one of her eyes to aim for her target. She could hear the sound of Kie's faint whisper commenting a fleet 'I love you' for good luck while Sarah cheers a quick 'whoop.'

"Almost?" JJ questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. Playing dumb was his specialty. If it got Y/n to show off, he didn't care as long as he got to see her mumbling under her breath every time she made a shot.

For the first time, Y/n made real eye contact with JJ, a surge of confidence swimming in the depth of her y/e/c iris'.

"Yeah, almost," she smirked, making JJ wither into a puddle. It suited her too well.

With her fast momentum, she bounced the ball and made it into his cup.

•••

To much of Y/n's dismay, Kiara provided JJ with her phone number after her victory the other night. He hadn't mentioned anything after the game, and she hoped he probably let the date idea slide. But before she stepped out of Topper's house, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and dipped down to graze his lips against her ear.

"Be ready for tomorrow, princess."

The whispered words sat within her dreams all night. She could still feel the warmth of his breath tickling her neck and how it sent goosebumps throughout her whole body. She longed for that sensation again. She wanted to feel his thumb caresses her wrist and the chill of his rings like it had before. She would never confess any of this if she wished to hear the lecture from Kiara about JJ being a fuck boy. She believed his title wholeheartedly, but a part of her really wanted to spend the day with JJ.

Even if he was blasting her phone at five in the morning.

Her dainty hand blindly searched her nightstand in the darkness before feeling her buzzing phone. Her eyes squinted as the bright light from her screen scoured her face to read JJ's caller ID.

"Hello?" she croaked into the speaker as she squeezed the bridge of her nose and let her eyes flutter shut, dousing in the darkness just for a few more seconds, already feeling the onset of a headache.

"Are you still asleep?" his shout brought her to groan and pull the phone away from her ear.

"Obviously not if I'm talking to you." she snapped gently, hearing JJ chuckle over the line. The sound made her smile despite her fight for sleep, heaving her eyes shut.

"I'm outside, so hurry it up."

"Why so early," she whined, "we could have done something in the afternoon."

"The earlier, the better babe." he cheered. She heard him greet someone in passing with a cheerful good morning, the person probably wondering why a pogue was outside the Lynch residents.

Y/n shook her head but used her voice, realizing he couldn't see her disapproval with the pet name. "Don't call me that." she snipped.

"You don't like it?" he teased. Though she couldn't see his face, she could hear the smirk pulling on his lips.

"No, I don't." she flatly replied.

"Yeah, mhm."

"I'm serious."

"I'm sure you are."

"I hate you."

"Just get up. You won't regret it. Promise." he chuckled. He hung up before she had time to protest, leaving her to stare at her dark ceiling, relishing in the last bit of rest she'll have upon the crazy day ahead of her.

Drinking coffee wasn't needed as an energy boost that morning. She was wide awake; her eyes squeezed shut while she clings to JJ's waist as she sat on the back of his dirtbike. He was speeding down the empty roads of Figure Eight that would soon mesh into the Cut. Her yellow sundress was flowing behind her, along with her hair. JJ smiled at the feeling of her hands squeezing him tighter anytime he would speed up or wobble the bike just to hear her squeal. But as they crossed over a bridge to enter the Cut, he slowed down, feeling her head rest on his back as she took in the lively colors of the morning sky, the sun setting on the horizon of the glowing waters to greet the day. A smile played on her lips, already feeling butterflies in her stomach, thinking about the day ahead.

The morning breeze nipped on Y/n sensitive skin as she stared ahead of her, confusion settling upon her features. With her hands running up her arm to find some warmth, she watched JJ ordering ice cream at a small, quaint ice cream parlor. JJ must have been familiar with one of the young workers there and tried to block out there chatting. She was no doubt one of his girls that he had taken home upon the many others that she had heard of. Her breast was practically jutting out of the buttoned-up blue polo she sported with the icecream logo etched upon her bosom. Y/n let her eyes drop to her own, and quickly pulled up the deep v-line of her dress, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious.

JJ came strutting back; his signature red cap place backward on his head. He held up two cones of strawberry ice cream, shaking them teasingly. Icecream was never an ideal breakfast choice, but when JJ told her strawberry ice cream was the same as having strawberries on your pancakes, she was forced to comply with the gorgeous toothy grin on his face. But she was definitely going for a coffee later.

"This is not gonna settle well with me," Y/n mumbled as she walked alongside JJ down a sidewalk, the beach waves crashing against the shore nearby. She licked the cold "breakfast" and scrunched her nose from the sudden burst of sweetness that was too overwhelming for her taste buds.

"Strawberries. Strawberry ice cream. Same difference," JJ shrugged nonchalantly, taking a bite from his ice cream, bringing Y/n's eyes to widen in horror. The blonde took notice of her gaze and raised a querying brow. "What?" he questioned around a bite of ice cream.

"Did you just bite your ice cream?" she asked, eyeing the bite mark that was slowly melting from the sun hitting the side of his face. His blue eyes were sparkling as he smirked, admiring his delicious icecream.

"Yeah, what about it?" he took another slow, painful bite, keeping his eyes on her's the whole time, enjoying how she cringed and shook her head. "I get more servings that way."

"You psycho." she laughed, looking ahead and nipped on the strawberry cream with her lips. The cool breeze that picked up around her was suddenly not a problem even if she was eating icecream. As they strolled down the sidewalk, their hands would occasionally brush each other and brought Y/n to let in a sharp breath. JJ's eyes dipped down to her hand and let his ring clad fingers lazily intertwine with hers. She was surprised by his public affection, even if the gesture was small. She allowed her hand to relax and held his, fending off the smile once she notices some surfer girls walking by, eyeing her with a scowl. The best part was, JJ didn't pay them a second glance as he nonchalantly began swaying their hands playfully, happily biting into his soft-serve strawberry delight.

The blazing North Carolina sun was now blazing down on them from above after the long walk to the beach. They exchanged pointless stories about their separate friend groups, JJ's being more enticing. She wished she could experience a day with the Pogues out on the HMS, but she knew her place. She wasn't even sure what "this" was. Would she end up in his bed tonight? Would he go off to ignoring her, earning himself brownie points that he was able to go on a date with a Kook? In her opinion, it wouldn't be much of a victory. She didn't see herself as the hottest Kook in her area. Some beat her rank and standards by a hundred, and all she did was watch. Too deep in her own draining thoughts, she didn't notice how JJ watched her as she stared at the water, kicking off her sandals to start her challenge of collecting shells without getting wet.

"You're gonna fall in," JJ stated confidently, his hands on his hips as he stood next to Y/n, looking out on the water.

She was currently pulling her hair back, a determined look in her eyes. She was growing more comfortable with JJ and was acting as if it was another day with Kiara. The boy made a small comment that it was impossible to grab the prettiest shells without getting wet, and once a challenge struck, there was no turning back for her. JJ didn't notice himself starring, involuntary smiling watching her mumble to herself, most likely timing the wave's push and pull.

Y/n reached one of her hands out toward JJ, and he handed her the velvet scrunchie she had on the other night. She tied her hair back, slipping it into a low messy bun that was already letting strands fall to her face. "Where's the faith, J?" she teased, backhanding his stomach, which was already hard from his sudden flexing.

"Lost somewhere with my positivity." he shrugged, eliciting a laugh from Y/n, "the waves are too quick anyway and that hundred dollar dress is going to be ruined by the end of the day."

"It's all about timing." she nodded, rubbing her hands together, hoping her calculations were inorder. " I mean, we only see half of the wave, and it all depends on the wind. A wave increases in size quadratically relative to the wind's speed and reaches its maximum capacity when it's traveling about as fast as the wind. It not that breezy out, so they shouldn't come hurdling in too quickly. Besides, all I'm seeing are Surging waves that don't crash or spill, and they just bulge up before crashing against the shore, giving me enough time to grab at least two shells. Technically speaking, I could only get wet up to my ankles, maybe my knees, if the contact is strong enough..."

JJ didn't even mind that she was absentmindedly rambling on. He swore he fell in love with more than her words at that moment.

He would never pay her a compliment saying how beautiful her mind was but instead watched her contently as she finished her speel. Her face began to redden, seeing how JJ was tilting his head, his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for her to finish. "Sorry..." She laughed, tucking loose strands behind her ear before looking ahead again.

"You're gonna fall in," he deadpanned one last time before watching her run toward the water. The tide was pulled back, letting her kneel down and collect a hand full of shell. The water glistened over pink and white shells she had found, smiling to herself that she could finally brag to JJ.

When she looks up to show the boy her pretty shells, JJ was already in front of her, heaving her body over his shoulder. A scream slipped from her lips that soon led to giggles as he began spinning around, water hitting her face. "JJ! Put me down!" she tried hardening her voice, but was only met with a light smack to her bottom. "Hey!" She yelped and began pounding on his back. There were undoubtedly other people on the beach who were staring at them, but JJ didn't have a care in the world.

"Put you down, you say?" JJ suddenly paused; the sarcasm lacing his animated tone brought her face to fall.

"Don't." she snapped, her playful tone disappearing with the fear that she would have to meet the icy water below.

JJ smirked, feeling her tense under his arms that he tightened around her waist. "Oh my. Well, there just so happens to be a vast body of water to plunge into right here!"

"I will kill you!" she hit his back again but was only met with a giggling response.

The outcome was inevitable. JJ had moved deeper into the water before letting himself and Y/n plunge under the ocean's salty waves, notwithstanding her constant protest. Y/n was the first to resurface, her scrunchie disappearing somewhere in the water, her hair slicked back while water droplets slipped from the tip of her flaring nose. Once JJ's head appeared, his laugh was cut off with the sudden splash of water hitting his face. "Told you, you'de get wet." he snickered, wiping his hand down his face to adjust his eyes from the water attack.

Y/n bobbed in front of him, her scowl turning into a smile that brightened her features. JJ felt every wall tumbling down at the mere sight of her. He just realized she wasn't wearing makeup, and it suited her so well. He wasn't used to spending time with girls besides Kie, but he never felt this pang against his chest with other girls. He liked talking about technicalities and theories, unlike the Tourons, who would only go on and on about an ex-boyfriend. Seeing someone as amazingly smart at Y/n Y/l/n letting loose in his presence was something he could get used to. This whole bet started as a tease, and getting at her was out of the question when it came to asking Kiara's approval. She shut down the idea constantly. But once she let him go through with it, he wanted the day to be perfect. Even if they weren't very familiar with each other, it was a start.

JJ was abruptly submerged underwater as Y/n surged forward and hopped up to push him down by his shoulder. She ends up underwater as well but was picked up by JJ, his arms circling her waist only to plunge her back inside, a loud snort leaving his lips. He pulled her back up, and she slapped his chest repeatedly, coughing up water.

As they calm down, JJ ended up patting her back, helping her calm down from the water that invaded her lungs. He apologized, but she couldn't take it seriously from his grin that hasn't abanded his lips since the start of the date.

