#and they seemed genuinely happy to see me and also seem upset declining plans but like if thats true what the FUCK is happening Tumblr posts

[angellesword]

YOUR EYES TELL | JJK (07)

Summary: You live in a world where people see in black and white. The solution to finally see the colors? It's simple. You need to meet your soulmate and look at him in the eyes, but what if the person bound to you is already contented with the monochromatic world? What if...Jeongguk, your soulmate, is already in love with someone else?

Alternatively:

"A future without you is a world without color."

Genre: soulmate au, e2l, slow burn, angst, fluff, roommate au

Pairing: Artist!Jungkook x Lawyer!Reader

Word Count: 3.4k

warnings: alcohol, kissing, handjob, bondage

SERIES: CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 8

"You need to drop Kim Seokjin's case!"

The loud scream of your soulmate echoed through the whole room.

The party was over.

Jeongguk was shaking in anger and you didn't understand why.

Two hours. He was quiet for two hours. He didn't speak to you, he didn't look at you—he just...simply didn't acknowledge your presence for straight two hours.

So why was he shouting now? Why was he asking you to drop your client's case the second he stepped inside your apartment?

You need to drop Kim Seokjin's case.

Jeongguk was repeating these words over and over again.

Or wasn't he?

You were drunk.

Too intoxicated to separate reality from your drunken world. Too intoxicated to know if he was repeating those words or if you just kept on playing it in your head.

You had all the reason to repeat it all in your head.

You had a reason to think why Jeongguk would continue to say it over and over again.

Jeongguk was acting strange at the party. You had never seen him so...lost.

He was just looking at one particular person like she was his way home—no. He was looking at her like she was his home.

He was looking at "Red!"

You called your assistant.

"There she is, Seokjin." You pointed at Red's direction as you looked at Seokjin who's standing beside you.

It appeared like Red didn't hear you. It's understandable. You were a few feet away from her. Your voice wasn't even loud when you tried calling her name. Besides, she was talking to a man.

You didn't notice that the man your assistant was talking to was Jeongguk. All you could see was his back, plus your attention was focused on Red.

She looked stunning. You couldn't see colors, but you knew her flowy dress was sparkling with glitters.

"Let's go?" Seokjin raised his brow at you.

You nodded and made your way to meet Red.

You hadn't had the chance to talk to her earlier because a lot of guests were trying to engage you in a conversation.

They were interested in you. Jay Park, a corporate lawyer, wanted so bad to recruit you. He even offered to triple your current salary. He said you just needed to work in his firm.

You politely declined his offer. You weren't in this party to look for another job. You were here to keep an eye on Seokjin.

This party was planned by you. The public needed to be convinced that Kim Seokjin was a good person.

He had to let the world know that he was a good father to Soobin.

"You need to bring Soobin to the party, Seokjin." This was what you told your client days before the party started. "Walk on the red carpet with him. Be gentle, always smile. Look at him as if he's your whole world."

Kim Seokjin nodded. It wasn't going to be hard. Actually, you didn't need to coach him to do this. Seokjin loved his son with all of his heart.

"Absolutely no drinking," your voice was full of authority when you added your second reminder.

The plan was to make it appear like he was sober.

Seokjin was. He had been sober for three years now.

"Seokjin..." You called. There was another reminder. This was the most crucial of all. You only told him this in the middle of the party.

He couldn't fuck this one up.

This involved Red.

This was why you and Seokjin were headed towards your assistant's direction.

"Red..." You called her name again; however, she still didn't answer.

It seemed like she had seen a ghost; her lips were shaking as she stared at the man in front of him.

You were just an arm length away from Red, so you decided to look at the face of the man who was making her feel afraid.

"Gukkie?" You squinted your eyes.

Jeongguk switched his gaze at you. He also looked like he had seen a ghost.

What was happening?

You opened your mouth to speak, but Seokjin beat you to it.

"Hi, sweetheart," greeted by your client as he carried Soobin in his arms.

"Appa!" The little boy embraced his father tightly, earning a laugh from Red.

"He ran away from me!" Red pouted her lips. It looked like she had finally snapped out of her daze.

"I just wanna play with you!" Soobin reasoned out.

Red simply laughed at the little boy's defense, caressing his cheeks. She could never get mad at Soobin.

Looking at the three of them made your heart melt. They looked like a family, which was the whole point of this party.

You gave Seokjin a thumbs up. He smiled at your approval, but his happiness instantly turned into discomfort when he felt a glare directed at him.

Jeongguk was grimacing at the birthday boy.

"Oh, right!" You turned to your soulmate, suddenly remembering that he was standing right beside you. You were too preoccupied with your role in this party that you completely forgot about him.

Well, the most important plan for tonight was to make Red and Seokjin look as if they were a happy couple.

Again, this wasn't going to be hard because: "Jeongguk, I want you to meet my client, Mr. Kim Seokjin." You paused for a second just to smile at your assistant. "And this is Red, Seokjin's soulmate."

Soulmate...

Red and Seokjin were soulmates.

They didn't need to pretend like they were in love since that's already the truth. Red could see colors vividly. Seokjin wasn't living a black and white world too.

It was final.

They were destined to be together.

It was funny because they met because of you. You had an important meeting with Seokjin with regard to his case, but for some reason you couldn't make it so you just sent Red to meet up with him on your behalf. This happened months ago, right now, the two of them were very much in love.

You knew Mrs. Kim was going to use the 'having an affair' issue against her husband, so the only solution you could think about was to gain the sympathy of the public and the jury.

This wasn't a case of infidelity. This was destiny.

The laws in the place you lived in weren't fair and it's because of the existence of soulmate. Everyone's fate was already written by the stars. Humans couldn't and shouldn't contravene the nature of the world.

Divorcing your spouse because you found you soulmate wasn't punishable by law. It was a valid reason; however, the case of the Kim couple was different since they had a child together.

It's complicated. Divorce trials didn't usually involve juries, but since the matter that should be settled in this case was child custody and separation of assets, the rules were different.

Seokjin still needed to be careful. If he didn't meet Red during the process of his divorce, he wouldn't have a 'valid' reason to breakup with Mrs. Kim. If, for example, he had an affair with someone who wasn't his soulmate, then of course, it was going to be ruled as infidelity.

As Seokjin's lawyer, you had to help him distort the truth. Since he didn't want to use ‘physical abuse’ as his reason to divorce his wife, you suggested that he used Red instead.

Seokjin simply had to lie. He should tell everyone that he wanted to be with his real soulmate. Red, on the other hand, had to make it look like he was capable of being a good step mother to Soobin. This was one of the factors the jury would consider when granting joint custody.

"And this is Jeon Jeongguk," you continued introducing the three of them with one another. "He's my soulmate!"

Your heart was pounding hard because of excitement. It was a pleasure introducing Jeongguk to people you cared about, but it seemed as though Red felt the opposite of what you were experiencing.

You couldn't see it, but her face totally turned pale when you mentioned that Jeongguk was your soulmate.

She couldn't believe it.

Why didn't you tell her? How long had it been since you met Jeongguk? Could you see colors? Could her ex-boyfriend see colors?

There were so many questions circling in her head.

She refused to voice them out.

"Excuse me. I need to go to the powder room..." Instead, she excused herself. She couldn't deal with any of this now.

Your smile faded when Red hastily walked away.

You were confused. You didn't want to assume, but it looked like Red wasn't too happy with the news you just shared.

Didn't she always say that she couldn't wait to meet your soulmate? You waited three months to tell this to Red since you wanted to see how she would react upon seeing your soulmate.

Your disappointment was abruptly replaced by worry when you realized that perhaps something's wrong with your assistant.

Was she having an upset stomach?

You turned to Seokjin to voice out your concern. Maybe you should follow Red. The thing was, before you could say anything, Jeongguk was already running away.

"Washroom." Your soulmate said, more like to himself. He didn't look at you. He just straight up ran after Red.

You were left alone with the host of the party.

"I'm glad you found your soulmate." Seokjin genuinely grinned.

You couldn't return the smile.

There was a weird feeling in your stomach. Your chest felt heavy and you didn't know why.

"Thanks, Seokjin." You replied even though you didn't mean it.

What was the use of meeting your soulmate if he wouldn't even talk to you?

You were aware that you could get very insistent. This was one of the many things Jeongguk hated about you.

You couldn't seem to stop—not even when he was uncomfortable.

"Jeongguk-ah!" You giggled as you emptied your nth glass of champagne. You honestly had no idea how much you had drunk.

"Where did you go? You suddenly left me alone!" You complained, lips protruding into a pout.

Jeongguk kept his lips tightly shut. He wouldn't look at you straight in the eyes, but you knew he was using his peripheral vision to see what you were up to.

Jeongguk was quick to wrap his arms around your waist when you're about to fall. No doubt, you were really intoxicated.

'Enough.' He said to himself, snatching the glass away from you. You had enough.

Apparently, you didn't share the same sentiment. You wanted more.

You wanted more alcohol as much as you wanted to know the truth from Jeongguk.

You kept on asking him where he went even though you knew he went to the bathroom to follow Red.

You knew because shortly after he left you with Seokjin, you also excused yourself from the latter so that you could follow Jeongguk.

You just couldn't ignore the annoying feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Unfortunately, you weren't able to follow your soulmate right away. The guests just wouldn't let you go.

You were a professional woman so you couldn't straightaway end the conversation.

"Thanks, Mrs. Choi!" You smiled at the businesswoman before finally making your way to the bathroom.

No one could stop you now. You just had to avoid eye contact with anyone.

You succeeded. None of the guests were able to pull you into their circle again, but then your little trip to the bathroom was stopped again.

This time, it was because of Jeongguk.

It turned out that you didn't need to go to the powder room anymore. You could already see your soulmate from where you were standing.

