#The first song also had an uncomfortable number of swear words and the play seems to involve a lot of people getting disembowled

[theriu]

OP here! Please let me assure you that I am aware of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. I looked it up the first day I posted this when people began tagging it.

They have not stopped tagging it. I am adrift in a sea of TGWDLM recommendations and "OP doesn't know about" and "What youre looking for is" and the simple tragedy is that after watching the first few minutes of the musical and reading a plot synopsis I knew it is not for me as I don't like horror (yes even comedic horror). Also the aliens communicate by singing and not just dance so it does not quite fit my original vision.

Thank you all for sharing my post, I'm happy this made you smile and reminded me of something you love, but please by all that is merciful know that no one else need inform me of the existence of TGWDLM because you've done your job well and I could not be more aware if Starkid came and performed in my very house 🫠 OKAY THANKS LOVE YOU

For as popular as the idea of a "hivemind" is we never talk about how it doesn't exist in nature. There's no animal colony that connects and controls all its members through a psychic connection. Even bees, the eponimous hivemind, communicate by pheremones and, more importantly, interpretive dance. My point is when are we going to get a movie about an intensely organized alien race that mainly communicates via sick dance moves, why are we sleeping on this.

[mirkosintern]

Crawlin’ back to you

pairing: dabi x fem!reader

genre: smut with a lil angst and fluff if you squint

notes: reader is a member of the lov, set in the meta liberation army arc (before the war!), possessive dabi, wowee this is my first work!! I never expected myself to be able to write a piece but here we are ehehe this was inspired by a certain tiktok actually. U may have already noticed but the title is from the song do I wanna know? by the arctic monkeys<3

warnings: 18+, unprotected sex, breeding, cum play, dubcon-ish?, toxic relationship, degradation, vulgar language, alcohol

word count: 3k

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That the nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day Crawlin’ back to you Ever thought of callin’ when you've had a few? 'Cause I always do Maybe I'm too busy bein’ yours to fall for somebody new Now I've thought it through

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Dabi wasn’t one to do feelings. He’s screwed numerous women, but they were nothing more than some toys to fulfill his sexual needs. Neither did he want to have feelings, nor did he need to. Afterall, his side hoes who begged to stay with him even after all the degradation he’s given them disgusted him the most. He would snicker at their pathetic attempts and cut them off ruthlessly.

However, you were an only exception.

No, he did not have feelings for you, he swears he never did and never will. But you were different from his other disposable sluts--he kept you around. He didn’t ghost you, instead, he kept coming back. It is only because you’re a member of the lov as well, he thinks. You are easy to access since you’re always around the lov base, and he doesn’t even have to worry about getting caught by civilians or stupid bitches who suddenly decide to turn him into the police. You guys were practically co-workers with benefits, fuck buddies where the “buddies” part is questionable.

Dabi didn’t mind that he made an exception for you until that night. That very night where you sleepily decided to crawl into his arms after a rough round and whispered him how you loved the rough texture of his skin against yours. That very night where you pressed delicate kisses beneath his jaw. The moment of intimacy—making his heart pound and warmth spread beneath his cold skin—was threatening. You were threatening.

That’s where he cut you off completely. He did not knock on your bedroom door located in the lov base anymore. He stopped sending those “you up?” texts at 3am. He didn’t even lock eyes with you or talk to you anymore.

It feels as if something heavy dropped inside you, squashing your heart to the point where it’s painful. You try your best to ignore the pang in your chest and remind yourself that you guys were nothing more than co-workers with benefits. However, the enduring heartburn only functions to make you realize how attached you were to him. He’s Dabi, the biggest scumbag you will ever meet, what did you expect? What were you thinking? It should be no surprise this happened, right? But having to encounter his stupidly handsome face every day was not doing any help. You are a girl with dignity, you tell yourself, trying your best to ignore his strong scent of campfire and cologne drowning you every time you guys are in the same room.

The pain is suffocating you for weeks, and you finally decide to completely get over him. The night Dabi brings a bimbo to his room and fucks her loud enough for everyone in the lov to hear—for you to hear—you’re done with everything. You step outside, get drunk, do anything to numbify the pain the raven-haired guy has caused you, and even meet a nice-looking guy who seems to be interested in you.

You are doing good without Dabi.

You don’t need Dabi anymore.

You are not letting him get to your head.

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A party.

League of villains is all about privacy, but they also started having some fun after uniting with the meta liberation army. Now they had sufficient money, people and place to throw parties every now and then without the danger of getting caught by civilians. Afterall, a number of heroes were in their side as well.

“Not gonna lie, you guys do know how to host parties.” Keigo smirks, picking up a glass of bourbon whiskey. “It’s fuckin’ lame,” Dabi answers as he downs a glass of liquor.

“So, what happened with y/n?” Keigo throws a suggestive smile.

“The hell you mean what happened with her?” Dabi frowns.

“Y’know, didn’t you guys used to be a thing or something?”

“Nah, she was an occasional fuck and that’s it.”

“Oh really? The Dabi I know never fucks a same bitch twice though. I thought she was something special.”

“Special?”

“Yeah, thought maybe you actually wanted her.”

A smug grin appears on Dabi’s face. “Never even liked her.”

“Have you seen her and her new boyfriend?”

The smile is quick to vanish from his face after hearing the word boyfriend. Dabi’s eyes widen, immediately glaring at Keigo. Before he could say anything, Keigo tilts his chin to point something.

“There they are.”

Dabi turns his head only to find you clinging onto some guy’s arm. Your cheeks are flushed –a pretty, pink glow on your face—as you bat your eyelashes at the guy. Bubbly giggles escape from your lips while you stare at him through half-lidded eyes. The guy’s arm is secured around your waists, pulling you closer to him.

Dabi sees red.

His entire body freezes as his grip around the liquor glass tighten. Dabi doesn’t say anything for a moment, but there is no way Keigo wouldn’t pick up how his cerulean eyes are flaming at the sight. “Well, I thought you knew.” Keigo pats Dabi’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t matter anyways right? You never liked her.”

“…Right.” Dabi takes another sip from the liquor, his eyes still fixed to you.

Keigo’s words are true; at least they are supposed to be true. Dabi didn’t have feelings for you. He doesn’t do romance. No feelings were ever involved with any of the women he’s slept with, and he made sure of it. It was so clear for Dabi without a question.

But why is it unable for him to erase the sight of you with some guy as he forces himself to sleep that night? Why are your sweet giggles echoing his head? Why can’t he get rid of the thought of you in that tight, black dress that perfectly complements the curves of your body? Why is the moment where the guy places his hand on your inner thigh replaying in his head? Why are thoughts of you messing with his mind?

“Fucking hell.”

Dabi gets up. This was fucking annoying. You were truly fucking annoying.

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You tilt your head to check the glowing digits of your digital clock on the nightstand. 2:15am. It’s late, and you haven’t even taken off the dress you wore to the party. You are too tired both physically and emotionally. You’ve done quite a decent job in entertaining the man who’s accompanied you through the whole party, but it was truly an energy-consuming task. You and him walked around as if you guys were the happiest couple in the party; but the truth is that you guys aren’t even properly dating yet. Solely because you have constantly been refusing to properly answer him asking you to be his girlfriend. It’s not that he’s bad looking or anything, but the idea of being with him just doesn’t sit right with you. Ever since you’ve met him, he couldn’t keep his hands off you without asking you anything about consent. You always had to pull his hand away with an uncomfortable smile, yet he never took a hint. However, when a dating rumor about you and him started and spread quickly, you didn’t try to correct anything. Maybe it was because you wanted to pull out a reaction from a certain villain. Maybe your unusual actions at today’s party; clinging onto the guy and laughing at every single word he spoke; was to make Dabi witness how happy you were.

 Truthfully, you were dying inside.

 What was even worse was that none of your attempts seemed to bring an ounce of reaction from Dabi. When have you become so pathetic and desperate? You feel tears welling up in your eyes, hot and burning, but you don’t want to cry. Not for an asshole like him. You take out your phone, find the guy’s name, and text him that you don’t want to see him anymore. You feel a little guilty, thinking that you may have used him to provoke something from Dabi, but your thoughts are too worn out for you to comprehend anything. You flop onto your bed and bury your face in your pillow. You huff out a deep sigh, and the soft texture of your cotton pillow feels warm on your cheeks. In all honesty, you were thinking about Dabi the whole time you were at the party. Whenever the guy’s hand creeped up your thighs or gripped on your ass, you imagined it was Dabi’s, trying your hardest to feel something from the contact.

 You weren’t over Dabi. You never were. Realization hurts, leaving a sour feeling in your mouth.

 Your body shoots up at the sudden, loud slamming sound emerged from your door. Your teary eyes widen at the lean man slamming the door shut. “Dabi?” You ask, not believing your eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?” Without an answer, Dabi’s one hand reaches for your throat as his other hand grips your wrist. His large body is towering over you, and you feel your bed shift as he dips one knee in the mattress. His sapphire eyes pierce through your soul, and you can feel his raging anger just from looking at him.

“You’re such a pain in the ass, y’know that?”

“Dabi, what are you-“

He doesn’t let you finish the sentence, pulling you in for a heated kiss. Your lips open reflexively, enabling him to deepen the kiss. The kiss is aggressive, and he doesn’t know whether it is because of his anger or his pent-up desires towards you that he has been suppressing. The kiss gets sloppier over time, hot and wet with saliva and tongue. He lets go of the grip on your wrist and starts tracing your inner thigh with his thumb, and you let out a soft moan. You finally pull away from the kiss to catch your breath, but he doesn’t cease to caress your thigh. Instead, he lowers himself to your ear. “You seem to really love thigh touches, don’t you?” His low voice and hot breath brushing the shell of your ear sends chills down your spine.

“Huh?”

“I always knew you were a slut, but never knew you were this much of a whore. You would bend over any guy who offers you some touches, right?”

Tears swell in your eyes again at his vile words, but it’s hard to talk when his knuckles are repeatedly brushing your clit.

“I’m… not a slut…nngh.” Suppressed moans escape your lips.

“Yeah? Why are you making those sounds then?”

“Dabi…”

He yanks your dress up and dips two fingers inside your lace panties, making you let out a weak yelp. Dabi raises his brows with a smug grin on his face.

“Oh, so she indeed is a slut huh? You get this fucking wet from a kiss?”

His two digits start pumping inside you, and you grip on his white shirt at the sudden sensation. Your gasps and moans get louder, and you suddenly feel his wet lips against your neck. Dabi sucks hard, making sure to leave dark purple marks from your jaw to your neck and shoulder, as he repeats the step of curling his fingers and pulling them inside and out your hole. “Dabi…too fast.” You whine out. “Yeah?” A sadistic grin appears on Dabi’s face. “Be a good slut and take what I give you.” His thumb reaches for your clit, making your legs shiver.

“Nngh…stop, I’m gonna… Dabi I’m gonna cum.”

“Stop? You want me to stop?”

“No!”

“Do you deserve it though?” he slows his pace while teasing your clit. “Beg.”

It’s humiliating, really—but do you have any other choice when you are this close?

“Please, Dabi… I’ll be your good slut. Please let me cum!” Your desperate cries have him pumping his fingers fast again, and soon you’re seeing white. Hot drops of release coat Dabi’s fingers as he pulls out.

“Say ah.”

“A-ah.”

You obey, and Dabi sticks his digits inside your mouth. Your mouth wraps around them immediately, sucking as if it’s a pacifier. “Good girl,” Dabi says as he pats your head, and it makes your stomach swoop with sick pride.

The bulge in his pants is becoming painful, and he contemplates on fucking your mouth. But he’s too impatient; He feels the need to abuse your cunt right now. He wants to hear your screams and cries as he proves who you belong to.

“Take that off.” Dabi gestures at your dress, and you start undressing as he demands. Dabi pulls down his sweatpants and boxers, causing his cock to spring out. It’s so pretty, you think, and you can’t help but admire his red tip, glistening with precum. He pumps his length a few times and lines it up with your entrance. You inhale a sharp gasp as you feel his whole length inside you. It feels so full; it feels as if he’s gonna split you in half if he starts moving.

“Ah, too big.”

“I know.” Dabi looks down on you. “Take it like a little slut you are.”

Before you could even talk back, he is moving inside you. Your moans blend with the noise of the bed creaking; a perfectly harmonized orchestra to Dabi’s ears.

You knew Dabi wasn’t one to prep you or go slow, but you feel like he’s going way rougher than usual. His wild thrusts have your head lolling backwards, and Dabi does not miss the chance to take a hard bite on your neck. You scream out of both pain and pleasure, and you feel two hot streams of tears on your flushed cheeks.

“Aww, she’s crying.” Dabi says in a mocking tone. “Bet you love the pain.”

Humiliation fills your chest and you turn your head away, but Dabi quickly grabs your chin with one hand, forcing you to directly face him.

“Who’s the one making you feel this full?” he asks.

“Y-you.”

“Did he ever make you feel this way?”

Wait, he? Who does he mean by he? Your alleged boyfriend? Could it be possible that Dabi was doing this out of jealousy? You try to comprehend, but it’s impossible for you to think clearly, not when Dabi is fucking you stupid. “No!” You shout.

Dabi’s free hand reaches for your clit and starts rubbing circles. “Tell me, who does this pussy belong to?”

“You…” You try to answer, but he suddenly lifts up your lower body and slams into your cervix in the right angle. It has you moaning even louder, your insides spasming around his cock.

“I can’t hear you.” He smirks sadistically.

“You, Dabi, it belongs to you! I belong to you!” You’re screaming his name like it’s the only word you know, making his cock twitch. “That’s right. You are all for me, all for me to use. Just a pathetic little slut for my cock.” A satisfactory grin appears on Dabi’s face.

Dabi lowers his body down and grunts directly into your ear as he thrusts even faster. The sound of his skin slamming into yours is so erotic, and you can feel how close you are.

“You wanna cum huh?” His words have you nodding frantically, babbling incoherent words. Yes Dabi—wanna cum so bad—wanna be yours—wanna be your good girl—please, dabi.

“Then do it. Make a mess on my cock.”

“Nngh, Dabi!” You scream out his name as euphoria washes down your body. His release follows you soon enough, painting your walls white. You feel warmth filling your belly while his groans echo in your ear. You’re still sobbing and panting after he pulls out, without any energy left to move. As your blurry vision starts getting clearer, you feel his warm skin and the sting of his cold staples against your back. His long arms wrap around your oversensitive body, pulling you closer to him.

“You’re messing with my head.” Dabi rests his forehead on the back of your shoulder.

“Huh?”

You’re confused, but Dabi doesn’t elaborate. His ego doesn’t let him do such thing.

“When you said you belonged to me, did you mean it?”

You bite your lower lip, not knowing how to respond to his sudden question. Millions of unspoken words and feelings are hanging in the back of your throat, creating a huge lump. You swallow them all and spit out a question instead. “Do you want me to belong to you?”

“Yeah.” Your eyes widen at his unexpected response, butterflies fluttering inside your chest. “Be mine.” His low voice vibrates against your soft skin. Your heart melts at his words, and you cannot stop your feelings from overspilling anymore. At that moment you both realize; you and Dabi were meant to crawl back to each other, no matter how hard you both try and struggle.

“I’m yours.” You smile, “I’m all yours.”

[chrisevansjellybeans]

TikTok Challenge (2)

A/N: Been getting a lot of love on the first part of this and that means the world so thank you guys so much! Here’s part 2 and I hope you enjoy :) 

Chris Evans x Reader 

Warning: swearing(??), indication of smut 

Word Count: 1546

(1)

You shouldn’t have been surprised that your TikTok with Chris would blow up. You weren’t dumb and you had been on TikTok enough to know that there was whole pages just dedicated to your incredible silly and loveable boyfriend. Hell, you followed most of them and quite frankly chatted with some of the creators because they loved your boyfriend as much as you did. 

And yet here you were, stunned, as you stared at your video as it played the iconic scene over and over again and tucked nicely on the side was the number 2.3 million. Over 2 million people liked yours and Chris’s video, and it had only been up for about a week. And the comments were so kind and funny. People demanding that you continue doing small pranks on him or requesting other couple challenges. Your face lit up when you saw Chris Olson commented, since you had tagged him you hoped it would reach him but you weren’t sure. 

“Holy shit.” You mumbled to yourself as you also stared at your follower count. When you had first downloaded your TikTok you had maybe 25 followers, just close friends and family. You had made a couple just silly videos with Dodge and that had made you get a couple hundred more when people started to recognize you, but now you were at 150k. 

Quickly you started thinking of a different video that you could do. Immediately the video of girls going up to their boyfriends like they were about to initiate sex but then stand up and jump on them came to mind. 

Perfect. 

Now you just had to find a way to set up the camera while Chris was in the bedroom. You got up from the couch and made your way to the bedroom, luckily he was still showering after his workout. You glanced around the room and tried to pinpoint the perfect spot for your phone later. 

The dresser on the side wall had some candles on it that would be the perfect prop and it was just out of the way enough that he wouldn’t really notice if your phone was over there. As you fiddled with your phone you heard the shower turn off and Chris’s voice, humming to whatever song he was playing, was getting closer. Quickly, you grabbed your phone and hopped on the bed trying to act like you were just relaxing. 

“Hey babygirl,” Chris smiled at you as he walked out of the bathroom, running a towel through his hair as another was loosely wrapped around his waist. He made his way over to you instead of his closet and leaned down and gave you a kiss. “What ya doing?” 

“Just going through Instagram. Thinking about my hot boyfriend all wet and sudsy in the shower. You know, the usual.” You grinned up at him. He raised his eyebrow slightly as he leaned more on you. 

“Oh really?” He pressed his lips against that spot on your neck that had you melting in his hands. “And why didn’t you join me? I had something I needed you to take care of in there.” The vibration of his voice against your skin was felt as it made your nipples stand at attention and your core ache. 

“Hmm.” You moaned as you ran your fingers through his hair, having him move up so that you could give him a proper kiss. “I’m here now.” 

“That you are, babygirl.” Chris said against your lips as he let the towel around his waist fall down and pulled you closer to him. “Let me show you what you missed.” 

You stood outside, waiting for Dodger to finish going to the bathroom before bedtime. As soon as he finished, you finished turning off all the lights around the house and blowing out any candles that Chris might have missed on his way to bed. 

“Come on, Dodge. Let’s go find daddy.” Dodger followed dutifully behind you, his favorite stuffed Lion secured between his teeth. 

Chris looked like every girl’s wet dream when you walked into the bedroom. He was leaning up against the bed frame with a book in front of him, bare chested and only in a pair of plaid pajamas pants. The icing on the cake though was his new reading glasses he just got. It seemed impossible but he somehow got even sexier with those on. 

You quickly changed out of your clothes and put on your favorite of Chris’s t-shirts to sleep in and since you were about to film a video, put on some pajama shorts as well. You walked over to the dresser with the notion to take off your jewelry, but as you did that you also set up your phone on the spot that you had decided on before. 

When the timer went off you walked over to Chris, once again trying hard not to break character as you tried to seem as seductive as possible. He looked over the top of his book as you moved onto him, straddling his waist. Immediately he set down his book and glasses on the nightstand and his hands found their way to your ass. 

“Are you sure you’re ready for, what would this be, round 4?” You felt yourself blush all over knowing that Chris’s words would be heard on the internet. You didn’t say anything as you lightly kissed right under his jaw. Chris groaned and his head fell back as he gripped your ass tighter. But his face of pleasure soon turned to confusion as you stood up. 

“Worldstar baby!” You laughed as you tapped your elbow and jumped. But of course your “I do my own stunts” boyfriend had reflexes like a goddamn cat and before you could fully land on him he caught you. 

“Are you on crack?” Chris laughed as he tickled your sides as you fell to the side of him. You giggled as he continued to tickle you. 

“It’s for-” you could barely finish seeing as you couldn’t breathe from laughing. You pointed to your phone on the dresser. “Tiktok babe.” 

Chris groaned as he stopped his ticklish assault on you and pushed his face into the crook of your neck. 

“Babe!” He groaned as he rolled over and sat up, looking directly in the camera like a scene out of the office. You sat up behind him and wrapped your arms around his neck as you smiled into the camera as well. 

“Smile for the fans, honey.” You joked. 

“Wait, so does that mean no sex tonight?” 

“Christopher!” You glanced at the camera which had once again ended at the perfect time. 

“Ha. Now you won’t post it.” Chris chuckled. 

“Babe, if you don’t think that every girl, gay and they on that app won’t get excited at the sound of you saying that; you truly don’t know your own fans.” You kissed his cheek and bounced over to your phone watching the video. You bit your lip as you watched, slightly concerned that it might be a little too scandalous in the video. You knew that there were worse things on that app but you knew that you had to be more careful for Chris’s sake. 

“Chris, come watch this.” You turned to him. “I don’t want to post it if you think that Caroline will kill me.” Caroline, his publicist, worked hard to make sure that Chris maintained his image as the wonderful human being that he was. He obviously didn’t make it hard to do but you didn’t want to cause any issues. 

Chris sighed as you sat next to him, leaned your head against his chest and let the video replay. 

“If it’s too sex tape-ish in the beginning I wont post it. Just having it for myself is enough.” You said as Chris watched the video closely. You bit your lip as the part where you’re on top of him played. 

“But you want to post it?” Chris asked when the video finished. He turned to look at you fully, placing his hands on the tops of your thighs.

“I mean of course, it’s funny and I think people would like it. Our other video has already gone viral. But I’m not going to do anything that you are uncomfortable with. I know you like your privacy.” 

“I think it’s fine to post. I mean there’s not much worse that can happen since the other incident.” You rubbed his hand that was resting on your leg. “If Caroline has a problem with it she can talk to me, but I say it’s fine.” 

“Are you sure?” You asked once more before you posted it. “This might be the video that shoots us into TikTok fame. Forget Captain America, this will be your biggest gig yet.” You joked. 

“I can not stand you.” Chris rolled his eyes. “Now let’s please either have the sex that I thought I was getting or go to bed.” He laid down and raised his eyebrows seductively. He lightly tapped the spot next to him and then made circular motions with his hands. 

“You’re a dork.” You laughed as you set your phone down and decided to reward your boyfriend for being so cooperative.

[adorethedistance]

Part 2: Concessions Duty - Alive!Luke Patterson x Reader

JATP masterlist

Warnings: Swearing I think ?

Words: 3458

Summary: Luke’s brilliant evening plan puts you in a very uncomfortable spot that not even your best friend can fully remedy.

A/n: Uhhhh are y’all okay??? Everyone who left commentary on part 1 was relating to this a lil too hard and I’m concerned. Also this isn’t thoroughly proofread but I needed to post it before I cut it down to nothingness so, sorry if it’s boring.

 @Lukepatterson: Hey hope u got home okay and ur garden is good im just gonna leave ya my number and you can text me on ur own time ?

Leave it to Luke to spell ‘you’ three different ways in the same sentence.

Even without all the details of the situation, he’s respecting boundaries that I hadn’t even clearly outlined. Of course, he would. Because he’s understanding and respectful and emotionally intelligent and perfect and… in love with Elisa.

The scene of me freaking out at Luke is playing on repeat in my mind all throughout the school day. I find it hard to focus but not in the way I had before the guitar session. Instead of staring at Luke with noticeable heart eyes, I stayed hyper-focused on my work and kept my head down. Naturally, I told Elisa every detail during lunch, and she promised that she wouldn’t ask any more questions once we were in the car on the way home. That promise was a massive relief, because for the first time that day, I’d have a moment of peace from my own mind and my friends’ inquisitive nature.

I puff out an exhausted exhale as I exit the central school building. I’m about to round the corner of shrubbery we meet by, before heading home each day, but abruptly stop after bumping into someone who didn’t side-step me as I anticipated them to. The force of impact nearly knocks me off my feet but they grab onto my arms to stabilize me. Looking up, I catch a glimpse of Luke’s bright orange beanie resting atop his mousy brown fringe.

“Y/n, I need your help.”

“You do?” So much for letting me text him on my own time.

“Yes. Can we meet somewhere to talk?”

“I mean-”

“How ‘bout I pick you up by five-thirty, and we can go to the Vinny’s on Sunset? I’ll buy you a sandwich as payment?”

“Oh… Okay, but we can’t take long. Elisa and I are seeing a movie at seven.”

“What movie?”

“Dune- the one with Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya.”

“That’s actually perfect!” Luke says more to himself than to me, with his typical beaming smile. Why is it ‘actually perfect’? Is it because you’re in love with Elisa and want to spend more time with her?

“Uh, okay.”

“And would you do me another huge favor?”

“Maybe.” Luke’s smile falters once more when he asks,

“Promise you won’t tell Elisa?” Because you don’t want her to think we’re going on a date? Because you’re in love with her? Got it.

“...Sure.” Luke’s smile doesn’t return with my immediate agreement.

“Pinky promise?”

“Are you nine?”

“Promise me, Y/n.” He seems desperate, pleading, almost; I pause for a moment. I really like Luke, but he really likes Elisa.

Coming to the realization that I love Elisa more than anything on this godforsaken plane of existence, I reluctantly nod ‘yes’ and entwine my pinky finger with his. His beaming smile returns to his face when I agree.

“You’re the best. I’ll pick you up at five-thirty. Be ready!” And with that, he’s disappeared into the sea of chattering Loz Feliz students. I shake my head lightly. Have I learned nothing?

Rounding the foliage where Elisa is waiting, she smiles upon seeing me and extends her elbow for us to link arms, her left in my right. I take her offer and we walk to her car together as she tells me how excited she is for our movie outing.

“Are we carpooling or meeting up?”

“I have to…” I do everything in my power not to panic, “-do a few things first so I’ll just meet you there.”

“Sounds good. Did you ever listen to that Shawn Mendes song I sent you?”

“No, I did not.”

__________________________

I’m dressed for my movie outing with Elisa, which entails comfortable jeans and my favorite t-shirt, with my school hoodie because AMC loves to blast the A/C for some reason. I’m arguably underdressed for the night out, but not for the old sub shop and seventy-six degree LA evening weather. I’m sitting on the couch, scrolling through my Instagram feed to kill time as I wait for luke. I told mom where I was going before the movie just in case Luke has a change of heart and decides to abduct me.

At five-thirty P.M. on the dot, I get a text from Luke saying he’s outside.

“I’m leaving now!” I call out to my mom who is in this house somewhere.

“You have everything? Phone, house key, money, a card they can use to identify your body?”

“Yes, ma’am. Love you!”

“Bye,” she hollers, one room over from the one where I was sitting.

Scurrying down the driveway, I hop into the passenger side of Luke’s black jeep wrangler.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” The conversation comes to a screeching halt due to how awkward I am in general. Thankfully, Luke decides to break the awkward silence. He’s always so collected in school, it’s intimidating.

“I want to thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I know we’re not exactly close but I feel like we could become close friends.”

“Yeah, close friends...” I just love this for me, I really do. “So, what did you need my help with?”

“Uhm, you and Elisa are best friends,” he begins strong.

“That we are.”

“Well, I need your help… with her. You know me and Reg are super close, too. Remember how I said he’s too dopey for his own good?” One thought after the other demonstrates how scatterbrained Luke’s stream of consciousness really is; a scowl spreads across my face the longer the conversation drags.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Reggie’s super friendly, so sometimes it’s hard to tell who he really likes, but...”

“I still don’t know what this has to do with me.”

“Reggie likes Elisa.”

“...Did he tell you that?” I ask after a long, shocked pause.

“Well, no, but based on the way he was acting at the mall the other day and how closed off he was about it afterward, it’s pretty clear he has a crush on Elisa.” About five million different questions race through my mind but of course, I just had to settle for the weirdest one.

“And you’re okay with that?” Luke takes his eyes off the road for a moment to look at me like I’m the most bizarre creature he’s ever seen.

“Uhhh, yeah, I guess?”

“You don’t mind if he likes her?”

“I mean, it’s not really my place to ‘mind’, right?” he asks with a sense of incredulity that makes me have a visceral doubt of everything I thought I knew.

“Well… I just thought…” I debate whether or not I should continue my thought, but the softening of Luke’s puzzled countenance makes me less inclined to continue. “Nothing.”

I find myself lost in thought once again as Luke pushes through the thick silence, and rambles on about sandwiches or something for the rest of the ride. Once he places the car in park, I move to get out of the car, but Luke stops me.

“Text me your order and I’ll bring it back to the car.”

“Why?”

“Our conversation stays confidential in the confines of the car.” I open my mouth to speak but can’t find the words I want to say, which Luke takes as a confirmation and disappears into the sandwich shop. After texting him my full order, I turn off my phone and find myself staring at  my hands. How did I end up in Luke Patterson’s car even though we’ve only had maybe five conversations at most? And he’s recruiting me to help pimp out Elisa because he thinks Reggie likes her?

It takes a mere ten minutes of my conflicting thoughts before Luke is sliding back into the driver’s seat with sandwich bags and bottled drinks in hand.

“So, I was thinking,” he says after taking a huge bite of his sandwich, “We could lure them both to the garage after practice, but then you said you’re seeing a movie tonight, and I think we could either stage running into each other and sitting close, or-” he takes another bite that he decides to talk through. “We could show up together, and sit in a specific way that forces them to sit together.”

“That’s pretty good, actually.”

“Thank you. So which do you think would work better?” I think for a moment, running through both scenarios and imagining Elisa’s reactions.

“I think it’d work better if we showed up together. If we just ran into each other she might say hi and then completely disregard you two.”

“Ouch. Are we that forgettable?”

“Your word choice, not mine.”

Luke rolls his eyes playfully, trying not to laugh at my response. I feel my phone buzz in my lap and look down to read the notification as I reach for my drink. Before I can grab my drink, I feel my hand lightly touch Luke’s, and I pull back like I’d been shocked by him. He simply sends me a lazy smile and reaches for his drink with his left hand, and hands me my bottle with his right. I accept the drink, slightly embarrassed by how I had responded.

“Elisa?” I say directly to myself before I read the message.

MESSAGES:

Elisa: Is it my turn to buy icees or yours? Y/n: Yours <3

“What did she say?”

“We’re just talking about concessions. It’s her turn to buy icees... maybe that’s how we force them to sit together: I send her to get concessions and then we can rush into the theater, and sit accordingly.”

“You’re a genius.”

“Oh, I wasn’t being ser-.”

“This is gonna be so good, Reg will just have to owe me one.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, we both like her.” I didn’t think that question had a wrong answer but I stand corrected.

“Why don’t you just ask him to confirm?”

“Nah, he gets weird about this kinda thing when he really likes someone.”

“But he’s such a flirt with everyone.”

“Exactly,” Luke takes a short swig of his coke, “So his naturally bold behavior becomes inverted with me when it’s really serious.”

“You say that like it’s an obvious logical progression.”

“You don’t think it’s logical?”

“I think it sounds like pseudo-logic. Wouldn’t he become even bolder with people he likes instead of shutting them out?” Luke shakes his head dismissively.

“I mean, from your perspective, yeah. But he’d shut me out and isolate himself in fear of judgment, and he’d be even bolder with Elisa because he wants to show interest.” My phone buzzes in my lap again.

“How did- whatever. Just hang on a sec.”

MESSAGES:

Elisa: Cool Elisa: I’m leaving now Y/n: I’m like ten min max from the theater

“We should get going.”

“What time is it?” Luke asks through one more mouthful of sandwich.

“Six fifteen.”

“Alright, well, I’m almost done.” He shoves the entire last two inches of his sandwich in his mouth at once and then puts the keys in the ignition. I watch the entire action in a stunned sort of silence. Did I really just witness that? I choose not to comment and just focus on finishing my own food in the duration of time it takes to get to the theater. Luckily Luke drives slow enough that I don’t have to choke it down like he just did.

“Any update on Reggie?” I ask once he’s put the car in park. Luke pulls his phone out of his pocket with a sigh and furrowed brows in concentration.

“He said he’s in this parking garage, A3.”

“Aren’t we in A3- AHHHH!” I scream when Reggie hits the passenger side window. The two of them erupt in laughter much to my dismay. Unbuckling my seat belt and sliding out of the car I fuss, “What if I had a condition and my heart gave out when you scared me?”

“Then I guess I’d have to resuscitate you with CPR.”

“Mouth to mouth is for breathing and lung issues, not heart issues. Chest compressions would be okay though.” A genuine smile appears on Reggie’s face and he nudges my shoulder in greeting. We begin walking into the mall from where we currently stand in the parking deck.

“Glad you could make it.”

“I mean you guys are kind of crashing our plans so…”

“Our?”

“Elisa and I are going to see Dune. You two are just stowaways.”

“Oh.” Oh? What does he mean oh?

“Y/N!”

“Elisa!” We run toward one another and she grasps my arms in her hands as she speaks.

“I thought we weren’t gonna be able to sit together but there’s like no one here for this showing apparently, also t-shirt and jeans? Really? Also, why are you with Luke in Reggie?” She asks the last question in a hushed voice so as to avoid either of them hearing our chat.

