#although i think the promise of bringing him back was the thing that kept people reading

[sorealis]

writing fics is so funny. writing ongoing ones is even more so

while no one owes me any comments, they're obviously nice to get. every single one, even if it's just hearts or something

i'm mostly amused by this, but i can't stop thinking about how often people write "can't wait to see what comes next" and then i post what comes next and they just... disappear. never come back. delete their bookmark and i see i've lost a subscriber who i assume was that person.

it just gets me wondering what was the thing that made them go "yeah nope actually i'm not finishing this"

[fastandcarlos]

Drunken Kisses : ̗̀➛ Lewis Hamilton

summary: there are all kinds of drunks, but you're definitely the type to pour your heart out, as lewis quickly realises

Lewis’ eyes rolled the moment he heard you groaning through the house, swinging his legs round and standing up from the sofa. Despite your promises not to get yourself drunk on your night out with your colleagues, he knew straight away that you hadn’t kept to that promise. 

His smile turned up though when he saw how giggly you were walking through the house, heading straight in Lewis’ direction on your unsteady feet. His arm came around your frame to support you, carefully guiding you to the sofa and safely sitting you down. 

“I missed you,” you whispered, resting your body against Lewis’, pressing several kisses against his cheek. “You should’ve come out with us tonight, we had such a great time.” 

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Lewis mused, barely able to get his words out between the feeling of your lips pressing against him. 

Lewis didn’t quite know what to do as you scattered several kisses over him, your hands cupping his head to keep him still. The smell of liquor lingered on your breath as you smothered Lewis with as much love as you possibly could. 

When you moved for a moment, Lewis spoke up. “Do you think you might want to let me breathe?” 

“You’re already breathing,” you sighed, tapping against his arm. “You wouldn’t be talking to me right now if you weren’t breathing silly,” you scoffed, hearing a chuckle come from Lewis. 

“Do you think it’s time for bed?” Lewis suggested, but your head immediately shook in reply to him. 

You finally moved back from Lewis, but your eyes remained firmly on him, studying him closely. Lewis didn’t quite know how to react until he watched a tear roll down your cheek, reaching out and wiping it away for you before asking you what was wrong. 

“Are they happy tears?” He nervously asked, bringing his hands to hold either side of your face instead. “Did something happen whilst you were out that you’re not telling me?” 

Your head shook quickly, not wanting Lewis to worry with his eyes still on you. As you continued to remain quiet, Lewis couldn’t help but fret though. Your heart was racing as you toyed with the idea of opening up to Lewis what the reason for your tears was. 

“You have to promise that you’re not going to laugh at me.” 

Lewis hummed as his hand brushed gently through your hair, tucking you into his side. He held onto you tightly, biting down on his lip to make sure that his laughter was stifled as he waited for you to tell him what was going on. 

It was one of the things you hated about when you got drunk, how you suddenly found yourself overcome with emotion. As you arrived home to Lewis, that emotion hit you in a wave, feeling your heart swell with happiness when you were greeted by his figure walking through the front door. 

“It scares me sometimes how much I love you,” you whispered, brushing your hand against Lewis’ cheek. “Have I ever told you how much I’m actually in love with you?” 

“Love,” Lewis whispered, fighting back his urge to chuckle in surprise as to the reason for your tears. “You don’t need to do this.” 

“But I do, because you make me so unbelievably happy Lewis.” 

Before Lewis could speak, you leaned forwards and trailed several sloppy kisses along Lewis’ jaw, feeling the stubble on his face tickle against your slightly chapped lips. 

Your conversation went on for quite some time as Lewis sat back and let you get everything off of your chest. Although he always knew how you felt about him, he hadn’t heard you be quite so honest before. But that was what they always said about drunk people, the truth finds a way to spill. 

You had no recollection of heading to bed that night, confident however that Lewis would’ve taken good care of you and made sure that you got to bed in one piece. 

When you woke up the following morning, you found yourself with Lewis’ frame wrapped around you to keep you warm. He was already awake behind you, smiling away as he heard you groan and quickly shut your eyes again. 

“I’ve got so many regrets about last night.” 

“Good morning to you too,” Lewis teased, leaning forwards to press a kiss against your cheek. “I would ask how you’re feeling, but after the state you were in last night, I bet that I could have a pretty good guess about how you are.” 

Your eyes slowly peeled open again, this time a lot more prepared for the light in your bedroom, shuffling slightly in Lewis’ grip. “I don’t even want to know about anything that happened last night, just keep me safe from how embarrassing I was.” 

“You weren’t embarrassing, just a little lovesick.” 

“Oh no,” you whispered, hearing Lewis giggle jokingly, full of satisfaction knowing that he remembered exactly what you had to say to him last night. 

Lewis let you have your huff for a second before twirling you around in his hold so that you were facing him, clearing his throat to allow himself to fill you in. 

“At least I certainly know that you’re happy in this relationship, you made that quite clear.” 

“I don’t think I want to know.” 

“It was cute,” Lewis tried his best to assure you, “you certainly wanted to make sure that I was listening as well.” 

“Shut up,” you murmured, “can we just pretend that it didn’t happen?” 

“It’s nothing to be ashamed about,” Lewis whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “I actually quite liked it, aside from the part when you didn’t let me move for your urge to kiss me repeatedly again and again.” 

Your head tilted back in disbelief, “I swear I don’t recognise the person that I become when I’m drunk, did I really do that to you? What must I have been thinking?” 

“Clearly you must’ve been thinking about just how much you love your amazing boyfriend.” 

“You’re enjoying this far too much for my liking,” you scolded. 

Lewis couldn’t help himself; it wasn’t that day to day you didn’t tell him how much you loved him, but when you were drunk that little extra came out that Lewis adored. 

As you fell silent, Lewis captured your attention again. “You know, for all you said last night, I want you to know that everything you said I feel the exact same way about you too.” 

“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better,” you assured him. 

“I’m not saying it for that, I’m saying it because I mean it.” 

“Thank you,” you chuckled, “and sorry that I was such a mess last night, I don’t even know what happened to me.” 

“Don’t worry love, I could get used to receiving all those kisses anyway.” 

˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ´ˎ˗

[landoughnut]

My Girlfriend

♡ masterlist - request!

♡ pairing - charles leclerc x fem!reader

♡ summary - at first you were worried about going with charles to the paddock for the first time since you got together, you didn't want to make a bad impression on anyone, what you both least expected was for everyone to like you more than him!

♡ warnings - somewhat possessive charles, lots of fluff

♡ w/c & a/n - 1.07k | ahh im so excited this is my first for this account! please please send any requests you have cause I cant really think of ides ahaha xoxo

"Charles are you sure, they'll like me? I just-"

"Mon amour, they will love you," he kisses your forehead, "I promise". Walking hand in hand with him towards where everyone is, he feels you squeezing his hand.

Charles and you have been dating for a while already, but you'd kept it a secret from almost everyone else due to how harsh people can be. He wanted to protect you from all the nasty comments people may make, but now you are making your first public appearance.

You weren't a well-known figure or model like the other wags, although Charles has told you many times you can most definitely be one if you wanted to. He met you when he went to buy flowers for his mother, Pascale, and claims that it was love at first sight.

Finally, you get to where hundreds of fans crowded behind a gate, they start yelling when they see you two.

Charles wraps his arm around your waist as you two get closer so he can sign some stuff as he's passing by.

"Charles! Charles, who's this?"

"Is this your girlfriend?"

"She's beautiful, Charles!"

People shout many things along those lines making you blush and Charles smile. He kisses your head again as you give them a shy wave, cheeks pink.

Charles finishes a hat he's signing as introduces you to the crowd, "This is my lovely girlfriend," he speaks and is shocked at how loud the crowd was. Clapping, wolf-whistling, and awing. He hadn't heard one nasty comment, not that there was anything to hate on you for, but it's shocking to see the overwhelming amount of positivity.

"Hi, everyone," you speak, smiling at the people.

"Here! Take this!" a little girl yells holding out a bracelet.

Charles steps forward, "Thank y-"

"No no!" the girl takes her hand back, making him furrow his eyebrows, "for you, miss! You are very pretty."

Your eyes widen, "Me?" She nods and you crouch down to her, "Wow! It's gorgeous," you beam. It was a red beaded bracelet with Charles' initials and number on it. "I love it, thank you so much, sweetie!"

Charles' heart races and his stomach flutters watching you with the young girl, and then when you interact with the others, who seem to be giving you heart eyes at this point.

His eyes narrow at some men looking a little too intensely, so he catches up to you and puts his arm around your shoulder. You lean into him as he waves bye to the fans. You blow a kiss, making them get loud once again, and then walk with Charles to where the drivers were hanging around.

"You see, mon cœur, they adored you," he brings your hand to his lips, kissing your palm.

You let out a happy sigh, "They were a bit louder than I thought, but it was such a relief."

Arriving where the others were, Lando was the first one to spot you two. "Ah! Look who we have here! Charles and the girlfriend who he told but not showed," he grins.

You smile and lean a bit more towards Charles, "Hello," your voice quiet. These were your boyfriends friends, if they didn't like you-

You feel Charles give your waist a light squeeze, taking you out of your thoughts.

"Wow, no wonder Charles didn't bring you here yet," Lando grins and puts his hand on Charles' shoulder, "you've got yourself a stunner. Scared someone's gonna whisk her away, are you?"

You laugh and feel yourself relax, "Oh hush!"

You look behind Lando and see Daniel, Oscar, Max, Carlos, and Lewis coming over.

They all greet you and for the next few minutes all of you are having a great time together, laughing, making jokes, and it's as if you've all been friends forever.

Charles frowns as he watches, none of them even glances at him, too engrossed with you telling some stories from your floral shop. After a few more minutes he decided he had enough and walks over to you.

"Mon amour, why don't we head to my drivers room, I'll show you around," he smiles, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Alright, love. It was nice meeting you all! I'll see you guys soon!" You smile and they reciprocate it as you walk off.

Lewis and Max whistle in sync, "What a woman."

Charles huffs and hits his shoulder, "My woman, you mean."

Carlos chuckles, "Awh, is little Charles jealous?" Lando and Oscar laugh, glancing at each other.

"I'm not jealous," he frowns, crossing his arms. "It's just everyone we've seen today is fawning over her and it's like I'm not even here! Some of these people are ogling her like I, her boyfriend, am not right next to her!"

Danny shakes his head smiling, "Well, mate, she's a real sweetheart, what did you expect?"

"Well- I don't know! But she's waiting for me so... I'll see you guys later," he rolls his eyes as he hears his friends whistling as he walks towards you.

His eyes light up when he spots you chewing your lip, seemingly lost. "There you are!"

You turn towards him, "Thank goodness you're here! I was scared to ask for directions," you laugh.

"Good thing I'm here to be a guide then," he takes your hand gently and brings you into his room.

The moment the door is closed his lips are on yours, one hand cupping your face and neck and the other around your waist.

It took you a moment but you were kissing him back with the same passion. "I've been waiting to do that," he whispers, lips brushing yours.

You smiles, kissing him against. The rhythm of your lips together expressing your love without words.

He slowly walks back until he hits the bed, then sits down and grins as you straddle his lap.

"You're my girlfriend," he whispers, tracing your face, "my love, my angel."

You study his face as he admires yours, "I love you," you whisper, kissing him gently.

"I love you more, I don't know how I got so lucky."

You smile and hold his face in your hands, kissing his cheeks, nose, forehead, chin, and finally pecking his mouth, which was swollen from before. "I'm the lucky one, you are everything, darling," you smile.

He twirls a piece of your hair, "Alright, now how about I show you around the garage before people start wondering where we are?"

[cheeseceli]

Love wins all

Pairing: Jungkook × Gn!reader (established relationship)

Genre: fluff, comfort, late 40s au, drabble (<1k words).

Prompt: "however big, however small, let me be part of it all. You may be right, you may be wrong, but say you'll bring me along."

Warnings: Both y/n and Jungkook struggle financially, they are married.

A/n: This is a mix of the greatest showman with the notebook (although I never watched the latter) | daily click

"Jungkook, if you let me trip over another rock I swear that I-"

His laugh cut you off, not allowing you to finish your threat towards him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We're almost there, I promise."

"You said that a few times already. I miss the light."

You heard his giggles once again. You loved that sound. It never failed to amuse how, even with all difficulties life presents, your lover always managed to find joy in the little things. Like leading you through the sidewalk when your eyes were covered. That seemed to be bringing a lot of fun to him and, although he still hasn't confessed to you where the destination is, claiming this would ruin the surprise, you trusted him enough to literally follow him blindly.

"But we're getting closer every new step, aren't we?"

"I bet people are staring weirdly at us."

"I wouldn't say that."

Now it was your turn to smile, a lighthearted laugh coming out of your lips "we've been walking down this entire road with you covering my eyes, people would be crazy if they didn't find it weird."

"I really don't think it's that weird. Don't worry about that. Instead, focus on this."

With that, Jungkook slowly took off his hands from your eyes and placed you in front of the destination.

As your eyes got used to light once again, you saw a house in front of you. It was simple: a single floor, rather small, with visible dust and some broken stairs. It seemed abandoned for a while, but it had this cozy charm. It seemed like a lovely house, one you would love to visit given the right circumstances. "Where are we?"

"At our home."

You looked at him, speechless, only to find a quite anxious yet very smiley Jungkook. His eyes shone as you looked at them. "Surprise," he nervously giggled.

"You bought this house?"

"I did. I've told you I'd give you a good life once you married me, hadn't I?" not even once he stopped looking at you, trying to understand your reaction through your glossy eyes "I mean, the house is not very big and it needs some adjustments... A lot of them, maybe. But it's ours."

You couldn't believe it. Not once in your life you would've expected this. When you married Jungkook, you never expected gold nor glory. None of you never even saw it throughout your lives, and you genuinely think that you could die without it as long as you had Jungkook's love.

When your lover told you as a wedding vow that he would do the unimaginable to give you a proper life, you knew he was true to his words. But still, him buying a goddamn house for the both of you was not in your plans. As he promised you, you couldn't have ever imagined it.