"I'm okay now." she breathed quietly, turning her body to face JJ.

"So, how was the first date?" JJ asked her, swaying his arms in the water. Though his tone held playfulness, his eyes were hopeful, making her heart flutter.

She hummed, pondering the thought as she led her focus to the blue sky before meeting his blue eyes again. "Besides almost drowning, close to perfect."

JJ gasped dramatically, placing his hand on his now bare chest. She hadn't even noticed when he pulled it off to tackle her into the water. But she wasn't complaining how the sun danced on his tanned chest. She sunk lower into the water, letting it kiss her chin before raising herself back up. "Close? I did like everything right," he complained.

"You gave me icecream for breakfast." she retorted with a purse touching her wet, salty lips.

"Strawberry ice cream!" he reiterated slowly for her to catch onto his point that it was the same thing as having a fruit bowl in the morning.

"Plus two hundred calories!" she laughed at his pout as he rolled his eyes. "and the 4.2 grams of protein doesn't count."

"Well, we walked on the beach," he tried again but only watched with annoyance as Y/n tilted her head, already reading her expression of disagreement. "that screams romantic moment."

"You threw me into the water." she shot back quickly.

"There is no winning with you." JJ shook his head.

A comfortable silence loomed over them, his cerulean eyes washing over her features. The droplets that settled on her cheek were glowing from the golden sun's reflection. She grew smaller under his hungry gaze, noticing he was moving closer to her until he was towering over her silhouette slightly. She swallowed hard, her eyes flickering to his lips just for a moment as she bit down on her own. "You already know I never lose," she whispered.

"Yeah, I've noticed," he chuckled softly. His hands brushed the sides of her hips, letting his fingertips ghost over the fabric of her sundress that she wished would disappear. She wanted nothing more than to feel his bare hands on her.

The sensation was overwhelming once his hands were slipping under her dress, caressing her thigh to coax her body closer to him. Her chest was flush against his, her eyes fluttered shut, feeling his warm breath fanning against her head. "Well, if I don't calculate everything, I might miss something. I don't like unexpected things." she rambled quietly, trying to pry his eyes off her. One of her fingers fiddle with the shark tooth necklace dangling from his neck while the other was holding onto his bicep.

Keeping an arm secured around her waist, JJ used his finger to lift her chin to finally meet his eyes. She was melting in his grasp as she observed him lick his lips, his nose tapping against her own. "Bet you didn't calculate this," he whispered huskily against her lips.

The space between them was suddenly closed as he tilted her head to place a sweet lingering kiss on her lips. He took his time, not wanting to scare her off. She felt her heart speeding up and almost whined when he pulled back. His smirk quickly reached his lips, watching her mouth slightly part. She was speechless, and she craved more of him.

She slipped both her hands to his face to cradle his cheeks as she pulled him down to meet her lips again, deepening the kiss. It was bold of her, but JJ didn't mind. He smiled into her lips and snaked both arms around her waist to press her against him. They were synchronized, and she would be damned if she even thought this moment would end soon. She tugged on his wet hair ever so slightly, causing him to let out a low moan into her mouth. Feeling the vibration in his chest made her take in a deep breath, and he took the chance to slip his tongue against hers. Everything she was doing was uncharted territory, but experiencing with JJ Maybank was a blessing, and she soon fell in sync with his warm lips.

Her lips tasted just like JJ imagined. Strawberry ice cream.

@drewsephsmiles @obxlife @illbesafeforyou @rudyypankow @jenniesquared

#outer banks #jj maybank x y/n #jj mayback x reader #kiara carrera #john b routledge #pope heyward #jj maybank

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suknas · 4 years ago

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First Line Tag Game II

Tagged by @ruluxe (who dared to say that I have fanfics that I'm "holdin out on us" -- it is true tho lol)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening lines then tag 10 of your favorite authors.

Tagging: Everyone who wants to do this! (I'm not sure which authors are still active here ;-;)

Now we all know how inconsistent I am. But I do like starting with what's going on with the characters/where they are... Don't I? Well I decided to start with the most recent published ones, descending to the first ones published (skipping some), and finally some of my WIP/"One day I will finish" fanfics.

Quick fun fact: I didn't remember writing most of those fanfics lol

So here we go!!!! (it's gonna be a bumpy ride)

1. Into the Storm [GrimmIchi]: The lightning and thundering's brightness and strong noises were slicing the dark-blue sky of a lonely and sleepless night. A storm was coming. The heavy rain and gusts of wind were not the only thing rapidly creeping through the night. Kurosaki Ichigo could sense something else approaching along with the dark clouds and the pouring rain that now was hitting his window. [2021 (but the draft was from 2017 maybe), Bleach]

2. Ascension [AoKaga]: Light appeared in the darkness and soon darkness became insignificant before the beauty and immensity of the bright light surrounding a tall and masculine figure. He walked calmly through the uncertain route that many others once also stepped into it. He had a goal. The time to seek the one whom he had once shared many memories with, good and bad. The one person whom he had loved immensely but had never gotten to experience that feeling truly and at its fullest. The time had finally come. [2021 (again the draft was probably from 2016), Kuroko no Basket]

3. The One Where Prompto Does Not Want To Be In The Middle [Gladios x Prompto x Noctis x Ignis]: Sleeping in the camping tent was always a challenge in Prompto’s opinion. It is not as if he does not like camping, it was pretty nice being able to sit under the stars and gaze them, it was relaxing. Sometimes Noctis would sit behind him, embracing him in a warm hug. They would spend a long time chatting and exchanging affectionate touches until both of them felt like sleeping. Other times Gladio would join him, and the shield would let the blond lay his head on his lap. More often than not Prompto ended up sleeping while feeling his hair being played by dexterous and caring fingers. And whenever Ignis had time to spare, he would also join him after cleaning the mess they did during dinner. [2020 (again the draft was maybe from 2017), Final Fantasy XV]

4. The Owl Who Got Caught [KuroTsuki + Bokuto]: The third day of the training camp was finally over. Soon, everybody was running to the school cafeteria to grab something to eat. In the meantime, while nobody was looking, Kuroo took the opportunity to take Tsukishima’s hand, guiding him to the room that the Nekoma team was sharing; closing the door right after they entered. Nekoma and Karasuno’s middle blockers became closer ever since their first practice game, now they were spending more time together, and their relationship had an unexpected development. [2020 (draft probably from 2017), Haikyuu]

5. A Boyfriend Text [KuroTsuki]: Laying in his bed with a smile on the lips Kuroo was texting his sweet strawberry shortcake boyfriend. Eyes rapt, staring at the bright screen in the dark room; he was feeling anxious if his stupid smile and trembling fingers were any indicator.

TETSUROU: Wanna come over this weekend?

It had been some weeks since they had the opportunity to meet; school and volleyball practice were mostly the reason for their inevitable long separation. Week after week something "magically" came up in their agendas, but Kuroo was hopeful, however, that maybe this time their schedules would finally allow them to meet. [2020, Haikyuu]

6. Domestic Bliss [KiriBaku]: Sitting comfortably on the couch, Kirishima and Bakugou were finally spending some time together after a rough week. It was one of those rare days where both could enjoy a peaceful and uneventful afternoon. To say that both men were lazily on the couch doing absolutely nothing productive was not very accurate. Bakugou was doing something with his spear time, he was reading a book. By his focused attention on the pages, anyone could tell that he was enjoying his reading and only someone stupid would dare to bother him. [2017, Boku no Hero Academia]

7. Getting Together [KiriBaku]: “Let’s grab something to eat!” The blonde shouted after stretching his arms above his head. Bakugou’s red eyes fixed on the figure of Kirishima, who was sitting comfortably in bed with his back against the headboard.The redhead’s own red eyes snapped at the figure on the chair, eyeing him from head to toe; he spaced out in no second. Kirishima wanted to touch those damn nice muscled arms, which were slowly lowered down while his hands were placed on his toned thighs. Kirishima couldn’t help himself and started to imagine Bakugou’s whole body underneath him wrapping his body with those strong legs and arms. [2017, Boku no Hero Academia]

8. AoKaga short stories collection [AoKaga]: The atmosphere of the place was hot and heavy. However, because of that, the two teens lying down on the bed were more connected than ever. Their bare bodies were united white skin with dark skin. Their breaths were out of rhythm and their hands slid skillfully on each other’s bodies. The movements were synchronized and intense. The pleasurable moans and whispers echoed in the dark room, making the place even more delightful for both of them. [2017 - Short Story #4, Kuroko no Basket]

9. It's Picture Time! [Pomptis]: In the Regalia, Prompto and Ignis were heading to the nearest outpost from their camping spot to get some supplies for the night. The sun on the horizon was almost hiding behind the tree path by Prompto’s right side, the scenery formed by dim light and shadowy dark spots caught Prompto’s eyes.“Wow! Look at the light, it’s amazing!” the blond shouted, “Can’t we stop just for a bit?” Prompto was thrilled by the idea of adding more photos to his portfolio. [2017, Final Fantasy XV]

10. That Side of You [MiSawa]: Miyuki was laying in the bed on his back, eyes glassy, hands shaking and skin hot. The body above his was driving him to a place where it was absolute bliss and pleasure. Hips moved together, swinging with movements that were making Miyuki moans the pitcher’s name in a short and breathless tone.“Sa-wamura– Aah! Do that again,” his voice low and hoarse made the order sound weak, and his usual snarky tone was lost a long time ago in some part of his foggy mind. [2016, Diamond no Ace]

11. Runaround [Sterek]: Everything was set neatly on the kitchen table. Stiles was going to be there soon, so Derek had already prepared every single book and even snacks that they may need for their studying.It wasn't new that both of them were hanging out for studying matters. Actually, Derek had come up with the idea first, mainly because he was having some issues involving fast heartbeats and some inconvenient hard-ons whenever Stiles was around. He had a ridiculous crush on his friend. However, the smart geek boy didn't have to know about that. [2016, Teen Wolf]

12. Eavesdropping [MiSawa]: Sawamura’s suspicions must be right for his sake. Otherwise, Miyuki would make sure his so careless kouhai would pay a high price for being so noisy about Kuramochi and Ryou-senpai making out when no one was seeing. The closed and almost claustrophobic locker didn’t have enough space to move around, but he and Sawamura managed to fit in somehow. So what? They were eavesdropping, and he still couldn’t say that he was regretting this. [2016, Diamond no Ace]

13. Sterek Short Stories Collection [Sterek]: Stiles had broken up with his last boyfriend a couple of months ago. Or it was what he usually says to Scott when his best friend asks him why he isn’t over his past relationship. Because according to Scott, it’s been a year and a half since Stiles had parted ways with, at the time, his other half. And right now it was one of those times.“You should move on. I haven't seen you with no one since then. What about Danny? Last night I saw him flirting with you, and when I looked again you were nowhere to be found, but Danny was still there drinking alone. And let not forget your grumpy humor because your sex life sucks. It's getting old bro.” [2015 - Short Story #3, Teen Wolf]