He was at the veranda of the hotel room.

He wasn't alone.

He was with Red.

You couldn't hear what they were talking about. You also couldn't risk getting closer to them. Eavesdropping was plain rude, but damn. You were dying of curiosity.

What were they talking about? Why did Jeongguk look so mad? Why was Red crying?

There was no answer to your questions.

Jeongguk wouldn't tell you anything. He didn't even mention that he met up with Red when he went back to your table.

This frustrated you so much that you ended up drinking. Pain. You had to get rid of the pain engulfing your heart.

Sadly, you couldn't—at least not when Jeongguk was being an ass once again.

"You need to drop Kim Seokjin's case!"

His words were loud inside your head again. Jeongguk wasn't repeating these words anymore, but his chest was still heaving up and down.

He was irritated, hurt, and helpless.

"And why should I drop his case?" Your voice was devoid of any emotion.

Jeongguk suddenly flinched. He was lashing out at you for straight ten minutes now. You never said anything. You were simply watching him complain about how he hated the fact that you were representing Seokjin in court and that he wanted you to drop it.

"Because!" He groaned, eyes widening when you took a step closer to him.

He wasn't expecting you to do anything. You reminded him of himself. Every time Red got mad at him, he would simply watch too. You were like that—you were always so willing to listen, always apologizing, always letting him off the hook.

What changed now? W-Why do you keep advancing towards him?

Jeongguk's back hit the wall.

"Because what?" You were cornering him.

Jeongguk could smell the mixture of your sweet scent and alcohol. You were too close, making his head spin.

You were the one drunk here, not him. But why couldn't he focus? All he could see was your tantalizing eyes.

Why were you so good with colors in spite of not being able to see it? Your eye makeup was painted to perfection—this was the only reason he could think as to why he couldn't seem to stop looking at you.

Yes. That's the reason. Nothing more, nothing less. He admired your talent. It's the artist in him that found you beautiful.

Of course Jeongguk found you beautiful. He wanted to tell you that when he first saw you wearing that sage dress, but as usual, he bit back the flattering remarks threatening to fall out of his mouth.

You ruined the chance even before he could speak it. Jeongguk was too flustered with the way you complimented him a while ago.

But he was given another chance. Jeongguk was certain that this was the only time he could relish your beauty. You were standing inches away from him, everything about you felt so raw.

"Because he's not a good person and you're following him like a puppy! You're his bitch!" But Jeongguk was stubborn.

He would never tell you how he felt. You still annoyed him. He wasn't dumb. He figured out your plan. He knew you were trying to paint a perfect Kim Seokjin. You wanted that little boy to fall into the hands of his drunken father.

Or so he thought.

Jeongguk knew nothing.

"You love to run that dirty mouth, don't you?" You smirked at him.

You had enough of his bullshit.

Jeongguk flinched again. You moved closer to him—totally invading his personal space.

He could feel your hot breath on the crook of his neck.

You slightly tilt your head upward, trailing feathery kisses on his jawline.

Jeongguk gasped when he felt your soft lips on his mouth. He didn't know what went over him, but he just found himself closing his eyes and responding to your kisses.

It felt good. You felt good. Jeongguk put his hand on the small of your back, pulling you closer to him.

Wrong move.

He let out a whiny groan when you pulled away from the kiss. Jeongguk tried to catch your lips, but you were already inching away from him.

"I don't recall telling you that you can touch me."

Jeongguk abruptly opened his eyes. He was caught up in the moment, cheeks turning red when he realized what just happened.

He kissed you! Well, you kissed him, but it didn't matter. All he could think about was the fact that he responded and he seemed to really, really enjoy it.

This was wrong. So wrong. You were drunk. He shouldn't take advantage of you.

It was easier said than done.

You were unstoppable. Jeongguk hadn't recovered from the kiss and you were already yanking his tie off, causing the first two button of his dress shirt to come off.

"Hands behind your back." You demanded, eyes turning dark.

Jeongguk avoided your gaze.

No. Never.

He would never do what you wanted.

"You sure you wanna play this game with me?" There's a hint of playfulness in your tone as you caressed the silk tie in your hands.

Jeongguk knew you weren't gonna tolerate his bratty ass anymore, so he reluctantly put his hand behind his back.

This earned a chuckle from you.

He made the right choice. Jeongguk was pleased when you showered him with sloppy kisses. He was caught up in the moment again that he didn't even notice when you reached out for his hands to wrap the tie around it.

Jeongguk's movement was restricted. He glared at you upon realizing what you had done.

"Hm?" You teased, cupping his bulge.

Jeongguk bit the inside of his cheek. It was a brief contact. He didn't understand why he was so affected.

He wanted you to do it again.

"You like it, Gukkie?" You asked innocently. Jeongguk wanted nothing but to wipe the smirk off your face.

You were so fucking annoying.

"Got something to say?" You were laughing because it was obvious that he was striving so hard to stop himself from moaning your name.

Maybe if he focused his attention on something else, he wouldn't go this crazy over your simple touch.

Right.

Jeongguk's eyes wandered around the living room. Tiles. Your marbled tiles looked so expensive. Walls. The walls were painted white. Tits. Your tits looked like a dream. Jeongguk wanted his hot mouth on your nipple—wait.

Jeongguk froze when he realized what was happening.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" You tittered, squeezing your tits together.

You were an evil person and Jeongguk couldn't take it anymore.

He moaned.

You chuckled again, clearly enjoying his desperation.

Jeongguk just didn't care anymore.

He moaned louder.

"Please," Jeongguk mewled. His big, round eyes were begging you to touch him.

"Please what? You gotta tell me what you want, Gukkie." You cooed, patting the wet patch forming in his pants.

Jeongguk whimpered. You barely touched him, yet he's already quivering against you.

"Just please," he gritted his teeth. You were playing dumb. How could you not know what he wanted?

"I'm waiting, baby..." You whispered, your fingers were gently massaging his dick over his pants.

Jeongguk's forehead hit your shoulders.

"Touch me. W-Wanna cum..."

"Attaboy..." You purred, kissing his wet lips and undoing his pants. You pulled down his underwear, freeing his fat cock.

You were drunk on alcohol, he was drunk on pleasure.

"Ah, Noona..." Jeongguk cried, he was enjoying your touch.

The torture continued. Your pace was slow, taking your sweet, sweet time spreading his precum on the tip of his cock.

"Wanna cum, gonna cum." Jeongguk was going crazy while you were squeezing your hand around the head of his cock.

You knew he was subtly asking your permission. It made you soft.

The game was over. You quickened your pace.

"Don't be shy. You are perfect. So, so pretty when you cum."

Jeongguk shuddered. Eyes sparkling because of your compliment. So he had a praise kink, huh?

"Cum for me, baby."

That was what he was waiting for. Jeongguk came fast and hard.

You couldn't help the smirk forming on your lips as you watched his cum in your fingers.

Jeongguk looked pretty. He was still drunk on pleasure. Your heart swelled in pride. You did this. You ruined him—just by using your hands.

"Red isn't your soulmate, Jeongguk." You suddenly said.

It's like Jeongguk was pulled back to reality. His head snapped, looking at you straight in the eyes.

The smile on your face was gone.

"It's me." Even your voice was impassive.

"And you have no other choice but to accept that..." This was the last thing you said to him before walking straight out of the door.

Jeongguk swallowed hard. The best thing to do was to follow you. This was something you two should talk about, but Jeongguk, being the brat that he was, just stood there.

He didn't know what to do—what to think.

Only one thing was clear.

You knew.

[hollandbaby]

Girl I’m begging you to write the “your daughter calls me daddy too” concept 😭😩

okay fine i guess i will write it (i love this concept) ((no smut but there’s sexual undertones/allusions to sex))

‘you have to be on your best behaviour, tommy,’ you’re adjusting his shirt collar, your family’s opinion meant the world to you and if they knew your current long term boyfriend was a mob boss, you don’t think they’d be too pleased. they didn’t need to know his career, just who tom was, and to you he’s a sweet, loving soul who treats you right. you hope that if your parents see that side of him, they won’t bother asking about his job.

‘when am i not, love?’ tom smirks, gripping your hands and weaving his fingers with yours. he presses a soft kiss to your lips, gloss transferring onto his own. you smile, wiping his lips to get rid of the residue.

‘oh, i don’t know, most of the time?’ you remark. tom rolls his eyes at you, but smiles nonetheless. you’ve explained how important meeting the family is, so tom will genuinely be on his best behaviour.

but, boy, does your dad make that hard. your dad has always been very picky about who you date, always interrogating past partners, making sure they’re good enough for his little princess, and of course none of them have been. you hoped he’d also be on his best behaviour, the evening had started off so well. you arrived with a bottle of wine, your mum welcoming you and tom in with open arms, squealing in delight at tom’s (expensive) taste in wine, as it was her favourite, and your dad greeted you in the hallway, shaking tom’s hand and complimenting his firm grip. but when you sit down to eat, all the questions start pouring out.

it starts with the basic; ‘so, tom, what are your intentions with my daughter?’

‘well, sir, i don’t have any intentions other than to make her happy.’ you send him a soft smile, your hand reaching for his thigh under the table running up and down his knee in a soothing way.

‘well, i’ve heard that before. what makes you different?’ your dad quizzes. your mum shoots him a look, as you throw an identical one his way, both of you pleading him to ease up on the poor man.

‘i assure you, sir, your daughter is my top priority.’ tom has a tight lipped smile on his lips, his hand meeting yours under the table and intertwining your fingers. he squeezes gently, a sign that he’s trying to keep his temper in check.

