#airplane would probably know about it and secretly make fun of him for it

[diushek]

It starts out as a joke, but Shen Yuan and his good friend Airplane (who also writes his most hated novel and his favorite character) have this friendly afternoon in a cafe in which Shen Yuan spends all his time planning what Binghe's perfect wife would be like.

She has to be strong, independent, also powerful to be equal to Luo Binghe, but she needs to love him, to want him, to adore him. She doesn't have to be a damsel in distress- even better if she saves Luo Binghe sometime!! Intelligent and strategic, she would have every reason to be respected and loved even in the harem.

And it starts off as a joke, sure, but after developing everything into the character concept, well, Shen Yuan can only think that she is the perfect wife for Luo Binghe. And that just because of that Airplane will never will write her lol

And he... forget about that after all. It's just a silly idea that doesn't really grow. So when he transmigrates into PIDW in the body of a female strong rogue cultivator, the truth is that he doesn't make the automatic association. He just wants to get some plants so he can get his penis back and move on with his life and his bestiary.

... which isn't easy when he accidentally saves the life of Emperor Luo Binghe. And oh gods, all the memories come flooding back. Yeah, WELL, he does fit certain stereotypes. But he's not a woman! He can't be a wife if he's not a woman! He can't be the perfect wife for Binghe if he is not a woman who can be a wife. Yet why does everything seem to align perfectly for him to fulfill that role!? Why is Luo Binghe so keen on giving him back his male body and making it clear that he accepts HUSBANDS in his harem!?

Poor boy, a journey of gender, sexuality, identity and discovery all in one. Someone give him an ibuprofen, he's going to need it.

[babydaddyleorio]

How they would act on a plane

These are very much crack headcanons because I needed something to help me escape my writing plateau lmao

                                    How they would act on a plane

Chrollo

-If he’s sitting next to a girl? Oh he’s flirting the whole plane ride.

-Literally won’t shut up and tells her this very extravagant story trying to woo her, the whole time eyeing the necklace that’s placed on her neck.

-Also did I mention that he’s in first class? Yeah he definitely tied up some guy in the bathroom and “borrowed” his ticket.

-He’ll order drinks for him and the girl and will secretly pay for them with her money.

-A true finesser.

-Even the flight attendants love him. He has so many numbers now.

-If he does happen to sit by himself, he’ll probably read a book while listening to classical music.

-He refuses to sleep because he feels like he has enemies everywhere watching him.

-like please you are not the main character Chrollo take the damn nap. 

Shalnark

-He's on his phone the whole time but he’s so obnoxious with it. He purposefully has his volume all the way up just to annoy everyone around him.

-He’ll play games like candy crush and laughs super loudly If he makes a match and groans sadly If he runs out lives.

-The old man next to him wants to bang his head against the chair in front of him because he literally won’t shut up.

-Doesn’t put his phone on airplane mode.

-Probably hacks into the plane. Literally will make the bathroom have the occupied sign on the whole plane ride so no one could use It.

-Has a needle in the pilot’s neck just for fun.

-Also has the plane doing loopity loops in the sky and everyone is screaming for their lives while he’s just laughing evilly.

-Claps when the plane lands.

Feitan

-He just reads the whole ride.

-If you accidentally brush his arm he gives you a death glare.

-He has to jump to reach the overhead because it’s too high.

-He woke up way too early so he’s in a “I hate everyone” type of mood.

-Hisses when the person beside him tries to open up the window.

-He accidentally sits next to an escape exit and when the flight attendant asks him If he’s ready to save others just in case something happens he’s like “....No.”

-Refuses to change his answer too

-Listens to music on his playlist and silently pretends to be in a music video.

Franklin

-Takes up all of the space and squishes you.

-You wonder how the hell his earlobes got that long and he would say something smart to you like “It’s rude to stare.”

-Well excuse me...

-Someone in front him will lean back in their seat and their hair covers the movie he’s watching. 

-Is scared to move it so he just sits there like “😐”.

-All the drinks are too small to fit in his hand so he awkwardly sips from the straw that’s poked in his apple juice box.

-Someone ends up leaning their head on his shoulder while they are sleeping.

-Doesn’t know what to do now and is frantically looking around for help.

Machi

-Knitting or sewing the whole time.

-Do not try to talk to her. She won’t respond.

-Has a window seat because she likes to peacefully look at the clouds and city lights as she’s sewing.

-Also to imagine Hisoka falling from the sky without a parachute.

-Ah, so tranquil.

-Doesn’t like riding on planes because they’re kind of scary. She would never tell anyone that though. 

-Wanted to sit next to Pakunoda but instead got stuck sitting next to a chihuahua who won’t stop yapping at her the entire ride. 

-Has to stop herself from yeeting it out the window.

-The dog will see he’s not getting through to her, so he’ll slowly raise his leg up and Machi will literally start screaming at what he’s trying to do. 

-Yeah she hates her life.

Shizuku

-You can hear pierce the veil blasting from her headphones.

-Binky has its own seat for some reason.

-She goes to the bathroom and once she sees that It’s occupied (kudos to Shalnark) she will turn to go back to her seat but already forgot where she sits.

-The type to bring a book that she never reads.

-If the person next to her is watching a movie, she’ll change It simply because she doesn't like It.

-There’s one flight attendant constantly flirting with her and she gets a lot of free drinks because of them.

-Of course she never catches on and forgets who they are every time they try to talk to her.

Phinks

-Will argue with the flight attendant about how expensive the peanuts are.

-After like five minutes, he finally buys the peanuts and once he’s about to eat them the turbulence becomes so strong that It makes them fly everywhere.

-He has to resist the urge to punch the air.

-Phinks has to have an aisle seat because he gets paranoid easily.

-Phinks will try to go to sleep but there will be a kid constantly kicking the back of his chair.

-He will turn around and would be about to throat punch the kid when suddenly he sees how hot his mom is.

-Simp mode activated.

-He’ll try to flirt with the mom but the kid will notice and he ends up “accidentally” squirting his drink in Phinks face.

-Yeah It’s on sight when he gets off the plane.

Nobunaga

-Watches a movie, probably one dealing with samurai. 

-Somehow got past security with his Katana?

-Most likely because of Shalnark

-Ate really bad airport food which messed up his stomach.

-Feels sick and tries to hold It in, but you can tell by his face that he’s struggling. The old lady beside him stares with wide eyes once she hears his stomach literally start beat boxing.

-He runs down the aisle clenching his cheeks and knocks harshly on the bathroom door, but he sees that sign says occupied.

-Nobunaga is shouting at the non-existent person in there to hurry up holding his stomach.

-Shalnark Is eating popcorn and laughing at Nobunaga as he watches him through the security camera.

-Goes to ask the flight attendant for hemorrhoid cream

Pakunoda 

-Is really nice and will talk to you If you start a conversation with her

-Has earbuds packed for the altitudes and offers you some as well

-Turns her brightness down as she reads smut on her phone. Literally turned her whole body and everything so no one could see the words.

-Her face is so red as she stares at her phone and the flight attendant is so concerned that they ask if she’s okay. Pakunoda jumps so high and almost chucks her phone once she sees them standing over her, scared that they’ll see that she commented “😩💦” under the fanfic.

-Brings homemade snacks and sandwiches that no one wants 

-Has a window seat because she wanted to look out the window and see how small the land is below her

-Unlike Machi, Pakunoda has a cat sitting next to her and the cat absolutely loves her.

-Will probably steal it 

Uvogin

-sleeps the whole ride with a mask over his eyes and a neck pillow that he swiped from someone earlier.

-He snores sooo loudly and everyone around him is irritated because they can’t go to sleep because of It

-He would eat all the food on the plane

-Is the type to laugh very loudly at the movie playing or give commentary about each scene that’s happening

-Didn’t bring any luggage with him and… yeah...

-His head touches the ceiling of the plane and Its really uncomfortable 

-Has no Idea where he’s going but got on the plane anyway

Hisoka (honorable mention)

-Somehow sits in first class with Chrollo and once Chrollo sees him he almost loses his shit

- “This seat is taken.” Chrollo would say while staring straight ahead but Hisoka ignores him and sits down anyway.

- “Do you not enjoy my company?” He’d tease while licking his lips.

-Chrollo immediately gets him kicked out.

-So now he’s stuck in economy with the rest of the troupe. None of them let him sit with them either.

-Finds an empty seat and sits down In it and starts laughing to himself because he’s plotting on how to get back to first class.

-The person sitting next to Hisoka is legit terrified and they side eye him the whole ride while clutching their bag to their chest.

-Will trip people walking down the aisle with his bungee gum.

-He would purposefully take his time to get his bag out, creating a long line for no reason.

-Whole time doesn’t even have a bag.

-Is banned from ever riding a plane again.

[asian-hero]

i have a weird questions, which one out of the mha characters would actually enjoy going to the museum? like i loved going there before corona and it’s my dream to have dates just going and looking at the fossils and looking at the egypt part- but who would want to go as well (this could be platonic or romantic coevckrbdjdh -❤️)

A/N: Hi ❤️ anon I honestly picked the three most nerdy kids from 1A, so I hope you enjoy :)

Also full disclosure while I have been to a handful of museums myself, I’ve literally only paid attention to the arts section, and even then I wasn’t really there mentally, so forgive me if this sounds dumb

Iida Tenya

Tenya’s favorite place to take you out on a date would be the museum. His perfect idea for a date would be to just wander around the museum while giving you small factoids about each sight you see. Whether you’re in the renaissance era of paintings or the weapons display dating back to 700 B.C.E., he’ll know at least a few facts to keep you entertained

Though he does tell you much about the history about whatever you’re looking at, he also enjoys hearing your own facts about any given time period, as well as any theories you may have about a certain topic, regardless if they have any factual bearings

You told him about the theory that aliens built the pyramids of Egypt, and though he chastised you about saying that so loudly in the Egypt section of the museum, he was doing his best to hold in his laughter at just how ridiculous that sounded

Tenya’s favorite museums to visit with you have to be any historical museum because it both gives you things to talk about while also being intellectually stimulating. He loves walking through the “gadgets” part of the exhibition, as he loves to see how technology has advanced as time goes on. It’s also the section that he probably has the most information on, so if you want to see him light up like a Christmas tree, take him to that section

Museums also give him an excuse to hold your hand under the guise of not wanting you to “get lost.” While you know he just likes holding your hand, you never call him out on it, because he’s usually always prude about those things and you don’t want to ruin the moment. Whenever he squeezes your hand gently as you walk through the halls you can feel your heart squeeze as well

Overall, museum dates with Tenya are practically the only dates you go on, and you wouldn’t change that for the world

Yaoyorozu Momo

While the two of you don’t necessarily go on museum dates often, it always ends up being a magical experience. Momo secretly wishes the two of you would go together more often because she loves those kinds of things, but she doesn’t want you to think she’s boring, so she almost never offers it, but gets extremely happy is you suggest it

Her favorite type of museum would be, as silly as it sounds, but the science and technology museums. Similar to those that you would visit as a child because they had plenty of fun activities, but also the ones that teach you about the inner workings of technology through the years. She loves going to the fun science museums with you because it gives you plenty of activities to do while also not boring you, though you could never be bored with her

She also loves to read about the composition of certain technologies, such as airplanes and simple things such as a compass. Since her quirk relies on her knowledge of the composition of any given item, she’s found that she actually enjoys being able to know what everything is made of, and it also helps her to train her quirk better

Whenever the two of you first step foot into the museum, she’s very reserved about the things she finds interesting, and she doesn’t really say much. However, once she sees something that really piques her interest, she starts to get more excited, and she excitedly starts listing off the materials of any given item, and it’s honestly the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Even if you’re not really interested in the museum, seeing her get all excited about it makes it all worth it

There was one time during your date when Momo seemed to have spaced out on a fancy looking compass, and before you could even ask her what she was thinking about, she simply stated “I could make that” and then walked over to the next exhibit

Later that day she in fact did make that fancy compass and gifted it to you as a present for taking her to the museum. It’s still one of your most treasured possessions

Midoriya Izuku

Izuku is a certified nerd who loves going to museums. While yes, he’s nerdy about heroes, he’s also nerdy about so many other things. It’ll take a while for him to even suggest the two of you to go on a museum date, because every time he’s ever shown people his interest in something, it usually ends up with him rambling on about what he likes, and eventually causes everyone around him to tell him to shut up. So, you’ll have to be the first to suggest a museum date if you ever want to see him get really excited

His favorite type of museum would have to be the natural history museum or a simple history museum. He loves the natural history museums because he enjoys learning about how things evolve, and he absolutely was a dinosaur kid. He’ll know nearly everything about every single dinosaur in that building and he will tell you about it

At first, he’s a little reserved when it comes to sharing his knowledge. Of course, you can see how excited he is, since he’s never been one to be good at hiding things, but he never really speaks up. You can see the glimmer of excitement in his eyes, but the most that comes out of his mouth is “wow that’s really cool, did you know they could do that?” So, you’ll have to be the one to ask him “Hey, Izu, what was so special about this dinosaur?” It’ll get him started real quick

As he gets more comfortable with you, and he realizes that you won’t shut him down once he starts going, and that you actually like to hear what he has to say, then he’ll start being his normal nerdy self. He’ll start talking about when a certain dinosaur was supposedly around, what their diet was like, if there was any scientific arguments about what that animals temper was like, what its normal everyday life would be like, just things that normally people wouldn’t necessarily know from just looking at the plaques next to the fossils

It’s the cutest thing to see him get so excited, so you simply link your arms together as the two of you walk around the museum, listening to him as he lists off the numerous amounts of facts he knows about any given animal or plant in a given room

After your first museum date with Izuku, you make a mental reminder to take him there whenever he’s feeling upset, because you know that it’ll lift his mood right up

[k-pop-imagines]

ATEEZ Reaction || You call him in the middle of the night

>>> HONGJOONG <<<

You had a pretty bad day and when you come home from your shift, you badly need to talk and maybe vent to someone. 

You try calling Hongjoong but he doesn’t pick up. You give up after about three tries, remembering that he’s probably in the studio and his phone is either on silent, airplane more, or completely shut off. 

He calls you back as soon as he takes a break and checks his phone for the first time in hours. 

You playfully scold him, telling him that he shouldn’t be up this late since he’s got a schedule early in the morning, in a few hours. But you also understand that once he’s got an idea stuck in his head, he simply can’t rest until it’s written down. 

You confess that you haven’t had a very good day and despite his work, he’ll take the time to listen to you. 

Hongjoong rambles about his own day afterwards to take your mind off of your issues. He’ll talk about what he’s working on and ask your opinion on a few things before urging you to go to sleep, promising he’ll be home with you soon. 

>>> SEONGHWA <<<

When his phone starts ringing on the nightstand, he stirs almost immediately. 

He’s a little disorientated at first but as soon as he sees your name on the display, he’s wide awake. 

Seonghwa is super confused and very, very worried. You never called him this late - or this early - before. Did something happen? Were you hurt? Did you get into an accident? The wildest scenarios run through his head in the few seconds it takes for him to reach the phone and accept the call. 

“What’s up? Are you okay?”  When you hear the worry in his voice, you instantly feel bad for contacting him. You beat around the bush for a while, feeling embarrassed about the reason you were calling. 

“I just wanted to hear your voice...” 

After hearing your words, he sighs in relief and lets out a small chuckle. 

Even though Seonghwa is really tired, he talks about his day for a while and will even sing you a lullaby, if you ask nicely. 

>>> YUNHO <<<

It takes quite a while for him to wake up and realize what exactly is going on. He spends a few minutes searching for his phone, almost missing your call. 

His voice sounds hoarse and drowsy when he picks up and asks what’s up, making you feel bad for waking him up. 

“So, uhm. I’ve got a small problem. No. A big one, actually.” 

He forces himself to sit up straight and focus on your words despite still being half-asleep. “Which is?” 

“There’s a bug in my bedroom. A huge one. Like, a moth the size of my head.”

Yunho lets out a small laugh, not because he’s making fun of you, but because he finds it absolutely adorable. He also feels kind of honored that your first instinct was to call him. 

Even though it takes some convincing, he agrees to come over to save you from the vicious beast, secretly hoping you were just exaggerating when you described its size. 

>>> YEOSANG <<<

You feel lonely. ATEEZ left to go on tour around two weeks ago and while you try to keep in contact, Yeosang is often very tired after performing or busy with oversea schedules. 

Today, after an extremely stressful argument with your boss, you just need to hear your boyfriend’s voice, even if it’s only for a few seconds. 

When he picks up the phone and drowsily asks if you know what time it is, it hits you. Somehow, you completely forgot about the time difference and that it was the middle of the night for him. 

Yeosang playfully scolds you but he’s secretly very happy that you decided to call him, even if the timing wasn’t the best. 

He talks a little about the concert, keeping his voice as quiet as possible so he doesn’t wake up his roommate. 

You end up talking for almost an hour when he realizes that he has to get up soon and has to end the call, but you’re more than thankful for the time you got to have with him. 

>>> SAN <<<

San is utterly confused when he wakes up to the personalized ringtone he set for you. It’s 2am and you had met just a few hours earlier, was everything alright? 

“What’s up, love?”, he asks, trying to sound as awake as possible even though he could barely keep his eyes open. 

“I’m sorry for calling you in the middle of the night... but I had a nightmare and I can’t fall back asleep.”

He tries to comfort you, even offering to come over but you decline, knowing that he’d have to get up early and you didn’t want to inconvenience him even more. 

His comforting words turn into mindless talks about literally anything that could distract you but he’s so tired that he ends up falling asleep in the middle of the conversation. Lucky for him, the same thing happens on the other end of the line. 

>>> MINGI <<<

The sound of thunder and the flickering night sky wake you up abruptly.  Instinctively, you reach for your phone and dial your boyfriend’s number. 

Mingi blindly tries to find his phone, head still pressed into the pillow. The only sound greeting you is a barely audible “Mhm?”, indicating that he was fast asleep until know. 

“Ah, did I wake you up? I’m sorry,” you quickly apologize but Mingi tells you not to worry and that he was awake anyway, even though that was a blatant lie. He just didn’t want you to feel bad. 

“I know you don’t like thunderstorms, so I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” He smiles softly at your words. 

The two of you talk about each other’s day, trying to distract and comfort the other through the loud noises outside. All the fear either of you had was washed away. 

You talk for a long time, a few hours until the storm is over and both of you can go back to sleep peacefully.

>>> WOOYOUNG <<<

It’s the middle of the night and you want, no, you need cuddles. And you are willing to risk an annoyed or even angry Wooyoung to get them. 

It takes a few minutes and two failed call attempts for him to wake up and pick up his phone. 

He’s cranky and does not appreciate the fact that you woke him up. When you state your reasoning, he does soften up a little, though. 

“I’ll give you a kiss if you come over and cuddle me.” “Meh.” “Two kisses?” “You got anything better?” “Fine, I’ll order pizza as well.” “I’m on my way, babe.”  

There is no way in hell he would admit that he would have come over anyway. He craves affection just as much as you do and was genuinely glad you woke him up for a cuddle session. 

>>> JONGHO <<<

Jongho doesn’t wake up by himself, Seonghwa comes over from the other room because he heard the phone ringing and shakes the maknae awake to have him pick up his call. 

“I think there’s a ghost in my apartment.” 

Once he’s awake, as awake as one can be at 3am, he listens intently. 

A part of him desperately wants to tease you but when he hears in your voice that you’re genuinely scared, he stops himself and tries to take you seriously.

You explain what kind of paranormal events have been happening recently, and especially this night. He tries to give reasonable explanations but you refute all of them.  “It’s probably your neighbor walking around upstairs.” “She’s on vacation.”  “There could be mice in the walls.” “We had an exterminator here yesterday, he said everything was clean.”

He sighs, and even though he is definitely sleep-deprived, he decides to rush over to protect you.  

[dracoyoflam]

WML Chapter 1: One Day

A/N: This is a brand new story that I just started called 'Where's My Love'. I will try to update with new chapters as often as I can. I am also writing new chapters for the HDTH sequel so stay tuned for new chapters for that. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

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Hermione was sitting at her desk working on a pile of paperwork that had been handed to her that day and of course, had to be finished by the end of the day. She loved her job most of the time but things like this stressed her out.

‘It’s going to be another late night.’ She thought to herself, annoyed.

She pulled out a purple memo pad and started writing. She needed to let Ron know that she would be working late tonight and to make dinner plans for himself.

She wrote a quick note and sealed it shut. The paper folded up into an airplane and took off out of her office. She had been sending him interdepartmental memos that said basically the same thing far too often lately.

She felt bad about all the extra workload, but she offered to help out the department when one of their best employees left for maternity leave. Her boss thought she was up to the task and she didn’t want to let him down.

Things would lighten up soon and until then she would just have to suck it up and deal with an angry husband. Honestly, she didn’t really care as much as she should but their marriage was anything but perfect.

On the outside, everything probably looked great and everyone thought they had an amazing relationship but on the inside, their marriage was falling apart.

Ron had been distant and started pulling away a few months ago and now that she was having so many late nights at work, she could feel him pulling even further away.

She knew that she should care a lot more, but they hadn’t been truly happy in their marriage since the first year. They married too young, and they were so naïve. They thought that because of everything they had been through that it proved something. Like it was fate for them to be together but apparently, it wasn’t.

Hermione got up and grabbed the finished half of work and walked out of her office with it. She went over to the delivery system but of course, it was still broken. She wasn’t surprised. That thing had been broken for about two weeks now and there was no sign of it getting fixed any time soon.

She sighed.

‘Well, at least I can get out of that stuffy office for a few minutes.’

She started walking and got in the elevator to take her to her boss’s office. It usually only took about three minutes to make it from her office to his… not that she timed it.

She grinned a little to herself. She secretly didn’t mind that the delivery system was broken because she didn’t mind that she had to see her boss. She would never admit it but it was becoming her favorite part of her work routine.

She would never act on any of the things she felt but she loved to look at him and talk to him. He was intelligent and could carry a conversation a million times better than Ron could dream of. He also had a way of making everything feel sexy, even in their dreary office setting.

She finally exited the elevator and walked a few steps forward before turning and entering his office. He was sitting in his chair and he was focused on writing whatever it was in front of him.

He ran his hand through his blonde hair and some loose hair fell back into his face. He was clearly stressed about something, and he obviously didn’t notice her enter the office.

Hermione gently cleared her throat to get his attention. He immediately looked up and smirked at her.

“Did you miss me, Granger? This is the third time this week.” He chuckled lightly at her.

She smiled back and walked forward to set the stack of files at the end of his desk.

“Of course, I did Malfoy..” She joked. “and also, the delivery thing is still broken.” She laughed lightly.

He raised his eyebrow at her.

“That thing is still broken?” He rolled his eyes.

Then, he squinted at her and looked her up and down.

“You didn’t curse it just so you would have a reason to come see me… did you?” He asked jokingly.

She laughed at him.

“Maybe.” She simply replied as she continued to laugh.

He sighed and sat back in his chair.

“That thing will never get fixed. I’m sorry you have to keep coming up here. I’m also sorry that you got stuck with extra work again.”

He motioned to the files she had set down on his desk.

She waved him off and smiled at him.

“It’s fine. It has to get done and I don’t mind helping out where I can.”

It was the truth and she felt less aggravated about it now that she was having the best part of her day. Draco Malfoy had been promoted to her boss a couple of years ago and they worked really hard to get on good terms with each other.

If she was honest, she was proud of him as a person now. He had come a long way from who he was in school. Even Harry and Ron came around eventually, not that they had much choice. They all worked together, and he was Hermione’s boss.

They even had evenings where they would all get together and do different things. Either to a bar or sometimes over to Malfoy’s house for drinks and games.

She went to turn around and leave when he stopped her.

“Wait, Granger. Would you mind helping me out with a special project? I know you have a lot on your plate right now but…”

“I’ll do it.” She said, cutting him off before he could finish.

“You don’t even know what it is.” He laughed.

‘He’s so pretty when he smiles.’ She thought to herself.

She had to shake the thought and hoped he didn’t see the slight blush that covered her cheeks.

“It’s fine. Whatever it is. I like to help out and I know you wouldn’t ask unless it was important.”

She smiled back and he seemed to sigh in relief to her saying yes.

“Great. Thank you. I will send you the details later when I get a chance.”

She nodded her head to him.

“Sounds good. I’ve got to get back to work if I plan on finishing the last of those reports.”

She slowly turned and started walking towards the door.

“Wait.” He stood up from his chair and walked over to her.

They were both standing, facing each other in the doorway.

“Are you sure that you’re okay to be staying late and doing all this extra work? I’m sure I could figure something else out. I mean, you do have a life and a husband to get back to.”

Hermione mentally groaned. ‘What life?’ She thought sarcastically.

“It’s completely fine. I really don’t mind and I honestly don’t have much of a life outside of work anyway. As for my husband, I doubt he even notices that I’m gone.”

It fell from her lips before she could stop herself.

Her body stiffened slightly at the surprise of her accidental honesty. She cleared her throat and avoided eye contact.

“I’ve got a lot of work to get back to. Goodnight, Malfoy.” She flashed him a quick smile as she walked out of the office and back to the elevator.

‘Oh no, did I really just say that?’ She stepped into the elevator, and she closed her eyes and let her head fall back. She was tired and now embarrassed.

She groaned. ‘I could kick myself. I can’t believe I told him that.’

They were friends in a way and they liked to flirt in a fun and obvious way that they never took seriously but to put her marriage problems out in the open like that was humiliating.

She looked down at her shoes and felt a tear escape and fall to the floor. She was thankful that she was alone. It was late enough that most people in their department had already left.

She wiped her eyes and sucked in a deep breath to calm her nerves. Then, when the elevator stopped, she stepped out and rushed into her office.

‘I’m so stupid.’ She thought angrily at herself. She was completely humiliated.

She plopped down into her chair and pulled out the next folder to work on.

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

About 4 hours later…

She had just finished the rest of the assignments. She rushed through the last quarter of the stack to save on time. She was really hoping that they would still be acceptable.

She usually tried to be a perfectionist about everything but she was exhausted from all the extra hours and stress at home so she figured that maybe one time, not being perfect, would be alright.

When she walked into Malfoy’s office, she was surprised to see him still sitting at his desk. She had fully expected him to be long gone and she almost screamed out when she saw him.

She almost dropped the big stack of papers in her arms and gasped out loud.

“Oh godric! You scared me. I thought everyone had gone by now.” She said as she tried to regain her footing.

He chuckled softly and shook his head. Clearly, he found it amusing.

“Sorry, just finishing up on a few things.” He got up from his chair and walked over to her.

He grabbed the large stack from her arms and walked over to his desk where he dropped them in a pile where she had placed the stack from earlier which was now gone. He sighed and dropped back into his chair.

“I hope the documents are acceptable. I wanted to get them all finished tonight so a couple of them may have been a bit rushed.” She said.

He smiled at her.

“I do not doubt that they are all perfect. Thank you again for all the extra time and work you’ve been putting in lately.”

She smiled back.

“I hope so and of course. As I said, I don’t mind helping out.”

She tried to suppress a small yawn, but he noticed and laughed softly at her.

“You are exhausted. Go home and get some rest.” He said simply.

She nodded to him. “Okay. Good night. I’m sure I will see you tomorrow.”

Then, she turned away and waved behind her as she walked out the door. She didn’t realize how tired she was until he mentioned bed. She quickly grabbed her things from her office and gradually made her way to the entrance of the Ministry where she was able to floo home.

She walked into her living room and set her things down on a corner table. She was so tired that she didn’t notice the woman’s blouse thrown on the back of the couch.

She slowly walked down the hall to their bedroom but she stopped when she thought she heard strange noises coming from inside. She quietly moved closer and leaned toward the door to hear better.

She heard a man and woman in bed, moaning and gasping with each other. She stood straight up and her mouth fell open in shock. She didn’t know what to think or what to do.

She felt her eyes burn as tears started to flow down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and took a deep breath as she opened the door and walked inside the room.

[bubble-tae]

Bad Bait

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Angst/Lil Fluff/High School AU

Word Count: 2.5k

Summary: Your attempt to catfish cheaters goes awry when you get a message from a cute boy at school.

(A/N: This was meant to be a drabble response but I got a bit carried away! Thank you to @ddaengyoonmin​ for helping me edit and giving me the confidence to post and lovely @baepsaesbae​ for the request) 

reposted from old account

You didn’t mean to take it this far, I mean it only started as some dumb sleepover prank. For nearly 6 weeks, you had been pretending to be a girl from out of town online, catfishing different guys in your class to catch them cheating. You’d send screenshots to their girlfriends of them asking for nudes. It broke your heart to deliver news like this to these girls, but after a while it felt like an obligation. Everything was all fun and games until Taehyung fell into your lap. He was a senior who stumbled across your fake Instagram account when all his friends started following it. It all started innocently enough, a few likes, a couple heart eyes on some pics (that were of some pretty model), but before you knew it, he had slipped into your dms.

You had seen him around school before, hell, no one could mistake that gorgeous laugh for anyone but him. He wasn’t popular, but he seemed to be part of almost every group and club. Taehyung was in theater, played soccer, and even is the Vice President of the art club. He would have been a shoe in for Homecoming King earlier that year if it hadn’t gone to Kim Seokjin (now he was popular, and cheating on the Homecoming Queen). Taehyung was known, that was for sure, and anyone that met him had to of had the biggest crush on him. When he first messaged you that simple “hey”, you ignored it. As far as you knew he wasn’t dating anyone so there really was no need to talk to him at all, but one bored Saturday night, you figured why the hell not.

It wasn’t anything for a while, he seemed boring and just like all the other guys that found their way to your account, but things slowly picked up around a week later when he started his good morning messages. Soon he was sending you pictures with a big grin and a peace sign and asking all about you; what you like to do for fun, what job you wanted, even little things like what your favorite candy was. Through this, you got to know him too. Taehyung secretly loved to sing, he wanted to be a freelance artist, and how much he loved brownies.

“He doesn’t even know you exist.” Your best friend said from the driver seat of her car. You had both just pulled up to school, the foggy Monday air clouding up the parking lot.

“What’s it matter anyways?” you asked, pulling down the mirror to fix your hair. Your best friend cackled next to you.

“The matter is that you like him, and he likes her.” They pointed at your phone in the cup holder. You closed the mirror and rolled your eyes.

“I don’t like him.” just as you said this your phone chimed, but your friend picked it up faster than you could. They opened your phone, a picture of Taehyung taking over the screen. He was posing with a little fluffy dog, a fake pouty look on his face. Your friend read the message out mockingly.

“ ‘Baby boy cried the whole time I was getting ready, guess he doesn’t want me to go to school. Hope you are having a better morning than I am beautiful.’ Fuck, I’d cry for him to stay too if my owner looked like that.” Your friend held down the picture with their thumb, saving it as your lock screen. You leaned over and snatched it back from their hands.

“He’s just being nice!” you proclaimed.

“Yeah, sure,” your friend said, “and pigs can fly.”

“Wasn’t your mom on an airplane last week?” you joked. They hit your side as the bell rang. “Not funny.” You got out of the car and started to make your way to class, Taehyung’s morning message forgotten thanks to your first period calculus exam.

* * *

It was lunch time, and though you were desperately craving the cafeteria chicken nuggets, you knew you had to finish up some last minute notes that were due today. You headed to the library, where you found it mostly empty safe for a few studious peers. There was an empty table near the back, so you pulled out a chair and took your book out from your bag. With earbuds in, you fell into your own little world, taking notes on the 15th century Tudor period. It wasn’t long before you were interrupted by someone grazing the back side of your seat trying to reach a book on the shelf behind you. You were about to give them a dirty look when you turned around, but you were taken back by a face you had never seen this close before.

“Sorry.” Taehyung muttered with a smile, book under arm. You didn’t say anything, your mouth agape as you froze in the moment. He was prettier in person, and when he pushed his curly brown hair back and made his way to the front of the table, you swore your heart stopped beating. He pointed to the chair just across from you. “This seat taken.”

“No.” you finally croaked out, taking your earbuds out. There was no reason to be this nervous, he was just a person you told yourself. He sat down in the chair and open the book, cover facing you. The front read “1984”. He peeked over the top of the book, and that’s when you realized you were staring. Taehyung brought the book down to his lap.

“Sorry if I disrupted your flow.” he said.

“Oh no, it was kind of boring anyways.” That was sort of a lie, part of you actually enjoyed getting wrapped up in your work, but it could wait. “What are you reading?”. You knew what he was reading, in fact you read it just last month, but you felt an insatiable need to keep talking to him. His voice was different than you thought, more sultry and smooth.

“1984, I guess it’s about a society living under constant surveillance.”

“Aren’t we already?” you quipped. He laughed and blush spread across your cheeks.  

“I guess so.” he said. “It was recommended to me.”

‘Yeah, by me.’ You thought. “You going to check it out?”

“I don’t know, I’m not really much of a reader.”

