#also i realized after i finished toothy that i definitely should have used the pink as the base and the purple for his tail

[theradicalace]

more of the eye strain palette!! this is forcing me to make some very questionable artistic decisions, i like it‼️

[judediangelo75]

Blast From The Past

MC Friends: David @that-scouse-wizard and KC @kc-needs-coffee 

Yes, I know these songs are more modern, but shhhh and go with it. I love this channel and these videos inspired this story. So deal with it.

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

Malik looked up at the grand castle that was Hogwarts.

He couldn’t believe that he was here. He’s heard all about the school and his old history. Scotland was a beautiful country.

Not as beautiful as his homeland, Barbados, or Uganda, where he goes to school. But beautiful none the less.

‘I wonder if she remembers me,’ he silently wonders as he remember that sweet face of a little girl with the prettiest pair of gold eyes he ever seen.

His old childhood friend goes to Hogwarts when she moved from Barbados after the death of her grandmother. He had a crush on for months before she left.

But he couldn’t admit it. He was too scared to ruin what they had. Plus, they were just kids, it might not have turned into anything serious.

Now they were older, maybe now he had a chance.

He sighed dreamily. He wondered what kind of woman she grew up to be...

No time to find out like the present...

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

Malik was petting the Headmaster’s Phoenix, happy to hear the preens from the majestic bird when he heard a female voice say,

“You called for me, Professor?” He shivered at the sound of her voice. The accent she had a child was gone but he didn’t mind too much. Her voice matured, whilst it was still low, it was still very pleasant to hear.

“Ah, Miss Harris. I want you to meet someone,” Dumbledore greeted with a gentle smile. Urging his heart to calm down, Malik turned around to face his childhood friend.

Wide gold eyes stared into his nearly black eyes.

��Malik?” He smiled.

“Good to see you, Judith...”

-----------

Judith couldn’t believe her eyes. Standing in front of her was her old childhood friend, Malik.

He was one of the kids she used to play with when she was in Barbados in their small village. 

He grew up to be tall, just about the same height as Talbott, she noted with slight annoyance.

His black hair was still in its locs she remembered from his childhood. Though longer, landing around his upper back.

His complexion was rich dark brown. Facial hair was growing along his cheeks and jawline, reminding her very much of her father. He was muscular, seeing how the plain white he wore left nothing to imagination.

Her old friend grew to be a handsome young man. 

“Ha! Look at you all grown up,” she chuckled, playfully punching his stomach.

“Takes one to know one,” he sassed back with a smirk. He was quite serious. His childhood crush grew up to be a vision.

Her brown black long locs reached her shapely hips. The tips was dyed faintly to match the color of her eyes.

Her face lost all traces of baby fat, revealing delicately sharp features that resembled her father. Her body was tone and curvy, fitting her short stature. A purple sleeveless turtleneck and black tights hugged her body with black combat boots and a familiar shark tooth necklace around her neck to finish her look. 

She was breathtaking...

“This is some surprise, Professor,” she said, turning to the Headmaster.

“I’m glad you like it, Miss Harris. Mr. Coleman here is visiting our school for awhile. Since he said he knew you, I was wondering if you can be his guide and show him around Hogwarts.” Judith smiled and nodded at the old wizard.

“Of course, Professor Dumbledore!”

Malik silently cheered. It’ll be just like old times, and hopefully by the end of his visit, he can win her heart...

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

“Judith, you’re late,” David said as he watch his dear friend approach with another guy he didn’t recognize.

“Oh, relax will you? Professor Dumbledore called me to his office, talking about a ‘surprise’,” she replied with an eye roll. David raised an arched brow and nodded toward the tall male that was staring at his unknowing friend with a lovestruck expression.

“So I’m assuming this guy is the surprise,” he deadpanned, not impressed.

“Yup! Malik, I would like you to meet one of my best friends, partner in crime, and partially my little brother, David. David, this is my childhood friend from my time in Barbados, Malik,” she chirped. 

The dude, Malik, seem to snap out of it and looked at David with a megawatt smile. 

“Nice to meet you, David,” he said, holding his hand out. David looked at the limb as if it offended him before taking it.

‘Play nice, unless you want a black eye curtesy of Judith...’ he thought to himself as he shook Malik’s hand.

“Likewise.” was all he said. He’s normally not protective of his best friend, he knows she can hold her own no problem. But he doubt she can recognize that her childhood friend isn’t looking at her a friend should.

But then again, Judith has always been a little slow when it comes to realizing a guy likes her that way. 

‘Guys see me as a sister or just friend” my ass...’ David mentally sassed. His best friend was beautiful, it would take a dead man not to notice. 

Sadly, Malik was very much alive to notice...

“Introductions aside, ready for some good ol’ fashion spar,” he said, wanting to ignore Malik.

And get Judith away from him.

Judith didn’t hesitate move away from Malik to stand alongside with David with a toothy grin.

“Absolutely...”

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

Malik didn’t like how Judith seemed to immediately forget about him after introducing him to David. But he can’t find in him to mad as he watch the spar between the two friends.

When they left the Headmaster’s Office, she told him about the different houses and how she was a Hufflepuff. He heard about the Hufflepuff House, the one the seem to be a pushover. Whilst the other House Founders valued a specific thing about a student, Helga Hufflepuff seem to welcome all. Hufflepuffs were seen as weak because of their kindness.

But clearly that wasn’t the case as she watch the two fought. Judith’s movements were quick and fluid. Never putting too much in move that would overextend herself. The guy David was pretty good too.

Judith did say he was also a Hufflepuff as they came over here...

“HA! Victory!” Malik snapped out of his thoughts as he saw David has Judith pinned. Both them were sweaty and laughing.

“Alright, alright. You win, now get off of me,” Judith laughed. Malik inwardly sighed dreamily. 

He always loved the sound of her laugh.

David crawled off his friend and pulled her up by her forearm.

“Wanna get some food? I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry,” David said. Judith grinned and nodded.

“Oh definitely!, But I could use a shower first, I’m all sweaty and gross,” she said. David nodded understandingly, last thing he wanted was to sit with Merula and for her to complain how sweaty he was.

“So where to next?” David and Judith turned to find Malik standing next to them.

“Oh! Sorry for ignoring you, Malik. We usually tend to get caught up in our training. We’re heading to the Hufflepuff Common Room. I can fill you in some places along the way,” Judith said bashfully. Malik chuckled at his cute crush.

“Not a problem, Juju,” he said. The side eye she gave him made him laugh.

“All these years and you’re still calling me that infuriating nickname,” she grumbled. Malik smirked and hugged her.

“It’s a quality nickname.” 

“Alright, alright. Let’s go, we still need a shower and get to the Great Hall. I want food,” David said, not liking Malik touching his friend.

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

Malik sat in the homey Common Room, awaiting for Judith and David to reappear. 

Malik can tell that David did not like him at all. He was polite, sure, but he didn’t like him. Malik was struggling to figure out why when a group of students walked in.

There was a total of four students. Two boys and two girls.

“Who are you,” the fair skin boy asked. He was young with gray eyes and dark brown hair.

Malik gave a charming smile to the group. If they were in here, then they had to be Judith’s House mates. Best to give a good first impression.

“I’m Malik Coleman, you are...”

“Diego Caplan, best duelist in Hogwarts,” the tall tan boy said. Malik hummed, he would like to test that claim for himself when he gets the chance.

“Hi, I’m Penny Haywood,” the blonde chirped. Bubbly and friendly, fitting for the Hufflepuff House.

“Cedric Diggory,” the fair boy said with a wave. Shy but confident. He can tell he’s the youngest of the group. It wouldn’t surprise him if Judith mothered the boy, she always had a maternal spirit within her.

“Wotcher! I’m Tonks,” the pink haired girl said. Malik can partially sense the mischief coming from her. 

“Nice to meet you all,” Malik smiled.

“Likewise! But, uh, if you don’t mind us asking... what are you doing here,” Tonks asked. Before Malik could give an answer, Judith’s voice called out.

“Hey guys! I see you met Malik,” she said as she walked up to group.

“Wotcher, Judith! David. You know this guy,” Tonks asked. Judith nodded.

“Malik is my childhood friend from when I used to live in Barbados,” she supplied to her friends. A series of ‘oh’s sounded.

“That’s cool, does Talbott know about him being here,” Cedric asked. Malik furrowed his brows at the name.

Who was Talbott?

And was that a blush on Judith’s cheeks? 

“No, not yet. I was gonna to introduce him to Malik in the Great Hall during lunch,” she replied. Malik narrowed his eyes at her.

Now that he was really looking at her, Judith looked good.

Really good.

A sweet white sundress hugged her figure with gold sandals on her feet. Her locs were maneuvered in a high, neat bun with a few gold accessories attached to a couple of them. Small gold hoop earrings and a heart key necklace around her neck were her accessories.

‘Is this what an angel looks like...’ he faintly wondered. He didn’t notice the glare David and Diego were sending his way. Nor the disapproving stare of Penny. Or Tonks and Cedric’s nervous expression.

Apparently, neither did Judith.

“To the Great Hall,” Judith asked.

A series of agreements sounded off amongst the group as the left the Common Room.

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

Malik looked around the massive room with awe, trying to take in everything at once. The name “Great Hall” was definitely a fitting title for the place.

Judith quickly walked ahead of him with David on her heels. He quickly followed so he didn’t lose them in the massive crowd. She was walking towards a specific table which had a girl and boy as their occupants. 

The pair looked up to find the trio approaching.

“Hello, little bird,” the guy greeted as Judith sat next to him. Malik frowned.

Little bird? Judith rarely let anyone just nickname-

Judith took the guy’s hand with a gentle smile.

“Hey, Talbott...” Malik unconsciously curled his hands into fists, a few joints popping. 

There was no way in hell that-

“Who’s the tall blokehead standing at our table?” Malik turned his attention to the girl, who had David sitting next to her. Malik took a seat next to Judith, feeling a bit weird for being the only one still standing.

Was that a smirk on David’s face?

“Oh!” Judith mentally slapped her forehead. 

Good Gods, where are her manners?

“Talbott, Merula, this is Malik. He’s my childhood friend from before I moved to Europe. Malik, meet Merula, David’s girlfriend. And Talbott, my boyfriend,” Judith introduced.

My boyfriend...

Malik felt his stomach twist into knots as his heart cracked. His crush was already taken by someone else. But just who was this person that seem to captivate Judith’s heart?

 He studied Judith’s “boyfriend” with narrowed eyes.

Slicked by chestnut brown hair that gradients to a dirty blonde color. Dark skin, just a shade or two lighter than Judith. Sharp angular features that remind Malik of a bird. Sharp red eyes regarding him curiously. He was in his class robes, which where outlined in blue.

‘Ravenclaw...’ he thought, remembering the rundown Judith gave him earlier...

Talbott struck him as the loner type, who much rather spend more time in the library than with other people. Why in the seven hells was Judith with this guy?

‘Judith is way more free-spirited than this guy. She was able fight guys with no issue! The Judith I remembered loved to sing and dance. She was open with her emotions. They probably have nothing in common. She deserves someone better... someone like me...’

Talbott didn’t like the way Malik was looking at him. He saw the look on his face when Judith introduced him as her boyfriend. 

Heartbroken.

Talbott knew what that meant. Malik liked Judith.

A lot.

And by the looks of it, she doesn’t realize his feelings. 

And now, his girlfriend’s old friend was looking him up and down as if he was deeming him worthy of him. Talbott was no fool.

He can see it clear as day, Malik didn’t approve, not the slightest.

Talbott looped an arm around his little bird’s waist, which didn’t go unnoticed by Malik. He wasn’t one for PDA, but he was going to make this clear. Red eyes met near black ones with a single message.

‘Back off, she’s mine.’

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

David can see the tension between the two young men across from him. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Malik’s face when he saw that Judith was in a happy relationship and will never return his feelings.

But now, judging by the death glares being sent between the two, he wasn’t so sure. He half-expected Malik to back down.

Clearly not.

His girlfriend found it a little amusing. 

“How does Harris not notice the tension brewing when she’s literally sitting in the middle of it, is beyond me,” she snickered softly. David couldn’t defend his friend since she seem completely oblivious to everything around her as she ate.

“So, how long will you be here, Malik,” Merula asked. David wondered the same.

“Just a week,” he answered, taking a bit of his sandwich. David groaned internally.

‘Great, a week of jealousy. Just what I needed...’ he thought.

“That’ll be plenty of time to show you around. I can’t wait to show you what our school has to offer,” Judith said with a gentle smile. Malik mentally sighed at the sight of it.

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll have a great time. You know what would be really great,” Malik asked rhetorically. Judith raised a brow.

“Some dancing, like the old days,” Malik grinned. David, Merula, and Talbott saw the way Judith’s brows shot up to her hairline with a slight blush dusting her cheeks.

“O-oh... I don’t know... That’s... not really something seen in here,” Judith said with an awkward laugh. That’s something Judith would do in the comfort of her own room. People here were more... stiffer for lack of a better word.

“Oh c’mon! It’ll be like the old days, plus you can show everyone something new,” he winked. Talbott glared, tugging Judith closer.

Judith blushed harder the longer she thought about it. Not even Talbott knew about that type of dancing she could do.

She was a bit embarrassed by it, she has no clue what kind of reaction she’ll get from him.

‘It’s my final year, not like everyone will remember this... Plus, it’ll be fun to have my old dance partner again...’ she thought.

“Sure, it’s my final year. I don’t see why not,” Judith finally said. Malik grinned.

‘Score...’

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

After going everything, which took about two days, Malik and Judith starting practicing the dances Malik had in mind.

Malik decided to make this a mini show in the Courtyard. Judith appeased to this, not like things can remain vacant for long since people at Hogwarts were forever nosey.

So the pair were gonna draw a crowd, whether she liked it or not. 

Judith even recruited Andre to some outfits. Malik requested dashikis for the both of them, something that definitely intrigued the style wizard. But only for a few seconds before he saw the way Malik was staring at his Quidditch mate.

AKA one of his mate’s girlfriend.

Nonetheless, Andre said he’ll do it.

Judith had to her powers as Legilimen to look into Malik’s mind for the dances they were doing. She liked the songs, the beats were very energetic and upbeat. Just like she remember from her childhood. Though some of them she blushed at seeing how of the moves were a little...

What’s the word?

Close?

She just hoped she doesn’t get detention for scandalizing any of the younger witches and wizards. 

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

Talbott hasn’t seen much of his girlfriend ever since Malik arrived and since they practiced for their dance show in the Courtyard. 

And Talbott couldn’t stand it. 

“Ugh, bloody hell, I can’t stand him,” Talbott snarled as he paced in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Katriona stared at the tall wizard from the couch.

She didn’t need to ask who he was referring to. She met Malik and she wasn’t too impressed by him either. But she does think Talbott was overreacting a bit.

“Talbott, stop pacing or else you’ll burn a hole into the floor. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think it is,” Katriona said sternly. Anxious red eyes looked at her.

Katriona knew that Talbott felt a bit insecure when it came to Malik. He was Judith’s childhood friend after all. And Malik liked Judith the same way Talbott does. Judith accepting to dance with him probably served as a remainder of how different they were. 

Talbott would attend a dance when she was there, but most of the time, he would avoid it. He’s not much of a social person nor did he like having many eyes on him. Judith was a bit more open and found it easy to dance by getting lost in the music, no matter whose around.

And judging by the reaction Judith had in the Great Hall (Talbott made sure to tell her about it), this type of dancing is different. How different is almost anybody’s guess.

Katriona tried to soothe her fellow Eagle.

“Dancing seem something more prominent in their culture than over here. Besides, they’re just dancing, it’s not a mating ritual,” she said. Talbott rolled his eyes, but Katriona noticed how he relaxed a little.

“Besides you know Judith has eyes only for you. If she never noticed how Malik looks at her, I don’t know how she can’t, then it’s clear she doesn’t return his feelings. Try not to let this worry you, just a few more days and he’ll be gone,” she reassured. Talbott gave the small witch a small smile.

“Thank you, Katriona,” he said softly. She nodded with a smile of her own.

“Anytime, Talbott. Because Gods know you wouldn’t just go up to Judith to express your feelings. Which you need to work on, by the way.” Talbott glared at her.

“Everything after the “Anytime, Talbott.” was strictly unnecessary.” Katriona gave a small smirk.

“Simply telling it as it is...” Talbott groaned as Katriona laughed at his expense.

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

Judith can hear her heartbeat in her ears as she stood at the entrance of the Courtyard with Malik. A crowd was already there waiting for them. Judith wiped her sweat palms against her black and gold dashiki.

Dark eyeshadow covered her eyelids paired with a dark red lipstick. Her hair was up in a high ponytail so it wouldn’t be everywhere as she was dancing. Her dashiki ended at mid thigh where she had black shorts underneath. Black high heeled combat boots covered her feet.

“There’s no need to be nervous, Juju. We’ll be great, I know it,” Malik said squeezing her shoulder. He had on a black and white dashiki, with black track pants and black and white sneakers. His locs were in a low ponytail.

Judith gave a nervous smile to her friend.

“Thanks, Mal...” Taking a deep breath, they walked towards where the crowd was.

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

David was standing with KC, Merula, Talbott at the front of the crowd as the pair of approached. His brows shot up when he studied his best friend’s appearance (he didn’t care for Malik).

She looked good. 

Different but good. 

It was the first time he’s ever seen her in heels too. Of course they were combat boots, but they were still heels. By the looks of everyone, aside Andre who looks proud of his handiwork, they were thinking the same thing.

David resisted the urge to chuckle when he saw the high points of Talbott’s cheeks were a little red.

Malik held a boombox and placed by the fountain next to Cedric before taking his spot next to Judith. He watched as Malik whispered something to Judith, who smiled and nodded. 

Malik gave a thumbs up to Cedric, who proceeded to press play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCqe_PMyso (3:13-4:17)

Now David understood Judith’s look at the Great Hall. There was nothing like that here in Europe. The fact that Judith was doing this in heels was impressive.

He just hoped she didn’t break an ankle.

He was also surprised. The two moved well together. Though he could do without the part where Judith had her legs around Malik’s waist for those few seconds (and the smiles he was giving).

But it’s clear that the two had good chemistry. He kinda liked the music, finding himself nodding along to it a bit. Sparing a quick glance at Talbott, he notice the Ravenclaw was still rather calm for the most part.

It wasn’t long until the next song played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NZIQOdT-RA&t=241s (1:00-2:28)

“Damn...” This song was much faster and aggressive. And yet the two were able to keep up.

David lowkey wished that Judith kicked him for real, but he knew that wasn’t the point of the dance. Though he can see that she was really enjoying herself.

The crowd around them were cheering for more. Despite the different sound, it looked like fun.

Despite a few moments where Malik got a little too close, the dances were rather tame. David could see the small smile on Talbott’s face as he watched his girlfriend get lost in the beat of the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5bVE6RqDCU (0:34-2:00)

‘Alright, that last part was unnecessary. Judith should’ve kicked him in the shin.’ David thought with a frown. Malik seem to getting a hint bolder, and he’s not liking it. 

Neither is Talbott. Judging by his narrowed eyes. By the looks of it, they weren’t done yet. David really hoped he didn’t have to restrain Talbott from jumping Malik.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5F6La02GcQ&t=633s (0:36-1:52)

David gripped Talbott’s shoulder when he saw him moved forward. KC held onto his right arm.

Okay... he wasn’t expecting that. Far from it.

The crowd was all for it, seeing how nuts they were going save a few of their friends. 

There was one more dance, Talbott just needs to hold out until then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD7lN2-gbao (0:57-2:00)

“Talbott, I know you want to kill him, but you need to calm down before you make a scene,” David harshly whispered. The Ravenclaw was brimming with anger. 

Malik was sending him a sneaky smirk as he had a hand of Judith’s hip as they finished their last dance. Judith was laughing, still running off the adrenaline of last dance.

Talbott growled and stormed off before he could do anything. Judith did notice him leaving, staring after him with shocked, hurt eyes.

David winced. Judith did confide in him that dancing to these songs were fun but she was scared of what Talbott would think of it. Him storming off didn’t project well.

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

 Malik walked up to the Ravenclaw later that day when he came back to the Courtyard just hours later. The sun was setting in the distance. While Talbott stormed off, Malik was left to comfort a hurt Judith. While he hated to see her tears, at least he was there to comfort her.

Maybe now, she’ll see that her boyfriend may not fully accept her and may see him as a better option...

“Hey, Talbott. I saw you storm off, didn’t like the show,” Malik asked with a smirk. The Ravenclaw glared at him angrily. 

“Listen here, don’t think I didn’t notice what the hell you were doing,” Talbott hissed. Malik gave him an innocent look.

“Whatever do you mean?” Talbott narrowed his eyes.

“I may not be as knowledgeable about the dances you guys are used to, but I noticed how you were touching her. The way you looked at her. The way you looked at me with that infuriating smirk of your face. You were trying to make me jealous on purpose! Trying to get closer to my girlfriend by using a dance,” Talbott growled. 

“I honestly don’t know how she’s with a guy like you. You seem so stiff and boring. Judith is a woman filled with life. She deserves better than you.” Talbott ignored the insecurity flooding his mind and clung onto the anger that threaten to turn his vision red. He was close to strangling him when a voice caused both of them to freeze.

“You know as my childhood friend, I expected you to respect my choices. But apparently I was wrong.”

“Judith!” They cried as the girl in question walked up. She switched out of her heels and switched into some sneakers.

Those lovely gold eyes were glaring daggers at Malik.

“I’m going to say this once, so you better listen Malik Kai Coleman and you better listen well. We. Are. Friends. Talbott is my boyfriend. Know your place or consider us strangers,” she said coldly. Malik winced when Judith called him by his full government before his blood ran cold.

“You would really let go of our friendship for him,” he gasped. She raised a sharp brow.

“Yes.” Her voice held a tone of finality. Malik looked at her with hurt eyes before hanging his head.

He loved Judith. Dearly. While Judith loved him, it was only as a friend. She was giving him a choice.

Accept her friendship or let her go.

He swallowed as he made his choice.

“I’ll back off,” he mumbled. He didn’t look at neither of them as he turned on his heel and went to the room he was staying in. Once he was gone, Talbott turned his shocked gaze to his girlfriend.

“Judith-MHM?!” Talbott didn’t get a chance to finish speaking when Judith yanked him down by his tie and pressed a kiss on his lips. He closed his eyes and accepted it.

“You could’ve said something, you know,” she said when they pulled away. Talbott huffed.

“You could’ve noticed that he liked you more than a friend, you know,” he sassed back. Judith rolled her eyes before chuckling.

“Okay, it’s both our faults,” she compromised. Talbott hugged her close.

“How did you know where to find me,” he asked when he buried his face in her hair.

“After having a small cry session after you ran off, David and KC explained everything to me and the real reason why you stormed off. I had a hunch you were here, I didn’t expect Malik to be here as well,” she replied. Talbott silently thank their two friends and he nodded.

“You’re an amazing dancer, darling,” he said. Judith chuckled and nuzzled his chest.

“Thank you, my love...”

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

For the remaining few days, Malik seem to resign to the fact Judith will never return his feelings. 

“Take good care of her, Talbott. Clearly she sees something in you, don’t break her heart,” Malik told Talbott on his last day. Talbott looked into the dark skin man’s eyes.

Resignation and seriousness danced in those dark orbs. Talbott nodded.

“Of course, Malik. She’s my everything, I wouldn’t dream of hurting her...” Malik looked into Talbott’ eyes, searching for something.

Whether it was, he found it as he nodded.

“Good... hopefully next we cross paths, it’ll be on better terms. At least for Judith’s sake,” he mumbled as he hitched his bag higher on his shoulder. Talbott can see the sadness radiating off the man.

Malik seem to really feel bad for his actions. He came here set on winning over his crush and meant no harm to any of her friends. Malik didn’t predict that Judith was with him.

Choosing him over Malik made the dark skin man realize that he shouldn’t get in the way of that. He didn’t want to lose his oldest friend.

“I believe we can have a decent relationship,” Talbott said. Malik looked at him surprised.

Malik was apologizing. And Talbott was accepting it.

While Talbott was glad that Judith chose him, he didn’t want her to cut off another tie from her time in Barbados. A time where she was the most happiest.