“It’s a long story. And leave my t-shirt and jeans alone!”

“What’s up, Elisa?” Luke asks once they’re back within conversation range.

“Did we all buy tickets online?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. I’m excited to hang out but I don’t know how to feel about the movie,” Elisa confesses as we scan our QR code with the podium attendant.

“Well, maybe that’s because you haven’t seen it yet.”

“Aha ha ha,” she deadpans once the four of us have made it in. I look up at Luke to make sure he still remembers the plan. His nod of confirmation encourages me to speak up.

“Luke and I will go save seats since y’all are on concessions duty.”

“I can get your guys’ stuff if you all want to go sit down,” Reggie offers with a sweet smile. Of course, Reggie’s kindness is a blindspot in this plan. Of course, it would be.

“Are you sure?” Elisa asks cordially. He smiles and nods before saying,

“Yeah, Luke and I can handle it, why don’t you two go get seats.” Looking over at Luke once more, I gauge his reaction and though surprised, he sends me a look that he’s got this and I leave with only a little bit of hesitation. Opening her wallet, Elisa passes Luke a ten before linking her left arm in my right.

“Y/n wants a blue icee and I want red.” And with that, she begins pulling me toward the correct theater.

“So, why are you acting so strange?” She asks pointedly yet casually once we’re out of earshot. I feel my breath catch in my throat. Should I tell her? We never keep things from each other…

“You cannot say anything okay?”

“Uh, okay?”

I let out a sigh as I pulled open the door to the small theater for the two of us to enter on the left side. The metal of the door handle is cold against my skin that’s growing warmer and warmer with each moment I spend bracing myself for the delivery.

“Luke thinks Reggie has a crush on you and wanted my help to pimp you out, but I promise this was all his doing.” A brief silence settles between us.

Then, the laugh Elisa lets out is borderline humiliating. Why are you laughing, Elisa? I’m not laughing. Through small giggles here and there she chokes out,

“I have no trouble believing this was Luke’s idea.” Thank god. Walking a few stairs up, we opt for the empty row above the centermost one, and she leads me into the center of it. She knows I like being in the direct middle, so she opts for the seat one step right from the center. Being her best friend comes with all these little minor but conscious efforts, and being so mentally synched with one another somehow makes me feel worse about the entire situation.

“I didn’t invite them but regardless, there’s not much we can do about it now.”

“So what do you need me to do? Just sit next to him the entire movie?”

“Literally nothing else. We just have to hope they come in from the right side and then walk up the row so he’s next to you.”

“Well, that’s on them.”

“But you have to pretend you have no idea what’s going on though.”

“My theatre training has prepared me for this moment,” she jokes as she opens her purse and offers me some warm vanilla sugar bath and body sanitizer. “Wait, you said Luke thinks Reggie likes me? He doesn’t know?”

“I asked him in the car, and he said something about how he was acting at the mall the other day.”

“He didn’t seem any different?”

“And he said Reggie owed him one because…” I look at Elisa who stares at me in anticipation, “Because he said they both like you.” Her expression resembles one that can only be described as pity-shock.

“Oh, Y/n-” Elisa cuts herself off when she sees Luke and Reggie round the corner of the entrance halls, past my head. They’re not on the right side, but Luke thinks quickly on his feet and once they make it up the stairs to where we’re sitting, he gestures for Reggie to step in first. Moving past the empty seats on the end Reggie comes to the chair on my left and plops down next to me. My mouth drops a little bit and I look up at Luke. He laughs awkwardly and lowers his voice,

“Reg, you don’t wanna move all the way down?”

“I’m good,” he smiles, handing Elisa’s drink to Luke and gesturing for him to move past the three of us. I turn to look at Elisa and she’s just as confused as I am. Reluctantly at first, Luke then decides to move all the way into the row and takes the chair to the right of Elisa. We fucked up, we fuck up real bad.

“Have you read the Dune series?” Reggie asks as he opens the paper around his straw, poking it past the lid, into a dark cola of some sort.

“Uh, no. I haven’t.”

“Me neither.”

“I think Elisa did though. Didn’t you read the books?”

“Just the first one. There’s like twenty of them and-”

“That’s cool. So, are you a big sci-fi kind of person, Y/n?”

“I don’t know if I’d consider myself a huge sci-fi person. Are you?” When I ask the question Reggie launches into a rather endearing info-dump about all things sci-fi, including his fascination with the Star Wars series and his contempt for JarJar. I nod along, only half listening as I pick up on Luke and Elisa’s conversation.

“You look really good tonight.”

“As opposed to during the school day when I look like a 1600s Parisian orphan?”

“No, you look good all the time, but tonight especially.”

“Thanks. I wish I had Y/n’s superpower of being able to wear anything and still looking put together.”

“You’re naturally beautiful though, so-”

“But sci-fi, in general, is just such a large genre and there are so many other movies that I haven’t seen yet, so I might not be the best judge. Did you like the Star Wars movies?” Reggie’s voice cuts back through.

“Some of them,” I answer his question, praying that the conversation would just end there. The fates are on my side as the lights dim and the volume increases for the trailers and pre-show announcements. Picking up my ice-cold, translucent plastic cup, I take a long sip of my icee. This is gonna be a long night.

About a quarter of the way into the movie, Elisa nudges my foot with hers. I look at her to ask what’s going on but don’t need to once I clock Luke’s arm resting across the back of her chair. She looks at me with a straight face but I can see a glimmer of hesitation in her eyes. I just shrug and give her this look of it is what it is. I play at being careless, but Luke’s interest in Elisa is getting to me, and she can tell it’s getting to me. Scooching closer, she lays her head on my right shoulder, ignoring Luke fully. I lay my head on hers, resting my left hand on the armrest of my chair, hovering near my half-finished icee for whenever I’m thirsty again.

The placement was a poor choice because Reggie has read the position as an invitation and slipped his hand into mine. Whispering at a volume that only Elisa can hear, I think to myself once again: this might as well happen.

***

A/N: Y’all are all the pretty best friends in my mind so that’s gotta count for something right?

Taglist: @caitsymichelle13 @kaitlyn2907 @itz-jas @crybabyddl @kcd15 @kinda-really-lost @calamitykaty @morganayennefertyrell @n0wornever @yikesgillespie @dream-a-little-bigger-x @mrstodorooki @vicesvsvirturesfanfic @curlybrownhairedboys @amazinggracy @kaitieskidmore1 @asdfghjkl-fanfics @ghostlygreenbean @juliefromaustralia @merceret @thesweetestsinner @imsydneywalker @lovesanimals @thebloodthirstyvampress @bumbleberry-pie @losers-club6 @tefilovesreading

[bevioletskies]

spare me a little (of your love)

summary: Klavier always liked to express his love with flowers, so sending a beautiful bouquet to his boyfriend every now and then seemed like the obvious thing to do. However, there’s just one little problem - Apollo is very, very allergic to pollen.

word count: 5.3k | read on ao3

a/n: For @klapollo-week, day two of seven (prompt: "flowers"). All seven of my fics take place in the same continuity! However, each can be read as a stand-alone, with the exception of day seven being a sequel to day five.

This fic takes place at some distant point in time after Spirit of Justice where Apollo and Trucy have learned that they’re siblings, but doesn’t reference any specific plotlines otherwise. My source for flower meanings can be found here. Fic title is from the song Spare Me a Little of Your Love by Fleetwood Mac.

“The language of...flowers?”

“Oui, oui, mon ami!” Athena chirped, nodding eagerly. “That���s just one of the many languages I speak, y’know.”

Apollo eyed her skeptically over the top of his laptop screen. “...right. Elaborate, please.”

“Well, you know how people usually give roses to express their love?” Athena said, leaning across the gap between their desks. She didn’t even blink when she accidentally knocked over Apollo’s calendar and pen holder in one fell swoop. Apollo, on the other hand, shot her an affronted glance that she deftly ignored. “Well, each flower actually has its own specific meaning. It even varies from color to color! Par exemple, white roses symbolize innocence, while yellow roses symbolize friendship.”

“That seems unnecessarily complicated,” Apollo remarked. “Don’t most flowers come with a card? Why can’t people just write their messages instead?”

They turned at the sound of a disappointed groan coming from the middle of the room. “You’re so unromantic, Polly,” Trucy complained, peeking at them from over the back of the couch. “I almost feel bad for Mr. Gavin!”

“Hey,” Apollo protested. “I can be - I-I’m romantic!”

“If you say so,” Athena giggled, poking him in the shoulder. Huffing, Apollo prodded her back. Athena reached for a rubber band, fully intending to escalate things. She lowered her projectile dejectedly when Apollo raised his hands in surrender; he had no interest in losing an eye today.

“Sunflowers and tulips are supposed to symbolize happiness, right?” Phoenix asked. “Those are pretty much the only flowers I really know, so.”

There was a long, uncomfortably drawn-out silence. “...Daddy, your ex-girlfriend’s name was Dahlia. Her real name was - is - Iris.”

“Oh...right,” Phoenix chuckled, only mildly embarrassed. “Speaking of, do you know what dahlias and irises mean, Athena?”

Athena’s eyes were practically sparkling now. “Oui! Dahlias symbolize elegance and dignity.” Phoenix made a face. “...but, they also symbolize dishonesty and betrayal.”

“That’s more like it,” Phoenix muttered under his breath. “And irises?”

“Faith, wisdom, that kinda thing,” Athena shrugged. She then paused. “Y’know, if you want some ideas on the kinds of flowers Mr. Edgeworth would like, I can make some - ”

“Nope, nope, I-I’m good,” Phoenix interrupted swiftly, his face reddening. He had a vase of daffodils sitting on his desk, which Edgeworth had sent to the office a few days ago. None of them believed Phoenix when he claimed they were purely intended for decoration. “So why the sudden interest in flowers, Apollo? Is this, er...is this about Gavin?”

“If you’re not talking about your prosecutor, sir, I’m not talking about mine,” Apollo said firmly, turning back to his laptop.

“Sure, except I think your prosecutor’s fair game when he picks you up from work most days,” Phoenix teased. His tone was eerily similar to Trucy’s. If Phoenix wasn’t both his boss and his sort-of stepfather, Apollo would’ve picked up a rubber band himself.

A few hours later, Apollo was locking up the office for the evening when he heard the roar of a familiar-sounding motorcycle coming up the street. He turned, biting back a smile as Klavier pulled up beside the sidewalk and turned off his engine. “Your bike really is as obnoxious as you are.”

Klavier removed his helmet, pouting. “Achtung, is that any way to greet your boyfriend?”

“It is for me,” Apollo replied, kissing him briefly. “Hi.”

“Hallo,” Klavier murmured against Apollo’s lips, grinning as he pulled away. “Dinner?”

“Yes, please,” Apollo said, reaching for Klavier’s spare helmet. “I’m feeling...pizza and all the cheesy garlic breadsticks. Or maybe we can just get cheesy garlic breadsticks.”

“As nice as that sounds, you need more vegetables than the little bits you get in your cup noodles, baby,” Klavier said, patting Apollo’s hip affectionately. “Pizza, breadsticks, and a side salad, ja?”

“Fine, fine,” Apollo grumbled, settling in behind Klavier. “Turn me into a rabbit, why don’t you? Buy me a bag of carrot sticks the next time we go to the grocery store. Stuff my mattress with straw and newspaper - ”

“And people think I’m the dramatic one,” Klavier lamented, shaking his head in amusement.

It wasn’t long before the two of them were sitting on the floor of Klavier’s living room, pleasantly stuffed with pizza and breadsticks and a mediocre amount of Greek salad (“I’m not a fan of olives, you know.” “Not surprising, since the color doesn’t work with your complexion.” “Klavier, I swear to - ”). A random made-for-TV movie was playing in the background on mute, though neither of them were particularly interested in watching it.

“How was work?” Apollo asked, taking a much-needed gulp of cold water. He wasn’t sure if he was ever going to get the taste of garlic out of his mouth.

“Boring, unfortunately,” Klavier said with a grimace. “Herr Edgeworth didn’t have anything but paperwork to offer me. No trials, no investigations, nichts. You?”

“Same,” Apollo replied. “Mr. Wright’s mostly working with Athena this month, so they’re taking the big clients while I get stuck with the smaller cases. Not that I’m complaining, I mean - it’s a nice change from Khura’in. I don’t want every trial to feel like I’m going under, you know?”

“Nein, that would be terrible,” Klavier agreed. “Exciting, sure, but the stress wouldn’t be worth it. I already found a gray hair the other day, ach.”

Apollo snorted. “Just one? You should see mine - I’m gonna be completely gray by thirty-five at this rate.” He shuffled closer so he could snuggle up against Klavier’s side, letting his head drop to Klavier’s shoulder. “So...turns out, Athena knows all about the flower language thing. Figured she might.”

“Flower...language...thing?” Klavier echoed, confused. He then brightened. “Ah! From our video call with my mama the other day, ja? I didn’t know you were actually interested.”

“I wasn’t, not at first,” Apollo admitted, squeezing Klavier’s arm. “But...I want your parents to like me, and since she said she was taking an interest, I thought, y’know, why not look into it? And it sounds kinda...contrived, not gonna lie. But I guess it’s kinda sweet, too. Like a secret language between just two people.”

Klavier’s face softened. “Ja, exactly. My parents used to write love letters to each other when they were in school, so I think this is Mama’s way of starting a new tradition - buying Papa flowers so he can plant them in his garden. You should see our family estate in the summer, it’s absolutely stunning.”

“Sounds like it,” Apollo said, smiling. “Your parents’ lives sound so...peaceful. Baking, gardening, travelling...I know it’s a little early to start thinking about retirement, but still, they’re living the dream.”

“They’re not retired yet,” Klavier chuckled. “And stop making me feel like I’m dating an old man, bitte. You complaining about your back makes me feel like I have to start complaining about my back.”

Apollo hummed, tracing random patterns along Klavier’s forearm with his finger. He was pleasantly sleepy from a number of things - his long, if uneventful day of work, the amount of cheese and carbs he’d just consumed, and the warmth of Klavier’s skin against his. “Sorry we can’t all afford chiropractors and massage therapists, sheesh,” he teased, unable to hold back a yawn.

“Maybe we can get a massage together someday,” Klavier suggested, stretching luxuriously. “Ah, before I forget - since we were talking about my parents just now, they asked me the other day if it would be alright to text you and send you things, little gifts and whatnot.”

“Huh? They would do that?” Apollo exclaimed. “I only just met them, like, a week ago!”

“They’re a bit...much,” Klavier said carefully. “Even when I was in high school, every friend I brought home was a potential lover to them, you know? They wanted to know everything about them, to shower them with gifts and affection. Even when I started working, I would ask Papa if I could have some flowers from his garden - you know, an arrangement to thank Herr Edgeworth for giving me a raise, a bouquet for my manager when we got our first record deal - and it was always the same story. Achtung, it’s embarrassing, but they mean well. You don’t have to say ja if you don’t want to, I just thought I’d ask.”

“No, I - it’s okay, I’d love to get to know your parents more, I’m just surprised,” Apollo admitted. The thought of them liking him this easily made him both relieved and unnerved at the same time. “Should I, uh, get them something in return?”

“Nein, nein, let them spoil you.” Klavier cupped Apollo’s face in his hands, kissing him softly. “Just like I do.”

“Sap,” Apollo murmured, kissing him back.

_____

It was a sort of gradual thing, for the most part. Barely a day had gone by when Apollo found himself in a group text with Klavier’s parents; he quickly discovered how witty and sweet and whip-smart they both were. Klavier’s father sent gorgeous photos of his garden - and calling it a garden seemed almost too modest when it seemed to be the size of a soccer field - while Klavier’s mother sent book recommendations, even the occasional movie recommendation.

“I never thought I’d be at that point in my life where my boyfriend’s mother sends me three long paragraphs about how she ‘discovered’ the Legally Blonde musical, but here we are,” Apollo had mused to the other agency members.

“Did you tell her that Klavier reminds everyone of that song, the one that goes - ”

“No, Athena, I did not. I want her to like me, remember?”

Soon after that, gifts started to arrive. Apollo had requested they send them to the agency, given how little he trusted his apartment building’s security after they nearly let his cat escape not too long ago. Unfortunately, it was too late before he realized that sometimes, he trusted his co-workers - or more specifically, his sister - even less.

“Trucy, do you know who ate the last piece of pie? Y’know, the one I was saving for today, to celebrate the end of my trial?”

“...huh. No idea, sorry, Polly!”

“Wait - th-there’s graham crumbs on Mr. Hat, what the hell - ”

His sister’s betrayal aside, Apollo felt good about things, almost unusually good. He soon started texting Klavier’s parents just as frequently as he did his own mother, thanking them for their generosity whenever they sent the occasional box of pastries or discounted event tickets. They also exchanged anecdotes about Klavier, along with stories about their own lives. He even received celebratory emojis whenever he told them about his victories in court - over their son, no less.

“I’m starting to think they like you more than they like me,” Klavier had lamented, though he seemed pleased all the same.

Then, a month into their budding familial relationship, a problem arrived on Apollo’s desk in the form of a bouquet the size of his head.

“Ah-choo!”

Trucy and Athena, who had been standing by the latter’s desk, both startled at the sound. “Ay Dios mío!” Athena exclaimed, clutching her heart in shock. “Are you okay, Apollo? That was some sneeze. I thought we were having another earthquake!”

“Har, har,” Apollo said dryly, reaching for a tissue. “It’s just the - achoo - flowers, that’s all.”

“They’re beautiful - very classic,” Athena added, dropping into Apollo’s desk chair so she could get a closer look. “Red roses and white lilies, claro. Ooh, I see some red carnations and white chrysanthemums, too!”

“Well, I see a card,” Trucy said, plucking a small white notecard from between the leaves. “Let’s see what it says!”

“That’s for - achoo - me, thank you very much.” Apollo snatched the card out of her hands, then squinted through his watery eyes to read it. “I...oh. Klavier says his mom helped him make the arrangement, with flowers from his dad’s garden.”

“How sweet!” Trucy gushed, taking a moment to sniff them, inhaling deeply as her eyes drifted closed. “Ooh, and they smell amazing. Mr. Gavin is such a good - ”

“Ah-choo!” Apollo sniffled, wiping his nose carefully. “...dammit.”

“I didn’t know you were allergic to pollen, Apollo,” Phoenix commented; he was on the other side of the room, pouring himself a cup of tea. “You never had any problems with the flowers Edgeworth sent to m - I mean, to the office.”

“Maybe it’s a freshly-cut thing?” Athena guessed, ignoring Phoenix’s awkward laugh. “Or, y’know, some flowers are worse for allergies than others. Dahlias, for example, are the worst.” Phoenix made another face before turning back to what he was doing.

“You should tell him you’re allergic,” Trucy said, patting Apollo’s free hand in sympathy. “I’m sure he’d understand.”

“But…” Apollo hesitated. The others braced themselves, anticipating another sneeze. “...this is from Klavier and his parents, you know? I can put up with a sneeze or two if it makes them happy. He loves sending flowers, and his dad’s really into gardening, so...if I tell them, they’ll stop doing it, and they’ll be too understanding, and I - I can’t deal with that. The, uh, the niceness, I mean.”

“Poor you, having the sweetest in-laws in the world,” Athena teased, pouting exaggeratedly. Oh, the humanity, Widget added. Apollo would have glared at them both, had he not started sneezing again. “Como tú quieras, I guess.”

Hours later, when Klavier met Apollo at the agency, the sight of his face brightening when he saw the bouquet confirmed Apollo’s fears. “Ah, how wunderschön,” Klavier declared, beaming. “I was worried they wouldn’t hold up during delivery. Do you like them, liebe?”

“They’re beautiful,” Apollo said, as honest as he could be. “Thanks, Klavier. I, uh, I hope it didn’t take you too long to put together.”

“You know how picky I can be,” Klavier hummed, carefully drawing a carnation out of the vase between two practiced fingers and bringing it up to his nose to smell. “I don’t settle for anything less than perfekt.” He turned, smirking. “That’s why I’m dating you, after all.”

“Gross,” Apollo said, wrinkling his nose; the effect was ruined by his affectionate laughter. “Hey, is it okay if I press them after they’ve wilted? I was thinking I could keep ‘em in my journal as a nice little reminder.”

Klavier chuckled, reaching over to squeeze Apollo’s hand. “Of course, Forehead. They’re all yours, you don’t have to ask for my permission. And I’m sure Mama and Papa would be delighted to hear you’re planning to give Papa’s flowers a second life. We’ll have to send you more in the future, ja?”

“...ja,” Apollo said weakly, his heart sinking.

_____

The next bouquet arrived two weeks later, bigger and bolder than before. According to Athena, it consisted of pink and orange roses, pink lilies, and yellow alstroemeria. However, it seemed to be the handful of sunflowers that topped everything off that left Apollo’s nose running all day.

“I think the only sunflower I can stand to be around is my attorney’s badge,” Apollo had bemoaned.

After that came an arrangement of white daisies, red gerbera, and white limonium (or, as Trucy liked to call it - she liked practicing tongue twisters when she was bored - “linoleum”). Then green hydrangeas and Queen Anne’s lace, which admittedly wasn't so bad, followed by purple daisies and pink gerbera, which was very, very bad. Apollo did not like the fact that he was getting used to the taste of Benadryl. He did manage to get some reprieve when Klavier sent him a simple vase of pink peonies.

“They’re hypoallergenic,” Athena had informed him. “But...mein Gott, Apollo, just tell him already!”

“But if I do, i-it’s…” Apollo had gestured wildly, unable to find the right words. Athena and Trucy had exchanged glances, then shook their heads in eerily synchronized disappointment.

Pink carnations and pink alstroemeria, purple irises and white aster, yellow daisies and orange roses; Apollo was starting to think the Gavin family garden was endless. And while his journal had never looked prettier, every page decorated with carefully pressed petals, every other page detailed with a date and a description courtesy of Athena’s expertise, his nose had never looked worse, his skin pink and dry and irritated. He was getting too used to the smell of CeraVe as well.

Finally, a bouquet of red roses - thankfully, also hypoallergenic - arrived with Klavier himself. He seemed delighted to be at the agency while everyone else was present for once, chatting happily with Athena and marvelling at Trucy’s card tricks. He and Phoenix seemed awkward around each other, though Apollo supposed that was to be expected. Even now, they hesitated whenever Apollo brought the other one up.

“So what’re you doing here, Mr. Gavin?” Trucy asked after she’d successfully duped him three times in a row. Apollo had to stop her before she started charging him for it. “Is it date night?”

“Not exactly,” Klavier said, turning to Apollo. “I came here to ask you something in person, liebe.”

Apollo raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not suspicious at all. What’s up?”

“I think it’s about time you meet my parents in person.” Klavier took both of Apollo’s hands in his, smiling hopefully. “So, if you’re ready...are you free this weekend? We could go to my family estate, spend the day - Mama would love to teach you how to make those puff pastries you like, and Papa wants to show you around the garden so you can see where all your wunderschön flowers came from.”

“I...oh.” Apollo’s face fell for a split second before he quickly regained his composure. “Sorry, Klav, that sounds incredible, but I-I was gonna stay with Mom this weekend. Maybe another time?”

“Natürlich,” Klavier replied, still smiling. While his smiles usually made Apollo feel warm and fuzzy, now all he was feeling was gnawing guilt. “Let me know when you have a free weekend, ja?”

“For sure,” Apollo promised, pecking him briefly on the cheek. “And thanks for the roses, even though I, uh, kinda ruined the occasion.”

“Ruined?” Klavier repeated, chuckling. “Ach, it’s no big deal, you’re busy. We have time, don’t we?”

“Of course!” Apollo exclaimed, far too loudly. Klavier didn’t seem to mind, though; he leaned down to kiss Apollo properly, humming all the while.

“Anyway, I should get going before Herr Edgeworth notices I’m not in my office,” Klavier said, reluctantly pulling away. The look on Phoenix's face suggested he knew that Edgeworth had figured it out long ago. “Auf Wiedersehen, süßer!”

The second Klavier left, Apollo let out the breath he’d been holding. He didn’t even need to look up to know the others were staring at him very judgmentally. “...I don’t wanna hear it.”

“You really shouldn’t lie to your boyfriend, Apollo,” Phoenix said gently; his voice had taken on the sort of “dad” tone that made Apollo feel even guiltier. “Er, that is, you shouldn’t lie to anyone, but you know what I mean. Are you really protecting his feelings by doing this?”

Sighing, Apollo collapsed into his desk chair, dropping his forehead to his desk with an audible thunk. “I know, I know. It was stupid from the start, but...I-I honestly wasn’t expecting him to send this many! I thought it’d be, y’know, for special occasions only, like every few months or whatever. Then I could deal with it, and he would never have to know. Not, like, just ‘cos he felt like it. Though I guess I really should’ve seen it coming, knowing him.”

“You really gotta tell him,” Trucy insisted. “Next time you see him, okay? Or else you’re never gonna say anything!”

“I will, I swear,” Apollo insisted, combing his fingers through his hair. He could feel more grays coming in by the second. “I have no interest in being the worst boyfriend ever, believe me.”

_____

It didn’t take long for Apollo to realize that while he was perfectly fine - or, at least, reasonably fine - with confrontation in the courtroom, he was very much not fine with confrontation in his personal life. The flower arrangements came less frequently now, and when they did, they seemed to be exclusively hypoallergenic. Klavier’s invitations, on the other hand, seemed more persistent.

“I don’t mean to push,” Klavier would say. “It’s just that exam week is coming up and, being professors and all, they’re going to be very busy soon. I was hoping we’d be able to spend some time with them before then.”

“Yeah, o-of course,” Apollo would reply, his stomach twisting every time, knowing full well he was about to turn him down again.

Another weekend went by, then another. There always seemed to be something, whether it was Apollo’s sudden frequent visits to Thalassa’s, Trucy’s sudden need for a magic show assistant, or that Apollo was just too tired to be good company. Eventually, Klavier seemed to simply stop asking. In fact, he seemed to stop asking him about anything at all.

“Do you wanna grab lunch?” Apollo had once asked Klavier while they were both packing up after the end of a lengthy trial.

“I don’t know.” Klavier had sounded tired, subdued; he refused to look Apollo in the eyes. “I think I’m just going to head back to the office and catch up on my emails. Take care, Herr Forehead.” He’d quickly swept out of the courtroom before Apollo could even say goodbye.

Apollo’s group text with his parents seemed to slow down, too, especially when it came to Klavier’s papa’s photos of his garden. Klavier’s mama, on the other hand, sent him short, stilted messages, now seemingly out of obligation instead of affection. Their near-radio silence, Apollo had to admit, was well-deserved. He knew he had to do something before it was too late, if it wasn’t already too late.

“I was surprised you wanted me to join you today,” Klavier said one morning as the two of them were taking a leisurely stroll around People Park, hand-in-hand. “Lately, I feel like I’ve been dating a ghost, achtung. We only ever see each other in court. Maybe at crime scenes, too, if we’re lucky.”

“And I’m surprised you agreed to come,” Apollo admitted. “I missed you, Klavier. Only...I, uh, I know that’s really my fault, not yours.”

“You do, do you?” Klavier sounded bitter. His grip on Apollo’s hand was looser than usual, like he was ready to pull away at any second, like he wanted to run. The thought made Apollo’s chest ache. “And here, I thought you were as oblivious as ever.”

“Hey,” Apollo protested, frowning. Then, he sighed. “No, you - you’re right. This is on me. Will you - I - listen, I have something for you, back at the office. Can we go get it before you head to work?”

Klavier nodded shortly. While his eyes had softened, his smile was still strained. “Ja, let’s go.”

Thankfully, the agency was empty when they got there, save for a certain something sitting patiently on Apollo’s desk. He set his bag down, then turned on all the lights, his heart pounding rapidly against his ribcage. “So these aren’t as nice as your dad’s, but, uh. This is for you...and your parents.”

“What do you - ah!” Klavier approached Apollo’s desk with wide, disbelieving eyes, his gaze fixated on the beautiful arrangement of white lilies, yellow tulips, and white orchids wrapped in white decorative tissue paper. “Apollo, these are...they’re lovely! Did you pick these out yourself?”

“Athena helped,” Apollo said, hovering nervously. “She said white lilies are for humility, yellow tulips can mean forgiveness, and white orchids symbolize strength. Fitting, since I wanted to...apologize. For being a horrible boyfriend.”

“I don’t know about ‘horrible’,” Klavier said, gently running a finger down the length of one of the orchids. “...but you have been distant. If you’re not actually interested in meeting my parents, or if you...if you want to end things, just say so, will you?” His voice cracked. “I might like a bit of drama every now and then, but not in my own life. Not in my own relationship.”

“What?! No, no, I-I don’t wanna end things at all!” Apollo exclaimed, his voice filling the room. He took a few deep, even breaths to calm himself. “Just...will you hear me out? Please?” Klavier nodded, though he refused to look at him. “I’m...I’m sorry for avoiding you and your parents. And before you ask...yes. I was doing it on purpose. It’s nothing that - none of you did anything wrong, okay? It’s me, i-it’s - it - I - ah - ”

Klavier turned on his heel, worried. “Apollo? Are you - ”

“Ah-choo!”

Klavier jumped. “Ach - Apollo?”

“I forgot there were asters in there,” Apollo grumbled, reaching for a tissue. He wasn’t sure which was redder now, his nose or his cheeks. “It’s - I - achoo - ”

“Apollo,” Klavier said slowly; if Apollo didn’t know any better, he would've thought he was trying not to laugh. “Are you, by chance...allergic to pollen?”

Apollo sniffed sharply. “...yes, dammit, yes! That’s literally what I’ve been trying to say - achoo - just now, until - achoo - my sinuses decided to - achoo - speak for me!” He was half-doubled over at this point, clenching a fistful of tissues in both hands.

“Baby, have you been rejecting my invitation to meet my parents because you’re allergic to all the flowers we’ve been sending you for the last several weeks?” Klavier sounded more incredulous than angry.

“...yes. Yes, I have, yes, I’m an idiot and an asshole and - achoo - I’m so sorry, Klavier, I - achoo - ”

“Bitte, say it, don’t spray it.” Klavier held up Apollo’s tissue box for him, keeping it - and Apollo himself - at a good distance. “Mein Gott, Apollo, I thought you wanted to break up with me! Why didn’t you say anything earlier?!”

It took another minute or so before Apollo finally stopped sneezing long enough to get a full sentence out. He sniffled again, wiping his nose completely clean. “...have you ever told, like, the tiniest lie to make someone happy, only for it to turn into a big...thing? And then you know you have to come clean, that it’s what you’re s’posed to do, but the thought of doing it makes you anxious, even if not doing it also makes you anxious, and then...it just...it, uh, it stays with you.” He swallowed thickly, shaking his head. “Not that that’s an excuse, it’s just - that’s just what happened. I’m sorry, Klavier, I really am. I really do want to meet your parents, they’re so sweet and friendly a-and funny, I’m just...I’m bad at this. Really, really bad at this.”

Klavier sighed. Apollo held his breath, anticipating the worst. Then, Klavier wrapped him in his arms, letting out another sigh of relief. “I understand, liebe, and...I forgive you. Danke for explaining yourself.” He kissed the top of Apollo’s head. “Maybe we should’ve stuck to sending you pies, ja?”

Apollo laughed wetly. “I don’t know how you’re joking right now. That’s usually my job.” He lifted his head from Klavier’s chest to look up at him with a grateful smile. “I really did love the flowers, you know. When they weren’t attacking my respiratory system, that is.”

“Still, let’s not push it any further,” Klavier said wryly. “Now - two things, if you don’t mind. First, let me give you some moisturizer for your poor, poor nose. I’m not kissing you until I’m sure your skin won’t flake off in the process.”

“Ew, thanks for the gross visual,” Apollo grimaced. “And the second thing?”

Klavier smiled. “If you're alright with it, I’d like you to tell my parents what happened...in person.”

_____

The garden was just as beautiful as Apollo imagined it to be, given the dozens and dozens of photos he’d gotten from Klavier’s papa. It was full and lush and vibrant, with towering trees that provided ample shade, a beautiful gazebo with a built-in fireplace, a gorgeous two-tiered fish pond, and of course, a plethora of flowers, as far as they could see. Everything was especially beautiful, in Apollo’s opinion, from the relative safety of the conservatory.

“We’re not throwing you to the wolves, darling,” Klavier’s mama insisted, as if she were talking about actual wild animals and not her husband’s hobby. “We’ll stay in here for high tea so you can admire the garden at a safe distance, yes?”

“Yes, th-thank you,” Apollo stammered, relieved. “High tea?”

“Today’s menu is German chocolate scones and mini-sandwiches. With the crusts cut off for my fussy baby boy, of course,” she added, pinching Klavier’s cheek with a devious grin.

