#THIS TOOK ME 13 HOURS BRO… | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

luvknow · 10 months ago

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after her | yang jeongin

summary: a lonely yang jeongin, fresh from a break-up, finds what it means to be happy again while living with his best friend in the big city. you fall victim to his signs of affections, struggling to define if he’s emptying what’s leftover from his relationship or if they’re truly meant for you. you’d live through the endless heartache if it meant he would smile again. characters: female reader x yang jeongin & stray kids ensemble. genre: romance, friends-to-lovers, hurt with comfort, happy ending. additional warnings: alcohol consumption, university party, some mature dialogue and situations, song lyrics. wc: 11.2k

Jeongin placed the last of his boxes in the living room of his new place you two shared. While you were away at work, he employed an off-duty Minho and Jisung with promises of pizza and beer as payment.

A low whistle escaped Jisung’s lips as his eyes scanned the condo. “Pretty decent for the price in the middle of the city.”

Jeongin wiped the sweat off his brows. “It helps that _____ is a functioning adult.”

“You’ll get there in a couple of months,” Minho patted his head. “Relax while you can before your job starts. The adult world is not kind.”

“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

Jisung shrugged. “Find a hobby. Adopt a pet. Read a book. Don’t worry about anything! What more can a bachelor want?”

“Go to the club, hop on a dating app,” Minho suggested before Jisung hit him.

The first box Jeongin opened was one he wasn’t supposed to. On top, it wasn’t labeled, but on the side in big bold letters was, ‘TRASH. BURN. DONATE. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT OPEN!!!!!’ On the top layer of stuff was a framed picture of him and his ex-girlfriend under the cherry blossom trees, her eyes curled like sparkling moon crescents and him looking at her like she was his whole world. Beneath were various memorabilia from blind box trinkets to old sweaters of his that still smelled like her perfume. As his heart cracked a bit more, he flopped on the couch face-first, groaning muffled by your decorative pillows.

Minho hit Jisung back. “I told you not to bring that one in!”

“He took it from me before I knew what box it was!”

The two were left unloading the Rent-a-Truck alone as their youngest friend tried to not let too many tears ruin the fabric of the couch. They’d give him a pass this time, but the next warranted multiple rounds of drinks. Jeongin’s energy bled from his body and was absorbed into the cushions, gluing his cheek down until a permanent imprint of the weaved fabric formed on his skin. His eyes stared blankly at the door after his personal mover-bros left and until you walked in, home from a long day of work. A total of six hours where he didn’t move, barely breathing, hoping evolution would kick in and he’d be able to live his life photosynthesizing.

You smiled sympathetically at the damage before you; a pile of boxes, untouched take-out, and an unmoving boy with redness around his eyes that stared off into nothingness.

“Hey, bud,” you began awkwardly. “How’re ya doin’?”

You received a lazy groan in response. He turned over to face the back of the couch, unwilling to elaborate further.

Jeongin called you last Sunday at 2:13 AM. Your first feeling was irritated, as he had better be in some deep shit to be waking you up at this hour on a work night. What you got was worse. Way worse. In a fit of tired, breathless, chest-squeezing sobs and snot-filled sniffles, Jeongin confessed that his girlfriend of just over a year had broken up with him. It was a shitty time to do so, as he was in the middle of signing for a lease after she begged him to move to the city to be closer to her. Luckily, the leasing agency was sympathetic and he went forward with canceling the signing.

The conversation that led him here in your home occurred after he was able to breathe through his tears, wondering what he was supposed to do with his new job contract, and it went like this:

“You’re already mentally prepared to move to the city. Why not do it anyway?”

“What’s the point?” he had asked with a voice so tired of crying. “There’s no reason for me to be there anymore.”

“I’m here,” you replied, offended. “You get to hang out with the most important person in your entire life -”

“By default.”

“I’m going to give you a pass on that because you’re hurting, but you called me, remember?” you had scoffed. “The city will be good for you. Better food, better drinks, things to do, people to meet. Things to distract you, y’know?”

“I can’t do this alone.” There was a long pause before the sniffling and sobs filled the silence on the other end. “If I live alone, I might never leave my apartment.”

Without hesitation, you had said, “Come live with me.”

“What?”

“Yeah! Come live here with me! We’ll turn my office into your bedroom, and voila; casa de _____ and Jeongin.”

“I can’t do that to you. You worked so hard for that place to be your haven.”

“You are my haven,” you had emphasized. “Let me be yours, too.”

A short chuckle on his end. “Cornball.”

Progress was far from linear and the hardest point was ascending from zero. Jeongin was in the negatives. Probably because he had opened a box full of outdated signs of love he and Sieun had given each other the past year and two months. Your face wrinkled in disgust at the sight of her glowing face in a heart-shaped frame. And Jeongin had called you the cornball… Maybe you were a certified hater, but you had to get rid of this box of trash now.

When you bent to pick it up, he gripped your wrist and stopped you.

“Don’t,” he muffled into the pillows.

“Keeping this isn’t good for you.”

“Neither will throwing it away.”

“How about we compromise,” you sighed. “Let’s store it in my closet until you’re ready to toss it. Out of sight, out of mind.”

His answer was letting go of you and allowing you to touch the most tender parts of his heart to store away in your dark, cold, lifeless but stylish closet for it to wither away. You didn’t want any parts of her near your room at all, but you kept muttering, ‘This is for Jeongin. This is for him because you love him, for some reason,’ as a reminder.

You’d repeat that reminder maybe ten times a day for the past week for stupid shit like him not washing his dishes, not putting the toilet seat down, drinking all your specialty alcoholic beverages you liked to save for after-work woes, but what pushed you over the edge was the empty stash of your favorite snack.

“Ok, I’m done!” you yelled. After a long day of Teams meetings and smiling at sleazy men twice your age, all you wanted was a little treat! A little snack! But when you opened your pantry, you were left with an empty box. He couldn’t even throw the damn box away!

You opened the door to his room where he sat in his gaming chair, yelling at his bros on Discord. He paid no mind to the noise, since his gaudy headphones blocked everything and likely bruised his eardrums. So when he couldn’t hear you calling his name, you went up to the microphone.

“Sorry, boys, Jeongin has some chores to do!” You heard a muffle of ‘boos’ from Chan and Felix on the other end before unplugging his set-up.

“What the hell, _____! That was a ranked game!” he whined.

“You!” you seethed, grabbing the remnants of your snack bags before chucking the empty box at his face. “You gluttonous squirrel-faced stupid, stupid boy!”

“Ooh, yikes. I know that tone.”

“You couldn’t bother texting me that we were out?!”

“They’re just snacks, we can buy more.”

“We, who!? Who’s paying the mortgage here? Who’s the one with an actual job at the moment?!”

“I start next month, ok?! And you agreed to a prorated rent because of that!”

“Being jobless doesn’t give you the right to live in my home like a slob! There are responsibilities for adulthood! There are chores and rules for living under my roof!”

Jeongin had this stupid face he’d put on to get whatever he wanted. It worked with Sieun, and sadly worked for you, too. He wheeled himself over on his new four hundred dollar chair (“For ergonomics!” he had argued) and pulled you in between his legs. His arms wrapped around the back of your thighs and his chin rested on your stomach. The stupid, adorable, troublemaker face was up-turned brows, pouting lips, and eyes that twinkled from the lighting above.

“I’m sorry,” he began. “It just… feels nice to be taken care of right now.”

Ugh. Maybe you were being too harsh. A week’s worth of annoyance was nothing compared to a week’s worth of trying to glue back pieces of his heart together when they kept falling apart. Or maybe that was the spell he put you under with his dreamy eyes talking. You couldn’t think straight with your constricting office wear on.

You kissed your teeth. Your hand grabbed a chunk of his curly brown mop of hair and pushed him off of you. “You stink. Shower and get ready; you’re buying me new snacks at the grocery store.”

“But I don’t need to go grocery shopping.”

“You have one pack of instant ramen left; yes, you do.”

–

One of your first memories with Jeongin was the day before you both started secondary school. The last day of summer was spent under the stars on a trampoline in his backyard with empty cans of cola scattered out on the grass. Your heads touched while bodies were oriented in the opposite direction, semi-Spiderman style.

You were the first to voice what you feared most. “Do you think things are going to change?”

He shook his head adamantly. “Never.”

“Nothing is ever non-zero.”

“Must you nerdify everything?”

“It’s not on purpose. I can’t help it.”

“Except you could.” Jeongin sighed, whether out of disappointment or enjoying the feeling of the cool night air, you had long forgotten. His black, too-short-for-a-bowl-cut pin-straight hair poked your ears whenever he turned and knocked his head against yours.

“Ow,” you whined. “What?”

He pointed to the sky. “See that?”

“Stars.”

“Do you recognize the constellation, smartass?” Astronomy wasn’t your strong suit. “Scorpio and Lupus.”

You shrugged. “Who do you think would win in a fight: ten scorpions or one wolf?”

“That’s not the point of my question,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “But the correct answer is ten scorpions.”

“What’s the point, then? Of anything, really?”

He pointed to the sky again. “Things will change only when the stars do.”

“Apocalypse-style?”

“Exactly. When they do, it’ll be the end of the world.”

You giggled, tilting your head closer to his. “Cornball.”

“What is a cornball, anyways? Like, a chicken nugget made of corn?”

“Genetically-modified corn in the shape of a ball.”

At thirteen, you both thought these conversations made you comedic, thought-provoking geniuses. They were typical teenage nonsensical word-smithing that’d later evolve into witty adult assholery, but they were ones you’d cherish ��til the end of time.

“Never change, _____ _____.”

“You, too, Yang Jeongin.”

Tonight, the night sky was as clear as the night before secondary school. It’s been a couple of weeks since Jeongin moved in and progress was there, but it was slow. Some days, he’d spend all day in bed under the covers and you’d have to force-feed him sustenance and flip him over to prevent bed sores. Some days he spent the entire day deep cleaning the tile grout with a toothbrush until his knees were purple. The worst nights were like tonight, where you’d come home to an empty bottle of some mystery brown liquor you didn’t remember purchasing and him passed out on the couch.

It was exhausting for this short amount of time. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and outbursts and constantly having to take his phone away from doing something stupid like calling or texting her. This wasn’t the Jeongin you were used to; you wanted the one who sang tunes and trot jingles, the one who burned mac ‘n cheese on accident, the one who’d wave to little kids when you were out together. The unmoving body was just a shell of him, and just as he struggled putting the pieces of himself back together, you struggled holding the ones he was able to find in place.

You lifted his head by his curls and plopped it back on your lap after taking a seat.

“Careful,” he groaned. “There’s precious real estate up here.”

You didn’t speak, distracting yourself by playing with his hair. His eyes were bloodshot and cheeks stained with drool and salty tears. Sniffles filled the silence.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, words a bit slurred. “I don’t like when you’re quiet.”

“Ask yourself that question,” you replied, mouth full of salt.

“You’re mad at me.”

“I care about you.”

“You’re mad because you care,” he nodded, understanding, or at least pretending to. “I care about you, too.”

Caring wasn’t enough. No amount of love and tenderness from you could replace the one Sieun gave him, and that was evident. How were you supposed to hold him together when she was his reason? You could only do so much, and your best was never enough.

He pointed to the ceiling. “Do you think Scorpio and Lupus are out tonight?”

“It’s cloudy.”

“Oh. Is it?” he sighed. “But they’re still there?”

“They’ll always be there.”

“Together?”

“Together. Forever, of course.”

“How do you know that?”

Was he asking with underlying intention or drunken oblivion? “I just do.”

Jeongin snorted. “Boooo.”

“Boo, you!”

“Ugh, stop moving!” His lips pursed as he rolled off of you. “Nope. I need to throw up.”

You followed him as he crawled into the bathroom, hunching over his toilet bowl. You held his hair back for a bit before realizing you could tie it back.

“It’s so long now,” you admired while tying back his front pieces.

“Sieun hated it,” the toilet echoed.

“I liked it. Very ‘bad boy’. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

“Yeah. She’s stupid, right?”

“So stupid.”

“Yeah! And so bossy!” He paused, gagging into the toilet. “Bossier than you! Can you believe that’s possible?!”

“I’m not bossy, I just know what I like when I like it and how I like it,” you patted his back a little too harshly this time, “nothing bossy about that.”

“And it’s a wonder why you’re single.”

A sharp pang pierced your chest. Your relationship status was a touchy subject. It’s not that you preferred to be single, but your job was mentally demanding and sometimes required long hours past sunset. It wouldn’t be fair to your partner when your life was devoted to your career and climbing the corporate ladder. Dates were few, and not too far in between, but none of the prospects were worth the trouble when half of them expected you to pay the whole bill when they found out your occupation.

You loved love. It was beautiful, it was kind, it meant always feeling whole. Of course you wanted to be in love. Of course you wanted to touch, to kiss, to always be intertwined with someone. Life was young, and there was time, but the shroud of loneliness grew longer and larger as the days passed. Suffice to say, your single status hit a nerve.

You patted his back hard enough for him to gag one last time. “Good luck not puking your guts out.”

“No, wait -” but you had already shut the door.

It was the kind of topic that elicited a long, hot, reflective shower until the water ran cold. Were you one of those working women who were doomed by capitalism to serve as a corporate slave until you could withdraw from your 401k at fifty nine and a half? To live a mediocre life and settle down with a five-rated coworker for the sake of reproduction and contributing to lowering the birthrate? To settle for the mundane and predictable? That wasn’t the _____ you knew. At the peak of your young life, when did owning your first place meant that it was the beginning of the end?

When you walked out of the steam cloud, Jeongin was buried beneath your duvet, staring at the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the tired, but still awake city. When he first moved in, he mentioned how jealous he was of your nice bedsheets, and you wondered, in that moment, how many times had he napped in your bed without you knowing. Annoyed, but willing, you crawled in behind him, too tired to argue.

He wiggled back, making sure your bodies touched, though he wanted to keep looking out. “Being single isn’t bad… right?”

Was it bad? No. “I like my alone time.”

“But isn’t it lonely?”

It’s never ending. “Only a little.”

“Even when I’m here?”

Especially now, more than ever. “Just a little.”

“What’s your metric of ‘little’?”

Astronomical. “Like a pinch of salt.”

His breathing slowed, body ready to shut down for the night and hopefully awaken before noon. He wrapped your arms around him, begging for a hug, a bit of human connection, something to satiate the pain of wanting to feel whole with someone again. When you gave in, he melted into your touch. This feeling was familiar, but it wasn’t the same. You would never be her.

Just when you thought he fell asleep, you felt his chest jitter, suppressing a mouthful of sobs.

“I hate this,” he said, voice cracking, hands gripping your blankets while you played the big spoon.

You could only nod into the crevice between his wingspan. “I know.”

“What did I do wrong?”

“Sometimes, there’s a reason; sometimes, there isn’t.”

“Then, what’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” you confirmed and squeezed him tighter. “People fall out of love all the time.”

“Isn’t that fucking terrifying?” he sobbed. “One day, you’re flying, high on life with someone you thought could make forever feel like a day. Next, they tell you they don’t love you anymore.”

“Love is complicated.”

“But it isn’t! When you know, you know. It just isn’t as complicated as many people make it seem. So, what? She knew she didn’t love me anymore? That’s it?”

Complicated isn’t only when someone who once lit up your life now felt like their own fire within fizzled in the darkness. It wasn’t waking up one morning and deciding that they stopped loving you. Complexity was built with intention and time, overthinking and self-reflection. It’s as complicated as math; despite the many ways you could achieve an answer, there was only one answer. Sieun wasn’t a bad person; in fact, you liked her for the time they dated. You figured despite all her might and the many times she tried, she couldn’t force herself to love him anymore. It’s not like she woke up one morning and thought, ‘I don’t love him anymore.’ It’s never just, ‘that’s it,’ as Jeongin claimed its simplicity.

Complicated is spending every moment of free time with someone who knew the deepest parts of you without letting the romantic feelings slip through the cracks. It was intending to confess and ruin a decade’s worth of bonds, all for it to stay hidden with your many secrets when he admitted to finally asking out the cute girl he met through a mutual friend of Jisung. It was saying, ‘I love you,’ to end a phone call while suppressing the ache in your chest as he’d say it to someone else the same evening.

To Jeongin, it was just that. Love. How could one make it so difficult? But to you, there were layers, and someone had to peel them back before you revealed the true nature of your heart. Because after this, after Jeongin was healed and you were left with no one to hold you together the way you had for him, you’d have grown an infinite number of layers to protect yourself. Your future partner would have a lot of work to do.

“Love is an organism. Organisms are complex. It comes in different forms and has different functions. When I say, ‘I love you,’ you think I mean, ‘I care for you,’ right?”

Jeongin didn’t answer. Verbally, at least. His leveled breathing and rhythmic chest rises told you he was fast asleep in a drunken stupor while you had contemplated your answer.

“Yes,” you sighed, snuggling closer, “you do.”

–

Most psychologists would agree that the stages of grief had an order to them. Jeongin, PhD in grief, would say otherwise. In the span of a single day, he’d go between as many as three of the stages. Lately, it was a cocktail of denial, depression, and anger. Today, there was only anger. The drawers would be shut a little too loudly, he’d chew his food a little too aggressively, and his volume and colorful language on Discord closely resembled a sailor.

“Where’s the damn support?!” he screamed into the mic.

“You said you’d be in Zone A!” you heard Jisung yell through his headset.

Jeongin didn’t bother with a response and hung up the call. After whipping his headset on his bed with the strength of a baseball pitcher, he ran a hand through his tangled mop and swore under his breath.

You leaned on his door frame. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Shut up,” he whined.

“You know what would make you feel better?” You drew a rectangle with your pointer fingers, then wiggled the rest in a wave of flames. Then, boom! Big boom!

“No.”

“Jeongin -”

“You said I could wait until I was ready.”

“I think you need to be ready now.”

“I don’t want to hear anymore about that stupid box in your stupid closet with all the stupid fucking shit in it!”

If there was one act you wouldn’t tolerate from anyone, even with a bond thicker than blood, it was raising their voice. You had barely lifted your hand to point an accusing finger at him the same way his mom would, when he shut his eyes and realized his grave mistake. He knew he fucked up when your eyebrows were raised in that, ‘what did you just say to me?’ manner. He was also regretting how much time you spent with his mom.

“... Maybe we should take the box out,” he muttered.

“Yeah, no shit. Grab the hammers.”

Two adult-sized adult-aged children in hoodies carrying a mysteriously heavy box and a couple of hammers at a public park past sunset was not one would describe as inconspicuous. Jeongin was far from ready to address the box, you realized, when you were forced to carry it all the way and he refused to look at it. Even when you prepared the garbage bag and shuffled through the contents, he avoided any sight of strawberry blond hair and scents of neroli and jasmine. Semi-slicked with sweat, you took the box to the top of the jungle gym and dragged the big baby up to meet it.

“You left the trash bag down there,” he noted.

You nodded. “Grab that picture frame.” The first one was the red one shaped like a heart. You tilted your chin overboard. “Slam it.”

“Like, on the ground?”

“Yup.”

“That’s not very nice... Why can’t we just throw it?”

“Because I can’t be sure you won’t dig through the dumpster and drag filth across my floors.”

“Who do you think I am?!”

“Break it with all your might!” you demanded, pretending to be angry and Hulk-smashing on the stable platform. “Rah! Into the trash bag, though, please.”

“She gave this to me on our two-month-iversary. She said it was a symbol of her heart,” he reflected, gentle fingers wiping the dust that collected.

“And what did she do to yours?”

“Break it.”

“She stomped on it.”

“Yeah…”

“Crushed it!”

“Yeah…!”

“Stabbed it with a blunt butter knife!”

“Yeah!”

“And did it hurt?!”

“Like a bitch!”

“Rue the day!!”

“Rue the roux!!”

Someone’s hungry. “Yeah, sure!”

With a guttural scream passionate enough to elicit goosebumps, Jeongin chucked the heart frame into the trash bag that splayed on the cement. The plexiglass shattered into big chunks and the frame split in two, shards of wood scattering about. It was a picturesque and artistic display of anger and heartbreak, but you’d never admit how you admired the symbolism to Jeongin’s face.

“That felt good,” he panted.

“Yeah? Do this one,” you said, handing him a mug.

“We painted mugs to give to each other at one of those stores in the mall. She said I didn’t have enough pink things in my life, so pink would be her color for me.”

“Fuck the color pink!”

“I mean, I still like the color -”

“Innie, I’m giving free therapy right now and I need you to work with me,” you hurried him alone by rolling your arms.

“Ok, ok! Jeez. But even you look good in pink -”

“Jeongin!”

“Pink sucks…!” he admitted hesitantly before chucking it into the pile. A satisfying shatter of ceramic echoed into the cloudless night.

“Ooh, heartbreak ASMR,” you sang.

Jeongin pulled a pink lop bunny Sonny Angel, those naked baby blind box toys that will put you in crushing debt one day, from the pile of infinite junk. He twirled it in his hands carelessly. “Don’t you like these, too?”

It was a rarer, sought-out-by-collectors type. You and many others had fingers twitching over the overpriced pay button on the resale apps everyday. “No…” your voice cracked.

“How am I supposed to break this?”

“Pop its head off.”

“What?”

You pointed shakily to its cute, pink ears as it smiled innocently. Your hands pretended to yank apart the head from its body. “Decapitate it.”

Jeongin jumped at the low-effort strength it took, which masked your pained groan. There goes a hundred dollars. Then, he plucked away its appendages. You couldn’t bear to look when he tossed the innocent body parts. May you wish no ill will on any collector to ever witness such a murder.

The rest of the box was junk to a stranger, treasure to Jeongin. Things like concert tickets, an empty wine bottle, dried flowers, cologne, sweaters, and jewelry joined the garbage. The last piece was the final boss; a shadow box summary of everything they’d done in the past year. A collection of restaurant receipts, themed matches, movie tickets, polaroid pictures, and loving post-it notes of cheesy poems and ‘I miss yous’ were stabbed into the felt and protected by a thick cover of glass.

“I can’t,” Jeongin sighed, sharp eyes scanning through the memories. He shook his head. “I just can’t.”

“You know the ‘break for emergencies only’ thingies for the fire extinguishers?” you asked and pointed to the pink box. “This is an emergency.”

“She put so much time into this. Almost everything we’ve ever done is preserved… Just for her to throw it all away two months later.”

When he offered this perspective, perhaps your speech on love not being complicated was more introspective than universally accepted. Two months to know you stopped loving someone was not a long enough time. It took much longer than that to no longer be on the same page, or in the same stage of life, or, for fuck’s sake, fall for an affair partner, right? No matter what the answer was, it made you upset.