And yet, here you are: seeing the man you love the most guaranteeing a home to keep your love safe for the following years, all while looking at you like you are the most precious thing in the place, even when considering the current situation.

You really were at a loss of words, but maybe you kept quiet for too long, as now Jungkook was getting nervous. He didn't plan your silence. He didn't think you would've cried. He wished you had at least smiled a bit. But you were seriously looking at him, tears threatening to spill at any second. Did you not like it?

"I know I should've bought the house with you... It's just that I wanted to make a surprise. If you don't like it, then I can... I don't know, I can come up with something to-" you hugged him. Tighter than you have ever hugged him before, maybe just not comparing to how you embraced him when he proposed.

He then remembers that your reaction at the moment was the same back then: speechless at his will to build a future with you.

"I love it, Kook. I love the surprise. I love the house. I love you."

This time he is the one who couldn't come up with things to say. He could never get tired of hearing you say things like that. So he hugged you tighter, bringing you closer to where his heart beats, maybe in an attempt to keep you and your sweet words with him for longer.

Maybe you would never be rich. Maybe you would never wear brand clothes and live in fancy houses, with expensive cars and food. But you had a home. You had each other. And you could never think of anything else you longed for. Your life was complete, and maybe that was the rarest thing to find, yet you and him did.

Masterlist | you'll probably like: 7:44 pm

Reminder that this is all fiction, this does not represent the members in real life!

Taglist (open!): @yuyubeans @butnotmontana @lelewright1234

Dividers by @adornedwithlight | images 1, 2 and 3

[heaven4lostgirls]

promises and dreams (part 2)

pairing: finnick odair x reader

warning: angst, mentions of finnick being trafficked, president sn*w

summary: finnick odair is your best friend, but somehow you cant find it within yourself to be aanything more. Now that the 75th Hunger Games calls for Victors to be reaped you make it your plan to bring Finnick back home to Annie or you will die trying

word count: 2.1k

a/n: thank you for the love on this fic! i'm not sure when part 3 will be out but hopefully soon! let me know if you want to be part of a tag list for this fic!

part 1, part 2, part 3

Finnick’s hard gaze follows you as you take your place on the train, his eyebrows furrows as he watches you pick at your skin as you watch the scenery pass through the windows. Before long he can’t help but voice his thoughts, “Why would you do that?” he blurts out and watches as you look up at him surprised, “do what?” you question and watch as he drags his hand over his jawline in frustration.

“Why would you volunteer for Annie?” he pushes and watches as you look back at him in surprise before you collect yourself and answer him. “To keep her safe” you answer truthfully, you know you can’t tell him you also did it to keep safe, if you did you know full well, he would place himself in front of you and any possible life-threatening situations. 

“I would  have kept her safe” he urges and a part of your heart clenches as you watch how fervently he seems to be pushing the subject. Even though  Annie seemed to have survived the reaping, she will always be the first thing on his mind even if you could quite likely be living the last few days of your life.

While you’re thinking about how Finnick  seems not to care about your impending death  his mind is filled with that exact thought. He can’t understand why you would volunteer in place of Annie; he would have been able to help Annie and keep her safe, but you were a loose rocket, he knew he couldn’t contain you and there was next to no way he would be able to protect you with your stubbornness.

He continues thinking of ways to help you throughout  the games and although he promises himself to help you get home, he realises that in doing so, he’ll have to die too, and he can’t really think too hard about that because he has spent his entirety of his life after being crowned a victor telling and teaching tributes after him to fight.

You can only watch as his expression turns from frustrated to sad and fighting the urge to give him space you find yourself speaking to comfort him instead, “its going to be okay” you mention hopefully, truthfully not only to Finnick but to yourself as well. You’ve made your peace with what must happen and although Finnick  is unaware you hope that with your words you can bring him some form of comfort.

“What’re you talking about?” he asks confused, and you just look at him as you repeat your previous sentiment, his confusion only pains you to know that your closest confidant may not understand the gravity of the situation you are both about to face.

Time passes on the train to the Capitol and although Finnick and you try and keep each other’s emotions high, you both can’t help but feel pressure within yourselves and revisit past trauma as you reach the city. You know that for Finnick the months and even years after his games were not easy for him, not because he had won, well partly, but more because Snow had auctioned Finnick off like a pig to slaughter.

You watched as he fought to clench and unclench his jaw, the slight shake in his hands. As you both arrived at the Capitol you were greeted by excited faces of the wealthiest citizens in Panem, you fought the urge to scream and cry at how excited they looked to see the both of you being shipped off your deaths.

“Smile.” Finnick urges you as he looks out of the glass to all the people, he slips perfectly back into his ‘Prince of Panem’ demeanour  and you can only watch with unease as the fakest of smiles grace his face as he lifts his right arm into the air to wave to the onlookers.

You can only attempt to do the same whilst assuring yourself that this is all part of the bigger picture, to survive this act has to be perfect.

As Finnick and you are escorted off the train to the innermost buildings within the Capitol. The strained smile never leaves either of your faces and away from camera’s, your hands stay interlocked. You continue to try and calm yourselves down as you both meet with your stylists to prepare for the parade.

Your stylists lean into the fishing component of district four as you are dressed in a dark blue bikini top and mini skirt that flows and sticks to your body, complimenting your skin tone. Your makeup is filled with glittery blues and whites. Finnick’s look is a lot more subdued in comparison to your own however he does look handsome in his dark blue kilt and spear.

Your eyes follow the expanse of his chest, and you have to fight the urge to run up to him just so you could feel the ridges of his muscles as your fingertips dance over his uncovered skin, although as you spend the time saying hello to the horses, Finnick detaches from you to walk backwards in the line of carriages.

You follow his figure as he reaches the woman of the hour, Katniss Everdeen. You watch his flirt with her shamelessly and your chest hurts, not only for you but for Annie as well but you realise that if Finnick has one advantage, it’s his good looks so knowing he’s trying to find an alliance you let him carry on without interference.

Although humour takes on a human form in Peeta Mellark, Katniss’ teammate, he looks like he’s about to punch Finnick in the throat although a part of you wonders if he’d be able to reach that high. You stifle a giggle at the thought and look back at Katniss and Finnick’s conversation in time for you to see him shove a sugar cube in his mouth.

Ew. You think and although he walks back looking cool you watch as he grimaces as he reaches your carriage. At that point the only thing you can do is wheeze in laughter as he looks at you annoyed trying to get the sugar granules out of his teeth.

“That was sex appeal-“ he starts before you bark out another short laugh as you wheeze, tears come to your eyes before you slap his bicep as he rolls his eyes, “sex appeal!” you repeat as though it’s the funniest thing you’ve heard in years and maybe it might be.

You calm down and see Finnick looking at you with a raised eyebrow, “it was not that funny” he says, and you smirk in his direction, “It was when you resembled the horses when chewing that sugar cube, Mr sex appeal” you smile, and he only nudges you playfully as they announce the first district.

Your heart beats fast and loud within your chest s district four is called alongside your names, you and Finnick both smile politely and wave towards the roaring crowds before you take your place in front of President Snow’s podium.

You watch as all the districts parade out but as soon as you hear the applause and cheers go louder, you look back to see Katniss and Peeta’s outfits on fire. How fitting, you think and smile as you watch them.

They, alongside everyone else, may not be happy to be there but you can tell by looking at them, how in love with each other the both of them are.

The transfer from the parade to the interview is a blur, the only way you can describe yourself is numb. The cheers, Snow, the other tributes, they all become one jumbled mess inside your mid as your sole purpose is to do what you understand every other tribute has to do, act.

You are interviewed after Finnick and as you watch his interview, as it comes to an end Flickerman opens his mouth to speak again, “Finnick, I understand that you have a message for somebody out there, a special somebody, can we hear it?” he laughs as he pushes the microphone to Finnick to answer.

You look on in confusion, what could he possibly be doing? Finnick’s mask slips a bit, and you watch in all seriousness as he speaks, “My love, you have my heart for all eternity and uh, if I die in that arena, my last thought will be of your lips” he says into the camera and a shuddering breath passes through you. You blink back tears as you realise Finnick was speaking to Annie and as he takes his place back next to you, you send him a wobbly but hopefully reassuring smile.

You promise yourself that you will do whatever it takes for Finnick to get back to Annie.

You interview is next as Caesar looks at you with an indulgent smile, “Y/N, we’ve heard from your teammate that he’s hopeful to make it back to his special someone, is there any special someone you’re hoping to make it back to?” he asks with an indulgent smile.

You smile back fakely as you answer, “Unfortunately not Caesar!” you reply as the crowd ‘awes’ in faux sympathy. “Well then I’m sure your family must be rooting for you!”  he says as he tries another angle, but you just shake you head, “No actually, I volunteered for my friend Annie Cresta because I knew she needed me to, so really I’m just here for her” you say with a smile as you look at the Tv. Caesar nods and ends the interview as he welcomes Johanna Mason from district 7 to the stage.

You join Finnick on the podium  where all the tributes stand and he pulls himself down to whisper in your ears, “what the fuck was that?” he asks sternly and you look at him confused, “don’t play dumb, ‘I’m just here for her’ what the fuck did that mean Y/N” he hisses, and you shake him off. “Exactly what I meant Finnick, now shut up” you say and shake his hand off you as a small tear runs down your face.

You both stand silent next to one another as you watch the different tributes get interviewed in front of you before Katniss walks out in one of the most beautiful wedding gowns you’ve ever seen, you gasp softly at how elegant she looks as you somewhat remember the announcement of her and Peeta getting engaged before the reaping.

Her interview goes very smoothly as Caesar prods at her about how she was unable to have her wedding, however as she turns to show off her gown, it erupts in flames as it turns into a beautiful blue and black  colour with wings around the back. “A Mockingjay” you and Katniss both say in sync as you look at the dress in disbelief.

Peeta’s interview comes next and although he looks completely assured and confidence you can see the slight shake in his fingers and Caesar questions him, “But Peeta, the wedding, a marriage never to be?” he asks softly and Peter doesn’t waste any time before answering, “Actually we got married, in secret” he confesses and you watch Katniss as she tries to keep her composure and you realise then and there that Peeta is lying.

Interesting. You think, why would be Peeta be lying to Flickerman of all people? Although Caesar takes the news very well as he continues to ask Peeta more questions, “A secret wedding? Do tell” he prods.

“We want our love to be eternal” he states and your heart clenches at the thought, he could be very good at tricking Caesar, but you knew right away any romantic feelings he held towards Katniss was completely truthful. Maybe you and him weren’t  so different after all. “You know Katniss and I have been luckier than most, I wouldn’t have any regrets at all i-if it weren’t-“ he stutters, and you look at him in worry.

“If it weren’t for what?” Caesar prods, “if it weren’t for the baby” he says finally, and you and Finnick turn to each other in shock before composing yourselves as the crowd becomes rowdy. People begin booing and voicing their concerns as Peeta takes his place next to Katniss. You watch as victors begin joining hands and you realise why Peeta announced what he did.

You join hands with Finnick in solidarity alongside another victor from district 5, If the Capitol wanted to go back on their words, they needed to realise that it had consequences, you all lift your hands in sync as the curtains shut around you. Peeta Mellark may just be more interesting than he seems.

[tomasweetheart]

I literally jumped with joy when you fallowed me back omg ily sm. So I was at the doctors and my doctor told me how he proposed to his wife and it was so sweet. He said he was stressed from finals and he had like a dream that his wife died and he dreamed of everything he couldn’t do with her. So when he woke up it was like 2 in the morning and he ran to his room to get the ring he had. He had it for two whole like years but ran to her dorm and begged her to say yes because he couldn’t wait. Could you write a fic of kuroo doing that with his boyfriend?

JUMP THEN FALL — k. tetsuro x m!reader

sypnosis: kuroo has always known that he wanted to marry you, and he's always said that he'll do it when he knows it's right. what's more perfect than asking after he had a dream about you dying?

warnings: mentions of death (nothing too graphic but still), kuroo being a fucking loser dork but i adore him so it's fine <3, fluff, happy ending!, angst if you squint really really hard, kuroo and reader are in their last year of college in this one, but i'm not in college yet so idfk how it works but i'll pretend i do!! use of the petnames 'babe' and 'baby'

notes: okay i'm so so sorry this took so long, i had a really bad depressive episode, i hope you like it, this request is really cute and i had a lot of fun writing it :D and two, that is so nice of you to say omg :( of course i followed you back, you always send me requests, you interact with my stuff a lot and you're just really nice so thank you for that <3

Kuroo has always wanted to marry you, it's the one thing he's been sure of in his entire life.

When you bring up marriage to him, however, he just tells you to "be patient" and that he'll "do it when he knows it's right" which constantly keeps you on your toes in case your dork of a boyfriend decides that the "right time" is during one of your lectures or at any inappropriate time really.

It kept Kuroo on his toes too, because what you don't know is that in the far-right corner of his sock drawer holds a small velvet box with a beautiful band inside of it. Every day he can feel his hand graze over the box, thinking to himself, maybe now is the right time.

But then he shakes his head, and decides it isn't.

And besides, as much as Kuroo loves you, he has finals to worry about. And they're really kicking his ass.

Although most people would peg Kuroo as the focused studious type (which he tried so desperately to be), the truth was that he tried so hard to procrastinate as much as possible. However, was it really procrastination if he needs the sleep?

When it was to avoid studying for finals, yes it was.

"Kuroo, sleeping to avoid studying for finals is not something you should do," your voice rippled out through the speaker of his phone, "especially if it's every single time you have them."

"Babe, you are the one who is constantly nagging me to sleep more," he rebutted, that stupid cocky tone he always had lingering in the back of his throat ever present, "I'm finally listening to you, I think you should take that as a win."

"Kuroo," your voice cracked again through that shoddy android speaker again, a certain firmness to it this time, "please promise me that you'll study, you're gonna hate yourself if you don't."

"Baby, I promise you I will, you know my word to you is good," he replied, you could hear that fucking cocky grin etching itself onto his face, "right after my little nap. I love you; I'll talk to you soon."

After you too bid your goodbyes, Kuroo made himself as comfortable on that dorm room mattress as he could, until his eyes got heavy, and he drifted off to sleep.