“Mama,” Klavier protested, embarrassed. His papa chuckled, settling into the chair across from his son; he still had a smudge of dirt on his nose. “I’m a grown man, achtung. I have my own health insurance and everything!”

“I really am sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Gavin,” Apollo said sincerely. Despite their kindness and generosity, he was still somewhat intimidated by them, by how tall and beautiful and well-spoken they were. As much as he didn’t want to think about his former boss, Apollo could see where he and Klavier got their good looks and charm from. “I wanted to make a good impression, but I, uh, I didn’t go about it the right way. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now, but...I kept it from happening for a dumb reason, and it led to me hurting your feelings and Klavier’s feelings. I’m sorry.”

“All is forgiven,” Klavier’s papa insisted, waving a hand. “Just promise you’ll stop by every now and then, alright? Our doors are open to you, Apollo. Consider us your parents, too, if you’d like.”

Apollo smiled softly. “I would, sir.”

“It’ll be a good, allergy-free time, I promise,” he continued with a teasing wink. “We’ll bake some bread, watch some home movies...are you interested in seeing - ach, what do the kids call it - Klavier’s ‘goth phase’?”

Apollo’s mouth dropped open. “...his what.”

“Papa, nein,” Klavier whined; he really did sound like a child now. “Maybe it was a mistake to bring you here, liebling.”

“Oh, I disagree,” Apollo said, his grin widening. “I would love to see Klavier’s goth phase. Did he dye his hair?”

“Oh, did he,” Klavier’s mama said slyly with the exasperated sigh of a parent who had dealt with too much. “It’s a miracle he managed to get back to blond at all.” She then got to her feet, smoothing out the front of her apron. “Anyway, Papa and I should go check on the scones now. You two sit tight, okay?” Before Apollo could blink, she’d dropped kisses on both his and Klavier’s foreheads, then disappeared down the hallway and into the kitchen, her husband in tow. He turned to look at Klavier, who was watching him nervously.

“I love them,” Apollo admitted. “They’re so sweet, Klav, they - stop looking at me like that, will you?”

“You can’t blame me for worrying,” Klavier said, kissing him briefly. “But I’m glad to hear it. Ich liebe dich, schatz.”

“Love you too, dork,” Apollo murmured against Klavier’s lips. “...so. Did you have a lip ring, or snake bites, or - ”

“Get out of my house,” Klavier huffed, pinching Apollo’s arm with an exaggerated pout.

“Hey! This isn’t your house, it’s your parents’ house, and they said their doors were open,” Apollo teased, laughing. Rolling his eyes, Klavier pulled Apollo into his arms, the two of them snuggled up on the loveseat. In the distance, they could see birds and butterflies fluttering among the flowers, a stray squirrel or two sniffing curiously at the edge of the fish pond. It was peaceful, serene. If it wasn't for the pollen, Apollo could see himself staying outside for hours at a time. “...but seriously, I’m looking forward to the video evidence.”

“I’m sure you are,” Klavier sighed, giving Apollo one last kiss before his parents returned with a large tray of sandwiches, scones, tea, and a vase with a single red rose for decoration - hypoallergenic, of course.

_____

a/n: Welcome to my second entry for Klapollo Week 2021! Continuity-wise, this is the fourth of seven fics, but again, there is no need to read the others to follow each fic on its own. Today, I have projected my allergies and anxiety onto Apollo, because that's what fanfiction is for, right? I hope y'all like my version of the Gavins; I've written them as cold and distant a couple of times, but I usually prefer to write them as warm and witty so that Klavier has a good support system in his life.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Likes and reblogs would be much appreciated. Hoping you're all safe and healthy and doing well ❤️

[mytrashs-blog]

Drunk On You- T.H.

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Warnings: SMUTTTTTT. Please do not read this if you’re under 18. The Smutty part is between this signs: [...] so if you want to skip over the smut, you can, but it won’t make much sense. Also... There’s A LOT of swearing.

Summary: You’re a virgin and you’re drunk so you send a risky DM on instagram.

Word Count: Almost 6k... she’s thicc

A/N: I cannot tell you just how much I enjoyed writing this! It started as a 2 am inspiration punch and then it took me three weeks to finish it. It’s my first time writing smut, so I don’t know if that part’s good, but I like it and I really hope you do too. (Please if you do like it, reblog it so it can be read by more and more people).

Masterlist

(Gif isn’t mine and I couldn’t track the author, so credits go to the owner)

Fuck this shit, you’re 22 years old, you’re in college and as much as you enjoy leaving fratboys with blue balls in the middle of a party, you need to get this over with. You’re tired of waiting for the “right guy”, if you keep on doing that you’ll end up virgin for your whole fucking life. But where the fuck can you find a guy that’s not gonna judge you for being a sad, drunk virgin in the middle of a tuesday night? Being drunk and alone at your dorm was pathetic enough…

So you scroll through instagram for a while only to find out there’s no right suitor for the job, but in the heat of the moment you notice that Tom Holland, yes the scrawny white boy that looks 12 and plays Spider-man has just posted a shirtless picture and boy, he does not look 12 anymore. So you slide into his DM’s just for the shit and giggles:

“Hey, Tommy boy!

You probably get millions of DMs like this every second of everyday, but fuck, I just wanted to say that you are extremely hot and I am extremely virgin and I’m also drunk, so I thought I’d write you to ask for a massive favor.

Would you have sex with me just to take my virginity away? Ok, thanks.

Bye!

P.S. I think you’re great in your new film.”

And yes, you did press send to that, but of course you don’t even remember writing it in the first place the next morning while getting ready for your 9am class, so your daily routine goes on as normal.

But then, while you’re making your best effort not to fall asleep while your professor talks about some depressed artist that beat his wife and was super sexist, but was somehow excused because he made some decent poem, you hear the unmistakeable ping of your phone, which can only mean that you got a text, so you go to see it, because that is far less rude than falling asleep during class, but you were surely not ready for what was showing on your phone screen.

All air, and life to be honest, left your body for a second, you double checked, and then triple checked and yes… Tom Holland had wrote you on instagram’s direct messages.

“Holy fuck” you only realize you said that out loud when the three people closest you turn to look at you and shush you, but you’re still in shock and still have not opened the message, but maybe it’s not a great idea to open it in front of everybody, specially your professor, so you figure the bathroom will be the best place to do it.

You lock yourself in a stall and sit down, get your phone out, take a deep breath and open the instagram message. My God, you were not expecting what your screen showed:

“Haha, this is too cool to ignore! I happen to be in your area right now… Give me a call and I’ll make it happen ;)”

And yes, his phone number was there too. The phone number of THE Tom Holland! like… WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! What are the odds of him actually reading your DM? And the odds of him replying? And the odds of TOM MOTHERFUCKING HOLLAND agreeing to be your first time?! Someone up there must be having a good laugh.

But it would be rude to chicken out now, right? One does not simply say no to fuck with a Marvel actor. You gotta do it. It's your holy duty. So you reply with a simple “Looking forward to it” and you get your shit together before returning to your class.

You think about texting him while you walk to grab some lunch, but what do you say to a celebrity that agreed to deflower you?… Wait. Holy shit! You’re actually gonna have sex with Tom Holland! He’s super ripped! And you’re gonna see and feel all his bits and pieces… honestly, your panties got a bit damp just thinking about that. This is gonna be fun.

You decide to shoot the text while waiting for your iced coffee. “Hey, it’s (Y/N) from instagram. Are you serious about the thing? If so, when are you available?”

And that’s when the game begins, cause he replied almost instantly and you decided he’s just another fratboy playing around, so you played along.

“I’m dead serious, babe. I can do it tonight.”

“Nice. That’s how I like it… what time are we talking about?”

“9 ish, maybe 10.”

“Gotta give me an hour… also, it would have to be at yours, cause I live in a dorm that I share with another girl.”

“You could ask her to join…”

“Haha. Nah, this is all for me to enjoy.”

“And you will. 9:30 sounds good for you, babe?

“Perfect.”

“I can pick you up. Send me your location and I’ll go there.”

“Nice. I’m liking it already.”

“You’ll like it even more.”

You go about your day with a stupid smile all day, nervous and excited for what’s gonna happen later. Paying attention to class? What is that? Concentrating on your due projects? You don’t know her. All you can do is think about the things that man might do to you later.

Wait… you gotta shave. Also, should you go buy some nice underwear? It overwhelms you how unprepared you are and you run, abandoning everything you had to do that day to go get ready to have sex with a super hot celebrity.

You shaved, exfoliated, bought nice underwear, picked out a sexy outfit, you even tried to work out a little to look a bit more toned for him. You allowed your most extra self to come and shine, and you definetely enjoyed the process.

“What are you getting ready for? It’s wednesday. I doubt there’s any interesting party. Oh God! Do you have a date?” your roomate asked as soon as she saw you posing a skirt for the mirror when she walked in.

“I think so… I don’t know. I’m gonna meet this guy I met on instagram.” She gave you a corncerned look, but you were definetely not gonna tell her the details, that’s extremely private, it’s rude to tell people about celebrities intimate life, even if it’s with you. He didn’t mention anything about keeping it secret, but it would do a lot of harm to freely go around saying that he likes having sex with fans. It would ruin his privacy completely. At least from your part, you can guarantee no one’s ever gonna find out.

True to your word, you sent him your location an hour before the time you arranged and he called you, yes. HE CALLED YOU at 9:30p.m. on the dot to tell you he was outside and it took you a second to process the call, so much that you couldn’t voice anything more than an “Okay”… that basically ruined your super confident text attitude, and this was over the phone, would you even be able to get inside his car? The nervousness really hit you like a truck the second you hung up the phone, and your roomate noticed, but she didn’t say anything.

After taking a few deep breaths and counting to ten trying to calm yourself down, you get your purse and walk down the hallway and the stairs of the dorms and by the time you get to the main door, your legs are shaking like crazy and your palms are a little sweaty, so you gotta calm down again and remind yourself that this man is just a regular human being and that nothing has to happen if you don’t want to. And just like with tequila shots, you stop thinking and just go for it.

As soon as you see the car, you walk confidently towards it, and as he rolls down the window you can see it really is him, but you don’t let his face tear your confidence down, so you slightly smile and get in the car, it’s an extremely fancy car and you’re sure you’ve never set foot in anything this luxurious, honestly there’s no doubt that the seat your ass is resting on right now could easily be worth your entire college tuition and student loans. Okay, maybe that is an exageration, but it sure looks expensive.

“Hey, nice to finally meet you in person… I’m Tom!” he smiles in a polite and friendly matter, and you can see there’s a hint of nervousness in his smile aswell and that eases you a little because it confirms that he’s just as normal as you are.

“I’m (Y/N), pleasure to meet you. Thank you for agreeing to do this. I know it’s super weird and all, and I was definetely not expecting this outcome when I sent that message last night, but I’m grateful regardless…” you’re rambling, but he doesn’t seem to mind, he looks amused even. When you finally stop talking he drives away and you fall into a slightly uncomfortable silence, until he turns the music on and you recognize the song so you start humming along, and he joins, but other than that, there’s not much talking on the way to the apartment he’s staying at temporarily right now.

The place looks expensive, but it’s also very simply decored, it does look a temporary thing, but it also looks like a place where a single chaotic youn man exploded, so there’s empty beer bottles here and there, clothes literally everywhere and dirty dishes in the sink… but it does smell like cologne, very manly aswell… being at his place sets a whole new level of anxiety, because this is just so intimate. You’re inside his little world, his safe space, and even if it’s just for a brief moment you’re just happy that he agreed to do this with you.

“Do you want anything to drink? I have wine, beer and a spare champagne bottle from the other night… or just water. Please make yourself comfortable, sorry about the mess, I really don’t like cleaning.”

“That’s alright… you should see my dorm during finals week, that’s a whole other level of messy, haha… and wine would be great, thanks.” You’re slowly calming down and trying no to overthink about what’s about to happen and forget about the reputation of the man you’re doing it with, because the fact that he’s famous doesn’t mean he’s less human and maybe glorifying him for his job is a little rude from you. So you sit down in the couch, right next to a thrown blue hoodie, hold on a second… this is the one from Spider-Man: Homecoming, the one with the emblem of the highschool, shit, this is a historical piece of clothing for the cinematic world and you’re sitting right next to it. Shit, there goes all the progress you had made in the last fifteen minutes.

When he comes back with two glasses of wine in one hand and the bottle in the other one, you help him put down the stuff safely because he looks so stressed carrying the things and it is a small funny moment, before he sits down right beside you and it becomes impossible to get your words to come out of your mouth. So he takes the lead.

“Listen, I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of predator, okay? I don’t know why I agreed to do this, but it was not to take advantage of you, so if at any point you feel uncomfortable and you don’t wanna do this anymore, you can just tell me and we’ll call this off, okay.” He puts his hand on you knee to reassure you and it does make you feel better, and you relax into your seat  and just nod a little before speaking.

“Thank you” And it comes out like you’re breathing out in relief, and that’s when he leans in to kiss you and you take a deep breath before corresponding and taking the last step to seal your lips together.

Your mind just goes blank and you forget what you were nervous about in the first place, kissing Tom is not that much different than kissing any other guy, except for the fact that his lips are softer than most guys’, but this one does have to take care of himself, it is literally part of his job and it should not be that surprising that a guy takes basic care for his appearance, but it is nice.

[…]

The kiss moves in a nice rythm and his hands start sliding from your knee to your waist and he pulls you closer to him and your hands find their courage and go to the back of his neck and so you’re also pulling him in, and all you want is to have him closer, as close as you can possibly have him, and when his hand moves down to your ass, you take that as the perfect moment to throw your leg over so you can straddle him and now both of Tom’s hands are on your ass and you grab onto his shoulders for leverage, and just because you need to breathe in properly, you let your lips disconnect and you see him beneath you.

His hand comes up to move your hair out of your face and you stare at each others eyes for a second and it doesn’t feel overwhelming anymore, so you smile at him for a brief moment, but being apart from his lips feels terrible right now so you lean back in and his hand is in your head and he’s pushing you closer to him, and your hands just slide down to his chest, you play with the chain he has on for a second and he smiles into the kiss, but then you move your attention to the buttons of his shirt and start undoing them.

You take your lips to his neck and he becomes super responsive, you find his sensitive spot quite quickly and he moves you closer to him so you feel his lenght rubbing against your core and it makes you go undo the buttons faster, before you know it he’s taking the shirt off and throwing it to the floor, when his hands are free, he takes advantage and lifts your blouse and you put your arms up to give him easy access. You’re glad you rush bought that set of nice underwear, because Tom’s eyes visibly fill with lust at the sight of the barely there lacy piece covering your breasts.

He touches your chest ever so lightly it gives you goosebumps, he traces a path to your breasts but he stops right before getting to them “Can I?” he whispers, looking straight into your eyes, and there’s something so sexy about him seeking your explicit consent, it makes your panties a little wetter, you nod lightly and he goes ahead, tracing the shape of your breasts with his fingers, like he wants to get familiar with them, he takes one of your nipples between his fingers and applies a little preasure on it, and then on the other one, he’s taking his sweet time before cupping them and pressing his lips in the space between them, and your hands respond to that by taking his hair and pulling lightly and he moans into your skin and it makes you shiver.

He keeps leaving wet kisses on your nipples and sucking on sensitive spots and you can swear it will leave marks, but who cares, you’re just over the moon with everything that’s happening and you just want more and more. He takes one hand to your ass again and he holds it tightly, using the other hand he slides to the edge of the couch and just like it’s nothing heavier than an empty box, he stands up, and you gasp because frankly you were not expecting it, he laughs a little and gives you a reassuring smile.

“I just thought we’ll be more comfortable in my room.”

“Okay, then.” You find it so odd that he’s so unbothered while carrying your full weight, like you’re not exactly the lightest woman in the world, but you won’t deny that being so close and personal to his biceps like this, it’s something you could get used to.

He takes you up the stairs, and along the corridor, once you reach the door, he turns the knob but decides to kick the door rather than opening it like a normal person, but you can’t complain because every moves looks hotter than the previous, and when he lays you down on his bed and stays hovering above you, you just can’t handle it and you kiss him again, your legs hug around his bum to bring him closer where you need him and he takes the hint, he pushes your skirt to your stomach and before he does anything else, his seeks your consent “Is this okay?” he asks, “Yes.” you say loud and clear and he rubs his fingers on your core, and it feels good, but your panties feel like a concrete wall, you just need to feel his fingers, his everything all over your body, so you arch your back and unzip the skirt and he pulls it down and throws it to a corner of the room.

He takes a second to look at you in just your underwear and you feel exposed, but he’s looking at you like you’re some sort of Goddess, he kicks his shoes off and goes to undo the button of his jeans, and it looks so slow and you need him now but you watch him and when he slides down the jeans and you can make out the shape of his member. You feel a little overwhelmed with the view in front of you, and you take a moment to take it all in. His face is crowned by (now) very messy curls, his eyes that used to be brown are practically pitch black by both the dim lighting and lust, there’s freckles all over his nose and cheeks, but they’re barely noticeable, his jawline is the most defined you’ve ever been near to, but even though there are a lot of strong features in his face, he looks almost childish and innocent… until you drop your eyes to his chest, that is.

Every single muscle in his chest has some sort of definition, he’s not as ripped as in the movies, but then again, he’s not super dehydrated and over exercised right now, and he still looks more muscular than any guy you know, his abs are defined, there’s a visible V marking the path from his hips to his member and it is stupidly making your mouth water. He has black Calvin Kleins still on, but that’s the last piece of clothing he has on, and the anticipation is killing you.

He takes you by the ankles an pulls you closer to the edge of the bed and he spreads your legs open and gives you a devilish smile before leaning back in to give you a quick yet intense kiss on the lips and he slides down to your neck and chest again, but he keeps making his way down your body towards your bellybutton and it gives you goosebumps everytime he gives you even a peck or a light touch, you’re shivering with every touch.

“Relax, love… if you want me to stop you can just say it, okay?” He says looking up at you and you nod, you breathe in to calm your nerves down, he waits for you, when you’re finally ready you nod at him again, he gives your waist a light squeeze, smiles at you and places a kiss to your stomach and keeps kissing you lower, until one of his hands goes to your thigh while the other teases the waistband of your panties, hooking one finger on it, he starts pulling it down painfully slowly, you lift your bum to make it easier for your panties to leave your body, once Tom strecthes them to throw them to some part of the room, you sit up to take off your bra and he looks intently at you while you do it, so you smile and lock your eyes to his just to make it more interesting, and you also take your sweet time unclasping the clips, and Tom starts to get impatient, you can see it in his smile, but you enjoy playing with him so even when you do unclasp both clips, you keep the piece on and he puts his hands on his hair in exasperation and you just laugh, enjoying this small moment of being the one in charge, but you give in and take the lacy bra off and throw it to him, he catches it and throws it to the side.

You’re completely naked in his bed and he’s taking the view in. “You’re very beautiful, you know?” he says and you feel the blush creep up to your cheeks, but you smile and thank him regardless, he smiles back and leans back down, he kisses one of your thighs and then the other one, before he does anything else he looks up at you, once again looking for any signs of hesitation “Are you sure you want this?” he asks from his position and when you nod, he dives in.

He presses a light kiss into your folds and you immediately feel electricity emmiting from your core. Needless to say it’s your first time recieving an oral, every sensation is new, you can’t even tell if he’s good at this or not, but for you, it feels like the best sensation in the world, his tongue dances over your clit and you just grasp the sheets for dear life and when he sucks on it you swear you could come right there, but you manage to hold it for a little longer and he keeps going, it doesn’t take long for him to introduce one finger inside, the moan you let out is just obscene and he seems to love it, because he moans too but the vibrations that it sent to your clit make you lose it and you come yelling his name like your life depends on it and he guides you through your first orgasm of the night with his mouth and finger still pumping in and out.

“You’re dripping wet, you know that?” He tells you once you’ve calmed down and have regained your ability to function like a human being, you smile at him, trying to speak, but that function has not come back yet. He kisses you in the mouth and you can taste yourself in his mouth, you start relaxing into the kiss, and he starts tracing gentle circles on the skin of your stomach and you turn your body so can be face to face and your leg happens to feel his dick, and it feels impossibly hard, so you try to relieve the pressure by stroking it with your hand, but when you get your hand down his waistband, Tom stops you “If you touch me now, I’ll be the biggest dissapointment of your life.”

“You forget that I’m a virgin… I have nothing to compare you to.”

“Still… I’ve got my pride.” he finishes as he gets up and rumbles in a drawer of his nightstand, he finds the condom and shows it to you. “Do you want to do this?”

You take a deep breath, there’s nothing you want more than do it right now, but it sure makes you nervous, still you give him verbal consent “Yes, I do.”

That’s all he needs, he stands up completely and takes his underwear off, it happens quite fast, but you do get to apreciate his dick in full exposure, not that you’d know, but it sure looks like it’s gonna be hard to fit that inside of you, and you panic a little and Tom notices and chuckles while he slides the condom on, “It’s gonna be alright, I’ll make sure of it.”

He crawls back to the bed and hovers above you, his hand go to your core again and he slowly introduces one finger into you and starts pumping in and out slowly, he stays looking in your eyes, watching your every reaction, you’re moaning slightly, when he notices that you’ve gotten used to the sensation, he adds another digit and the pressure feels uncomfortable, but he notices so he waits for you to get used to the feeling before he starts pumping it, you bite your lip as you enjoy his movements, moans coming out of your mouth to the rythm of his fingers, when he starts stretching you by doing scissor motions with his fingers, the feeling increases and it is a lot more intense so you hold onto his arm, he’s still looking at you, wanting to be sure that you’re okay and staying alert to see any signs of discomfort in you, but you like it so much.

He takes his fingers out and the emptiness is just overwhelming, but when you see that he’s trying to align himself to your entry, you relax and stress at the same time. This is real. It’s gonna happen. Actually it’s happening at this moment. He looks at you again and lifts his eyebrows in question, you nod lightly and you hold on to his forearm and his neck in preparation. He pushes slowly in, it hurts a little but it’s not that bad, Tom sees you wincing and stops, waiting for you to get used to the new feeling, when you do, he keeps pushing a little. The rythm goes like that until he’s fully in.

You can see he’s having a hard time trying not to hurt you, it’s clear that he just wants to go for it, but you’re grateful he’s containing himself while you get used to the feeling of being so full right now, when you’re ready, you nod at him and he pulls slightly out, waits for you, and pushes back in. The rythm is slow at first for you to get used to it. At first it feels like too much, but the more he thrusts into you, it starts being not enough.

His grunts and moans sound heavinly to your ears, and whenever you are brave enough to just open your eyes and see him, his face is just so beautiful, he has a frown in his face out of concentration and self control, you’re admiring him when he opens his eyes and they meet yours, it’s such an intimate moment, it makes you blush a little bit, you caress his cheek and hair, interlocking your fingers in his curly locks, he lets out a soft moan in pleasure.

The pace gets faster and stronger and you’re getting closer to your high with every thrust, he’s hitting a point inside of you that you didn’t even know existed and it’s a whole new level of pleasure, it’s even making you feel like the world is spinning, you grab onto his back and scratch as you try to keep it together, he moans loudly and stops and pulls out suddenly.

“Get on all fours for me, love.” he tells you and you comply, he pulls you closer to the edge of the bed so he can fuck you while standing up off the bed, you try to arch your back to give him better access, he slides in easier now, and the sensation changes completely, he’s hitting another point that feels even better in this angle, the pleasure doesn’t let you stay stable and your arms can’t keep you up, so you press your face to a pillow and you can’t stop moaning his name, your high creeping up from your stomach once again.

“T- Tom… I think I’m gonna…”

“Wait for me, darling, I’m right there with you.”

His thrusts become sloppy and arythmic, he goes faster, his grunts louder with each thrust, your names falls from his mouth a lot more now, and his is the only word you can say at this point. You come first with an incredibly loud moan of his name. The feeling of you reaching your orgasm around his dick is enough to send him over the edge too, your name being dropped with a loud grunt, he squeezes your breast and rests his head on your back when he comes down from his high, both of you panting. You stay like that for a moment, but then Tom pulls out and goes to the bathroom to dispose of the condom.

[…]

You lay in the bed completely naked, but you do feel more exposed now that the moment’s over, so you cover up with a pillow and think about what just happened, relishing on how good it was, you figure this was the best idea you’ve had in a while, even if the most ridiculous but it worked out pretty well.

Tom comes back soon after and hands you a water bottle (because he apparently just keeps water bottles in his bathroom), you thank him and he lays in the bed with you. “How was that?” he asks you in some worried matter, like his whole career depended on your answer, you look at him and smile at him like he’s crazy, you had two orgasms, isn’t that enough proof that you liked it? when the anxiety becomes aparent in his face, you give him the verbal confirmation. “Of course I did, wasn’t it obvious?” you say while trying to hide your face, he takes your arms to stop you from doing so.

“Y/N! Don’t hide! It was actually really good for me too, and I’m happy you had a good first time, it’s cool.”

You smile at him bigger now, getting more comfortable now, and he leans to leave a kiss on your forehead, and you lay there just chilling for a while. Checking the clock in Tom’s bedside table you realize it’s almost 2 in the morning, you haven’t talked about this, but you think it’s not a good idea to stay the night, maybe he has things to do tomorrow, and you do have a class at 9, so you start to get up to recolect your clothes.

“Where are you going?” Tom asks in a whiny tone, he was right about to fall asleep before you got up.

“I think it’s time for me to leave, it’s quite late and I’ve got class tomorrow.” you reply with a slightly sad tone, just for the drama.

“You don’t have to go. There’s no way I’m letting you take an uber and I’m too lazy to get up and drive you… so stay, I promise I’ll take you to your front door tomorrow morning, alright?” also, he gives you mad puppy eyes to convince you, but you still move around the room trying to find your underwear, just to not be naked anymore.

“Okay, just let me put some clothes back on, cause this is weird.”

“Can you throw me my underwear, please?”

“Yeah, just let me try and find them.” You throw them at him once you find them among the mess and they land straight in his face, you just gotta laugh at it and he just rolls his eyes at you and puts the thing on jokingly bitching about you being rude to him and you just laugh at him while you walk back to the bed.

At some point, Tom goes to retrieve your clothes and the wine from the living room while you just scroll through your phone absent mindedly, you half read the tweets and just ignore the instagram posts you see until he gets back and gives you your barely touched glass of wine and lays back down next to you.

You stay there for a while just talking and drinking, actually getting to know each other, you tell him about your major in college, how hard it gets sometimes, and you even tell him about why you had never had sex before. He tells you about his work, his family, the things he wants to do next… he does tell you a little tiny spoiler of the future of Marvel, which you had to swear you wouldn’t reveal to anyone ever and it would be a secret you take to your graveyard. It’s a nice pillow talk, you’re laying in the bed, facing each other, his hand is lazily resting on your waist, yours playing with the chain on his neck. This is likely even more intimate than the sex itself, and it’s nice.

When you do finally fall asleep, is in that position. Wine bottle completely empty in the floor, clothes laying around, only sound in the room being the light snores of Tom and heavy sleep breathing. You’re extremely comfortable and relaxed, long forgotten how nervous you were before this happened. You could get used to this.

Your slumber is ruined when the alarm goes off at half 7 in the morning, you feel tired, but you get your clothes back on anyway, Tom takes a little longer to fully wake up, but he keeps his promise and throws a pair of sweatpants and a white shirt, he also throws a hat on just to not deal with his morning/sex hair, for the same reason, you also just put your hair in a messy bun.

He actually parks the car and walks you back to your dorm, it’s quite early, but there is some people around the hallways anyways and it makes you a bit anxious thinking you might get him in trouble if he does get recognized, but he seems relaxed and unbothered about it anyway.

“I had a lot of fun. It was really nice to get to know you… call me up if you ever want to do this again, okay?” he tells you with his hands stuck in his pockets, it makes you smile how cute he looks.

“Thank you, Tom. I really enjoyed it… thanks for not being weird about this whole thing.”

“That’s alright. Okay, take care and don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“Okay.” He gives you a last kiss on the cheek before you get inside your dorm to get ready for class, and he goes back home, and that is it.

Months go by without you ever talking to or about Tom, you just assumed that was the end of everything you lived with him and it is a lovely and super hot thing to remember, but there's nothing more to it.

Bing

Your phone goes off in the middle of the night. You were studying, so you weren't talking to anyone. As you check the notification, you freeze just like you did the first time you saw his name on your screen.

"Hey! I'm in your town! What are you up to?"

-

Tagging some people to avoid the flop:

@caeruleum-in-caritate-lupus, @softstarkk, @peterparkerbabyy, @dottirose, @legit-fandom-trash, @carostar2020, @appreciating-chase-brody, @mvmakki @madmadmilk @hollandrecs @starksparker @sunshinehollandd

[marveloussupernerd]

Drunk Confessions - IwaOi

Warnings: swearing, drinking, this is cute asf

Summary: Oikawa can’t have Iwaizumi, so he gets drunk off his ass to try and forget. The only problem is, Iwa comes to take care of him in his drunk state. Thank goodness Iwa likes him too

Oikawa Tooru was LONELY.

Having an insufferable crush on your best friend for the past five years made it hard to not feel lonely.

His heart felt so full when he was with Iwa, but at the same time so empty.

If he didn’t have a crush on his best friend, wow how things would be different. He had plenty of fangirls (and some fanboys even) who wanted to date him. He wouldn’t sit alone on a Friday night and scroll through his best friend’s snapchat stories and feel his heart break every time he hung out with people and Oikawa wasn’t invited.

Yeah, this sucked.

Well, his parents were away for the weekend, so what else could he do to fill the empty hole in his heart? He’d play a game: how many shots does it take until I forget his name?

He couldn’t even be positive Iwa was attracted to boys. He had never told him explicitly. Shot.

He knew everything about Oikawa, even the small things that would make him cringe. He knew how to cheer him up. Was that just a friend thing? Who would he even ask? Shot.

“Yamaguchi!” He cheered over the phone, facetiming the first year.

“I, how did you get my number?” The boy asked awkwardly.

“You and the glasses kid are childhood friends, right?”

The boy smiled. “We’re boyfriends now actually!”

“Fuck my life.” He hung up. Shot.

The radio was playing Ed Sheeran. Dammit. Although he’d never admit it, Iwa listened to Ed Sheeran a lot, usually while he studied as background music. Perfect by Ed Sheeran. That would be their song.

Shot.

Everything was Iwaizumi Hajime. The blanket he always stole when he came over. The blue cup he used and dubbed his own. The dent in the wall from the one time he tripped and fell down the stairs. The spiderweb cracks in the back window from when he threw a baseball a little too hard when they were kids—his parents never got to fixing it. Dammit.

Shot after shot for everything that reminded him of Iwa. But it only made it worse. He didn’t fill up the spot in his mind that Iwa occupied with the alcohol, but instead filled up his mind until Iwa occupied it all.

His fingers were tapping on his crush’s contact before he even comprehended what he was doing.

“Oi, Oikawa, what is it? It’s almost midnight.” It was dark wherever Iwa was, his face hardly lit up by the screen.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa slurred excitedly. “Just wanted to seee what was up!”

There was silence for a brief moment.

“Did you drink?” His eyes were serious.

“Mhmmmm.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Your parents are out of town, aren’t they?”

“Mhmmmmmm. Don’t worry about me Iwa, I’ll be okay! Just wanted to see your handsome face before bed,” he chuckled. The words brought a ping of pain to his heart, but he ignored it, pouring himself another drink with one hand.

“Hey! Cut it out. I’ll be over in a few. No more drinks til then, alright?”

“Okayyy. You know I can’t say no to you.”

“You know what? I’m staying on the phone with you til I get there,” Iwa decided. He held the phone in his hand and it shook slightly as he walked, his face being illuminated with streetlights every few seconds.

“Awwww so protective of me.”

“Fuck off,” he grumbled. Then a pause. “How much did you drink tonight?”

“Seven? Eight? I dunno.”

“You shouldn’t be drinking alone. It’s not healthy or safe,” he scolded Oikawa gently.

Oikawa frowned. “I know. But you seemed to be having fun on your story so I didn’t wanna bother you.”

“Idiot. You’re never bothering me,” he said under his breath.

“Awww, Iwa Chan, you’re so sweet! You’re making me blush.” Oikawa moved haphazardously to the couch, collapsing onto it.

“You’re ridiculous. I’ll be there in just one minute, alright?”

“Okay. The door’s-“

Why was the line silent? Iwa clutched his phone tighter. Did he lose service? No, the picture was still there. Did this idiot really pass out? God. He should have been there for him. If anything happened to Oikawa he’d- well, he’d be pissed with himself. He ended the call and sprinted to his friend’s house.

He pushed the front door open urgently, shutting it behind him in one quick motion, and made his way to the living room. “Shittykawa!” He called, plopping on the couch next to the sleeping man.