You could only offer an affectionate rub on his arm. “Do you want to save this for next time?”

Jeongin took an eternity to answer, as if he read every line of every receipt and every ticket or memorized the way she dotted her i’s and crossed her t’s. Then, he pulled you to him in a side-hug.

“There won’t be a next time.”

The frame of the shadow box split by the seams and only cracked the glass. The felt board was kept intact, of course, save for a few loose polaroids. He wrapped his second arm around you in a full hug, resting his cheek atop your head as your bodies swayed with the wind, needing the comfort of his best friend to protect him in this very vulnerable moment.

“You ok?” you muffled into his chest. He smelled of vetiver.

“No,” he admitted confidently, “I hope I will be one day.”

“You will! You will.”

You two remained on the top of the jungle gym overlooking the twinkling skyline in each other’s arms. His fingers traced little shapes across your shoulder blades, some recognizable like stars and moons, others a choreography of squiggles. Your arms rested holding his lower back. In the quiet night, miraculously not in fear of being arrested, you could have fallen asleep right there.

Tonight, you witnessed no tears or any evidence of them. No pink cheeks, or stuffy nose, or bloodshot eyes. Progress was here for now, and though it was too early to celebrate, you’d both bask in the little victories.

“I’m so proud of you,” you encouraged.

“Really?” he hummed.

“Of course! Always.”

His throat bobbed, swallowing down emotions that threatened to escape. “It still hurts so much.”

“I know,” you agreed empathetically.

“But the destruction helped.”

“See?” you boasted. “Who’s always right?”

“_____’s always right,” he squeezed, “always right and always kind.”

“And always here for you.” No matter how painful it’d be.

The night ended with slow dancing under the stars. Hand-in-hand and the other his shoulder, you led the steps to the beat of his songs.

–

Jeongin found no comfort that was better than your bed. The second you left for work, just as the sun rose and tinted the condo in blood orange, he’d sneak in and crawl under your duvet. When the softness of linen and the weight of the feather down knocked him out hard and for the first time in a month, he was able to fall into a deep sleep and would make this his routine until work started. His body had never felt so refreshed, even before the break-up. It smelled like you; like cherries, cream, and tonka bean. A scent cocktail that was so warm and sexy it was like he was put under a spell.

When you were kids, your room wasn’t dirty, but it was cluttered after falling into the feminine urge to gather all things shiny and trinkety. Now, he noted, adulthood hadn’t knocked that part of your brain out while still developing your frontal lobe. You didn’t have as many rocks lying around anymore, but your decoration consisted of naked baby toys and other colorful vinyl blind boxes, music albums, movie posters, and pictures of your loved ones.

Jeongin had looked through every picture in your room about a thousand times already, but only had now noticed that he was in almost every single one. Some were just with you and your parents, but even many of those had him in it. He liked the ones in your younger years; going through the gross and oily phases of puberty, matching ice cream-stained camp t-shirts, teenage-year birthdays, and his favorite was the one from prom night. You wore the sparkliest, glitter-sheddinng, not-the-most-flattering silhouette of a gown that many other girls matched in different colors. But he was just as ridiculous; too small in his poorly-tailored suit, sleeves folded, loose matching tie, and a crooked boutonniere. You both refused to do the prom pose because, ew, touching. So, you dabbed instead. Double ick.

If there was a picture with Jisung, he was in it. Minho? With Jeongin. Your girlfriends? Jeongin photobombed it somehow. He may have ruined some of the compositions, but he was your Jeongin, how were you supposed to throw them away?

Jeongin’s parents once asked if he would consider marrying his best friend. Knowing them, they were serious. At the premature age of twenty, he had gagged at the idea of marriage. Not to you specifically, but tied down? Early into his prime years of bachelorhood? No, thanks.

Then, he met Sieun, and thought maybe marriage was meant for him after all. Forever with the one person you loved so dearly, what could be bad about that? But forever meant really forever, not just a few years, or a few decades, it meant ‘til death do you part and into the afterlife, if that was even real. Maybe that’s what scared her. The thought of Jeongin being her soulmate crushed her world; the thought of her not being his soulmate crushed his. So, now he was back to square one, and he’d rather rot in your bed than make any progress.

Snuggled deep in between your plushies and pillows, he held above him a picture of you on your birthday. You were sitting next to him in front of your cake and had buttercream smudged on your nose while he was bent backwards in an evil cackle. He replayed the memory in his mind. You weren’t mad, but you wanted revenge, and shortly after had also smeared some under his nose in a stylish mustache.

In bed, he couldn’t help but snicker. In between sessions of handheld video games, he’d shuffle through more pictures until time passed by too quickly and the day was spent.

“Jesus -” you gasped, clutching your chest as you entered your room. “Yeah, sure, come in.”

“Thanks,” he sang half-heartedly.

“Have you been doing this every day?” He responded by shrugging. “He’s in pain, he’s hurting, and you love him…”

“I don’t like this picture of me.” Jeongin held up a recent one at a dinner party Hyunjin hosted for his condo-warming. His face was unprepared for the picture and his eyes were closed and mouth open. “I’m not even looking at the camera.”

“Yeah, but I look good,” you boasted.

He tossed it to the side of the bed in a pile of likeness dubbed, ‘throw these ones away’. “I like this one in front of the art museum, though.”

“I do, too.”

You hopped next to him on top of the covers, shuffling through the different piles he made. It was clear which ones he liked, disliked, and didn’t care for. “You don’t like this picture of me and Changbin on our graduation day?”

“Am I in it?”

“No?”

“Then, no.”

“You like this one, though?”

It was a solo picture of you on the same day. He found it hidden in a box of other pictures that were either blurry or of you alone at special events or academic and career achievements. You wore your gown and held your cap that was decorated with plastic jewels that spelled, ‘So Done with this B.S.’, high above your head with the brightest smile on your face. Around your neck was a necklace that he got you for your graduation gift: a petite padlock on a simple chain from one of those boutique brands all the girls liked.

This was one of the most important days of your life. You were happy, sunny, and beautiful. Of course he liked this one.

“Meh,” he shrugged. “I guess you look all right in that one.”

You spent the night in bed recalling stories and social media posts of times past with oily take-out from the corner restaurant downstairs. The quiet weeknight was livened by your giggles and ugly snorts and Jeongin couldn’t remember the last time you two did something like this. It lasted until it was too late to care to kick him out of your bed and you both fell asleep covered in film and prints.

If forever meant forever with you, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.

–

Clubbing was a past time that Jeongin probably shouldn’t partake in due to his borderline alcoholism, but when it was for Jisung and Felix’s wombo-combo birthday bash (their words, if you’d even call them such), no one was safe from the heavy pour of Hennessey or bottom-shelf tequila down one’s throat. The weather was still appropriately warm to show off skin, and both you and your roommate took advantage of that, claiming that it was still hot-girl summer and this would be the best time to show off how perfectly fine everything was.

Jeongin rested his chin on your bare shoulder as you stared into the mirror. He had shown his affection more in a physical form after the destruction of his romantic paraphernalia. You should probably set some boundaries… Next time, maybe.

“You might as well go topless,” he teased, poking at your skin-tight top.

His touch tickled and your body stupidly reacted to it more sensitively than any other man who once touched you. “I’m sure you’d like that.”

He neither confirmed nor denied, only nuzzled his curls deeper into the crook of your neck. He styled it in the half-ponytail way you both came to love and work all black, sparkles of silver and pearls adorning his neck. Just as you had barely-there clothing, as did him, exposing hard-earned results of his efforts in the gym. His daytime clothes of soft linens and cottons dyed in innocent shades of blues and oranges matched his aura more than this edgy alter-ego that came out in the presence of alcohol. Soft Jeongin would be in a deep sleep tonight.

“Pearls?” you scoffed. “You slut.”

“Too much?”

“No, but you’re certainly sending the, ‘I’m single and very much looking,’ signal.”

“Perfect!” he shrugged. “When was the last time you went to a pregame, anyways?”

“When did you turn twenty-one?”

“Ok, grandma.”

You threw your hands up in defense. “I’m sorry I am a working woman.”

Skin touched more skin when his arm hooked your neck and dragged you to the door. The closer the taxi approached the condo, Jeongin’s hands more frequently wiped on his pants.

“Do you think she’ll be there?” he asked, sensing your concern.

“I don’t know,” you lied.

A couple weekends before this, you had personally asked the two celebrants to not invite her to the pregame. If they felt so inclined to invite her to the club for the sake of keeping the peace, at least then Jeongin wouldn’t have to be in close proximity and you could drag him away. Jisung was the one who tried to protest, but after begging and bribing them five rounds of drinks on the night-of, he caved in, though claiming he was going to not invite her anyways. He just wanted to see how far you’d go for your ‘beloved “friend.”’

“I need a drink,” he groaned.

“Look at me.” When he wouldn’t, you had to force him by grabbing his bare shoulders. They were much bigger than you remembered. “Say it with me; I am smart, I am sexy, and I am fine.”

“I am smart, I am sexy, and I am fine?”

“I need more gumption, babe. Give me some umph!”

“I am smart, I am sexy, and I am fine.”

“More!”

“I am smart, I am sexy, and I am fine!”

“Yeah!”

“Smart, sexy, fine!”

“Yeaaahh!”

“Let’s drink!”

After tipping the taxi for suffering through your pregame to the pregame, you and Jeongin did more breathing exercises outside their condo to the tune of the hip-hop music inside. All charged up, he opened the door and you stood in awe just how many friends two boys had post-university. The floors were already sticky with juice and liquor, and there was barely room to get to the crowd of people you actually knew. Luckily, Jeongin was tall, and he grabbed your hand to lead you in. This, for some reason, felt more intimate than slow dancing at the park, and that’s when you knew you were embarrassingly touch-starved.

Jisung squeezed himself in between and slung his arms across the shoulders of his close friends. “Long time no see, sugar mama!”

“Hello to you, too, mooch,” you smirked. “Happy birthday, I guess.”

He landed a big wet one on your cheek. “Thanks, babe!”

“Ugh, ew. Where’s the other child?”

“_____! Jeongie!” the deep voice of an Australian boy slurred. He handed you two plastic neon shot cups of brown liquid and no chaser. “Shot o’ Henny! House rules.”

“You disgusting, gross, icky boys…” you groaned.

“C’mere,” Jeongin urged. He twisted his arm around yours so they’d cross, causing your faces to inch closer. His dimples poked his cheeks. “Bottoms up!”

That was the motto of the pregame. One after the other after the other after losing games in humiliating succession made your vision double and made walking feel like you were on a ship. Chan had to catch you not once, but twice, from tripping or bumping into someone. It was as simple as one hand on your waist and pulling you into his chest, to which you so shamelessly placed your hand on when he hugged you close.

“We keep running into each other,” he grinned, biting his bottom lip.

“Must be fate,” you flirted back.

For the second time, Jeongin had to pry you away from the hottest man in the room. Annoyed, you followed anyway, because tonight you were supposed to distract your best friend from falling into a hole filled with existential crisis, not trying to sleep with someone he considered his brother. Still, you shot Chan a hand sign to your ear. ‘Call me!’ you pouted.

“Why would you cockblock me like that?” you whined.

Jeongin didn’t answer right away. He cleared his throat. “It’s time for the club, silly.”

You two shared a sedan with the birthday boys and Minho. One person above the normal limit, but the driver didn’t care and would rather hurry to do the drop-off.

Jisung patted his lap. “Got your seat, sugar mama.”

“No,” you and Jeongin said in simultaneous deadpan.

“Felix, move up,” Jeongin demanded. He man-spread as much as Jisung and Minho allowed, making a small seat in between his legs.

You’d be the first to admit that sometimes you and Jeongin were a little too close to be considered friends; even strangers had mistaken you for a couple once in a while. But you’ve never been close to him like this before. Your hesitation was long enough that Jisung had to yank you into the car. You did your very best to settle in, moving your ass as little as possible, struggling with how you could make this any less awkward and cover the least amount of surface area.

Jisung wrapped Jeongin’s arm tight around your waist and slapped his triceps. “All buckled in!”

As Jisung and Minho yapped each other’s ears off, you and Jeongin remained silent. If you turned to talk to him, your ass would graze his pants, and that was weird, right? Yeah, weird, and it seemed he had a similar thought. The exception was tapping his fingers on your waist to the beat of the radio. His breath tickled the skin on your neck, and your body betrayed you by heating up your face. Touch-starved was an understatement. No, horny was not the right answer; you’d refute it.

You couldn’t have crawled out of the sedan faster. The other boys rushed in to line up at the bar (“Don’t forget what you owe us!” Jisung whispered (yelled)). Behind you, Jeongin scanned the crowd. You followed suit and couldn’t find a beautiful short girl with strawberry blond hair. Ok, this was a good sign. Maybe she wouldn’t come! He let out a breath of relief; or was it disappointment? Regardless, he joined you on the dance floor and weaved between people, dancing against the oontz-oontz.

In this moment, while your veins were half-filled with alcohol and both of your closest friends closed in with over-filled cups, you watched Jeongin forget his woes and sing to the sad up-beat electronic music. A circle would open up in the middle at the peak of the song; Changbin would break dance; Minho and Jisung would body roll; Felix did the worm; and Jeongin would force you into a connected chain reaction of shoulder and arm waves. In these moments, he smiled. Grinned, even; dimples as deep as they could be and eyes twinkling under the neon lights from the DJ.

When the boys dispersed for another drink after a couple of hours of burning calories, you two were left alone again. In those hours, you couldn’t count how many times you made eye contact. After locking eyes again, feeling the highs of euphoria and the lows of heartbreak, he looked like he was going to say something. Then, he broke it, and his face dropped. You didn’t have to turn to see who it was, but like a moth to a flame, you were attracted to the pain.

She greeted Jisung and Felix at the bar on the opposite side of the club. It was too easy to spot her in the dark with her bright hair. She introduced the boys to someone next to her, touching his arm and leaning against him affectionately, making it as clear as the vodka shot in her hand that’s who she was with and he was hers.

How quickly the human heart beats for a lover, just for it to dance to the same rhythm for another.

Jeongin seemed apathetic. Not angry, not sad, and maybe unable to distinguish between if this was the ache of betrayal or the nostalgia of closing a chapter that begged to end.

Speaking of nostalgia, an old EDM song that premiered in your early years of middle school began, the familiar notes from a piano causing the whole club to scream.

You reached out to your soulmate. “You love this song.”

He smiled, eyes tired and filled with sadness, though without the reflection of a pool of stars. “I do love this song.”

You led him to the front where the DJ played Clarity. Lost in the crowd packed like sardines with strangers, you and Jeongin were free to sing out the shadows that slept in your hearts.

“Hot dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life,” you sang at a horribly off-tune. “C’mon, I know you know it!”

“If I fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time,” he sang in perfect key.

“Louder! Hold still right before we crash ‘cause we both know how this ends!”

“A clock ticks ‘til it breaks your glass and I drown in you again.”

You forced your heart to sing its song and it retaliated in waves of tragedy. As your lips stretched to retain the smile, you screamed with the crowd, “‘Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn’t need!”

And he joined in, matching your volume, matching your energy. “Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don’t know why!”

In unison, you threw your heads back, crying into the air at the peak of the song. Like shadows, the crowd mimicked each other with hands curled into fists and hearts raised to the sky. “If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love’s insanity, why are you my clarity?”

“Let’s go!” you cheered.

The beat picked up and the crowd jumped to the chorus. The bass of the song reached your heart and pumped blood through your veins, tired from fighting with rationality. You would take these short five minutes to let go, let your heart confess to the boy in front of you in the form of a 2013 poetic masterpiece. Despite the meaning, the beat was too sick and you couldn’t help but grin from the fun. Jeongin wasn’t one to hide emotions for the sake of saving face, but it was like he forgot why he was screaming as he headbanged his way through the wordless chorus. You both burst into a fit of giggles, blinded by the lasers that cut through the smoke machine.

As the song progressed, the more your bodies pressed together. Side by side, mixing sweat with sweat, you both screamed at the DJ the second verse and would turn to each other again for the iconic bridge. His dimples carved into his perfect skin and this would be a core memory you’d lock away forever despite the molotov cocktail of despair that ignited in your gut.

The line you screamed to your best friend was the one that branded itself into your whole being. It was the one line he refused to sing.

“You are the piece of me I wish I didn’t need!”

He didn’t continue the pattern of bouncing off lines from each other. He stopped jumping, brows furrowed in a way that concerned you more than it concerned him.

“What?” you paused.

Jeongin closed the gap between your bodies. Surrounded by violent waves of people, you blocked them out within the bubble, unable to hear the song anymore. His hands cupped your cheeks. Your mind registered a second too late that he was wiping something with his thumbs. It felt wet and warm, freshly flowing on your numb face.

His hands left your face and found your arms. You watched as he wrapped them around his neck and his dropped to your waist. The strength of his grip was desperate and longing, filling an emptiness that physically you could replace, but lovingly couldn’t replicate. You begged your body to step away, to run out and find Chan or anyone else; to go home even, but tonight your heart controlled your mind and overwrote the command. This was what you wanted, what you needed, what you dreamed of since secondary school. To be in the arms of the one you loved fulfilled the one level on the hierarchy of needs, but was a threat to the one below it. Your body was struggling to respond to its fight-or-flight, understanding that you had long crossed the thin line between friend and lover long ago with a size thirteen shoe, but it had betrayed you and glued your heels to the sticky dance floor.

Why was Clarity the longest fucking song in the world?

The smell of his pink peppercorn and cedar hit your senses and brought you back to life. You felt his forehead against yours, nose touching nose, his breath tickling your lips, and saw his eyes float between them and your now dry eyes.

“Why?” was all you could muster against his lips.

He answered by swallowing your words. You never understood the comparison of the softness of rose petals until you felt his. You kissed him shyly, waiting for him to pull away in a shocking realization of regret and prepared for the aftermath. But when you wouldn’t respond how he wanted, he pressed harder, moving his lips hungrily and mouth open and welcoming to receive. Your tongues danced and tasted the bitterness of tonight’s drinks, old lovers, and repressed confusion. But it felt good; so, so good. To be the one he wanted for once, whether it was real or for convenience, was an opportunity you pathetically couldn’t pass.

And your heart, how it soared! With wings made of wax, you were high above the clouds, tangling yourself with him and exchanging euphoric hums. But your dreams were sculpted by Daedalus and delusion was the sun, and though you wished to remain here forever, your wings began to melt and reality wouldn’t be kind enough to soften the fall.

When you broke for air in the middle of the next song, you felt pressure rise in your nose and eyes as a million tears collected. You knew this wasn’t what he wanted; or rather, you weren’t what he wanted. He wanted the same memory, the same cry of song, the same touch, the same kiss, the same taste of breath; just not yours. He wanted hers. You knew in the deepest corner of your heart that he imagined holding her instead and that her breath was the one he’d breath in. In the ideal scenario, you’d be out by the perimeter watching your best friend win back the woman of his dreams and he’d hold her so tightly, afraid that she would drown in the crowd. You were meant to be his biggest fan, not his greatest love.

“Why?” you cried again.

He shook his head. “I just thought -”

“This isn’t right.” But you wished it was.

Outside, the busy streets in the middle of the night were deafened by the bass and proximity to the DJ. It was a miracle you heard the honk of a nearby taxi that’d take you home.

No, you wouldn’t confess to your best friend in a club downtown. No, you wouldn’t confess any other time regardless of circumstance. This was a secret the recipient of an unrequited love was supposed to bury with them to their grave because it was the deepest sin committed between two best friends. As long as you didn’t confess, the bond wasn’t severed and the damage could be repaired. That’s how it was supposed to work, anyways.

For the night, you’d lock yourself in your room. You’d close off any and all avenues in order to protect and repair the critical condition of your heart. So much of it had been chipped away and given in pieces to fill the gaps that Jeongin was missing, but now he was confusing kindness for love and familiarity with feeling whole. How would you get back the pieces of yourself you so willingly gave up? Would your heart know to create those pieces into something new, or would it reject anything that came in its place that wasn’t from him?

You arrived home and washed away the sins until your skin burned from all the scrubbings. The sky was cloudy tonight as you looked outward into the lively streets of young adults who could party until the sun snuck above the horizon. The stars wouldn’t show themselves tonight.

Would Scorpio and Lupus be there tomorrow?

–

When your door handle wouldn’t give, Jeongin gave up and retreated to his room some time after 3:00 AM. He laid in bed and hated the feeling of his bed sheets. They weren’t as soft and they didn’t envelope him in a blanket of clouds as yours did. Though the ceiling color was the same as yours, in a sense, it still wasn’t the same, as he was in his own room and not where he belonged.

You had burned into his soul. The way your lips felt, the way your tongue swirled, the way your hands pulled him in, was the answer of how much you yearned for him. He was no stranger to signs of affection. No friend would do all of this with their heart in platonic mode. You didn’t look at him the way Felix or Chan or the others did. You, with your softened eyes and gentle touch, had him in your heart, for the Gods only know how long.

Jisung was the one to kick him out of the club and kick what little sense was left in him. “Go after her, you idiot!”

His lips were tingly. The feeling of your hands through his hair, fingers gentle and tracing the map to your heart, was carved into his scalp. His tongue swiped across his lips, lonely and aching to have another taste.

You infected him. You forced poison down his throat that made him unable to sleep, torturing him with a recording of your body pressed on his. He blamed you for how it planted itself and festered into something more salacious; a similar scenario, with tangled limbs and messy hair, but in the privacy of your bedroom and much less clothing.

In the days that followed, you pretended that night never happened, but something changed. Your responses were shorter, your cheeks were pinker, you couldn’t hold eye contact without faltering to his lips, you wore baggier clothes, and couldn’t even spend more than fifteen minutes in the same room without having to leave to ‘get water’ or ‘go to the bathroom’.

Why, for the love of all the Gods, hadn’t you confessed yet? Isn’t that the rational next step?

“Why would she?” Minho snorted while kicking his feet up on your coffee table. Jeongin would wipe that down later.

“Why wouldn’t she?” he repeated.

“You understand you live here, too, right?”

“So…”

“So… isn’t that weird? What are you going to say? ‘Cool, I’m still not over Sieun though, sowwy. Can I still live here, though’?”

“But I am!”

“Yeah, right.”

“I swear. Seeing her with that guy… sure, it sucked ass, but I don’t know. No one ever likes to see their ex with someone else.”

“No one likes taking care of someone they love who loves someone else, either.”

Jeongin pulled the string on his hoodie and hid inside. “I just feel like a confession would get rid of all this tension -”

“Sexual tension.”

“Regular tension.”