Kuroo could have sworn it was real.

The chase, your blood curdling scream, the way his stomach dropped to the soles of his feet when he realized he was too late.

It wasn't until he shot up in bed with that same nauseous feeling sitting in his chest as his breath came out panicked and labored had he realized it was nothing but a fucked-up dream.

Kuroo had never been so happy to wake up.

Slowly, but surely, he had calmed himself down. His breath returning to normal as the nauseous feeling in his chest disappeared, what didn't disappear, however, was that he didn't want to live life without you. He didn't want to graduate without you beside him, he didn't want to start a company without you there cheering him on along the way, and he sure as hell didn't want to imagine having a family with anyone else that wasn't you. Life was too short for hesitation, it was too short for his hesitation.

He quickly rushed out of bed, pulling an old hoodie over his torso, slipping on his shoes, and rifling through his drawer to grab that velvet box that had been sitting there for two years, begging to be let free.

Luckily for him, your dorm wasn't far from his. He hadn't even bothered to check the time on his phone, where the light flashed a large: 2:03 A.M. at him, he didn't care if his frantic speed walking down the hallway woke up everyone on that floor, he was only worried about getting to you.

When he got to your dorm, he rapped his fist against the door so hard he could've sworn that his knuckles would crack open. The door opened to a very annoyed you, but he didn't care if he interrupted your sleep, or your studying, he was just so elated to see you in front of him.

"Kuroo, what the hell?" you seethed, "It's two in the morning, what on earth —"

You were quickly cut off by Kuroo dropping to one knee in the doorway of your dorm room, pulling out that velvet box in all its glory, revealing that beautiful band you had mentioned liking to him once, you couldn't control the way your mouth slightly dropped in confusion, a wave of emotions hitting you like a tsunami.

"(Y/n), please, just listen to me," he blurted out in an almost pleading tone, "I've always wanted to wait until the right moment to ask you this, but recently, I've realized that the right moment was in front of me the entire time."

You tried to get a word in, but Kuroo's word vomit was faster.

"(Y/n), I've realized there is so much I want to do with you, so much that I can't do without you," he said, you swore you could see the tears well in the corner of his eyes, "everything from this point forward is useless if I can't do it with you by my side, so I'm begging you, even though it's two a.m. and we're both in our pajamas with messy hair and dark circles under our eyes, will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?"

It was your turn to be stunned, you stared down at your boyf — fiancée, in front of you with stained sweatpants and an old Nekoma sweatshirt barely big enough to cover his torso asking you to marry him at two in the morning.

You stayed quiet for so long, it scared Kuroo. Maybe this wasn't the right time, you two were still in college, this was all so sudden, so impulsive, he should have waited, he should have —

All these thoughts were expelled from his head as he felt your body weight push against his, squeezing him so tight in an embrace that he could barely breath.

"Yes," you whispered against the side of his neck, he could feel the tears from your eyes splashing there as well, "oh my god Kuroo, yes, a million times over."

He smiled softly at you, resting his own head against your shoulder as you held him in your arms. If this is what the rest of his life looked like, then god was he excited for it.

[maybankswhore]

𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍.

SUMMARY: after getting your heart broken by rafe cameron , you swore off dating altogether. you never wanted to experience that kind’ve pain again. but jj maybank was determined to get you to go out with him , and after multiple attempts to try and shut him down— you agree to one date , and realize that maybe you could love again . . .

walked in expecting you’d be late , but you got here early and you stand and wave — i walk to you.

There were some things that you could spare yourself from. You couldn’t control if people died around you , or if one day they’d leave you— stop loving you. Those things were out of your control. But your own actions were your doing , you were in control of your own decisions. You had made a decision to let Rafe Cameron take you to Midsummers , to let him kiss you , to promise you the moon and the stars— and eventually , you had let him leave you.

When he left , there was like this gaping hole in the center of your chest. It ached and begged for you to lick the wound clean and make the sting go away. Your heart was so broken , it shattered anything that you had left of you. You fell into yourself , into that sadness and regret. You lost all of your favorite things , your special interest. The relationship wasn’t the best— he wasn’t the best— but we all accept the love we think we are deserving of.

It had taken you almost a year to be able to show your face around the Outer Banks again. You had finally started hanging out with old friends , going surfing and bringing up your grades. Kiara offered you a job with her at the Wreck and you had happily agreed , happy to find something to occupy your time and get your mind off of things.

Kiara had introduced you to her friends and you immediately clicked with them. You knew them before but after you got together with Rafe , it wasn’t really something you’d be caught doing often.

And although they were all nice , one certain blonde headed Pogue just couldn’t get enough of you. Each time he’d shamelessly flirt with you , beg for you to let him take you out on a date— any date! He always complimented your outfit or how you looked that day. He’d bring you special golf balls he jacked at the Country Club because he knew you collected them. Anything and everything that could make your heart skip just a tiny , little beat.

But Rafe Cameron really did a number on you. You were now a woman scorned and you just weren’t sure who to trust and willingly allow yourself to be that vunerable again. Especially with JJ’s reputation , it was just too risky. You had to protect your heart.

Though JJ was determined to get you to say yes. He was a persistent little thing and even through all the eye rolls and playful shoves , you couldn’t deny feeling as though you could like him.

So on a whim , you agreed. You still giggled thinking about his reaction and how his face lit up. A quick kiss to your cheek that left the skin a burning , bright red before he took off to tell everyone.

Which is how you landed here , hands sweaty and nervous as you rubbed them on the back of your shorts. It had been a little earlier than what the two of you were scheduled to meet , and you wouldn’t have been surprised if JJ was running late.

Rafe always had been. Between the club , his father , and his friends— it was almost impossible to get him to be on time. You had grown used to it , to where you barely kept track of the time.

Walking in , your eye’s widened in surprise to find a familiar blonde sitting by the window. JJ had been early , the spot already been found. You could feel your heart in your ears , feeling yourself blushing as such a small action. But it made you feel good , knowing he was just as excited to see you.

His eyes lit up when he noticed you , a boyish grin on his face as he stood up from his seat. “Hey girl , you’re here early.” A playful smirk fell upon his face as he hugged you , blood rushing in his ears.

you pull out my chair and help me in , you don’t know how nice that is — but i do.

You opened your mouth to answer and tried to sit down , but JJ had already pulled the chair out and sat you inside of it. His attentive grin never leaving his face. A certain warmth huddled over you at the action , feeling the blood in your body become all mushy. You couldn’t help the smile you gave. “Of course. I couldn’t dare be late to the infamous first date.” You hummed.

JJ laughed and scratched the back of his neck nervously. “God I didn’t think I’d make it this far if I’m being honest.”

“Neither did I.” You snorted back , almost rolling your eyes at yourself when you thought back to the times you fought with Pope and Sarah about how you and JJ would end up dating and being a worse couple than her and John B.

The sound of your snort caused a couple people to glance over at you weirdly , to which you covered your face embarrassed. JJ only laughed , clapping softly while throwing his head back.

and you throw your head back laughing like a , little kid. i think it’s strange that you think i’m funny ’cause , he never did.

“So I ordered us like , everything.” JJ cleared his throat and pretended to sound business-like. “You can try a little bit of everything and tell me what you like so I can write it down for next time.”

“Next time?” You questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Next time.” JJ confirmed , winking over at you.

You blushed at that , nervously tucking your hair behind your ear. You felt bad because you didn’t know what to say— you hadn’t dated in so long and it wasn’t like Rafe was much conversational practice. But JJ could sense your nerves , so he clapped his hands to catch your attention.

“So , Y/N , tell me about you.” He offered you the stand , and leaned back in his chair. “I wanna know all the basic stuff you’re supposed to learn about on a first date. Favorite color , favorite movie and song—”

Becoming flustered at the attention on you , your fingers fiddled with themselves. You desperately wanted to ease the awkwardness you felt. “I’d say like pink or something. If I wanted to be deep and mysterious then I’d say blue like the deepest parts of the ocean because I’m just so deep.”

JJ giggled at your joke and you smiled , feeling more confident with speaking.

“My favorite movie’s Little Women but I can’t watch it ever again because I cried for two weeks after I finished it.” You sighed remembering how that one particular scene made you feel and you almost teared up just thinking about it. “And my favorite song—”

Before you could answer what it was , JJ had answered it for you. You raised your eyebrows in surprise that he had known that. “You’re right. How did you—”

“You hum it when you’re working all the time.” He explained , grinning softly. “I forced Pope to get Kiara to ask you what it was.”

i’ve been spending the last eight months , thinking all love ever does is break and burn , and end. but on a wednesday in a cafe , i watched it begin again.

“You should smile more often.” You told him as the date wrapped itself up. The entire time a silly smile and girly blush dusted your cheeks. He kept you interested , feeling comfortable as he engaged in conversations with you. JJ listened intently , hanging on to your every word and you weren’t used to someone caring about what you had to say.

His aura seemed genuine. It settled in the air like an embrace that could soothe all the badness away. His smile glimmered , so wide and boyish.

“Why’s that?” JJ cocked his head to the side.

“Because you look pretty when you smile.” You answered him , feeling accomplished when he flushed at your words.

You weren’t so sure if things would go anywhere. You didn’t want to put expectations on something so early. But with JJ , there was a little bit of hope in your chest. Hopeful. Maybe love wasn’t all bad.

Maybe you could try again.

and we walked down the block to my car , and i almost brought him up. but you start talking about movies that your family watches every single christmas and i want to talk about that , and for the first time , what’s past is past.

JJ held your hand softly as he walked you back to your car. A comfortable silence hung over the two of you for a moment before he broke it when your car came into view. “You should come to the Boneyard sometime. I know Kiara would like you there , too.”

“Just Kiara?” You teased.

JJ nudged your shoulder. “Nah. But you’ll already be there with me.”

“Maybe , I’ll think about it. . .” You nodded. You wanted to tell him that you wouldn’t. You wanted to tell him that you were too afraid to go anywhere because you’d see him and he’d ruin everything. He still knawed at the back of your throat.

“This reminds me of this movie me and the Pogue’s watch on Christmas.” JJ couldn’t help but laugh , shaking his head. “50 first dates!”

You paused. “You plan on me losing my memory?”

“No! No— I mean like when Lucy keeps telling Henry she won’t go out with them and then she does and immediately falls madly in love with him.” He explained , smirking.

“Oh so I’ve immediately fallen in love with you?”

Reaching your car , you leaned against the driver side door. Your breathing hitched in your throat when JJ’s arm trapped you against it , his bicep brushing your cheek. His eyes locked on you , sweetly looking down at you. “Maybe not. But I think I’m gonna fall madly in love with you—” he winked. “If that’s okay with you , of course.”

You paused , a bit of your heart lurching in a way it hadn’t lurched in a long time. Rafe now long in the back of your mind as you looked at him— the past blurring in the background of sullen memories.

A future unknown.

You wrapped your arms around his neck , getting closer to him. “It’s okay with me.” You breathed , fluttering your eyes closed as he connected his lips to yours.

He kissed so softly , hands at your cheeks like you’d break if he was too rough.

It was only just the beginning.

[saltofmercury]

Pairing: König x f!reader

Plot: You want to invite König to your work party, but don't know how to ask.

A/N: First fight with reader x König. I went through lots of research here to try and get him a certain way, but ultimately I feel like because he likes you, he wants to push himself.

"For you"

The annual holiday work party was approaching. It’s all your coworkers were talking about, every minute, every second, of every day at the office. Last year’s party was one of the best. You were excited that now you had the opportunity to ask and bring a +1 this year.

You and König were pretty much in a relationship? At least you thought. It was complicated. He was a man of little words and big gestures. He loved taking you on picnics and sitting there talking with you. On one of those picnics you had shared a first kiss through his turtleneck. You two had been laying on your sides facing each other when you came close to him and he took initiative to gently grab the back of your head and pull you in.

“I want to at least feel your lips.” You whined

He blushed and dug his head into your neck planting soft kisses there.

“A little more patience baby, I promise.” he said softly.

Another surge of electricity ran through you. He wasn’t a man of many pet names, often copying you when you called him “baby” or “babe”.

He sent flowers to your door with small notes saying “ I can’t wait to see you later.” or “Thinking of you.”

He even wrote you letters for the weeks he was gone just so you had something to remind you of how much he liked you and your company.

Sometimes though, it just didn’t feel like it was moving anywhere. 

You felt like your patience was running thin due to the fact that although you did “couple things,” it wasn’t like he was your boyfriend. He never even asked you to be his girlfriend. 

You enjoyed spending quality time with him doing things he planned, but it was never more than just that. Things he wanted to do.

You craved more. You wanted more. You wanted more than just masked kisses to your mouth and hands, more than sunrise and sunset photos or meeting at your apartment or his house. Nothing moved on past just that.

*

Whatever König did in the military paid him well. He lived in the nicer part of the city, up in the hills. His backyard was huge. It was a quiet neighborhood.

You were glad that you were seeing more of each other in person. Holding hands as you walked around the neighborhood, he was telling you about the “drama” about one of his neighbors.

“I am telling you,” —he paused to look at your face. “They choose to fight over small things and then I wake up to the crash and the bangs of the night.” He exhaled, and then continued, “You know that she pretty much slammed the door so loud I could hear it across the street.”

You weren’t listening. You were preoccupied with how you were going to ask him about the party. He didn’t have you tell you he didn’t like public places because you just knew. Almost every date you guys had together were in his backyard or tucked away together secluded from the rest of the world.

You kept walking, silence filled the air.

“Is everything ok?” He finally asked.

You blushed. “Yeah, just thinking about something.” You continued walking with him. The crunch of leaves beneath every step you took.

“Is something wrong?” His voice was uneasy.

“No.. it’s nothing” you responded.

“Something is wrong…” he interlocked his hand with yours and squeezed your hand.

You cracked. It was either now or never.

You exhaled and proceeded to go on,

“There’s this holiday party coming up and I wanted to know if you were able to come?”

He stopped walking, turned towards you. You were already used to the hidden bottom half of his face. His eyebrows however always gave it away.