“Oi,” he flicked Oikawa’s forehead, causing the boy to jump awake, startled. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Iwa!” Tooru exclaimed, pulling the man in tight for a hug, keeping him locked in his grip. “Missed youu.”

“Missed you too. But you can’t freak me out like that. I thought you died or something.”

“I knew you had a soft spot for me!” Oikawa exclaimed, poking his chest playfully.

“I always have,” Iwa smiled, shaking his head. “But I’m only telling you this because you won’t remember in the morning.”

He forced his way out of Oikawa’s grip and started cleaning up the spilled alcohol on the table. “Wanna tell me why you were drinking to make such a mess?”

“The guy I like doesn’t like me back,” Oikawa pouted.

Iwaizumi paused, then quickly picked up where he left off. “I didn’t realize you were gay.”

“Duhhh. I don’t just swoon over your muscles for nothing.”

“Sh-shut up,” Iwa stuttered, feeling a blush creep onto his cheeks. “Sorry about the guy though. I thought everyone liked you.”

“I know. I’m as shocked as you are. Hey! You know the kid with the glasses from Karasano? He’s been friends with their pinch server since they were kids. They’re dating now. What bullshit.”

Iwaizumi had no clue who Oikawa was talking about but nodded. “Uh huh, bullshit.”

“It sucks to see someone living out the life you want to live,” Oikawa groaned, flopping dramatically on the couch.

“You like glasses guy?” Iwaizumi felt himself stiffen.

Oikawa started cackling. Not the response he was expecting. “No.”

“Pinch server? When did you even hang out with these Karasano guys to know them well enough to form a crush?” He shouldn’t have felt so offended by Oikawa liking someone, but Oikawa never told Iwaizumi his feelings. Girls would always swoon over him, but he didn’t seem to care. He never told Iwa about his crushes, and so hearing it now made him even more uncomfortable.

He had always hoped that Oikawa never talked about crushes because he liked him back.

“Hey, you’re not even listening to me!” Oikawa pouted. Iwaizumi turned his attention to him and smiled, putting his hands up defensively.

“I don’t know them well enough to form a crush.” Oikawa repeated himself.

“Okay? Who do you like then?” Was it probably bad to be working this information out of a drunk Oikawa? Yes. But he needed to know so he could move on.

“Iwa-Chan.” His voice was gravely serious.

“Yes?”

Oikawa shook his head. “No, like that’s who I like. You won’t tell him, right?”

“Are you stupid? I’m literally Iwa-Chan.” He almost cringed at calling himself by the nickname, but he knew it was the best way to get the information to Oikawa’s brain.

Oikawa looked sick very suddenly, his face paling. He stood up and stumbled to the bathroom, Iwaizumi following quickly behind him, getting there just in time to see the intoxicated man throwing up. He rubbed his back gently, trying to get his stomach to calm down. They sat like this for a few minutes until Oikawa felt okay enough to break the silence.

“Iwa,” he grumbled. “Please forget I said that. Literally pretend I said nothing. Please. I don’t want to lose you as my friend because something so stupid slipped out.” His eyes were teary as he looked up at his friend, face still pale as a sheet and sweaty.

“No, I-“

“Please!” He called out, tears falling now. “Please. Please try and forget. I can’t wake up tomorrow morning and have no memory of tonight and all of a sudden you’re gone and-“

“Tooru,” Iwaizumi said firmly, hands reaching to cup his face to make him look up at him. “You never were good at letting me get a word out.” He joked, a small smile on his face. He used his thumb to gently wipe away the tears that fall down Oikawa’s cheeks. “I love you too, Oikawa.”

“You don’t have to say that ‘cause you feel bad.”

Iwaizumi leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’m not. I’m in love with you.”

Oikawa tackled him into a tight hug, almost knocking them both over. He then began to pepper kisses all over his crush’s face, while Iwa tried to pull him off. “Stop!” He laughed. “You just threw up. I don’t want kisses right now.”

“Booooo. You’re no fun.”

“I’ll kiss you tomorrow, ‘Kay?” Iwa said softly, brushing some of Oikawa’s hair out of his face. “We need to get you to bed.”

“Stairs plus me is not gonna work.” Oikawa said matter-of-factly

Iwaizumi grumbled. He was still as stubborn and annoying as ever when he was drunk. He stood up and knelt down, back to Oikawa. “Fine, get on, but only this once.”

“Awwww, is my Iwa Chan giving me a piggyback ride?”

“Better than you falling up the stairs.”

Oikawa leapt onto his back, causing Iwa to sway a little bit at first, but he quickly steadied himself and began slowly walking towards Oikawa’s bedroom.

“Wow, look at those muscles!” Oikawa swooned, poking around at Iwaizumi’s biceps. “What a man.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass,” Iwa chuckled, letting the man poke and prod up his body.

Finally he got to Oikawa’s bed, letting him go to collapse onto the piles of pillows and blankets. Oikawa squealed as he landed, letting out a few giggles.

“You’re too adorable,” Iwa commented, looking at the man in front of him fondly. He then also collapsed on the bed, joining Oikawa. They had shared a bed plenty of times before, but this time was different. They weren’t just best friends. Maybe they were boyfriends? Iwaizumi would ask in the morning. His heart was racing thinking about it.

Oikawa tore him out of his thoughts, readjusting and flipping face first onto Iwaizumi, head nestled in his neck.

“You comfy?” Iwaizumi teased.

“Asshole. Yes I am.”

“Okay. Good night Oikawa.” He wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him closer.

“Your heart is racing. Is that because of me?”

“Shut up and go to bed before I knock you out myself.”

Oikawa’s brain felt like putty in the morning. What the hell had even gone on last night? Bad decisions, that was what. He kept his eyes shut tightly, not ready to wake up to the blinding sun quite yet, and reached his hand around to feel for water on the nightstand.

And then he accidentally smacked someone in the face.

“Asshole.” They grumbled. That was... definitely Iwa Chan’s voice. And... did he have his arms wrapped around Oikawa? What happened last night?

He forced his eyes open to figure out what position exactly he had put himself in, and was shocked to see himself buried into Iwaizumi’s chest, laying on top of him, with the man’s arms wrapped around him.

His heart told him to stay cuddled up in his embrace, but his brain told him WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING.

“You’re up,” Iwa grumbled sleepily. “Feeling okay?”

“What in the fuck did I miss?”

Iwaizumi chuckled. “You got really drunk last night.”

“Well, duh.”

“And uh...” Iwaizumi couldn’t meet Oikawa’s eyes as he spoke.

“Uh what?”

“You might have drunkenly confessed to me.”

“Oh, fuck.” Oikawa hid his face, unable to meet his friend’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Tooru. I’m in love with you too.”

Oikawa sat up quickly, shocked, straddling the man beneath him now. “You what!?” His hand rushed to his head to hold it, the quick motion causing his head to pound.

“I love you too.”

“For real?”

Iwaizumi sat up, face only inches away from Oikawa’s. His eyes softened, and he reached out to touch Oikawa’s cheek gently. “For real,” he whispered.

Oikawa’s eyes were trained on Iwaizumi’s lips. He was going to kiss him. He was going to kiss his best friend, his crush, the man who he loved and who loved him back.

“Oh, hell no.” Iwa held his face back, palm of his hand squishing against the boy’s cheek, refusing to let him get closer. “You threw up last night and never brushed your teeth.”

“Okay!” Oikawa stumbled out of bed, almost falling flat on his face as his head spun from getting up. “Mhm, going to go brush my teeth. Wait for me okay?”

“I’m waiting. Make sure you get your tongue too!”

“I love you Iwa Chan!” He called. Iwaizumi could hear the faucet running.

“I love you too.”

[hopelesshawks]

Physical Fatality Part 13- Icarus

18+ Hawks x fem, pro hero!reader

Summary: You’re a rising star in All Might’s agency. Hawks is the darling of Endeavor’s. By virtue of your job descriptions, the two of you are supposed to hate each other, or at the very least be cautiously neutral. For a long time that’s exactly what the two of you did. You stayed out of each other’s way and formed little opinion of the other. One fateful night at an HPSC gala changes all that. Based on the album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom by Halsey.

If you don’t want to see Physical Fatality content blacklist #hopelesspf

This story will have multiple NSFW parts so it is 18+ ONLY minors dni

Warning for very slight suicidal themes this fic has a happy ending I swear

Masterlist

Agony.

Losing you is agony.

Endeavor is lecturing him for pulling the stunt with Bakugo earlier that day but he can’t hear or really process any of it when all he can think about is the fact you’ve blocked his number and seem to want nothing to do with him. He vaguely registers words of “I told you so” and “I warned you” and even a word or two about a demotion but none of it matters. Hawks doesn’t know how to do anything but be a hero. It’s been the driving force behind a lot of the choices he’s made in your relationship and he knows it’s the same for you, but that doesn’t make any of this easier.

“You’re going to have to work really hard to earn my trust back Hawks and the trust of your coworkers,” Endeavor warns. “Understood,” Hawks replies, his voice almost detached. It seems to disconcert Endeavor, the other man being far more accustomed to the snarky Hawks persona than the serious man in front of him now. “Hawks, uhm, do you,” Endeavor stutters suddenly unsure. He coughs to cover his discomfort and clears his throat before resuming. “Do you need to talk about what happened between you and Artemis?” he finally manages to ask. He looks so deeply uncomfortable potentially talking about the subject and his discomfort only grows when Hawks continues to give him nothing back. “That won’t be necessary,” Hawks replies before turning and walking out of the office. If Hawks doesn’t know how to live without hero work, Keigo doesn’t know how to live without you. So his only option is to abandon Keigo until the pain stops.

He can’t have slept more than a handful of hours that night but he still wakes up early the next morning to run an extra patrol before his normally scheduled one. He files paperwork, even revisits old cases, all in a bid to keep you off his mind. Of course it’s not enough to stop his coworkers from whispering. Typically he ignores the gossip of the lower ranking heroes but it’s hard when he knows they’re speculating about you and him. It certainly doesn’t help that your break up was so public and now it feels like nearly all of Japan has watched the video of it happening. Hawks used to be the darling of Endeavor’s agency, beloved by all of his coworkers. Now he’s practically a pariah.

His new outcast status is only made more obvious at the cocktail party later that day. He’d wanted to skip it entirely, the fact you were supposed to be his plus one to the event made it all the more unappealing, but he’s already skating on thin ice and had no legitimate excuse to justify his absence. So instead he watches the other heroes talk and drink and laugh about things while he hides in the corner, too exhausted and heartbroken to put up the persona necessary to maintain conversation. No one seems to ask about him anyway or even care what he thinks despite the fact it’s his personal life that’s become the hottest topic in all of Japan. He wonders if this is how Icarus felt as he plummeted to the earth. Hawks had flown too close to your light and warmth and now he’s fallen from grace. He wonders if it’s true that Icarus laughed as he fell. If so he can empathize. As painful as this fall is, he would live it over and over if it meant he could catch even a glimpse of you again.

When Shoto comes to join him it’s literally the first genuine interaction he’s had all day. “You look like shit,” Shoto comments by way of greeting. “Thanks. Feel like it too,” Hawks replies. He doesn’t have to pretend with Shoto and for that he’s grateful. “Are you ok?” Shoto asks. “Even though I’ve always hated these things I was always so good at them,” Hawks starts in response. “I’d talk, drink, laugh just like everyone’s doing, be the center of attention, play the part of the charming number two hero. And look at me now. I’m so fucking anxious about what they’ll say about me, about her, about us and what happened that I can’t have a proper fucking conversation. I used to be on fire and now I’m standing in the ashes of who I used to be and I’m just fading away. Without her I’m fading away. I’m just as pathetic as she said,” Keigo confesses and it’s a weight off but it also makes the hollow space behind his ribs where you used to live feel all the more prominent. “This right here is kind of pathetic,” Shoto starts, earning him a shocked almost laugh from the other man, “but you are not pathetic Hawks. I think (y/n) knows that, she’s just hurting. Rightfully so. The bullshit with the others in the agency will get better too.” “I don’t know about that one.” “You’re not the only one who’s done dumb or bad shit. Not by a long shot.” “Really?” “You know Iida?” Shoto asks, pointing to the man in question as he obliviously continues his conversation with one of the others present. “Yea. Your year at UA, stickler for the rules. What about him?” Hawks asks. “He chose his internship our first year with the sole intention of trying to hunt down and kill Stain to avenge his brother.” “Really? That guy?” “Yep. My dad isn’t so innocent either: quirk marriage, child abuse, oh the stories I could tell you.” “Jesus Christ.” “Exactly. Everyone has their own shit Hawks. This will pass and hopefully you and (y/n) can find your ways back to each other when it does.”

Shortly after Todoroki finishes speaking his phone rings and he frowns down in confusion when he notices it’s Bakugo calling him. “I didn’t think we had task force business today,” Shoto says as he answers the phone. “We don’t. Is Hawks there with you?” Bakugo asks, his tone betraying his worry. “Yea he is.” “Shit.” “What’s going on Bakugo?” “It’s about (y/n),” Bakugo admits and Shoto’s eyes widen. He casts a look at Hawks before finally deciding to drag the other man with him to an empty office on the floor they’re currently on. He locks the door behind them and then pops his phone on speaker. “Ok you’re on speaker with me and Hawks what’s going on with (y/n)?” Shoto asks, his voice remaining calm. “All Might fired her last night so she was supposed to come in this morning and collect her stuff except instead she pretty much just threw everything away. I came back to patrol and found out she’d left Midoriya and I little gifts on our desk which was weird, so I hit up her roommates and apparently she never went home after she swung by here. I thought she and Hawks may have run off together but if he’s with you...” Bakugo explains. “Maybe she’s just clearing her head or something,” Shoto suggests. “No way. The whole of Japan is gossiping about her right now, the last thing she’d want is to be out in public,” Bakugo quickly refutes. “Was there anything else off about your desks? Drawers opened?” Hawks asks. “Maybe, I wasn’t paying that much attention. Why?” Bakugo asks. “Your task force notes still there?” Hawks asks in lieu of an answer. Hawks and Shoto wait with baited breath as they hear the sound of Bakugo moving around and then opening a desk drawer. “Nope, they’re gone,” Bakugo finally reports back. “Thought so. (Y/n) wouldn’t just roll over and kiss her career goodbye, she’s probably trying to take out the terrorist cell herself and use it as leverage to get her job back,” Hawks deduces. “Alone? That’s a suicide mission,” Shoto says. “Hence the gifts on the desks,” Hawks replies grimly. “Most of our notes are over there with you guys though,” Bakugo points out. As if on cue an alarm starts blaring overhead warning of an intruder. “That’s gotta be her,” Hawks says. “I’m on my way, hold her there so we can talk some sense into that idiot,” Bakugo tells them before promptly hanging up the phone.

Hawks has to give credit where credit is due. As foolhardy as your plan is, it’s incredibly well executed. As a former member of the guest list, you would’ve known everyone would be occupied with the cocktail party on one of the lower floors, far away from where the files you need are. The elevators will take forever with so many people trying to all get upstairs which only leaves the stairs, which are marginally better but still relatively slow. You must have spent most of the night planning this out. That thought fills Hawks with a certain amount of dread. You’re probably emotional and sleep deprived on your way to take on an entire villain group yourself all in a desperate bid to save your career. It almost sounds ludicrous. Yet, as Hawks races to the top floor in hopes of catching you, all he can think of is something you’d once told him during happier times, late at night as you two were wrapped up in each other:

“Honestly Kei? I’d rather die a hero than live long enough to prove those stupid reporters right about me.”

Author’s Note: Does this still count as a double update if I’m posting the second one after midnight 💀 anyway I can’t believe how quickly I was able to get this chapter out. The image of Hawks standing in the corner of a massive company party feeling like a shell of himself is actually a large part of what sold me on writing this fic for him. The song this chapter correlates to just felt so right for his character that I knew it couldn’t be anyone else. I thought about waiting to post this until later tomorrow today? but I’m ✨impatient✨ so instead y’all get it now

Taglist [open]: @akkaso @cathy8taffy @eeppff @iikillerkitteh @pixelwisp @pokesosa @lildockel @bread0nhead @lavender-moon13

[lonelyreputation]

Different (part five)

A/N: Here we are! The last part! Ahhh!! Can’t believe we made it this far!! Thank you to everyone who has read! All together, Different is 64 pages long which is just insane 🤯 Thanks a MILLION to everyone for EVERYTHING!! I couldn’t do this without you all 🤧 What a wild ride this has been🤧🤧

So……Happy reading 🤩🥳 And let me know your thoughts 😉 

REQUEST/PROMPT: Unrequited Love

Part ONE | Part TWO | Part THREE | Part FOUR

Let’s Chat!! | MASTERLIST 

Warnings: Few swear words

WC: 7.3K // fluff & slightly angst

                                         *Flashback to 2017*

Shawn still had the studio headphones on, and his eyes were still closed as if he was still trying to get in the right mindset to record this song, but he knew everyone was silent.  After what they all just heard, he knew no one would speak a word until he said something.

But after that song…What could he say?

He squinted one eye open, bracing for the worst, but he saw that everyone looked quite satisfied with themselves, “Uh,” Shawn coughed as he spoke into the microphone, “Do I need to cut it again? Re-record the bridge? Do another set of–––”

“It’s perfect, Shawn,” Andrew smiled at him as he clicked his phone off and slid it in his back pocket, “I’m going on a coffee run, anyone want anything?”

And just like that, four out of the five people in the room jumped up, offering to help with the order.  Not even three seconds later, Andrew wrangled everyone out the door, and Shawn was left in the studio with Brian.

With a heavy sigh, he took off his headphones and hung them on the microphone stand. Whatever conversation he was about to have with Brian, he knew there was no way he could avoid it.  Begrudgingly, he walked out from the sound booth and plopped down next to him.  He rested his elbows on his knees where he buried his face into the palm of his hands.

“So…” Brian drummed his fingers on his lap, “Are we gonna talk about that song?”

“Talk about what?” Shawn grumbled into his hands even though he knew exactly what Brian was referring to.

Brian let out a short laugh, “Seriously? We’re not going to talk about how that song just screams Y/n?”

Shawn snapped his head up and looked at Biran, “It’s not––”

Brian cut him off with a glare, “Don’t play that game,” he then softened his eyes and spoke in a less accusatory tone, “Staring across the room and laughing? Saying how there’s nobody like her? Waiting for when she’s ready?” Brian gave his friend a pointed look, “This is a song about a best friend.  This is a song about––”

“So what if it’s about her?” Shawn dramatically threw his arms up in the air and leaned his head back against the couch, not wanting to look his best friend in the eye, “It doesn’t matter because she doesn’t see me like that.”

“She literally looks at you like you personally hang the stars in the sky,” Brian said with a matter-of-fact tone, “How do you not see it?”

Shawn scoffed, “She has eyes for that guy in her quantitative whatever math class.”

“She’s literally only talked about him once,” Brian scoffed back at his friend, “But she’s always talking about you, always looking at you, always wanting to be around you.”

Lifting his head up from the back of the couch, Shawn looked at his friend with tired eyes, “I just needed to write the song to get it out of my system.”

“You don’t mean that,” Brain let out a sigh, because while neither you nor Shawn had confided your mutual feelings for one another with him, he knew the two of you had feelings for one another, “Trust me when I say that she likes you.”

“I more than like her,” Shawn blurted out before his mind could comprehend what he was actually saying.  His eyes grew wide, but Brian’s eyes sparkled with hope, “No––I didn’t mean it like that––I don’t know if I like her like that anymore––She’s just––”

Brian shook his head, finishing off Shawn’s sentence for him, “Different?”

Shawn slowly nodded his head, resting his chin on his hands.  You weren’t different in a bad way, his mind spoke to himself, but different in a way that he had trouble wrapping his head around what he wanted.  He cherished your friendship like no one else, you were closer to him than any other friend he had, and he loved you so much.

You were different in that sense––That he loved you more than any of his other friends…And the love he had for you was different than a friendship.

“Yeah,” Shawn said with a distant voice, “Different.”

///

Present Day

It had been one month since you last saw Shawn weaving through the crowd of Brian’s party to leave.  One month.  But in that one month, you realized just how much you missed him.  You thought day and night about what it would be like to be friends with him again––if it would be worth it.  And it was when you stumbled across a photo booth strip of the two of you at his New Year’s Eve party when the ache in your heart grew to be too much.

So in that one month…You gained the courage to send him a text.  

Right after you had your falling out nearly a year ago, you deleted all of your messages with Shawn, not wanting to be tempted to go back and read anything from him.  You didn’t want to be reminded of how nice he was and crawl right back to him––You wanted to forget that he ever existed.

So it was a bit weird when you pulled up a new message, typed in his contact name, and no previous messages showed up.

With anxiety bubbling up in the depths of your stomach, you held your breath as you typed out your message.

Hey, Shawn, I think this is still your number––

Backspace.

Hi, Shawn, it’s me…Y/n––

Backspace.

Shawn! Hi! It’s Y/n, I hope you’re doing well––

Backspace.

Why was composing a text to your ex-best friend harder than anything else you’ve ever done? It was just a text message.  A text message to a person who you once saw you sneeze chocolate milk out of your nose because he did something so outrageous it made you laugh.  

But it felt different.

It’s not different, the rational part of your mind spoke up, he’s still your best friend even though the two of you haven’t talked in nearly a year––you know he misses you, he made that clear at Brian’s party.

Oh, but it is different––the irrational portion of your mind shouted over your other thoughts––you confessed to loving him, he said he didn’t feel anything for you, you haven’t talked in nearly a year, and he ran out after he saw you kiss that boy.

You exhaled the breath you’d been holding in, and decided to just bite the bullet and send out the first message you typed.

Hey, Shawn.  It’s Y/n! I was wondering if you were free on Saturday to go on a walk?

You hit send before any part of your brain could convince you otherwise.  And right when the blue text bubble popped up on your screen, you felt your heart plummet into the anxiety that was at the bottom of your stomach.

What if he changed his number?

But it was a thought you didn’t have to dwell over for long because your phone chimed with a text message from the person on the other end.

Y/n! Hi…I’m glad to hear from you! I’m free all day Saturday so I can do whatever works for you x

A smile instantly spread across your face as you rapidly texted back a time and the location of the park you now walked at.  And just as instantly as you texted him, he texted you right back that the time and place worked perfectly for him.

Little did you know that Shawn canceled all of his previous plans for Saturday just for your walk.

///

“I could’ve bought my own coffee,” You took a sip of the drink that your hand was wrapped around for warmth, “Thank you, but I could’ve done it.”

Shawn tipped his head back slightly in laughter, “Next time don’t go to the bathroom when I’m ordering,” He turned his head to look at you with a smile, “And it also helped that you haven’t changed your order.”

You looked down at your coffee cup, feeling all tingly on the inside just like you felt around him before everything blew up in your face.  But you tried your hardest to push those feelings aside.  You were planning on being friends with him; on a walk to rekindle your friendship.

“I’m buying next time,” you lifted your head up and smiled at him.

His eyes twinkled bright, “I’ll hold you to it––And then I’ll buy the time after that.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, trying to hide your growing smile, as Shawn just confirmed he wanted to continue on going on walks, “And I’ll buy after that.”

Shawn faced his head forward, and from the corner of your eye, you saw that he was also trying to conceal his growing smile, “I think we have a good thing going.”

You nodded your head as the wind picked up a little, causing you to scrunch up your nose, “Seems like it.”

For the next nine minutes, the two of you walked in silence.  In the beginning, it was a little uncomfortable, but the more you continued down the winding path, the silence wasn’t too bad.  It almost felt like the old times where you didn’t feel the need to fill the silence––you were fine appreciating his presence more than any conversation.

It was a deep sigh from Shawn that broke the silence, “I…” He took a deep breath in through his nose, and then released it out through his mouth, “I owe you a real apology.”

You weakly smiled down at your sneakers, “I appreciate that, but I don’t want to talk about that day––”

“Y/n,” Shawn stopped in the middle of the pathway.  Reluctantly, you stopped with him and looked into his remorseful eyes, “I was a dick––Like an absolute asshole to you––I have no reasoning for it other than I didn’t know how to respond to you and even that,” He kept his eyes trained on you, “Is a shitty excuse.”

A sharp pain in your chest was weighing down the happiness you first felt when you saw Shawn waiting for you at the entrance to the park.  Because while you did think you deserved an apology, you didn’t want to be taken back to that day ever again.

“Thanks,” You nodded, “Can we get back to our walk?”

He held your gaze for a moment, waiting for you to say something else, but you kept your ground.  With a soft sigh, he nodded his head and the two of you continued to walk in silence.

Five minutes passed before Shawn let out another sigh.

“You’re really not going to say anything?”  His tone was full of defeat, he was expecting some sort of reaction from you, but you kept silent as he fell slightly behind.  He jogged up back to his place next to you, “I literally said that you ruined our friendship.  Said that you ruined tour––when you weren’t even there! And I got mad when you brought your boyfriend around––”

“So you were jealous?”

“That’s beside the point,” Shawn rolled his eyes, “The point is that you should be yelling at me, calling me every swear word in the dictionary, and maybe not even want to be this walk with me––”

“I was the one who texted you,” you stopped walking and Shawn instantly stopped his movements, “Why would I ask to hang out if all I was going to do was yell at you?”

Shawn let out a single breathy laugh, “Because I was a dick?”

You rolled your eyes, “Okay, fine,” you let out an aggravated breath, “I considered you the shittiest person ever, I cried for months, I thought I did ruin our friendship, I never expected to talk to you ever again” you looked up at him with sad eyes to see that his eyes mirrored yours, “And it hurt like hell.  But we’re passed that––I’m passed that––and I want to try to be friends again.”

Shawn nodded his head solemnly, “I’m sorry,” you glared at him, “I know you said you didn’t want to hear it, but Y/n, I feel so terrible and I should probably be apologizing for the rest of my life because I actually felt––” It seemed as though his mind caught up to what he was saying and he cut himself off, “I’m sorry. I just want you back in my life.”

You let him fidget with his fingers in silence for a few seconds, “Again, thank you for the apology, I appreciate it, but please,” your voice cracked, “I really don’t want to talk about it any longer.”

Shawn nodded his head firmly, “I––Yes––Okay.”

“Okay,” you took a sip of your coffee, “Can we get back to our walk?”

Shawn tried his best to cover up his guilt with a smile as he checked his hip against yours, “Let’s get walking.”

///

“This is the third time in a row you’ve bought the coffee,” you glared at Shawn, who had a proud smile on his face, as you took a sip of your coffee, “I’ve only bought coffee for us once.”

Shawn tsked, “Should get here before me then.”

“I don’t know what time you show up!”

“Exactly,” he winked, “Which is the fun of it.”

You playfully rolled your eyes at him, “Come on, what time do you get here then?” He shook his head as he took a sip of his coffee, “Please tell me? Why won’t you tell me? Can we just agree on a time so then I could stand a chance to beat you at the coffee shop?”

Shawn took another sip of his coffee, this time with a smile on his face, but he still left your questions unanswered.

“Fine,” you said with a huff, “I’ll just get here two hours early.”

“You’d have to get here earlier than that.”

You choked on your coffee, covering your mouth with your hand so you wouldn’t spit it out, “Excuse me?”

“Kidding,” Shawn unconvincingly said with a weak laugh, “Kidding.”

Skeptically, you nodded your head, “So, what’s going on in the life of Shawn Mendes?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Nothing much…Recording new music, responding to Andrew’s texts telling me to check my email, sleeping…” He sneaked a glance at you as he sipped his coffee, “Going on walks.”

“No girls?”

This time, Shawn was the one who choked on his coffee as he leaned forward and spat out the hot liquid.

“What?”

You pulled a napkin from your back pocket and handed it to him, “Just a question, I thought that…” Your words trailed off as you watched Shawn wipe the napkin across his chin, “Friends ask each other that kind of stuff?”

Your voice grew higher in pitch with every word, not feeling confident at all.  On one hand, you wanted to be back in the role of the supportive best friend.  But on the other hand…It would absolutely kill you to know if there was a girl in his life.  

Because while you wanted your previous status as resident best friend back…You still coveted the spot of being his significant other.

“I mean yeah they do,” Shawn coughed and quickly shook his head, “But no…No girls.”

A chill––that you knew wasn’t from the cool spring breeze––caused you to shiver, “No Miranda?”

“That’s––How do––” you gave him a pointed look and his eyes widened in understanding.  

The bathroom incident.

He said there were no girls, but the fact that he wasn’t outright denying anything with her caused your teeth to clench.  It was a name that spun around your head like a revolving door.  

Recently, she wasn’t taking up space in your mind, but when everything happened with Shawn all those months ago…She was the only thing you could think of.

While you were big on not judging people you haven’t met before, there was not a bone in your body that didn’t loathe her.

Again, he coughed, “No, I haven’t seen her in…” He squinted one of his eyes shut as he looked up at the sun trying to break through the clouds, “God, it’s been months––Nearly a year?”

Nearly a year.

He hasn’t seen her since the two of you had a falling out.

A triumphant smile took over your face that you tried to hide by taking a sip of your coffee, “Well, if there’s anyone…” He looked at you with raised eyebrows, mouth slightly parted, as if he couldn’t believe the words coming out of your mouth, “I want to be the first to know.”

“How’re things with Charlie?”

It was your turn to look at him with shock written all over your face.  Charlie was the last person you expected Shawn to bring up.

You cleared your throat, “Uh, actually…We stopped seeing each other.”

“Really?”

You nodded, eyes trained straight ahead at the trees that were slowly starting to grow their leaves back, “Yeah. About a month and a half ago,” you shrugged, “He’s nice and all but it’s just…It wasn’t going to work out.”

“Are you okay?”

When you looked over at him, you saw that his eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were filled with genuine concern, “I––I think?” You took a sip of your coffee, “It was nice while it lasted but I––It was mutual––” lie, “––We both thought we’d be better off as friends.”

Shawn slowly nodded his head, concern still prevalent on his face, “Break ups suck and if you ever need anyone…” he offered you a small smile, “I’ll be around.”

“Thanks, Shawn,” You smiled at him, squinting your eyes slightly from the sun,, as it finally shined brightly through the clouds, “I really appreciate that.”

“Of course,” Shawn said with a smile on his face as he went to take a sip of his coffee.

From your peripheral vision, you noticed that he took a sip of his coffee to hide the smile on his face.  It was the same smile you tried to hide from him when you found out there weren’t any girls present in his life.

Maybe you did just as terrible of a job at hiding your smile from him.

///

This time, when you rode up the elevator to Brian’s apartment for one of his infamous parties, you were alone.

There was no Charlie. There was no Shawn.  And…You were okay with that.

You stepped off the elevator with a smile on your face and let yourself into Brian’s apartment when you got to his door.  And just like every other time you walked into Brian’s apartment, he was downing whatever drink he had in a red solo cup.

“Y/n!” He yelled out your name with a smile as he came barreling into you, “I’ve missed you!”

You smiled into the hug, giving him a quick squeeze before he released you, “I’ve missed you too,” you said with a chuckle as Brian took hold of your wrist to drag you into the kitchen.

“You need a drink,” he dropped your wrist as he went rummaging around the fridge.  He pulled out a can of coke and twisted his head back to you, “Vodka coke?”

“Sure,” you said as you leaned your back against the counter.

Brian opened the can with a psssh noise following as he poured the can into a red cup, “So,” he crushed the can when all the soda was out, “We haven’t been on any walks lately.”

You stiffened, “Um––Yeah––I––We should get back to that.”

“Mhm,” Brian hummed as he kept his eyes trained on the vodka he poured into your glass, and admittedly, it looked like a little too much for your liking, “Have you still been going on walks?”

“What do you mean?” You asked as you crossed your arms over your chest.

Brian stifled a laugh, “No need to get defensive,” he passed you your drink as you took a whiff of it, smelling the strong scent of vodka, “Have you replaced me on our walks?”

You took a big sip of the toxic drink Brian made for you to get out of answering.  But he stood there in front of you, patiently waiting for your answer with a smirk on his face.

Setting the drink down on the counter, you coughed into the crook of your elbow to clear out the leftover sting of vodka on your throat, “I mean, I wouldn’t say replaced––”

Brian mirrored your position; leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at you with a knowing glint in his eyes, “Don’t even try and hide it.”

You let your shoulders drop as your eyes went down to look at your shoes, “Did Shawn tell you?”

“No.” His voice was smug.  You whipped your head up with wide eyes to look at him, “It’s just obvious.”

“Obvious?”

Brian nodded his head, “Both of you seem happier…” he offered you a smile, “And if you were still upset with him, you would’ve asked if he was coming tonight so you could avoid him.”

“That’s not––”

His pointed look cut you off because there had been a few occasions where you purposefully avoided Shawn before you decided to reconnect with him.

You let out a huff, “Fine, okay, we’re friends again.”

“Friends?” Brian raised his eyebrows, “Have you talked about––”

You swiped your cup up from the counter and took two big sips, scrunching your nose up in distaste, “He apologized, I was appreciative that he apologized, we’re moving on.”