Malik gave a small smile.

“I would like that.” The two young men shook hands before pulling away.

“Hey Malik, I’m here to walk you to Dumbledore’s office. You ready to go,” Judith asked as she approached. Malik nodded at the Hufflepuff witch.

The two shared a brief hug.

“I’m gonna miss you, Juju,” Malik whispered. Judith chuckled.

“There’s such a thing called writing, Mal. As long as you know your place,” she said. Malik smiled a little.

“Of course...” Malik turned to Talbott, eyes sending a silent question.

“Like she said, as long you know where you stand, I have no issue. If you want, we can write as well. I’m curious about the wizarding school in Africa.” Malik’s smiled got wider as he nodded.

“Sure thing... Take care Talbott...” Talbott gave a casual smirk.

“Take care, Malik. Have a safe journey.”

[buzzxjessieotp]

This is my first time posting personal fanfiction so be kind. It’s also a Halloween Reddie fic but it’s a day late 🤷‍♀️

“So just call him.”

Richie sat in his room, rotary phone up to his ear. Only half of Beverly’s words were sinking in as he twirled the spiral chord absentmindedly.

“I can’t just call him. I mean, I can, but I can’t ask him to do something with just me. He’ll definitely ask about you guys.”

Her voice was clear on the other line, optimistic. “Then just tell him we’re all busy.

“All five of you?” Richie considered this a moment. “Actually that may work.”

“So it’s a haunted hayride?”

“No, no, no, they cancelled that. It’s a corn maze now.”

“Oh, Eddie will love that. Cow shit and pesticides.”

“Do you think it’s a bad idea?” Richie’s voice filled with concern.

“Rich, he’ll love anything you pick. You’ll make it fun.” She hesitated a moment. “Just...leave out the part about the shit.”

“Okay, I guess I’m gonna call him.”

“Lemme know if he’s a good kisser!”

Richie scoffed and hung up the phone.

He hesitated, hand lingering over the receiver. Breathed in a deep breath and picked up the phone. This is just Eddie. I’m just asking him to hang out. That’s all this is.

It rang once. Twice. Then a voice came through completely opposite from what he had hoped.

“Kaspbrak residence, this is Sonia.”

Shit. Since she heard about the incident with Richie in the arcade, Ms. Kaspbrak was not too font of Richie. “Um,” Richie altered his voice slightly. “This is Bill. Is Eddie home?”

“Sure sweetie, I’ll call him in.” The phone thumped down and Richie could faintly hear a call for Eddie. Something in Richie’s chest trilled with nervousness as he waited.

Suddenly, a familiar voice came through the other line, which paired the nervousness in Richie’s chest in a duet with warmth.

“Bill?”

Richie let out a loud laugh. “Your mom falls for that every time. I swear I could make it out there doing impressions.”

Eddie let out a small laugh. Aware of his mom in the other room, he continued to play along. “Bill, Richie doesn’t call here anymore.” Richie’s laugh exploded again in Eddie’s ear, causing him to smile.

“I wonder if Sonia realizes how much gets under her nose.”

“If she did I would never have access to the world again.” Richie laughed again.

“Speaking of outside world, I was wondering if you’d wanna get out of the house tonight, go to a haunted trail with me. Get into the spooky season vibe.”

“Trail? Is it in a corn maze?”

Richie hesitated, remembering Beverly’s words. “I don’t think so.”

“Then sure. What time?”

“I’ll pick you up at six.”

“Who all is coming?”

Richie’s nerves lit up. “Uh, well the others are all busy, so it’ll just be us.”

“Oh. Okay. So six?”

“On the dot, Eddie Spaghetti.”

Eddie scoffed. “Will you stop with that obnoxious nickname?”

“Never. Besides, you know you love it,” Richie responded, wearing a wide smile.

Eddie matches his smile. “I fucking hate it.”

“Sure, Eds. See ya tonight.”

“Yeah, see ya, Trashmouth.”

Richie put down the phone and breathed a sigh of relief before heading to get changed.

Eddie set down his own receiver, feeling a bit uneasy. Just him and Richie? They’d never done something on their own before. It could just be his own mind overthinking, but he couldn’t help but feel like this had implications. And then the nicknames? Sure, Richie always had always done that, but even Ben admitted that it sounded flirty when he did.

Eddie needed a second opinion.

The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Then Stan picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Eddie. Quick question: what do you have going on tonight?”

“Well, after I finish rehearsing these lines I’m pretty much free. Why?”

“I knew something was off. Okay:” Then Eddie recounted to Stan what had happened in their phone call, being careful to refer to Richie as Trashmouth in the incident that his mother was listening.

“Sounds to me like a date.”

Eddie froze. “D-date?”

“Well, I mean why else would he lie and say we were all busy?”

“Maybe he just thought you were all busy.”

“Eddie: if he wanted us to come he would have invited us.”

Eddie pondered this a moment. “So you’re saying I just accepted a date?”

“Sounds like it.”

“But-“ Eddie shook his head. “No, that’s insane. Can’t be.”

“Why not?”

“Because.” He lowered his voice. “It’s Trashmouth. Trashmouth doesn’t see me in that way.”

“How do you know?”

The thought of Richie possibly having feelings for Eddie made his stomach jump. “I just do.”

“Well why else would he not want any of us to go?”

“Maybe he wants to talk to me about something.”

“Yeah, like his undying love for you.”

“Shut the fuck up, Stan.” Stan’s laughter echoed through the receiver.

Weak from laughter, Stan spoke, “Well, lemme know how your date goes.”

Eddie’s eyebrows rose. “It’s not a date!!”

There was a silence on the other end and then a dial tone. Undying love. He smiled at the thought before snapping himself out of it. Richie just wanted to hang out. It would be a bit of a stretch to assume this meant anything more.

But once the idea had been placed, it was hard to replace. When the knock came at Eddie’s door, his stomach leapt again. When he saw Richie dressed in his denim jacket and black jeans, he had to admit Richie seemed to have put some thought into his outfit.

“Hey,” Richie said in his Bill accent - aware of Ms. Kaspbrak - wide grin on his face and his hands shoved into his pockets. “You ready?”

Eddie smiled back and nodded, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

They got into Richie’s car and drove a moment before Richie broke the silence.

“You’re not nervous are you?”

Eddie froze, his heart beginning to pound. Could Richie really see right through him?

“Uh, no, why would I be?”

“Ah, I just thought our Eddie Spaghetti might be worried about the boogeymen in the corn fields. This is new ground for you.”

A sigh of relief escaped his mouth. The trail. It’s just about the trail.

“I’ve done haunted houses before. With you.”

“Yeah, but a maze is different.”

“Maze??” Eddie sits up in his seat. “You said it wasn’t a maze!”

Richie gives a devious grin. “I had to say something to get you to come.”

“Richie, I don’t know about this.”

“Oh, don’t get scared now, Eddie.” Richie chuckles to himself. “You’re telling me you don’t wanna get lost with me in the corn maze?”

Eddie goes pink and shoves Richie. “Shut the fuck up.” Richie let out a loud laugh in response.

“You know I’ll protect you, Eddiebear.”

Eddie goes a shade darker. “You know I hate that nickname.” Eddie looked out the window to hide the smile creeping onto his face. “I just think we’re gonna get really lost.”

“That’s the whole point. It’ll be fun.”

“Knowing you you’ll make us have fun whether it’s fun or not.”

“Oh, stop it, Eddie. You make me blush.” Richie spoke in a playful tone, but if Eddie would have looked close enough he would have seen that Richie did wear a blush.

The rest of the drive was full of laughter and music as they discussed corny costumes and their favorite memories of Halloween pranks. When they pulled into the spot, Eddie’s stomach started knotting. The sky was already darkening, a vast expanse of color fading from deep blue to a warm pink. It was in this lighting that Eddie noticed Richie’s hair, more tousled than usual. Did he fix it up for tonight?

No, Eddie stopped himself. I’m just imagining it. But he can’t help imagining other things as well, like running his fingers through that hair as he feels Richie’s hands-

“Do you want hot chocolate?”

Richie’s sudden question snapped him out of his haze. “Uh, sure.”

They approached the booth. “Five dollars?! Wanna just share one?”

Eddie’s mouth went dry at the thought of drinking out of the same cup as Richie; he managed a nod.

They find a place to sit and wait for their group to be called, passing the hot chocolate back and forth to stay warm. Somewhere in the distance, screams can be heard, and Eddie shudders as he looks on at the ever-darkening field.

Richie nudged him with his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. You know it’s all fake.” Eddie nodded in response. “We don’t have to do it if you don’t -“

“No! I want to!”

Richie’s face spread into a toothy grin. “Alrighty then. Just don’t let the scarecrows grab you and take you to their nest.”

Eddie cackled, which makes Richie beam with pride at his joke. “Scarecrows don’t have nests.” Eddie looked on at the field as an unusually loud scream can be heard. “Seriously though, you better not leave me in there.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Eds. You can hold my hand if you want.” He stuck out a hand to Eddie which he pushed away playfully.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

“I’m ser-“

Before Richie could finish his sentence, the announcer had called their group. The nerves begin to settle in both of their stomachs, but what excited Richie terrified Eddie.

After a moment of discussing rules, the group was shoved into the shadowy, towering maze. Richie felt Eddie tense next to him.

He grabbed his arm, causing Eddie to jump. “Hey, just try and relax, okay? It’s scary fun. It’s not meant to be real fear.”

Eddie gave him a small smile. “You’re righ-AH!”

In the middle of his sentence, a fake crow popped out of the bushes, causing him to shriek. Richie began rolling with laughter.

“You’ve gotta chill out.”

Eddie nodded, glancing down at Richie’s hand which was still on his arm. “You’re telling me.”

They continued walking through the path, occasional jump scares making them laugh. A good amount of time passed before they begun to stop hearing the voices of their group members.

“Should I be getting worried? I literally hear nothing.”

“Relax Eddie; that’s just their way of getting to us.”

Eddie heard screams echoing from somewhere far behind them. “No, I seriously think we did something wrong. Back there is the attraction.”

“We can’t go back the way we came. Let’s just keep going.”

“It just keeps getting narrower up here, Richie. Fuck, I just stepped in shit.”

“It’s probably mud,” Richie corrected, chuckling.

“Well it keeps getting darker so I wouldn’t know!”

Richie stopped and rubbed his face. “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry I didn’t think this through a little better. This may have been a bad idea. Neither one of us have a good sense of direction, and you didn’t wanna come here anyway. Let’s just turn back.”

Eddie stopped and turned to Richie. “I never said I wanted to leave.” He wiped his nose on his arm. “And if I didn’t wanna come I wouldn’t have.” Richie stared at him a moment, uncertain. Eddie walked up to him. “Are you getting nervous? We can go back if you are.”

“No, no. I just- “ He looked up at the sky, now dotted with stars. “Forget it.”

Richie started to continue on the path. “Wait- What?” Eddie caught up to him. “What is it?”

“Nothing, let’s just hope this path doesn’t stay as lame as it has been.”

“Don’t try to change the subject. What were you gonna-“

“-hold your hand.” Eddie‘s breath caught in his throat. Richie took a deep breath. “I...was just thinking that would help. But it’s stupid. So forget it.”

Eddie’s gaze softened and Stan’s words echoed in his mind. Maybe it hadn’t been such of a stretch after all.

He reached out and clasped Richie’s hand in his own, giving it a soft squeeze. Richie looked over and gave him a grateful smile.

“You don’t have to, Eds-“

“I want to.”

The two walked like that for awhile: silent, surrounded by the sounds of the night. Both of them seemed to realize they were no longer on the path of the corn maze, but neither one seemed to mind.

”Hey ‘Chie?” Eddie mumbled in a soft voice.

“Hm?”

“I- well I’m glad it was just us tonight.” Richie looked over at him, listening intently. Eddie quickly stumbled to add more words. “I mean, it didn’t become a shit talking fest like usual. Don’t get me wrong, I like all that. But it’s nice when we can just talk...too.”

A beat of silence passed. Richie seemed to be considering his words, turning something over in his mind. He finally decided to speak, concluding that Eddie’s courage deserved to be met with his own.

“They weren’t busy.” Richie absentmindedly squeezed Eddie’s hand. “The others. They- some of them would have wanted to come.”

Eddie considered Richie’s words. “Why didn’t they then?”

Richie stopped, pulling Eddie to a stop too. He avoided eye contact but plowed through, heat rising to his face.

“I told them not to.” Eddie became very aware of Richie’s hand in his own, of how close they were standing. He couldn’t tell if it was Richie’s heartbeat or his own he was hearing.

“It’s funny you bring that up, actually. I talked to Stan before we left.”

Richie’s eyes got wide. “Wait, you did? What did he say??”

“Well, I want your opinion on something he said. See, he told me he thought you didn’t want them to go because - because you wanted it to...” Eddie took a breath. “To feel like a d-date.”

“What?? What is he on? Why would he say that??”

“Okay, okay, calm down a sec-“

“Calm down?? Stan is telling ridiculous lies to you about me and you expect me to be calm??”

“Richie. He was just giving his opinion.”

“Well his opinion is wrong, okay!”

“Well fine then! Maybe I was just hoping it wasn’t!” There is a thick silence between them.

Richie blinked at Eddie, gaze softened. “I don’t think you’ll ever know how fucking happy you just made me.”

“So...his opinion about tonight...wasn’t wrong then?”

“Fuck, no.”

Eddie smiled. “Well are you gonna just stand there and stare at me or are you gonna kiss me with that Trashmouth?”

Richie takes in a shaky breath, eyes blown wide. The leaning in felt to Richie like it took five minutes instead five seconds, and the feeling of lips against lips surprised his senses to shock him motionless. It took Eddie to move and feed Richie kisses for Richie to ease into it and do the same. Something reminded Eddie of Richie’s hair and he reached a trembling hand up to run through it, causing Richie to omit a soft moan. It was happening, everything that neither one of them believed possible at all. Yet here they were, lost in each other, surrounded by the scratchy corn stalks and chirping crickets, completely and utterly content.

It took an hour for them to remember they were still in the corn field, and another hour for them to find their way out, but neither one complained. In fact, they actually enjoyed themselves, no longer scared by the characters or props. It was almost laughable that they were ever afraid, not just of the haunted maze, but of each other.

The car ride home felt no different usual, except with an added warmth of knowing that from here on out they could stop pretending and repressing and pining, they could finally be entirely themselves with no fear of the future.

[illshowyourhurricanes]

He Loves Me

Here, you’ll get another glimpse into the life of one non-gold digger, Mr. Benjamin Greene, in the form of another series of little moments that all leads up to something much bigger. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Image prompt 10: Benjamin Greene x reader (requested by the lovely @breanime)

Rating: PG-13ish for mentions of nudity

Word count: 1712

Tag list: @obscurilicious @the-blind-assassin-12 @something-tofightfor @logan-deloss @lexxierave @madamrogers @yannii04 @gollyderek @carlaangel86 @bicevans @maydayfigment @thisisparadisemylove @ladyofnaps @malionnes @thesandbeneathmytoes @crushed-pink-petals-writes

Follower event tag list: @luminex3 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @witchygagirl @breanime 

If anyone wants to be added to/removed from my tag list, please just send me an ask!

Special thanks to @the-blind-assassin-12 for beta reading a little bit of this one!

This is related to all other Benjamin Greene x reader fics, which can all be found in my masterlist.

You woke up smiling. Eyes swollen from sleep, you rubbed at them with balled up fists, clearing morning residue from the corners. Reaching upward, you wiggled your fingers as you stretched your arms, feeling the overnight stiffness melt away from your fingertips to your shoulder blades. Your eyes were still adjusting to the sunlight streaming in between the slats of the blinds covering your windows. Pale yellow light decorated the floor in long parallel lines, breaking up the shadows. Benjamin’s soft snores as his chest rose and fell were the only sounds hindering the house from complete silence. It was tranquil. Perfect. 

Rolling onto your right side, you admired the beautiful bouquet of flowers Benjamin had surprised you with the night before. It was bright with spring blooms, pink tulips and pure white irises; pale peach miniature roses, striking orchids, and daffodils the color of the bright sunshine. Eucalyptus leaves and tiny blooms of sweet pea and chamomile as fillers, the arrangement was quite fragrant. It was colorful and different; definitely not the typical flower bouquet. 

“I chose them all,” Benjamin had told you just after bursting in the door, the bouquet wrapped in paper, all long stems and pops of color and a kiss in greeting. “Nothing pre-arranged said Y/N.” He offered the bouquet to you, a slight flushing of his cheeks as he did so. “You’re stunning and remarkable and an amalgamation of beautiful things all mixed perfectly.” He nodded to the flowers, tickling your nose with sweet aromas. “They suit you; they're mostly wildflowers.”

Your eyes shone with awe and the threat of tears. The wrapping around Benjamin’s hand-picked array crinkled as you carefully accepted them. “You’ve stolen my words,” you said as you glanced down at the flowers. You’d have time to admire them later, but for the time being you were entirely enamored with Benjamin. “Have I forgotten something? Is today significant?” Your brows knitted together in worry as you searched your mind.

“No,” Benjamin said with a chuckle. “Just a Saturday.” He regarded your face, the top knot you wore your hair in, your old oversized university t-shirt and boxer shorts. “You’ve been working.” It was more of a statement than a question. 

“Just finished,” you replied with a smile. “Thank you. Let’s get them in a vase, yeah?” You held out the flowers for Benjamin to take, freeing your hands so you could rummage in the cupboards under the sink. 

You climbed out of bed quietly, making an effort trying not to wake Benjamin. After making a cup of tea, you rummaged around making little to no noise until you found what you were looking for. Using your drawing board as a makeshift tray, you piled the remainder of your supplies on top: pastel paper, tape, and your collection of Prismacolor pastels, as well as colored pencils to outline. Your cup of tea was also precariously balanced atop; your mind had been so trained on your task at hand that you hadn’t thought about the clattering of the cup. Thankfully, Benjamin was a fairly heavy sleeper. 

Once back in the bedroom, you smiled at you peeled over at Benjamin, who hadn’t moved a muscle. Carefully, you placed your drawing board on the floor before sitting down beside it, first placing your tea to the side after taking a sip. Your pastels were put to the side, colored pencils placed in your lap, and you tore off four tiny pieces of tape to secure your pastel paper to your drawing board. Smoothing your hand over the paper, you paid attention to the way it felt beneath your palm, the toothy surface of the paper that was akin to the feeling of sandpaper, only finer. 

You gazed up at your bouquet. You'd all but memorized the way they were arranged in the case, which flowers had thicker stems, how bright the yellow of the daffodils were, how saturated the pink petals of the tulips, the shadows the larger blooms cast over the sweet pea and chamomile. Precariously, you opened the tin your pencils were arranged in, squinting your eyes as you regarded the flowers, then peering into your lap. Your pencils were just used for a rough sketching, an outlining of sorts that would be completely obscured by the pastels as you worked. It had been awhile since you’d  been inspired to play with color, the time to mull over saturation and warmth versus cool, to meticulously muck over the stark difference it was to shadow with pastels instead of charcoal. 

Your thoughts regarding color always started and ended with Benjamin’s eyes, the particular deep, warm brown of his irises, the chestnut undertones and flecks of gold within them. They were a color, you thought, that not even legendary artists could get just right. You loved the way they darkened even more with desire, when his mind was full of nothing except all the different ways he could devour you. 

After about five minutes of sketching later, you looked up from your work and over to Benjamin, who was very much awake, just watching you. You’d been so immersed in your work, you’d missed the change in his breathing. He smiled at you, creases forming at the outer corners of his eyes. “Good morning, love. You should come back to bed.”

Benjamin’s smile was contagious. Since the two of you had met, his smile had always drawn out your own; the expression held with it warmth, affection, and sometimes a bit of mischief. Your smile was broken by laughter at Benjamin’s invitation. 

“I’m working,” you said simply, still wearing a residual smile. Repositioning himself, Benjamin propped himself upward over the pillows. He glanced to the array of supplies around you, garnering that you were playing with color, and color had absolutely nothing to do with charcoal. He raised his brows just a shadow, yet you didn’t have to look up to witness it. You knew Benjamin Greene. 

“Congratulations on the new job, Y/N! Now, come back to bed and allow me to congratulate you properly.” And there was that smile, the one with a bit of mischief mixed in. 

Playing as if you were toying with the idea, you glanced longing over at your pastels, untouched as of yet. Without another word, you began clearing your lap of kelly green and sunshine yellow, candy apple red and tangerine orange. The pencils slid easily back into their tin container. You heard the rustling of bedsheets as you turned your back and bent to pile your things back into your old drawing board. 

You righted yourself back upward and stretched toward the ceiling, straightening your spine. You turned back toward the bed, but were captured by a pair of strong arms instead. You hugged Benjamin tight around his middle and your eyelashes fluttered against his bare chest as he placed a lingering kiss to your crown. 

“What are you working on, Ms. Kahlo?” Frieda, is it?” A warm breath of laughter followed the slight tickling of your eyelashes over his skin and Benjamin relished in those small, unconscious touches. He held you for a moment longer until you pulled back to nod toward your bouquet.

“Hand-picked flowers by a bloke called Benjamin… something-or-other. He has a good eye for colour, yeah? His name really should be renowned, the surname, too. Benjamin  is just too common a name, but so is Britney and everyone knows when the name is uttered, exactly who you’re talking about… oh, baby, baby.” 

Your impression left a lot to be desired, but that just added to the level of ridiculously adorable you’d hit without trying, and a loud timbre of laughter bounced off the bedroom walls. “I love you, Y/N.”

Your smirk was completely erased as your jaw dropped and your mind whirled. He...what did he just say? It couldn’t have been— he had never—

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sudden beat of silence throughout the house, just as it had been an hour before. He dipped his head in an effort to catch your eyes. You looked up to see his own, much darker ones, filled with worry. 

“That’s… that’s what the flowers were for, Y/N. I had a bit of… something prepared, just a rambling of things that have made me realize over time that…” His hands slid down your arms, around the curving of your hips and waist, down to the small of your back. “But I was late and I could tell you were working. You were beautifully smudged but I wanted you to hear it. To know. It just wasn’t the right time, and—“

“Benjamin.” Your voice was a whisper as your hands rose to gently press against his chest, but firmly enough for his hands to fall from your back as he took a step back. “Y/N, I’m—“

You turned to see the hurt in his eyes, as if his heart had been pulverized. Turning away, your own heart seizing in your chest, you clutched the frayed ends of your old t-shirt, fabric bunching between your fingers as you lifted it up and over your head. Your hair tumbled down and over your shoulders and you bent to rid yourself of the boxer shorts, pushing them down and stepping out of them. Finally, you slipped between the sheets, the cool material sending a pleasant chill over and under your naked body. 

“I think we have another thing to celebrate,” you spoke finally. Your eyes shined, not with tears but absolute awe. Benjamin blinked, one, two, three times as he strode to the opposite side of the bed and crawled in beside you. 

“You don’t—“

“Shhh.” You hushed him by lightly touching your finger to his lips. The man before you was simply exquisite. “I love you, Benjamin Greene. It's been for awhile now.”

Shock passed over his features briefly. Before he could say another word, you took his cheeks in your hands, meeting him halfway for a long, lingering, deep kiss. He smiled against your lips and pulled your body atop his own, skin to skin. Drinking you in with darkened eyes, he kissed along the curve of your shoulder. “Show me how much, Y/N.”

You never finished your sketch.

[mercieshana]

Thursday nights

Pairing: Jimin x Reader

Genre: Smut (daddy kink, oral, fingering, orgasm, dirty talk...), fluff 

Word Count: 6.2k

Summary: You meet Jimin at the club, then end up at his house party and later he ends up between your legs. 

Writer’s note: Hope y’all enjoy. This one’s a lil longer and it takes a bit to get to the smut part. Lemme know what y’all think and have a blessed (sinful ;-P) Sunday. 

There you were, on a Thursday night, marching up the sidewalk with your best friend, Elaine, beside you. Both of you had a red solo cup in hand and were already quite lit off of the vodka that was in your cups and the whiskey shots, you had prior to the departure for the your journey to the club that you were currently still on. The giggling that originated from you and Elaine and the sound of loud American muscle cars that were also heading to the club zooming by you two filled the silence of the night. You loved carefree nights like these, the cold air that was hitting your face, the liquor that was setting your body on fire and your best friend right by your side that was feeding positive energy to your soul - it didn’t get much better than that.