“Yeah you’ve told me.” the words left your mouth before you had the chance to stop them. He put the book down, smile disappearing as he leaned back in his chair. You bit your lip, trying to think of some way out of this.

“What? Do we know each other?” he finally asked, brows furrowed down but eyes still cautious as he scanned your face more intensely.

“Freshman year. English.” you lied, hoping he wouldn’t ask what teacher you had. Your legs were bouncing under the table, and you only hoped that he didn’t notice how your body shook.

“But…” he started, trying to remember if he has ever met you. “I’ve never told you that before.”

“Must have been someone else then.” you spat out quickly, standing up and shoving your things in your bag. “Gotta run, nice chat.” He stood up too, confused from the change in the environment. You sling your bag over your shoulder, but as you start to leave you trip slightly on the leg of the table, and your phone falls to the ground. It lands screen up, and if this situation couldn’t get any worse, it turns on, displaying the picture Taehyung took that morning. He stopped in his tracks and stared down at your phone.

“Am I your lock screen?” he asked, almost disgusted. You pick your phone off the ground quickly.

“You weren’t supposed to see that.” The two of you eyed each other uncomfortably in the silent library. No one had even noticed that anything strange was going on. Taehyung looked around the library and then leaned in slightly.

“Are you stalking me?” he whispered.

“Taehyung, let me explain” you started to say before he cut you off.

“Oh my god, you’re stalking me!” he said a little louder and angrier this time. A kid at a nearby table looked up for a moment before returning to his laptop.

“Will you shut up?” you whisper shouted. “I’m not stalking you.”

“Then what the fuck is that?” he pointed to your phone. You let out a sigh and rubbed at your temples. ‘This is a fucking disaster.’ you wanted to say.  

“You sent it to me this morning, my friend put it as my lock screen as a joke.” You could tell he didn’t believe you, why would he, he had never spoken to you before, let alone sent a picture with the intent of you seeing it.

“I didn’t send you that.”

“Well, you sort of did.” you opened your phone and pulled out the messages, his text from this morning displayed on your screen.

“How did you get her messages?” he asked, taking the phone from your hands to inspect it further.

“They are my messages.” he looked back up at you still confused. There was only one way he was going to understand this. “She’s not real.” Taehyung’s face fell as he looked down at the phone again, the words hitting him slowly.

“What?” he said, not really asking.

“Taehyung…” you said, taking a step forward. He took one back.

“What’s your real name?”

“Y/N.” you answered.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Y/N?” he said, hurt dripping over ever word. He put your phone down on the table and grabbed his stuff.

“I can explain!” you tried, the people in the room watching the two of you. He turned around as he started to leave, eyes just a little bit glossy.

“Don’t talk to me, creep.” he hissed before storming out of the library, leaving you standing alone with all eyes on you.

* * *

You probably couldn’t fix it, and you didn’t really intend to, but you at least wanted to try and make it hurt less. Hurt less for him or you, that you didn’t know. There you stood at his front door, plate of brownies in hand, trying to muck up the courage to ring the doorbell. This was much harder than hiding behind your phone. Your hand lifted to the doorbell, but you heard the lock click out of place before the door opened. Taehyung was in the doorway, a displeased look on his face.

“You’ve been standing here for five minutes, I figured I’d tell you to get lost myself.” He picked at his fingernails as if he didn’t care. It stung a little, to have him suddenly be so cold to you, but you knew you deserved it.

“At least take the brownies.” you held the plate in front of them. He squinted his eyes at the brownies, then at you.

“They aren’t poisoned, are they?” he took the plate from your hands, still suspicious.

“No, but they are fudge brownies” his favorite kind. He contemplated something for a minute before opening the front door wider and stepping to one side.

“You have until I finish the brownies to explain.” you thought that maybe he was kidding, but when you both were inside, he motioned for you sit on the couch next to him as he started to stuff his face.

“I know how this looks from your end.” you began, “I didn’t intend on leading you to believe I was this other person. The account wasn’t even made for you, but kind of to catch this one guy who was cheating. One guy turned into two, and before I knew it, it kind of just became my thing.” Taehyung shoved a second brownie in his mouth and crumbs dribbled down his chin and onto his jeans, which he brushed onto the floor, some of them landing on the tops of your shoes.  

You tried to continue but Taehyung shoved a third brownie into his mouth before he finished chewing the second. “Dude, you’re going to choke.” you said to him. He stopped chewing suddenly, looking at you with cheeks full. He motioned with his hands for you to keep talking.

“Anyways,” you shook your head in disbelief. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I never meant for you to get tangled up in all this mess. I wasn’t faking anything, everything I said came from me, Y/N. If you wanna be friends or something, that’s great, but if you want to pretend I never existed, I understand.” The last part hurt to say, but you knew you would have to respect his boundaries. Taehyung finally finished chewing what was in his mouth, swallowing hard as leaned back into the couch.

“Wow,” he nodded to himself, “so you’re The Fisherman?”

“The what?”

“The one who’s been catching all the cheaters. Catfish turned into Fisherman, how about that?” he wiped some of the remaining crumbs from his pants and contemplated grabbing another brownie.

“I guess so? I didn’t know I had another identity.”

“You’re like a modern day Robin Hood.” he leaned onto his knees and getting closer to you. “I knew it.” You let out a laugh at that. Of course he didn’t know.

“So you’re not upset?” you questioned.

“Oh no, I’m fucking pissed.” he placed a hand on your knee, “but I’m also impressed.” You were taken back by his words. He saw the expression on your face and elaborated.

“You caught 6 different dudes cheating on their girlfriends and still no one knows it’s you. That takes a genius.”

“It’s actually 9.” you corrected. He threw his hands air up in the air in disbelief.

“That’s amazing!” he shouted. “I think I like you more than the girl in the screen.” His smile was lazy and genuine and his outright honesty made your face burn. He scooted just an inch closer, a little hesitantly. “So, everything we talked about was really you?” You recognized for the first time how soft his features were in person, eyes glittering with curiosity. His lips were slightly parted, and you wished to know how they felt. You blinked away the thought, almost embarrassed for having it.

“It was always me.” He laughed at your cheesy line and pinched your cheeks, pulling at them.

“You’re not wearing a mask, are you?” he joked. You pulled his hand away, keeping it in yours as it fell into your lap.

“No more surprises.”

“Don’t I get a chance to surprise you?” he asked, licking his lips and moving in closer. You felt your heart beat faster until it was in your throat, and time slowed. You cursed your sweaty palms and quivering lip, Taehyung’s eyes half closed as he was only inches from your face. You closed your eyes and waited for him to kiss you. His lips tickled against yours, so close but not yet touching, before he averted his mouth upward to plant a kiss on your nose. He pulled away with a wide smirk, and you let go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

“That’s not fair.” you breathed out. He pulled your hand into his lap to play with your fingers.

“I know.” he said before biting his lip and looking back up at with bashful eyes. Taehyung was a tease, but you knew that you couldn’t wait for for more of his surprises.

[uwumessenger]

Hiya!! I love your blog and your headcannons! I don't know if your requests are open right now, if they aren't feel free to ignore this and I'm sorry for asking. But if they are! I was wondering how the RFA + V and Saeran would react to an Australian MC or just an MC who isn't from South Korea. Thank you so much in advance! Hope you have a good one!

thank you for requesting!! and sorry for taking so long aha AP tests still kiLLINg me softly eue and sorry about these being a bit short too!! but i hope you enjoy <3

also let’s assume that MC has very recently moved to south korea and just pretend language barriers dont exist here aHAHA B)

Yoosung

when he firsts speaks to you on the phone, he’s surprised by your voice!

he also has no idea what you look like, so he’d definitely wonder about that for a while

BEGS seven to give you access to send photos T-T

but he has a lot of fun getting to know you and where you’re from, especially because he hasn’t travelled as much as anyone else in RFA

when he finally meets you he thinks back to when he was first imagining what you looked like

and tells you all about it

also teaches you a lot of cool youthful slang B)

you both immediately plan a trip to australia (or for other MC’s, insert your home country) aT THE PARTY-

Zen

zen would also spend a lot of time wondering about what you look like

he wants to know your skin type especially, so he can recommend products to you

lots of conversations that include comparing different skincare brands and products

convos about the best places to hold photoshoots also take place

when all the chaos dies down he takes you out to sightsee all the popular places as well as any hidden gems he knows of

if zen wasn’t an actor he could definitely do well as a tour guide haha

Jaehee

since jaehee is one of the few members who are suspecting of you, she’d first disguise her investigation tactics as getting-to-know-you

but eventually she’d find herself genuinely interested in you

your lifestyle just sounds so much more fun compared to hers

like yoosung, she doesn’t get to travel around as much as the rest

so you both sit down and plan a round trip to a bunch of places you guys wanna see, then to australia (or for other MC’s, insert your home country), and back to south korea

of course she wants you to settle down first, she understands that you’ve just been through a hell of a lot haha

so the trip is planned for the following year!

Jumin

jumin travels the most so he’s most definitely already been to australia  (or for other MC’s, insert your home country)

but he’s only ever travelled for business, not really for holiday or vacation

like yoosung, he is intrigued by your voice but he likes it a lot

ah yes he totally would give you a tour in one of his helicopters

a whole new world playing in the background

overall, he has a lot of fun getting to know you and bonding over similar and different experiences alike

707/Saeyoung

seven too has been around a lot for work, but never gets to travel just for the hell of it

and he could listen to you talk about your life experiences all day

unlike some of the other members he is set on travelling to space before anywhere else

so no airplane rides anytime soon with this guy LOL

but if he ever sees you homesick he’s quick to comfort you

even tries to use minecraft to replicate your favorite place in australia (or for other MC’s, insert your home country)

V

v is probably the only member who had travelled away at least twice for recreational purposes

but he’s never been to australia (or for other MC’s, insert your home country) before !

in the getting to know you process he would guess what your answer would be to a question before asking it, and secretly get happy inside if what he guessed was correct

when you guys meet he gives you a ton of advice for living here

on your bday he would try to paint a photo of your favorite place, which you gave to him when he asked for it

when you guys are a bit older you travel to your home town and recreate some of your baby/childhood photos hehe

Saeran

he is interested in literally everything about you

your voice, your style, your stories...everything

he’s been sheltered his entire life and admires how free and different you are from him

you both spend time together exploring different ice cream shops and bakeries in south korea

flying would probably give him anxiety so no travel plans for now

and no matter how many days, months, or years pass, he is always excited when it comes to talking with you and comparing your experiences

but nothing tops the feeling he gets when you guys try out something new together

he loves making memories with you and being apart of you and your life <333

[s-j-ace]

The Same Question

Chapter One

Characters: Shuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi

Words: 6738

Summary:

After Detective Shuichi Saihara encounters mysterious thief Kokichi Ouma for the first time, a game of cat and mouse ensues as both men ask themselves the same question. Why exactly does the elusive phantom thief do what he does?

Sequel to the events of That’s the Thing About Airplanes and New Plan!

Read on AO3

 Kokichi Ouma had always found it strange how he could sit in a room full of people yet feel utterly alone in the universe at the same time.

 The thought occurred to him once more as he sat among his crew in a little hole in the wall cafe tucked in the shadows of the city of lights, and it was very much out of character. The scenario Kokichi described to his crew, as they drove away from the Louvre in the beat up looking SUVs they had secretly loaded up with stolen plumbing parts, was that of a birthday party. They were all twenty something Parisians who had gotten out of bed extra early to take their friend out for a birthday surprise. How fun! How quaint! How unsuspicious!

 … but in reality it was just an excuse for Kokichi to try and shake off the weird mood he was in with decadently sugary crepes. He had pitched it to DICE as a sort of celebratory feast of a heist well done, but honestly Kokichi had never felt so bored after stealing something in his whole life.

 For some reason or another he had felt exhilarated on the plane ride in, but as soon as he got to the actual stealing part everything felt all samey and routine again. He even let Queen make off with a painting of some big dumb flowers that he wanted, hoping that it might spice things up, but now it was just lodged under the seat cushions next to a bunch of fancy looking elbow pipes.

 Ugh.

 Now that he really thought about it the painting would probably make escaping Paris even more boring…  News outlets wouldn't run the headline "Pipes and toilets stolen from the Louvre," when they could run the headline "Priceless painting of pretentious looking flowers stolen from the Louvre." It'd make it easier to sell the plumbing because interpol would be keeping their eyes on the fine art black market instead of Craigslist offers for scrap metal.

 Well maybe that was a good thing. Kokichi didn’t want them to get caught selling the pipes, after all. DICE was a bit of a scrappy group from the start and their heists had been decreasing in profitability recently for the expense of spectacle. Bishop told him that their accounts were doing fine and they had enough cash saved up for some frivolous heists, but Kokichi could do math too and thought Bishop’s accounts were slightly suspect.

 They were probably just telling him that to make him feel better. Maybe they had noticed that something was off with him. Maybe they were planning with the rest of DICE to overthrow him as the boss and put someone less stupid and predicable in charge instead.

 No, Bishop couldn’t do that to him. They weren’t a good enough liar. None of them were good enough liars. Kokichi knew them too well. For instance, right now he knew that Bishop and Ace were having a conversation that Rook was waiting to butt in on, Spade and Club were talking about Mario Kart and Spade was acting like she agreed with what Club was saying even though she didn’t, Queen was pretending to be doing some important coding but was definitely on reddit,  King was planning to shove some whipped cream in Rook’s face as soon as he finished his crepe, and Hearts and Jack were leaning in the corner of the four person booth they had all crammed into like a clown car with their legs on top of everyone else’s with Hearts on top of Jack’s lap about to fall asleep while Jack was very noticeably not noticing even though she definitely did notice because Hearts’ boobs were right in her face.

 There was so much lying happening, so much play acting, yet everything added up into an equation that seemed all the more sincere. DICE were genuinely celebrating another successful heist. For them, nothing was wrong.

 That was so bizarre.

 Everything seemed wrong to Kokichi. He felt trapped. He felt like they were all trapped. How could he ever know that his people were genuinely happy when to his knowledge people had to question everything that they found themselves doing. Take, for example, the crepe he had eaten moments ago. He had eaten it in an odd way where he started from the bottom of the crepe’s fold and ate outwards, preserving a perfect ring of outer crepe rind. It didn’t really enhance the taste in any way, seeing as the crepe had a completely even cook, but Kokichi had insisted it did as he ate it regardless because he knew that was in character of the person he had established himself to be. He was the kind of guy who just casually committed food crimes. It’s not that it didn’t still bring him joy to see the faces of his crew scrunch up in disapproval, but it made him wonder if the rest of them realized the same thing about their own behaviors. That they acted a certain way and thought a certain way because of a tacit, invisible social code of who they should be and how they should act towards others, regardless of their own intrinsic motivations.

 It made it hard to tell what lay behind their faces. If they were really happy behind the smiles.

 They had to be happy, right?

 Yeah, if he looked up happy in the dictionary he’d probably see a photograph of King shoving whipped cream in Rook’s ear. Like he was doing right now.

 Everyone was safe and having a good time, and yet Kokichi felt like he was watching it all happen from a far away place.

  Was Rook really angry as they slugged King in the arm or were they just pretending to be angry because they knew that was the part they had to play in the overall scene of this social interaction?

  Kokichi glanced at the other DICE members’ faces. Spades and Clubs were still having their own conversation about a Blue Shell conspiracy theory, but everyone else seemed to be laughing at or pretending not to laugh at King. The thought occurred to Kokichi that he should probably try to match their facial expressions, but upon inspection he found that he was already grinning full force.

 Weird.

 He let the lie lay flat.

 Immediately everyone turned to look at him. That was normal, he was their boss. If he wasn’t happy it meant something was wrong. Except it was also weird. There used to be times when Kokichi was very young where he could be in the middle of a room full of people say anything he wanted at the top of his voice without being heard. He wasn’t the same person on the outside of his head as he was on the inside of his head and he knew that and he used it to his advantage. But would he ever be able to escape it?

 …

 …

  Okay! That was a series wrap on overanalyzing shit and having memories! Time to not think about any of that ever again!

 “I’m bored of crepes.” He whined. “We should go somewhere else.”

 Instantly everyone’s face lit up with excitement. “We should go somewhere else” had become a sort of ritual phrase that now meant “Convince me what our next heist should be.”

 Everyone started talking at once.

 “There’s this casino-”

 “The Taj Mahal! We should do the-”

 “Fort Knox! I wanna-”

 Kokichi raised his hand and the clamoring voices stopped instantly.

 “One at a time, shortest to tallest, and not so loud.” He nodded slightly to the woman sitting on a stool behind the cash register. They probably didn’t have to worry much about her. It appeared that she only understood french when she took their orders earlier and now she seemed to be checking her phone disinterestedly. They had also chosen to sit in the booth furthest from the register so really there was very little chance she would overhear them say something that would get them in trouble, but you could never be too sure.

 “Well, boss. Most esteemed mastermind. You lovely bastard you,” Spades, the shortest of DICE save for Kokichi himself, schmoozed exaggeratedly. Kokichi could tell she didn’t really have an idea but wanted to draw out her turn as long as possible because Clubs had an idea and she was teasing him like an annoying older sister. She was probably going to pull Buckingham Palace. “I have the best idea. The most creative. The most innovative.” Buckingham Palace was so ridiculously easy to get into that there was entirely no point in wasting a trip to Britain on it. There was some drunk guy who just wandered into it and found the Queen’s bedroom. Twice. “It’ll be tough, but with our unique set of skills I think we’ll be able to pull it off.” So when someone didn’t have an idea, to pass they’d say Buckingham Palace. “And it’ll be well worth it. Our names will go down in history.” And then Kokichi would give a funny excuse why they weren’t going. He should probably start thinking of one now while Spades was still blabbering. “The biggest heist of all time.” Hmm… How about… Yeah that was a good one. “Home of her royal majesty herself, Buckingham Palace!”

 Everyone groaned as if this weren’t an entirely predictable twist to Spade’s monologue.

 “Uggh, Spade you know I can’t go back to Buckingham Palace.” Kokichi groaned. “Last time I was there I saw Prince Phillip dressed in a corgi fursuit being tugged around by the queen on a leash. I’m still trying to erase the image from my mind.”

 That got an easy guffaw from Ace and a smattering of giggles from everyone else. Not bad, but he’d come up with funnier before.

       Jack giggled longer than the others. Kokichi knew that meant she was waiting for everyone to quiet down so she could one up him with her own bit.

       He raised an eyebrow. “Something to say, Jack?”

       “Ooh… Well… I was just wondering if that’s the real reason we can’t go back.”

 She paused for a second as if expecting him to “yes, and” her, but he decided to let her fend for herself on this one.

 “I mean. What was it you said to      your     husband on the plane?” Shit. “Didn’t you tell him you wanted him to beg like a dog?” How much of that conversation did she hear? “I don’t know, sounds like Prince Phillip might’ve awakened something in you.”

       “Awwww,” King crooned, “Boss Baby’s first fetish.”

       Kokichi wasn’t really bothered by this implication beyond the fact that, judging from the smattering of snickers, it was getting better laughs than his original comment. He needed to swing this.

       “Puhlease. Who would be into pet play when feral rats are clearly the sexiest creatures on the planet?”

       “Is that why you spend so much time trying to look just like one?”

       “Why Jack, I’m flattered you think I look just like the sexiest creature on the planet, but I’ll have you know I’m married.”

       Hearts was nice enough to take the bit. “To who?”

       “Not that plane detective?” Bishop prodded. Or maybe they said “plain” detective? Maybe it was a pun. Good on you Bishop.

       “No, heavens no. I’m married to Ratatouille himself.” Kokichi’s rather strangely eaten crepe was about to work out pretty well in the grand scheme of japery. He unfurled the remaining ring of crepe edge and put it around his wrist. “Want proof? Here’s the ring. Isn’t it beautiful?”

       “Gorgeous!” Queen enthused. It didn’t seem like he was really paying attention, with his eyes glued to his laptop, but Kokichi appreciated his support nonetheless.

       Jack frowned. “Isn’t the rat from Ratatouille’s name Remmy?”

       “You’re right it’s not Ratatouille, it’s Ratatouille’s monster.” Rook chimed in, definitely quoting a tumblr post.          “No, no, no, I’m not married to the rat, I’m married to the concept of Ratatouille.” He made a romantic gesture. “The one we hold dear in all of our hearts.”

       “Oh, of course, of course.” Ace tried to nod sagely, but the effect was ruined by the big grin on their face. Ace had a hard time not laughing at everything, especially their own jokes.

       Club had been pouting this whole time. With this whole thing about Kokichi being into dogs diffused it was probably time to hear out his suggestion. Kokichi was about to say as much, but before the mirth died down long enough to change the subject, Queen interjected.

       “Uh, boss.” He said, turning around the laptop he had been fiddling with the whole time. “Speaking of rats… There’s one on the news making himself a loose end...”

       On the screen was a distressed looking headline in french accompanied by a picture of the detective himself, Shuichi Saihara.

       Kokichi’s heart leapt.

       Then he noticed that it leapt.

       And that his hand had begun moving to fiddle with the bandage on his finger.

             He stopped himself just in time.

         ---

       Shuichi Saihara had always found it strange how quickly his body could turn on him.

       He had been fine, on the plane untangling his seat belt while alarmed chattering spread like wild-fire throughout the plane.

       He had been fine, explaining to a frazzled flight attendant and captain that no he was not in fact married to the gentleman who jumped out of the plane, who was, as it turns out, an internationally wanted thief.

       He had been fine, making the call to 112 and explaining to the respondent that yes he knew all the police cars were busy with a high profile break-in and that the incident he was reporting was, in fact, related to said break-in.

       And yet, when he sat down, alone on a bench in front of the Paris-Charles De Gaulle airport surrounded by the crisp night air the thought crossed his mind that DICE had robbed the Louvre by now. That they had gotten away, and it was all his fault. All his fault.

       And then Shuichi pulled out his phone and dialled the number of his very good friend Kaito Momota because he was having a panic attack.

       *Beeeeeep….*

       Shuichi knew he was having a panic attack because it felt like the world was ending for no good reason.

 *Beeeeeep….*

       His breathing got shorter. An immense pressure built up behind his eyes, trying to force tears to leak out from underneath them. His hands locked in a vice grip around his phone.

       *Beeeeeep….*

       Three words repeated in his head over and over again like a broken record.      All your fault. All your fault. All your fault.  

             *Beeeeeep….*

       If Shuichi had any presence of mind right now, it might occur to him that there was, in fact, a reason behind this panic attack. That he’d been privy to and partially responsible for so many high stakes cases in his career that the idea of failure made his imagination sick with all the horrifying outcomes his mistakes could cause, including the ones that had actually come to pass. A man looking at him with hatred in his eyes as the police car door shut on him.      All your fault    . A fourteen year old girl hanging from a noose.      All your fault    . The sound of a gunshot in an alleyway.      All your fault    .  The phrase was like the slightest twitch of a finger that could pull back the trigger of a gun loaded with every horrific thing he’d ever seen, heard, or felt. Everything hit his brain in one compact shot and Shuichi didn’t have time to respond in any way except try desperately to avoid going into shock.

       It felt like the world was ending and when the world is ending you call Kaito Momota.

       *Beee-*

       *Click.*

       “...”

       “...”

       “Shuichi?”

       Kaito’s voice sounded groggy and confused over the phone.

       “...”

 “You there, man?”

       Shuichi tried to answer in the affirmative, but he couldn’t seem to force himself to speak. God, he was an idiot. He should’ve just texted. Kaito probably hated him anyway.

       “What’s up, dude? Something the matter?”

       No, Kaito is his friend and things are fine and he just needs to calm down right now.

       “Hello?”

       Okay. Okay. He was just trying to talk the wrong way. His throat was tensed to accommodate his heavy breathing instead of human speech.

       “Shuichi, is that you breathing weird into the receiver?”

       Yeah, okay, see? He was breathing weird. He should… stop that…

       “Ok, dude, whatever’s going on I’m gonna need you to not asphyxiate. Here, breathe with me. Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five... Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...”

 Oh yeah. Shuichi was definitely breathing too fast right now. Panicky fast. Like close to hyperventilating fast. The kind of breathing fast that started squeezing liquids out of your face if you weren’t careful. Not doing that was like the first thing on the not having a panic attack checklist but somehow it was always the one Shuichi forgot first.

 “Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five... Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...” Kaito repeated the rhythm and Shuichi could hear his friend matching it with his own breathing as Shuichi struggled to do the same.

 Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...

 As Shuichi counted in his head he felt almost every part of his body loosen to some degree.

 Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...

 With the exhale the pressure behind his eyes began to dissipate.

 Pretty soon Shuichi was breathing in a way that the kids these days would call normal. While breathing normally was something human beings needed to do to not asphyxiate, it was quite shocking how physically helpful it was in preventing Shuichi from crying on a bench in front of an airport in Paris.

 He could still feel his heart pounding in his head, but at least his breaths weren’t fighting to outmatch its volume.

 The pounding went away by about the third exhale. He felt his power of speech return after the fourth.

 “... Sorry.” He murmured into the receiver on his cell phone.

 “Nothing to apologize for man. What’s going on?”

 “I. Uh. Am having a panic attack in front of the airport for some dumb reason.”

 “Gotcha gotcha gotcha.” Some shuffling, as if Kaito was repositioning himself on the other side. “I bet it’s not as dumb as you think man. You wanna talk about it, or do you want a distraction?”

 A woman bleeding out on the floor, her face eternally frozen in a scream.       All your fault    .

 “... A distraction is good. Just having, like, intrusive thoughts right now.”

 “Yeah, okay. Gimme a sec to make myself sociable, it’s pretty late here.” Shuichi heard some more shuffling through the speaker. He’d probably woken Kaito up.

 “Sorry.”

 “It’s all good man.” Kaito shuffled around some more. “Hmm… Oh yeah, I had a question at dinner, no one was around to answer.”                “Oh, is Maki out again?” Maki was Shuichi’s friend, Kaito’s partner, and a professional bodyguard. She stood next to people and looked intimidating in a suit for a living. Sometimes she stood next to Shuichi and looked intimidating for free.

 Maki holding a pipe, the end coated in blood.      All your fault    .

 Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five... Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...

 “Yeah, that’s our Maki Roll. Busy as a bee.” There was a scritching sound over the phone that could’ve been static or Kaito itching his stubble. “Since I was cooking for one last night I made Saturn-ghetti.”

 Shuichi wrinkled his nose instinctively. “Ew.”

 Saturn-ghetti was what Kaito called regular spaghetti with one big meatball in the middle. It sounded tame enough now that Kaito made the big meatball on his own, but when he first introduced Shuichi and Maki to the concept it was in their college’s cafetorium and he had just taken all the meatballs from a regular spaghetti and meatball dish and mashed them all together into one big ball in the middle. Shuichi had quite literally seen murder scenes less gruesome.

 “Hey man, I don’t judge Maki Roll for dipping fries in shakes or you for dipping bread in soups.”

 “Dipping is normal Kaito. You’re supposed to dip carbs. Everyone does it. You’re the only person in the whole world who mushes meat.”

 What about that guy who used a meat tenderizer to mush his victim’s faces in…

 “Why would you want to eat tiny meatballs?”

 “So you can eat them with the spaghetti.”

 “Can’t a guy just have a separate meat and noodle experience? You can’t even process the flavor if you eat both at once!”

 “They’re supposed to go together. Otherwise, you would just make a meatloaf.”

 “Well I don’t have a recipe for meatloaf Shuichi, I have a recipe for meatballs.”

 “Do you mean meatball, singular?”

 “Yes, I do. Glad we can both agree that’s what I mean since it’s the best way to eat spaghetti. Anyway, back to my problem.”

 “I thought this was the problem.”

 “Saturn-ghetti is not a problem it’s an art. My problem was that when I was making the noodles I realized that I had forgotten what that metal bowl thingy is called. You know, the one with the holes in it.”

 “If only that had stopped you.”

 “Yo, I’m serious! I have no idea what it’s called and it’s been driving me insane all night.”

 “Do you mean a strainer?”

 “No, I know it strains stuff but like there’s a different name for it. Like. It sounds like cauliflower? Except not because it’s not a vegetable.”

 “A colander?”

 “Yeah, that’s it! Jeezus Louizus that was driving me crazy. You’re a lifesaver man, where would I be without you?”

 “Uh probably googling ‘another name for noodle strainer.’” Shuichi didn’t really see how knowing what the metal strainy thing is called could save a life. Maybe if you were getting murdered and had one chance to write down the name of the culprit and you knew their name was the same as what that metal strainy thing is called but you forgot what it was. Wait, no, in that scenario you still got murdered. God, what was wrong with him? Did his brain always have to jump to murder right away?

 “Nah,” Kaito said with conviction. “I wouldn’t be half the man I am without my awesome sidekick around to back up.”

 At the familiar phrase, Shuichi felt his heart warm and the tight ball of anxiety in his gut loosened in turn. “Sidekick,” was admittedly an odd term of endearment for a friend of almost ten years, but if you knew Kaito you knew it was a word that meant something to him. To him, having a sidekick means having someone who you backup no matter what. Even if they make mistakes or aren’t sure of themselves quite yet. Because you believe in them. No matter what.

 “I wouldn’t be where I am today without you either, Kaito.” He sighed. “Not that that’s saying much…”

 “What do you mean by that?” Shuichi could hear the frown in Kaito’s voice.

 “Ugh. Nothing. Or. It’s just.” Inhale, two, three, four. Remember to breathe. “It just feels awful to be having a freak out like this again. I haven’t had a panic attack in like a year. It just feels like sometimes that I’m doing okay and I’m not still some stupid teenager still freaking out because I feel a little guilty about a guy being in prison and my parents not being around because of me and then I have a panic attack at an airport and it feels like I’ve made absolutely no progress at all in dealing with any of my anxieties at all and even though I’ve tried so hard to change who I am I’m still the same pathetic kid I’ve always been.”

 Keep breathing. Exhale, two, three, four.

 “Hey man, it’s okay. We all get those days sometimes. You feeling up to talking about it now?”

 “Which part?”

 “Like, why you were freaking out. It’s usually not for no reason, even if it seems like it.”

 “Uh.” Yeah okay. Breathing was really helping to clear out his head. He was feeling more in control of his general brainspace than he was a second ago, which was good. “Honestly it’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened. No one died. All that happened was the Louvre got robbed.”

 “Yeah, okay that doesn’t sound that bad.”

 “But on the other hand, it was the      Louvre     that got robbed. It’s a national treasure here. The whole country is going to blame me for it.”

 “Wait, sorry, what’s the loo in French again? I know it means the toilet in the UK, but does it mean something else in French?”

 “No, not the loo. The Louvre. The famous museum.”

 “Oooh, yeah. Right, right, don’t listen to me I’m tired.”

 “Oh, sorry-”

 “No, no, keep going. Listening to my sidekick’s problems is more important than catching forty winks.”

 “Uh. Right. So I’ve been tracking DICE for a while now, right?”

 “Uh-huh, the clown guys, I’m familiar.”

 “And I know Maki thought I was crazy, but I knew that they were going to pull this job on the Louvre, right? And so I get on the plane and this weird guy sits next to me. He breaks my seat and pretends to be married to me so that the flight attendant upgrades us to first class.”

 “What the hell?”

 “Is that weird? I couldn’t tell if that was weird or not.”

 “No yeah, that’s shady as shit. Do I need to come to Paris and tell him to step off for you?”

 “No, uh, you’d probably have a hard time finding him, because it turns out? He was the thief the whole time?”

 “Whaaaaaat.”                “Yeah, apparently I was just shooting the breeze with a criminal mastermind and I’m such an idiot I should’ve jumped out of the plane after him without a parachute.” Like that guy they found impaled by a lamp post...

 “Hey man that’s on him, you can’t blame yourself for the existence of criminal- wait did you say he jumped out of the plane?”

 “Yes.”

 “Like, while you were in the air?”

 “Uh, yeah, through the emergency exits.”

 “Duuuuude that’s super dangerous. I don’t know how high up you were but the pressure change could’ve caused all of the oxygen to suck out of the cabin.”

 “That’s… Alarming…”

 It also brought up some interesting questions. Shouldn’t the pilot of the plane have been able to tell that there was a life threatening pressure change in the cabin? Or did DICE do something to tamper with the equipment? Did they manage to jump out at an altitude that wouldn’t be lethal to everyone in the cabin through chance or calculation? In the latter case that might add to the traits profiling the group, the ability implying at least some form of higher education. What about other sources of information? Maybe they bribed the pilot? He’d need to be interviewed. Shuichi would need to make that suggestion when the police got here. They’d probably also want to do a forensic analysis of the drug that was used on the passengers. There’d most likely be some trace of component that they could utilize to locate possible business contacts or country of origin for the thieves. Knowing their flight information was also a great advantage, it meant they could track down several forms of ID. Even if they were faked it would allow for higher scrutiny on future flight paths if Interpol decided to pursue this investigation seriously. Toilets wouldn’t really keep their attention, most investigators at the Smithsonian were more concerned about the mammoth than all the stolen picture frames, so unless DICE made off with something more valuable this time around Interpol probably wouldn’t waste time sending agents over. Then again Agent Ishimaru was the agent in charge of the DICE case now and he was very thorough when it came to his investigations. If Interpol showed up, maybe Shuichi would get a chance to look at the next note when it was sent to them, like he had in America...