“You still like him.”

You had just brought the red cup away from your lips, hand freezing in the air, as Bian’s words echoed in your mind.

You still like him.

Did you still like him? On your walks with him you were beginning to feel that familiar warmth whenever he brushed up against you.  You were starting to feel like you couldn’t stop smiling around him again.  And you were beginning to feel the giddiness, nervousness, and butterflies in your stomach again.

You told Shawn your feelings, the irrational part of your brain piped up, if anything were to happen it already would’ve happened––He doesn’t like you like that, he made that clear.

But, the rational portion of your brain reasoned, things aren’t the same as they were a year ago. Both you and Shawn have changed, you’re not the same people, things change…Feelings change.

“We’re just going on walks,” you took a tiny sip of your drink.

Brian hummed, “So you wouldn’t freak out if I said he just walked through the door?”

“What?!”

You whipped your head around to the front door, eyes searching through the few people who congregated near the front door,  but you didn’t see the familiar mop of brown curls.  You searched harder for him, but still didn’t see him.

You narrowed your eyes at Brian, “Fuck you.”

Brian laughed with a shrug of his shoulders, “He’s been here for nearly an hour.”

You brought the cup up to your lips to take a sip as you rolled your eyes, “Sure.”

“Don’t trust me?”

“When have I ever?”

Brian brought his fingers up to his lips and whistled loud, “Shawn!”

And like a dog being called by their owner, Shawn emerged from the crowd, heading straight into the kitchen with a confused stare…Until his eyes brightened up when they landed on you.  You spat what little alcohol you had in your mouth back into the cup and glared at Brian.

“You should trust me more often.”

The way he said it, with a hint of glee in his eyes, was almost as if he was alluding to previous events.

You brushed him off and set your red solo cup on the counter as Shawn made his way to where you stood with Brian.  The three of you stood in a triangle in silence.  

Shawn slipped his hands in his front pockets and rocked back on his heels, “Y/n, hi,” he finally said after a few beats of silence, “Is he bothering you?” He jerked his head over to Brian with a laugh.

You chuckled, “Always.”

“Y/n was just telling me about your walks,” Brian gave Shawn a pointed stare.  Shawn’s eyes widened as he looked toward you, silently asking if you told him, but you shook your head. “Seems as though I’ve been replaced by you.”

You cleared your throat, “I think I saw Olivia when I walked in,” you set your cup down on the counter, abandoning the alcohol, “Haven’t seen her in a bit…” Your eyes darted between Shawn and Brian, “I think I’m gonna say hi.”

With a deep breath, you scooched past Shawn as he placed a comforting hand on your shoulder, momentarily stopping you from walking around him, “We’ll catch up later?”

While you wanted nothing more than to make up for the lost time, being around him––alone––still made you nervous.  But you nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of your lips, “Sure.”

You didn’t see Olivia when you walked in.  You had no idea if she was even here.  But one thing you did know was that if you were going to ‘catch up’ with Shawn…You needed a breather before.  

And that’s how you ended up in Brian’s room––again––with your head in your hands, wondering to yourself if you were starting to like Shawn again.

But deep down, you knew that your feelings for him never went away.

///

“So, Shawn,” Brian said as he watched you walk off down the hall to his bedroom, he smiled, “What’s going on?”

Shawn shrugged his shoulders as he tried to push Brian away from the fridge, wanting to grab a beer before he knew exactly what topic he was going to bring up.  

Brain didn’t budge, “I need you sober for this conversation.”

“It’s not like I’ve been under the influence the countless other times we’ve had this conversation,” Shawn took up your previous place at the counter and leaned against it, crossing his arms, “I don’t see why I can’t have a drink.”

Brian raised his eyebrows and gestured his hands toward the path you walked away from them, “Don’t you see? This is your chance.”

Shawn shook his head, as he picked up the drink that you left on the counter.  He took one sniff of it and pulled his head back, nose scrunched up in disgust, “God, what was she drinking?”

“I made it,” Brian proudly smiled.

“Disgusting,” Shawn said right before he took a sip.  He instantly regretted it when he felt more alcohol hit the back of his throat rather than coke, “Were you trying to give her alcohol poisoning?”

Brian shrugged his shoulders, “She drank it––But stop going off topic,” he glared at Shawn because he knew exactly how his friend tried to deflect attention, “She still likes you.”

Shawn scoffed, “After how I treated her? I’m surprised she’s giving me the time of day.”

“And that’s why she still likes you,” Brian tried to emphasize his point, “If she didn’t like you anymore she would’ve deleted your number, never wanted to see you again––let alone go on walks with you––She texted you first!”

“So?” Shawn let out a deep sigh as he rubbed the toe of his boot on the floor, “I missed my chance.  She said she loved me for years––years,” Shawn said in a pained voice, “That means we both liked each other at the same time at one point and we didn’t do anything about it.”

“You both like each other now,” Brian said softly, “Forget the past––” he was cut off after Shawn glared at him, “Okay, maybe not forget the past, because you were an asshole and need to learn from your mistakes––but,” Shawn glared at Brian again, “Trust me when I say she still likes you.”

Shawn picked up the forgotten cup and threw his head back to finish off the rest of the horrible mixed drink.  He let out a little ah as he felt the burn in his throat, “She won’t talk about it with me.  We’re not at that stage yet––”

“Your friends,” Brian rolled his eyes as he lifted himself off from the fridge, “I get it.”  He patted Shawn’s shoulder, “Also, Olivia’s not here tonight.”

With that information, Shawn’s ears perked up and he tilted his head at Brian.  But he just patted his shoulder one more time before walking to the living area.  

If Olivia wasn’t at the party…Then she wasn’t out there mingling with everyone else, Shawn thought to himself.  And it was then that he realized what Brian was trying to tell him without explicitly saying anything; that you were alone, most likely in Biran’s room, waiting for him to come talk to you.

At least he hoped you were waiting for him, Shawn thought to himself as he said a Hail Mary, and walked down the hall to Brian’s room.

///

Like the last time you were at Brian’s place for a party, you found yourself in his room trying to clear your head.  Why did he feel the need to put all those doubts in your head? You were finally coming to peace with just being friends with Shawn.  But with everything Biran was trying to insinuate…It only muddled your thoughts more.

And like the last time you were in Brian’s room, you saw a sliver of light come from the door opening.  But this time you knew who walked through the door.

Slowly, you lifted your head up from your hands and offered him a shy smile, “Hey.”

Shawn returned your smile, “Thought you were catching up with Olivia?”

Your smile wavered as you tried to come up with an excuse, “I––Uh––It wasn’t her, just someone who looked like her.”

He nodded his head as he stood in front of you, rocking back and forth from heel to toe, “Can I sit?”

All it took was a slight nod of your head and Shawn took a few long strides until he sat next to you.  His legs were spread apart, one of his knees occasionally touching yours, as he hunched over a bit.  His forearms rested on his thighs and his folded hands dangled between his legs, “So…”

You stayed silent.

“I––The weather was nice today?”

You were a little confused with his small talk––especially how his sentence tapered off into the form of a question.  But you nodded your head, not knowing where he was going with it, “Yeah…Little chilly for spring, but it was…Okay.”

More silence.

The ringing in your ears was getting relentless and you were starting to feel uncomfortably hot sitting anxiously next to Shawn.  Whenever he deeply exhaled out of his nose, you heard it loud and clear, and it sounded as if he was trying to calm down while simultaneously motivate himself.

You go on walks with him, you thought to yourself, you shouldn’t be this nervous to be alone in a room with him.

But you were more than nervous.  You felt the anxiety in your stomach grow more with each passing second of silence, you heard voices in your mind taunting you about your failed attempt at sharing your feelings with him, and you had a sinking feeling in your stomach that was warning you that something was about to happen.

Not wanting to stick around for whatever your gut was saying, you pressed your hands on your thighs, standing up from the edge of Brian’s bed, “I should probably go––”

Shawn’s hand shot out to your wrist, somewhat firm to keep you in place, but also loose enough that if you wanted to, you could walk away from him.

“So you––uh––You used to go on walks with Brian?” Shawn blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.  It seemed as though he would say anything to make you stay.

Slowly, you nodded your head and sat back down when you felt him tug your wrist, “We ran into each other and it just sorta…Happened.”

Shawn hummed, “And then you stopped?”

“I started going on walks with you.”

A brief smile came across Shawn’s face as he peaked up at you, “I like going on walks with you.”

You gulped, you heard the undertone of the message loud and clear, but you weren’t sure if you were ready to re-hash everything, “I’ve been in Brian’s room for too long––”

“Maybe don’t leave…” He placed his hand on top of yours this time.  Slowly, he  flipped your hand around, palm facing up, as he slotted your fingers together,  “Not just yet.”

Having Shawn hold your hand like this––like more than a best friend––was something you wished whenever you saw a shooting star.  Unlike all the other times you held hands with him when you were just friends, it was always just a loose hold, and your fingers were never intertwined.

But now, he was holding your hand intentionally.  With his fingers tangled with yours, it felt like he wanted to create a knot that was impossible to detangle.

You were torturing yourself by looking at your hands together, as you spoke barely above a whisper, “What are you doing?”

“Something different.”

You let out a sigh and shut your eyes, “We can’t keep going around in circles.”

“I don’t want to go around in circles anymore,” Shawn squeezed your hand, “I want this.”

You clenched your teeth together, letting out an aggravated breath, as you picked your head up to look at him, “We’re not doing this again.”

“Y/n,” Shawn pleaded with you, “I––Not having you in my life was the worst–––”

“And whose fault was that?” You wanted to rip your hand away, but it had been so long since you last had any physical contact with him.  And you missed the warmth that flooded your veins when you were connected with him.

Shawn’s shoulders fell, “It was all my fault.  But not being with you––Whenever there was good news, you were always the first person I wanted to tell.  I wanted to call you and hear about your day.  And I realized that I never want to lose you again.”

One…Two…Three…Four…

“Do you even like me like that, Shawn?”

His eyes were wide, mouth slightly agape, as he looked at you with shock evident on his face.  But he blinked a few times, coming back to reality, as he  furrowed his eyebrows together, “Why wouldn’t I––Of course I like you like that.”

“Are you sure you don’t miss our friendship?” His hand squeezed around yours at the mention of that word, “We were apart for so long.  Are you sure you just don’t miss that?”

Shawn shook his head, “I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying––”

“I understand perfectly,” you cut him off, “You told me that I shouldn’t feel these feelings for you. You were the one who was so adamant about not ruining our friendship––”

Shawn continued to shake his head, “I’ve liked you for so long––”

“And I was so in love with you,” you ducked your head down and sniffled, “For so long.  And now…I don’t understand you.”

Slowly, you started to pull your hand away from his grasp, but he only held your hand tighter, this time not giving you an option to leave.  Because he knew if you left, the chance of you two becoming more than friends would be off the table.

“Please,” Shawn tugged on your hand for you to look up at him, but you still kept your head down, “When You’re Ready is about you, my feelings for you back then were so…Strong that I had to write it out, but I didn’t think you felt the same way.  I wanted more, but at the time we were just friends.”

You picked your head up and narrowed your eyes at him, “And you didn’t tell me this when I told you I loved you?”

“How was I supposed to react?” His voice was full of shame, “I didn’t know you were in love with me and it scared me––”

“Do you know how scared I was to tell you?” Your voice was soft, almost fragile, as if you could feel your heart breaking all over again, “And when you said you didn’t feel the same and I––”

“Hey,” Shawn shushed you as he heard your voice grow higher in pitch, cracking at the end of your sentence.  Hesitantly, he brought a hand up to cup the side of his face, as he shifted his body to face you, “It’s––I know I’ll never be able to apologize enough for what I did.“

He gulped, briefly breaking eye contact before looking up at you with pleading eyes, “I felt so lost without you and I realized that what we had was always more than a friendship.  And the only time I felt relatively okay was when I saw you in the park last December,” his eyes softened, “Even though you told me off…Those ten minutes with you made me feel something.”

“This could really ruin our friendship,” you mumbled as you felt his knees knock against yours.

Shawn hummed in acknowledgement.

“How––” you felt your breath hitch in the back of your throat as Shawn’s, once still thumb, started rubbing soothing circles on your cheek, “How will we do this?”

He hummed again, not giving you a proper response.

“This,” you felt your heart stop as he leaned forward, brushing the tip of his nose against yours, “If something happened between us would Brian have to choose?”

“I really don’t want to be thinking about Brian right now.” He spoke as you felt his breath hit your face.

“What––”

“Excuses, excuses,” Shawn tsked with a subtle laugh as his eyes closed.  He slightly leaned his head to the side, pressing a light kiss to the corner of your mouth, “We’ll figure it out as we go.”

“What if we mess up?”

Shawn opened his eyes, brown eyes full of sincerity, “I’d rather mess up than not know what it felt like to try.”

And without anymore excuses to spurt out, Shawn ducked his head and captured your lips in a kiss.  Even though you knew the kiss was coming, you still let out a slight noise of surprise, but you didn’t back away.  

You sighed into the kiss as he held the back of your neck, wanting to keep you as close to him as possible.  At the same time you rested your free hand right above his knee, he slid his tongue in past your lips.

The more you kissed him, the more you thought about how right he was.  You would rather mess up trying––with him––than not know what this felt like.  You put your friendship on the line the first time, and it suffered greatly, but now that the two of you were on the same page about feeling something more for each other…It seemed silly to let the opportunity go to waste.

Even though you’d waited years to know how his lips felt against yours––you didn’t count the drunk pecks with each other as real kisses––you pulled away.  He followed your lips to press one last kiss against them before leaning his forehead against yours.

A few moments of silence passed, “Should we…” You couldn’t help the glowing smile that spread across your face, “Should we head back?”

“Let’s stay here for a few more minutes.”

You nodded your head, pulling away from him brushing his nose against yours, as you scooted up right next to him––so that your thighs were touching––and leaned your head on his shoulder.  You felt Shawn release a content sigh as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head, and rested his head on top of yours.

Neither of you knew how long you sat on the edge of Brian’s bed for, but you were in comfortable silence, appreciating feeling close to one another.  It was Shawn’s hand giving you a squeeze that brought you out of your blissful daydreaming.

“Ready to head back?”

You snuggled your head further into the crook of his neck and shook your head mumbling a no.

You felt Shawn’s chest rumble with a bit of laughter as he untangled your hands and threw an arm around your shoulder, hugging you close, “Neither am I, but you know how much Brian hates when people are in his room.”

Nodding against his shoulder you let out a sigh, “Alright.”

Shawn peeled his arm off from you as he stood up, but he extended his hand to help you off the bed.  With a smile, you reached out for his hand as he pulled you up, sliding his fingers in between yours as the two of you walked out the door.  

Even when the two of you stopped at the end of the hallway, eyes scanning the apartment seeing how many more people showed up, he still held your hand tight.

“I’m going to grab water from the kitchen,” He looked down at you, “Want anything?”

You smiled, “Just a water please.”

Shawn nodded his head, but before he left for the kitchen, he slid his index finger under your chin, tilting your head up to look at him. His eyes shined with admiration for you, and he quickly lowered his head to press a chaste peck to your lips.

“Be right back,” you watched him stalk off to the kitchen with a lovesick smile on your face that you didn’t try and hide.

“So,” Brian seemed to appear out of nowhere as he slid up against the wall, “You told him?”

You didn’t know how he knew, but Brian always seemed to know your true feelings for Shawn.  You just hummed in response.

Brain let out a small laugh, the familiar hint of glee was back in his eyes whenever he mentioned you and Shawn together, “And he told you?”

You tore your eyes away from Shawn uncapping two water bottles to look at Brian, “We talked.”

“Knew it,” Brian’s smile was wider than yours, “Called it from the beginning.”

You rolled your eyes and shoved his shoulder, “You knew nothing.”

He softly smiled at you, “He’s always been in love with you, ya know?  He always talked about it.” His soft smile transformed into a smirk, “And it was so obvious you were in love with him.  I’m surprised he didn’t know.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, finally knowing that your feelings for him were reciprocated.  Deciding not to respond to Brian, you turned your head back to Shawn who was chatting with a friend in the kitchen as he poured the waters into red cups.

He was already staring at you, every now and then glancing at the person who was rapidly talking to him.  But his eyes perked up with happiness when he saw you return his gaze.  

You slightly tilted your head, furrowing your eyebrows as you glanced at the person who was talking to him, mouthing a “who?”

Shawn raised his shoulders in a shrug as he let out a small laugh, one that you returned.

You kept your eyes trained on Shawn as he politely excused himself from the person as he placed the plastic bottles into the recycling container.  He went back to grab the two cups full of water, and even as he weaved through the crowd to get back to you, politely dodging more conversations, his eyes never left yours.

You let out a content sigh, your heart picking up speed, with every step he took closer to you.  And when he reached you, he handed you the cup of water, throwing an arm around your shoulder.  He pulled you in close to his side as he nonchalantly struck up a conversation with Brian.

Even though you had no idea what their topic of conversation was about, you blindly nodded along to whatever they said.  The only thought you had swirling around in your head was how nice it felt when Shawn either squeezed your shoulder or slightly ran the tips of his fingers along your bicep.

Things were different now.

You tilted your head to the side, craning your neck up to look at Shawn’s side profile.  And just like every time––since the start of your friendship––when either of you looked at each other, the other one almost looked back instantly.  He smiled down at you, ducked his head down to press a soft kiss to your cheek, and you felt your smile grow even wider.

A good different.

taglist (add/remove yourself!) : @adelaidestreets, @alilovesshawn, @alina--jpeg, @fallinallincurls, @http-isabela, @lights-on-mendes, @mendesficsxbombay, @now-that-i-saw-u @particularnarry, @shawnmendez, @shawnsreputation, @shawn-youth,  @turtoix, @vinylmendes, @5-seconds-of-mendes, @pupsandducks @musicalkeys, @madatmendes @im-salt-but-not-salty @sunkisseddreamer, @crossedties @fortheloveoftheaussies, @illuminatepotter

[hearteyesbowen]

start of something new ☆ ricky bowen

what’s worse: accidentally auditioning for a play you didn’t want to be in, or falling in love with the lead actor in it?

warnings: fluff

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

It’s not that you hated school musicals, but you hated High School Musical. You never understood how they could break out into song and dance, or how everyone knows the choreography, or why Troy is so indecisive, or why Gabriella keeps having to leave somewhere every movie. The whole concept of that movie was so odd to you.

Nonetheless, you had to watch those movies for your friends, constantly. You’re best friends, Nini and Kourtney, became part of the cast and crew for your high school’s own production of the show. While they begged you to come along and audition for one of the parts or to help with costumes, you always said no. You did, however, help Kourtney buy fabrics and play the piano for Nini when she practiced her songs. You didn’t have any creativity in you to try and actually design costumes, and you definitely didn’t want to sing in front of a bunch of kids you barely notice in a school day. The only other kid you knew there was EJ Caswell, Nini’s boyfriend, and Ricky Bowen, Nini’s gorgeous ex-boyfriend.

You and Ricky were lab partners for chemistry class. He usually didn’t get the lecture and would always ask you for help with the class work or homework, but he was really sweet and funny. You developed a small crush for him a long time ago, but you never told anyone. Nini and Ricky began to date sophomore year, so out of respect for your best friend you got over your feelings for him and became more than happy for the two. They only dated for a month, ending on good terms after realizing they didn’t like each other in that way, but as friends only. Nini soon found EJ, you couldn’t deny developing those feelings again for Ricky. But you wouldn’t break girl code with Nini, so you shut out your crush once more.

“Come on, Y/N. Just come with us and you can see how fun it is.” Kourtney begged, using both arms to drag you across the halls and in front of the theatre door.

Nini was behind you, pushing your back tiredly. “You’re going to have so much fun! Maybe we can get you a part!”

“As what? The trash can?” You screamed, fighting back at your two friends. “I don’t want to spend my after school still at school! And Kourtney I swear if you keep digging your nails into my arm I will kick you.”

“Try me.” Kourtney warned.

You let out a loud whine and finally pull Kourtney’s strong grip on your arms out. You fixed your scrunched up sleeves on your sweater and held up your hands in defeat, hoping they would stop pushing and dragging you.

“I’ll go one time, and if I hate it then you both owe me.” You gave in.

They squealed in joy and grabbed at your arm again, rushing you both into the doors to the theatre. Nini opened the door so Kourtney can push you in. However, they didn’t realize that someone inside was already by the door. You were roughly pushed into a hard body, causing you both to fall. You landed on top of them, and heard a loud groan in pain. It took you a minute to get past your instant headache so you could look up and see who it was.

“Y/N, are you ok-oh no.” You heard Nini worry.

You placed your hands on both sides of the body you fell on and pushed yourself up, at the same time, feeling their hands at your waist. You were met with Ricky. His face was extremely close to you, so much so that your noses touched.

“I guess I can say that you fell for me, huh?” Ricky joked, pain clear in his voice.

“Sorry about that, Ricky. My friends are absolutely crazy.” You apologized.

You got up from the floor, offering a hand to Ricky. He took your offer, nearly pulling you onto the ground again with his strength. He rubbed the back of his head to where he landed.

“It’s fine, there’s no way I can be mad at you anyways.” He smiled. “Are you ok?” He moved his hand to the back of your head, rubbing in circular motions to soothe the pain.

You closed your eyes in peace, earning a chuckle from Ricky, “Yeah, I should be fine.”

“I’m really sorry, Y/N.” Kourtney yelled, running to you with Nini trailing behind her. “I’m also really sorry about that, Ricky.”

“All good, as long as Y/N’s fine then I’ll be ok.” Ricky said, looking at you with a grin. You shot him a quick smile. You looked back at your friends who gave you a confused, yet cheeky glance. You eyed them to stop making them act weird about you two.

“We’re going to go, I have to help Kourtney dress up Nini as Gabriella. See you around, sorry about falling on you again.” You rushed, dragging your best friends away from the now baffled Ricky.

You brought them to the costume rack that held all of the clothes you remember seeing Kourtney designing. The theatre was almost full, but everyone’s attention was mainly set on Carlos teaching them about the first dance number. You tried your best to hide yourself from Ricky, who you were afraid you would be foolish in front of again. Your two friends glanced at each other in confusion as to why you were being so nervous. They noticed you fiddling with your phone, almost dropping it as you grabbed it from your back pocket.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” Kourtney asked, giggling at your panicking.

“I totally embarrassed myself in front of Ricky!” You whined.

Nini smirked at you, “So you do like Ricky.”

Your eyes widened in fear, and you were at a loss for words. You couldn’t just tell your best friend that you may or may not like her ex, especially after you told yourself you wouldn’t like him again.

“No, you’re crazy.” You denied, massaging your head from the pain earlier.

“Y/N, tell me the truth. Do you like Ricky? Because I won’t get mad if you do.” She replied, holding onto your shoulders.

You let out a sigh in defeat, rubbing your temples, “I didn’t want to, I fought with myself to try and get rid of that thought of him for you. I’m the worst friend ever.”

“Hey, don’t ever think that. Look, I have EJ now, and we’re really happy together. And Ricky and I are friends. So if you like Ricky, then I’ll be happy for you. Besides, I always did think of you two together at one point when we were in middle school.” Nini smiled, bringing you into a tight hug.

“But isn’t that weird to date your best friend’s ex boyfriend? Like that’s just wrong.” You argued.

“Ricky and I were just confused sophomores trying to figure out if we really did like each other or if listening to those stupid fortune tellers was a good idea. You could barely call that a relationship. I want you to be happy, Y/N. And if it’s with Ricky then let it be with Ricky.”

“Thank you, but I’m not going to try and ask out Ricky.” You said, looking down at your phone.

“Why not? You know how those boys are, if you don’t do anything then nothing will happen.” Kourtney argued.

“Then I guess nothing will happen, it’s just a crush. I’ll get over it in like a week.” You lied, stuffing your hands in the back pockets of your jeans.

You heard the squeak of the theatre door opening, revealing the drama teacher, Miss Jenn. You had never formally met her, but you always heard great things about her from Kourtney and Nini. Apparently she was an extra from the original movie, but you wouldn’t know.

She strutted into the room confidently, holding a large stack of papers stapled together that you assumed was the script for the musical. She walked up to Ricky and began talking to him, so you turned away. You didn’t want to seem like you were staring, although her voice was loud enough for you to hear across the school.

“Is Ashlyn here? Ricky needs help learning ‘Start of Something New.’” Miss Jenn asked loudly, causing everyone to avert their attention to the two. You saw Ricky’s uncomfortable face, making you giggle to yourself.

“Ashlyn has a dentist appointment today, she won’t make it.” EJ answered.

“What about Seb?”

“He’s learning choreography with Carlos.” Gina replied.

“Does anyone else know how to play the piano?” Miss Jenn helplessly looked around for anyone who knew.

You now regretted coming with your friends to their rehearsal, because you knew exactly what was coming up next.

Nini and Kourtney jumped up, raising their hands and screaming for Miss Jenn’s attention. They furiously pointed at you, and you hid your face in your hands so no one would see you.

“Y/N knows how to play the piano! She’s so amazing at it!” Nini exclaimed, pushing you towards the teacher.

“Is this true?” She pondered, removing your hands from your face.

“I’m not that good.” You answered, shaking your head. You couldn’t help but look at Ricky who gave you a small grin.

“She’s lying. She learned how to play Mozart’s pieces when she was in the second grade!” Nini and Kourtney held your shoulders as they continued to talk about you. “And she has a beautiful voice.”

Miss Jenn raised her eyebrows at their claims of you, and she pointed to Ricky as if she were asking you to help him.

You tried to defend yourself, “I can play a little, but I don’t sing.”

“Liar.” Kourtney blurted out.

You let out a large exhale, closing your eyes and rolling your head back to the ceiling. Why did you have to have such supportive friends? You looked back down and opened your eyes, nodding to Miss Jenn and walking with Ricky to the piano. As you both walked together, you could hear the screeching from your best friends.

“Apologies for having to work with me, you didn’t seem to excited.” Ricky said nervously.

He pulled the piano bench back for the two of you, ushering you to sit down first. You sat down and waved your hands, “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just not that confident about playing in front of a lot of people. Theatre isn’t really my thing.”

“I didn’t think it was mine too, but you might be surprised once you get involved in it.” He chimed.

You looked down at your hands and smiled, feeling heat rise to your cheeks. You cracked your knuckles and your neck aimlessly, something you tend to do before playing. Ricky laughed at your actions, attempting to do the same.

“Have you warmed up?” You questioned, quickly playing different scales to get you ready to read the music he placed in front of you.

“Yeah, I’m all set. Do you know this song?” He asked, turning the page to show the music, which so happened to be the only song you liked from the movie. You quickly skimmed over the notes, playing along small parts.

“This is the only thing I like from that movie.” You confessed, quickly learning the music.

“You didn’t like the movie?”

“Nope, now focus, you need to learn this song for your play.” You laughed, nudging his shoulders.

Ricky chuckled, and watched as your fingers glides across the keys seamlessly. He was amazed at how beautifully you played the piano, learning and playing the song at the same time. You took a small glimpse at Ricky, smiling and gesturing your head to the music sheets.

“Living in my own world, didn’t understand

that anything can happen, when you take a chance.”

He sang, looking at you for approval. You nodded at him and eyed him to keep singing.

“Can you sing Gabriella’s part? Nini’s busy right now and they sound really proud of your voice, although you don’t seem to be.” He smiled politely.

“I can’t sing.” You denied.

“That’s a lie, because I remember I accidentally walked in on you freshman year playing and singing to Adele. You were right here, alone, and singing your heart out.” Josh countered.

Your eyebrows furrowed as you slightly tilted your head, “Stalker, much?” You giggled.

Ricky’s face instantly grew red as he realized what he confessed to. His hand went to scratch the back of his neck. “Yeah, that does sound pretty stalker-ish, my bad. But I know you can sing, plus you owe me one for falling on me. So start at the chorus.”

You laughed, gazing at the music before reaching for the keys and building up the song from the verse to the chorus. You cleared your throat, getting your voice ready to sing with Ricky.

“This could be the start of something new

It feels so right to be here with you, oh.

And now, lookin' in your eyes

I feel in my heart the start of something new.”

You let the notes from the piano ring out, allowing you to take in your small duet. You stared down at your hands, biting your lip to hold back the smile forming. You gazed up at Ricky, who already stared down at you. He had an adoring smile, breathing out softly.

“Beautiful.” He whispered.

You felt yourself blush, so you moved your head a little to the side to hide the flushed color forming in your cheeks. Ricky’s hand softly pushed your cheek to look back at him. He scooted next to you even more so that no space was left between you two. He hesitantly leaned in, you instinctively doing the same. Both your eyes closed as your faces grew more near.

“You could play Kelsi!” Miss Jenn’s voice erupted in your ears from the other side of the stage.

You and Ricky jumped at her scream, bumping your foreheads together. You both let out a soft laugh from the moment. He mumbled ‘sorry’ to you as he rubbed your arm soothingly. Then the clicking of Miss Jenn’s heels rushing towards you burned your ears.

You turned around in your seat so you could face her. The moment she was up to you, she grabbed your shoulders, bringing you up from the bench and shook you.

“You would play a perfect Kelsi! You have such an amazing voice, and no one auditioned for her.” Miss Jenn screamed excitedly. Nini and Kourtney popped their heads up from behind the costume rack giving you a thumbs up. “Please say you will take her part. We would love to have a talent like you in our production.”

“I’m not sure if I can do that. I’ve never even talked in front of my class.” You acknowledged, pulling Miss Jenn’s hands from your shoulders as politely as you could.

Ricky stood up from the bench and next to you, placing his arm on your lower back. “You know, I’ve never thought about being in a play either, and now I’m playing Troy. You should give it a shot.”

You smiled up at Ricky, almost saying yes on the spot as you knew you got to be with him more.

“Just think about it, alright sweetheart?” Miss Jenn asked sweetly. You nodded your head and she walked back to Carlos.

Nini and Kourtney called your name repeatedly, waving you to come over to them. You looked back at Ricky, who noticed them as well. He pulled your arm so you could stand closer to him.

“Before you go, I wanted to ask if you were free tomorrow. I want to hang out more together.” He spoke lowly, hoping no one around you would listen.

“That would be nice.” You respond, sending a smile before walking back to your friends.

Once you reached the front of the costume rack, they both popped out from between the costumes, climbing through the rack and in front of you. They jumped up excitedly as they heard the offer from their teacher.

“Are you going to say yes?” Nini held your hands, giving you a hopeful smile.

“You know I can barely sing in front of you guys. Now I’ll have to sing and play the piano in front of the whole school and more?” You complained.

Kourtney eyed you, “Do you really want to spend the rest of your high school years doing nothing? Have you ever even joined a club?”

“I joined marching band freshman year, that was fun.” You replied, scrunching your nose up at the memory.

“You played the clarinet for half a year because some flute player threatened to fight you after she thought you hooked up with her boyfriend. Have you done anything else that hasn’t almost gotten you killed?” Kourtney sassed.

You gave a large sigh, scratching the back of your head. If you were to join the play, you could be with your best friends even longer than usual, but you would have to sing in front of a bunch of people. But your friends were still right, you should put yourself out there and do something, besides almost getting into fights with jealous flute players.

“I’ll do it, but don’t expect this to be a regular thing.” You warned.

Kourtney and Nini screamed in excitement, pulling you into a group hug. They started to jump up and down, gaining looks from the other theatre kids. Nini was the first to pull away, bringing you in front of her.

“Now let’s talk about that moment you and Ricky had right now!” She squealed.

You pinched your nose in embarrassment, “I thought no one saw that.”

“Girl, everyone couldn’t help but watch you two.” Kourtney giggled.

“Can we save this conversation for later? I want to go home now and finish my work so I can sleep in earlier.”

“We’ll make it quick!” Nini exclaimed.

“Did he tell you anything?” Kourtney wondered enthusiastically.

“He told me he wanted to hang out tomorrow.” Kourtney and Nini awed at his invitation.

“I’m so happy for you, Y/N. Now go home and do your homework, we’ll facetime you later.” Nini brought you into a warm hug. You smiled at her and went to hug Kourtney too before you grabbed your backpack and left the auditorium.

➢➣ ➢➣

You closed your laptop after finishing your essay for english. You lazily cleaned up your desk of all your school supplies. You had just finished calling Kourtney and Nini again after explaining the details of what happened with Ricky. The night was still young, enough for you to put in a little practice time. Might as well get ready for the play.

You yawned, stretching your arms and back once you stood up from your chair that you had been sitting at for more than two hours. You moved to the other corner of your room where your keyboard was. It was placed right next to your balcony door, which was purposely there so you could play while looking out at the nature below you, or the tree that covered your view. You closed the curtains, though, you didn’t want anyone to watch you in your room late at night.