“Yo, chug the rest of the vodka in your cup before we go in,” your girl said, ripping you out of your thoughts and disposing of her empty red solo cup in the trash right beside her. You didn’t even realize that you two were already right in front of the club.

“Right,” you replied, downing the rest of the vodka in your plastic cup and making a face when it made its way down your throat, burning. You couldn’t help, but notice a tall group of guys pass by you. They were young, attractive and confident. One of them stood out to you though. He was wearing a pair of black air one Jordan’s, blue ripped jeans and a tighter white shirt that definitely showed off his toned body, especially his arms.

Oh the things I’d do to that body, you thought, a smirk appearing on your face.

“Eye candy,” you heard Elaine’s voice beside you, a knowing smile tugging on each corner of her red lips that perfectly accentuated her dark hair that was tied up in a sleek high ponytail on top of her head.

“Dang right,” you grabbed her hand and made your way into the dark club. There was a line and of course both of you got ID’d immediately, but both of y’all were already 18, so it wasn’t a problem at all. You were behind the guy that you thought was handsome and had another chance to scan him up and down, before he disappeared into the crowd, while you and E were giving your jackets to the people at the wardrobe; so they could hang them up and you wouldn’t have to drag them around with you the whole time. 

“Let’s go to the restroom,” E stated, heading through the crowd, going through a doorway and entering a room that had a huge bar right in the center of it that was attended to by two to three capable bartenders, dressed in white and black, that didn’t seem to be overwhelmed by the large amount of people that were standing at the bar, waiting for them to give them the overpriced beverage they had ordered. You carefully skimmed the impatient people that were waiting, but - sigh - your eye candy was nowhere to be seen. A slight frown appeared on your face.

“Come on,” E caught your attention, before making a right and entering the female restroom with you close behind her. Thank God none of you had to use the restroom, because, of course, there was a line of females, in overly high heels and nearly no clothing on, waiting to relieve themselves, before heading back to the dance floor or the bar, in hope of finding a piece of meat to take home. The two of you had merely come in to touch up on your makeup and make sure your outfit was still sitting pretty - and it was. Elaine spun around, checking out her crop top and nicely fitted black jeans out in the mirror, before polishing up her lipstick and tightening her ponytail.

You on the other hand just reapplied your cherry lipgloss and re-adjusted your tight top that made your tits look good and tightened the gold belt on your dark jeans that hugged the curve of your behind exceptionally well. Both E and you were wearing black and white converse - it was kind of your own “squad wear” and wearing converse every time the squad went out was a given that did not have to be spoken on, it was simply expected.

“Dang you sexyyyyy biatch,” E hyped you up while you were posing in the mirror, making a duck face and twirling your index finger in your dark hair, while your other hand was resting steadily on your dark purple Michael Kors purse.

The two of you burst out into a string of laughter, before making your way out of the restroom and heading to the hip-hop room, which meant making a right after exiting the ladies room, pushing past a bunch of bodies, heading towards the huge bar in the center of the one room and then making a left and going straight into the large hip-hop room. The description definitely sounded waaaaaay more confusing than it actually was.

There were of course a bunch of bodies jerking around on the dance floor to the loud music that was coming from the speakers and the DJ that were positioned close to the stage, which was toward the back of the room. E and you were being eyed by a bunch of guys, as you made your towards one of the DJ’s, cause E wanted to request “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd. As you casually leaned against the wall, waiting for E to hurry up and request the song, you spotted the handsome stranger from before. He was dancing in the middle of a dance circle, dance-battling one of his friends you were assuming. The way his body moved to the beat so smoothly and swiftly, turned you on for some reason.

Wow, he can move like that, you hungrily eyed him, that’s hot. You weren’t usually like this though. You weren’t a predator on the lookout for prey. This was most definitely the alcohol that was coursing through your body, making you feel especially wild tonight.

“Hey, that’s that guy,” E pointed out the obvious and you nodded.

“You should go talk to him!”

“What,” you asked, your head snapping in her direction, so you could look at her face. You weren’t really the type of person to approach people, you liked being approached and plus, you weren’t really too familiar or comfortable with the club scene yet. You were a “noob” when it came to clubbing, probably cause you had turned 18 not too long ago and were now allowed in clubs.

“I said go talk to him,” E repeated and you nervously shook your head.

“Nahhhhhh, I don’t really know what to say. He’s hot, but he’s probably not into girls like me,” you answered.

“What! You are one of the hottest girls at this club and all the guys are eyeing you, in case you haven’t noticed,” she shouted, her voice nearly disappearing under the loud music that was booming through the room.

“I think I’m just going to watch him,” you turned your body to completely face Elaine and thus, turned your back to the hottie that was dancing his heart out.

“I think you’re going to talk to him,” E smiled, her eyes shifting from yours to something behind you. Your brows furrowed and before you could utter a word or turn around, her semi-large hands gave you a powerful shove and you stumbled backwards, nearly losing your footing, but thankfully a pair of strong, large hands came to your aid, steadying your fragile body.

You shifted to look at your hero and made eye contact with that hot guy you’d been secretly eyeing all night - fuck, was all that was filling your mind.

Your eyes went wide and he was staring up down at you intensely.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! SAY SOMETHING!

You managed to choke out an almost inaudible “T-thank you,” before you regained control of your wobbly body that nearly melted into his touch and started to head for E that had the biggest shit-eating grin on her face that you’d ever seen in your whole life.

You mouthed the words “I hate you” at her.

“Wait, what’s your name,” heard his manly voice ring from behind you and it literally sent shivers up and down your spine and halted your movement.

You turned around nervously and stiff as a board, before forcing out the word, “(Y/N)”.

“(Y/N) ,” his face lit up immediately and dang did that toothy smile suit him “beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

He thought I was beautiful?, your heart pounded against your chest and you feared he might hear the loud thumping sound that rang through your ears.

“I’m Jimin,” he smirked, his tongue darting out to wet his pink lips and fuckkkk did you want to put that tongue to work.

“H-hi,”you said nervously, toying with your fingers and looking up at him with big doe eyes.

It seemed as though he was about to say something else, but before he was able to, his friend appeared from behind him, letting him know that they were having shots at the bar.

“I’ll be right back,” he said reassuringly, before disappearing into the crowd and you were positive you wouldn’t see him again. The club was big and there were a bunch of pretty girls he could get distracted by, so there really wasn’t any chance that he’d come back to search for you, but part of you still hoped he would.

You had been so nervous that you didn’t even realize your whole body had been shaking. Elaine quickly approached you and nudged you in the side with her elbow.

“That worked out nicely, didn’t it?” she asked and you could clearly hear the grin in her voice.

“Fuck you! I almost had a heart attack,” you complained, simultaneously letting out a sigh of relief.

“Sooooo what’s his name,” she smiled.

“Jimin,” you swooned.

“(Y/N) and Jimin! That sounds good to me,” E patted you on the back, “Where did he go though?”

“He said he was going to be right back after taking some shots or something, but we will see about that. The club is big and there are a lot of pretty girls out here-,” before you could even finish your sentence, E popped the back of your head and you let out an inaudible yelp.

“Fuck that noise,” your bestie shouted, “Let’s go dance!”

After what seemed like hours of dancing and getting hit on, you started to feel a little tired. You glanced over at Elaine who had secured herself a boy-toy for the night and you sighed in disappointment.

Where had Jimin gone? You didn’t really want to think of him, but you couldn’t help it. There was so much you didn’t know about him. He was nothing but a beautiful stranger - a sexy and dangerous looking stranger if you might add.

You didn’t want to be a party-pooper and tell E you wanted to leave, cause she seemed as though she was still having the time of her life, so you just tried your best to keep an eye on them, in case Elaine needed any kind of assistance.

Suddenly, two hands covered your eyes and your heart began to pound like crazy.

“Guess who,” a manly voice sounded from right beside your ear and it ran shivers up and down your spine.

Your mind was racing. Who could it be? Well, the only person that you’d hoped it’d be was Jimin, so that’s the name that escaped your lips.

“Bingo,” he spun you around by your hips and rested his hands there.

“I thought you’d never show,” you smiled up at him, taking in his smooth skin and his kissable looking lips, as well as his black hair that you just wanted to tug on while he ate you like a strawberry cupcake - but you couldn’t say all of that.... at least not right now.

“I couldn’t leave here without getting a second look at you and getting your number,” he pulled out his phone, handing it to you.

You gladly obliged, typing in your number and giving the phone back to him.

He did not hesitate to call you right away and the phone in your pocket buzzed as you checked it, a number that you had never seen before illuminating the screen.

“Had to make sure you weren’t tricking me,” he winked at you and grinned. Boy, he looked so handsome, his eyes forming crescent moons as he wore the wide grin on his face.

You guys began having a long and deep conversation about your lives, your goals and your families, while E and her boy-toy were making out on the dance floor. The fact that this man actually had goals and dreams was arousing in itself. A hot guy with a brain?! What! You were literally dripping at this point, but he didn’t have to know that while he was explaining his business plans your panties got wetter with every syllable that slipped past his delicious looking lips. You were so wrapped up in the conversation and before you knew it, the clock struck 4am and the time to leave had come. You sighed disappointedly when you saw the time on your phone screen, having no choice but to cut the good conversation you were having with this attractive male short.

“It’s getting really late or well early,” you brought up hesitantly “and, sadly, it’s time for me to collect my friend and go,” you stated, nervously tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear.

“Leaving me so soon, beautiful?”

Your eyes immediately shot up to meet his manly gaze that was fixed on you and his appearance made you want to melt.

You managed to choke out a nearly inaudible “Y-yes,” his dark eyes staring you down, making your heart race.

“At least allow me the pleasure of escorting you out, so I can spend a few more moments with you.”

His sudden gentlemanly reply caught you off guard and appealed to the little Disney princess fan you had tucked away deep inside of you - your hopeless romantic side.

His hand found the small of your back as he walked with you through the club in search of E, whom the two of you found making out in a corner.

His touch on your back made you feel warm and protected, but also added fuel to the fire that was burning between your legs.

You two quickly collected E and a few minutes later the three of you were standing at the exit with your jackets in hand.

“Be safe out there, princess,” he ran his hand through your hair and then guided his fingers along your jawline, before brushing his thumb across your bottom lip. It seemed as though he was about to kiss you and - YES - that’s exactly what your heart and body desired.

A knowing smirk appeared on his face, as if he knew precisely what was crossing your one track mind at the moment, before he turned to casually strut away, purposely leaving you unsatisfied and riled up, but also interested and wanting more.

Your eyes followed his muscular and virile frame, until it could no longer be seen.

“I don’t even want to leave,” E sighed when you were dragging her out of the club.

“Oh well, it’s like 4:15 am,” you retorted.

Your phone buzzed and you reached into your back pocket, pulling it out to check it.

Let me know when you make it home safely

-Jimin

Your face immediately lit up and you were eager to get back to your place, so you could text him back.

...

Home safe

-(Y/N)

You texted him back, as soon as you got through the door, guiding E to her room and putting her to bed.

Lol. I know it’s you, silly and good, now I can go to sleep.

His reply made your phone buzz and you swiftly read it, your fingers typing up a reply within seconds.

Oh, did you wait up for me?

You smirked at his reply.

Of course I did, princess.

Oh, there he goes again with the name calling, you rolled your eyes feigning annoyance, but actually you were quite amused by it. You dropped down onto the bed in your own room and let out an exhausted sigh. You didn’t even notice that you were that tired, the sleepiness had just kind of snuck up on you. The night has been great, but also suuuper long. You were so worn out that you didn’t even realize that your eyes had fallen shut and you were dozing off, completely forgetting to reply.

Your phone buzzed loudly at 11am, waking you from your rather light slumber. You groaned, rolling over with your hand searching for your phone. After retrieving it, you glanced at the screen, wincing when you realized the brightness was turned up way too high for your sensitive eyes.

Good morning, princess. What are you doing later today?

Your eyes skimmed the text that you had gotten from Jimin about a minute ago and you smiled. He texted me again, you thought happily.

I was planning on hanging out with Elaine.

You replied, not wanting to seem too available. Your phone buzzed yet again. He was quite the speedy texter.

Perfect. I wanted to know if you and her would like to come over to my place and have fun at this little party my boys and I are throwing tonight?

Mmmmmmmm

You sent back, as if you were thinking about it, but let’s be honest here, the answer was yes from the get-go.

It would really make my night to see you again.

The phone vibrated yet again.

Plus, we’re ordering pizza for tonight too. Now if that doesn’t convince you, then I don’t know what will.

You laughed, he was definitely a funny guy.

Alright, alright.

You replied, acting convinced and “defeated”.

Great! Then I’ll see E and you, princess, tonight @ 675 palm tree avenue #2. It’s the big yellow house, you can’t miss it. I’ll expect you at 8.

Your fingers quickly typed up a reply, asking about the attire you should come in for the party.

Wait, what’s the dress-code?

Buzz.

Just wear something you’d want me to see you in.

...

8:40pm rolled around and you and E were just getting into the Uber. Turns out that Jimin’s place was about 30 minutes away, but that didn’t really matter - the stars of the party are always late.

The Uber pulled up to house #2 around 9:15pm and boy, were the two of you surprised. This was no house, it was a freaking villa and this was also not just a small little get-together, but a huge ass house party. You stepped out of the Uber in a tight and very short black dress, a pair of red, tall Louboutins and a brown, small, Michael Kors purse. Your hair was tied up into a tight, but high ponytail and your facial features were complimented by the makeup you had put on about an hour ago. Your neck and ears were also blinged out by a pair of golden hoops and a necklace that made your dark eyes pop. E of course looked stunning as well with her long dark brown hair cascading down her back, her tight snakeskin looking dress and her LV heels that went well with her LV purse and bracelet. The two of you made your way up the stairs and into the house, the front door being open, due to the huge amount of people that were in the front yard, smoking, drinking, but also dancing to the loud music that could be heard coming from the inside. The villa was insanely spacious, so although there were 100+ people there, it never felt too crowded or uncomfortable, because everyone was sort of distributed and spaced out all throughout the home.You passed by people that were playing beer-pong, never-have-I-ever and twister on your search for Jimin, but also the bar. You found the bar which was located towards the back of a huge room with huge glass windows to the left of it, but no Jimin.

Maybe he was upstairs or something, you thought to yourself. There was even a bartender at this party, holding down the fort and supplying you and E with a pair of Caipirinhas and a few vodka shots. After downing the shots and taking a few sips of your drink you turned to the left and realized that there was an outside party area with a pool and a dj. Maybe Jimin is out there, you thought, taking E outside with you. And surely, there he was in all his glory, but shirtless this time and only in a pair of swimming trunks. You watched him splash in the water with who seemed to be his friends, chucking a football around. His body looked amazing, so toned and fit and his blue trunks that were wrapped around his lower body complimented his creamy white skin and his dark hair. You were so caught in a trance that you didn’t realize the football had been tossed over Jimin’s head and was heading straight for you.

“Look out,” one of the guys shouted, snapping you out of your daze, but it was too late, you tried to dodge the ball, but you ended up losing your balance, falling and getting hit by the ball anyway.

God, please just come get me, I’m dying of embarrassment, you pleaded, laying on the ground with your arm covering your face. You wanted to cry that’s how embarrassed you were. You completely tuned out the sounds around you and we’re so focused on your embarrassment that you didn’t even register that hardly anyone had noticed other than E, the boys that were playing the game, Jimin and a few spectators. Everyone else was far too stoned, or buzzed off of the liquor.

“Are you okay? (Y/N),” E asked nervously, genuinely concerned about your well being, her hand touching yours and her voice soft.

Before you answered her question, you heard a quick succession of footsteps coming closer.

“Oh my gosh! Is she okay,” you heard a manly voice ring in your ears and you uncovered your eyes to see a handsome blond male standing over you and next to E.

“I-I am,” you tried to sit up.

“I’m so sorry! That was my fault I-,“before he could finish his apology Jimin came running from behind him, smacking the back of his head playfully and muttering an “Idiot” to him.

He immediately kneeled down beside you, concern and worry taking over his playful expression. His eyes moving from your face to your knee, his brows furrowing. The way his dark wet hair was dangling in his face with his skin glistening in the light had you mesmerized.

“Your knee,” you felt his fingers brush over the skin of your knee, drawing your attention from his body down to yours.

“Oh, I didn’t even realize,” you took a look at your scraped knee.

“Let’s go get you cleaned up,” you heard Jimin say and before you could even manage to push yourself off of the ground, Jimin’s strong arms swooped you up and he held you in his arms the way a prince holds a princess.

Jimin turned to face Elaine, his drenched body, but also his words making you drip, “Mind if I borrow her for a while?”

“Not at all,” E replied, peeking at you and giving you a quick thumbs up.

Jimin swiftly made his way inside the huge villa and then upstairs with a cocky smile on his face. Your small hands were gripping onto his muscular arms, you being scared of falling and nearly dying of embarrassment yet again.

He carried you into what seemed to be his bedroom and carefully placed you on the huge king-size bed that was covered in creamy white covers and sheets which were decorated with golden tassels. Your mouth was agape as you eyed the room that looked like it belonged to some kind of royal bloodline, with the whole space being decorated with the colors white and gold, plus a tiny bit of red.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back”, Jimin headed through a wooden door to the left that probably led to a fancy bathroom. His absence gave you a moment to breathe and you laid down on the soft covers, the alcohol slowly getting to you as you felt a bit more tipsy.

Who would’ve thought that you’d end up on this “stranger’s” amazing bed like this.

Before you could collect your thoughts, Jimin returned with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cue tip in his hands. He smiled before kneeling down before you and extending his hand to gently hold your leg and disinfect the small would with the cue tip that he had dipped into the disinfectant. You winced at the small, but sharp pain.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, his focus still on your wound.

“Yeah, a little,” you replied, looking down at him.

“Do you want to take a shower?” he motioned at your dress that reeked of the alcohol you had spilled on yourself during the fall.

“Umm, yes please,” you gladly took him up on that offer as you were dying to get out of the sticky and nasty dress.

“Alright, the bathroom is right over there,” he pointed in the direction of the restroom and you immediately sat up, maybe a little too quickly and nearly fell a second time, but thank the Lord for Jimin’s strong arms that came to your aid.

“Woah there,” he chuckled and you blushed, swiftly disappearing into the bathroom with a nearly inaudible “thanks.”

(Y/N), you’re so dumb,” you stared at your reflection in the mirror. Your dress that you had worn for Jimin was completely ruined. Frustrated, you began to strip off your dress and let it fall to the ground, exposing your matching black and pink lacy bra and thong. Well, at least your underwear still looked good. You undid your now messy ponytail and let your hair loose.

“Wow,” you heard from behind you, causing you to freeze up instantly. Your eyes met with Jimin’s in the mirror.

“J-Jimin,” his name nervously escaped your mouth as you spun around, your hands flying up to cover you. Your face was as red as a tomato and your body grew hot under Jimin’s watchful gaze. He was casually leaning against the doorframe with a huge smirk on his face. He was also holding a towel and a change of clothes in his hand that were probably for you.

“So this is what you wanted me to see, huh?” 

You remembered that Jimin had told you to wear whatever you wanted him to see you in and deep down he was right, you did want him to see you in this. He slowly began to approach you, like a predator that was cornering its prey. He backed you all the way into the marble counter and trapped you between himself and the counter, his hands resting on either side of you. You were so nervous that you couldn’t even look at his face. You jumped when his hand tilted your chin up and your eyes met his dark, mysterious and wanting brown orbs. He was eyeing you from top to bottom and it seemed as though he was ready to devour every inch you. Before you could even utter a word, his lips crashed into yours. His candy lips were soft, but the kiss was somehow rough and needy. You moaned when his large hand that had been fisting your hair began to grope your left breast, giving him the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth. Your tongues danced a fiery tango and his wet muscle was of course dominating yours. He broke the kiss to take a look at your breathless body that seemed as though it wanted more. Your nipples had hardened and your panties were literally stuck to your hot, wet center. Your appearance and the feeling of your velvety lips made Jimin grow hard, his member pressing aggressively against the fabric of his swim trunks.

“You’re so sexy, (Y/N),” he bent down and his lips encountered yours yet again. This time he deepened the kiss and wrapped one of his hands around your throat, choking you a bit. He was making you crazy and you started to rub your thighs together, hoping to get some kind of friction to relive the aching wetness between your two limbs. Jimin moved from your lips to your jaw, peppering kisses there until he reached your neck which he assaulted for quite sometime, leaving red marks that served as evidence of his presence behind. He attacked your chest next, after he had ridden you of your bra. He licked the area around your nipple, before sucking the sensitive bud into his mouth and swirling his tongue around it. You moaned loudly, your hands tugging at his hair.

“You like that?” he asked, but you couldn’t find the words to answer him and he stopped. Disappointed you met his gaze and he chuckled.

“Princess, when Daddy asks you a question you have to answer. Preferably with a “Yes Daddy”,” a huge smirk appeared on his face, when he saw the shiver that ran down your spine as soon as the word “Daddy” slipped past his lips.

“Yes, Daddy,” you obliged, desiring nothing more than for him to continue and continue he did, until he had finally reached the area between your legs - the area you needed him the most at.

“Turn around for me, princess,” he commanded and turn around you did. He bent your upper body down and began to rub your ass.

“What do you want me to do, princess?” he asked, toying with your thong, making you even more wet. You squirmed and he chuckled yet again.

“Use your words, princess or else Daddy can’t help you.”

“Please take off my thong, Daddy,” you said with your head resting on the cold marble counter. He didn’t hesitate to hook his finger in your thong and pull them down the curve of your ass and your legs painfully slow. You saw an accomplished smile in his reflection as soon as he saw how drenched you were. You blushed and hid your face.

“Hide your face from me again and I will spank you,” he stated and you instantaneously uncovered your, still red, face.

“Y-Yes, Daddy,” you answered.

“What a good girl,” he smiled triumphantly, his finger rubbing along your slit, making you bite your lip.

“What do you want Daddy to do now?” he questioned and you didn’t understand how him asking these questions and calling himself “Daddy” was having such an effect on you. You were so horny and all your nervousness had long been replaced by lust.

“Daddy, please make me feel good,”you begged, wiggling your ass to gain some kind of friction. He smiled amused and pushed his index finger inside of you while staring at the lewd facial expression you were wearing in the mirror.

“More Daddy,” you requested and he obliged, feeling generous, so he pressed more fingers into you, fingering your roughly while earning squirms and louder moans from you. You loved the way his fingers were making you feel, stretching you out with a bit, but also giving you pleasure at the same time - but they weren’t enough. You were still famished and Jimin could tell. He as well seemed to still be wanting more, his erection in his trunks still standing strong and proud. He fingered you, until your wetness seemed to overflow and run all the way down your thighs to the back of your knees. You were slowly, but surely approaching your climax and Jimin sensed this. He pulled his fingers out before you could reach it though, warming a cry of protest in return.

“Wait, princess. Daddy will satisfy you.”

You heard him rummaging around a drawer before pulling out a golden condom wrapper. He ripped it with his teeth and tugged down his trunks. You caught a glimpse of the monster he had been hiding and your jaw nearly dropped. He had a huge, angry and veiny cock and the tip of it was decorated by a bead of his lust.

“Daddy that’s too big!” you stared at it with wide eyes. He grinned proudly.

“It’s not,” he pumped himself a few times, before rolling on the condom.

“Daddy, it won’t fit,” you began to get nervous again. You had never taken a cock that big before, let alone seen one that size.

“It will,” you felt him run the head of his cock through your folds and you whined. He felt so good and you wanted him so bad.

“Princess, you’re so wet. Let Daddy taste you,” you felt the tip of his dick disappear and his wet muscle darted out from between his lips and tongue kissed your pussy. Your legs began to shake lightly and your teeth sunk down into your bottom lip hard. His tongue felt absolutely amazing.

“You taste delicious and sweet,” he said, emerging from behind you while licking his lips that were covered in your sweet nectar.