14. Urge [AoKaga]: The small public bathroom stall in that bar hadn't been made for sure to accommodate two giants, dumbasses, and impulsive basketball players. Nevertheless, this fact wasn’t that important for the Too player neither to the Seirin player. Kagami was already pressing his body against Aomine’s, who was stuck between the wall and Kagami while his mouth was being devoured by the other’s tongue. Both were fighting into that kiss as if there was no tomorrow. Their hands were traveling quickly by each other’s body, and quickly they were undoing their pants’ zippers and buttons. Their shirts were all messy, as well as their hair. Their breaths were heavy, and the kisses now were directed to their necks, sucking and biting the skin exposed. Soft moans could be heard, but not loud enough to echo in the bathroom. [2013, Kuroko no Basket]

15. After Dancing Lessons [AoKaga]: The music was set up, and his hips started to move, his steps were guiding him to where a dark skinned guy was sat on a chair. The dancer's eyes were fixed in front of him. The watcher's eyes sparkled with excitement when the other sat on his lap, one leg on each side of his body, and kissed his cheeks along to his lips and chin, returning the same way till his ear, biting there slightly. The dancer felt the other hands trying to take his clothes off and immediately stood up, preventing to have those hands on his body so easily. [2013, Kuroko no Basket]

16. Sleep Well [ZoSan]: The night was agitated on board of the Sunny and lots of dirty dishes were pilled up on a corner of the sink. Sanji didn't have this time someone to help him to clean everything up. 'Those lazy bastards!' He frowned, 'all right! Let’s put all these things in their right place!' And with that thought, Sanji started the tiring process of doing all the dishes. On the bright side, if he was the one doing it everything would be spot on in no time. [2013, One Piece]

17. Possessive Lover [KidLaw / LawLu]: The bell indicating the change of periods rang and the students gradually began to leave one room to proceed to another. In the middle of changing classrooms, some students went to a quick trip to the bathroom, which was where that a spiky redhead boy was heading to. He had a dangerous gaze gleaming in his golden eyes; he had quite a threatening presence, and his looks did not lie about his fiery and explosive personality. Any sane person would prefer to avoid crossing paths with him or to even look the boy in the eyes. [2012, One Piece]

18. English Lesson [WIP, AoKaga]: The room was a mess. There were a lot of magazines, books, sheets, some snacks, three soda bottles, two hoodies and two pairs of sneakers all thrown on the floor. Sitting side by side, in front of the center table with notebooks and pens in hands were Kagami and Aomine. They had that idea of starting to study at each other’s places every Thursday night after their club activities. It was not like they liked to take a book, read it and think about the subject, the matter here was way bigger than just casual study. Their grades were in the red mark, which meant that they needed to rise them at least not to get scolded and taken off the basketball team. This time around Kagami was helping Aomine with his English study. The redhead was doing his best to try to explain, but he wasn’t that good at teaching those so detailed grammatical things… [unknown year - present, Kuroko no Basket]

19. High heels [WIP, KuroTsuki]: Tsukishima walked all proud on a black suit, white button-up shirt, grey tie and black stilettos in the room. Kuroo was watching his slow movements with a fierce look from the bed, where he was sat with his hands tied to the headboard by a soft cloth. Tsukishima stopped at the bed foot, looking straight at Kuroo. Ever so slowly, Tsukishima’s hands loosened the tie around his neck, the button-up shirt was having his buttons calmly undone, soon the shirt was wide open reviling Tsukishima's snow-white skin for Kuroo’s delight. [unknown year - present, Haikyuu]

20. Christmas thing / The untitled fanfic [WIP, AoKaga]: It was Christmas the snow was falling outside, many sparkle lights, so many decorations everywhere, people receiving and giving presents, eating together and singing songs. A day to celebrate and stay with family and friends. A day full of joy and happiness.At Kagami's house every single tradition was made. Kagami invited the Seirin basketball team to celebrate, but it ended up with some unexpected guests, the self-invited guests were some of Touou basketball team. And of course, Aomine Daiki was there. The redhead didn't even want to know how Aomine had found out about his little party. He'd bet that Kuroko had told something to Momoi and she kindly invited Aomine and the rest of the troupe. [unknown year - present, Kuroko no Basket]

#ruluxe #tag game #Kuroos got tagged #that was fun and I'm also embarrassed that I wrote some of these lol #aokaga #kurotsuki #grimmichi #sterek #misawa #kiribaku #zosan #lawlu #kidlaw #kuroosden #Kuroos writing again

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yandere-daydreams · 5 years ago

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I'm not sure if this has been ask before, but I'd like to request Izuku and Shinsou sharing a darling.

They’re two very sweet boys, but I never thought I’d have a chance to put them in the same place. Their Darling would be so lucky!

TW: Mind-Control, Slight Violence, Non-Consensual Pet-Play (?)

“Sweetheart, stop moving.”

Struggling had always been instinctive, but these days, you were particularly passionate, kicking and thrashing and biting whenever Izuku put his hands on you, or talked to you, or breathed near you. Even as he tried to straddle your waist, one fist firmly planted around your neck while the other fiddled with the strip of leather laid over your neck, you lashed out whenever you saw the opportunity, snapping at his fingers or hitting his chest, just trying to make contact with something solid.

He’d have some new bruises tomorrow, but if Izuku cared, he didn’t show it. The most you got was a soft grunt, even as your nails dug into his hands, tearing into healed scars as you tried desperately to keep him from doing whatever fucked up shit he had in mind for today. And if the cutesy, over-complicated outfit you’d already been forced into was any indication, you already knew you things wouldn’t improve once Shinsou got home.

“You’re fucking crazy!” You yelled, not caring about the fingers trying to smother you, or the way he pulled the make-shift buckle a little tighter with every word. You kicked up, attempting to plant your knee into something sensitive, but Izuku only glared, gritting his teeth at your petty defiance. “Let me go! I’m not your fucking pet!”

He growled, the collar now a little more restrained, a little more choking. The only thing that kept you hopeful was how difficult clipping the accessory seemed to be, a process you took pride in making much, much harder than it had to be. “(Y/n), I’m trying to be patient.” His voice was low, not threateningly so, but he was clearly frustrated. Predictably, his disposition didn’t exactly improve as you knuckles made contact with his cheekbone. “But, you’re not making it easy for me.”

The noise must’ve attracted your… less passionate partner, because the next time you gained to confidence to look up, Shinsou was draped over Izuku’s shoulders, rubbing idle circles in the boy’s back while Izuku took a few ragged breaths. Izuku tried to calm down as Shinsou stared at you with those glassy, tired, blank eyes, scanning you over, his gaze soon falling on the collar around your neck, on clothes (or lack thereof, really) that Izuku had picked-out. He’d just gotten home, apparently, his Capture Weapon still around his neck and the dark circles under his eyes nearly darker than his eyes. You stopped moving as he grinned, toothy and wide and only growing as he leaned down, kissing his partner’s cheek before straightening his back. You barely had time to squirm before two hands were on your wrists, forcing you down without a second thought.

Like this kind of thing was normal for him.

He didn’t have to ask, Izuku letting out a nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair, now that he wasn’t preoccupied with fighting his lovely, lovely captive. “It was supposed to be a surprise,” He explained, almost sheepishly. It shocked you, how loving they were, even while ‘sharing’ a living, breathing human. But, you couldn’t complain. Not while Shinsou was hovering over you, looking more euphoric with every passing second. “You’ve been so stressed from work, lately, with your new homeroom and all… I didn’t know you’d be home so early, I’m sorry-”

“This is more than enough, Midoriya.” You couldn’t stop yourself from scowling, the flat purr in his tone impossible to ignore. Without bothering to acknowledge your pained whimpers, he made quick work of your hands, his favored weapon soon binding your arms to the headboard, leaving Shinsou free to run his hands over the frills and layers of Izuku’s chosen outfit, fingertips lingering on the exposed strip of skin beneath your diaphragm. He took his time, playfully riding up the thin, thin fabric covering your thighs, his smile morphing into something more playful. More vile.

“Our kitten doesn’t seem to think so.” Always the needy one, Izuku let out an exhausted sigh, moving to your side and reaching down to comb through your hair. You didn’t struggle, this time, only averting your eyes and squirming. You tried not to fight him, not while you were so… outnumbered. Shinsou only laughed, his free hand tracing over the collar you’d almost forgotten. The fabric was far too rough for you to ever really ignore it. “We’ve been at this for an hour, now… I don’t think they like your present very much.”

Shinsou only laughed, meeting your eyes with a lull of his head. “Is that so, love?”

“I… I didn’t want to…” You trailed off, the numb, freezing wave of Shinsou’s quirk washing over you. It was a loose control, just enough to keep you motionless and limp, letting you remain lucid, even if you were beginning to wish his quirk was a little more merciful. It was why you feared him more than Izuku, why you hated him more. Izuku could break your bones, or snap your neck, or kill you, but Shinsou…

Shinsou made you wish you were dead.

Still, your breath hitched as he untied your arms, letting them fall to your sides as Izuku only readjusted his hold on you, encircling your shaking frame and pulling you into his side. “Now, apologize for being such a brat, and we can forget this ever happened,” He commanded, kissing your forehead as the words fell from your mouth, a monotone drawl as emotionless and as dead as one could expect from someone in your situation. But, they both seemed satisfied. Part of you was thankful, even if a bigger, louder part of you was more disgusted than anything else.

As his control faded, Izuku hummed, calmly using his one hand to lock his oh-so-precious collar into place, the cold, metal dog-tags scraping against your skin as it fell into place. Distantly, you knew he was saying something, Shinsou responding with smiles and laughs all around, but you didn’t think you could bring yourself to care.

Even if you tried to deny it, the truth was becoming undeniable. You weren’t their partner, their compansion, or even a hostage they respected. At best, you were the product of misplaced affection, and at worst…

And if you being honest, you were a pet. A pet to two Heroes, neither of which seemed to care when you began to cry.

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is0gild · 4 years ago

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Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 16

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 6,227

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"No joke, you can for real get us the stuff?"

Rayne grinned over at Anna as the three of us walked side by side. "For real. I got a girl on the inside who can hook us up."

Her gaze narrowed dubiously, "Don't play me. I've been friggin' jonesing for a fix since March."

"You know I'm good for it, sweetpea," she slung an arm around her shoulders. "Trust me. My word is my bond, ya dig?"

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I puffed out a heavy sigh and grumbled, "You two are ridiculous."

A scoff from Rayne, "You'll be singing a different tune once that sweet, sweet ambrosia is warming your belly."

Rolling my eyes, I took another quick glance around the food court as we crossed it.

Still no Lea.

Boy couldn't get here fast enough.

Also, boy better hurry, seeing as how there was less than an hour left before my shift started.

My thumb absently rubbed the spot where his phone number still branded my palm as we finished crossing the sea of plastic tables and chairs, coming to a stop in front of the Lucky Cat. Working behind the register today was someone I hadn't seen before. A boy with a bandaid on one cheek and short, choppy brown hair sticking out from beneath the baseball cap he was wearing backwards.