‘daddy, can you pass the salt please?’ you ask. your father reaches for the salt, passing it to you and you feel tom squeeze your hand again. you look up at him, and he has a small smirk on his lips as he looks down at his plate. you bite your lip, knowing exactly what he’s insinuating.

after dinner you help your mum clear up, tom also offering his services. your mum waves him off, telling him not to worry but he pops in and out of the dining room, bringing dirty dishes and glasses with him. you smile at him, pecking a kiss to his lips before scraping the plates and starting to wash them. your mum grabs a tea towel, drying as you wash, the two of you falling into conversation and catching up on the few weeks you’d not seen each other.

‘tom seems lovely, honey,’ she speaks, smiling at you with a warmth in her eyes.

you can’t help the smile tugging at your lips as you speak, ‘yeah, he’s pretty great.’

‘although, your dad still sees you as his little girl, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he was in there tormenting the poor man.’ she says again, rolling her eyes as she moves to put the plates away. you breathe out a sigh, drying off your hands before grabbing your glass of wine and making your way into the living room. you sit next to tom on the one sofa, your mum joining your dad on the other as you get lost in conversation.

‘so, tom, what are your plans for the future?’ your dad quirks. you feel tom tense up beside you, his grip on his wine glass tightening. your hand makes it’s way to his knee, keeping him grounded.

‘actually, dad, tom runs an empire,’ you speak up, keeping the information vague and to the point.

‘oh. and what is this empire for? is it stable? will you be able to provide?’

‘dad!’ you snap, angry at his pressing questions, ‘tom is an adult, a successful one at that. stop treating me like i’m a child! and we talked about this, you’re assuming that because I’m a woman i can’t provide for myself!’

‘y/n, sweetie, that’s not what i-’ your dad pipes up, but tom interrupts.

‘sir, i assure you my job role is quite important. i make enough money a year to be stable, i have my own house that i am paying a mortgage for, and i can promise nothing means more to me than your daughter.’

you sigh, annoyed. your mum gets up to pour you both another glass from the bottle, tom smiling and politely declining a refill. he assumes you’d want to be going home instead of staying after that outburst. your mum, the angel she is, tries to diffuse the tension but it’s apparent for the rest of the night. your father seems to ease into tom, and starts to approve of him the more the evening goes on. however, you’re too stubborn (thanks to your dad) to let up how your dad has been treating the two of you, and your mini argument may have gone unspoken of, but you’re still mad at him.

‘i think we should be heading off, babe.’ you speak to tom, glass empty and just wanting to head home and curl into bed with him.

‘oh, so soon?’ your mum interjects, frown gracing her lips.

‘yeah, sorry mum! we’ll be back soon, promise,’ you stand, pulling your dress down as tom stands beside you. your parents follow the two of you out, tom grabbing your coat and draping it over you shoulders before picking up his own jacket.

‘I’m sorry for upsetting you and for all the pressing questions. i just want my girl to be taken care of.’ your dad says, shaking tom’s hand, his other clasped on tom’s shoulder. you roll your eyes, proceeding to give your mum a hug.

‘it’s alright. it was lovely meeting you, sir.’ he leans in, whispering ‘oh, and your daughter calls me daddy too.’ and with that, tom releases his grip on the handshake. luckily your mum doesn’t hear anything, giving tom another hug goodbye. your eyes are wide as you hurry out the door, tom following suit as you run to the car. you don’t look behind you, scared of the reaction your father might have. you jump into the passenger seat, turning to tom just as he slides in.

‘what?’ he smirks.

‘you are in so much trouble, thomas.’

‘we’ll see about that, princess.’

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Seungkwan: Void (Part Five)

Characters: Seungkwan x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, banshee au, fantasy, a little fluff but mostly angst, dead bodies

Word count: 3,014

Summary: Seungkwan can’t resist the urge to go searching for the banshee any longer, but his trip into the woods has him coming face-to-face with a strange girl who doesn’t seem to remember anything about where she came from or how she got where she is. The only things she knows are the things the voices she hears tell her. And that strange girl is you, his mate.

Previous | Next | Void Masterlist

As a werewolf, few things scared Seungkwan. Well, quite a few things did, but they were all revolved around werewolf hunters or something bad happening to the pack. He didn’t have a family to worry about since they immediately disowned him when they found out he was a werewolf. 

But Seungkwan had gained a new habit of sleeping lightly when he slept beside you at night because having you wander outside in the middle of the night alone scared him. He knew it was part of who you were and it was something you couldn’t control, but it was something he wanted to try to keep from happening. He was nervous something bad might happen to you, so whenever he felt you getting out of bed, he sat up and grabbed your wrist to keep you from leaving. 

Luckily, every time so far, you’d just been getting up on your own free will.

“I just want some water,” you’d tell him gently, not understanding the reason he was trying to keep you in bed. You thought maybe he was just a little clingy, but you liked that. You’d never had someone care for you like that -- at least that you could remember.

Truthfully, it wasn’t just you leaving in the middle of the night to wander about the woods that scared Seungkwan. He was also scared to see what you’d be like when you were in that state. Would he even be able to stop you? If not, he’d certainly go with you no matter what. He’d follow you to the ends of the earth.

But Seungkwan’s awful sleeping habits did wear him down, and the poor werewolf was exhausted some days. You were a restless sleeper on your own, always wanting to get up to get water or walk around the house a little because you couldn’t sleep and the voices were getting to you. He understood that hearing voices no one else could probably got to be a lot, especially when one was trying to sleep. But it meant he woke up multiple times a night and typically even stayed up with you just to make sure nothing happened while you were walking around the house listening to the whispers and communicating with them -- nighttime when the house was silent was the best time to hear them, anyway.

One morning, Seungkwan descended the stairs while you still slept upstairs. Unfortunately, the sunlight that streamed in through his window had become too much for him. He used to be able to sleep through it, but now that he had become a lighter sleeper, it was hard for him to sleep through. He was envious that you had no problem doing so.

“You look like shit,” Hansol stated, noting Seungkwan’s dark circles under his eyes as the older wolf dragged his feet into the kitchen.

“You really need to get more sleep,” Seokmin told him.

Seungkwan grimaced up at him as he took a seat at the table, “And when do you think I should do that? While doing chores during the day or at night when I have to follow _____ around to make sure she’s safe?”

“No need to be snappy...” he mumbled, quickly exiting the kitchen to get away from his brother’s negative energy.

“Why not have someone else watch her for a night?” Chan suggested with a shrug.

“Because I know for sure she’s safe with me,” Seungkwan said as he dropped his head down on the table and let his eyes close. “It’s not that I don’t trust any of you, but... Yeah, I don’t trust any of you.”

“What? Why?” Mingyu frowned, having gotten up early thanks to his daughter that he was holding with one arm.

“For starters, you almost got Wonwoo’s mate killed by the townspeople,” he reminded him without even lifting his head.

“That was one time!” the tall wolf huffed, his raise in tone making Jiwoo suddenly look at him instead of giggling at Hansol who was making faces at her. “And she’s fine!”

“What if...” Joshua began slowly after sipping silently from his cup in the corner of the kitchen, “you get Soonyoung to watch her for the night.”

Seungkwan lifted his head suddenly, giving the older boy a quizzical look, “Why?”

Joshua shrugged, “Because he’s out all night fucking people anyway. If he’s gonna be awake, may as well be awake and actually home so we’re not worrying about him all the time. And who else is gonna stay up all night?”

“Do you not hear yourself? He’s out getting laid all night! Why would I want him around her?”

“You can’t tell me you genuinely think Soonyoung would try to do that to your mate,” Chan chuckled. 

After a moment of silence, Seungkwan conceded and put his head back down with a groan, “Fine, I’ll ask him.”

“You deserve a night of rest, Kwannie,” Hansol reassured him with a smile that Seungkwan didn’t even see. “Things will be fine.”

-

The first thing Seungkwan thought would be best to do was make sure you were comfortable hanging out with the alpha for the night. You’d have to either sleep in Soonyoung’s room or sleep on the couch, and Seungkwan wanted to put your comfort above all else -- even before asking Soonyoung if he’d even do the favor.

When Seungkwan proposed the question of spending the night with the alpha, you frowned and cocked your head to one side, “Why am I spending the night with Soonyoung?”

“You don’t have to!” Seungkwan quickly reminded you. “I just-- Ah, how do I put this... _____, I... I’m worried about you wandering into the forest at night alone, so I do my best to protect you. So I don’t sleep very well at night so I can know if anything happens to you.”

The way your eyebrows slightly pulled together didn’t go unnoticed by Seungkwan. You didn’t like that you were the reason he wasn’t getting sleep, and especially that his lack of sleep was becoming such an issue that now you had to go sleep elsewhere just so he could get a good night’s rest. You felt like a burden, but of course you wouldn’t voice that.

“No, it’s nothing bad!” he reassured you, gathering your hands in his warm, calloused ones. “I swear, I’m fine. It’s nothing that’s your fault.”

“Okay...” you said softly.

“But if you’re not comfortable with it, you can sleep in my room just like always. I really won’t mind.”

You weren’t going to do that to him. You knew it was your fault he was staying up and you knew it was a bigger deal than he wanted you to believe. Besides, you didn’t necessarily feel uncomfortable spending the night around Soonyoung. You just weren’t as used to him as you were Seungkwan. But still, out of the three alphas, Soonyoung seemed the friendliest -- not that the other two weren’t but Seungcheol seemed too busy to really speak to, and Jihoon seemed to only have a soft spot for Yeji. Other than his mate, he seemed...a little cold, but maybe he was just awkward.

“I don’t mind,” you replied. “I’ll stay with Soonyoung.”

Seungkwan smiled warmly, but there was a hint of relief you could see. He was glad to finally sleep deeply tonight. You were happy for him as well, but you still felt something upsetting about it. He shouldn’t have to worry about sleeping well at night because of you.