“You want me to come?” He says softly, but quickly dismissing the idea,

“I don’t know about that. Drunk people I don’t know? Doesn’t sound fun.”

“It’ll be fun,” you rambled on, “They have these fun raffles throughout the night and you get to claim your prize in front of everyone.”

Silence. He just kept walking.

“There’s always a really delicious buffet and an open bar!” You kept trying to entice him more.

He continued to walk straight ahead.

"Drunk people? No thanks." he says.

But you weren’t giving up.

“It’s not really a party” you begin. “It’s more so like a small get together. It’s just my office.”

He pinched his eyebrows together.

“I said no, y/n” he said sternly.

You were caught off guard.

“It’s with people only you know.” He says coldly.

“Most of these people you already know.” you said back.

He did know your coworkers from stories you would tell him late at night. He even knew their names because he would ask about them.

Still, nothing from him as he kept walking, putting his hands in his pockets.

Was he ignoring you?

 “It’s going to be both me and you. Fun music, good food, and –” 

He turned around and stared down at you. He kept shifting his eyes to your forehead, your eyes, and back to your forehead. He looked intimidating. It wasn’t someone you recognized at all. You looked for any glimpse of hope that he would just give in.

“Go by yourself. I’m not attending anything.” He responded with anger, and some annoyance.

Ouch.

You were hurt. How he dismissed everything so quickly, without even being reasonable. 

You bit the inside of your cheek, attempting to cover up your sadness,

 “That’s fine. You don’t have to come.”

*

The walk back to the house was quiet. The sun was setting and the temperature dropped. You wrapped your arms around yourself. Still mentally kicking yourself for even pestering him so much about a stupid party.

König took his jacket off and handed it to you. Like nothing happened.

“I’m okay, we’re 2 houses away” you say.

“Please put it on. I know when you’re cold.” He replies.

You give a tired smile. “I’m fine really.” What you really wanted to do was get to your car and cry.

When you arrive at his house you grab your purse from the kitchen counter and begin to walk towards the door, looking down at your feet.

“I want to go home, I’ll call you later, okay.” attempting to not look a him or cry 

König looks down at you. He puts his hands on your shoulders and rubs your arms. His eyes now stare at the floor.

“Please don’t leave like this. It’s not a big deal.”

You exhale. You chew on the inside of your cheek, but you can feel tears.

“It isn’t a big deal to you. But it was a big deal for me.”

“It’s just one party. Please don’t be like this.” He is almost annoyed. What was wrong with him today?

“I’ll just call you later, ok? I just want time to myself.”

You move past him, walk to the driveway, and drive home.

*

As the events replayed in your head and the embarrassment crept up you started to feel tears run down your cheeks. How he kept walking in front of you while you spoke, how he looked at you like he was bigger than you and your party was unimportant. How he just dismissed the whole idea of it.

His words replayed in your head. “If you’re patient with me, I promise to be worth your while.” Where was this guy?

You arrived home and settled into the couch. You opened up your laptop to see that your +1 had been approved.

Well so much for that. Maybe you could bring one of your friends. Surely your coworkers would forget how you've been endlessly talking about the mystery guy you had met at the dark hours of the night at a grocery store. You felt the embarrassment again. Tears flowing down your face.

He was so mean tonight, thinking he was so above a party.

A notification popped on your phone. It was König.

You shut your phone off before even reading what he could’ve said. You didn’t want to continue any conversation with him right now.

*

The next morning you decided to not attend the party. You already felt low. You hovered over the send button to tell the coordinator that you would not need the +1 or a spot for yourself.

A knock came from the door.

You stood up and walked over. You looked through the peephole –König. You forgot you didn't respond to him last night.

Once opened, you see König standing there. He looked a bit tired, the way his shoulders slumped, his hair was a mess as if he slept on different parts of it but didn’t bother brushing it out. 

He’s staring at you, eyeing your face. 

“Can I come in? I want to talk.”

Oh great…

You nod, and step to the side. He follows you to the couch.

He’s there staring at you fidgeting with his hands, he begins to crack his fingers.

“I know I was nasty yesterday.” He huffs out. He continues, “I don’t want things to end like this.”

End?

He steps closer,

He reaches towards you but flinches back, puts his hands in his pockets again.

“It’s not fair to you, and I’m...” he stops and you can see his hands ball into fists inside his pockets. “I’m sorry.” he weasels out. 

He looks at you now, straight into your eyes, and moves closer.

“I know I told you about being patient with me, but I wasn’t patient with you yesterday. I need to be patient with you as well.”

Your bottom lip starts to quiver and you hug him.

He feels terrible now, he never wanted to make you cry. His hands rub your back as he brings his head to yours.

“Please baby, I am really sorry. We can go to the party.”

You look up at him, and say softly “Why didn’t you want to go?”

You can see his eyebrows pinch together, he runs his fingers through his hair. It’s his turn to open up.

“I .... I have never been good with people, or conversations, or friendships. I know how to hunt people down, not keep a friendship.”

You can feel his heartbeat through his chest. Thumping fast, as his breath is uneven.

You bring him to the couch and sit on his lap.

“It wasn’t like you were going to be left alone, König.” you say softly. 

You think about the times that your friends would leave you alone at parties and you had to begin conversations with strangers. It came easy to you, but you hated that as well.

You start to blush, “I wanted people to meet you.”

He stares at you, exhaling, “I can do this for you... I want to do this for you.”

You smile, and place both hands on his face, kissing him through his mask.

"I promise I'll be there for you."

[marvelfanfn2187a113]

Pride, Prejudice, and Pennywise

Sam Winchester x little sister!reader, tiny bit of Dean Winchester x little sister!reader

Synopsis: Sam’s movie night pick leads to some discomfort for you, but it doesn’t last long.

Author’s note: hey guys! Hyperfixation is still going strong, I promise I haven’t forgotten about my Sherlock fic! I’m just having so much inspiration for Supernatural right now, but I’ll be back eventually with another chapter, promise! For now, enjoy the fruits of my hyperfixation.

You and your oldest brother Dean had very little in common. For starters, he was the oldest Winchester, you were the youngest. He always agreed with your father, you rarely ever did–although unlike Sam, you didn’t voice your opinions often. Dean was stern, serious, and protective; you were always ready for a laugh. He was a flirt, you could barely hold basic conversations with people you didn’t know very well.

However, there was one thing you had in common with Dean; your hatred of horror movies. Although Dean hated them because he thought they were stupid and incredibly unrealistic; you hated them for a very different reason.

They terrified you.

Not that you would ever reveal that to Sam or Dean. After all, with the monsters, demons, and general malevolence that they faced during their occupation, you could hardly expect them to understand your fear.

But the brothers had kept you as far as possible from the hunting world, and watching horror movies just felt like a small snapshot of what your brothers must be facing on a daily basis. It was horrifying to think about. The horror movies just served as a reminder for all that you knew to be out there. Most people could watch those movies and brush them off as fiction; you couldn’t.

Unfortunately for Dean, and more so for you, Sam liked horror movies. The scarier the better for him. He claimed it gave him another angle to look at, a way to see the “fun” in their monster-hunting job. Well, that was all well and good for him, but you had lost many nights worth of sleep thanks to this little hobby of his.

Not that you could possibly tell your brothers–who had to be the bravest people in the world–that the unrealistic, stupid tv monsters scared you.

So instead, here you were, curled up in the small chair in the dingy motel room, Dean snoring in his bed and Sam enraptured in another horror flick. It had been his turn to pick the movie tonight, so horror it was.

You had tried to sleep through it, but you found that only hearing the screams, growls, and general fearful melee was much worse than hearing and seeing it, so you’d given up and gone to the couch to watch.

You tried desperately to look like the movie was gripping you with interest instead of terror, but you weren’t sure you were succeeding. Sam kept glancing your way, and you were afraid that it was because you were clutching your blanket just a little too tightly. Nevertheless, you couldn’t bring yourself to let go, even if it meant Sam figured out your secret.

You had become so focused on trying to look like you were enjoying the movie, that you hadn’t even noticed that it had gone to a commercial, and that Sam had gotten up out of bed to stand next to you. That is, you didn’t notice until Sam spoke.

“Hey bub, you ok?”

You snapped your head up to see Sam frowning down at you.

“Yeah-” you cleared your throat when you noticed that your voice came out a little too high. “Yeah, just great, why?”

Sam glanced at the tv and then back to you.

“Well uh, it's just…” he let out a sound that was half laugh, half sigh, “You look a little freaked.”

You tried to scoff, but even you could tell it wasn’t very convincing.

“Freaked? Why, because of the movie?” you peaked a look at Sam, and weren’t at all surprised that he clearly wasn’t buying it.

“We don’t have to watch it if it scares you.”

You shook your head quickly.

“It doesn’t.” You knew you’d spoken too fast.

Even though Sam wasn’t buying it, he shrugged and returned to his bed.

“Ok then.”

The commercials ended and the movie began again. It was reaching the climax, only getting scarier and scarier. This had to be one of the worst ones Sam had ever played.

You couldn’t hold back a tiny whimper at one of the more gruesome jumpscares; you were lucky that it wasn’t a full-on scream.

You were surprised when the tv suddenly clicked off, and Sam’s voice broke the short silence.

“Ok, come over here.”

You looked up in confusion, before hesitantly rising out of your chair and going to stand by Sam’s bed, still holding your blanket around you.

Sam lifted his covers, gesturing for you to join him under them. You instantly obeyed, darting under the covers and curling into Sam’s side. You had wanted to do that since the stupid movie had started.

It was silent for a minute or two before Sam decided to speak.

“You could’ve just told me that these scared you.”

“They don’t.”

Sam scoffed, “N/N. I know you’re lying. You know you’re lying. So how about, you don’t lie, and I’ll let you pick a movie to watch tonight.”

You looked up in surprise.

“Really? But it’s your night!”

Sam laughed softly.

“Really. Apparently I've been scaring the crap out of you every time it’s my night to pick a movie, so I think I owe it to you to get an extra pick, ok?”

You giggled, “Ok Sammy.”

Sam’s smile dropped after a moment and he sighed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

You moved your head so that you could lean against his chest, comforted by his heartbeat.

“Because it's stupid.”

“It’s not-”

“Yes it is. You and Dean go out-out there and fight monsters, real monsters, and I can’t even watch it on tv! You guys are fighters, you’re brave, you save people, and I can’t do any of that! I’m a-” You swallowed hard. You hadn’t meant to let all of that slip.

“You’re a what?” Sam had sat up, dislodging you from your spot, and was now staring hard at you. “Y/N, what were you gonna say?”

You dropped your eyes to your fidgeting hands, avoiding Sam’s penetrating gaze as you mumbled,

“I’m a coward.”

You winced when you saw the tear drip onto your hand. Great, now you couldn’t even make it through a conversation without crying. Gosh, you were pathetic.

“Hey,” Sam ducked into your field of vision so that you had little choice but to look at him. You couldn’t help but think that his eyes looked sad.

He feels sorry for me. It was the only explanation you could think of.

“Don’t you ever say that, ok? Never again,” His voice was sterner than usual, an authoritativeness usually reserved for Dean in his voice.

You felt a sob bubble up in your throat, and you couldn’t hold it back.

“It’s true,” you managed to get out between breaths and tears as you leaned forward against Sam’s shoulder. You felt his hands come up to wrap around you, and he placed his head on top of yours.

“No, no it isn’t,” he said firmly. “Kid, me and Dean aren’t some great heroes, ok? We’re scared too, all the time. We just do what we have to do, even when we’re scared.”

You sniffle, “Exactly! And that’s why you’re so brave. But I can’t do that.”

Sam pulled you back, an incredulous look on his face.

“Are you kidding me? You do that all the time!”

At your confused look, Sam just scoffed and continued.

“Who summoned that demon in Phoenix last September? Who drove Baby–for the first time ever–at twelve years old to come and save mine and Dean’s butts when we were fighting that group of vampires? Who snuck past seven spirits to get to the grocery store to buy some dang salt when Dean forgot to pack more? That wasn’t us, baby. That was you.”

“You’re the one who forgot to pack the salt.”

Sam’s serious expression gave way to one of indignation.

“Hey now smarty-pants, I’m trying to help you here!” you giggled as Sam dug his fingers into your sides. When he relented, you looked up at him with a much more sober expression.

“But I didn’t fight anything.”

Sam shook his head.

“You don’t always have to fight something to be brave. Were you scared all those times?”

“Of course.” You felt a little ashamed to admit it, and you were surprised when Sam grinned.

“See? But you did it anyway. That’s what makes you brave, N/N. And do you know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think you’re the bravest of us all.”

You blushed, “Sam, don’t.”

Sam laughed, “I’m serious!”

You giggled, “Ok ok, I get your point. Can we watch a movie now?”

…

“So wait, we’re rooting for Lizzie and Wickham, right?”

Dean awoke to the sound of your loudly dramatic groan as you responded to the middle Winchester brother.

“No Sam, he’s a douche. We’re rooting for Lizzie and Darcy.”

“But I thought Darcy was a jerk.”

“Would you just watch the movie!”

“I thought it was Sam’s night to pick the movie,” Dean grumbled as he sat up in bed. There was no way Sammy had picked Pride and Prejudice on his night. No. Way.

Sam just shrugged, “I let Y/N pick this time.”

“You let her pick Pride and Prejudice?”

Your voice was annoyed, “This movie is great, ok! Just give it a chance!”

Dean retorted sarcastically, “Yeah ok, sure.”

…

“I can’t believe she turned him down!”

“Are you kidding? After the way he proposed, no one would say yes.”

“I’m sorry Sam, did you even hear him? Most ardently? I don’t even know what that means, and it almost made me swoon!”

“You’re crazy!”

“Enough!” Both brothers jumped in surprise at your outburst. “You guys can debate this over the commercial, but the good part is coming up!”

“You’ve said that at least twelve times already,” Sam said skeptically.

“Yeah, and I’ve been right every time! They’re all good parts, trust me.”

Sam and Dean both grumbled, but sure enough they quieted down to watch the movie. You smirked. You wouldn’t have thought it possible to get Sam and Dean Winchester invested in Pride and Prejudice, but here you were. And it was great.