Wait…

I squinted.

…or maybe he was actually a she. Hard to say. They were really quite androgynous, whoever they were.

Rayne smiled at us and held up a finger, indicating for us to just watch and wait. Then she stepped forward, approaching the counter. "Sup, Miharu! We're here to see…" she paused, looking around to make sure there were no eyes on her that shouldn't be, then she hunched forward and lowered her voice to a whisper, "...Spellweaver."

The coffee purveyor of indeterminate gender said nothing for several seconds, just fixed her with a dull stare. "...she's in the back, just a sec," they at last huffed before turning and disappearing through the door behind them.

"Spellweaver…?" Anna arched an eyebrow at Rayne.

She nodded solemnly, "The street name she goes by for all of her shady backdoor dealings."

"Oh good grief," I massaged one temple with my fingertips.

Deciding to steer this conversation towards something a little less silly while we waited for… ugh, Spellweaver to show up, I asked Anna, "So you really have no clue what Mother and Father are planning for this whole weekend family outing thing they're inviting us to?"

"Zip," she popped the P as she shrugged. But then she was crinkling her nose with a frown, "Weaseltown's gonna be there though."

I hugged myself, shuddering. "Thanks, that does not reassure me."

"Relax! Dad's probably just gonna be all, " she gave a lofty sniff, raised her pinkie and deepened her tone in what I had to admit was a pretty good impression of our father, "let's just put this nasty bit of business behind us, bygones and whatnot, chip chip cheerio."

"You are aware he's not British, right?" my eyelids drooped at her. I couldn't resist a tiny grin though and exhaled slowly, "...you really think he'll be that forgiving?"

"Of course! Well... that or he'll be all," up that pinkie went again as she scowled, "how dare you throw your life away like this, young lady, disgracing the family name thusly! I will not stand for it, pish posh!"

"...not helping."

Rayne shushed us as the back door behind the counter swung open again and that Miharu person returned. "Your weirdo friends are here to feed their disgusting habit," they deadpanned, speaking to their coworker that'd also come striding out behind them, presumably none other than the infamous Spellweaver.

Aka Aqua.

I should have guessed.

Gaze darting about again to ensure the coast was still clear, Rayne rapped her knuckles against the countertop, tapping out the beginning of "shave and a haircut." Aqua gave a good natured snort before responding with two knocks herself, delivering the punchline to the tune.

Seriously? What was that supposed to be, some sort of code? This was just getting more absurd by the second.

"What're you ladies in the market for today?" Aqua asked, propping an elbow onto the counter.

"We're here for… the Spice," Rayne put heavy emphasis on the word, giving her a wink that was the very antithesis of subtle. "You still got your super special secret stash?"

"Maybe," she inspected her fingernails, casually bouncing one shoulder. "You know I only stock the primo kind too. But stuff's not easy to come by this time of year. If I did have it, supplies would be getting pretty low. It'll cost ya. You got the munny?"

Anna suddenly pushed forward, grabbing Aqua by the front of her apron and yanking her down to her eye level, "Yeah yeah, you got the goods or what, bitch?!"

"Anna!" I snapped, horrified.

"What?! I was just playing along with the bit!" she defended, immediately releasing her grip.

Aqua gingerly smoothed the wrinkles out of her apron and fixed her crooked visor, "Normally just the munny and a please would suffice."

"Was your sister seriously just about to straight up shank Aqua over some coffee?" a low, amused voice said right next to my ear, making me jump. I spun around, discovering Lea snerking behind me as he straightened back up. Xion and Roxas were with him too, looking dressed to be on the clock shortly.

There was a tiny harrumph from Anna, "Everyone knows you don't get between a white girl and her pumpkin spice latte!"

That's right.

That's what this whole foolishness had been over.

Pumpkin frigging spice.

"Three please," Rayne asked sheepishly, handing Aqua the munny and shoving a hefty tip into the jar for good measure. Then she sighed at Anna, "We can't take you anywhere."

"It was a friggin' bit!"

"Hey, so," Roxas piped up, drawing my attention to him as he smirked. Xion bounced on the balls of her feet beside him, looking positively ready to burst with giddiness as Roxas leaned forward, "...are you like our new mommy?"

I blinked, "Wha-?" Then yelped as Xion, apparently no longer able to contain her excitement, threw herself at me with a squeal and squeezed me in a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so happy for you two!" Her death grip tightened and I wheezed, looking to Lea for help. He just grinned wider at me and shrugged. The useless punk. Thankfully, Xion pulled back, seizing me by the shoulders instead. "Tell me everything! How did it happen? When did it happen? Was it love at first sight? Gah, I still can't believe you two kept it a secret for so long and even guilt tripped me over that harmless lil car prank, you jerk!" she punched Lea in the arm, forcing him to hiss out a pained "ow."

Served him right.

The abrupt sound of someone noisily clearing their throat cut through the air. We turned to find a lanky guy with wavy, ash blonde hair down to his shoulders standing nearby, his lavender eyes giving us a pointed look. "Pardon me, if you would…?"

Apparently we were blocking his path to the Lucky Cat register where Miharu was currently stationed at.

"Oh!" realization struck Xion and she hurried out of the way, dragging me with her.

"Thank you," he bowed his head to us before sauntering up to the cash register with a sly grin, "Well well, don't you look absolutely ravishing today, my fiesty little barista of love."

"Bite me, Joshua," Miharu ground out flatly.

"Only if you insist," he purred.

I was distracted from that exchange by a steaming to-go cup suddenly popping up barely an inch in front of my nose, making me stagger back a step. "Here ya go, sweetie!" Rayne chirped from behind the latte she was offering me.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I took it, giving her a tiny and somewhat dazed smile as I struggled to keep up with the whirlwind of activity going on around me. Too many different things were going on at once and it was all just a lot, okay?

"Ah!" Anna sighed loudly and happily after taking a long, deep swig from her pumpkin spiced beverage. "Pure heaven!"

"Amen, sister!" Rayne cried, chugging some of her own. Then she gasped, snagging Anna's arm and gesturing towards the Ice Palace. "Look! Kristoff's on shift! Think you can work your feminine wiles and score us some free sundaes?"

"Ray-Ray, please. You worked your magic, now watch me work mine. Hold my drink." She handed her cup to my roomie, cracked her knuckles and skipped off, singsonging, "Yoohoo, Kristoff!"

That poor boy was about to get played like a fiddle.

Rayne spared a look my way, grinned and elbowed my arm before casting a significant glance towards Lea. "Have fun," she half whispered, half giggled to me before running off after Anna.

"We should probably get going too, Xion. Gotta punch in," Roxas said as he eyed the massive overhead clock on the other end of the food court.

"Aw man," she whined, looking from him to me. "Fine. But you and me? We're gonna talk more later, got it?" she brightened, giving my arm a squeeze before joining Roxas who waved goodbye to us as the two of them walked off towards Pizza Planet.

Lea shook his head with a soft chuckle as he watched them go, saying to me, "Ignore them. The kiddos are just super happy for us lovebirds."

"Oh." I looked down at my to-go cup, fingers fidgeting with the lid. "So you got a chance to talk to them about it."

"Didn't really have to. I think that bit of theatrics between Anna and your crazy uncle the other day spoke for itself. Whole food court's been abuzz." He flashed me a big smile, shrugging, "Face it, El. We're the new hot topic."

"R-really?" I stammered, doing my best to stop the blush I felt creeping up my neck dead in its tracks. I'd nearly forgotten about that whole embarrassing scene. I think I'd been subconsciously trying to block it out, pretend it'd all been a bad dream.

"Don't worry. It'll become old news pretty quick and chatter'll die down."

"I hope so," I frowned, taking a careful sip of my warm latte. I hated being the center of attention and having people talk about me.

"So…" his eyes crinkled as he took a step closer to me now, plucking the cup from my grasp and depositing it onto a nearby table so he could take both my hands in his. Tracing his thumbs in light circles along my knuckles, he murmured, "Hi."

That blush I'd been keeping at bay? Just called in reinforcements and broke through the bloody barricades. "...hi."

His eyes briefly flicked to our right, discreetly calling attention to the fact that Aqua was grinning at us as she prepared a mocha order. Ah, message received. We had an audience. And an audience demanded a show, one which Lea seemed only too glad to put on as he now brought my hands to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of each one. "Didja miss me?"

My stomach flip-flopped. No, scratch that, it was doing goddamn somersaults like a gold medal gymnast on a set of uneven bars at the Olympics. Panicking a little, I hastily looked away and blurted out, "Miss you? Please, I just saw you yesterday. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet, I haven't had time to miss you."

What? I didn't know how to do the whole lovey-dovey thing, real, pretend or otherwise! Honestly, I was beginning to think it just wasn't genetically coded into my DNA.

He tsked. "That's not what you were supposed to say."

I gave him some side-eye. "What was I supposed to say?"

"Hm, I dunno… something like," he transferred his grip to my wrists, pulling my hands up to cup his cheeks, "how much you longed to see this gorgeous face again and how you cried yourself to sleep just counting the seconds until you could look upon its beauty once more."

"...I am not saying that."

"Huh," he smirked down at me. "Funny how ya didn't deny it though. Don't worry, we can work our way up to it."

I snorted. "Don't count on it."

A tiny laugh came from the Lucky Cat. With him still holding my hands to his face, we both looked over to see Aqua hiding a smile behind her fingers. She shook her head, "Sorry, pretend I'm not here. You two are just very cute."

I jerked my wrists free of his grasp and opened my mouth to say we most certainly were not. However, Lea was faster with a chipper, "We know!" With that, he picked up my drink once more, slipping his free hand into mine and cooed, "Let's go, shnookums," before walking off with me in tow.

Stumbling a few steps before matching his stride, I glanced back to make sure we were out of earshot. Then I looked at him. "No."

He cocked an eyebrow. "No what?"

My nose scrunched up. "Shnookums."

"Yes, sugarplum?"

I blanched. "No, that's not- I wasn't calling you-" I sighed, recomposing myself. "I was saying no to that pet name. Sugarplum's out too."

Lea pouted, "Aw, but they're classics. You sure you want to keep vetoing all of these? Pretty soon I'll have to start thinking outside the box."

"I'll take my chances."

"Suit yourself, don't say I didn't warn ya though." He then nodded to my cup, lifting it up slightly, "May I?"

"Uh…" I blinked. "...sure, go for it."

He took a sip then abruptly stopped us in the middle of the food court tables. "Shit, that's actually pumpkin spice. I thought your sister was only joking. October is still months away, how'd you guys manage to get your hands on this?"

My mouth pursed to one side. I can't believe I was about to say this. "...I know a gal who knows a gal."

A snerk huffed out through his nostrils. "Aren't you legally required to be wearing a trench coat and in a dark alley to say something like that?"

One corner of my lips twitched up despite myself as I took the latte back from him, "Was fresh out of trench coats."