“I’ll go speak with him,” he told you, kissing one of your hands before he got up to leave the room.

You had felt like a problem to some members of the pack because of how off-put they seemed by you, but now you felt like a problem to Seungkwan as well.

-

Sitting on the other couch in the living room, Soonyoung kept glancing over at you as you silently read a book, your legs stretched out on the empty couch. He wasn’t necessarily sure what to do to babysit you, and as the two of you sat in silence, he wasn’t sure why he let himself get roped into the situation anyway. You weren’t his mate, and sitting here was wasting time of his own. He wanted to be out in town, not sitting in a weird silence with a girl who may or may not make his ears bleed at any moment.

While some members of the pack -- like Mingyu and Danbi, Jeonghan, Jihoon, and a few others -- were wary of you and secretly thought you would bring bad things to the pack, Soonyoung wasn’t like that. He didn’t really think much of you being a banshee either way because he wasn’t 100% sure what that entailed, but he thought you were fine as a person. He went out of his way to talk to you and it was something you appreciated, but he had never been alone with you and he wasn’t completely comfortable with it. You were always with Seungkwan. Now it was just him in charge of you.

What was he supposed to do all night?

‘He’s watching you,’ you heard, a louder whisper than normal since the house was silent.

‘Is he afraid?’

‘No, just...unsure what to do.’

Once again, Soonyoung glanced over at you, only to jump slightly when he saw you already looking back at him. He cleared his throat, sitting forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees.

“Aren’t you tired?” he decided to ask.

You shrugged, “A little, but not enough to sleep. Do you want me to sleep?”

“No, no,” he quickly said, not wanting to come off as rude, “I just didn’t want... I-I don’t know. Are you hungry or anything?”

You didn’t want to bother him, so you planned on just politely declining.

‘It’s impossible to bother Soonyoung.’

‘I don’t think he wants to babysit me.’

‘He wants something to do.’

After a moment of silence that Soonyoung found a little odd but said nothing about, you timidly said, “Tea would be nice, thank you.”

He flashed you a bright smile before springing to his feet, “Got it. Minghao and Jia brought back some really nice stuff from China.”

As Soonyoung went to the kitchen to make your tea, you went back to pretending to read. The voice you heard most often since coming to the pack house had been extra active that night, and it was the reason you were being kept up. But you wouldn’t tell that to Soonyoung, he’d think it was weird.

Thankfully, the two of you weren’t the only ones awake so late at night. Joshua and Jeonghan had gone out simply just to rub it in Soonyoung’s face that he couldn’t. Joshua wasn’t one to like to go into town for fun too often considering everything that had happened with his previous mate, but he was nothing if not petty. So when Jeonghan brought up the offer, he couldn’t help but accept, smirking and throwing a, “have fun,” over his shoulder as he left Soonyoung with you in the living room.

The rest of the house, however, seemed silent. Others might’ve been awake in their rooms, but if they were talking, you didn’t hear it. You knew Soonyoung would be able to hear conversations, but if he did, he didn’t say anything about them. He did note at one point that Seungkwan’s snore was loud, though, so you knew he was at least fast asleep.

That made you happy.

Soonyoung returned with your drink after a few moment of trying to focus on your book. Other than the main voice you heard, there were softer whispers you could hear around -- none of them angry or hostile, though. They all seemed to look out for the pack in one way or another.

“So,” the alpha began as he sat back down on the other couch, “what’s the deal with you and Kwannie?”

You had gone back to your book after softly thanking the man for your tea, but you looked back up at his question, staring doe-eyed at him. Your innocent look made him want to chuckle because he knew the answer that was coming.

“What do you mean?” you wondered.

“You just spend so much time together,” he continued.

You shrugged, “He makes me feel safe. I think I know him the best out of everyone else so I just... I-I feel the most...c-comfortable around him.”

Soonyoung nodded slowly, deciding to not say anything else on that matter. If Seungkwan hadn’t said anything about being mates yet, it wasn’t Soonyoung’s place. However, it frustrated him to no end that the younger wolf didn’t say anything to you. How could someone know who their mate was and just keep their mouth shut? Soonyoung desperately wanted to find his, but he was still alone for however many years now.

Not too long after your short conversation, Jeonghan and Joshua returned home, stopping by the den to say their quick hellos and goodnights.

“Still up, huh?” Josh asked.

You nodded as one of the voices in your head seemed to buzz excitedly..

But shortly after the two males went to bed, you fell asleep on the couch with the book open on your chest. Soonyoung chuckled when he noticed and got up to cover you with a blanket before settling back onto his own sofa. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do to pass the time since he wasn’t sleepy just yet, but he was sure he’d figure something out eventually.

He had all night, after all.

-

“Soonyoung!”

The alpha jolted, eyes flying open as he sat up straight and looked around. His eyes saw Yeji, who seemed to have not slept yet, though she was in her pajamas. Her black ears on the top of her head twitched nervously as he green eyes narrowed at him, her tail swishing in annoyance behind her.

He only stared back at her, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He hadn’t recalled falling asleep but he knew he did now that he was awake.

“What?” he asked dumbly.

Yeji only looked in the direction of where you slept.

Or rather, were sleeping.

The couch was empty now with your blanket being tossed haphazardly aside from when you got up. You had silently left the living room before leaving the house, and Soonyoung could hear the wind blowing from the open front door. Jihoon and Yeji were the ones to suddenly zero in on the odd sound before they went down to investigate. Jihoon had gone back upstairs to wake up Seungkwan.

“Fuck...” the wolf groaned under his breath as he laid his head back and pressed a hand over his eyes.

-

Coming to was always a weird experience for you. It was like you’d always been awake but was never aware of it -- that was the best way you could describe it. You were looking down at a body that was no longer moving or breathing but you had no idea how long the person had been dead. You were only just now registering it was there, but it was like you had always been staring at it.

You didn’t remember how you got into the forest, but that’s where you were. Twigs and leaves were under your feet, your skin felt cold, but none of that bothered you either. It never did. 

-

The screaming made it easier to find you, but Seungkwan would be able to tell exactly where you were because of the pull. Jihoon didn’t necessarily have to wake up the tired wolf, but not only did he figure Seungkwan would want to know if something happened to you, but he knew Soonyoung deserved to get in trouble for not doing as he promised. He was supposed to protect you and make sure you didn’t leave the house, but that was exactly what he let happen.

Jihoon, of course, offered to go along with him. Soonyoung said he’d go with him, but Seungkwan told him to go fuck himself before taking off. Seungcheol went along and left Soonyoung in charge of the house and the pack, while both Wonwoo and Mingyu went as well -- Wonwoo offered since he knew a little bit about banshees, while Mingyu only tagged along because he wanted to see for himself what happened considering he was definitely wary of you.

And once the small group saw you standing over a dead body, he felt he was justified in his wariness.

“_____!” Seungkwan called out, pushing himself to run faster. He knew he would’ve been even faster in his wolf form, but he also knew it was probably better to find you as a human and bring you home.

Your head whipped around, looking wide-eyed at the group like you’d been caught red-handed -- and in a way, you felt you had. You knew being found by a body wasn’t good. You knew some of the pack was nervous of you. Not only that, but you weren’t completely sure of yourself, either. What if you did bring bad things like death to them?

Mingyu stopped farther away from you, looking at you with fear and almost anger. His eyes flickered between you and the body for a few times before he narrowed his eyes at you and then turned and ran back the way he came.

Wonwoo noticed and paused, turning to see his brother running away. He called after him but it was useless. He looked back to see a concerened Seungcheol, knowing exactly what he was going back to do. He was going to tell the pack exactly what he saw, and it wasn’t going to help your case -- not that the scene itself helped much. Neither alpha knew what to say, Seungkwan being the only one who seemed to be able to ignore the corpse at your feet so he could make sure you were okay.

Things were definitely looking very bad for you.

[activelytaemin]

growing pains [lee taemin]

◇ lee taemin x fem! reader

angst-ish? | college!au | non-idol!au

warnings: mature language, unedited

2.0k April 8th, 2021

everything written in this story is completely FICTION. i personally do not believe that this story aligns with any of the idol’s real lives. ultimately, this story is not meant to intentionally defame any idol in any way.   

chapter one [congratulations, but not really]

Dear {Y/N},

Congratulations! I am pleased to offer you admission to the University of California, Riverside for fall 2021.

the golden word congratulations lit up y/n’s eyes as she screamed falling into her brother’s arms.  tears emerged from her eyes realizing that she would finally leave the colorful city of busan for the sunny shores of california; this was a cultural reset that guaranteed her an infinite amount of memories to come.  

“i did it! jimin, i studied so hard”, she sobbed, grasping onto his slim frame.  “it feels worth it like—“, she paused to wipe her tears with her sleeves, “all my late nights, immense sacrifices, and good grades have made this worth it.”  

jimin rolled his eyes playfully and lightly pushing her off of him. “yeah, of course you made it in”, he scoffed jokingly, “we’re a family geniuses. you weren’t raised to be a dumbass.” he ruffled her hair before y/n grabbed his wrist.  

“i guess that’s why both of my brothers are stuck here—“, y/n held his hand lovingly before sarcastically stabbing his back, “especially the one named park jimin, he didn’t get accepted into any ivy’s or safety’s. now he’s stuck going to an online university.” she released his hand before smiling to truly appreciate him, “but all jokes aside, i couldn’t have done this without you.”

her mind wandered to the thought of sunny california. the excitement built up in her like air filling a balloon. there were nerves trapped within because this sense of curiosity and control was foreign.

would there be snow? 

what types of people would there be? 

how perfect does my english have to sound?

there were several wonders because south korea was engrained to her memory.  for the past eighteen years, korea was her home. there would be no more hanboks on seoullal, honorifics for friends, and (most importantly) her beloved family.  without her family, she wanted to venture on the outside on her own. yet, there would always be a yearn for the feeling of home. the universe finally served her freedom on a platter. she could finally leave the nest to fly.

was she ready for it?