“And change the trajectory of your friendship and lives forever, so much so that the stars would misalign and chaos would ensue. Just as the prophecy foretold,” Minho rolled his eyes. “You know what, Jeongin, you’re right - _____ should confess her undying love to her best friend of over a decade who just broke up with the first love of his life after they made out on the dance floor to fucking Clarity, of all the damn EDM songs in the world, and then all would be normal, right? Nothing good has ever come out of tongue dueling to an EDM song.”

“I don’t need your sass…”

“Yes, you do, because you’re acting like an idiot. I don’t care what Jisung says, he’s too much of a loverboy. Think rationally, here; she’s not going to confess to someone who she knows doesn’t feel the same way. It’s that simple.”

Love was an infectious disease and Jeongin didn’t have the proper antibodies to defend himself against your poison. His heart, his mind, and his body were firing alert signals to each other whenever he saw you. His body would block them when you came home in your work-out clothes; his mind couldn’t focus whenever you spoke to him; and his heart wrenched when your smile didn’t match your eyes.

“Earth to Jeongin!” you snapped, waving in front of his face.

“Hm?” he asked, pretending your chest wasn’t in his face. His mind did a double-take when it registered your outfit.

“I said I’m going out for the night. So, you know, don’t light my home on fire.”

“Out where?”

Your back stiffened. “On a date.”

–

When Minho hit you up during your lunch break on a Friday afternoon, you were half expecting him to ask when the meeting was with the developers. The other half was not expecting a proposition.

“I don’t date co-workers,” you deadpanned.

“Not me, genius,” he scoffed. “A friend.”

“I’m not interested in Jisung.”

“How we got promoted at the same time is beyond me. I have other friends!”

“Do they look like Chan?”

“Sadly, no. They don’t look like Jeongin, either.”

Since the clubbing-turned-friendship-destroying wombo-combo, Minho made it his mission to terrorize you about it every working hour, either in person or over Teams with kissing, tongues, and eggplant emojis. Each time, you couldn’t suppress the burning on your face and in your chest. Your showers had to be ice cold for you to not remember how his hands gripped your waist and to forget how warm his tongue was around yours. At work, you often found yourself dazed, looking out at young couples that passed the streets below, daydreaming about kissing Jeongin again every time a couple would kiss at the stop light before crossing the road, or kiss each other goodbye, or just because.

You were sick with the lovebug and there was no remedy available. What made Minho think a date would work?

“No,” you said.

“Come on, _____! Live a little!”

“No!”

“So you’re saving yourself for a man who only kissed you because he felt sorry for you.”

If anyone was going to tell you the hard truth, it would be him. That didn’t make it hurt any less. “You think I can’t get over him.”

“I know you can’t.”

“That’s not fair. I didn’t ask for this.”

“You wanted it.”

“Of course I did, so what?!”

“You need to either move on and forget it happened, or fuck each other and see where it takes you. Which would you rather tell Jeongin?”

Minho was brash, but he was right, in a sense. If you couldn’t feel comfortable in your own home, you’d be drained of all life and cease to exist, living as a hollow body that went to work and came home to sleep. But was moving on or sleeping with your best friend truly the only two options?

Maybe you were an idiot. “Not a date. A drink.”

“Same thing. I’ll set it up tonight.”

“Tonight?!”

“Take it or leave it.”

There was some satisfaction in the way Jeongin’s face twisted when you admitted to a date. Yes, you put on your tightest clothes; yes, you put on your favorite perfume; and yes, you weren’t wearing a bra. All of which Jeongin realized, based on the path his eyes traveled.

“A date,” he muttered. “With whom?”

“I don’t know. Minho set it up for me.”

“Minho?” he sneered, then shook his head. “And you’re going?”

You swallowed the lump in your throat. “Yes.”

“Don’t.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t go.”

“Jeongin -”

He stood from his seat on the couch. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I can’t -” you stuttered, unable to form the words you wanted to say in order. “I’m going.”

He blocked your path to the door. “I think we should talk.”

“About what?”

“About that night.”

“Now?” you scoffed. “Right now?”

“Yes.”

“This is something I want to do. Please,” you begged, “let me go.”

“I think you don’t want to go.”

“You don’t know what I think.”

“I think I do.”

“Well, you’re wrong.” The familiar sting on your nose returned. “You don’t know anything.”

“I think -” he paused, voice caught in his throat. “I know what I felt from you that night.”

“You know,” you chuckled bitterly. “You know what, exactly?”

“I felt you. I felt ten years of frustration, of anger, of-of desire, of everything that is both good and bad -”

“Jeongin -”

“How can you say that I didn’t feel how your heart beat against mine, how your lips pressed deeper -”

“Stop -”

“No!” he cried out. “I won’t stop! I can't! I-I need to know.”

“Are you asking for something? Are you looking for an answer that you already know?”

“Yes!”

“Why?!”

“Theories can be proven wrong.”

“But why does it matter?”

His voice cracked and he couldn’t manage to look you in your glossy eyes. “We need to lay everything on the table for this to work.”

“What’s not broken doesn’t need to be fixed.”

“But it is broken! Everything’s broken! It’s all a shattered mess of pieces that don’t fit together and we need to repair what’s broken when it’s all laid out in front of us.”

“Why?” you stuttered. “Why tonight? Tonight, of all nights, when I have something that’ll make me forget about that night for just a couple of hours?”

Jeongin couldn’t answer. It could have happened any night. But the game of life threw in a time-sensitive prompt that changed the whole plot. The fact that you wanted to forget, but couldn’t, might be the only confession he’d get.

“I can’t keep revolving my life around you,” you whispered. “I can’t keep loving you the way I do and maintain the friendship you need from me.”

There it was, the confession he was looking for, but not in the way he expected you to admit. He thought you’d do so while looking at the ground, hiding your smile the way you would act shyly, and maybe it’d be a little embarrassing. But as you stood before him, you were standing strong, refusing to break eye contact, with tears streaming down and dripping from your chin. It was in a way that begged for him to see you for how you really felt; like he was ripping your heart from your chest with his bare hands.

Your hands curl into fists in an effort to stop the tears. “If I lay the pieces of my heart on the table, I can’t take them back.”

He stepped closer. “Why not?”

You stepped back. “Because I won’t be able to put myself back together.”

“I’m here. I was made for you; to help keep you together.”

“Not in the way I want. In the way I need.”

“Yes, yes to both!” Jeongin grabbed tissues to dab the tears from your precious face, as if your skin was coated in porcelain. “I want to make this work.”

“This friendship.”

“No.”

“I am not her!” your voice cracked. “I am not her and I can’t fill in for the gap she left behind.”

“I don’t want her. I want you.”

You still couldn’t accept it. It just didn’t make sense. You were made to care for him from afar, not stand by his side. “You don’t mean that. You had ten years. Ten years! It only changed because, what, you're desperate for touch and you're going after the easiest catch? It's pathetic. You're pathetic!”

Your sharp tongue was your greatest weapon, but Jeongin was left unscathed. You were hurting and had a decade's worth of hardened shells that were crumbling in front of him. Yes, this was all too sudden, and it didn't make sense, but he was losing you and he'd rather break you down into a million pieces and deal with the puzzle later if it meant you'd stay.

“_____,” he whispered. He pressed his forehead against yours as if the closeness would allow you to read his mind and hear his heart scream. “I can't stop thinking about you.”

You sucked in a breath. Those words felt like a spell that lit your body in flames. Your mind said to run, but your body and heart had overruled. You tilted your head and your noses touched. “What if this doesn’t work?”

“Theories were tested repeatedly to be deemed true.”

“Tested a lot of times.”

“A billion times.”

“That takes a very long time.”

“I’ll take forever with you,” he breathed on your lips. “If you’ll have me.”

Your iron grip on his sweater would surely leave a mark later, but you were too afraid to let go, too afraid that this moment was a dream and he’d disappear if you faltered. “I was yours for ten years. I’ve been waiting to have you.”

One soft kiss. “I took too long.”

Another, more needy, kiss. “You can make it up to me later.”

And another, one that mimicked the hunger from that night. “Now.”

“Hm, I don’t know… I have a date, remember?”

“Yeah, with me in your bed.”

Your giggles echoed throughout the condo when Jeongin threw you over his shoulder and ran to your room.

And so your heart soared again. Above the ether was the unknown, in the mythical heavens and forbidden territory. But you'd get there together, while your arms tangled with his and noses rubbing affectionately as your breaths combined in between long and slow kisses under your (and his) blankets.

The fine line you once refused to cross bent and folded with your bodies.

–

EPILOGUE

“Yo,” Minho greeted the phone.

“Hey, I don’t think I can make it tonight -”

“She’s sick!” Jeongin interrupted.

“Oh, shit, I forgot about that. Well, thank God!” Minho sighed.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, that was a lie.”

“What the hell/What the actual hell is wrong with you?” you and Jeongin yelled in disbelief.

“Because Jeongin is a possessive simpleton and _____ is a cheap date. Did my master plan work, or not?”

“Well, yes, but -”

“My work here is done, bye!” Minho hung up.

#yang jeongin #jeongin #yang jeongin fic #jeongin fic #skz #stray kids #skz fic #stray kids fic #i had to tw song lyrics cuz i have never gotten a writing ick so bad in my LIFE #TO THAT SONG OF ALL SONGS TOO #but it was fOr tHe pLOt

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cher-rei · 7 months ago

Text

afterglow pt- 13 [ T.A.A ]

pairings: trent alexander arnold x fem!reader

summary: young and aspiring marketing and business major jamie carter (you) is privileged with working alongside the liverpool marketing and public relations team while also getting entangled with their star player and right back, trent alexander arnold.

genre(s): friends to lovers, fluff, slowish?? burn and just a good time

[wc: 5.3k] afterglow masterlist

notes: rahhhhhh!!!

spamjam._.

liked by liverpoolfc and 3 244 225 others

spamjam._. may 24th anyone? [tagged: taylorhinds]

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taylorhinds 👀💜 [liked by spamjam._.]

liverpoolfc collab of the century I fear

→ spamjam._. if you know, you know 🤞🏻

user collab?? are they doing a photoshoot together or something?

→ user probably, you know how jamie is and her random promo photoshoots for brands 😭

→ user take back to the adidas shoot last year omw

→ user life was so much easier back then

virgilvandijk oh, so you were serious? 😂

→ spamjam._. I had a 10 hour board meeting yesterday for this. don't test my commitment 🙄

trentarnold66 she's a baller 🥵 [liked by spamjam._.]

harvelliot LET'S GO!! COUNT YOUR DAYS ON THAT PITCH

fía.messi bro has me flying over for this 😭 [liked by spamjam._.]

→ spamjam._. I couldn't get your dad so I had to settle for the next best thing (and mateo is only 10 so I had to choose you 😔)

"what's the date today?"

"the 23rd," laura answered promptly and went back to typing something on her laptop while the rest of your media team carried on with their personal tasks in the meeting room.

you stood at the whiteboard in front— a black marker in one hand and your ipad in the other as you wrote out and marked certain dates down and finalised a few things.

"okay." you tapped the marker on your chin and took a step back from the board, gaining everyone's attention. "those pictures are up for the efl final, but I'm going to need a date for next week for my meeting with the set designers and stylists because I have a few ideas for the launch."

sienna, another member of your media team was quick to check her calender, her email set up on her desktop. "you're good for march 4th if we're set to release the shoot may 7th."

you bit the inside of your cheek as you thought for a moment. "put it down. I'd also like an update on the news for the boss' special collection and," you wrote down something under the title national duty. "I need the flags ordered asap."

the room fell silent after that, everyone in their own headspace while the sound of keyboards clicking sounded through the room. you wanted to make next season's kit release a big one, the board giving you three words to ride off of and the mock design for the kit a few months ago.

you quite liked the tribute to the design and after consulting a few close professionals (sophia and alexandra) there was an idea of what you were going for. the idea of a more sophisticated look and aesthetic ran through your mind, the question of how would you style the jersey yourself playing a role.

"moped," you blurted which got you a few strange looks. "I want a moped for the shoot."

logan, who was silent for most the of the meeting eyed you for a second. "like the scooter?"

"the bike from that one disney movie?" laura followed and pulled up her pinterest page, moving her laptop to show you and you nodded, writing it down under the kit launch column on the board.

"I want it in red and maroon and see if they can get the jersey design on it," you said while tieing up your hair because this was oh so obviously only the beginning of the meeting.

you had been so busy the past few hours, confined between four walls that the only sunlight you were getting was the light emitting from the passage through the simgular glass wall of your meeting room that overlooked the second floor. your phone was probably buzzing with messages from clara asking you when you were free for your lunch break but that was the last of your worries.

but eventually something caught your attention from the corner of your eye as you stood in front of your team, going over some extra details. "the videographers are working on it currently so all we nee--"

you paused mid-sentence, the glimpse of a figure strolling past the room catching your attention for a moment. "uhm, all we need is to check if..."

they walked past again, only this time at a pace that was definitely noticeable. normally you would've disregarded trent's childish behaviour in the middle of work but everyone was growing agitated and needed a break.

you flicked your attention from your team to trent who was strolling along with his hands in his pockets, only to come back a second time, then a third until your team gradually noticed him. your lips drew into a thin line as he sent them a small wave, pretending to be busy.

"okay, everyone we can take a break." you set the markers down, their thankful sighs of relied making you laugh. "I'll see you in 45, okay?"

the seven of your team members flooded out the door in no time, leaving you alone while trent waited until they were out of sight to finally enter the room. he walked up you the whiteboard beside you, trying to act as if he knew what any of the writing meant while you continued to joy a few things down.

"don't try anything, the walls are literally made of glass," you said unbothered without taking your attention off of the work in front of you.

from beside you trent mocked an expression of hurt, offended that you'd accuse him of coming here just to do something. "I wasn't going to. I came here because I just happened to be walking by after our gym session," he answered, the lie dripping off his tongue effortlessly and you gave him a look.

you didn't respond, instead becoming immersed in your work once again. the marker in your hand moved between the spaces of your fingers, a pout forming on your lips as you concentrated.

don't get him wrong, trent found it extremely attractive that you were in your element— your hair messily tied up, the marker in your hand spinning between your fingers and the look of determination on your face made him crazy. but he was just a man after all and wanted to spend some time with his... free trial user.

with a sigh he sat down at the desk, spinning aimlessly on the chair to try and cure his boredom. he hated this— referring to the lack of privacy in the room because the blinds were open. suddenly, he perked up at the sound of your voice, but to his dismay, you weren't talking to him and were on the phone with someone he didn't care about.

"yes, I'd like to keep them neutral but you can have a selection and we can test them out on the day of the shoot," you said and hurried back to the whiteboard to write something down.

the sound of the marker squeaking on the board made trent cringe, that and he wished that you'd just sit down for one second. when the call ended, you felt the his eyes on you, a look of judgement perhaps? but what did he expect? you were at work and had to get things done.

"someone's cranky," you joked while flipping through a binder.

he threw his head back with a scoff. "well yeah, you're not even looking at me. you probably don't even care that I'm here right now."

really now? you rolled your eyes at his exaggeration, a smile dancing on your lips. "a lot needs to be done before the end of the month unfortunately and I'm kind of in charge of that." you scrunched your nose at the last part, the feeling of admitting that you were in charge sending a weird surge through your body.

tent pursed his lips, his look softening at the way you continued to flip through the binder, mumbling to yourself about not finding something. "I know but--"

"--there aren't any 'buts'." you put your hands on your hips, sending him a stern look to showcase your point. "you're supposed to be focusing on recovering. it's already an issue that you won't be playing sunday, we need you fit for the last few games of the season at least."

the room fell silent again, slight tension building up but you didn't care because it was the truth. it wasn't just him— it was curtis, darwin, mo and dominik as well. a few of their most crucial players were injured and unfortunately that make their chances of winning slimmer. and as excited as everyone was to play on sunday— the kids included even if they only got about five minutes of playtime, but this was still a final.

the coaching staff was agitated, virgil didn't know how if the chelsea squad were going to put up a fight and the injured players were beating themselves up. it wasn't an easy time for anyone right now, but they needed to focus. and right now, it seemed that trent wasn't getting the message.

it was unlike him, and you could see from the way that his leg anxiously bounced up and down that he knew that. so as much as you needed to reprimand him and remind him of what needed to be done, you could also tell that he wasn't okay.

with a sigh, you put down your things and went to lock the office door and close the blinds. the room was encapsulated in slight darkness again, prompting you to switch on the overhead lights that weren't needed earlier on.

trent remained quiet though, even when you came to sit down on the table in front of him. you looked down at him, the footballer leaning back in the chair.

"talk to me, what's bothering you?" your voice was laced with genuine worry and it made him ease into his seat further.

"nothing's wrong. I just wanted to see you but I guess it's a bad time." he plainly shrugged his shoulders, a look of mock dismissal on his face.

you quirked an eyebrow at his answer. "that's the worst lie you could've come up with right now." despite your targeted response you gently took his hand into yours and prompted him to speak. "is it because you're benched for the rest of the month?"

"yes and no," he said, looking up at you. "yes because I let the team down when they need all the help they can get. this is important to all of us and ever since my stupid knee happened I've been acting up."

he didn't need to mention it, but he was referring to the match against burnley where he was subbed off at halftime. you knew that it took a toll on his confidence, both on and off the pitch. there wasn't much you could do unfortunately besides comfort him.

"don't look at me like that," he groaned and leant forward to rest his head on your thigh, the embarrassment sinking in. "I sound so emotional, my ego is buried six feet under right now."

you stifled a laugh at his retort and let your hands run gently up and down his back. "it's okay. I'll ask harvey to pick it up for you, it's not a problem for him."

trent couldn't help but laugh, the feeling of his fingers trialing your thigh sent a shiver through your body. the two of you held that position for a bit longer, the feeling of being near each other enough to ease your respective anxiety.

"you're going to get better okay?" you said softly and he hummed in response. "whatever happens, happens but you need to do what you can. that's all that matters, so for now you're going to be the best bench warmer ever and support your team."

it was the day of the efl final and the team was ready— standing ready with their mascots at their sides in the tunnel that you were running through to make some last minute checks.

maya messaged earlier on in the day to say that they'd be at the match today and you couldn't wait to see them again after such a long time, especially alex who was apparently extremely excited to be here.

today more than ever you wore your liverpool jersey proudly only to be called out for wearing it by a familiar face. you just finished wishing the team goodluck when a chelsea player caught your attention in the line beside you.

you eyes rolled at the sound of the voice but you turned to look at him nonetheless, the smile on your lips slightly forced. "colwill."

levi put out his hand for you to take into a friendly handshake, a cheeky smile on his face as he looked you up and down. "It's always weird to see you in anything other than blue. you switching sides for the day?"

the backhanded comment was obviously a joke, it was natural for the two of you to have banter like this despite the fact that it had been years since you last talked to each other. from the line beside you, harvey was shamelessly watching the back and forth.

it made no sense to him that you always knew someone. in every situation and match of theirs, there was always someone that you knew.

you scrunched your nose at levi, not liking the idea of wearing a chelsea jersey. "we'll leave those blue days of mine at the academy thanks. good luck for today though, you're going to need it."

levi stifled a laugh at your goodbye and watched as you left the tunnel, old memories flooding back but never staying.

"academy?" harvey asked out loud, not meaning for levi to hear but he did and nodded. when he told harvey that you played for the chelsea academy before you left london it raised some intrigue amongst the reds on his side.

judging by their facial expressions he could tell that it wasn't something you liked to talk about. "she got called up a bunch of times for the first team but never took the offer. first time around she was 15."

there was no other reaction from harvey other than an irritated groan, his head shaking to the side as they started to make their way out of the tunnel. "she's lived 100 lives I'm telling you."

from behind him, andy hurriedly shushed him, the laugh barely staying inside because of the strange encounter. but harvey was right— it felt like you've lived 100 lives because there was a piece of you everywhere, a piece of you imprinted within the memory of so many people.

"the carter effect," harvey mumbled to himself with slight distaste as he stood in his position on the pitch waiting for the whistle to blow.

agonising. that's how you'd describe the first of the match. it was like a game of tennis— back and forth but the team was showing resilience against chelsea and their 10 man defence strategy. the man to man marking made you want to scream, because this was not the strategy of a team that knew that they were going to win.

"fucking cowards," you muttered under your breath and jayden danns— one of the kids who were newer to the first team bench, gave you a look.

feeling his judgemental gaze on your side you looked at him with widened eyes, gesturing to the pitch. "it's the truth. you can't play football like this, it's disgraceful."

from the seat beside you, bobby clark, another one of the children (as you liked to call them) spoke up and asked you about how long the chelsea squad could play defence. there wasn't a definite answer on your side as you sat with your hand on your chin in thought.

eventually, it had all the kids in thought, all five of the boys that you were looking after watching with determined eyes to see if there was a break in chelsea's defence.

"the only forward who they're expecting to score is palmer," james said and you scoffed, the rest of the bench chiming in to talk about cole palmer's recent performance and how it's been saving chelsea a ton.

spamjam._. added to their story!

amongst the chatter, you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. the name that popped up on your notification center made you smile— trent who was sitting in the stands with the rest of the injured players.

the last few minutes of the first half played out in a way that had your blood boiling. conor who was starting in trent's position today was playing exceptionally well for his first official start for the team, but someone else saw that as a threat apparently.

one shove from ben chilwell on conor had you out of your seat in an instant. the two players managed to fall on top of each other because of conor's honest tackle, and ben chilwell saw it as a challenge for something more.

seconds away from half time and a fight was about to break out and naturally the liverpool players tried to stop it, with a few players feeling provoked (cody and harvey). luckily it was broken up before anyone got seriously hurt, but by then you were already on the touchline alongside jurgen waiting to jump in.

the half-time whistle blew and you watched with distaste as they walked into the tunnel. instead of going up to the press room like you normally would, you decided to take a quick trip into the stands where the injured players were. you were alone today, and for another 4 months because clara was officially on maternity leave.

she was nearly 5 months into her pregnancy, but you still couldn't get behind your stupidity and not noticing any sooner. the signs were blatantly obvious but you thought it was normal— the loose clothing, strange cravings and her mood swings were nothing out of the ordinary.

she was doing well though, and was staying with her parents for the time being or at least until the season was over so that she could go back home with mason. at least she had stability, that's what mattered most.

"nice of you to visit us," curtis sarcastically greeted as you stood on the outside of the barricade. "I see the boys are treating you well."

it was clear that he was mocking you so you flashed him a tight lip smile. what the kids were doing was asking you questions about anything that came to mind— why you decided to work in marketing? was it true that you and trent were dating? (which you denied obviously)? who would win in a fight, a shark or a tiger? and funny enough you recalled jobe asking you the same question a while ago.