"Well then, guess we'll just have to settle for this instead," he gripped the bill of my Ice Palace cap, twisting it sideways.

"Hey!" I swatted his hand away and spun my hat forward again. "I've got connections, I'm not a rapper. There's a difference."

"I know. I just really wanted to do that." His hand snaked up again, tweaking my cap to the left now. "Boyfriend privileges. Sorry, I don't make the rules."

Sighing, I straightened it again. "I've given you too much power. You're having way too much fun with this."

"No such thing." He went for the hat yet again but I caught his hand this time, narrowing my eyes at him. He grinned, shifting the hold so our fingers interlocked together instead, causing my heart to give a little flitter.

Then he used his other hand to turn the cap to sit sideways once more.

I drooped my eyelids at him. "I'm going to throw this drink in your face."

"And waste perfectly good pumpkin spice? For shame!" he chided playfully, thankfully having the common decency now to correct my hat back to the way it was supposed to be.

Ugh, this guy. Of all the people Anna could have shoved me into the arms of in front of the Duke on that fateful day, why'd it have to be him? I'm sure she'd only picked the nearest testosterone toting individual who just so happened to be strolling by in that exact moment but jeez, why couldn't it have been, oh I don't even know… Kristoff perhaps? Kristoff would have taken this more seriously. Kristoff I didn't have a maybe sorta crush on. Kristoff wouldn't have had my face toasting every ten stupid seconds. Seriously, I swear Lea had made me blush more in the past several weeks that I'd known him than I'd ever done in the rest of my entire life combined. I'm not sure who that said more about - Lea or my ex.

Shaking my head at him, I prompted, "So you said something yesterday about coming here to do some couple-watching?"

"Oh, right. Almost forgot." Lea glanced about at the shoppers enjoying their meals all around us. "Lessee here, who do we got…?"

"Why not Riku and Rayne? I mean, I live with them and they're in on the secret, I'm sure they'd be happy to coach us or whatever." I began to lift my drink towards my mouth but stopped it a few inches short, staring down at it with a tiny frown.

"Nah, they're not just a couple, they're married. Married is a whole different animal from dating. Trust me, what we're looking for is a cutesy-wootsy boyfriend-girlfriend dynamic duo." He took a break from scanning the area to focus on me once more, noticing the look I was now giving my cup. He quirked an eyebrow, "Problem?"

My eyes flicked to his lips, then returned to my latte. Then back and forth once, twice more.

...oh grow up! It's not like the boy had cooties!

"Not at all," I muttered, hiding my small scowl behind the cup as I finally took a sip, telling myself that the slight warmth I felt in my cheeks was only due to the heat of the beverage, nothing more. "What about them?" I asked hastily, gesturing back towards the Lucky Cat where... Joshua, was it? Was still talking to Miharu. "They're a couple." He was leaning across the countertop with a devilish little smirk, bringing their faces really close. Miharu, on the other hand, looked about ready to grab the nearest banana walnut muffin from their display case and shove it up his nose. I furrowed my brow, "...aren't they?"

He followed my gaze. "Who, them? Those two are… complicated. What they got going on seems to work for them, but it's not exactly the type of Hallmark romance we want to be emulating in front of your folks. No, we want too adorable and precious for this world. We want pure, unadulterated wholesome on a stick. We want cavity-inducing sweetness. We want…" once more, his eyes were darting from one table of mall-goers to the next until at last his face lit up and he pointed, "...them! Perfect!" And off he went again, dragging me with him.

We wove our way past several tables before coming to a halt at one in particular, seated at which was-

"Kairi? Sora?" I blinked at them and they both looked up at the sound of their names.

"Oh, hey guys!" Sora hit us with the full force of that blinding smile of his.

"Hiya!" Lea chirped, pulling out a chair for me. "Mind if we join you two?"

"Please," Kairi nodded enthusiastically, twisting her chopsticks into her chow mein that looked to be from Mushu's Kingdom. "Be our guest!"

I'm sorry, but couple-watching and couple-interacting were two completely different things. This is not what I'd signed up for. Still, I took the seat with only the barest hint of hesitation, feeling Lea push it in behind me before he grabbed the one next to me, spinning it one-eighty on one leg so he could plop down into it backwards.

Eyes dancing, Kairi spoke up again, "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of being joined by the Dusk Town Center's newest It Couple?"

"...It Couple?" I echoed, arching an eyebrow as I put my drink down in front of me, fingers fidgeting with the coffee sleeve.

"Told ya, El!" Lea chuckled, folding his arms atop the table, his elbow coming to rest against mine. "Everyone's talking about us. Can you blame them though? We did have a rather dramatic debut."

"Oh gosh," I smothered my face in my hands.

"Nothing to be embarrassed over, you're fine!" Kairi giggled, then glanced smugly over at Sora. "Plus, I got to tell this loser here that I'd told him so!"

He rolled his eyes, grin never wavering. "Lucky guess. You had no way of knowing they were already dating."

"Woman's intuition," she razzed her tongue at him, tapping her chopsticks to her temple. "It's never wrong."

Welp. It was wrong this time. Lucky for her, Lea and I had a cover to maintain. Good thing too, I don't know if I'd have had the heart to tell her otherwise and burst her bubble.

"Besides," she tacked on, slurping up a noodle, "it's always been plain as day for anyone to see on Lea's face. He has that whole lost puppy look going on whenever she's around."

"I don't have a lost puppy look," Lea scratched the back of his head with a sheepish laugh before glancing my way and insisting, "I don't."

Sora sniggered, "Yeah, Kai, I think that's just the way his dopey face always loo- ow!" That last part was in response to Lea reaching across the table to flick him in the forehead.

Ignoring the boys, Kairi sighed dreamily, "It's all just so sweet! Like some sort of modern day, food court, Shakespearian romance! One from House Pizza, the other from House Ice Cream, two star-crossed lovers defying all odds to be together!"

...okay, why were we here again?

"It's not like we're from two warring families locked in a blood feud." Lea snorted and muttered, "House Ice Cream and House Pizza… what even?"

"Shush, I was being poetic!" Kairi harrumphed before lightly slapping Sora's hand away as he tried to steal some of her chow mein.

Rubbing his sore knuckles, he whined, "Aw c'mon, Kai, all this food talk is making me hungry!"

"You've already eaten twice your weight in orange chicken, you big goob!" she shot back. But when he gave her the saddest pout in the history of all mankind - nay, the history of all existence - her shoulders slumped and she relented, stabbing her chopsticks into the noodles and twirling them, "Fine, open up, doofus."

He immediately perked up and parted his lips wide. Having wrapped a sizable portion around her sticks now, she gently eased it into his awaiting mouth. For all the care she took though, some sauce still managed to get on the corner of his lips as he started to chew. Kairi gave a soft tch and told him, "Hold still." Then she took his chin between her fingers, bent forward and kissed the smudged side of his mouth, leaving it clean by the time she'd pulled back, licking her lips with a tiny smirk.

Sora swallowed his food. "Thanks, bae!" he beamed, bowing his head towards hers and nuzzling the tips of their noses together, eliciting a titter from her.

Oh. Right. That's why we were here.

These two were cavity-inducing alright. I think I was already feeling my teeth begin to rot just by being within a five foot radius of them. Dear lord, I don't think I could ever be like that, especially not where people could see us.

...was Lea suggesting I act this way?

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, watching as he stretched a hand across the table towards Kairi's tray and dipped a finger into some of the excess chow mein sauce on one side of her plate. Lea then proceeded to dab the goo onto his nose, plant his elbow on the table, prop his chin in his palm and lean towards me with a cheshire grin, eyes hooded and eyebrows bouncing.

Apparently, yes. That's exactly what he was suggesting.

I stared blankly at him.

Yeah, no. Not happening, pal.

"Worth a shot," Lea snerked as he reached for a napkin to scrub the smear off with.

Kairi bit back a smile, "D'aww, she's shy! That's adorable!"

"That's my baby! Wouldn't have her any other way!" he tweaked my nose with a wink.

"Oh! I just had a great idea!" Kairi clapped her hands together. "Tomorrow night, Sora and I were gonna go out with Riku and Ray. Nothing fancy, just dinner and a movie. But what if you two joined us as well and turned our double date into a triple? How fun would that be?"

I don't know… dinner and a movie? She was asking a lot of little ol' hermit me. Maybe too much.

Lea looked to me, pressing his shoulder into mine. "How 'bout it, El?"

...well… I guess… for the sake of practice…

I gave the couple across from us a shy smile. "What time were you thinking?"

Taking that as a yes, Kairi cried out in delight. "Awesome! We're all meeting up at six. You can get the deets from your roomies!" She then picked up her phone to check the time. "Crap," she hissed, jumping up to her feet, "gotta run! Selphie's gonna murder me for taking too long on my lunch break!"

"Wait up, I'll walk you back," Sora called, taking the opportunity to snatch up the chopsticks she'd dropped and shovel what was left of the chow mein down his throat faster than should have been humanly possible. Then he grabbed the tray and hopped up as well, cheeks bulging with food as he muffled out, "See ya guys tomorrow!" before taking off after his girlfriend.

"So…?" Lea asked, one side of his mouth turning up as he stole another sip from my pumpkin spice latte.

I gave a small, incredulous laugh, "No. Also? No. No, no, no. No. Did I mention no? Because just in case I didn't… no. And just for good measure: no. So in conclusion? No."

"Pfft," he rubbed a hand over his lips. "Well I understand if they may seem a bit… advanced to you…"

"Advanced?" I scoffed. "Try critical mode. I had no idea such couples existed outside of children's storybooks starring princesses and prince charmings. Do they even know they're in the real world and not some fairytale?"

Lea's head tipped to one side. "...you do realize that was some pretty basic boyfriend-girlfriend stuff… right?"

A crease formed between my eyebrows. "You mean that was normal?"

"Well," he averted his gaze, scratching his cheek, "...all couples vary and do things differently. But I wouldn't say Kairi and Sora are abnormal. There's a lotta couples out there that are just as disgustingly cute as they are, if not more so."

I bit down on my lower lip and hunched forward onto my elbows, clasping my hands in front of my face just beneath my nose. How was it I'd been in a relationship for five years and was just now figuring out that I didn't have the first clue when it came to dating? "...my ex and I were never anything like that. Not even close."

"And that," he struck up a finger, "works out in our favor. After all, you dumped his sorry ass, one, cuz you weren't in love with him and two, to be with yours truly," his fingers splayed across his chest as he grinned, "a hunky dreamboat you are in love with, or so the story goes. Now it shouldn't be too hard to sell that to your folks, given your former beau has set the bar so pathetically low for us."

"But I don't know if I have it in me to…" I trailed off, my hands clenching to each other more tightly. "...if I'm even wired to be such an absolute… googly-eyed, twitterpated… mess like those two were." My insides squirmed at the very idea.