“y/n, don’t forget that you won’t be alone. taemin goes to riverside too”, jimin’s loud mouth interrupted y/n’s thoughts.  soon enough, all her freedom had crashed and burned. she was caged once again. 

her imagination was left to torment her. when she heard his name, a roaring fire lit up within her because of her discomfort; the fire will never go out.

scars can heal, but y/n’s are deep as ever.  like an evergreen, scars can everlasting.

“taemin—i thought he was in new york?”, she questioned with a sense of worry. “i haven’t seen him since he graduated, and i don’t really like him at all. are you guys still friends? ”, an awkward laugh slipped out. she was quite uncomfortable at the mention of taemin, and her confession proved it all.

there was something about taemin that irked her soul. whether it was the memory of his being or thought of him physically, taemin would forever be an uncomfortable and undesirable person to talk about.

she remembers the day taemin walked in and out of her life.  

it seemed so sudden.

he never wanted to cause pain, but he left her with the sharpness of his trauma.  whatever was rooted in his cruel being had isolated her from her well being.

it was one thing for taemin to make y/n happy in secrecy. however, y/n had to suffer in secrecy once taemin had walked out because nobody knew the depth of her adoration for him.

jimin groaned before taking a deep breath to keep his composure. “one, taemin has been my best friend since 2015. two, he had to transfer because he had a change of mind—”, he let out a brief laugh, “well, that’s what he says—and three, it’s him or mom watching you.” 

he was taken aback by her dislike for his friend.  in his mind, he believed that y/n would be quite fond of a familiar face.  however, he let it go believing it was just another “girl problem.”

little did he know, taemin was a disaster that filled y/n’’s life with hundreds problems. 

jay-z once said, “i got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one.” for y/n, taemin was the 99 problems and she was “the bitch.”

the seriousness in jimin’s tone was irritating to y/n, almost strangle-worthy. he doesn’t understand her dislike for him. in fact, he has a “bromance” with taemin.

to others, taemin is a cool and collected young man that seemed shy to the world while being confident to his friends.  jimin often saw his confident side, and that allowed jimin’s mind to feel as if taemin was heavenly.

to jimin, taemin had an aura about him that he couldn’t explain.  it drew him in. 

maybe it was because he was simply older than jimin.  or, he could’ve just been build with extra charm.

as much as y/n didn’t like jimin’s praise for taemin, she didn’t want her mom babysitting her because she is simply too grown to have her around. sometimes mother’s can be suffocating; they can control many aspects of your life.  it was a valid fear for y/n to have, and she was scared that jimin was going to follow in those footsteps.

jimin didn’t know any history between taemin and y/n.  he doesn't know she constructs taemin to be evil because he took advantage of her innocence. sadly in her heart, she believes the thought of him is bad for her health because he hurt her.

taemin is a monster. an emotionless, compassionless man who does not know how to love.

but, everyone is naive because they don’t understand his evil like y/n does.  

taemin does put up a front to the world, while y/n gets to see all of him at her own risk.

“i love mom, but you’re right”, she laughed in agreement. for jimin’s sake, y/n lied to him and herself, “i’ll take taemin any day.”

“yeah, but don’t forget to wear a mask. nobody wants covid in the states. you don’t have insurance”, jimin scoffed before y/n hit his back playfully.

jimin yelped in pain, “literally what the fuck? you’re a demon.”

 september 20th, 2021

the plane to california was unbearably long and did not comfort her senses.  although she did not mind wearing a mask, the uncertainty of her health on that flight kept her up the full thirteen hours. everyone was spaced out, but the enclosed space made her claustrophobic. normally, her senses are grounded. however, the pandemic blows everyone out of proportion and brings out a little bit of paranoia as well.

y/n was wearing a pink surgical mask to contrast with her plain wardrobe. before she left for california, she chose a long black coat, oversized uc riverside hoodie, and black jeans with her basic converse. she was trying to blend in with every other college freshman on move-in day.

a memory flew into her mind. while on the plane, the remembrance of what home felt like tugged at her.  the pain of missing someone never settled inside of her; the feeling was foreign because the past experiences weren’t genuine. or maybe, she is uncomfortable with missing someone or something because of insecurity within.

before y/n left, her mom hugged her tightly before sending her off with tears; love can be unconditional when it comes to your family.  on the other hand, y/n heard jimin laugh at his mom while giving a wave goodbye; hiding your worries with comedy makes you more worried at times. jimin was obviously good at hiding himself, but he made himself overly awkward this time.

when she knew she was saying goodbye, y/n didn’t feel anything because leaving was thought out to be normal. her mind didn't think her immigration would be sad. it was surprising to see her mother sad, but also the uncomfortable atmosphere jimin brought.

a ding from the intercom sounded off, “we will be beginning our decline to los angeles.  the fastened seat belt sign is now on for your personal safety. please remain seated during this time”, the voice was followed by another ding via the intercom.

as the plane began its descent, y/n gripped one of her armrests while closing her eyes. sadly, the feeling of traveling alone was brand new, not in a bad way. perhaps, the butterflies her stomach arose because she was going to be around a familiar face that makes her uncomfortable.

y/n wishes to hide away the memories of the two of them as if their world's never collided. in her mind, lee taemin was just another problematic teenage memory to get rid of

in summer 2018, the air was different. it was heavy, and the atmosphere was lethargic.  in the moment, y/n felt specifically upset as if the universe decided to rip out a significant amount of reality; the universe ripped something out, indeed.

lee taemin, long-term lover, graduated early behind her back.  suddenly, he is getting up to leave for new york. 

“i can’t believe you are leaving for college already”, her teeth bit her bottom lip before she felt his warmth encase her. tears were pouring down her face while creating a hurricane of bleeding makeup and anger.  “you can’t keep doing this to me. you told me no more fucking secrets!”, she gripped onto his waist before silently crying into him.

“i think you knew that this was bound to happen”, taemin brought a hand to her face, caressing her cheek to wipe away the tears. “the only difference between you and i is that we’ll be boarders apart.”

“i didn’t know this was your plan. you just dropped this huge ass bomb on me today!”, she aggressively pulled his hand down to suddenly push him away.  “taemin, this isn’t just about you. my love for you is real.”, she took a breath to let out a sarcastic laugh. 

“i love you”, her heart ached saying those words.  more tears came out of her eyes before she quietly croaked out with a general shakiness in her demeanor, “do you feel the same way at all?”

taemin shook his head, scoffing slightly. he grazed the back of her hand with his lips. no words were exchanged between them.

y/n was standing there confused, waiting for him to say something. even if the words were, "i don't love you."

however, his response never came, and his thoughts seemed distant. it was like taemin resisted y/n's desire and compassion for him.

the silence between the two filled the air. it finally hit her that his love was no longer apparent, and his place in their relationship became nonexistent.

just like that, taemin walked out the door breaking y/n’s heart as if it was glass. from her eyes, it truly didn’t feel as if he gave a damn to begin with. 

it was unreal, but most definitely her reality.

in her mind she is screaming because taemin makes her feel alive in the worst way possible. he is unbearable to think about because he is a reminder of everything that has gone wrong with love.

he is only a distant memory that she wishes to burn.

fuck love.

but most importantly— fuck you, lee taemin.

[ellewords]

you know those posts of people saying to send a wedding invitation to celebrities because sometimes they’ll send gifts congratulating the couple? and you know how sometimes the celebrity will actually show up? this is my head cannon of who would end up showing up just because.

(little bit of a warning: these are very half-baked and mostly just stream of consciousness because my brain is fried and i’m in need of a distraction from writing essays, but the thought hasn’t left my head, so now you have to deal with my brainrot, mwahahaha!)

i think oikawa would show up to a bunch of weddings for he people he doesn’t know. it starts in argentina when a fan sends him an invite, and he’s stupid happy about it and no one really knows why. he just really enjoys weddings, they suppose. it’s in the area, too, so he buys a gift for the happy couple and he shows up. he genuinely tries to be really low key because he doesn’t want to ruin their big day, so he stays in the back for the ceremony and he is the perfect wedding-goer. at the ceremony, though, he has a much harder time remaining out of the spotlight. when the bride and groom notice that there’s a tiny bit of a commotion happening, they lose their minds when they realize that it’s because oikawa actually showed up!!! they thought he was kidding when he accepted the invite, or maybe that he’d send an assistant or something!!! but nope, there he is, looking both enthused at being the center of attention but also kind of uncomfortable. when the couple lose their minds in front of him, though, being utter fanatics and hyping him up, he eases up and finally begins to have fun, dancing on the dance floor with different people, drinking responsibly, talking to people, bashfully signing autographs. he doesn’t lose steam for even a second, and when the party seems to lull just a little bit too long, he goes out of his way to make sure everyone gets back to enjoying themselves to the fullest (which the bride and groom appreciate). nearly everyone in attendance gets his attention for a short portion of time, and if they don’t, he tries to snag a picture with everyone on the way out. at the very end of the night, he records a short video for the couple telling them how lovely they are, thanking them for the invite and the great time, and wishing them the absolute best. it’s the highlight of their lives, besides, y’know, the whole getting married thing.

it’s gets out that oikawa actually went to a wedding he was invited to by strangers when someone posts a picture of the wedding online and he was spotted in the background, so now he gets invites all the time. he doesn’t go to all of them because he’s busy and some of the places he gets invites from are across the world, but if the location intrigues him and he has the time, he’ll usually be there.