“Now, let Daddy feel you,” you heard him say before the tip of his cock once again returned to your folds. He wrapped one of his hands around your hair and pulled back a little, making you push back a little and onto his big dick. You whined and he smiled.

“So you can’t run from me,” he slightly tugged on your hair with his eyes meeting your wide ones. Before you had the chance to add anything to what he had said he pushed into you in one swift motion and you cried out, tears forming in the corners of your eyes. You wanted to run from it, but there was nowhere to go. It hurt. You let out a few painful squirms as he pulled back and then pushed back into you more softly.

“Shhhhh, Princess. It’ll be fine,” he consoled you, kissing down your spine. He was right, after a short time you began to adjust to his size and the pain you had been receiving turned into pleasure. Within a few minutes you were begging and moaning for more which Jimin gladly gave you. He began bucking his hips into you more roughly, bruising your hips that were pushed against the counter. You felt everything, every vein and motion from his member, every kiss he pressed onto your back and every stretch he made you go through as he pulled out and pressed back into your tight pussy. Jimin was letting you experience a mixture or pain and pleasure you had never experienced before and you were loving it. The rapture you were receiving started to overwhelm you and before you knew it you were very close to receiving your first orgasm.

“Daddy, I’m going to cum!” you shouted, some of your hair sticking to your sweaty forehead.

“Yes, Princess, cum for Daddy,” he commanded and you came on the spot, your walls tightening around him and nearly making him reach his high as well, but Jimin persevered and continued to aggressively fuck into you, causing you to experience a second and a third orgasm. When your fourth one was strongly approaching you could feel that Jimin must have been close as well. His thrusts were beginning to become erratic and he began to let out louder grunts and moans. You pushed back into him even more, wanting him to come with you.

“Fuck, Princess, you’re going to make Daddy cum,” he said with his brows furrowed. Your high hit you hard, with euphoria immediately taking over you and causing your muscle to tighten around him. He could no longer withstand the pleasure and shot his hot seed into the restraints of the condom with a loud, deep grunt. For a short moment both of you were just breathing heavily, trying to regain your breath. Jimin soon pulled out of you, ridding himself of the condom and tossing it in the trash.

“Well, now we are both wet and sweaty,” he laughed out loud, looking at his and your glistening skin in the mirror, his dominant side that had just been present a few moments ago disappearing.

“Looks like there is only one thing left to do,” you said with a huge smirk as you stepped into the shower. As Jimin was staring at you, you winked at him and said playfully, “You could join me and we could like save some water and help the environment. Plus, I kinda have this dripping hole and I wanted to know if you had something to plug it with.”

Jimin chuckled, before following you into the shower.

“I swear I’m going to make you mine,” were the last words that could be heard before the loud sound of hot, rushing water filled the air.

[moonlightrichie]

Late Night, Early Morning

A repost of my Reddie meet-cute. Wanted to post it properly on here.

Summary:

It’s 7am. A young man has just opened his coffee shop for the day. At the same time, another young man is on his way home from a night out with his friend, and he’s really craving a donut with pink frosting.

Word count: 2900 Pairing: Reddie

READ ON AO3 HERE

It was 5 minutes to 7am, and Eddie Kaspbrak was gulping down his black coffee in a desperate attempt to get his tired eyes to stay open. The coffee shop was cleaned and ready for opening, the cake disk; usually overflowing with cute pastries, was yet to be filled with the cakes he was still preparing in the backroom. Chocolate cupcakes, powdered donuts filled with strawberry-jam and slices of marble cake were only a few of the pastries he was working on.

Baking was one of Eddie’s favorite things to do, and he had just finished a round of donuts, newly dipped in strawberry or chocolate frosting. He had even gotten up extra early to make them. They always sold well in the morning, but because of the long time they took to make, he didn’t do it that often. He just really felt like making them today.  

As he was finding his ‘coffee tunes’-playlist to play on the speakers, the lock of the door clicked, and in walked his co-worker (and best friend), Stan.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning”, Eddie replied. “I was starting to get worried. We’re opening in…” he checked the clock above the milk-steamer, “uhm, now. Just leave the door open.”

He scurried out from behind the counter, and rushed to turn the “sorry we’re closed”-sign to say “come in, we’re open”. Then, he opened his box of chalk, picking out the pink one, and thoroughly scribbled down the daily note on the sidewalk sign before dragging it outside.

The sky was painted in a beautiful pink and red light, and Eddie took a moment to breathe as he felt joy bubbling inside his chest. He couldn’t help the toothy grin forcing its way onto his lips, feeling truly happy.

“I think you need to update your coffee-playlist, Eddie. We’ve been listening to the same boring songs on repeat for like a month now, and I’ve had it”, Stan said when Eddie walked back inside. He already had his apron on, and was frowning at the computer.

Owning a coffee shop was something Eddie had dreamt of doing for years. He looked at his still newly opened coffee shop he had decorated himself with cute lights and artsy paintings, and he looked at Stan standing behind the counter, skipping some of the songs playing, and he sighed happily.

***

It was 5 minutes past 7am, and Richie Tozier was making his way down the street, still full of energy from the night out (and also still a little tipsy). He was walking a few steps in front of Bill who was babbling about how crazy it was that there were people on their way to work at the same time as they were just making their way home. Richie nodded his head in agreement. They had already passed a couple bus stops, receiving judgmental looks from middle-aged men in suits.

Richie was exceptionally happy with how the night had been. Even though he and Bill shared an apartment, they hadn’t really had much time to spend together in a while. They used to do so much, and now that Bill was studying literature and Richie was working at the local radio station, their schedules always clashed. They had finally found a weekend where they both had time, and they jumped at the chance to hang out together immediately.

It had been Richie’s idea to go out drinking, and even though Bill wasn’t too happy about it at first, he sure was happy after scoring a cute girl’s number at the club. Richie was the best wingman in the world. He had truly patted himself on the back for that one.

“Holy fuck, I’m craving cake right now.”

“Richie, you’ve buh-been craving food fuh-for three hours now, w-we have food at huh-huh-home.”

“No, Bill. Not just food. I need something sweet! I don’t know, candy, cake, frosting, ice cream, sugar cubes, anything.” Richie was waving his hands in the air, the desire for sugar burning inside his chest.

Bill sighed next to him. “Well, thuh-there is puh-puh-probably something at huh-huh-home you can eat? Puh-please let’s g-go home, I’m so tired.”

Richie looked at him, resisting the urge to fall down to the ground dramatically. “How can you even say that, Bill? Are you truly denying me the sweet taste of a donut right now? Are you sincerely saying I should instead eat whatever dry crackers we have at home? How dare you?”

Bill rolled his eyes. “S-stop being so duh-dramatic.”

Richie ignored the comment as he suddenly stopped. He sighed intensely, regretting the words he had uttered just seconds earlier, because “fuck, now I want donuts”, he whined. “You know those donuts with pink frosting? Holy shit, I need one of those right now, or else I’m actually going to die.”

“Home, Ri-Richie.”

“Fine”, Richie sulked.

They continued walking, this time Richie a few steps behind Bill. He really didn’t want the dry crackers they had at home as a snack before bed.

“How hard is it to make donuts?”

Bill shrugged. “I don’t know. Puh-probably not that huh-hard, even though I th-think you’d muh-mess it up anyways.”

Richie gasped, clutching a hand to his chest. “How can my best friend betray me like this?”

Then he looked around, and that’s when he saw it. “Oh my god.” 

Just down the street, only a couple blocks from their apartment, stood a cute little coffee shop, and it was open. Richie frantically grabbed Bill’s at arm to stop him from walking. “I can’t believe this.”

Bill looked at where Richie’s gaze was locked and he tugged his arm away. “Richie, please, I ruh-really want to go home.”

“Give me five minutes.” He started walking before Bill could protest more, and stopped when he got to the sidewalk sign.

It said ‘We have donuts’ with small pink hearts drawn around it in chalk.

“They have fucking donuts!” Richie screamed at Bill who was still on the other side of the street. “It’s literally destiny, Bill, come on!”

“Okay, just huh-hush, people are sluh-sluh-sleeping.”

Richie took another quick look at the sign and the pink hearts before they walked in, muttering “cute” under his breath.

***

It was 7:20am when they got their first customers. Stan was cleaning the tables, and Eddie was just finished slicing up the marble cake.

First walked in a fairly attractive guy, tall with auburn hair and pretty eyes. The one thing Eddie noticed, though, was that this man was definitely not on his way to work. He looked dead tired as if he hadn’t slept all night.

Then entered another guy, tall and lanky, dressed in black jeans and a denim jacket. Eddie had to hold back a tiny gasp when he saw the dark curls framing the guy’s pale face, because damn it if this guy wasn’t Eddie’s type exactly. 

The guy was smiling wide, talking loudly to his friend, and the shop was suddenly much more lively than it had been just seconds ago.

Eddie cleared his throat. “Good morning!”

The two guys looked up at the same time, both looking a little caught off guard as if they hadn’t realized there were going to be people there. 

The guy with curly hair locked eyes with Eddie, and Eddie smiled shyly.

For a moment, the guy just stared at him, eyes wide behind his glasses. “Holy shit”, he whispered softly.

Eddie furrowed his brows in confusion, smile faltering just the tiniest bit. “Uhm.”

The guy shook his head as if coming out of a trance, clearing his throat. “Ah, uh, y-yes, good morning.” He was blushing, an embarrassed smile taking over his features. Cute.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Eddie asked, walking over to the cash register.

The guy came closer, his smile suddenly a lot bolder. “How about your number, cutie?” His tone was flirtatious, catching Eddie off guard.

He heard Stan scoff from where he was washing tables.

It took a couple seconds before Eddie managed to regain his composure. “Well, uhm”, he laughed humorlessly, feeling warmth spread across his face. He frowned, not quite believing the situation he was in. Was he actually being hit on at 7:20 in the morning? “I’m sorry, but that’s not for sale.” He raised his eyebrows. “And actually, I’m not really sorry for that.”

The guy sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Well then, I guess I’ll have to settle for one of those donuts.”

“With strawberry or chocolate frosting?”

“Definitely strawberry.”

“Right, that will be 2 dollars then.”

Eddie could feel the guy’s eyes looking him over as he walked over to the cake disk. He put the donut carefully into a paper bag before returning to the register. There was a 5-dollar bill lying there, and the guy was smiling at him, showing off his semi-crooked teeth. “Keep the change, cutie.”

Eddie couldn’t help but fall a little bit in love with that smile. The guy obviously had lots of charm and charisma and was probably a natural flirt too. Having way too much pride and being the stubborn man that he was, Eddie was not going to fall for it. The guy might be cute, but he did look like a mess. His hair was chaotic, his eyes tired and just like his friend, he looked like he had been up all night. 

Eddie smiled timidly while handing over the paper bag. “Thank you.”

When grabbing the bag, the guy brushed his fingers over Eddie’s, evidently on purpose, and Eddie cursed himself when the touch left tingles prickling on his skin.

“You know, I think it was destiny that we met.” The guy had his elbow on the counter, his chin resting in his palm, eyes never leaving Eddie’s face.

Eddie raised his eyebrows dejectedly. “Yeah? How so?”

“Because…” the guy raised his other hand, pointing his finger in the air as if trying to make a point. “Literally not even 10 minutes ago, me and Bill here”, he pointed to his friend, “we were walking down the street, and talking about how much we wanted donuts. And suddenly, out of nowhere, your cute little shop pops up with a sign saying you have donuts.” The guy smiled wider. “I think that’s fucking destiny.”

“I think that’s just called a coincidence.” Eddie was trying his hardest not to sound mean. He was in his work place, and took his job very seriously. Treating costumers nicely was very important for the shop’s reputation. This guy was making it very fucking difficult.

The guy just kept smiling despite the rejecting tone to Eddie’s voice. “No, I don’t think so. What I think, is that I just met the love of my life.”

Eddie couldn’t help the surprised sound escaping his throat. His face was probably as red as the sunrise outside.

“Richie,” the other guy said. “Can we puh-please go huh-home now?”

Richie just raised his hand at the guy, still looking at Eddie. “Just a moment.”

The guy, clearly frustrated, rubbed his hands over his fatigued face. “You said five muh-minutes.”

Richie turned around then. “Bill, if this was the other way around, I would wingman the hell out of you right now. Are you really trying to ruin this for me?” It seemed like he was trying to whisper even though the volume was very much the same.

Eddie looked over at Stan, and Stan was smiling at him amusedly, clearly entertained by the situation. Traitor.

“We’ve buh-been awake all n-night, the alcohol is out of our suh-system, and you’ve guh-got your donut.” The guy, Bill, was looking ready to pass out, and Eddie felt sorry for him.

“Wait, you’ve been out drinking?” Stan said from where he was now standing behind the cake disk. “Who goes out to party on a Sunday?”

“Irrelevant”, Richie said, looking back at Eddie. “What matters is that I’ve found my soulmate.”

Eddie scoffed, cocking his head to the side. “You don’t even know me.” 

Richie shrugged. “Well, let me take you out then so I can get to know you.” The tone of his voice was much more sincere than flirtatious now, and Eddie was angry with himself for believing it.

He was struggling to find a response, not really wanting to reject the guy anymore. He was very cute and charming, and once again, exactly the kind of guy Eddie would usually fall for.

While Eddie was thinking over his words, Richie opened the paper bag and took a bite of the donut. Every word Eddie was forming in his brain flew out the window as the guy moaned while chewing and looked at Eddie in shock.

“Did you make this?”

Eddie nodded, his mouth slightly open. “Uhm, yes.”

The guy stared at him, his lips coated in pink frosting. “Marry me.”

Eddie jerked backwards while Stan laughed.

“No seriously, we’re perfect together. I love donuts.” He pointed to himself. “And you”, he pointed at Eddie, “make the best fucking donuts I have ever tasted.” He started gesturing between the two of them. “If that’s not soulmates right there, then I don’t know.”

“It takes more than love for donuts to be soulmates, so no, I don’t think you know”, Eddie said.

“Ouch.” The guy placed a hand over his heart, laughing slightly.

Eddie couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“At least tell me your name then.”

Eddie had to consider for a second, but this guy was slowly winning him over. “It’s Eddie.”

“Eddie.” The guy nodded. “Beautiful name for a beautiful man.”

Stopping the blush from spreading over his cheeks was practically impossible at this point. “Thanks”, he answered softly.

“Has this coffee shop always been here? Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

“We opened just a couple weeks ago actually.”

“That’s really great, I hope it stays.” Richie smiled genuinely. “These donuts really deserve some true recognition.”

“Thanks, we hope so too.” Eddie smiled back.

“Well, I guess we’re off. Time to get this guy to bed”, Richie said, putting an arm around Bill who looked half asleep.

“Fuh-finally”, Bill yawned.

Richie dropped his arm from Bill’s shoulders as they started walking towards the door, and panic rose in Eddie’s chest. There was absolutely no guarantee he would ever see this Richie again, and despite his efforts of not giving into this guy’s flirtatious behavior, he really didn’t want him to leave. Seeing Richie walk out the door was like letting a beautiful opportunity slip through his fingers.

They were half way out the door, and Eddie spoke before he knew what he was doing “Wait!”

They turned around, Richie’s hand on the door handle. Eddie rushed to find a napkin and quickly scribbled down his number before he could change his mind. He had a feeling that he probably wouldn’t.

He reached out his hand, napkin hanging loosely from his fingers. “Here,” he smiled timidly, suddenly feeling scared that Richie wouldn’t want it after all.

A pleased grin took over Richie’s face as he slowly walked back to the counter. “Really?”

Eddie laughed nervously. “Yes, really.”

Richie reached out, caressing his fingers over Eddie’s as he took the napkin from Eddie’s grip. “Wow, I’ll text you as soon as I wake up tomorrow.”

Eddie grinned. “Don’t you mean later today?”

Richie laughed, crinkles appearing on the sides of his eyes. He looked beautiful. “Exactly.”

Bill tapped Richie on the shoulder.

“Right”, Richie said. “We’re going now.”

They started walking towards the door again, and as Bill opened the door, Richie turned back to look at Eddie. “You’re not going to regret this, Eds.”

“By calling me that, I’m already regretting it!” Eddie said lightheartedly.

The door was closing as Richie started laughing, filling the coffee shop with the beautiful sound one more time.

Eddie just stared at them as the two men talked outside for a second in the pink light.

“I can’t believe that just happened”, Stan said as he stepped up beside him. “Only you could get a date at 7am in the morning.”

Eddie tried glaring at him, but it was impossible with the massive smile on his face.

*** 

It was 7:30am when Richie and Bill stepped out of the coffee shop.

“I can’t believe you just did that”, Bill said. “There were so many people you cuh-could have picked up at the club but duh-didn’t, and instead you pick up someone fuh-fuh-from a coffee shop after we’re duh-done partying.”

Richie laughed. “Well, there weren’t anyone interesting in the clubs. You saw how cute he was, Bill.”

“Well, he wuh-was certainly your type.”

“I’m definitely marrying him.”

“Sure, Richie. Let’s go.”

As the two of them started walking down the street, Richie couldn’t stop himself from looking at the sidewalk sign once more. On the other side that they hadn’t seen on their way inside, it said “Have a brew-tiful day!” a drawn coffee cup with a smiley face grazing the bottom. “So fucking cute”, Richie muttered to himself.

Then he looked up at the coffee shop itself, seeing the name “Books and coffee” in a cursive pink font. He made a mental note of asking Eddie about the name the next time he saw him before turning around and following after Bill, the napkin safely tucked inside the pocket of his jean jacket.

[broomballkraken]

Title: Bear Hug

Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Pairing: Dedue/Raphael

Word count: 1573

Warnings: None

Summary: Though not as frequent nowadays, Dedue still finds himself having vivid nightmares of his past. He would normally seek comfort in the solitude of taking care of the plants in the greenhouse, but this time it seemed that his comfort would come from a rather...loud and boisterous source instead.

The greenhouse at Garreg Mach was rather impressive, stocked with a wide variety of foliage from all over Fódlan and beyond. It was also one of the few places where Dedue could escape from the disdainful stares from more than a few of the students and faculty, and it also proved to be an effective place to relax and feel at ease.

Dedue was here for the latter, unfortunately. His brow furrowed as he returned from refilling his watering can and he began giving the plants a much-needed watering. He was always mindful of which plants he was tending, as those from differing climates required different amounts of water. He tried to focus on that, and not the reason that he had so desperately retreated here as soon as he was able.

The nightmares stemming from his tragic past were less frequent now, thankfully, but the only drawback to that is when they did pay an unwelcome visit, Dedue was not prepared and often awoke feeling anxious and unnerved. He was lucky that Dimitri was training all day with the Professor, because Dedue was not sure that he could maintain his proper demeanor after being so jarred by his horrid dreams. Very few people frequented the greenhouse when they did not have to be there, so Dedue could enjoy the solitude that it offered.

However, this time the nightmares still sat in the forefront of his mind, and Dedue frowned. Why could he not chase away the darkness that followed him? Maybe the greenhouse was not the place to be today…

“Hey, Dedue! I finally found you!”

Dedue was snapped from his thoughts when a loud, boisterous voice hit his ears, that of which could only belong to one person. He finished watering the roses he was kneeling next to before standing up, quickly brushing the dirt off of his shirt. He turned to find Raphael beaming at him, like the personification of a ray of sunshine. Dedue tilted his head slightly, curious as to why the only one of their classmates who rivaled him in stature was here. Raphael was more likely to be found in the dining hall or the training grounds than in the greenhouse of all places.

“Hello, Raphael. Did you need something?” Dedue asked, watching with a neutral expression as Raphael crossed the room to stand before him.

“I was just wondering...Were you on cooking duty this morning?”

“Yes.” Dedue said with a slight nod. The smile on Raphael’s face somehow grew even brighter, and Dedue was glad that he was not an actual ray of sunshine because he probably would have been blinded by now.

“Wow, really? You made all of that delicious food? It. Was. AMAZING!” Raphael exclaimed, punching a fist into the air for unneeded emphasis. “I could have eaten, like, ten helpings of it...but they, uh, cut me off at five.” Dedue blinked at him, unsure of how to respond to such raw enthusiasm.

“Where did you learn to cook like that? That meat was the most delicious and tender meat that I’ve ever eaten! And the spices were perfect!” Raphael continued, grinning a toothy grin as he waited with bated breath for Dedue to answer.

“Well...I always enjoyed cooking with my mother and sister when I was growing up. I learned all that I know from them.” Dedue said, his jaw clenching when the events of his nightmares resurfaced as he spoke.

“Wow! I bet all three of you could really whip up a heck of a meal!”

“We could, but my family is...dead.” Raphael’s face fell at that, and Dedue wondered if he should have not said anything.

“Oh, hey, I’m sorry to hear that.” Raphael said, a small smile returning to his face, and Dedue was grateful for that. “Is that why you looked so sad this morning? Were you thinking about them?” Dedue said nothing, and instead nodded slightly. He was shocked that Raphael had noticed his dour mood; he was more perceptive than Dedue had realized.

“Well, I lost my parents when I was younger too.” Raphael said. Dedue was surprised at that; he never would have guessed with how happy and carefree Raphael seemed all the time. “I still have my little sis, but it was really hard for the both of us at the time. It took awhile to figure out a good way to deal with all the sad feelings. I didn’t want my sister to see me sad all the time, so I preoccupied myself with training and eating and making her happy to keep my mind on other stuff.” Dedue listened intently as the other man spoke. What he said did make a lot of sense. It was why he himself spent time in the greenhouse when he was sad, even if it did not seem like it was helping too much this particular instance.

“Hey! I’ve got an idea!” Raphael said suddenly, his ear-to-ear smile reappearing on his face, “When Ignatz or Marianne or my other friends are feeling sad, there’s one thing that will always put a smile on their faces!”

“And that is?” Dedue asked, his curiosity piqued. Raphael chuckled and held his arms out in front of him, his fingers wiggling in Dedue’s direction. Dedue just stared at him, confused.

“It’s one of Raphael’s famous bear hugs of course!” he said, “C’mon, try it!” Dedue blinked owlishly at Raphael, a rare stunned look crossing his face. Dedue was too used to people avoiding or flat out running away from him, so having a man almost as big as himself offering to hug him was a completely foreign concept to him.

“Um, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I know some people are uncomfortable with random physical contact like this.” Raphael said, his smile growing sheepish as a light dusting of pink appeared on his cheeks. His completely earnest words made a small smile threatened to cross Dedue’s face, and he held his arms out to mimic Raphael’s.

“I will try it.”

Raphael beamed at him, quickly closing the distance between them as he wrapped his huge, muscular arms around Dedue. Dedue started to return the hug, hesitating a bit due to feeling a bit awkward, and he let out a startled noise when Raphael lifted Dedue off of his feet with surprising ease.

“Ha! C’mon Dedue! You can’t let this hug be so one-sided!” Raphael said, grinning as his honey-colored eyes met Dedue’s seafoam green. Dedue’s hesitation immediately vanished and he finally wrapped his arms around Raphael in a gentle yet firm hug. Raphael responded by hugging him tighter, his delighted laughter filling the greenhouse and making Dedue’s heartbeat quicken.

“Yeah! That’s more like it! Both people have to participate or the hug doesn’t really count!” Raphael said, laughing again as he finally set Dedue back on his feet. Raphael’s laughter was incredibly infectious, because Dedue ended up laughing along with him. He could not remember the last time he felt at ease enough to laugh around someone else, and Dedue was surprised that it was Raphael of all people.

“Wow Dedue! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before, let alone laugh like that!” Raphael said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Dedue chuckled, and he found that he was unable to wipe the smile from his face.

“It seems that your bear hugs are indeed an effective deterrent of sadness. Are you sure that you are not casting a spell of some sort?” Dedue asked, raising an eyebrow. Raphael let out a booming laugh and slapped a friendly hand to Dedue’s shoulder.

“Oh, no way! I’m horrible at magic! It’s just some good old comfort and compassion for ya!” Raphael said, his eyes meeting Dedue’s again. “I just can’t sit by when others are feeling down without trying to help. So, if you’re ever feeling sad again, you can always come find me for another hug anytime, Dedue. Or even if you just need someone to listen for a while, I can do that too!”