"No problemo!" Lea jabbed a thumb into his collarbone, "I can be enough of a googly-eyed, twitterpated mess for the both of us!" He stiffened, then coughed into his fist, "That is, I mean… ya know, for the sake of appearances. If that'd be okay with you, of course."

He was talking about him being, erm… how had he put it the other day? Ah yes… touchy-feely. My eyes darted to the right. "I suppose… for appearances… as long as I have time to get used to it all and there are no more surprises."

"Speaking of, we never really did get around to going over those PDA guidelines for what gets a green light and what's a big fat no-no."

I stared down at the cup, my finger idly circling the rim of the lid. "...what did you have in mind?"

"Maybe we should start by knocking out the most obvious one." I glanced up at him now, waiting for him to elaborate. His grin faltered almost imperceptibly, "You know, the big K?" I merely quirked an eyebrow at him. Eyes shifting about, Lea cleared his throat, "...kissing?"

"Not on the lips." The words sprung from my mouth faster than I could think them, causing me to clamp a hand over it in embarrassment.

But come on now, my brain had had a full system hard crash when the guy had planted an innocent little peck on just my forehead yesterday! I couldn't even begin to fathom what a real, honest-to-god kiss on the lips might do to me. Let's not forget how poorly I'd handled the Kissident and I hadn't even known the guy yet, much less potentially had feelings for him!

He blinked, then snorted and shook his head at me. "Nah, I'd already figured that would be a total no-go. Which is no biggie, lotsa couples out there aren't comfortable sucking face in front of prying eyes. But uh…" he rubbed at the nape of his neck, "What I have been doing… back of the hand, forehead… pretty much any other exposed bit of skin, that all fair game?"

Gosh, this was a weird conversation to be part of. Not to mention awkward. I could already feel my blush from earlier waiting backstage, eager to make an encore performance. Looking away, I said, "That, uh… y-yeah, okay."

It should be fine.

If I allowed myself to get used to it, of course.

Though that was kind of a big if.

"Okay…" A slow smile was breaking out across his face and he repeated, "Okay, good. Onto the next item of business then: hugs. Yea or nay?"

Jeez, this suddenly felt so official. And yet, slightly silly at the same time somehow. I ventured, "...y-yea?"

"You sure?" his finger tapped the tip of my nose. "You don't sound too confident there."

"No, it'll be fine," I said quickly. With proper mental and emotional fortifying, I hopefully could and would survive this. Hopefully.

"Alright," his eyes crinkled as he studied me for a beat. Then, "What about this?" He reached a hand for where mine lay palm down against the table, his touch grazing along my knuckles before softly tracing down the lengths of my fingers. "...kinda like hand holding, but a lil fancier," he murmured, lifting my hand up so he could brush his fingertips to mine for a few seconds before gently flattening our palms together, lazily weaving and unweaving our fingers. "Something for idle hands to be doing when we're just hanging out. That okay?" he asked, still lightly toying with my fingers.

This had no right to be spiking my heart rate the way it was. Not trusting myself to talk as it would probably come out more of a squeak right now, I settled on a tiny nod.

He smirked as he eased my hand back down to rest atop the table once more. "...and this?" Lea gripped one of my chair legs, pulling me closer to him. Then his arm stretched out past my cheek, reaching behind my head so he could sweep my ponytail forward over my shoulder. There, he wasted no time twisting the end of a lock around one finger, playing with the pale strands of hair. "...yea or nay?" he prompted again somewhat distractedly, green eyes locked on his hand as it slowly ensnared itself further.

Was there less oxygen in the room? I swear there had to be less oxygen. Why else was it getting so hard to breathe all of a sudden? Must be all that damn deforestation going on out in the world. Curse all those big evil corporations and their blatant disregard for the environment!

Licking my dry lips, I nodded again, hesitantly at first, then putting more force behind it. "Mm… mm-hm! T-that should be… sh-shouldn't be a problem." I withdrew my hands into my lap, folding and unfolding them only to fold them again. "After all, we ah… must maintain appearances, of course."

"Of course," his grin twitched wider. "So then, what about this?" Carefully disentangling his fingers, he lifted his hand to tuck my bangs behind my ear as he started to lean forward, his face closing in towards mine.

Conceal, don't feel!

Remember, this? This was just… just an act. We were in the middle of a very busy food court. He was merely putting on a show for the masses. Just playing the role that had been given to him.

...but honestly, did he have to be playing it so goddamn friggin' well?!

I swear I could feel every last drop of blood in my body dogpiling up into my face as he closed the distance. The tip of his nose brushed mine and he shifted over to the right at the last second, positioning his mouth next to my ear. My heart hammered wildly, threatening to punch a hole through my ribcage as he inhaled, preparing to whisper something, his lips grazing against my earlobe and-

"Fwunkle-munkle."

My eyebrows twitched and I blinked.

"Splubbet. Squippo."

...were my eardrums broken?

"Flerple. Mubble-whoomp."

I spluttered and snorted. "What are you even doing?"

Lea pulled back just enough to look me in the eye with a cheeky grin. "What's it look like I'm doing? Whispering sweet nothings into your ear, duh!"

My fingers went to my mouth and I choked back a laugh, "More like sweet nonsense."

"Eh, same diff. Now if you'll excuse me, I wasn't quite finished." He bent towards my ear once more, his voice low and breathy as he continued, "Yuppet. Smoorple."

"Stop, that tickles," I was cracking up now, putting a hand to his chest so I could push him away.

He didn't budge, just moved his own hand to cover mine. "Fleegget-smeegget. Kronkle. Pixie Petal."

That last one caught my notice. "As in the ice cream flavor?"

"Mm-hm!" he straightened up now, exiting my personal bubble and crossing his arms atop the back of his reversed chair. His eyes squinted at me and he pursed his lips in thought. "...but no, that's not your fave either. It's all sparkle, no substance. You need quality. Nothing but the best for you."

Fighting a grin, I shook my head at him, "You think you know me so well."

His face softened a little as he looked at me. "...I think I'm starting to."

My breath hitched.

Oh dear. Remember that maybe sorta crush I had? I think we could now safely drop the "maybe sorta" part of it.

It was official. I'd gone and caught feelings.

For a man who was totally unavailable at the moment. A man who'd made it clear he was only doing this favor for me as a friend.

This was a dangerous game I was playing. And with someone who was much better at the game than I was, especially when you considered that he didn't even know he was playing it.

My eyes shifted about, alighting on everything and anything that wasn't him before finally landing on the food court clock. "Oh!" I took note of the time and shot up to my feet, the chair scraping along the tiled floor as it pushed out. "My shift's starting soon, I need to get going. Tomorrow then? Yeah, I'll text you once I get the specifics from Rayne. Right. So… until then."

I turned to book it but hadn't gotten more than a step before I felt his hand close around my wrist. I glanced back at him to see him standing now as well, a crooked curve to his lips. "Leaving without a proper goodbye? I don't think so."

He then pulled me back towards him, taking hold of my other wrist as well and bringing both my hands up to cup behind his neck. There he left them, moving his arms down to snake around my waist, hugging me tightly against him as he once more bowed his head down next to my ear. His breath was warm, making me shiver slightly as he whispered, "Wear my jacket for our big date tomorrow. For appearances."

Then he tipped my hat up and smooched my forehead before releasing me, shooting me a wink and walking away with a whistle.

Leaving me a blushing mess leaning against a chair for support, feeling just about ready to go supernova and obliterate all buildings within a ten block radius of me.

Oh yeah. I'd caught feelings all right.

And I didn't like it.

How the hell do I get rid of them?!

Author's Note: The whispering sweet nothings bit I wrote is one of my most favorite things ever. And at the same time, I hate it. It's so stupid. And yet, I love it so much xD Also, here, have some silliness with Aqua aka Spellweaver aka Command Style or Best Street Name For Shady Backdoor Deals Ever? You decide! And if you didn't recognize where the name came from that I used for the ice cream flavor this chapter, it's the name of a keyblade - the one you get from clearing Neverland in BBS, to be exact! That's right, I've resorted to keyblade names. I think I picked a few good ones too in the chapters ahead! That's all I use for the ice cream flavors from here on out in the story except for ONE of them, and there's a reason behind that one… which I'll only be too happy to explain when we get to it xD Anyhoo, if you were looking at the ice cream menu board, the description for Pixie Petal would probably go something like: "This lime soft serve in a green cone, garnished with white chocolate wings and gold edible glitter is sure to get you thinking happy thoughts!" Annnnnd side note: in case you're wondering, no, Miharu is not a character that appears in any of the KH games that you may have forgotten about - she's another OC belonging to my beloved bestie who I'm borrowing Rayne from xD She ships Miharu hard with Joshua from KH:DDD (or more specifically, TWEWY) so I just wanted to throw in a brief nod this chapter to that endearingly oddball lil ship!

Next chapter, how will this lil date night go? Will Elsa learn a thing or two about how to act like a sickeningly sweet couple? Now that she for sure knows she is in fact crushing on our dear fire boi, will she be able to keep her cool in front of him? Will Anna be checked into rehab for her unhealthy addiction to white girl pumpkin spice lattes? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

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silver-wield · 5 years ago

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Okay, as requested a few days ago, a Cloud and Aerith analysis. I feel like I've spent a lot of time in chapter 8/9 today lol

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis)

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog)

Tifa character analysis

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then)

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti)

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis

Cloti reunion analysis

The Promise Analysis

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response)

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read)

Cloti action touching

Aerti friendship analysis

Cloti body language chapter 3

Cloti healthy disagreement

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15)

Clerith playground scene

Cloti body language plate fall

Cloud and Barret friendship

Resolution scene analysis (A)

Barret character analysis (chapter 13)

Cloud character analysis (Honey Bee Inn)

Cloud character analysis (Barret's death)

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Recap time!

Okay, our delightful heroine (I will rein in the sarcasm, but Aerith aggs me when Cloud says no and she ignores him. No means no.) and our moody af hero have finally got done with the flowery side quests, kiddos, Rude and the giant hands of crash crash boom oops there's an invisible wall there minigame trip through sector 6 to reach sector 7.

Aerith says “let's take a break.”

Cloud says, “No.”

They take a break anyway.

(I've already done the slide analysis, link above)

Back down from the slide and it's time to go. Aerith opens up the underground link into sector 7 and we're venturing into awkward goodbyes.

So, we're starting with Aerith being chipper and cute with the quips. Standard stuff. It's possible she's feeling regretful they're parting, but I've said plenty of times that of everyone in this, Aerith has the best poker face. There's very few times she lets that mask slip and lets us see what she's really feeling and it's usually in times of intense stress. This isn't stressful, although she was feeling down a few moments ago while talking about Zack, so maybe that'll make her a little easier to read. For now, though, she's fronting like a boss.

Hmm interesting. He's definitely thoughtful here. So, I'm gonna have to put together some possibilities.

