#already so so happy hearing your reading thoughts heheh

[babygirlwolverine]

ok so i'm halfway through fangirl and i love the lil ficlets strewn between chapters? and i'm already in love with simon and baz

also WTH NICK JUST STOLE THE ENTIRE STORY??!!! LIKE, SHE WROTE LOADS OF IT TOO!!

Oh my GOD! You read so quickly afdjasfsha i am very impressed!! literally the lil ficlets spread throughout are my favorite parts and it’s what made me love simon and baz too!! hearing you say that you’re already in love with simon and baz makes me so so omg i can’t stop smiling heheh!!

LITERALLY OH MY GOD I REMEMBER SCREAMING AND THROWING THE BOOK WHEN I READ THAT NICK STOLE THE ENTIRE STORY LIKE IT’S AGONIZING BECAUSE SHE SPENT SO MUCH TIME AND WORKED SO HARD AND IT WAS JUST RIPPED AWAY FROM HER!!

[gyuswhore]

Grease (the tragedy)

“Careful, those marks on the floor aren’t just oil and paint.”

jeon wonwoo x reader

word count: 5.8k

warnings: smut [minors DNI], fluff, angst, mechanic!wonu, annoyances to lovers, blind date gone wrong but then gone right, kissing, clit stuff, oral (f. rec), thigh fucking (oop), this all happens at a desk LMAO, title is a what I thought was a funny spin on how people say "grease (the musical)"....has nothing to do with the musical though but lots to do with actual grease!!!

synopsis: In which you have to sit through one of the worst dates of your life, followed by the insistent tug of fate and compulsion that lead you straight back to where you'd sworn you'd never go.

[a/n]: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WIFE CAMOTHY @highvern everyone go say happy birthday to cam or ill appear in your room at night 🔫 anygays HAVE FUN READING THIS I hope this is all the sexy wonu content you wanted, I cant wait for your reaction hehehhehe

and also bigbigbigbig thank you to jessifer @the-boy-meets-evil for proofing this for me!!! ily heh

and and to everyone reading this who is not cam, I hope you enjoy reading mechanic!wonu as much as I liked writing him heheh PLS REMEMBER TO REBLOG AND TELL ME UR THOTS it could be in the tags, replies, an ask literally anything!!!! id love to hear what you guys think!!!!

masterlist

 [You]: do you think he died on the way [Liv]: hes still not there??? [You]: what do you think????? [Liv]: let me ask Amelia [You]: dont bother [You]: he can show up whenever he wants im leaving in 5 [Liv]: you promised you’d sit thru this!! [You]: sit thru what? an empty seat across from me???

Liv doesn’t respond immediately, and you immediately know she’s buggered off to ask her cousin why your date still wasn’t here. 

It’s not like you couldn’t have asked him yourself, the sparse textbox sitting just under Liv’s contact. You open it to inspect the contents. 

[liv’s cousin’s something]: Amelia gave me your number [liv’s cousin’s something]: friday night at the sage&salt at 7  [liv’s cousin’s something]: is that okay [You]: uh hey [You]: yeah that’s fine

Today 7:20 PM

[You]: im here?

The first thread of texts were enough to make you feel like this was some cold business meeting instead of a date, knowing wherever this would lead would be either the city dump or off a cliff. Liv was hearing none of it, taking the guilt tripping route, saying she’d already committed and her cousin was irritating enough even without a scuffle.

So when Friday evening came around you’d pulled on the first dress your fingers could find, took all of ten minutes fighting with your makeup to make it look like you did something and left the house with zero expectations. 

Despite that, as you see a man walk into the establishment dressed like he’d gotten into a fight with a squid and a paper shredder, you feel the stone in your chest tank into the abyss. Zero expectations, and he’s somehow managed to strike out anyway. 

The jacket looks like he’s put it on as a weak cover for the grime stains on his shirt and trousers, a couple jet black splatters across the outfit to really pull the whole thing together. It’s not like he looked homeless or anything, his face surprisingly handsome with his hair pushed away from his forehead. Although he remains looking like he’d been playing football in some neighbourhood parking lot before remembering he had an adult appointment too. 

You’d never seen the man in your life, but your gut told you this was the shit texter who’d kept you waiting for nearly an hour. He seems to notice too, eyes locking from across the restaurant as the waitress leads him to your table. 

“Wonwoo,” you greet with a difficult smile, half sure it came out as a grimace. “Right?”

“Yeah,” he huffs as he practically slams back down on the chair, and you wonder for a moment how the legs didn’t give out. He says your name and you nod. “Sorry I’m late, I got a call in the parking lot.”

He’s been in the parking lot this entire time?!

It’s like you’ve been doused in gasoline and lit on fire, yet somehow needing to give him a shaky reply anyway. 

“O–oh, I see.”

The waitress saves you from spitting in his face when she asks if you were ready to order. 

Dinner was off the table, as you discussed with Liv who forwarded it to her cousin to her–whoever it was that set up this god awful date–and agreed on dessert and perhaps a drink. 

“I’ll have the chocolate cake,” you request in an attempt to make this somewhat better. You consider for a moment before asking for a drink as well, “And a dry gin martini, please.”

“Um,” he staggers as he barely skims the menu, ultimately flipping it closed. “I’ll have the same, I guess.”

Deep voice. You might’ve liked that if you weren’t already so peeved. 

The waitress disappears with the menus, leaving you two alone for the first time. 

“So,” you start with an exhale. “How do you know Amelia?”

“Her husband.”

“I see.”

Silence. 

“How do you know her husband?”

He sighs like this is all inconveniencing him, and it irks you to an irrespective degree. Like you wanted to be here either. 

“He brings his car to the workshop alot, became friends somewhere along the line.”

“Workshop?”

He looks a little startled, cocking his head to the side. “I’m a mechanic? Did Olivia–was it–not tell you?”

“No, she didn’t.”

It’s silent yet again as the man across from you refuses to elaborate. You curse as you ask him a follow up question. If there was anything you hated more than shouldering a dead conversation, it was sitting through an awkward silence. 

One hour. You’d sit through this for one more hour and then you’d leave. 

“What kind of cars do you work on?”

“Expensive ones,” he answers. You might’ve kicked yourself if he’d ended it at that, but he continues with a purse of his lips. “Ones that rich people abuse to an inch of the machine’s life and wonder why the dealership gives up on it. Vintage pieces too.”

“Have I heard of it?”

“The cars?”

“No, I mean,” you let out a breath. “Your workshop.”

“Jeon Motors, just a couple streets down actually.”

You did know what he was talking about, not expecting to recognise it through the empty question, passing by it on multiple occasions in this part of the city.

“Oh, I’ve seen it a few times.”

“Yeah, we’ve been there for a while.”

“Family business?”

“Uh–sort of.” 

“Okay,” you sigh in an irritated laugh. This was going to be a very difficult hour. “Keep that to yourself too.”

“Is there a problem?”

Just as you lift your eyes to lock with his, a ready yes, there is actually a problem on your tongue, there’s an intrusion. 

“Here are your chocolate cakes,” the waitress places the cakes down, and then the drinks. “And your dry gin martinis. Do you guys need anything else?” By the time the waitress is gone you’ve somewhat forced yourself to put that sudden surge of flames out, to a degree at least. 

“Okay,” he sighs, grabbing his glass and downing nearly half the contents. He emerges, wiping a bit of a spill from the corner of his mouth. “Let’s get this out of the way.”

“Hm?” He’s speaking to you with a very weird surge of intensity, and it confuses you.

“Neither of us wanna be here. You’re clearly trying to be hospitable but I’d really rather you not, especially when we’re both doing this to get our respective ticks off our hides.”

There isn’t much you can do but stare at him. 

“Have I misjudged your advances?” he asks over his glass, sharp eyes piercing. 

“No!” you yelp, reaching for your drink yourself, taking big sips only to emerge sputtering and heaving. 

Your date looks like he’s rising out of his chair when you raise a hand to stop him. 

“No,” you repeat, less jumpy this time. “I guess we could’ve cleared that out from before.”

Did he…snort?

“Sorry.” Dropping his chin to his chest, he composes himself. 

“What?” you ask, remaining annoyed as ever. 

“Nothing.”

That does it. You slam your now empty glass down on the table, slipping your fork out of the napkin a little forcefully, the metal glinting in the light of the restaurant. You dig into a corner of the cake and shove it in your mouth. 

If he was gonna be rude, you could be too. 

“I don’t know about hospitable.” You swallow. “But I assumed not being an ass was kind of an unwritten rule for any situation really. Including the ones you’d rather not be in.”

Wonwoo stares at you with a blank face, his cake untouched. “I’m being an ass. My laugh couldn’t have offended you that much.”

“So you did pick that up,” you comment. “With the way this conversation’s going I would’ve thought it flew right over your engine.”

“I’d argue your laugh was the least offensive thing you’ve done tonight.” You plunge your fork into your cake again. “But clearly we’re in different realms of etiquette.”

Your eyes meet the rough stains on his attire, and then his own that bore into yours like a challenge. The cake isn’t too sweet, rich just the right amount and texturally sound. Maybe something good did come out of this fiasco. 

“Okay fine,” he announces, sitting up straighter. “I apologise.”

“For laughing?”

“And for being obscenely late.”

“And?”

“And…” he genuinely looks like he’s struggling to figure it out, but catches your eyes flickering to his tattered and stained outfit. “And for my entirely inappropriate dressing sense. You’ll have to forgive me for that one, oil and grime are my spoils of war.”

“Wear it like a badge, mister mechanic, but perhaps somewhere it’s appreciated.” 

Wonwoo has already finished his drink, his cake remaining untouched. “You’re quite adamant on disliking me.”

“And you’re quite adamant on being a horrid conversationalist.”

The corners of his mouth lift the slightest bit. Opening his mouth to respond, you cut him off. “Cars don’t talk? Or perhaps, machines are easier to understand?”

“More like I don’t care to be personable.”

“That can’t be good for business.”

“The cars speak for themselves.”

He’s a weird one. Even more so when he offers to pay the entire bill, promising you he wasn’t lying when he said he was good at what he does, and to “make up for lost personality points.” You manage to pay your half anyway, considering the circumstances. 

“Can you at least let me drive you home?” Wonwoo asks as you both step out of the establishment soon after. 

“Depends.” You fix the strap of your bag. “Will it fall apart on the highway?”

The blaring white of the restaurant's outdoor lights backlight Wonwoo to make him look like some sad angel. He turns to you, the same slight smirk that seems to be plastered on his face. “Why don’t you find out?”

“What do you mean sell it? I got this thing a year ago!” 

There isn’t much you can do but sigh loudly as you listen to Olivia talk about the state of her car, the one that cost too much to justify but she seemed to use and abuse like a very replaceable toy truck. 

Leaning against the hood of the darn thing, you talk to her. “The dealership is giving you a shit deal to take it off your hands, you might as well try your luck.”

The look on her face is easy to read as she silences. Not convinced in the slightest, waiting for the conversation to end just so she could figure it out on her own. Sighing loudly, you look back to the dark beauty with a crate of issues that make it spit and sputter to a stop every few weeks. 

“How much did you say the repairs cost again?”

“Enough to put me on food stamps,” she whines through her frustration, tears pricking against her eyes as they glisten under the neighbourhood streetlights. “Why are you smirking like that?!”

“It’s just,” you pause as you consider your next words, pressing your lips together. “This is a little bit your fault.”

Lies, it was entirely her fault. 

Liv stares like you’ve just offended her, which you’re sure you have.

“Care to share how this possible bankruptcy could be my fault?"

“Because you drive the thing like you have a secret reserve buried somewhere in Tenerife.”

“My apologies for making a habit of not being a public nuisance and going forty on a national highway.”

“Your speed-o-metre is not the issue here.”

“Yes, of course, everything’s my fault.”

“Liv, please!” You groan loudly. “Just…let’s try putting up a listing tomorrow. Consider the prospects and you can decide from there.”

Sagging her shoulders and stretching her neck, Liv decides to simply trudge back indoors in silence. You take it as a begrudging yes, and follow her inside. 

That very night, when you were at the very cusp of falling into the dark space of sleep, your brain re-awakens before your eyes do. A jolt as the memory comes back to you of the many months ago, sitting in that restaurant across from a man who was too handsome for the personality he seemed to sire. 

“Expensive ones,” he had said. “Ones that rich people abuse to an inch of the machine’s life and wonder why the dealership gives up on it.”

How fitting. 

“Are you going to explain or should I explode instead?” 

You’d mentally prepared for the bombardment of accusations from Liv, her questioning perfectly right as you yourself cringed at the thought of showing your face here of all places. The one last one that’d officially banned her from ever setting you up with an individual of her choosing ever again. 

Hearing only silence as her answer, she appeals; “I thought he was the worst date of your life.”

“Nothing to do with his skills as a mechanic,” you mumble, refusing to make eye contact. 

“And everything to do with this being a horrible idea anyway!” Liv stares up at the sign on top of the garage. Jeon Motors. “What makes you think this guy can fix my car?”

What did make you think he could fix Liv’s car? If you’d known you might have given her an answer, but as you stare at the giant signboard that you’ve driven past for longer than you can remember, you can’t help but feel this place has been haunting you. Just a little. 

You can’t help but feel the tingle of goosebumps rise on your skin, the hairs across the expanse standing up at the thought of walking inside. There was no way you could differentiate the reaction from plain nerves or from the cringing drills that sound all the way outside the establishment. Regardless, you make an attempt to look confident as you make your strides into the pungent of the workshop. 

The first thing you note is how…clean everything is. Cleaner than any other workshop you’ve walked into anyway. 

The interior is bigger than it looks from the outside, the ginormous hall hosting about a dozen cars within your eyeshot alone. One side of the great hall holds an array of parked cars in different stages of dismantled and deconstructed, while the other side is lined with contraptions that look like stripped and enlarged elevators. 

Once you’ve inhaled a beyond recommended amount of smoke fumes and listened past all of the clanging, banging and sparks, you register the people that are elbow deep in the hoods of the vehicle they’re working on, enough to leave you and Liv standing at the entrance of an establishment that you can barely make sense of. 

“Can I help you?” A man in stained beige overalls approaches your wide eyed pair, face half covered in his baseball hat and hands occupied with a rag. 

To your slightest dismay, it isn’t the man you’re looking for.

“Uh– is Wonwoo here?” you ask. 

“He’s in a meeting right now. Are you a friend?” 

No, just a failed love interest.

“He,” you falter. If you weren’t a friend…then what were you? “He gave me his card.”

“Do you need help with your car?”

“Mine, actually,” Liv pipes. “It’s outside if you wanna take a look first.”

With one sweeping look across the warehouse, your eyes land on one of the few doors on the left. You register the plain look of it for barely a moment before joining Liv outside. 

By the time her car has been rolled and parked inside for a more thorough inspection, it’s taken you every last grain of your willpower to not stalk back out and wait in your car. For whatever reason, you can’t help but feel a very familiar spasm of irritation spark through you. Here you are, left anxiously waiting for the same man for a second time, merely feet away but remaining occupied with more important things. 

At the very least, the multiple hands prodding around the car’s engine were being somewhat of use, attempting to survey the same issues that had been looked at about a dozen times before. You silently promise to be a better person if this trip wouldn’t be for vain.  

“Am I late for something again?” 

Your throat is suddenly clogged as you open your mouth and no sound graces your presence. The face that meets you has his eyebrows raised as he stares at you in expectation, a ghost of a smile on his face. 

“W–Wonwoo, hi, um.” You clear your throat loudly, heat cursing your cheeks. “No, of course not.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure after…four months?” he asks, hands on his hips and his back straightened.

“I…my friend’s car needed to be looked at so…”

“Ah, of course!” He turns to where you’ve motioned, looking at the popped hood of the car his employees are working on. “I’ll take a look at it myself, don’t worry about it.”

He’s already walking away, towards the car and leaving you a ways away from the action. You stare at his back; the overalls tied at the waist and the stained white T-shirt that clings to his form from the humidity.

Wonwoo remains a man of a few words, and you remain at wits end about it all. 

A loud honk gives you something to do as you jump at the sound so up close, scrambling to move away from the smack centre as another car pulls into the garage. 

“Careful, those marks on the floor aren’t just oil and paint.” Wonwoo snickers from his place hunched over the hood as he cranes his neck to look at you. 

You walk over to where he is to get out of the way. “Was that meant to sound like an innuendo?”

“I was talking about the occasional running over someone’s foot,” he answers. “Not sure what you were thinking.” 

Ignoring the jab, you note that it was now only you and him crowding the car, “Where’s Olivia?”

“Went to look at spare parts.” You watch him as his gloved hands reach further into the enclave and yank at something hard. 

“So you can fix it?” 

“The car? It’ll take a couple days but it’s not really an issue.”

Furrowing your brows, you press on, “But the dealership—”

“Dealerships are the spawn of the devil,” he grunts as he finally wrenches out a spare nut or bolt or something that’s covered in oil. “Let me guess, they wanted her to sell it back to them?”

It’s your turn to raise your brows. “Yes. They tried fixing it, but it'd just stop again.”

“Because they’ve been fixing the symptoms.” He raises his eyes to meet yours, hands occupied with rubbing the part in his hands relatively clean with a rag. “They haven’t bothered to do anything about the actual problem.” 

“Because that’s gonna cost…?”

“Couple hundred, give or take,” he announces nonchalantly, turning his focus back to the engine. 

“But—” That’s it?

“Fifty extra for every question I have to answer after this.” You briefly wonder if Wonwoo’s eyes were always this piercing, boring into your soul like he didn’t need words to know what was going on with you. 

“Fine,” you huff, moving to drag a chair over, mostly just so you could have reason to break eye contact, and plop down as you watch him work. 

The more you think about it, the more you can find yourself unbothered by his strange behaviour. He wasn’t bleak, but nowhere near one of the more interesting people you’ve met. Taking the opportunity to really scan the man head to toe, you can’t say you find anything truly concrete to be this put off by him. 

Not much of a talker, but with the times you’ve prayed for a man that knew when to shut up sometimes, you wonder how much you can actually complain about this boon in particular. 

Besides, he was a looker, and you were completely content shutting your trap if it meant you got to shamelessly ogle at him from this close. 

“You know, this place looks bigger than it does from the outside.”

Wonwoo stares pointedly. 

You raise a shoulder in nonchalance, “Wasn’t a question!”

He simply huffs as he mumbles, “More length than breadth I suppose.”

“What are those things called?” you ask as you watch a sedan get lifted into the on some platform on the other end of the row. 

Glancing back, he answers, “Post lift, car lift, whatever you wanna call it.”

“What does it do?”

“Take a wild guess.”

“Touché.” 

Glancing back at him, you catch sight of his stained shirt once again. “Is that the same thing you wore to our date?”

Chin to chest, he registers what he’s wearing, hands still working on pulling bolts and boxes out of the hood. “Have about twenty of the same shirt, I can never be too sure.”

“You’re impossible.”

He smirks, “Touché.” 

You questioned if this was a mistake. 

Olivia could pick up her car herself, so why did you insist to be the one that did it? As you pay the taxi driver, you feel your ankles lock for a moment as you move to slip out of the cab. Frozen, you hear the driver ask you if everything was alright, to which your legs seem to work again, finally foot to gravel in front of the dreaded workshop.

The Jeon Motors sign blares the same as it always has in the afternoon light, glinting as it encourages you to walk in and do one of the stupider things you’ve done in life. Other than the ridiculous outfit you’ve put on, of course. 

But alas, as you hand over your slip to one of the many mechanics in the workshop, you find yourself praying he wasn’t here after all, that perhaps you could miss him as you leave and never have to see him again. 

Somebody yells out his name, and the dream drifts away like smoke. 

Finding the courage, you look up to where the man shouted for him, and immediately wish you hadn’t. 

Wonwoo remains in his overalls, the same ones that he had tied to his waist the last time you saw him. His undershirt however…

The tank top is revealing too much for you to pretend you don’t care, his hair remaining pushed back and away from his forehead as he walks over to you in what feels like slow motion. He takes the slip that he does not need, smiling at you as he says his hellos. 

“Car’s all fixed up, just need some papers that need signing and you’re all set.”

“Oh, but Liv isn’t here today.”

“That’s alright, you can sign them too,” he reassures, motioning for you to walk with him towards the car. “The car was alright in the test drives, revving hasn’t caused any problems either.”

He halts in front of the now (supposedly) fixed black sedan and pats the hood lightly, “If anything happens tell her to bring it straight here, although it shouldn’t have any more problems.”

“What’s your rate of return on customers?” you ask, a slight smirk on your face.

He thinks for a moment, “Pretty crap. But I guess that means I’m doing something right.”

You consider yourself something of a helicopter parent when it comes to your own car, but perhaps you’d change that if it meant you’d get to come here a little more often. 

Goodness, what’s gotten into you.

Wonwoo’s smiling too, and for a brief moment the silence is nearly awkward. A pause before he proposes leaving. 

“Shall we go to the office then?” 

Nodding eagerly, you trail behind him as he leads you towards the other end of the workshop, passing by even more cars in all their stripped or constructed glory. Glancing in front, you catch sight of Wonwoo’s back, ensnared for a moment before you snap your head away, reciting every curse word you know like a mantra. 

“It’s less hot in here too, keep the air on all the time.” Wonwoo stands in front of the plain doors, hands on the handle to wrench it open. You recognise it as the same door you had noted a few days ago. “Would you like anything? Coffee, tea?”

“Um, just water is fine, thanks.”

It’s quite plain, beige and leather against cream walls and unfittingly white lights. There’s a desk on one corner that’s beyond cluttered with more papers than you can register, pens and other office supplies mixed into the disorganised chaos of the large tabletop.

“Sorry about the mess, I can never find time to sort through it.” To your surprise, the light tinge of his cheeks suggest he might actually feel a little embarrassed. 

Cute. 

There’s cabinets that line on one of the far walls, and you watch him take his gloves off to open it and reach for a cup. The white porcelain emerges stained with an ashy grey as his fingers betray him. He looks flustered, glancing at his hands and back up to the cabinet. 

You can’t help but laugh a little, moving forward to help. “It’s alright, let me.”

“Sorry,” he apologised again, with a sheepish look on his face. “I’ll, um, wash this off.”

“Go on, I’m here,” you reassure as you move towards the water dispenser in the corner to fill your clean cup. 

He returns with significantly cleaner hands and apologises one last time. “Seems all I do around you is apologise.”

You have the good humour to chuckle, “So I’ve noticed.”

He does well to clear out most of the clutter that’s on his desk, leaving enough room to set down a few pieces of paper as you take a seat on the opposite side. 

As you scan through the papers, he attempts to make sober conversation. “You should…bring your car around for inspections if you want.”

“Oh? Even if I ask a million questions?”

“I can make an exception or two,” he grins. 

“And if you charge me double?”

“Might not charge you at all.”

“Might?” you question as you lift the pen he’d given you to sign the first space. 

“Might.”

“And what’re the conditions for that?” 

He doesn’t answer as he ponders and you fill in the second blank. “I’ll have to think about that.”

You snort before you can help it, your last signature coming out a little wonky as your hands shake. Turning the papers over to him, you continue, “Well then, let me know when you figure it out.”

He stares pointedly as he accepts the papers before dropping his eyes again, “Can I?”

“Hm?”

“Can I? Let you know?” 

It’s like you’ve been frozen over, the typewriter in your mind jamming as it punches out the implications of what he’s saying. 

“It seems, at least to me, that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot,” he continues. 

You hesitate. “I think so too.”

“I…I don’t want to put anything like pressure on you but–” 

“Would you like to try the new gelato place downtown this week?” you ask finally as you save him from his misery. “If…you’d like.”

He looks stunned for a moment before he’s scrambling, “Oh–of course! Yes, anytime is fine with me.”

“Great,” you smile, lifting from your seat. “It’s a date.”

“I’ll promise to wash my hands this time…and my shirt. And I won’t be late.” 

“Let’s not make promises we can’t keep,” you tease. 

You’re nearing the door as he follows behind, and just as you’re about to pull down on the handle, you hear him say your name. 

Turning around, almost too eagerly, you look up at him in expectation. He’s close, almost right behind you as he looks like he’s debating whether opening his mouth is a good idea. 

“Are you doing anything else today?” 

“Um,” you stutter for a moment. “I don’t have to drop off the car till later tonight, that’s all really.”

He swallows. “Do you wanna stay? Just a little while. We can stay in here, nobody comes in anyway.”

You aren’t entirely sure why you said yes, because you did actually have dinner plans with Liv later tonight, but the teeny tiny voice in your mind egged you on anyway. Besides, Liv wouldn’t mind, not if you were cancelling for this.

This entailed the very friendly contact of Wonwoo’s tongue in your mouth, and the extremely cordial way it seemed to caress your insides. If somebody asked you how it led to this, you don’t think you’d have an answer. Not that you care, especially when his hands are grabbing your waist and hips like that.

He’s already locked the door, reassuring you that nobody would find their boss and client in the smack dab middle of the devil’s tango. You take his word for it, relishing in the way his hot breath hits your skin below your ears, his mouth sucking under your earlobes as you whimper ever so quietly. 

Your hands are on his exposed biceps, feeling him up all to your heart's content. “Do you–Do you always wear stuff like this?”

He emerges, wet lipped and eyes trained. “So I wasn’t imagining it.”

“Imagining what?” you ask as you let him unbuckle your trousers.

“Please. Like you weren’t stripping me with your eyes.”

If you were warm before you, you're boiling up now. Were you being so obvious?

“It’s alright,” he reassures as you feel his fingers make contact with the crotch of your panties, pushing in to put pressure on your clit. “Wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t picked up on it.”

You feel his fingers push the dampening fabric away as his fingers make contact with your hole, coating his fingers in the arousal that’s made itself known. It’s hard to not hiss at the way he begins to circle it, thanking the universe that the loud noises of the workshop outside were masking whatever evidence of the heinous crime you were committing inside. 

Back against the couch in his office, you settle into the cushions once you feel him rub at your clit, one hand spreading your lips apart as he continues to massage your own wetness onto your throbbing cunt. 

When he retreats you almost cry out, but are smothered when he plunges two fingers into your hole instead, curling them almost immediately inside you. The consistent brush of the tips of his fingers on your walls are making it difficult to keep your eyes open, and absolutely impossible to keep your moans at bay. 

“Wonwoo, that’s so good, fuck.”

Through your closed eyes, you don’t note when Wonwoo gets on his knees. But you do feel him yank your trousers off entirely, and you definitely feel him place his wet mouth flush on your lower lips, sucking at your clit as he continues to pump his fingers in and out of you mercilessly. 

That’s all it takes for your noises to become increasingly high pitched, hands buried in his beautiful hair as he continues to pleasure you beyond imagination. 

“I’m so close, keep going, please, it feels so–”

He somehow buries his face in deeper, sucking harder, licking faster, and it’s enough for you to finally feel yourself collapsing on the inside, your composure dissolving as you moan so loud you’re sure they can hear it outside, even through all the clanging and revs of cars. 

There’s no way for you to know how long you lay there slumped against the couch cushions, but when you hear Wonwoo speak to you in your ear, you answer. 

“Was that okay?”

“More than okay,” you say as you grab his face and pull his lips to yours, tasting the tang in his mouth from your arousal. “Do you have a condom?”

“I–fuck,” he thinks for a moment. “I don’t think I do.”

You try not to feel too disappointed, but you sigh into his mouth anyway. 

“Can I fuck your thighs?” you hear him ask, and you might have just orgasmed again, untouched. 

“Fuck, yes you can.” 

With a yelp, you feel yourself lifted off the couch as you wrap your arms around Wonwoo’s neck, letting him guide you to his desk. “Wonwoo!”