"a shark or a tiger?" he asked with a challenging smile.

your eyebrows furrowed and you looked at jude next to you, who shared the same expression of confusion. "well where's the fight happening?" you asked jobe who made it clear that he didn't like the follow up question.

he pulled a face at you, "what do you mean where's the fight?"

his question left you and jude speechless, his older brother trying to prompt his understanding of the situation further but jobe was stubborn and didn't care about the logistics of the scenario.

"it depends on where the fight is," jude said and you nodded. "they live in different environments entirely so it matters."

jobe rolled his eyes at the question, almost as of it were ridiculous. his shoulders tensed up and he leant forward on the chair he was sitting on. "yeah, but who would win the fight, this isn't about the environment."

you stifled a laugh, in further disbelief. "jobe where is the fight? where is it happening?"

"that's not the point!"

you couldn't stay to chat long to trent's dismay. he couldn't even hold your hand and the look of despair on his face said it all. but you agreed on keeping it on the low, no physical contact in public because there were always cameras around.

you flashed him a smile and waved before heading back to the bench just in time. a sigh of exhaustion leaving your lips at the thought of another 45 minutes of back and forth.

it was around the 60' minute when something built up, having you on the edge of your seat and holding your hands together in prayer and desperation until the ball finally hit the back of the net. however your rejoice didn't last long because once again, the referee was checking for offside.

you stood with your hands in the air in shock, utter hatred for the decision alone. "that wasn't offside at all! what the fuck kind of decision is this?"

the rage and irritation in your tone only grew when the referee called it, your scream drowning out in the sea of groans from the supporters. if it wasn't for james then you probably would have gone up to the stewards yourself to complain.

this was nothing new for the team though, and it was evident in their unimpressed expressions as they got back into position again. you carried on complaining for quite a bit after that— if there was one thing that you hated, then it was cheaters and liars. there was no reason to call the goal offside.

not too far away in the stands trent had his attention on you, an amused smile dancing on his lips as you complained to the other players on the bench— exaggerating your movements and explaining further, your blood boiling.

curris noticed him watching and teasingly nudged his arm. "talk about passionate."

he was right, your passion for the sport was never something you tried to minimise or hold back and that was something that trent found extremely attractive. you were always standing along the touchline with your hands on your head in distraught or leaping from your seat when they scored.

this was a first for trent— his past girlfriends who attended his games usually sat in the family booth and watched from afar, possibility not knowing what was actually happening on the pitch. but the idea of having you so close to him on the once place that he felt the most at home made his heart race.

close, both literally and figuratively— you'd be on the touchline, at most of his games because it was your job but also because you shared the passion for the sport and that meant more than anything to him. the fact that he could share what made him whole, with his partner.

"saffie's at home watching peacefully," curtis then shook his head as he watched you talk to conor who was subbed off, probably complaining again. "and this beast is picking a fight with the stewards."

trent stifled a laugh at his retort, stopping himself to try and listen in on what you were telling conor who was nodding along.

"exactly! I would have thrown him to the floor, conor. you're weak my boy." you pat him on the shoulder reassuringly, causing curtis to throw his head back in laughter.

20 minutes and two yellow cards later, the score was still tied at 0-0. the thought of the match falling into added time made you nauseous, because at the rate anything could happen. with a hand on your forehead you sunk further into your seat, all hope lost as the kids put on their jerseys.

"save us. please." your voice was meek and desperate causing the three of them to laugh, watching as the sub board went up. "I believe in you!"

when the final whistle blew for a short break before the added extra time you got up from your seat and paced up and down to loosen the tension in your legs. jurgen was huddled with the team, strategizing but you weren't too sure what he could possible be telling them.

personally you would have told them to break the chelsea players' legs. or at least try and play a bit rougher but there was nothing you could do except sit and watch. the kids were doing well luckily, and you did a headcount oh how many of them were on the pitch.

4. there were 4 first team players on that pitch and the rest were the club's academy kids going up against a full cheslea squad in a cup final. it was jaw dropping to witness this in person.

when jurgen came over for some water you asked him what the strategy was, to which he just shrugged with a smile. "I told them to have fun. just kick the ball until it hits the back of the net."

you blinked up at him for a moment, the answer a surprise to you but it made sense. there was nothing better that could have been done, so instead you started to pray and manifest, begging the universe for a goal or at least an opportunity.

with your lips pursed you looked up to the timer above the pitch, the big 116 mocking the players on the pitch. there was 4 minutes left and chelsea's management decided that it was a good time to make a substitution. obviously it was to waste time, but even then it was a stupid idea.

the players on the pitch were out of breath, virgil had swear dripping down his forehead and a look of complete exhaustion hiding behind his blank stare. what a way to make people suffer.

it wad the last corner of the match probably and tsimikas was up to take it. naturally you got up again seeing as this was probably going to penalties which you were confident enough in.

with hopeless eyes your eyes followed the ball as it crossed into the penalty area where the players were showing each other, trying to make way for a header. the stadium held it's breath, everyone's hope deep in the dirt until virgil managed to get a touch on the ball just enough that it successfully hit the back of the net.

it happened so quickly but the adrenaline eventually kicked in and you were being pulled into a hug from jurgen. on the other end of the pitch, virgil was sprawled on the floor, the boys surrounding him and laying beside him. it was all over once the final whistle blew seconds later and you heard the bustling noise from behind you.

darwin came running down the steps, pushing curtis to the side as he leapt over the barricade and onto the pitch in excitement with the staff. it was all too much, the overwhelming feelings of anxiety and excitement whirling inside of you.

you were left speechless, nothing more to say than. "how the fuck?"

the celebration was nothing short of heartwarming, but the feeling of watching the chelsea players leaving the stadium without saying a word was a better feeling.

"maybe you should actually try and score next time," you said with a teasing smile directed at levi who was heading towards you up the stairs with the rest of his team. "instead of standing as if you were the great wall of china."

all he did was shake his head and gave you a friendly pat on the shoulder as be walked past, before quickly turning back. "I still think you look better in blue though."

you stifled a laugh, not bothering to answer and instead made your way to the pitch where the banner was set up to take a few pictures before they came down to sing the anthem with their proudly adorned medals and trophy.

while they did all that you made a quick run up to stands, eagerly minding your way until maya, noah and alex were in the clear. the excitement on alex's face was enough for you, a proud feeling of warmth spreading through your chest.

"how was it buddy? did you have fun?" you asked and pulled him into a tight hug.

the younger boy nodded happily, going on about how scared he was and how he really wanted ice cream during the match because it was "super intense". when the time came you bid them goodbye and headed back down to take some pictures.

a fond smile formed on your face at the sight of the academy players, the group immediately making their way over to you with their medals and bombarding you with excited comments.

"I can't believe I nearly scored twice," jayden said with widened eyes, still in disbelief as he held up two fingers. "that's more than once and I just got here."

"which means that you better score soon, the season is nearly over." you lightly punched his arm, the group of academy players following you through the crowd of staff on the pitch.

once again james forced a sarcastic laugh, looking to jayden with his eyes narrowed. "well I just got here too and got booked 3 minutes in. I literally breathed."

not long after that, the photographers called all the academy players together for a group photograph and you took a step back and watched. but your attention was promptly caught by trent leisurely strolling beside dominik and mo.

with a smile you waved him over and suggested that he joined the picture since he was an academy graduate as well. he wasn't too sure at first but he eventually cut in.

after a few pictures your eyes squinted. "what's he doing here?" your question was directed at harvey who was seated on the floor, his face melted in irration as you spoke to him.

"I could ask you the same thing," he shot back and you nearly responded but the group dispersed, everyone going their own way as the celebration wrapped up.

naturally, you joined trent in his little stroll but made sure there was enough space between the two of you so no suspicion would be raised.

even though you were talking normally for the most part, it physically pained him that he couldn't even hold your hand. he gap between your bodies made him cringe, and what made it worse was that this was the first time that he's ever felt this needy or desperate to be close to someone.

but as you were talking to him now, the stadium still full of supporters while you stood in the middle of it all, he felt the desperation panging at his chest.

"bro are you seriously zoning out again?" you asked with a sigh. "this is the fourth time today-- and yes I'm counting."

"well sorry." he lifted his hands into the air in defence. "It's not my fault that my heart is in actual pain because I have to treat you like a normal friend in public."

your eyes rolled at his exaggeration, his dramatics being nothing new especially about this topic. "we aren't officially together yet so we can't do anything about it. calm down, loverboy."

normally this would be the part where he'd kiss you so that you'd shut up but trent had to bite his tongue today, and instead just nodded. it was the harsh truth unfortunately and as much as he loved private relationships, he wanted to show you off. he wanted the world to know that you were his.

but for the first time in a while he'd have to be patient.

spamjam._.

liked by judebellingham and 3 223 122 others

spamjam._. my kids dawg!! 🏆❤️ (and those other grandpa's too)

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liverpoolfc red suites you so much more 🫶 [liked by spamjam._.]

→ spamjam._. say it louder for the people in the back 👏 @levicolwill

user ??? oh the dramaaaa

user 120 minutes of torture that I refuse to relive

bobbyclark can't believe that I made it onto the profile 😫

→ spamjam._. watch me crop you out.

→ jayden.danns @bobbyclark I'm the one who got the photocreds on her story 🥱 lower your tone in my presence

→ jamesmconnel and I got booked for breathing 😒

→ spamjam._. james that was a clear tackle?? you got booked for a reason 😭

→ jamesmcconnell yeah for breathing!!

virgilvandijk you should've gotten a medal for being the best cheerleader today 🥇[liked by spamjam._.]

→ spamjam._. aahhh!! I'm so glad my efforts were noticed

→ curtisjr you were screaming at the refs and nearly barged into the stewards room 🤨

→ spamjam._. which is more than you did today benchboy

mosalah grandpas? 😔

→ spamjam._. your leg is broken, so yes. grandpa's 😔

[next!!] [previous!!]

#cherrei writes #afterglow trent alexander arnold #trent alexander arnold fluff #trent alexander arnold fanfic #trent alexander arnold x reader #trent alexander arnold imagine #trent alexander arnold #footballer imagine #liverpool fc #footballer x reader #football imagine #fanfic #liverpoolfc x reader #liverpo

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palfriendpatine66 · 6 months ago

Note

Anakin likes to work out naked (don't try this at home kids) and Obi-Wan comes home early one day to watch

Send me a nsfw prompt and I’ll write a 5 sentence ficlet

The unexpected perk that came with having an unfortunately messy, would be if finances allowed for it gym bro for a last minute roommate was the, essentially, soft core porn that now took place in Obi-Wan’s own home.

He had never meant to ogle the younger, very fit, very tanned undergraduate who had worked his way into Obi-Wan’s formerly organized, busy life.

It was just hard to ignore the sight of sweaty toned muscles sprawled all over the living room in various states of undress, especially when he’d already spent hours pouring over research documents only to be distracted by strings of soft groans and grunts from just outside of his office. It was too easy to give his eyes a break and allow them to wander over whatever absurd stretch had his roommate folded in half, cursing as he reached for he toes, with the globes of his perfectly rounded ass perfectly visibly from Obi-Wan’s little study desk.

But Obi-Wan had come home early last Tuesday to accidentally discover that an oblivious, ear bud wearing Anakin apparently preferred to do his Pilates in the nude, and even though he’d spent the week jerking himself off to the memory and then sternly telling himself off for it, he found himself easing the front door open at exactly 4:13 pm once more, unable to resist finding out if it was a weekly occurrence.

#does it count as 5 sentences if they’re all run on sentences #your pal says yea!#obikin ficlet #obikin

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sinner-sunflower · 11 months ago

Text

A HH Lucifer-centric AU 20/?

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 21, PART 22

Like ketchup. Slowly then all at once.

Radioapple!

--------------------------------------------------

Lucifer still feels like he's underwater, floating where the current takes him. He thinks he's dreaming because his eyes refuse to open all the way.

At least he isn't burning anymore.

It's mostly quiet, the only sound he can hear is the sloshing of the water.

It's calm. He doesn't know how long has it been since he's been calm in the quiet without company.

Once in a while though, he hears voices. The waves carry them in weird intervals and he tries very hard to think who is talking.

'You'll be okay, Luci.'

'I'll do everything to make you comfortable and back to full health.'

'AN HONOR TO SERVE YOU, SIRE. DO GET BETTER. I SHALL GIVE YOU THE BEST SERVANT THE GOETIA CAN PROVIDE.'

'Big bro, if you wake up now, I'll give you a lifetime supply of my juice!'

'Okay fine, I'll change Looloo Land's name fo real, yeah?'

'You need to meet Fizzie still, Luci.'

'Don't worry sir! I didn't touch a single duck in your room when I cleaned it. No more bugs though!'

'Zestial and I give our deepest gratitude in behalf of the overlords, Your Majesty.'

'Charlie is a fast learner.'

'Oh, Your Majesty, do wake up. I don't think I can take any more of Alastor's not-rambling. I love me some romance but whooowee, a woman has her limits, yknow!'

'I don't think I can eva' thank ya enough fo' setting me free, short king.'

'Pretty badass, your kingness.''

'I want to get to know you still sir.'

'Darling, do come back to me now. I miss you so. And do not listen to any of Rosie's lies.'

'Dad, please wake up. I need you.'

The last voice caused the calm waters to turn into a whirlpool and he feels himself being pulled down. A bright light appears in front of him, illuminating the deep, dark waters. And for a moment, just a moment, he thinks- no it couldn't be;

He reaches out a hand to touch but as soon as it did, he was propelled to the surface.

Lucifer wakes up slowly and then all at once. The King blinks in confusion and trying to get his eyesight to clear. A blurry figure of white is the first to greet him; no face but it's smiling?

'Father?'

Charlie: Dad!

Huh?

Lucifer: Charlie?

He winces at the state of his voice. Did he scream himself sore? He tries remembering what happened and-

The roots.

Roo.

A ritual.

Charlie.

Hell.

Sloth.

Goodie.

The deal.

A prophecy.

A sudden pain stabbed his head which caused him to groan.

Lucifer: Shit!

He forces himself to sit up just to relieve it a little. A rubbing hand on his back grounds him a bit. Looking up, he came face-to-face with his daughter. His sweet, lovely, Charlie.

Charlie: Woah, Dad. Take it easy. Here have water and some pain meds. Aunt Bel left it here just in case.

He doesn't need to be told twice as he took the pill, noting the bitter taste in his mouth. Pride be damned (ha! get it?), he just wants the pain to go away.

Charlie is still fussing and talking a million miles per hour and Lucifer doesn't have the heart to make her stop even though his head is about to split in half.

Maybe Charlie will forgive him if he snaps right now. Thankfully that doesn't happen as a new person comes to enter his room.

Alastor: Charlie, dear, I think your father would appreciate a quieter room.

Charlie: - Oh, Al! Right! Sorry, dad.

Lucifer: It's okay, applepie. Can you also dim the lights a bit?

Alastor: Charlie, might I ask of you to get food for your father? There should be some leftovers still.

Charlie: O-oh I- Sure, Al! Be right back, dad!

As soon as she left, Alastor moves to Lucifer's bedside. Lucifer follows his movements and only then does the King realize the insane amount of flowers taking up every space in his room. And then he realized that Alastor has some in his hands too.

Lucifer: What's all this?

Alastor: Why, tokens from your loved ones and dearest citizens. These ones are of mine.

The Radio Demon points at the golden Marigolds. Lucifer observes the other flowers and sees that every bunch has atleast a few Marigolds tucked in them.

Did.. did Alastor put them there so he could have the most flowers given? What a possessive bastard.

His endearment must be obvious in his face because Alastor huffed- freaking huffed!

Alastor: Whatever you are thinking, it is simply nonsense.

Lucifer puts his hands up in a mock surrender.

Lucifer: I didn't say anything.

Alastor: Good.

Alastor can be so cute when he wants (or not want?) to be. His lover? partner? Yeah, partner, sits down by his side, letting Lucifer lean onto his shoulder.

He's not soft like Lilith but Lucifer feels just as content. The sin of Pride stares at his arms that is now covered in runes he doesn't understand, no longer just plain black. Roo really did a number on him- her powers were far too strong it basically altered his appearance. He's more demon now than he was ever an angel. He doesn't know how to feel about that.

Alastor: Some things are to be discussed, right, Your Majesty?

Lucifer: Mmm. Yeah. But- I can't. Not right now. I'm not sure if I can.

Alastor: That's alright, mon ange. We are not in a hurry. We have our afterlife.

Lucifer bites his lip and holds Alastor's hands in guilt. This is a burden he must carry himself. What's inside him... it would be more dangerous if anyone else knew, especially Heaven. It's better to think of it as a wild card than a ticking time bomb.

Alastor hums a tune that makes him sleepy again. He doesn't remember falling asleep but he does vaguely recall being laid down again. He remembers a feeling of a kiss on his forehead, something brushing his cheek and moving his hair.

A nice calm before the storm.

---------------------------------------------------

Charlie took so long cos she wanted to heat it up but the microwave is missing?? (Alastor's doing)

Next chapter, Luci will wake again and have a talk with Charlie

Just wanted to get some Radioapple in there.

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mj-102009 · 1 year ago

Text

When the Stars Align (Bakugou x oc)

The little girl gazed up at her mother, green irises filled with wonder and love. She’d always been a perceptive child, always asking questions on how the world worked, always getting into things she shouldn’t.

“Momma,” she said softly with her feather light tap to her shoulder. “I have a-“

The woman lifted the eight year old on her lap. “-question? Go ahead Rae.”

She beamed and curled into her arms. “Why didn’t you and Dad get married like Ashlyn’s parents?”

Her mother chuckled. “I knew you’d ask that soon,” the girl opened her mouth to speak but got cut off. “Your father and I didn’t need to get married because when we were born we were meant to be together.”

“Why?” She chirped.

“Well our families have what’s called soulmates,” She saw the confusion on her daughter's face. “That means fate made us to be a match.”

Rae’s eyes blew wide. “Do I have a soulmate?”

She smiled and kissed Rae on the forehead. “Yes, yes you do.”

It started showing when she was 13, on her birthday at 12am exactly:

She had a dream.

In the dream she saw a boy about her age, he had dark green hair and eyes, for a brief moment she thought this was the boy she was meant to love forever, but the moment she truly looked at him she knew he wasn’t.

“Stupid Deku,” it was her mouth yet not her voice. “You’ll never be good enough to be a hero like me.”

A hero? She thought. This sure as heck doesn’t sound like one.

“Cmon Kacchan you know a quirk doesn’t make you a hero.”

Kid makes a point.

(Switching to first person)

I woke in a cold sweat, Anika shaking me quickly with wide eyes. “RAE!”

“I'M UP!”

She sighed. “Dude your quirk started in your sleep and shit started shifting in my room.”

I was wide awake running into the hall. “Mom!”

My dad opened the door with a stern look. “Someone better explain to me why our house is backwards.”

I winced and looked down. “That would be me.”

Concern filled his eyes, replacing the anger. “What happened?”

So I told him and my mother what I saw, by the end Anika was jumping up and down. “I’m so excited.”

I frowned. “For what?”

Mom and dad made eye contact. “You remember how we came from families of soulmates?”

My breath hitched. “You mean-“

She smiled and Ani squealed. “You and your soulmate are both 13 now!”

I’d given up on the whole soulmate thing for a while. I saw his memories every night, most of which were about victory in some form, or about the boy named Deku.

I came back to it after I turned 15.

All leading up to afternoon was tame, that was until I happened to glance at my wrist.

Train at 3 today

Tell Mom to buy pens

Call Na-

I watched in fascination as the sentence finished before me, the only thing I felt was a light press of a pen.

Dad saw my baffled gaze and followed my eyes to my forearm. “Moora come in the kitchen!”

Soon the whole family gathered around my arm.

Anika, now 17, elbowed my stomach. “That means your his age too.”

I made a curious face and seized a pen. “What if I…”

Hello :)

Mom chuckled. “Our little girl’s all grown up.”

It took him a few hours to respond but I felt it.

Hey

I picked up my pen and scribbled the answer with a small smile.

Hey

Sorry I didn’t say anything the first time

It’s okay no rush

He was silent for a moment, as was I.

I’m I frowned as my name faded from my skin.

You’re what

It won’t let me write my name

I tried again and groaned as the entire sentence faded into the carmel tan of my skin.

Me either

Damn I pulled myself up from my window sill and sat in the nest of pillows on my bed.

Won’t allow my number either

It’s like it doesn’t want us to meet

I’m getting mixed signals from fate or some shit

I snorted and wiped down my arm, Question

Shoot

Do you see my memories when you sleep?

No tf i have a little red string on my pinky telling me which way to go

BRO WE CAN DEADASS GET THIS OVER WITH IF YOU JUST FOLLOW IT

I tried but it disappears if I do

Fuck fate fr

Lol

We talked into the early hours of the morning, I learned Deku’s name was really Izuku and he was his old friend, I learned Kacchan was a stupid nickname he came up with when they were kids, I learned he wanted to be a hero when he grows up, I learned that he didn’t want a soulmate in the beginning.

Oh I wrote when he told me.

Not now tho after i got your first message I felt like it would be wrong to push you away

So I’m not an extra

Of course u r

Just not the worst one

I’ll take it

I told him about my family and my friends, I told him about my quirk and that I too wanted to be a hero, I told him about how I didn’t believe my soulmate was real until I saw the writing.

Why? He asked when I told him.

A lot of what I saw in my dreams was just yelling and explosions so I was convinced I was insane it took a while for my parents to really get me to understand but even then I was afraid you’d be someone who hates me like other people

I’ll kill anyone who hurts you

Thank you seemed like the wrong thing to say to that, any sane person would’ve called the police and gotten scared, but I laughed and rolled over with a smile. Immediately groaning when I saw the sun peaking out my window.

The sun just came up here

Same

Do you live in, the word Japan faded and I smacked my forehead.

I live in

I’m not even gonna try and put down what school I go too

Fate sucks fr

Not that bad

How so?

I met a girl who doesn’t give a fuck that I’m an ass

I flushed from head to toe Lucky girl

I'm the lucky one

Nope

Yup

Nope

Yup

No I’m far luckier for meeting someone who doesn’t care that I’m strange

You’re not strange whoever believes that is wrong

And you’re not an ass

I woke to the ceiling with the blank stare, my face in a tired frown, bags practically tattooed under my eyes.

Morning

That got me up, I slid out of bed and reached for my pen.

How’d you sleep?

Good and you?