“I...may have to take you up on that offer, Raphael. Thank you.” Dedue said. He never knew how good a person Raphael was. He was rather intimidating to look at, much like himself, but inside he was a caring and selfless individual. Dedue had never met anyone quite like him before.

“Anytime, buddy!” Raphael said. The moment of silence that followed was interrupted by a loud rumbling sound. Raphael blushed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Oops! All of this hugging really worked up an appetite. I’m starving!” Raphael said, laughing as he slapped a hand to his own stomach. “C’mon Dedue! Let’s go get some meat!”

“Alright, I will join you. I am finished watering the plants here for today.” Dedue said, his face heating up when Raphael let out an excited ‘whoop’ as he grabbed Dedue’s hand.

“Great! Let’s go!” Raphael said, smiling as he led the larger man out of the greenhouse. Dedue let out another rare chuckle and followed, his hand fitting surprisingly well in Raphael’s. Dedue had always used the greenhouse as an escape from his troubles, but maybe what he really needed was a famous Raphael bear hug all this time. He would definitely be taking Raphael up on his offer in the future, and Dedue had a feeling that Raphael would be very okay with that.

[knjfed]

NOT IN CONTROL ↝ stefan butler x reader

prompt ▹ The reader is in somewhat of same situation as stefan, having the feeling as if she is being controlled.

warnings ▹ not much, female!reader, cussing, implied drug use, lowercase intended, and some violence. (if not in this chapter, it will be in the next ones.)

this is part 1 | part 2

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your alarm went off at 6:00 am, you gasped trying to catch your breath from the dream you just had. This happened often for the past month or so, you could never remember the dream fully. it was almost always something normal happening to you.. the only thing that stood out of place was that peoples faces were always blurred out and their voices slightly muffled so you could never pinpoint who it was in your dream.

wake up | sleep in.

you went to reach for the ‘snooze’ button but something stopped you from doing so. slowly you sit up and rub your face to wake up.

you wanted to sit there on your bed and try to think over your dream so you weren’t left in the dark yet again, but you felt like something was pushing you along to get moving and start your day. it seemed like you could never have time to yourself anymore. it was absolutely bonkers. was it too much to ask of yourself to just sit and be alone with your thoughts for a few fucking moments?

the annoying thought in the back of your head got the best of you when you got up, your feet hitting the cold floor as you made your way to the kitchen.

i could eat, i think i have enough milk for cereal today.

eat cereal | grab an apple

you went to reach for the milk in your fridge but you suddenly stopped, your eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you tried to push yourself to grab the milk. no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t reach it. you let out a frustrated breath and slammed the fridge shut, grabbing an apple as you passed by the table on your way to the bathroom.

what the FUCK is going on? can i not even enjoy some cereal?

your mind raced as you bit into the green apple, your face scrunched up at the taste. why did you even have that in your house? the flavor is horrid.

oh yeah, you felt like you needed to get it a day or two ago at the store. lovely.

you swallowed the chewed up piece and tossed the rest of the apple in the little trash can near the sink. without any hesitation you started to brush your teeth, then your hair.

you glanced down at your watch and saw that it read 6:30 am. already? you needed to get moving or else you’d be late again. walking to your closet you had two options, a simple long sleeved shirt with jeans or a short sleeved shirt, jeans, and a baggy orange jacket.

the jacket, i haven’t worn it in a while.

long sleeved | baggy jacket

you grabbed the jacket without any trouble, thank god.

after getting dressed the rest of the morning went smoothly, you put on a little bit of makeup before leaving the house and began your walk to work. it wasn’t far so it didn’t bother you, plus traffic is a pain.

you managed to walk in right at seven, five minutes early.

elevator | stairs

biting your bottom lip out of habit you walked into the elevator and pressed the floor number where you worked. you hands stuffed themselves into your jacket pockets as you looked down at the ground, your stomach growling in hunger from only having a bite of an apple this morning.

“h-hold the elevator!” a voice called out as the doors began to shut, quickly your foot shot out in the middle of the two doors, making them stop before they even came close to closing. the boy who seemed to be your age, perhaps two years older stepped in next to you and smiled shyly. he went to press a button but stopped, he must be going to the same floor as you.

odd.. usually choices like that take a little bit to happen.. that one seemed right away, normal even.

you got snapped out of your thoughts when the boy started to speak again, when you looked at him to pay attention you could feel your cheeks heat up a bit.

he’s cute.

“uh, thanks.. f-for holding the elevator i m-mean!” he stuttered, clearly nervous for many reasons. you couldn’t seem to tell why though. all you did was smile and nod softly, taking note or his eyes. definitely one of his many beautiful features.

“yeah, not a problem. i like your jacket by the way.” you smirked, seeing that you were wearing the same jacket, yet his was yellow. it fit him, the color.

he looked down quickly at his jacket as if he forgot he wore it today then looked back up at you with a toothy smile, it seemed genuine.

“thanks, i like yours too..” he spoke, looking like he wanted to say more but the elevator came to a stop as the doors started to open. he hesitated for a few seconds before gesturing for you to get off before him.

you grinned and stepped out only to see your boss waiting by the elevator. his face lit up when he saw the boy in the yellow jacket and went to shake his hand. “ah steven! how are you?” he greeted warmly and quite excitedly.

“uh— its stefan actually..” he replied, glancing back over to you for a moment before you realized you were already looking at him. (more like admiring)

you swallowed and quickly looked away. you muttered a to yourself about how dumb you may have looked while walking over to colin’s desk that was right across from yours. he seemed to be working on his newest game, Nohzdyve.

“how’s it going ritman? making yet another hit game?” you teased in a friendly manner before hopping into your own chair infant of your computer. colin looked up from his screen and simply gave a lazy thumbs up.

“it’s going alright L/N, now that you’ve found the bug it’s been much easier. i owe you one.” he spoke as he pushed up his glasses and finished typing a code needed for his game right as stefan and mr. boss man walked up to his desk.

“colin, this is stefan. he’s going to be showing me a demo for his new game. he’s also expressed his admiration for your games.” mr thakur spoke while putting his hand on a smiling stefan’s shoulder.

you simply rolled your eyes and smiled to yourself, typing away at your computer. what you did here was make the graphic art for most of the upcoming games made here, but you did also have a great talent for coding. colin often used your talent for help with his own games.

as you were working on the ideas for cover art that might be used for Nohzdyve, you got snapped back into reality.

“i couldn’t have done most of my games without the help of Y/N over here, well i could have, but not as quick.” colin grinned, gesturing towards you.

“ha ha ritman. very funny, piss off. but i’ve been somewhat acquainted with stefan. nice lad.” you smiled, snapping and giving him classic finger guns with your left hand.

stefan’s smile grew as his ears turned a light shade of pink. “th-thanks y/n.”

before you could say anything else colin let out a short laugh, almost a scoff. when you looked over at him with a questioning look he just smirked and turned in his chair to face thakur and stefan.

“y’know, i don’t think i need anymore assistance with my game, y/n has already done her part with my game. perhaps she can work with stefan if everything goes well.” colin suggested nonchalantly. wingman of the year.

agree | disagree

yes! YES! why aren’t i agreeing outloud? i don’t want to say no!

she clenched her jaw and held back the urge to say no to colin’s idea. she looked up at stefan and saw that his smile dropped and he looked somewhat confused.

you pushed with everything in you to get an answer that you liked out, for once it worked.

“i..i say yes, i’m free and i’d like to work with you.” you managed to get out, not seeming too forced.

after a few seconds he nodded, biting his nails what seemed to be out of habit. “sure, th-that’d be great..” he smiled, seeming suddenly calm.

“right then, should we get moving?” colin interrupted as he stood up and patted stefan’s shoulder, practically marking the other two men move to the office.

stare at stefan | get to work

y/n watched as they left, before the door closed she couldn’t take her eyes off of stefan.

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A/N: please leave your thoughts and let me know if you want to be on the tag list!

[incorrectdeceptionquotes]

A History of Secrets Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jonathan took Farrah down to the FBI archives office. The woman he was looking for was sitting by her desk with her head down, looking at some book. Her red hijab framed her face, she wore long-sleeved yellow top with a long light pink cardigan on top along with a pair of jeans. He hesitated for a moment before knocking on the open door. Lara looked up to find the magician by the door with a stroller in hand. He gave a nervous smile, “Hi.”

The archivist gave a small grin, “Hi. Jonathan, right?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised you could tell.”

Lara shrugged, “You and your brother might look identical but you carry yourselves very differently.” Jonathan’s eyebrows raised slightly in amusement. “Plus your leather jacket is a bit of a giveaway.”

Jonathan looked down to the black leather jacket he was wearing and chuckled slightly, “I guess you’re right.”

“How can I help you?”

“Well... I was wondering if you could help us with something... I don’t know if it’s really your expertise but-”

“I can do what I can. Have a seat.” She gestured to the chair in front of her desk.

Jonathan was about to bring the stroller in when he realized that Lara’s office wasn’t that big. It could definitely fit Farrah’s stroller but it might make things a little snug. He placed the stroller outside the door, lifted up his niece into his arms. He was about to walk back in when Farrah pointed to the stroller and exclaimed, “Bunny!”

“Oh, sorry kiddo. Forgot about your bunny.” He took the bunny out of the stroller and Farrah was quick to wrap her arms around the pale blue plush. Jonathan came in and sat down, placing Farrah on his lap. He hesitated again for a moment before speaking up, “I-I was wondering if you had any information in the Blanc family.”

Lara raised her eyebrows in surprise, “Well, off the top of my head, I know that they’re a rich family. A combination of old money and new money. May I ask why?”

Jonathan nodded, “They’re kind of... our in-laws.”

“In-laws?”

“Our sister was married to Shawn Blanc.”

Lara looked at Jonathan then took a quick glance to Farrah who was still playing on Cameron’s phone. She knew from what Kay told her that Cameron and Jonathan were raising Farrah because she lost her parents. All she could say was: “I’m sorry.”

Jonathan nodded in appreciation. “And now, there’s this.” He took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to her.

He noticed how her expressions changed as she read through the letter. Her nostrils started to flair slightly. When she was done, she almost slammed the paper down, “They want to take her away?” Jonathan nodded, a little confused by her reaction. “Why now?”

“That’s the same question we have.” Jonathan sighed, “I was wondering if you could find anything on them that could prevent them from taking her away... you’d think Bennett Blanc being in prison for actual coldblooded murder wouldn’t have them so confident.” He tried to joke.

Lara gave a tiny smile, “I’ll do what I can. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Jonathan shook his head, “I think that’s all for now.” Just then Farrah lifted the phone to Jonathan’s face to hand to him. He took his brother’s phone from the little girl, “You all done playing?” Farrah didn’t say anything and instead tried to wiggle her way onto the floor. Jonathan gently placed her on the ground and let her walk around a little, “Sorry, she just needs to stretch her legs.”

Lara’s smile only grew as she watched the little girl in denim overalls, white puff-sleeved t-shirt with pink flower clips in her hair waddle around her office with her stuffed animal in hand. “I don’t mind at all. I think she’s very sweet.”

“Thank you.” Jonathan replied with a grin, “I think so too.”

Lara was about to say something when she heard Farrah coo at something behind her. The archivist turned around her chair and found the little girl pointing at the bottom shelf of children’s books. She smiled at Farrah, “Do you wanna pick a book?” Farrah just shyly looked at her shoes, “It’s okay if you want to try to read one.”

Lara pulled out the book Farrah had been pointing at and handed it to the little girl. Farrah hesitantly took the book and gave Lara a toothy smile before she toddled back over to her uncle and showed him the book. Jonathan pretended to be incredibly amazed by the book as Farrah sat down and placed the book on her lap as she clumsily opened it to page through it. He looked to Lara, “Why do you have children’s books in your office?”

Lara shrugged, “Usually, some of my co-workers who had to come to work last-minute can’t get someone to look after their kids so I let them stay here. It’s kind of the calmest place a kid can be in a building like this.” She chuckled, “Plus I don’t really get that much to do outside of finding files for people.”

Jonathan was surprised, “Really?”

She nodded, “Yeah. Mike sometimes has Diego and Jaime hang out here while he has to finish up paperwork so I figured it made sense to just have a few kid-friendly books you know?” She glanced at Farrah who was tracing her tiny finger over the illustrations of the book. “Do you read to her a lot?”

Jonathan shrugged, “Uh, yeah, I guess. She really likes to be read to.”

“That’s really nice.” Lara gave slight grin as she got up from her chair. She walked over to the second bookshelf to the left, “So you said that you needed dirt on the Blancs?”

Jonathan chuckled, “Not really dirt. Just a reason that can prevent them from taking Farrah away.”

Lara raised an eyebrow in amusement, “So dirt?”

He let out a laugh this time, “You said it, not me.”

(~**~)              (~**~)              (~**~)              (~**~)

Kay ran a hand through her hair as she looked through traffic camera footage, trying to see if she could identify Cornelia Berossi in the crowd. She had been told by the prison guards that the former mystery woman was now blond as her roots had grown out so that was something to look out for... but she could have already dyed her hair. She took another sip of her coffee, frustrated that somehow the fugitive had evaded all the cameras. It wasn’t until her stomach growled that she finally looked up from her screen. At that same moment, Cameron knocked on her office door. She smiled, “Hey.”

“Hi.” He walked in, closing the door behind him, “Do you wanna get some lunch?”

Kay sighed, “I’d love to but I’m still looking through this footage.”

Cameron walked over to her, “Any leads?”

She shook her head, “Not yet...” She ran her hand through her hair again, “I just don’t understand it. How is she not in any of this footage? There’s only so many ways to leave that prison and they’re all under surveillance.”

Cameron placed a hand on her shoulder, “Maybe you need to step away from it for a little while. Maybe get yourself some food.”

She placed her hand on his, “Cameron-”

“I’m not saying take the whole day off but you do need a break. You’ve been working non-stop for hours and you’ve only had coffee since breakfast.” She gave him a curious look, “You think that after all this time I can’t tell when you’re running on just caffeine?”

She rolled her eyes. She looked up to him, “How’s Farrah?”

“She’s alright. She’s with Johnny right now.”

“Why isn’t she at daycare?” Cameron averted her eyes, “Cameron...”

He sighed, “I know... I’m just worried.” He lightly gripped her hand as he looked back to her, “You should eat something. It might help.”

“You’re right.” She got up from her seat. She picked up her jacket, placing her phone and her wallet in the pockets, “Where to?”

“How about that diner down the street? I hear they have good pie.”

She smirked, “I thought we were getting lunch.”

“Lunch can include dessert.” He playfully argued.

“Do you want to ask the others if they want to join us?”

“They already went for lunch half an hour ago.”

Kay nodded as she put her jacket on, “You didn’t go with them?”

“And leave you to forget to take care of yourself? What kind of man would I be?” She rolled her eyes at him again as they went out the door.

(~**~)              (~**~)              (~**~)              (~**~)

The day had gone by and they still had no leads on the former mystery woman. Kay decided to stay at her place seeing as she was going to get up early again in the morning.

Cameron and Jonathan went back to their apartment with a tuckered-out Farrah. The two brothers just discussed what they had managed to get done and were trying to figure out if there was something they were just not seeing. Upon arriving home and locking the door behind them, Jonathan let out a yawn. Cameron smirked at his brother, “Tired?”

“Yeah... I guess. I’ll get Farrah ready for bed.” He said in a bit of an exhausted tone.

Cameron shook his head as he took his tired niece out, “You go to bed, I got her.”

“You sure?”

“Take an early night. We’ll be fine.”

Jonathan gave a grateful sigh, “Thanks Cam. I’ll see you in the morning, good night.”

Cameron smiled, “G’night Johnny.”

“Nigh’ nigh’ Johnny” Farrah babbled.

Jonathan chuckled, “Good night Jellybean.”

Jonathan went into his room as Cameron took Farrah into her room. Once he finally got Farrah into her footie pajamas, after a few escape attempts by the toddler. Once he also gave her hair a quick brushing, he scooped up his niece and placed butterfly kisses on her cheeks making her giggle. Farrah grabbed his cheeks with her teeny hands. Cameron smiled as he cooed at her, “Did you know that I love you very much?” Farrah giggled as he took them to the kitchen to get her a bedtime bottle, “Yes I do, I love my little girl.” He placed her on the ground for a moment.

When he got out her bottle out, she started jumping up and down and pointed, “Botta! Botta!”

Cameron smiled at her excitement and held out his hand, letting her grasp his index finger. When they got back to Farrah’s room, Cameron placed her bottle on a table so he could pick her up. “Now. Are you going to go right to sleep after finishing your bottle?”

Farrah grabbed his nose and giggled, “Botta!”

“Aw, come on Fare Bear, I thought you grew out that.” Farrah just giggled again making Cameron smile again as she let go of his nose. He gave her a hug before placing her in her crib. He handed her the bottle, she was quick to grab it and start drinking it. Already, her eyelids began to droop. Cameron tucked her, and handed her the blue bunny she loved so much. As he walked out of her room and turned off the light, he just wished that whatever happened, Farrah would be alright.

(~**~)              (~**~)              (~**~)              (~**~)

One year ago...

A young doctor with bright brown eyes furrowed his brows as read through some official-looking documents. “Shawn?” He heard a voice call out. A young woman with dark curly hair and blue eyes walked over to him and sat down with an eight-month-old child drinking a bottle.

Shawn smiled, “Hey Fifi.” He held out his hand, letting the little girl in his wife’s arms grasp his finger, “Hey Farrah... how’s my little princess doing?”

Fiona smiled down at her daughter as Farrah grinned at her father, “Well, I got her into her PJs and hopefully the bottle will help get her to sleep.” She looked to the papers on the desk, “Whatcha doing?”

“Oh uh... just... finalizing our will.”

Fiona raised an eyebrow in amusement, “We have a will? When did we get so fancy pants?”

Shawn chuckled, “Lots of people have wills Fiona.”

She just shrugged, “I never have. Never had a reason to.”

He gave a sad smile, “Well, I have two reasons to. One reason is the beautiful woman sitting next to me.” Fiona rolled her eyes as Shawn leaned over to kiss Farrah’s forehead, “And the other reason is my little princess.”

“Shawn, it’s past 8 o’clock. Does the sap tap ever turn off?” Fiona joked.

Shawn playfully rolled his eyes, “Oh ha, ha. This is actually pretty important.”

“How so?” Fiona asked as she took the empty bottle from Farrah and placed it on the desk.

“Well, I just mean that we have a baby and it’s not a bad idea to just have some things ready for her just in case...” Shawn couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Fiona intertwined her hand with her husband, “Shawn... I get that you’re worried about Farrah and it’s really sweet but you gotta remember that we’re going to be just fine.”

“I’m sorry, I guess I just feel better knowing that no matter what might happen, you and Farrah will be okay.” Fiona raised an eyebrow. “I just mean financially.” He showed her one of the papers, “See, this is my inheritance that I had already separated into my own separate account before my parents...”

“Cut you off?”

Shawn shrugged, “I don’t ever plan to use it because I don’t trust how my parents made that money in the first place and I have decent job where I make good honest money.”

“Why does your father keep sending you checks then?”

“I don’t know...” He replied, squeezing his wife’s hand, “But I’m not taking any money from that man. There’s always a catch with him.”

Fiona gave Shawn a sad smile as Farrah held her arms out to him wanting Shawn to take her. “So what does this will do for Farrah?” Fiona asked as Shawn took his baby girl in his arms, letting the baby rest her head on his shoulder.

Shawn handed her the paper, “I’ve turned my inheritance into a savings account for Farrah. That money will be hers.”

Well! Does that clear things up a little? No?

...Don’t worry, it will all make sense soon...ish...

Hope you guys liked this chapter, something big will be happening next chapter so stay tuned for that! <3

[chuckling-chemist]

Now Give Me Some Figgy Pudding (4/14)

((It’s lacking a “name of song” title because I ran out of clever ideas, very fast. Also, the song I imagined for this sequence was Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2))

“Goddammn Val, you realize they serve dinner too, right?”

Valeba glanced down at her small plate of food grabbed from the buffet tables, absolutely filled to the brim with fancy slices of raw fish and other small appetizers. The extravagance of the food matched the extravagance of the whole venue perfectly: it looked richer and more expensive than Valeba would ever be able to afford on her own, and was largely enjoyed by the masses, but she knew in her head it wouldn’t quite live up to what she imagined and would probably need some soy sauce.

Okay, maybe this analogy needed more thought.

Could anyone blame her? After being swarmed by press eager to get the first major look at the up-and-coming Heiress -- never mind not only had she been here last sweep, just not in any sort of specialized area -- neither of them had a chance to breathe, let alone get any food. They hadn’t been able to sit down for some time, not until they finally made their way into the VIP area. And despite Mayola’s numerous attempts to help Valeba dip out, the press were so interested in a fuschiablood not just having a lowblood quadrant, but a lowblooded quadrant she wanted to take with her to a formal event, escaping to their little table for two against the wall was next to impossible.

“What?” She popped a scallop wrapped in bacon in her mouth. “I’m hungry now. Besides, it’s only about seven-forty-something. We’ve got twenty minutes before our food gets here and I can’t wait that long. Besides,” she paused and grabbed a piece of lox, “it’s free. I’m poor. I’m taking advantage of this guy shilling out as much money as possible to feed us.”

“Mm. Fair.” Mayola’s hand snuck up to the plate, but Valeba caught it first. She planted a dining knife square in between her the fuschia’s forefingers.

“Get your own damn plate,” she growled.

Mayola’s eyes glinted against the hazy blue lights. “You sure you wanna go down this path?”

“Maybe later.” She retracted the knife in an instant, quickly pocketing the knife. Not like it was hers, but Mayola didn’t need the upper hand. She carried enough knives on her. “If you gotta slobber over me, I’d like to think it can wait until after dinner.”

“Before or after they’re done with the uh...fuck I dunno what song this is so I can finish the thought.” She stopped, scrunching her whole face. Soft piano arpeggios filled the room. They almost sounded familiar, a chord set she must have heard somewhere else even if she didn’t quite recognize the current song. “Maybe you and your highblood fuckery recognizes it?”

She paused all motions to stare at Mayola, incredulous. “Highblood fuckery?”

“Oh come on, you know.” She folded her hands underneath her chin, letting her shaggy hair fall in front of her face. Valeba had to admit, Mayola probably shouldn’t have cut it right around Night of Frights for a costume, but telling her otherwise would have been an impossible mission. “Me. That awkward blue boy. Some fish--”

Valeba gasped. “I don’t pail my goddamn moirail you--”

“Relax!” She cackled loudly, clapping her hands against the table. “I was talkin’ ‘bout Niehea’s current fling. Coulda sworn he mentioned you once. Or maybe that was some other lowblood. Man’s pailing lifestyle is a goddamn revolving door that Niehea just kinda...stands in the center of.”

“Good to see you really think all lowbloods are the same,” she remarked dryly. The corners of  her lips curled into a smirk. “Knew it’d come out of you eventually that you’re just playing.”

“I most certainly aren’t!” Her fins and eyes went equally wide as she pointed a sharp claw in Valeba’s direction. “Ain’t! Fuck. Damn it. I’ve been fancy for too long.”

“It’s only been forty minutes since we walked in.” She leaned back in her chair. “You’re probably just getting affected by the area around you.”

“It can’t be that fancy.”

Valeba rolled her eyes. She hadn’t been able to look very well at the whole VIP room, not after their dash into the room only a couple minutes before the servers came in to get dinner orders. That being said, between actual having an actual troll stationed to take her coat (and failing to notice the sheer volume of weapons she carried) and having two cobaltbloods push a red carpet down a snowy road already indicated this event was at least on par with similar events Careen held, the same parties she seemed eager to remind Valeba weren’t for “her kind” when she thought Dontoc wasn’t listening.

“Sure. I’ll just check to just confirm that’s stupidest thing to come out of your foodchute yet.”

She caught Mayola’s mouth opening to rebut, but Valeba was already twisting around in her seat. She’d been looking for an excuse to get a thorough look around the room since sitting down and this gave her the first proper excuse to gather her bearings and see what she was theoretically up against.