You hear a loud crash of the desk being stripped of all its inhabitants, and your back hitting the cool of the table top. 

Wonwoo unties the arms of his overalls around his waist, letting the legs pool to the floor before slipping his hard cock out of his boxers. 

You don’t see it as you feel him lock your knees together and lift both your calves to rest on one of his shoulders. But you do feel it as he pushes the head into the seam of your thighs, watching the indent as the pink of his dick appears before you through the skin of your thighs. 

Wonwoo’s face is contorted as he pulls back and pushes back through again, this time brushing against your still sensitive clit. You gasp at contact, and immediately feel him thrusting faster. 

“Wonwoo,” you grunt. “Lower.”

He obliges, pushing his dick lower so it can rub flush against your clit as he begins to roughen up his pace. 

You moan as you feel his free hand that isn’t holding your legs trail to the ends of your shirt, caressing over your stomach to pull it up and reveal your bra clad tits. He pushes his hands under the nearest cup and begins to grope you so wonderfully with his big, warm hands. Rolling the bud between his fingers, you can only grasp onto his wrists as a handheld to keep you down on earth. 

The desk beneath you is rattling with noise, the full drawers making themselves known as Wonwoo pounds into your thighs like he would die if he stopped, mouth coming in contact with whatever skin of your legs he could reach, his breath fanning the side of your knees. 

You’re close again, and you know he is too with the way his thrusts are beginning to grow sloppy. 

“There,” he pants. “Almost.”

You orgasm for the second time, the throb your clit beyond comprehension as the rough of his dick slides across your clit mercilessly. 

“Cum like this, Wonwoo please I need to see you cum.”

And he does, shooting the heft of his load to cover your already wet cunt and thighs, landing on your stomach as he continues to ride out his high between your legs. 

The back of your head hits the table as you take in gulps of air through the aftermath of it all. Wonwoo is putting his weight on the back of your thighs, holding onto the table for support. 

“Oh, Liv is never gonna let me live this down,” you pant, lolling your head to one side as you register him. 

He peers up at you through his hair, the stupid smirk on his face, “Do you care?”

You’re smiling a little too when you answer, “Not really.”

And then your legs are off his shoulders as he nestles between them instead, diving in to lift your head and kiss you. 

And you let him, although you wouldn’t really call it too much of a kiss—not when the both of you were smiling like idiots through the clash. 

[lightlycareless]

I feel like this is soooooo Y/N and Naoya coded

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPREtqECu/

It feels like it’s happen for the Y/N and Naoya that we’re in the secret relationship or something X3 Hehe I just thought it was super cute. I find myself going out of my way to find cute couples videos just to imagine and Y/N and Naoya 😝

Omg this is sooo cuteeeeeee!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this with me ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I didn't want to say it out loud in fear of being judged but yes, this is exactly how I envision them to be when completely alone, and Naoya in need of being pampered hehehe

Naturally, had to write something :) Hope you enjoy it!

warnings: none. fluff. highschool AU. Naoya is deeply in love with you. maybe hints of something more intimate but you barely notice it; unless you're a pervert like me.

Happy reading!

Imagine comforting Naoya after a long, tedious week of exams, projects, both practical and theorical—simply continuous scrutiny by teachers and clan elders alike to the point where your boyfriend just wanted to disappear and forget about everything once he was done.

Well, make you help him forget about everything. Nuzzling against your chest as your arms wrapped him in a warm embrace, gently reminding him of all the things he already knew he was, but never minded hearing them again from your lovely voice.

“Hmm, it must’ve been an exhausting week, huh, Naoya-kun?” you cooed, hand delicately threading his soft black locks—he’s been so busy, he’s barely gotten time to dye his roots; Though you’d never tell him that out of the two, you preferred his natural color. “My poor boyfriend…”

“It’s been awful, princess.” He groans against your chest, gently squeezing your sides. “I don’t want to be anywhere else but here from now on.”

“Did you miss me, baby?”

“So, so much…” Naoya sighs, leaning deeper into your chest and taking in your scent—that lovely, sweet perfume he once admitted to greatly enjoy; and ever since, it’s all you wore. “You’re all I thought about, my beautiful mochi… I love you so much I’d rather be die than to be away from you.”

“I love you too, Naoya.” You blush, hugging him tighter against you. “My busy, talented, hardworking heir of a boyfriend.”

“You can say that again…” He says, never one to cower away from being complimented; or more like reminded of his greatness.

“There’s no one better than you. My boyfriend is the best sorcerer in the whole school—no, whole country!” you continue on, with Naoya lifting his gaze to you, eyes softening as you declare your heart’s greatest happiness. “He’s handsome, funny, and generous. He always knows what to do to make me happy and there’s no one in the whole world I’d rather be with than him!

But most importantly, he’s all mine.”

“Hmmm, you certainly know how to get me in the mood.” He murmurs while leaning even closer to you, enough so that his lips were just a few centimeters away; his breath over your skin. “I wouldn’t mind hearing more of what you have to say if so…”

“How about I show you instead…?” you respond, moving forward to finally place your lips over his, taking him in a kiss that felt as if it were the first time; such things were to happen after going on an eternity without seeing one another.

All you’ve gotten were a few glimpses here and there across the hallways before Naoya dove right back into his tests and you onto your projects. So hectic, you couldn’t even have lunch together—a complete nightmare!

But hindrances like these only made your fated reunion much sweeter as seen in the soft yet passionate way in which Naoya nibbled at the bottom of your lip before moving towards your mouth, slipping his tongue within and intertwining it with yours, causing you to gently moan in response, much to his pleasure and excitement.

Ah, after a long week, there was nowhere else he wished to be than here, with you, doing this—a small taste of the future that awaited him alongside you, if you so desired. His life after work unfolding like this:

You, his princess, patiently waiting in the home he’d get for you, or the Zen’in estate (depends of what you want—he’s already set his eyes on an apartment anyways) for his return. A warm smile on your lips as you welcome him with open arms, ready to wash away all his stresses with those kisses he can never get enough of; and perhaps a bit more.

From there, a warm meal. Getting to sit down with you and complain of the stupidities he’s already predisposed to expect from work, though he won’t burden you much with them, preferring to spend his time with you doing something else—entirely different.

And finally, at the end of the day, laying beside you. Tightly holding you against him as he once again takes in your comforting scent; there’s no doubt in Naoya’s mind that you’ll do everything in your power to receive him appropriately, if you know what he means. A wonderful way to end the night.

God, why can’t life be like that already? Why does he have to go through tedious ordeals just to spend a few measly hours of the day with you?

Naoya would give everything  in the world to be completely alone with you and do all the things he’s been playing with in his mind—

And save himself from the following humiliation.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” A whiny shriek, so loud that could probably be heard from all the way to the other side of the school, is suddenly heard; making the two freeze on the spot, eyes peeled wide open as you question whether to turn around and face the culprit or remain there, as if keeping still would make them go away.

But that wasn’t to happen, of course not! If anything, acting the fool would only worsen the situation, and such, you and Naoya slowly begin to turn into the direction of the shriek, to be received with the horrifying, blood curling sight of Suguru and Satoru intensely staring at the two—admiring a part of your relationship they weren’t supposed to know of!

“AHAHAHAHA What are you two doing glued together like that?!??!” Satoru continues to jest, dramatically laughing at the two in hopes of further embarrassing them.

And it would’ve worked had it been any other occasion; with you reacting shyly, too startled to do anything else but cower behind your boyfriend and let him deal with the problem.

Not today, though. For you were too annoyed from being kept away from Naoya for a whole week. Too uninterested in playing coy this time yet motivated enough to put Satoru back in his place once and for all.

“Don’t you have manners?!” You shrieked, pulling yourself away from Naoya and angrily heading onto the pair. “Of course not, you’re just an arrogant idiot!”

“Hey—hey, Y/N-chan! No need to get your panties in a twist!” Satoru laughs, finding the sight of you, someone way shorter than him attempting to scold him, hilarious. “I was just teasing!”

“And you couldn’t just keep walking, could you?! You always have something to say about every little thing that crosses your path!” you continue. “God, why are you so annoying?! At least Suguru has the decency to not be a jerk like you!”

Kind of. Suguru thought just about the same as Satoru, only that he was much more skilled in keeping it hidden.

And approaching the situation with tact.

“If you didn’t want to be caught then maybe don’t do that in the common room?” Suguru suggests. You frown.

“I’m not going to let you losers tell me where to be and what to do with my boyfriend!” You cry. “That’s why you guys will remain single forever! Because you don’t know anything about love!”

“Pfft, what?!” Satoru scoffs. “You’re so silly; do you even hear yourself?”

“You don’t have to worry about us, Y/N. It’s not like we’re planning on stealing your busy boyfriend.” Suguru says—so much for not being a jerk!

“Oh, Naoya-kun, you’re the best sorcerer ever!” Satoru plays along.

“You always know how to get me in the mood, princess."

“I missed you so so much, pookie!!”

“I just want to stay with you like this forever!”

“You—You idiots!!!!”

Instigated by their jests, you reach out for whatever you had in hand and throw it at Gojo, followed by frantic punches against his chest (which he only felt as tickles, of course—mostly amused by your antics) and curses that eventually led Naoya to act by grabbing you from the shoulders and pulling you away.

“Let me go, Naoya! These idiots need to know to leave me alone!” You argued, trying to free yourself from his hold.

“Y/N, they’re not worth it.” Naoya responds, though he won’t deny that seeing this protective side of yours was doing things to him.

“You could be kissing me, mochi!! Hm??!” Satoru making kissy noises effectively pushes you over the edge.

“That’s it, you’ve done it!!”

“—Alright, that’s enough now.” Geto intervenes this time around by pulling Gojo away from you, just before you could injure him. Not that you could, but he’s never seen this kind of determination from you before, nor does he want to put it to the test.

Besides, there’s always this lingering threat that where an upset Y/N, an angrier sibling appears, and that’s the last thing this situation needed.

“Stop it, Satoru—you’ve done enough.”

“Ah, Suguru!! I was just getting to the best part!”

“I’m sure they were too.”

“Suguru!” You accuse.

“We won’t disturb you anymore, lovebirds. Just be sure to be safe.” Suguru teases one last time.

“Or the Zen’in will have another member!” Satoru adds.

“You—” but before you could add anything else, they were gone.

It was unfair how the two always managed to escape just before they could face any real trouble, having a peculiar talent to come along, always know what to say to stir the pot, and leave unscathed, with the victims of their teasing being the ones forced to deal with their actions.

Well, if this is how it always went, then there was no reason to break your head trying to outsmart them. Not when you could easily spend all your energy in continuing where you and your boyfriend were left off, if not in a better disposition after Naoya got to see what your ire could do.

Something he’ll have to exploit later on, right after dealing with your persistent anger.

“Those idiots can never leave me alone!” You breathe, still furious and embarrassed by their antics. “They’re only jealous of me! It’s not my fault that they’re such idiots no one wants to date them.”

“Well, not everybody is as lucky as me.” Naoya smoothly adds, quickly overturning your emotions and making you blush.

“I’m glad you’re not like them.” You smile, walking over to him. “Kind of.”

“Kind of?” Naoya raises an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing.” You giggle, acting coy.

“Ah, no you’re not.” And in one swift movement, Naoya places his hands behind your legs, picking you up and subsequently making you squeal. You hide your face in the crook of his neck soon after, unwilling to be exposed yet again. “And I’m not letting you down until you tell me.”

“Stop it! Someone is going to—someone is going to see us!” you fret, unwilling to go through that whole ordeal again. “Naoya!”

“Then you know what to do, princess.” He smirks, kissing the top of your head.

“I’ll tell you if we go somewhere private… please.”

“Really?” He asks. “And how do I know you’re not doing this to distract me, hm?”

Your only response comes from a stare, with those doe eyes that immediately have him wiping the reason of his annoyance out of his mind, not that it was affecting him much either way. Naoya was too enamored to care beyond you.

“My dorm or yours?” he eventually suggests, and you lean in to kiss him, a promise to continue off from where you were once interrupted.

“…Yours.”

There was much work to do, after all. All his stresses to deal with, which thankfully, had you, a loving girlfriend, to do so.

Naoya just hopes you’re prepared to take it.

It's the second time I've made Gojo and Geto appear out of the nowhere to pester out favorite couple, I gotta think they're doing it on purpose.

I mean, maybe; seems very in character for Satoru at least 🤣 and on that note, I'm very glad I got to write a angry Y/N; I've always wanted to do something where she's all defensive of Naoya and he's totally into it. I had another thing written somewhere with the same topic, not sure if I'm going to finish it though...

Anyways, thank you so much for sending in this!!! omg it was so sos sosososo cute I love it, Naoya reduced to nothing but putty in Y/N's hands. oitajkhjakjhgjkasg he's been completely converted to a SIMP and I will not accept any other opinion stating the contrary :)

Now, take care, and hope to see you soon... and more of these adorable videos 😭😭😭❤️❤️ UGH I NEED MORE.

[otomiyaa]

Re: Catching Up

Finally reading the reblogs and mentions of my tag game (my main reason for starting that was to read about what y'all are up to while I neglected tha dashboard lolol) and dumping some replies here to some peeps I follow^^

General note to all: so happy to see the multiple excited reactions to Inside Out 2 hehehe, I loved it so much T0T

@crazy-as-a-jaybird THE SIMS 4 LOVESTRUCK!!!!! I didn't know that was coming! I haven't played the sims in a long time, but gee that's exciting news, thnx! ..... I wonder if there will be some nice loveydovey tickle animations in there....

@italeean "You guys probably already know what I'll say" (about Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie), actually I don't know 👀 it's been a while since I saw that movie when it was released in the cinema here, but you made me curious to your reaction. What did you think? :3

@giggly-squiggily omg Blue Lock & Haikyuu hypehype and did you also love to see these lazy gamer guys Kenma and Nagi dominate the big screens as heroes to their respective movies, so shortly after each other, what a time to be alive 🤩

@fantasizes-tickles-daily My Adventures with Superman ng;dngifdgjdhljfni;oji I still need to start the new season but omfg I'm so glad finally someone else is into this hehehe, I love that! I'm also not a big DC fan, I didn't even see most movies, but I LOVE THIS ONE. Clark is the cutest isn't he?

@eliankrios YOU PLAY THE SIMS 4????? 👀 also thank you for those banger song recs. I only knew 'save my life' from xandria but not valentine or others :3

@wertzunge Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, I saw that one on the plane a while ago, I enjoyed that too!!! I wonder if they will do more :3 I never played the game though....

@tiklart SHARK MOVIE SUFFERERS WE ARE HAHA, also good luck on your exams!🫶 sending good luck vibes~

@gladdygirl18 ❤️❤️❤️ sending good love life prayers, hope all will go well! and yay for fellow minecraft enjoyer :D

@sunstone-smiles I LOVE ESPRESSO odjs;dgjhih ih but I didn't like it at first either :') it had to grow on me too.

@kusuguricafe seeing you talk about your genshin abyss teams makes me go 💀💀💀 it's been so long since I played genshin, especially abyss. Are you managing the 3 stars each chamber f12 cuz I've only succeeded like once at it or smth. oh and I hope you'll have fun writing again soon! Don't push yourself too much for tickletober, as long as it stays fun*w*

@blobbirobbi wow I knew all 3 of those artists but not those songs, thnx for the recs :D especially the Måneskin hohoho

@sleepysheepytea feels indeed like ages since I saw your activity on my dash, wishing you the best of luck with work and stuff^^

@hypahticklish that was literally my reaction too to the movie The Fall Guy, I loved that so much and you described it so well 😍 I thought it would be a "Haha funny" movie but it really moved me and I also didn't expect the first part to be so emotional. p.s. thnx for the blank copy paste, sorry for forgetting 🥲🥲

@a-fluffer-nutter wow good luck on the move to the UK and congrats on 8 years tumblr, I still remember you being one of the first tk blogs i encountered 😌

@lovelymessybubbly wooow it feels like AGES, sorry to hear about the low mental energy but hope you're doing well ^^!

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

Ahhhhh Lester Billings fic was so gooodddd I loved ittttttt pls make a part two 🙏🙏🙏

45 Days of Waiting - Lester Billings/Reader

Warnings: Gender neutral reader, no use of Y/N, friends to roommates, accusations of cheating and abuse (both false of course), reader is still pining, Lester is still sad, happy ending.

Wordcount: 25210

Summary: You called in every favour you could to find someone to take his case so he could get his family back, but inviting him to stay with you was surely bound to have more consequences than even you could've expected as your friendship with him blossoms even more.

Notes: Ask and you shall receive hehe the idea of writing out the custody hearing was always in my mind when thinking of the sequel to this, but godDAMN did I not expect it to be so long. The hearing itself takes up a good chunk of this, but there's also a ton of other scenes as your friendship (and relationship? 😏) grows, so while this is the longest reader of mine to date somehow I promise it'll be a worthy read that'll lead into even more with him as I go through the final two requests for him in my queue 😊 And while there are OCs of mine in here as secondary characters again, I may've gone a bit overboard with my usual Matty cameo hehehe

I also looked up how long the original story was, and it was only 4808. I've written over 6x the amount of plot for this man than Stephen King himself, so I think it's now safe to say I now own him and this is now how his life turns out 👍 Hope everyone who might've looked forward to this enjoys it 💗💗💗

It was Thursday night again, your car pulling into the grocery store in town as it always did at around 5:15PM. It was the soonest you could get there after work, and you'd been working like crazy lately, your office phone ringing off the hook and calling just as much as you attempted to trade in every single favour you had stocked up. You were dead tired as you yanked a cart free and started on the list in your hand, the usual favourites now followed by a bunch of healthy foods as well as the odd treat. It was a long list, but money hadn't been an issue ever since you'd started your job at the firm, and now that Lester was working again he always made sure to pay you back since he was now spending his Thursdays, along with every other night, at the office for as long as he could get away with.

It'd been a couple weeks since you'd found him at Walkers, since he’d confessed to you that his wife was leaving him and taking his kids on the suspicion of cheating, and the thought of it still made your blood boil as you stared at the pasta sauces and grabbed your favourite, not hers. You placed two jars into your cart and moved on, each item crossed off your list until you reached the dessert counter at the end, the worker seeing you coming and already preparing two slices of Caramel Pecan for you and him to take home.

It was still a little strange to think about how he was coming home to you, just temporarily until he could finish securing a new place of his own that'd be suitable for his kids, something he hadn't dared to think about when he'd started his hunt, but to you all the same. He took up your entire couch to the point where you'd had to take pity on him after that first night, your bed offered to him when he'd woken up with his back irritated from being all bunched up. He didn't want it, he was already imposing on you during all of this, but one offered massage later had him feeling better and a little more ready to get a good night's sleep. 

You'd checked on him that second night, his suitcases decorating your floor and the single picture he'd managed to grab decorating your nightstand where he could see it before he fell asleep, and you vowed again that this wouldn't stay his future as you'd spent the rest of the night looking up every big name in your work contact list.

You packed the groceries into your car and headed home, his receipt separate from yours so he could keep track of what he owed you as usual, and you planned on what to make for him by the time he got home later that night all the way back to your house. It was a long drive, so you had plenty of time to create a meal based on what you'd just bought, your fingers tapping the wheel as you wondered if he'd prefer the kale salad tonight or if he'd want to go with the stir fry instead. 

It was almost unbelievable how fast your crush kept trying to come back now that you saw him every day, little reminders of why you'd properly fallen in the first place cropping up and trying to distract you from your cause, but each time you just swallowed them down; he needed a friend right now, the poor guy was about to lose his marriage for goodness sake, so any interference from you and your own needs would only make him feel worse.

You'd seen cases like this before, one wrong move and Rita would be able to use everything out of context and prove that he was unfaithful to the judge while she made her claim for full custody, and if you were the cause of her winning you'd never be able to forgive yourself.

You forced yourself to breathe as you pulled into the driveway, everything needing to be carried up the small steps to your front door as soon as it was opened, and just as you propped it open and got ready to bring everything in you ended up pausing at the smell of food. You stepped inside, sniffing curiously as you wondered if maybe one of you had forgotten to turn something off or throw something away that morning, and when you reached the kitchen you froze with a pounding heart when you saw Lester standing at the sink, currently peeling and slicing potatoes while a big pan of beef was browning on the stove. 

‘You're h- back early,’ you pointed out as he transferred the potatoes to another pan, and he jumped only a little before chuckling and wiping off his hands.

‘Yeah, I'm going in again after dinner, I just wanted to thank you for all you've been doing for me lately,’ he explained almost nervously, like you wouldn't appreciate the gesture, and you forgot all about the food in your car and all the wide open doors you'd left behind as you rushed forward to give him a hug. You caught yourself before he could hug you back, your hands coming up to straighten your work casual clothes as you cleared your throat. You were very aware of how inappropriate that just was despite you being friends, but before you could apologize he pulled you right back into it. ‘What kind of thanks comes without a hug?’ he asked into your shoulder, and you held him tightly until a mix of the beef spitting grease everywhere and your front door slamming shut made you part.

‘Oh yeah, the groceries, I'll help you cook after I bring them all in,’ you offered as you headed back for the car, Lester shaking his head and mixing around the beef now that more of it was browned.

‘This is my thanks to you, I do know how to make a thing or two without needing a menu,’ he joked lively, his familiar smile back again, and you just smiled right back before rushing out to bring everything in.

You were at work that week when someone finally called you back, a woman from a neighbouring firm who you'd worked with a few times and was interested in his case. She was aware of his financial situation, how Rita had kept all the cards and how he was stuck to his brand new debit account that was only loaded with a few paychecks for the moment, and together you'd worked out that this would be pro bono for now; when he was given access back to his personal savings - which she was hoarding in order to pay the bills - then he would be able to pay her. 

What he wouldn't know was that you'd also called in one of your favours so the bill for this would be lessened, just another kindness to him while he went through all of this. She was on the phone with you as you wrote all of this down into a personal report to give to her to help with the case, the receiver cradled between your jaw and shoulder before you remembered that speakerphone had been invented even on landlines. 

‘He's staying with me for the time being, he has a few places we're gunna check out next week to see if they'd be a good fit for his kids to visit until he can start hunting for a house again,’ you told her as you set the phone down, your hands moving fast over the keyboard of your laptop in time with your voice. ‘They're all in town, so they won't have to be too far from their school and friends, that was something he forgot about when he first started looking, but it's all sorted and we just need to settle on a location and price.’

‘You keep saying, “we,” be sure not to do that during any meetings, not when his wife is already accusing him of being unfaithful,’ Gwen reminded you warily, and you mentally slapped your hand to your forehead as you kept on typing.

‘Shit, yeah, sorry, it's been harder not to lately since he keeps asking for my opinion,’ you groaned, all of your thoughts on all the things you'd been doing together overwriting the fact that he should be doing this on his own even without you acting as his lawyer, just his friend. 

‘It's fine with us, I know you'd never put him in that position, but you never know who she might be hiring to falsify evidence in her favour when she's this convinced that it's true.’ She paused to take a drink of something so you paused in return to stretch your hands, your cell lighting up with a text from him asking if you want him to pick up anything on the way home since he knew you would also be late; home, he'd started calling it that even though you’d tried your damndest not to, and your crush whispered in your ear about how right it sounded as you quickly tapped out a reply and set the device back down again.

‘We don't spend any time together outside of the house, and we leave at different times so unless she has someone actually following us, which I will report, there's nothing going on here other than me helping out a friend,’ you told her as you got back to your report, and you heard her click her tongue a couple times before adjusting how she held her own phone.

‘Still, be careful during this, you may not be representing him due to your closeness to this case, but you became a liability to him the moment you opened your door to him under this suspicion. Keep it platonic, keep it distant, don't add fuel to the fire, and we can meet sometime next week to go over the rest of the details, okay? Just text me your address and I'll be there, the less he's seen in public with anyone the better so long as we don't know who she thinks the cheating is with.’ You nodded guiltily even though she couldn't see, your hands stopping their typing as you touched your cheek again even though the sting was long gone. 

You didn't know if it'd really be brought up during the hearing, but you didn't want to have to tell him that the accused was actually you, your appearance in his life only making everything go to hell in such a short time. You knew deep down that it wasn't actually your fault, you'd never made a single move on him and she was only lashing out in jealousy over something that didn't exist, but you knew that custody tended to favour the mothers and if there was a single shred of doubt that she could twist into him looking like a bad father then you would play the part of friend until even you believed it.

The call ended and you texted her your address along with a good time when the neighbours were usually out, it'd be easy to leave work for this at least on your part, Lester's boss giving him a little more leniency than usual while this was sorted so far so hopefully it wouldn't be an issue for him either. You saved your report and shut your laptop for the night, you had no more energy to do this and you needed to eat, your earlier denial of takeout being redacted as you texted him your favourites from the place he had to now pass by to get to you.

The meeting couldn't come sooner, Lester on constant edge as he paced around your room the night before. You could hear exactly where he was as you tried to sleep on the couch in the next room, each creak in the wood giving away his position until finally it stopped. You sighed, it'd been hours and it had honestly been keeping you awake, but not because of the noise; you were just as nervous as he was, the two of you up late before this deep cleaning your entire one-story house just to be sure you were ready to start this battle, and you were until you'd heard him get out of bed and start pacing.

Now your room was quiet again, and you waited for the sound of snoring when you heard your door creak open next instead. ‘Hey, I can't sleep,’ came his small voice from the doorway, and you couldn't even pretend to be asleep when he could clearly see your face looking his way from there.

‘Me either,’ you admitted as you pushed yourself onto your elbows, Lester brushing his messy bangs out of his eyes, and you could see how tired they were even from there. ‘Want me to put on some coffee? We can watch something until we fall asleep.’

‘No, but… it's silly, nevermind.’ He went to shut the door, your body sitting up even more as you pushed aside your blanket.

‘Wait, you can tell me, I'm worried about tomorrow, too,’ you confided in him before the door could shut, and he let out his own sigh as he opened it back up again.

‘I've been lying next to someone for over 20 years, and lately I've been too… too sad or too tired to notice but… I can't ignore it tonight, not now that I know this is happening starting tomorrow.’ Your mouth went dry as you understood his pacing, and you moved on instinct before you could stop yourself. ‘You don't have to, I just- don't want to be alone, tonight,’ he mumbled, this new and sad version of him cropping up again as the thoughts of sleeping without his longtime girlfriend and then wife and mother of his children clearly plagued him.

‘What're friends for?’ you could only say as you joined him in your room, an unspoken tension filling the air as he still tried to backtrack.

‘I'm not asking for… uh, sexual favours, or anything,’ he mumbled nervously, and you quickly raised your hands and took a step back as you prayed the darkness of the night was hiding your blush.

‘I didn't come in here expecting you to!’ you clarified just as nervously in way too loud a voice for that late at night, and he smiled in relief as his shoulders relaxed.

‘Okay, thank you, it's just that the thought of sleeping alone- for the longest time I'd forgotten how that felt, and like I said I've been too distracted to think about it until now, but if you'd rather not I can try,’ he insisted as to not pressure you, and you had to silence your crush with something louder as you took his hand and led him towards the bed.

‘You don't need to explain yourself to me, you're going through something I can't even imagine, if this'll help you then I want to help,’ you told him honestly, and he pushed aside his fear as he got back into bed. You made sure the blinds were all closed just in case, your talk with Gwen making you a bit paranoid as the room got even darker, and when you were done you made sure your pajamas were a little less loose before climbing in after him. 