Meh some extras blowing up my phone all night,

I giggle and walk down stairs with the pen, Anika rolls her eyes at my cheerful state. “Sup fucknugget.”

With a frown I use my quirk and spin her chair around, the floorboards rippling around at my command. Dad came down stairs and lightly hit me on the back of my head. “Fix my floor Rae.”

I turned the wood back to its original position with a huff, Dad mumbling a thank you and pouring me a cup of coffee. “What’s on the agenda Rae?”

Shrugging, I tell him. “I’m off work, might just take a nap.”

Anika gasps. “No! You told me we’d train for my admissions test.”

My idiot sister waited until she was 21 to become a licensed hero, so now she was asking me to train her on everything before the big test.

“Sure, what time?” I truly didn’t care when we went, I just needed the training.

“After breakfast?”

“‘Kay, just be ready.”

“C’mon Bakugou!” Denki begged again.

“No.”

“Really bro?” Kirishima deadpanned. “He can go with-”

He glared at him. “No, don’t side with Dunce Face.”

“Pleeeeease, my friend and I went to a pretty beach just a few minutes away, it’s super hidden so no one will film.”

Kiri rolled his eyes. “You can go Denki.”

Bakugou whirled on him but after these years Kiri had far outgrown him, now towering the blonde. “Fine,” he grumbled, turning to leave. “Hurry the fuck up.”

“Yay!”

“I took my friend to the beach yesterday to train. It was so much fun,” Anika chirped as I drove down the road.

I shot her a look. “Did you tell him about-”

“No Rae I didn’t,” she said exasperated. “I wouldn’t tell a secret like that.”

“Sure.”

She smacked my arm. “I wouldn’t.”

“Mhm.”

“Rae,” She said dead serious. “I’m your older sister and I’m so proud of your accomplishments, I would never jeopardize your job.”

I laughed softly. “I know, I just worry for the day people find out I’m Atlas, hell even my soulmate doesn’t know, it won’t let me tell him.”

“Sometimes the filter really bothers me,” She told me. “I understand the pain of not being able to tell him the full story.”

I nodded solemnly, pulling into the public beach parking spot. “C’mon time to walk.”

“Only thing I hate about this beach.”

“What the hell Kami!” Kiri shouted, throwing his hands up around him. “You said you knew where we were going.”

He chuckled nervously under the glares of his friends. “Oops.”

Bakugou was practically boiling in rage and frustrating. “Thanks a lot Dunce Face, now we’re lost and our phones aren’t working.”

“What if we make a flare?” Kiri mused. “Would that work?”

He flicked his forehead. “No stupid, we’d light the whole forest on fire.”

The boys were just giving up hope, in the middle of the woods with barely enough water to last the day and one granola bar.

Bakugou’s head perked up when he saw his wrist.

Are you okay I feel like something’s wrong

He rifled for a pen and wrote down an answer.

Denki got us lost on a hike

The fuck? Are you okay???

Yeah just angry

I’m mad there’s nothing I can do

Lol

“AWEEEEEE,” Kiri squealed looking over his shoulder. “She’s so nice!”

Bakugou got ready to punch his best friend but got cut off.

“OW, YOU BITCH!” The yell came from the right of them.

Denki sighed and looked at the boys. “Told you we weren’t lost,” but stopped when he saw Bakugou’s sparking hands.

“Let’s just ask for directions and get out of here.”

Anika rubbed here arm and swore after I punched her arm. “That was uncalled for.”

“What if I’d stabbed your arm,” I told her. “You wouldn’t be complaining then.”

“Uh no, I’d definitely complain either way.”

I rolled my eyes and dropped into a fighting stance. “Round four, three-nothing.”

She groaned but raised herself into an acceptable stance. “Ready.”

We circled each other, I called upon my quirk, the sand shifted with me as I stepped, neither of us made a move to attack. She lunged forward to grab me but I spun away with grace of a dancer, under my feet the sands balanced me.

I watched as she pulled in air and released it in a loud WHOOSH, pushing me over closer to the water.

She continued to throw gusts of wind at me, each more forceful than the last.

“You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?” I shouted over the roaring wind, a grin forming on my face.

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Just a little,” she replied, sending another gust, this time aimed at my feet, causing me to momentarily lose balance.

Using my quirk, I swiftly transformed the sand beneath my feet into a firmer platform, allowing me to stand my ground. I then molded the sand into a series of barriers, hoping to deflect her relentless attacks.

But Anika was quick. She directed her gusts upwards, sending spirals of sand high into the night sky. I watched, a bit awed by her skill, as the sand took the form of large birds, flapping and soaring over the beach, aiming at me.

Laughing, I decided to up the ante. I pulled moisture from the surrounding air, turning it into droplets of water which quickly crystallized into sharp, gleaming icicles. With a flick of my wrist, I sent them darting around Anika, not to hurt, but to challenge.

She deftly manipulated the wind to create a vortex around her, causing my icicles to swirl harmlessly before melting away. "Is that the best you can do?" she teased.

Taking a deep breath, I focused my energy. The sand around Anika began to ripple, forming a series of walls, which quickly transformed into a box to hold her. She looked around, momentarily surprised, before a sly grin formed on her face. She summoned wind currents to lift her up, attempting to get a bird's-eye view of my creation.

I wasn’t about to make it that easy for her. As she ascended, I manipulated the atoms in the air, creating a dense fog, obscuring her vision. I could hear her groan of frustration.

Descending back to the ground, she tried to break through, I reshaped and shifted the walls constantly, making it a challenge for her. But after some time she tore through the ground blowing up the box from below.

A migraine fuzed the corners of my vision, Ani saw this and darted forward, I stubbornly fought hand to hand until one of us lost. She threw poor punches and I frowned trying to amp her up to be better than that.

Needs work… I thought to myself.

I could see as she became tired of my toying around, finally stopping the hitting, she spun around to kick me with a round house.

“Too slow,” I whispered, catching her foot and knocking her over. “I taught you better Ani.”

She huffed angrily and tried to sit up, but exhaustion weighed down on her and she laid flat to the floor. “I give.”

I laughed and gave her my hand. “Puss.”

“That’s not fair, you're a trained hero!” She exclaimed taking it, she opened her mouth to say something else but something caught her eye. “Hey this is private property!”

My face turned confused and I turned to the tree line. “Who’s there?”

A man easily over 6ft came out of the woods with a blush. “Sorry I got a little lost.”

I grin and shift my weight onto my right leg. “Sure man, where’s the others?”

A shorter guy with sunshine yellow hair came after him. “Ani!”

My sister’s face beamed and she ran up to him. “Kami!”

I deadpanned at her. “Really?”

“Bakugou! Over here!”

“Three of you…” My voice trailed off as I saw him for the first time.

Seeing him was like breathing for the first time, it was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time, it was like my body got plugged in and electricity was flowing through me. My eyes widened and I knew he felt it too as he stumbled out nearly tripping over a tree branch, never once taking his eyes off me.

“Rae?” Anika said with worried eyes. “You okay?”

I didn’t answer, my lips were magnetized to each other, so I nodded numbly. I stepped forward because it just felt right, at this point Ani was next to me and the red head was with him.

“You’re scaring me Rae,” She said nervously. “I don’t wanna tell dad his favorite child died.”

He faintly gasped when she said my name, his hand sparking.

“Screw it.”

Suddenly a powerful outburst of wind threw me off the beach into the water, my instincts kicked in and I solidified the air under my feet. “Anika what the fuck.”

She crosses her arms smugly and grinned. “There she is.”

The boys gaped as I stepped down from the air. “That was a bit excessive.”

“Nah, worth it.”

“You good Bakubro?” The red head asked him.

‘Bakubro?’ I mouthed to myself. That doesn’t sound ri-

“It’s Bakugou.”

I looked up at his vermillion eyes, they bore into me but I held my ground.

“I’m Rae.”

Anika gave me an unsure look. “Uhhhhhh, ya’ll good?”

“Mhm,” I nodded. “I’m great.”

“So you’re Atlas?” He asked me later.

We’d taken them out to the beach house just around the corner. “Mhm, and you’re Dynamite?”

“Yeah.”

The silence wasn’t awkward but rather comforting.

“All these years, we've been going to goddamn meetings together,” I laughed. “Who knew?”

“If we’d talked at all this could’ve been done with this a lot sooner.”

I shook my head in amusement. “Who knew?”

On the beach was Ani and the other two, they were teaching her how to punch properly. I gave up and went to the porch.

From what I could tell he wasn’t great with feelings, I think I’ve known that since we first spoke. So I took the first step and gently took his hand.

“Is this okay?”

He took a steady breath. “Yes.”

#oc #mha #mha fanfiction #mha x oc #katsuki bakugo x reader #bakugou x reader #bakugou x oc #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katuski x reader

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pastafossa · 1 year ago

Note

Re: your dad accompanying you on doctor visits—we stan Papa Pasta in this house 🙌🏼

HE'S THE BEST! He's so big and scary and gruff looking, he has scared the shit out of people for decades, and yet he is also Aggressively Supportive Of His Girls.

Has gone repeatedly to the doctor with me since I got sick at 13, and stood up to every last doctor and teacher that treated me like shit. Standard accompanier on doctor's visits and ER trips

Went toe-to-toe with my Jr. High's principal when she decided to close the library directly after the final bell because us volunteer kids and the librarian were selling snacks to help fund book purchases, and the principal claimed the sold candy would 'encourage bad behavior' somehow. He got the library reopened after arguing with her for two hours that she was forcing kids out of a safe space where they could do homework and read when they had nowhere else to go

When I got sick, he retired (since mom made more) and became the stay-at-home parent, took charge of meals, doctors visits, homework, all of it

Literally argued with other parents when they insinuated he was 'babysitting' his own kids

The cook in the family, including holiday meals, he is very proud of his Christmas/Thanksgiving stuffing (in his defense it is REALLY good)

So supportive of me being childfree that when I got my tubes tied he helped my mom make a cake that said 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS' with a picture of sperm falling into a crack in the cake (a crack that was sliced by a massive Deadpool action figure).

Has joined the Free Dad Hugs squad at Pride

Would bike with me to the library when I was a kid so we could pick books together

Still games with me and sis despite being in his sixties (we're all playing BG3 at present)

Proudly shows off his cat mug to guests - it has a picture of Fig on it, and he tells people Fig is his Bro Cat

Has accidentally irritated other parents by teaching their babies to make funny GRR faces and go BA-BA-BA-BA-BA

Has a growing collection of LGBT+ positive shirts

Will drive my mom to the park and unpack the little electric scooter for her (she has bad knees and can't walk great) so that she can zoom around the park

Has been married to my mom for thirty plus years and still accidentally takes pictures that only show the top of her head with him cause she's like 5'3 and he's 6'2

#i talk about my mom a lot but Papa Pasta is also FUCKING AMAZING and i love him so much #he looks terrifying but he is the nicest person in the world

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ramspatula · 11 months ago

Text

Zinnias | Lloyd Garmadon x fem!reader | Part 5

Why are big statues coming to life?

Previous part, Masterlist, Next part

It was oddly domestic how we worked. Lloyd would often have to leave at odd times for work and would come back very late or early in the evening. I felt like a housewife. I had no lessons due to it being the holiday but I had way too much work to do as it was. I hated being in this shit hole but it was better than back ‘home’, here I had friends and Lloyd. The tapping on my window made me frown. Lloyd was at work. I peeked out to see green and I grinned, pulling back the blinds and opening the window.

“Hey, homeboy, where have you been?” I asked and his eyes turned from wide, happy to see me to a dull, unamused, stern gaze.

“I regret coming here already.” He said and I smiled, climbing out the window.

“C’mon, don’t be like that. Where have you been?!” I asked and he shrugged.

“I’ve been busy- you’ve been busy.” Green added and I flushed.

“You know about that?” I asked and he nodded, he looked almost smug? From what I could tell from his eyes.

“Personal stalker, remember?” He asked and I nodded.

“Right, forgot about your obsession.” I said and he rolled his eyes. “What are you doing here then?” It’s mid-day? Just because my dorm building only has 3 rooms occupied at the moment doesn’t mean no one can see you. There’s probably some 13 year old losing her mind right now.” I said and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m on my way to the museum- I’ve just took care of our dragon and I was on strict orders to not come until all its shit was picked up so I’m sorry if I still smell. I feel like I can’t wash it off.” Green explained and I frowned.

“You have a dragon?” I asked and he nodded.

“Yeah- the one with four heads- they’re actually right above us if you want to see.” He casually added and I looked up to see the beast staring down at me. I jumped in shock as it bent down and the two centre heads gently nudged me and one blew really cold air on me. I even shivered and that caused the other one to breathe really hot air on me and now I felt over heated.

“That is really cool but I also feel like I’m in shellshock right now.” I said and he laughed.

“Okay, back off, she’ll pet you guys another time.” The dragon- moped? And got down to allow Lloyd on- Green- why do I think of Lloyd every time I see him?! I watched as the green, oddly familiar, green eyes winked at me and I smiled in response. “I’ll see you soon, bro.” He said and I laughed.

“You admit it- I’m a homeboy!” I yelled but he flew off. What a surreal experience.

“Was that a ninja?!” Fuck.

🪺. *. ⋆

The ninjas were smashing so many of these little figures that had come to life, Lloyd’s arrival almost made no difference.

“How many of these things are there?!” Lloyd asked only to be met with another one jumping at him. He thought with his father’s sudden disappearance he would get a moment of peace.

“Look who decided to turn up! We’ve been at this for an hour!” Jay screeched.

“Yeah, I hear you, I got caught up.” Lloyd excused and Cole scoffed.

“Ever since this guy got laid, he’s been a flake!” Cole said and Kai stopped one from hitting Cole in the back of the head.

“Yet he’s doing better than us in training!” Kai added and Cole shook his head.

“Who’s giving you that good of a fuck, it’s excelling your training?!” Cole asked and Lloyd smashed the figure in front of him, sending a mini earthquake through the room, the vibrations causing the figures on the floor to shatter.

“Okay, we get it, you still have your powers.” Kai said and Nya sent a burst of water into a figure about to attack Kai. “You too.” Some stone warrior figures poured marbles below him and Cole’s feet and that seemed to push Kai over the edge. “Alright, play times over!” He yelled before doing spinjitsu. The other 3 following as Lloyd, Nya and Sensei Wu watched, un-approving of their actions as the whole room was now destroyed. However, all the figures with the exception of one were destroyed. Only Wu seemed to notice this, sprinting out the chase the figure when the other ninjas clocked on a followed.

He managed to chase the little figure down and smash it with his foot. Wu didn’t have time to be proud of himself when he heard a familiar heartbeat. His super-hearing had made him memorise heartbeats in the same way his nephew and brother did. But this one he had spent hours upon hours listening to. When the door behind him creaked open, and the heart he knew so well almost rang in his ears, he turned. The first and only woman, Wu had ever loved stood before him.

“Misako?” The name slipping so effortlessly from his mouth.

“Wu.” She said, her voice still as smooth and charming as it had been some time ago.

“I- uh…” He fumbled over his words.

“It’s been a long time..” She added and he nodded.

Her braid still hadn’t changed although it was now covered in grey rather than the rich brown he was accustomed to. Thought of so passionately in his mind. The last time he had even seen her, she was only just starting to grey and had a newborn in her arms. A newborn with red eyes like his father. A newborn who was now an adult and his nephew. Because she had chosen his brother. Married him. And had a child with him. A child she abandoned. Wu was now over aware of who had a hand placed on his shoulder.

“So are you going to introduce us?” Jay asked, trying carefully not to break the moment. Lloyd showed no emotion to the woman and actually chose to eye her with suspicion but she hadn’t focussed on him yet. How would she know it’s him? Lloyd didn’t know her. And Lloyd certainly didn’t look how he was meant to after their 12 year separation. Wu cleared his throat and held the boy’s arm, Lloyd frowned at his Uncle but said no more. His Uncle had a content, almost excited smile on him. It was unusual for any of them to see.

“This is Misako, Lloyd’s mother.” And just like that, Lloyd’s world came tumbling down.

“My mother?!” Lloyd spoke, frozen in his shock.

“Lloyd?” She said, stepping forward. Her smile and tone felt so ironic for a woman who abandoned her 2 year old at a boarding school. “My little boy. You’re so much bigger than I thought you’d be-“ Lloyd smacked his Uncle’s hand away and took a step back. The anger seeped into his veins and did so quickly.

“Yeah, well, it’s been a long time.” He said, moving his arm away from his mother’s attempt at holding his hand.

“I didn’t want us to meet like this. I have a reason why I’ve been away-“ Misako tried to get to her son but he shook his head.

“And I don’t want to hear it.” Lloyd said before storming out. The others were shocked at such a reaction from Lloyd. Most his expected the boy to welcome his mother with open arms with how highly Wu always spoke of her. Garmadon had not spoke so highly, not after learning Lloyd had spent his life in a boarding school. Turns out the over-lord wasn’t pleased to learn his son that he was oblivious to his existence had spent a good 8 years in a boarding school being relentlessly bullied and then homeless at 10. It just wasn’t fair. Lloyd’s whole life wasn’t fair. And now his mother turns up in his life again after 12 years?

He couldn’t take it. He found his way into some room, with a giant pit. And a part of him felt like stepping into it. His mother wouldn’t care but Y/n would. His mind was spiralling. All these memories of mothers days that he had spent alone. How could his evil, tyrannical father care more about him than his mother? Garmadon didn’t know where he was or about him and within the first day of learning about his existence, he had sought his way out the underworld and had moved in with his enemies to kill snakes and reclaim his taken son. The first time they had met after he’d been rescued, his father had broken down. Holding him and spewing so many apologies for being absent when he hadn’t even known he existed. Lloyd held him back because for the first time, he had felt actual love. Like someone cared about him. Now he had grown up, he understood love. What it does to you. How deeply it can affect you when the person you love does something. Which is why Lloyd had always listened closely when Garmadon spoke of Misako. And it wasn’t nicely. It’s funny how a man corrupted by pure evil couldnt understand abandoning his son and only kept Lloyd with Wu because he was destined to be the Green ninja and because he believed that Lloyd would stay at the monastery until he grew up. Garmadon believed Lloyd would be safe. He was not.

“Hey, baby, you alright?” He basked in her voice.

“Is there any way you can make it to the museum right now?” Lloyd asked and he could hear the girl’s confusion on the other line.

“Museum- Lloyd the ninjas are there-! What are you-?!” He loves how concerned she is over him.

“I just met my mother.” He cut her off and she paused.

“I’ll be right there, it’s like a 10 minute walk. Are you okay?” He smiled. Not that she could see it.

“Just, come as quick as you can…” He said and heard her agree before she hung up and he sighed.

🪺. *. ⋆

This museum was a fucking maze. I didn’t even know what room he was in and there was barely anyone here. Lloyd wasn’t responding and I was considering giving up, until I turned around and saw a massive live statue of a stone warrior. It would’ve been cool if it hadn’t started raising its sword at me. I screamed. I’m not afraid to admit it. Before I sprinted. The thing didn’t hit me with the sword but it did make the ground shake which almost made me fall.

“What the fuck?!” I yelled as it was now chasing me?! What the hell?! What did I do?! “No,no,no-“ I screamed again as it almost got me.

“Peach!” Someone called but I didn’t see who. That was before 5 ninjas had jumped down before me. I saw no green in this rainbow and continued running. I heard someone talking, aggressively talking. The doors were closed though but I recognised that voice. I recognised it anywhere. I banged on the door, hearing and feeling as the footsteps got closer again.

“Open up! This massive asshole of a statue is chasing me!” I yelled and the doors swung open and I practically fell into Green’s arms- could’ve sworn that was Lloyd.

“Peach! Are you okay- I never should’ve of told you to come here--!” He looked up at someone cleaning their throat. I saw an older woman with grey hair and a braid, she didn’t look too old though.

“Lloyd-“ I said and his eyes widened.

“What?” Green asked. His hands cupping my cheeks.

“Where’s Lloyd-?!” I asked- almost begged, frightened tears threatened to spill from my eyes.

“He’s okay. You aren’t though.” Green told me and I shook my head.

“No-! I need to find him! It’s serious.” I said, my breathing becoming erratic.

“Lloyd will understand, you’ll see him soon but for now I gotta get you to safety and others because that thing is massive-!” He suddenly yelled at the appearance of the statue and I nodded.

“That was chasing me-!” I yelled and he took my hand, making me sprint with him to another room. The woman followed but I didn’t pay her much attention, I was holding onto Green like a lifeline as we ran away from this thing. We ended up in a large room and I noticed that everyone was here but I couldn’t breathe- I was suffocating. This felt like a panic attack. Green frantically turned to me and held me as I crumbled to the floor. I tried to breathe but I couldn’t.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” He repeated, smoothing my hair as I gripped onto him like a lifeline. I suddenly pushed him off and looked around.

“Lloyd-“ I said again but he turned me back around.

“He’s fine, he’s okay, he’s safe. You’re not. We’ve got to focus on you, Peach.” Green told me and he sounded so much like him, felt like him. His hand moved my cheek and I held the side of his neck to support myself.

“Lloyd.” I said, more stern as I looked into his eyes. Those were Lloyd’s eyes, I swore those were his. His eyes widened more and I swore I saw some red in his iris. “Lloyd.” I whispered more harshly, my eyes widening. He shook his head. The red ninja placed a hand on his shoulder but he shrug it off. All the ninja were here? How embarrassing.

“No…” he said, weakly. He seemed so vulnerable right now. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I flinched.

“Maybe now is not the time for this-“ Wu said. Fucking Wu. I grabbed the man before I could think.

“Peach-!” I heard Green say but I stared into the old man’s eyes.

“Where is he?! I know you know.” I watched as his stern eyes drift up to Green who reached out for me again. I looked back to him. “Don’t say-“ I turned around to look at Green again, he looked guilty. “-what the fuck?!” i looked back at Wu who nodded. I let go of the old man away and stalked away from them all.

“It’s best to let her cool off-“ I heard a woman’s voice as I walked away.

“Don’t touch me.” That was Lloyd’s voice. He was Lloyd. Green was Lloyd. Lloyd was the Green ninja. With that thought in mind I felt like collapsing. The world around me slowed and I knew what came next.

But it didn’t matter because soon arms were around me, shielding me as a green force field encased us, the green turned mixed of peaches and purples before I watched as the statues sword glitched and burst after the colours turned back to green. It now had no weapon. Green held onto me- Lloyd held onto me -tighter as the big statue tried to attack the green bubble with his hand. It didn’t break but I could feel as it exhausted Lloyd. His eyes were closed tightly, in focus. I held him back and his eyes seemed to close even tighter before suddenly the statue was running away, chasing something else. Lloyd let the bubble burst and took a moment to catch his breath again. I just sunk to the floor. Staring blankly at where it had left. Lloyd quickly looked from me to the doorway before holding my head in his hands, making me look at him.