 “Hey, am I supposed to be able to track everything it is you’re muttering to yourself there or is that just for you?”

 “Oh, uh,” Hghk he was muttering out loud. “Just for me, sorry. Stuff about the case.”

 “Oh, yeah, okay cool, cool, cool.” Kaito paused for a moment. “Wish I could be there to back you up in person, man. Hurts my soul as a man and your friend that I didn’t support you all the way on this Louvre thing when you brought it up before.”

 “What?” Oh, he meant that thing that Maki said about him needing a vacation. “No, no it’s understandable. I was running on like… fifteen minutes of sleep and fourteen cups of coffee when I told you two about my theory.”

 “Man, I just want you to know that no matter what we’re always here to support you. Even if we get it wrong sometimes we’re just worried you know. Also, you need to sleep more.”

 Shuichi frowned. “You make it sound like you and Maki are my parents.”

 “Nah, parents suck. We’re your friends. Much better.”

 Shuichi laughed at that. “Yeah, okay, fair.”

 Was that a siren Shuichi heard? Maybe?

 “Kaito I think police are gonna be here soon. I gotta go.”

 “Oh, yeah, okay. You feeling better now?”

 Shuichi paused to take mental stock of himself. He tried to remember how he felt before he came outside. Things were fine, he was just doing some damage control. By all means this incident was a break in the case rather than the wrecking ball to his career his more panicked thoughts were trying to convince himself of. He was fine. Things were fine.

 Except…

 “Uh. Yeah, mostly. I guess maybe I’m just tired?” Yeah he was definitely tired.  His eyes felt like they’d just spent the last ten years trying to watch the wind on a mountain peak. “I dunno. Logically I know that everything is fine and I’m doing alright, but that part of me that feels like I’ve failed and I’m going to mess everything up forever is still there no matter what I do.”

 “Hey man, you know what I always say. There’s nothing you can do about the past, but you will always have the power to change what’s happening right now. You’re my sidekick and a brilliant detective to boot, you can do anything.”

 “Right. Yeah. You’re right.” It didn’t really matter that DICE had gotten away with the heist on the Louvre. Plumbing parts and paintings were replaceable. What Shuichi’s investigation had always been concerned with was the amount of unregulated capital DICE was accumulating and what exactly the shady organization was planning to do with it.

 “Now tell me what it is you wanna do right now.”

 “I… I’m gonna track down those thieves.” That would have to be the next step of course. There’d probably be some evidence at the Louvre if the police would let him take a look…

 “Heck yes you are!”

 “And I’m going to figure out what they’re up to.”

 “Hell yeah you are!”

 Shuichi laughed a little at Kaito’s unwarranted enthusiasm, but he let the mirth drained from his expression when he looked up to see the police cars he heard before pulling into the lane in front of the airport. An officer stepped out of the first one and Shuichi stood to wave her over.

 “Ah, the police just got here. I gotta talk to them.”

 “Fuck yeah you do!” Kaito exclaimed with the same level of pep talk energy he’d said every other encouragement with. “Go get ‘em Shuichi!”

 “I will.” Shuichi said, not entirely sure.

 “You will.” Kaito said, completely certain.

     I will.     Shuichi repeated to himself as he hung up and made his way over to the police officers. It seemed like there were three cars. That was kind of odd considering the 112 responder said it’d be two cars. Wait, was that last one a news van?

   Shit.

---

 Parisians are in shock after the theft of Dutch painter Van Huysum’s priceless, centuries old  painting “Vase of flowers in a niche” from the musée du Louvre just this morning. The following interview was conducted with M. Saihara, a private eye known for the recovery of a stolen mammoth skeleton from an american museum, called the Smithsonian, just a few weeks ago.

 Journaliste: What can you tell us about the robbery at this time?

 M. Saihara: It is the working theory of the Paris Police force that the culprits behind the break in at the musée du Louvre are the internationally wanted criminal group known as DICE. These police sketches have been released of two members of this group. If you spot anything or anyone suspicious, please report it to the Paris Police Prefecture.

 Journaliste: Are these the same criminals who robbed the Smithsonian in America a few weeks ago?

 M. Saihara: I believe so.

 Journaliste: Is it likely that the robbers are still in Paris?

 M. Saihara: Very likely.

 Journaliste: What are the chances that the stolen piece will be reclaimed?

 M. Saihara: We don’t have enough information to determine that at this time. Just know that the Paris Police Prefecture is doing everything they can to return it to the people of Paris.

 Journaliste: What of the criminals? Is it likely they will be caught?

 M. Saihara: If I have anything to say about it, yes they will be.

 Journaliste: M. Saihara, do you know if-

 M. Saihara: Je suis désolé Mademoiselle, I must be going now. The Paris police will most likely release a more elucidating press statement when more information is received. Bonne journée.

 Journaliste: Merci, M. Saihara.

       Kokichi Ouma exited out of the google translate tab he’d opened up on Queen’s laptop. At the end of the article were two police sketches. Jack’s didn’t look all that accurate (thank god for contouring) so Kokichi supposed they could all breathe a sigh of relief on that front. Now, the sketch of him on the other hand…

       King whistled and Kokichi realized the taller DICE member was leaning over his shoulder to peer at the screen in front of him. “That detective really got a good look at you.”

       Kokichi scoffed, not wanting to raise unnecessary alarm. “Please. The nose and eyebrows are all wrong.”

       “He really got down the bird’s nest though.” King pointed out, reaching to muss up Kokichi’s effortlessly stylish coiffure.

       “What’d I tell you?” Kokichi preened. “No living creature could forget a face like mine.”

       “You’re right,” King quipped back “It’s a face that haunts nightmares.”

       “A face only a mother could love.” Rook chimed in.

       “And yours gave you away after just one look!” Chirped Bishop.

       “Hey maybe that Saihara guy wants to try lovin’ it instead.” Queen interjected suggestively

       “Okay, okay, can it everyone,” Kokichi raised his hand to silence the spontaneous roast. “I’m thinking.”

       “Club,” He pointed at his second shortest croney.. “Where are we heading?”

       Club, who to his credit had been extremely focused on being polite and waiting for his turn and had definitely earned a heist after mixing ten liters of knock-out drugs in the back of a plane, exclaimed, “Theresthiscasino-” like he had been holding his breath, “-andtheyjustgotthesefancynewlightfixtures and, and, alsothesevintagearcadeconsoles-”

       “Sounds cool.” Kokichi’s tone didn’t give away the fact that he had no preference as to where their next hit was and only had getting out of Paris in mind. “Where’s it at?”

       “Uh. Like, Reno. Which is in Nevada. I think.”

       Kokichi frowned. “Nevada? Is that like a country in South America or something?”

       “Nah, it’s one of the United States.” Informed Ace, the only member who ever got genuinely interested in sight-seeing and therefore the only one who looked at maps that weren’t building schematics.

       Kokichi squinted at that. “We were just in the states. You know I’d rather jump off a building than rob the same place twice.”

       “Boss, you know, actually Nevada is further from D.C. than France is from Ukraine.”

       “What? But aren’t they in the same country?”

       “Yeah, the U.S.A. is just broken like that.”

       Ugh. Weird. Maybe Kokichi should also look at a map of the world some day.

       “Fine, okay, I guess since you twisted my arm, we’ll have to go to Reno.” If Kokichi remembered correctly telephones calling from France started with the area code of one of five regions. Paris had the code of 01, but if they were on the western outskirts it may be 02, or 03 on the eastern outskirts. Then the rest of the phone numbers were eight more randomly assigned numbers. “Let’s head out. Queen, do you still have that program for a spam call bot you showed me three months ago?”

       “Uhh maybe, but I’d need wifi for that.”

       “Okay.” He stood up, pulling out his phone to do some quick googling. “We’re gonna split in two groups. Red smiles with me in group one, we’re driving out to the Tours Val de Loire Airport down south. Make sure you have the right cover story IDs, it’s a three hour drive so prepare yourselves. Bishop, you’re going to have to do my makeup in the car. Everyone else will be in the other van with Queen, group A. After you’ve found a source of wifi, you five will be calling in some false reported sightings. Not too many, but enough in specific places we won’t be going that it’ll misdirect the police. I’ve written down the phone number rules for France on this napkin. If it seems like we’re in the clear you can overflow the system if you want to. Message us with progress updates and we’ll confer about flights and cargo control after group one has reached Tours Val de Loire. Group A will take off from the Orly airport and we’ll meet at Reno-Tahoe International in a few days. I've sent a message in the groupchat with everything I’ve just said, so don’t worry if you missed a detail it’s all there verbatim. Let’s get rolling.”

       “Yes, Boss!” The members of DICE said with varying levels of conviction.

       Kokichi handed Queen the napkin he had written on as the rest of DICE started to stand up from the four seater cafe booth they’d all crammed into like a clown car. He grabbed another napkin that he would use to write the next note to interpol. What would the six layers of cipher be this time? What about a set of random symbols equated to numbers that would represent the coordinates of katakana strokes in a one unit box which would then translate to english letters in a polyalphabetic cipher which would reveal the riddle? Wait that was only five layers. Eh, he could work on it in the-

 Kokichi saw detective Saihara’s photograph on the monitor out of the corner of his eye and his swirling thoughts came to a momentary hallt..  It seemed like the picture had been taken hurriedly outside of the Paris de Gaulle. It was blurry and a little dark. All Kokichi could really see was that his shirt was half untucked and his hair was so messy you could hardly tell he had eyes. Kokichi found himself wishing he could get a good look at those eyes. Just to tell what the detective was thinking.

 Not that it mattered.  

       Kokichi closed the computer and slid it over to Queen as he exited the booth.

       As he handed it over, Queen gave him an odd look, like he had noticed something. “Where’d you get that cut, boss?” he asked.

       “I punched through a window with my bare hands, just to feel something again...” Kokichi replied, putting on an exaggerated grimace.

       Queen gave him a look that said ‘what did I expect’ and followed the rest of the gang out of the shop.

       The Louvre heist was as good as over. He’d gotten away with it already.

       Kokichi wondered if any of the heists to come would be at all helpful in the war against tedium he had been fighting his entire life.

 “If I have anything to say about it, yes they will be.”

 Kokichi realized he was fidgeting with the bandage on his finger.

 …

 Good bye, Paris.

[noona-clock]

Untitled - Part 6

Genre: AU/Fluff

Pairing: Junmyeon x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: Very slight mature themes

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |  Word Count: 2,981

“A... a trip?” you responded, holding your fork in mid-air and blinking a few times as you stared at him. “Which one?”

Junmyeon had mentioned upcoming trips to both California and Chile, and you were curious to know on which one he wanted to take you.

(You were secretly hoping it was California because then you might be able to convince him to take you to Disneyland.)

A soft smile tugged at your boyfriend’s lips, and he set his fork down gently on the edge of his plate. “Neither of those,” he answered with a shake of his head. “I want to go on a real trip with you. A vacation. Not for work.”

...Well, you wouldn’t lie and say you weren’t just a bit relieved.

Except maybe about the Disneyland part.

Ever since that first morning when you’d woken up next to Junmyeon, you’d been trying to figure out how you felt about being a part of that side of his life. He had continued to post about you on his story, and you had finally broken down one night and asked Junmyeon if he got any replies about them.

“Yeah, some,” he had told you. “Mainly just people asking who you are. I’ve never officially said anything about having a girlfriend, so people are just curious.”

You had told him he could mention you if he wanted to, of course. You were just still unsure about actually putting your face out there.

(Side note: The very next day, Junmyeon had posted a picture of the meal you ordered at dinner, and he had captioned it with “My girl knows how to order the insta-worthy food.” You seriously loved how he couldn’t wait even a day to take you up on your offer of mentioning you. Junmyeon truly had one of the purest hearts you’d ever known.)

So, yeah. You were fine with him posting half-hidden pictures of you on his story and talking about you in captions or vlogs. But actually being in a vlog? 

It just made you nervous.

Hearing he wanted to take you on a trip just for fun, just the two of you, made you happier than you could probably even express in words.

“I still want to take my camera and vlog,” he told you. Your brow began to furrow with anxiety, so he quickly added, “But just for us. I won’t upload them publicly. I just like to have the memories on film.”

Okay, well, that you could understand. You actually still watched Junmyeon’s videos frequently. In fact, you had watched his series of vlogs from Japan about four times over at this point.

“But where are we going?” you asked, leaning forward just a bit in anticipation.

Junmyeon leaned forward, too, reaching over and taking your hand in his. “We can go wherever you want to go.”

...Wait, what.

“Where...ever I want to go?” you repeated, wanting to make sure he had 1. really said that, and 2. really meant it.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, but he pressed them together to keep it from getting too cheesy and excited. “Wherever you want to go,” he repeated.

You were still a bit confused... and bewildered... I mean, surely, he didn’t really mean ‘wherever.’ Because, obviously, your first thought was...

“Well, I want to go to the South of France, but that’s so --”

“All right, South of France it is,” he nodded. “I figured you would say that. How about Provence?”

“Wh -- but -- Junmyeon, you -- I mean -- you’re not serious, right?” you stammered, your eyes widening and your brow furrowing even deeper than before. “I don’t know if I can afford that!”

Junmyeon’s eyes crinkled as he laughed softly. “Baby, I wouldn’t invite you to go on a trip and then make you pay for it.”

Oh, my god. Was he serious?

“What -- no, I --”

“I don’t have to pay for most of the trips I go on,” he interrupted. “I can save a lot more money than I spend. And do you know how many airline miles I’ve racked up? We could fly around the world a few times, and I’d probably still have some left.”

Had you even realized how generous your boyfriend was? He was offering to take you on the trip of your dreams!

But, because you were you, you had to ask him one more time.

“Are you sure?” you asked, the wrinkles on your forehead getting ever deeper. “I mean -- we haven’t been together that long, and --”

“We don’t have to go anytime soon if you’re uncomfortable with it,” Junmyeon assured you, squeezing your fingers. “Or we can go somewhere closer to home. I just... I want to spend more time with you. And traveling is a big part of my life, but so are you now. But if you want, I can just take a week off and we can stay home, just relax.”

Even though Junmyeon was doing his best to cover it up, you knew he would be disappointed if you said you’d rather just do that. Like he said, traveling was a big part of his life. It was his career, but it was also his hobby. His passion. There’s really not much better than sharing your passion with --

Oh, my.

You’d been about to finish that sentence with the words “someone you love.”

There’s really not much better than sharing your passion with someone you love.

Love.

Before you could let yourself think way too much about that...

“How about,” you began, gnawing briefly on your lower lip. “We go somewhere much less expensive right now and save my dream trip for later?”

Junmyeon’s lips curved into a grin, and he brought your hand up to kiss the backs of your fingers. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

Before the two of you had cleaned your plates, you had decided to go visit a picturesque countryside town a bit closer to home. Junmyeon wanted to relax, and staying in a more rural area was sure to mean less Internet and cell phone service. He would be forced to relax and not think too much about work. 

But it also wasn’t too far away from a larger city, so civilization would be there if you really needed it.

Since your job as a writer was pretty flexible, Junmyeon had convinced you to go for a full week next month, in-between his trips to California and Chile.

(You were secretly still hoping he would invite you to California but only for the Disneyland thing.)

And you had also secretly decided that a trip to the South of France could wait until a much more important reason came along.

Over the next few weeks, you managed to only think about that little slip-up frequently. Which was much better than constantly.

And by ‘that little slip-up,’ I mean that time when you’d thought about the word ‘love.’ In relation to Junmyeon.

Okay, but like. Calling it a ‘slip-up’ sounds wrong. Because that implies it was a mistake. And it wasn’t! It was just... kind of... unexpected.

But was it, really?

Your feelings for Junmyeon had developed pretty quickly, especially considering how your first date had ended. You’d thought for sure you’d never see him again, but then, two weeks later, you’d kissed him. And it had only snowballed from there.

So, was it truly unexpected that you would think of the word ‘love’ after just three months? And that you would keep thinking about it during the fourth?

...Maybe not.

But you didn’t say anything about it because Junmyeon didn’t say anything about it. 

The two of you were pretty open and very honest with each other, so if he wasn’t bringing up the L-word, then you had to assume he wasn’t there yet. Which was totally fine! You didn’t expect him to be there yet, so it’s not like you were disappointed or anything.

You were a little anxious, though.

So, really, your trip with Junmyeon came at just the right time. You were so looking forward to a whole week of relaxing and exploring the countryside. And you were more than curious to experience what it was like traveling with Junmyeon, a travel expert.

He had slept over last night since your flight was fairly early in the morning, and it would just be easier if the two of you went to the airport together instead of meeting there. And, also, you just liked sleeping in the same bed as him. He’d done it quite a few times over the past two months, and you found you slept more soundly when he was next to you.

As it turns out, you also flew in an airplane with much less anxiety when he was next to you.

You weren’t a novice traveler, but you certainly hadn’t traveled as often as Junmyeon; flying just wasn’t one of your favorite things. But the fact that your boyfriend knew his way around an airport, didn’t seem nervous in the least, and held your hand through the entire flight helped ease your worries.

(Plus... he was able to score first-class seats with his airline miles, so that definitely made things easier. And a lot more comfortable.)

As you expected, Junmyeon took a lot of pictures from the very beginning. The two of you took numerous airport and on-the-plane selfies, though he didn’t post any on Instagram. They were just for you guys.

He did post other pictures on his Instagram story since he was just that type of person. Your trip wasn’t for work, but he still wanted to document it for posterity. And he made sure to tell his followers he was going on an actual vacation -- so no vlogs. (No public vlogs, at least. He had packed his camera and told you he had every intention to film like he usually did. The two of you would be the only ones to watch them, though.)

Since you had decided to go somewhere closer to home, the flight wasn’t as long, so before you knew it the two of you were grabbing your carry-ons and heading off the plane. Junmyeon didn’t let go of your hand for even a second, not even when he was helping the taxi driver put your luggage into the trunk.

Unsurprisingly, Junmyeon started filming as the taxi drove you out to your Airbnb, and you’d watched enough of his vlogs by now to know he would do a cool scenery montage set to some chill music.

It was honestly super interesting to see what it was like behind the scenes. You’d never really thought about what it was actually like to film his vlogs, so you realized now you were a little excited to be on the other side of the camera this time. Maybe you would ask him to show you how he edits a video, too, so you could experience the entire process.

You were glad Junmyeon was filming the drive, though, because the passing scenery was absolutely beautiful. As you drove away from the airport, the buildings got fewer and farther between while the trees and greenery got more plentiful.

A soft ‘wow’ escaped from your lips when the line of trees by the highway broke to reveal deep green rolling hills dotted with cows and a bright azure blue sky with marshmallow clouds. You were so used to living near a city that you’d kind of forgotten what it was like to be away from all the hustle and bustle of urban living.

Junmyeon squeezed your hand and then handed you his camera. Your eyebrows raised slightly, but you took it and pointed the lens out the window to capture the awe-inspiring beauty.

When the taxi pulled up to a small cottage at the end of a very long dirt driveway, Junmyeon paid him and thanked him for his service. As the driver turned around and headed back into the city, your boyfriend took back his camera.

He let out a sigh before he said, “It’s going to feel awkward.”

“What is?” you asked, gripping the handle of your luggage.

“Vlogging. It’s always awkward at first, but you get used to it. And you don’t have to talk or say anything if you don’t want to.”

“Okay,” you chuckled. You watched as Junmyeon held his camera out in front of him, the screen flipped up to show the two of you in the frame.

He pressed the record button and brought up a hand to wave at the lens. But then he immediately laughed out loud, bringing that hand to cover his eyes.

“What?” you grinned, nudging him with your shoulder.

“I was about to greet my viewers like I usually do,” he explained with slightly pinkened cheeks.

“So, just greet us,” you suggested with a soft laugh.

He turned back to the camera, waving again and grinning cheesily as he said, “Junmyeon and Y/N! Hello!”

You waved, too, but you could feel your lips forming into such an embarrassed smile-smirk. Junmyeon had been right. It was awkward.

“We have just arrived at our Airbnb, and I don’t think we could’ve chosen a better place to spend a week of relaxation.” He then glanced at you over his shoulder, eyebrows raised. “What do you think, babe?”

“I think you chose it,” you pointed out quietly, still smiling bashfully. He had taken care of everything, in fact, but you had happily let him. He traveled for a living; there was no way you would even pretend to know how to plan a trip as well as he did.

“This is true,” Junmyeon chuckled. He then lifted an arm and put it around your shoulders, pulling you close to him and pressing a kiss to your temple. “Are you excited?”

Your cheeks warmed, and you avoided looking at the camera like the plague. “Yeah,” you answered, feeling the corners of your lips turning even more upward. “Very.”

“All right, let’s go look inside,” he announced. He brought his arm back from around you and grabbed a hold of his suitcase before turning the camera around so he could film the outside.

Junmyeon had found a cottage guest house on a huge farm, and you weren’t sure you had ever seen such a cute little place in your entire life. The outside was white with muted green shutters, a gray tin roof, and a pillow-laden swing on the quaint front porch. A white picket fence marked the perimeter of the yard, and the most lovely pink and purple flowers lined the cobblestone walkway leading up to the front door.

The listing had mentioned farm animals and a pool up at the main farmhouse, so you knew the outside had even more to offer... but you were anxious to see the inside.

When Junmyeon opened the door, he began walking through slowly, narrating a house tour as you followed and gazed around with your mouth agape.

The living room was cozy with the sweetest little old-fashioned fireplace and no television in sight. The kitchen cabinets were painted the same muted green as the shutters, and copper pots and pans hung from hooks on the wall next to the stove. A peek into the bedroom awarded you the sight of a white wrought iron bed frame with a pastel blue checked comforter and lots and lots and lots of pillows.

To put it simply, it was the most adorable house you’d ever seen. It was basically straight out of a magazine all about cozy cottages. 

As Junmyeon popped into the bathroom, you rolled your suitcase over to the side of the door... and you couldn’t help yourself any longer. You hurried over to the bed and flopped onto it, landing on your back on top of the huge mountain of pillows.

Your boyfriend joined you not even a minute later, crawling onto the bed next to you and holding the camera up above the two of you. “You like it?” he asked, resting his head right next to yours.

You sighed happily before turning to look at him. And instead of answering, you simply peppered his cheek with kisses.

Junmyeon laughed, and you heard the soft beep of the camera turning off before he moved to pepper your cheek with kisses. A squeal escaped your lips, and Junmyeon began to transfer his kisses from your cheek to all over your face, eventually moving to hover over you.

He kissed your lips then, the atmosphere shifting from playful to tender as you moved to cradle his cheek in your palm. His lips pulled at yours slowly, and you savored the taste of his kiss, the feel of him on top of you.

Just when you were feeling the beginnings of butterflies in your stomach, Junmyeon pulled away. He went right back in for a few more quick kisses, though, and when he actually pulled away, he reached up to tuck some hair behind your ear.

“Thank you for bringing me on this trip,” you whispered. 

“You’re welcome,” Junmyeon whispered back, smiling softly down at you. “Thank you for... being you. For being mine.”

“You are very welcome,” you chuckled. You pursed your lips for another kiss, and as Junmyeon obliged, you couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of anticipation brewing inside you.

You couldn’t wait to spend a whole week here with him. You couldn’t wait to relax and spend time with him and kiss some more.

A whole week.

It doesn’t seem like a long time, but remember what happened in less than a week about three months ago?

You and Junmyeon met, had a very awkward first date... and then five days later...

I’m just saying. A lot can happen in a week.

Part 7

[draculaspetbee]

Hello Amazing Followers!

Ok this is my second try at writing this (I tried to edit the tags and deleted the whole thing lol!) So, first, I want to put it out here that no one has asked me to do this. But I have recently gotten a lot of new followers to this blog, and I feel that I need to explain myself a bit. I want to explain why I sometimes need a pick-me-up, why I ask for people to send me nice things. Just so you know I am going to be going into a lot of personal detail, not everything I’ve ever went through but a lot, and I will be discussing depression, anxiety, PTSD, child abuse, panic attacks, threatening of animals and someone threatening suicide. Please take this as a trigger warning right from the top here. Also, if I miss any triggers please let me know, I am ALWAYS willing to add the tag and edit the post. If you want to ask me at all about any of what is here feel free to message me.

So, about four/five years ago I managed to break away from my first abuser. His name is Todd (I have a #toddtag on here for him even) and he is my biological father. He was extremely emotionally abusive to me and my family (my brother and mother). He used to make fun of me constantly, call me fat, tell me how much of a loser I was (I was in high school, in jazz band, marching band, honors society, scholar bowl, I worked two jobs, I was on the softball team, generally I did not want to be at home). He used to scream and yell at us if we did things he didn’t like, like cooking food the wrong way or washing the dishes in the dish washer instead of by hand. He would get worse when it came time to mow the lawn, to the point I would hid underneath the window so that he wouldn’t be able to see me if he looked into the house. He would make us sit at the table while he yelled at us for the wrong-doings we had done, like not fold his clothes. If we didn’t like the food we would sit at the table while he yelled at us until we ate it, to the point that my brother once threw up because of it. He made us eat whole cloves once when he made ham. To this day I still get nauseous if I hear a lawn mower or smell/taste cloves. When I was 13 he told me that I should dress more provocatively if I wanted to get a boyfriend. When I was gifted a dog when I was 13 he let me keep her until he got upset one day, and while I was at work he tried to give her away. He once took my mother’s dog outside to kill her because she had taken chicken from my brother. (BOTH DOGS MADE IT OUT WITH US OK, WE WERE ABLE TO SAVE THE DOGS) When he would leave for the night (he worked night shifts) he would make us stand in a line and hug him goodbye. He would make us hug him, even if he had been yelling at us seconds before. He would glare at us, until we would hug him and then he’d kiss our cheeks and leave without a word.

When I was younger we used to joke that he was a werewolf because he always used to get meaner after 30 days had passed. It wasn’t until later that I learned that it was the cycle of abuse that was playing out.

I grew up with this for 20 years. We left on Mother’s Day four years ago. He ranted and screamed. He told my brother (18 at the time) that it was his fault the family was falling apart. He told us he knew what God felt like being crucified on the cross. I thought he was going to kill us. That night we slept in my full size bed, me, my brother, my mother, and our two dogs. We slept facing the door because we didn’t know what he was going to do. He had access to weapons, I thought I was going to die. When we did left he harassed us constantly. He called, texted, Facebook messaged us. He had friends call and show up at the safe house we were at to tell us that he was going to kill himself and that it was my brother’s and I’s fault if he did. The first birthdays my brother and I had after we left he texted me on my brothers birthday. That’s right, 21 years and he still didn’t know my birth date.

When I was 20, months before this happened, I went to a therapist. I knew that I was depressed, but I assumed it was because I hadn’t been rehired for my summer job. My therapist told me that I was quote: “Reacting like a battered woman” (I was still identifying as a woman) and that I was in fact, being abused. This was such a shock for me, I assumed it was normal to grow up that way. I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD from the things I grew up dealing with.

The first year we left I was home alone on Christmas Day. Todd showed up and tried to get into the house. I managed to close and lock the doors before he could, and called my aunt. I hid in the hallway, away from all the doors and windows, and had a panic attack. My aunt finally showed up and he was gone. Ever since then I’ve been really nervous during this time of year.

Now this part is harder for me to type out. I love my mom. She was supposed to be the one parent I had that cared for me. The one that loved me unconditionally. The adult that would never hurt me. I love my mom. But I am finding now that what I thought of her is not true. She often backed up Todd in the things he did. She has called me fat for all of my life. She supported him when he took me outside once and had me hold a bag of 50 lb dog food and tell me that I needed to lose that weight (I was 14). She has had me on a diet since I was 12. Last summer she told me I was too fat to fit on an airplane. This is patently untrue. She has made fun of my panic attacks, even the ones she saw and heard over the phone. Recently she has begun to try to control my finances. She still will keep me from eating food, only allowing me one meal a day, trying to make me lose weight. I’m 25.

Two years ago around this time (near my birthday, which is January 17th if you’re interested in that in a post like this) I came out to her as non-binary. She cried for hours. She told me that God wouldn’t have made me that way. She asked if I was going to cut off my chest. She told me that she couldn’t “lose her baby girl”. After she was done crying she made me promise her I had been lying to her about it. I’m still living with her.

This year I’m graduating. I’m going to graduate under my preferred name, the one I’ve been secretly going by without her knowing. I’m going to be publishing my thesis under that name as well. I’m going to have to come out to her in under a month. In 25 days to be exact. Three days after my birthday. She’s going to react in two possible ways. She will either refuse to call me by my name or pronouns (if this happens I don’t want to have to live here anymore) or she will kick me out. Either way I will no longer be living in the house that I have called my safe space since leaving Todd. 

Now at this point you’re probably asking “Denver, why are you spilling your guts on tumblr? Well, first, I do know I can be a lot to handle. I can be awkward, and a bit weird. But I also know that here I can be myself. Second, I usually would call my friend, but she’s with her family now and they’re similar to mine, and she can’t call while she’s with them. And she’s like 90% of my impulse control.

Third, and most importantly, I want people who are out there to know that it’s going to be ok. If I can get out of Todd’s house then I can do anything, and so can you. It’s not going to be easy. My brain still will tell me it’s my fault, and that I deserved the abuse. But you have to know that it’s going to get better. It’s tough. Planning and packing for a move that my family doesn’t even know about has got to be the toughest thing I’ve ever done. But I’m tired of living for other people. I can and will be myself. I cannot live for anyone else. I will be me. If anyone else is experiencing this, I’m here. I see you. If you need to talk, message me. It’s going to be ok.

[leelee10898]

Chikara: Kanashimi (1/?)

Ellie wheeler's senior year turned out to be one she would never forget. Now in college, leaving behind the life she grew to love, she did anything but thrive.

If you'd like to be added to the taglist, lemme know!!

Raiting: Mature. Series will contain, violence, death, sexual situations, and bad decisions.

Ellie quietly wandered the halls of Langston, head down, never noticed by anyone and she never spoke to anyone either.  It was just her and her thoughts, her roommate flaked out the first two weeks of fall semester. Not like she ever really talked to the girl. Her day consists of getting up, going to school, homework, dinner, shower, bed. Rinse, lather, repeat, Every day for 6 months.

She tried to keep her mind busy,  she never fully tuned it out. Behind all the math problems and research papers, he was always there like a cancerous tumor sucking the life out of her. she didn't hate it, it was quite the opposite really, she loved it, she needed it to get by the long days and lonely nights.

The night they finally took the brotherhood down, was one of the proudest moments she felt. They watched as Jason was hauled off in handcuffs, a tiny sliver of justice for Kaneko. She said goodbye to Toby, Ximena, even Mona, she knew they would move on from the crew. When Logan said goodbye it stung, she cared a great deal for him. He was the first guy she had ever kissed, or even had feelings for but, he wasn't Colt. From the moment they met, he drove her crazy, he annoyed her to no end and he was a complete jerk but she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

She had just finished submitting her final paper to her English teacher when she ran to her dorm room, grabbed her bags and headed to the airport. When she left for the summer program at Langston she told her dad she would see him at thanksgiving. She reluctantly left her car behind, a deal her father and her came to for breaks such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break, In the summer she would drive home. It was finally Thanksgiving and she couldn't wait.  she pressed the imaginary gas pedal on the airplane floor, secretly hoping it would get her there faster.

The sound of a screaming child filled the cabin, Ellie popped her earbuds in, attempting to drown out the noise. Just a little bit longer,  almost there she kept telling herself. Once they landed, she grabbed her luggage and looked for her dad. She seen him standing in the pick up area holding one of those makeshift signs that read Wheeler. "Dad, you're such a dork." She flung her arms around him. "Yeah, the coolest dork you'll ever meet." He retorted.

They got in the car and made the drive to the house, sure she couldn't wait to be home.  She was looking forward to seeing Riya and Darius, having Thanksgiving dinner at her grandparents, but she had more pressing matters to attend to. They pulled into the driveway and Ellie ran into the house,  flinging her luggage on the bed. She had to play it carefully, not to tip her dad off as to her plans. She came down stairs and like clockwork her dad asked if she was hungry. "Sure thing dad." She smirked, knowing after he ate he would want to take a nap.

"So. Any plans with Riya? She's home from Hartfeld this week." Dad asked as he put the dishes in the sink.  "Yeah we actually made some plans to catch up. Speaking of, can I use your car to see if shes home?" Her dad reached in his pocket handing her the keys "Just be careful, I'm going to take a nap."

Ellie ran up to her room, she flung open her suitcase and changed out of her leggings and baggy t shirt into a pair of jeans and a crop top.