Best. Movie night. Ever.

[acalamity]

author's note

first time using tumblr, this account has been untouched for a while. I'm sorry for any mistakes (typos or anything else) and hello!! :D

this idea was supposed to be for a fic (vibrant ribbons weave astral reverie) but I scrapped it since it was too much, so this is a snippet. here's part two

lookism! jake kim x reader as seperated childhood friends. reader is an aspiring tailor.

more under the wubbaboo!!

Jake Kim wondered what else changed in the time you were apart. He used to be your partner, your ride and die. Now, after so many years of seperation, you are different.

Of course you are, you've matured and gone through puberty. You've graduated high school while he dropped out, and chased your ambitions while he was rooted in Big Deal. The two of you lived very different lives, and somehow— no matter how close he is to you physically, the gaping distance is always there. In his heart, he is always a step away from you.

"Jake."

Maybe you'll have to part ways again one day. Criminal life is very dangerous, and he would rather not have you involved in any fights.

"Jake?"

Or maybe you'll grow too big for his little and humble street. He's sure you'll reach great heights and he looks forward to the day you'll stand on a grand stage. A stage grander than he can imagine.

"Jake!"

"Ow!"

He winced, face crinkling as his hand unwittingly travelled up to his face. From beside him, he could see you staring at him with your arms crossed over your chest, very much unamused. Instantly, the leader pieced together that you had probably pinched his cheek to snap him out of his stupor, "What was that for?"

"I've been calling your name for a while." You sighed, "What we're you thinking about?"

"Oh, you know. . ." Jake trailed off, he's not sure how to tell you about the thoughts rampant in his mind, so he settled for a question instead, "[Name], since when did you pick up archery?"

Oh, you realised, bringing up your bandaged fingers and palms, glancing over your hands swiftly, he was concerned.

The words that fall out of your lips are slow— and Jake realised you were unravelling an old, old, hidden wound, ". . . Out of my own frustration, I ran away from my mentors once."

"I was alone and young so a few people came up to me. Although I managed to escape in the end, I promised hat I would never let something like that happen to myself again." You huffed through your nose, "I had to start somewhere and my mentor just so happen to have a bow."

". . . I'm sorry." If he was there, a part of your life instead of living in bloodshed and chasing dirty money that did nothing to save his own predecessor, he would have ran away with you. Yet he was not there, and he can't take the wounds on your hands or your invisible battles away, "Sorry."

"Hm? What are you apologizing for now? Did you accidentally ruin my mannequins again?" Even you didn't know how he did it that one time, but he did.

His reply was instant, eyes wide and dumbfounded, "No!"

"You broke my belongings when we were children too. Then you'd come to me apologizing with that wide-eyed, kicked puppy look on your face." You stared at this face, holding back a laugh with a sigh, "Exactly like that face you're making now. Some things never change."

Jake blinked, once, twice— and just like that he was smiling along with you, "Do you still like the cookies I gave you?"

Gave you after everytime he kicked you in his sleep, kept you up with his snores and unintentionally roughhoused your items, he meant. Of course, like a good elder (of one year) and role model, he'd give Jerry some too.

"Those peanut cookies you received from Uncle Jinyoung and gave Jerry and I as an apology?" There was a nervous chuckle, "Yes, why bring it up?"

"I wanted to know." The beaming gleam in his eyes gave his simple answer away, "That's all."

And two days later, Jerry handed you a bunch of deformed peanut cookies, "Boss Jake wanted to give this to you personally, but he's stuck in his office."

"Well, drag him out." You took the package, and walked pass the second-hand. From what you could tell the cookies were homemade, with plenty of effort and struggle and not much success— though it probably wouldn't taste good, it makes your heart feel warm even in the chilly wind. With a huff, you turned to your friend, "Jerry, let's bother him for old times' sake."

"Please go ahead, Boss Jake is in his office now." And though Jerry is very much against bothering his boss, he can't find it in him to stop you, especially when he knows you'll never actually be a bother his boss. True to his thoughts, Jake's face lit up when he sees you.

"There you go again. Were you waiting for me to come?" So perhaps Jake was hoping you would barge into his office, like you barged into his life many years ago. You sat down next to Jake, placing the pouch of cookies down, "I received the goods—"

"You make it sound like I'm dealing drugs."

"— thank you."

A light remark, perhaps a bit teasing, "Can I have some?"

A pointed look without heat, "After you finish your paperwork."

"[Name]." He called out to you after moments of silence, "Hm? What is it?"

His expression was warm, tainted by overflowing affection, and whisper gentle, like a muted memory of a lullaby, "Thanks for coming."

The person in front of you is no longer the not-so-little bratty menace with chubby cheeks, he has grown beyond your expectations. In the future, the both of you surely continue to change, for good or bad, no one knows. But you (the no-nonsense peanut cookie muncher) are still the same person crafted by your childhood together, and he will surely have many more moments together with you. And those too, will be just as precious as the old stories that shine in his memories.

In the little office, so that he may witness the rest of your life, Jake weaved your name into his heart.

[thegreenthepeacetheorange]

Everlark (Mockingjay, Ch. 25-27)

peeta also being in the burn unit bc he was in the city circle

what i personally believe is that he's the one who tried to put out the fire that overwhelmed katniss, hence his own burnt hands and forehead

her using peeta's coping mechanism of pain to stay grounded in reality

when katniss talks about all the people she trusts being said, she highlights that there is peeta but he wouldn't know any more than her about 13's plans.

"we are both fire mutts now" - still a (broken) team

"those same blues" mentioned again

haymitch understanding katniss. the dad that stepped up. i love that he says "i'm with the mockingjay" instead of "yes"

katniss being our fave feral girl by literally biting into peeta's hand as he stops her from taking her nightlock

the fact that when she says "let me go", our baker boy with the beautiful words and the charm can only say "i can't"

just another instance where these can't let each other go. has anyone made a counter for these instances?

peeta is well and truly back. to do that. to know he can't let her go. that even when she bites him so hard he bleeds, he just looks into her eyes and lets her know he can't let her die

the fact that after the way katniss was used in the games and then in the rebellion, afterwards when she's damaged and broken and bruised and they have no more use for her, she's just sent off to 12

"there's no obstacle now to taking my life. but i seem to be waiting for something" - the same way peeta kept his hand open with the nightlock pill waiting for katniss to curl over his hand for him, katniss waits for peeta's permission to die

i love that she doesn't even mention peeta by name when she sees he's returned. we just know instinctively that he's the "him" that's back.

peeta says dr aurelius wouldn't let him leave the capitol til the day before which makes me think peeta had really been trying to be discharged to get back to katniss.

"his eyes have lost that clouded, tortured look"

katniss who understandably has fallen into physical disrepair over the last two chapters now feels "defensive" as peeta looks at her, frowning, and tries to push her hair out of her eyes somewhat. her relationship is SO different to the one she has with everyone else. and that's because it's really the only one where she's concerned with romance and her looks etc

peeta digging up and bringing her primrose. the boy with the bread is still here bringing gifts that can't have a price put on them. he is the sweetest most beautiful fictional boy

katniss is relieved that gale is in 2, far away. that era of her life is over, that friendship is over.

although she's still confusing right to end. why are you thinking about gale's lips kissing other lips. i think it's just like her finding closure but still.

katniss falling asleep on the sofa but waking up in her bed. we can guess who got her there

it's only after peeta comes back that katniss starts to hunt, find closure, grieve with others.

peeta bringing her a warm loaf of bread again.

them taking the family plant book and creating a new book to honour and remember the dead. her, peeta and haymitch creating their own makeshift family book. so tragic so beautiful

"peeta and i grow back together" - like it was inevitable.

But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after, when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?” I tell him, “Real.”

i love how simple and matter of fact this whole passage is. she doesn't need to go into flowery descriptions or explanations. she's already done that for three books.

i just love this whole passage so much. so much hope. so much love. after all that's happened, katniss learns to live again, to hope again, to love again, to see goodness again. and peeta is a key to her achieving that. and it's so beautiful

as an adult, i now know that this scene is alluding to their first time having sex. the mentions of his arms that build to his lips that build to her hunger from the beach that night. "so after" is after that night, that moment in their relationship where things become elevated in a new way.

him whispering that is not him asking her to declare it or say it. he's asking her to confirm what he feels, has felt. that she loves him. and she knows now her answer forever. real.

[ladyeyrewrites]

Bun in the Oven

Rated M

Chapter 3/4

2990 Words

Chapter three of trans!Tommy mpreg 8x07 rewrite

Read from Chapter One

Read on Ao3 or below the cut

Tommy was definitely pregnant.

Eight weeks as far as the doctor could tell from the ultrasound.

But Buck couldn’t let himself feel excited. That wouldn’t be fair to either of them, not when Tommy seemed so scared, so likely to decided to terminate the pregnancy. So many times in his life he’d set himself up for disappointment by failing to manage his expectations and he wasn’t about to do that again. Because that would bring about an even worse heartbreak than Tommy suddenly deciding that Buck was incapable of being happy with Tommy long term and ending things without so much as a by your leave. Letting himself picture a life with Tommy and their kid only for it to be snatched away before it could come to fruition would break Buck and he knew it.

So, he tried not to get excited. Tried not to anticipate anything at all.

After the appointment, they sat in the Jeep together. Tommy stared at the ultrasound printout, at the blurry little blob that had just started to develop limbs and discernible eyes and ears.

“What do you want to do?” Buck asked.

“I want to think,” said Tommy, on the edge of snappishness.

“I know that,” said Buck. He wasn’t expecting Tommy to come to a decision right away. It made sense that he’d want to weigh his options. “I meant, do you want to go home or back to my place?”

Tommy sighed. “I need to get the truck, and then I want to go home. I think I need space to make this decision.”

“Okay,” said Buck. “And just so you know, I’ll support whatever choice you make, just please don’t disappear on me. I don’t think I could take that.”

Tommy nodded. “I’ll call you,” he said. “Once I’ve figured things out.”

“You’d better,” said Buck. “And we still need to have a proper conversation.”

“I know.” Tommy scrubbed a hand over his face. “One thing at a time though, okay?”

“Okay,” said Buck.

#

“So, how’d things go with Tommy?” Maddie asked over the phone as Buck was getting ready for bed.

“Not sure yet,” said Buck. “We were able to talk about some things, but not everything.”

“Think you’ll get back together?” Maddie asked.

Buck grimaced and flopped down on his bed. His bed that Tommy had slept in the night before, leaving that glorious scent of his all over Buck’s sheets. The healthy thing would be to wash the sheets, eliminating Tommy’s scent, but Buck wasn’t feeling particularly healthy. “I don’t know,” he said. “There’s still stuff we gotta talk through. I just – what if he runs away again?” Despite Tommy having promised not to run, Buck couldn’t help but fear he would, because that’s what people did: they left.

Maddie sighed. “Are you sure it’s worth getting your hopes up, Buck?”

It was Buck’s turn to sigh. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I think I’ll regret it if I don’t try.” And that was true. No matter what choice Tommy made, Buck would always wonder about the might-have-beens if he didn’t tell Tommy he wanted to try again. Maybe with couples’ therapy. Scratch that; they were definitely going to counselling if they got back together. But that would have to wait until Tommy made a choice. “But the ball’s in Tommy’s court right now.”

“Okay,” said Maddie. “I hope it works out. I just don’t want you to get hurt more than you already are. I think that you have to trust the universe is gonna bring you a special person. Whether that’s Tommy or someone else.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” he said. Although Buck was beginning to wonder if maybe part of his problem was that he trusted the universe too much. Bobby had said a while ago that he kept letting relationships happen to him rather than taking an active role in them, and he’d tried to fix that with Tommy. Maybe he’d tried to force it into something it wasn’t, but sitting back and waiting for things to fall into place just seemed like the wrong move.

They chatted a bit more about Jee and Maddie’s day at work before hanging up.

Buck lay awake most of that night, drowning in Tommy’s scent, dreaming of a future together despite himself.

#

Buck had been worried that he wouldn’t be able to play it cool on shift the next day. That was part of the reason why he spent the morning in the kitchen, prepping lunch – more baking.

“All right, guys, lunch is up.” He pulled the baked ziti out of the oven.

“Smells amazing,” said Hen. “What are we having?”

“Fresh-baked garlic bread, baked ziti, and bread pudding for dessert,” Buck said as the team gathered around to get a whiff of the food. He was too pre-occupied thinking about Tommy and what he was thinking about to relish in the praise the team heaped on him.

“Since when did you become a master baker?” Eddie asked.

“Uh, when Tommy dumped me,” said Buck. “Now, whenever I feel tempted to reach out to him, I just—”

“Bake?” Eddie finished his sentence.

And it was still true, only now it was because Buck wanted to give Tommy the space to make the decision, he needed to make without feeling like Buck was pressuring him in any direction.

“I know, it, uh, it sounds dumb,” said Buck taking in his teammate’s faces.

“It’s not dumb,” said Bobby. “You found a coping skill to deal with cravings. We do the same thing in recovery.”

Bobby patted Buck on the back while Buck tried to come up with words to describe what he was feeling without giving the game away. “Well, I don’t feel anywhere near recovered,” he said. “What I feel is a tractor beam pulling me towards my phone to see if he’s texted me.” Buck gestured towards his phone with one hand as he carried the tray of garlic bread over to the table.

Hen and Eddie followed after him with bowls and plates to set the table.

“I know that feeling,” said Eddie. “Stay strong, man.” Which actually didn’t make any sense to Buck unless Eddie was talking about Shannon because he’d been pretty brutal in booting Ana out of his life and Buck hadn’t seen any pining for Marisol or Kim coming from Eddie’s camp, not with the Christopher of it all hanging over his head.

Buck sighed and grabbed up his phone from the table and happened to catch the text bubbles in his chat with Tommy. Something caught his eye: three little bubbles at the bottom of the chat. “Oh, my God,” he didn’t mean to say out loud. What if Tommy was texting to tell him he’d come to a decision? Buck stared at his phone, waiting for a text to come through.

“What?” Hen asked.