You laid arm to arm with a generous amount of space between you, your entire body stiff as you felt him tense as well; neither of you were going to be able to fall asleep at this rate, so you quickly let out a breath and rolled onto your side. You faced him, both physically and metaphorically, in order to let him turn his back to you, maybe your arm around him would be more appreciated than him thinking he could hold you and pretend, but to your surprise he faced you as well, maybe stuck in the same train of thought of what he wanted. 

‘What do we do now?’ he asked you softly, your hands gripping the sheets as your eyes quickly looked away from his lips.

‘I dunno, how did you usually sleep?’ you asked back, and he gave a slight shrug as he also looked away from you.

‘She didn't like it much towards the end, but… I usually held Rita until I was able to fall asleep, something about the dark has always made it harder for me, I think I might’ve passed that on to Annie…’ He fell silent again upon thinking of his daughter, still at home and waiting for her dad to come tuck her in and kiss her goodnight, and when you both sniffed at the same time you couldn't stop yourself; you leaned forward in the dim light, your hand finding his cheek and leading the way towards him, and even though his breath hitched and he didn't close his eyes, he also didn't pull away as you pressed a kiss to his lips. 

You pulled back almost immediately, reality catching up to you the moment he angled his head just enough to kiss you back, and you sat right up and started apologizing before his gentle hand found yours.

‘I still love my wife, even though she's doing this,’ was all he told you, the kindness and understanding you'd come to love showing up when you wanted it the least, and you tore your hand free to wipe at your cheek.

‘I know, I don't know why I did that, that's not why I came in here,’ you said as fast as you could, your mind racing as you felt the embarrassment and shame from the kiss beat you down until you were starting to panic; you knew he didn't need this right now, any feelings you still had for him very unappreciated when he still loved his wife and was trying his hardest to get his family back. Your feelings for him coming out now would only ruin everything, you didn't belong in that part of his life, and if you'd just walked away that day at the party then maybe this never would've even happened. ‘I'm sorry, I'm ruining everything, I never meant to-’

‘Come here, it's okay,’ he shushed you, his voice too soft and too kind as he pulled you back down to the bed. He turned you until your back was to his chest, and you tried to still your sobs even more now that he could feel this with his entire body as he wrapped his arm around your waist. ‘I know I'm being selfish here, I never should've asked this much from you, but I can't return your kindness like this, not when I don't feel the same,’ he murmured into your shoulder, and you tried to hide the way your body instinctively curled up at his words.

‘I never wanted you to,’ you replied into your pillow, and you felt him hold you a little tighter until the sound of gentle snoring reached your ear; just laying like this had put him to sleep, the comfort of being able to hold someone again lulling away the stress of it all until he was able to rest. You held him just a moment before letting go, your hands clenched into your pillow as you stared at the faint moonlight coming through your blinds. ‘I'm sorry, I should've just walked away, I never meant to do this to you,’ you told him properly, but he didn't hear any of it, and you knew it as you kept apologizing until you also fell asleep in his arms.

Despite being up late, the two of you were awake as soon as the sunlight filled the room, the few hours you were able to get seemingly enough for him as he looked a little less tired. You slept a little longer than him, just enough to slip free and grab some clothes so you could shower fast and make sure everything was ready for Gwen's arrival a good 8 hours later. You were in the middle of rinsing your hair when you heard him moving around outside the door, the sound of him rummaging through his suitcases making you frown as the water ran over your face. 

This was temporary, he was here to save himself some much needed money from hotels while he looked for a new home, you didn't belong in that part of his life. You repeated that to yourself as you finished up, the bathroom free for him as you opened the door with your brush still in hand. He froze as he went to pass, your hand stilling as you tamed your drying hair, an awkwardness settling over you that made you wish he'd find his own place even sooner.

‘I'm sorry, about last night,’ he mumbled as he held his clothes for the day, this surprising you as you set your brush down. ‘I shouldn't have asked that of you, I didn't know you had…’

‘I don't,’ you were quick to lie, needing to console him more than let your feelings be known right now, ‘I don't know why I… did what I did last night, that wasn't fair to you.’

He looked away but not in his own embarrassment, even though he'd kissed you back despite saying he didn't feel the same. ‘It was a vulnerable moment, we can act irrationally in times like that,’ he began, his hands worrying around his clothes as he fussed with them, ‘I know this, because when Rita told me she wanted the divorce, I found myself getting angry at her, for the first time since we got together.’ You turned to face him entirely, your focus only on him as he all but collapsed against the doorframe. ‘We've had arguments before, it's not like I've never been mad at her in all our years of knowing each other, all couples fight, but when she said those words to me- I don't know, at the time I could only feel anger, betrayal, confusion, and-’

He stopped, you'd talked about how he'd felt after he moved in since he couldn't afford to see a therapist, but this was new as you waited patiently for him to trust you with the rest.

‘I lashed out, then. I didn't hit her, I never could, but I made her feel unsafe around me when I tried to get her to tell me why she was doing this. That's why she's claiming full custody, not because she thinks I was cheating.’ You didn't realize you were holding your breath until your chest started to ache for a different reason, and when you approached him he allowed you to lead him back to the bed so he could sit down. 

His eyes were sad again, sadder than you'd ever seen them, and you knew that he'd been carrying this secret the entire time you'd been trying to help him. 

‘I needed to tell you before it came out any other way, you deserve to know that much after everything you're doing for me, and that's why I don't blame you or hate you for that kiss, it wasn't like I didn't enjoy just a bit of positive affection, after everything that's been going on…’

‘Lester, I… thank you, for telling me this. You need to tell Gwen when she comes over, Rita is sure to use this and we need to prove to them that this was a one time thing, that you would never hurt your family,’ you told him seriously, your hands grasping his arm as he stared at the floor in shame of his actions no matter how they'd turned out. He nodded but didn't look hopeful, and you knew you shouldn't but still you wrapped your arms around him, let him know you were there and on his side; he eased into you, a long sigh of relief leaving him as you pulled him even closer to you, your hands locking over his arm when you felt him tremble.

‘It's my own fault, I caused this…’ You held him tighter, your face burying into his shoulder as he covered his own with his hand. ‘Maybe if I'd paid better attention to her, listened to her concerns, been a better husband-’

‘You did everything you could, I've never known you to be anything but that,’ you insisted as he shook his head, not wanting to hear it.

‘It wasn't good enough.’

You fell back onto the mattress, dragging him with you until he lost his balance, and as soon as he was laying down you let go of his arms to instead sit up and cup his cheeks so he'd look at you. ‘Stop it. I've been doing this a long time, Lester. I've seen truly bad people do even worse things, and I've seen colleagues I trusted represent these people in order to make them look like saints. I've seen bad, I've seen terrible, neglect, abuse, evil. And you're none of these things,’ you insisted, and when he was unable to look away he just laid there and listened as the tears rolled down his cheeks. ‘You're a wonderful father, and even if you made a mistake in a moment of great distress, that doesn't make you a monster. 

‘The monsters are out there, waiting to strike when you're most vulnerable, and they'll take and devour until good people like you are gone. And I won't let that happen to you or your kids, do you hear me?’ He met your eye when your hands started to shake, not with sadness but determination at your words, you were going to help him, he was going to get his kids back, and you'd fight off any monster it took to get to that point.

‘Why're you doing this for me?’ he suddenly asked as he fell completely still, and your hands left him as you sat back and just stared at him. ‘I know I've been staying here, but we still barely know each other, not enough for you to do this much.’

Because I love you.

‘Because I'm your friend, or, I thought I was, if you think that we're not close enough for this.’ You couldn't pretend it didn't hurt, your face betraying how hard you were trying to keep it together, and when he took your hands and brought you down you fell just as easily as he did.

‘You are, and you've been there for me when none of the others have,’ he whispered into your hair, your chest aching as you remembered just how many people had been at his parties. ‘Once it got out that I punched that wall they all sided with her, if it wasn't for you I'd be alone.’

‘It's not fair.’

‘...I'm sorry to put all this on you.’

‘No, it's not fair that she's taking everything from you. I wish I had contacted Gwen first, I wish I could be the one to do this for you, you don't know- fuck, I don't understand it,’ you moaned as you rested your cheek on his chest, the two of you just holding each other as the sun rose even higher in the sky and officially started the day. ‘We'll tell her everything, she's good, I've seen her help so many good people who didn't stand a chance otherwise, and I know you do despite how this all looks; we’ll convince them all it's not true, I won't stop until we do.’

‘You're a good friend, I wish I'd met you sooner,’ he said softly, and you could hear his smile as your hands clung to his shirt this time. 

‘Yeah, I do too.’

You both laid there until you fell asleep again, he really needed the comfort of another person there in order to really relax, and you both felt better as you woke up a second time a few hours later. Your entire home felt less tense, and there was no running around as you made some brunch and went over what you were going to say. Thanks to your report she already knew a lot of what'd happened from your perspective, but getting to meet with him would be what he needed now that he was ready to talk about everything and not just what you thought you knew.

When she finally arrived it felt like there was some real hope for him, everything coming out about that night as you all sat down in your living room and spread out the pages on your coffee table. He told you how she'd approached him before bed just after he'd tucked in Annie and Shaun, how she demanded he tell her the truth about who he was seeing, and when he couldn't answer how she'd then accused him of cheating in plain sight. Your heart ached and your hands gripped your couch so hard that they cramped as you listened, Lester going into full detail about how she'd then refused to say who she thought he was seeing, which you knew, but also slapped him when he tried to tell her the truth.

You saw red at that, Gwen stopping the conversation like she'd just realized you'd been there the whole time. ‘Maybe it'd be better if you went for a drive while I talk to him, without representing him there isn't much you can do here,’ she suggested carefully, Lester already starting to shut down as he touched the same cheek as your own slap.

‘No, I want to be here for him, everyone else left and I refuse to do the same, I have no one to break confidentiality with,’ you insisted as you sat up straighter, and when Lester gave a small nod to confirm that he'd prefer your presence there Gwen could only agree and let him finish.

‘Well, after she hit me we ended up arguing loud enough to wake Deni, whose room is closest to ours. She made sure to keep Shaun away when we got louder, she's too responsible for her age, it's because of her that I was able to snap out of it,’ he continued as he fiddled with the pencil he'd used to fill out the forms she'd brought. ‘But first, when Rita was yelling at me, tried to make me believe that I was lying to her and that I was just trying to keep seeing this lover she was convinced I had, when I was starting to get frustrated and couldn't get a word in, that's when she asked for the divorce, or demanded it, really, there was no asking. 

‘She was sick of me bringing this lover around to flaunt in front of her, started listing off all these times where I’d invited friends over for stuff like parties and movie nights, but it was always with people she knew, I still don’t- anyway, I think I might’ve blacked out after that, because the next thing I knew I was yelling at her, and when I looked down my knuckles were scratched up and there was an indent in our wall.’ He swallowed heavily, Gwen writing everything down as she stared up at him with a level expression.

‘Did you hit her at any point?’ she asked not to accuse or insinuate, but still you frowned at her as he shut his eyes and tried to concentrate.

‘No, I hit the wall but that was it, I didn’t even grab her when she backed away,’ he confessed, and you hated the woman even more as the tears started to fall again. ‘She told me she wanted full custody right before Deni rushed in to make sure everything was okay, and I didn’t argue with her again about it for the rest of the night.’

‘You slept on the couch?’

‘Deni’s room, she has one of those bunkbeds with the folding couch as the bottom bunk, since her friends are always staying the night; I slept on that since she didn’t want me to be alone, I swear she’s too mature…’ He smiled fondly but sadly as he cleaned himself up, he really missed her and her siblings, and you exchanged a look with Gwen as she finished writing. ‘The next morning she had a bag already packed for me, we were supposed to go on vacation so it was at the end of the bed, said she wanted me out because she was done listening to my lies, and I’ve only been back once since then to properly pack when the kids were out of the house so they wouldn’t have to see us fight again.’

‘And did you fight, that second time?’

‘No, I just packed up a few suitcases and left while she kept watch, made sure I didn’t take anything, it’s only while she was heading for the door that I was able to grab a picture of our kids from the TV stand.’ He let out a breath, he felt better getting it all out to someone who was going to help him, like a sinner confessing to a priest, and you reached over and gave his hand a reassuring pat as Gwen hummed to herself and put her notebook down.

‘Do you think you’d be able to remember exactly who was at these events she listed? If we can make a comprehensible list of everyone there we might be able to guess who she thinks this lover is, get them to stand with us and tell the judge that this is all a big understanding, although I do think a divorce might be beneficial for everyone after the amount of distrust and toxicity that arose between you,’ she said honestly, and instantly he straightened up, his hands grasping the table as he nearly fell to his knees.

‘But my kids-’

‘We’ll still fight for custody, at best it’ll be shared, but that’ll be better than letting her get full, don’t you agree?’ He nodded, even though he didn’t like the sound of not being able to see them everyday he still nodded all the same, and you reached for him again when Gwen interrupted by handing him her notebook, a new page waiting for him. ‘Try and remember as many names as you can, from as many of her events as well, everything helps right now,’ she told him as he took it, and he nodded again before concentrating on all the friends he tended to invite to his many parties; you didn’t realize how much you missed them until that moment, missed how in his element he was as he helped grill, set up the projector, toweled off his kids until they were embarrassed and had to fix their hair in front of their laughing friends.

The man before you was so different than him, all hunched shoulders and sad eyes, and with each name that he added to the list you knew that it was your fault he looked like this, everything all because of you and the reason why he wasn't at home right now throwing another party and jumping into the pool with a full stomach and reckless abandon. You wanted to tell him sorry again, your hands clasped in your lap as he finished up the list and handed it back over, Gwen’s eyes trailing over it for any names that stood out repeatedly when her frown of concentration turned to one of concern instead.

‘This is very helpful, thank you, I’ll start contacting them this week if you can give me their numbers next, and would you be able to help me grab something from the car real quick?’ The second part was directed at you, and your own frown turned to one of matching concern as he began going through his phone to write down as many numbers as he could before your return. You followed her outside, her car parked behind yours since his was hidden in your garage, but she didn’t go to it as soon as she shut the door behind herself. ‘It’s you, isn’t it?’

‘What?’

‘Please don’t play dumb with me right now, your name was listed under every single event right down to the movie night with one other couple, you’re the one Rita thinks he’s cheating on her with, aren’t you?’ Her gaze was serious and almost angry as she spoke, no more neutral calmness as she stared you down, and you tried to say no before it all spilled out all at once.

‘Don’t tell him, please-’

‘Jesus!’

‘We never did anything, he only ever invited me over with everyone else, there really was nothing going on,’ you insisted desperately, Gwen rubbing her eyes as she backed away from you.

‘You’ve just made this so much harder to prove, he’s been staying at your fucking house for weeks,’ she groaned into her palm, her eyes on the door like she could see him still seated at the couch on the other side of the wood. ‘What did you do to give her the impression that he was seeing you, because clearly he has no idea it’s you.’

‘Nothing-! I really did nothing, I just showed up a few times, it wasn't even that many, I would never pursue a married man.’ You needed her to believe you, she was his only shot and even though you only just barely knew each other you knew that if she bailed then that was it, no one else would help him. ‘I swear to you, my intentions have only been innocent since the start, he doesn’t even know I-’

‘You have feelings for him, sonofabitch if that gets out her lawyer will use that to high heaven, everything you’ve done will be twisted into something selfish, you letting him stay here could end up being his downfall, how could you do something so stupid?’

You bit your lip as you rested against the wall of the entryway, the bricks cold against your back as you fought not to shake. ‘I know it was stupid, but he’d just lost everything, I didn’t want him to keep shelling out money for that hotel while he tried to save up for a house, I thought this was the only way to help him…’

‘We’re going to find him a place today, and he’s going to stay in a hotel until this hearing is over and he can move in.’

‘What, no, he can’t afford it!’

‘And you can’t afford to have Rita find out he’s been here. Fuel to the fire, you know how we work, you know whoever she’s hired will take one look at this situation and use it as proof that you wanted him to yourself, no wife, no kids, just a man who was more than willing to leave his family behind the moment you asked.’ She sighed deeply as you crumbled to the steps, your leg spreading over the small two leading to your sidewalk as you ran your hands through your hair. ‘I know you had good intentions, but this has gotten way out of hand, and if you really want to help him then you’ll keep your distance until this is over. Whether he really is just a friend or if you’re in love with him, you know there’s a good chance you might have to stand up there in front of everyone and explain all of this if her lawyer demands to call on you as proof, and the more deniability you both have to her claims the better, alright?’

‘Alright,’ you repeated, and she left you a moment to grab a box of something from her car to make it seem like you weren’t out there to talk. You stood as she returned, getting the door for her since her hands were now full, and he was none the wiser as you sat again and started going over all the listings he’d bookmarked since he’d been kicked out.

Gwen ended up staying for much longer than expected as you went on a tour of his listings, his insistence that you come along the only reason you weren’t secretly forced to stay home. He’d found both a mix of decently large apartments and smaller houses, nothing near as grand as his old one, but each was affordable, cozy, and in range of both his kids’ school and his work. In the end he was able to make a successful offer on a one-story house similar to yours, and the price was lower due to it needing a bit of work, but it had three bedrooms, two for Deni and Shaun while Annie would sleep in his, a yard big enough to house a pool that just needed to be cleaned and refilled, and a living room big enough for everyone to have more fun movie nights.

It was a dream home, but the work had daunted all the other potential buyers, and he was more than ready to take on the challenge and fix it up himself if need be to distract himself from the upcoming hearing. You wished you could help him with it, but between work and needing to stay as far away from that home as possible you could only cheer him on from afar as he signed the paperwork that day and worked out a payment plan now that Gwen was there to represent him.

‘This is amazing, Deni will want this room because I know Shaun will have claimed this one, the kitchen needs some work but a new stove and some fresh paint will open the space right up, and this living room! If we keep the couches against the wall then everyone will be able to spread out again, maybe I’ll be able to get that sectional I wanted this time, that way there’ll be room for everyone without the need of a loveseat, but of course I need to fix that wall first; good thing this place is so small, I might be able to knock it out in a weekend- hey, you alright?’ You were snapped out of your thoughts as he leaned down a bit to look you in the eye, his ramblings about his new place coming to a halt when he noticed your expression. ‘You’ve been staring at the closet for about five minutes, I’m pretty sure there’s no monsters in it.’

You weakly laughed, stuck between being happy to see this side of him again and knowing that you wouldn’t be able to help with a single thing, it would just be him here, alone. ‘I’m alright, just thinking, I guess,’ you admitted as Gwen talked to the realtor in the kitchen, a space cleared off for more papers to be signed as they discussed ownership and payment. ‘Things are gunna be busy for me, for a while. Once the power and water get turned back on and you can move in I don’t think we’ll be able to see each other for a while.’

‘That’s okay, we can always see each other on Thursdays,’ he joked, but that only made this sting all the more as the darkness in the closet grew. ‘I really am thankful for all your help so far, but I’ll be alright while I do this; if fixing up an entire house will prove to them that I’m serious about wanting to see my kids more than a few times a year then I’ll do it, I used to be a bit of a handyman before I got my big, important office job, y’know.’ You laughed again, you didn’t doubt it after his emergency help when he backed up your sink and then had to fix it before the water spread to the living room.

‘I just wish I could help you, chores are always better with company, remember?’ you reminded him as you met his eye, and when he smiled and pulled you into a hug you felt Gwen’s eyes on you as you held him back.

‘I know, but if you’ve gotta work it can’t be helped, I can man a broom and mop on my own, just need to get a radio in here and maybe it’ll feel a little more lively.’

‘You can get spotify on your phone, then you won’t need to get a radio,’ you suggested, and when he pulled away he looked confused.

‘What’s that? I’ve heard Deni mention it before but I never figured it out, R- her mother was always better with technology,’ he frowned in confusion, and you laughed again before pulling out your phone and getting him to do the same.

Gwen dropped you both off less than an hour later, someone coming to the house within the week to get the power back on after the last storm knocked it out, and with no one living there no one had bothered to get it fixed again. The water had also been turned off as well as the heat just to save money, and as soon as it all was in working order again he was free to sweep out the master bedroom and move right in, the rest was up to him. You hadn’t been able to resist his request to go shopping with him for a new bed, he was always bad with those kinds of things and ended up regretting his choice as soon as he got home, so a second opinion was very much needed despite Gwen silently warning you not to.

‘I’d love to, the sooner that’s sorted the sooner you don’t have to sleep on the floor,’ you agreed, and you silently apologized to her as she let out a sigh. ‘You’re on your own with everything else though, and you’re not stealing my broom to clean up that mess, I’d much rather throw it out than let it back into my house.’

‘I’ll get two, one to keep and one to throw,’ he decided from the backseat, his phone out again as he started adding things to his cart despite not even being moved yet; he was ready to have the place livable so his kids could visit even before the hearing, and you didn’t have the heart to tell him it’d still have to be a while if Rita denied him visitation. It'd been so long already since you'd seen him so energetic, and it made you smile even though he'd have to do this next part alone; it'd be hard but he'd lived through that first month on his own, so he'd be able to do it again in his own space if he had the hope that it'd be full again urging him on, you knew he could.

You both waved goodbye as she drove away, and you couldn't help but join in his celebration as he ran out to grab dinner from his favourite place as well as some alcohol, neither of you had drank since he moved in after he hit the bottle too hard in that lonely hotel room. You had your own personal movie night as you finally got to show him the one you brought but had never gotten to watch, and sure enough he wasn't a fan of horror as he cowered almost dramatically on his end of the couch while you laughed and told him to watch the part coming up, it would be good, you promised.

You didn't get to bed until late again, you couldn't exactly sleep when he was sitting where your feet should be, but you knew you wouldn't be getting comfortable once the TV turned off and he shot you another nervous glance. He didn't even have to say it, he needed someone there more than ever with his upcoming lonely nights waiting for him, and this time you didn't kiss him as you both got into bed and fell asleep easier than you ever had before. 

The house was ready for him sooner rather than later, the text that he was good to go actually arriving as you were out shopping for a bed. He was indecisive as hell, trying out every mattress to make sure it was good for his back, and even when he found one that was comfortable he tended to pass on it just in case something even better was on display. He was laying down on what felt like his millionth mattress when he got the text, his eyes opening wide as he sat up only to flinch as his back did indeed twinge.

‘The water’s on, why don't we go over now, start cleaning up?’ he suggested excitedly, and your smile fell as you thought about how you shouldn't even be doing this much.

‘I don't know, shouldn’t we stay and get a bed if you can move in asap?’ you tried to defer, and he gave the one he was on a little bounce before getting up.

‘I'll take this one, it can stay on the floor until I get a frame, let's hurry up and go!’ While you were glad to have this nightmare end, it only caused the second one to start as he flagged down an employee and got the price, a frame ending up catching his eye on the way now that his big dilemma was solved. He bought both and together with two employees you stuffed it all into his car, the mattress thankfully crammed into a box to his amazement and saving him a ton of space. 

He also bought all the things he'd need to clean, his new broom and mop laying across the seat with a bag full of supplies and towels. You pretended to not feel the entire weight of them on your shoulders all the way to his new home, the spare keys already picked up from under the rock by the door and in his pocket before you could exit the car.

He threw open the door and rushed back to get the broom, you in charge of the mop by default as he began to sweep with all the enthusiasm of a cartoon princess, and it only made you fall harder until his actions caught up with him and he needed to sweep himself a small circle so he could sit down. You shook your head and took over for him, all the windows thrown up and the patio door open wide to air the place out until he was ready to help again, Lester now confined to cleaning off the counters while you handled the floor. The playlist you’d made on your phone followed you around as you did each room, his own playing even more favourites in the kitchen and then bathroom as he worked, his fight with spotify now rectified and used in his favour, music already filling the home as you tossed out bag after bag of garbage until it was time to mop.

He had the bucket already full for you when you went for it, the counters all cleaned and the bath/shower combo getting the attention it very much deserved next. It was a lot faster to wash the floors, and even though you knew they'd only get dirty again as the walls were patched up and painted eventually, it was still nice to stand in the living room and take everything in when you both were done. You dumped the dirty water down the drain and carried the bags to the road to be collected, Lester's single one joining yours when he was done scrubbing, and together you sat on the floor and decided if it'd be cheaper to patch everything up yourselves or hire someone to do it before he started moving his stuff in. 

In the end he called someone out on the patio while  you looked up weed wackers on your phone, the yard needing just as much attention; the pool would come last, it was already heading into fall after all so it'd just be covered up again before long, but it could at least be inspected and cleaned for next year once everything else was done. You ordered one for him so you could both fight over it versus the lawnmower when you found a way to bring it over, that was another expense that could wait til later, and you didn't realize you were smiling again until he walked back in and collapsed much too hard next to you. 

‘He can come tomorrow, someone canceled on him today so we lucked out,’ he informed you as he rubbed his sore butt from the fall, and you almost didn't catch it until your brain replayed what he'd said.

‘You lucked out, you mean,’ you corrected, and he winced at you as he stretched his long legs out in front of him

‘What?’

‘You said we lucked out, but you did, I'm not the one who lives here,’ you repeated, and he laughed a little as he brushed his bangs out of his eyes, his forehead shining from the sweat he'd been working up the past few hours. 

‘Oh yeah, I think I forgot that part,’ he chuckled softly, and the air changed a little as your forced humour turned to something just as soft. ‘You've been doing so much, I think I forgot… that you're not coming with me, when this is over, it just feels like you've always been here already.’ You couldn't speak, your heart pounding as he interpreted your expression as something negative. ‘Sorry, didn't mean to put you on the spot like that again-!’

‘No, you didn't, it’s just that… I just realized that I think I started moving in my stuff in my mind as I was cleaning,’ you admitted nervously, and he laughed a little more easily again as the summer breeze drifted in and filled the house with the smells of barbecues and fresh cut grass. ‘I mean, I don't need two couches all that much, you know I'm too busy to host movie nights, so if you wanted one you could have it…’

‘You sure? I really was looking forward to that sectional,’ he joked with a soft jab to your arm, which you returned with a blush.

‘I can always take it back when you find your dream couch, it'd give me an excuse to see how the place turned out.’

‘You won't visit before then?’ 

You found yourself lost for words, of course you'd visit when this was over and cleared up, but it was the way he'd said it, like he was worried it'd take a couch in order to get you back there. ‘Of course, you think I'm gunna miss out on your first movie night in your new place?’ you said as your voice clearly shook, but he didn't mention it as he laid back and stretched out his back over the hardwood. 

‘Good, I'll make extra dip that night so you can bring some home, as thanks,’ he already planned ahead, his eyes closed and unable to see the way you let your face crumble at the thought of having to leave again after all of this.

‘Well if that doesn't give me more incentive to lend it to you.’ You stood up, brushing off your pants and cracking your back before offering your hand to him. ‘Alright, that's enough sitting around, might as well get that frame built before it gets too late.’

‘Empty house with just a bed, someone might think I'm squatting,’ he snickered as you helped him stand, and when his torso hit your chest you didn't back away immediately.

‘Nonsense, there's some towels in the bathroom too,’ you said with a wink as you headed for the car, the two of you managing to haul the frame in yourself thanks to some determination and spare cardboard underneath the end dragging on the ground so his floors wouldn't get scratched.

You didn't get home until late, even more takeout bought just because you were too tired and achy to stand around and cook, absolutely not. He wasn't that happy about all the unhealthy eating he'd been doing lately so he ended up ordering a small vegetarian pizza while you secretly planned ahead and ordered a large deluxe with some chicken wings, his favourite sauce also picked out when he wasn't looking. The smell filled the car all the way home, and sure enough he didn't last long with the vegetarian when he caught sight of the deluxe taking up half the coffee table.

‘You're terrible, you know I'm trying to eat better,’ he grumbled as he reached for a slice, and you swatted at his hand before grabbing a second for yourself.