She ran to the car, turning the key as the engine roared to life. It wasn't her car, but it would do.

She made the drive into the city, stopping at where the sideshow was, but nothing was there. She pulled down another street and parked in front of the familiar building. Not much had been done with the burned out shell of its former self, it looked as if time stood still. It was boarded up in attempts to keep people out, she walked around the building until she found a loose board and slipped in. The inside was hardly touched, some sorting had been done, she knew Colt had come back the day he gave her the cactus. There wasn't much left of the place, some debris strewn about, some shells of cars that once sat in the bay. It was clear nobody had been here, and the realization that nobody was coming back began to set it.

She thought she needed to come here, that maybe she would find something other then the burnt remains of the place that changed her, or someone.  The tears began to sting her eyes, so many memories in such a short time. Ever since they parted ways, she felt like a part of her was missing. There was a gaping hole in her heart that ached, she grasped her chest as ler legs failed her. For 6 months she kept her phone glued to her, in hopes someone would just reach out, for 6 months she prayed that someone would come for her, that she wasn't alone, and she meant something to them.

She sat alone on the floor of Kaneko's garage in a heap of ash and soot, crying her eyes out.  They were gone, you're just a tourist ringing in her head.  She was in fact alone, they weren't  coming back for her and it was time to try and move on.

She made her way back home, covered head to toe in the black substance that stained the floors of the garage, much like the stains on her heart. After a long cry in the hot shower, Ellie pulled open her closet door and started to hang her clothes inside when she spotted something tucked away behind her prom dress. She couldn't imagine what it might be, it was larger than any of her clothes. Gripping the petal pink fabric she pulled the dress forward,  giving easier access to the mystery item. Her fingers began to tremble, her nerves on edge as she ripped the clothing hanging in front of it off the hangers and tossed them to the floor reaching her goal item.

Ellie staggered backwards, item in hand.  the backs of her knees hitting the mattress causing her to sit. She stared blankly at the jacket in front of her, Colts leather jacket. How did it get there? She didn't think it was there when she packed for Langston, but could she have missed it?

She held the soft leather to her face, the scent of his cologne putting her immediately at ease. This was all she had left of him, that and the few photos and texts she had saved in her phone. Ellie slipped the jacket on, it was over sized but she didn't care. She placed her hands in the pockets pulling it flush to her body as if it were his arms wrapped around her.  Her fingers brushed against something and she pulled it from the pocket.

She stared down at the folded piece of paper, she recognized the stationary, it was one from her desk. Unfolding it slowly, tears began to well on her eyes in anticipation. His penmanship was far better then she anticipated but she knew better then to expect to unexpected when it came to Colt Kaneko.

Ellie,

If you are reading this that means you have found my jacket in your closet. I am risking everything coming here and sneaking in.   I just needed you to have it, to have something of me with you in this cold, unforgiving world.

Im not good with words, and feelings so im going to try my best. I love you Ellie Wheeler, I probably have since the moment I laid eyes on you at the side show, only I couldn't admit it to myself then.

I know you think that I don't care but leaving you, was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I meant what I said, we will see each other again.   

I watched you give your speech at graduation,  It took everything I had in me not to run out there and kiss you. I am so proud of you valedictorian. And just a little while ago when you drove away for College, I just had to see you if only at a distance. Keeping you safe will always be my priority,  and with the fbi breathing down my back, letting you go was the only way.

Live your life to the fullest Elle, don't cry for me im not worth your tears. Have fun in college, make friends, fall in love. You are amazing and you deserve to be happy. I hope that when our paths do cross again, you accomplished everything you set out to. I think your dad may be home so I have to run. Remember I will always Love you Ellie, even if I can't be with you.

Love, Colt.

She closed the letter, tears streaming down her face as she laid down on her bed. He was at her graduation, and when she left for Langston. She was hurting but she knew she had to move on, and now with his jacket she had a piece of him with her.

Two weeks went by in the blink of an eye, before she knew it she was back at Langston.  She drug her luggage down the long hall to her dorm room, she reached for her key, opening her door she walked into a different room then when she left. The opposite side of the room, once empty was decorated in pink, pink as far as the eye could see. Ellie flung her bags onto the bed, collapsing next to them when the sound of the door opening startled her. She sat up, eyes wide staring at the person in front of her. "Hey roomie!"

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ROD

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@littlemissimaginativerhi

[smilemingyu]

joli

member: kim seungmin (stray kids) 

word count: 4.4k

genre: fluff!!!

a song to listen to: joli garçon by pink martini

warnings: so much fluff,, paris cliches,,,, haha

all i can think about at the moment is how fun a vacation to france would be with seungmin okay!!

okay so like ,,,

you’re seungmin’s best friend and he was like,, i want to go to france and take pictures and you’re like “ok, have fun!” and he’s like “no but…. i don’t want to go alone :(“

and you’re like uh oh,,, he’s pulling out his puppy dog eyes and you can’t say no to seungmin’s puppy dog eyes

and he also offers to pay for everything so like could really pass up a Free trip to france with your best friend???? absolutely not

so he plans it all out for you both and all you have to worry about is packing,,

you guys have a sleepover a little bit before and buy a notebook to write down some places to visit and some things to eat and you’re both just so excited to go

you buy a french translation book and you both study some common phrases and try to have conversations in french

which usually ends in both of you being confused and just laughing over how bad the others accent is

so your plane day comes and seungmin comes to your apartment at 4 am to make sure you’re prepared and he checks through a list of things before you guys go off to the airport

and you’re like,, so tired but can’t help but be fond of seungmin and his want to make sure everything goes well

on the airplane you both fall asleep and only wake up when you guys accidentally bump heads

and then you guys decide to watch a french movie without subtitles to see how much french you guys know

and throughout the whole movie you guys are like ???????? what is happening ,,, je ne comprends pas

so yeah your book didn’t help other than knowing Very Very basic phrases

but you don’t care because you both can speak english and they’ll probably have some english speakers in the touristy places

when you land, you’re both super tired so you go straight to the hotel seungmin had booked

and it’s a one bed room because it’s cheap and neither of you care about sleeping in the same bed because you already do when you have sleepovers anyways,

also it has a great view to all kinds of pretty lights because why would he get a bad view

you both knock out pretty quickly but you ordered some food first since you both had accidentally slept past the food being served on the plane

when you wake up the next day, it’s to seungmin shaking you awake and telling you you guys have to get breakfast

and you get dressed into a cute french inspired outfit because why wouldn’t you come on if you’re gonna be a tourist you might as well be a tourist

you and seungmin may have maybe went shopping beforehand to look for cute outfits together so you’re both dressed in similar outfits and you make sure to get a mirror selfie as seungmin blushes because,

you look like a couple AND you’re cute

and he definitely blushes harder when you say exactly that but he covers it up by rolling his eyes and grabbing his camera

you both head out to the latin quarter and go to a cafe seungmin had found online and you both order some food and coffee and sit at a table outside

seungmin takes some photos of the view you guys have from there, at the people walking by, and makes you pose for some photos with your coffee and shows the photos to you excitedly which is so endearing because he looks up everytime at you with sparkly eyes to see your reactions and it makes you melt inside because he’s the cutest

after he’s done taking photos he pulls out the notebook you guys planned together in and asks what you guys should do after he eating

since you’re already in the latin quarter and are near it, you pick to go to the panthéon and take some pictures there

you also decide to check out some of the stores around and then you set out to do what you planned

you buy a few things from a store, including something that seungmin likes and seungmin tries to pay for it but ur like , bro you’re paying for everything let me buy you something so he shuts up and gives you a smile when you hand it to him after buying it

you stop a few times, seungmin wanting to take a picture of you in front of some of the more aesthetically pleasing shops and wanting a picture of you on the road and you try to get him to give you the camera so you can take pictures of him also because he is cute TOO but he refuses

so you resort to sneaking pictures of him when you know he isn’t looking

and when you look at the photos you took later that night your favorite photo was one you had taken when he was taking a picture of a family (with their permission, of course, he’s not weird,,) and he just looks so focused and serious but cute all at the same time !

(side note: i love kim seungmin,,,,,,,,,,,, he’s the cutest he deserves the world okay ,,)

he lets you take a picture of him with his camera in front of the panthéon because like why would he pass that up,,

and you’re pleased when a lady passing by offers to take a picture of you both together so you both pose cutely and she comments on what a nice couple you are and both you and seungmin blush but you had already gotten a comment like that from the barista that you were just like aight,,,, guess in paris we’re a couple then

you guys giggle about that together and stop at another cafe to plan out your next move

you guys decide to plan a visit to the catacombs so you go back to your hotel to change into something a little more suitable that way you wouldn’t get your cute outfits dirty

you stay in the hotel room a little bit, looking at the photos seungmin took and texting your friends about how pretty paris is

hyunjin texts back with how he’s jealous and seungmin should have took him instead and you say better luck next time but the group chat had already started planning a group visit and you’re not complaining, because that would be fun

you guys head out soon and stop by a shop to buy a flashlight based on advice online that said to buy one

seungmin also secretly buys you a stuffed animal he noticed when you were looking at what drinks you could buy you both just in case you get thirsty and he hides it in his bag to give to you later

on the way to the catacombs, seungmin does the same as he did at the latin quarter and stopped to take some pictures, even asking some couples if he could take pictures of them in some broken french

he always compliments the couples which usually gets a compliment back to you and him which you thank them for because you might as well you know

you guys arrive to the catacombs and have to wait in line to actually go in so you both make conversation with a couple in front of you

they’re two girls your age who hang off each other and they tell you guys about what they’re gonna do afterwards (go and get some drinks at a cabaret) and offer you guys to join them and you’re like,,, sure sounds fun and seungmin also agrees

they make conversation about how they got together (they were best friends and just naturally slipped into a relationship) and they ask you how you and seungmin got together

and you and seungmin exchange looks and it’s obvious you’re both like ok what harm could it be to pretend we’re a couple in the pretty city of paris

so you make up a story about how seungmin confessed to you when you were stargazing one night and he wraps his arm around you naturally

so you enjoy the catacombs together with the couple, taking pictures inside and you take some photos of the couple and they take some photos of seungmin and you and you and seungmin start to hold hands sometime after leaving to keep the couple illusion going

you all decide to just walk around some shops and wait for it to get darker before you go to the cabaret and you try to ignore how good it feels to be holding hands with seungmin so naturally

you all go to the cabaret and order some drinks and you and seungmin don’t drink much because honestly you wanted to enjoy paris sober more than you’d want to drunk

you part ways with the girls later in the night to go back to your hotel (after exchanging numbers and saying you’ll definitely have to meet up for lunch the next day)

even after you had parted ways seungmin still held your hand but you tried not to think about it too much

when you get into the hotel room, he pulls the stuffed animal he had bought you earlier and hands it to you and you blush and are like “what’s this” and he blushes also and was like “it’s cute, reminded me of you so i wanted to buy it for you” so you give him a huge smile (which makes his heart beat a lot) and you give him a big hug

you fall asleep while you both watch a movie, cuddling the cute stuffed dog he had gotten you

the next morning you wake up a little later than the day before

seungmin was already awake and eating a bagel on the balcony and he has one prepared for you also when you come out to join him

you guys eat in silence looking out at the city until he breaks the silence

“our eiffel tower day is the last day, by the way..,, wanted it to be more exciting,”

you nod agreeing with his planning

you had two more days to go

when you’re done eating you guys pull out the notebook and makes plans for that day

you plan to go to the louvre and then meet up with the girls from the day before for lunch and then you’ll go to domaine national du palais-royal afterward,,,

and then you found out there’s a korean market near there so you both plan to stop by there to buy some stuff so you can make some dinner in the hotel room together

excited to have your day planned out you and seungmin dress into another couple outfit and you decide to mention that little uhhHh scheme (?) you guys had made the day before

“so ,, are we just gonna pretend to be a couple here,,?” you ask and seungmin looks surprised as if he didn’t think you’d mention and you see his ears turn red but don’t tease him for it.

“i mean,,, here is considered a pretty romantic place so,, i guessed we might as well,,” and you agree and grab his hand “then hello boyfriend” and blushes and laughs, before presses a kiss to your cheek “hello (girl/boy)friend”

it’s easy to fall into that kind of relationship with him, even if it’s just for show

it was like how the other couple had talked about,, very natural that you knew you were going to be sad once the paris trip was over because you already had a crush on him anyways but you decide it wouldn’t hurt too much to at least enjoy this charade for the time being

so you guys set off, holding hands and go to the louvre excited to see all the pretty art and take some great photos

he immediately unlocks his hand from yours to make you take photo in front of it first and has you do a bunch of different poses, laughing when you do a silly kind of pose and you smile back fondly and he snaps a photo again

he comments on how pretty you look before you take the camera from him and have him do the same as you

you ask a lady to take some photos of you both which she gladly does, giving you both a smile

seungmin gives your cheek a kiss when she takes a photo and you know you must be blushing in the next photo when he is looking down at you

when the lady hands the camera back to you both, she comments on how much you guys remind her of her and her husband and you smile and thank her

seungmin intertwines your hands again and you wait a little until you can go into the museum

you don’t notice when he takes some photos of you inside, before taking photos of the art because cliches are cliches for a reason and that’s because they’re fucking fantastic skfsj

you’re fascinated by all the art inside which seungmin finds really cute and he pays close attention to your words when expressing your love for each piece

my heart HURTS

he cutely smiles whenever you smile widely at him and can’t stop from taking more photos of you

when you guys leave, you’re a little sad but thankful you were able to see the nice works and you cheer up when seungmin wraps his arm around your waist as you both walk to meet up with the couple

while you all eat some lunch, you tell the couple about the louvre with all the passion you have for it, talking about how much of a life changing (i literally just wrote changbin five times before i could finally type that right imskfjsk) experience it was and one of the girls comment about how in seungmin looks with you which causes you to look up and make eye contact with him and you see how fond his eyes look and you’re done for-

you giggle when seungmin blushes and just buries his head into your shoulder, patting him on the head and earning coos from the girls about how cute you both are

after you guys eat you ask if the girls want to come to the domaine national du palais-royal (there has GOT to be a way to shorten that) and they agree to come with you (mentioning that they were leaving tomorrow morning and you’re a little sad but seungmin was secretly fine with it; not because he didn’t like them but because he had already made plans for the whole day tomorrow for the two of you) and you guys have some fun taking pictures there

the girls try to have you guys taking a picture kissing but seungmin just kisses your cheek and shyly says he doesn’t want to kiss for the camera to them which makes you feel a little insecure but you ignore the feeling

you all separate when you and seungmin go over to the korean market and you plan to make some bibimbap and rock, paper, scissors over who is going to pay

seungmin wins so he gets to pay but you secretly slip some cash into his bag when he isn’t looking

when you get to the hotel room, you both change into something comfortable before starting on the food and it ends up being just you making it with seungmin backhugging you and encouraging your hard work

you roll your eyes at him but keep yourself relaxed in his embrace

you both decide to eat on the balcony like you did that morning and you look out at the lights, admiring them

“everything about this place is so pretty,,” you mention and seungmin nods, “it really is” he brought his camera out to take some photos and he takes some photos of you too

you reply to your group chat and they ask you for pictures at the louvre so you have seungmin send you them (which he had already uploaded into his phone)

you send him the pictures that the lady had taken of you and seungmin and try not to blush when you see how fond you both look of each other and you send him so pictures of the art

seungmin sends the pictures he had taken of you without you knowing and texted “the real art!” making you blush even more and you’re surprised you didn’t even know he had taken them

so you send the photos you had snuck of him the day before without his knowledge when he was taking the photos of the family and text “the real camera focus!” and he looks surprised when you look at him

you both laugh when jeongin sends a “get a room” and you’re confused when hyunjin sends a “i thought you weren’t confessing until the eiffel tower??”

you look at seungmin but he looks as confused as you and texts “i have no clue what you’re talking about”

felix says something about hyunjin being dumb before hyunjin was like “lol wrong best friends,,, hyunjin and heejin are going to paris and heejin was planning on confessing,” and you’re like,,,,,, “haha what,,,,, we meet some girls named hyunjin and heejin” and hyunjin was like ,,, wait ,,,, send pics

and seungmin did and he was like “yo wtfff that’s them” and what a great coincidence that was

so you guys decide to do a group facetime with your group and you tell them about how cool paris is and you show them the view that you have and chan is like “woawww it seems so romantic” and seungmin is like “! it is !” and you’re like “haha yeah,,, everyone thinks that we’re a couple here” and minho is like “i’m pretty sure that’s not just a paris thing” which causes seungmin to glare at him and you to blush

jisung asks if you guys have learned any french while there and you answer, “oui, seungmin est un joli garçon” which seungmin looks confused at and you giggle and changbin is like “from my listening of french music,,, i know what that means” and you put your finger to your mouth in a shushing movement which he nods and laughs at

“I’m googling that,” seungmin says and you just shrug

you guys go to bed later in the night after facetiming with everyone for almost five hours and you’re so sleepy when you cuddle with your stuffed dog (you decided to name rimbaud) and seungmin is a little jealous of it even though he bought it for you

(have you guys ever facetimed your friends for five hours because if you haven’t i do recommend, it’s so refreshing,,,)

you wake up later than seungmin again and he’s not on the balcony or in the room when you look for him and you almost panic because didn’t kim kardashian get robbed in paris what if the same people took seungmin but then you find a note underneath a snack pack of fruit that reads “went to grab us some food! i’ll be back soon, joli (fille/garçon) <3” and you blush upon him calling you pretty (girl/boy)

you eat the fruit gummies and watch some TV until seungmin comes back

he’s holding a picnic basket when he comes in and he smiles at you

“i already planned today’s day specially, if you’re okay with that” and you smile brightly, “of course i’m fine with it”

and he tells you that you’re going to check out another museum, first off, as he puts the picnic basket into the fridge and you get dressed to match his outfit that day

you both take a selfie and text to your group chat that you’re off and you go out

he takes pictures as he did the other days and you’re happy that you stop by a cafe to get some coffee, smiling when the barista compliments your outfits

you both find the museum fascinating and this time you’re sure to take some photos of seungmin also

he smiles at it and then pulls you to switch your camera to your front camera and you both take some photos with the art and you decide to kiss his cheek at one piece of art and it was his turn blush over it

afterward, you head back to hotel and when you get there he grabs the picnic basket he had that morning out of the fridge

“now,” he says, “we’re going to have a picnic! i know you always want to have a nice picnic so i thought this would be the best place to do it… a lot of people recommended jardin du luxembourg for it, so we’re going there” you get really excited over it,,, you love picnics

“where are we going afterwards?” he blushes, but smiles, “a surprise” it makes you very curious

you arrive to the place for the picnic and put down a pretty blanket, and seungmin brings out some sandwiches and a bottle of wine “i felt like we needed a proper french picnic” you laugh as he brings out wine glasses also

(side note: i wrote this part while listening to quatre épines by josh savage ft. angéline so i recommend it!)

you both say a cheers, before drinking and listening to some music on a bluetooth speaker and eating

you end up laying down and looking at the sky, your head in seungmin’s lap and him playing with your hair

you feel so comfortable that way and almost start nodding off until seungmin mutters something

you open your eyes, curious, and he’s looking down at you smiling “huh?”

he chuckles, “nothing… you’re just… really pretty, you know?” you smile satisified, and your eyes begin to flutter as he starts playing with your hair again,,, you didn’t even know he had stopped, “you’re not too bad yourself” you mutter, before you feel yourself sleep into a comfortable sleep

while you sleep, a couple actually comes over and compliments how cute you guys are and seungmin thanks them before asking if they could take a photo of you both

they do, and seungmin is very happy with the photo he gets out of it, before taking some photos of you

he wakes you up a little later, shaking you from your sleep and having you stand up with him

he says he wants you both to stop at the hotel room to drop off the picnic basket and you walk with him, and he lets you lean onto him as you try to wake yourself up more

you stop by a cafe when you leave for the next stop to grab some coffee and you head up to the next attraction and you notice seungmin getting a little nervous when heading there so you grab his hand and try to soothe him, though you’re confused as to why he’s nervous

you guys get to a place called the wall of love, and you’re fascinated by it, immediately taking pictures of it

seungmin watches you silently before telling you he wants a picture with both of you in front of it and he asks someone to take a picture of you both and he says something you can’t understand in french to them

he turns you towards him when you’re getting ready to pose and decides to say something

“i was going to be cliche and do this at the eiffel tower but i decided this was undoubtedly a better place to do it,” before you can question him about his words, he holds your chin before leaning in and kissing you and you don’t even hear the shutter of the camera because you’re too busy kissing him back and trying to calm your heart

“i love you,” he says when he pulls back, and he points at the wall of love “i love you in more than 250 ways, but i felt like this would be fitting to show how much i love you”

your heart melts and you almost feel tears prick at your eyes, before you pull him down to kiss him again and that time you hear that camera shutter but ignore it “i love you too, so much. wow, do i love you.” he smiles brightly at you and your heart feels like it’s flying

he thinks the guy who took the photos for him and offers him money, but the guy shakes his head and smiles, “anything for a couple in love!” and you smile back over it

you take some more photos at the wall, smiling at how many times seungmin kisses you and seungmin asks some other people if he could take photos of them

that night, you both kiss on the eiffel tower, looking out at the city and you take some pictures there too, sending them to the group chat later on and gaining so much response from everyone that you laugh at and tell them you’ll talk about it when you both arrive back the next day

when you both fall asleep that night, it’s cuddling together and exchanging little kisses before actually nodding off, and seungmin almost feels bad that the stuffed dog he had gotten you was kind of forgot in that moment,

but he’s glad it’s him you’re cuddling instead.

notes: this makes me want to go to paris now i did this to myself,,, also my skz bias is changbin but i’m on such a seungmin kick lately,,, thank u seungmin. i’m lowkey proud that the french i wrote in this are from my own knowledge because of the one time i took french my junior year (even though i live in florida and everyone else took spanish,,,,, i’m kind of dumb bitch) okay i’ll shut up now,,,, also i recommend looking up the wall of love! it’s cute!!!! also i named the stuffed dog after french poet arthur rimbaud! he has amazing poetry and a pretty interesting life when he was alive, there’s a movie about him that leonardo dicaprio stars in! hope you guys enjoyed this, haha, it took a lot of research ksskj and 8 pages in google docs <3

[cryptidcalling]

Clone AU time

So, Hill is from my clone AU, where very very rich people will secretly pay to have a clone of themselves made. There’s lots of different reasons one might want a clone. Many people who buy clones use them to get away with crimes because they’re genetically identical. In Hill’s case, he doesn’t want anyone except him to be in charge of his company.

Of course, Clone Wren didn’t turn out how they wanted him to. Unlike the stoic and unpersonable Hill, Wren is an Earth loving, people pleasing sweetheart. They’re not polar opposites, but they’re very different. Wren tried his best to replicate Hill and fill his role as a clone, but he struggled a lot, and everyone in Hill’s life quickly noticed that he was acting very very strange. Eventually, Wren cracked under the pressure and ran away. He withdrew a large lump some of cash from a number of surrounding ATMs, got on the first airplane out of state, and abandoned Hill’s entire life in favor of living his own.

This was a risky situation for Wren, because legally he is the property of the company that made him. He has a code branded on the side of his right hip, burned into the skin before he was woken so that the numbers are raised. Even if he tattooed over them, the numbers would still be visible. The number is 000283, the 283rd clone ever to be grown. Before he ran away, Wren also had to remove a tracking chip from his left calf, and he still has an indented scar there because he never got the wound treated. If Wren were to be found, the company that made him would be in every legal right to kill him, which they would. After that, his body parts (bones, organs, hair even) would be sold off. 

So, Wren was in a tight spot. He spent a lot of time moving around, and found that he was very enraptured by Earth’s natural beauty and the people living all around the country. He had to keep his face as hidden as he could, because Hill is someone many people would recognize from TV or magazines. Not because he’s famous or popular, or even enjoys being in the media, but because his sudden disappearance had stirred up a media storm. However, he’s not famous enough that someone would immediately recognize him with subtle changes. So, Wren grew out his beard a bit and let his hair get long, and although some people will notice eventually, it’s not as immediate of a reaction.

Wren eventually settles down in West Virginia, and his life from there on is much like canon Wren’s is. However, he has to be incredibly careful about who he gets close to and how much of his past he can reveal. Wren, but with secrets. 

As I said, back home, people have noticed the sudden disappearance of Weston Hill. His face is in news papers, magazines, on TV, all over social media, everywhere. People all have their theories about what happened to him. Some think he was kidnapped for his money, explaining all of the sudden withdrawals, but it wouldn’t explain why the kidnappers didn’t let him go after. Others think he was murdered, and that the company is trying to cover it up so they don’t hurt their profits. The people who have it the closest believe that everything just became too much for him, and so he abandoned his life’s work to start anew somewhere else. 

Hill didn’t much like people or the public. He hid away inside most days, and was rarely ever seen in person by the public eye. There are some people who care about him though. 

First off are his parents. They had a lot closer bond than canon Wren had to his parents when he was young. It sort of is opposite for them. Canon Wren’s relationship with his parents was strained in his youth, but became very strong in his adult life. Hill was very close with his parents in his youth, but drifted apart from them as an adult. Still, they love him very much, and he cares for them too. They never met Wren, so they never noticed the strange behavior. But they were crushed when they heard the news of their son’s disappearance. They hold out hope that their son is out there, but their overprotective thinking really leads them to think he’s hurt and scared somewhere with some evil kidnapper using him for his money. Meeting Wren would be great for them. They didn’t see him much as Hill either, so the change wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic for them, and Wren would feel incredibly happy to have parents that love him. However, he would worry a lot about them finding out about the truth and rejecting him for not being their real son.  

Another is his secretary Adeline. She’s an old woman, in her late 60′s, and she worked for Hill for many years. She’s one of the few people who saw him, or at least spoke to him, close to every day. They were never deep conversations, mostly about his schedule and about company statistics, but she grew to care for him anyhow. She has four of her own kids, all around Hill’s age when they first met (he was 32 when he died, and 27 when she started working for him). She fussed about him a lot, and always said he had ought to go outside more to get his Vitamin D, and when he was going out she would remind him to wear sunscreen because “That ginger skin of yours is delicate! It don’t handle the sun good without protection, an’ I don’t want’cha lookin’ like no tomato for your meeting at 5:00.” She knew better than to cross his boundaries. He had his own mother to love him, after all, but she did her best to look out for him as well as she could. He never felt that same bond with her, but he still appreciated the work she did for him at keeping everything organized. He even got her gifts on holidays, even when he never made a big deal out of it. Normally he would just leave it on her desk, and would never stick around to see her reactions. 

She noticed right away when ‘he’ started acting odd, and she was very sure something wrong was going on that he wasn’t telling her. She even asked Wren what was wrong and why he was acting funny, promising that it was okay for him to ask for help. In response Wren stuttered out an “I’m fine” before quickly walking away and refusing to talk to her for the rest of the day. Of course it hurt her feelings, but she wasn’t mad at him at all. It just made her more concerned. When he finally went missing, she was in a panic. She called his phone over and over, only to find it left behind in his room. She called everyone she could possibly think to call to ask where he was, but no one knew. The last trace of him was in an LA airport on a plane to Portland. The trail cuts off there. She genuinely wants to believe that he’s out there somewhere, happy and safe. She hopes that if he ran away to a new life, that he would at least be happier there. If she were to encounter Wren, she would scold him a lot for running off out of the blue, but when she was done she would just be delighted to know that ‘Hill’ is living a life that makes him genuinely happy. They would probably keep in touch after, and Wren would do whatever he could to keep his clone status a secret. He knows she wouldn’t turn him in, but he doesn’t want to hurt her with the truth. 

The last person to really feel the impact of Hill’s disappearance would be a man named Edwin. He’s an investor in Hill’s company, and like a company owner tends to do, Hill would meet up with him here and there to keep relations good. Edwin is in his early 40s, and he’s very rich. All of his money is old though, he’s a trust fund baby and all of his family’s wealth comes from his grandparents during the 1920′s. Because of that, he has a lot of free time and money on his hands, and liked to meet with Hill often (maybe two or three times a month). They would go golfing (which Hill hated), drinking at an expensive bar (which made Hill uncomfortable), or would have fancy dinners (which made Hill feel awkward). Edwin, or Eddy as he prefers, loved spending time with Hill. He thought that Hill’s aloof nature was fun to mess around with, and he always wanted to see how far he could push the boundaries until he got a reaction out of him. Of course, it was all good natured fun in Eddy’s eyes. He saw Hill as a friend, even if their friendship was odd. Hill, on the other hand, was bothered by Edwin more than anything. He was polite to him because he was giving Hill’s company money. He found Edwin bothersome and the meetings to always be unpleasant. He hated calling him “Eddy” like they were friends. He didn’t even like Edwin calling him by his first name. He would put up with it, but he would NOT put up with being called “Wes”. 

Eddy didn’t even know Hill had gone missing until he started showing up in the news. When Wren got too nervous to accept his invitations, he just assumed Hill was being colder than usual. He actually got rather angry towards the end of the month, right after Wren ran away. He sent an irritated voicemail saying that if Hill wasn’t interested in being polite enough to at least decline instead of ignoring him, then maybe his money would be better spent elsewhere. Of course, he felt extremely guilty when he learned Hill was missing. He still invests money to this day, 4 years after the disappearance, as his way of supporting a man he considered a friend. He thinks Hill his dead. He could never imagine him abandoning his company, and he could never imagine someone kidnapping him but not demanding more of his millions of dollars. Whenever he’s grieving, he often realizes that he doesn’t know very much about Hill at all. Yet, he grieves for him all the same. Meeting Wren would go very bad for him. He would be incredibly angry, screaming at Wren for leaving his company behind and not warning anyone of where he was going. He would immediately stop all of his investments into the company, and he would expose exactly where Wren was to the media as revenge. If he found out Wren was a clone, he would just hate him more. He’s a defective product. If he had just functioned like he was supposed to and stayed in his place no one would have had to worry or waste their time grieving. 

[phantasticworks]

Do You Know How in Love With You I Am (Please Notice)

Phan!The Office AU I wrote based on an incredible piece of art by @laurainlilac so please go follow her and look at her art (she’s the mvp of phanart) so all credit for the prompt goes to her! 

read on ao3

Words: 22k

Description: Dan works at a small paper company, but the good thing about this mundane and meaningless career is that his best friend Phil sits only a few feet away at reception. The bad thing, however, is that Dan’s is irrevocably in love with said best friend. Oh, and also, Phil’s engaged to someone else. But don’t worry! There’s a happy ending somewhere in here.

Warnings: swearing, reference to emotionally abusive partner, implied history of domestic abuse/violence (nothing too explicit), lots of fluff and some angst, also a very poorly written smut scene that I already regret writing, but it’s kinda long so I can’t delete it now. 

IMPORTANT: There is detailed smut in this, so if you’re not comfy reading that, it begins at the first ~ and you can stop reading at the second ~. It’s mainly there for the sake of characterization, but it’s totally fine to skip it. 

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

Dan Howell was never really a fan of customer service or human interaction, but somehow here he was, working in the sales department of a small paper company and trying his best to sell paper. It wasn’t that he hated people, really. He just hated interacting with them.

Well, that is, except for his best friend, Phil, who luckily worked four and a half paces away from Dan’s desk. Which was super convenient, if you asked him. Sitting so close to his best friend allowed him to hate his job significantly less, and whenever the woes of the corporate nightmare he was living got to him, he could just walk right over to reception and complain about it to his best friend.

Currently, he was tossing a ball of rubber bands in the air from the comfort of his own desk, his eyes on Phil. The ebony haired man was staring at his monitor, but Dan could see how hard he was trying to hide his smile, and Dan knew that Phil knew he was staring at him. When he finally raises his eyes to meet Dan’s, the younger man raises his eyebrows, holding the ball as if he’s about to throw it to Phil.

Phil shakes his head frantically, and Dan snickers. He’s well aware of the total lack of hand-eye coordination on Phil’s part, so he mercifully doesn’t throw the ball. Instead, he sets it back on his desk and grabs a random sheet of paper from his desk, folding it into an airplane quickly. Phil rolls his eyes, smiling as he looks back to his screen.

“Psst!” Dan whispers obnoxiously, causing Phil to quirk an eyebrow, fully taking his attention away from his computer.

“What?” Phil whispers back, brushing his quiff back with one hand.

Dan doesn’t respond, instead holding up the airplane craft, moving his hand as he goes to throw it.

Chris, Dan’s unfortunate desk cluster-mate and his unofficial enemy, decides to jump in then and ruin their fun. “Uh- that’s not going to fly, stupid.” He says rudely.

Dan raises an eyebrow at him, looking at the paper airplane in appraisal. “I dunno, I reckon it will,” He shrugs before tossing the plane, watching with only mild disappointment as it curves through the air, only to fall to the ground barely two feet away from him.