He's clearly mellowed his attitude towards her – he was proper stroppy at her house the day before, shouting and so on – so this isn't negative. We could say he started feeling more positive towards her through their interactions over the day or maybe when he saw the whole Rude bit and realised she's not quite what he first thought. Or it might have been when he saw her looking downcast about not high fiving or it could've been their chat on the slide that finally thawed him out towards her.

And Aerith's the same. Her smile falters just a bit and she can't meet his eye. Maybe she knows they have no reason to meet again or that her mother told him not to see her. We don't know for sure, but it's possible, otherwise why is she disappointed? She could expect to see him again. They could make plans. It could be meta!Aerith knowing that Cloud is probably better off not getting to know her.

Eugh dammit. Does anyone know how hard it is to analyse people's motives when you can't see their faces clearly? I bet this was on purpose, thanks Square.

I mean, having to go by the above data I've mentioned, they could both be feeling the same lingering regret intuitively. You know like how you just get the sense how someone's feeling? That.

Their poses are identical, and coupled with the slightly awkward intonation on “so” I'd look at this and say this comes across like a couple of teenagers who kinda like each other and don't know how to take the next step. You know, that kind of immature I have no idea what I'm doing with my life kinda deal. That's not to say it's romantic, especially not from Cloud. He's an awkward introvert. Aerith has no social skills. They're not friends and up until five minutes ago Cloud was annoyed af at her. That'd make for an awkward goodbye.

Aerith laughs, Cloud doesn't, and she moves aside so he can leave. Looks like the moment’s over.

Before going, Cloud turns back to ask if Aerith can get home ok. This looks like polite concern, which I'd expect considering they just came through an area full of monsters, mech and bandits. If Cloud wasn't concerned, I'd call him a douchebag. His eyes widen a little as he speaks, but it's not that same kind of expression he pulls whenever we're suspecting a visit from real!Cloud. This is SOLDIER!Cloud asking.

(I've said that typically Cloud's eyes go very wide as a hint that his real self is reacting to things, but widening eyes on their own do not indicate real!Cloud. It's something about the way he does it that shows it's not quite right for the SOLDIER persona we usually see. I can't explain it properly, but it's likely something the devs have done to his microexpressions on purpose to differentiate between the two and without knowing exactly what I can't put a pin in it. All I can say is when it looks like real!Cloud is expressing himself and when it isn't because there’s a difference that I’ve picked up on.)

This is flirting. Plain and simple. Head tilted, little smile, crinkling eyes. She's amused and teasing him in a flirtatious manner and her dialogue backs that up, although at the same time the tone she puts it in also sounds quite matter of fact, like she's genuinely asking what if she wasn't ok? That likely does appeal to the protective SOLDIER side of Cloud. He wants to be known as the hero. Still not romantic.

That's what I like to call a shit-fuck-bollocks moment. The realisation he should take her back home and make sure she's safe, but then he's also got to get back to sector 7, and this is all SOLDIER!Cloud's debate. There's no sign of real!Cloud and there's a quick decisive result that he should do the right thing, which is why he says he’ll take her home.

This is nothing like in the honey bee inn later when you see the clear back and forth of his eyes darting around as he argues with real!Cloud about dancing to get Andrea's approval.

And Aerith laughs again because I think she's aware how ridiculous it is that he'll walk her back when he needs to get home. She was teasing the entire time, but it looks like it went over Cloud's head – colour me unsurprised.

I mean, there's no romantic undertone to her expression here. It's genuine amusement and I'd definitely say friendship towards Cloud.

Ah the image that certain people hang their hat on. Let's get this one done.

Aerith says she has a backup route for emergencies that's safer than the one they used. You can hear Cloud start to speak—- ask a question because the sound is a “W” -- then cuts himself off and smiles. That smile is a mix of bemused and amused.

For anyone who doesn't have a stupidly large vocabulary and thinks those two are the same thing:

Bemused

adjective: puzzled, confused, or bewildered.

Amused

adjective: finding something funny or entertaining.

Cloud's bemused because back at the start of the collapsed expressway he literally asked if there was a better way and she avoided answering. So, he's caught her in a lie and what can he do about it? Nothing. That's why he's all "of course there's a safer route".

And then we're back in control and moving onto the next part of the game.

Conclusion:

Well, they're awkward. Both of them. Cloud is an introvert with mental issues and Aerith has no social skills and a terrible personality flaw in which she bosses everyone around and doesn't listen.

I wouldn't say they're friends, more like comrades. Cloud's still very resistant to her company even after she helps him save Tifa.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake analysis #Cloud Strife #Aerith Gainsborough #Character analysis

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uristruly · 5 years ago

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[Stenbrough One Shot: Signs one, two, three, and...]

Zombie Apocalypse Au

Older Bill x Younger Stanley (Platonic, of course.)

[Snippet] This boy I was holding in my arms— he was melting away and there was nothing I could do to save him. He was oh, so fragile. So delicate. This god-forsaken disease had no mercy.

—

"Why would y-you t-touch it, Stan?"

Bill spoke softly, fighting back the tears that were pounding against his eyelids. It did not matter that he was in his forties, this sight would make anyone weep.

"She was helpless, Billy."

Stanley examined the wound on his wrist. He hissed at the blue veins and abnormal patterns forming around it.

This morning, Bill's little boy had spotted a bird in pain. Innocently, he had assumed there was something wrong with its wing. Though he would later -painfully- find out that the bird was in fact, infected. Just as Stanley picked it up gently, it scrapped its beak against his wrist, cutting through and contaminating him.

He was only twelve, just a boy. A child who needed to have the most joy; To have his own pet bird, to run around in the playground and climb monkey bars, to play video games for hours on end, to . . . be a child.

Bill began sobbing. Stanley was the sweetest boy he had ever known.

"I don't like that reaction."

Stanley began tearing up as well from the sight of Bill.

"Hey! Shh. Come here, B-Birdie."

Bill was quick to embrace him and stop his own cries. He held the younger close to his chest and placed his chin on that soft curly head. Hearing him sobbing from both the pain and fear was tearing Bill's heart apart.

He was so innocent.

After a few agonizing minutes of listening to Stanley sobbing while he suppressed his own, the building was silent again. Slowly, the boy began to heat up.

That was the first sign.

The Invisible Fever.

Stanley had fallen asleep without realizing his body was on fire. The individuals themselves never felt the heat which was why the disease was difficult to recognize at stage one.

Even though Bill made sure to wash Stanley's wrist thoroughly, disinfect it, and wrap it up— deep down he knew the disease had entered his blood stream the second he saw the cut.

He felt his own head pounding from the pressure the years had built up. Now that Stanley was deep asleep, Bill let his tears stream down his face. He was not sobbing, no; not with the small boy asleep in his arms.

He was melting away and there was nothing I could do to save him.

Bill just held him there— for the longest time it seemed. He didn't know how much longer he had before the boy turned. His eyes shut tightly as he thought about what was coming. Taking in deep breaths to keep himself intact for the sake of the younger, his eyes opened when Stanley spoke. He was awake.

"Billy, I'm scared."

"I know, baby."

"Do I have a fever?"

"N-No. I washed the wound well. I think we got rid of it in time."

"Then why are you still crying?"

"I washed the wound well."

"But you always say it doesn’t matt—"

"I washed the wound well."

With Bill raising his voice, Stanley was shaken to the core. It was the first time he had ever yelled at him. Bill had always, always, no matter the situation been sweet to Stanley. He never failed to make him feel at ease, safe and sound. This did not seem like Bill and that was how Stan knew clear as day, that he was being lied to. He knew the older wanted him to believe everything was alright and handled well. But what he failed to do was realize Stanley is no longer the six year old child he had saved five years ago. He understood the circumstances; picked up on emotions.

After a few moments of silence between them, all that could be heard was the wind howling. Stanley reached his hand out and placed it on Bill's cheek, wiping the single fresh tear.

“We don’t need to talk about it right now, baby.”

Bill half smiled, running a hand through the child’s soft curls.

“How about a staring contest?”

Stanley never resisted a staring contest.

“Okay.”

The boy replied softly. He was usually excited over games but right now he had every right to be indifferent.

Bill lifted his small face up looking at him in the eyes.

The disease’s escalation was fast and he knew exactly what the next sign was going to be.

Stanley had his eyes shut.

“Three… two… one.”

The younger counted and opened his eyes.

At the closeup sight, Bill felt his heart ache.

That was the second sign.

Bloodshot eyes.

Bill’s body got covered in goosebumps, yet he kept on playing the game.

This baby’s eyes were so beautiful. His eyelashes were full and dark; the pupils did not hold too many great memories yet they were full of love.

It hurt too much looking at him.

This boy he was holding in his arms— he was melting away and there was nothing he could do to save him. He was oh, so fragile. So delicate. This god-forsaken disease had no mercy.

“You blinked.”

Stan’s sad tone shifted Bill back to reality.

“You’re too good at this!”

A gentle giggle came out of the younger after he was praised for winning.

“You can win next time, Billy.”

"I sure will, Birdie."

Bill ran a hand through his curls, brushing them out of his face.

"Are you hungry, baby?"

A nod indicated that he was; Stanley never asked for food unless he was questioned if he was hungry. The answer was almost always a nod. Bill placed a gentle kiss on his forehead wrapping his arms around his fragile figure. He set him down on the ground and stood up on his feet. Stanley loved animals so Bill always made sure to get the meal prepared away from him. If he saw an animal being skinned or chopped up, he would refuse to eat until he passed out. Unfortunately Bill knew that from experience.

A small rabbit he had managed to catch yesterday was left in another room. Bill never thought he would have the heart to hurt an animal— but they had to survive.

Stanley sat on the ground, feeling dizzy. He couldn't tell Bill because he would just worry more. When he was stressed out, he couldn't think straight and Stan knew better than to cause fear.

The pair ended up eating pretty late at night. Bill was too distracted to prepare the meal. His mind was on the turning child. The older knew what was coming but he did not want to even think about that possibility.

"Thank you for the food, Billy."

Bill sniffled and nodded at the gratefulness of the boy that seemed to have snapped back in reality. Stanley had consumed the food like an animal and he hadn't any knowledge of it. A low growl-like sound echoed out from the back of Stanley's throat. The unfamiliar sound turned into a whine— then a cry when he realized what he had done. He looked down at the plate which he had broken when he attacked the meal.

Click.

Stanley looked up at the gun pointed at him. Bill had been quick to target the child.

That was the third sign.

Animal-like behaviour.

"Fuck!"

Bill threw the ready-to-fire gun a few meters away from them both, in disbelief that he almost shot his Stanley. Tears blurred his vision from the shocked and confused look on the boy's face.

"Come 'ere, baby. Come here. I wasn't actually going to—"

Stanley didn't move an inch and that was a stab at Bill's heart. He shot up to his legs and scratched his beard trying to look for any words to redeem himself. Stanley was not even looking up at him, he was just frozen in that same position with that same look.

The man's adam's apple bobbed up and down as he choked on the spirals of emotions he was feeling. All he could think of doing was to escape this sight. His brain was too foggy for any clear thoughts. With his leather shoes clicking, he hurried out of the room. Bill took a seat on the nearest surface he spotted as his knees were shaking.