You sat back down, cracking your back again of the discomfort from earlier. The sheet music Miss Jenn has given you before you left was already on the stand: “What I’ve Been Looking For.”

“This song is weird.” You mumbled to yourself.

You spent the next 15 minutes playing along to the music. It didn’t take long for you to master it. Curiosity overtook you; what would it be like if you sang it?

“It’s hard to believe

that I couldn’t see,

you were always there beside me-”

The sound of a tiny pebble hitting your balcony window startled you. You stopped playing, listening closer for a few seconds to see if you were crazy. You shook it off, playing the notes again. You were disrupted again by another rock. Now you were sure someone was there.

You stood up and hastily walked to the glass door. You unveiled the curtain, but you didn’t see anyone through the glass. You unlocked the door and slid it open. No one was on the streets or the sidewalks.

“Y/N!” Someone from directly below the balcony whispered loudly.

You look over and see none other than Ricky Bowen. You sighed in relief, happy that it wasn’t a robber. His guitar was strapped behind him and he had the biggest smile on his face.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing here so late?” You whispered, smiling at how insane he was.

“I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to see you. Can I come up?” He asked.

“How? I can’t let you in through the front door, my parents will see you.”

“I can climb trees too, you know.” He laughed.

You smiled while nodding. He instantly started to climb the tree that stood tall enough to reach you. It didn’t take him long until he stood in front of you. You felt instant déjà vu when you remember how similar this moment was to the original High School Musical.

“I couldn’t think of something original to do without disrupting your parents, so I saw you had a tree and decided to be totally cliche instead.” Ricky laughed.

“You missed me that much, huh?” You teased.

He stepped directly in front of you, “You have no idea.”

You giggled, leaning up to his face. He smiled widely at you, staring between your eyes and your lips. You inched closer to his lips, Ricky doing the same. Why not tease him a bit first? You moved your head to the side of his and kissed his cheek.

Ricky rolled his eyes playfully, then gasped. You raised an eyebrow, wondering what sparked in his brain. His hand reached inside his denim jacket and pulled out a singular red rose. Your heart melted at the gesture. You took the flower and held it to your chest.

You grabbed Ricky’s hand and led him to the inside of your room. He looked around interestingly at the inside.

“What?” You laughed.

“Your room is nice. I hope I can be on here more often.” He sent you a wink.

He witnessed the music on your piano, making him smile. It didn’t take long until he also noticed the guitar hidden behind one of your dressers. He took off his own guitar that was still strapped behind him and set it down next to your bed.

“I didn’t know you played.” Ricky pointed to your hidden instrument and picked it up.

You smiled as he saw it, “Not as much as you do, I barely know how to play it anymore.” You took it way from his hands and set it next by your nightstand.

You sat down in the center of your bed cross-legged. You patted the empty space in front of you for Ricky to sit. He gladly sat down next to you.

“I came here for a reason, and it’s because I wanted to sing you something.” He picked up his guitar again and put it on his lap. “I’ll try and sing quietly.”

You clapped your hands excitedly. Ricky blushed as you watched him fumble with his fingers, feeling more nervous to play in front of you.

“When we’re underneath the lights

my heart’s no longer broken.

For a moment,

just for a moment.

When we’re singin’ side by side

there’s so much left unspoken.

For a moment,

just for a moment.”

Ricky strummed the remainder of the song, smiling to himself. You couldn’t help but tear up at the music. He looked up as he finished playing to see your flushed face. He quickly took off the guitar and placed it beside you on your bed.

“That was beautiful, Ricky.” You gushed.

Ricky moved in front of you, holding onto your hand. “Nothing is as beautiful as you.”

Ricky placed his lips at yours, finally kissing you after hours of anticipation. He left his other hand at your neck, and you held the same hand. You kissed back hungrily, and Ricky took note of this.

He pushed you back against your headboard, his legs in between yours. You tangled your hands in his hair. Ricky placed his hands on either side of your body. You couldn’t have been more happier than you were now. Everything felt so right.

“Y/N? Are you ok? Are you talking to someone?” Your mother’s voice from downstairs interrupted you and Ricky.

You pushed Ricky off of your body and smoothed out your bed. He quietly got up and tried to grab his guitar, making his way to the balcony.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just watching some tv.” You yelled, motioning Ricky out the door.

You secretly opened the window, letting Ricky step out. You both silently laughed. He was about to climb back down until you grabbed his arm to pull him back to you.

You pulled from his neck down to you, reconnecting your lips. It was quick, but still gentle. He pulled away, a dazed look in his eyes. You smiled at his reaction.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, beautiful.” Ricky whispered, pecking your lips once more.

“See you tomorrow.” You waved at him before he sneakily climbed back down the tree.

You locked the door again and closed the curtain before your mother opened the door. She inspected the room, anticipating a person on your bed or hiding in your closet. She only grinned once she saw your guitar out from hiding.

“Since when did you start playing guitar again?” She wondered.

“I just really, really like the guitar a lot more now.”

A/N - this one is a more fluffy story , i really like it though lol hope u guys like it !! love y’all xx

[luffles424]

Lucidity (6)

☼ Pairing: BTS x reader (got some Yoongi action this chap 🤪🤪)

☼ Genre: vampire!BTS, succubus!reader, smut, fluff, angst

☼ Count: 4.1K

☼ Warnings: oral (m+f receiving), cum play, cum eating, multiple orgasms, unprotected sex, creampie, minorish blood play (it’s a vampire fic so like, there’s some feeding), cockwarming, dom!yoongi, clothed sex, grinding, overstimulation, face fucking, minor ball play (it’s pretty tame)

☼ Summary: You’ve spent years jumping from country to country, starting countless new lives. Crafting new lives is as easy as breathing for you, lies flowing easily and people are charmed with a simple bat of your eyes. When you meet a witch who offers the idea of opening a supernatural club, using your powers combined with hers to ensure safety to those who enter, you decide to join her in an adventure that is entirely new to you. But your new life in Seoul is drastically changed when you’re forced to face something you’ve spent centuries hiding from. But just because you might be running for your life again doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun along the way, right?

☼ a/n: I started editing this chapter completely forgetting that the angst has arrived 🤪 As always, let me know what you think! My ask box is always open ~ 💙💙💙💙

(I’ll add masterlist links later bc I’m scared that if I do it now, it’ll disappear from the tags)

You’re tired. You can’t help it. You’ve had so much on your mind lately. The boys wormed their way so effectively under your skin, without you realizing until it was too late. You really should’ve said no to Jungkook that first time, but his wide, eager eyes cracked your walls. Indifference honed by centuries of isolation, all undone by one starry eyed baby vampire. 

Jin was true to his word though and talked to the other two boys, at least you assume he did given that they listened to your requests. And they all respected your need for space, which just made you feel all the more guilty for the lies. You could see as much in the way Jungkook’s eyes would sometimes turn sad when he looked at you, the way Jimin would start to suggest something before stopping himself. It was easy to see that they were struggling with this, confusion coloring all their actions with you now. 

You know they occasionally still stopped by your place before remembering they weren’t supposed to be there. You should tell security to stop letting them up. But you can’t find it in yourself to do so just yet. It feels like punishment, but you don’t know if for you or for them. 

Jin was the only one who had a mask almost as good as yours. You know they wanted to go back to how things were. You’ve thought about just leaving so many times, it’d probably be easier that way. But you just can’t bring yourself to yet. You feel selfish, wanting to keep them in your life when it terrifies you and makes you want to run. They’ve given you a small glimmer of happiness for the first time in a long time. And somehow it feels like it’s already been ripped away from you. Even if you were the one to do the ripping. 

You’re drawn out of your musings by the presence of a vampire sitting across from you. You’re immediately on edge and you seriously contemplate the idea of finding a new cafe. This one is clearly cursed. Or at the very least, highly frequented by vampires. Really, if you just left town, you probably wouldn’t have this problem anymore.  

Steeling yourself, you look up, confused when you’re met with Yoongi, of all people sitting across from you. He pays you no mind at first, sipping from his own drink as he watches the people pass by. Your thoughts race, what could he possibly want? You and the boys have been incredibly careful lately. There was no one that he found out. But why else would he be here. Because there’s no way that this is just a coincidence, that he happened to come here at the same time as you did. He certainly wouldn’t have sat down like you’re old friends catching up if that were the case. Finally he turns to you, face placid and that puts you even more on edge, no one should be that calm around you after hearing Namjoon’s warnings. What could he possibly want?

“I have a proposition for you.” 

A proposition? You blink, that’s certainly not what you expected to come from him. “About?”

“Let me feed from you.” 

What. “What?”

You can’t think of literally anything else to say, thoughts ground to a halt with his words. Your mind struggles with the idea, this seems such a strange request and so out of nowhere. You feel like there has to be some sort of ulterior motive or trick here. 

“You heard me.”

You make a face. “Of course I did. But why?”

Yoongi shrugs and sips his drink. “I like fresh rather than bagged. Supernatural over human. Convenience over effort to seek out what I need.” He tilts his head like it’s obvious.

“What about Namjoon and what he said?” You don’t know why you’re pushing this so much. But something about his utter nonchalance has you on edge. You feel like if you say yes that Namjoon will pop out and claim that this is enough evidence that you’re bad. 

Yoongi shrugs. “If you were a legitimate threat, someone would’ve dealt with you by now. Whatever happened between you and Joon is between you two. I see no reason why we can’t have an arrangement.”

“What do I get out of it? This sounds like it benefits only you.” You let a smirk curl your lips, as off balance as you feel, you don’t want him to know.

Yoongi mulls that over for a few minutes, like he hadn’t even thought of you in this equation. “I’d offer to pay you, but I assume you’ve got more than enough money. I’d offer sex but I’m not really looking for that, just blood. It helps me concentrate and write.” He taps his chin in thought.

That catches your attention though. If he’s not looking for sex but still needs your time then... “I’ll do it.”

He looks surprised. “What? What happened to what’s in it for you?”

If more of your time is taken with Yoongi, that means there’s less time for the others. And that is actually the best thing Yoongi could do for you, even if he doesn’t know it. And if he isn’t looking for sex, then that means there will be even less attachment between the two of you. No chance for your heart to ache every time you meet with him if all he’s doing is feeding. A simple arrangement. You could do that. That’s the best possible outcome here.

You raise an eyebrow at him. “If you’d like to continue to try to find something to give me, then I can take it back and you’re more than welcome to continue.”

His eyes widen and he shakes his head, his cool facade cracking for the first time since he sat down. Seems he isn’t so suave all the time then. It’s kind of adorable that he put up such a front just to talk to you. It reminds you of the first time Jin came over and the act he put on. “No! No, that’s fine. I’ll take it. Thank you.” He slides his phone over to you and you enter your number into it. He smiles down at it as he stands. “I’ll text you when I’m hungry. Bye.”

He waves and walks off. You watch him go. You tug your phone out, scrolling through your contacts. If you were about to take on a 4th vampire to feed, you needed to go feed yourself first. 

Yoongi wastes no time in calling for your services. You wonder just how thirsty he was to have contacted you already. And you find his enthusiasm endearing, the few messages you exchange refreshing. A conversation you can have that’s not consumed by guilt and heartache. He gives you the location of the hotel he wants to meet at and you have to laugh because it’s the same one you use. When you meet, he feeds only from your wrist, the least intimate place possible and for that you’re incredibly grateful. 

You and Yoongi don’t meet too often, at least not too often by feeding standards, although Yoongi’s older and so he can last longer between feedings than the younger ones like Jungkook. But you can always tell when it’s a group day off because Yoongi is usually the first to message you out of the four of them that you have contact with. Beneficial for you because then you can tell the others that you made plans already. They don’t even bother to hide their hurt and disappointment anymore and it’s a twist of the knife everytime. You wonder how they’d feel if they knew it was their own member taking you away from them. Not that you would ever tell them that you and Yoongi were also meeting. 

It becomes very apparent, very quickly, that Yoongi is a creature of habit, he calls once a week, sometimes every other week if they’re busy. You meet at the hotel, he feeds from your wrist with no preamble then gives you a lazy smile as he leaves, always (very un)sneakily leaving behind a bag of food to eat. It’s the only indication that he doesn’t want this to be one-sided. And you assume he never brings it up because he knows it’d make you feel uncomfortable to acknowledge what he’s doing. You ignore the warm feeling it gives you when he starts to figure out what you do and don’t like, though you’re really not sure how he’s managing to do that.

Your arrangement with Yoongi changes though, you should’ve known it would, arrangements like this are always bound to at some point or another. He tells you to come to the company, something not even the others had ever dared to do. You immediately tell him no, the likelihood of crossing Joon was far too high there. And every worst possibility runs through your mind at even the mere mention of going and possibly seeing him. But Yoongi assures you that Joon was out of town because they had a long weekend. When you still express your unease, he adds that all the boys were out of town for the break, he had remained only because he wanted to work on some songs. Which is why he wants you to come to the studio, he needs a boost to help him think. 

You finally relent, agreeing to come to the studio as long as he swears that it’s deserted. He greets you at the building entrance with a gummy grin. 

“Thanks for coming.” He says as he leads you through the empty halls to his studio. 

He gestures for you to sit once you enter and you’re confused as he makes his way over to his desk. You frown, watching him sit and begin working. You thought he needed a boost. This is so different from your usual and you feel a bit of unease creep in. 

“I thought you wanted to feed?” 

Yoongi waves a hand dismissively. “I do, but in a bit.”

You make a face. “Well why didn’t you just call me then?”

He turns and gives you a quick smirk, his eyes drag up your form before he’s turning back to the computer. “Cause I’d much rather have you waiting here for when I need you.”

You swallow, looking away. That was… different than how he usually treats you. Far from the quick interactions, jokes, and sweetness you’ve come to expect. But you pull out your phone, entertaining yourself while you wait for him, ignoring the unease and slight thrill that settles in your belly. After a while, Yoongi groans in irritation and you perk up. That seems like a good sign, you can get what you came here over with and head out. Even if Yoongi said that no one was here, you still don’t want to stick around for too long just to be safe. He turns his body slightly towards you, hand held out but he doesn’t look at you, gaze remaining focused on the program on his screen. 

“Come here.”

“You could say please you know.” You quip, not moving. 

He turns to you, eyes hard and unamused, completely different from the guy who usually cracks a joke after drinking from you. You feel yourself get wet from the look alone. “I said, come here.” 

You swallow, standing and adjusting your skirt as you cross the small distance to him. He grabs your hand one you’re within reach and tugs you into his lap. You yelp as you land, knees framing his thighs. He manhandles you into the position he wants, nosing along your neck with a growl. You shudder and he wastes no time sinking his fangs into your neck. 

You gasp, hips instinctively grinding down against him. This position makes it hard to remember that Yoongi only feeds from you, but the change to your neck has pleasure hazing your thoughts. Yoongi grabs your ass, encouraging your grinding as he drinks from you and you feel him harden beneath you. You moan at the friction as his hands tighten on your hips. He pulls away finally, licking your neck clean and then his hands leave you to shove his pants down enough to get his cock out. 

You lick your lips, he’s hard and leaking as he gives his dick a few strokes, grin cocky when he sees your hungry gaze.

He flips the edge of your skirt up and hums in approval. “I like this choice.” He frowns at your underwear though before grabbing them and quickly ripping them off to toss to the side. “There. Much better.”

You pout. “I liked those.” 

He pulls you in for a messy kiss, lining himself up and sinking into you. “I’ll buy you more.” He murmurs against your lips. 

He gives a few shallow thrusts that leave you moaning and then he’s hooking his chin onto your shoulder. He doesn’t move for a moment and it takes you a moment to realize that he’s gone back to working. With his dick sheathed in your pussy. You squirm and one hand leaves the keyboard to dig into your ass. 

“Behave, babygirl.” He hisses and you clench at his tone. 

You pout, forced to stare at the headrest now. You want to squirm again, but he has yet to remove the hand holding you still. “But Yoongi.” You whine. 

His nails dig into your skin and you feel yourself leak around his cock. He seems bizarrely unphased by your soaked pussy clinging to his cock. You’d think he’s completely uninterested if not for the fact that he’s still very much hard. “If you behave, you’ll get a reward, babygirl.” He soothes. “But if you keep squirming and preventing me from working, I’m gonna have to punish you. Is that what you want?”

You shake your head slightly. You actually don’t think you’d mind the punishment. But this is already enough torture, Yoongi’s venom still potent in your veins and his cock filling you so well. You sit quietly, every so often Yoongi will shift and you have to bury your face in his neck to keep any noise from escaping. Every slight shit from him and twitch of his dick has you biting your lip. You really don’t know how he’s managed to stay hard this long when he’s focused solely on his music. It’s starting to drive you insane. You wonder if you could chance it and just ride him, distract him quick enough that he won’t even think about punishing you. But Yoongi’s control seems much stronger and you don’t think you could get away with that. At least not for long enough to cum before he stopped you. 

You can only sit still for so long though, trying your best to shift subtly and hope he doesn’t notice. You fail, if the way his hands move to grab your waist is anything to go by. He pushes his chair back just slightly and you take that to mean it’s safe to lean back. You look at him and he looks thoroughly amused. 

“Thought I said to not move?”

You pout, wrapping your hands around his shoulders and fiddling with the hair at the nap of his neck. “But I didn’t.”

He hums, but you can see that he doesn’t believe you at all. “You’re in luck cause I’m done working for the moment so I can give my babygirl all the attention she wants.”

You feel your face heat at his words. “Well maybe I don’t want it now.”

He chuckles and it sends shivers down your spine. He fingers dip between the two of you, lightly brushing your clit, your mouth drops open slightly. He lifts them back up between you both and arches an eyebrow at you as his fingers glisten with your wetness. 

“You sure about that statement babygirl?”

“That’s not fair. You got me all worked up and then just left me to sit here.” You whine, you feel slightly delirious. 

He tuts, licking his fingers clean before resting his hands on your thighs. “I said I had some work to finish. I’m done now so I’m all yours. What do you want, babygirl?” He gives your thighs a squeeze. 

You ponder that for a moment. Not that you really need to, you know exactly what you want. But the pause gives you the chance to clench your pussy and watch the twitch in Yoongi’s jaw with satisfaction that he really is just as affected as you. “I want to cum.”

“And just how do you want to do that?”

“On your cock.” When he doesn’t say anything else, just sits there looking calm and collected, you wiggle impatiently in his lap, done with being forced to wait. “Yoongi, please.”

He smirks, feet shifting and then his hands are sliding up to your hips to lift you almost all the way off his cock before dropping you back down. You bite your lip to stifle your moan. 

His lips brush your ear. “This is a recording studio babygirl, it’s soundproof. Be loud for me.”

He controls your movements for a few moments before letting you finally take over, riding him hard and fast. You briefly worry about the precariousness of fucking in a rolling chair. But that problem is solved when he stands, cock still buried inside you and sets your ass on his desk, giving him the leverage and control to fuck you even harder. Your fingers bunch in the fabric of his shirt, feeling powerless to do much else aside from holding on. 

Yoongi must have been more worked up than he was letting on because his thrusts grow rough and sloppy quickly and he groans as he cums, cock buried to the hilt in you. Your protest at the lack of your own orgasm quickly dies on your tongue, as soon as Yoongi finishes cuming, he’s pulling out and dropping to his knees between your spread thighs. He wastes no time or teasing, leaning in to lick up his own cum as it slowly starts to drip out of your pussy, dragging it up to smear around your clit and make everything even wetter. 

He cleans his cum from you, thumbs spreading your pussy wide and tongue slipping as far as it can go to get ever drop and when he’s finally satisfied, his lips wrap around your clit and his fingers fill your pussy instead. He fucks you with his fingers, tongue swirling around your clit and under his ministrations you quickly reach your own high, cumming with a cry of his name, hands burying themselves in his hair.  

You’re still shuddering with aftershocks when Yoongi unceremoniously tugs his fingers free, shoving his cock, rock hard once again, back in. You gasp, overly sensative as Yoongi starts to fuck you hard. Tears prick your eyes, pussy feeling abused but your sensitivity is quick to fade back to pleasure. His fingers find your clit, working with his thrusts to build your high back up, much faster than the first time. You’re nearly blindsided by how quickly he’s gotten you worked up again. 

“You did say that you wanted to cum on my cock right?” His grin is cocky, but the way his eyes dip down to your pussy shows just how much he’s also enjoying this. “Come on, babygirl.”

His lips brush against yours and you cum with a moan, walls spasming around Yoongi’s cock. Yoongi swears, thrusts slowing and lets you ride out your second orgasm in a slightly more tame way than the first. When your shuddering stops, he slips out of you and takes a step back. 

“On your knees for me babygirl.” 

You blink at him for a moment, panting, before obediently sliding to your knees before him. You’re glad he wanted you on your knees because you’re ot 100% sure if you could stand right now. He nods approvingly, shuffling closer. You wrap one hand around his cock, giving him a few pumps before wrapping your lips around the tip, tasting the mix of him and you. He groans, hands finding purchase in your hair. You bob your head, licking the taste of yourself off of him until only the taste of Yoongi remains. He lets you move at your own pace for a bit before his hands tighten in your hair, halting you. You glance up at him, confusion in your eyes. 

He thrusts shallowly into your mouth. “Think you can take me fucking your mouth babygirl?”

You hum, hand dropping from his cock to rest on his thigh. You’d smirk if your mouth wasn’t full. Does he really think you couldn’t take this? You raise an eyebrow in challenge. He chuckles, mutters something under his breath that you don’t catch before he’s thrusting a little deeper. He meets the back of your throat and pulls back before thrusting in and pushing further until your nose is pressed to his belly. He holds there for a moment and you swallow around him. Swearing, he pulls out and starts a tame rhythm fucking your mouth. 

As his pace picks up, spit drips from the corners of your mouth, dampening the front of your shirt. Tears collect and fall when he holds himself completely buried in your throat, completely cutting off your air supply, but certain supernatural perks allow him to hold himself buried and feel your throat constrict around him longer than if you were human. You move one hand, reaching up to tug slightly at his balls, earning you an even louder curse and a sudden thrust. 

Encouraged, you give them another tug before palming them. Yoongi’s thrusts grow more erratic the more you roll his balls and you reach a little farther to press your fingers to his perineum, which has him groaning as he spills down your throat. He slowly slides out, flopping back into his chair, breathless. You lick your lips slowly, winking at him as he watches the path your tongue traces to clean up any final traces of his cum. 

He groans, throwing his head back. “No more, please. I can’t go again right now.”

You giggle and he scoots forward, snatching a few tissues from his desk. You expect him to just hand them to you but he surprises you by gently cleaning your face for you, a soft smile on his lips. You swallow at the sudden nerves, trying to also ignore the butterflies in your stomach. Once he finishes, you stand quickly, adjusting your skirt and turning to shoot him a murderous look when you realize you’ll be leaving here with one less item of clothing. 

He smiles innocently. “Problem?”

You glare. “You better have a new pair for me soon.”

“Maybe. You’ll have to earn them.”

You huff, turning to the mirror hung on the wall to try to fix your face and hair as much as you can. There may be no one in the building, but people on the street is a totally different story. Yoongi walks you to the door, holding it open for you. He grabs your arm, halting you from leaving. You turn back to him, head tilted in confusion. It’s the first time all night that he’s looked anything other than the picture of calm. He looks nervous. 

“I’m sorry that this was kinda sprung on you. I didn’t intend for it to happen.” He rubs his neck sheepishly. “I guess I was a little more stressed than I thought.”

You laugh and pinch his cheek. He really apologizing for giving a sex demon sex? Adorable. “It’s okay. It was fun.” You wink at him then pause. “Can... I ask why now though? And not before? Just curious.”

Yoongi blushes and looks at his feet. “Ah, nerves?”

You laugh. “Nerves? About what? Being good at sex?”

He makes a face when he looks back at you. “Listen, your whole thing is sex. That’s intimidating. And I didn’t know if I’d have time for anything more than quick stops to feed. So it was easier to just start with feeding and wait until I was more comfortable.”

You pat his cheek. “Guess you got there, huh?”

He bats your hand away. “Go away. I take back everything I said. You’re a pest.”

You laugh and blow him a kiss as you start down the hallway. “We both know that was a lie. See ya Yoongi.”

You leave, pleasantly buzzed on endorphins and mind just fuzzy enough that you don’t have to think too hard at what this change might mean in the future. You completely miss the fact that you and Yoongi weren’t there alone. 

[unknownblanked]

Shameless self promotion

Main character: OC

Pairings: OC x Reborn

My fic:

*Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn*

*Rating M*

Summary: I have never wanted anything other than to be a boss. Sorry dear brother of mine, but I will become a better boss than you would ever become. Warning: M for a reason, not for innocent souls. 2 days updates

Kinda BL since MC who used to be a girl became a guy after transmigration. But idk what to even say at this point

Genre: fantasy/adventure/romance

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13908034/1/

First chapter preview:

Chapter 1

"Eff you! Eff me! Eff the world!" She shrieked with her lungs, hand pointed at the sky.

"I wanna hold guns and look cool in suits! I wanna be pardoned by university to become a boss! I wanna have a gang while playing background music!"

"IF I EVER REINCARNATE TO KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN, I'LL BECOME VONGOLA DECIMOOOOOOOO!"

Darkness enveloped her as she sunk deeper into the abyss, not knowing what was going on after that flash that blinded her eyes. Could it be isekai truck-kun? She scoffed at her own words, not believing a single thing that came out of her own thoughts. She felt a shuffle, then a thump as her whole world lifted in the air. Suddenly, a baby's cry chortled beside her, screaming.

What was going on? Was she being carried into some kind of ambulance? A hospital? Did she give birth-What? But she was still 19 years old and never touched a man's hand! The baby's cry grew louder, almost piercing her in the ears.

Was it even possible for her to remain conscious even though she couldn't open her eyes? She tried lifting her eyelids, but it remained glued shut, as if this impenetrable force was clamping down her eyes, telling her not to look.

A waft of air blew on her chest.

"[Papa! Look at them! Twins!]"

A woman's voice rang out loudly, but her tone was soft and melodic as the sounds of humans floated into her ears.

'...Japanese?'

"[Ah, but one isn't crying.]"

A man's voice rang out this time in front of her as she tried deciphering the words with all her experiences of watching anime for over 10 years. Crying? Did the man just say that 'one isn't crying?' Was he pointing to someone in the room?

She felt her whole world tip over before trying to flail, confusion ringing inside her mind before-

Slap!

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

'What the eff, bro?!'

She felt so sensitive-so...naked!

'Call my lawyer! I will sue you till you don't even have the freedom of speech! Lawyer! Lawyer!'

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalw!" She yelped her syllables that couldn't pop out of her mouth and tried again.

"Wawawawa-"

Something was weird. Very weird.

"[I think we've got ourselves a little weirdo from the get-go!]"

Her butt stung as she tried blinking her eyes, gasping twice and shaking her head to wake her up from this bad dream. Her vision stung the moment she did, lights blinding her as she screamed again, trying to bat away the light with her flimsy small fists. Through her blurry vision, she saw a man grinning from ear to ear before throwing her over his shoulder and patting her on the back. She humped, dry launching from the action as the woman's soft laughter rang from behind as her own eyes closed shut again.

What did she see? She didn't see clearly, but the world was so...colorful.

"[I think I have a name for this little weirdo already!]"

Name? What name? What the hell were these two strangers talking about? And why in the hell was she able to understand Japanese so clearly? And they messed up her pronouns-and-

She tried hard, fighting her clamped eyes, 'Almost there!'

"Sawada Isago! Golden dust for my career!"

Isago slammed his eyes open, blinking rapidly at the man who was now throwing his small body into the air, his golden-amber eyes completely dazzling Isago.

"Waah da dak."

His first words were swear words in English.

She stared absentmindedly out the front porch. No, he stared absentmindedly out the front porch this fine morning. The sky was bright blue while Isago glanced at the buzzing street of Namimori, a small town located at the edges of Japan. In the corner of his eyes, he saw a small bird land on one of the tree branches before someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Isa..go! Let's play!" Tsuna smiled sweetly at his younger brother, holding up his teddy in one hand. They were at the young age of four, Tsuna being born just minutes earlier than Isago. They seemed like twins, but one preferred a shorter hairstyle than the other, and their hair was in different colours.

"Hm...sure! What do you want to play?" Isago answered like how a four-year-old should and pushed himself onto his feet. Tsuna squeezed his teddy, pondering a bit before tilting his head to the side.

Tsuna was exactly the same in the anime, with spiky brown hair and brown eyes that shone brightly in the sun, his soft features held more of some baby fat than what was portrayed in the graphics, but still, Tsuna resembled Vongola Primo.

'Definitely a descendant of the Vongola family,' Isago quirked his lips as Tsuna explained his game of hide and seek, except the purpose was to hide and find teddy.

"Sure!" Isago chirped, holding his hand out for the teddy. "I'll go first then, since you never do, Tsuna."

Tsuna beamed brightly at his younger brother, giving his teddy over before Isago pointed to a wall in the corner of the room and Tsuna plodded over, covering his eyes as he started to count down from 100. Isago smiled slightly, tip-toeing to the washroom and turning on the lights to hide the teddy behind the rows and rows of shampoo bottles in one of the cupboards.

Isago frowned a bit when he realized that he couldn't reach the board, placed the teddy on the table and walked to the toilet that was beside the sink. He stepped onto the toilet, using it as his stepping stone and slammed his small hands onto the table, heaving himself upwards. Snatching the teddy from the original spot, Isago opened the cupboard and organized the bottles as a coverup, arranging the bottles so that not even the ears of the brown toy were visible from an adult's point of view.

Isago stepped down the table, plopping quietly onto his feet before listening to the countdown from Tsuna's mouth at the number 40. Isago smiled carefully, closing the lights as his gold eyes flashed through the mirror once, and Isago made his way to Tsuna's bedroom. Mom was cooking in the kitchen and humming about dad's arrival today.

Isago had retained his father's golden eyes, and yet had a shade of mocha as his hair color. Neither dad nor mom had the hair color, but Nana assumed that it was because her predecessor's hair color was close to black in the past. In contrast to Tsuna's spiky hair, Isago had flatter hair and was long, to the point that it was possible to tie it into a semi-ponytail. He had bangs covering the front in a slanted way, almost completely contrasting to Tsuna's cute and fluffy hair. Well, not that it mattered to Isago.

What was concerning to Isago, was that he was born as a boy.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

Isago heard Tsuna call from the bottom of the stairs before his small footsteps plattered onto the wood. Isago stared momentarily at the door before purposefully closing it and plopping down on Tsuna's bed. The bedsheets ruffled, crinkling a bit and Isago stared at his own crotch.

What the heck, this was so weird to have. It was so tiring to constantly have a thing dangling in between his legs. Even though it didn't hurt or feel uncomfortable, this new addition was a very mind-blowing...experience. Manspreading was also a new thing.

"Isago…?" Tsuna's face peeped into his own room and giggled before skipping over to his brother. "You must have placed teddy here!"

"I don't know," Isago replied with a small smirk. "Why don't you try and find it?"

"Teddy! Teddy!" Tsuna called cutely as if the bear was able to reply back to him.

"Tsuna, if you can find it then I'll ask mom to make your favourite Salisbury steak that she only makes when dad comes home!" Isago called as Tsuna's eyes fired up intensely.

"Steak! Steak! Steak!" Tsuna batted his fists on his crouched knees and started to chant it like some kind of song. Joy could be seen all over his face as he rustled his piles of stuff in the closet, then turned over to his desk and started rummaging in the drawers.

"Steak, steak, steaky, steak-"

Isago smiled secretly, knowing that Tsuna had no knowledge of dad coming home today. Honestly, Isago didn't know what to describe his dad. A good dad? No, he left his wife basically widowed from the moment they were born. A bad dad? You couldn't say that either.

Then again, mama never worked, so it was plausible to think that the house was bought and supplied with money from dad every year. Not to mention that the house was quite large for a family of three. Dad was probably also preparing the house to be the main hideout for the future Vongola.

"Iemitsu Sawada, huh?" Isago murmured his dad's name under his lips.

There was a reason why his dad stationed his family near the unknown town of Namimori. It was probably in order to protect them from the mafia. So in the end, was he a good dad? Isago watched Tsuna's fluffy hair swish in the lights as the sound of tires echoed into the neighborhood.

Isago lifted his eyebrows at the sound, turning his head to Tsuna's open window to see a short black car parked a few meters away from the Sawada residence. Isago stood up slowly, walking towards the window and hopped onto a small step box and leaned on the wall, crossing his arms together as he peered outside.

"Tsuna, let's rank this game harder. You have exactly 100 seconds like the countdown to find your teddy, or else the promise is off," Isago turned to Tsuna who's eyes widened like saucers, gasping before throwing his hands into the depths of his drawers.

"That's not fair, Isago!" The boy whimpered as Isago started to count the numbers from 100, forcing the small boy to sweat. Inside, Isago spotted a blond head popping out of the driver's seat.