Phil purses his lips and gives him a round of pity applause, and Dan grins as he stands, bowing slightly. “Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here till five.” He announces proudly as he picks up the airplane.

Chris snorts from behind him. “Loser. Can’t even make the simplest piece of paper aircraft actually fly. Pathetic.” He snips, shaking his head as he stares disdainfully at Dan.

Shrugging, Dan drops the paper on Chris’ desk. “Why don’t you give it a shot, then.” He suggests, quirking an eyebrow in challenge. “I mean, if you think you can do it. It’s pretty hard.” He adds.

“Please,” Chris scoffs, snatching the paper up. “I’ll make the best damn airplane you’ve ever seen in your pathetic existence.”

Dan shrugs, crossing over to reception, where Phil is waiting with a smile. “He’s going to make me the best damn airplane I’ve ever seen,” Dan informs him helpfully as he leans against the counter, looking down at Phil.

Phil nods seriously. “Right. And I’m sure you’re really quite excited about that?” He laughs, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Of course,” Dan says as if it’s completely obvious. “Can you imagine? I’ll have the best paper airplane in the world, made by our very own Chris Kendall.”

Phil snickers, sorting through some papers on his desk. “Wow. I can’t believe you’ll be the sole recipient of such an esteemed item,” he teases, his blue eyes flickering up to meet Dan’s.

Dan swallows hard, trying to ignore how incredibly attractive Phil is. There’s not a lot of things to do during the day as far as distractions go, but coming over to talk (or shamelessly flirt, in Dan’s case) with the office’s receptionist definitely made the days go by quicker. “I imagine you’re pretty jealous, huh?” Dan asks, tilting his head to the side and propping his chin on his hand.

“Oh, yeah,” Phil nods, a serious look coming over his face. He sits up, tilting his head back and angling his face closer to Dan’s. “Definitely jealous,” he says quietly, nodding seriously.

Biting his lip, Dan tries his hardest to fight his smile. Just as he starts to speak, they’re interrupted by a different voice.

“There,” Chris calls from the desk cluster he and Dan sat at. Dan and Phil both turn to look at him, and Dan nearly laughs at the pure ecstatic expression on Chris’ face. “This was so easy a stupid baby could do it,” He taunts, standing to show the airplane to Dan.

Dan considers this before shrugging. “So, you’re saying I’m smarter than a stupid baby, so I couldn’t figure it out?” He asks, living for the way it riles up his coworker.

“No! I was implying that you were stupider than a stupid baby. Idiot,” he seethes, shoving the airplane into Dan’s hand.

“But, you said a stupid baby could do it. Which implies that either you are the stupid baby, because you did it, or that I’m not a stupid baby, since I couldn’t do it.” Dan explains casually, eyes on the ceiling as if he’s really considering it. He wasn’t, he just liked to wind Chris up. Phil giggles from behind him, making Dan smirk.

“No, I- just fly the damn thing!” Chris snaps in exasperation, crossing his arms and stepping back.

Dan shrugs, lifting the plane. “Sure.” He pauses then, leaning against the receptionist desk once again. “Phil, tell me where I should try to aim this at.” He instructs, glancing over his shoulder.

Phil stands so he can see easier over the tall receptionist desk, scanning the room, considering. “Hm. How about... oh, see if you can hit one of Chris’ bobble heads!” He says excitedly, smiling brightly at Dan.

Dan hides a laugh, but nods.

“Wait- no! Don’t hit my stuff.” Chris protests, reaching to take the plane out of Dan’s grip.

“But it’s a paper airplane, Chris. It won’t hurt it.” He supplies with a shrug before aiming the airplane.

Before Chris can protest again, Dan launches the plane, and they all watch as it goes straight for all of a foot, before plummeting down.

“Huh. I guess you’re not a stupid baby after all,” Dan shrugs, turning to look at Phil.

Chris, however, is much more bothered. “What? I fixed it, it should’ve worked! Dan, what did you even do?” The man demands, grabbing the plane off the ground.

Dan raises his hands in defense. “I just launched it. I didn’t mess with it, mate.” He takes in Phil’s incredulous expression at the anger in Chris’ voice, and tries not to laugh.

“Well, it should’ve worked.” Pushing his glasses up, Chris aims the plane and launches it himself, only to get the same results. “What?!” He all but screeches.

Dan shrugs, patting him once on the back. “Does it have propellers?” He asks, plucking a random word associated with aircraft out of his memory, keeping a straight face as he stares at Chris.

Phil snickers behind him, but Dan shoots him a look.

“What- no! Of course not, it’s a paper airplane, you idiot.” Chris snaps, still fumbling with the paper aircraft.

“Well then maybe that’s your problem,” Dan says helpfully, shrugging.

Chris groans in frustration as Phil laughs. “Shut up. Idiot.” Chris grumbles before stomping back to his desk, tossing the airplane into a wastebasket on the way.

“Well, that was an event.” Phil murmurs as Dan turns back around.

“Yeah. You know, I can never quite tell if Chris hates me or if he’s secretly in love with me.” Dan says jokingly, pushing a curl off his forehead.

“Probably in love with you,” Phil nods. “I can see why he would be.” His cheeks flood with color after he says this, but he only looks up at Dan, as if waiting for him to disagree.

Dan feels flooded with warmth, and he grins, his dimple likely showing as he does. “Yeah?” He teases, but he feels his heart racing as he waits for an answer. Not yours, not yours, not yours, the silent mantra repeats in his head, but he ignores it. He wants this. He wants Phil to want him, even if he knows they can’t be together because Phil has someone else.

Phil only blushes darker and looks down at his desk. “Of course.” He says softly. Dan feels as if his heart is about to burst with joy, but then Phil speaks again. “You’re my best friend, Dan, of course I think you’re lovely.” He says this so sweetly that Dan nearly melts right there on the spot, but then the real meaning behind his words sink in.

Dan tries very hard not to let his face show the pure disappointment he feels swelling up now. “Oh,” he says softly in response. “Yeah, of course.”

Before Phil has a chance to respond, their boss, PJ, comes out of his office.

“Meeting in five! Five seconds, everybody, find your asses in those chairs in five, four, three-“ PJ yells from only a foot behind Dan.

Dan cringes at the booming voice right behind his ear, turning to look at Phil with an incredulous expression. Why, he mouths, shaking his head in bewilderment.

The older man giggles, shrugging as he grabs a notepad and pen to take notes for their boss during what was likely to be a very pointless meeting.

“Phil, hurry up. Come on, guys! Meeting, now!” PJ is chirping behind Dan.

Dan sighs but shrugs away from the receptionist counter anyway, shoving his hands into his pockets. Dan pauses beside PJ, lowering his voice as a few of his colleagues make their way past him and into the meeting room. “Hey, you know you don’t have to yell, right? There’s only like, nine of us in here. And, well, it’s a pretty small room.”

“Don’t listen to him, PJ. You’re asserting your authority.” Chris, ever the suckup, says snidely from behind him.

Dan sighs, staring up at the ceiling before he notices Phil standing by the door to the meeting room, smiling at him. The younger man can’t help but return the smile, his face flooding with warmth.

“Yeah, actually, Chris is right. Sorry, PJ. I’ve got a meeting to get to actually, but hey, good job rounding up the crowd.” Dan pats Chris’ shoulder before sliding past him and their boss, gesturing for Phil to walk in ahead of him.

“One day he’s going to figure out that you’re just being a smartass.” Phil whispers as they take a seat next to each other.

Dan shrugs, smirking. “Probably, but I’ve worked here for five years and it hasn’t happened yet,” he reminds the ebony haired man next to him.

Phil rolls his eyes, tugging on the red cardigan he’s wearing over his white dress shirt, and Dan tries not to stare at his long fingers as he fiddles with the buttons.

As a distraction from his thoughts, he shifts closer, bringing his mouth close to Phil’s ear. “I have a great prank in the works for Chris. Are you in?” He asks quietly. Pulling away slightly to see Phil’s reaction, he’s a little surprised to see a blush on the older man’s cheeks, but he figures he might be imagining that.

Phil grins, nodding. “Absolutely. What are we doing?” He asks, waggling his eyebrows conspiratorially.

Dan bites his lip, trying to hide his goofy smile. Phil was just too cute for his own good. Of course, Dan couldn’t say that to his best friend. It’s not something you say to someone you’re so close to in a platonic way, because there’s no telling what that could do to their friendship. And it wasn’t as if he could have Phil, anyway.

Just as PJ steps in after the last few stragglers, Chris marching close on his heels, Dan dips his head down to whisper his plan into Phil’s ear, ignoring the way Phil shivers lightly when his lips accidentally graze the shell of his ear.

When Dan has laid out the plan, he sits back, waiting for Phil’s judgement. A look of awe and surprise sits on his face, and Dan tries not to fidget as he waits for the verdict.

“Dan Howell,” Phil whispers as PJ begins speaking. “That is positively rotten of you.”

Dan’s face falls a little, thinking maybe this time his childish, pranking ways had gone too far, pushed Phil to realize that he was actually just a bored loser struggling for the attention of the cute receptionist.

That is, until Phil nudges Dan’s arm with his elbow, causing the brunet to look up in confusion. “I’m in,” the older man whispers just as Chris whirls around, glaring at them.

“Shut up, you two. Some of us care about this meeting.”

Dan smirks, nodding as if he’s apologetic. “Sorry, Chris. We’ll keep it down.” He says casually, trying not to laugh. Phil giggles beside him, covering it with a very not-subtle cough.

Chris doesn’t seem to find this out of the ordinary, as he turns around with a huff. Dan rolls his eyes at Phil, nudging him gently. “Nice,” he whispers teasingly.

Phil nudges him back, smiling. “Shut up,” he responds quietly.

Dan just smiles, and they both pretend to be very invested in the meeting, which turns out to be about whether or not PJ should ask his supervisor, Sophie, to their office Christmas party. Dan effectively tunes out after that, instead taking the notepad and pen from Phil, who raises his eyebrows in question.

Wanna play hangman? He writes, shifting the notepad so that Phil can read.

Phil smiles widely, his tongue poking out between his teeth, the cutie he is. Dan allows his eyes to flicker to his lips for only a few seconds before he looks back to his bright blue eyes. Phil takes the pen from him, writing messily underneath Dan’s question.

Can I go first? He’s written, shooting Dan a questioning look. Dan grins and nods, gesturing for him to continue.

He pretends to focus on the meeting while sneaking glances at the notepad, where Phil is currently drawing slightly uneven spaces on the paper. He notices that up in the top corner, Phil has written the category, which apparently for this round is books. Dan watches as he draws several lines, taking up a good majority of the page. Smirking, Dan leans closer to him, bringing his lips to hover closely around the shell of Phil’s ear.

“I think you’re just supposed to do the title, not write the book itself,” he murmurs, biting his lip when Phil shivers.

Phil rolls his eyes, nudging Dan’s arm off their shared armrest. “Shut up,” he says with a fond laugh, counting the lines to himself before slipping the notepad over to Dan.

Dan raises an eyebrow and stares at the many lines for a moment, counting them up in his head. “Twenty-four letters?” He whisper-shouts in surprise. “Is that even allowed?”

Shushing him with a grin, Phil taps the notepad. “Yes! Now, start guessing.”

Chewing on his lip thoughtfully, Dan tilts his head closer to Phil. “Do I get any sort of hint? Who’s the author?” He asks.

“That’s not a letter,” Phil protests.

Dan shrugs. “I’ll take an ‘i’ first. But I want to know the author, at least.” Dan prods.

Phil sighs, then goes through the blanks on the page, filling in all the ‘i’ spots that there were. “Stephen King,” he admits quietly, glancing over at PJ once before his gaze returns to Dan. “That’s the only hint you’re getting, though!”

“Hm… old or new? Like, give me a year of publication.” He barters, pointing to one space. “And I want an ‘e’ next.”

“No,” Phil complains, biting his lip to hide a smile. “You don’t get a year of publication. You may have the ‘e’ though.” Phil begins writing again, mouthing the letters to himself. If Dan was a cheater, he’d focus harder on that and try to win the game all at once, but he enjoyed humoring the childlike tendencies of his best friend.

“Fine,” he relents, studying the letters. Smirking as a thought pops into his head, he leans even closer to Phil, this time purposefully bringing his lips to brush against Phil’s ear. “Can I have the ‘d’ please?” He breathes.

Phil visibly stiffens at this, then shivers as Dan’s breath flows over his neck. “Oh, um-“ He fumbles, his cheeks reddening comically.

Dan smirks as Phil shakily fills in two spaces with the letter he’d chosen, trying not to feel too proud of himself for the reaction he’d gotten. “First word is ‘the’ so, fill in those ‘t’s and ‘h’s, bub.” Dan says smugly.

Grumbling to himself, Phil fills in only a couple of blanks, turning to face Dan with a smug look. “Try another letter, Danny,” he whispers.

PJ seems to realize that they’re not paying attention then, and calls Dan out. “And the expense reports are due next Friday, right, Dan?”

Dan knows PJ’s probably trying to catch him off-guard to prove that he’s not paying attention, but luckily for him, he’d had this conversation with Phil earlier and knew that PJ was tricking him. “No, actually they’re due the week after that.” PJ looks surprised, and a little embarrassed, and just to be an ass, Dan adds, “Although, we do have updated client reports due next Friday.”

Their boss looks a little surprised that Dan had remembered this, and Dan just levels him with a casual smile, quirking an eyebrow in challenge. “Oh, er- right.” PJ stutters out, returning to his speech about whatever it was he was that he had been discussing initially.

“Nice,” Phil whispers from beside Dan, closer to his ear than he had been before. When Dan turns his head, he immediately flushes at the lack of space between them.

He’s engaged! A little voice yells in his head. Heeding this warning for once, he leans away slightly, clearing his throat as nonchalantly as possible. “Thanks,” he mumbles back pleasantly. Glancing down at the notepad, he whispers, “I’d like ‘a’ next.”

A flash of hurt crosses Phil’s face, but it disappears so quickly that Dan realizes he must have just imagined it. “Nope,” Phil says gleefully, drawing the head of the stick man corpse on the gallows at the top of the page.

“Well, damn,” Dan mutters, staring hard at the letters and spaces left on the page. “Um… ‘l’ I guess.”

Phil fills in all the letter ‘l’s that there are, and Dan feels almost slightly more confused. “Next letter,” Phil prompts, poking Dan’s arm with the pen.

Dan sighs before shrugging. “Um… hm… this is hard, Phil.” He stalls, trying to rack his brain for all the Stephen King novels he’d read. If he could think of the title of something that was long enough, he might guess the whole title correctly.

“That’s what he said,” Phil giggles.

Dan’s jaw drops open slightly and he shoots a surprised look at Phil. “Phil Lester,” he whispers, shaking his head. “You’ve changed,” he simpers, turning away dramatically.

Phil elbows him in the ribs sharply, and Dan gasps. A few of their coworkers shoot them dirty looks, and Dan just bites his lip, sending apologetic smiles their way. “You’re no better,” Phil whispers. “You asked me for the ‘d’ earlier.” He reminds him.

Rolling his eyes, Dan shifts in his seat, dropping his arm onto the shared armrest between them, subtly brushing their arms together. “Yeah, but I didn’t specifically ask for your d.” He mutters.

Phil flushes, ducking his head. “Pick a letter,” he hisses, laughter in his tone.

Smiling, Dan guesses another letter, and another, until he’s gotten down to only six blanks, his stick man hanging precariously with two arms and one leg already. “The… girl! The second word is girl.” He says excitedly, tapping his finger on the blanks. Luckily for them, PJ has sort of opened the floor for open discussion for something or other, so there were a couple other people talking, keeping them from getting called out again.

“Finally,” Phil rolls his eyes, writing in the letters, and then going down to the last word and filling in a ‘g’ and a ‘r’ there, too.

“This is so obscure,” Dan shakes his head as he stares at the letters, still confused about what the answer actually is.

“You’re just saying that because they never made a movie about it!” Phil whines.

Dan rolls his eyes. “Well, duh. Obviously, I don’t know what the hell it is if there’s not a movie.”

The older man shifts, pushing up the sleeves of his cardigan slightly. Dan tries not to stare at his beautiful pale wrists, but it’s hard to avert his eyes. He had very lovely hands, and those hands were connected to very lovely wrists, and arms, and… well, you get the idea. “C’mon, Dan. Just a couple more letters.”

Dan sighs, but looks at the notepad again. “The Girl… who! Second word is who…. The Girl Who Lo… Loved… Tom Gordon?” He trails off, unsure.

Phil’s face lights up, and his tongue pokes out between his teeth in that way Dan likes so much. “Yes! That’s it!” Phil fills in the last of the letters and smiles proudly.

“What the hell is that?” Dan asks incredulously, his voice bubbling with laughter.

“It’s a book! I’ve got a copy of it that I can lend you,” Phil’s gaze drops to the notepad again, his fingers twisting around the pen. “I mean, if you want to read it.”

Dan smiles broadly as he studies Phil’s profile. “Of course. I’d love to read it, if it’s something you care so much about.” He says honestly.

Phil smiles at this in response, but before he has the chance to say anything, they hear a tapping on the wall of windows behind them, which separates the conference room from the main office. They both stretch to see who had knocked, and Dan’s face drops considerably when he sees that it’s Charlie Stratford. Otherwise known as Phil’s fiancé. When he sees that he has their attention, he crooks a finger at Phil, indicating for him to come out of the conference room to speak to him. His eyebrows are knitted together, and he has his lips pressed into an angry line, his entire stance exuding irritation.

Dan frowns, glancing over at Phil in worry. Phil only looks down, closing the notepad before awkwardly getting to his feet. “Um, I should- I’ll be back in a minute.” He mumbles, leaving the notepad on his seat and stepping out of the conference room. PJ barely spares him a glance, having seen Charlie waiting outside no doubt, but Dan can’t help but allow his gaze to follow Phil out of the room.

He watches with rapt interest as Charlie clenches his jaw as he begins speaking, too quickly for Dan to read his lips properly. Phil is staring down at his feet, but Charlie brings his hand up, snapping his fingers right in front of Phil’s face to bring his gaze up to meet his own. Dan feels his blood boil at this action, and he has to literally grab ahold of the arm rests to keep himself in his seat, rather than doing something stupid like walking out there to intervene.

Not yours! Not yours, let it go! His mind reminds him helpfully, but Dan tells that voice to shut the hell up. Instead, he watches quietly as Charlie gestures to the window where he’s sat, poking Phil’s chest with his index finger several times right after. Phil seems to speak up then, bringing his arms up as if to hug himself tightly. He shakes his head sharply at something Charlie is saying, his eyes clenching shut. Whatever Charlie is saying must really piss him off, because he turns suddenly, as if to walk back into the conference room.

Dan doesn’t even have a moment to feel relieved that Phil’s getting out of that situation before he’s watching in mute horror as Charlie brings his hand up to grip Phil’s bicep, yanking on his arm harshly to pull him back to face him. That settles it for Dan, and he’s up and out of his seat immediately, holding a hand up to PJ when he questions him.

Having the sense to shut the conference door behind himself, Dan comes to stand beside Phil, tucking his hands in his pockets casually, as to not appear threatening to Charlie. He wasn’t afraid of the twat by any means, but he also wasn’t stupid; Charlie could probably kick his ass in no time, considering he definitely spent more time at the gym than Dan currently did. “Everything alright out here?” He asks pleasantly, trying not to frown at the way Phil cringes when he hears his voice.

“We’re fine, Howell. This is really none of your business, though, so, if you could just go, that’d be great.” Charlie drawls easily, his hand still gripping Phil’s arm tightly. Dan watches as Phil tries to take the distraction as an opportunity to pull his arm out of his grasp, but this only seems to spur Charlie on.

“Maybe you ought to let go of his arm, mate,” Dan suggests instead of leaving, ignoring that notion completely.

Charlie’s eyes narrow, and Phil takes in a deep breath, only to hold it. “Listen, mate,” Charlie starts. “I’m not sure who you think you are, but-“

“Char, please,” Phil whispers, staring pointedly at his fiancé’s face.

The other man drops Phil’s arm only to hold that hand up to his face to silence him. Dan clenches his fists in his pockets at the action, but otherwise remains motionless. “No, no, I want to know what business Howell thinks he’s got coming out here-“

Dan rolls his eyes as he cuts him off, lifting a hand of his own up to silence him. He smirks at the shocked look that crosses Charlie’s face. “I’m his best friend, Char,” he says mockingly. “And no offense, but you’re acting like a dick.”

Phil suddenly turns to face him, his eyes wide. “Dan, stop.” He says sternly. Dan’s taken aback by this, and his eyes flick between Phil’s and Charlie’s for a moment, trying to grasp what it is that he’s supposed to do. “Just… just go. I can handle this myself, just go.” He waves him off, not quite meeting Dan’s gaze.

“No, Phil, he’s-“ Dan protests, gesturing at the twat that Phil’s currently engaged to.

“Go. This isn’t any of your business,” Phil says harshly. Dan takes a hesitant step back, furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion. Phil’s eyes are full of guilt, but he just shakes his head slightly, gesturing to the conference room. Charlie is smirking smugly behind Phil, which Dan ignores.

Dan hesitates, but at Phil’s weak smile and nod, he steps back into the conference room, meeting a few concerned gazes as he goes back to his seat. He can’t help but glance back out the window at Phil, and his heart clenches when he finds that he’s staring down at the floor, his hand holding the portion of his arm that Charlie had been gripping so tightly earlier. And even after being so blatantly dismissed from that altercation, Dan can’t help but feel as if Phil needed him.

---

When Phil finally returns to the conference room a few minutes later, Dan is looking at him with concern, watching him closely. Phil doesn’t meet his eyes, and only flips his notepad open to an empty page. Dan waits patiently for him to speak, but when he doesn’t, Dan nudges him gently on the arm.

“Hey, are you okay?” Dan asks softly, frowning when Phil slowly shifts away from him.

Phil only nods, not meeting his gaze. “Mhm.” He murmurs, carefully writing notes as PJ speaks.

“Oh… okay.” Dan says in confusion.

The older man doesn’t respond, and Dan can only sit by and wonder how badly he’d truly fucked up.

---

It’s almost a week later when things finally go back to normal. The weekend had apparently given Phil the space he needed to get back to his normal self, but Dan wasn’t sure if he really had the same relationship with him as he had before. This caused a few awkward interactions on Monday, but when Dan had gotten up to retrieve some candy from reception and Phil had reminded him that Chris’ birthday was coming up (which they always used as an opportunity for a new prank), they slipped back into their usual banter.

Now, Friday afternoon had rolled around, and everyone was getting excited for the company outing they had planned that night. Every year their boss liked to put together a ridiculous award show for their branch, and this year it was being hosted at a restaurant called The Factory House. Generally, it was a huge waste of time for everyone, but PJ was always super excited for it, and generally everyone was put on the same tab, which was covered by the company, so at least it was a free meal.

“So, Philip Michael Lester,” Dan drawls at the receptionist desk a couple hours before quitting time.

“James Howard,” Phil stutters out, his blush likely due to Dan’s memory and usage of his full name.

Dan puts on an overexaggerated frown, sniffing dramatically. “You don’t even know my name!” he whines, his voice obnoxiously high-pitched.

Phil smirks, typing on his keyboard in feigned nonchalance. “Daniel,” Phil sighs, shaking his head. “Of course, I know your full name. It’s Daniel James “I like to annoy the receptionist” Howell.” His tongue pokes out between his teeth at this, and Dan only laughs.

“Ouch! Phil, I’m wounded.” He brings a hand up to his heart, grinning down at the older man.

Rolling his eyes, Phil stands, grabbing a post-it note that probably held a message for PJ. “Do you even have anything in there to wound?” He questions, nodding at Dan’s hand placement.

His jaw dropping slightly at Phil’s meaner-than-usual insult, Dan lets out a sharp laugh. “Damn, Lester. Who hurt you?” He asks jokingly.

He barely notices it as Phil turns away, but there’s a clear shift in his expression, from joking to slightly alarmed. Dan’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, as he had clearly meant that as a joke. “I’ve got to take this to PJ. Be right back,” Phil mutters, walking around the receptionist counter without meeting Dan’s gaze.

“Oh… Okay.” He frowns as his gaze follows Phil, but just as he steps into Peej’s office, the main door opens, and Dan cringes when Charlie steps through.

Charlie brushes a blonde strand of hair up off his forehead, nodding to Dan with a look of feigned indifference. “Hey, mate,” he uttered, looking reluctant to even acknowledge Dan’s presence.

“Er, hey,” he responds, nodding uncertainly.

Sighing, Charlie steps closer, leaning on the counter about two feet away from Dan. “Look, Dan,” he begins. Dan braces himself to be chewed out for the other day, sure that’s exactly what’s about to happen. He and Phil hadn’t acknowledged any of it, which made Dan equal parts confused and worried, but that doesn’t mean that Charlie hadn’t addressed Dan’s intrusion with Phil. “I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for the other day.”

Dan stares dumbly, even more confused. “Um… you’re welcome? Wait- for what?” He asks uncertainly.

Charlie shrugs, looking awkward to even be saying this. “Well it wasn’t any of your business, obviously-“ Dan clenches his fist at this, but just nods, setting his jaw so he doesn’t say anything stupid. “-but it’s nice to know that Philly has someone here to look out for him. You know, help him get through the day and stuff. I appreciate that.” Charlie smiles pleasantly, as if it’s perfectly normal of him to thank Dan for interrupting their argument, even though at the time Dan had every intention of telling the blonde to fuck off.

“Oh… um… sure, mate.” Dan says awkwardly, really uncertain about what he should even say at this point. He certainly didn’t do it for Charlie, so he didn’t really deserve his thanks in the first place. Especially given the fact Dan couldn’t stand him.

“Charlie?” Phil’s voice says uncertainly from behind them. Both men turn to look at him, and Dan can’t ignore the way Phil seems to retreat into himself in Charlie’s presence. He looks small and uncertain, and Dan loathes the man who made Phil feel like this.

“Hey, babe,” Charlie says with a smirk, stepping closer to Phil and placing a broad hand on his hip. Dan looks away just as Charlie leans down, probably with the intentions of kissing his fiancé.

“Not here,” Phil hisses. Dan’s eyes dart back to them, only to find Phil turn his head at the last second, his eyes meeting Dan’s. He doesn’t hold his gaze, his cheeks flooding and his eyes dropping back to the floor.

“Oh, come on. Dan doesn’t mind. Do you, Dan?” Charlie inquires, and Dan might be imagining it, but he’s pretty sure there’s a challenge in his voice.

Dan shrugs, and as much as he tries to keep his mouth shut, his smart-assery makes itself present. “I’m not into non-consensual voyeurism, so you can keep that to yourself, actually,” he says smoothly before smiling slightly at Phil, tapping the counter once before slipping away to return to his desk.

“Smartass.” Charlie mutters, just loud enough for Dan to catch.

Unable to keep his mouth shut, Dan smirks. “Thanks, mate. I’ve got a degree and everything.”

Dan catches the look of surprise on Charlie’s face, which quickly turns to anger as Phil giggles. “Hilarious,” Charlie remarks dryly. Dan shrugs, sitting in his chair, acting the part of someone who is totally unbothered. However, he does notice the way Charlie smirks before gripping Phil’s waist tightly, shoving his mouth against the ebony-haired man’s roughly. Clenching his jaw hard enough to pop it, Dan reminds himself that there’s absolutely no reason for him to feel burnt up with jealousy and hatred right now, and yet here he is.

“Enough, Char. I’ve got work to do. I’ll see you later, okay?” Phil is saying, pushing Charlie away. Dan glances over as he crosses his arms over his stomach, stepping away from the blonde as if he doesn’t want to touch him. Dan figures Phil must have a thing about PDA, but it pisses him off that Charlie doesn’t seem to realize or respect that.

“Okay, fine. What time is the stupid award thing?”

Phil sighs before answering. “It starts at seven.”

Dan tries to busy himself with a file on his desk, trying not to eavesdrop so obviously. “Okay. See you later, babe. Bye, Howell.” Charlie calls slightly louder to Dan.

Refusing to acknowledge the douchebag, Dan only stares at his desk until he hears the door to the office close. His eyes dart up to look at Phil, who is staring down at the floor with a look of embarrassment on his face. Dan’s heart clenches tightly, and he sits back in his chair slightly. “Haribo, Phil?” He says softly, grabbing the container of gummy snacks that he kept in his desk. He liked them, but Phil loved them, so Dan always kept some around.

Phil turns to face him, a grateful smile gracing his features as he nods, coming over to lean against Dan’s desk. “I think I’d really love some haribo.”

---

Every year it seemed like a miracle that they weren’t kicked out of the restaurant PJ insisted on hosting their award show at. There was always his terrible attempt at hosting, which involved bad and often offensive impressions, as well as office-themed parodies of various iconic songs. Along with this was Chris’ terrible attempt at DJing, which Dan always found hilariously awful. There was also a couple of people who ended up getting too rowdy (generally because PJ says something offensive that, shockingly, offends someone) and occasionally someone would get really drunk. That someone was usually Hazel, but everyone was pretty sure that she was an alcoholic anyway.

This year, it seemed, would be no different than usual, as PJ had started them off with a terrible rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody (which Dan found personally offensive) which he followed by an impression of Tommy Wiseau (which was surprisingly accurate, just very disturbingly so.) Dan had high hopes that this would be the worst of the evening and that maybe it would improve from there, but he’d already been subjected to several years of these stupid ceremonies, so he knew that was only wishful thinking.

It would be slightly more tolerable if he could sit with Phil, but as he had been every year now, Phil was sat with Charlie and Jimmy. Jimmy was an alright guy, the foreman of their warehouse, and if he wasn’t friends with Charlie, Dan figured he’d probably like him a lot more. Phil sat close to Charlie, but he looked uncomfortably rigid. The blonde had an arm thrown around the back of Phil’s chair, and his hand was resting on Phil’s shoulder in a possessive fashion. Dan tried not to stare at that hand, but he was secretly hoping that maybe he had some hidden pyrokinetic powers that would do something fun, like set Charlie’s hand on fire. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

“So welcome, everyone. This year is going to be a little different,” PJ was announcing into the microphone loudly, and Dan tried his hardest to tune in, filtering out the conversations of Louise and Tom, who he was currently sat with. “We won’t be doing one tab this year, so if you could, just put everything on your own tabs,” PJ continues, his words garnering a predictable response, which was anger on behalf of many of his coworkers, who usually only showed up for the free meal.

“You said we could invite our families this year!” Felix says pointedly from a table behind Dan, and Dan can’t help but agree with his anger. Felix had brought his wife, and he was probably excited to have an excuse to take her somewhere nice without having to pay for it himself.

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault you actually listened to me for once, Felix.” PJ barely even bats an eye, continuing on as if he hadn’t just disappointed pretty much every one of his colleagues. Dan didn’t particularly care himself, since he was going to have to eat dinner whether he stayed or went home, and he’d rather not cook tonight.

Apparently, some people didn’t share this philosophy, as he notices Charlie and Jimmy standing to leave. “Come on, Phil,” Charlie is saying, tugging at Phil’s arm.

“No, Char, why can’t we-“ Phil is protesting, gingerly trying to pull his arm from Charlie’s grip.

“I won’t say it again, Philip,” Charlie’s voice is low and dead serious, and Dan can only watch helplessly as he manages to drag Phil off his seat, tugging him to the door. Phil glances over his shoulder, his gaze meeting Dan’s, a frown clear on his face.

PJ notices their departure and calls them out, but Charlie just shakes his head with a roll of his eyes. Dan stares at the door where they’d disappeared, but there’s nothing he can do. He sighs to himself, tuning back into the conversation Louise and Tom are in.

“I’d love to stay, honest, but I left Liam at home with the girls because I thought I’d get a nice dinner for free,” the blonde blushes at this, but Dan knows she doesn’t mean this in a bad way. She was a busy woman with two small kids, of course she’d jump at the chance to go out for the night with a paid dinner. “Tom, would you mind driving me? I’d hate to ask Liam to come pick me up since he’s probably making dinner for the girls.”

Tom shrugs but stands and pulls his jacket on. “Sure, Lou. I’m in it for the free food myself, so not much keeping me here.” He jokes. They seem to notice Dan just sat there, and Tom claps him on the back. “You staying here, mate?” Tom asks.

Dan nods. “Yeah, might as well. Someone’s got to stay and report back on all the worst moments on Monday.” His lips quirk into a small smile.

Louise frowns, bringing a hand to touch Dan’s arm. “Are you sure, love? If you’d like you can join us for dinner.” She turns to Tom then. “You’re invited too, dear, since you’re being kind enough to play chauffer.” She says sweetly, always living to host.

Tom grins at this. “Oh, definitely, Lou. I accept.” He too turns to Dan, shrugging. “Suit yourself, mate, but you know where to find us if you change your mind.”

With another small smile, Dan nods. “It’s fine, really. I’ll see the both of you Monday.” He waves them off.