Bang.

The gunshot echoed through the building.

The small lifeless body fell ever so soundlessly on to the dusty ground.

The gun had slid away a few centimeters from his tiny hands with the crash.

The End.

#stenbrough #it chapter one #it chapter two #bill denbrough #stanley uris #one shot #fanfic #angst #I'm sorry

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raging-violets · 5 years ago

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Narnia: “How many pumpkins do you actually need?!” // Fall Prompt // Edmund x Issi

Pulling an exaggerated face, Issi wiped the horse-hair fine trail of pumpkin guts sticking to her fingers onto the wooden table she stood behind. Fighting the sudden wave of disgust, annoyance, and restlessness that rolled through her body, Issi laughed in response to the loud cries of "Ewwww," and the wrinkled noses of the little Telmarine children that crowded around her. She rolled her shoulders and shook her head, only relaxing when the foreign feelings passed.

"It is not so bad, these pumpkins," she said.

"They smell funny," a little girl said, sticking her tongue out between the gap in her teeth.

"They do, yes," Issi agreed with a nod of her head. "No better than any other bloke, I'd say. But they are mighty tasty, I'd say." Reaching her arm into the pumpkin up to her elbow, she grabbed a handful of warm, slimy, pumpkin guts and lifted it into the air. "Want some?"

"Noooo." The girls shook their heads, hair flying. The boys reached out little fingers to touch it, recoiling as the goo stuck to their fingers. Some jumped up and down, shrieking, waving their littles hands.

"Really?" Issi feigned surprise. Shrugging her shoulders, she pulled down the corners of her lips. "More for me, then."

"You can't eat that whole pumpkin by yourself," a little girl declared, sticking her finger into the air. She stepped forward and rest her chin on top of the table, watching Issi separated the seeds from the pumpkin guts. "It's too big."

"Reckon I'd be waddling all over town if I tried," Issi agreed. The kids tittered, pushing themselves closer. "No, I'm going to be eating the seeds. You will too if you come back in visit. A few spices, and it's the perfect afternoon snack." She placed her hands on the table and leaned forward, lowering her voice conspiratorially.

"What about that stuff?"

"Well, they're good for the body, good for your eyes," Issi explained, swinging her curly red hair out of her face, "and make for a great tart." She then started wiggling her guts covered fingers in their faces. "And it's ooey, and gooey, and right fun to play with." She reached for the child closest to her and they all shrieked and ran off. Issi's laughter followed behind them.

"Hi, Issi." Hair shining in the sun, Lucy stepped across the stone road, one hand lifting the skirts of her dress upwards, the other cradling a medium sized pumpkin under her arm. Issi took quick steps towards Lucy to unburden her from the weight that was pulling her down towards the Earth. Lucy looked around at the differently sized and shaped pumpkins lined up along the ground. "How many more pumpkins do you need?! There's got to be twenty here, at least."

"Queen Lucy," Issi said, carefully taking the pumpkin, doing her best not to leave any of the pumpkin goo on her. "I reckon this should be enough. The little babes will either like carving pumpkins or hate it."

"Carving pumpkins," Lucy said with a happy sigh, "it was always my favorite."

"You are most welcome to join us," Issi said. Once her hands were free of the pumpkin, she lowered herself into a curtsy. The drying pumpkin guts on her hands stuck to the thick fabric, peeling from her palms. "Peter and Susan as well."

Edmund snorted as he shuffled over, a larger pumpkin held in his arms. His cheeks puffed slightly. A light sheen of sweat covered his forehead. Still, he kept his chin up. "Peter? Come carve a pumpkin?" Edmund asked, voice tight. "That's not likely."

"Do you need any help, Edmund?" Lucy asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"You could barely hold it, Lu." Shifting the pumpkin upwards just slightly, Edmund's scoff of laughter puffed his cheeks up further.

"It looks like you can't, either," Lucy pointed out. Issi hid a laugh behind her arm, using her forearm to scratch at her nose before brushing loose hair up off her forehead.

"I'm ok."

"Are you sure?" Issi asked.

The wooden table creaked and threatened to buckle under the weight of the pumpkin Edmund suddenly dropped onto it's top. Planting his hands on his hips, he nodded. "I'm sure," he replied. He used a hand to indicate between the two of them. "Neither of you could carry it."

"Where would we be without King Edmund around to carry our pumpkins?" Lucy asked with over the top grandeur. "Without his sword, how could we ever carve them?" She clutched at her chest.

"What are you on about?" Edmund asked, making a face. "Who had the best carved pumpkin two years in a row?"

"They were pretty good," Lucy admitted, dropping her dramatization with a grin. "Even if you hated scraping out the pumpkin guts."

"Well, with all of these pumpkins, I'm sure to feed all the hungry babes that comes by," Issi said, slapping her hand on the pumpkin Edmund had just deposited on the table. "With King Peter's permission, I am going to take them out on a small patrol around the area." She grinned sheepishly. "I may have made the mistake of telling them some spooky stories and now they're kind of scared of the dryads." She lifted a hand to the side of her mouth and said in a faux whisper, "They think they're forest witches."

"Better that than any real witches," Edmund commented. "Or the Boogeyman." His lips lifted into a teasing smile he threw Lucy's way. "Coming after little girls sneaking sweets into bed."

Issi pressed her lips together at the sudden rush of anger that prickled and burned through her. Attempting to breathe through the onslaught of emotion that scratched at her, wanting to be released, her nostrils flared. She blinked rapidly, attempting to keep her eyes dry. Clearly, Jadis didn't like being talked badly about.

It was such a normal comment. Not said with any malice, yet Issi knew he was thinking of Jadis. Could see it in the sudden light that flickered, almost imperceptible, yet blazed with intensity. Her thoughts had instantly gone in the same direction. Jadis was not happy about it. Issi clenched her teeth behind her lips, reaching a hand to grip the edge of the table. He knuckles popped as she gripped the edge tighter, tighter, the tips of her fingers throbbing.

"I thought I was being sneaky," Lucy sniffed, brushing her shoulder with her cheek. She then pouted, looking so much her age in that moment than with the heir of regality (though youthful) she carried herself with. "And you didn't have to scare me out of it. You could have just asked for some."

"Oh, I dare say Queen Lucy the Valiant was able to ward off any fright and enjoy the sweets," Issi explained through clenched teeth. Edmund snorted for a second time and Lucy made a tisk sound with her tongue that was very reminiscent of Susan. "Halloween is my favorite holiday." Issi breathed through the pain that slowed ebbed away, "I thought the kids would enjoy it. I told them all about dressing in costumes, and everything." She stepped around the table, pushing forward a crumpled drawing.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Edmund asked, looking down at the crude drawing. Charcoal smears and small fingerprints dotted the paper around circles, lines, ovals, and a crown shaped image. Squiggly lines and big, small, and backwards letters spelled out his name. "That doesn't look like me at all."

"Let's see your drawings from nursery," Lucy commented, peering at it over his shoulder.

"Little Alel reckons he'll become a king just like you and Peter one day," Issi said, gazing fondly down at the paper. Then she threw a quick smirk over at Edmund. "Though, I suppose you're right, this doesn't resemble you much. I reckon he needed a bigger piece of parchment to get the size of your head right."

It was a risk, speaking so freely with the King and Queen of Narnia around town. If anyone to overhear her speaking s casually in her position… She was townsfolk like the rest of them and would do well to follow their lead – Miraz knew how to keep people in line.

Lucy collapsed into a fit of giggles. Edmund's tongue darted out of his mouth, briefly wetting his lips as he pressed them together. "Very funny," he said, rolling his eyes. They stayed for a fraction of a second on Issi, eyes narrowing slightly. Then, he gently hit Lucy on the shoulder. "Hey, Lu," he said, and she did her best to stifle her laughter, gazing upon him seriously, "go check to see if any of the kids want a carriage ride."

Lucy's eyes lit up. "I'm sure they'd enjoy it," she said before grabbing the hem of her dress and scampering off.

"Are you ok?" Edmund asked, turning back to Issi the second Lucy was gone. It was a loaded question they both knew, however the hard tone to his voice indicated he wanted a truthful answer. Not just as a King checking in on his townsfolk, but as Edmund.

"She didn't quite like you taking the mickey out of her," Issi said, clasping her hands together.

"I suppose I can't be afraid of her, forever," Edmund said quietly. "Though, if it's causing you this much pain—"

"Nothing you should worry about," Issi said, "I'm ok, Edmund." The skirts of her dress swishing around her legs, she moved to get back to separating pumpkin seeds. "I do appreciate the concern, but this is nothing you can control."

"Maybe Peter was on about something," Edmund said, feigning thought, "he always said I couldn't control my mouth."

Issi laughed through her nose. "I suppose you'd say the same thing when he sees how many Pumpkin Tarts I plan on making," she said. She shook her hair out of her face, and then got a good look at him, laughing into her wrist.

"What?" Edmund asked.

"I suppose even a king likes to get his hands dirty in his work," she commented, eyes trained on the stringy orange pulp stuck to his face, and in his hair. It must have flown up to hit him in the face when he dropped his pumpkin. "Or rather, his face, eh Just Edmund?"

Eyebrows furrowing towards each other, Edmund reached up a hand to pat at his face. They widened slightly when his fingertips brushed over the pumpkin guts drying to his face. Face pulling into a frown, he slowly peeled it off. "Ugh!" Shaking his hand in the air, the pumpkin guts flew off his finger, arched through the air, and landed across her face.

Issi gasped in surprise at the cold, slimy sensation suddenly stretched across her face. "Hey." She reached for the bowl of slippery Pumpkin seeds. Edmund moved quickly, digging his fingers into the bowl of pumpkin guts and, seeming to revolt at the feeling, he whipped it at her. "Edmund!" Eyes closed, she threw her handful of seeds back at him, hearing them pattered against the ground.

"Truce, truce."

Shaking her hands away from her, Issi carefully pinched the shoulder of her dress and start

"Here." Edmund reached for the towel on Issi's table, digging his fingers into the soft cloth. "You've got some…" Issi peeled a quickly drying strand of pumpkin from her eyebrow, before allowing him to gently scrub at her face. "There."

"Thanks, Edmund." Smiling gently, she took the towel from him. She scrubbed the cloth fibers over her fingers, trying to ignore the lingering feeling of her fingers brushing over his when she took the towel from him.

"Sure."

Lucy looked back and forth between Edmund and Issi as she stepped over to them, the crunching of loose stones under her feet pulling their attention. Eyebrows lifted; a knowing smile slowly spread across her face. "Did I miss something?"

Forever tag: @foxesandmagic

[ Fall Prompts | Ask Box ]

#ocappreciation #narniadynasty #fall prompt #edmund pevensie #oc: issi winters #lucy pevensie #prompt #the chronicles of narnia #narnia #narnia oc #edmund x oc #edmund x issi #authored by: rhuben

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