‘This is my dinner for the next three days, if you wanted this you should've asked for one,’ you said nonchalantly as you took a big, dramatic bite, Lester eyeing it before you could only take pity on him and move the box a little closer. He split his pizza with you as he picked off the toppings he didn't like to create the perfect combo of both, and you pretended you absolutely didn't grab his favorite sauce on purpose when he also gave in and stole some wings. 

You could get used to this, you really could as he moved to your couch to be closer to the pizza; he was closer to you than usual, even more than normal couch sharing standards, and you tried to keep your eyes on the screen as you reached for another slice. Your hand hit his as he grabbed another wing, both foods dropped as you apologized and looked at each other, but when his gaze lingered longer than usual, just like the closing space between you, you found yourself doing anything but looking away from his mouth. He was smiling at you, that kind, gentle smile you'd fallen in love with at Walkers all those months ago, and even though you knew he didn't need this, knew that this would only make things worse, you couldn't stop yourself when he closed his eyes and waited.

You jumped when your phone suddenly buzzed, Lester sitting back and putting some space between you again when you saw that it was Gwen on the caller ID. ‘I'm sorry, I gotta take this,’ you mumbled as he cleared his throat and went back to eating, your face hot and your frown deep as you locked yourself in your bedroom. ‘Hey, sorry, we're watching a movie,’ you said the moment she picked up, but she didn't seem to catch your tone when the sound of shuffling came through the speaker. 

‘That's fine, how's the house coming?’

‘It's all ready for him, w- he got it cleaned up today.’

‘...Were you there with him?’ She asked like she already knew, and you couldn't lie to her when the stakes were so high.

‘We were already in town to shop for a bed, we decided to go after he found one, get started on the cleanup right away,’ you explained, and her sigh was all the answer you needed. ‘I know, but you saw the place, it would've taken him forever to-’

‘That's not your concern, not right now. When is he moving in?’ she interrupted, and you looked at the closed door as the movie continued on the other side.

‘Soon, the fridge is busted and he needs a dresser along with food, we can d-’

‘He can do that, no more shopping together, no getting groceries together, tell him no the next time he asks. Now that we know it's you who's to say someone won't be able to stand up there and say they saw you arrive and leave together, while acting like a couple the entire time upon further reflection? You're smart, please don't make another stupid mistake like this again, for his sake.’ She fell silent as she let the words sink in, and you looked at his suitcases, left open while his clothes were stacked on your dresser to be a little neater, how he'd need to pack them up again within the week at this rate.

‘I won't, I'll tell him I have a case coming up so I'll be scarce, he'll be able to do the rest over the weekend,’ you decided solemnly, and she agreed with that before changing the subject.

‘I've been told that the hearing has been scheduled for two weeks from now, when the children are back in school, Rita apparently requested that they not be present, and yes, before you say anything, it'll probably be because they'll not only vouch for him, but also because they don't need to see their parents arguing to that degree,’ she sighed heavily, and you quickly entered the date into your phone before you realized that you would only be there as a witness, you had two weeks to tell him the truth before he found it out from her unless you preferred to lie to his face some more about your feelings.

‘I'll let him know, and he'll be moved by next week, he'll want to be at the thought of them visiting.’ She liked the sound of that and hung up, and you banged your forehead dully off the door before opening it up and finding him on the other side.

‘Sorry, you were taking so long, I wanted to make sure everything was okay,’ he said, and he either didn't hear the bump or was choosing to ignore it even though your forehead slightly throbbed.

‘That was Gwen, actually, the hearing is in two weeks, while Deni and Shaun should be in school,’ you informed him, and his smile grew so wide it made your heart break.

‘So we'll be able to get custody then?’ he asked excitedly, and you shook your head and took in a deep breath.

‘It all depends on how things turn out, if the judge is split then another one might be needed now that we know she might use your anger in her favour even though she was the one to hit you,’ you continued, and just the thought of this not working out was enough to bring him down again. ‘I know it seems bleak, but Les, I know that-’

‘What did you call me?’

‘Did I c-?’

‘Les, you said Les, don't call me that,’ he suddenly said as he stood to his full height, and you flubbed your apology enough times to make him sink down again. ‘Sorry, that's what Rita used to call me, I don't want to hear that name from you,’ he muttered, and before you could say anything else he headed back for the door. ‘I've got work tomorrow, I'll take the couch tonight, I'm too tired to drive all the way home.’

‘You'd leave just for that?’ you blurted out, your body moving on its own to block the doorway before you even knew what you were doing; he didn’t push you aside or get angry, but he did walk past until you had no choice but to let him through, your dinner forgotten on the table as you shut the door again the moment he sat down without saying anything more.

You kept your distance from each other the next day, him by leaving for work early, and then you by staying at work late. You left him a text saying you had your own big case coming up just as planned, but for once he didn’t reply other than to say he would be shopping so it’d be best if you found your own dinner. You ate at your desk as the sun set outside, nothing but old work you needed to sort through and properly file away on your docket as you nibbled away at cold pizza.

Once it hit the AMs you figured it was safe to go home, no matter where he slept you’d be able to avoid him if need be now that there was something off between you, and if you didn’t lay down somewhere and fast you were bound to either sleep at your desk or in your car. The drive home felt like an eternity but finally you made it, the house quiet and telling you that he was indeed asleep. You opened the door as quietly as you could, all the lights off as you traversed the long trek to your couch when you didn’t see him on it; you were about to lay down when you saw the paper on the coffee table, the words completely unintelligible in the dim light. You held it up to your face until it came into focus, your eyes taking it in several times before you dropped it and rushed to your bedroom.

You threw open the door to find the room empty, his suitcases packed and your bed made, no Lester in sight. You went back to the note and read it again with the lights on, your face contorting in misery as you sank into the cushions. It said that he’d grabbed the last of his needed furniture that trip, so there was no need for him to steal your bed or couch for another night. He thanked you for your help, and he’d pay you back for everything else at the end of the month, and there was no goodbye, just his name at the bottom. You woke up your phone to see if he’d left you any texts or voicemails but there was nothing, he’d gone shopping and then that was it.

This was for the best, you were never meant to go with him and he was never meant to stay, now he could focus on his family again without you there to distract him. You’d helped as much as he could and now he could take care of the rest by himself, he was a grown man, he needed you as a friend, not a roommate, not a partner, definitely not as a lover, everything could move forward again now. 

‘At least I can come home tomorrow,’ you figured aloud as you turned the light back off, your shoes and coat left in the middle of the living room as you shed each. ‘I can make my own dinners again, sleep in my own bed, everything is back to normal.’ You shut your bedroom door and locked it, no need to keep it open when there was no one to walk in, your bed looking a little too made as you yanked the comforter free and sent the pillows flying. ‘No more suitcases on my floor that’ll make me trip in the middle of the night, and no more ties getting stuck in my dryer because he doesn’t know how to do fucking laundry.’

You picked up your pillows and threw them back into place, your face betraying you as you attempted to force a smile and only ended up accelerating the misery. You angrily wiped at your eyes before climbing into bed, your position changing from your left side as you faced the empty space beside you, to your right where you wouldn’t eventually feel his arm wrap around your waist, to your back as you stared up at the ceiling. You blinked and more tears fell but you wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he did this to you after everything you’d done for him, your hands wet as you repeatedly tried to dry your eyes.

‘Couldn’t even say goodbye to me before you left, you bastard,’ you swore to the ceiling, the space beside you feeling bigger and bigger until you felt encompassed by it. ‘You said I was the only one who didn’t leave you, why’d you throw me away, wh- no. He’s the one who left, and he didn’t even leave, he went home. That was never here, I knew this was coming, I knew…’ Your words echoed off the walls above you, reminding you even more that you were alone, and that across town he was feeling the same, and would feel the same until he was able to have his custody confirmed.

This wasn't about you, or what you’d done for him, or your feelings. This was about him, his marriage ending, and his upcoming battle for his children. That’s what it’d always been about, you’d just forgotten between him admitting that he’d almost wanted you to move in with him and you nearly kissing him again on the couch.

You rolled onto your stomach and shut your eyes tight as you tried not to remember it, that had to have been why he’d left, you’d told him you had no feelings for him and yet you’d still leaned in of your own volition that second time. He’d seen right through you, and then you’d proceeded to call him by the nickname his wife used, how many more ways could you have fucked this up? You didn’t scream into your pillow, you were too old for that now, but you might’ve raised your voice into it a little as you curled up and felt just how cold the bed was without him.

You changed your grocery day to Monday so there was no chance of running into him again, you needed to give him space after such a big mistake, but you knew you couldn’t keep it up as soon as you stepped foot into the store and knew that he wouldn’t be waiting for you both inside and at home. You promptly walked back out and found another, their stock not as good and their prices a bit higher, but this would have to become your new regular. It was at least a bit closer to home, and still very far from his house, so even if he had the same idea there’d still be no risk of him finding you here on a Monday.

You missed your Caramel Pecan as you unpacked your food, this place not having its own dessert counter since it focused mainly on brands, nothing fresh made in-store, and you definitely felt the dent in your wallet as you found yourself with barely enough to restock after the missed week of not wanting to see him again and just not getting yourself any new food. You wondered if maybe you might need to cut back to two or less trips a month with this new place, honestly you’d only started going every week in order to see him in the first place, he’d always gone through food faster since he was buying for four, maybe this would be less painful on your finances going forward.

This really would be for the best to get back to normal you decided as you made yourself something for dinner, and when you sat down in front of the TV to enjoy it you ignored all the commercials about back to school sales.

You were at work when you got the reminder for the hearing, it going off in the middle of a meeting and forcing you to remember that you’d completely forgotten to silence your phone before entering the room. Your expression went from embarrassment to concerned sadness at the popup, your boss asking if you were done as you just stared at your screen.

‘Uh, yeah, sorry about that,’ you apologized as you turned it off and got back to listening, your hand on your pocket for the entire rest of the meeting.

As soon as it was done you headed for the privacy of your office and shut the door, Gwen already dialed the moment it clicked into place. She didn’t pick up right away, she was probably busy, but the moment she did she was quick to tell you it wasn't a good time.

‘I don’t care, I need to be there tomorrow,’ you said as fast as you could, your knees giving out at the realization that you’d actually planned on saying you wouldn’t come, that you couldn’t, that you’d just be a liability. The words had fallen from you faster than you could think, and you put her on speaker and collapsed into your chair when you nearly dropped your phone. ‘I tried, I really did, but I need to know how this ends.’

‘I really can’t talk about this right now-’

‘But I need to! I’ve been trying not to think about it, just get back to normal, but every time I imagine him out there in front of everyone I just- he said everyone else left, I don’t want him to be alone tomorrow, I can’t do that to him, Gwen, I just can’t.’ Your face fell into your hand, your shoulders hunched as you gripped your chair and tried not to let everyone see outside your door how much this one person and his troubles were affecting you, and she sighed before speaking again.

‘And if tomorrow ends up like we discussed?’

‘Then I’ll deal with that too, with or without him.’ You heard another sigh, but even if she were to have you banned from the building somehow you knew you’d find your way into this, no matter if Rita had you called up there as her main proof or not.

‘Fine, I’m not your mother, but be prepared for anything,’ she warned before hanging up, she really didn’t have time for more, and you didn’t call back again as you gave yourself a minute to just breathe. She was right, you really needed to be prepared, and you were; as a lawyer you always went to the worst possible solution and planned ahead to avoid that, and that had treated you well in both your career and life until you’d met him. Before then, you never would’ve stayed the moment Rita gave you that look. You wouldn’t have gone back for movie night, and you certainly wouldn’t have invited him over.

But there was something about him that kept disarming you, that brought your guard down and made you believe that nothing bad would happen if you just went with his flow, and now look where you’d made him end up. You wouldn’t do that tomorrow, in fact you’d be the most You you’d been in months for him in order to make sure this went as smoothly as possible. You wouldn’t react with or to him at all, or anything concerning him as you sat on his side of the court. You wouldn’t speak out of turn no matter what she said, and you definitely wouldn’t speak to him.

And if they did indeed find it necessary to call in witnesses to prove their statements, then you would swallow down your feelings as deep as they would go and prove to everyone that you really were just his friend and that she was wrong, because that was the truth.

You couldn’t concentrate after that, needing to call in early to head home and prepare, and you spent the entire rest of the day picking out your outfit for tomorrow, setting way too many alarms, and preparing a king’s feast of food to bring to his house no matter the outcome; you knew it wouldn’t help, but if it went in her favour then you knew he’d spiral again, lose all hope for the future, and you would not let him do that alone. You packed it all into a bunch of tupperware you rarely used outside of work lunches and stuffed it into the fridge, and by the time that, a change of outfit just in case, and a shower were finally over you ended up tired and ready for bed.

You set one more alarm and placed your phone on your nightstand before attempting to sleep, your eyelids heavy but refusing to stay closed as you went over everything a hundred more times. Your mind was fully racing in the dark and quiet when your phone buzzed and lit you up, and you considered ignoring it before accepting that maybe a little eye strain might work in your favour. You grabbed it and tapped the screen to check the notification, all the tired leaving your body when you saw what was waiting for you.

Lester Billings says: I miss you

You swallowed as you rolled onto your stomach, your phone taking up your pillow as you propped yourself up on your elbows. ‘It’s been lonely here, I won’t lie,’ you said aloud as you typed, and you almost deleted it before pressing send. Three dots bounced at the bottom of the message as he typed back, your back aching from the angle but you refused to move as the next words popped up.

I haven’t been able to sleep since I got here This mattress isn’t very comfortable

You let out a small laugh, your eyes already starting to cloud as you rested your chin on the end of the pillow before your hands. ‘I knew you picked too soon, you should’ve tried out more.’

I should’ve gotten your opinion Your bed is comfier

You shut your eyes tight and buried your face in the pillow a moment, another ping making you look up again when the pillow started to wetten.

Will you be there tomorrow

‘Yes,’ you answered immediately, your back still aching as you readjusted and typed as fast as you could, ‘if you want me to be, I wasn't sure after you left so suddenly.’ You sent it before you could even think to type something else, your eyes widening in fear at this confession, and when more dots bounced you closed your eyes so you wouldn’t see his answer. Your phone buzzed but you waited for as long as you could before opening them again, a small noise leaving you as you read.

I thought you wanted me to go

‘What? No,’ you told your phone, and you sat up to call him only for him to decline it. ‘I never wanted you to go, I’m sorry if I rushed you,’ you hurriedly sent, and there was a bit of a pause before his next reply.

You told Gwen you’d lie to me Said I’d be out by the end of the week I thought you didn’t want me there

You tried again to call him but he again declined, and you were in the middle of typing out the explanation when he messaged you again first.

I can’t sleep I want to see you Can you come over Yes.

You didn’t even change out of your pajamas as you kicked off the blankets and hurried for the door, your car started by the time you slipped into the one pair of sandals that you owned but never wore. You almost forgot to lock up you were in such a hurry, the streets thankfully almost empty as you fought not to speed to him. The lights were all off and his car was in the driveway, the yard now cleaned up while he was there since you guessed he also needed the distraction. Your hand was raised to knock when the door opened, and there he stood, in pajama pants and an undershirt, his hair a mess and bags under his eyes as he looked down at you.

‘Lester, I-’ you began before he pulled you into a tight hug, and you had no one to hide from as you nuzzled into his shoulder and held him just as tightly back. He led you inside, the door locked behind you, you weren’t going home, and you tossed your keys onto the kitchen counter just out of reach before following him to the bedroom. He’d bought himself a dresser in your absence, all of his clothes tucked neatly inside so his suitcases could finally be retired, and his bed looked big and lonely and not as comfortable as it did when you’d helped him set it up.

‘It’s not as comfortable as yours,’ he repeated quietly, his first words to you since he’d slept on your couch that final time, and you grabbed his hand and gently pulled him towards it.

‘Let me get that second opinion, then,’ you whispered, and when you kneeled onto the mattress you sank right down. You laid to his right, the two of you on your backs with space between as you stared at the ceiling, the comforter trapper underneath you but also unneeded in the summer heat, his AC must also not be working that well. You noticed he had his window open to let in the breeze, and you breathed deep when the wind blew the curtains open a little more. ‘It’s not that bad,’ you finally decided, and he turned to look at you before rolling onto his side.

‘Why did you want me to go?’ he asked without wasting another second, and you shut your eyes before rolling to face him.

‘I never did, it was Gwen, she was worried someone might think that I- that we…’

‘That you were the one Rita was worried about, I get it,’ he realized, but he didn’t look very relieved. ‘I had a feeling, but I wish you’d have told me, I really thought that you were… leaving me too.’

‘I was supposed to keep my distance from you, that was her legal advice, for me to not be seen with you and make anyone think we were together,’ you admitted now that you could, and again he looked like he understood but that that didn’t help it hurt any less. ‘But hanging out with you, going shopping and then cleaning this place up, I didn’t know how to stay away, and I knew if I couldn’t pull this off then it’d only hurt you in the end.’

‘To tell you the truth, I’d have rather been kicked out for that than spend the past two weeks thinking no one wanted me in their life anymore.’ His voice was low, and he was mostly in shadow, but you could still see him crying as he closed his eyes, and when you touched his cheek to wipe the tears away he held your hand in place. ‘I haven’t been alone since Rita and I moved in together, and even before then I always had my family or my roommates; I don’t know how to do this on my own…’

‘You’re not, I’m here, I’ll always be here, because that’s what friends are for,’ you murmured as you brushed your thumb over his cheek to collect the next tear before it hit his nose, and he choked out a small laugh before holding you hand to his chest.

‘I love you,’ he told you then, and you were just about to say it back when he continued. ‘You might be the best friend I’ve ever had, maybe even better than Rita was to me, I’m so glad I met you.’

‘Y-yeah, I’m glad too.’ You were never supposed to be in this part of his life. You were the reason this was happening. He would never feel the same. ‘Do you think you’re ready to get some sleep, now? Big day tomorrow, after all.’

‘I can try, now that you’re here,’ he smiled before getting up to pull the comforter free, and you masked your pain with a smile of your own as you laid back against his chest, his arm around your waist and his soft snores telling you it’d worked again not too long after. You wiped away your tears before placing your hand over his, the cicadas crying outside for you as you also drifted off with the breeze.

Your many alarms came in handy, the first failing to wake either of you in your exhaustion. It was the third that worked since they were so close together, this one making you crack open an eye to check the time instead of just to find the device and shut it up. Your heart raced as the adrenaline woke you fully, and his arm was still around you as you tried to sit and get him up. Seeing him there, still sleeping so peacefully gave you pause however, you’d really missed this sight, but it wasn't yours to keep, he’d sleep better when his kids were able to visit, this was the last time.

You swallowed it down and gave him a shake, Lester startling awake and blinking around in confusion, but when he saw you there, looking down at him with the sunlight streaming in and the wind pushing aside the curtains to cool the room a little more, he actually looked like he… 

He didn’t, he couldn’t, he’d said so already, and you held up your phone so he could see the time. ‘I’ve gotta head back and get ready, today’s the day,’ you whispered as his loving smile faded, and it was replaced with a serious expression as he nodded and sprung into action. He also had his outfit prepared, one of his nicer suits for work, the one he’d been wearing when you first met him you realized as he held it up and transferred it from his closet to the end of his bed while he picked out a tie.

‘You should’ve brought your clothes, we could’ve gone in together,’ he said as he looked between the red and the blue patterned ties he was torn between, and you froze as you straightened your shirt before another smile was forced.

‘I’m supposed to not add any fuel to the fire, that would’ve set everything ablaze,’ you chuckled a bit sadly, and he gave you a small look before holding the red up to his chest to look at in his dresser mirror.

‘I don’t care anymore, she can think what she wants, I don’t see her standing here with me. Which one do you like better? I can’t decide and I’ll end up without one if you leave.’ He held both up for you to see, and you decided on the blue after imagining it along with his suit. ‘Thank you, I was thinking the same but I wasn't sure.’

He set it down with his suit and moved onto some socks and other things to pull on after his shower, so you took that as your cue to leave as you slipped past him and headed for the door. Now that it was bright out you could see that he’d really only gotten the dresser and a new fridge, the old stove still in place and everything else unnecessary and just cutting into his finances for now, and you couldn’t help but think that your second couch would fit perfectly in the space against the wall leading to the bedrooms. You located your keys and stepped back into your sandals before opening the door to leave, and you were just about to walk through the threshold when his hands found you again.

They both slipped around your waist, holding you in place and keeping you there with him for just a moment longer, and you spun in his arms in order to hug him back when he surprised you with a kiss to your forehead. It was the first kiss he’d initiated, a show of thanks for coming over and clearing the air, and while it was still platonic as needed it made you wish you could have more all the same, your hands finding his chest, then his shoulders before you pulled him into his hug.

‘I’ll see you there, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,’ you whispered against his chest, and his right hand found the back of your neck before he let you go.

‘See you there,’ he repeated back to you, and then you were leaving, the shape of him on the other side of the glass blurry as he watched you go until your car was pulling out of his driveway.

You hurried home, no time to waste this morning, and you left your car idle and unlocked as you ran inside and had the quickest shower known to man. You got dressed even faster, you didn’t need to be there for hours but you couldn’t stay in your home knowing this was coming, the plan to have some breakfast and coffee at the shop just down the street from the courthouse. You went to check your phone to see if Gwen had said anything when you remembered you’d left it in your car, and you were thankful you lived where you did as it hit you that you almost handed your entire car to potential thieves.

It wouldn’t have mattered, you’d have found a way over regardless, and you hopped back into the seat and headed over for that breakfast before your body decided that you were much too nervous to eat. Parking was thankfully available despite the location thanks to the early hour, and you tossed a bunch of change into the meter before walking in and finding yourself a seat by the window. It was a quaint little place, you knew of it but had never been in before, and it was decently busy with what had to be its regulars as they all chatted and filled the room with light conversation.

‘Can I start you off with a coffee this morning?’ a young man in his what had to be his late 20s asked not too long after you sat down, and you stared at the menu he offered before taking it and ordering your usual blend. ‘We’re doing a special today, couples get their second breakfast half off if there’s anyone else joining you today?’

‘No, I’m not waiting for anyone, thank you,’ you murmured even as you glanced out the window like you were, just to watch for when he’d arrive, and your server nodded and didn’t even miss a beat.

‘Guess I don’t need to tell you that groups get their own discount, then,’ he attempted to joke, and you glanced up at him and his sweet grin that relaxed you enough to smile genuinely back.

‘No, I guess you don’t,’ you answered before finally going to the menu, and you ordered yourself a light breakfast to ease your hungry but also very worried stomach while you waited. He wrote it down, took the menu back, and headed for the kitchen to drop it off, your eyes catching sight of his haircut pulled back into a small ponytail before he disappeared from sight. You went back to your window as you waited for your coffee, and it’d just been placed in front of you when the bell above the door jingled and alerted him to the new person he’d have to talk to.

To your surprise they sat down across from you, and you looked up to see that it was Rita. Your entire body tensed as you failed not to glare, and he looked between the two of you before asking if you knew each other.

‘Not particularly,’ you said through gritted teeth, but she wasn't fazed by your new anger as she just ordered a mint tea and black coffee to go along with two bagels, one raisin with butter and one everything with cream cheese, obvious breakfast for her and whoever she hired to take Lester’s kids from him. You wished you could secretly tell your server to spit in her tea before you calmed and collected yourself, you were an adult, not a child as he walked away to grab everything for her, and she remained across from you as she folded her hands over the table.

‘I assume I don’t need to ask why you’re so close to the courthouse this morning,’ she remarked as she also looked out the window, and you shook your head slowly as you continued your fight to not add more fuel to the fire. ‘Is he meeting you here?’

‘No, I came in to have breakfast alone,’ you replied levelly, you wouldn’t give in to her provoking now that you both knew what she thought of you.

‘No time to do it at home?’ She was probing you to make you slip, probably to bring this back to her lawyer as just a little extra last minute kindling, and you shook your head and sipped at your coffee. ‘I heard he was able to find a place already, does he really think that I’ll let him see our children after this?’ Stay calm, you still had yet to confirm anything about her theories, just ignore her. ‘Because I won’t, not after what he did. I brought a picture of our wall to show the judge today, if such a sweet man can do that to the wall then how long will it be before he’s hurting my children?’

‘Tha-’ You cut yourself off so fast you nearly spilt your coffee, your hands grasped so hard around the cup that it was burning your palms, and you didn’t miss her expression as she smugly got out her buzzing phone.

‘Right on time,’ she said as she stood, your server waiting for her at the counter as he popped the lids onto her drinks. ‘I’ll see you inside, I’m sure the judge will be thrilled that you didn’t hide from this.’

‘I’m not hiding from anything,’ you snapped before you could stop, your eyes only on her as she stopped and looked back at you.

‘Good, that’ll make things so much easier.’

You didn’t look at her as she picked up her food and walked out, your burning hands pressed to the cold wood to cool them down as you glared at your cup, your shoulders so tense that the pain traveling up your neck was about to give you a headache. You didn’t move apart from finding new cold places on the table until your breakfast arrived, but you felt even less hungry than before despite your server’s wishes to enjoy. It took you until your eggs had stopped steaming before you attempted to eat, but every thought went back to her and how she was probably telling her lawyer all about your eventual appearance before them all. 

As such you ate slow, the time ticking away as the roads filled out and the sun rose higher; people flooded the streets and avoided your gaze as you searched for a familiar navy car, and the only thing that made you snap out of your search was your phone reminding you that your meter was about to run out. ‘Shit, I’ll be right back, need to put more money in,’ you told your server as he went to pass, and you left your phone on the table as collateral after pointing out your car through the window. You raced out, barely avoiding two old ladies currently walking by, and fished for more change when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

‘Looks like we’re early,’ Lester said behind you, and when you turned you saw Gwen beside him, her face very stern at the fact that he was already standing too close to you. ‘You just finish?’

‘I’ve still got half a plate, just needed to refill this,’ you let him know as you loaded up the meter as high as it would go, and he smiled warmly at you as you led him inside. Your server looked between you all and you asked for two more menus after thanking him for his patience, and just as you made room for him to sit beside you you found Gwen sliding into the space instead. He sat across from you, right where Rita had been not an hour earlier, and he looked nervous but also calm as he opened the menu and started choosing. ‘Looks like you can give us that breakfast talk now,’ you joked at your server, and he readied his notepad as he recalled the deal.

‘Since you haven’t paid yet I’ll count this as a group, but since families and friends have been stopping in together leading up to the start of school we have a deal going on, groups of three and up get a 20% discount off their total, and a 30% discount if you order the Back to School Special,’ he explained, Gwen clearly not listening but Lester paying attention fully as he set the menu down.

‘What’s that?’

‘It used to just be for kids, but everyone started ordering it, so- excuse me, it includes three meats, three eggs, home fries, toast, and a free glass of juice or milk, everything a growing kid needs before a busy day at school,’ he told him, and Lester smiled wide and asked for just that, his drink of choice orange juice since lactose tended to upset him in large amounts and he was feeling sick enough already. It was too much information and it made you smile fondly as your server let out a laugh he then quickly stifled as he took his menu back.

‘I’ll just have the coffee and brown sugar oatmeal, thanks,’ Gwen said as she handed her own menu back, the folder she’d been holding now open and taking up the available space the moment he left you. ‘I figured out who her lawyer is when we parked, I’d know that car anywhere, belongs to a scrappy kid who’s been known to hire people to help him get dirt on his opposition,’ she told you as she flipped to a page he needed to fill out while they had time, one final thing to prove that he had a suitable house and a steady income now that both things were true. 

‘Should we be worried about him then?’ you asked as he signed, and she bit her thumbnail as she frowned at the table, the most emotion she’d shown over this case other than the realization that you were the assumed lover.