Sending an apology to PJ, Louise and Tom quickly make their exit, and Dan sighs to himself, flipping the menu around to scan it for something that isn’t too expensive. He’d already ordered a beer, which sat by his left hand, mostly untouched. He’s trying to tune out PJ’s parody of Toxic by Britney Spears when the chair across from him squeaks, someone joining him.

His jaw drops in unfiltered surprised as he sees Phil sitting across from him, his cheeks rosy in what looks like embarrassment. “Mind if I join you?” He asks timidly.

Dan smiles broadly then, shaking his head. “Course not. How’d you manage to get away from Sir Charlie?” He teases, pushing his beer across to Phil when he sees him eyeing it.

“Thanks,” Phil sighs, taking several large gulps of the alcohol. Dan had never really seen Phil have more than a couple drinks over the years, mainly at various work functions and a couple house parties of mutual friends. He watches quietly as Phil downs nearly the whole glass before lowering it, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His cheeks flood with color when he meets Dan’s amused stare. “Sorry,” he apologizes, before seemingly remembering that Dan had asked him a question. “I told him I wanted to stay. I’ll get a ride from Louise or someone later.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal.

Dan almost laughs, but he just clears his throat. “Well, Tom actually drove Louise home, since I think Liam drove her here.” Phil’s face falls at this information, so Dan continues timidly. “But I can give you a ride home later,” he offers, looking down at the menu casually.

Phil brightens at this, nodding immediately. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that, actually.” He nods happily, and Dan smiles to himself. Phil downs the rest of the beer quickly, and Dan quirks an eyebrow. Phil shrugs. “After the week I’ve had, I think I deserve this.”

Dan smirks before waving over the waitress. “Can we get two of the blue margaritas?” He requests, smiling when Phil’s face lights up in excitement. The waitress nods before disappearing, and Dan tilts his head at Phil. “Is that okay with you?” He asks, suddenly unsure. Phil just seemed more like the type to enjoy sweet alcoholic drinks, and he really did seem like he needed a drink.

Nodding frantically, Phil opens his own menu. “Yes, absolutely.” Almost as an afterthought, he adds, “Charlie never lets me drink.”

Trying to hide his frown, Dan hums. “Really? Why’s that?” He asks mildly, trying his hardest not to sound too pressing or nosy.

Phil shrugs as if the question doesn’t bother him in the slightest. “He says he doesn’t like me when I’m drunk.” He gets a thoughtful look on his face and looks up at Dan suddenly. “I don’t like him much when I’m drunk, either,” he admits, sounding almost as if he’s just realized this.

Before Dan gets a chance to unpack that, PJ is announcing an award, and their coworkers are clapping with feigned interest. Dan joins in clapping half-heartedly, still looking over at Phil with a frown etched on his face. He wonders idly what their relationship is like behind closed doors, and he tries his hardest not to notice the way Phil’s eyes just look so, so tired.

When the margaritas arrive, Dan only takes a sip out of his before he splutters, hearing the groan- no the moan, loud and way too sexual to be garnered from a simple drink- that slips out of Phil’s mouth. Dan raises his eyebrows, ignoring the heat swelling in his stomach at the scene in front of him. Phil’s lips are wrapped tightly around the small straw in his glass, and he has this blissed-out look on his face as if it’s the best thing he’s ever tried. Dan’s mouth goes dry just looking at him, and he feels as if his face is burning with how red it is now.

Phil opens his eyes and slowly meets Dan’s gaze, and Dan isn’t prepared at all for the lazy smirk that crosses his face. “What?” he asks, sipping his drink as if he truly has no idea what kind of effect he’s having on the younger man.

Dan swallows hard, shaking his head. “Nothing,” he stutters out.

Gesturing to the glass that Dan is just idly stirring, Phil asks, “Are you going to drink that?”

Dan chokes out a laugh, grinning as he slides the margarita over to Phil. “I think you can have it,” he laughs, watching as Phil grins, finishing off his own before promptly dumping his straw into Dan’s glass.

“Thanks,” Phil beams. Shaking his head, Dan tunes in to their boss, who is announcing an award for Best Procrastinator. With a groan, Dan fully expects it when his own name is called. As he stands, Phil starts cheering loudly, his voice already slurring together with the alcohol coursing through his veins. “Woo! That’s my best friend! Go best friend!” He shouts loudly, earning a few curious and amused glances from the others in the office.

Dan takes the award with an embarrassed smile, nodding his thanks at PJ before stepping back over to his table. Phil smiles broadly at him, doing the tongue thing again as Dan sits. “I guess this is better than what I got last year,” he shrugs, mostly to himself. He looks up at Phil, who’s got this soft sort of smile on his face. “Remember last year when I got the Straight Up Lad award because of that one time I talked to PJ about England’s football team?”

Giggling, Phil nods. “That was hilarious.” He gushes out, his eyes slightly unfocused.

Nodding along, Dan shrugs, unthinking about his own words. “It was ridiculous. There’s nothing straight about me.” At this, he blushes profusely, glancing up at Phil. Of course, Phil wouldn’t judge him for being gay, Phil was gay himself, after all. But this was the first time Dan had said it so explicitly.

Phil stares at him for a moment, surprise on his features, before he suddenly bursts out laughing, his eyes squeezing shut as he throws his head back to laugh. Dan only stares at him fondly, wishing more than anything that he could see him laugh like that forever. He felt such a warmth in his stomach from getting that kind of reaction out of Phil, and he knew it had everything to do with his crush on him. Dan had never felt it hit him so powerfully, however, and he found it hard to resist his instinct to lean over and kiss Phil, which is what he wanted more than anything.

Wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, Phil glances up at Dan with a smile. “Wow, Dan,” he sighs. “I can’t believe you.”

Dan shrugs sheepishly, unsure if this is meant in a good way or a bad one. “Yeah… that was… That was pretty bad,” he agrees, watching as Phil slurps up the rest of his second margarita, tossing the straw out to tilt it back into his mouth, catching the last dregs and the ice cubes. Dan smiles fondly at this.

Just as he goes to speak again, maybe to tease Phil about being a lightweight, PJ breaks the moment. “Now this next one, goes to our very own receptionist, Phil Lester,” He starts. Dan immediately cringes, hoping and praying to a god that he doesn’t believe in that PJ isn’t about to do the same shit he always does. Every year for the past three years since they’d gotten engaged, Phil had received the “Longest Engagement” award. Phil didn’t know it, but about a week ago, when PJ had been discussing award ideas with Dan, he’d begged PJ to pick something else, anything else.

Phil too, seems to tense up, probably expecting the usual embarrassment over his silly award. Dan doesn’t think before he reaches across the table, brushing his fingers against the back of Phil’s hands in a comforting fashion. Phil’s blue eyes flicker to his, a small smile quirking at his lips.

PJ continues his speech, and Dan clenches his jaw. Please not again. “And I’m sure all of you know just what it is that Philip here is getting,” PJ teases, enjoying the drama of drawing this out as much as possible. Dan glares daggers at him, but PJ either doesn’t notice, or doesn’t care. Before Dan can say anything, PJ continues, “We all know Phil Lester as the man who’s been engaged for going on four years and has yet to set a date for this wedding.”

Phil closes his eyes, shaking his head lightly. Dan wonders vaguely if he wishes he was less drunk right now.  “No,” he whispers, probably thinking this is going in the direction is usually does.

“But, there’s more to Phil Lester than meets the eye.” PJ is saying, causing Dan and Phil to share a confused look before looking to their boss. “No, Phil is also the receptionist, and Dan’s best friend, and also one of the hottest in the office, let’s be honest.” There are a few laughs at this, and Phil’s just drunk enough that he barely blushes. “But no, Phil is also a family man. And by this, I mean that Phil spends a lot of time talking with his mum, or about her. I feel like Kathryn’s best friend sometimes, Phil, from how much I know about her at this point.”

Phil does blush at this and looks down as if he’s ashamed. Dan just smiles broadly, still a little unsure where this is going, but definitely glad that it’s not the same way it usually is. “I just love my mum,” Phil mumbles defensively, causing Dan to chuckle quietly, earning him a light kick in the shin from the older man.

“So, without further ado… Phil, come collect your Biggest Momma’s Boy award!” PJ announces, causing laughter and a round of polite applause to erupt from their colleagues.

Dan smiles broadly, clapping loudly. “Woo!” He mimics Phil’s earlier actions. “Go best friend!” He cheers, grinning smugly when Phil sticks his tongue out at him.

Phil stumbles unevenly to their boss to collect his trophy, and he’s got a wide, uneven smile on his face. Dan props his chin on his hand, staring at Phil fondly. He truly was adorable. Phil takes the trophy in one hand and the microphone from PJ in the other, and Dan raises his eyebrows, curious to see what kind of musings drunk-Phil is about to share with them. “Wow, guys. Thank you so much, I- I don’t even know what to say.” Phil slurs, staring down at the trophy. A few people laugh at this, and Phil flushes.

“Speech!” Dan calls, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Smiling, Phil nods. “That’s a great idea! I’d like to thank my mum, first of all. I love my mum.” Dan snickers at this good-naturedly. Phil hums into the microphone, looking around the room as if he’s thinking. “Oh, and PJ! Thank you, Peej, I like this award. It’s better than the engagement thing. That hurt my feelings.” Phil frowns as he lets this slip, and stares at the floor with his eyebrows furrowed.

Dan frowns, biting his lip as he glances to PJ. Their boss looks guilty, and he reaches for the microphone with an awkward smile. “Right, well, we should move on…”

Phil ducks out of his reach, shaking his head. “No, wait! I also wanna thank Dan, cause, you know, he’s my best friend and I love him.” A confused sort of round of applause goes around their coworkers, and Dan’s cheeks heat up as he looks down. “Oh! I almost forgot!” Phil adds, PJ holding the end of the microphone while Phil holds the top. Dan’s almost certain he’s about to bring Charlie into this, but instead he’s surprised when that’s not what comes out. “I’d like to thank God, too. I feel him here tonight.”

One of the more religious coworkers of theirs starts clapping loudly at this, and Phil just grins widely before releasing the microphone all together. The applause he receives dies down as he stumbles over to his seat, tripping over his own feet. Dan jumps to his feet and manages to catch him just before he falls on his face. “Woah, easy there, tiger,” Dan chastises, pulling Phil up to stand straighter.

Phil looks up into Dan’s eyes, leaning in close. Giggles tumble out of his lips, and he’s so close to Dan’s face that he can feel his breath ghost across his own lips. “My hero,” Phil whispers. Then, surprisingly quick and precise for someone so drunk, Phil ducks forward and presses his lips to Dan’s firmly, catching the younger man completely by surprise. Dan can’t help but squeeze Phil’s sides where he’s holding him steady, responding to the kiss gently.

Pulling away, Phil blinks slowly, staring at Dan’s lips. He giggles then, loudly. “Sorry,” he whispers, bringing a hand up to pat Dan’s cheek.

Dan clears his throat, nodding and stepping away, helping Phil to his seat. “Uh- it’s- it’s okay.” He nods, trying his hardest not to fixate on the fact that he had just felt Phil’s lips against his own.

He glances around, and he’s surprised to see that basically none of their coworkers are even giving them a second look. And sure, it wasn’t like they had made out or anything, but he’d definitely expected some kind of reaction out of them. He awkwardly returns to his seat, running a hand through his curls as he glances over at Phil, who is resting his head on his arm on the table, trailing his hand through the ring of water left behind from one of the margaritas.

“Phil, you okay?” Dan asks quietly, leaning over the table to speak to Phil.

“I don’t feel well,” Phil admits, closing his eyes.

“Oh, um… Do you want to go home?” Dan asks, slightly disappointed.

Phil shakes his head slowly. “No. Wanna eat something first.” He whispers.

Dan smiles at this, pulling his menu out from under Phil’s arm. “Yeah? What would you like?”

Inhaling deeply, Phil’s eyelids flutter. “You,” he says, almost inaudible.

Dan clears his throat at this, glancing around quickly to ensure that no one heard that. Phil was drunk, he probably had no idea what Dan even asked him. “No, what would you like for dinner, Phil? Do you want the chicken alfredo? I know you like that.” Dan’s barely grasping for straws here, trying hard to move the conversation to a safer place.

Phil hums at this, and his eyelids finally flicker open. “Yeah, that sounds good. Can I have another margarita?” He asks hopefully.

Smiling gently, Dan shakes his head and waves over the waitress. “No, bab- Phil. I think you need some water.”

Phil sighs, but nods. Dan relays their order to the waitress, and then sits back, watching as Phil traces shapes onto the table with the water. PJ’s voice is just background noise, and Dan feels his heart flood with warmth when Phil’s eyes flicker up to meet his. “What?” He asks softly.

Dan bites his lip, shaking his head. “Nothing,” he assures him.

Smiling, Phil props his head up with his hand to look Dan in the eyes. “I’m glad Charlie left,” he states easily, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Yeah?” Dan inquires, mirroring Phil’s stance and leaning forward across the table.

Phil nods seriously. “Yeah, he was being a dick.”

Dan laughs at this, but nods. “Mhm, I noticed.” He tries not to sound so thrilled that Phil has confessed this to him, but given the events of the night, it was hard to keep his emotions in check.

Sighing, Phil drops his eyes to the table. “Sometimes I really wish he had picked someone else,” he whispers softly.

Dan pauses at this, unsure of what exactly it is he needs to say. What?

Before he has the chance to ask for clarification, the waitress returns with their meals, placing them in front of them before asking if they need anything else. Dan just smiles tightly and shakes his head, asking her to bring it to them on a shared tab. He’s glad Phil is inebriated, because if he wasn’t Dan’s pretty sure he’d try to argue with him about paying for his meal.

They eat in silence, Phil making appreciative humming noises when Dan asks if his food is alright. He asks for a cup of water to go from the waitress before sending her off with his credit card to pay for their food. The award ceremony is dwindling to a close, and Dan figures they could go ahead and leave when his card is brought back. Phil finishes off his food and sits back with a sigh, smiling tiredly at Dan.

“Did you have enough to eat?” Dan asks him sweetly.

Phil smiles, a soft look to his face as he nods. “Mhm. It was really good. Did she-“

“Here you go, sir. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” The waitress returns with Dan’s card, and sets the cup of water down in front of Phil.

“Thanks,” Dan smiles at her, pulling his wallet out to return his card to its proper spot.

Phil furrows his eyebrows at Dan then, his lips dropping into a pout. “Did you pay for mine?” He asks in a small voice.

Dan chews on his lip uncertainly, suddenly wondering if Phil would be genuinely upset. “I-“ before he can finish, Phil interrupts him.

“Charlie never does that,” he whispers, staring hard at the table.

Dan swallows a lump in his throat and nods, standing and tugging on his coat before going around to grab Phil’s off the back of his chair. He holds it out for him, nodding. “C’mon, Phil. Let’s get you home.”

Phil shoves his arms into the sleeves, mumbling something Dan can’t really hear. PJ doesn’t spare them much of a second glance, probably realizing that Phil was completely trashed at this point. Dan gingerly wraps an arm around Phil’s waist, guiding him to the door as the older man stumbles around. “Easy, careful. Watch your step,” Dan says quietly as he helps Phil out to his car. Phil giggles as he climbs into the passenger seat, clearly finding his inability to walk in a straight line to be pretty hilarious.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” Phil murmurs as Dan gets in the driver’s seat and helps Phil buckle his seatbelt.

“You’re welcome,” Dan smiles over at him as he starts the car.

Phil breathes deeply, closing his eyes. “No one ever takes care of me.”

Dan’s heart clenches tightly at this, and he can’t help but lean over and grip Phil’s hand. “I…” He swallows hard before continuing, knowing he can’t say this, he can’t mean this, because he just can’t, Phil’s not his, and yet, he still says it. “I’ll always do my best to take care of you, Phil.” He whispers.

Phil doesn’t answer, but he does squeeze Dan’s hand. They ride in silence for the next few minutes, and it isn’t until they get closer to the apartment Phil and Charlie share that Dan begins to let himself feel sad. He doesn’t want to do this, to just let Phil go back to that douchebag. Because Dan’s selfish and he wants to keep Phil for himself.

“Phil? We’re almost there. Do you want to drink some more of this water to sober up before you go home?” Dan asks, because he’s not a dick, and he’s not going to overstep his boundaries here.

Surprisingly, Phil shakes his head, and then sits up as if he’s remembered something important. “Please don’t make me go home,” he pleads suddenly, turning to face Dan with a look of panic on his face.

Dan frowns, glancing over at Phil as he takes a turn onto the street Phil lives on. “What? Phil, I-“

Phil shakes his head frantically. “I don’t want to go back to Charlie. I can’t, I can’t do it, Dan.” His voice wavers then, and Dan feels his hand come up to grip his forearm.

“I… Phil, what do you mean? You don’t want to go home tonight, or…?”

Phil seems to swallow hard then, glancing out the window at his apartment building that Dan has just pulled up in front of. “I don’t love him anymore,” he whispers, his voice breaking.

Dan draws in a deep breath at this, holding it for a second as he tries to process what he’s just been told. He lets it out slowly and gradually, letting the car idle, never taking his hands off the wheel. His head is swimming with thoughts, most of which he has absolutely no clue how to address. “Okay…” Dan says slowly. “You need to tell him, I think,” he says softly into the quietness surrounding them.

“I can’t,” Phil protests, shaking his head. “He’ll… I don’t know what he’d do if I did that, but I just… I can’t be with him.”

Struggling to make sense of this but knowing that he’s got to come up with some sort of solution here, Dan sighs. “Do you want to come stay at mine tonight, and try to figure this out tomorrow?”

Phil nods, his eyes wide and full of unshed tears. Dan’s heart breaks a little at the sight. “Yeah, I’d like that.” His voice is quiet and full of gratitude.

Dan nods, smiling sadly before pulling back onto the main road towards his own flat.

There had been a couple occasions where Phil had come over, but never on his own. It was always with a group, when Dan had parties and such and invited the people they worked with. It was rare, but it had happened a few times, so Phil already knew what Dan’s flat looked like. Still, Dan felt awkwardly nervous about inviting Phil in.

Dan unlocks the door with one hand, his other resting on Phil’s lower back comfortingly. “C’mon,” he says quietly, guiding Phil in.

Phil glances around the lounge, looking slightly out of place. Dan smiles at this, shrugging of his coat and pushing his shoes off by the door. “You can just make yourself at home,” he stated, gesturing to the sofa. “I’m going to go get you some ibuprofen tablets. Do you need anything else?” Dan asks, propping his hands on his hips.

The older man glances at him, a soft smile on his face. “No, I’m good.”

Dan smiles and holds up a finger to indicate that he’d be back in a minute. He stops in his bedroom and shucks off his pants and his button-up, pulling on his pajamas quickly so Phil doesn’t have to wait on his own very long. He stops in the bathroom and grabs the ibuprofen before returning to the lounge, where Phil is waiting, his phone held up to his ear. He glances up at Dan with a frown on his face, but only shakes his head when Dan gives him a concerned look.

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Yeah.” He hangs up quickly after that, sighing deeply. “That was Charlie. I was just calling him to let him know that I wouldn’t be home tonight.” He explains to Dan, standing up and stumbling slightly.

Dan nods, scratching the back of his neck uncertainly. “Here, take these.” He hands the pills to Phil, nodding to the to-go cup on the coffee table, still mostly full of water.

“Thanks,” Phil says softly. He takes the tablets quickly, swallowing a few sips of water before setting the cup back down and rocking on his heels awkwardly. His eyes are still wet with tears, and Dan looks at him in sympathy.

“Come here,” he whispers, grabbing his hand and bringing him in for an embrace. Although Phil was four years older, Dan was a good inch or two taller than him, and so he easily tucked Phil’s head into the crook of his neck, pushing a hand up through his hair to hold him there. Phil wraps his arms around Dan’s waist and Dan’s heart clenches when Phil begins shaking, silently crying. “Shh. It’s okay. Everything is fine.”

“I’m sorry,” Phil gasps against Dan’s neck, which is quickly growing wet with tears.

Shaking his adamantly, Dan tightens his grip around Phil’s shoulders. “Don’t be silly. There’s nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should be sorry that you’re engaged to such a dick,” he says in a poor attempt at lightening the mood.

Phil has a similar sense of humor and manages a wet laugh. “Soon to be ex,” he responds glumly.

Dan swallows hard at hearing the words spoken aloud for the first time. Sure, he’d expected Phil to break up with him, but he was still a little pleasantly surprised that he actually planned on doing so. Rather than ask about the when and how of this like he very much wants to, Dan pulls away just enough to look Phil in the eyes. “C’mon. I know what’ll make you feel better.” He slowly steps back, taking Phil by the hand to pull him towards the bathroom. Phil’s eyes widen comically, probably assuming Dan meant something completely different, and the younger man only laughs. “A bubble bath, you spoon.” He rolls his eyes fondly when Phil’s mouth drops into an ‘o’ in understanding.

Turning the faucet on and checking to make sure the water is at the perfect temperature, Dan shoves the stopper in before turning to grab a basket of assorted bath bombs and salts. He was a bit of a diva when it came to his baths, and he liked having a lot of good scented stuff to choose from. He hands it to Phil, who looks amusedly surprised. “Here, pick whatever you like. I’m gonna go grab you some pajamas and I’ll be right back.”

Phil nods, digging around in the basket and checking a few of the names on each of the products, likely checking for a scent he would like. Dan smiles to himself before ducking out of the bathroom, grabbing a pair of boxers, an Undertale t-shirt, and a pair of sweatpants. He normally slept in boxers himself, but he’d probably be sleeping in his Game of Thrones pajama pants tonight since he was planning on offering to let Phil share his bed. He knew that was probably crossing a line, but there wasn’t a spare bedroom and the couch wasn’t long enough for either of them to sleep on. It really only made sense to offer Phil the other side of his bed.

When Dan returns to the bathroom, he’s greeted with the sight of Phil already standing with his shirt off, folded neatly on the counter by the sink. He seems to be debating about his trousers when Dan walks in, and the older man’s face floods with color when Dan smiles at him. “Did you pick some of the bombs and things out?” He asks, holding up the pajamas to show Phil before setting them on the sink as well.

“Oh, um, yeah.” He points to the things he’d picked out and Dan wanders over, smiling when he sees that Phil had picked a strawberry-scented Pokéball bath bomb and a small packet of mint-scented salts.

“I have some bubbles too,” Dan informs him, reaching onto the shelf and grabbing the bottle. Without waiting for his reaction, Dan pours a generous amount into the slowly filling tub, setting the bottle back before grabbing the bomb and unwrapping it, tossing it into the tub. He can feel Phil’s gaze on him, and he tries hard to ignore their close proximity as he pours the salts in as well. “There we go,” he announces proudly, turning around to face Phil.

Phil’s expression has shifted into one of determination as he steps even closer to Dan, and Dan barely realizes what it is that he’s doing until he feels Phil’s hands on his waist, tugging him closer. Phil leans in, and just as he presses his lips to Dan’s, the younger man tilts his head just to the side, so that Phil’s lips fall on his dimple instead.

Dan swallows hard, feeling Phil tense up when he realizes his kiss had been rejected. It takes everything in Dan to do it, but he gently leans away, putting a little more space between them so he can look into Phil’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says softly.

“No, no. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what got into me.” Phil shakes his head adamantly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows, avoiding Dan’s gaze pointedly.

Sighing, Dan gingerly brings a hand up to Phil’s chin, tilting it so that their eyes meet. “I want to. Believe me, I really, really want to,” he says slowly, staring straight into those blue-green eyes and hoping that Phil understands how much he wants him, how much he has wanted him for years. “But, you’re still engaged. Whether you’re ending it or not, right now you’re an engaged man, and I’m…” Dan trails off, struggling to find the right words. “I’m not going to be that man, the one who does… that.”

Phil stares at him for a long moment before nodding slowly, a kind of resigned look on his face. “Okay,” he whispers, sounding sad, but at the same time understanding.

“I want to, though. I’ve wanted that since I met you, really. But I just… we can’t do that. Not now, at least. Okay?”

Nodding, Phil steps away from him. “Okay. I… I think I respect that.”

Dan tries his hardest to hide his smile. “You think?” He asks, biting his lip.

Phil rolls his eyes, but grins. “Yeah. I think so.” He turns around to see that the bath is basically full at that point, and Dan turns to leave. “Uh, Dan?”

“Hm?” The younger man turns back around, quirking an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Can you… um, will you stay in here with me?” He asks timidly, looking embarrassed for even asking.

Dan smiles at this, and nods. It’s not like they’re doing anything. Phil just needs the company, and Dan is more than willing to grant him that. “Yeah. I’ll, uh-“ he points to the door again, gesturing to Phil’s clothes with the other hand. “Just tell me when you’re in the bath,” he says quietly as he turns around to give Phil privacy to undress.

He hears the sound of Phil’s zipper, followed by a stumbling as he no doubt struggles to stand up straight as he removes his clothes. A minute later, Dan hears the sound of the water sloshing against the side of the tub as Phil slips into the bathtub. After a minute of silence, Phil whispers, “okay.”

Dan turns around slowly, ensuring that Phil really is ready for him to do so, and he tries to keep his heart still as he sees Phil looking up at him with soft doe eyes, surrounded by bubbles. Smiling at how adorable he is, Dan walks over and sits himself on the side of the tub. “Is it warm enough?” He asks, dipping his fingers into the water at the edge of the tub.

Phil nods, his hands on his lap. Dan tries very hard to ignore the fact that there’s nothing but water and bubbles separating Phil from Dan’s gaze. He feels his face heat at the very thought, and when his eyes return to Phil’s face he’s smirking, likely because Dan had just been staring at his crotch area. Dan blushes even more profusely at this, purposefully turning away to stare at the wall behind Phil’s head.

He jumps slightly when he feels something wet and soft come up to touch his hand that’s resting on the edge of the tub to support himself. He glances down, a small smile gracing his face when he realizes that it’s Phil’s hand. Tracing his thumb over the wet skin, Dan’s eyes stay focused on their hands as Phil speaks. “Thank you,” he whispers.

Dan shrugs. “You can stop saying that. You’re my best friend, I’d do anything for you.” He would be embarrassed at how sappy that sounds, but he knows that it’s the truth. He absolutely would do anything for Phil.

“Still,” Phil shrugs. “I wasn’t kidding when I said no one ever takes care of me. Generally, I’m the one that does that for Charlie, but he’s not the same way with me.” Phil glances down at the water then, his lips curved into a frown.

Frowning, Dan brings his hand up to push back the hair that had fallen out of Phil’s quiff and onto his forehead. “Well, I’m not Charlie.” He shrugs simply, nodding to the shampoo bottle on the other side of Phil. “Hand me the shampoo.”

Phil does as asked, handing the bottle to Dan and then watching with rapt attention as Dan pours some of the fruity-smelling liquid into his hand. Dan shifts so that he’s got better access to Phil’s hair, grabbing a cup that he keeps on the edge of the bathtub for this very thing. “Close your eyes,” he breathes, suddenly feeling overwhelmed at the intimacy in this moment. His hands shake as he fills up the cup with water, his eyes tracing over the line of Phil’s neck as he tilts his head back to avoid getting water in his face.

With a careful hand, Dan manages to wet the black hair completely before lathering it in the shampoo, taking his sweet time massaging Phil’s head as he does so. Phil’s making the most adorable little sighs, and every now and then he’ll make a noise that sounds like a hum, which doesn’t help Dan’s growing… problem in his pants. “Are you enjoying this?” Dan asks, intending for it to come out sounding like a joke, but at this point he’s a little breathless and it come out sounding nearly seductive.

Phil doesn’t even seem to notice this, only nodding. “Feels nice,” he whispers.

Dan smiles proudly before finally rinsing off the shampoo. He grabs his conditioner next and gives him a repeat, although he lets the conditioner sit longer. “I’m guessing you don’t get your hair washed by someone else very often?” He asks quietly, a sadness to his voice. Dan honestly always loved having his hair washed or washing someone else’s. His last boyfriend enjoyed sharing a bath as much as Dan did, so they did it pretty often. Too bad he was a cheater.

Phil shakes his head slowly in response to Dan’s words. “No…Sometimes Charlie wants to… um…” he trails off and his cheeks flood with color, and Dan smirks.

“Sometimes he wants to have shower sex?” He guesses easily, biting his tongue when Phil smacks his arm lightly.

“Shut up,” he grumbles, laughter in his tone. “But yeah. Something like that. And like, that’s fine, but sometimes…” He sighs then, as if he’s not sure what he’s even trying to say. But Dan gets it, honestly.

He gingerly raises the cup of water to rinse off the conditioner, running a hand through Phil’s hair as he does. “Sometimes it’s nice to be taken care of,” he says conversationally.

“Yeah,” Phil whispers.

Dan only smiles before focusing solely on rinsing out his hair, which he does without getting a single drop into Phil’s eyes. “There. All done,” he murmurs when he’s finished, leaning back and wiping his hands on his pajama pants.

Phil opens his eyes slowly, smiling up at Dan with such a fond look that it grips Dan’s heart. “Thank you for washing my hair,” Phil whispers. Dan only nods wordlessly before standing, grabbing a towel and setting it on the edge of the tub.

“I’ll step out, so you can get dressed.” He nods to the pajamas before stepping out of the bathroom, hearing the sound of the water draining out of the tub behind him. He walks to his room slowly, taking a minute to catch his breath and let himself process everything that’s happened tonight. It’s been a truly long evening, and he knew that Phil was likely feeling much worse than he was, since he would likely have a hangover tomorrow, while Dan wouldn’t. He sighs as he sits on the edge of his bed, glancing at the digital alarm clock beside his bed, which reads 10:03.

“Hey, um,” Phil says from the doorway, shifting around awkwardly. Dan smiles at how cute he is standing there in Dan’s clothes, but then he’s thinking about how Phil is in his clothes and his heart is racing again. “Do you have like a blanket I can borrow?” He asks, sending Dan briefly into confusion before he realizes he hadn’t told Phil the sleeping arrangements for the night.

“Oh, you can sleep with me. I promise I don’t talk in my sleep or anything like that, and it’s comfier than the sofa.” He says, biting his lip as he waits for Phil’s response.

Please don’t freak out, please don’t freak out.

Phil looks surprised, but he chews on his lip as if he’s hiding a smile. “Okay… are you sure?” He asks again, his face unsure.

Dan nods, shifting on his bed and pulling the duvet down on the side he doesn’t sleep on, patting the space in invitation. “Yeah, come on. Just turn the light off on your way.”

Flicking the switch and casting the room in darkness, Phil stumbles toward the bed, sinking down slowly when he reaches the mattress. Dan crawls under the duvet himself, turning to face Phil on his side as he waits for the older man to get comfortable. He can just make out his face in the darkness, and Dan smiles at him. “Warm enough?” He asks, reaching out to pull the duvet further up onto Phil’s shoulder.

“Mhm. Very cosy.” Phil’s voice is quiet in the darkness, and Dan’s heart swells as a little voice reminds him that they’re actually sharing a bed.

“Good.” Shifting a little to tuck his hand under his pillow, Dan tries to keep a respectful distance away. He’d rejected Phil’s kiss not an hour ago, he needed to be careful with how he proceeded here.

“I’m scared, Dan.” Phil’s voice breaks the silence as Dan settles into a comfortable position. “I’m scared that Charlie is going to be mad when I tell him I don’t want to be with him.”

Dan takes a slow inhale, really unsure with how he needed to respond to that. “I know,” he starts slowly, because he did know. Of course Phil was nervous to do that, it was a terrifying thing to do, especially with someone as neurotic as Charlie seemed to be. “But I can go with you, if you want. I don’t want you to do it alone.” He tentatively reaches out, finding Phil’s hand in the darkness.

Phil’s fingers intertwine with his, the older man squeezing gently. “Thank you. I think I’d like that.”

Dan’s mind catches on the “think” part of his sentence, and he idly thinks about how a lot of things that Phil says include that word, as if he feels that he can’t just say that he’s sure about something. It almost feels like a safety net to Dan, but perhaps that’s just him projecting; with several years of therapy for his own issues under his belt, he can confidently say that he tends to do that sometimes.

His thoughts are interrupted as Phil pulls his hand away slowly. “Hey, Dan?” He asks quietly.

“Mhm?” Dan responds in the same tone. There’s a pause, and Dan props himself up on his elbow. “What?” He asks, concerned.

“Can you… Can you turn around? Like, can we… nevermind. Goodnight.” Phil’s words are rushed, and Dan feels the bed shift as Phil turns around.

Dan frowns, staring at the back of Phil’s head, which is kind of just a blur in the darkness. Tentatively, he sets a hand on Phil’s shoulder. “What do you need, Phil? Do you…” he’s unsure if he’s projecting here or if maybe, just maybe, Phil wanted the same thing he did here. “Do you want to cuddle?” He asks, feeling silly even asking.