“He’s bubbling me,” said Buck, not sure if that was a phrase he just made up or not. “Tommy’s bubbling me right now.”

“So, what did he say?” Hen asked as she and Eddie gathered around Buck.

Buck kept staring at the screen. It seemed too soon for Tommy to have decided, and Buck didn’t know what that meant. Did it take longer to decide to keep a pregnancy or to get rid of it? He had no idea.

The chat bubbles kept bubbling away.

And then they vanished. “They went away,” said Buck. “I don’t get it.” Had Tommy not made a choice after all? Or had he decided it was a conversation he didn’t want to have over text? But Buck couldn’t let on that he knew why Tommy was texting him, so he added. “Why would he type, type, type and then not send anything?” He looked between Hen and Eddie as if they could possibly know.

“Maybe he just changed his mind,” said Hen in that annoyingly calm and soothing tone she used on him when he was being over-the-top.

“You think I should call him, right?” Buck asked. Because what if something had happened while Tommy was typing, and he’d dropped his phone and wasn’t able to finish whatever he’d been typing.

“Definitely not,” said Hen returning to the table.

“What if he’s in trouble and he needs my help?” Buck asked. That didn’t seem too out of the ordinary a thing for him to ask right? That wouldn’t immediately point to Buck being worried that maybe Tommy was having a miscarriage or something right now? It was perfectly normal to be worried about his ex whom he’d thought was his endgame only a couple weeks ago.

“That’s probably not it,” said Eddie. But what did he know?

“Yeah, I’m gonna call,” said Buck. He closed out of the text chain and went to press the call button on Tommy’s contact card.

And then Eddie snatched his phone straight out of his hands. “Sorry, can’t let you do that, buddy.” Eddie put his hands behind his back and passed Buck’s phone to Hen

“Okay. Come on, give it back,” said Buck, trying to keep an even temper. “Come on, give it back. I’m serious.”

“It’s for your own good,” said Hen, tossing his phone to Eddie again.

And a surge of anger roared through Buck. while his friends played keep away because what if Tommy needed him? What if something had happened? What if they broke his phone and Tommy wasn’t able to get a hold of Buck?

“Guys, give it back, I mean it,” he snapped and something in his tone must have alerted his friends to the fact that he was very much not amused because Eddie gave his phone back looking chastened.

“Sorry, man, just trying to keep you from making a mistake.”

“Oh, so you think me actually trying to get some closure on a relationship I really wanted to work is a mistake?” Buck asked.

Eddie flinched. “No,” he said. “If that’s what you need and something Tommy can give you, that’s great.”

“We just don’t want you to get hurt again, Buck,” said Hen in her mom voice which Buck didn’t usually take issue with but right now it grated on his nerves.

“You guys do know I’m thirty-three, right?” he asked. “That I’ve actually been in serious relationships before, and I know how to have an adult conversation with an ex?”

His friends wouldn’t look him in the eye.

“If I want to call Tommy, I’ll call him. But right now, I’m giving him some space because that’s what I told him I’d do when I saw him yesterday.”

“Wait, you saw Tommy yesterday?” Chim, who’d been remarkably absent from the conversation, asked. “I thought it was the day before. That’s why we had to take a rain check on dinner.”

Buck sighed. “Yeah, I saw him both days,” he said. This conversation was getting away from him.

“You didn’t, you know,” Eddie wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Did you?”

“No, we did not sleep together,” said Buck. “He came over. We talked. It got late and so we continued the conversation the next day. We’re not back together.”

“Do you want to be?” Bobby asked.

Buck hesitated before nodding. “Yeah, but if Tommy says he doesn’t then I gotta respect that, right? You can’t exactly make a relationship work if only one side even wants to be in a relationship.”

Bobby nodded.

And at that moment, Chief Simpson appeared wanting a word with Bobby, but Buck was too preoccupied thinking about Tommy to worry about that. He did reconsider calling Tommy though. If he’d come to a decision about the pregnancy, he probably didn’t want to have that conversation while Buck was at the firehouse, and they could be overheard.

Waiting until he was off shift to text though was agony.

#

Buck found himself scooping out cookie dough after his shift ended and he’d texted to see if Tommy was okay. His phone rang and for a moment he hoped it was Tommy, but no, it was Maddie. Not that he wasn’t glad to talk to his sister, but she’d probably ask him about Tommy, and he didn’t have the energy to talk around the truth or lie to her right now.

“You weren’t baking, were you?” Maddie asked.

“Uh, no,” said Buck. “Not technically yet. Did Chim tell you?”

“The gift basket full of baked goods you sent home with him may have tipped me off,” said Maddie “And whatever you’re doing that’s not technically baking, you need to stop, cuz you have plans.”

Buck sighed. “Plans? Uh, what are you talking about?” he kept scooping cookie dough.

“Remember when I told you that the universe was gonna send a special person your way?” Someone knocked on the door as Maddie spoke.

Buck wiped off his hands and picked up the phone. He really did not have the bandwidth to deal with his sister setting him up with someone right now, not with everything going on. Not that Maddie knew about any of that, though. “A blind date? Maddie, I’m not ready for that yet. One second.” He answered the door, thinking he’d find Tommy there only for it to turn out to be Maddie, Chim, and Jee.

“Here she is,” said Maddie with a grin. Gesturing to Jee who smiled up at him in multi-coloured cardigan and a tea shirt with flowers printed on it.

Chimney was smiling too, but more in a way that said he was just trying to humour Maddie and wasn’t entirely sure if this was a good idea or not.

“Well, when you said special person, you didn’t say the most special person in the whole entire world,” Buck said, squatting to scoop Jee up into his arms. Because he could most definitely free up the bandwidth to spend time with his niece, no matter what was going on. “Come here, Jee. Oh, I got you.”

“We’ll be back by ten,” said Maddie.

“Jee, take care of your Uncle Buck,” said Chim.

And then they fled back down the hallway before Buck could protest.

“Okay,” said Buck, fully immersing himself in uncle mode. “I have been making cookie dough. So do you want chocolate chip, peanut butter, or snickerdoodle?” He plopped Jee on a mostly clean portion of the counter.

“I want all of them,” Jee declared.

“What?” Buck feigned surprise. “That’s the perfect answer.” And they got to work, all the while Buck mused about what it would be like for Jee to have a little cousin or what it would be like to bake cookies with his own kid someday – maybe even someday soon. He let himself indulge the fantasy while he showed Jee how to scoop the dough and place it on the cookie sheet.

They’d just finished scooping out the last of the cookie dough onto oven trays when there was a knock on the door. “Just a sec,” Buck called as he opened the oven and slid the cookie trays inside. He hurriedly set a timer on his phone before lifting Jee off the counter onto his hip and crossing to the door. It was too early for it to be Maddie and Chimney. Maybe it was Eddie come to check up on him after their shift.

And there was Tommy standing in his doorway for the second time that week. “Hey,” said Buck. “I thought you were going to call.”

Tommy shrugged. “I didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone or text.”

Buck didn’t think that sounded hopeful. “Okay, but it’s going to have to wait a bit.” He hefted Jee who squirmed to be put down. Buck obliged and she wrapped her arms around Tommy’s legs. “Tom Tom!”

“I didn’t know you were on Jee duty,” said Tommy, smiling broadly and ruffling Jee’s hair.

“Neither did I until Maddie and Chim dropped her off,” said Buck. It was crazy to him how despite everything going on – the break-up, the pregnancy, the uncertainty – being in the same room with Tommy calmed Buck down, grounded him. God, he wanted so badly to hold onto that feeling.

“I can come back later if you want,” said Tommy.

“No, it’s fine,” said Buck. “They’re just going to dinner. Should only be a couple hours.”

“You’re sure?” Tommy asked.

Buck lifted an eyebrow.

Tommy held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, yeah, I won’t question your feelings anymore.”

“Good,” said Buck. “Now, who wants cookie dough?” The last bit was directed more towards Jee than Tommy.

“Me!” Jee raised her hand and ran back towards the kitchen island.

“Probably shouldn’t what with the raw eggs and all,” said Tommy. He made a vague gesture towards his stomach that gave Buck a burst of hope. Surely, Tommy wouldn’t be thinking about the foetus’s health if he was planning to terminate the pregnancy?

But Buck shouldn’t get ahead of himself. Shouldn’t jump to conclusions. “No eggs,” he said. He’d gotten in the habit of setting aside some of his mixture before adding in eggs so that it’d be safe to eat – another break-up habit he’d thought only existed in Tommy’s favourite romcoms.

“I guess I’ll give some a try,” said Tommy, smiling at Jee.

Buck went to the freezer and grabbed the cookie dough while Tommy silently started cleaning up from Buck and Jee’s baking session. And it felt so lovely and domestic, and it made Buck yearn for that future he’d laid out to Tommy the night of the break-up: moving in together, getting married, having kids.

And he’d never felt closer to that dream or further from it. And even though he loved every moment he got to spend with Jee, for once he couldn’t wait for Maddie and Chim to come pick his niece up so that he and Tommy could talk. Not scream at each other or have a single-sided conversation – actually talk and listen.

@silversky9 @unhingedangstaddict @ironspiderdad12 @beanarie @sporadicmakerwerewolf @azaharinflames @aisatsana441 @bugboybuck

[readbyred]

Hi :)

Heard you were accepting dps requests so what about a charlie fic

I feel like charlie is the type of person to flirt with everyone and ask anyone he finds attractive out except when it comes to the person he actually has feelings for so what about charlie x reader where reader has been waiting since before they graduated for him to ask her out and as soon as she decides to move on charlie gets all sad and jealous and confesses and yknow how it goes

Would love to see this in a fic ♡

Not a fic blog (maybe someday), but I can give you a headcanon (so, shorter and no dialogue) though… I did get a bit inspired, so its longer than my usual writing

I think as a teen he was the sort of person to try and prove he’s popular with people. It would feel bad to lump you in with that. Like, he actually liked you, so it's different. Not that he has no respect for people he flirts with, but he knows it isn't anything serious. He was just a teen guy trying to impress his friends and get the experience he was prevented from getting (with his strict school and all). Especially with his position in the friend group and all.

Still, he hoped to have something serious with you one day. One day when he gets the courage, when he feels like it will work out and he won't jeopardize the whole friend group because of his crush.

But that day didn't come when he was at Welton. Then he had other things to worry about, considering his departure from the school. It was a hard time for everybody. But no matter the odds the poets kept in touch, as much as they could. And that included you.

Only, as years passed you started losing hope. I mean, if he wanted to he would, right? It felt so helplessly pathetic to be waiting for Charlie when it seemed that he had never and will never return your feelings.

When you were younger, it felt like the end of the world. Like you were destined to be alone. Oh, how many nights you’ve spent with Knox, wallowing in self-pity after Chris left him. Just sitting there with your buddy, talking about how you should go to a monastery. Not out of a spiritual need, but because there would be no one ever to love you. Guess you were a bit dramatic back then. It took Pitts many tries to smack some sense into you but you matured eventually.

When college approached, you were ready to meet new people. Although you weren't in the same school together anymore, you made a promise with the poets to keep seeing each other regularly.

Meanwhile, you met Mark. A true romantic soul with quite a witty humour. And Jack who would always treat you so sweetly and had the same interests as you. And Adam who walked you to the dorms every day. And Matt who had so much passion for life. You opened yourself up to people. Started meeting up with others.

Suddenly, you’d bring up your dates every meeting. Not to rub it in, just to recall funny moments. Like when a rainstorm caught you and Jack in the middle of a walk and you raced to the dorms. Or how you and Adam got lost in the park at night because neither of you lived in that city before. Knox would encourage you to spill every detail.

Surprisingly, the more you talked about your love life, the less you heard Charlie talk about his. By winter break you haven't heard him talk about any girl in weeks. At first you didn't notice. Then you figured that maybe he just fell for someone who wasn't as easy to charm so he didn't have anything to brag about yet.

The thought of him being so head over hills for this unnamed person made something inside you feel empty. You knew the feeling well from high school and you detested yourself for still having those sorts of thoughts and feelings. But you decided to let it all fizzle out.

You had better things to think about too. There was a ball coming around. Some fancy tradition at your university. Before you knew it, you had quite a few invitations. The sweetest one was from Jack.

He told you to close your eyes and open your palm. Then, he handed you a handcrafted note asking if you'd like to go with him. Later that day you found another one in your pocket (so that's why he told you to close your eyes) telling you he’s grateful to have you in his life. It was perfect. And officially approved by Knox Overstreet!

When you recounted the story, the guys were pretty happy for you. Before anyone could get a word in, Charlie suddenly asked if you were planning to go with Jack. Sincerely, you affirmed. Why not? He was the sweetest guy and you certainly were done moping around. I mean, you knew that Charlie wasn't going to change his mind so you could as well see if you end up liking someone else.

To your surprise, Charlie wasn't as ecstatic as the rest of the poets. He was rather skeptical and even a bit snarky. Commenting on the guy and just being so… weird about it. It angered you to no end because softly rejecting you is one thing. But trying to get in the way of you moving on? That didn't sit right with you. But your drama queen days were over, so you didn't walk off or anything. Just huffed and looked for a way to change the topic.

At the same time Charlie was thinking. Before college it was easy to reassure himself that he had all the time he wanted to make you his. And all the time he wanted to decide if he would do that at all. Everything was easier back when you didn't talk about any guys. Ever. Now he felt like he had to do something. Damn the risk of ruining the friend group. Damn the fear of rejection. And damn Knox for encouraging this mess.

The last thing you expected was for Charlie to get up suddenly. The poets all looked at him confused. When he stood up, his eyes met yours and he asked you to talk with him outside. Honest to Gods, you had no idea what that was about. But he was being dramatic (more so than usual) and something about the determination in his eyes told you to follow your friend outside. It was snowing and only buildings around you somewhat shielded you from the cold wind.

Charlie didn't waste time choosing words. For the first time when talking to a girl, he was completely raw. Just as it hit him, he blurted out his confession. No overplayed charm. No smirks and winks and cheap tricks. Just him. Charlie Dalton telling you that he likes you. That he had liked you for some time. That you should just, please, think about it.