True to her belief, the whole place looked like a textbook definition of fancy. The room itself was a more reserved, upscaled version of the larger ballroom, complete with a second - albeit smaller- musician pit and elegant bar stocked in liquors she’d barely ever seen. Instead of the large tables set for eight present in the main room, most of these ones were all smaller tables for twos, threes or fours. Each mahogany table was covered in rich cloth of the color and accent representing the VIP guest in question. Valeba’s own table was covered in tyrian pink with a glass vase, but just a cursory glance revealed abstractified sculptures of everything from violins and television props to dangerous looking lusii and glass symbols propped on stands. Most of the table cloths were in cool colors, but occasionally she’d catch a hint of brown or red that felt like sucker punches to the face. Soft lights wrapped around garland and silver tinsel hung from the white walls accented in gold walls to give off an ethereal glow. It matched the potted evergreens and purple flower bushes precisely positioned around elaborate glass tables covered in appetizers.

And to say nothing of the people. She hadn’t quite yet gotten the chance to observe all the trolls in the main area, but in the VIP area showcased the absolute most famous and pompous of the bunch she’d never be able to see anywhere aside from idly watching television with Ardeen. Highblooded women in tight corsets and long, flowing gowns mingled with seadwellers in smoking jackets holding champagne flutes of what she figured - unless VIPs got special privileges on alcohol, which she wasn’t willing to throw out - were no more than sparkling juice currently. The real surprising thing about the whole event were the sheer number of seadwellers: Dontoc and Mayola both complained endlessly about how rarely seadwellers came to landdwelling highblood events. For them to come to a formal event on the mainland ran by a landdweller - a midblood no less, if all the pre-preparation she did holds any merit - was a testament in and of itself. It made her wonder how many of the seadwellers were actually VIPs interested in going and how many were just high-society dates to landdwelling celebrities. It’s not like she could much tell the difference between the two anyway.

When she turned back around, she popped a small cheese-covered cracker in her mouth. Her plate seemed...emptier than it should have. Either Valeba was hungrier than her thought, or Mayola stole a couple pieces. “This is literally the most extravagant, most elaborately designed room I’ve ever been in. I fail to see on any singular level how you could mistake this for being ‘not that fancy’. Unless you’re fucking with me.” She raised her eyebrows. “Are you fucking with me?”

“I dunno.” Mayola clasped her hands on the table and gave her a sharp, toothy grin. Valeba could see the small pieces of raw fish stuck between her teeth. “I think I might be.”

Valeba scooted up to sit on the edge of her chair, elbows on either side of her plate. “You’re an ass.”

Mayola leaned further on the table, gaze quite pointedly not on the plate, but on Valeba. “You can’t share your goddamn food. Think that makes you the true ass.”

“Says the troll stealing from the poor.” She leaned in further. She could feel the light breeze from Mayola’s twitching fins. “Even if I’m the true ass, you’re not too good yourself.”

She smirked, eyes dark with what could only be described as pitch adoration. “But you hate every fuckin’ second of it.”

“Hate it so much I’m getting my goddamn food back.” She leaned further in for a kiss, cut off only by a loud cough reminding her of where they were. Valeba shoved herself back into her chair, grinning sheepishly at the yellowblooded server standing next to the table, deftly levitating their food with psionics. “Sorry for making you wait,” she said.

“Flirting - pitch, pale or flushed - at such an affair’s not uncommon. You get used to it.” The yellowblood gave them a cool smile. “I imagine the dignity of the Heiress would prevent it from getting too out of our fronds.”

Mayola laughed awkwardly, flipping her hair back behind her shoulder.  “Yeah...no. I am fuckin’ shameless. Hungry and horny do start and end the same way after all.”

Valeba sighed. “Mayola that makes no sense.” She looked back over to the yellowblood. “Also sorry about her. Seadwellers, ya know?”

“I do indeed.” The smile that came over him as he placed the covered silver platters to the floor felt more genuine than before. The lid on Valeba’s lifted first. “The bronzeblood asked for our breaded gamefowl resting on a mat of rice, seasoned in our finest herbs and served with a side of tangy, yet spicy, grubsauce.”

The next lid raised. Mayola stared down at it, licking her lips like a starved hyena all the while. “And for our Heiress, just as you requested: steamed oversized scuttlebug stuffed with yolk from our cluckbeasts and brandy, served with a side of green stick vegetation and risotto. Otherwise known to seadwellers as ‘lobster thermidor’. A heavy dish, but perfect for warming you in the weather.”

“Hell yeah it is.” She stretched her arms over her plate. Valeba could hear nearly every single one of her fingers crack. “Hey, goldie. Indulge me a little.”

The yellowblood froze in place. The plates he held up with psionics shook. It wasn’t a stretch to say the poor troll was probably terrified. She wished it were possible to telegraph that of all seadwellers, Mayola was the least likely to harm him anymore than a sympathetic smile. “Yes...my Heiress?”

“You guys allowed to accept tips?” She frowned. “I forget if that’s technically a no-no. Swear to fuck tippin's different across the ocean.”

He relaxed instantly, so much so Valeba actually thought she might have to steady him. “Yes. Yes. It’s allowed,” he said as he took both the lids out of the air, stacking them over each other before tucking them under his arm.

“Good.” She shoved her hand into her pocket, pulling out wrinkled pink dollars. “Sorry for the appearance, but I don’t like fru-fru fucking little handbags.”

“Not a problem,” he said politely. He opened his free hand to allow Mayola to drop the dollars and he tucked them into the pocket of his vest without another thought. The yellowblood gave the two a short bow. “Enjoy your food, ladies.”

“Oh we will,” Mayola said. She winked at Valeba. “We fucking will.”

[ryqoshay]

Happy Life: My Angel

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Words: ~2k Rating: Probably closer to T than the last one AU: Angelic? Time Frame: Early college; likely Yohane’s 1st and Riko’s 2nd year Story Arc: “Revelations” Revelations My Angel

List of all HL scenes

Author’s Note: The morning after Revelations.

Riko opened her eyes slowly. A smile came to her lips as her gaze fell on the girl sleeping beside her. What a wonderful sight to see when first waking up.

Granted, living with Yoshiko had given Riko no shortage of opportunities to witness her sleeping as the younger girl seemed capable of falling asleep just about anywhere. Riko still wasn’t quite sure how laying upside down on the couch, feet dangling over the back and head hanging over the front was comfortable for sleeping or playing video games, but it seemed a favored position for Yoshiko.

But seeing Yoshiko like this was different. First and foremost, she was in Riko’s bed. That fact alone warmed Riko’s heart. But she just looked so peaceful as she lay on her side, facing Riko, covered only in a blanket, Riko’s blanket, under which she lay as well. She also had one arm out so her hand could hold Riko’s to maintain a point of contact. Riko felt she could watch this scene for hours.

Her smile grew as memories of the previous night washed over her. It had been perfect… or at least as perfect as it could be as the two frantically fumbled through figuring things out while riding a rush of recently unrepressed emotions. So, in that light, it had been perfect enough. Riko chuckled a little at the thought.

“Nnn…” A soft sound emanated from the blue-haired girl as she suddenly stirred.

“Good morning, my angel.” The redhead murmured, reaching over to brush a stray strand of blue out of the other girl’s face.

“Fallen angel.” Yoshiko corrected, reaching up slowly to rub at her eyes before yawning.

“But an angel nonetheless.” Riko smiled.

A faint blush dusted Yoshiko’s cheeks as she returned a sleepy smile.

Cute. Yoshiko typically hid her embarrassment behind a wall of bravado and Riko always felt a little privileged when she was able to witness a more demure side of the younger girl.

“Sleep well?” Riko asked.

“Mmm… Yohane always sleeps well when Riri is near her…”

“Oh?” Riko racked her mind. “When did we…”

“Many times…” Yoshiko yawned again. “Like when we all stayed at Chika’s place… or Zuramaru’s… or Mari’s…”

“Even then?” That had been good enough for her?

“Mmm… And living here, knowing Riri was near made me very happy. But…” Her blush deepened as she glanced down to where they were still holding hands. “Yohane likes it here best…” She squeezed the other girl’s hand.

Riko’s chest tightened. So cute.

“Say, Riri…”

“Mmm?”

“Uhm… Are you sure…” Yoshiko’s shoulders scrunched up as she started to pull into herself.

“About?”

“Us… are you…”

“Yes.” Riko stated definitively.

“It’s just that you’re so beautiful and talented and…” She cut off as the older girl tapped her forehead.

Riko furrowed her brow. “Don’t you be selling yourself short, Yocchan. You’re beautiful and talented as well.”

A hint of a smile tugged at the edges of Yoshiko’s lips.

“Anyway, I said I was sure last night, and that hasn’t changed. Nor will it.”

Yoshiko looked up, her eyes filled with hope. “Really?”

“Yocchan. Living with you has been one of the best times in my life. And for a while, I honestly thought I could not be happier. Then I realized there were steps I could take that would make me even happier. And we took one of those steps just now… several actually… I, uhm…” Riko suddenly found herself fumbling for words. “I… didn’t actually… expect things to go that far last night…”

“But you were the one who…”

“I know. I know.” Riko could feel heat spreading across her cheeks. “I couldn’t help myself. I mean you kabedoned me, then kissed me, then confessed. And then we kissed again. And it was just so amazing that I wanted more and so I… well, uhm… yeah… I mean I’d been fantasizing about all of that for so long and suddenly it was actually happening and…”

Yoshiko blinked. “You fantasized about me?”

Oh… Riko realized she hadn’t actually meant to admit that. “Uhm… yeah… I did…”

Apparently, some of the younger girl’s confidence was returning because she suddenly smirked. “What kind of things did Riri fantasize about when she thought of Yohane?”

“Normal stuff!” Riko insisted, a little louder than she intended. “Just… stuff… like, uhm… kissing and… sometimes… stuff like what we did last night… sometimes…”

Yoshiko donned a hurt expression that Riko was fairly certain was fake. “Riri never imagined doing things with Yohane like in her manga?”

Yes… Many times… But gods help her if she could bring herself to admit it.

“Because Yohane would be willing to try some of those things with her favorite little… hrm…” The blue-haired girl’s expression turned thoughtful.

“Yocchan?”

“I’m sorry, Riri, but I don’t think I can call you my favorite little demon anymore.”

“What? Why?” What the heck kind of mood shift was that?

“Because my other little demons might get jealous.”

“Huh?” What did that have to do with…?

“Well, it’s one thing to claim you as my favorite, but this is a whole different level of favoritism.” Yoshiko continued to think out loud. “And besides, Riri really isn’t a demon anyway.”

“I’m not?” She wasn’t one of Yohane’s little demons? Why did that make Riko feel a little sad?

“Never was.” Yoshiko shook her head before displaying a toothy grin. “Riri is an angel.”

Oh… Oh!

“An angel ascended who came down to the mortal realm willingly to be with Yohane.” She closed her eyes and squeezed Riko’s hand again. “My angel. Surely, Yohane is not worthy of such divine favor.”

Riko was pretty sure her blush had spread to her ears and probably down her neck as well. Wait… My angel… “Hey, Yocchan, you’re just copying me from before.”

“So?” Yoshiko stuck out her tongue. “Doesn’t make Riri any less angelic.”

“I… I…”

“Now, c’mere.” Yoshiko reached forward to place a hand on Riko’s cheek. “Yohane demands a morning kiss from her angelic Riri.”

Riko complied by shifting herself toward the other girl. She then slid her arm around Yoshiko’s waist to pull her closer. For her part, Yoshiko slid her hand off Riko’s cheek to thread her fingers through her hair. As they both continued to deepen the kiss, something turned inside Riko. Acting on impulse, she reached up to Yoshiko’s shoulder and pushed.

“Riri?” Yoshiko questioned as she rolled onto her back.

Riko quickly moved to a position above the other girl. She stared down at her, believing her desires to be clear.

“Riri, Yohane demanded a morning kiss, not morning…”

“You don’t want to?”

Yoshiko blinked as though confused by the question. She then glanced down slowly, obviously taking in the view for a moment.

Riko shoved her embarrassment aside. It was to be expected, right? Yoshiko wanted to see Riko just like Riko wanted to see Yoshiko. And after everything they’d already done, she really shouldn’t be embarrassed, right?

Yoshiko’s gaze met Riko’s again. “Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, I wan…”

Riko didn’t let her finish as she leaned down for another kiss.

Riko sighed as Yoshiko slid off her. Immediately, she rolled onto her side and snuggled into the other girl. “That was amazing, Yocchan.” She marveled. “Even better than last night. How did you…”

“Yohane pays attention to what her angel wants.” Yoshiko’s smugness probably would have been more convincing if she wasn’t still trying to catch her breath.

Riko giggled. Then her gaze fell on the clock on the nightstand. “Oops…” She uttered.

“Mmm?”

“I think we’re a little late for class…”

Yoshiko glanced over as well. “Riri… that’s more than a little late…”

“Yeah, I know.” Riko laughed. “Oh well. It’s fine, I guess.”

The younger girl raised an eyebrow. “Are you feeling alright, Riri?”

“Of course. I feel wonderful!”

“I guess I figured you’d be more upset about missing class.”

“Today it’s fine.” The older girl assured. “Just for today. Today is a day of celebration.”

Yoshiko smiled.

“Today we celebrate our long overdue confessions.”

Yoshiko furrowed her brow. “You know, technically, you haven’t actually confessed to me yet, Riri.”

Riko blinked. “I haven’t?”

“Uh-uh.” The blue-haired girl shook her head. “I confessed and you just said that you felt the same. That’s not the same as actually saying it.”

“Oh… uhm…” The redhead chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry, Yocchan. I do feel the same way. Of course I lo…” Her voice faded. What the heck…

Yoshiko giggled. Riko pouted.

“Not so easy, is it?” Yoshiko smirked.

“But it should be!” Riko insisted. “I mean what’s the point of practicing saying it if I can’t say it when it matters?”

“You practiced?”

“Well… yeah… I mean, it’s important to tell someone that you love them, right? And I do love you, Yocchan. I’ve loved you for a while. And I’ve wanted to tell you for so long. And now here we are, having already done… all that, and I can’t even say it.”

Yoshiko laughed.

Riko closed her eyes as her own words registered in her mind. “You’re going to tease me about that, aren’t you.” She said as a statement more than a question.

“Probably.” Yoshiko craned her neck so she could plant a kiss on the other girl’s forehead. “I love you, Riri.”

“I love you too, Yocchan.” Riko nuzzled into the other girl’s shoulder before sighing. “I suppose things are going to change around here now, aren’t they?”

“You mean I won’t have to wait until you’re done with your bath before I get ready for bed?”

“Well, yeah, but… hey, my baths don’t take that long, do they?”

Yoshiko laughed. “I’m just kidding, Riri.”

“Anyway, what I meant was, something like, since we’re together, maybe we could have an actual guest bedroom.”

“Hrm…” Yoshiko pondered for a moment. “But I kind of like the way I have my room set up now. It works well for my streams. And no offense, Riri, but if you were to start moving in your stuff, all the pink would disrupt the ambiance.”

“Hmm… Alright, so still separate rooms, I guess. But what about beds?”

“What about them?”

“You… uhm… want to share one, right?”

“Oh yes, definitely. Yes.” Yoshiko nodded vigorously. “Yohane sleeps best when Riri is near.”

Riko smiled at the reaffirmation. “So…”

“Well, Riri’s bed is nice, but Yohane still likes her own as well… Maybe we can share mine tonight and see which one we like better?”

“Alright. That sounds good.”

“So what else is going to change?”

“Well, we have to decide if we’re going out now.”

“You mean we aren’t?”

Riko pursed her lips. “Technically, we’ve just slept together and done some… stuff… I mean that’s pretty much what friends with benefits do.”

“What are those?”

“Never mind.” Riko shook her head. “What I mean is that neither of us has actually asked the other out.”

“So, do you want to go out?”

Riko blinked. “That was… surprisingly blunt, Yocchan.”

The younger girl shrugged.

“I mean I guess I kind of expected you to be all dramatic and everything as a fallen angel.”

“Yohane can do that if that is what Riri wants.” Yoshiko moved her hand up to make her signature gesture by her eye.

The older girl laughed lightly. “It’s fine, I guess. And yes, I want to go out with you.”

Yoshiko smiled. “So, does this mean Riri is Yohane’s girlfriend now?”

“Yes, yes it does.”

“Riri is Yohane’s girlfriend.” The smile grew. “Riri is my girlfriend. My girlfriend…” She paused for a moment. “You know, I really like the sound of that.”

“And Yocchan is my girlfriend.”

“I like the sound of that too.”

“My Yocchan. My angel.” Riko reached up to caress the other girl’s cheek.

“Fallen angel.” The blue-haired girl corrected again, placing her hand on top of Riko’s.

“But an angel nonetheless.” The redhead was more than happy to repeat.

“And Riri is my angel ascended.” Yoshiko turned herself onto her side.

“I love you, Yocchan.” Riko said, moving her hand toward herself.

“I love you too, Riri.” Yoshiko replied, allowing herself to be guided toward her girlfriend until their lips met.

Author’s Note Continued: Truth be told, I was inspired to start writing this scene shortly after starting Revelations and ended up almost finishing it before getting even half way through the first scene of the arc. I ended up joking with another fic author that I was tempted to actually post this scene first and see how my readers reacted. Not that posting things out of chronological order is anything out of the ordinary for me, but I do kinda like to at keep the arcs orderly; slapping a side story in the middle of another chapter notwithstanding.

I was also tempted to post both scenes together as one big chapter, but I think I like them better separate as they both focus on a different girl’s perspective. Again, not that I am against shifting perspectives, deities know I’ve done it several times, and will likely do it again in future scenes, but these two still felt like two different chapters.

Finally, yes, Yoshiko’s emotional/confidence roller-coaster is intentional as I believe it to be in-character for the situation. I do see her as being a little bit more open - at least now that they are together - about her insecurities concerning her feelings of unworthiness for a relationship with someone like Riko. Honestly, I headcanon all four of the main girls in my fics as essentially being in awe of the fact that their partner is with them and/or look up to them and/or feel unworthy of them and/or the like. And they all have their own ways of displaying this feeling. It is one of my goals to properly convey these emotions to my readers.

[iminclinedtowriting]

Love Yourself (Chapter 3)

title: Love Yourself summary: A lot of things about Dan’s life are pretty great. He gets to make the music he wants, he’s got a great fanbase, and his manager is his best friend. A few things about his life suck a bit more. He’s currently lacking inspiration, he’s rather lonely, and he’s stuck in a rut. Dan’s been going to the same coffee shop for years. It’s quiet, it’s quaint, it’s near his home. Most importantly: none of the employees give a shit that’s he a world-famous singer. Things change when he meets the new barista. chapter words: 3.3k story words: 9.1k (so far) chapter: 2/? genre: singer!dan, coffee shop au, barista!phil, slow burn [[ao3]] [[previous chapter]] [[first chapter]]

The third and the fourth and the fifth time Dan came to the coffee shop were increasingly normal. Phil found himself falling into an easy routine. Dan came in, sometimes tired, sometimes not. He ordered the same coffee, sometimes one for a friend, sometimes not. He always lingered a bit, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for twenty. Sure, Phil still kind of sucked at making frappuccinos, but he’d become a right professional at making a triple espresso with one sugar

The sixth time Dan came in, however, he broke the routine.

It was nearing one o’clock — and the end of Phil’s shift — when Dan finally showed up. Phil breathed a sigh of relief. Dan hadn’t come in yesterday, and the previous day had been Phil’s day off. Weirdly, Phil was missing time with Dan, even though he was just a customer.

Well, there wasn't anything just about him.

“Morning Phil!” Dan seemed more chipper than normal this afternoon. His curly hair was peeking out from a pale pink beanie -- a weirdly soft color choice for him, particularly with his black skinny jeans and jumper.

Phil smiled back at Dan, acutely aware that his smile might have been betraying how eager he was to see Dan again. "It’s afternoon, Dan. The usual?"

"Yeah," Dan dug his wallet out of his front pocket. Those damn heavenly tight jeans were just too tight to be functional. "And a blueberry muffin. For here."

Phil's hand stilled over the to-go cup he was reaching for. He smiled but didn't risk looking up to meet Dan's eyes. He wasn't sure he could contain his excitement about Dan committing to sticking around for a bit.

When he'd recovered from the shock, he teased, "Actually staying here? Does that mean you're not late for once?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Dan gave him a playfully annoyed look. "I'll have you know I actually have nothing on my schedule today, so the only thing I could have been late for was getting here."

Phil’s head cocked to the side in confusion. "How can you be late to a coffee shop?"

"Well, I didn't know when your shift ended and I wanted to be here before it. I just couldn't manage to get myself out of bed before noon today for some reason."

Phil was eternally grateful for the fact that he didn't have anything in his hands at that moment because, surely, he would have dropped it.

Why would you care about getting here during my shift?

Do you like chatting with me too?

You have a day off and decided to come here?

Despite all of these — valid — questions running through Phil's head, all he managed was a perplexed, unintelligible "oh."

Great conversation skills, Phil.

Luckily, Dan didn’t need any more encouragement to continue talking. He sat down on the bar stool in between the cash register and the espresso machine. "When I have the day off, I have a tendency to not leave my house at all and end up not socializing with anyone. I'm too much of an introvert for my own good sometimes."

Finally, Phil found his voice again as he sat Dan's muffin down in front of him. "Same, actually. That's mainly why I picked this job. I figured it'd force me to have some human interaction. Maybe meet some new people in London."

Dan raised his eyebrows and popped a small bit of the muffin in his mouth. "And how's that working out for you?"

Phil poured the right amount of beans into the espresso maker and shoved the mug under the spout, accidentally smacking it against the machine. "Not too bad. Emmalee — you know, the other girl who works here? She's pretty cool, we have a lot in common. And—" Phil paused apprehensively "—you, which has been really nice. So, there's two new nice people at least." Before he could hear Dan's reaction, he flipped the machine on. The loud whir of the beans grinding was too loud to talk over, mercifully.

When the machine stopped, Phil looked back up at Dan. To his surprise, Dan's gaze was focused on his muffin, not Phil, and his cheeks were tinted light pink, almost the same color as his hat. Did I make him blush?

Dan stared at the muffin for a full minute while Phil finished making his coffee. If it weren't for Dan's rosy cheeks and the corners of his lips quirking up, Phil would be worried he’d said the wrong thing.

Finally, finally, when Phil set Dan's drink next to his picked-apart muffin, Dan looked back up at Phil with a bright smile. It was the big, toothy smile that Phil was getting used to seeing, not the tighter, more reserved one that Phil saw in the media and on his instagram (not that he would ever admit to knowing as much as he did about Dan's public life, if avoidable).

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you picked this job, too. I was also in need of a new London friend.”

Friend?

Did Dan consider Phil his friend?

Dan didn’t appear to notice Phil was in shock. “I didn’t leave my house at all yesterday — which is fully your fault by the way. I started watching Food Wars. I know you said not to watch it when I didn’t have good food at home, but I did.”

He’d take friend.

Phil laughed — properly laughed. On instinct, his hand raised up to cover his mouth. He thought he saw Dan’s eyes follow the movement of his hand, but he couldn’t be sure. “It’s so good right?”

“I might not have left my couch for 6 hours.”

Phil laughed. “Yeah? I’m not surprised. The first few episodes are kind of awkward to get through, and I’ll admit I still hate Nakiri, but Yukihara and Tadakoro are definitely keeping me invested.”

“What? Nakiri is the best character!”

“Excuse me?” Phil demanded. “She’s the one with so much pride she failed Yukihara despite him making her the best “pedestrian” food she’d ever tasted!”

“I mean, fair point. She is rather prideful, but that’s only because she’s not used to being around other people. Can you really blame her, when she’s been considered a food genius for so long? I can’t imagine she has many people skills.”

“You’ve got that right,” Phil snorted. “But that doesn’t mean she should be failing people who fully deserve to go to the school! She has a responsibility to both the students and the staff to make sure only the best of the best get in, and Yukihara is definitely the best of the best!”

“Sure, but how do you explain Tadakoro getting in?”

Phil’s jaw practically fell open, and his cheeks heated up as he realized he’d been beaten. Tadakoro often didn’t seem like she really truly belonged at the culinary academy, but still. “At least Yukihara isn’t too prideful to actually help the other students!”