‘I’m not sure, you haven’t spent any more time together lately, have you?’ she hissed under her breath, and you pictured yourself going to his house but recalling that no one had been around thankfully.

‘No, not since he moved,’ you lied, and she nodded to herself as he finished up and slid the folder back over.

‘All she has is speculation, so focusing on proving that you deserve joint custody is all that matters today,’ she decided, and Lester breathed a little unsteadily before his breakfast arrived. He thanked your server and dug right in, his nerves making him eat faster than he should’ve as you’d come to expect, and you went to reach for his hand to make him aware that he should slow down when you felt Gwen nudge your foot. She did so instead, and he drank half his orange juice to wash it all down, the glass thankfully not kid-sized as he went back to eating. ‘It’ll be okay, let’s just focus on saving this marriage and getting your kids back right now.’

‘Oh, I don’t want to save this marriage,’ he suddenly said around a mouthful of overly jammed toast, and your head shot up so fast in hope that your already stiff neck ached in protest. ‘No, I thought I did at first, but she can have her divorce, I just want my kids back, that’s all that matters to me now.’

You ignored the nudge this time as you held his hand, proud of him for being able to let go of such a long relationship now that it’d turned to this, he was aware that what they had was gone and that it would be different if they tried to reconnect. You gave him a reassuring smile that it’d be okay going forward now, he didn’t have to try and mend what she’d broken, and he returned it before the actual kick to your leg made you let go. He went back to eating, his pace normal and not bound to make him sick now, and you knew you couldn’t let him hear what you needed to tell the woman beside you. 

You got out your phone and quickly typed out a message to her, her phone pinging and making her grab it from her purse until she saw it was from you. She frowned but opened it all the same just to see that you’d said Rita talked to you, and you both knew you couldn’t ditch him to talk this time, not this close to the courthouse. She tapped back a quick reply which you answered just as fast, the two of you secretly typing under the table as he ate and watched the people go by, completely unaware of the reason why Gwen then sighed into her oatmeal.

She put away her phone, she wasn't too worried since his kids were his main priority, and quickly finished up her meager breakfast as a clock nearby chimed loudly. ‘We need to head over soon, it’s almost time,’ she reminded you both as you cleared your plates, and as soon as the bill was settled between the three of you you all headed out for the courthouse.

‘Oh wait, lemme fill the meter more, just in case,’ you said when you realized you didn’t know how long this would take since there was a lot to go over, and you let them go on ahead to Gwen’s preference as you fished for more coins to replace the time you’d spent inside.

‘Got some change to spare?’ someone asked as you found a quarter, and you frowned when you turned to see an unfamiliar face to this area approach you with an outstretched hand.

‘Yeah, uh, just let me do this first,’ you answered warily before filling the meter back up, a $5 bill added to your hand of remaining change so the man could get something to eat.

‘Thanks, you’re the first person all morning who’s given me the time of day,’ he told you almost sleazily as he counted the change, his eye on the seat you’d just vacated through the window as your server cleared your plates. ‘Heard this place is good, you just come from breakfast?’

‘Yeah, the coffee is cheap, so that should be good for a cup and something to eat,’ you replied, ready to walk away when he carefully sidestepped into your path.

‘That’s what I heard, yeah, anything you can suggest?’

‘I have somewhere I need to be, if you’ll excuse me,’ you tried to say without provoking him, everyone else giving you a wide berth as he stood in front of you again, and your eyes narrowed as you looked him over and realized he was dressed a little too well to be homeless.

‘Oh, of course, I was just wondering if you knew that guy you were with was a cheater, doesn’t make for a very good breakfast date.’

You froze as he grinned at you, your phone coming out to quickly text Gwen as he pocketed your change and crossed his arms. ‘I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?’ you asked as you typed, and he glanced at it before smiling for the camera in case you were taking a picture or video of him, he’d done this before.

‘You can call me Harley, you checking with that hot lawyer friend of yours to make sure I won’t be trouble?’ he asked as he tried to see your phone, and you held it to your chest seconds before her voice rang out. He heard her and spun to see her running back over, Lester waiting on the steps of the courthouse for you, and Harley grinned at you again before finally getting out of your way and heading down the street into a large crowd. He was gone instantly, Gwen out of breath as she arrived and made sure everything was okay.

‘I’m fine, but I think that might’ve been her lawyer,’ you figured as you turned back to see only strangers.

‘No, that wasn't him, but he might’ve been the guy he hired this time to follow Lester, have you seen him before?’

‘No, never, this was the first,’ you thought as you desperately searched your mind for any sign of him, but there was nothing, even though something about him felt so strangely familiar that you couldn’t place no matter how hard you tried.

‘C’mon, it’s starting in ten, we need to get in there,’ she said as she placed a hand on your back, and you crossed the street to where he was waiting nervously.

‘What happened?’ he asked as soon as you reached him, and you made sure to keep some space between you as you fixed yourself up a little.

‘Some creep asked me for change, nothing to worry about,’ you lied, and you let them go in first several minutes before you entered the building. You’d been in there many times before for your own cases, you knew the exact way to go as you headed for the main court where this would be held, and sure enough there was no one on his side while a few of their friends as well as Rita’s parents sat on her side with her, baby Annie currently sleeping in her grandmother’s lap. You tried to avoid the front row but you couldn’t, not when all of them stared you down in disgust, they all believed her claims since you were new, and you ignored them as you broke your first rule and sat directly behind him and Gwen as she prepared her opening statement.

In order to not glare very unprofessional daggers at the people who’d once claimed to be his friends, you instead finally got a look at her lawyer, and you outwardly groaned so loud that he heard it; he turned to find the source, his grin very wide and blue eyes very wild as he whispered something to Rita that you couldn’t hear. She didn’t turn, but she did smile as she looked over the papers in front of her, and you leaned forward with a quick and quiet whistle to get Gwen’s attention.

‘Why didn’t you tell me she hired Matt?’ you hissed between your teeth, and she looked at you in surprise.

‘You know him?’

‘Yeah, the prick’s been vying for a promotion for years and stole so many cases from me and many others to try and get it, the guy’s an asshole,’ you sneered a little too loud, and you heard him snicker from his table across the way.

‘All the more reason you stay as uninvolved as possible going forward, don’t bring work into this,’ she warned very seriously, and you nodded as you sat back against the unforgiving bench. It wasn't too long after when the judge walked in, and you, Gwen, and Matt all rose before everyone else on instinct. You liked this judge, she was around your age and very beautiful, but she had a temper like fire when unfairness was found, and you knew if Matt tried anything she’d be fast to shut it down. You smirked at him as everyone sat again, she’d see through all of this and clearly favour Lester after all, you had nothing to worry about as you sat back and relaxed for the first time in weeks.

‘Good morning, Judge Burkhardt,’ Gwen said as she stood again after a moment, the hearing officially started as she addressed the woman sitting above you all. ‘I’m here today on behalf of my client, Lester Billings, who wishes to contend his ex-wife’s claim of full custody.’

‘I was under the impression we’d also be discussing his previous concerns about the separation, as well,’ the Judge wondered as she went over her own notes, Gwen shaking her head and presenting her with a copy of everything she’d been collecting the past few weeks.

‘That’s no longer a concern, what he does care about is the very real possibility of losing the ability to see his children,’ she clarified as she went back to her seat, Rita whispering something to Matt before frowning at Lester.

‘I’ve got it, I’ll handle it,’ you heard him whisper back to her, and you felt your moment of relaxation start to fade at the tone of his voice.

‘If that’s what he wishes, please proceed.’

‘Thank you, now, before Ms. Rothschild can tell you her reasons for this, let me explain to you the situation from my client’s end, before bias and misunderstandings come into play; what brought this about was a horrible lack of trust between two people who’ve been together for a very long time, and who knew each other for even longer. Where there should’ve been love, jealousy arose. When there should’ve been understanding, stubbornness had taken its place. And when it was time to listen, to believe what my client was saying, there was only refusal, leading to an argument that could’ve been very much avoided.’ Gwen looked to Lester for this final part, and he covered his eyes with his hands as the guilt resurfaced once more.

You wanted so badly to go to him again but you couldn’t, the partition separating you from him feeling more like a sprawling chasm in order to stop the Judge from believing what Matt was bound to say next. So you remained seated, your hands clasped tightly in your lap as the Judge listened and read over everything Gwen had collected about that night.

‘Mistakes were made on both ends, but he doesn’t deserve to be punished with such severity, not when he loves his children this much. This is a man who can’t live without the love of his family, and if that’s taken away from him, then I fear that it’ll affect not only them as they grow up without their father, even if Ms. Rothschild does decide to remarry in the future, but also Mr. Billings as well. Thank you.’ She went back to her seat, Lester’s eyes sad but his smile thankful for what she was doing for him, and she stopped him from looking back at you as Matt loudly cleared his throat and took his turn.

‘What my client is here today to achieve is not just the separation of two people whose relationship has fallen by the wayside, but to terminate an agreement that was so blatantly broken. To allow someone who would disregard the feelings of others to that degree, and then proceed to take his anger out on her when called out on it, would be a serious risk to the children as the younger ones grow and develop.’ You grabbed onto the bench and dug your nails into the wood until it hurt as Matt strolled casually in front of the Judge while he spoke, his eyes occasionally drifting to you as he fought not to smile just because he knew you were the cause of it all.

‘I see here Mr. Billings became violent?’ the Judge confirmed, and Matt nodded in fake solemness as he went back to his table.

‘Punched a wall, their bedroom wall right next to her to be precise, so who’s to say he wasn't aiming for her and simply missed?’

‘I didn’t!’ Lester spoke up, the Judge giving him a warning look for speaking out of turn but ultimately not calling him out while also letting Matt continue.

‘In this picture my client has provided, you can see the actual indent where he made contact, note the sunken area from his knuckles, I know I wouldn’t want my kid to be anywhere near someone like that,’ he said a bit too casually as he shared the photo with her, only to receive his own visual warning for not taking this seriously. ‘Anyway, my point is that Mr. Billings is a liar, a cheat, and now, as of that night, prone to violent tendencies as well, which, if everyone may agree with me, is not a very suitable lifestyle when raising children.’

A chorus of agreements came from her side of the room, and you actually opened your mouth that time before shutting it tight and biting your lip. Matt collected his photo and went to sit back down, but not before shooting you a glance, and you were glad he worked on another floor than you because you were about to plan ahead and trash his office come Monday. He relished in your expression and sat back down again, the Judge going over the papers in front of her before looking forward again.

‘It says here that the main cause of separation was cheating, but according to his report he claims that to be the misunderstand that’s been mentioned; I know it doesn’t matter in the end since this seems to be mutual at this stage, but I feel like it would be better going forward to have this addressed so as to not give the children a skewed opinion of their father, if you don’t mind,’ the Judge said with a frown as she looked between both parties, and you quietly let out a calm breath while you mentally prepared yourself for what was to come.

‘It’s fine by us, Ms. Rothschild was looking forward to this getting cleared up,’ Matt loudly proclaimed so there’d be no chance you didn’t hear it, Gwen not as loudly agreeing as the Judge nodded and motioned for them to proceed. ‘Ms. Rothschild, if you would kindly take the stand so everyone can hear your side of things.’

‘This isn’t a trial, she can stay where she is,’ the Judge was quick to correct, but Matt’s smile was still wide as he looked back at his audience.

‘Yes, but we’ve also brought in some… ex-mutual friends of theirs who’d like to back up her claims, if you don’t mind,’ he informed her, and she considered it before deciding it might help to get their outsiders opinions even though you knew they were bound to side entirely with her until the truth became skewed even more, this wasn't fair. ‘Thank you, Your Honour; Rita, if you’d please?’

She stood and walked over to the stand, the bailiff overseeing everything shrugging before bringing over the court’s bible and having her say her oath of truth before returning to his spot. ‘Well, I’d say it started a few months back, when he returned from getting groceries. We decided that that would be his thing since I’d be at home watching Annie after preschool, and it was just easier for him to do it on his way home,’ she began, your eyes switching between her and Lester as he listened intently. ‘It was subtle at first, he’d get home a little later, something new would be in his cart that I hadn’t asked for, but it wasn't until he started talking about them that I knew something was wrong.’

You saw him open his mouth to object but Gwen silenced him, this was her time to talk, he would get his soon enough.

‘It was so little I barely noticed, just some dinner conversation as everyone talked about their day, but when they kept getting brought up, not just on Thursday but throughout the week, and then when my daughter asked for some friends to sleep over now that summer had started, he ended up turning it into this big party. We’ve thrown them before, we’re very social people, but there was something about this one that felt off, like it was just an excuse to get as many people there as possible.’ 

She paused, looking troubled as she thought back to it, and you hadn’t known that the party you’d been invited to was actually just supposed to be for her, that explained why so many of them had stayed when they went in for the night. 

‘But I knew something was wrong when he brought home that cheesecake, neither of us even like Caramel Pecan, and I tried to excuse it like maybe he’d gotten it for the girls, or maybe he was trying something new, but the moment I saw him give them a piece I knew it. I knew that there was something going on behind my back.’

The Judge frowned but didn’t say anything, murmurs drifting over from your right, and you looked at Lester as he and Gwen said something so quiet you couldn’t hear a single word even from that close. ‘A gift for the secret lover, was it?’ Matt asked like he didn’t already know the answer, and Rita nodded as she shot you a cold look.

‘And it wasn't just that, he also had them sit next to him while we watched movies, and I watched as he grabbed them around the waist and threw them into the pool so they could flirt not just in front of me but in front of all our friends, like he was flaunting the fact that he’d found someone else at me,’ she continued angrily, her voice rising as she turned her attention to him, and he tried again to speak only to be silenced. ‘He kept inviting them to our house after that, kept throwing parties of various sizes and always inviting them even though they barely knew each other, and they didn’t come often but whenever they did his eyes were always on them, I saw him do it.’

Your mouth fell open as you let out a soft gasp, and Lester stared straight ahead at her, completely ignoring you as you tried to think of him watching you while you were around, but you’d always tried so hard to keep it platonic, to not overstep any boundaries and stay out of that part of his life, had he really been looking at you the entire time?

‘That was when you decided to ask him about it, right before your vacation, correct?’ Matt asked like this was the best drama he’d ever gotten to witness because she was talking about you, someone he personally knew and contended against.

‘Correct, I didn’t want to go anywhere with him if he’d be thinking about someone else, and I certainly didn’t want to risk him inviting them along on our family vacation.’

‘Was there ever an actual concern about that?’ the Judge interrupted, and Rita shrugged before nodding.

‘Yes, at one point he asked if maybe we should let the kids bring one friend each so they could have more fun, teased about asking the Himuras since Deni is friends with their daughters, but it was the way he said it, like he wanted to ask someone but not them, that this was just another excuse, and that’s when I asked him to be honest with me about the cheating.’ Lester was shaking his head as she spoke, but whether it was because she was wrong or if he regretted what he said because it was true made you unsure of everything you believed before you walked through those doors.

‘And we know how that turned out; he denied your claims, refused to name the lover himself, and when you refused to say it he became violent-’

‘Objection, Mr. Billings told me explicitly that he never answered her questions in her favour because he wasn't aware of what she was even talking about, because this is all just assumptions and slander,’ Gwen interrupted heatedly, she also knew what he’d said and this was making her lose control of her emotions in your stead. 

‘He didn’t answer because he’d been caught and didn’t want to admit it and you know it,’ Matt said dismissively with a sneer, the Judge banging her gavel just once to quiet him when she remembered there was a sleeping baby present. 

‘Sustained until proven otherwise, leave the judgment up to me, if you’ll please,’ she warned him, and he sat back and crossed his arms as Rita was encouraged to finish.

‘He did become angry when I wouldn’t tell him what he already knew, and when he hit the wall I felt unsafe for the first time around him,’ she concluded seriously, her parents glaring at him as Annie kept sleeping in blissful ignorance of the situation. ‘That was when I asked for custody, and kicked him out of our room. After that he began to stay elsewhere, I never looked him up.’

Matt chuckled to himself but didn’t say anything, and when you felt your skin crawl you noticed that he was staring at you again. ‘Thank you, and if it would please you, Your Honour, I would like to call some friends of theirs to the stand, to share what they saw as well and to prove that this isn’t just a bad take formed out of jealousy.’

‘I’ll allow it.’

You watched as the couple from movie night entered together, their own oaths spoken before they agreed that he’d been oddly close to you during the party, how he favoured you during movie night by making you extra dip even though he never once did that for any of them, and some of them he’d known since highschool. They hadn’t wanted to believe it, but something changed in him since you’d appeared in his life, a change you’d never noticed because you only saw this new him, apparently. You could almost cry, the way they were saying it could almost make you believe he’d fallen in love with you, to the point where you were genuinely unsure if Matt had coached them to say all this for Rita’s sake or if this was the truth.

‘Sounds pretty cut and dry to me, no further questions,’ Matt said as they sat down, and the Judge looked equally as convinced as she turned her attention back to Lester.

‘Indeed, but we still need to hear from Mr. Billings,’ she reminded everyone, and he was about to stand when Matt held up a hand to interrupt.

‘Actually, I’d also like to call a colleague of mine to the stand before we get to him,’ he told everyone, and you saw Gwen twitch just a little just as you yourself did. 

‘Is this colleague here?’ the Judge asked, and he nodded before whistling; the man from the street, Harley, then appeared from somewhere behind you, he’d been hiding out of sight and was holding a coffee and a manilla envelope as he walked up to Matt and handed it over. He opened it up, peeked inside, and grinned so excitedly that it almost made you sick as he then turned to you and motioned for you to come forward.

You stood and did as he asked, it was finally your turn, and Lester watched you go along with everyone else as you sat in the worn seat and tried to keep your breathing level. ‘Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?’ the bailiff asked you as your hand shook over the cover, and you looked to Lester before steeling your gaze in Matt’s direction, his expression telling you that he thought this would be not only his win but your loss, that maybe this would finally be enough to up his credit enough to join the big leagues, this imaginary promotion that’ll finally tell him he was a success.

‘I do,’ you replied honestly, and he shook his head in amused pity before removing the papers along with a phone from the envelope to lay out on the table. He stood again, he couldn’t remain seated with this, and he cracked his neck for show before jumping right into it.

‘Thursday, May 9th, that’s when you first met him, wasn't it?’ he asked smugly as he checked over his notes, the Judge the last to know that it was all leading up to this as she sat up a little straighter.

‘Yes, that was the day I first spoke to Le- Mr. Billings at Walkers,’ you confirmed professionally, determined to not make this any worse than it could be, you could do this.

‘But it wasn't until a few weeks later that you were invited to his home, correct?’

‘That’s right, you know a bunch of us were collaborating on the Krill case around that time, I wasn't able to get much shopping done with the late hours,’ you replied, and he hummed and flipped the page.

‘I remember, you guys stole that one from me,’ he muttered because he couldn’t help but let it out, and you tried not to smirk amidst your attempts to keep everything calm and collected. ‘So that means you only met twice before you became friends?’

‘I guess- I mean, yes, technically, but that second time we spent around 40 to 45 minutes getting to know each other, the first time he had to run home shortly after I met him.’

‘And you were unaware that he’d been bringing you up around his family and friends the whole time you were kept away by work?’

Your eye twitched as you glanced at the man in question, and you found a lovely section of wall to stare out down the aisle instead. ‘I was not, no.’

‘And you still accepted his invitation, despite meeting once pretty much?’ He was baiting you, and you very much knew it as you acquainted yourself with the wall in the distance.

‘He seemed pleasant enough, and I don’t meet many people outside of work, I thought it might be fun to give it a try,’ you rationalized in front of everyone, the other reason that you simply liked him and wanted to see him again obviously left out.

‘And the cheesecake…?’

‘We’d stopped by the dessert counter and they only sold it in full cakes, not slices, he bought it as incentive for me to join so I could have some, a friendly encouragement for me to accept,’ you explained, and Rita scoffed as the Judge raised her eyebrow at Lester. ‘At least, that’s what I assumed, he never said it in words.’ It was a lie, an actual lie, and you watched his expression change as he became unsure if he’d said that to you or not.

‘Which you did accept, in the end, did you not? Directly from him according to Rita,’ Matt confirmed, and you nodded as you recalled that night.

‘He was handing it out to not just me, but a few others as well, I wasn't a special case,’ you clarified as you remembered him grabbing several slices from both cheesecakes to hand out to those still sitting and getting ready for the movie. ‘And before you mention the pool, yes, he did throw me in, but by pushing me, not by grabbing me around the waist, I don’t know where she got that from. He pushed me, jumped in, and then others did as well, it was a pool party after all and now that all the kids were inside or asleep it was the adults’ turn to swim.’

Matt frowned as he went back to his notes, another page flipped to as your shoulders relaxed just a little again. ‘And the movie gathering, with the dip?’

‘I arrived late so I’d missed out on it, he made more so I could enjoy some as well, and when I got my portion it was shared with everyone else, if I’d arrived on time he more than likely would’ve kept watching the movie.’ You felt satisfied when you saw the couple nod like they’d forgotten that point, you were winning them over, and they looked at you a little less dirtily as you fought the urge not to smile. ‘He only kept inviting me to things because we only had time to socialize while we grocery shopped, which isn’t very good for a new friendship, this was his way of keeping us familiar and not just shopping strangers since he knew my weekdays were full, I’m sure you’d be more familiar with that if you had more clients.’

A faint snicker filled the room at your comment, Matt’s face going red before he got serious; he flipped ahead so fast he nearly tore the pages, and when he found what he was looking for he looked like he was the cat and you were the canary. ‘Keep it up while you can,’ he whispered before smiling at the Judge, Rita looking worried until she saw his expression. ‘Thursday, July 18th, almost an entire month after the divorce was called, you went back to his home to find him, did you not?’

The smile you didn’t realize you were wearing then started to fall, and you concentrated on your patch of wall again as you nodded. ‘I did, yes. I hadn’t seen him in two weeks and I was worried.’

‘Oh, just two? Wouldn’t he have been missing for a month?’ he quickly asked, looking like he’d caught you, and you nibbled your lip a moment in frustration.

‘I’d assumed he was on vacation, he’d told me about it and since I knew the kids were on holiday I just figured he was in California,’ you clarified even quicker, but he didn’t look convinced as he flipped to the next page.

‘Uh huh, according to Rita it says here that you asked for him specifically while in a panic, and when she informed you of his move you began banging on the door and asking about their children, you sound pretty invested for just a weekend friend,’ he pointed out as he turned on his heel to face everyone, and when you looked at Lester he looked just as surprised to hear this news as you were to hear about him watching you. 

‘It’d been two weeks and something felt wrong, I needed to make sure everything was okay,’ you told him, your eyes no longer finding the wall as he spun to face you, his low ponytail creating a flash of gold across his crisp black blazer. ‘And she hadn’t told me about the move until after she assaulted me via a slap to the face, as well as insinuated that I’d come there to steal him away. I would never, that had never been my intention.’

‘At first.’ Matt skipped almost giddily over to you before handing the Judge a bunch of papers and slamming one on the stand in front of you, and you frowned in confusion as you saw yourself in the photo; it was the night you’d met up with him again, the two of you hugging in his car, and you desperately tried to find the words as the Judge frowned disapprovingly. ‘You met up with him again at Walkers a week later, where you proceeded to not only pay for his groceries according to my sources, but also invite him back to your home to stay while he searched for a new residence, instead of his current hotel room, where does all that fit in with your intentions?’

He was positively smug as the Judge motioned for Gwen to approach as well, everyone else whispering to each other until Annie started to stir and forced them to be silent. ‘Did you know about this?’ she asked while Lester sat there uneasily, and Gwen reluctantly nodded while Matt failed to suppress another chuckle.

‘If they may explain, it was a rooming of convince, nothing more,’ Gwen said on your behalf, and the Judge looked to you before letting her go again so you could finish. 

‘I was simply extending some kindness to someone who’d gotten me out of the house more times than anything else in those couple months; I saw a friend in need, so I offered him my couch until he could find his own place, I’d figured it would’ve been too hard to place a downpayment on anything when all of his funds were tied up into that room,  that’s all.’ You were starting to speak firmly, and he knew he was getting to you as he scrunched up his face in humorous disbelief.

‘Did you, though? Because from what I heard, he was actually sleeping in your bed the entire two weeks he was with you,’ he told everyone, and the only reason you didn’t get angry was because you were starting to get very confused.

‘Where did you hear that?’ you demanded to know, but he wasn't done talking.

‘Along with that, apparently you were also there when he signed the deed to his house, as well as went shopping for a new bed, where the two of you not only came but also left together to head to said house as soon as it was in working order,’ he listed loudly just so no one would miss it, a photo to prove each point landing in front of you as cruel reminders, and you made a grab for the notebook on pure instinct as he laughed and jumped back, holding it out of your reach.

‘Would you two please control yourselves? Is everything he said true? Remember that you’re under oath,’ the Judge asked you very seriously, and you looked around in a growing panic before your eyes landed on Harley; all at once you recognized him, he’d been one of the workers who’d helped you load up his car that day, your focus purely on the frame to the point where he’d been practically invisible to you at the time.

‘Yeah, yeah it’s true,’ you admitted, and Rita looked furious in her belief that she was being proven right. ‘He slept in my bed because the couch hurt his back too much, so I took it instead in the meantime, and we went shopping together because he’s incredibly indecisive and needed a second opinion. I helped him with his house because it was disgustingly dirty from being empty for so long, and it would’ve taken him ages to clean it up alone despite the size. 

‘Every single thing you’ve said has just reaffirmed that I’ve been helping my friend where everyone else had left him high and dry, there’s absolutely nothing you can take away from that and the fact that I have never once made any sort of move on him, not in my own home and certainly not in either of his. Lester is my friend, I’m here today to support him while he tries to get his kids back in his life, and I don’t see how any of this is going to reach that if we keep messing around on this false accusation!’ You quickly lowered your voice when Annie stirred again, a few hushes and leg bounces lulling her back to sleep as she held her grandmother tight, but Matt didn’t look dissuaded by your speech, in fact, he looked like he’d finally gotten you as he held up the final photo but didn’t show you.

‘Could you please read out your last conversation with Mr. Billings to the court, please?’ he asked calmly, and your anger turned to panic as Gwen silently asked what he meant to Lester out of the corner of your eye.

‘What?’

‘Could you please read-’

‘I know what you said, but why?’ you asked uneasily, and he sighed before turning to the Judge. 

‘Please follow the request,’ she ordered, and you sucked in an unsteady breath as you unlocked your phone and went to his chat.

‘You know he brought me screenshots, don’t make me use them instead,’ Matt muttered under his breath, and you didn’t even have to ask to know that it was because you’d left you car unlocked, giving your tail the perfect opportunity to take pictures of your messages after seeing Lester send them only for you to arrive shortly after the night before.

‘I can’t,’ you told him as you stared at the words, it would all be taken the wrong way, and he took your phone from you without a fight before handing it to the Judge.

‘“I miss you,”’ she read aloud, and Gwen put her head in her hand as Lester stood, the Judge reading the rest while Rita’s side of the room started whispering again. ‘“I can’t sleep, can you come over?” These speak for themselves, what do you have to say about them?’ 

You couldn’t get a single word out as your phone was handed back to you, but you needed to try before everything you’d just said was thrown out the window. ‘He was stressed, he couldn’t sleep, nothing happened,’ you explained weakly, Matt already on top of it as he held his page a little tighter.

‘The second the door opened you were in his arms,’ he let everyone know, and you shook your head when that wasn't the photo he wanted to share.