To his relief, Phil rolls back over, and Dan can just make out the smile on his face in the darkness. “Please,” he whispers.

Dan smiles at this and settles back down. “Do you want to be the big spoon?” He asks, Phil’s earlier words bouncing around in his head.

Phil nods quickly, confirming Dan’s thoughts. Dan dutifully turns around and scoots back to press his back to Phil’s chest. This is okay, right? He can cuddle with his best friend. It’s not like they’re doing anything that would compromise a relationship, even if that relationship was coming to an end. This was just simple, platonic cuddling.

“Better?” Dan asks as Phil drapes an arm over his waist, intertwining their fingers. Phil’s left arm is pillowing his head, and Dan feels small and safe like this, something he rarely feels. Even if this evening had been about making Phil feel safe and taken care of, Dan feels that this might be doing the trick for him too.

“Mhm. Much. I never get to be the big spoon,” Phil mumbles sleepily against Dan’s neck. Dan squirms as he feels his lips brush the space there, his neck an incredibly sensitive place for him generally. “Sorry, I forgot about your neck thing,” Phil whispers, holding his face a little further away.

Dan smiles at how considerate he was, closing his eyes as he truly lets himself feel how exhausted he is. “It’s okay. I don’t mind,” he responds quietly.

Phil laughs softly then, and after a few moments, Dan feels his breathing slow down, getting slower and deeper. Dan smiles at this and starts working on matching his own breathing to Phil’s. Falling asleep like this is nice and almost therapeutic for Dan, and the last thing he thinks of as he falls asleep is that by the following night, Phil would be a single man.

---

The next morning is a little strange for both of them, mainly because when they wake up, their legs are tangled together and there’s not an inch of space between them. Phil’s left arm had somehow managed to shift last night to cushion Dan’s head, while his right hand had somehow wound up tucked under Dan’s shirt. While Dan had blushed at this, he also thought it was sort of adorable. He feels even breaths on his neck and just lays there in silence for a moment before he feels Phil slowly tracing shapes on his stomach. So, a good strange, but strange nonetheless.

After getting up and making coffee, Dan suggests that they have pancakes before the inevitable part of the day where he drives Phil back to his apartment, where he’s going to break things off with Charlie. Dan doesn’t want to feel good about this, at least on Phil’s behalf, because he knows better than anyone that sometimes even a toxic relationship can hurt when you let go of it. So, he was determined to be there for Phil, in whatever capacity he could be.

They have a quiet breakfast, mainly due to the fact that Phil is still a little hungover and his head his hurting, but Dan makes him eat enough to take some ibuprofen, insisting that he take some and drink two glasses of water.

“It’ll make you feel better,” he sing-songs, trying to be as convincing as possible.

Phil groans, but nods, swallowing another bite of pancake before scooping the tablets into his mouth and downing them with the water Dan handed him. Dan doesn’t move from his side until he’d drank the whole glass, and only after he’s refilled it and set it back down does he go back to his own breakfast.

After washing up the dishes and cleaning the kitchen a little, Dan goes to his room to get dressed, offering Phil some of his clothes so he’s not re-wearing the same thing he’d worn the night before. Phil comes out of the bathroom wearing a black sweatshirt and a pair of black jeans, looking slightly embarrassed. “Everything you own outside of work clothes is just pitch black, isn’t it?” He asks, shoving the long sleeves up his arms a bit.

Dan shrugs, gesturing in his closet with a smile as he grabs his phone. Phil peeks around and lets out a low, “oh,” before turning to look at Dan with a look of surprise on his face. “That’s like, a black hole, Dan.”

“My favorite kind of hole,” Dan grins at the way Phil rolls his eyes, clearly exasperated by Dan’s lame jokes. “Ready to go?” He asks, gesturing to the door.

Phil nods, sighing. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Dan gives him a sympathetic look before walking out of his flat, locking the door behind him before leading Phil to his car. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be right outside if you need me, you know.” He hesitates before figuring, fuck it, reaching out to take Phil’s hand in his. “I’ve been there, but trust me, it’s going to be fine. I���ll be right there with you,” he reassures him, watching the way that Phil smiles tentatively, nodding.

The drive to Phil’s flat is quiet, and Dan idly wonders if he’ll kick Charlie out. A distant memory, one of Phil mentioning that he’d moved in with Charlie after they officially got engaged about three years ago, floats into his mind, and he cringes. The flat is likely in Charlie’s name only, meaning Phil wouldn’t have anywhere else to go. Dan already knew he’d offer his own flat, but he was uncertain about whether Phil would accept or not.

When they pull up outside of the towering brown brick building, Dan turns the car off, turning to study Phil. Phil’s not looking at him, his gaze locked on the door to the building, a terrified look on his face. “Hey,” Dan says gently, reaching out to touch Phil’s arm gently. Phil’s fearful eyes flit to meet Dan’s, and he reaches up to grip Dan’s hand. “I’m right here, okay? Do you want me to go in with you?” he asks softly, not really wanting to but willing to do it if it would make him feel more at ease.

Luckily, Phil shakes his head. “No, I can do this on my own. I need to do this on my own. But… Can you like, wait outside the building? In case he does try to do something?” Phil sounds nervous just asking this, but Dan’s already nodding before he can finish.

“Yeah, of course.” He unbuckles his seatbelt immediately, slipping out of the car, Phil quickly following behind.

Phil stares at the door, a pained look on his face. “Okay. I’ll be right back. Hopefully this won’t take long,” he mutters before glancing at Dan.

Dan only nods, stepping to lean against the side of the building while he waits. “I’m right here if you need me,” he reminds him gently before Phil nods and disappears into the building. Dan sighs then, settling in to wait, his stomach twisting with nerves.

---

As it turns out, Phil is right. It doesn’t take as long as Dan thought it might, as he’d expected to be out there anywhere from half an hour to a full hour. So, although he was impatient and more than ready for Phil to come back, he’s surprised when Phil comes through the door, a duffle bag slung over one arm, a backpack slung over the other. Dan steps forward to ask how it went, but it’s not until then that he realizes that Phil isn’t alone.

“You,” Charlie hisses, his voice full of venom.

Phil spins around at this, glaring at Charlie. “Drop it, Char. Leave Dan out of this.”

Charlie completely dismisses this, stepping closer to Dan, who is quickly feeling claustrophobic and nervous. “So, I was right. This is all your fault. I fucking told Phil, I told him that I didn’t like you two hanging out. What did you say to him? Huh? What the fuck did you tell him?” He’s screaming into Dan’s face, and if Dan was a smarter human, he’d probably think before speaking.

“Get the fuck out of my face, for starters,” Dan says calmly, a weird kind of adrenaline thrumming through his veins. He’d been bullied as a child, but he’d also been a smartass. He knew the script for this scene, and he knew that Charlie wasn’t likely to actually do anything out here, on a busy street; or at least, he hoped that was the case.

“Excuse me?” Charlie growls, his voice threateningly low.

“Charlie, stop. Dan, come on,” Phil tries, standing just behind Charlie, pleading with Dan with his eyes.

“You’re excused. And, if you’ll excuse me, actually, I’m gonna get going. Nice chat.” He nods cordially to Charlie before gracefully sidestepping him, moving over to Phil.

“Fuck you, Howell!” He shouts, his face red and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“No thanks,” Dan calls over his shoulder with a shrug, taking the duffle bag from Phil to put in the car.

“Fine. Whatever. You know what? You can have him. Fucking slut.” Charlie seethes, crossing his arms.

Dan pauses from where he’s setting the bag in the car, and he turns to face Charlie as he shuts the door. Phil catches his gaze, a questioning expression on his face. Dan only shakes his head slowly, his eyes meeting Charlie’s. Every fiber of his being is screaming for him to go over there and punch this idiot in the face, but Dan’s not an idiot. He’s well aware that Charlie could hurt him, and even then, he knows that Phil is strictly against violence, and he wouldn’t dare initiate a fight with his ex, especially not in this situation.

“I feel sorry for you,” Dan says simply, putting as much pity into his voice as he can. “You’re bitter, and hateful, and sad. And now you’re losing the best thing that’s ever happened to you.” Dan shrugs then, nodding for Phil to get in his car. Phil complies, and after seeing that he’s put his seatbelt on, Dan turns back to Charlie, who looks unsettled, underneath the set jaw and defiant stance. “But you know what? You fucking deserve it. Bye, asshole,” He mutters as he slides into the car, slamming the door behind himself.

Phil watches Dan as he slides his seatbelt on, starting the car at the same time. They’re silent as he pulls out of the parking space and onto the main road, neither of them sparing Charlie a second look. “You didn’t have to say that,” Phil says quietly.

Dan cringes, worried that he’d offended Phil, even though that hadn’t been his intention. “I’m sorry, I know-“

“No, I mean… You didn’t have to defend me… and you did.” Phil’s voice sounds inquisitive, and Dan spares him a glance as he takes a turn, heading back to his own flat.

“Of course I did,” he says gently. “I care about you, I’m always going to do that, Phil.”

Phil looks down at his lap, and Dan catches the smile that stretches across his face. “Thank you,” he whispers, still looking down.

Feeling bold, Dan reaches for his hand, intertwining their fingers and bringing Phil’s hand up to kiss his knuckles. “Anytime.”

---

“You can stay here as long as you need, Phil, I promise you’re not intruding. I live alone, remember?” Dan says later as they’re in the kitchen making dinner. They had spent the majority of the day after the whole Charlie situation just lounging in the living room, watching anime. Phil hadn’t brought the whole thing up until a few minutes ago, when he’d followed Dan into the kitchen, where he was making stir fry. He’d asked Dan if it would be okay for him to stay the night again, and Dan nearly laughed.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother,” Phil says uncertainly, rubbing his arm as he watches Dan move around the kitchen.

“Of course. I love having sleepovers, Phil. This’ll be fun for me, I promise.” Dan reassures him yet again.

Phil nods, still looking unsure, but slightly more willing to accept it. “Want any help?” He asks, gesturing to what Dan is doing.

Dan shrugs, but there’s really nothing for Phil to do. “Well, not right now, I’ve just gotta keep an eye on this until it’s done.” He smiles slightly, nodding to the lounge. “You wanna go watch some more anime while I do this? I’ve seen most of that season anyway,” he suggests, not to get rid of Phil, but just to give him something to do.

Dragging a hand through his hair, Phil looks kind of embarrassed as he speaks. “I kind of just… wanted to be with you,” he admits, his cheeks dusting with that adorable pink color that Dan just wants to kiss right off.

Dan grins when he processes his words but tries his hardest to appear nonchalant. “Yeah?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow. “Well, here I am,” he says jokingly.

The older man nods at this, biting his lip as if he’s debating on something. “Can I…” He trails off, his cheeks reddening as he looks at Dan.

Stirring the food in the pan, Dan glances over his shoulder, waiting patiently for Phil to continue. When it’s clear he isn’t going to, Dan frowns. “Phil, whatever it is, yes. It’s fine.” He shrugs, figuring that nothing Phil could be considering could be too bad. After all, Dan had been basically in love with Phil for years, the fact that he was now single made him even more certain that he was perfectly willing to comply with anything Phil suggested; within certain limits, considering he was still very much in the middle of making their dinner.

Phil studies him for a moment, and Dan only smiles reassuringly at him. This seems to prompt Phil into action, and he steps closer, positioning himself right behind Dan. Dan swallows hard at the warmth he feels against his back, but then he’s gasping quietly as Phil wraps his arms around Dan’s waist, holding him against his chest tightly. Heart racing wildly, Dan tries so hard not to grin or do anything stupid like laugh hysterically; this is harder than it should be, as he’s been longing for this kind of intimacy with Phil for years.

“Is this alright?” Phil whispers into his ear, his chin propped on Dan’s shoulder.

Dan nods, clearing his throat. “Yeah, this is fine, Phil.” He brings his hand that isn’t stirring their food up to tangle in Phil’s hair, petting gently. Phil hums at this, and Dan smiles, feeling completely warm as they stand in his little kitchen like that, Phil clinging onto him like a lifeline. But Dan didn’t mind this; quite on the contrary, as it felt refreshing to feel as if he was needed by someone.

And so, they stand there like that until their food is done, and then they take it into the lounge to eat while they watch Netflix, Dan insisting that the dining table was strictly just for decoration in his house.

---

It’s not until nearly two hours later, dinner long gone, and plates deposited into the sink, that Phil finally acknowledges the day’s events.

“Dan,” Phil says softly from where he’s sat leaning against Dan’s side.

“Mhm?” Dan responds, his eyes straying from the episode of Stranger Things that they were on to look over at Phil.

Phil swallows hard, and Dan’s eyes shamelessly trace the way his Adam’s apple bobs. Dan always finds this insanely hot, so he quickly moves his eyes back up to Phil’s face, feeling guilty for even having that thought. “There’s a reason I couldn’t marry Charlie,” he admits softly.

Dan frowns at this, moving to sit back so that he has a better view of Phil’s face. “Other than the fact that he was an emotionally abusive dick who took every opportunity to treat you horribly?” Dan asks, trying his hardest to make it sound light and joking, when in reality his opinion of Charlie was even worse than that. But he definitely wasn’t about to tell Phil what he really thought of his stupid ex.

“No, believe it or not, there were other factors,” Phil tries to match his tone, but it too falls slightly far of humor, but Dan smiles anyway.

“Yeah, and what were some of these other factors?” He asks, bringing his hand up to brush a stray hair out of Phil’s eye.

Phil glances away briefly, taking a deep breath. “I’m in love with someone else.”

Dan’s heart plummets at those words, and he slowly withdraws his hand. His mind is suddenly flooded with various thoughts, most of which are just completely confused. He really thought, after Phil kissed him at the restaurant, and then tried to do the same again in the bathroom… He’d really thought that mean that he felt the same…

Phil seemingly realizes that Dan has gone into full panic mode, and he sits up. “Dan.” When he’s met his gaze again, Phil carefully sits onto his knees, throwing one over Dan’s legs so that he’s straddling his lap. Dan swallows, his heart pounding as his blood rushes south. “I’m in love with someone that isn’t Charlie.” He says this slowly, and Dan furrows his eyebrows, and he’s pretty positive that Phil is trying to make a point here.

“But…” He stutters, looking past Phil, trying to make sense of this. He’s not in love with Charlie… which Dan already knew… But he didn’t say…

“Dan,” Phil says softly, bringing his hands up to cradle Dan’s face. “It’s you. I couldn’t marry Charlie because I’m in love with you.”

The words leave his lips and enter the air between them, and Dan can only stare dumbly up at the man on his lap, his mouth dropping open as if he’s got an actual response. He feels as if his mind has had some sort of glitch, and he can only process the ladder half of Phil’s announcement. “I’m in love with you,” echoes around Dan’s head until he finally manages to get his brain back to communicating with his mouth.

He opens his mouth to say something, an affirmation that he felt the same perhaps, but what comes out of his mouth is not exactly what he thought. “Are you sure?” He asks, immediately blushing as the words tumble out.

Phil opens his mouth at this, and then pauses, tilting his head as he looks at Dan. Instead of annoyed, however, his face floods with a fond look, and he smiles. “Positive.”

Dan sees it coming this time, naturally, because Phil’s hands are still holding his face, so of course Dan fully realizes what his intentions are when he leans in. Unlike last night, however, Dan has no intentions of stopping him.

~

Their lips brush tentatively at first, and Dan brings his hands up to settle gently on Phil’s hips. At the contact, Phil seems to gain a little more confidence, and he tilts his head, deepening the kiss. Dan almost groans at this, swiping his tongue across Phil’s bottom lip in question. Phil barely hesitates before opening his mouth, allowing Dan to explore inside. They sit like this for several moments, until Phil shifts, and Dan gasps at the friction that his movement causes.

“Wait,” Dan gasps, pulling away slightly. “Are we- do you want to...?” He trails off a little, but at his words, Phil only groans, grinding down hard into Dan’s lap, causing his half-hard cock to swell in arousal. “Fuck, okay. Bedroom.”

Phil only nods before sitting up, tugging on Dan’s hands to pull him from the sofa and down the hall. Dan’s in a daze at this point, his arousal taking away the majority of his common sense as he struggles to grasp the reality that this is happening. He’s about to have sex with Phil, who he’s been pining after for close to six years. He groans when Phil sits on the edge of the bed, pulling Dan closer by his waist.

“This okay?” Phil asks against his lips as he drags his hands down to the zipper of Dan’s jeans.

“Yes,” Dan gasps, pressing his lips to Phil’s with fervor as the older man works on getting his jeans undone. Meanwhile, Dan is thinking Phil’s got entirely too many clothes on, and he begins tugging at his shirt incessantly. “Off,” he whispers, pulling away just enough to tug the thin material off his head, tossing it somewhere behind him carelessly. Sure, Phil looked good in his clothes, but Dan imagined he looked even better without them.

Dan takes a moment to just look then, and as his hands trail along Phil’s chest, it occurs to him that Phil only just broke up with his fiancé a few hours earlier. Despite the fact that Phil had initiated this, doubts suddenly creep in, and Dan slowly pulls away.

“What? Are you okay?” Phil asks, pausing his movements of tugging Dan’s jeans down his legs to look up at him in confusion.

Dan nods uncertainly. “Yeah, it’s just... you just broke up with Charlie, Phil. Are you sure you’re ready?” He doesn’t mean to ruin the moment, really, but he can’t help that nagging feeling that he needs to ask, just to be absolutely sure.

Phil smiles fondly then, bringing his hands up to cradle Dan’s face like he had done before. “Yes, Dan. I’ve wanted this for so long. Please, please let me have it.” His words are almost begging, and even a stronger man couldn’t resist that. Dan only nods, his throat too tight to say anything. “Besides,” Phil adds, almost conversationally. “Charlie and I haven’t slept together in almost six months.” His voice has an embarrassed tone to it, but Dan sees the frown on his face.

“Hey,” He says gently, reaching down to brace himself on Phil’s shoulders as Phil tugs the jeans off his feet, one foot at a time. When Phil meets his gaze, Dan smiles reassuringly. “I’m not Charlie, okay? So, whatever you did with him, whatever sex or anything was like with him, just forget that for now.”

Phil nods at this, albeit a little uncertainly. Dan decides that’s the best he’s going to get and tugs his own shirt off before gently pushing Phil’s shoulders back, motioning for him to move further up on the bed, so that his head is resting on the pillows and the rest of him is spread out. Dan gives himself a moment to just look and appreciate the tapered waist and his broad shoulders, and the soft trail of hair that leads to the top of his underwear. Dan licks his lips then, his dick swelling in his pants at the thought of what’s to come.

“Are you going to keep looking at me or are you going to touch me?” Phil finally whines softly.

Dan smirks at this, but brings his hands up to his zipper, undoing it smoothly before tugging the offending fabric down his legs. It takes a moment of struggle and giggles to pull the jeans completely off, but Dan smiles when they’re on the floor and out of sight. “So beautiful,” Dan murmurs, trailing his hands up Phil’s thighs, tucking one up the leg of his borrowed boxers, tracing the soft skin there with his index finger.

Phil shifts on the bed, clearly growing impatient. Dan watches his face, waiting for him to demand to be touched. When no such demand comes, Dan frowns. He was generally a bottom, and while he didn’t mind topping, he’d certainly not imagined their first time going any other way. He figures maybe this is just something Phil needs a little direction on, maybe he’s not used to taking the lead on these sorts of things.

Despite the idea that this might ruin the mood, Dan figures it’s in their best interest to just ask which way Phil would prefer to do it. “Er- do you want to bottom or top?” He asks, suddenly nervous of the answer. Of course he wanted to do both with him, but he could see the outline of Phil in his boxers and knew that he himself was slightly smaller. He didn’t think Phil to be a size queen, but he also didn’t want to disappoint on their first time. With being a bottom, Dan knew he couldn’t really fail; one of his many personal prides was the fact that he took cock so well, after all.

Phil looks positively puzzled by the question. “Oh, um, I just assumed I’d bottom.” Seeing Dan’s expression probably, Phil continues. “That’s what I always did with Charlie. He didn’t like to bottom.” He bites his lip after he says this, looking up at Dan in what is very clearly uncertainty.

Dan sits back on his heels, his hands leaving Phil’s thighs in favor of resting on his knees gently. “Okay, is that what you want to do now?” Dan asks, sensing a little reluctance on Phil’s part.

This seems to give Phil pause. “I... I’ve never really been given the choice,” he says softly. Dan’s eyes widen slightly, and he tries not to let Phil see his surprise.

“Would you like to top?” Dan asks sweetly, stroking Phil’s knee and the smooth skin just above it gently.

“I... I don’t know, with Charlie I always-“

Dan cuts him off then, tired of how many times the name Charlie had already made it into their conversation. “Nope, no more Charlie. I’m not asking what you did with him, Phil. I’m asking what you want to do with me, right now.” As if to get his point further across, Dan brings his hand up to Phil’s cloth-covered bulge and squeezes gently. Phil groans at the contact before leaning forward and grabbing at Dan’s arms. “What do you want, Phil?” Dan whispers, trying his hardest to give it a seductive quality.

“You, god- wanna be inside you.” He gasps out as Dan continues to squeeze and massage his cock.

Dan smiles down at him, squeezing him gently once more before crawling towards his nightstand. Phil is panting beside him, and Dan fumbles with the lube when Phil brings a hand up, slipping a finger under the band of Dan’s underwear teasingly. Phil smiles innocently when Dan turns around to shoot him a look, and Dan only rolls his eyes as he finally gets hold of the bottle of lube he keeps in his drawer. It was half-used already, although Dan hadn’t slept with anyone in well over a year. He just enjoyed fingering himself, and when you’re twenty-seven and you live alone...

“Do you want to stretch me or do you want me to do it myself?” Dan asks Phil, holding the bottle out to him in offering. Phil sits up at the sight of it, taking it tentatively.

“Can I do it? I’ve never done it to another person,” he requests quietly, glancing down as his cheeks flush.

Dan only nods frantically. He loved to be fingered, and it was even better if it was someone else, so heat was already pooling in his stomach in anticipation. He sits up on his knees then, and with a confidence he doesn’t entirely feel, he pushes his boxers down to his thighs, freeing his cock from the confines of the material. He blushes when Phil’s hand comes to rest on his thigh, his long, pale fingers trailing up gently.

“Dan,” Phil chokes out, his eyes trailing over every inch of his skin, while his fingers continue to trace up and down his thigh.

Dan only smiles, shifting to pull of his boxers entirely. He sits up and gently pushes Phil to lean back on his hands, slowly dragging his hands down his pale chest. He allows himself a moment to marvel at the hair that trails down underneath the band of the older’s boxers, petting softly. Phil shifts, and Dan smirks when he meets his gaze and sees Phil biting his lip harshly. Feeling slightly guilty for teasing for so long, Dan leans forward and kisses Phil’s chest softly before tucking his fingers into the band of his underwear, slowly dragging the material down.

As he drags the last piece of cloth down Phil’s legs, Dan can’t help the soft noise that leaves his lips as his eyes zero in on his cock. “Oh my god,” he mutters lowly, swallowing hard. He’s long and thick and Dan’s fairly certain Charlie is a fucking idiot disaster gay if he didn’t want to bottom for him.

Phil smiles shyly at him, moving his legs to push his underwear off the rest of the way with his feet. Dan shoves the material off the bed before crawling between Phil’s legs, pulling him in to press a kiss to his lips. “Are you sure about this?” Phil asks, pulling away a little, just enough to brush Dan’s curls back.

Nodding, Dan trails his hand down, wrapping his hand around Phil’s swelling arousal. Phil sucks in a sharp breath at this, and Dan only smirks to himself as he starts moving his hand slowly. “Can I suck you first?” Dan asks quietly, locking his gaze with Phil’s.

The older man nods, his eyes just barely open. “Please,” He whispers. Dan smiles as he pushes gently against Phil’s shoulders, guiding him to lay back on the pillows.

Dan starts out slow and teasing, pressing kisses to Phil’s neck first, gently sucking on the skin above his collarbones. Phil sighs contently as Dan slowly makes his way down his chest, grazing his teeth over one of Phil’s nipples, staring up into his eyes to gauge his reaction.

“Dan,” Phil gasps, his hand coming to rest in Dan’s hair. “Do... oh. Do that again.”

Ever the people pleaser, Dan complies easily, placing his lips over the nub of flesh and sucking gently. Phil arches up, and Dan smirks against his skin. He pays careful attention to each of them before he continues on his way, heat building in his stomach as he gets closer to his destination. If there was one thing Dan enjoyed, it was having a dick in his mouth, and the fact that this was Phil just made it so much better.

Teasing, Dan presses a kiss to the head, pressing his hands against Phil’s hips to keep him still, as the contact had made him buck up. “Stay still,” Dan murmurs before wrapping his lips around Phil’s cock, swirling his tongue around the tip slowly.

“Dan,” Phil sighs above him, throwing his head back on the pillows.

The younger man just grins before sinking down suddenly. It’s a good thing he had the foresight to hold Phil’s hips, because he has next to no control, squirming around under Dan’s touch. “Good?” Dan asks smugly. He knew it was, he was good at this.

“Yes. God, yes.” Phil raises his head up off the pillow to meet Dan’s eyes as he sinks back down on Phil’s length, and his gaze darkens. “God, Dan. You look so fucking good.”

Dan only bats his eyelashes at this, currently unable to speak. He sets to work, stroking the base with one hand as his mouth works the top, but after a couple minutes, Phil is tugging at his hair, pulling him off. “Are you okay?” Dan asks as he pulls away, a string of spit and precome trailing from his mouth to Phil’s leaking cock.

“Yeah, just- I wanna finger you now.” His cheeks somehow flush from saying this, and Dan’s eyes nearly roll back. Somehow even while they’re in the middle of something so intimate, Phil makes Dan’s heart flutter, his heart filled with affection for his best friend.

“Yes, fuck, yes.” He lays down, switching positions with Phil so that he’s now kneeling between Dan’s legs. Dan hands him the lube before spreading his legs, his hands gripping onto his thighs to hold himself still. He’s basically vibrating with excitement at this, and he’s surprisingly unbothered by how open and on-display he currently is.

Phil stares at him for a long moment before lifting his hands to Dan’s legs, slowly working his way up. When he reaches Dan’s inner thighs the younger man inhales sharply, shaking with excitement. “Please,” he whimpers as Phil strokes one finger along his rim, applying no pressure as he does it.

“What do you want?” Phil asks, and Dan groans. He loved this, Phil gaining the confidence to ask him things and to take the lead. It was sexy as hell.

“Your fingers. Please.” Dan pushes himself down, chasing the friction of Phil’s finger.

Phil only smiles, a fond look on his face as he reaches for the small bottle next to Dan. After pouring a liberal amount into his hand and warming it up, Phil shifts, grabbing one of Dan’s legs for leverage as he drops his hand down. “Ready?” He asks, his blue eyes searching Dan’s face for any sign of discontent.

He wouldn’t find any, because Dan is nodding frantically. He starts to say something, but then Phil is pushing a finger in and he’s gasping. “Oh,” he mumbles, his eyelids fluttering close.

“Hey,” Phil whispers, slowly drawing his finger out before pressing back in. “Look at me.”

Dan complies easily, opening his eyes and bringing his gaze to meet Phil’s. He swallows hard at the soft look there, his heart racing.

Phil only smiles at him, the hand on his leg stroking the skin softly. “I want to see your eyes,” he says softly, his gaze unwavering.

Swallowing hard, Dan struggles to make a joke. He feels so open and vulnerable with this unwavering eye contact, but he also feels incredibly hot, like he’s on fire. “Is that a kink of yours?” Dan jokes quietly.

Phil smiles, but shakes his head slowly. “Not exactly...” He slowly presses his middle finger in beside his index finger, and Dan sighs at the burn, pleasure coursing through him. “Charlie didn’t like to meet my eyes when we... but I like it.” He says timidly, dropping his eyes to where his fingers are working, a light pink dusting his cheek.

Dan frowns at this, bringing a hand up to cup Phil’s cheek, tilting his head to meet his gaze. “Okay. So look at me.”

Phil smiles at this, keeping his eyes locked with Dan’s as he spreads his fingers apart inside the younger man, stretching him open. Dan lets out a soft sigh at the feeling but doesn’t drop his gaze. If this was something Phil had been denied, he was more than willing to give it to him now.

“You can add another,” Dan eventually murmurs. Phil quirks an eyebrow, but complies easily enough, the third finger pressing in beside the others, causing Dan’s breath to hitch.

Their eyes stay locked as Phil tilts his head to the side, kissing Dan’s wrist, as his hand is still lightly resting against Phil’s jaw. Dan’s heart swells suddenly, and he feels choked up at the light kisses Phil presses to the fragile skin of his wrist. “Phil,” he breathes, unsure what he even wants, just knowing that he wants him.

“Ready?” Phil asks softly against the skin, changing the angle of his hand slightly. Dan knows that he’s searching for his prostate, and he shifts his hips, gasping when the tips of Phil’s fingers brush against that little bundle of nerves. Phil smiles, pressing against it more firmly, causing Dan to let out an embarrassing whine.

“Please, please. I’m ready.” He nearly whines again at the loss of Phil’s fingers, but he knows that it’s only going to get better.

“Do you have a condom?” Phil asks, pointing to Dan’s nightstand.

Dan bites his lip in contemplation. He did, but he really didn’t want to use one. He knew he was clean, he got tested after every time he slept with someone, and it had been about three months since the last time he’d done that. “I’m clean,” he breathes out, watching Phil’s face carefully to gauge his reaction.

Phil nods slowly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. He pushes his hair back up into the quiff, looking down at Dan. “I am too. Are you positive about this?” He asks, searching for confirmation one more time.

Nodding, Dan sits up and brings his hand to wrap around the back of Phil’s neck, his fingers stretching up into the hair on the nape of his neck. “Yes, I’m a hundred percent sure.” He pulls Phil closer to press their lips together, sighing as Phil’s tongue swipes against his bottom lip.

“Lay down,” Phil murmurs a moment later, pulling away from the kiss. Dan quickly complies, laying back against the pillows and drawing his legs up, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he waits for Phil to get settled. Phil takes another dollop of lube and applies it generously over his bare cock, and Dan’s breath hitches as he watches him stroke himself. “Ready?”

Dan nods, reaching up to push Phil’s hair back as he shifts, his hard length pressing against Dan’s entrance, a whisper of what’s to come. They lock eyes as Phil slowly, slowly sinks in, inch by inch. Dan can’t help it; his eyes clench shut as he drops his head back as he feels himself being stretched around the thick length and he groans loudly. “Fuck, Phil.”

A chuckle is heard above him, and then Phil’s hand is pushing underneath the back of his head, lifting gently so that Dan has little choice but to look at him. “You’re so pretty, Dan,” he murmurs, his voice soft and affectionate.

Dan feels as if he could come right then, just from the affection in his voice. It’s so real and right and fuck, he’s bottomed out and Dan is panting, struggling to fully relax himself around the intrusion. It’d been several months since his last hookup, and this was more than he’d been stretched in a long while. Phil was probably the biggest he’d ever had, so even with the stretching, he was struggling to cope with his size.

“You okay?” Phil pants, arms shaking as he tries his hardest not to move inside Dan, giving him time to adjust.

Dan takes a few deep breaths, waiting for the burn to subside considerably before nodding. “Yeah, yeah. I’m good.” He experimentally clenches around Phil, gasping sharply as this causes Phil to buck his hips.

“Sorry, sorry.” He’s quick to apologize, moving his hand to stroke Dan’s cheek. His other hand slides off Dan’s leg and moves to prop himself up by Dan’s head, and Phil shifts slightly so he’s leaning in closer. “Are you okay?” He says, his tone full of worry.

Dan hadn’t realized it, but tears were slipping out of his eyes, rolling down the side of his face and crashing to the pillow. He nods, smiling as he reaches up, catching Phil’s hand in his. “Yes, I’m just... I’m a bit overwhelmed, just give me a minute.”

Phil’s face softens at this, and he leans down, pressing a kiss to the corner of Dan’s eye, his tongue darting out to swipe at the tears there. “Don’t cry, please don’t cry.” He says softly, repeating the gesture on the other eye. “Do you want to stop?”

“No!” Dan almost shouts, firmly against the idea. He blushes when Phil’s lips pull up into a smirk but shakes his head. “No, I just need a second. You’re a little bigger than I’m used to, it’s just going to take a second.”

Nodding, Phil ducks down to press his lips to Dan’s, softly sucking Dan’s bottom lip into his mouth. Dan lets out a soft sound, closing his eyes as he loses himself in the feeling of Phil’s lips on his while he’s buried inside him. Shifting his hips a little, Dan decides he’s ready.

“Okay, you can move,” he breathes, clutching Phil’s shoulders as the older man pulls out slowly, before pushing back in again. “Ngh-“ Dan grunts, his head falling back.