The man was wearing orange overalls that were only pulled onto his waist. His dirty sweatshirt was worn in a fashion that showed his armpit hair clearly even from far away. The sight was disgusting.

"Men," Isago made a face, recognizing that it was his father. "66...67...68...69…"

"Isago! Slow down!" Tsuna wailed and rummaged through his toy box, tears streaming down his face at the decreasing numbers. Iemitsu pulled a construction hat out of the front side, then walked to the passenger's seat, opening the door to reveal another man wearing a blue vacation shirt with pink flowers on it.

The man stepped out of the car, smiling widely at his assistant who passed him a straw hat. As if the man noticed, his eyes flashed to the window, meeting the gaze of Isago. There was curiosity and wonder that passed through the male's eyes, but then greeted the child by lifting his hat and giving a salute which Isago returned with a polite nod.

'Vongola ninth,' Isago addressed the man quickly, curling his lips at the status before turning back to Tsuna, the numbers ending with the last count of zero.

"Isaaaagoo!" Tsuna sobbed into his long-sleeved sweater, sniffing as the sleeve soaked up his snot. "I couldn't find it-I'm sorry!"

Isago's eyes softened at the small boy, hopping down from the stepping box before crouching next to Tsuna who was on his knees.

"Tsuna, Tsuna, why are you sorry?" Isago patted Tsuna on the shoulders. Tsuna threw his arm down, staring at Isago who had a soft smile on his face.

"Be-because Isago's favorite...also steak…" the young boy blew his wet cheeks and Isago chuckled, pulling his brother into a large hug. That was not exactly true, Isago's favourite was sweet parfaits rather than savory main course meals, but Nana had never brought the two to a sweets cafe so Isago had made up his preferences to match Tsuna's.

"How about this, I'll magically transform the steak onto the table if you promise me one thing," Isago patted Tsuna who blew into his shoulder. Momentarily, Isago made a face of disgust, but once thinking that they were from the same blood, a smile was forcefully plastered onto his soft features.

Tsuna also realized his own misdoings, instantly freezing before wiping his own sleeve on Isago's shoulder, trying to correct the snot, only to make it smear even wider on the hoodie.

"I'll have to change my clothes," Isago sighed before pushing Tsuna away and walking to his own room. Tsuna followed like an abandoned puppy. His two fingers fiddled as he watched Isago pull his T-shirt off, and grabbed a random sweater before pulling it over his head.

"Mm sorry Isago…" Tsuna trailed off, staring guilty on the ground as Isago's head emerged out. "I will promise anything that you want! Forever!"

'What a dangerous promise, Tsuna,' Isago's eyes glimmered before turning towards his brother. The shadows in his room casted upon Isago's face as his grin widened almost too maliciously.

"Then promise me Tsuna, no matter what the circumstance you must not harm me. If you do, then our relationship as brothers are over." Isago's hair fell over his eyes as he brushed it back, getting a clear look at the boy's small face.

"Harm?" Tsuna tilted his head curiously at the word, repeating to make sure he pronounced it correctly. "What's that?"

"It means that I will be gone from your life forever, Tsuna," Isago's voice deepen with glee at the horror that flashed through the boy's face. Tsuna's hands instantly clutched the sides of his shorts, shaking his head furiously.

"I will never harm you! I will never! Never!"

"Good," Isago walked closer to his dear brother, jerking his thumb under Tsuna's teary eyes. The young boy looked fragile and broken at Isago's words, almost as if he couldn't imagine living without Isago.

"Because I love you so much that it may serve as a double-edged sword to both of us," Isago gave little Tsuna a small peck on his cheeks, smirking at Tsuna's pouting face as his fingers clutched the edges of Isago's sweater.

"I wove you too," Tsuna buried his face into his brother's sweater, murmuring the phrase until the front door was pushed open and mama's clear voice rang through the house, calling the two boys down.

It was true, Tsuna was a precious little brother to Isago, even if Tsuna was legally the older one. But that didn't matter in front of power. If Tsuna stood in the way of succession, then Isago would cut off Tsuna's arms and legs to prevent Tsuna from overtaking the throne. That was how cold-hearted Isago was.

But then again, was Isago able to do it?

That's why Isago would give Tsuna the choice. He would not harm Tsuna until his own brother decided that Isago was a threat to the family and his life. He would let Tsuna break their relationship, and make him wallow in despair. As long as Tsuna loved him, Isago would let him go. But if Tsuna disobeyed, then everything will be over.

"Come on, brother," Isago gestured towards the door, stepping forward with Tsuna holding him. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Iemitsu was grinning at both boys, arms extended.

"Weirdo Isago! TsunaTsuna! Papa is back home!"

The two boys huddled over to their papa, Tsuna waddling towards him while Isago was pulled into a large embrace, dad's hand ruffling in his hair as Isago grinned at the man. The smell of sweat and tobacco filled Isago's nostrils, instantly making him suppress a sour face at his own father. Mama giggled at the family reunion while Isago's eyes trailed to her, gesturing for a group hug.

"Oh, dear!" Mama threw herself into the group hug and Iemitsu kissed her sloppily on the cheeks, rubbing her face with fondness. It was then Tsuna noticed a stranger behind dad, smiling sweetly at the family after Tsuna opened his mouth with quivering fear.

"Oh, Tsuna! Don't worry, this is Timoteo-" Dad looked over at the grandfather figure, releasing all of us as he gestured politely at the man. "-My boss."

"Welcome!" Nana grinned, lowering her body into a 90-degree bow. "Thank you for taking care of my husband all this time!"

Isago glanced towards his mom, then followed, repeating the same words of thanks. Tsuna only stood there, confused and not knowing what to do and hid behind his mother, clutching her apron.

"Tsuna!" Mom bickered with a sigh but smiled soon afterwards. She patted me on the head as a 'good job' before apologizing for her son's imprudence.

"That isn't a problem," Timoteo said, softening his eyes at us before crouching down to our eye level. "I have to thank you for having such a wonderful father that I can trust."

'Of course, you're literally naming his son as successor,' Isago thought bitterly before pulling Tsuna out from behind mom. 'So who is it going to be? Tsuna, or me?'

Vongola ninth had to choose between the two of them because they were the only ones that would be left in the Vongola bloodline. If what Isago remembered was correct, there was more than one successor to the Vongola line, but they all died, which left Tsuna being the only one that could inherit the family.

Tsuna's hand started to quake before Isago squeezed it reassuringly, giving him a small nudge. Tsuna was still hesitating so Isago started first.

"I'm Isago, this is Tsuna, my older brother!" He deliberately said, lowering his head as Tsuna, this time, followed his younger brother's lead.

"Oh, he's the older one, huh?" Timoteo turned his gentle gaze towards the older brother and nodded. Isago pleaded that they were going to leave the throne of successor to the worthy, not the older. Isago was going to prove himself worthy, prove himself, to be a better leader than his brother.

Tsuna was not suited as a leader, maybe in the long run of taking care of his family members, yes, but Isago was more of a leader in the expanding and influential way.

'Give the role of successor to me, and I will hold Vongola to its glory. I will make Vongola the strongest in history, and it will flourish more than the past ten generations combined.'

Isago wanted the Vongola position. He wanted it desperately.

As if Timoteo could hear Isago's thoughts, the grandfather's eyes turned to the younger sibling, staring at him hard. Isago didn't move his eyes, only stared back and tried to convey the message through his gaze.

'Give it to me, I want it. I need it.'

Timoteo's gaze deepened, opening his mouth to say something as conflict passed through his face, then clamped his mouth shut. Iemitsu, sensing that something was sort of amidst, invited his boss into the house, telling the group that he was famished. Nana gasped, pardoning her forgetfulness before guiding the guest to the table.

Isago let go of the breath he held inside, looking towards Tsuna who was staring at the grandfather.

[lcnelyinthesky]

apartment - bokuto x reader

a/n: heyo! first little thing in a little bit because ive been writing a special little other thing wink wink. this is also my first time ever writing for bokuto so be kind pls

notes: the italicized words are the song “Apartment” by modern baseball!! all credits go to them for the inspo and the song lyrics and all of that stuff :>

warnings: mentions of nsfw stuff but nothing deep

word count: 1.2k

enjoy darlings!

You remember it all so vividly. The taste of your third beer as it slipped down your throat. The way the blaring music rang in your ears. The feeling of denim rubbing against the soft skin of your thighs. All of it. 

The first time I saw you was in your apartment

It all seemed to happen in slow motion, that one October night. The stars complimented the neon-red lights that stung in your tired eyes. Your heart beat to the thumping bass of the rap song one of your friends cued up.

I had followed my friends, single-file, through the darkness

Your entire apartment was trashed. Cups and cans and other people’s trash lined the wood floors. The pictures you had expertly hung on the walls were all slightly tilted for reasons unknown to you.

I looked your direction for excessive inspection

Among the loud noises and the flailing limbs and the drunk, slurred words, was a person you had never met before. His hair was grey and black and was spiked up in a way that made him resemble some kind of bird. His face had a smile that didn’t seem to want to fade. His hazel eyes were opened to their fullest potential as he looked at you. 

And I could not muster the courage to say a single word

You were dumbfounded in that moment. It felt like a small, fleeting one, but his confidence had other things in store. 

For a while we were playing a game that your friends bought

His hand reached out and slapped the arm of a guy next to him as he continued to stare at you. You had since broken the eye contact to take a sip of your drink, but he wasn’t giving up yet. You could only faintly hear their conversation.

But everyone cheated and no one could spell

“Akaashi!! Look!!! That’s the hottest person I've ever seen I swear! Do you know them?” He looked so happy when your eyes decided on a second glance. The energy that surrounded him was the same as a puppy. It was cute. He was cute.

You didn’t say much of anything

“No, Bokuto. You’re the one who dragged me to this party.” The other man, one with black hair and piercing blue eyes, turned around to look at you too. In a normal situation you would’ve walked away, but something felt new about this. It was welcome.

I must’ve come off annoying cause you went to bed

“I’m gonna go talk to ‘em.” The man with the spiky hair sauntered up to you. His chest was puffed out a little bit and his steps seemed longer than usual. He was excited, and it intrigued you.

I walk home with my eyes low

“Hey, I’m Bokuto. Aside from being sexy, what else do you do for a living?” The smile had yet to leave his face, and one grew on yours as he spoke. He was cute, in an overly confident but deserves it kind of way. He seemed kind and bright and happy, and maybe your life needed that.

Dreaming of conversations we’ll have tomorrow

“I’m y/n. And, thanks.” You spoke awkwardly and with a little giggle, but you weren’t uncomfortable; just not used to this sort of thing.

Your loose ends, my new friends. All the classes in high school we fell asleep in

“What’re you doing tomorrow at noon?” He was so much more confident than anyone you had ever dated, let alone anyone who was ever interested in you. He seemed so innocent in a way. It seemed like no one had ever hurt him, but would he let anyone hurt him?

But now I can hardly close my eyes

“Uh, I don’t know-” he interrupted you to tell you of his plans and to make a little date for the two of you. He told you to meet him at a nearby coffee shop and put his number in your phone. He smiled brightly at you and walked away, going back to whatever he was doing before. 

The next time I saw you was in your apartment

The next day at around three, he stood behind you as you turned the key to your apartment. His hands claimed real estate on your hips and he kissed you against the door when it was finally closed again. The temperature raised as you both got more and more into the moment, ready for more. 

Oh why do we keep ending up here on star-lit evenings?

Bokuto didn’t leave your room that night. His clothes hung off lampshades and chairs in your room, mingling with the cream paint on the walls and the memories caught in picture frames. He blended so perfectly in that space. 

I should be home sleeping, but this time you sat next to me on the couch

You woke up early the next morning to the smell of pancakes and an empty bed. Your groggy eyes were surprised by the sight in front of you, but you’d learn to cherish those moments more than anything.

I stared out the window, hands glued tight and sore

The second he saw you he walked towards you and planted a kiss on your forehead. He worked his hands into your hair and he hugged you tightly, going back to his cooking within seconds.

Praying to god knows what

“How’d you sleep, babe?” Bokuto’s morning voice was sweet and gravely. It felt like a warm hug or being in the sun for too long. It felt like home.

That you would sever what’s stuck

“Pretty good, what about you? And what possessed you to make me pancakes?” He giggled as your eyes fluttered, still not being used to being open. His head flew back as he smiled, eyes closing in joy.

With something shiny from the kitchen drawer

“I wanted them, and I wasn’t ready to leave just yet. I figured I’d treat you since you treated me last night.” Bokuto winked at the end of his sentence, making your cheeks grow hotter. You sat down at your kitchen island though, ready for the hopefully-lovely breakfast he had made.

I walk home, with my eyes low

The pancakes were a bit burnt, and you made sure to tease Bokuto about it, but you enjoyed them because he made them. It had only been one day and he had you wrapped around his finger.

Dreaming of conversations we’ll have tomorrow

You two managed to click instantly, but maybe Bokuto had that kind of connection with everybody. He was so bright and shiny and new, and the way he treated you made you feel like a star too. You were his star and he was yours. The princess to his poor, infatuated farmer boy. The Juliet to his Romeo.

Your loose ends, my new friends. All the classes in high school we fell asleep in

But maybe he clicked that quickly with everyone. Maybe he had that effect on everyone. Because now his hand held someone else's across the coffee shop table. Now he kissed someone else quickly while hastily closing the door to the brick storefront. Now he was enthralled with someone else. And now the cream colored walls of your bedroom had something missing. 

And now I can hardly close my eyes

[selfproducingfanfictionauthor]

to be treated this way - chapter i

pair: shownu x reader 

summary: When your alpha - sort-of - found his true mate, you’re stuck dealing with the aftermath and the coming of your next heat. So when your friend suggested a “dating service” to aid you, signing up seemed like a no-brainer. So, you’ve prepared yourself for the dominance, the adrenaline-fueled by fear and arousal and the constant out-of-this-world sex but when you meet Shownu, everything you know about Alphas is challenged. He’s soft - for the lack of better word. He cooks you meals, he takes you out on dates… all of which are not really necessary for an Alpha - Omega relationship… right? Whatever. You’d just really, really, wish he’d touch you now warning: this story may be slow-paced at the start, no other warnings for now - also, boo seungkwan’s appearance! a/b/o dynamics! 

Many poets and writers have tried, failed and came close to describing what true heartbreak is. Such fundamental human experience is so universal that many men and women across history have drawn inspiration from it and created amazing works of art - sculptures, plays, books and songs. At the back of your mind, you remember reading something like - “If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life” and although it’s beautiful and you certainly want to be saved, you feel like it’s too dramatic to apply to your own situation.

Even though you certainly feel like dying right now.

Mouth dry and head pounding, you blearily open your eyes to the sight of your blinking alarm clock. The numbers 1:03 pm mocks you in all its inherent cheeriness. Underneath the cocoon of your warm bed, you squirm, sweating and uncomfortable – feeling like you just want to crawl out of your skin just to reach the itch between your skin and bones. Fists closing and unfurling, you try to resist the urge to scratch, knowing that there’s nothing to find beneath, nothing to offer you relief.

Kicking off your sheets, you try to reign in the uneasiness. At the back of your ears, you feel the itch worsen, crawling down your nape burning down its path. Rubbing yourself against the scratchy texture of your bedsheets feels like heaven and hell alternating between five seconds – the brief relief only highlighting the torment of your hormones tenfold.

Time seem to pass too slowly as you try to muster the strength to get up. But your body refuses to cooperate, your limbs heavy and your mind foggy. This is what you hate the most about suppressants, the side-effects feels like punishment for being born an omega. Your head feels like it’s submerged underwater, and you don’t hear your apartment door opening with a bang.

“I’m here!” Seungkwan sings, grocery bags hanging from his arms. His eyes roam your kitchen before landing on you through your open bedroom door. At the sight of you, his mood drops. ”Oh my god, what are you doing!”

Your best friend rushes over to you and grasps your wrists, quickly pulling it away from your arms.

Streaks of scratches marred your neck and arms while you tremble. He notes with a small amount of relief, that at least, you didn’t break skin.

Aish, this girl.

Relief flood you at the familiar smell of your friend and his cool hands, drawing away from the heat marked by your nails. You let him drag you up to your couch. Sitting down, he grasps your wrists with one hand and reaches for one of the grocery bags with his other.

“Next time I see him, I’m gonna kick him in the nuts.” Seungkwan swears, agitated. Between the two of you, there’s only one person he could be referring to. You wince at the thought of Geun-woo, the alpha who had once frequented your bed. Pulling you out of your thoughts, Seungkwan fishes out a sheet of tablets and pops one open for you.

Trusting you to control yourself, he lets go of your wrists and hands you a bottle of water from the same bag.

“It’s not his fault he found his true mate, Seungkwanie.” You sigh, after swallowing the pill. You don’t know if it’s placebo or not, but immediately, the irritating itch and heat under your skin recedes.

The beta rolls his eyes. True mates, bah – people throw it around like a free pass. “True mate or not, it doesn’t mean he gets to drop you like a hot sweet potato – which you are, sweet and you look like a potato, woman, get yourself together! – and ride off into the sunset. Any decent alpha knows that omegas need weaning –”

Seungkwan goes off on a rant that you’ve heard on loop for the past week.

Geun-woo was a friend from the university. As alphas tend to be, he was popular and well-liked by your peers. His designation spurred him to be in the best shape he could be, drove him to win championship after championship for your university football team. After graduation, he went on to train for the national team and was – is – on his way to being a national athlete.

You could talk on and on about who Oh Geun-woo is to many people, but you could summarize what he was to you in three words: not your boyfriend.

The arrangement between the two of you was simple. You were adults, busy people living busy lives interrupted almost monthly by your heats and ruts. It was a logical and practical way to ensure that neither of you spend your vulnerable biological ~events~ alone. It was a good arrangement and after two years of it, you could honestly call Geun-woo a good friend.

However, the downside with spending such time so often with someone you’re not bonded with is you develop what experts call, a quasi-bond. It has all the effects of being bonded but dialed down by almost a hundred. You think it’s an exaggeration but you, an unbonded omega, really isn’t in the position to do so.

So when, Geun-woo found his true mate at some meet abroad, he dropped you faster than you could blink.

You don’t blame him, but man, it sucks.

Seungkwan glanced at you, sighing at your silence. Sending a prayer above, he fishes his wallet and takes out a card. “I have a suggestion.”

With your heat coming at you, barreling in the next two weeks, you’re just about open to any suggestion so, you hum behind your coffee mug, “The floor’s yours.” Well, at least the little of it that’s still visible under your clothes and knick-knacks.

“Before you say anything, know that I am suggesting this out of the goodness of my heart. But why don’t you consider this?” Seungkwan implored, handing you the card.

The black and purple card reads; “SS Matching Services” and under it, their company motto; “We’ve got the match for you.” With their office address and contact number.

“A pimping service?”

“Ya,” Seungkwan protested, red-faced, “Take your 19th century standards out of the gutter.”

His adamant protest startles a laugh out of you. For the guy who used to glare at anyone holding hands in public, your best friend has grown well. “Actually, it was worse in the 19th century but go off, I guess.”

Seungkwan leveled you with a flat look that had you raising your hands in surrender. No good can come from antagonizing the guy who just quite literally saved your life. “I’m listening.”

“Look, it’s just an option and it’s legit. Tough screening process too.” He takes out his phone and shows you the company’s website. Briefly, you glance at it before taking the card. Physically, it weighs like nothing but in your mind, it weighs like something amazing.

“How’d you know that?”

“My sunbaenim, uses this from time to time. It helps with his ruts. Win-win.” Seungkwan shrugs. You wonder which sunbae he’s referring to, given his many hobbies.

The website doesn’t look like it’ll give your laptop a virus, you’ll give it that. It’s classy and clean, and no random photos of just naked torsos. Good sign.

“You’re surprisingly blasé about this.” You laugh, eyes warm and surprised at how maturely Seungkwan delivers, only to laugh out loud at the sight of his burning ears.

You promised Seungkwan that you’ll check out the site but as soon as you got back to work, everything just swept you away.

That’s what happens when you work with kids.

Eyes warm with fondness, you quietly pat the bottom of one of your snoozing students. It’s nap time and your classroom has turned into some sort of sleepover area with all your students wrapped up with their soft blankets, nuzzling into their softer pillows. The early afternoon light filters into the room through the curtains, painting over the children with a soft glow.

Across you, another teacher takes the opportunity to get some of her own sleep in, curling herself protectively around two kids. Your classroom smells like baby powder and sweet treats, littered with small pastel chairs and tables. Its walls decorated with your students artworks and colorful cartoon characters.

This, this is one of the many moments that remind you why you became a pre-school teacher.

Many of your peers assumed it’s because of your designation. Omegas are naturally more inclined to take positions that require caretaking, given the innate desire to give care to others. Just like alphas are more likely to take positions that require leadership.

However, you muse, cooing as the young beta in front of you snuggle closer to your lap, many tend to gloss over the many manifestations of one’s designation. It’s true that by virtue of being an omega, you’re naturally more inclined to take care of your peers. Your so-called softness being the defining quality of your group.

But your omega manifestation is… a bit different. Sometimes, it makes you wonder how you got hired as a preschool teacher in the first place.

“Teach’r, sleepy time?”

Glancing down, you see the young beta pout at you. Waving away your thoughts, you slide down to her side and let the afternoon light lull you to sleep. All thoughts about your heat fading away quietly.

Soon, naptime was over and so is the day. Parents slowly trickle in, one after another, to pick up their children. Most of them harried from work, but still smiling at you and your co-teachers in gratitude.

“See you tomorrow, Rahui!” You call, as the last student leaves.

The little girl in her puffy sweater turns and smiles at you sweetly. “Bye, bye, teacher! Sleepy time!”

You flush at your student’s comment much to her mother’s confusion. After falling asleep earlier, you’d woken up to a clean classroom and several of your students hovering over you. Your pre-heat symptoms felt like they’re coming too fast for your taste.

Waving her off with a smile, you untie your apron and walk to the staff room where the others are. It’s almost 6 pm, and your daily staff meeting’s in session. In front of the room is your superior, an older bonded omega, with deep dimples on her cheek.

“Good job today, everyone.” She starts off, smiling at the soft cheers from everyone. “As you know…”

Your superior continues on to talk about the children’s upcoming activities. Vaguely, you hear her talk about a field trip, or is it a field demo? Shaking your head, you try to clear your thoughts but it seem like everything’s underwater, and no sound is escaping from her lips.

“… right, y/n?”

Blinking, you focus, and sent her a sheepish smile. “Sorry, you were saying?”

Your superior smiles forgivingly, “I was asking about that self-defense class you’ve been wanting to teach. When would you like to schedule it? Of course, pending approval with everyone’s schedule.”

Immediately, a large smile appears on your cheek. It’s approved?? You’ve been proposing that seminar for months. Most of the omega teachers were wary of the thought but warmed up to it recently. Especially when you mentioned how it’ll help them protect their kids – their students – more.

“How about two weeks from now?”

“Anytime!” You offer. The enthusiasm isn’t lost on your co-workers, some of them shaking their heads in amusement.

Your superior looks over your office board and hums at the chart. It contains all your schedules, including leaves, conferences to attend and heat cycles. With one look, your heart drops.

“Actually…” you start off, wincing at the thought of inconveniencing everyone because of your biology. “My heat is coming up in two weeks…”

Surprisingly, or not, omegas are actually quite liberal in discussing things like this. It’s simply part of the biology you live with. So your mortification is unfounded as your co-workers nod in understanding, quickly suggesting different dates.

Your superior nods, and glances at your work log book. “Well, we could schedule maybe four weeks from now to get you time to recover? Don’t forget to file your leave.”

Right.

“I still can’t believe she flew you in for her rut.” Jooheon’s laugh and disbelief reaches Shownu’s ears before he even steps inside. Smiling to himself, he finds his friends lounging in his living room, completely comfortable and completely unexpected.

Jooheon looks up at his arrival, “Hi, hyung! We let ourselves in!” 

“I can see that.” Shownu nods in greeting, trying to remember who he gave his spare keys to. He’s pretty sure he didn’t make six copies of his set. Shrugging off his coat, he look on, realizing how his living room looks smaller with a bunch of guys occupying it. Jooheon and Minhyuk are on his couch, Changkyun’s on his stomach on the floor, playing with his phone and, Hyunwoo and Kihyun are by the window drinking a can of beer each. 

That’s one, two, three… four, five… 

“Hey, you’re home! And – are those protein bars?” The paper bag is snatched from his hand, before Shownu registers, blinking slowly as Wonho disappears once again into the kitchen. 

The smell of jajjangmyeon invades his senses. Ah, yes, guys’ night. 

Shortly after his arrival, everyone gathers in the dining room. With the two youngest improvising chairs out of the boxes Shownu hasn’t had the chance to unpack, having just moved into his new home a month ago. 

To the eldest’s surprise, everyone pitched in with dinner, bringing different dishes and filling the dining table. Assorted cuts of meat are sizzling over the portable electric grill Wonho brought, several small plates of side-dishes and… are those buttered crabs he’s seeing? “What’s this?” 

Minhyuk shoots him an amused glance over his beer, “You don’t really think we’ll let you off without a house warming, right?” 

Shownu blinks, a small bashful smile forming on his lips, “But I’ve been here a month.”

An arm wraps around his shoulder and a weight shakes him back and forth. Kihyun rolls his eyes, getting into his personal space. “This is the first time we’ve been complete for a month! Just enjoy it!” 

Jooheon hums, his cheeks filled with lettuce and meat from the grill. “Yeah, I mean, though it’s only Minhyuk-hyung that hasn’t been around, too busy getting his dick wet.” 

“Oi!” their youngest protests, ears burning and nearly spitting out his drink. “We are eating.” 

Wonho heartily “taps” Changkyun’s back, laughing. “We’re all adults here. It’s not as if you haven’t heard or said anything worse, Kyunie.” 

“Yeah, daddy~” Hyungwon hits, reminding everyone of one very particular incident in college that featured a younger Changkyun and a girl from the bar, and the very thin walls of their shared apartment. 

Changkyun flushes before rolling his eyes, “At least I get some. Can’t say the same to you.” 

Scoffing, Minhyuk raises his hands, “Excuse me, I have no problem with that.” 

Before Minhyuk starts to dive into his sexual exploits, Kihyun saves the day and shoves a piece of meat into his mouth and diverts the conversation to work.

Over food and drinks, Shownu and his friends catch up on their personal lives – not having as much time to get together as before. Not with Wonho’s celebrity coaching taking off, Jooheon and Changkyun’s new artist, Kihyun’s voice academy and Hyungwon’s and Minhyuk’s modelling. 

Sometimes, Shownu feels left behind by the big dreams his friends are living but every day, he wakes up and goes home happy as a chef and food blogger. His appetite thanking him for the career path he chose. Besides, as Changkyun said, he could go big time if he wants, it’s just a matter of self-promotion which he’s terrible at given his shy personality. 

Dinner passes by with a blur and they find themselves nursing their last beers when Jooheon circles back to Minhyuk’s vacation. 

“So, hyung. How does it feel to fulfill your sugar baby dreams?” The young alpha jokes, his dimples appearing on his cheeks as he elbows Minhyuk. 

Stars appear in the latter’s eyes and with a dreamy sigh, he responds jokingly, “Just as I’ve always dreamed.” 

The one of the only two omegas of their group has never shied away from talking about his exploits, his looks and all the advantages he gets from it. Often, he jokes that’s why he became a model – to be admired and to fulfill his duties to the world and bless them with his godly looks. 

“She flew me to her family’s island, and we spent her rut and my heat underneath the blanket of stars.” Minhyuk recounts, all dreamy-eyed, “I felt really spoiled.”

“I bet.” Kihyun remarked, smirking. “Is this the girl you’ve been telling us about?”

Ignoring Hyungwon’s cough of which one, Minhyuk nods, “Yes!” and turns to Shownu, “She’s actually friends with Nayeon – who, by the way, is asking me about you, hyung.” 

Shownu blinks, before handing a can of beer to Wonho across him. “Me?” 

“Yeah, she asked why you never called her.” 

A chorus of ooh’s echoes in the room followed by a few gruff laughter. Shownu ducks his head and nurses his drink. Nayeon’s a nice girl, a model that he met when Minhyuk called in a favor for him to substitute as one of their shoot’s models after the original model called in sick. She gave him his number on a piece of paper before departing with a sultry look and a flying kiss. 

Contrary to popular belief, Shownu is not dense – or, more like, he’s not that dense. 

“Ah,” Shownu starts, “Um. I don’t think we’re looking for the same thing.” 

Wonho pauses and eyes him, before levelling the younger guys with a look that has them catching their teasing remarks and keeping it to themselves. Wonho has known Shownu the longest and knows that though his friend’s an alpha, physically, through and through, his disposition often throws people off. 

He’s soft when others are hard. Soft-spoken, patient like a saint and very careful with his actions and words. Wonho doesn’t even remember if he’s ever seen his friend get angry or aggressive in the span of their long friendship. 

A romantic at heart, through and through.

“Well,” Kihyun claps, breaking the quiet, “You know, no point in pursuing something that you know’s a dead end, right?”

Minhyuk pouts, sometimes a little bit insensitive in his enthusiasm, “But she’s cute! And she’s an omega too! Besides – wait—how do you even deal with your ruts?” 

Shownu’s face lights up like a lantern, the drinks doing nothing about the flush crawling up his neck. It’s not like he’s never spent it with someone, but every time, after the week of his rut, he always feel tired and empty. So for the past ruts, he’s been dealing with it - “Alone, with suppressants.”

“Yah, I thought you’d stopped taking those!” 

Constant use of suppressants for an alpha fucks up their cycle and even their moods. Wonho knows this the best because he was on it for several months back in college, before he started becoming confident enough in his newfound muscles and height. 

“I did.” Shownu nods, assuring his friends. “I don’t use them anymore. Just when I’m… you know. It’s just easier to deal with.”

All the alphas in the room scoff under their breaths. Yeah, it’s easy if easy felt like walking and dancing on hot coal in the middle of the hottest summer day. It’s not as if their eldest can’t get a woman just by standing by the bar, being his awkward self. 

At their little corner, Jooheon and Changkyun glance at each other, years of friendship evident in their wordless communication. Changkyun tilts his head, eyes widening and jaw clenched, “Go”, he mouths. 

Jooheon pouts, “Do you know how hard it is to get into their mixers, punk?” 

Shrinking at Changkyun’s flat stare, Jooheon rolls his eyes and sends a prayer to the universe asking for good karma. 

“Hyung, what do you think about dating services?” 

Notes: The stage is set for our two protagonists! I tried to incorporate as much world-building and character backgrounds as I can without it being over the top. Please leave comments and asks! :) I’m trying to stick to weekly updates. Also, support Monsta X’s next comeback! 

[bubblyani]

More Than Enough

(Rick x Reader)

A Rick (Knight of Cups) Songfic One Shot

Song Used: “More Than Enough” - Alina Baraz

Author’s Note: The more I listened to this song the more I was thinking of this character. So really wanted to write something for him. It was interesting trying to get that same artistic feeling Terence Malik made us feel in the movie with this. Enjoy!

Your fingers slowly grazed over the phone screen as if they were in contact with the skin of a newborn. Swiping, tapping, you did it all silently. Finally giving the screen one last tap, you waited for the Bluetooth speakers to come alive. Except it did not. 

A wave of concern washed over you. Perhaps the connection was still pending, you thought. But you remained patient, with your eyes glued to the small screen that lay on the table. You gasped in the form of a soft inhalation the moment you felt Rick appear behind you, his head popping over your shoulder to glance.

“What is it?” He asked, with his gentle voice. Wearing a soft smile, you slowly turned to face him.

“You’ll see…” you said, with confidence. Yet, the music did not play. The only sounds your ears could grasp onto were the soothing sounds of the ocean nearby while the warm LA breeze caressed your body.

“It’s this song…” You began, looking down, “that I really like…” you continued, watching your right draw circles in the space between your feet and his. Though you did not show it, you wondered whether there was an error on your device. But that embarrassment quickly washed away, like a crashing wave over the sand the moment the melodic bass began to fill the atmosphere. It was slow but rhythmic, played to the time of a waltz.

“Truthfully it makes more sense now than it ever did before” you added, feeling his eyes watch you with the greatest fascination. There he goes, you thought. Doing that again. Playing the observer. But truthfully, you did not want him to be just that.

You noticed it even on the very first meeting. His eyes were what you could not get over. Never did you imagine to find a pair of eyes like his, in a place so superficial like an After party of your Dance Company’s seasonal recital. In the midst of eyes that had little to none souls left, you were refreshed to see a pair that brimmed in it.

A wealthy sponsor of your Dance Company surprisingly was your mutual acquaintance, introducing Rick as a “fellow brethren in the arts” to you and others that gathered around over chilled glasses of champagne.