kageyama would definitely go, too! but it would be mostly because he can’t remember for the life of him if he knows the couple, and it stresses him the hell out. he’s definitely gotten a lot more confident since he was in school, but at the root of him is still an awkward kid who questions everything about himself if it’s not volleyball. so he panics about it for weeks before the wedding, wondering what they’ll want as a gift, accidentally tricking himself into believing that he does in fact know the couple and buying a gift that he assumes they’ll like based off of thinking it’s one of his old classmates from school and buying something that they’d like. and when he doesn’t recognize either of them at the ceremony, he gets so distracted trying to place anyone’s face as someone he knows and he just can’t for the life of him figure it out. he’s half a beat behind everyone when they start cheering for the couple as the kiss and leave because he’s so deep in thought. it isn’t until the reception that he finds out that he doesn’t actually know anyone and he gets so pouty about having stressed over it for so long that he broods in a corner, trying to avoid everyone. he doesn’t start to enjoy himself until someone recognizes him and rambles for nearly ten minutes about how amazing he is and about this one play that he did that they practiced for weeks after seeing it but they still couldn’t nail and that he was their inspiration. imagine everyone’s surprise when they find them in the hallway of the reception hall with a volleyball kageyama had in his car, kageyama teaching the person how he did it. a small game breaks out in the obnoxiously big hallway with a scrappy set up of chairs precariously piled on top of each other until they were high enough and a bunch of coat jackets tied together along the top and bottom of where a net would be so they can see through. the noise is just barely softer than the music, but they gather a bit of a crowd until the game is over, and as much as kageyama enjoyed it, he apologizes to the bride and groom afterwards for feeling like he took away their spotlight. they laugh and say they don’t mind as long as the groom can play the next match.

a picture of kageyama smiling and cheering as his impromptu teammate makes a good play goes viral days later and kageyama does everything in his power to get the pictures taken at the wedding so he has the memories of that night forever. he even sends an awkward thank you card to the couple after.

ushijima accepts an invite, too; mostly because he feels it would be rude not to accept when they spent the time and money going out of their way to send him one. he spends a lot of money getting them a gift, and he cleans up super nicely, and he’s almost distracting for the entire ceremony. the quiet mysterious type suits him well, and everyone notices as he stays in the back, politely applauding when necessary and offering tissue to anyone crying and helping when it’s needed. at the reception, he mostly stays in his seat, but he stops to have conversations with anyone that comes by. most of them are very to the point, and don’t get longer than a few minutes because ushijima doesn’t beat around the bush much, but as off-putting as it sounds, everyone absolutely adores him. some people are trying to size him up, but he’s just too straightforward about how they are perfectly good on their own without having to compare themselves that they wander off shocked that he was so... nice? no, he is, but that’s not quite it... honest? about it all that they feel validated and off-kilter by the time they walk away. others come over to ask him to dance, which he politely accepts and he’s just so earnest in his attempt that they can’t even be upset that he’s a little stiff and bumbling. if anything, they fall for his charm even more. as he leaves, everyone insists that he take a few plates to-go and that if he ever needed anything, all he had to do was ask. he was very confused by this proclamation as he didn’t know anyone well enough. in his bag of to-go boxes, however, he finds a ton of business cards and stuff that he stores away just in case he does need any of their services.

at his next interview, he gets asked about the entire experience, and as always, he’s super honest: “i had a wonderful time. everyone was very kind. that being said, i felt as if i was intruding on a very personal moment meant to be shared by those you hold dearest, so as much as i appreciate the sentiment, i do not plan to attend anymore weddings if i don’t know someone involved. it should be their big day, after all, and i would hate to distract from it.” if he gets anymore invites, he politely declines and instead sends them a gift and his congratulations.

i’ve been gone for a few days because of school, but i’ve been itching to send something in ever since i saw the wedding prompt. plus, all of the hc coming in from it have been so good! you have so many talented followers, and your additions are great as always, elle!

anyway, i have to get back to school. hope school is going well for you, elle! and make sure you’re taking care of yourself! -🌙

— from elle ! wait, hold on i love this >_< but hello moon anon !! i hope all those essays are working out well for you and i hope you’re able to take breaks in between :) anyways, this definitely made me love and i like that it’s true to the characters (esp. kags). my quick lil scenarios (under the cut as usual) is kind of an amalgamation of what you sent in because i'm just thinking of what would happen if the couple took a shot in the dark and invited all three of them. and they all attend :>> thank you for this and i hope you are having a wonderful day ! <3 

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

“yohoo, tobio-chan!” kageyama heard, a figure sliding into the empty seat next to him. the voice is airy, familiar, one that he had heard several times in the past. the ceremony was due to start in five minutes, everyone from the guests to the wedding party already taking their respective place.

he narrows his eyes towards the figure, recognising the man just after a couple of quick beats, “oikawa-san?”

“ah! i'm glad you could still recognise me.” oikawa grinned, squinting his eyes at the vast amounts of sunlight that entered through the windows, “too bright in here, isn’t it?” 

“what are you doing back in japan?” he asked, eyes growing wide as he’s unsure if the sight in front of him was actually real. 

 “visiting family, taking a little vacation.” oikawa replied, leaning back in his seat, “so how do you know the happy couple?”

“i...i'm not sure.” kageyama admitted, looking down at his lap in embarrassment.

“can you keep a secret tobio?” oikawa leaned in to whisper, waiting for him to nod before continuing, “i don’t think i know them either.”

__

it was about halfway through the ceremony and oikawa was getting just a little bit restless; he loved weddings, truly, but this one was dragging on much longer than the ones he previously attended. his gaze was lingering everywhere — from the loved-up gazes of the couple, the flowers that lined the aisles, to the guests who hung onto every word of the vows. one of the guests in particular was more familiar than most.

“pst, tobio.” he spoke, nudging kageyama’s shoulder, “doesn’t that guy look familiar?” 

he tilted his head towards the man who sat at the very back row, trying his best to keep a relatively low profile. kageyama followed with his eyes, attempting to be as discreet as he could. he recognised the man immediately, “that’s ushijima-san!”

maybe kageyama had exclaimed a little too loudly, earning himself a few shhhhs from the people who sat around him. he bows his head slightly as an apology while oikawa bites his lip to hold in his laughter.

__

the three of them were able to meet up during the reception, opting to sit at the same table — the one farthest away from everyone as to not draw any attention to themselves. well, oikawa insisted that they did and kageyama and ushijima didn’t really know anyone else to be comfortable enough to sit with them.

“what did you both get the bride and groom?” oikawa asked as an attempt to make conversation, taking a sip from the glass in front of them.

ushijima was one to spare no expense when it came to gifts, but he wasn’t one to brag about the cost of it either, “just a simple tea set. nothing much.”

what he failed to mention was that simple tea set cost several thousands of yen. but of course, oikawa took it as a bit of an opportunity to one-up ushijima and brags about his gifts. yes, gifts. plural.

__

ushijima was in the bathroom and oikawa had gotten the attention of a couple of bridesmaids — flirting with him while he tried his best to subtly deflect their advances — leaving kageyama all alone at the table.

he felt a hand tap on his shoulder, soft and hesitant, “kageyama tobio?”

“yes?” kageyama asked, turning to face the source of the voice. he’s met with a teenage boy, possibly not older than sixteen, looking at him with complete nervousness in his eyes.  

“i'm sorry to bother you. but i've just been such a huge fan of yours for the longest time and i wasn’t even sure if i should approach you but i really needed to let you know how much you have inspired me and i still have so much to learn but...uh, yeah.” the boy finished, looking at everything but kageyama at that point.

and a light flush colors kageyama’s cheeks, completely flustered. it was the first time anyone had approached him like that before, and he’s unsure how exactly to take the compliments. but he noticed the way the fan’s hands trembled, and he recalls all the times he’s approached the players he was a fan of when he was his age. “is there anything you need help with?”

__

needless to say, oikawa and ushijima were surprised when they found their table completely devoid of kageyama’s presence; only to find him in the incredibly large hallways with a makeshift volleyball court with chairs haphazardly stacked on top one another.

“where did you get that?” ushijima asked, pointing towards the volleyball that kageyama held in his hands.

“my car.” he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“well then,” oikawa smirked, eyes lighting up as he looked around the halls, especially at the gathering crowd, “how about a friendly little match?”

kageyama and the fan he was meant to be teaching stood on one side of the makeshift court while oikawa and ushijima stood opposite them, getting into position. most of the guests had their phones out, recording everything and posting it on social media.

“at least i will finally know what it’s like to finally play with you in a team instead of against you.” ushijima commented, briefly glancing at his teammate for the night.

oikawa choked on air, taking a few seconds to compose himself before responding, “should have come to shiratorizawa, huh?”

it was barely even noticeable, barely lasted a few seconds, but ushijima cracked a smile. 

__

the night ends with the newlyweds approaching the three of them, expressing their gratefulness for their invitations but also apologising for stealing their thunder on their wedding, going so far as to offering to pay for their honeymoon.

“as tempting as that may be,” the bride smiled, “it really is no problem. we’re surprised that you even attended in the first place.

the groom nodded in agreement, “we had a lot of fun watching you play tonight, so we feel like we should be thanking you more. you didn’t have to bring gifts too.”

oikawa waved a hand as if to say it’s nothing, while kageyama and ushijima offer tickets to their next match in exchange for photos from the wedding — particularly that of their little volleyball match.

the three of them finally make their way out into the night and into their respective cars, but not before oikawa lets out one more question.

“the three of us should hang out more,” oikawa smiled, not a trace of teasing or malice in his tone, just a genuine offer, “at least once before i get back to argentina.”

years ago, none of them would even consider such a thing, but all three liked to think that they moved past such trivial things.

kageyama gave him a small smile, “alright.”