“I know you’re confused and that’s okay, I’ll be back soon, stay here, okay?” Was all he said before running off. I didn’t move, I don’t think I could.

Fuck that I could.

I moved to the doorway and watched as they tried to lead him to the big gaping hole in the middle of the floor of one room but it suddenly turned around a charged at some civilian who came running this way. I heard the ninjas protests and sounds of disappointment at their little trap not working. I watched as it now charged at me again. The blast of green energy on its back didn’t even make it falter as it stared me down and stopped, raising its hand. Ready to pummel me into the earth. I only glared up as I heard the yells, watching as the first came back down.

When the world slowed, everything felt so dramatic. I felt so untroubled. Like nothing really mattered. I felt like I could see the ins and outs of the earth and more, something no one else could. But now I just felt hurt, lied to. Somehow, I had really thought I’d bet on a winner only to realise I’m still by the loser’s side. Losing every time with them. At least I feel like I win when I lose. So I let myself feel the loser’s guilt as the fist came down on me. If only I could escape my problems so easy. It would’ve been easy to let that thing kill me. I started, tears in my eyes as the thing was now lodged into the floor. It glitched and got stuck. It would stay like that unless dug out. Only side of its face and some parts of the body could be seen. I climbed over the piece of forearm sticking out and saw the rest of the ninja. I didn’t let my tears fall but I suddenly had a feeling I knew who these ninjas were and specifically who the red one was. I shook my head at him.

“Peach! Peaches!” I heard his voice but I ignored him as I walked away. I was too tired and I had been deceived. I really believe they were separate people even with their uncanny similarities. “Y/n! Please!” I paused at that. The vase on display next to me, glitched. I let him run in front of me. “Thank you… I can tell you everything-“ I shook my head.

“I don’t want to know.”

“Just- come back to the monastery please. I can explain everything- show you!” Lloyd said and I shook my head.

“No.” I said and he sighed.

“Then I’ll come to yours just please don’t walk away.” He said and I let the tears flow, I quickly tired to wipe them. His hand reached up and grabbed my face again, I let him. Trying not to cry more as his thumbs gently wiped away a few tear tracks.

“Green, we need to go-!” Someone yelled but he growled- actually growled.

“No!” He said immediately. “Please, Y/n.” He whispered and I nodded.

“I’ll go with you.” I said and he rested his forehead on mine.

“Thank you, thank you!” He said quickly, desperately, and I let him lead me out the museum. I stayed silent, letting him decide everything for me. I felt numb. Like I had been overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion. And in a way, I had. He quickly pulled a cloth from the gift shop and wrapped it around the lower half of my face, covering my mouth and nose, before pulling my hood up. “To keep your identity secret.” He explained but I just looked up, blankly.

The dragon bowed and lowered its body to me. It gestured with one of its heads towards its back and I realised it wanted me to get on. I looked to Lloyd who lifted me effortlessly onto the shoulder of the dragon’s front leg and I had to grab onto onto the straps of the saddle to climb onto the saddle itself. If it wasn’t for my static state I might of been freaking out about the fact I was on a dragon, actually I was starting to feel a little freaked, that was until I felt Lloyd behind me. After adjusting himself accordingly, he held me closer to his body and grabbed onto the reigns. This thing was about to take off. I grabbed onto Lloyd’s arm around me, tightly. My eyes widened as it spread its wings and took off, it was a large and terrifying beast and it took its time ascending into the air. I pressed myself back into Lloyd who didn’t say anything, just rested his head against my shoulder. I hadn’t looked up from the saddle.

“It’s really pretty up here.” I heard Lloyd said but I ignored him. “I’ve always liked flying more than driving… feels more peaceful. Especially when it’s not really windy.” He said and I relaxed a little, looking up. I couldn’t tell if that was a bad or good thing. It was pretty but we were so high up. I was more interested in the dragon than the scenery. I placed a hand on the exposed white scale and felt as a rumble went through its body. I quickly retracted my hand. “They’re purring, they like you.” Lloyd added and I just nodded. The dragon head with brown outlines let out a long croon and I froze. “They want you to continue.”

“I’ve always loved dragons…” I said and scratched the scales area. The dragon shook almost shifting us too far off, I did not scream. Lloyd didn’t laugh at the fact I screamed. Because I didn’t scream.

“I’ve got you… if I knew you liked dragons, I would’ve got you to meet them sooner.” He said and it came back, the deceit. I could almost get it but it still hurt. I thought I had two new people and it almost feels like I lost a friend. I slumped again, removing my hand.

“You lied…” I said and he fumbled to try and get his words together.

“I didn’t want to… but I had to! I can’t go around saying I’m the green ninja.” He said and I nodded.

“I get that, I do but- but why would you get so close to me?! I thought I had a friend, Lloyd.” I said, hurt evident in my voice and I felt as he held on a little tighter.

“I wasn’t meant to! But I can’t leave you alone, you’re all I think about- I wasn’t meant to get too involved but then the thought of seeing you and not talking to you got to me- and then I found out about your powers-!” He reminded me and I shook my head.

“You were going to try and teach me as another person?!” I yelled and he cringed.

“Yes…” he admitted and I scoffed.

“And I felt guilty about the fact I didn’t tell you about my powers.” I said and he sighed, digging his face into my shoulder.

“I would’ve told you. I wouldn’t have let you find out like this if things were different.” Lloyd said and I paused.

“You called me…” I started and he pressed his head further into the corner of my neck. “You sounded so… so broken. I’d never been so scared, Lloyd.” I said and he nodded.

“I saw my mother and everyone acted like it was this happy thing. Like the woman hadn’t abandoned me and never came back to visit.” He said and I held onto his hand around my waist. We were started to descend now. Lloyd looked up to be able to our surroundings as we went down. “Wu looked at her like she was amazing. Some sort of spectacle. In reality, even my father used to say she was even more of a monster than him for abandoning a baby and not telling the father anything about him.” Lloyd revealed and my eyes widened. The landing was rougher than I thought and he was jumping off as soon as and encouraged me to slide down before he caught me and placed me firmly on the floor. I held onto for a moment as the sensation in my legs came back. We began walking after a moment, taking his hand in mine as he ripped off his mask and I pulled my hood off and makeshift mask too. “She tried talking to me. To explain everything- I didn’t want to know. I don’t want to know.” He added and I just followed him as he led me to a room that was covered in poster and green ornaments and nerdy things. Like Star Wars Lego sets and funko pops. He closed his door after I stepped in and opened his wardrobe. This was his room, I realised. I looked to his bedside to see a picture of a younger version of Lloyd in a smaller green Gi sat next to his uncle with the others in their Gi surrounding the two. They were all unmasked and poor Lloyd has a bowl cut.

“Your barber did you dirty.” I said and he looked at the frame I was looking at and let out a surprised laugh.

“The boys in my old dorm put a bowl over my hair, it was like a mullet- really long, anyway, one day they put a bow around my head when I was asleep and cut my hair. The teachers tidied it up the best they could but because it was boarding school for bad boys, they were rewarded and I just began hating my hair. Luckily, after the tea, my hair had changed drastically and Kai cleaned it up after.” Lloyd told me and I looked back at him, he was now just in his boxers. Pair of trousers in his hands ready to put on.

“I love your hair.” I said and he looked up before smiling, putting on his trousers as he spoke to me.

“With how much you tug it, I was thinking you were trying to rip it out-“

“Okay, Okay! I get it.” I said and pushed him away as he got seriously close. I laughed as he grabbed me and started kissing all over my face and neck. “Okay! I’m sorry, but I do love you hair. It’s softer than mine.”

“It’s not!” He immediately argued but backed off to go put his shirt on. He kicked the Gi towards a pile of dirty laundry, before turning and picking me up, easily. My legs wrapped around him and I let out a surprised laugh. “Being the green ninja means I get a few extra perks, like Cole’s super strength, meaning you don’t weigh anything to me.” He said and my eyes widened.

“That’s how you left my thighs bruised black.” Lloyd cringed at the reminder.

“I’ve not done that since, have I?” He asked and shook my head, kissing him.

“No, I don’t mind, however you do bite.” I said and tilted my neck to expose the bite a little.

“I don’t know where that came from. I think I tried to give you a hickey?” He questioned himself and I laughed.

“With teeth?!” I questioned and he threw me on his bed. He had a double bed. I starfished immediately. “Oh we’re staying round yours from now on.” I said and heard him laugh.

“We’d get zero privacy.” He said and I sighed in relief.

“I don’t care. This bed has made me forget how upset I am right now… that and I want to hear about your mommy issues.” I said and felt the bed dip, he grabbed my ankle and dragged me down the bed. I laughed as I settled in the new position. Putting my legs in his lap. He rested on arm on them, massaging my leg with his thumb.

“Peach… I don’t want to make this about me.” Lloyd said and I frowned.

“Maybe not, but I want to. So speak green boy. Tell me about your life before I leave.” I said and he grinned, amused.

“I realise how much you’re taking in right now, so I’ll give you the summary and we’ll delve into the specifics later.” He said and I nodded. “When I was 10, I left my boarding school and started some trouble here and there, the others had just started their training and were overly cocky and fed up of being called out to deal with ‘Garmadon’ and it being me.” He started and I frowned.

“You started trouble?” I asked, perplexed and he nodded.

“I was a wild kid, wanted to be just like my Dad. Except I was homeless and had no actual power to my name.” Lloyd said and my eyes widened.

“You were homeless?!” I asked and he nodded.

“For like a year before I was forcefully taken in by my Uncle.” He explained and my eyes saddened. “And that was only because my deviance had excelled to releasing the serpentine.” Lloyd told me and my jaw dropped.

“That was you?!” I questioned and he nodded.

“I thought it would somehow make my father proud enough to take me in. But he didn’t even know I was alive. And I was kicked out by each tribe until I met Pythor who I thought was my friend but he just wanted my serpentine tombs map and he deceived me and then tried to push me off the top of my boarding school but he had to run away before he could actually get me far enough to the edge. That’s when my uncle took me in and taught me to never trust a snake.” Lloyd told me and I smiled.

“Hey, I learnt that lesson too! Except it was on my own and with a bitch called Alabama.” I said and he chuckled. “I still don’t forgive that snake.” I said and he rubbed my leg.

“I don’t forgive Pythor either. I was just a kid. A bad one but nonetheless.” He said and I absentmindedly started playing with the hem of his t-shirt. “Then I got kidnapped by him, and my uncle had to go to the underworld to find my Dad to get his help in getting me back. My Dad tried to rip my Uncle’s throat out for knowing about my existence, and the fact I was alone and how he left me there. My Dad still says that my uncle either should’ve brought me to the underworld when my mother left me or took him in himself. Anyway, he saved me and I met him for the first time. It was weirdly emotional, for him at least, I felt nothing which still surprises me. It just wasn’t what I expected.” He told me and I nodded.

“It sounds like your father loves you a lot. Dare I say unconditionally?” I added and he smiled.

“He loves power more.” Lloyd added and my smile fell. “It’s okay, I know what to expect from my father. He came for me, that’s all that matters. A little while later, we go to find a fangblade and it’s in a volcano. Short story short, it starts erupting and Kai achieves his true potential saving me because somehow he realised that it was to protect me and therefore the green ninja. And I know you don’t know the prophecy of the green ninja, but it is the one destined to defeat darkness and bring back light. That darkness being my father. I have to fight and defeat my father in what’s called ‘the final battle’.” My eyes widened, and I sat up.

“You have to fight him?!” I almost yelled and he nodded, soothing me by patting my leg.

“That didn’t really settle well with my father and he left, the whole thing has sent him into a spiral really. Pythor managed to resurrect the great devourer, the one thing my Dad hates more than himself, and Wu. The ninjas gave up their golden weapons to my Dad so he could kill the devourer. He then took off with them after, creating that mega weapon which the ninjas somehow destroyed, that day is a blur really. Before that however, he used it resurrect the grundle. Which led to aging me to adulthood. The tea is supposed to somehow bring someone to the age that fate needs them to be. The grundle wasn’t needed and me, I’m supposed to be fate’s soldier. And children aren’t very successful in fights.” Lloyd said and I just looked up at him for a moment before jumping up and hugging him. He returned the hug, shifting me to actually be sat in his lap.

“I’m sorry.” I apologised and he shook his head.

“Don’t be. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Lloyd told me and I shook my head.

“Maybe not, but everyone else does. You’ve had the shittiest life I’ve ever heard of, and you haven’t even heard what Pearl’s been through.” I joked and he chuckled, kissing my cheek before holding me again. I held the back of his head and played with his hair and he rested the side of his head on mine.

“It’s not so bad. I have you now.” He said and that made me break, sobbing into his arms.

“That’s so sad.” I said and he laughed.

“Not to me.” Lloyd argued and I shook my head. “Hey, don’t cry over me, that’s a waste. Cry over your own shitty backstory not mine.” He told me and I giggled through my sobs.

“It’s not that shitty though! I was just neglected with a heavy handed sprinkle of bullying, you were actually homeless!” I argued and he shook his head.

“No, yours is so much worse. My mother actually tried speaking to me.” Lloyd said and I smiled.

“You sure that’s better than mine not?” I asked and he contemplated it for a moment.

“Yeah, I win. My life is worse than yours.” He said and chucked me onto the bed, off his lap. I laughed as he stood up.

“Okay, I can accept that loss.” I said and heard him laugh before suddenly he was next to me, laying down and star fishing, half over my body. I groaned at the sudden weight. “You’re so big, you need a whole bigass bed just to fit-.” I said and I saw the smirk come across his face and before I could take it back-

“That’s what you said-“

“Shut up- shut up-“ I covered his mouth and he laughed against my hand before licking it. I brought my hand back.

“Ew, Lloyd!” I said and his eyes snapped open.

“Wait licking your hand is gross but now-“

“Shut up! Someone could hear you-“ I said and he shrugged.

“My family has super hearing, my uncle definitely heard us fucking before he knocked on the door. He probably waited until we were out the shower to knock-“

“Oh my god! Are you serious?!” I asked and he nodded but shrugged a moment later.

“My uncle and Dad are really old. They were around during the times people used to fuck publicly like it was nothing.” Lloyd said and my jaw dropped. He started laughing and I shoved him.

“Not funny!” I scolded but he didn’t care.

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry. But they are really old. I think my Dad is around 1300 years old.” Lloyd said and I froze.

“How old?!” I asked again and he nodded.

“Well my grandfather is the first spinjitsu master so it makes sense.” I stared at him momentarily.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” I said and he laughed.

🪺. *. ⋆

Peach fell asleep as soon as they spent 5 minutes in silence. Lloyd had listened as her heartbeat slowed and her breathing evened out. They had thrown his covers over them both and spent some time just resting in each other’s arms. It was getting late and he hadn’t spoke to his team since the museum. And he was hungry. He had the appetite of a dragon and he can’t remember the last time he ever felt full. So carefully, he got out the bed. Freezing as Y/n turned whined and then turned over, displeased. He breathed a sigh of relief when she settled back and quietly left his room. His footsteps didn’t make any sound anyway.

The halls of the monastery were simple, but elegant. The monks had spent the past millennia carving prophecies and teachings into the walls, making a beautiful architecture as the heads went on. When Lloyd made it to the kitchen, everyone was there. They all paused to look at him and he stopped for a moment before walking over to a cabinet. He hadn’t noticed his mother sat at the table, initially.

“Are you going to explain to us who that girl is or?” Cole asked, breaking the silence and Lloyd looked up, debating whether to say anything.

“That’s my girlfriend, her name is Peach.” He said and the table shot up in uproar.

“Girlfriend?! When?!” Kai immediately whined.

“How long have you even been seeing her?!” Nya asked, outraged she wasn’t the first to know.

“Before me??” Cole’s grating voice.

“It wasn’t just a hook up?!” Jay asked, perplexed.

“That’s where you’ve been?!” Cole’s voice again.

“I have no records of someone named Peach in the residents of ninjago records.” Zane was the last straw.

“Yes! I have a girlfriend! And her actual name isn’t Peach but she’s got powers too, they’re not elemental and really unpredictable. We call it glitching. As you’ve seen. We think they’re triggered by certain emotional triggers. Her name is apparently one of them.” Lloyd told them and it did not satisfy them at all.

“She lodged that thing in the ground! It’s still there!” Jay yelled and Lloyd nodded.

“We haven’t spoke about that yet so don’t bring it up please.” Lloyd said and they all froze. He was different.

“Congratulations, nephew.” Wu said and Lloyd looked up at him. “I’m sure you 5 have probably connected that this girl is the reason for Lloyd’s sudden excelling in training and skills. Love sharpens the mind, and makes the body more defensive.” Wu said and Lloyd’s eyes widened.

“Woah- not there yet!” He said and moved to take his snacks away from his eager Uncle.

“We may live for long, but we fall in love quick. Your mother would be able to attend to this.” Wu said and Lloyd’s eyes sharpened.

“So would Dad, y’know, until he found out he had a son he didn’t know about.” Lloyd said Misako’s face fell.

“Your father spoke of me?” She asked and Lloyd smiled.

“Oh yeah lots!” He said and she smiled back at him. “Lots of unforgiving, hateful things.” Her face fell again. “I haven’t heard him mention you with a positive tone since he asked me where my mother was!” Lloyd said and the atmosphere soured, dangerously.

“Lloyd.” Wu warned.

“Don’t pretend to care about me.” Lloyd said instead of acknowledging his Uncle. “I don’t need you.” He added and walked out the kitchen.

“He’s really upset.” He heard Nya say.

“Can you blame him? Kid was abandoned multiple times.” Cole.

“Lloyd! Wait up!” He didn’t, but Kai caught up anyway. “Talk to me, dude.” He said but Lloyd only looked at him. “C’mon, we used to talk about everything! I even used to read you to sleep when you first moved in.” Kai reminded and Lloyd smiled a little. “I mean- you got a girlfriend?!” Kai said, with a smile. It made Lloyd willingly open his door wider to reveal the lump under his covers. Hair just visible.

“I did.” He said, Kai smiled looking in as Lloyd rested on the door frame.

“I can’t believe you scored Peach.” He said and Lloyd laughed before nodding.

“I was there when you came over the over day.” Lloyd revealed and Kai paled a little. “She said you are a massive dick.” Lloyd added and Kai laughed.

“Are or have one- because she has walked in on me and Pearl-“ Lloyd shoved him and he laughed.

“Are. And she’s right.” Lloyd added and Kai smiled. “Come in, I don’t want those weirdos listening in on us.” Lloyd said and a faint ‘hey’ from Jay was heard. Kai nodded, at Lloyd’s point being proved. It was soon followed by ‘blabber mouth’ from Cole.

With the door closed, Lloyd sat on the end of his bed as Kai took residence on the floor.

“She won’t mind?” Kai asked and Lloyd shook his head.

“The only thing she’ll mind at the moment is an alarm.” Lloyd said and Kai chuckled. “You awake, Peaches?” Lloyd asked and shook the lump who groaned and aggressively pulled the covers around herself more. “See?” Lloyd said and Kai’s eyes widened. “Do you mind if Kai stays in here?!” Lloyd practically yelled and the lump only whined, shoved him away from her and turned on her side to avoid him. “Not a care in the world.” Lloyd concluded and Kai nodded.

“Oh my god.” Kai said, perplexed and Lloyd smirked. They talked for a solid hour before the lump suddenly shot up and collapsed into Lloyd.

“I can’t sleep without cuddling something.” I said and I heard two voices chuckle. How did it take me this long to realise someone else was in the room? I looked up to see Kai and I turned to Lloyd.

“I told you, no privacy.” He said and I shrugged, settling down.

“Shame, I was going to give you the head of your life.” I shut my eyes, as my head rested comfortably on his thigh, facing away from Kai and towards his stomach.

“Get out.” I heard Lloyd say, most serious I’ve ever heard him. I laughed and so did Kai.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Late. You slept most the afternoon away, Peaches.” Lloyd told me and I nodded slightly.

“Is Kai still here?” I asked and Lloyd nodded.

“I asked him to leave.” Lloyd said and I sighed.

“You didn’t ask, you ordered.” Kai argued.

“I told him to leave.” Lloyd said, instead and I laughed. Brothers, definitely.

“No head then.” I said and watched as Lloyd glared at Kai.

“Can you even move, Peach?” Kai asked and I didn’t move.

“I’m gonna pass out again.” I said instead and soon surrendered to sleep again.

“You just cock-blocked me so hard!” Lloyd said and Kai shrugged.

“You’ve cock-blocked me so many time, I don’t care.” It was true. The other ninjas used to send him to knock on Kai’s door whenever they knew Kai was having phone sex or make him tell Kai he was meant to babysit him when he was about to go hook up with someone and then his hookup would start talking about how cute his younger brother was.

“Not my fault.” Lloyd defended.

“You did it for a price.” Kai counter-argued and Lloyd shrugged.

🪺. *. ⋆

I woke up to no Lloyd. I was in his bed but no him. I sighed and sat up. How did I feel so tired? And hungry. What do I do until Lloyd comes back? Stay here? I stood up and looked around the room. He had his own bathroom. Good. I stretched in the middle of his room. The t-shirt he had put on me before I fell asleep rose slightly above my ass, exposing the skin and the fact I had nothing on my lower half. I shoved my trousers from yesterday on, keeping his shirt though. I pulled my bra on, clipping the back before listening with my ear against the door to try and hear if anyone was outside. I noticed my phone was on charge and his was next to it. Good, that meant he hadn’t left. I checked it. No messages. The usual. 8:07am. What the hell? I thought it was like 1pm with how I felt and how everything looked. Where the hell did Lloyd have to go at 8pm?

I slowly opened Lloyd’s door and peeked out it, taking one look down the long hallway. I took a deep breath. It’s a long hallway. How big is this place? I didn’t really get a good look at it. It was already bigger than any home I’d been in before. That’s when I made myself pause. This wasn’t a house. It was a monastery. That meant other people lived here, specifically monks. It was also owned and used by Lloyd’s uncle whose father is the first spinjitsu master. That meant that this wasn’t a normal monastery and in fact it was dedicated to ninjitsu and the first spinjitsu master’s techniques and teachings. It was also evident in the engravings and painting in the walls and supporting poles of the building. I didn’t even realise how far I’d walked when looking at the decor until I was staring into a kitchen. Empty. Thank god. I was really hungry. I can’t just take their food though. That would be extremely rude. Unless I just took Lloyd’s food. I bet they all share though. I’ll wait. I’m starving though. My throat is dry. Having some water isn’t rude, is it? Where the hell are the cups? It’s rude to snoop. Why is etiquette so hard? I’ll suffer. I’d rather suffer than be asked the condensing question of ‘what are you doing?’ Before I could leave, a voice made me jump.