Somewhere during their heated debate, Phil had completely lost track of the time. Dan was so easy to talk to; it felt like they just clicked. He liked that they had seemingly endless shared interests, but had opinions that were just different enough to keep the conversation interesting.

The door chime caught both Dan and Phil’s attention. Phil expected to see a customer, but it was Emmalee.

“Philip, I am here to relinquish you from customer service hell.” She dropped her backpack on the counter. If she was surprised to see Dan sitting at the counter, she hid it well. “Hey, Dan.”

Dan smiled politely and nodded hello before turning his attention quickly back to Phil.

“Is your shift over?”

Phil glanced at his watch. 14:25. Apparently him and Dan had managed to talk for nearly an hour and a half.

“Yeah, actually, looks like I’m off in five minutes.”

Dan looked almost disappointed. Or at least Phil thought he did. He was slowly getting better at reading Dan, but sometimes he wasn’t sure if the feelings he picked up were actually Dan’s or if they were just a hopeful projection of his own.

“I suppose I should get going anyway. I promised my Mum I’d ring her today. It’s my sister’s birthday this weekend and I think she wants to make plans.” Dan dropped a bill on the counter— Phil realized that he’d never actually taken Dan’s money earlier. Oops. “I’ll see you soon, Phil. Have a nice afternoon Emmalee.”

Phil waved goodbye to Dan. The bill on the counter was a twenty. Again, an over fifty percent tip on his tab of two coffees and a muffin.

Emmalee gently butted Phil out of the way of the cash register so she could clock in.

“He asked after you, you know.”

“Huh?”

“The other day. He came in when you weren’t working and he asked where you were.” Emmalee looked up, a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Oh.” Phil couldn’t come up with anything better to say.

“If you ask me, it seems like somebody has a bit of a crush.”

Phil felt his cheeks and neck heat up. “Oh. I — uh. He has a girlfriend.”

Emmalee shrugged, cashing the twenty for him. “Right, like that’s ever stopped anyone from having a crush.”

“Wait, are we talking about me or him?”

Emmalee laughed. “Does it matter? My theory’s the same either way.”

Upon getting back to his apartment, Dan looked around and surveyed the damage from nearly 36 hours of not leaving the house. Somehow, there were four mugs on the coffee table. Four.

Did I really have that much coffee yesterday?

In addition to the four mugs, there were two half drank glasses of water, his dinner plate, two different gaming controllers, and his laptop. As much as he preferred his house to be tidy, this happened every time he hibernated. With an exasperated sigh at himself, Dan gathered the dirty dishes and carried them into the kitchen. He piled them on the counter and set his phone next to them, a safe distance from the sink.

“Hey Siri, call mum on speaker.”

While the phone rang, Dan started unloading the clean dishes from the dishwasher.

“Daniel James Howell, I told you to call me hours ago.”

Okay, so maybe Dan was always late for something, regardless of what he was trying to convince Phil.

“Sorry, Mum. I was being social. For once.”

“That’s good, I get worried about you when you stay inside playing video games for too long. With Louise or Isabella?”

“Someone else, actually. I do have more than one friend and a girlfriend, you know.” Technically.

“Not that I’ve ever heard of, dear.” She was teasing, but Dan could hear the ever-present undertone of concern in her voice.

“I… well… yeah.” Dan wasn’t sure what to say on the matter. He didn’t know how to explain that really most of his friends outside of Louise and Isabella were completely surface level but that he’d recently met a person he thought could be a real friend. Somehow, he doubted his mum would really believe him when he said that he was actually making friends with his barista.

Best to just change the subject. “What did you want me ring about?”

“Oh! Adaline’s birthday is Friday.”

Dan put the last clean mug away — jesus is all I drink coffee? — and started loading the dirty dishes. “I know, I have a reminder set. What do you want to do?”

“I was thinking we could come up to London for dinner. I know you said you’ve gone to some lovely restaurants. I’m sure she’d love to eat at one of those nice places. You can pick which one you think she’d like the most.”

“Yeah, okay. What time should I make a reservation for?”

“Does seven work for you?”

Dan headed to his room to round up any more dirty dishes, remembering at the last second to shove his mother in his back pocket.

“That’s fine. Is it just the four of us?” Dan asked absently. “Is Adaline still dating whats-his-face?”

“Mark? No. I think they broke up, unfortunately.”

“He was an idiot, Mum. Actual rocks are smarter than him.”

“He was such a nice boy, though. Sure, he wasn’t as smart as Adaline, but he had wonderful manners and he treated your sister right.”

“I suppose. Still doesn’t mean she has to date him.” Dan rolled his eyes as he picked up the glasses on his bedside table. “So just the four of us, then?”

“Actually dear—” Uh oh, I know that tone. “—I was thinking you could bring Isabella. We’ve all been hoping to meet her for a while.” Dan just about dropped the glasses.

Are we there yet? Are we at the meet the parents stage?

“Er—” Dan fumbled for an excuse. “I don’t want to step on Adaline’s birthday, I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate that.

“It was her idea, actually.” Unlikely. “So, will you bring her?”

“Oh. Um. I guess I’ll talk to her and see if she’s free.”

“Lovely, I can’t wait to meet her. Text me tonight to confirm that she’s coming, please. Have a good night, dear!”

Apparently, making birthday plans and dropping that bomb was all his mother wanted, because she hung up almost immediately. As soon as he was off the phone, Dan rang Isabella. No point in putting off asking her.

Isabella answered on the first ring, sounding relieved and a little bit upset. “Oh thank god you saw my text.” Quickly, Dan pulled the phone from his ear and put Isabella on speakerphone so he could figure out what the fuck the text was. “Please tell me you’re free tonight, baby.”

Dan scanned Isabella’s texts. Most of them seemed pretty mundane — she was ranting about her assistant again. Ah, wait, there it is. The last message seemed to sum up the problem.

Isabella: So obvi, i had no choice but to fire her & now I’m like totally screwed. I mean like Fashion Week is NEXT MONTH

Probably a beat too late, Dan responded, “Izzy, that sucks, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I have to sort through resumes tomorrow, but right now I’m just…” She let out a long exhale. “I’m just stressed. Can we, like, go have a drink or something? Maybe at that place down the street from my place?”

Dan was already searching through the pile of clean laundry for a button down. “Of course, babe. When do you want me to be there?”

He thought he heard Isabella sniffle. I hope she’s not crying. “I’m already home, so can you just text me once you have a table at the bar?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” He pulled off his beanie and grumbled at the way the hat had made his hair look. He thought briefly about putting the hat back on, but the bar was too nice of a place for that. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. “I’m leaving in just a few minutes, so I should be there in half an hour, okay?”

“You’re the best, Danny. Mwah!” Isabella hung up before Dan said goodbye.

The bar was more crowded than Dan had expected for four pm on a Wednesday — although Dan figured that was probably what Isabella liked about this place. He’d learned early on that she always preferred lively, crowded places when they went out.

Dan had barely made it through the door before the hostess rushed off to set up his and Isabella’s favorite table. Dan waited to text Isabella until the bartender had served them their usual drinks — a gin martini with a twist for Dan, and a vodka martini with a lemon peel (because olives are just too fatty) for Isabella.

By the time Izzy arrived, Dan was already halfway finished with his martini. Isabella came through the door uncharacteristically quietly. Normally, she stopped to talk to at least three people on her way to their table, but today she made a beeline for Dan. She didn’t even wait until she was fully seated to start telling him about her day.

“Babe, today was a mess!” she said.

Apparently, her assistant had given Isabella’s measurements to all of her tailors wrong, and all of her clothing had come back too big. Dan wasn’t sure why, but Isabella seemed to interpret that as a personal attack against her, and assumed her assistant thought she was fat.

Dan drank two and a half more martinis while Isabella told him the rest of the story. Truthfully, he wasn’t fully convinced her assistant deserved to be fired, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say that out loud. Forty-five minutes later, Isabella finally seemed done ranting, and Dan decided to broach the topic of Friday night with her. He considered waiting until tomorrow to talk to her about it, but he knew his mum would pester him later if he didn’t confirm tonight that Isabella was coming.

“Hey, Izzy, I know this probably isn’t the best time to bring this up, but Friday is Adaline’s birthday.”

“What the fuck, Dan?” Isabella exploded.

Dan recoiled. Woah, that’s not the reaction I expected. He was afraid that anything he said would make the situation worse, so he wait for Isabella to continue.

“Who the fuck is Adaline? You told me you weren’t seeing any other girls!”

Oh, clearly she doesn’t remember who Adaline is. Dan reached across the table and covered Isabella’s hand with his own. “I promised you I’m not seeing other people, Izzy, and I’m not. Adaline is my sister, remember?”

Isabella smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Clearly she wasn’t entirely happy about something he’d said. “Oh right, silly me. I knew that.”

Dan squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile. “It’s okay, I know you’ve had a rough day. I shouldn’t have brought this up right now.”

Perhaps as a sign of forgiveness, Isabella flipped her hand over and interlaced her fingers with Dan’s. “So what about her birthday? Do you need help, like, finding her a present? I’ll go shopping for you!”

Her willingness to help made Dan happy. “I already have her present. Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to come to her birthday dinner with me? My parents and her are coming to London on Friday to celebrate.”

From the wide smile on her face, Dan never would have guessed that Isabella had been nearly crying fifteen minutes ago. “Danny!” she squealed. “I would love to come! I’ve been dying to meet your family. Honestly, I was, like, getting a little annoyed that you hadn’t introduced me to them yet.”

Dan tried his best to keep his surprise off his face. “Well, it’s only been a few months, and I’ve been really busy with work.”

“But they’ve been such totally perfect months. Whatever, it doesn’t matter now. What matters is that you’re taking me to meet your parents on Friday. This is an exciting step, babe!”

It’s a step, alright.

Dan just wasn’t sure it was a step he was ready for.

“This calls for a celebration, I think. I’m going to go to the ladies’ room, you take care of the check so we can go back to my place. I’ve got one of those nice bottles of champagne in the fridge and I think we deserve it.”

Isabella primly sat her folded napkin on the table and stood up. Before heading to the loo, she stepped around to Dan’s side of the table, moving in close. Her hand landed on his knee and teasingly ran up his thigh, stopping just centimeters from his hip. Her lips brushed his earlobe when she leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“I think you deserve something too, babe.”

She punctuated her statement with a suggestive squeeze of his thigh before she sauntered away, her hips swaying with every step.

On second thought, maybe this step was a brilliant idea.

thanks for reading! please like or reblog if you enjoyed :) i’m still planning to stick with the wednesday update schedule, so get excited for more hot content 

thanks @snowbunnylester for helping me tons and talking about food wars, which i’ve never seen oops.

[artificialqueens]

Bellbottom Blue 1/? (Shalaska) - Pickles

Summary: Justin and Aaron both found themselves looking forward to the World’s Most Boring Class. Sarcastic side comments and eyerolls with a cute boy? Yes please. Sure, college was the perfect time to fool around: but what happened when a crush started to turn their tough hearts soft and their logical minds messy?

A/N: This is my first fic for AQ and I’m excited to hear what you guys think of it! This is a College AU where both Sharon and Alaska identify as male. Thank you to @artificial-jazz for being a lovely and encouraging beta. Also, follow me at @aqpickles to chat/scream/cry with me or ask questions!

Every Tuesday and Friday Aaron got chills, but only at 3:15. It was October and the leaves were rising and falling as the wind struggled to catch its breath. College is pointless, remind me why I’m here with these assholes again? College is pointless, but only because I don’t belong here.

Just thirty minutes. Thirty more minutes and then he could get in his car and drive until he drowned out his fear with radio static. He heard his neighbor sigh and glanced over. The dark haired boy was resting his cheek on his hand, his eyelids growing dangerously heavy. At least someone else is as bored as me, Aaron thought, the corner of his mouth twitching with amusement.

“Like I said before, the paper should be a total of 6 pages,” the professor inhaled sharply, a nervous tick she had developed while enduring the same bored looks every day for 27 years. “All text blocks should be written in well-formed English sentences, of course. And please include an emphatic thesis statement in the blueprint.” Dr. Davis moved to turn the lights off and Aaron heard Justin sigh again, this time louder.

“I wish she wouldn’t,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Aaron wasn’t usually one to engage in friendly banter, but the sleepy boy beside him had been chipping away at his icy exterior for weeks now. Justin had always shown an interest in him, even when all he got in response was one of Aaron’s grumbles or dismissive waves. At some point, Aaron figured he had to cut him some slack.

“Why are you always so tired?” Aaron twirled the pencil between his fingers. It was an old habit he developed in high school, fidgeting with his pocket knife under the bleachers. He found himself admiring the way Justin’s hair started to curl once it grew past his ears, and Aaron wondered what it might feel like to have his hair curl around his fingers. Aaron’s blinked back into focus, realizing Justin had already begun to answer his question.

“But yeah, other than that, just rehearsals for the first play. The director is a fucking perfectionist and she keeps us late every night.” Justin’s green eyes flickered to Aaron, who opened his mouth to reply before being cut off by Dr. Davis.

“As you surely remember, we started talking about Bernini’s sculpture of Saint Teresa last class…” The professor began lecturing, successfully shutting down the conversation. Aaron watched Justin as he started to doodle a large pair of lips in his notebook. He was an artist, too? Suddenly everything made sense. This is why Aaron had no talent. Justin seemed to have it all.

By the end of class, Aaron had only gotten caught staring once. He didn’t even care, more focused on the way Justin’s cheeks blossomed a deep pink whenever their eyes met.

“Have a nice weekend,” Justin whispered while he shoved his notebook into his bag, Aaron already long gone.

—–

Justin was sure Aaron was straight. Why was he sure? Well, he happened to have an unending number of crushes on straight guys. And god, he was drooling over the boy with tired eyes and messy tufts of bleached blonde hair. It was safe to assume this meant he was just another straight boy to add to his list of unrequited loves.

Justin’s type? Unavailable, unreachable, and untouchable.

Of course, during lunch the next day, Justin found himself doing what he always did when he liked someone inconvenient: he made a list. He figured that it shouldn’t be hard to think of things he didn’t like about the quiet boy that sat next to him in Art History.

1.     Aaron smelled like cigarette smoke and pine needles.

Justin definitely didn’t find that appealing. He closed out of the Bath and Body Works website, rolling his eyes. What was the point of selling candles if you don’t have one called Smoky Pine?

2.     His hair was weird? It was bleached nearly white in blotchy spots. Messy boy.

Justin imagined Aaron struggling to do it by himself in the hall bathroom. He could offer to help him next time, and maybe offer his lips to help him out, too.

“Justin, have you ever wondered if clouds have feelings too?” Katya’s cheerful voice made Justin jump, and he quickly flipped his phone over on the table.

“Kat, don’t you have a class right now?” he asked, eyeing the blond girl while she pulled up a chair to sit with him. Her red lips stretched into a triumphant smile.

“Cancelled.” Katya tilted her head, watching Justin’s nostrils flare in annoyance. “Did something happen?”

“Nothing new.” He bit down on the inside of his cheek, mentally deleting the first two items on his list. He was too far gone to bother pretending. He was fucked. Aaron might as well have been a shooting star and Justin would continue to wish on him, even though he knew a boy with a rebellious streak would never make his dreams come true.

“You’ve gotta tell me who it is, bitch.” Katya leaned in closer, whispering with a wild look in her eyes, “Oh come on! You have to spill the tea, I wanna guzzle every drop of this shit straight into my mouth hole.”

“I’m not ready for you to know yet,” Justin drawled, shoving his phone in his pocket. “I have to go to. Art History.”

“But, I just got here, Brenda!” Katya complained, pouting.

“I’m not skipping my class just to watch you chug another Red Bull.” Justin rolled his eyes, slinging his bag over his shoulder. And I would never miss a chance to see Aaron, he added mentally. He squeezed his friend’s shoulder and headed toward the exit.

—–

Aaron was used to being classified as the bad boy. Playing with knives and skipping classes earned him that title early on in high school. It never bothered him until now. What if Justin thought he was gross? Or worse, what if Justin was scared of him?

He watched the boy slide into the seat beside him. It was 3:15 on the dot. “Hey, I like that jacket.” Justin flashed a toothy grin, watching Aaron look down at his leather jacket. Maybe he didn’t mind the bad boy look after all.

“Ready for another grueling hour of Art History? Maybe if you’re lucky she’ll turn off the lights and you can take another nap.”

Aaron’s latest and greatest sin was a simple one and it was spreading through his bones like poison. He craved the upturn of Justin’s lips, craved Justin’s breath on his skin, and craved Justin’s hand gripped tightly in his. A simple desire: Justin.

“I actually got five hours last night,” Justin bragged, pulling out his notebook and flipping to last week’s doodles.

“Good for you,” Aaron mumbled, annoyed that the professor was already starting her lecture.

Justin was fidgeting with his pen. He was practically a walking, breathing Cosmo article, analyzing Aaron’s every move. His feet are slightly pointed towards me, doesn’t that mean something? Justin’s heart was already taking cliff dives over him. That couldn’t be a good sign.

He’s not even gay, Justin reminded himself. He could be bi. Or pan. Or open to exploring Justin’s ass with his tongue. You never know.

Justin was doodling the same pair of plump lips over and over again. The repetitive motion was helping him block out the lecture. Lips on lips, what a concept. Lips on his neck? Shit. He hadn’t heard the familiar Grindr notification until it went off a second time. He scrambled to turn his sound off. He could have sworn he turned it off when he was walking to class. The brunette glanced at Aaron, wanting to gauge his reaction, when he saw that the blond was swiping through his notifications that were chalked full of Grindr messages.

Well shit, guess he’s not as straight as I thought.

Justin willed himself to speak. A sarcastic comment would be good, something about Aaron being popular. He couldn’t get his lips to move; he was frozen. He averted his eyes as soon as he thought the other boy was about to glance at him, gripping his pen so hard his knuckles lost their color.

“Hey, Aaron do you -” Justin began, frowning as Aaron fled the classroom before he could finish his question. Fuck you, Aaron. He’d spent the whole class trying to work up the goddamn courage to speak to him again. He huffed, shoving his notebook into his bag, and stalked out of the room toward the closest door. He needed fresh air and a glass of wine.

Unfortunately, Justin was hit by a cloud of smoke instead. He spun to face Aaron, who was casually leaning against the brick wall, taking another drag from his cigarette with a smirk.

“Did you need something?”

Aaron’s mocking tone made Justin want to scream. It wasn’t fair. All this time he thought he didn’t have a chance and now Aaron was standing in front of him. They were enveloped in the smell of smoke and he was standing there all cocky like none of this mattered at all. It was like the universe was daring him to be stupid.

“So, you’re popular,” Justin started awkwardly, leaning beside him. Really? That’s the best you’ve got, Justin?

“Uh actually, I’m pretty sure everyone in this goddamn place hates me. Probably how it should be anyways.” Aaron sighed, tucking his phone back into his pocket.

“Your Grindr notifications say otherwise. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you on there before.” Justin tried and failed to keep his tone casual. Fuck, he hated how nervous he was. Aaron didn’t give a fuck about anything and Justin was standing there trembling at the sight of a cigarette between his lips.  

Aaron, in reality, felt Justin’s words wrapping neatly around his throat until he saw stars on the edge of his vision. “You saw?” He flicked what was left of his cigarette towards the stairs, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I did.”

They stared at each other in silence. Justin wanted to laugh until his lungs stopped quaking in fear. Aaron wanted to know how it would feel to drag his tongue across the skin beneath Justin’s ear.

“Well, I’ll see you around?” Justin finally broke the silence, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Aaron scuffed his shoes across the pavement. “Sure,” was all he managed to say, walking past Justin and jogging down the stairs. Justin pulled out his phone, dialing Katya’s number in a panic.

“Ya?” she chirped in his ear while he walked back into the building to take a short cut.

“I’m gonna tell you who it is, but you have to promise not to get involved.” He took the steps two at a time, huffing into the phone.

“Why don’t you let him finish before calling me, Shannon.” Katya teased, cackling when Justin let out a string of curses. “Spill it before the tea boils out of your ears like in those Saturday morning cartoons.”  

“You’re going to be so mad,” Justin whined, glancing around him before whispering the name into his phone. Sure enough, Katya’s screaming was loud enough that the girl who passed him in the hall gave him a weird look.

Well, shit. Time to do damage control.

[their-destinys-writer]

It was an Accident - ML Ultimate Guess Who Challenge

Rated: Teen

Word count: 3,366

Ao3

Summary: Chat Noir didn't mean to find out Ladybug's identity. But when he tries to make things even, Marinette makes him promise to not tell her his identity for his safety. So how can Adrien make her figure out his identity without having to outright tell her? By flirting with her, of course.

A/N: I wanna give a huge thank you to the team of @mlficwritersanon for organizing such a wonderful event. It was a lot of fun and I got to discover even more wonderful fanfic writers in the Miraculous fandom. I encourage everyone else to check out the whole collection of reveals here.

I also want to thank everyone who gave my story kudos, and making it earn the top spot pre-reveal in the recognition category. And my congrats go out to everyone else who won in their respective categories, the top ten stories and the most guesses. For full details of winners, click here.

Hope you guys like it as much as the readers of Ao3 ^_^ (also, keep an eye out for a special link in the story).

It was an Accident

It was an accident. It was a complete and total accident. He swears on his nine lives.

Chat Noir was gawking at the girl standing in front of him, who was gawking back. He hadn’t meant to see her detransform. He hadn’t even noticed she had headed to the same alley. He even tried averting his eyes, but her magic had been too quick. Without meaning to, he saw the girl under the disguise.

For a long time, Chat had fantasized about knowing who the girl behind the mask was. But he never thought he would actually be right, to a certain extent. A toothy smile was inevitable.

“You’re Marinette!” he almost shouted, his hands flying to his cheeks.

“Shhh!” Marinette placed a finger over her lips, while a little red creature (her kwami, he assumed) zipped down to hide in her purse. “You want all of Paris to find out too?!”

He started bouncing, filled with giddiness. He still couldn’t believe it. Marinette, of all people. This was the best day of his life!

“I knew it!” he gushed. “I knew we knew each other. I told you we know each other!”

“What?! We know each other? Wait!” Marinette lifted a hand. “Don’t answer that, I don’t wanna know.”

Chat Noir’s grin became wider, and his bouncing intensified.

“You’re Marinette,” he repeated in a sing-song manner. “Class president, awesome designer, badass gamer, amazing Marinette. This is the greatest thing ever!”

The girl visibly blushed at the compliments, which only fueled Chat Noir’s excitement.

“Plagg, detran—”

“Nononono!” the girl slapped a hand to his mouth, forcing him to cut off his words. She scowled at him. “It’s bad enough that you know my identity, I cannot know yours.”

“Mphm!” Chat Noir tried tell her he wanted to, but her palm prevented any actual speech to come out from him.

“I said no, Chat,” Marinette repeated. Yeap, she’s definitely Ladybug, Chat Noir concluded. Because really, who else could understand him without uttering a single word? “It’s too dangerous.”

The boy deflated. Of course she would still try to stick to the rules. But come on, we know each other!

“I need you to promise me you won’t try to detransform, please?” she said pointedly. He growled, to which Marinette gave him a warning look. At last, he sighed and nodded.

Slowly, the unmasked heroine removed her hand. Chat exhaled the breath her hand had held, right before perking up again.

“If I can’t detransform, can I, at least, tell you who I am?” he spoke with the same giddiness as earlier.

“No, Chat,” Marinette scolded, fists on her hips. “You know the rule: no one can know our identities, not even us. It’s for our safety and our loved ones.” She sighed, her arms slumping down. “I know it sucks, but this is how it has to be. We can still keep yours safe.”

Chat crossed his arms. “Aren’t you at least a little curious?”

Marinette visibly stiffened. She scrunched her nose before closing her eyes and saying: “That is neither here nor there.”

While it was not what he wanted to hear, Chat found himself elate the moment he noticed her cheeks become pink. Oh, she’s definitely curious.

“Are you sure about that?” he teased with a smirk. The girl grimaced, like she was fighting herself internally.

“No!” she finally said, waving her arms in negation. “My feelings on the matter are not what’s priority here. You can’t tell me.”

Chat Noir whined like a puppy, his arms finally falling from their place on his chest.

“You’re too cruel.”