As the last word fell from his mouth, a heavy silence fell between you. Silence colder than the wind and the snow. But Charlie stood there, undeterred, waiting to see the answer in your eyes. Even at his most frantic, he was confident. He understood that he did what he did, what it meant, and that he grasped this last chance by a miracle. There was no turning back now.

Your response first came muffled, as if the falling snowflakes were absorbing your voice. But finally, you confessed. Not without telling him, how long he made you wait. And how stupid he was acting, if he really just ignored his feelings for this long.

Your talk was tender, full of relief. But, as it happens with Charlie, as soon as the talk of real feelings was out of the way, he dragged you back inside, to announce your happy ending.

You couldn't believe he wanted to brag to your friends at a moment like this. But you just stood there, watching him with a smile. Some things never changed. Charlie certainly didn't. And you wouldn't have it any other way

[collectivecloseness]

Imagine being at a corroded coffin gig and eddie says something like this one's for my *insert cringey pet name* and all the girls are just jealous of whoever that might be and you're just standing there like 🧍‍♀️ and completely red

He totally loves messing with you. Obviously only in funny ways. But he can picture things being a story he’ll get Gareth to include in a best man speech Eddie and yours wedding one day.

You told Eddie you didn’t want to be on stage with him, when he proposed bringing you up by your hand and singing to you, or showing off his hot girlfriend to the audience, because he was truly happy. And while you didn’t mind him making things official to the public, now you two presumed there was a newly public view on him, there was a different problem. You told Eddie you absolutely did not want to be shown off during a live set. That seemed mortifying, in a stage fright way. But he could respect you not wanting to go up on stage, that was fine, even if he’d scream to the whole world that he was your soulmate. You told him that you’d just be embarrassed. Also, you didn’t want to be mauled by the small mass of parasocial fans Eddie was starting to collect. Corroded Coffin were just starting to get big, but that also meant that some of their fans were more... hardcore, when it came to their love of certain members. Being so fresh to Corroded Coffin actually being successful, with a small but committed fanbase. With Eddie being the shining headliner for loving fans. You didn’t actually think any of the girls would eat you alive in the crowd if Eddie did point you out. Although the thought of someone waiting at the back door to the bar, to hurl insults at you, was a little anxiety inducing.

Eddie promised not to bring you on stage with a lighthearted laugh however. Although his extra comment of “But I didn’t say anything about embarrassing you” was something you weren’t sure whether you actually had to worry about or not. You at least knew Eddie wouldn’t actually hurt you like that. But him playing a game? Ohhh yeah

You were coming back from the fridge with your soda as Eddie looked up at you, taking a cooling sip before you continued this topic of conversation for the night. “I mean, I don’t mind you calling me, like, your snugglebug at home or anything, ya know? But saying that in front of a bunch of people... someone’s gonna jump me.” You half joked.

Eddie hummed, smiling relaxedly up at you. “You like that one, don’t you?” He said, opening his arm as you nodded, quickly shuffling into his side on the couch, under his extended limb. You sat against Eddie’s chest, as he nuzzled your head with his chin, happily. “Well you are my snugglebug baby.”

You smiled, looking up at him, and picking away your strings of hair that stayed attached to his jaw. Feeling it move as he spoke softly again. “And good. Cos I love snuggling with you.”

Eddie kissed all over your face, quick and direct attacks as you didn’t move away, but just beamed up at him as he did so. Eyes closed because he kept pressing kisses to them, but your face saying enough. As his soft pecks moved to the back of your hand he picked up, you opened your freed mouth. “Yeah. But, you may lose your metal cred if you say that in front of all those other metal fans.”

“I don’t care. It’s true.” Eddie swears solemnly, eyes playful as he leans his head agaisnt your chest now, falling like a lump half into your lap, so he can look up at you and make sure you’re seeing his exaggerated faces. “Plus, metal people can be all sweet. I am.”

You hum, interrupting as you ‘consider’ that fact, slapping away Eddie’s hand that whacked you first.

“Hmm!” Eddie repeats mockingly, sticking his tongue out at you. “We are though! We’re just normal people... mostly. Are you saying that makes me less metal?” He asks, faux offended, with a hand to his chest.

“Yes.” You respond bluntly. Only to tease him. Eddie bites your titty in retaliation, only lowly laughing when you shove his jaw away after yelling ‘ow!’ “That’s not even that bad a pet name. I could think of plenty mushy gushy sickly sweet creepily involved names to say!” He states proudly.

“I don’t know if that’d be more embarrassing for me, or for you. Although I don’t know if you’re capable of showing embarrassment Munson.” You raise your eyebrow, rubbing his chest with a playful shake. “People may still think it’s unmetal.”

“Nah!” Eddie responds, causing you to roll your eyes, even though you smile. You love how secure Eddie is most of the time. “They won’t. I could say anything and those fellow sheepies would eat... it... up!” Eddie pounces up and gnaws on your face, wrapping his arms around you the more he hears you laughing. Before committing to not canabalise his girlfriend, and pushing his face into your neck, nuzzling there with a whining sigh.

You poke him. Grinning. “See? Snugglebug.”

Eddie sticks his thumb out affirmatively, smiling more into your shoulder when he hears you laugh at his antics, before cuddling you with said arm again. “Yupppp. You too.”

You’re cheering the loudest in a room of fans, as Corroded Coffin finish one of their songs. This one particularly had a lot of guitar, even though they all did, but it was one Eddie got a sick solo on too, so you had to cheer just that bit louder for your boyfriend. Even though you of course, loved the other guys too. You cupped your hands around you mouth as you wooed for him, the band all stretching their fingers as the speakers finally quieted a little.

Some of the girls surrounding you were cheering louder too, because Eddie was coming up to the microphone. You looked on from your front row, the other band members taking drinks of water as Eddie slammed his forearm against his sweaty head, asking the crowd how everyone was doing tonight, as he fixed the fact that he’d made his fringe crazy bad, getting a bunch of cheers in response.

Eddie looked down at you now, a smile already plastered on his face, but crinkling just that bit brighter as he looked at you. Able to see you even with the stage lights, because you always came early to get that front row room, just so he could see you there.

Eddie took off his denim vest, leaving his sleeveless black tee clinging to his sweating torso, chained bracelets jangling as pointed out to the crowd. “I’ve got a very special person in the room with me tonight. My own personal love, here to support me like always, guys and gals.”

You knew Eddie wouldn’t be able to see your pinched and simultaneously looking-like-you-were-about-to-explode expression, but he wasn’t even looking at you. His eyes were still surfing the crowd, occasionally giving you a glance as he grinned. Girls in your ears cheered louder, some friends grabbing each other and shaking them, people amping each other up.

“So this next one’s for my baby dolly, my hot patootie, my kitten whiskers, right here in the room with us tonight!” Eddie jumped straight back to his guitar, the drums starting up before he could even finish his last word, as one girl started crying in your ear, and others were screaming for Eddie’s attention still. Some looking far and wide in the crowd for this... ‘lover’.

You didn’t want to stand out, by acting odd. But you were literally just... standing there. You bounced your shoulders a little to the music, just to not catch suspicion, in your mind going through one more time what Eddie had just done.

And then, a smile formed on your tight lips. Shaking your head at Eddie when he chanced a look over at you, even risking a wink, how could he not for his lover, with his teeth gleaming from his cocky smile. You were still smirking back at him. Asshole. He didn’t even pick a romance song afterwards! This was just some random cover.

You totally weren’t gonna let him have snugglebug privileges at home tonight

[1989butcher]

Boots

daryl dixon x reader

he gave you a pair of oversized boots a long time ago, and you’ve kept them ever since.

set: alexandria, you got separated when the prison fell.

2.7k words

FLUFF!!!!!!!! i <3 fluff. this is my first fic pls be nice to me 🥹

————————————————————————

Y/N’s POV

I’ve been walking for months with nothing but a near empty backpack and boots that are far too big for my feet. The last time I slept with four walls was a long time ago at the prison. I haven’t even fully began to process what happened, I simply haven’t had the time.

When this whole thing started, I was visiting my brother in Atlanta. I didn’t know when my parents dropped me off at the airport in Michigan would be the last time I saw them. I lost my family, well everyone but Glenn, but after enough time I gained a new one.

The people I met in Atlanta, the ones that made in to the Greene farm, were some of the best people I had come across in my life. I never thought I would enjoy chilly nights eating rabbits, oddly enough I had one as a pet when growing up. Glenn never failed to remind me when I would be eating one, which led Daryl to tease me about it every time he brought one home. “This one look like yours?” He would always bring it to me first. I turned away quickly. “Stop!” I covered my eyes. I think a smile would curl from his lips. I would almost laugh out of anger. I knew every time he did this, he would come right to me to rub it in my face. “I wish I never told you about Thumper.” I said, basically talking into my shoulder. I turned to him on the log I was sitting on, still covering my eyes but peeking in between my fingers. “I ain’t ever gonna let you live this down.” I sighed, while he turned on his heel and walked away.

Glenn was sitting opposite of me, with Maggie of course. “Whatever happened to the little guy?” Glenn asked, his fingers intertwined with Maggie. Couldn’t even begin to believe my big brother found love at a time like this. I went back to building the fire, slower than before in hopes the archer would make a joke about it. “I dunno, after like five years I’m pretty sure he died, but mom said he ran away. Either way, he got a better fate than he would now.” I replied, staring into the dimming fire. I’m sure Maggie said something about rabbits on the farm, but that’s where the memory stops.

The farm being overrun was something inevitable, especially after we found out walkers were living in the barn. I’ll never forget standing there with Daryl, as he ran to Carol to stop her from going after Sophia. I don’t think he will ever forget that either. I know he blames himself, no matter how many times I said it wasn’t his fault. He would hold his head in his hands and I would rub his back, telling him ‘it’s ok’. He would shake his head and always reply no, or more like “Nah.” I just wanted to be there for him and take away his pain.

Speaking of pain, my feet were throbbing. I have been walking on this road for what feels like years. I don’t even know how much time has passed since the prison fell. I think living there was the happiest I had ever been. Our small family from the farm turned into a full on community. We farmed, had animals, kids went to a sort of school (if that’s what Carol wants to call it), and so much more. Runs were sort of fun, although Daryl never wanted me to go. One time, Glenn, Maggie, and I went on a run and promised to be home by sundown, as usual. I was hardcore third wheeling, but that was my brother and Maggie had become my sister. We were singing in the car, celebrating the canned foods we had found in an abandoned mini-van. Laughing, it almost felt normal. It was night when we returned, since we went a bit farther than we predicted. Rick, Tyreese, and of course, Daryl were waiting at the gate as we pulled up. They looked worried sick but I think the three of us were grinning ear to ear. When I stepped out of the car, unscathed, I saw the archer sigh in relief. “Don’t tell me you were worried Daryl, how sweet!” I teased him, handing him a crate of food. He huffed a quick “whatever” and I turned away and smiled. I think he saw me smile, I hoped he did. I never did tell him about the warm way he made me feel, quite literally warm. I was constantly cold, and he would always be bringing me back blankets or jackets. He even replaced my beaten converse with boots. Boots that were too big, but boots none the less. I also never told him they didn’t really fit, but I loved them too much to find a new pair.

The sun was glaring in my eyes. I laughed at the fact that pre-end of the world, I would have wanted sunglasses to avoid wrinkles from squinting. Even though nowadays, all everyone does is squint. I say everyone as if I have seen a single person since all those weeks ago. Feels like a lifetime has passed.

I decided to take a turn down a road with lots of tire tracks. Maybe I could actually find some sort of shed for the night in a few hours. Cook my very own rabbit. Daryl would be proud. At this very thought, I heard a rustle in the woods. I quickly grabbed my knife strapped to my hip. It indeed was a walker. It growled as it slowly made its way from the forest floor towards me. I walked up to it, shoved my knife into its grey skull, and kicked it back into the forest floor.

I brushed the hair out of my face after putting the knife back in a belt loop. “Where am I supposed to put it?” I asked, as Glenn handed me the knife I carry now. He walked away, passing other weapons out from a run he came back from. Those strong, warm arms came from behind me, with a soft grunt he took the knife from my hands and spun me around, wrapping his fingers through the loops on back of my jeans. His dark hair covering his eyes, he looked through the hair at me. Lifting the knife up for me to see, he slid it through a belt loop. “Got it?” He asked. I nodded in reply, my cheeks red with the fact his hands were still on my waist.

I couldn’t take these memories anymore. For all I knew, they were all dead. Or if some weren’t, they assumed I was. I’m sure of it. My family was gone, again. And I couldn’t help but blame myself.

I don’t want to replay that day in my head with what I could have done differently. That heartbreak would kill me. So I kept moving.

As I kept walking, I could swear I heard children laughing. A noise hard to come by these days, and even harder now after being alone. I surely wouldn’t recognize myself with the knotted hair, covered in dirt and blood, some of it was mine.

I picked up the pace, almost as if I was expecting children to come run and laugh by me. I looked around and saw down the road lots of cars lined up. People had to have done that. Survivors had to have done that. I think I was running at this point, I couldn’t tell. My feet have been numb since the last time I slept.

Around the corner from these cars, I saw a wall with a sign that read “ALEXANDRIA”. Holy shit. A town. With walls. I knew walking up to the gates was a bad idea, but at this point if they shot me, they shot me.

My brother was gone, with his wife who became my best friend. Our leader was gone. Same with his son and baby that I had grown extremely close to. The archer, too. And I wouldn’t admit it, but I love that archer.

I walked up the gates, my feet were stunned I had stopped moving. I quietly knocked, with a coarse “Hello?” I hadn’t talked in days, the last drink was from a river probably a day ago.

A man with a dark mullet and khaki shorts opened the gates ever so slightly. “Who are you?” He asked.

“My name is Y/N, is this your community?” I was basically begging. I was fighting tears from welling up in my eyes. A real person.

“I’m not at the liberty to discuss that with you.” He replied sternly. He looked around, as if someone was going to give him an answer. He held a large gun, clearly he didn’t know how to use it. I was frustrated, and I could take him down if need be, but I was going to be civil about this.