‘We’d had a fight before he left, a misunderstanding, he just missed me,’ you tried to say, and that’s when he struck, the image of the two of you lying in bed together fully selling the lie. ‘These were taken without our consent,’ you mumbled, but it was too late, Harley had been there, he’d seen everything from the start, this was just the icing on the cake of the lie to everyone.

‘Caught in bed, that doesn’t look very platonic to me, see he’s even got his arm around your waist for real this time.’ Matt was on Cloud 9 as he spoke, the Judge agreeing and completely convinced that there was something going on after all.

‘He couldn’t sleep,’ you repeated softly, and as if to add insult to injury, he finally brought out the phone from the envelope over from the table.

‘Last chance to tell the truth,’ he offered, and something in you snapped as your entire body went stiff.

‘Oh fuck off Matt,’ you snarled, a slap to the desk your warning since the gavel was too loud, and he gave you another fake sigh before pulling up the phone’s gallery. He turned up the volume and turned the screen to the Judge, and it was dark and a little shaky but the sound still filled the large and empty room with ease.

‘I love you.’

Lester’s voice from last night bounced off every corner until it was impossible to ignore, and Matt played the clip again just to be sure.

‘I love you.’

‘So much for platonic,’ he figured as he played it again for good measure, and the Judge took the phone to make sure that yes, that was the two of you in the video as well as his voice through the speaker behind the cicadas and crickets that conveniently blocked out the next part where he called you his friend. ‘And are those tears when you roll over at the end? Guess the guilt of destroying a family can do that to you, yikes… Your Honour, if you could now swipe to the right you’ll find them the next morning as well,’ he told her, and you just barely saw footage of you two hugging in the doorway, the camera perfectly catching his kiss to your forehead before you wrapped your arms around him; it cut off just in time to make your hug look like a real kiss despite your face never leaving his chest in reality, and your frustration and helplessness at what you’d done to him bubbled up and overflowed until you felt a hot streak fall down your cheek.

‘I knew it, how dare you stand up there and lie to everyone, you ruined my marriage!’ Rita yelled as you gripped the wood until your hands hurt, her outburst finally enough to wake up Annie as she started crying along with you. She was inconsolable, her grandparents unable to calm her as Rita rubbed her eyes, her own anger at this whole situation going in circles until she was ultimately proven right also overflowing as she banged her hand off the table. ‘Can you please just take her outside, mom?’

‘Please, let me,’ Lester suddenly said, his first words in what felt like ages, and he didn’t wait for permission as he crossed over to the other side of the courtroom to reach for his baby girl. ‘Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here,’ he whispered softly as he took her from her grandmother’s arms, and she blinked through her tears as she reached up to touch his face, ‘it’s just me, it’s your daddy, it’s me.’ Her crying calmed as she recognized him in her childish sorrow, her small voice confirming that it was indeed her father before she curled against him and held on tight.

The room went silent as he kept hushing her, his arm bouncing slightly until her crying ceased completely, and when she started to fall back asleep again he couldn’t stop his own tears from falling as he kissed her head and breathed in deep. ‘Alright, she’s going home, just gi-’

‘Let me hold her, please,’ he begged immediately, cutting Rita off and holding his daughter away when she reached out to take her. ‘It’s been two months, just please let me hold my daughter for a little while longer…’ Rita backed down, Matt scoffing at the wasted time as Lester gave Annie another kiss, and even though it physically pained him to let go he eventually did; her grandmother took her back before they both left, Lester not fully breaking until the doors had closed and there was no risk of waking her, an awkward but also sad air filling the room as his friends finally saw what they’d done to him.

‘Can we get back to this, if you don’t mind?’ Matt asked from the floor, but Lester was done, he’d just had to give away his little girl after watching his only friend be torn apart in front of him, and he was done.

‘No, because I do mind,’ he told him as he turned, his cheeks wet but his eyes deathly serious as he approached the stand. ‘I’m sick of everyone trying to tell me what I did, what happened when I was there, and I won’t let this go any further. I asked them to come over, and we did lay in bed together, but only because I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that I can’t do this alone, not because I cheated on you, Rita. No matter how you interpreted my actions, I know what my intentions were, and they were never to be disloyal to you. 

‘I’ve loved you ever since we were teenagers, and I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you, but I can see now that we married too soon, and that no matter how much I love you and my children, it will never be enough to fix what you’ve broken. I know I scared you, I was afraid myself, that night, and I don’t care if you can never forgive me for it, but don’t punish me for something I didn’t do by convincing yourself that I’m a monster.’ He stopped to take a breath, everyone silent as Matt leaned against his table and waited impatiently for this to end, and you couldn’t stay there any longer until he turned to speak to you and instantly froze you. ‘You’ve been nothing but good to me since we met, and I’m so sorry I dragged you into all of this.’

‘I’m the one who ruined your marriage,’ you murmured miserably, and he shook his head before turning back to Rita.

‘No, you ruined our marriage the moment you stopped trusting me and broke our vows,’ he told her, and for the first time she looked almost regretful of her actions. ‘You can have the divorce, spending these past two months without you has taught me that maybe this has been a long time coming, and I didn’t lie, I never cheated on you and never intended to, but… these two months have also told me that I don’t have to walk out of here with nothing even if they rule in your favour.’ He glanced back to you for just a moment, and you swore he might actually be in love before he focused on the Judge. ‘I know all of what you just heard and saw was taken horribly out of context, and… and maybe my intentions have changed over time, but I’m not a liar, and I would never harm my children, you have to believe that, Your Honour.’

‘Oh, I believe it,’ she agreed after watching him calm his crying baby with ease before baring his soul to everyone. ‘We might’ve gotten off track there for a while, I apologize for letting that go on for as long as I did, but it’s very clear to me that despite the multiple errors in judgment on pretty much everyone in this room’s part, it wouldn’t be a fair ruling to let you walk out of here without custody.’ She smacked the gavel now that Annie was away, and Lester’s legs nearly failed him as he smiled in pure relief. ‘Temporary full custody will remain with Ms. Rothschild while you finish your new residence, and when the house is furnished and ready to house the children, we’ll meet up again to go over things and discuss how often they’ll stay with the both of you.’

‘Thank you, thank you so much,’ Lester sobbed joyfully before he crashed into the partition gate, and you and Gwen rushed to him to help him remain standing long enough to get to a seat. Matt swore to himself as Rita kept her distance, their friends deciding to make amends as they walked over to him and apologized, they’d spread the word that Rita had been wrong, and he couldn’t seem to stop crying as he smiled until his cheeks surely hurt just as much as yours did.

Another month went by as summer finally gave way to fall, and Halloween decorations started to fill the streets as you drove through the neighbourhood. Four pumpkins were strapped into your seats and made the car smell nice as you drove, the familiar way to Lester’s home engraved in your mind until you were pulling into the driveway behind him. You left the car unlocked as you ran up to the door to knock, and it was clear he’d seen you through the kitchen window as the door swung open to reveal him standing there in the most dad-themed apron you’d ever seen; it was of another man with a very chiseled stomach, something of which you assumed he didn’t have based on the few glimpses you’d gotten when he’d stayed with you, and you raised an eyebrow at him as he went in for a hug.

‘It’s incentive to keep to my new diet, since you helped the last one fail so many times,’ he joked before pulling you to his chest, and you kept it to yourself that you didn’t mind how he looked as you hugged him back.

‘You’re a grown man, you could’ve always said no,’ you reminded him as you headed back for the car, Lester following after setting down the dish towel he was still holding. You grabbed a pumpkin each and brought them to the dining room, or the small section of room he considered a dining room since technically his kitchen and living room were openly connected. 

‘Shaun’s gunna love this one, I can already tell- where’s the fifth?’ he asked when you shut the door, and you looked around for it too in confusion.

‘Fifth?’

‘You’re spending Halloween with us, right? You’re not gunna make me hand out candy with just Annie, are you?’ he asked disappointedly, and you fought the oncoming blush as you looked at the four pumpkins on the table, the last one being baby-sized just for Annie to scribble on instead of carve. ‘There’s a new Stephen King movie coming out that Deni was really excited to share with us, please tell me you aren’t gunna skip out on that one?’

‘I just assumed you’d wanna spend time with your family, since Rita did agree to the whole week just for this,’ you muttered nervously, and the hand he placed on your arm was warm and comforting as he gave you another almost loving look.

‘I think we can consider you a part of the family, especially after everything you did for us,’ he told you honestly, but you still weren’t entirely convinced you could join this part of his life now that you knew you might have a chance at a more permanent friendship with him. ‘Here, I ordered a bunch of food for tonight from that pizza place we used to visit a bunch while I was staying with you, if you go grab it I’ll pay for your pumpkin if you can find one in the next… 27 minutes,’ he offered, and you realized his hand was still on you as it then moved to your hand to hold your palm up to accept his wallet.

‘It takes 13 to get to the pumpkin patch,’ you told him, and he just shrugged before letting you go.

‘Better hurry then, don’t wanna be left out when we’re all sitting here carving pumpkins and eating pizza,’ he tempted you, and when you looked down at the table and imagined it you realized you wanted nothing more than to be a part of that. ‘And, since Rita doesn’t get here til 7, I think it might be nice to just spend some time alone with you, just the two of us, like before… I don’t get to see you as often now that your Thursdays are all booked up,’ he admitted shyly, and your heart pounded when he rubbed at his neck and you finally noticed that he’d taken his wedding ring off now that the divorce was officially and mutually underway.

‘You could come with me, we could maybe check out the Halloween displays at Walkers for a little extra decoration ideas, your house is honestly lacking compared to your neighbours,’ you suggested calmly, and his smile was back to normal as he stripped off his apron and tossed it over the arm of your second couch that so perfectly fit against the living room wall across from his TV, the photo of his kids so far the only other decoration on the stand.

‘I think I could go for some Caramel Pecan cheesecake, if I’m honest, you made me like it a bit more than the Chocolate Fudge Supreme,’ he whispered scandalously as you both headed out the door, and this time you did lean into him a little when his hand found the small of your back on the way to the car.

[historianthesecond]

Hiii~ I LOVE who came in with the sea (very thrilled to read where the story is going!!) So I wanted to request a fic inspired on that

Maybe where mermaid!reader is married with Nikolai, and they both live in the palace, and from time to time Nikolai surprises reader swimming at the lake, so he just likes to see by the docks and watch her hehehe

Thank you! Have a happy week >:3

Hi! Sorry this one took so long kdjdjkdjk I'm not still 100% about this, but I'm struggling with writing rn so I hope you like it 🙈

Moonlight Mirror

Nikolai Lantsov x Mermaid!Fem!Reader---1.2K----SFW

Tags: Established Relationship | No Plot Pure Fluff |

Nikolai was used to hearing the sudden splashes of water around the lake while he tinkered with the Hummingbird, or any of his new ships, the movement creating waves that crashed along the polished hull.

You made him company in those strange moments in which either of you had many duties to complete in the day—you could always cuddle in bed and work until the oil lamp emptied.

It was late already, with his mind so focused he couldn't figure out how many bells had just chimed, the metallic echo falling into the still night air, the critters from the gardens around quickly restarting their melody.

Sighing, he took a rag and cleaned his hands, long streaks of black oil marking the white cotton. Nikolai put them on the seat he was just occupying, his eyes drawn to watch over the wooden rail at the still surface of the water.

You surely were enjoying the cold water at the bottom, which how a layer of sweat clung to his shirt, the summer air feeling more like the hellish breeze that blew from the ovens inside the kitchen than a break from the inclement weather.

The wooden boards of the docks creaked under his boots until he stopped at the edge of the one occupied by the ramp to climb into the ship. The water looked like a mirror, showing the almost full moon dotted with stars in the clear sky.

While he sat, ripples broke the calmness as your head surfaced, the dorsal fins around your ears shining silver against the moonlight.

You beamed, submerging your head in the water once again before appearing right in front of him seconds later.

“Hi, handsome,” you said, your hair floating around the water. You handed him a wrench that had slipped out his hands a couple of hours ago, as you always loved to look for shiny things underwater, your wedding ring shining gold catching his attention with the movement.

It was common to end up surprised at catching a glimpse of it now and then. That you were married to him despite everything you had to endure, so much that sometimes he thought it was wiser to just let you go.

His hands interlaced with yours, the wrench secured in the middle of the dock. A giggle bubbled out your lips when you felt his lips brushing your inner wrist.

"Come here, lovely," Nikolai muttered against your skin, leaning against you to carry you out of the water. He was used to feeling the smooth and cold surface of your tail, white and silver and artic blue that curled around him. "I missed you," he said, nuzzling his nose in the crook of your neck. You still smelled like the stormy seas of the north, of salt and fresh, cold wind blowing over the icebergs navigating over the infinity of cerulean blue.

You laughed, moving your tail up and down to fit better on his lap. “I was here all the time.”

“Not close enough.” To prove his point he held you closer, not caring that now his clothes were soaked. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. “This close would do. For now.”

You looked at him, some beads of water running down your face, eyes blinking between the yellow tones with vertical slits, like trapped amber, and your human ones, sweet and filled with adoration. “You wouldn’t finish anything if I were this close.”

Nikolai chuckled, hands lovingly cradling your body. “My wife truly is the wisest.”

Crooning your neck, you looked back at the shadowy silhouette of the Hummingbird, its ghostly sails carefully tied into the masts. You could reminisce about all the times you’d been aboard its tiny deck, flying one with the clouds as Nikolai pointed down at the cities you passed by, seeing colorful roofs and tall churches and schools, new bridges being built and roads open through the hills.

Your new home, you thought, leaning closer to Nikolai's warm arms around your waist. This is what home is about.

“Is she ready?” you asked, pulling his head slightly away to clean a stain of oil off his cheek.

His eyes twinkled with pride. "Yes. I fixed the engine so the turbines could help balance the hull. It seems last time I didn't oil them completely, thus why they got stuck."

Thankfully, he had crashed into a thick canopy not so far from the Grand Palace. With a visit from the physician and the Healers, he recovered enough to try his new invention again after a couple of days.

Nikolai kissed the top of your head. “Are you going to Notvy Zem with me then?” he said, a sly grin on his face.

“Are you going to use this business trip as another makeshift honeymoon?” you couldn’t stop from asking, which made him laugh. It wouldn’t help that you did go to Notvy Zem in your real honeymoon, three years ago.

“It’s almost our anniversary.”

“Your priorities astound me, Kolya.”

He smiled, trailing a path of kisses down your neck. “It’s on you for being so enticing,” Nikolai muttered against your ear, your body wiggling as you got ticklish from his soft, fleeting kisses.

You hummed, giving in quickly under his touch. “Of course, I’ll go with you.”

Truth was, Nikolai wanted to swim with you on the tropical shores of the foreign nation, there where the water was turquoise clear, colorful, and blooming with life around the coral reefs. You seldom wanted to swim with him in the lake in front of the Little Palace for how cold and profound it was, fearing something would happen to him.

"No," you said about two months before your wedding, blocking his way toward the docks. "Last time you caught a cold. It's dangerous."

"I'm healthy again, my love. I'll be fine." But you weren't convinced, dragging him back to your room where he settled with sharing a warm bathtub.

Which reminded him... "Let's go, gorgeous." You slipped out of his grasp once your tail was gone, with him standing up and unbuttoning his coat to cover you with it before you could protest. “A refreshing bath is awaiting us.”

“But my clothes—” you started, feeling the soft fabric of velvet and cotton against your bare back. It wasn’t cold to wear one, but the fabric smelled like him, like expensive cologne and brandy and burned oil, so you kept it.

“They won’t be needed,” he told you, and you were about to gasp, faking shock even if your stomach was fluttering.

Nikolai fetched them, your light skirts and silk blouse hung over his shoulder as he squatted down to lift you in his arms. You hung onto him, kissing the outline of his jaw as he walked back to the Grand Palace, the guards nodding in your direction as they were used to the view by now.

You with your face hidden in the crook of his neck, a boyish smile on his lips as he gazed down at you as if you'd been lighting up the stars that were flicking you goodnight with your hands. Words weren't necessary anymore; love was shown as clear as the sky of that peaceful summer night.

[itslottiehere]

almost birthday twins — h.s

hello beautiful people 🤍 in honour of harry’s birthday — and mine as well! hehehe — i decided to write this little story to celebrate! if you want to, i’d be really happy to hear your feedback! you can do so in your reblog, under this post or in my asks! i thank you all in advance <3 hope you’re all having a great day or night wherever you are!! happy reading <3!!

tw: none!

word count: 2.2k

masterlist | leave your feedback or requests here

—

“so, how are we feeling, almost-birthday girl?”

she shrugged. “i mean, i’m not all too excited to celebrate getting older, i guess?”

her friend rolled her eyes, and laughed a dry laugh. “god woman, how depressing! how about celebrating the fact that you were born and that you get to live this fantastic life with the best of friends by your side?”

she laughed, and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “mmh, i guess it isn’t so bad then.” she tugged her friend closer. “are the others already inside?”

“yes! so let’s hurry up before i freeze my ass off. did you really have to be born in february? couldn’t you have been born in summer?”

“it’s not like it was my choice!”

.

at home, harry was finishing styling his hair for the night, when niall barged into his room.

“dude, are you almost done? you’ve been at it forever.” he whined, almost stomping his foot like a child.

harry kept looking in the mirror, fixing his already perfectly styled hair. “do i not get a pass, not even on my birthday?” he side eyed his friend, laughing a bit. “but don’t worry, i’m almost done and we can go.”

“yes! i want you to get wasted tonight… and maybe meet someone?” he whispered that last part, but harry heard it loud and clear.

yes, he hadn’t been on a date in over a year. yes, he hadn’t even thought about seeing anyone after his last girlfriend left him. yes, it had been a while and his friends — particularly, niall — have been pushing him to go out and have fun with someone, but he wasn’t ready, not yet.

he was in love with her, and pretty convinced she was the one. so, when one day he came home to a packed suitcase and a way too serious faced girlfriend, his whole world came crashing down.

“H?” niall called after him, harry hadn’t realised he was staring into nothing. “are you okay?”

harry cleared his throat before answering. “yeah, yeah, i’m alright.”

“i-i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to make you sad, especially on your birthday, oh fuck i-”

“niall, it’s fine.” he gave his friend a tight lipped smile. “i know you didn’t want to.” he straightened his shirt, ready to go, and added, “but maybe you’re right, maybe i should get out there.”

“that’s my boy!”

.

“here’s the birthday girl!”

her friends cheered while she arrived at the table.

“well, actually my birthday is in a few hours-”

“you know what we meant! c’mon, sit down, we’ve already ordered the first round.”

she wasn’t a huge fan of her birthday: of course, it was nice to be out with friends, but she never liked to make a big deal out of it. so, going out to have a drink with a couple of friends was what she preferred to do, it was low-key and all she really wanted.

so that’s what they did every year, sometimes on the exact day of her birthday, sometimes the night before, so they could wait until midnight and start her new lap around the sun together.

once the drinks arrived, her best friend raised her glass. “to the almost birthday girl, the best best friend i could’ve asked for. to a hundred more birthdays. cheers!”

“cheers!”

.

the boys walked into the pub, shaking the february chill from their shoulders, and walked up to the counter.

“hi! i have a reservation: horan, party of 4?”

“hi! let me check where we have you seated, and i’ll accompany you to your table in a second.” the waiter politely smiled, and went looking for their table.

after a little while he came back, with an embarrassed smile on his face.

“so, we actually have a little problem.” he said timidly. “it seems there was a double booking for your table for another party, and unfortunately we don’t have any other tables available. i did ask the present party if they would mind sharing the table, and they are okay with it! it might be a bit of a tight fit, and i understand if you prefer to leave. again, i’m really sorry this happened.”

niall slowly nodded. “uhm…do they seem like fun people?”

the waiter smiled and replied. “they seem very nice. one of them is a regular, she’s plenty nice, it’s her best friend birthday party tonight.” the waiter kinda blushed a little at the mention of the regular costumer. “i’m sure you’d have a nice time.”

niall looked at harry, asking silently for his opinion. harry shrugged. “it’s a nice coincidence that we’re both celebrating our birthday party. so, why not?”

niall was very happy about his friend’s decision. “please god, let them be nice people. please.” he thought. he knew harry needed to have a good night out, and he wanted him to have a nice time. and deep inside, he had a good feeling about tonight. there was something in the air.

harry and his friends went towards the table, seeing other four people already sat down. there was a girl smiling big, chattering with the other couple of people at the table, and beside her another girl, a bit more quiet, nursing her drink and playing mindlessly with the straw. she was quite pretty, harry thought. he noticed the way her hair flowed down her shoulders, the slight natural pout of her lips, and the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed.

yeah, quite pretty.

once they got closer to the table, niall broke the ice and introduced themselves. “hi! we’re the other people who booked the table.” he laughed slightly. “i’m niall and this is harry, our birthday boy!” he put his hands on harry’s shoulder, shaking him a little.

harry’s cheeks reddened a little, which she noticed. it made him look very cute, she realised.

“so… do you guys mind if we joined?” niall continued.

her best friend smiled wide, looked at her and then back at niall. “the more, the merrier!”

they decided to seat the birthday boy and girl close to each other, which brought a slight smile on both of their faces.

harry noticed how her eyes seemed to smile just as wide as her mouth, when she smiled with her teeth showing; and she noticed how his cheeks would be dented by the cutest set of dimples she had ever seen.

the conversation flowed easily, niall and her best friend hitting it off and challenging each other in who would be the quickest in drinking a guinness. the loser would have to offer the winner a drink, so the stakes were very much high.

she and harry were a bit more shy with each other. this wasn’t unusual for her, since she was normally on the quieter side, especially when she had to talk to someone she didn’t know. harry, on the other hand, was very talkative, he just found her very cute, especially the way she scrunched her nose when she downed the shots niall kept ordering for them.

“c’mon birthday twins, let’s take a picture of you two!” her friend suggested.

niall came rushing back with, yet, another tray of shots. “wait! drink up!”

she sighed, and harry shook his head in disbelief: the hungover tomorrow was gonna be a bitch.

harry turned towards her, eyes a bit glossy, smile a bit crooked and his voice slightly slurred. “you feel like taking another one? you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” he assured her.

she smiled at the sweetness of his words. “yeah, i want to. at the end of the day, our birthday comes only once a year, right?”

“right.” harry nodded and smiled.

taking a deep breath, they took their shots and her friend snapped a picture of them, picturing an overly confident harry and her with her eyebrows scrunched together from the burning taste of the tequila.

“aw, you look proper cute!” niall exclaimed and, winking at harry, he mouthed, “she’s cute, get her number.”

harry rolled his eyes and mouthed back “stop it”, afraid she might have seen what his dumb friend was telling him. and it’s not like he hadn't already thought about it. she was beautiful, funny and so sweet: how could he not?

fortunately for him, she didn't see any of that because her eyes were shut because of the alcohol making its way down her throat and her stomach. her head was feeling a bit floaty, and the room was spinning a bit. tomorrow was gonna be a blast.

“so-” harry softly spoke. “is today your birthday? mine is too!” she could sense that his enthusiasm was heightened by his inebriated state, and laughed a bit at the way his eyes opened wide.

“actually, it’s tomorrow.” she replied. “my friends and i usually wait for midnight together, so that on my actual birthday i can meet up with family and such. which is gonna be so much fun to do tomorrow, with the hangover and all that.”

“oh, i bet.” he smiled. “so we’re almost birthday twins, i’d say, yeah?”

“yeah,” she chuckled. “i guess we are.”

.

drink after drink, as continuous laughter filled the air, the night wore on, and her birthday was fast approaching. only thirty minutes before midnight struck, niall asked if it was okay if harry opened his presents, and at that harry tried to tell him that he could wait until after midnight, but she was very firm in her decision.

“absolutely not! you have to open them now, it’s your birthday! i'll open mine after midnight, now it’s your moment.” 

at that, harry smiled and unwrapped the presents got him, absolutely grateful for every single one of them.

but what he was most grateful was that night: this reservation mishap brought him the biggest present he could've asked for.

.

“just a minute before midnight!” her best friend smiled big. “so, feeling any better about ‘getting older’?”

she looked at her and mirrored her smile. “you know, i think i do a little.” she sighed. “tonight was a pretty legendary night.”

“oh, i know.” her friend snickered. “life gave you a huge gift tonight: a cute curly boy who can’t take his eyes off of you. he seems pretty fond of you, you know?”

she shook her head. “oh stop, he doesn't. he’s just a nice person, that’s it.”

her best friend raised her eyebrows, “whatever you say.” and then she whispered to her: “just know that i'm right about this, and that you’ll end up getting his number.”

“yeah, right.” she rolled her eyes. “so, how much longer?”

“twenty seconds! i'm so excited!” she clapped her hands with excitement.

the almost birthday girl chuckled, “darling, it’s not new year’s eve, you know.”

“still! i'm excited to celebrate you. we all are.”

she looked around the table and saw that her friends were looking at her, and so were her newly found friends. she could feel her heart being full of love and appreciation for every person sat at that table, old friends and new. 

 harry put his hand on her knee and squeezed it lightly. 

“you ready, birthday girl?”

she smiled, looking deep into his eyes. “yes, i am.”

as soon as midnight struck, she felt her best friend arms around her, tugging her in the tightest, bone crushing hug. “happy birthday, sunshine!” she looked at her with pure affection in her eyes. “i hope this year brings you all your heart desires, no one deserves it more than you.”

the birthday girl smiled softly, and batted her eyes to stop tearing up. “thank you so much, for everything. i'm so grateful for everything you do for me, i love you so much.”

“oh darling, i love you so much more. but no tears on your birthday! happiness, happiness all around!”

everyone around the table wished her a happy birthday and took their turn in giving her a hug.

finally harry turned to her, leaning close to her ear, and whispered: “can i be the first to give you your present?” 

she was taken aback and surprised. “wait, how can you have a present for me? we haven’t even met before ton-”

before she could finish her sentence, harry’s lips were placed on hers, kissing her so delicately but also firmly: his lips were soft and plump, tasting a bit like the alcohol they sipped during the night. his mouth moved slowly, as if he was tasting the moment for all it was. 

she felt her cheeks growing hot by the second, especially when she heard niall cheering of joy. she didn't know why it seemed like a huge surprise to him, for harry to kiss someone, since harry was a more than good looking guy, but she didn't care. this was the best kiss she’d ever had in her whole life, and she didn't want it to end. 

but alas, it did, but not before harry gave her a quick last peck, at which she smiled fondly. his lips were a deep red and slightly swollen, a bit shiny from her lipgloss. he gave her a toothy grin, and spoke. 

“happy birthday, darling.”

“you too, harry.” she smiled timidly, her face burning.

harry scrunched up his nose. “mmh, you’re kind of late.”

“oh c’mon, just by a minute.”

--

taglist: @a-strange-familiar @neverstaisfied

[ruhorih4ra]

Holaa! 🐏 I have finally finished editing the 8 part of this, it's quite long (compared to the others), so it probaby has more grammar mistakes since I kind of hate editing (YES I KNOW I ALREADY SAID THAT BEFORE BUT I REALLY REALLY HATE IT).

So, having said that: would you still read this Fanfic if I keep with the angst instead of moving on to the comfort were a worm?

👉🏻👈🏻 🪱

Flashbacks are written indented (this time heheh).

Also, this was not suppose to be a replaced!Au I fucking swear over all my forgotten wips, don't blame the fic, blame my writer skills JAJSJAJ so, no, Mc is not replaced. This trope is more like a ✨ misundertanding Replaced!Au ✨

Happy ending of course, I don't want to cry.

Finally, this part takes place after the little fight with Lucifer (part 6), we get to see what they did and thought.