“Not hungry?” An older woman’s voice. I frowned as I turned to see her. Her hair was in a singular grey braid. This is the woman I saw with Lloyd before. In the room with the hole. This is his mother. The woman who abandoned him.

“No.” I lied. My stomach stayed quiet. “Just trying to make my way around.” I said and she smiled.

“In Misako, Lloyd’s mother.” She introduced herself and I nodded.

“Peach, Lloyd’s girlfriend.” I said and Misako’s smile didn’t falter.

“Do you mind giving me your real name?” She asked and I nodded.

“I do mind.” I said, finally smiling back. “If I wanted you to know it, I would’ve said it.” I turned on my heel and went to walk out.

“I understand you’ve only heard about me through Lloyd and he is very upset.” Misako started and I rolled my eyes, turning around again.

“Rightfully so.” I said and she just nodded.

“But it was to try and find a way around the final battle- see, I knew from his birth that he would be the green ninja. So I left him at that school to do everything I could to try and stop it.” She said and I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m not following.” I said and Misako sighed.

“I had to try to put a stop to all this.” Misako said and I nodded.

“No, I got that- I just don’t get why you’re telling me and not Lloyd why you left him.” I said and she came a little closer.

“I tried, he didn’t want to hear it.” Misako said and I ‘oh’d’.

“And you want me to try and talk to him?” I asked and she smiled.

“You are in his prophecies, helping him in any way.” That freaked me out. “You have to start playing your part.” She told me and now I was annoyed. Lloyd did not inherit a thing from this woman.

“Where is he, by the way?” I asked and Misako seemed to ease up, thank god. Except she was still sort of close to me.

“You think about him a lot, don’t you?” This felt creepy now. She reached out a hand to put on my shoulder and my arm glitched causing her hand to go through my body. When she retracted her hand and nodded to herself, I remained neutral. “He’s with the others and Wu in the dojo, training.” Misako said and I nodded.

“Okay. Thank you.” I said and sped out. I had no clue what was up with that woman but I was starting to think it was best Lloyd wasn’t raised by her. This whole place was weird and all the authoritative figures were eery and thoroughly made my skin crawl. Back down the long hallway I went, trying to ignore the fact Lloyd’s mother was apparently following me. She split into another room not long after and I thanked any spiritual being listening. I heard voices at one point and stopped at the open door. Actually none of these dojo rooms had doors. There I saw the 5 ninjas surrounding Lloyd who blindfolded.

“Don’t rely on your eyes, use your ears.” Earth said and they all suddenly drew their weapons and charged at Lloyd. I watched in silence as they fought. Lloyd expertly dodging and even disarming them at some points. It wasn’t until the blue one flew past me, into the hallway and onto the floor was I noticed.

“Oh, hey… I’m Jay by the way.” He said and raised his hand from where he was laying on the floor, I shook it and smiled. He was ginger and had a mass of freckles populating his skin that wasn’t as pale as expected from a ginger.

“Peach.” I said and he smiled.

“Nice to meet you!” Jay stood and nodded before jumping back in the fight. I watched as Lloyd wore them down and worked on not exhausting himself before lighting up his green elemental fire which apparently signalled that he had won or the fight was over? I don’t know. However, I tried not to jump when he suddenly turned to me. Sythe in hand and smirked.

“Hey Peaches.” Lloyd said and I tried not to give too physical a reaction. And he have to sound so smug.

“Good morning.” I said and he chuckled.

“Feels like mid afternoon with how early we got up.” Kai said, from where he was sitting on the floor.

“I hate to tell you, Peach, but I don’t think training is over yet so I can’t see you until Cole tells me I can take this off.” Lloyd said and I laughed.

“Shame, I woke up hotter than I was yesterday.” I told him and he whipped around to the others.

“Bro I could not care less-! Just use your stamina on something other than us at the moment! Got I hate not having my powers!” ‘Cole’ vented and I nodded. Lloyd bent his head down and I untied the blind fold. He let his eyes adjust before looking me over.

“Wow, you did.” He said and I shoved him.

“Lloyd has game. Who would’ve thought? Not me.” Kai said and before anyone could retaliate. The ground shook violently and Kai shot up. “I’m sorry, I won’t diss your grandson again!” Kai pleaded and I looked to Lloyd confused.

“That’s not my Grandad, he likes thunder. That’s an actual earthquake.” Lloyd said and I frowned.

“What the-?” I went to question but was shut up by another shake, more violent. Lloyd held on to me, instinctively and I held grabbed onto his arm.

“Okay, that’s not good.” Jay said and Cole smacked him.

“Thanks for stating the obvious!” He said, annoyed. How did Jay annoy him so easily? Lloyd rolled his eyes and turned on a TV I hadn’t even noticed was in here. That seemed dangerous. He sat on the floor and I joined him, following his lead as most the ninja were already on the floor due to exhaustion. The two elders came in not long after and started watching the news too.

“So it’s just earthquakes?” I asked after Gale went on about how the aftershocks were getting stronger.

“It’s never just earthquakes, there’s always something wanting to destroy ninjago behind it. Last time there were earthquakes, it was because the great devourer had become ninjago city’s new train service except the only way on was through the mouth and into its stomach.” Jay said and I nodded, quickly looking up at Lloyd who shook his head.

“What could it be then?” I asked and Lloyd shrugged.

“Anything from my father to a big evil dog a this rate.” He said and I smiled.

“Would’ve be surprised if it was Garmadon, we haven’t seen him for a while.” Kai said.

“He would never.” Misako said and I couldn’t hold back the frown. “Lloyd‘s father is evil, but he would never do anything to put his son in harm’s way.” She added and I looked up to Lloyd who took a deep breath, restraining himself.

“Misako’s right. He only tried to thwart his training. This is something else.” Wu said and Lloyd stood up, offering me a hand which I took as he lifted me up.

“But what is it?” Jay asked and it went quiet before Ice whistled and a bird came out of nowhere. I jumped at the sudden animal appearing.

“My friend. Be my eyes and ears in the streets from above.” He let the bird fly out the window and I stared up at Lloyd, confusion evident.

“Zane is a nindroid. That falcon is a robot.” He explained and I nodded.

“That’s really bad, we’ve gotta get out there and start helping people.” Cole said and I looked to Lloyd.

“Right.” Lloyd said and turned to me, I nodded.

“I think I need a time out anyway.” I said and Lloyd kissed me before pulling up the mask on his gi. “Do you want to go home?” He asked and I nodded. “Come on.”

🪺. *. ⋆

My dorm building was gone. I just watched it crumble to the ground. There was dust everywhere. My eyes burned from the haze of it. The whole building just collapsed after a particular harsh quake. I was on the other side of the road. It came down like it was made out of sticks. What if someone was still in there? I felt sick. I was glad it was the holidays. My ears were ringing too. I only just recognised the crying and screaming from someone next to me. A girl, not even 13.

“My friend-! She was- I don’t know if she got out!” She said when I turned to her and I held her. “When did you speak to her?” I asked and she shook her head.

“Not even 10 minutes ago-!”

“What floor?” I asked and she took a deep breath.

“5th.” Shit.

“Maybe… come on. We’ll go look for her.” I told her and soldiered in to the haze of dust and fresh debris. “What’s her name?” I asked and the girl was still shaking.

“Kaliyah.” She said and I nodded, before yelling the name. I waited for a moment before nothing. I yelled again and the little girl followed.

“Wait- what’s your name?” I asked and she looked up at me.

“Fiona.” She said and I smiled.

“Peach, we’re gonna find your friend.” I said and Fiona smiled gratefully.

🪺. *. ⋆

The ninja had just successfully pulled a woman out essentially a growing sinkhole. All Cole could say was how annoying her dog was as he panted on the floor. In the haste. Everyone had forgotten he no longer had his super strength and was using his raw natural strength and muscle to haul the 5 of them and a woman to safety. Safe to say, his arms felt like they were just ripped off him. The woman had run off and now they were just stood, looking around at the damage as the quakes continued.

“These things keep coming with no warning!” Kai said, trying to remain on two stable feet.

“That’s it! A warning!” Misako said, pulling out a scroll from her satchel. “The scrolls said the earthquakes would be a warning. A warning for something far worse to come.” She finished and Jay immediately spoke up.

“Far worse? What could be far worse?” He asked.

“Misako? The indestructible stone warrior we fought yesterday, where did you find him?” Cole asked and Lloyd’s eyes widened.

“The one Peach put in the ground?!” He asked and Misako responded.

“He was buried under the city.” She told him.

“You don’t think there’s more do you?” Jay asked, worriedly.

“Be on guard ninja. We must be ready for whatever comes our way.” Wu said.

“Uh- Lloyd…” Kai said, and Lloyd turned to see what he was staring at. He followed Kai’s gaze to the TV screen in a shop broadcasting the news, and on it was a crumbled building. It was expected with the quakes. What wasn’t, was the sign of a particular school and the disturbing title under it.

‘Emmer’s boarding school dormitories first building to fall in unexpected earthquakes, deaths and injuries unknown.’

“Shit- I gotta go-!” Lloyd said and started running.

“Go where?!” Jay yelled after him but Kai stopped him.

“Peach’s home has just been destroyed.” Kai filled in and Jay’s eyes widened from behind the mask.

🪺. *. ⋆

I had nothing. Literally nothing. It was all gone now. What the fuck? What do I do? The only thing I could do right now was look for this little girl.

“Kaliyah! Kali-“ I paused at the sound of a sob. It sounded breathless and strained. “Kaliyah?!” I asked again and I heard it, more urgent. I looked around in the direction I heard it and saw a little leg peeling out under some rumble. I gasped and immediately started lifting the bit of rubble on top of her. “Fiona-! I found her-!” I said and heard the girl yell and head my way. I used all my strength to get the first piece of rubble off and the desperate, immediate breath that the girl took broke my heart. She was bloodied and it took all my strength to not cry at the sight. Instead I worked and dislodging the debris that had trapped her arm.

“Kaliyah! Kal-!” Fiona yelled and held the other girl’s hand.

“Help me lift her up.” I said and Fiona helped me position her better in my arms as I was forced to carry her bridal style. “Call an ambulance, now!” I said and Fiona immediately pulled her phone out. “She’s barely breathing- it must’ve crushed her lungs..” I murmured to myself and set the girl down on the flat ground near the road. Another quake came rattling through the ground and I watched as the school itself came crashing down this time. “Cover your eyes!” I yelled and Fiona, even with being on the phone dropped to ground and covered herself. I used my own body to shield Kaliyah’s and thanks to Ninjago city’s top tier healthcare, we had no idea when this ambulance would turn up. Especially with the emergency currently happening. I felt as the cloud of dust and debris came rushing over us, fiercely. I fully covered the little girl and prayed she lived to not remember this and have a happy life. I opened my eyes to check on Fiona when an ember flew in my eyes and I cried out. It stung and I couldn’t open my eye as it burned through the socket. It probably didn’t but it felt like it. I heard sirens and silently thanked the gods above.

I felt numb as they took the girl away, I told Fiona to go with them. She was unsure but I nodded. It didn’t matter about me being alone and having nowhere to go because Lloyd appeared and rushed over to me. Immediately checking me over. I was probably covered in dust and debris and the odd cut.

“What the hell happened?!” He asked and I shrugged.

“My school and dorm collapsed and I just dug out a 12yr old from some rubble and had to dislodge part of a radiator from her arm so her lungs wouldn’t be considerably crushed. Oh by the way! I have nothing and am currently homeless.” I said and he shook his head.

“No you’re not… come live with me.” He said and I nodded.

“Can’t believe we’re already moving in together… can’t believe I almost died.” I said and he held me tighter.

“You’re safe now, okay?” He said and I just leant on him. “Peach? Y/n?” He asked when I didn’t respond and I just smiled.

“I think I’m gonna pass out…” I said and he shook his head and bent his head down to look at me.

“No, you’re not… not atleast until we’re out of here. Buildings keep falling around here.” Lloyd said and I smiled.

“Tell me about it.” I joked and he shook his head.

“C’mon… the stone warriors are going to be attacking soon- well they already are but more.” He told me and I frowned.

“The who?” I asked and Lloyd grabbed my hand, leading me back to ninjago city.

“Y’know that big live statue from yesterday?” He told me and my face dropped.

“And you’re taking me to it?!” I almost screeched.

“No! Everyone is being evacuated to the top of the news tower and then we’re going to use the bounty to evacuate as many as we can.” He added and I frowned.

“The bounty?! Lloyd- what’s going on?!” I asked and he didn’t stop running but briefly looked at me.

“We think the final battle is starting. The earthquakes are meant to be a warning according to my mother.” Lloyd said and I looked up at him.

“What the fuck…?” I questioned.

“My thoughts exactly.”

#lloyd garmadon x reader #ninjago lloyd #cole brookstone #green ninja #earth ninja #jay walker #kai smith #lloyd garmadon #ninjago #ninjago cole #nya smith #ninjago zane #ninjago nya #ninjago kai #ninjago jay #the first spinjitzu master #fire ninja #ninjago misako #ninjago garmadon

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baekgufiles · 2 years ago

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sunghoon’s love languages as your bf !! (pt. 2)

pairing: sunghoon x reader (not gender specific !!)

genre: fluff | slice of life (i guess?)

word count: 0.8k words

warnings: mentions of weight and self awareness, pet names, rlly cutesy again

a/n: omg the first part got like 60 notes real quick even though my profile is basically empty??? Tysm 😭

QUALITY TIME he’s the type to say “i miss you :(“ even though you see him like almost everyday. Would stick around as much as he could possibly could.

«hey»

«open the door»

those were the texts you read as you hesitantly open the front door of your apartment. a very smiley sunghoon received you with the phone still in his hand.

"what are you doing here?" you scolded and rushed to hug him at the same time.

"turns out our flight took off way earlier that we thought and I had some spare time so…" he shrunk his shoulders.

"so? you’re spending the night?" you were very excited to spend time together after enhypen’s 3-month-long tour on america.

"i am" he confirmed as he took your hand "but first I’m taking you on a date"

"sunghoon you don’t have to do that, you must be tired" you tried to decline.

"are you joking? i just got off a 13 hours flight. there’s nothing i would like more than going for a walk" he interrupted, quickly. maybe he was even more excited to see you.

"okay, okay, we’ll go. i’m getting us coffee ice cream" you announced, picking up the house keys.

"by the way, why didn’t you open with your own set of keys?" you curiously asked.

"i don’t know, maybe because last time i tried that you almost broke my rib?" he said, ironically.

"oh, yeah, that. sorry" you answered, smiling like an angel "on my defense, it was dark and you were supposed to arrive 3 days later"

sunghoon giggled "i missed your excuses so much"

your eyes soften as you replied "i missed you too"

WORDS OF AFFIRMATION i feel like he would struggle the most with this one idk why. bro would drop some random phrase like “you’re really pretty. not as much as me obviously, but still pretty” for sure

with a heavy sigh you blocked another account from your dms. ever since a sneaky photo of you with sunghoon was filtered, some crazy fans have managed to found your user name.

at first it wasn’t that big of a deal for you, you were well aware of how far people can go for their idols. but lately it had became more and more hurtful to receive insults daily. they would criticize anything about you; your smile was ugly, you were overweighted and even your nose turned out to be crooked and you had never noticed before.

the self awareness, more than ever before, was a commonplace now. You dropped the phone, creating accidentally loud noise as you collapsed on the sofa. you always kept pretty well with criticism but this situation was taking over you.

"baby, are you okay? I think I heard something" his voice sounded careful as he leant to the living room. the preoccupied expression appeared as soon as his eyes met yours, glossy from tears. sunghoon rushed towards you, embracing your figure as you hipped from the crying.

a couple minutes later, sunghoon spoke again in a whisper "can you tell me what happened?"

"it’s… it’s not that big of a deal really "you said between hiccups.

"sweetie, if it wasn’t that important you wouldn’t react like this" he rubbed your back, gently.

instead of talking, you passed your phone to him, the inbox open. sunghoon quickly scrolled throw the screen, his face becoming reddish and his eyes darkening.

"this is what has been bothering you?" he suddenly turned towards you. too embarrassed and still sensible to talk, you burried your head on your arms, but still nodded to let him know.

"y/n you can’t be serious" he spoke, carefully raising your face with one hand "they don’t know shit about me! how could they know what it is good for me?"

"but they’re your fans, they know-"

"they are not my real fans if hating you looks like a good idea for them. they don’t have any right over my relationships" both of his hands were resting on your cheeks now, keeping your eyes from avoiding him "listen. we both know words are not my strong, but i could keep going forever when it comes to you and i will if you don’t start to behave as my cute, confident girlfriend right now"

you lightly laughed, rubbing your eyes one last time. sunghoon felt the pressure on his chest dissipate as your breathe calmed down a bit "thank you for that. it’s just that, you know, you’re so talented, comforting, handsome and everything. sometimes I feel like you deserve so much better than me"

"you’re not perfect and neither i am! but you know what? we don’t need to be perfect to be the perfect couple. and let me tell you," he continued, fully serious, hugging you one more time "i have yet to see a pair that looks nearly as good as you with me""

@ baekgufiles

#🍰; 𝓵𝓾𝓿𝓵𝓪𝓵𝓪 #enhypen #enhypen x reader #enha fluff #sunghoon x reader #sunghoon #sunghoon fluff

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lordfreg · 6 months ago

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🗣 "You guys aren't even a good duo!"

Me n Bro:

@sweaterrat <3333

This took.... EIGHT HOURS,???!?!!?!?@?!?@?$ and 13 minutes.......rjrjrkekrkrkdjjrkd it spanded TWO DAYS I'm exploding gejjdkek💥💥💥

Also NEW PERSONA!!!! I'll be drawing myself like this a bit more ghnfmfn

#freg speaks #freg art #fregart #persona #sweaterrat #what are we looking at 🤭#fan art #gift art #gifts #also happy late birthday 🎂#ive been so burnt out brooo #but im trying #ANYWAY-#love youuuuu /p

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saysike-skedoodles · 8 months ago

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The Trio in The Smiler Queue

The trio waiting in line to go on The Smiler, what could go wrong?

...Multiple things actually, for one, Bex is scared of rollercoasters, the small ones are enough for her to handle. Secondly, Bex and Stacy have never been on a rollercoaster as intense as The Smiler, so they're both in for a surprise. Thirdly, Silly has already been on this ride multiple times in a row. So you can image Bex and Stacy's reactions when Silly tells them.

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I know I just uploaded 2 days ago but I FINALLY got the motivation and energy to work on a piece like this! I've been feeling the case of "Missing Alton Towers Hours" so I used it to make this bit of art. I always wanted to attempt at what I call the "Gumball lighting effect" and that's basically just putting 2D cartoon characters into irl photos and making them fit in. Trust me, it is a LOT harder than it looks. I'm trying to improve in lighting as it is so I found this to be a fun but annoying piece to work on. It's not the best, but for a first attempt at stuff like this I'm proud of it nonetheless. Also I should mention too that the photo used for the background was taken by me!! And yes, I FINALLY GOT TO ALTON TOWERS LAST YEAR AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. My phone storage is begging to be put out of its misery from the amount of photos I took while over there but ANYWAYS. BEST 2 DAYS OF MY LIFE I TELL YA. All the rides there were so fun and some even surprised me more. Looking at you Oblivion. You made me nearly black out halfway through the drop. No shade to Oblivion though, bro was still really fun. But I gotta say that Galactica and The Smiler are my favourites, I only was lucky that I got to ride Galactica twice, considering how busy the park was (we went around the time school tours were happening which we didn't know about cuz different school system here) but I still thoroughly enjoyed the rides I managed to get on :]. Also yes it's canon the trio went to Alton Towers, I made these OCs i can do what I like with them and that includes making it canon they've been to a theme park I'm very normal about (not) XD

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I think you guys now understand why I'm like this about The Smiler. I'm betting that either the main theme or the "Ha Ha Ha" variation is gonna be my most played track for 2024.

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Deviantart

Tumblr

Art Tumblr

Youtube

TMM Official Tumblr

Newgrounds

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[all content I post is automatically 13+ if not stated in the title or the content itself]

#art #alton towers #the smiler #the smiler alton towers #oc character #oc #ocs #digital art #digital drawing #my art #tmm #too many misadventures #too many misadventures stacy #too many misadventures silly #too many misadventures bex

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maknaesdancersrappers · 2 years ago

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devoted 2.

part 14.

Overall warning/s: kinkier smut (eg. voyeurism, exhibitionism, etc.) character death, dark themes

Chapter warning/s: vulgar language, violence, self harm, implied stalking

Just how devoted is Jaehyun to you?

prev: part 13

wc: 5.3k

“You owe me big time.” Sicheng hissed over the phone.

“Anything. I’m sorry, bro. It’s an emergency.” Jaehyun was hurriedly walking up the steps of a private jet Sicheng was able to arrange for him at the last minute.

“If this ends up with you overreacting, I don’t know what I’ll do to you.” He kept complaining, “But I do wish [Y/N] is okay.”

“I hope I’m just overreacting, too.”

The last message you had sent him was about heading over to Dr. Ahn for an emergency check up. He waited for an update but it never came — only a concerned message from Dr. Ahn, asking if something came up with your schedule that you had missed the appointment.

Obviously, this set off alarm bells for Jaehyun. He immediately called up Hyunwoo, demanding to know where you were. When informed about your location, he was confused. Why were you there? He had told them to go up the room and check up on you. It’s been half an hour and they haven’t gotten back to him.

Jaehyun seated himself in the first seat in the cabin and obsessively checked his phone for updates.

Before his phone could ring when the screen showed Hyunwoo calling, he answered it.

“Sir, she kicked us out.” Hyunwoo said, a little hesitant. “She’s safe in the apartment; we checked every room. But she kicked us out.”

His brows furrowed in confusion at the information, “What in the world is she doing?”

“She seemed to be reading files, sir.”

Files?

“What kind of files?”

“I’m sorry, sir. But she wouldn’t let us near. She said she’ll be waiting for you.”

The flight should be a little over half an hour, but considering Seoul traffic, he should make other arrangements to avoid the rush hour. “I’ll be there in 2 hours. Stay outside the door until I get there.”

“Understood, sir. Have a safe flight.”

The call ended just on time before the plane took off. Jaehyun cradled his head with a hand, rubbing his temples.