“And Y/N? Our star dancer? Oh.. she’s simply the…” Compliments. You heard compliments pouring all over, you felt like you were in need of a raincoat. Even after all these years, You did not have the skin to take it all. Indeed, they were all good. A figurative pat on the back, but an overdose of anything could make anyone uncomfortable. And when your eyes met Rick’s through all the chatter. He truly did see you. So much so you swore you heard his eyes say, “I know…”

Nodding, smiling you were accustomed in sailing through the shallow waters of socialite conversation that was unavoidable. That was how it always went. But the need to escape it always lingered within you. Thankfully, with him around, it did not seem  insufferable. His eyes, they kept company throughout. To the point your eyes had a silent conversation with his. You both laughed, you both cringed, inconspicuously with just your eyes. And by the end of the party you knew in your bones you wanted to see him again. And when he came over to ask you for your number, you were relieved to know he wanted the same.

Only alone were the two of you finally felt liberated to let the conversations flow. Finally, you were not the star of a dance production, or someone’s poster girl. You were just yourself. Rick spoke less than you hoped he would. Or maybe you felt this way because of the secret admiration you possessed for his voice. It moved you. It affected you. It sent tingles down your spine that energized you to talk more than usual. You filled in those silent gaps. With Rick you were at the height of your freedom. Why? You did not know. It could be due to a mutual respect stemming between the two, along with an undeniable attraction. With that attraction also came patience. He had it in abundance, so did you. Yet, that did not hold you back when he politely invited you to stop by his place after your morning date.

Bringing you to where you were, leaning against the table in his living room. The melodic chill wave music brimmed in your ears, as it ushered the vocals to finally begin:

**You got a way with words** **It takes away the hurt** **And it's a blessing and a curse to feel it all**

Looking out to the distance, you took in every word. Every line was a clear reflection of your feelings for him. So coincidental, but true. You merely hoped he would listen intently and comprehend. Slowly, your eyes began to focus on him.

**You got a way with me** **You put me in my place when I'm petty** **Give me what I want when I'm ready** **Always hold it down…**

Sensing his eyes still remained warm, a rush of boldness came over you. With just a few inches between the two, your hand rose up, slithering its way over to his neck, making a turn to end in the back of his head, hoping your fingers would hold on to his hair. Those beautiful brunette locks begged to be played with. And your fingers complied with ease. Pushing your fingers in between, you lightly attempted to scratch his head. Confidence became you when he lowered his head, his eyes closed as if to indulge in the pleasure you provided him. Just the sight of him so peaceful, you suddenly lost track of the song altogether. The words seemed unclear about of the blue, fading into the background while your heart melted by the sight of Rick. You were pleased with your influence over him. With other hand joining in, ten fingers were in a trance of their own as they traveled from his head, running softly over his collarbone down to his chest through the thin, blue cotton shirt. The music may have faded into the background, but that did not stop the both of you from swaying from side to side. You heard him chuckle deeply, reacting to your feathery touch. Bowing your head in apology, you felt embarrassed, decided to rectify the situation by moving your hands away.

Except he stopped you from doing so, by taking your hands in his, only to place them back over his chest whilst finally gazing back at you with earnest. Only then the words of the came ringing back in your delicate ears once more:

**I get lost inside all the stars in your eyes** **It's a galaxy** It was true, you really could. His eyes told a thousand stories that you wanted to be part of. Whilst pondering on that, your own eyes widened slightly as face grew closer, surprising you as he lowered his head once again, brushing his lips against your extended neck.

**You control the tide like the moon in the sky** **Or the gravity**

His lips, they teased you, placing soft kisses on the crook of your neck, that deemed most sensitive. You were tickled by his facial hair, you were even aroused, especially when you sensed a throbbing in between your thighs. He was surely a magician, or at least he was for you. Tilting your head to his side, you brushed your nose against his right temple in sheer desperation, balancing yourself by the effect of his lips, finally listening to the pre-chorus with much clarity:

**Anybody else would be gone by now** **Does it really matter?** **All that really matters**

Desperation came up another level, when you lowered your hands, tempting his to follow. Guiding them over to your waist, you made sure they stayed there. But it seemed there was no need for convincing.

**Second I'm with you, all my love pour out** **Serve it on a platter, all that really matters**

For he pulled you close, standing straight so his eyes could capture yours again. He was like a magnet, you finally allowed yourself to admit. He always was, from the moment you laid eyes on him. Feeling intoxicated without a single drop of alcohol, you felt yourself give in. Your lips cried out in silent desperation, only growing silent the moment his mouth welcomed yours, in a long awaited kiss.

**All that really matters is you keep showing up** **Promise that I'll remind you** **that you are more than enough**

Your bodies kept swaying as the kiss continued, and the music progressed into a melodic vocalise. With his grip on you growing tighter, you felt body press against yours to the most satisfying degree.

“…this was definitely not a ruse to kiss you…i swear” You muttered softly against his lips, with genuine concern. Hands leaving your waist, Rick cupped your face with an expression that was akin to the ray of the morning sun.

“I don’t care” He breathed, assuring you with another kiss, that was longer and hungrier. Patience, had clearly worn thin between the two of you.

**More than enough, More than enough, More than enough**

As the last few repeated lines appeared and faded into the soft music, you paid no attention to what song played next, nor the sky accidentally falling. For being loved by him,  at that very moment, was simply more than enough.

______________________________________

@erika92pu​ @tealaquinn​​

Check my MASTERLIST for More :)

[st-crylo]

Rebound

A/N: Hey guys! It’s been forever since I posted a fic here, but I figured now is as good a time as ever! I hope you enjoy this nice highschool au, I’ve been sitting on it for a while! I will be posting this on ao3 as well, so if that’s a medium you prefer to read on, the link is on my masterlist!

Warnings: Infidelity, some minor swearing, tobacco use

Word Count: 6K

Summary: You’re about to start your senior year at Mos Eisley High when your life gets turned around. After receiving an anonymous text, you find that your boyfriend of three years cheated on you. Now, you walk into your senior year, everything different, not knowing what to expect from the school year. However, an old friend of yours, Kylo Ren, walks back into your life, and has an interesting idea for how to get back at your ex...

Masterlist

It was, without a doubt, the worst day of your entire life. As you sat there, surrounded by your friends in the coffee shop you always haunted, you couldn’t take your eyes off of the picture you’d been sent by some unknown person. Horror and despair filled every part of your being as you examined the picture of your boyfriend full on making out with another girl. Your surroundings felt surreal, as if they didn’t exist, as if the only thing that existed in the world was you and the picture, and it was burned into your memory forever. You feared you would see it even with your eyes closed, so you continued to stare, unblinking, at the photo.

“(y/n)?” came Rey’s voice, pulling you away from the screen of your phone as tears started to form in your eyes. Everyone’s eyes were on you as you looked up, and you felt a wave of emotion washing over you as you looked into the faces of each of your friends. You handed the phone to Poe, who was right next to you, bowing your head in your misery as he examined the contents on the screen, trying your damnedest not to let the floodgates spill.

“That prick,” Poe stated before he passed the phone around. Every one of your friends examined the photo, each one letting out their personal outrage over the situation. You, though, you couldn’t even speak. You were frozen in time, your heart feeling an icy pain sweep over it before your phone was handed back to you. Once it was securely in your hand, your vocal chords started working again.

“I’m sorry guys, I have to go home,” you said as you stood up. Finn, who was sitting across the table from you, also stood. 

“I’ll give you a ride home, (y/n),” Finn offered, but you shook your head. You wanted to be alone right now, to wail in sadness on your own, undisturbed by the condolences of others. You wanted to feel every bit of pain you were feeling right now so that when Shawn inevitably came crawling back, you would be able to turn him away with as much hatred as you could muster. 

“I’ll see you guys on Monday,” you said finally before leaving the coffee shop. As you passed the glass doors into the world on the sunny August day, your eyes decided they could no longer hold back, and you wept the entire walk home.

What a way to start senior year, huh?

***

Over the course of the weekend, your phone was blowing up, much like you’d expected. Most of them were from Shawn, apologizing, begging for you to take him back, promising it would never happen again. You didn’t care, though. The calls from him became so incessant, you had to put your phone on do not disturb.

He wasn’t the only one messaging you, though. In the short span of a few hours after you’d received the photo, it seemed that everyone you went to school with knew. 

From DM’s on your instagram to people you hadn’t shared but three words with somehow getting your phone number, you felt you couldn’t even have a moment of peace to escape from the harsh reality that your boyfriend of three years had cheated on you. You almost felt like you were suffocating, with no one giving you air to breathe, or even time to process everything that was going on. It made putting your phone on do not disturb all the easier. 

Unfortunately, despite everything that happened, Monday seemed to come in a flash. As you climbed out of bed after shutting off your alarm, you walked over to the bathroom, staring at your reflection for a few minutes. You looked just as exhausted as you felt, and your depression was clear from the bags under your eyes, not to mention how puffy they still were from all the crying you’d done. Heaving a sigh, you pulled your hair back before brushing your teeth. A week ago, you’d wanted to look nice for your last first day of school, but under the circumstances, you didn’t really care about your wardrobe, and opted for leggings and a t-shirt.

As you headed out of your room and down the stairs, you could hear your mom and dad talking in hushed voices. 

“I don’t know, maybe she shouldn’t go to school just yet. She barely left her room all weekend,” your mom said, concern lacing her voice.

“It’ll probably be better for her to go to school, talk to some people, instead of being holed up in her room,” came your dad’s resigned voice. He looked like he was going to say something else, but he saw your face around the corner as you came down the last of the stairs. “Good morning sweetie.” He smiled at you, and you attempted to smile back, but you already knew it wasn’t a convincing one.

“Do you want a ride to school? It’s been raining all morning,” Your mom said, handing you your lunch box as you walked into the kitchen.

“No, it’s fine. I have my umbrella, I can walk,” you said, giving another half-assed smile. The idea of sitting in a car with your mother right now was unbearable, you just wanted to walk. After all, your school was across the street from your neighborhood’s entrance.

“Okay. Be safe. Happy last first day of school,” your mom said before giving you a hug. When she finally let go, you headed to the door, opening up the door to a slight gust of wind.

The rain was just heavy enough to be uncomfortable, and now you wished you accepted that ride. However, as you started your walk down the cul de sac you lived on, you heard a voice call from the driveway of your next door neighbors.

“Hey, (y/n)!”

 You turned your head to see Kylo Ren leaning against his beat up ‘75 Mustang. He didn’t have anything on his head, so the water fell freely onto his black hair, making some of the strands stick to the side of his cheeks. 

You and Kylo had a strange history. When the two of you were younger, and he still went by Ben, you were practically inseparable, but middle school came around and changed both of you. While you started to hang around more popular and well-behaved kids, Kylo began to hang out with the rebel crowd. Over the years, you saw Kylo less and less, only really catching glimpses of him when he came to visit his grandparents. 

You thought about what to do now. Kylo had a reputation, sure, but you couldn’t help the nagging voice of your mother coming in the back of your head, telling you to stay away from his crowd. It didn’t stop you from turning around, though.

“Hey, what’s up?” You said as you approached the end of the driveway.

“You’re not gonna walk in this, are you? I was about to head to school too, I can give you a ride,” he offered. You were a little shocked at first.The last conversation the two of you had really had was probably in seventh grade, but now he was offering you a ride? A part of you was hesitant, and couldn’t help be suspicious. Sure, he’d never done anything to you, but you couldn’t help but think of the comments made from others about him. Then, you remembered a lot of those comments came from Shawn, and what better way to piss him off than arrive at school in the car of someone he’d warned you against so many times? As petty as it was, you were angry enough to do it.

“That would be great. My mom offered me a ride, but I really didn’t want to be stuck in the car with her, even if it’s just to get to school,” you explained. Kylo gave you a half smile before pushing some of his wet hair out of his face. You smiled, your first genuine smile in days, and walked over to the passenger side of his car, closing your umbrella before climbing in. Kylo slid in as well, shutting the door before revving the engine to life. He turned his torso to look out the back window as he pulled out of the driveway, then changed gears and headed for school. 

“So how was your summer?” he asked, tapping his finger along with the bass line of the song softly playing on the speakers. You let out a sigh as you looked out the window, watching the raindrops roll down the window.

“Great, until last Thursday,” you replied, twiddling your thumbs in your lap, feeling your throat start to constrict. Stop, you thought to yourself. You told yourself you weren’t gonna cry today, get it together. 

“Oh yeah, I heard about that. What a prick,” Kylo said as he stopped at one of the many stop signs in your neighborhood. “I’ll beat his ass if you want me to.”

You chuckled lightly as you shook your head. “No, but if I change my mind, I’ll make sure to come to you first.” Kylo smiled, stopping at the red light at the end of your neighborhood. 

“Good thing you accepted my ride offer, then,” he stated as the light turned green, and the two of you pulled into the parking lot of the school, Kylo driving to his designated parking space. 

“Why’s that?” You asked, curious if Kylo had caught on to the reason you’d accepted the ride.

“Because he’s hated me since middle school. It’s cause I punched him that one time. But seeing you get out of my car, that’s gonna get him heated,” Kylo responded, a smirk on his face. Seemed like Kylo wanted to piss Shawn off as much as you did.

Kylo pulled into his parking spot, then put the car in park, checking the time. It was 7:28. The school didn’t open the door for students until 7:45. 

“You can hang out here with me, if you want. Probably wouldn’t be good for you to stand in the rain til they unlock the doors,” Kylo offered as he pulled a cigarette box out of his jacket pocket. As he pulled a cig out, he rolled the window down just enough to filter out the smoke. “Do you mind?” he asked, looking at you before lighting his cigarette. You shook your head, but rolled your window out a little just in case.

“What about you?” you asked as you turned to face Kylo. He held the lighter up to the edge of the cigarette, the flame of the lighter reflecting in his eyes for a brief moment, before he drew in a big breath, slowly exhaling the smoke out the window. 

“Well, I got caught ‘vandalizing’ the skate park off Saints Boulevard, so I was under house arrest for most of the summer. I actually just got off last week, and that’s when Mom and Dad decided I should stay with Gran and Granpa Skywalker,” he responded, looking down at his phone, and quickly typing out a message before placing it on his lap, taking another drag from his cigarette. 

“Oh shit. How long?” you asked, watching him carefully. You hadn’t had a conversation with Kylo in so long, it was weird to hear how differently things were for him than they were back then. Of course, what damage could a twelve year old do? However, you did notice that he had a lot of the same quirks, like the way he grimaced before talking, or the way he always had to have his fingers tapping. It was a strange thing to see how someone could be so different, but still remain the same. 

“Indefinitely. Mom thinks that Gran can whip me back into shape, not that I was really ever the shape her and dad wanted me in,” Kylo said with a frown. You couldn’t help but frown too. After all, everyone in town had pretty much agreed that Kylo was a disappointment child.

“Well, look on the brightside, at least you have a cool new neighbor,” you said with a smile.

“Old man Kenobi?” Kylo asked, a wicked grin on his face. You shook your head as you laughed, turning the opposite direction. It was then that you noticed a group of people watching you. Upon further inspection, you realized it was Shawn and his posse, who were all glaring daggers at you, but it was Shawn’s face that caught you most off guard. He had a look of hurt on his face, as if you’d betrayed him, simply by being in the same car as Kylo Ren. 

Kylo noticed your silence, and looked to see what you were looking at. You turned your face away, unable to look at Shawn any longer, anger and sadness building up in you. It was then that you noticed Kylo stick his hand forward, proudly flicking Shawn off, causing his face to contort with rage. Shawn turned around, and headed into the school. 

“Fuck that guy. My offer still stands,” Kylo said with a huff before taking a final drag of his cigarette before dropping the butt into the car’s ashtray. You smiled, but it was another one of those half-assed smiles as you wiped some tears from your eyes.

“It’s okay. He isn’t worth that kind of energy anyways,” you said as you looked at the clock. It was already almost 8, and you were supposed to be in homeroom at 8:15. 

“Thanks for the ride, Kylo,” you said as you opened the door to his car. 

“No problem, (y/n). If you need a ride home, too, let me know,” he said as he also climbed out of the car, locking the doors as soon as you were both out. You gave him one last smile before heading to the school entrance. 

Mos Eisley High School definitely looked different than it had when you’d left it at the end of May. More importantly, it felt different. As you walked through the halls that were beginning to crowd, with the arrivals of both buses and students who drove or were dropped off, you could feel the stares of people following you. More importantly, you could hear their whispers too.

“Apparently the girl in the pic is a sophomore at Corellia High.”

“I heard he might’ve gotten her pregnant.”

“Didn’t Shawn and (y/n) date for, like, years?”

It was definitely hard to listen to, so as you pushed past the crowds to get to homeroom, you started blocking out all the sound around you. Even as you sat down in homeroom, you had blocked everyone out so well, you didn’t even register that Finn, who was now sitting beside you, had been calling your name. 

“Hey, we were all worried about you. Did you turn off your phone?” He asked. You let out a sigh.

“No, just put it on do not disturb. He wouldn’t stop calling me,” you responded. 

“Just let us know next time. You didn’t really give anyone a warning,” Finn said, right as the 8:15 bell rang. As soon as it did, the morning announcements came on, but you didn’t even bother to listen. A part of you wished you were still sitting in Kylo’s car, even to just sit in silence and smell the cigarette smoke wafting throughout the car. The more you thought about it, the more you realized that was the most lighthearted you’d been in the past few days. You also thought about how Kylo was your new neighbor. Who knew, maybe the two of you would become friends again? You were sure your current friends, not to mention, your parents, wouldn’t really like that, but you couldn’t help but feel there was more to Kylo than met the eye.

Once the announcements were done, your homeroom teacher, Mr. Daniels, passed out your schedules. You stared at your schedule and sighed. Already, you knew you had a long senior year ahead of you.

“What lunch do you have?” Finn asked, trading his schedule with yours. The two of you had one class together, Brit Lit for fourth block. You looked at Finn’s lunch time. He had first lunch, and you had third. 

“Oh well. Poe usually gets third lunch, you’ll probably have it with him at least,” Finn said.

As it turned out, none of your friends had third lunch. You’d decided to actually look at your messages- ignoring any from Shawn- and in the groupchat, you found that everyone had either first or second lunch, leaving you all alone. Perfect. 

“Hey, I’m sure you’ll find someone to sit with,” Finn assured you. You hoped he was right.

As the bell rang, you walked with Finn, listening to him talk about being excited for senior year, and all the things you guys would get to do together. As much as you loved his enthusiasm, you still couldn’t help that feeling of dread and sorrow in your heart. You’d been hoping to involve your boyfriend in all of these senior activities, but now everything was ruined because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. 

Your first two classes of the day seemed to pass by agonizingly slow. No matter what, talking about the syllabus of the class seemed to take a lifetime, and you found yourself unable to focus, settling on doodling on the hard copies given to you by your teachers, and blocking out any sound going on around you. Everywhere you went, there were whispers, and quite frankly, it was becoming more annoying than painful. After all, even if you and Shawn had been the “star couple,” as deemed by many of your peers, it wasn’t their business to know every little detail about the situation. Hell, even you didn’t really know everything about the story. You just knew your boyfriend had cheated on you, and it left a horrible pang in your heart that refused to go away.

It felt like an eternity, but finally it was time for lunch. As relieving as it was to not be in class, you still had the problem of who you were going to sit with. Sitting alone seemed like the best option, but at the same time, you felt that if you were sitting alone, more people would come up to you unwarranted. Now you were starting to panic, at least until you felt a tap on your shoulder, and saw a shadow loom over you. You turned around and felt your face curve in a smile in relief.

“Hey, (y/n). Got no one to sit with?” Kylo asked, pushing a lock of his black hair out of his eyes. On the inside, you were letting out a huge sigh of relief. If you sat with Kylo, no one would dare mess with you.

“Was it that obvious?” you mused, giving him a half smile. 

“Not really, you just kind of had that body language. Come on, you can sit with us,” Kylo said, placing a hand on your shoulder as he led you to a secluded table by the door to the outdoor seating. One look out the window told you that the rain wasn’t going to let up by the time school was over.

Kylo sat down, and you took the seat next to him, looking at the three others sitting at the table. One of them you recognized as Gwen Phasma, who, to your knowledge, only went by Phasma. Her blonde hair was cut into a pompadour, styled with gel, and her grey eyes were lined with thick black liner. She looked up at you and gave you a smirk.

“(y/n) (y/l/n)? Pleasure to meet you, I’m Phasma.” She held out her hand to you, and you took it, making sure to have a firm grip. Phasma picked up on it and smiled. You looked over to the other two, but you didn’t really know them that well.

“(y/n), this is Alan Tabash, a junior who we adopted, and that is Sami Martinez,” Kylo introduced. You looked at the two, Alan nodded at you as he forked his school meal, and Sami waved before she went back to drawing in her sketchbook. You looked around at the group and noticed that they were all wearing black jackets with the initials K.O.R. stitched onto the pocket on the front.

“K.O.R.?” You asked, looking up at Kylo. He looked down at his jacket, then back to you.

“Yeah, Knights of Ren,” Kylo answered, almost shyly. You saw Sami roll her eyes, though you tried not to draw attention to it. 

“So, what brings you to our side of the cafeteria?” Phasma asked before taking a bite from an apple.

“Well, none of my other friends have the same lunch, so really the only person I care to sit with right now is Kylo,” you admitted as you started pulling your lunch out of your lunch box. 

“Can’t say I blame you. Mos Eisley High sure does love its gossip, and man, you are really the center of it right now,” Phasma noted. You watched as Kylo tried to subtly elbow her, but your focus had just turned to staring at the table as an iciness filled your gut. So everyone really did know, huh? Fantastic.

“Hey, I’m sorry if I upset you,” Phasma said, breaking you out of your trance. You noticed how her voice got softer, and as you looked into her eyes, so did their expression. However, the only response you could give was a forced smile.

“Hey, let me see your schedule,” came Kylo’s voice, quickly changing the subject. You fished through your backpack and pulled it out, Kylo tossing you his own. As you looked, you noticed that the two of you shared your last two classes together. “Sick, all four of us have lit together.”

You smiled up at Kylo as you handed him back his schedule. He gave you a half-smile back, and took a bite out of a brownie. In some strange way, in that moment it felt like, despite the years, nothing had really changed with you two. 

The rest of lunch was spent learning about Alan and Sami. Alan, you learned, was actually the younger brother of someone who had graduated last year, Milo Tabash. Milo and Kylo had become good friends Kylo’s freshman year, and the two formed their small group called the Knights of Ren. Sami had gotten roped in when she first transferred to Mos Eisley, having made friends with Kylo and Milo. Now, she was Milo’s girlfriend. Alan got tied in because Kylo, Sami, and Phasma embraced him with open arms. Apparently there were two more people in the Knights of Ren, but you didn’t think to ask about them. You were sure you’d meet them eventually.

Soon enough, the bell to end lunch rang, and you threw out your lunch as Kylo waited for you at the exit to the cafeteria. You quickly slung your backpack onto your shoulder and walked over to Kylo.

“Not ready for Mr. Windu’s class. He always looks like he wants to catch me doing something wrong,” Kylo remarked with a frown. You frowned as well. Anyone who was close with any of Kylo’s family was constantly making sure Kylo didn’t get up to anything, and since Kylo’s uncle was a teacher as well, that practically meant all of them watched him like a hawk.

“Well, lucky for you, no one expects me to get into trouble, so if we stick together, I’m sure everything will be okay,” you assured him. After all, you’d always been a good kid, favored by teachers and parents alike. Maybe hanging out with you would earn Kylo some slack. 

As the two of you crossed the threshold of Mr. Windu’s classroom, you froze in your tracks. You should have expected this, after all, you were both seniors, but it really was a nightmare come to fruition. You tried your hardest not to make eye contact, deciding to turn away and grab Kylo’s arm, dragging him along to the table furthest away from Shawn. Kylo didn’t ask any questions and simply went along with you, sitting down beside you at the lab table. As soon as the two of you sat down, the room went deadly silent, and you hoped and prayed for nothing to happen next.

Then you heard the sliding of a chair against the tile, footsteps following afterwards, making every inch of your body tense up and fill with anxiety.

“Hey,” came Shawn’s voice from above you, but you didn’t dare look up. You heard Kylo scoff from beside you.

“Move along, Alvarez, clearly she doesn’t want to talk to you,” Kylo said, glaring up at Shawn, his arms crossed.

“Stay out of this, Solo. (y/n), can we please talk?” Shawn bit back, his voice becoming softer when he spoke to you. You felt tears prick at your eyes, but you still didn’t budge. You wanted desperately to scream in his face, to tell him to leave you alone and never speak to you again, but you didn’t want that kind of attention. Lucky for you, Kylo picked up on how you were feeling.

“Look, you don’t deserve even a word from her, let alone a whole conversation. Fuck off, Alvarez,” Kylo said, this time his stare like daggers. Shawn gave him a sneer, and stepped back as the late bell rang.

“Watch out, (y/n), someone like him is only gonna get you into trouble,” Shawn said as he walked away. You looked up at Kylo and saw the fire in his eyes, and his fists clenched. 

Mr. Windu came in from the hallway, and began to take attendance. The more names he called out, the more you began to relax. After the syllabus was passed around, you went back to doodling, but this time on Kylo’s stuff. He did the same to you, and you had to fight to keep your laughter controlled as Kylo drew ridiculous drawing after ridiculous drawing.

“I hope you like the person sitting next to you, because that’s going to be your lab partner for the semester,” Mr. Windu stated, causing both you and Kylo to look up from your respective drawings. “That means that any projects assigned throughout the semester, the person you are sitting with is going to be your partner. I don’t want to hear any complaints, that’s just the way it is.” 

Not long after, the bell rang, and you and Kylo quickly rushed out of Mr. Windu’s classroom to avoid another confrontation.

“Thanks for fending him off,” you said to Kylo softly, looking up at him as the two of you walked through the crowded hall. 

“It’s no problem. He shouldn’t be fucking with you anyway,” Kylo stated with nonchalance. You felt a small smile embrace your lips as the two of you continued down the hall. Soon, you reached the classroom of Mr. Skywalker. Before going in, Kylo stopped, heaved a huge sigh, and the two of you walked in. 

As you looked around the room, you noticed four of your friends, Finn, Poe, Rey, and Rose. The four of them were smiling at you until they saw who you walked in with. Their expressions forced you to remember that none of them liked Kylo. You smiled back though, and noticed that Sami wasn’t sitting too far from them. You and Kylo walked over to Sami and sat in the two desks behind her.

“How was physics?” Sami asked as she closed her sketchbook and turned to face the two of you.

“Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse,” Kylo said, leaning back in his seat. Within moments, the bell rang, and Phasma walked in, settling down next to Sami.

“Alright class, welcome back,” came the voice of Mr. Skywalker from his desk. “When I call your name, you can just raise your hand. If you want to be called something else just let me know.” As Mr. Skywalker took attendance, you decided to take a peek at your phone, and noticed a text from Poe. 

Why are you sitting with Kylo Ren? 

You looked up to see Poe looking back at you with a confused look on his face. With a small sigh, you started typing away.

Catching up with an old friend. 

All three of you used to be friends in elementary school, but you and Poe split off together, leaving Kylo to find his new crowd. Now, Poe was one of those people weary of Kylo, which made you sad to think about. The three of you had such good times together when you were kids.

“I’m gonna pass out a calendar, and then we’re gonna go over the books we’re reading this semester. Don’t worry, it’s only two novels, one play, and one poem. Shouldn’t take us too long,” Mr. Skywalker said, handing the person sitting at the front of the class a pile of paper to pass around. When the calendars came to you, you looked at the assignments. Only two essays, two tests, a project, and a quiz after each piece of literature. You’d heard that there wasn’t much workload in Mr. Skywalker’s class, but you could see how the lack of grades would make it easy to pass or fail.

“Alright, everyone got one? Okay, so this semester, we’re going to be reading 1984, by Orwell, Hard Times, by Dickens, Beowulf, and Midsummer Night’s Dream,” started Mr. Skywalker. “If you’ve looked at the calendar, you’ll see the assignments for the semester. You’ll only be doing essays on Hard Times and Beowulf, but there is a partner project for Midsummer Night’s Dream, so go ahead and think about who you want to work on that with.”

After Mr. Skywalker finished talking about the assignments, you began to drown out his words, and instead watched the rain falling outside from the window behind his desk. The day hadn’t been as terrible as you had feared it would be, and for that you were thankful. You were definitely thankful for how willing Kylo was to accept you again, and you almost wondered if there was a reason behind it. It didn’t worry you, though, because at least now you had a friend who didn’t look at you like you were wounded, and didn’t expect you to talk about what was bothering you. 

You didn’t pay attention for the rest of class, and were only broken out of your trance when everyone began to pack up their things. 

“Are you gonna need a ride home?” Kylo asked, gesturing to outside the window, where the rain was getting heavier. 

“Yeah, that would be great,” you answered, pulling out your phone to see another text from Poe.

Just be careful.

The bell rang, and people rushed to get out of the door, and you started to rise from your seat. 

“Ben, come here,” came the voice of Mr. Skywalker, causing all four of you to turn around. Kylo sighed, and turned to you.

“Just wait for me outside the door, this shouldn’t take long,” he said in a very resigned voice, turning to go talk to his uncle. You did as Kylo asked, walking out with Sami and Phasma, who were talking about an event coming up, which you gathered had something to do with skating. As you passed the threshold and into the hall, you leaned against the wall next to the door, trying your hardest not to eavesdrop, but failing.

“Yeah, Uncle Luke?” you heard Kylo’s voice say, laced with annoyance.

“I just wanted to let you know I’m glad you’re hanging out with (y/n). She’s a good kid,” you heard Mr. Skywalker say.

“I know,” was Kylo’s only response before you heard his heavy footsteps heading your way. When Kylo walked out, he looked to see if you were still there, and when you were, he simply nodded for the two of you to get going. You walked together to the entrance of the school, rushing to his car as soon as you left the safety of the school. 

Once the two of you were safely in the car, you let out a laugh as Kylo started the car. In minutes, Kylo was pulling out of his parking spot, taking a spot in line with the after school traffic.

“Thanks for making today not terrible,” you said, looking over at Kylo with a smile. Kylo shrugged, but gave you a half smile as he turned to look at you.

“Hey, I understand what it’s like to go through this situation. I thought you might just want a friend who wasn’t gonna badger you about it,” he admitted.

“I appreciate it. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” You knew that at one point last year, Kylo had a girlfriend, but you weren’t aware that their relationship had ended, so now you were curious. 

“No it’s fine,” he said before pulling a cigarette out and rolling down the window. He lit the cigarette and took a couple of puffs. “I dated this girl Stella, who I met through Sami. We weren’t really super serious at first, but eventually I wanted us to be. She claimed she wanted to be too, but then I caught her with Armitage Hux. Never looked back after that, only a text to tell her we were through.” You watched as Kylo’s whole demeanor changed. Sure, he was kind of brooding before, but his posture slouched, and his eyes looked a little glossed over. 

The rest of the ride back was spent in a comfortable silence, and pretty soon the two of you were pulling into the driveway of the Skywalkers. Kylo shut the engine off, relaxing in his seat for a moment. You watched him for a brief moment, then turned to get out of the car. Without warning, Kylo placed his hand on top of yours and you turned around. His expression changed, like he’d come to some brilliant revelation. 

“This might sound a little crazy, but I’m about to make a suggestion. All I’m doing is asking that you hear me out,” he said, pushing a lone piece of hair out of his face. You simply nodded as you waited for him to explain.

“We should pretend to date.”

You looked up at him, confused, and a little in shock. Had he really just asked this? You could understand the benefit you would get from it, but you failed to see how it would help him.

“Listen,” he continued, “Shawn hates me, so it would be perfect revenge for you, something to make him realize what he lost.”

“And what about you? You can’t want to do this out of the kindness of your heart, I mean, who would?” you asked. As enticing as getting back at Shawn sounded, considering all the hurt he’d caused you, there had to be a catch.

“Look, my whole family has always liked you. Uncle Luke talking to me had me thinking about that. I’m hoping that, by pretending to date you, they’ll think I’m trying to be better, and cut me some slack,” he explained. Your confusion went away, as you nodded in understanding. If Kylo’s parents had practically kicked him out of the house, they were probably hoping for some improvement. Maybe “dating” you was all the improvement he needed. After all, it would be great to see the look on Shawn’s face if the two of you “dated.” You still had your reservations though.

“I don’t know, Kylo. Let me think about it,” you said, moving to open the door. Kylo took a piece of paper and a pen he’d found and scribbled on a piece of paper. Shortly after, he handed the paper to you.

“Here. Text me if you decide before tomorrow morning,” he said. You smiled at him. Though shocked about his proposition, you still couldn’t help appreciate how much better he’d made your day.

“Okay,” you said, taking the piece of paper out of his hand. Once you shut the door behind you, you ran across the lawn to get to your house, trying to soak in as little rain as possible.