Get out of my way 🌈

The Seven Lords of hell were hopeless, who would believe that being ageless hadn’t taught them a single damn thing about facing their emotions? It seems the safest option is to bury your feelings deep down until they come out like a grown-up angry demon.

Everyone in the house of lamentation heard your fight with Lucifer, it wouldn't be a surprise if all the shouting made its way to the castle as well.

Belphegor had remained with his face buried in the soft cow-print pillow, listening to every word with a calm he was far from feeling. When your voice broke, his fragile comfort broke too, he didn't try to lay his head again. He knew rest wouldn’t come soon.

Beelzebub was exercising, lifting weights. It wasn't unusual to hear Lucifer’s scolding, quite the opposite he dares to say. What was unfitting was hearing you scream with such anger and sadness. It brought him to a halt. As worried as he’d felt, he remained still with his arms holding the heavy weight.

While the silence filled the room and your voice faded, he felt the barbell was too much to bear, though he wasn't sure if it was the bar or the ominous silence that engulfed him.

Asmodeus absolutely hates being disturbed while painting his nails. Almost always ruins his ever perfect manicure, this time was no different. He was ready to complain to whoever was making such a fuss until he heard you. What do you mean by “forgotten about you” ? They would never do that! They love you more than their own sins! He's always pampering you with gifts and attention!

Just yesterday he had thought you would look great in the red suit he saw at the mall, he hadn't bought it tho. But what about those dramatic black shoes he saw at your favorite store! He frowned, slowly realizing he hadn't bought anything for you in quite some time. But you would never resent him for something material.

He bit his nails trying to remember the last time you both spend a full day together. Asmodeus averted his reflection in the mirror, how terrible it would be to see the truth in his own eyes.

Leviathan couldn't stop looking at the 'GAME OVER' screen in front of him. You called them a “Bunch of liars” that's not true! They love you, he loves you. You're his second player, his Henry. He looked at your empty place and wondered why you weren’t with him, why were you fighting Lucifer instead?

“My honorable Lord of Shadow, would you honor me?” You passed the controller to him, silently begging with your eyes, more than 1 hour stuck at the same level.

“Nu-uh. I must deny your request, my dear friend Henry” He said as he easily dodged an empty bottle of water. “Help me pass the level, you ass.” “I can't. This is for your own good.” But you didn’t miss the hint of doubt in his eyes.

“Pleaseee??” Leviathan tried, he really did. It's not his fault but muscle memory doing its job. “Thank you, Levi. You're the best!”

How did he even manage to win the game in less than 5 minutes?! Why are you laying your head on his shoulder?! He's going to collapse at any moment now.

“You'll always help me, right? With you, I'll never lose any game.”

He blushed just remembering. Still, your words echoed in his mind “Bunch of liars.” and the big and awful words remained on T.V.

'GAME OVER'

Will you give him another life? A second chance to win you over? Did he just lose in the stupidest way ever?

Satan arrived at HoL, accompanied by Sc. He couldn't shake the pain that had settled inside him back in the library. “I feel so abandoned.” He's surprised by his own stupidity.

How could he have treated you like that? Invalidating your feelings, it was more than simply jealousy, much more than that. You felt lonely, excluded, abandoned.

“Shut up, Satan.” “You need to rest, you are human.” You pretended to ignore him as you continued reading. “Really? I hadn't noticed. I thought I was an angel.” He chuckled and took the book from your hands.

“You are. My one and only guardian angel.” “Demons don't have guardian angels. Give me back my book.” You were tired but Satan's words were engraved on your heart. He had told you how lonely he had been feeling lately. “SHH.”

He big spoon you. Your head resting on his chest. He started reading for you. “Thanks for being here, Mc.” You shook your head, already halfway into dreamland.

“No, Satan. Thanks for letting me be here.”

“They were reading... 'How to get ride of annoying demons' heh, they want to get rid of us.” The mere thought of letting you go hurt him to the core, steals all his wrath and morphed it into pain. “Satan, don't worry. I'm sure everything's going to be alright.”

“I’d read them the instructions for getting rid of our pacts if they just let me hold them close again.” He ran a hand through his hair for the thousandth time.

“Forget it, I would read them every torture method they could use on us. Every curse, each damned echantation to hurt us.” His breathing became erratic as he fought the urge of tearing off his own hair.

“Calm down, Satan! Breathe!” Sc was nervous, she was unaware of how much of your time together she had taken. Now, she felt helpless watching the mess she had unintentionally done.

“What if they decide to leave us?! No, what if they decide to leave me?!” Satan didn’t notice his state, his demon form out. His eyes gleamed dangerously and his fangs showing.

“They won't! We'll talk, this is just a big misunderstanding, okay?” The black-haired lady was honestly terrified, how you manage to calm down seven demons was beyond her comprehension.

She was begging whoever could listen to her, that you would find in yourself the kindness to forgive these idiot demons who know nothing of emotions.

While Sc was outside, confronting a panicked Satan, Mammon was still glued to the same spot where you’d left him. As if your previous order had been for him rather than for Lucifer.

He could barely remember your words, the only thing that occupied his mind was your pained face. Your eyebrows arched to show sorrow, your eyes filled with tears. The way your mouth twisted into a broken smile as you fought back tears.

The saddest smile he had ever seen on you. But the worst of all was the shock, the shock in your eyes.

From his perspective, you looked surprised and frightened in equal measure. Did you realized something? “Mammon, it's okay, alright? Stop crying.” He narrowed his eyes, he saw Lucifer’s worried face apparently calling him but instead of his voice he heard yours.

“They don't mean it, they love you. I love you.” You held his head in your hands, giving him pecks first on his forehead and then all over his face.

“Please, say something.” Mammon had gone quiet after a slightly more violent than usual fight with his brothers, he had run to his room followed by you. His face was blank and you knew that was a bad sign.

“A scumbag and an idiot who can't do shit. A shitty big brother.” He repeated the words and you felt a lump in your throat. “That's stupid. You're none of those things” You wiped the single tear that had slipped down Mammon's cheek.

“You're so smart, very handsome.” You caressed his hair while continuing to praise him. “You are my first! The one who helped me more than anyone.”

“Lucifer saved your life. I couldn't do it, not that time or any other time.” Now his face was an actual waterfall of tears. “You saved me first. I wouldn't have survived the Devildom without a friend. You were the first to offer me your friendship. You're the Great Mammon, remember?”

Because of his tears he saw you with blurry eyes, and for a moment he was speechless. Your eyes were mesmerizing, as if someone had taken a ray of celestial light and shoved it inside them.

The words escaped without him being able to stop them. “You're gorgeous.” You blushed as soon as you heard him and quickly averted his eyes as a small smile appeared on your face. “I said that out loud? No way! It's not true! Y-you heard me wrong! I said that YOU ARE GORGEOUS! wait no-” You roar with laughter like a half-dead seal, but in Mammon’s ears it sounded heavenly and soon he joined.

“I wouldn't trade you for anything, Mammon.”

“I wouldn't trade them for anything, I wouldn't.” Mammon was crying in Lucifer's arms, clinging to him like a lost child. “I swear, Lucifer. Please do something.”

Lucifer felt useless, a complete fool. Why did he ask you such a stupid question? Was it born out of worry and anxiety? You were right, anything could have happen to you.

That's exactly what he fears the most, something or somebody hurt you and he hadn't been there to protect you. He was watching a movie instead, even when he saw you leave he hadn't tried to stop you, why?

He would have preferred you to throw a tantrum, fake everything, whatever to avoid admitting how he had failed you. How he had failed you again.

You were absolutely right, he is arrogant and stupid.

“Don't cry, Mammon. We will talk with them, they'll understand.” Mammon separated from Lucifer’s embrace, shaking his head. “They don't trust us anymore.” Lucifer remembered how you had closed your eyes when he was trying to caress you. The sudden fear in your eyes, the trembling of your legs.

He would never hurt you. Except that he has hurt you plenty of times before. Maybe his father was right all along, he wasn't meant to care and protect, only to kill and destroy.

“Who’s a good demon, hm? Who is it? You! You are a good demon!!” You pat Lucifer's head, smiling so much it almost hurts.

He'd only shared a bottle of wine that he had bought in the human world a long time ago. Who would have thought that you would end up like this? Happily giggling like a toddler.

Lucifer was ashamed and, much to his surprise, amused. “You're bolder than usual, my love.” You sat on his lap and cupped his face, he closed his eyes and leaned into your touch.

“My morning star, so good, what a good demon you are.” His eyes shone when he met yours, he recognized pure love through your gaze, deep and sincere. “I'm not a good demon, Mc. There are not good demons.”

He felt your forehead on his.

“I'm looking at one right now.” He smiled and thought to himself. “If they think so, maybe I can try.”

He's going to try. Lucifer swallowed, his throat still sore. “We'll try, we'll do better.”

Part. 9 ಠ⁠‿⁠ಠ

Thank youuu so much for reading!(⁠っ⁠˘⁠з⁠(⁠˘⁠⌣⁠˘⁠ ⁠)♡♡

Taglist: @yuumaofc @kodasstar @asmolover1234 @gallantys @prefesro @urminebutidontwantyou @dearangels

[a-soft-hornytiny]

Endearing Tease.

Summary: You spend a relaxed day at home with your boyfriend San.

Word count: 1.7k+ 

Genre: fluff with a bit suggestive at the end

Pairing: San x neutral!reader

Warning: teasing, use of princess as a gender neutral pet name (be careful while reading) let me know if I missed something.

Notes: my little bean’s ( @hijirikaww ) request hehehe I HOPE YOU LIKE IT. So cute. I had to add the Mario Kart scene because that’s something I do with my loved ones. And my best friend is a mario kart GODDESS. So I thought of it haha

Tags: under the cut (let me know if you wanna be added)

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“No no no no no oh come on!” You threw your controller onto the couch in frustration. One hour. You had been playing mario kart for one hour and you hadn’t won a single time. San was doing his little happy dance, celebrating that beat you again. It was always so close that you started sweating but in the end he always crossed the finish line first.

“Just tell me, San. What’s your secret? You must be secretly practicing. There is NO other way.” You took your controller again to start the next race. San thought it was cute to see you this worked up about a simple video game. He wouldn’t deny that he would be just as upset about it as you were if he lost. But he didn’t so he just continued jumping around. 

Something about seeing his 6ft tall significant other sit on his living room couch, eagerly choosing the next track murmuring something about finally beating him this time, made San incredibly happy. He couldn’t help but jump on the couch to give you a quick kiss on the cheek. Your face immediately lit up. As much as you hated losing, seeing him happy outweighed everything that upsets you.

San was about to lean in for a second kiss on the cheek when he stopped right before touching you. A grin formed on his face as he responded to your little rant.

“Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are.” He giggled while jumping off of the couch. And it was good he did because you had already reached out to grab him. You missed. 

“How dare you!!” You jumped up after him. After chasing each other around the couch for a bit, and San stubbing his toe on the coffee table, he finally stopped. Before you could catch him he got on his knees right in front of you, begging for forgiveness in a playful tone.

“Please Y/n, I’m so sorry, what can I do to make it up for you?” He said, clearly holding back laughing. You crossed your arms and fake pouted while turning away from him. “You have to cook dinner for me.” You answered, obviously using the opportunity he was giving you. 

“That’s not really a punishment.” San stated, getting ready to run again. You turned around, giving him a death stare while he completed his sentence. “Having to eat what you cook would be more like one.” He said, instantly taking off to the bathroom. He had locked himself in before you could reach him. 

You couldn’t even be angry. He was so adorable. The way his eyes sparkled when he was teasing you. The way he waited for you to react so he could act accordingly. You loved how you played with each other.

“Oh well if that’s what you think. I’ll be making my way into the kitchen to start cooking.” You said loud enough for him to hear and walked away from the bathroom. You hadn’t even fully reached the kitchen or even touched a single ingredient when he came sprinting down the hall. 

“Please, anything! But I want to keep my taste buds.” He stopped right in front of you, keeping you from touching anything. You had to admit it. Cooking was definitely not your strength. And it was not like San was a master chef either but ever since you managed to burn noodles, he didn’t trust you in the kitchen anymore. The only thing you were allowed to do was prepare ingredients like peeling or cutting them.

“Let’s just do it together okay?” He suggested, giving you a sweet smile. You nod.

San gave you everything that needed to be cut while he started preparing the pan and everything else that was connected to heat. Cooking together was fun. Especially since you could always tease him for not being able to reach the high shelves. He always looked at you with those big round eyes and you knew you had to get something off of the shelf for him. 

“So smol.” You pinched one of his cheeks as you gave him the salt you had gotten for him. You had always wondered why he would place something that he would need so frequently so high up but one day you realized he did it so he had a reason to call you. San secretly loved it when you did things like that for him. Most of the time he would even be able to reach it himself by just getting a chair but he wanted to see you smile as you teased him about his height. And a plus point was that you usually gave him a kiss afterwards. 

And there it was. You gave him a short peck on the forehead before turning around to continue chopping.

San giggled as he turned around to check on his, now hot, frying pan. He had just added the vegetables you had been cutting, when your hands wrapped around his waist from behind. Your chin rested on his shoulder.

“My little chef.” You whispered, giving his shoulder a quick kiss. 

San let his head lean against yours as he carefully cooked the vegetables on butter before adding some rice to the other side of the pan, seasoning it with soy sauce and frying it. The smell of freshly cooked vegetables mixed with a bit of butter and soy sauce made its way into your nose, causing you to take a deep breath. 

“Smells amazing Sannie.” You say while letting go of him. You pulled out two plates which he promptly filled with the freshly made fried rice. 

“So what do we watch?” You asked while settling on the couch, plate and utensils in your hands. He shrugged before taking the remote and zapping through a few channels before giving up and opening Netflix. 

You decided on a documentary on whales before starting to eat. 

“Here comes the plane.” You joked, raising your spoon. San raised one of his eyebrows as you started making plane noises. 

“Come on, we don’t want the plane to crash do we?” You teased, getting him to finally open his mouth. “Good boy.” The praise made his face light up immediately.

After eating up and placing the dishes on the couch table where they would probably stay for a while, San laid his head down on your lap and pulled up a blanket. Huge majestic sea mammals were crossing your tv screen as a male commentator explained their behavior. In that calm atmosphere, you let your fingertips trace along San’s arms, following every little detail and vein on his skin.

He let out a deep relaxed sigh as you reached his hand and intertwined your fingers with his. This is what he had needed. San had had a very exhausting week at work and had been looking forward to this day all week. A day he could fully spend with his loved one.

You raised his hand up gently and started to set kisses on every single one of his knuckles. You couldn’t help it. He was too beautiful. 

As you let your mouth wander further, kissing his wrist and his arms, you felt San squirm under you. “You like getting my affection mhm?” You murmured against his skin, kissing his shoulder next. But San didn’t answer. He just turned on his back, now looking up to you. You couldn’t read his eyes as he stared right into your soul. And before you realized it, he grabbed you by your collar and pulled you down into a kiss. 

You melted into the kiss as San carefully nibbled on your lower lip. Without any hesitation, you opened your mouth letting his tongue meet yours. Goosebumps formed all over your body while he explored your mouth. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted himself from your lap and pushed you down onto the soft cushions.

He was now sitting on top of you, pinning your hands above your head. He grinned as he let go of your lips and eyed you from the top.

“You’re such a big baby.” He whispered while gently caressing your cheek. You smiled. But you already had a plan on how to get back at him for his teasing. You looked at him with big googly eyes as you took his hand and pressed kisses onto it.

“Can we..” You stopped, pretending to be shy and hiding behind his hand. 

“Can we take this to.. to the bedroom?” 

San’s eyes immediately went dark, obviously loving your submissive self. He slowly leaned closer before groaning into your ear.

“Of course princess.”

Now you were blushing for real. You loved that pet name. It made you feel so tiny and pretty. 

San got off of you and helped you up. “Go and undress for me princess, I'll be right there.” You nodded, giving him a quick kiss. You hurried into your bedroom, your heart beating up to your throat. As much as you would love to sub for him, you wanted to tease him back. And this was your chance.

You stood behind the door as you heard footsteps approach.

“Princess?” San asked entering the room, searching for you with his eyes. And suddenly you slammed the door shut. 

San didn’t even have the chance to react when you pushed him against the door, cornering him with your arms. You glanced down to San. He was still in shock staring straight onto your chest.

You smirked while you put your finger under his chin to lift his gaze. 

“My turn to tease you now princess.”

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Tags: @jonghoisbabie @multidreams-and-desires @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers-writes @serialee @crimsonbubble @cometoceantrenches @em--ilysm @deja-vux @kawaiiloli00 @ddeonghwva @aaaaajonghooooo @sansbun @cookies-n-joong @plonys @hijirikaww @nari-nim @yunkiwii @mingi-ivity @racheloveyunho @seongsangsgf @jhmylove @lizsvcks @yunhobabygurl @leoninadecorazones @kerra-that-one-random-fangirl @star1117-archives

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[seb-reads31]

I have an idea that I would love to request but I want to request all of the Obey Me characters except for Lucifer and Belphegor. Only if you don't mind of course. My idea is that the Obey Me characters had a bad day so GN Reader wants to cheer them up. They're not so good with words as they're socially awkward but they decided to write a letter to read when he's alone (they're too embarrassed to be there when he reads it XD) about their good points & they would be there for him if he needs them. They also offered to do anything he wants to their ability or to leave if he wants space. Is this ok? Please tell me if you're not interested! Thanks!

Tw's - Kinda angsty, mentions of mammon being bullied, general sad boi hour for all of them, me bullying the brothers in Luke’s head canons because I will fight God himself to keep him safe and happy, self depreciating thoughts in Levi’s, Satan being called a copy, general bullying in all of the head canons to make it work ;-;, mentions of being stressed and burnt out in Diavolo, Barbatos, and Simeon’s head canons, mentions of a one night stand in Asmo’s head canons, special bullying towards Lucifer in Luke’s head canons hehehe,

Genre - hurt/comfort

Type - Head canons

Comments - This is such a cute idea!! 🥹 This is absolutely okay anon, so cuteeee, I already have ideas flowing. The rest are under the cut! <3 I need to make a hurt/comfort label now

Comforting words

Mammon:

💸 He was more than likely upset after his brothers started bullying him like usual for something he didn't do

💸 Normally it wouldn't affect him but today was just one of those days where it really got to him

💸 Now, he would probably be held up in his room to get away from his brothers and their ridiculing

💸 I would imagine that MC, being the shy thing they are, would spend like, and hour or 2 writing a note, out it in an envelope, then slides it under Mammon's door with a little knock, and runs away quickly so they wouldn't be seen

💸 Mammon, on a normal occasion would've told the person at the door to go away, assuming it was one of his brothers, but they normally just bust in

💸 You were the only one that knocked in this house (other than Lucifer... mostly) so he got up from wherever he was and opened the door to find no one there

💸 He would go to look up and down the hallway but as he did so, his foot bumped into the letter, and he gave it a curious look

💸 It was a plain envelope with the words "Read me" on it. He picked it up then shut his bedroom door returning to his original spot to read the letter

💸 And once he did, he. Balled.

💸 This man was sobbing, didn’t even finish the letter with how overwhelmed with comfort and happiness just from this note you sent to him.

💸 He fell in love all over again, you managed to make this poor demon fall in love with you twice, The Great Mammon is wrapped around your finger

💸 He immediately decides to buy you a ton of gifts and cute stuff you would like, fight me

Leviathan:

🎮 Today was a bit of a rough day for the poor otaku

🎮 He missed a limited edition merch drop he had been waiting for for about 4 months, lost a tournament by a couple of points, and his self-loathing thoughts had started to mess with him and affect his gaming abilities

🎮 You were supposed to come to his room for an anime marathon you both were really excited for, but when you got there, you heard.. crying..?

🎮 You slowly and quietly opened the door to see Levi rubbing his eyes harshly with shaking hands. He didn’t hear you open his door over his cries, and luckily he didn’t

🎮 Just like before with Mammon, you spent about an hour writing a note for him to read, and some of his favorite snacks along with the note, you placed them outside the door this time and knocked, running away yet again (this may get repetitive)

🎮 He quickly rubbed the tears running down his face and cleared his voice, starting to ask for the password, only to be met with silence

🎮 He sniffed and walked to his bedroom door, looking up and down the hallway when something on the floor caught his attention

🎮 He noticed that his favorite snacks and a letter. Like before, he grabbed the note (and snacks) and retreated back into his room

🎮 This poor otaku also starts crying while reading the letter poor babies-

🎮 He also decided to get you something you really wanted, whether it be an autograph from the voice actor of your favorite character, some merch of your favorite character, or a game you’ve been wanting for a while now

🎮 I can already see him writing you a note back as well as a thank you because he’s also on the shy and anti-social side as well, but he would actually give you it in person with a giant blush on his face.

Satan:

🧶 Satan got caught smuggling a cat into HoL again, and got his spell book privileges taken away.

🧶 Obviously very salty, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Someone in RAD had called him a copy of Lucifer, and that he was just the embodiment of his anger. It really got to him, and he held himself up in his bedroom to read his frustrations away to the best of his ability, knowing that if he did Lucifer would scold him again.

🧶 You noticed his mood and asked his brothers what had happened, and luckily Beel was in the same class as Satan when that demon said that.

🧶 You immediately felt bad, and came up with a small plan to make him feel better, but this plan included asking Lucifer permission to at least allow him (and you) to take cats in and foster them until you both can find their forever homes

🧶 It took a lot of convincing (and courage, but you were determined to help Satan feel better) on your part, but he eventually caved and gave you permission!

🧶 You very quickly walked around the Devildom (with one of the brothers that wasn’t Satan) to find a cat. It took a bit but you eventually found one, a small kitten who looked absolutely adorable! You went to a nearby pet store to get some supplies for the precious baby and future cats. You also bought the kitten a collar (You’ll see why here in a second)

🧶 You quickly brought the kitten home, and wrote a small letter for Satan like normal, and put it on the kittens collar. You carried them to Satan’s bedroom door and got them to sit. You quickly knocked on the door then ran away.

🧶 Satan grumbled as he walked up to the door, ready to tell whoever it was to go away, but was met with a mostly empty hallway. He hadn’t even noticed the kitten until he heard a small meow below him, and finally saw the small kitten and the envelope attached to their collar.

🧶 He looked at the kitten curiously as he picked them up, grabbing the note from their collar, taking them back inside his room

🧶 He sat down with the kitten in his armchair, placing them in his lap (they got comfortable very quickly) and opened the note

🧶 He was very happy to read your letter, and was ecstatic when he learned the news of Lucifer allowing you two to foster cats until they get a new home, he was a tad bit sad that he couldn’t keep them but this was a good compromise for him

🧶 He knew immediately that he needed to take you to somewhere as thanks for what you did for him today <33

Asmodeus:

😘 Asmo wasn’t feeling the best today. Normally he feels absolutely amazing and on top of the world, but today was just an off day for him, and he didn’t feel as beautiful as he normally does

😘 On these days, he would normally go to the spa, shopping, or to a club. But today he just didn’t want to get out of bed, not event to do his morning skin care routine

😘 Everyone noticed that he wasn’t at breakfast, but didn’t think too much of it, mostly assuming that he had a one night stand with some random demon after he went to The Fall

😘 The rest of the brothers just chalked it up to that, but you knew better. You were actually with him a majority of the night watching romcoms in his room, so you would've known if he went to The Fall

😘 After breakfast, you went to his bedroom and knocked on the door, asking if he was alright, but the only response that you were given was Asmo telling you that he wasn't feeling well, and didn't want to be bothered

😘 His tone of voice was sad.. and scratchy, as if he had been crying..

😘 You didn’t know what had happened, if anything, but you had a feeling that Asmo wasn’t quite feeling like himself, and so you decided to write him a note who would’ve thought-

😘 While you write the note, you decided to grab one of his other brothers so you could go to one of his favorite spa and set up an appointment for him later on when he was feeling up to leaving his room again

😘 You mentioned that in the note, then put it in the envelope, sliding it under Asmo’s door, knocking on it softly before running away as quietly as possible

😘 He sniffed, wiping away any lingering tears as he went to open the door, but stopped when he saw the note on the ground, and just like the rest of his brothers, he opened the envelope and read the letter

😘 Also a crier but he’s Asmo, he cries the pretties out of all of his brothers <33

😘 He almost immediately gets ready, doing his morning routine, makeup, and getting dressed in slightly comfier clothes for the spa, then went to find you and invite you to the spa with him as a thank you for doing all of this for him

Beelzebub:

🍔 Beel was more than likely yelled at my Lucifer for eating everything in the fridge again, or lost a couple of his Fangol games in a row, or got in a fight with Belphie (if that's even possible 💀) and now he's sad

🍔 You noticed that he was pouting in his classes throughout the day, and asked one of the brothers what happened

🍔 They told you and you wanted to find a way to cheer him up, but because of your shy nature you did the only thing you could think of take a guess

🍔 So, you wrote the note full of comfort, and even went out to Hell's Kitchen Gordon Ramsay, that you? to get him some of his favorite foods off of the menu

🍔 Beel was too busy being sad that he couldn't smell the delicious food outside of his door until you knocked on it just go with it for my sake

🍔 He immediately followed the heavenly smell and saw a big bag of food with a note on top of it

🍔 He more than likely read the note while eating some of the food, and felt comforted by how much you cared about him to get him his favorite foods and to write him a note

🍔 He definitely went to your room to share the food you got, but didn't mention the note so he didn't embarrass you cause he knew about your shyness <3333

Diavolo:

👑 More than likely super stressed with all of his duties piling on top of him repeatedly

👑 And the stress caused him to be a little burnt out and sad because he didn't have any free time to relax and unwind

👑 You two would normally would have some small tea parties which mostly consisted of you, Diavolo, Barbatos, and on occasion one of the other exchange students

👑 You two mostly spoke about the program, your classes, and how it was living with the brothers

👑 But recently, Dia hasn't been available enough to have your small tea parties

👑 You messaged Barbatos asking about Dia, and he told you about his situation

👑 You immediately felt bad for him and decided to make him a small note to encourage him to work hard but to take care of himself most of all

👑 You walked up to his castle with the note in hand, knocking on the large door and waited for Barbatos to answer patiently

👑 When he did, he was slightly surprised, although he didn't show it, he asked what you needed, but you just handed him the letter and asked him if he could deliver it to Dia for you

👑 This was one of the bravest things you did, and Barbatos couldn't help but give you a small pat on the head, reassuring you that Diavolo would be very happy to receive the letter

👑 Once you went back to the HoL, Barbatos went to deliver your letter with a small smile, which confused Dia, especially when Barbatos told him to take a break for the next hour

👑 He opened the letter and recognized your handwriting immediately, and began to read

👑 He was very motivated, and finished his work not too long after an hour long break just so he could do something for you as thanks for the much needed motivation and comfort

Barbatos:

🍵 This poor man is also burnt out ;-;

🍵 Diavolo's birthday was soon and that was a very important event in the Devildom

🍵 So he's been planning, contacting catering companies for different things, planning decorations, etc etc

🍵 He had barely gotten any sleep because he needed this to be perfect for the young prince

🍵 You two would often bake together with the addition of Luke (because you couldn’t handle being alone with him but shhh)

🍵 You (and Luke) had tried to see if Barbatos was free earlier in the month (yes a month was needed to prepare Diavolo’s birthday, everything has to go perfectly smooth after all) but he said that he wouldn’t be available until after the celebration

🍵 On occasion, you would message Diavolo asking how Barbatos was doing, and normally he would say that Barbatos was doing fine and was doing great with the preparations, however, one day he said something different..