“What is it, Eugene?” someone asked him from behind the gate. I swear I’ve heard the voice before, but I thought it was pure exhaustion fueling my delusion/

“One moment, please hand over your weapons.” The man, assumingely named Eugene said. I handed him my knife and my pistol, that maybe had one bullet left in it. Just as quickly as he opened them, he closed the gates. I still had my pocket knife in my backpack. One of those tourists ones with your name on it. Daryl brought it back for me on a run once, and I’ve never used it. Just kept it, like a token.

“I know this knife.” The faceless voice gasped. Now, instead of just the solid wall, both parts of the gates opened and there she was.

Maggie. Maggie Rhee. Tears in her eyes as she held the knife at her waist, her wedding ring my brother gave her shining in the sun. “Y/N?” she said at an almost whisper. I went to reply, but no words came out. Those tears I had been fighting came out in full force as she crossed over to hug me. Her hand at the back of my head as we knelt to the ground to hold each other. Maggie was here, Glenn had to be. And if they were, who knows who else had made it.

I cried into her shoulder for a moment, until she grabbed my face to brush the hair out of my eyes. “I can’t believe it’s really you.” I smiled back at her, bringing her in for another hug. After a few more minutes of tears, we pulled away, stood up, and shut the gates behind us. “Wait here.” she said, running into a house.

I stood there, wiping tears with my shirt. “I’m Eugene.” the mullet man said. Staring awkwardly at me. “Hi.” I said back, taking a deep breath. He went to say something else before someone came out of the house with Maggie, her hands covering his eyes.

I slowly walked towards them. My heart dropped to my stomach and I swear the world stopped. Maggie used her other hand to say ‘Shhh’ to me. I could barely keep it together when she finally removed her hand from his eyes. It was Glenn.

Before he realized it was me I had already gone to hug him. Crying into his thin shirt and sinking to the street. “Oh my God.” he said in reply, coming back down with me, doing the exact same thing Maggie had done. He kissed my forehead and I felt his tears drop onto my head.

“I’m so sorry.” I cried to him. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve listened, I should’ve stayed with you.” He shook his head, sniffled and pulled away. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Y/N. I’m here. Your family is here.” He picked me up from the ground and Maggie came in to hug us again, going to kiss Glenn and wipe his tears. We all sort of exchanged ‘how on earth did you survive’ and ‘you look like shit’ before they took me walking up the street, careful not to tell me about anyone who had died, but who was here. Rick, the kids, Michonne, Carol, Sasha, some people named Tara, Rosita, Abraham, who had come with Eugene. I was in complete disbelief of an entire neighborhood that was safe.

None of them were outside, so seeing me was going to be a surprise, but they had skipped over a certain archer I was missing. While we came up to the porch that Glenn said was Rick’s, I found myself asking if Daryl was here. The couple exchanged looks. Fear took over as I assumed the worst, until Maggie took my hand and nodded. “He’s here, too. Been looking for you for weeks, actually.” My stomach was full of butterflies, even though it had been empty for weeks.

“He was looking for me?” I asked in disarray, the tears that had finally stopped were going to start all over again. My stomach dropped. He searched for Sophia everyday, all day. He never stopped and the heartbreak he has was unbearable. He was sure it was his fault she was gone, and he hadn’t looked hard enough. Glenn nodded. “Ever since,” he looked at Maggie, who looked away onto the street, his voice now lowered “ever since Beth died, he hasn’t been the same.” My heart had broken into a million little pieces. I squeezed Maggie’s hand, quickly saying I was sorry before she assured me she was going to be okay.

Another death that Daryl would blame himself for. I’m certain of that. Probably blamed himself for me running off too.

I followed the pair inside to where Rick was holding Judith on the couch. My first thought honestly was, holy shit a COUCH.

He stood up and smiled, quick to hug me with Judith propped on his hip. He kissed my cheek and brought me in close. I buried my face in his shirt, kissing Judith after. His shirt smelled of fresh laundry, a smell I hadn’t known for a long time. Rick was the most fearless man I had ever met, and I’d be dead without him. All of us would be.

“You’re here.” he broke the silence. I nodded, wiping my tears away. “Don’t know how, but I’m here.” I replied. He smiled again, looking up the stairs to Carl. He raced down them and tackled me into a hug.

“Y/N, I thought you were gone!” He exclaimed. I wanted to reply I thought I was gone too, but instead just laughed. “You couldn’t get rid of me that easy, kid.” playfully knocking his hat off his head. He laughed and flicked me back. “Daryl is not going to believe this.”

My eyes grew to the size of saucers. I was bursting at the seams. I wanted to see him more than I needed a shower at this point. I was looking out the window Rick was seated in front of when I said “Speaking of Daryl, where is he? Where’s everyone, I need to-“ The question didn’t matter anymore. There he was on the street, looking directly through the window. Almost through me. He took a few steps back, as if he was going to take off running. Like I was a ghost.

If anyone said anything to me, I couldn’t be sure. My legs carried me out the door and down the stairs, and into his strong arms. Arms I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. The ones that held me late at night when I was cold, the ones who taught me how to shoot, even shot his crossbow once, the ones I cried into when we lost the farm, the ones I took naps on during long car rides. Home. I was home.

We didn’t say anything to each other. He had dropped his crossbow in the road where he was now holding me, face snuggled into my neck. He was crying. I reached up to rub the back of his head with my hand. “Been awhile, huh?” I whispered, sarcastically, desperately trying to break the silence. He pulled away, tears hidden under his overgrown hair. “Thought I lost ya” He put his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes and smiled. “Never.” I said, placing my hands on his face. His response was the same, putting his hands on mine and giving me the gentlest kiss to ever touch my lips.

Didn’t think the entire community had to watch this go down, especially since that was our first kiss, but it makes for a fun story now. We both sniffled and looked into each others eyes, his blue ones glistening with tears. “Didn’t know I had to go missing for you to kiss me like that, Daryl.” Hearing myself say his name made my heart skip a beat.

He broke eye contact and looked towards the ground. “See ya kept those boots.” he remarked. I pulled his gaze back up to meet mine.

“I thought after long enough they could bring me home.”

[silviakundera]

My fascination with Li Rong & Pei Wenxuan's original timeline continues... novel snippets

(good times)

Li Rong did remember Pei Wenxuan's youthfulness.

Although it had been many years, she still remembered the first time the two of them kissed, Pei Wenxuan's cautious and panic-stricken appearance.

At the beginning, it was just a light touch of lips to lips, only feeling a little soft, but nothing else, not as mysterious as the rumors.

Later on, it was reckless and clumsy, with a little more desire, but Li Rong didn't feel much pleasure either, just a couple, just married, coping.

But her coping fell into the eyes of Pei Wenxuan, who had always been a good student and had learned to do her make-up and eyebrows for her, and would not fail to do so.

It was a funny thing to think about, but he was not ashamed to ask, and it really gave him a way out.

He could do a dozen types of make-up for Li Rong.

He could also, with a single kiss, give Li Rong the ultimate pleasure on earth.

*

(a covenant)

Li Rong slowly calmed down at his words, such encounters were not new, she had experienced them countless times in her previous life, yet it had been many years since she had been tied together with Pei Wenxuan in such a way, living and dying together.

She could not help but look at Pei Wenxuan, sizing up the young man in his early twenties in front of her. Pei Wenxuan was leaning against the table, looking out of the window at the people coming and going, seemingly thinking about something, he noticed Li Rong's eyes and turned his head to look at Li Rong, seeing Li Rong gazing at him, he could not help but smile: "What is Your Highness looking at me for?"

"I just remembered," Li Rong smiled up, "it seems like the first time we did things like now."

"The first year we were married, we were quite close," Li Rong tapped her fan on her hand and turned her head to look out of the window with a bit of nostalgia, "but we were still young and ignorant of the affairs of the court, and we had never encountered such a big event."

"Later on, when things came up, you and I were already quarrelling a lot, and the only time I was touched by you was in prison. I thought at the time that you would abandon Chuan'er and I and defect to Concubine [Ruo]," Li Rong said and couldn't help but look over again, laughing, "Why didn't you run away then?"

Pei Wenxuan was silent, Li Rong didn't care much, and then added, "Later we couldn't say we were on good terms, defensive on one side and helpful on the other. It was never as cordial as it is now."

"What if I told you that I never wanted to give up on you?"

Li Rong looked up in surprise and saw Pei Wenxuan looking at her calmly, "The covenant you and I made in the last life, I never broke it."

So that year, when Li Chuan abolished the crown prince and Li Rong was imprisoned, he was in a high position and never thought of defecting to others.

Subconsciously, even though he had been arguing with Li Rong for years, he chose without hesitation to go to the prison in the first instant and watch that person make a promise to wait for him to return.

Li Rong couldn't speak, her eyelashes trembling slightly as Pei Wenxuan smiled, "We've been through so many trials, isn't it only right that you trust me in this life?"

*

(regrets)

"I remember once in the tenth year of Kangping, you and I went to the Ministry of Punishment together." Li Rong leaned against Pei Wenxuan and listened to him talk about the past, "you watched the execution of the prisoner, I saw your hands shaking, you hid your hands in your sleeves and curled them on the handrail so that no one would notice, you kept that position for all afternoon.

"I don't remember."

"Then you came out and threw up, Su Rongqing stood by your side and kept calming you down, bringing you tea and water."

Li Rong did not speak, she listened quietly, then she heard Pei Wenxuan say, "When I came back that day, I kept thinking that I should have pulled you, should have lit incense, should have talked to you, maybe you would have been much better."

"In my last life there were many things I didn't do well and didn't do."

Pei Wenxuan said, looking down at Li Rong: "In this life, if there is anything I didn't do well, Your Highness remember to talk to me."

Li Rong leaned in quietly and listened to his heartbeat. Pei Wenxuan was puzzled, "Your Highness?"

"Very well."

*

(a second chance)

Li Rong did not say anything, and Pei Wenxuan laughed lightly, "If that is the case, Your Highness must be blaming herself."

"You go out!"

"Guess so." Pei Wenxuan got happy, Li Rong squeezed her pen tighter and stared at him warningly, Pei Wenxuan laughed out loud and shook his head somewhat helplessly. "You," he said, he reached out his hand and took the person in his arms.

This was something she had never experienced before.

In her last life, when she was young with Pei Wenxuan, she was rarely involved in political affairs. Later on, the two of them also went their separate ways, and when it came to sad matters, it was good if this person did not mock. When was there such a gentle time.

Li Rong leaned against his chest and he did not say anything. After holding the person quietly for a moment, he said in a slow voice, "Your Highness is not happy, so talk to me about it."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"In my last life, when you were sick, I went to ask the doctor," Pei Wenxuan wrapped his arms around the person in his arms. Remembering the last days of his last life, he couldn't help but soften his tone, "The doctor said you were depressed and worried too much, in your last life you were a bored gourd, no one listened to you. Now I am here, can't you talk about it? Can't you still talk about it?"

Li Rong leaned against Pei Wenxuan, she closed her eyes for a long time before saying, "I thought you would have wanted me to die back then."

"I did think so when we were arguing," Pei Wenxuan laughed, "but when I thought about it, I felt a bit sad, thinking that you, an old demon, should live a long life."

When Li Rong heard this, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, and when Pei Wenxuan heard her laugh, he knew she was happy. He thought for a moment and bowed his head, "Your Highness, in this life, you really must live a long life."

In her last life she had been in poor health since then, and when winter came she was on her death bed, and he sometimes went to see her and heard the news that she was ill. And he was standing at the door talking to her about the dynasty, listening to her coughing intermittently.

He did not want to go through this again; he wanted to live this life with Li Rong, to live to old age, and to be at peace, unstained by illness.

Thinking like this, he couldn't help but hug Li Rong a few points tighter, Li Rong sensed his emotions, she leaned against him and after a long time, said in a slow voice, "Pei Wenxuan, what use do you think the princess has?"

Pei Wenxuan took her in his arms and listened quietly, Li Rong was still a bit raw when it came to these things, but she leaned against this man and heard him say that he wanted her to have a good life, so she didn't hold back and opened her mouth.

"Xun Chuan asked me how it could be so difficult to ask for a fair share of justice, something that should be in the world. In fact, I think she asked a childish question, there is no real justice in this world, but when she asked me that, I was sad. Do you think I am the one who is childish?"

Li Rong said, and couldn't help but laugh, "What business is it of mine about these things? She is a teenager, she should be naive, how can I be upset by all this when I am so old?"

Pei Wenxuan did not say anything, he took a moment and then slowly said, "Your Highness, do you remember, when I sent Yang Lie out, you asked me: you said that when I was young I also wanted the common people to have a better life, but in the end I still fought with you for my personal rights. I did not argue with Your Highness at that time; in fact, I was afraid that Your Highness would laugh at me."

Li Rong listened to these words and raised her eyes to look at him, a little strange. Pei Wenxuan looked at the eighteen-year-old girl, he gently laughed, "In fact, I am also several dozen years old, and my heart is also the same as your highness."

"When I see injustice, my heart will be sad."

"When I see people displaced, my heart breaks."

"When I see soldiers fighting in the sands and not returning, I wonder when there will be peace and prosperity and when we can live in peace."

"Of course I am not a saint or a good person, I also want to live, and live well, and have peace and stability for my family before I think about this. Even I am much more cowardly than Your Highness, and I am much more concerned about gains and losses."

Pei Wenxuan said, and sighed, "Just like that case of the Su family back then, I also felt it was inappropriate, but I didn't dare to dissuade it like Your Highness did, for fear of losing His Majesty's heart. In the end, it was only because I saw that His Majesty had developed guilt and was afraid that something would really happen to Her Highness that I went to persuade His Majesty."

"I didn't dare to tell anyone about this, especially not Your Highness, for fear that Your Highness would laugh at me."

"What is there to laugh at?" Li Rong said, "It's good that you have a good heart."

"So," Pei Wenxuan turned to her and returned her words to her, "it's good that Your Highness has a good heart."

Li Rong froze, and only then did she realise that Pei Wenxuan had gone round and round in circles, but was actually advising her.