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

a question: what would the hq characters be like at a wedding?  |  written on the margins masterlist

taglist : @haikyuutothetop @crystal-lilac @tobioespresso @sushijimawakatoshi @itsmeaudrieee @pantherhappy @jesssobs @mysticstrawberryballoon @cloudedsky_29 @sakusasimpbot​

join my hq taglist here. <3

[makebank]

nice things

Request: A topper request when he really likes this girl but she is a pouge and he asks her to midsummers and she says yes but then she realizes she doesn’t have a dress so she avoids him and then he finds out why so he buys her a gorgeous dress and she gets mad and says she isn’t going anymore because she doesn’t want handouts and then she ends up coming late to midsummers and he wasn’t expecting it so he’s like woah and then they dance and stuff

Warnings: a lil angst, reader thinking bad about herself

Word Count: 1.3k+

A/N: hope you like it anon. always love some topper

masterlist

To say you had been pining for Topper for a while would be an understatement. You have always caught yourself staring at the kook boy. It was hard not to, he just seemed perfect. His hair was always effortlessly in place. His clothes pressed, fitted, and without a trace of a wrinkle. Topper was big into working out and treated his body like a temple. It was as if everything had to be in place from head to toe. He had a perfect smile, that you loved when it was directed at you. His laugh made you feel warm, but that only made you crave it more. Sure, he hung around with questionable people that tormented the pogues, but he was always so sweet to you. 

As much as you tried to deny your feelings for him, he made it difficult. You worked at the country club that him and his friends played often. You drove the golf cart loaded with snacks around all day. He’d be sure to buy from you at least twice a round and leave a hefty tip alongside his smirk. 

You attempted not to read much into it to save yourself the heartache. But this had been going on for some time. He started to ask for your number or what your plans were after work. You declined each time thinking it was some kind of kook joke. Why else would he want anything to do with you? You were a pogue and they supposedly hated them. You worked all the time to help pay the bills and could never live up to his standards. 

One day after a particularly long shift, you trudged out to your car pockets full of tips from a certain blond. Just as you were opening the door to your rusted old beat up ride, you heard someone shout your name. 

“Y/n! Hey wait!” it was Topper running towards you alone for once. You rolled your eyes at what ridiculous thing he was going to say this time. 

“Yes, Topper?” you questioned. He caught his breath and then stared at the ground for a moment before meeting your gaze. “I was just wondering… If maybe you wanted to come to Midsummers with me?” he said the last part almost under his breath, but you definitely heard him. You laughed in shock. His face fell and you felt a little guilty for laughing. The other boys weren’t around, but this could still be some prank. “Wait. Are you being serious?” you asked incredulously.

He gnawed on his bottom lip and nodded his head yes. Why in the world would Topper Thornton want to take you to the biggest kook fest on the island? You thought about how nice it would be to dance with him and spend real time with him though. You decided you were done denying yourself from being happy.

“If this is some kind of sick joke, I’ll kill you. But yes, I’ll go” his face erupted into a giant grin. He moved to hug you and twirled you around. “Yes finally! I was starting to think you’d never say yes to anything.” You giggled at how excited he was, he actually sounded genuine.

The whole car ride home you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face. It was really happening. You were going on a date with Topper. Then it hit you. You didn’t own or have anywhere near the amount of money to buy a dress that would be appropriate for Midsummers. You started to sulk knowing you couldn’t go. You wanted to cry, but remembered this is why you always told him no. You whipped out your phone and searched for the contact you had wanted to text many times before. Topper’s number was saved from the many times he asked, and you relented one time, but still never texted him. 

hey i can’t go anymore. sorry. 

what? u already changed your mind?

You decided it was better not to reply after that. What could you even say to justify cancelling on him not twenty minutes later? He texted you a string of messages trying to get you to respond.

The next day at work you were restocking the cart trying to ignore your disappointment. Topper walked up behind you and started chatting like nothing happened. 

“What color do you like better white or blue? I’m trying to pick out my tie.” he asked nonchalantly. “Topper, what part of not going do you not understand?” you turned back around to continue your task. He raised his hands in the air confused, “You’re not actually serious about not going?” he was almost angry. 

“Yes, I’m serious! Sorry the poor pogue can’t afford a dress for your stupid Midsummers. Now if you’ll excuse me, some people have actual work to do.” You bumped into his shoulder and strutted away. He was left standing there hurt by your anger but more importantly upset that he didn’t realize. He had never any intention of making you pay for things, he had plenty of that. In fact, he wanted to take you dress shopping. It dawned on him that he lost that opportunity. 

After another long day of work, you slumped your way through the front door. You parents met you with confused looks on their face. “Y/n. It looks like someone left you something?” you mother hesitantly spoke. You rounded the corner to see a rack filled with white and blue dresses. Your heart stopped for a moment knowing who it was. They were so beautiful. That’s when you figured out that meant they were also expensive. He just thought of you as some charity case. You scoffed, “Leave them.” and you stormed off into your room leaving your parents stunned. 

The day of Midsummers had arrived, and you kept wavering between wanting to go and never wanting to see Topper’s face again. Evening rolled around and you had many missed calls and messages from him. He was still hopeful you would come. 

It was an hour into the event and Topper was sulking at the table. His friends had tried to get him to enjoy the night, but he just sent them away. He didn’t even mingle with his parent’s work friends like he was expected to. You decided you were being immature and there was a boy that really wanted to spend time with you. Even though he may have made a debatable choice. You sprinted around getting ready. You picked one of the blue, light, and airy dresses and rushed out of the door.

Once you spotted him your heart sank knowing you made him feel like that. You approached him, but he didn’t notice you since he was too enveloped in his own thoughts. “Hey, did you still want a date?” you offered a hopeful smile. He lifted his head at the sound of your voice and immediately stood up. “Y/n, you came. Of course, I do. Do you want to dance?” he extended his hand to you. You placed your hand into his and followed him to the dance floor, while a slow song played. 

“I’m sorry for standing you up and being rude. I just didn’t like you pitying me” you confessed. He wrapped his hands around your waist and started swaying. “I don’t pity you. I think you’re truly amazing. I didn’t even think about how insensitive I was being. I’m sorry.” 

You smiled at his apology. “Start over?” you offered. He nodded in return. You leaned your head on his chest and started to swing back and forth. 

You were thankful you finally took a chance on the boy. You deserved to enjoy nice things too.

my lil everything taglist i just started: @dpaccione @drewswannabegirl @outerbanksjjforever ��

[l1l1l1l1]

March Comes in Like a Lion review (up to current ch. 188)

Ok guys I'm actually shocked on how much I enjoyed this manga compared to the anime, def up there on one of my favorites. I am sad that it's still ongoing (╯°益°)╯I thought it was complete. Anyways I'll talk about some of my favorite moments because it seems like it update monthly. Not gonna go in depth about Kyouko since none of the chapters revolved around her (THANK GOD) and if you've read my anime reviews, you know how I feel about her.

We don't get a lot of chs revolving Rei and his thoughts on his family, but around chapter 164, he remembered something his little sister said about stew and Momo said the exact same thing, and my heart🥺 ALSO this moment during ch 166 had me in tears. "You've really done well" HITS!! Because Rei has done SO much to get where he is today and I couldn't be more proud omg.

I am the biggest Hina and Rei shipper!!! I had a feeling during the bully arc in the anime that he had some feelings for her but I brushed it off because there wasn't a romance tag plus I didn't think Rei thought about love like that! When he blurted out to the Kawamoto sister's father (I will get to him dw) that he intends to marry Hina, I had to pause and reread because I wasn't expecting that.

During some chapters, Rei hadn't been to Hina's house in a while because of shogi and when he realized it, he went to her house right away🥺. He felt bad because he didn't realize her feelings of feeling bad for distracting him from shogi. I just loved how they communicate. Them kissing could not have been their first time cause he was smooth with it.

Rei was one of their biggest supporters through the whole dad fiasco. He was willing to use his money and Shogi stance into it too!!! True king right there. My stomach turned when I learned about the Kawamoto's sister's dad. He legit has no shame. I'm gonna throw in the fact that his mistress or wife is 27...and Akari is 24. Let that sink in. And he initially left the mom 5 years ago so.....you get my drift right? He had the audacity to waltz over and pretend to want to live together with his children that he abandoned without a second thought so that his wife and other child can live with them because HE is having financial problems like??? And he was planning to eventually kick the girls out too tf. Make it make sense, he didn't want to go to his in-laws because he didn't want to get yelled at, who is the adult here? He is the definition of a deadbeat. Also, THAT was the first time he EVER met Momo. And not that he was trying to guilt them with his other kid, but anyway, SO GLAD Akira and Hina stood their ground (+ Rei lol)!!! Momo doesn't need need a father figure anyway, she's doing just fine with her fam now.

Chapter 130 was about Akari and how she basically felt the fear of love because of what she witnessed between her mom and asshat of a dad. She thinks of Sensei and Shimada and doesn't want to feel lonely anymore - which I get!! Also, she doesn't realize how gorgeous she is and every guy stop and turns whenever she's around. She can quite literally get any guy she wants. I also ship her with Shimada kekeke let's see how that turns out, I'm sorry sensei.

I also love that Rei realized that he didn't want to ever force himself to be around people, but now he is around his loved ones and is genuinely happy!!! There was also a chapter where Rei had a dream and he notices he is more bold now cause in the past if he was depressed he wouldn't be able to eat and his health declined and it would drag on for weeks but now he's able to eat after being upset. The growth is immaculate. Please read this manga, it's very great! Never thought a manga about shogi would interest me hahaha.

[new-tella-us]

Aight, so this is a very long Komahina Oneshot.

I'm gunna milk the freak out of the popular shiet!

Anyways couple of warnings before we start.