🍵 Diavolo had said that he was worried about Barbatos, there were bags under his eyes, he was yawning constantly, and sometimes he would even fall asleep while standing. Whenever he brought it up and mentioned that he should take a break, Barbatos would say no and that he was just fine and didn’t need a break

🍵 You immediately felt bad for Barbatos, but knew that if you tried to help him at all he wouldn’t let you saying that “You’re a guest here in our realm, I wouldn’t want to burden you with such trivial things.”

🍵 You wanted to help, but the only thing you could think of to help him, even the slightest was, you guessed it, a letter!

🍵 It took you a bit longer than the rest, to really drive the point home because he’s more stubborn than a mule 😃 I love Barbs so much but I can see him being incredibly stubborn

🍵 The next time Lucifer had a meeting with Diavolo, you kindly asked him if he could give Barbatos this letter from you, and luckily he didn’t question it but you feel like he knew what was in the letter from the small smirk he gave you as he agreed..

🍵 Barbatos had received the letter after the meeting, giving Lucifer a tired yet confused look but accepted the letter

🍵 Later on, almost 4 in the morning he finally decided to read the letter before he got about 2 hours of sleep

🍵 However, as he read the letter, he felt comforted, and the sudden need to sleep more than he was originally planning to, and possibly longer with the permission of Diavolo it was immediately given

🍵 That day he spent sleeping and taking better care of himself, and was more conscientious about his mental and physical health as he worked on the rest of the preparations for Diavolo’s birthday, he even found enough time so you and him could bake something together alone and away from Luke for once

Simeon:

✒️ Simeon had been having writers block for the past few weeks, and he was starting to get a little burnt out while trying to come up with something for the next chapter in his book

✒️ Simeon was one of the calmer people(?) in the Devildom so you were more comfortable around him, and less fidgety and nervous. He just has that vibe, fight me

✒️ You two would often sit in Purgatory Hall whether it would be in his room or the living room talking about your favorite books together. You would occasionally give him some ideas for his books and inspire him, but even with your random thoughts, nothing would truly inspire him enough to write something that he would really like

✒️ You had noticed his slight frustrations when it came to not being able to write anything thanks to his writers block, and wanted to give him some slight encouragement by writing out a couple of new ideas and where they could lead along with comforting words and reminding him to take care of himself and to take breaks when needed

✒️ You asked Luke if he could give Simeon the letter with the promise of making some human world desserts as a small payment not that he really needed that because he also noticed how upset Simeon was about not being able to write

✒️ He was feeling both inspired and encouraged by your words, enough so to write about 3 chapters, along with an outline for about 5 more manz really was inspired, good job hooman 👍

✒️ It took a little bit less than a week for him to finish the first draft of the book, and because you encouraged him so much, he decided to let you read it first and give your thoughts on it. He even bought you some of your favorite snacks in the Devildom, and some other snacks from the Celestial Realm he thought you might like as well as a small thank you

Luke:

🐶 My personal opinion, you wouldn’t be super nervous or shy around Luke because he’s just too sweet to be shy around him, he’s like a little brother to me personally, so I don’t see you writing a note to him to comfort him but back to the reason why he was upset 😭

🐶 Luke had been teased a lot more by the brothers than usual, and was starting to genuinely feel upset about it, he is technically a child after all

🐶 He was constantly on the verge of tears whenever the brothers went too far, but he was too proud to actually speak up about it not that any of the brothers would actually stop I feel like

🐶 It finally took you asking him one day when Solomon and Simeon were out and about and asking you to watch over him for a bit, and he started crying

🐶 You immediately wrap him up in a hug and rub his back comfortingly until he calms down with a small apology for crying like that but you immediately shush him and say that he has nothing to apologize for and that the brothers should be apologizing for teasing him to the point that he’s crying

🐶 Children can be sensitive about things, and this is what bothers him the most and it didn’t help that they didn’t stop when he asked them to

🐶 When he finally calmed down, you offered to get some cookies from a nearby bakery with either Barbatos or Diavolo because the last thing you wanted to do was ask one of the brothers to go out into the Devildom with you after they caused Luke to cry 😤

🐶 Both Diavolo and Barbatos were confused, but you told them that you would explain later because you didn’t want to upset him after he finally calmed down and was happy and excited about going to the bakery

🐶 While at the bakery, you silently explained to Diavolo what had happened because Barbatos was entertaining Luke and grabbing him a couple of pastries and sweets to help him feel better

🐶 Diavolo had a small glare in his eyes as you told him, and once you finished he gave you a small nod, telling you that he would solve this issue later on today once Simeon and Solomon were back

🐶 Let’s just say, Lucifer wasn’t the one doing the scolding today. It was Simeon and Diavolo combo, for 7 HOURS. Why? Simeon was incredibly upset and Diavolo didn’t appreciate the fact that they were teasing a child despite that he was very visibly upset. HA, TAKE THAT LUCIBIT-

🐶 Anyways~ Luke was never called a chihuahua or anything dog related after that. And if he was their father forbid if you, Simeon, or Diavolo caught wind of it

Solomon:

🪄 It took a lot to really upset Solomon, and even then he wouldn't show it because of how good he is at covering up

🪄 I think one of the things that would truly get to him is not being able to find the right ingredients for a potion or spell he's been working on for about a century or so

🪄 However he would figure something out, he does have pacts with 72 demons after all, one of them knows something or another or has a connection

🪄 So I don't personally think he would be so upset to the point where he'd need a note to comfort him

🪄 And yes, I believe immortality can get lonely for him sometimes, but he has made friends in the Devildom and Celestial Realm who will be there with him because they're also immortal, to an extent at least from my knowledge

Notes - I really wish that I could've come up with something for Solomon but he seems really chill and a good problem solver. Beel was the most difficult one to come up with though, took me a solid hour alone ;-; but it was worth it 💪 and yes, there was necessary brother bashing in Luke's. This was a lot of fun though! Thank you anon, and I hope you like it!

[smilingangel582]

Hii coming back to yuukoku no moriarty

I enjoyed that so much and also... Next week I'm probably gonna take a break cuz my birthday is coming on 19th this month hehe so I may sneak a few fics here and there

Enjoyyy ps spoilers for moriarty the patriot

Summary: Sherlock enjoys the phrase William always uses when he wants to catch him. But fortunately for him and unfortunately for Will Sherlock has a another thing he desires...

Me? Beg how absurd!

"Pleease Liam!"

Silence.

"Just one time... Trust me I won't ask u to say it too much!"

Sighing, William James Moriarty gave him a tired look as he stopped his attempts to grade the papers piled up on his desk. Aparantly a certain childish detective wishes an audience from him and so far he was able to entertain me (undeniably even himself).

So far the phrase 'catch me if u can' Brough some sense of happiness however it doesn't stop there.

When he gives Sherlock an inch he takes a mile.

"For God's sake, I can't beg without a reason Mr. Holmes"

"I know, I know... but it sounds almost as arousing as that line! Please... just once"

"No..." Shaking his head, Will returns to his work, and the detective pouts look a bit immature in his actions.

"Alright fine, I'll make u beg!"

Will shrugs now and notices Sherlock constantly trying to loom over him, perhaps distracting him. "Behave... like a good detective"

"Ugh, fine..." he sits back down, and that made Will chuckle in amusement, seeing how he resembles a child there.

Sherlock thinks harder and attempts to slide a foot over his leg as he thought accidently hitting his leg "Sorry..."

But thats a good idea... he purposefully crosses his legs again and hitting him gently, on purpose.

Will notices this and ignores though it is irritating. Now Sherlock smirks "Oh Liam what's that? Your brow twitched... wanna beg me to stop?"

"Do you think that makes me wanna beg? Mr. Holmes, I expected u to read the situation well, but... ah!" He flinched so hard that the pen drops on the desk. The pointy tip of Sherlock's shoe slides up his shin and that caught his attention unfavourably.

"Something wrong?" He grins now gently sliding up his knee and Will backs off to shrug off the touch "What...? You OK?"

"Crap... Holmes don't-!" He stumbles back again and glares "stop it..."

"My, I haven't seen a look like that, my sweet Liam." he comes forward, "What? You like me to do... this?" He slides his hand up his hips, and Will backs to a corner, suddenly letting a reaction unexpected and something which Sherlock didn't intend to get from him.

"Wait... are you ticklish?"

Blushing Will frowns "No... why?"

Sherlock grins now "I was trying to make u moan but it seems something even better will make u beg..."

"Wait-" he gasped now grabbing his wrists "Don't... hehe uhuh Sheherlock!"

"Oh? This..." squeezing his waist making a giggle slip past his lips, "I don't see why it bothers you, Mr. Not ticklish?"

"Wahahait, sehehriously haha... Sheherlock!" He squeaked now and then Sherlock perked his ears "Was that begging I hear?"

"Nohoho! It's hehehe, a command!" He giggles, sinking back against the wall weak to it already.

Laughing, Sherlock couldn't help but tease. "Bloody hell, Liam, how could the Lord of crimes even be intimidating if you're so giggly and adorable?" He chuckled, now pinching his ribs more prominently, making him cackle back."Is a tickle all that it takes to break you?"

Giggling but nothing to say so Sherlock crawls his fingers up the top ribs. "What's under here~?"

"Ahahaha pl-" he instantly closes his lips, but that doesn't go unnoticed by the detective. He grins like a child. "Oho... was that that I think it was... soooo closee!"

Will squirms now, "Whahatever dihihid you hehehear you mahahahan chihihild?"

Pause, and it was at this moment this professor knew, he messed up.

"AHAHAHA WAHAHAIT! JEEHEHEHEZ! AHAHAHA HOHOHOLMES!"

"Ooof..." he winces playfully at Will's predicament as he tickled his armpits "Didn't see that coming did ya?"

"EHEHENOUGH! STAHAHAHAP THAT! FOHOHOOL!"

Shaking his head "Oh no sweetheart, you should beg not order... I'm tickling you till you beg for mercy!"

After a while or torturous processing his decision he gave up. Will can never handle tickles and teases, especially from this menace. He cried out desperately "HAHAHA PLEHEHEHASE! STAHAHAP AHAHA MEHEHERCY!"

Fingers stopped and Will gasps for breath, flushed and tired, he didn't look like the calm professor anyone assumed he was before now that... he's well tickled pink.

"Ahaha, gohosh, you're ahaha trickster!" He giggles a bit and notices Sherlock suddenly in awe, "Liam...well..."

"Whahat?"

"I think I have a kink in listening to you beg like that..." he said it with a blank face and Will frowns with a groan "Huh? My word...surely you jest..."

Grinning, he leaned forward. "That's even more satisfying than that line you used!"

"Whatever... just let me have a break, aha, " he waves a hand and Sherlock grins "what? So that means I can do it again?"

"Ha! Try again? This was unprepared, next time I won't make a single implore!"

"Again? You liked that, didn't you, Liam?"

"Oh hush! I got work, so leave, " but a smile remains as he pushes his face gently.

[lightlycareless]

Has Naoya and Y/N ever been caught during the deed lol?

😏 why would you want to know that, hm? hoped they have? hehehhe lmao ignore me.

Ok so this actually gave me the best excuse to write a small follow up of what happened after this one-shot heheh. Call it a… Naoya and Y/N aren’t as smooth as they thought.

(but you’ll find another answer at the end of the drabble too 😊)

warnings: none. just the slightest mentions of nsfw. also this is a continuation of another oneshot so as needed I have to say MINORS DNI. mentions of pregnancy. a jealous manager. naoya defends what's his.

Happy reading!

It would happen just a few weeks later after that mission ended through a keenly attentive, not easily fooled manager who didn’t believe any of the words written down in the report.

They didn’t make sense, none of it did; but what was most infuriating is that everyone seemed to be ok with it!

And of course they would—the Zen’in heir probably paid his way out of it, just like he always does, and who would dare oppose him?!

Your manager, though, as if he wasn’t very much already, suspected there was something deeper going on. Far more than what the eye revealed between the two, which became nothing but clear for him when that transpired.

What did you even see in that wretched, egocentric, selfish, boring man? He’s done nothing but constantly belittle those around him with his grandiosity that wasn’t even his to being with! Given to him by those before!

It hurts him so much to see how hopelessly in love you are with Naoya, someone so kind and beautiful as you… that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to open your eyes to the truth, even if that were to greatly humiliate you.

And so, after slowly, diligently, for days and days on end, examining the report and place you both allegedly cleared of all curses, he comes to the shocking, albeit slightly disgusting conclusion that something more transpired there.

An insult to the protocol you both swore to abide as sorcerers, as well as a transgression to his yet-to-be disclosed feelings for you.

One that he did not hesitate to inform to the higher ups, those that initially didn’t care much for it, thinking it to be nothing but senseless gossip, until he reminded them that this could easily be used as a way to blackmail the Zen’in—imagine the outrage from the community if they were to hear of the unruly relationship between the heir, and you, though coming from a respected family, was still considered a lesser sorcerer to their standards?!

He wished to not cause you any pain, but it’s only through this method that you’ll understand why Naoya was not good for you. Nothing compared to what he can provide, if only you’d let him.

Something meant to happen when summoned by HQ to be interrogated, alongside relatives and fellow sorcerers that wished to see if the rumors circulating the two were true.

“Care to explain what truly happened in the mission?” One of the higher ups would speak, eyes directly set on you, the one firstly responsible for the job.

“I—I’ve written it in the report, there’s nothing else to say.” You quickly respond, doing your best to hide the tremor in your voice, well aware that your lies had been discovered yet hoping they truly hadn’t. “Unless you wished a detailed explanation of… something else…?”

“The truth.” Another insists. “Do not act like you don’t know what we’re talking about—we have enough evidence to dictate otherwise!”

“But—But nothing happened! I just miscalculated the presence of a curse, but I fixed it afterwards! The place is safe to be inhabited again!” you gasp. “I know there’s a discrepancy in the hours in between but it was nothing that—”

“There shouldn’t have been a discrepancy to begin with!” The first one adds. “What exactly were you two doing during the mission?!”

“She’s told you already, it was only a slight miscal—” Naoya interjects, only to be shot down immediately after.

“This is for her to answer!”

“I—I don’t have anything else to say—” you stammer, growing desperate at their relentless insistence, feeling like you were being effectively cornered with no foreseeable escape…

Which would have been almost true, if they hadn’t irked Naoya in more ways than one, beginning from this useless summon, their belittlement of you, and now, their interruption when he spoke.

Naoya was never one to accept offences towards himself or anything that pertained to him, regardless of who it came from…

Perhaps it was time to remind them of who truly held power here.

“But I do.” Naoya frowns, taking a step forward and looking them in the eye, preparing himself to state the new course of your and his life. “The reason why we took longer than anticipated was because I proposed to her. I’m going to marry Y/N.”

“What?!” Your manager is the first to squeak, followed by the gasps of those present at the meeting and confusion from the higher ups.

“We kept this relationship a secret because honestly, it is no one’s business to know of it.” Naoya proceeded, now taking your hand. He feels the uncertainty in your skin, the fear of disclosing an aspect kept secret until now…

Yet, his company reassures you that even though this was not the way either envisioned revealing their relationship, he is not ashamed to do so. Assert was his heart had been dreaming of… as well as offer a distraction from the lapsed that occurred during the mission.

Although for the last…  speckled with a bit of exaggeration.

“And she’s pregnant too. So, you’d do good to not refer to the mother, and my wife, of the future Zen’in heir in such crude manner!”

And with that, Naoya’s purpose becomes true, with the notion of the outrageous mission tossed out the window and effectively replaced with the unexpected news of your new civil status, what it meant for the L/N, the Zen’in, as well as the supposed pregnancy that officially united both.

Your manager was beyond enraged that his plan not only failed but paved the way for his worst nightmares to become real—though that is something he wouldn’t have to worry about anymore, Naoya having quickly labeled him as the responsible behind this ridiculous endeavor and promptly got… rid of him.

Besides, it’s not like you’ll have much use for him either way, for your attention will solely remain on him from that point forward.

And perhaps something else…

“Well, it’s a good thing we managed to get out of that one alive.” Naoya says, now that it’s not necessary to hide your relationship with him, he finds comfort in walking through the halls of his alma mater while holding your hand. “Though it’s a shame of how it came to be…”

“I suspected this might’ve happened, but that doesn’t mean I was expecting half of the jujutsu community to be there…” you silently admit, still battling through the shame and sorrow this situation brought you. “At least I won’t have to worry about how I’ll tell my family about it!”

“I’m more worried about the pregnancy I had to lie about so they’d leave us alone.” Naoya laments, a part of him… hoping it wasn’t the case. “However we proceed from here, it’s bound to have some… outrageous responses.”

Thankfully, his prayers might just be heard.

“Actually… it might’ve not been a total lie…”

Naoya stops on his tracks, eyes widening as he turns to see you.

“Y/N?” he murmurs, unwilling to be fooled on, unless…?

Your smile tells him everything.

“I fear that the pill might’ve not worked as properly as we hoped.” You continue. “So, you were not that far off when saying I was pregnant…”

“Are you being truthful right now?” Naoya breathes. “Or is this a ploy to—”

“Why would I do that?” you pout before giggling. “I want this baby as much as you do!”

“Then you’ve made me the happiest man in the world.” He immediately admits, taking you into his arms before lifting you for a kiss. “I can’t believe it, a baby of our own!”

“Well, believe it!” you grin. “But what are we going to do about the wedding…? I hoped to get married before getting pregnant…”

“We’ll have to do it quick. Preferably before your stomach begins to show.”

“…And before nothing fits me anymore.” You lament.

“You’ll look delectable either way.” He playfully incites, you pout once more. Naoya laughs as he pinches your cheek. “My wife.”

“Husband.” You smile back, leaning into his hand. “And soon, daddy.”

“Don’t say that, unless you don’t mind being caught here too.”

“Ugh no, let’s go home.” You say, not batting an eye as you pull him to the exit, hoping to leave all this behind and focus on the congratulations your family (and some of Naoya’s) have in order, as well as the preparations for your new, loving life next to your beloved husband.

And Naoya happily obliges, a bright, wide grin on his face caused by the satisfaction a home with you signifies.

Ok so... I have to say, they hadn't been caught per say, because everyone knows when they're doing it. Like, it's not a secret—they're loud. Especially in paper thin walls as the ones at the Zen'in estate.

However, let's say that the innocent ones, the distracted, new members of the staff might've gotten quite the surprise the first time they heard about this. Maybe even stumbled upon them... who knows? 😏 Actually something just crossed my mind. I'll write about it later.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this small, nobody-asked sequel for that one particular oneshot! I've had this thing on my mind for a while, how everyone would eventually know of their relationship. Just as Y/N said, one less thing to worry about.

Thank you so much for sending in this ask!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, take care, and hope to see you soon!!

[kithtaehyung]

hii ryen, thank u for blessing us with ur storytelling! i been re-reading the 3tan series and finished the seven days prologue. i appreciate your writing and listened to the 3tan audio commentary recently. it was so sweet to hear about your thought and writing process too. you inspire me! i rly enjoy to write too and been wanting to write my first fic but its been hard. i have the idea clear in my head and started writing but executing it has been difficult for sure. i get too into the descriptions and ur audio gave me good tips on how to cut down on that. anygays, grateful for u and ur work. pls lmk if i can support anything else ur working on ~ wether on tumblr or beyond. 💝💝💝 much love to you!

oh my gosh, hello! i’ve seen you in notifs for awhile, it’s nice to hear from you🥳 both of those works are special to me so I’m happy to keep working on them hehehe

also! the audio commentary neeeeeds to make a comeback! one of these days i’ll make time to plan out when i can record each one (since they aren’t short.. it usually takes around 3 hours total to do everything - recording, checking, snipping, etc.) so i will definitely need a good chunk of time to dedicate. but i wanna do it just in case it continues to help other writers, too!

less is more👍 you got this! rooting for you on your writing journey. just have fun with it and write what you are excited to put on a page. people will be able to tell, from my personal experiences🙂‍↕️

you’re so sweet! honestly you being here is already wonderful. but i can say that y’all sending asks and/or reblogging fics/commenting with thoughts are what make this space. it’s what truly helps bc then i’ll know what people like, what they look forward to, etc. silence is the quickest way to lose a lot of motivation😅 so that would be something else, too?

[maddithefangirl]

Smile (Lucien x Reader)

Warnings: FLUFF

a/n: I modeled this after the experiences I have with my girlfriend heheh I know she will know it when she reads it.

...

The night has long since fallen as you continue reading your novel in the comfort of your mate’s company. You lay against the back of the couch as your feet rest in Lucien’s lap. This was your favorite position to sit in. You found yourself in this position often enough, but each time there was a calmness over the both of you that radiated down to each of your souls.

You loved just being in his presence. The book you were reading was captivating and held your full attention, so you didn’t see Lucien glancing over at you.

He had his own book to read but it wasn’t able to hold his focus as you did. A smile crept onto his face. The low faelight in the room was beautiful upon your skin, gently brushing over it to enhance your natural beauty. He was just in awe of you. He looked at you as if you were the greatest thing to ever grace the world and he was the one who got to have you.

He was admiring you as you read when you finished the chapter you were on. When you finished a chapter, you liked to give him a recap of what is going on in the story. Sometimes you thought you were annoying for telling him everything, but he loved to hear you speak so passionately. You look up and see that his eyes were already on you. His cheeks went rosy as you gave a small smile back.

He laughed and that made a concerned look fall upon your face, “What?”

Lucien open-mouth chuckled with the cutest little scrunch in his nose, “Nothing.”

That did not break the gaze as a slight breeze blew through the library making your skin pill. Now it was your turn to laugh. 

He whispered just loud enough for you to hear, “What, my love?”You smiled, “That smile just… kills me. Every time.” And it really did. You adored it when he got that scrunch in his nose. It was truly the cutest thing in the entire world. You were blessed by the cauldron to be able to be the one that makes it appear.

You could die happy knowing that was the last thing you would ever see. You truly loved him and all the little quirks about him. No matter what, you just wanted to make that nose scrunch appear.

[mykingdomforapen]

Could you give us a little clue about what your next Link Click fic will be about? I've read every fic you've written of the donghua, you're an amazing writer! ❤️

hehehe thank you so very much!! I am so invested in Link Click and love love love thinking about stories about it, so it makes me so happy to hear other people enjoy reading them. I appreciate you!!

I would love to hint heehee. While also being a bit subtle bc my fic ideas have a habit of thinking it has already been told and then dying on me. It will be a mystery fic that takes place after s2 and begins with an envelope with no return address. Its storyline is inextricably linked to certain moments of Chinese modern history. Inevitably, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang’s respective family lore will be a pretty significant aspect of the story. In some cases, that’s putting it lightly. That’s right baby, we are talking about backstory!!

I am currently calling it the “stars” fic as a nickname. I know what I will title it whenever we get there, after a Sleeping At Last song. If you know you know 😉.

also it will feature this line.

“I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” Lu Guang deadpanned.   “I thought you made an exceptional panda,” Cheng Xiaoshi said with earnestness.

[mainstoryarchive]

Underachievers - 2: Crusher

Aira: Um. uh…?

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Location: Meeting room, StarPro

Aira: Um. uh…?

What? Did I hear you wrong? Did you just say to 'crush idols'?

Hiiro: Yes! Let crush the despicable things known as idols together☆

Aira: Ahaha… Could it be that you're still half-asleep?

Whatever you're saying sounds like gibberish to me—Hiro-kun, was it?

Hiiro: Hm? It's not Hiro, it's Hiiro, however if that is how you wish to call me then that is fine!

Because to forgive one another and love one another is what it means to be friends, or so I believe!

Aira: That so… You—you really are a weird guy, you know? …Ah, now I get it! I see, I see, so that's what’s going on.

Hiiro: ? What could you be referring to? Would you care to explain?

Aira: Umm… ​If—if you look at me with such expectant eyes it makes it hard to talk, though.

Hiro-kun, as I thought, could it be you're a dropout just like me?

Hiiro: …?

Aira: You do your best, you go to practice after practice, and even though you're scraping away at your life doing work, you don't see results even a tiny bit…

There’s nobody to love you. With days like that continuing on, it's no wonder your heart would grow twisted.

It may be unavoidable that you'd grow to hate idols to the point you'd want to destroy them.

I get it. I can empathize. You and ​I are the same, we really might be able to become friends…♪

Hiiro: ? I see! I also thought the same when I first saw you, Aira! Let us shake hands!

Aira: Eh, why? Ah, ow, ow, ow! Why is your grip power so weirdly strong?!

Hiiro: Right, I apologize! In this world it's survival of the fittest. I trained a lot thinking that I wouldn't be able to survive if I wasn't strong. Look, here, trained biceps…♪

Aira: Wah, incredible! How nice, I have trouble putting on muscles so I'm jealous. Ra-vely, can I touch them?

Hiiro: Go on ahead! Touch them as much as you'd like my friend! I warmly welcome skinship!

Aira: Wah♪ (strokes muscles)

…Now that that's over, let's return to the last topic.

I thought it was just some false rumors going around, but it seems the reason we were called here today is because of that.

Hiiro: Because of… what? I'm so sorry for being unable to understand, back in my hometown I was often called an idiot as well!

Aira: Don't apologize for every single thing. It has the ​opposite effect.

…Um, so lately there's been a rumor going around that the agency is planning to lay off a bunch of people.

So we might be part of that. We're underachievers, after all. It's also probably the reason why we got called in here.

Hiiro: ? "Lay off"? I don't know that term. Will you be upset if that happens, Aira?

Aira: I will… I’ve loved idols since I was little. I admired them, I've always been thinking of idols and nothing else whenever and wherever…

I've been captivated, then, and now as well.

That's why I also aspired to become one. One of my much beloved idols..♪

I wanted to sing and dance on the same stage ​as those precious, shining and dazzling people.

Hehehe. Regretfully, it seems like I don't have any talent in it. Despite that, I worked hard and challenged myself countless times without giving up and so made my dream come true.

But reality was different from what I had imagined as a child… And though there are lots of painful and sad things in the entertainment world…

I was able to endure it. No, I was happy despite it… Because I was able to Iive in the utopia I had dreamed of.

I'm so happy and yet… If I get fired, I'll be forced to leave…

In recent times it feels like your future as an idol is pitch black if you aren't affiliated with an agency of ES.

The era of underground idols is over already.

ES is conquering the entertainment world with its overwhelming influence. If they let go of me, then I… I can no longer stay in the entertainment business.

Like a flower that's not given any water or sunlight, I’ll have no choice but to wither and die.

The idol known as Shiratori Aira will die… I can't stay calm knowing that.

Ah, jeez! Now that I’ve said it out loud, I feel really scared. I hope that it's all just a misunderstanding!

And it's your fault, Hiro-kun! It's your fault for making me talk about something that makes me anxious!

Hiiro: I see. Hehe, it seems that whatever I do, I anger you.

However. To be honest I did not understand a single thing you said, but… Let me say this despite that: you will be fine.

I am your ally, your friend. If there is a future that saddens you, I will give it my everything to destroy it.

Aira: Ugh. No, umm, I'm the one who should be sorry, Hiro-kun. I got all excited when talking and took it out on you!

Hiiro: There's no need to take it to heart. I have not been hurt by your words for even a little bit.

Actually. I feel apologetic for being unable to empathize with your pain as your friend.

Aira: Hm, hmm~…? It sounds like you're saying something nice, but… It really does feel like we're not having the same conversation!

Aira: Ah, jeez! And rather, I can't stand being tortured alive any longer!

I'm at my limit! My sanity is being shaved away with each passing second, I feel like I'm going crazy. Won't you just finish me off already?!

Tatsumi: O lost lamb.

I advise you to withdraw such a statement. The doors to heaven will not open to those who have chosen death themselves.

Aira: …!? A—a Weird person saying weird things came in all of a sudden!?

[ ☆ ]

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