“Files?” He whispered to himself, “What could she possibly be reading?”

Slowly, anxiety crept over his body. Does it have something to do with her stalker? Did this person happen to hold something over him? Technically, his hands should be clean… for now… with the dirty deals happening inside the company.

Jaehyun visibly flinched, enough to garner the stewardess’ concern. He ignored her, bringing his thumb to his lips and scratching his teeth against his nail.

There’s no way…

Could it possibly be files… from before?

“Sir Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun held his head high, “Detective Go.”

He looked about his dad’s age, maybe a little bulkier but gray around the eyes — probably from work. His office didn’t look like what movies made Private Investigator’s offices looked like. Those were drabby and dark, the blinds were always shut closed.

Detective Go Hyunmo’s private office looked like any regular office of a high ranked employee would look like: it had a sizable desk, with little to no clutter. There’s no picture of any kind, however, so it makes Jaehyun wonder if he was single and alone. There was a pendulum near the edge with a little flowering succulent in a hand painted pot.

Jaehyun smirked to himself, this man had a child. He understood now that his office was decorated as such to prevent anyone from learning about his personal life, but that multicolored, blotchy painted pot told even a teenager like Jaehyun that it was hand painted by a child.

Detective Go quickly excused himself and walked over to where his computer was, pulling out the papers from the printer.

Jaehyun caught a familiar face on the computer screen and he stared longingly until he was rudely interrupted.

“Your father didn’t go into the specifics about what you’ve requested,” Detective Go cleared his throat, pulling out a folder from his drawer and inserting the papers he had collected inside of it. “So I just got all the basic information on Ms. [L/N] that can’t be pulled off the internet.”

He slid the files towards Jaehyun and he browsed through it, making it seem like he wasn’t as eager to read them.

“Her records are squeaky clean. I’ve only singled out a single possible interaction between you and Ms. [L/N] throughout the years and it was pretty recent—”

“I’m aware.” Jaehyun snided, closing the file folder. “I’d like to keep tabs on her. Keep updating me.”

“I don’t mean to impose—”

“Yet you are about to.”

Detective Go bit his tongue. The teen in front of him suddenly looked like his father and it made him shiver. “Yes, I’m sorry. I will keep track on her and will update you every month—”

“Every 2 weeks.”

He nodded, not even giving the demand a second thought. “Every 2 weeks. I’ll have it emailed to you.”

“I’ll use a burner email. I’ll contact you with it when I want updates.”

Jaehyun stood up, dragging the chair back. He was tall for his age, but he was still a scrawny teenager inside the office.

“My father has arranged for your services to be paid every 2 weeks as well. 5 mil to work for me, and another 5 to keep your mouth shut about it.” He coldly stated, “Would that be enough?”

“5 million won?”

Jaehyun scoffed, “Do you think my father would pay one of the top P.I.’s in this country a measly 3 million won? Of course, not. It’s in US dollars.”

He only meant to clarify if he had heard the number right. “What a generous offer. It’ll be a pleasure to work for you, Sir Jaehyun.”

When Jaehyun had left, Detective Go Hyunmo sighed. He shouldn’t meddle in their business, but he couldn’t help but let his mind wonder over the possible reasons why they would want all the information they want on an innocent high school girl.

The last time Jung Jaegun had tapped him, it was for a competitor of their business who conveniently died a few weeks later. Before that, he had his wife investigated — and months later, they got married.

He glanced at his computer where Jaehyun was completely transfixed. He couldn’t describe the look on the boy’s face — he had looked at your photo with utmost revere, he almost thought you were a living goddess.

But he also reminded him of his father — his father had shown that same face when he handed him the very first files he had on his now-wife.

Obsession.

Detective Go sighed, taking out a cigarette from one of his drawers and lit it up.

“Poor girl.”

It was getting a little dark when Jaehyun landed — Seoul traffic would eat up all his time. Luckily, he thought ahead and reserved a helicopter ride straight to the apartment. He thought he could get at least a quick nap during the flight but he was too jittery and anxious. He was escorted straight from the plane to the hangar where the chopper was.

“Good evening, Mr. Jaehyun.”

He curtly nodded at them, entering the rotorcraft and settled in. “Have my luggage delivered to my house address. I would like to leave as soon as possible.”

The employees scurried at once and the pilot bowed, greeting him swiftly as he made the necessary preparations.

Jaehyun’s phone rang and he answered without looking at the screen.

“Would you care to explain why you left China without successfully closing the deal?”

“Their branches are too caught up in politics either way.” He gruffed, “I have more pressing matters to attend to, Father.”

In front of friends and family, he referred to him as “Dad” but in private or with business partners, he spoke to him in a more professional tone.

“And that is?”

“[Y/N].” He hissed, “Father, I have reason to believe that Detective Go’s files have been compromised and sent to her.”

“What? Impossible. He knows the consequences of leaking anything we’ve hired him for. Where is [Y/N]? Is she safe?”

“She’s in the old apartment. I’m heading over there as we speak. The bodyguards are with her.”

“I’ll personally deal with Go, son. You take care of [Y/N].”

The phone call ended but it left a horrible taste in Jaehyun’s mouth. There was something in the way his father spoke that didn’t feel right. He knew that if information like that was exposed, it would ruin the family image and the company — even if it was exposed to someone trusted enough to enter the family.

You’re not legally part of the family yet — his own mom found out years later into their marriage. She told him it was because it would make it harder for her to leave his father. But did he really want to do that to you? His father would get rid of you without a second doubt. Jaehyun clenched his fist in his lap.

The pilot instructed him to put on the headset and he wordlessy obeyed. They took off not long after the pilot had gone over the usual spiel about safety and the final procedures were done.

Jaehyun inhaled deeply, maybe he’s jumping the gun. Maybe the bodyguards were mistaken with what they saw. Maybe the files were about the dirty business the company does. Because even then, he knows he can placate you.

But if you find out about the past — he doesn’t know what could happen.

“Sir.” Hyunwoo and Jooheon stood erect when Jaehyun appeared from the elevator.

“Is she still in there?” He gazed at the door as if he could see through it.

Jooheon nodded, “Yes, sir. We check every 30 minutes. Hasn’t moved from her seat. We tried to offer her food but we were dismissed.”

Jaehyun nodded, “Alright. Get yourselves dinner and head home for tonight. I’ll handle it from here.”

“Yes, sir.” They recited in unison.

He caught them sharing an unsure glance at each other but bowed to him nonetheless and made their way down.

Whatever waited for him on the other side of the door, he had to compose himself. He had to pretend he had no idea what was happening and he was only really worried about your welfare — which was true. He knocked on the door, “Babe? [Y/N]?”

When he was met with silence, he hurriedly opened the door, assuming the worst had happened to you.

But there you were, hunched over at the dining table, a hand in your hair while the other held up a piece of paper to your face. Your back was turned to him and it didn’t look like you heard him come in.

This was proven wrong when he made his way over you and you hissed at him, “Stay away.”

“Babe?”

“Don’t,” You choked out, standing up abruptly and turning to face him, the chair screeching along the floor and hurting both your ears but only Jaehyun flinched. “Don’t you fucking call me that.”

“Why? What’s wrong? What are those?”

“What’s wrong?” You screamed, almost scoffing in disbelief. “What’s wrong with you?!”

You grabbed one of the first folders you had read and hurtled it over to him, landing right at his feet. “You had me investigated? Back when we were 16?”

Jaehyun’s ears began to ring, this wasn’t happening. Maybe he did fall asleep on the plane and this was a dream — a nightmare.

“I didn’t even know who the fuck you were back then — so how did you know me? When did we even cross paths? Hm?”

He could feel himself unraveling — all those years of therapy that taught him to keep himself in check, to keep calm and collected when he was beginning to get triggered — all of that was crumbling as fast as you were spewing out the questions he hoped he never had to answer.

“Did you have your father send the Qian’s away so Kun and I could break up?” Your voice started to strain, “Was everything — how we met, all those times we’ve spent during college— was all that a lie?”

He couldn’t look at you, his eyes just focused on the pieces of paper on the floor in front of him. All of it, he had read multiple times in the past. It had records of your birth, your family tree, even records of your mundane days as a high school student — and he had read every single one multiple times. He probably knew things you had already forgotten.

“Were we even really in love?”

“I loved you from the moment I saw you.”

You jolted back, surprised at how loud his voice was. Jaehyun had finally looked at you, eyes wide, wild, and wet. His nose flared with every breath and you could tell he was doing his very best to stay calm.

“I loved you from the very moment I saw you.”

“And…” Your voice cracked, “And when was that?”

“There was an interschool sports festival between the high schools in our city. I was one of the players for basketball and before our game, we wanted to check out the girls in the swimming category.” He made a halfhearted shrug with his shoulders, “You knew how I was back in high school and the crowd I was mixed in — that much was true… so yeah, as student athletes, we had access to the benches by the pools for a closer look. I’ll spare you the details of the comments we made for every swimsuit-clad girl we saw — but then you passed by, smiling and waving up at your schoolmates behind us. That’s how I found out what your name was because they were cheering it so loudly and later on, the announcer had introduced you as well. But when you passed by, I thought you had looked right at me — in retrospect, you looked past me to say hi to your friends, but at the time, I genuinely thought we had locked eyes.”

Jaehyun paused, “It’s cliche, but I really thought time moved slowly for me. You were beautiful — you still are — and you just radiated pure confidence and pride as you walked to the poolside. I waited for my friends to say something about you so I could join in, but they never did. Like they were blind — a literal goddess had just passed in front of them but they were talking about the girl behind you from some other school. Even when you won, they didn’t make a single comment. It was then I realized it was better they didn’t pay attention to you because then I could have you all to myself. You were phenomenal and I was so in awe and impressed with you.”

“But you made me stop swimming.”

“Yeah, and remember how those assholes whistled at you back in college at the university pool? You’re so oblivious to other men, [Y/N]. It’s quite frustrating.” He frowned, “Back then, I was sure you weren’t single — someone like you? There was just no way you were. That’s why I thought Dongyoung was your boyfriend at first.”

You grimaced at the mention of Doyoung’s real name. He had it changed that year, too, because it sounded too similar to his older brother. No one should really know his real name, but even his information was among the pages on the table.

“But of course, I found out afterwards that he wasn’t.”

“Because of those?” You nodded at the files in front of him.

“No.” He solemnly responded, “I… figured it out after some time.”

You stared at him, trying to understand what he meant. “You… stalked me afterwards.”

“I wanted to know you—”

“You couldn’t have tried approaching me like, I don’t know, how normal people do?”

Jaehyun winced at your words — or rather, how you stressed the word ‘normal’.

“That’s not love, Jaehyun! That was infatuation and it grew into obsession!” You shouted, grabbing another file off of the table and shaking it towards him, “You don’t have someone investigated out of love!”

“But I proved that I do, didn’t I? I cared for you, protected you, and provided for you—”

“Does it matter if we have different truths of how we started?” Your throat started to burn when tears began to well in your eyes for the nth time tonight, you didn’t bother counting after the third time. “I feel lied to, Jaehyun. No, I was lied to! It’s like I don’t even know you—”

“But you do! I’ve been honest about everything else and I’m constantly trying to be. I would’ve told you—”

“Bullshit!” You cut him off, “You and I both know you wouldn’t have told me. You’re only forced to right now because of all of this.”

“[Y/N]...” Tears were also appearing in Jaehyun’s eyes. “Please, I’ll tell you everything and anything you want. You know I wouldn’t dare hurt you.”

“And yet,” You choked out, “Here we are… I—I feel so violated, Jaehyun. All this time, I thought we had met by chance but you had it planned out from the very start.”

Jaehyun shook his head, “If you didn’t want me, I wasn’t going to force — I swear, please, [Y/N], you have to believe me. I just had to force that chance to see if being with you was possible and it was! You showed interest in me and that was all I ever wanted.”

You wanted to throw up but you held it down, “I can’t say I still feel the same way.”

His heart dropped, thinking he misheard her. “What?”

“This is too much… I can’t deal with this.” You whispered, biting down hard on your lower lip before you uttered, “I think we should break up.”

In an instant, Jaehyun felt like he lost all sense of hearing. Your lips were moving but he couldn’t hear anything after what you had said. On instinct, he looked around for something — something to throw at a wall, to punch repeatedly, something to destroy, but couldn’t even make a step towards anything. He needed to divert the pain elsewhere… He had to hurt himself some other way.

“But,” His lips quivered, unable to find anything within reach, “I told you the truth— I’m telling you the truth!”

“It’s a little too late for you to come clean, Jaehyun.” You found yourself crying as well when you saw his tears. “I don’t think you can come back from this.”

“Baby—”

“Please,” You raised your hand to stop him, “Don’t call me that.”

“[Y/N].”

You slowly shook your head, wiping your tears with the back of your hands, “I can’t do this.”

You tried to move past him and when he tried to put his hands up to stop you, you flinched.

That told him enough. The girl he had held so dearly and protected more than himself was terrified— because of him. He lowered his hands and could only watch you as you grabbed your bag.

“What are we gonna tell you parents?”

You stopped in your tracks, spinning around to look at him as if he had grown a second head. “What are we going to say? No, Jaehyun. What are you going to tell them?”

You looked down on your hand where your engagement ring was. You hesitated, but you huffed, removing the ring from your finger and shoving it into his hand. “You are going to return my mother’s engagement ring back to her and tell her the exact reason why you’re returning it to her.”

“[Y/N], please.” He held your hand tightly, pulling it towards his chest, “Please don’t do this. Tell me what I can do to fix this.”

He started sobbing, breaking down completely — and you’ve seen this before, back in his college dorm. His fingers were shaking around your hand. “Anything, [Y/N]. I’ll do anything. Please stay. Please don’t leave me.”

“Let me go.” You whispered, “That’s what you can do. Let me go.”

Jaehyun looked at you, completely defeated. His face was red and wet, contorting into a silent cry as he fell to his knees and loosened his grip on your hand.

It shocked you that he had given up so easily, honestly it broke your heart. You loved him, but you loved him because of the version you knew of your relationship.

When he had completely let go of your hand, you knew you could walk out freely. Tentatively, you stepped back, waiting for him to say something else but he didn’t. So this is it. The day both of you never thought would happen.

You turned your back against him and began to walk away. You’re surprised to make it to the front door with only hearing his soft cries. You spared him another glance and all you wanted to do was run to him and comfort him, gather him into your arms and hold him tightly, but you knew if you did that you won’t be able to walk away at all.

Maybe you could do this quickly, you thought. Abruptly opening the door and closing it once you passed through, you took a few more steps towards the elevator and it came quicker than you had expected. Once you stepped in, you stared at the closed door, imagining Jaehyun still on his knees and crying.

Punching in the button of the ground floor, you waited for the doors to close while drying your eyes with your sleeve.

A loud, anguished scream echoed from the apartment — enough to scare you, but it was replaced with concern instantly. You could feel the pain in his cries and you stepped forward to go back in but the elevator started to close. You were frozen in your spot, hearing Jaehyun’s constant crying growing more and more frustrated and distressed. The doors shut and you lost your balance when it began to move down, only realizing now that you were still feeling weak and sick. What time is it? You dug around your bag for your phone and cursed, it was still on the table. You can’t go back up now and possibly give him hope.

The elevator opened and the couple getting in looked shocked to see you. You probably looked crazy, eyes swollen and nose runny from crying. You sheepishly bowed your head to greet them and made your way out when you saw it was the ground floor. You had your wallet, at least. You could hail a cab or catch a bus to your parent’s home.

The clock at the lobby told you it was a little past 8 already. You hadn’t had lunch or dinner at this point. Maybe you should pick some food up before going home. The doorman bids you farewell with a smile that you returned.

The night air was cold — winter should be around the corner now. You don’t know how you could get your winter clothing from the house now, though. But that’s something you can worry about later, for now you walked away into the night.

You gasped for air when you broke the surface of the water, hand planted firmly on the side of the pool. You ripped your goggles out for a better look at the screen and when you finally had blinked the water from your eyes away, you barely had time to recognize that only you had a two-digit number flashed on the screen before your swim team captain had single handedly pulled you out of the water in a towel-clad embrace.

“We won, [Y/N]! You were amazing!” Your teammates swarmed you, jumping up and down as they celebrated.

You were still confused, looking back at the scoreboard.

[L/N] [Y/N]: 58.75s

Ha Nana: 1:03:58

Hazuki Nagisa: 1:04:34

You were first — not only that, you were barely under a minute. That breaks your personal record of a minute and two seconds!

Although belated, you joined your team in rejoicing, laughing in disbelief that you had won by a landslide in the 100m freestyle category.

You turned to the section where your school was seated and almost felt embarrassed at how loud they were cheering your name. You put up a finger to your lip and shushed them, unsuccessfully.

“You just secured the swimming category for our school! I’m sure the boys at basketball have that in the bag as well. We’re winning that school trip to Busan for sure!”

You nodded at your team captain, removing your cap and drying your hair with the towel she had hugged you with.

“Come on, snacks on me!” She said, “Hurry and get your asses dry and changed before it gets sold out!”

All your other teammates were speed walking — as it’s still not allowed to run along the pool — to the locker rooms and you just calmly followed, wrapping the towel around your waist.

Once the team was freshen up and back in their gym clothes, all of you headed towards the concessionaire stands. Luckily, there weren’t many students and you found two tables to seat the whole team together.

“Have you seen the boys at Kyeonggi? They’re so hot! Why can’t we have those kinds of boys at our school?” A teammate of yours, Hara, gushed, nodding her head towards a certain direction.

You were too busy scooping up rice cakes into your mouth to follow after her, but listened to their conversation.

“Because God has favorites, and the students at Kyeonggi are both hot and rich.” Another teammate, Sihyun, quipped.

“Do you guys think they had work done?” Chaeyeon put the tips of her fingers on her nose, “No one is born like that, right?”

“Probably. Oh, I heard that some guys at Kyeonggi deal drugs.” Hara whispered, low enough for everyone at the table to hear. “It’s like a known secret but no one ever rats them out because their parents will just pay off anyone to shut up.”

You scrunched your nose at this, “The fuck?”

“Yeah, well, that must be the perks of being in the top 1%.” Chaeyeon shrugged her shoulders, “Oh my god, what if they, like, doped up before the competitions?”

“They wouldn’t,” Sihyun snorted, swatting Chaeyeon’s shoulder, “Now why would the kids of the top 1% wanna win this stupid sports fest? They probably own the resort the winner’s are going to stay at.”

You cleared your throat, rising up from your seat, “I’m gonna get a drink, does anyone want any?”

They shook their heads and continued on with their conversation.

“Gosh, maybe I should try and be a housewife to one of them when we get older.” Hara sighed, “Stay at home, watch the kids, get spoiled — ugh.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at her before turning around to head towards one of the booths that sold drinks.

You smiled at the girl manning the booth, handing over exact change as you told her your order: the coldest bottle of cider they had. You felt a little bad that she made the effort to stick almost her entire arm into the cooler to get to the bottles at the very bottom. You sensed someone beside you and you figured they wanted to buy something as well so you stepped to the side to give them space.

The girl handed you your drink, but she was not looking at you anymore. She had a big, flirty grin on her face as she greeted the person you had made way for. You took the drink and thanked her, a little amused at her expression. You started to make your way back when you felt someone touch your arm.

“Hey, excuse me—”

“[Y/N]! There you are! I’ve been trying to find you everywhere!”

You waved at your best friend, who picked you up for a bear hug that made you shy and laugh.

“You were amazing! Congrats on the win, [Y/N].” Doyoung settled you back on the ground and you shook your head.

“I don’t know,” You playfully sang, “I think I owe it all to my cheerleaders in the crowd.”

He smugly crossed his arms over his chest, “That’s right, because I made sure everyone out cheered the others.”

“Whatever! Hey, wanna join the team for some snacks? Ji Ah bought too much again.” You hooked your arm around his like how you always would, reeling him along as you walked back to the table.

“Who am I to deny food, [Y/N]?”

You giggled at him, shaking your head. You looked back at the booth, remembering someone had tapped your arm. But no one was there anymore. There were a couple of students walking away, but you really couldn’t tell who it was. Did you drop something? You only brought over the exact amount of money you needed to pay.

“Hey, you okay? Are you looking for someone?”

You looked up at Doyoung and shook your head again, “It’s nothing. I thought someone called me or something.”

“Maybe you have a fan now.” He teased, bumping his arm against yours.

You smacked it lightly, “As if! Who would be interested in me?”

When the elevator dinged from outside the door, Jaehyun knew you were never coming back. He looked down at his palm where you had forced the engagement ring into. Tears fell down onto his hand and pooled around the ring. He yelled out loud, enough to make his own ears hurt.

“No!” He cried again, sobbing and lurching forward to hide his face on the ground. “Fuck!”

He punched the floor, hard enough to bruise his knuckles and the ridges of the ring to indent his skin. Reality started sinking in and his breath turned shallow. He sat back up, grabbing onto his chest when he felt pain kicking him from within. He ripped off his tie and clawed at the first few buttons to open his shirt — he couldn’t breathe.

It’s been years since he last had a panic attack. He hadn’t even purchased an inhaler since middle school. He feebly stood up, trying to get to the kitchen, hoping the water was still running in the unit. His body felt so heavy and he started to get light headed — he needed to get a grip on his breathing. He was still uncontrollably sobbing, for the first time in a long time, he was scared. He bumped against the counters to get to the sink, reaching for the faucet. No water came out. Fuck.

Jaehyun only sobbed louder, sliding down the counter to curl up on the floor. This wasn’t like him. You had done it — you had broken him. Jung Jaehyun, the only son and heir of the powerful business mogul, Jung Jaegun, who taught his son to be as strong and confident as him. Look at him now, pathetic and crying like a child on the floor.

You were right, he thought. He should have just approached you the first time. He could have just called out to you again when Doyoung had gotten in the way. Why did he let things go this far? Why did he have to turn into his father?

Mom, Jaehyun whimpered, she’ll be so disappointed in him. She did her best to make sure he didn’t grow up to be like him, but failed in the end.

“[Y/N],” he called out, despite still hyperventilating, “I’m sorry.”

“I—” He was able to get a deep breath in, but cut it short by exhaling, — I regret it.

I regret it, please [Y/N.]

Jaehyun’s vision started to blur and darken.

I’m sorry, [Y/N].

The engagement ring he had been holding onto tightly— so tightly that it left a bright red mark on his palm as it rolled off his hand and left a soft clink on the kitchen floor.

a/n: (❁´◡`❁) ehe

next: part 15

#nct scenarios #nct smut #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun smut #devoted au #nct jaehyun smut

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