Phil doesn’t give him much time to feel guilty about the loss of eye contact before he’s pounding into him, a little faster than Dan would prefer in the moment. He certainly wasn’t against quick and rough, but for their first time he definitely wanted to go a little slower. Hoping that Phil wouldn’t be offended, Dan drags his hands down, gripping Phil’s hips tightly, slowing his movements. “Phil, Phil. Wait.”

“Is something wrong? Oh, god, did I hurt you?” His voice is full of worry when he halts his movements, and he brings a hand up to Dan’s head, brushing his curls back.

Dan laughs breathlessly at this, shaking his head fondly. “No, not at all. Just slow down.”

“Oh.” Phil’s face flushes even darker red, his eyes dropping to Dan’s chest. “I thought it was better-“ he starts, sounding suddenly uncertain.

Dan shakes his head, dragging his hand up to swipe his thumb across Phil’s bottom lip. He’s shocked and flustered when Phil opens his mouth and wraps his lips around the tip of his thumb, but he tries not to blush too obviously. “I’m not Charlie, remember? We don’t have to go fast for it to be good.”

Phil releases his thumb and nods, uncertain. “But...”

“Phil. The goal isn’t to have a fast orgasm, it’s to have a good one.” His hand moves to caress Phil’s jaw, and he smiles when Phil’s cheeks flush, probably at his bluntness. “There’s going to be other times to go fast, alright? Just slow down for right now.” He instructs gently. He giggles when Phil ducks his head, looking embarrassed. “Are you embarrassed right now?” He asks, unable to help himself.

“Yes!” Phil whines, covering his face. “You’re sitting here talking about sex and orgasms!” He sounds positively affronted, and Dan only laughs harder.

“Phil, your cock is literally in my ass. I’m not sure how talking about it is all that weird.” He snickers, enjoying this far more than he should.

“Dan!” Phil shrieks, ducking down to hide his face in Dan’s chest.

Grinning, Dan runs a hand through his soft black hair, debating with himself. “Sorry,” he mumbles, craning his neck to kiss his hair. “Here, why don’t we try something a little different?”

At this, Phil perks up, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “What?” He asks slowly. Dan rolls his eyes at his apparent lack of trust, but he wonders if maybe Charlie suggested they try things that he wasn’t in to, or perhaps never suggested anything at all. Dan shudders to think that; he was a firm believer in trying new things and developing many different sexual habits with a partner. But he wasn’t going that far tonight.

“Roll over,” Dan instructs, lifting himself off Phil’s dick so he can follow his orders.

Phil does as requested and Dan wastes no time in climbing over him, swinging his legs over Phil’s waist. The expression on Phil’s face is one of surprise, but his eyes darken as Dan reaches back to position him at his entrance. They lock gazes just as Dan sinks down, a broken sound leaving Phil’s lips as he bottoms out. Dan sighs in content, the pleasure of being so full almost overwhelming him.

“Fuck, Phil. Feel so good like this,” Dan mutters out, slowly lifting himself before dropping back down, causing Phil to hiss out. “Is this okay? I figure- god, Phil....” he pants as Phil shifts his hips up to thrust into him. “I figured this way you’re still technically topping, but I can set a slower pace. Is this-“ his voice breaks off then as he shifts his hips, sending the head of Phil’s cock directly against his prostate.

“This is perfect,” Phil gasps, his hands trailing along Dan’s thighs, and up to hold his hips. “You feel so good, Dan.” Phil grabs Dan’s hair and gently guides him down to press their lips together, putting a bit of a pause to their movements. Dan moves his hips around in a circular motion, and Phil breaks away, gasping into his mouth. “Fuck, that’s- that’s good.”

Dan smiles and presses his lips to Phil’s jaw, trailing down his neck. “See? Told you slow was good.”

“Shut up,” Phil mumbles, catching Dan’s lips again. He keeps moving in slow circles as they kiss, but eventually he pulls away.

He presses his hands to Phil’s chest for leverage as he begins bouncing slowly on his cock, biting his lip hard to keep an embarrassing moan from slipping out. Phil pants beneath him, running his hands over Dan’s thighs, the blue of his eyes taken over by his blown pupils. “Good?” Dan gasps out in question.

“Yes, god. So good. Fuck.”

Dan smirks, leaning back slightly to change the angle just a bit. “Never heard you- fuck, right there,” he interrupts himself to whine, unintentionally closing his eyes as his every movement sends Phil pressing directly against his prostate. “Never heard you say that word much before,” he mumbles out.

“Yeah?” Phil says, his voice sounding choked. “Well, you just feel so fucking good.” If Phil thinks that him swearing turns Dan on, well, he’s right. Dan shakes, so turned on he feels like he can’t even breathe. “Dan, can we… can we flip over? Wanna…”

Dan nods, his thighs shaking too badly to really keep a steady pace. “Yeah, yeah.”

A position change and a deep kiss later, and they’re right back to it, but this time Phil is sliding in slow, the drag of his length inside Dan making the younger man whimper in pleasure. It’s slow and deep and good and Dan’s basically choking back tears at how good he feels. Maybe it’s partially due to how long he’s been celibate, but he feels that the main reason it feels so great is because it’s Phil and he’s wanted this for so long.

“Baby, don’t cry, please don’t cry,” Phil’s murmuring above him, pressing his lips to Dan’s eyes like before. Dan hadn’t even realized he was, he’s just so sappy he can’t even help it.

“You’re so good, Phil, fuck. Wanted-“ he chokes as Phil thrusts in particularly hard, a moan escaping his throat. “Wanted this for so long.”

“Me too. Fuck, Dan. I… Can I tell you something?”

Dan tries to nod, but his head is just rolling around uselessly with the movement of their bodies rocking together, so he groans out, “Yeah, anything.”

Phil doesn’t say anything for a moment, leaning down and pressing his lips to Dan’s, working against them slowly and gently. The intimacy of what they’re doing floors Dan, and he’s got a very dangerous thought in his head, and he’s relieved that his lips are otherwise occupied at the moment. Phil thrusts into him a few more times, and Dan’s breath hitches as he feels that coil of heat and arousal tightening in his stomach, ready to release.

“Phil, close,” he gasps against his lips, in hopes that maybe Phil would work towards his own orgasm. So what if Dan was a hopeless romantic and thought it was sweet to finish together? That’s his business.

“Dan,” Phil chokes out. “I love you. I’m in love with you, Dan,” he sobs, dropping his forehead to Dan’s shoulder.

Dan’s hips stutter against Phil’s before quickly pushing back against him, his hand winding into Phil’s hair to pull him up to bring their gazes together. “I love you too,” he whimpers as he feels that white-hot pleasure coursing through him. He tries his hardest to keep eye contact as his orgasm washes over him, but he’s helpless against the sensations, and he keens as his eyes screw shut, his dick twitching between them as he comes all over his chest.

He knows he’s squeezing around Phil, who’s still rocking into him, a little faster now, as he chases his own release. Dan purposefully clenches around him in an attempt to help him along. “Fuck, oh fuck. Oh god, Dan.” His voice breaks and then Dan feels Phil’s release filling him up, his movements not stopping as he fucks himself through it.

They’re both panting hard when they’ve finished, and Dan idly notices how sweaty they’ve gotten. The air smells like sex, but Dan’s too exhausted and satisfied to care. Phil’s careful, even after his release, and he slowly pulls out of Dan before collapsing onto the bed next to him. Apparently uncaring that Dan’s covered in sweat and come, Phil wraps an arm around his waist and draws him close so they’re laying chest to chest, petting his hair.  

~

After a few minutes, they’ve caught their breath and there’s a silence settled in the room. Dan’s mind is exhausted, but Phil’s words are bouncing around in his head. I love you. Deciding that there’s only one way to know for sure, he tilts his head back to look at Phil’s face. “Hi,” he whispers with a smile when he sees that Phil is already looking at him.

“Hi,” Phil repeats, a fond smile on his face.

Dan shifts slightly, so that he’s lying on the pillow, eye to eye with Phil. “Did you mean it?” He inquires softly, glancing down at his hand as he traces patterns on Phil’s chest. “Or did you just say it in the moment, since we were both… you know.” He blushes despite himself at this, mainly due to the context.

Phil studies him for a second, likely trying to gauge his reaction before nodding slowly. “Yeah, I did.” He pauses, timidly bringing a hand up to Dan’s face, brushing his curls back gently. “Did you?”

Dan nods, smiling as he ducks forward, pressing his lips to Phil’s. “I’ve been in love with you for about… I dunno, when did you start working with me?” He says, almost joking, but not quite. He really only crushed on Phil at first, because he was cute and sweet, but then he got to know him, and well… he fell fast, that’s for sure.

Grinning, Phil presses his lips to the corner of Dan’s mouth. “Funny.” He sighs then, a thoughtful look on his face. “I don’t think I realized how much I liked you at first, but then, a couple years ago-“

Dan interrupts him then, surprised. “Wait, a couple years ago?” He demands, shocked. “I thought this was a new development for you! Like, I thought this was something you had only just figured out within the last couple of weeks!”

Phil shoots him a perplexed look, then shakes his head. “No, of course not.” He smirks then, quirking an eyebrow. “Do you think I would have just told you I’m in love with you if this was something I had just figured out?” He asks rhetorically.

Shrugging, Dan watches his own hand as he trails his fingers up Phil’s chest, dragging them through the light smattering of chest hair there. “I dunno,” he mumbles. “I guess I just figured if you knew you would have said something sooner.”

A hand comes to grip his chin, and Phil tilts his head so that he can meet his eyes. A serious look is on his face, and Dan gulps. “No, Dan. I’ve known for a couple years that I liked you more than a friend, but it wasn’t until the last year or so that I realized that I was in love with you.”

Dan shakes his head slowly, finding this a little strange to believe. “But, you were going to marry Charlie,” he says, confused.

Phil sighs, but shakes his head. He holds up his left hand, and it takes Dan a minute to realize that it’s devoid of the band that had been there for so long. His gaze shifts from Phil’s eyes, to the space where the ring used to be, and then back again, struggling to grasp what this means. Phil smiles sadly, dropping his hand back to Dan’s curls. “I gave him the ring back eight months ago. I told him I wasn’t ready, and he just made me promise that I would marry him eventually, even if we broke off the engagement.” He takes a deep breath then, staring at Dan’s curls as he flattens them and watches them bounce back up. “That’s why we were fighting last week. I told my parents that I wasn’t going to marry him, and my mum called his.”

Dan’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out in his surprise. They sit in silence for a moment before he finally manages to speak. “Oh,” is all he says.

Phil’s quiet as he nods. “Yeah,” he whispers.

They sit like that, in the quiet, for a long time, before Dan finally speaks. “I love you,” he says timidly, unsure if Phil will return the sentiment now that they aren’t currently in the middle of an orgasm.

Phil smiles at this and presses his lips to Dan’s forehead. “I love you too.”

A silence settles over them until Dan remembers something. “Do you want to move in with me? I mean- fuck, that probably didn’t sound right. I meant like, since you can’t go back to Charlie’s. Or like, until you find somewhere else, if you want. Which, I don’t mind if you don’t, you can stay here with me-“ Dan rambles, suddenly unsure if he’s crossed a line. He doesn’t want to seem like a clingy girlfriend after they only slept together once. Sure, they’d also admitted that they love each other, but still; he tended to overthink these things.

Cutting him off effectively, Phil presses his lips to Dan’s firmly. “I’d love that,” he whispers against his lips before swiping his tongue over Dan’s lower lip.

Dan smiles and returns the kiss with tired enthusiasm, his body feeling weak with fatigue. “Can we sleep now?” He asks, pulling away a little.

Phil crinkles his nose before glancing down. “Maybe we should clean up first?” He must catch the grimace on Dan’s face, and he rolls his eyes. “I’ll run you a warm bubble bath and we can cuddle in it,” he bribes, raising an eyebrow.

Dan pretends to consider this, but of course he’s going to accept, he’s not an idiot. He sends up a silent thanks to whatever god there is that his bathroom has a bathtub big enough to fit the both of them, but maybe he should just thank the designers of this flat. “I guess I can cuddle with you in the bath,” Dan sighs, as if it’s the biggest inconvenience ever.

Laughter bubbles from the older man, who is already getting up and tugging Dan along with him. “Thank you so much for you sacrifice,” he retorts, fond sarcasm coloring his tone.

And sure, maybe some things had changed. Charlie was out of the picture, and Dan and Phil were more than friends now. They both knew where the other stood, and someone it seemed that they were standing in the same place, which Dan figured was a good thing. But at the end of the day, Phil was just the dorky receptionist Dan had fallen in love with all those years ago, and Dan was still just a cocky paper salesman with an affinity for good pranks and cute blue-eyed boys who shared candy with him. So, all in all, not much had changed really.

[solemncadaver]

Friendsim Trolls According to my Girlfriend who hasn’t played Friendsim

Ardata (Cobalt): w... who took bites out of her horns? Can and will kill you in your sleep. Plotting evil plans 23/7 (the 24th hour is for drinking coffee with LOTS of milk and sugar)

Diemen (Rust): Always eating food (why is that hot dog bun GREEN-), will never call you by your name, only nicknames like bro, dude, man etc, probably owns a skateboard but can't drive it

Cirava (Gold): Oo funky! Has a horrible backstory and doesn't talk about it EVER, is chill all the time, likes 70s-80s fashion and actually wears it with style! Is as extra as the fact they've got 4 horns

Amisia (Indigo): definitely an artist! The "weird kid", has not slept in 5 days because she just HAD to finish that one painting, cuts her own hair with scissors not meant for cutting hair yet it looks amazingly good! Probably either super pure and nice or will kill you if you breathe in her direction

Bronya (Jade): The cool big sister, helps you do your makeup and dye your hair, if you hurt one of her friends those boots will land in your face, probably has a tumblr with aesthetic images

Skylla (Bronze): Yeehaw howdy pardner! Isn't only from a ranch, she OWNS one! Can and will punch you for no reason, makes you do her chores if you wanna stay at her place, has never seen a hairbrush in her life

Tagora (Teal): Tries his best to be edgy and frightening, sometimes almost fails at that, could be in one of those "barber: say no more fam" memes, thinks he's an evil overlord but is actually just a delinquent, probably doesn't get a redemption arc and only like 2 people are mad about that

Vikare (Bronze): Wants to be a pilot/is a pilot but DON'T TRUST THEM WITH AN AIRPLANE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, pretends wearing that pilot hat is a fashion choice when in reality they can't take it off again with those horns, nobody has ever seen them sleep and people are concerned

Polypa (Olive): The most feral being (or she fell down the stairs and is mad about it), problems balancing with only one eye able to see, could claw out your heart and not bat an eye, the hole in her horn is from when someone tried to take her out, nobody has ever seen that person afterwards

Zebruh (Indigo): Looks like an ASSHOLE. What are his horns doing they're not pointed that's not how horns should work, very smug! Has a shitty job and is pretentious about it to people w/o a job, looks like the cryptic bartender in a stereotypical drama thriller that the detective has to interview to know who killed the rich guy's wife

Elwurd (Cobalt): Look at those extra af horns! Def owns a motorcycle, flirty but has never received actual affection, has a mental breakdown every 2 days but pretends EVERYTHING'S FINE, makes 5 puns a minute

Folykl & Kuprum (Gold): What a goal: Carry your bud around in your giant ass backpack! I......don't know who is who tbh but! They both have cool spider looking horns! The best evidence for 'opposites attract', the only friends they have are each other, secretly planning to overthrow the government

Remele (Cobalt): The x on her left eye symbolizes that she has found her next victim. It's you. Run. Could probably use her horn as a climbing hook, v passive aggressive, makes her own clothes, works out a lot and is stronger than she looks

Konyyl (Olive): My fight, flight or flirt instincts have been activated. Could snap you in half by looking at you yet can be super soft if she wants to (you gotta be REAL close to her though), likes matcha ice cream and yells at it when it melts, is NOT tidy

Chixie (Bronze): Shy babey. Will probably be interrupted 3 times when trying to speak because she's just so quiet, has been left on her own and now has no idea how to survive yet is too shy to ask for the way. Someone come help her please.

Tyzias (Teal): Bored college student. Will NOT help you in an emergency so don't even ask. Secretly likes cryptids, is Done (tm), nobody has ever seen her outside of campus, roasts people in the most monotone voice ever

Chahut (Purple): F-... fear ':)? Eh, that's probably just paint! Right? Right???... Is probably being forced to do horrible things, can't remember their childhood, looks scary but only unintentionally, I'd still smooch tbh

Azdaja (Gold): Reminds me of that ching prince from FMA:B tbh, has a weird aesthetic going on, has the upper hand everywhere without trying, probably has 3 fake names, is always cool but can slip up and make goofy remarks

Zebede (Gold): Smol round boi! Probably played soccer in 5th grade, now makes v interesting and functional machines from Lego, probably owned a pet hamster at some point, has no sense of danger

Tegiri (Teal): Is that a KATANA-.... Still not out of his weeb phase, is VERY devoted to his aesthetic, talks either in one word sentences or dramatic quotes from a show nobody has seen, shop owner who sells you weapons

Mallek (Cobalt): Oh look it your hubby! He looks like a trickster tbh yet all the fanart looks sweet and pure!? (Also how do you pierce horns-) how many piercings has he though? Is there fanart- 👀... anyways he kinda looks like the popular kid and the emo kid combined, but like in a good way!?! Probably has a secret key for the whole town that he shouldn't have, can store everything in that hoodie pocket (it's like Hermione's bag :3!)

Lynera (Jade): Looks like the weird art/music teacher, v nice though! Has a lot of weird hobbies that her friends politely decline to join, likes to bake for everyone, likes children or absolutely loathes them

Galekh (Indigo): Is this Roman from Sanders Sides? Jdhdkd he looks like the strict angry teacher, will absolutely refuse giving help and does not allow any flaws (both in you and in himself) can spot someone doing illegal things from a mile away, is not afraid to call people out

Tirona (Teal): Look at that spider hair! Looks good 👉👉, is probs v shy and awkward but tries to talk to everyone anyways, has some exotic pets that she doesn't tell anyone about bc someone once said it's weird, just wants to be accepted, clumsy af

Boldir (Olive): Hiding ..... something ...., private but not stealthy investigator, is distracted way too easily, is the detective I mentioned back at Zebruh's, v loyal, will absolutely get you arrested if you're *in the way*

Stelsa (Teal): Looks like a cool but bitchy mom, probably gets a manicure every week, she looks just like my mom which is scary wth, will not hesitate to roast Karen at the school bake sale, those lemon bars are horrible KAREN, why didn't you let your third husband help K A R E N

Karako (Purple): What- ?

I-.... I'm confused! But okay!

Never makes sense, nobody has ever seen them eat or sleep, appears in your room at 2 am when you have sleep paralysis

Marsti (Rust): Probably is like the classic mechanic, can weld 👌👏👉👉👍, is done with everyone's bullshit but will still try to help (occasionally), drinks too many energy drinks and not enough water, everyone asks her for favors and she is having none of it

Charun (Olive): Peaceful gardener, don't stand in their sun and they won't bother whatever you do, just wants a little farm house near a small town with his pet cat, don't walk on their vegetables or they'll chase you with a rake

Wanshi (Jade): Just a nice person. A total sweetheart. Just wants to have fun, very optimistic, the most functional person you'll ever meet, drinks a lot of green tea and hot chocolate

Fozzer (Rust): Nice person but not very bright, doesn't know how electronics work, has a flip phone from like 2006 and that's enough for him, has a lot of houseplants but can't really keep them alive

Marvus (Purple): 👀👀👀 You know how I think about him (😭🍀😏😎🍀💖🌾❤ 11/10 best ti🅱🅱y window would allow him to stab me)

Daraya (Jade): Smol but will fight you. Is super done and will not help you, but also won't stop you. Probably has 2-4 knifes somewhere on her body at all time.

Nihkee (Indigo): Looks like a pirate captain + professional wrestler in one, like! Probably drinks their coffee black just so people respect them more, will show off every trophy they have (a lot) if someone decides to listen to them

Lanque (Jade): 👀👀👀👍 the most dramatic and salty being alive, v stylish, takes 2 hours a day just to get ready, probably has 16 meetings a day, could work as a model, will cut anyone and everyone that says he should change something about him

Soleil (Purple): Ah yes, the obligatory twins. Probably cursed by a spiteful witch at birth, have never been seen seperate, occasionally like to scare people by pretending to be the twins from shining

I’m crying

[rainbows-fanfics]

My New Reason (Chapter 13)

Chapter 1 |   Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |  Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 14

Summary:  Louis is falling for someone he really shouldn’t be, and the same is happening to Clementine.  Lousentine/Clouis 

Louis' P.O.V.

Babysitting duty was now  my favorite pastime. What with Clementine so preoccupied with the rescue  plan, plus the constant scavenging trips and walker watch-out, A.J. was  sort of left alone. He lingered over Clem while she did practically anything.  He was offered, many times now, to go and bond with Tenn or Willy while  she was busy, but he refused to leave her side. I got the feeling that  having a pair of eyes watching over you could be a little  stress-inducing, so, naturally, I decided to take   matters into my own hands.

"Why don't you spend the day with me, little buddy?"

 A.J. must've perked up at the sound of my voice, because he turned on his  heel in an instant. I was standing right behind him  and Clementine, acting as if I just casually strolled in even though I  had been eavesdropping for the past half-hour. All I got was many  stressful sighs from Clem and the constant questioning from A.J.

"With you?" He repeated. I noticed his eyes darting back over to his maternal figure.

"Yeah,  of course. It'll be fun. We're 'Team Fun', remember?" I motioned over  to Clem. "One of our members here is busy, of course, so it'll just be you and me."

I  could hear the relief in her voice as Clementine turned around. "That sounds  like a great idea, A.J. Why don't you go with Louis while I look these  over?"

"But don't you need my help?"

I waved it off. "The last thing the mighty-Clementine needs is help. Believe me, I've offered."

"I guess...if that's what you want, Clem."

"Believe me, kiddo, if I could spend the whole  day with you, I would. But these plans really need a look-over, just in  case I missed anything. It's important if we want to get the others back."

I watched as she leaned down and grabbed both sides of his  shoulders, shaking him a little. He laughed, but frowned once he  realized what she was asking him to do. I tried to give the most  encouraging smile from behind, holding two thumbs up in hopes it would  ease him down. He accepted reluctantly.

"Okay. Good luck, Clem."

"Thank you, goofball." She stopped to lay a kiss on his forehead. "Make sure Louis doesn't get you in trouble, okay?"

"-Hey! I'll have you know that I am a very responsible-"

"I will."

I  felt a mix of heartbreak and betrayal as A.J. nodded, but that  vanished when he looked at me and winked. I winked back with a grin. This kid was going to be a lot of fun today, wasn't he? I  watched as Clementine finally let go of him and turned to me. I prepared  myself for her usual 'watch-my-kid-carefully-and-if-anything-happens-to-him-i-will-kill-you' lecture, but instead, she leaned up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank  you. I'll pay you back later, alright? Try not to keep him past his  bedtime. If he starts acting up, just come and get me."  

"No need. My babysitting duties are free-of-charge. But, I do accept kisses."

She  blushed slightly. "Okay, Prince Charming. Here's some for the road." She  pecked my lips three times. "I'll give you the rest later."

Holy shit!

I  was grinning madly as she pulled away and went back to the  papers. I must've been standing there like the awestruck idiot I was,  because I felt A.J. having to tug me out of the room. He was dragging me  by the corner of my trench coat. I regained my composure and nudged it  out of his hand.

"Ready for a day of fun, little man?"

"Yeah. But what are we going to do?"

By  this point we were already heading outside. I held the door open for  him and bit my lip in thought. I guess it would be irresponsible of me  if I admitted to having no clue. I really should've mapped our day out  if I was even going to offer watching him. I closed the door with a  shrug.

"I think today will be your day. Anything you want,  it'll happen. With limits, of course." I stopped and put my hands on my  hips. "So, what do you want to do?"

He took the question   seriously and thought about it. "Well...I'm kind of tired of drawing, no  offense to Tenn. I've already made Clem a lot of drawings. So, I don't  think I want to do that."

"Probably for the best. My drawing skills are as good as a rock. And by that, I mean a rock can draw better than I can."

"Rocks can't draw."

"I'm well aware."

"How about we go to the music room? There's lots of fun stuff there."

A  good suggestion! I was secretly hoping we'd find our way there. I  didn't even have to agree because A.J took off before I could. I chased  after him and found he was holding the door open for me. I thanked him  with finger guns and he returned them. I laughed as we turned the corner  and headed into my most favorite room in the whole boarding school.

When  we opened the doors, everything was in its glory. The tuned-out, aged  piano, the worn-and-torn books, the portraits covered in the finest  graffiti...the list could go on, really. A.J. walked past me and  pointed promptly to my favorite instrument.

"Can you play that thing again?"

"I sure will! What do you want to hear?"

I  seated myself at the piano. The tot followed suit, sitting right beside  me. He looked at the keys and  thought of what to request. I realized it was a difficult question, but  he was taking a little while to answer it. I noticed his eyes kept glancing  about the piano, fixated on something in particular.

"What's that?"

He  pointed to the carving Clementine and I made. I couldn't help but smile  at the memory. It was nice to still see it there. Not like a carving  made in wood was going anywhere, that is - but that the memory was still  holding in a place very dear to me. Just looking at it gave me warm goosebumps.

"It's a mark for a very special occasion," I informed.

"That's a...a C! And that's an L. And that's a small t."

"Not a t. That's a plus sign."

"Oh, wait, I get it. They're...initials. For names." He squinted his eyes. "Who's C and L?"

"Louis and Clementine."

His  eyes went so wide that I thought they'd pop out of his sockets. He  looked between me and the carving over and over again. I crossed my arms  and stifled a laugh. I didn't know what was so groundbreaking about it.  As far as I knew, or at least what I assumed, A.J. knew I was with Clem. I just haven't really...talked about it with him.

"Ohh, that makes sense, too. You carved the heart."

"No, that was her."

He looked at me apprehensively. "Are you sure?"

"Well, yeah. I was there."

"So, I guess that means she loves you...And you love her?"

"That's right."

"How much do you love her?" He pushed.

I  was taken aback a little at the question, but replied with as much  confidence as I could. "-Let's just say I love her more than this old  thing. And I've been playing it for years."

I patted the  top of the piano for effect. A.J. watched me with wide eyes. I noticed a  layer of dust came off of it and brushed my palm on the side of my  trench coat.

"That must be a lot." He gawked.

"Believe me, it is."

"I love her a lot, too. But...not the way you do." He shrugged. "I love her like...like the way I like you."

"The feeling is mutual." My fingertips were burning by the time I laid them on the cold ivories. "How's about a song?"

He  didn't protest, so I started playing what first came to my mind. The  melody was so natural to me that I was able to think while I played. I  knew what A.J. was implying...he loved Clem like she was his mom, right?  Which would mean he loved me like I was his...parental figure.

The  smile I was wearing widened. I've never had this experience before. You  get used to being around certain kids that you're familiar with their  habits. But A.J. was an entire different package to unpack. He was  different than Willy or Tenn, but I liked him just the same. Still...as  much as I tried to be a good figure to kids(I mean, they're our future,  right?), I still couldn't imagine being appreciated like...like a dad.

"Is that the song you wrote for Clem?"

I stopped playing in surprise. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I forgot what I was playing.

"She told you?" I asked.

"Well...it might've slipped. I don't think she meant to tell me."

I laughed. I wonder how that  played out. I didn't mind A.J. knowing; I wouldn't have played the song  in front of him if I did(even if I started to out of habit). I decided  to play the rest of the song and ended it by holding the final note. I  heard him scoot closer to my side by the time it was done.

"Can you write me one? Like you did for her?"

"Depends if you're patient, little man. It can take a lot of time to write one."

"Then I'll be pat....pa...pare-"

"Pa-tient." I repeated, the smile tugging at my lips.

"Pa...tient... He pronounced slowly, then grinned. "I'll be, um, that. Whatever it is..."

"It means you have to wait, without complaining. That's the important part."

"I  can do that." His eyes crossed over me a few times. "And-and when you  write it, you can name it something cool! Like, uh...Louis!"

"A good suggestion! And the best  one, if you ask me...but I think I know something cooler..."  I casually turned back to the piano  and pretended to muse over some ideas. "How about A.J.? It's short,  awesome, and cool. Just like you."

"You think I'm...cool?" The disbelief in his tone almost made me frown. I managed to keep my composure, as with my smile.

"No, little dude. You're NOT cool." His smile dropped. "-You're the coolEST."

His smile came back, but he looked clueless. "What's the difference?"

"It means you're cooler than me. Cooler than anybody, actually."

"Cooler than Clem?"

"I'd  say yes, but I have a feeling she'd stab me in my sleep." I grit my  teeth at that image. "Anyway, I'll have your song done soon, buddy. We  got more important things to do right now."

"Like what?"

"Have you ever made a paper airplane?"

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

Our  paper-airplane contest lasted a solid hour. Since there were plenty of  books lying around(like the headmaster's diary, which I had a kick tearing apart), A.J. and I dove right in and made them with whatever we could find. Whether  that was from the papers on the floor or ripping them out of useless  books about trigonometry, they were still considerably impressive paper  airplanes.

Turns out the kid didn't know how to make  one, so I showed him a few methods. I used to make some back before the  apocalypse. Marlon and I would throw them across the classroom while the teacher was lecturing and we'd blame it on whatever unfortunate kid was nearby.  I can remember the shit-eating grins we had. They were a lot similar to what A.J. and I were wearing   now.

We  flew the ones we made to see whichever would go the farthest. A.J. had  some, but I had the majority. It kept him busy regardless, and our  session was stopped when Tennessee found us. He offered A.J. some time  to draw. I must've put him in a good mood because he accepted. Not only  that, but he insisted I'd join him and Tenn.

I proved to him that a rock could  actually draw better than me. A few decent stick figures and lines that  were supposed to represent a tree were thrown right away in the trash.

We  sat around the campfire and I told him a few stories after that. I can't remember  most of them, but I think I talked about my baseball days. A.J. shared some decent stories  with me, too(where he enlightened me that Clem would sometimes sing him a  lullaby to sleep. Such juicy information). And then we talked about Disco Broccoli, where I was more than happy to share my memories about the show.

It  was in the middle of our conversation that I noticed it was night.  I had to cut our chat short and stand up, trying to act happy despite that  our day has officially come to an end. I felt even more attached to this  kid now - if that was possible. The last thing I wanted was to end our  day of fun. But Clem would kill me if I kept him up any further.

"We should pack it in, bud."

"What!?" He sounded disappointed. "But I wasn't finished with my story..."

"I think we should check on Clem. She's been working all day. And if there's any time left, you can tell me the rest of your story." I offered. "Let's make sure she's doing okay, first."

"Okay."

A.J.  grabbed my hand coming inside the dorms. I clutched his as we walked  down the hallway, mentally preparing myself for the long 'talk' I'd get  if it was as late as I was assuming. I hoped for the best as I gently  knocked on the door, only opening it when I heard her small voice grant  us permission to come in.

I didn't wait to see her face as I  casually leaned on the dresser. "Well, time sure slipped past Team Fun!  We were having such a good time that the moon wanted to join us! Isn't  that right, A.J.?"

Before the kid could respond, Clementine stepped in front of me. To my surprise, she wasn't upset. She actually looked relieved.

"Thanks  for keeping him busy. I got some great progress on the plans." She  gestured to the desk. "Everything should be good now."

"That's  great! And don't worry about it." I assured her softly. "The kid's a lot  of fun. I can totally do this again if you need it."

She went  forward and pecked me a few more times on the lips. I wasn't prepared  for the first three, but I kissed back for the last two. When she pulled  away, I saw she had a smug smile on her lips. I practically melted when  she placed her hand on her hip.

"You did keep him up to 10:30, though."

"Hey, you should be thanking me! I tired him out. See?"

I  pointed behind her. The kid was already fast asleep on the mattress, in  his usual fetal position without either of us by his side. Clem took off her hat to  run her hands through her hair. She let out a long sigh.

"Just as well. I'm tired, too. I'm guessing you are?"

"A little. He's a talker once you get him going." I chuckled.

"He's just excited. He doesn't share much with anyone besides me. You should be flattered, Lou."

She  was just feeding into my ego and she knew it. I noticed Clementine was  getting situated in the bed. She looked at me and motioned forward. I  took the cue to join her side and spoon   her from behind, discarding my  coat to the side so I can wrap my arms around her figure. I could feel  A.J. in her grasp and smiled hearing him snore lightly.

"What did you two do today, anyway?" She yawned.

I  recalled the moment he saw our initials on the piano, the time we spent  on those paper airplanes, our drawings, and all the stories we shared together. I remembered every time he'd smile, and how tightly he'd hold my hand. The  memories I made with A.J. today, especially - ones that would not be forgotten. I combed my fingers through her hair and rested my  chin on top of her head, shrugging softly.

"Oh, you know, just babysitting stuff."