Marinette rolled her eyes halfheartedly. He could tell something else was on her mind. After a moment of hesitation, she straightened her posture and placed her hands on his shoulders.

“Chat Noir, I need you to promise me you won’t reveal yourself to me in your civilian form.”

“But—”

“Please!”

Chat sighed. “Fine. I promise I won’t tell you I’m Chat Noir in my civilian form.”

“Good,” Marinette released a breath of relief. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it almost immediately. Then opened it again. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

Chat couldn’t help but smirk at the thought that she would be seeing him much sooner than she thought.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “See you around.”

With those last words, Marinette turned on her heels and ran the opposite direction. Chat could only stare after her, petrified by the information he had just received. She turned a corner and vanished from view.

A last beep resounded in the empty alley and a green light washed over Chat Noir’s body, leaving him as Adrien once again. Yet, he barely registered it. He was still staring off to where Marinette had just disappeared.

Marinette. Marinette who sits right behind him in French class. Marinette who kicked his butt several times in Ultimate Mecha Strike. Marinette who gave him a lucky charm. Marinette who helped him with Evillustrator.

His friend Marinette.

Adrien sighed contentedly. At last, he knew Ladybug’s identity, and couldn’t be any more in love with her.

“Ugh, I’m gonna barf,” the black creature floating next to his head complained, adding a gagging effect to his comment. But Adrien didn’t care. He knew he was smiling like an idiot, but he had never been happier.

“Marinette is Ladybug,” he spoke in a daze. “Ladybug is Marinette.”

“Great. Yey, you found the love of your life,” Plagg said in a bored tone. “Now what?”

It felt like a bubble popped around Adrien. He blinked, the reminder of her warning sinking in. He almost deflated, but as he replayed what he promised, he realized something.

“I may have promised not to tell her I’m Chat Noir, but…” a devious smile spread on his face, “it wouldn’t be my fault if she guessed it by accident.”

Plagg blinked.

“Oh boy, here we go,” he sighed, shaking his head.

Marinette still couldn’t believe Chat Noir knew who she was. Even more so, that he had been so giddy about it, too. Like finding out Marinette and Ladybug were one and the same had been the greatest discovery of his life.

She was still kicking herself for how she handled the situation, going over the hundreds of things she could have done to stop him from seeing her detransform. But instead, she stood frozen the moment her magical suit wore off. Yet at the same time, Tikki’s words echoed through her mind, reminding her that accidents happen. And that’s what it had been: an accident.

For the time being, Marinette only hoped he followed through with not exposing his civilian self. But if she was being honest with herself, she doubted Chat Noir would keep his identity secret for long. He had never been very fond of the kwami-imposed rule, despite dutifully following it. Multiple times he had expressed desires to reveal their identities, but never acted on it. However, this time it was different. He knew hers, and chances were he was going to throw the rules out the window this once. Heck, for all I know, the next guy with blond hair and green eyes to seek me out will be Chat.

“Hey, Marinette!” The girl’s arms flailed as a hand, belonging to Adrien Agreste, slammed against the locker next to hers.

“H-hi Adrien,” she gave a nervous snort, prompting her to slap a hand to her mouth. Adrien arched an eyebrow. She removed the hand to uncover a sheepish grin.

“So it has come to my attention that you and I don’t talk as much as we should,” he practically purred. Marinette could already feel her heart skip a few beats.

“Think you so—I-I mean, you think so?” She mentally slapped a hand to her face. When would she ever form a coherent sentence in front of the guy?

“Yeah,” Adrien took a step forward. “Now why is that?”

“Uh-buh…I-uh…heh,” she cleared her throat, “I-I don’t know.”

Adrien hummed, a hand on his chin. Suddenly, he leaned forward, only mere inches away from her.

“It really is a shame we don’t talk more,” he almost whispered, with a smirk Marinette had never seen on the boy’s face. “In fact, I dare say it is a crime you and I don’t spend more time together.”

Saliva got caught in her windpipe, making her go into a sudden coughing fit. To Marinette’s dismay, Adrien took back one of his steps.

“You okay?” he snickered. One of Marinette’s worst nightmare seemed to be becoming true: making a fool of herself. Someone please tell me this isn’t real. After managing to control her cough, she responded with a weak ‘yes.’

“And by the way, Marinette, have I told how amazing I think you are?” he purred once again. Thankfully, the girl’s mouth had gone dry, saving her from another saliva mishap. Instead, a nervous laugh escaped her lips.

“I-I think you said it once,” she responded honestly, while internally screaming at the repeated compliment.

Huh. Guys seem to be quite keen in complimenting me this week.

“Well, I’ll say it again: you’re amazing Marinette,” he said, finishing it off with a slow wink.

Marinette blinked. Adrien was acting… weird. Was…was he flirting with her? No, he can’t be flirting with me. Can he? Guys flirting with her wasn’t exactly a common occurrence for her. They mostly just went out and confessed… while akumatized or after they no longer liked her. The most experience she had had with the subject was Chat Noir, but he wasn’t really serious about it… Okay, maybe he’s a little serious about it.

She shook her head. I have to be imagining things. Why would Adrien start flirting with me all of a sudden?

“T-thanks,” she said breathlessly.

“And not just that,” Adrien continued his praises. “I’ve also noticed that you can kick butt quite gracefully.”

Ha, graceful. She internally cringed remembering the time she hit her head with her own yo-yo. As Ladybug. Trying to break ice with it.

“But you know,” he leaned towards her once again, “I bet that you would kick butt even better with me as your partner. In fact, I think you and I could make a great team in just about anything,” he said in the most carefree tone she had ever heard. “I mean—”

And then he did something she never, ever would have thought she’d see Adrien Agreste do: he flexed.

“These would look great helping you out in anything you need,” and to finish it off, he winked. A move that was… familiar. Irritating, for some reason.

“Are you okay?” The question came out before she could stop it, but that strange, nagging feeling at the back of her head was not allowing her to feel bad about it. Something was different, but she wasn’t sure if he was just flirting or trying to tell her something. Or was he possessed?

“Terrific,” he responded almost immediately, once again a hand holding his weight against the lockers. “Never better, in fact.”

“Are you sure?” Marinette asked with furrowed brows.

“Pawsitive,” he smirked wider now. Marinette’s frown deepened at what sounded to her like a pun. Of course, she could have misheard. Right? She opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to figure out what to say. A part of her wanted to ask if he had just made a cat pun, while the other part wanted to change the subject.

But her struggle was short-lived, for Adrien decided to continue.

“Are you okay?” he asked with amusement. Unfortunate for Marinette, she was only able to get a few er’s and um’s out. To which Adrien decided to ask one last question: “Cat got your tongue… Princess?”

Her brain short-circuited. Princess. It was the first thought able to get through. Princess. A word she had heard someone call her once. Twice? Three times? She lost count. If he wasn’t calling her Princess, he was calling her…

My Lady.

Her eyes slowly widened, as realization dawned on her. No…way, her mind argued. But it was useless. There was no unseeing it now. There was no unhearing those words. That nickname. That pun. It was him.

And he did the complete opposite of what she asked him.

All of a sudden, the shock disappeared, and was quickly replaced with a scolding frown, fists clenching on her sides.

Adrien’s eyes widened. “Uh oh.”

Marinette launched at the blond, but only caught air, as he shot away like a bullet to the lockers exit. Without having to think it twice, the girl sped after him.

While half her mind was still trying to process the fact that Adrien, of all people, was Chat Noir, the other half was too rattled to care. I should have known the first thing he would do was flirt. She mentally kicked herself. And right after I told him not to tell me his identity. Should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to resist.

“COME BACK HERE, YOU MANGY CAT!” she yelled after him, as they reached the school courtyard, ignoring all the other students on lunch break.

“NOPE!” Adrien called back, grabbing onto the stair railing to go up to the second floor faster. Marinette did her best to keep up, but was unable to skip as many steps as Adrien. Damn his long legs!

She followed the blond until he skidded to turn to a classroom. Marinette copied his moves into the room. When she was finally in, Adrien was on the other side of the room, debating where to run next. The pig-tailed girl slammed her hands on the first desk she could find.

“You?! YOU?!” was all Marinette could get out.

“I told you we knew each other,” Adrien retorted triumphantly. “And you doubted my cat instincts.”

“And then you went and told me anyway!” she reprimanded. “Even after I specifically told you not to.”

“Well, technically I never told you,” he corrected with a smug smile. “You told me not to tell you, you never said anything about not making it easier for you to figure it out.”

Marinette let out a loud growl of frustration, which she followed with running around the desks. Adrien took the opportunity to run towards the door. In the process, Marinette’s hand managed to grab his over-shirt by the back of the collar, but Adrien was quick enough to take off the clothing piece and keep running.

She gaped at the white cloth on her hand.

“Oi! Come back here traitor!” a tiny head popped out of an inside pocket of the shirt. Chat’s kwami. Adrien’s kwami. He abandoned him! Marinette growled this time and resumed her pursuit, this time with a cat being yelling: “Get ‘im!”

They were once again out in the hallways, in their unplanned game of cat and mouse. Except this time, Marinette was the cat. They were nearing the stairs again when the designer figured she wanted to stop this already.

But how? She wondered inwardly. A question that did not need much thought, as an idea occurred to her as they got closer to the ground floor. Perhaps it wasn’t the most graceful of ideas, but…

Screw it!

A yelped resonated. Marinette had pounced on Adrien, making them both fall to the ground. They wrestled on the ground for a moment, Marinette using his white shirt as a weapon, until a tiny ‘ouch’ reminded her there was a little kwami in it and left it aside. Finally, the pig-tailed girl managed to pin the boy down, sitting on his stomach.

“Are you kidding me?!” she almost yelled. Adrien quickly made an X sign with his arms.

“I couldn’t help myself,” he laughed, which only irritated her more. She made a noise between a growl and a groan and started trying to move his arms away. In the process, her hand slipped to his side, accidentally poking him and making him try to jerk away from her.

They stopped. Two pairs of wide eyes stared at each other for a moment. Slowly, Marinette’s lips curled into a smirk.

“NO!” Adrien’s arms shot up to grab Marinette’s before she could start her tickling attack. Her wrist in one of his hands and her hand tangled in his other. They struggled, pushing as hard as they could to get the other to give up.

“You are in so much trouble!” Marinette half laughed, half growled.

“But you should’ve seen your face!” Adrien retorted, with more amusement in his voice.

“You weren’t supposed to do that!”

“But it was so funny!”

“It was not funny!”

“I beg to differ, My Lady.”

Marinette stopped. By instinct, and habit, he followed. Their bodies stilled, the weight of the revelations finally sinking in. Strangely, it wasn’t heavy, like she had thought it would be. In fact, it was the exact opposite. She had never felt lighter. What was more, Adrien seemed to feel the same thing, proving it by giving a toothy smile.

It wasn’t his usual careful, reserved smiles, too preoccupied with the Gabriel brand. It was a carefree grin, one that actually reached his eyes, that showed every one of his pearly whites. One that she had seen many times, whether he was committing a mischievous act or after they rolled away in a fight and ended in a suggestive position. All that was missing was a black mask.

A snort escaped Marinette’s lips, but this time, she didn’t bother trying to cover it up. Instead, a hearty cackle followed it.

“You’re a dork,” she said between giggles.

“Hey, I’m not a dork. I’m hilarious,” Adrien retorted, starting to laugh, too.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, chaton.” The boy pouted, prompting another snicker from the girl. After a few more, she took a deep breath and looked back at him.

Yeah, he’s definitely Chat.

“Come on,” she spoke, at last. Taking his over-shirt from the ground, she got off her partner and helped him up. Once standing straight, the two stared for a moment, somewhat still processing what had just happened, a new comfort forming between them. Almost shyly, Marinette gave Adrien his shirt back, giving him a pointed look for his kwami. Adrien rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, but almost immediately looked back at her.

“Wanna eat lunch together?” he asked suddenly. Marinette could feel her cheeks heat up slightly. She cleared her throat.

“I’d like that,” she almost whispered it. A softer smile curled Adrien’s lips.

Everything’s gonna be alright, Marinette thought in bliss.

They turned to walk back to the lockers, but froze on their tracks. They had been so distracted by their game, they hadn’t realized the audience that had formed near them. Their entire class was standing before them, staring with amusement. All except for Chloé, who looked positively livid. Too angry to come out of her stupor. As for their best friends, Nino was holding tightly to his headphones, furiously biting his lip to hold back laughter, while Alya was holding her phone up, device almost forgotten and her jaw hanging. A clicking sound from her, though, brought everyone back to reality.

Most of the class erupted in cheers. Kim made a loud wolf-whistle. Rose was squealing like a fangirl. A grumpy Max handed five euros to Alix. Even a few unknowns joined the crowd, more out of curiosity than anything. At this point, Marinette’s face was scorching hot.

“NOPE!” Adrien suddenly snapped. Without even asking, he grabbed her hand to drag her back to the lockers.

“I thought you were always the one who wanted to make public any kind of relationship between us,” she teased, as she let herself be dragged.

“This is different!” he whined, not looking back at her.

“How so?”

But he didn’t respond. Although Marinette could only see a part of his face, she could distinguish a dark shade of scarlet coloring it. While Marinette was used to playfully turning him down, perhaps, just this once, she could indulge a little in it.

After all, it’s not every day she got to see Chat Noir become flustered by his own advances.

[leviwesley]

Levi had followed the route to Jax’s house so many times that he didn’t even have to think about it anymore- his feet moved, as if on their own accord, and brought him to his best friend’s door. That night, it was especially convenient, as he had spent the whole fifteen-minute walk lost in thought, going over all the words (which he had previously rehearsed in front of a mirror, however embarrassing that may have been) and all the different outcomes he could imagine. He couldn’t remember himself ever being that nervous as he raised a shaking hand and rang the doorbell.

He immediately heard footsteps running down the stairs and was soon greeted by two blue eyes and a pair of black pigtails, around a foot below him.

“Levi!” the little girl exclaimed and wrapped her arms around his waist with what he could imagine was her full strength, which was admittedly not that much.

“Hey, Julie,” he replied with a grin and a loving pat on the girl’s head. She had known Jax’s sister since she was in diapers and he called him over to help him babysit when their parents were busy and if he was being honest, it was the closest thing to a little sister he ever had. He had spent so many hours listening to her rambling about everything they did at kindergarten and how her teacher told her she had a great voice and the drawing she made of a fairy playing the guitar. He had even bought her a flower that one time that he made him a card on Valentine’s Day, full of little hearts and pink glitter.

“Hey, Levi,” said another voice, coming from the kitchen, followed by a head peeking from behind the door. “I’d come give you a hug, but I have to watch the food and it seems like Jules has that covered,” the woman said with a laugh.

“Hello, Mrs Evans, thank you for letting me stay over,” he said, as he always did on nights like that one. Julie had now pulled away and was tugging on his hand, leading him towards the staircase.

“Honey, you’ve been staying over for ten years,” Mrs Evans shouted from the kitchen in order to be heard, “you can stop thanking us at some point. Dinner will be ready in ten!” was the last thing he heard before he disappeared on the first floor.

“I will sleep with mom because dad is working and you can have my bed!” Julie said excitedly as she pulled him towards the closed bedroom door. That was how it had been for years, but ten-year-olds tended to make every bit of information sound new and shocking. “I’ll come say good night though!” she reassured him before heading into the door on the opposite side of the hallway.

He entered the room (one side black and grey, with posters of rock bands on the wall, the other pink and bright with a Disney princesses’ duvet on the bed) as he had done hundreds of times before, but this time his heart was beating a little too fast, skipping a beat when he saw Jax sitting on his bed, his fingers absent-mindedly running up and down his guitar in a melody that didn’t make much sense but still sounded beautiful. That skipped heartbeat was the cause of his distress and what he wanted to talk about.

“Hey,” Jax said, barely lifting his head from the instrument. His hair, usually held down with a little too much gel, was in his natural curly glory, a few strands that had grown a bit too long falling in his eyes. Levi wanted to step closer and tuck the curls back, but he couldn’t do that- so instead he just collapsed in his friend’s desk chair.

Not getting a reply to his greeting was enough to make Jax look up at him, a curious look on his face. “You okay?” he asked, stopping his jamming momentarily.

“Yeah,” he said, with a small sigh. For someone that had gone over the dialog a million times in his head, he was really running short on words. “I mean, I think so? Anyway, we need to talk,” was the best he could do, as he stood up and sat on the bed with him.

He took off his shoes and crossed his legs on the mattress, trying to put the mess of words that flooded his head into coherent sentences. He took a deep breath, looking down at his hands and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to faint, scream or throw up. Probably a little bit of everything. The guitar had stopped and he could feel Jax’s now definitely worried look on him and that, combined with the ticking of the clock on the wall, reminding him of all the time he was wasting, could be enough to drive him crazy. “I think I like you,” he said abruptly and it felt like a huge weight had been lifting off his chest, just by uttering those words.

The boy looked at him with a questioning look, trying to understand where that was coming from. “We’ve been best friends for more than a decade, I think it would be kind of weird if it turned out you’ve hated me all along,” he commented, his grey eyes scanning Levi’s blue ones in search of something that could justify this weird behavior.

“No, you don’t understand,” Levi said, his voice coming out more exasperated than he intended. He reached forward and took the guitar away from Jax, mostly as a reflex because he needed to do something with his hands, laying down on the floor next to the bed. “I like you,” he stressed the word as much as he could, this time with no doubt in his voice.

Jax froze in place for a long moment, narrowing his eyes, and Levi could feel the tension slowly killing him. He saw him open his mouth, as if to say something, before closing it again and he thought that’s it, he is looking for a nice way to kick me out of his house, I’ve ruined everything. “Are you fucking with me?” Jax asked after all, ending Levi’s thoughts of destruction. “Levi- you’re straight,” he added matter-of-factly.

“Well, that’s what I thought too!” He really did. He had never felt this way for a boy before. Actually, he had never felt this way before, period. Sure, he had had a couple of girlfriends with whom he had had a good time and he had convinced himself that the lack of butterflies in his stomach, as they called it, was just because he still hadn’t found the right one. The problem was, he finally realized, that ‘the right one’ was probably his best friend. “Look, I know that this is weird, and that I am probably ruining our friendship as we speak, but I swear to God, if I kept this shit inside me for one more day I would fucking explode.” He was rambling and he was swearing and for some who had it together as much as Levi did, that was never a good sign. “I will understand if you want me to leave and if you don’t want to speak to me again, but I needed to get this off my chest-” and now he was also aimlessly moving his hands around, gesturing to things that weren’t there “-the other night, when you were playing at that bar, at some point you winked at me- hell, I don’t even know if it was me you were winking at, and the things I felt were not what you’re supposed to feel for your best friend.” It was all coming out unstoppable like a flood now and it felt strangely exciting and cleansing at the same time. He had spent one too many nights staring at his ceiling wide awake trying to think about the proper way to handle this when it suddenly hit him- in any other similar occasion, he would just talk to Jax, so that’s what he was going to do this time too.

He realized he had moved closer to Jax on the bed as he talked, the guitar not there to separate them anymore, and now his whole body was shaking, expecting an answer. He tried to force a part of him to be just a little bit proud for having the courage to do this, because the nervousness he was feeling was definitely not healthy.

But he didn’t get a reply, because the door suddenly swung open and two familiar pigtails appeared from behind it. “Mom says dinner’s ready!” Julie sang.

“Jules, knocking!” Jax snapped, looking like someone had just forcefully woken him up from a deep slumber.

“I am not going to knock to get into my own room!” the girl snapped back, to remind them that, despite her cuteness, she was definitely Jax’s sister.

Making it obvious that she wasn’t going to leave until they followed him and because they knew that one of Mrs Evans’s biggest pet peeves was food going cold, they went downstairs in small, unsure footsteps, not daring to look at each other. Levi numbly replied to the woman’s questions as they ate, trying to act as if everything was okay, but stealing glances of Jax, who never turned his head to his direction the whole time, whenever he could.

Jax excused himself as soon as it was acceptable to do so and Levi followed seconds after, certain that Mrs Evans was wondering how on earth he left his chicken wings half-finished. He went back to the bedroom, where Jax was now standing with his back turned to him, and closed the door behind him. “So?” he asked, feeling as if he was on trial for something and was about to be sentenced with the death penalty.

He saw Jax’s shoulders go up and down as he exhaled heavily. “You are such a fucking idiot,” he heard the boy say and there was something in his voice he couldn’t quite decipher. So, he did fuck up and ruin a decade of friendship. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to put his shoes back on and walk back to his house, probably scream a little into his pillow and bang his head into the wall- actually it would be quite useful if the earth just opened up and swallowed him whole-

But then Jax turned around and he saw what that thing he couldn’t decipher was- a smile. A wide toothy grin of pure bliss he wasn’t used to seeing on his friend’s face, broody rock star façade and all, but when it did appear it was always around him.

That smile somehow left Levi even more confused than before- for someone as smart as him, he was really bad at taking hints. “…should I go?” he asked, looking for a simple, clear answer.

Which he more than got, as Jax covered the distance between them in two big steps and brought his lips to his. It was not a passionate kiss- far from it. It was unsure, as if both of them were waiting for the other to pull away and it was hesitant, scared of all these newfound things they were feeling- and it was the best kiss Levi had ever had. “I’ve been in love with you since seventh grade,” Jax whispered in the air between them as he pulled away barely an inch, one of his hands reaching behind Levi’s back and locking the door, “so don’t you dare go anywhere.”

That blissful smile that had been so confusing for him moments earlier suddenly made sense, as it mirrored itself on his lips. His heart was exploding again, but this time in a good way, in the best way possible. And there were those butterflies, he could swear, a whole swarm, dancing around his stomach, making him want to hold into Jax and never let him go as the boy pecked him on the mouth once again.

“Is this… okay?” Jax asked, suddenly appearing self-conscious, worried he was being too forward- for all he knew Levi could just be confused about the things he was feeling and not want to act upon then. But the kiss he received in reply was far from unsure, far from hesitant and far from just a peck. Their lips collided and Levi’s hands found themselves tangled in Jax’s hair, running through those curls like he had wanted. Any space between them was eliminated as Jax moved even closer, Levi’s back touching the wooden door.

Jax rightfully took that all as permission to move his lips lower and leave a trail of kisses along his jawline, his neck, pulling his shirt a little lower so he could reach his collarbone. Levi himself was surprised by the low groan that escaped his lips at the contact. To his dismay, Jax came back to eye level, but with a look he had never before seen on his face. “That groan,” he said with a sincerity that was frankly a little scary coming from him, “was the hottest sound you have ever made.”

Levi chuckled, unable to believe that that was actually happening, that it was possible to feel this happy and carefree –and aroused. “Which means,” he said, cupping Jax’s face and running his thumb across his cheekbone, “that you were doing something right. So who told you to stop?”

Jax looked at him for a second, probably just as shocked as Levi from this sudden bossiness neither of them knew he possessed. “A week ago you thought you were straight, so don’t fucking boss me around,” he replied, but it was obvious that he was more than content to oblige. But this time, despite how hot he found Levi’s attempt to take over, he had to remind him who was in charge. So he bit and sucked on his neck while he forced his knee between Levi’s legs against the door, creating more friction than the boy could handle, earning him something between a moan and a whimper.

“Guys?” they heard a voice from outside and they froze in place. Jax quickly brought one hand to cover Levi’s mouth and the other to his own lips, gesturing for him to be quiet, as they heard Julie’s footsteps approaching the door. “I am not coming in because earlier you yelled at me, but I wanted to say goodnight.”

“Goodnight, sis,” Jax said, trying and succeeding to hide just how breathless he was, and slowly uncovered Levi’s mouth to let him speak.

“Goodnight, Julie,” Levi repeated, doing his best to sound calm and collected. They waited for the footsteps to go away and for the door of the other bedroom to close and also a few seconds after that just to be sure- before bursting out laughing.

What had just happened seemed so surreal, but in the best way possible. Jax’s head rest on his shoulder as they let tears of joy drip from their eyes and from all the imaginary scenarios he had played out in his head the past few days, this had to be the best one by far.

“Come on,” Jax said as the waves of laughter died out and intertwined their fingers, pulling him towards the bed, “you don’t have to sleep on that pink atrocity tonight.”

Well, that was something he could definitely get used to.