This oneshot is not happy. It contains:

Character Death

Swearing

Illness

Mentions and attempts of suicide

If any of this stuff upsets you then skip this chapter. I'll be making happier stuff in the future.

Bittersweet Ending

"Hey Komaeda! Wanna visit Hajime and Nekomaru with me?"

That was the first thing Nagito heard after leaving his house. Akane was at his door and seeming pretty anxious.

"Oh..uhh sure. I wanted to talk to Hajime, I guess I just never had the time,"

It was still strange to see Akane being nice to him. He always expected something bad to happen to him around her but, lately she's been pretty docile. Though, she still doesn't want to call him by his first name regardless of how many times Nagito has said that it's fine. Nagito quickly got ready and left his tiny cottage with the girl.

...

The walk was long. Nagito offend wondered why Nekomaru and Hajime were put so far away from the rest of the group. Some actually moved closer to them so they wouldn't have to take such a long walk but, not Nagito. He was just...too busy. His mind started to wander as he walked. Where did his story start? Maybe when he woke up.

When he first woke, he couldn't believe it. He was back in reality. A hand reaching out to him snapped his attention right back to reality. He sensed so much hope radiating from the person reaching out that he confused him with the Ultimate Hope, Izuru Kamukura and while, the person was the Ultimate Hope, it wasn't Izuru. Hajime Hinata was his name. His warm smile finally pulled Nagito out of the lull he was in. So he stood up, ready to take on a new world.

...

Two months had past, the fifteen students were able to move to the original Jabberwock Island and live there in peace. Of course, occasionally, the Future Foundation would ask for assistance from Hajime but, other than that, it was quite peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, that Makoto Naegi decided to slightly dampen the mood of the island by building a graveyard for all the student of Hope Peak that got killed in the Tragedy. Each set of areas were separated by class and for everyone that died, they would build a ginormous, well more like life size, statue of the person.

That ended up pissing a lot of people off for obvious reasons, since there was only one death from class 77. Chiaki Nanami, she would stand alone in a sea of statues that threatened to drown her in the meaningless names and monotonous stone gray.

Hajime also brought up a pretty good point.

"Makoto, this is our home. If you put every class, every Ultimate, all 78 of them here, our island would become a travelers island,"

"We'll make sure to moderate that but, this just the best area we can put these and respect our dead, plus this is probably going to be where we bury you guys and I would thing you would want to be near friends,"

No one had much of an argument. Hajime sighed and agreed to the plans on the condition that Makoto keeps visitors to a minimum and never does overnight stays. Makoto agreed and it was settled. They decided the graveyard would take up the entire fifth island to keep it as far away as possible. After all, the group didn't need a constant reminder that not everyone got out. Nagito didn't need a constant reminder that he got the last bit of her killed for his idiotic plan and now she'll never come back.

Never.

...

More months past and life was normal...well, their version of normal, at least. Through out these months, he and Hajime have gotten closer than ever. Hajime seems to be the only one who cares, Nagito likes it when they hangout...he always does this. He always gets attached despite it never ending well. He did it with his dog;the dog got ran over, his parents; they died in a plane freak accident, Chiaki...yeah... He knows he always gets attached to the ones who will die and yet, he still gets attached.

...

He caught something...Oh not Hajime, Nagito. Nagito got sick, really sick. He could barely move out of bed. People kept visiting him, Mikan kept checking up on him and Hajime, unlike with the Liar Disease, actually stayed. By the end of the week, the group had given him flowers that he couldn't take care of (Mahiru did so instead), and all sorts of candies that he didn't have the appetite for, even Hiyoko gave him her favorite brand of gummy bears. Throughout the few weeks, he fluctuated between good days and bad days.

On one of his good days, he was hanging out with Hajime. He insisted that they hang out somewhere other than the house. Hajime furiously declined saying that Nagito need to rest and, as per usual, he was right but Nagito just didn't want to sit in bed any longer.

"Fine, I'll just go somewhere by myself" Nagito said in a huff. Hajime's face changed from a "what the actual hell??" Look to a defeated one. Nagito knew Hajime would never leave Nagito alone while sick on this island so, Hajime agreed.

Nagito decided that they were going to the cemetery that finished it's construction very recently. Hajime didn't put up a fight and they both headed there. Once they arrived, they had to walk through class after class to find the class they were looking for. Nagito started to feel his "good" day going bad but, tried his best to keep a strong face. They finally made it to the class 77 area and there she stood, alone. Stone eyes staring down at her Nintendo DC. Nagito briefly wondered what game she would be playing to be so intensely staring down at the game without looking up before he remembered that this was a statue.

"So, why here of all places? Did you want to mourn Chiaki?" Hajime asked, blunt and to the point as always. So Nagito answered with all equally blunt question.

"When I die, do you think they'll put my statue next to hers?"

Hajime seemed caught off-guard, he didn't seemed to know what to say next.

"Umm, supposedly? It would probably be in death order. Y'know, like who dies first?"

"Exactly, when I die, which should be soon-" Nagito couldn't hold back the sickness anymore and doubled over coughing. This, of course, panicked Hajime as he tried to help as much as he could. When the coughing died down and Nagito could breathe again, he commented; "See? I told you tha-"

Hajime cut him off, "You're being delusional. You're not going to die, Nagito"

"You don't know that and I'm not getting healthier"

"It's a cold.."

Now, Nagito was the one to interrupt, "Colds don't last weeks Hajime"

"It's a fuckin' bug" Hajime cursed

"Now look who's being delusional, it's my sickness. It's finally coming to tak-"

"Enough with the with the fucking death talk! You're not gunna die Nagito!" His voice was louder but, he didn't sound as certain. "You're...not.." his voice was shaking, pleading for Nagito to stop. Of course Nagito had to take it so far. He always takes it too far and ends up in these kinds of situations.

"...Sorry"

"Let's...get you home, you're not feeling well"

...

Turns out, Hajime was right, it was just a cold but with his immunodeficiencies, it made it much harder to fight off. With the right medicine and another four days, Nagito started to improve. People were still cautious, now that every had seen how a common cold could affect him, they were more hesitant to let him do the common housework that he used to do on the regular. They all collectively decided thatNagito would take regular check ups to keep his health in check. He agreed to keep them all from panicking too much. Hajime insisted that Nagito does a blood test and a brain scan.

"Just in case of something serious.."

Why? Hajime should be the last person to say that. He is the only person that knows about Nagito's condition...was it to let everyone else know? He gave Nagito a look, a look that was hard to decipher. It almost seemed like Hajime knew something that Nagito didn't.

...

.........

....What?

This is....

That's impossible...

Maybe the tests were flawed? Maybe there was a mix up....

Nope, these are his results but, that's impossible.

These tests say he's anemic.

Just anemic. Not any of the other illnesses he was diagnosed with as a teen. Vitamin Deficiency Anemia. A chronic but usually treatable condition. The worst part? It matches up with how Nagito has been feeling since he got the disease. The pale skin, the weight loss, the inability to fight of the smallest of colds without weeks of treatment. It all lines up. This is...some really good luck. Life saving good luck...that means, the next surge of bad luck might be...Life ending. No..NO! Nagito refuses to lose anyone else and certainly not because of his luck!

...

"That's amazing, Nagito!" Hajime said.

Hajime was the only person Nagito could go to about this. He knew so much already, it made it easier to tell him more...and yet, now Nagito felt guilty. His relationship with Hajime got slightly strained with the graveyard talk and now Hajime has seemed to almost completely forget that. He even seems happy, genuinely happy. Did Nagito really want to ruin that? ...He had to.

"Uhm, yeah but, this surge of good luck is sure to come with harsh repercussion," Nagito said nervously.

Silence...

"Nagito...please, just this once. Can you just be happy when something good happens to you?" Hajime's voice was a mixture of annoyed and worried.

"Not when this could kill someone. Sorry," Nagito might have to reconsider if telling Hajime things is a good idea anymore...

"...Okay, how about this? If we tell everyone to watch out for something bad and keep on their toes, will you at least try to enjoy yourself?"

That didn't feel good enough but, there wasn't much Nagito could do. "Fine"

...

A couple weeks had passed by. Nagito became more and more restless with everyday that nothing happened. Recently, the Future Foundation called some of them to a small mission on the main land. To gather intel on a rebel group that still stands by the complete extermination of Ultimates. Nekomaru, Nagito, Hajime, Mikan and surprisingly Hiyoko were tasked with this. Throughout that time, Nagito tried his best to trigger his bad luck. Walking through the most dangerous parts of town everyday to see if something would happen...Nothing did. He tried everything to cause any form of bad luck to ease his mind, from dangerously unstable platforms to rebel infested areas. Nothing happened. Nothing but Nagito constantly worrying his group.

"Nagito, you can just come with us. You know that right?" Hajime mentioned, worrying flashing in his heterochromatic eyes. Nagito liked to stare into them but, now is not the time.

"Oh, I would never dream of disturbing the presence of you with mine."

Hajime started to look pissed off.

"Listen Nagito, is you are still worried about your bad luck...I understand but, you can't force it to activate. Just let the inevitable happen."

Okay, now Nagito's pissed off. Let the inevitable happen? Does Hajime not care that the 'inevitable' could be death?

"You're acting too casual about all of this. This is something big and you're acting like it's nothing. Do you not care? Not care that someone on our island could die? After all we've been through?"

"Of course I care but, what am I supposed to do? Let you get yourself killed? If you have forgotten, you are also someone on our island. I can't just allow you to die! I have to at least try to save everyone as I always have!"

"....I'm not that important, I caused a good portion of this. It's not like anyone would truly care too much if I was gone. It's fine to let a nobody like me die," Nagito said. Did he mean it? Maybe but, he didn't want to be the cause of anymore pain or death...

Hajime was steaming, he looked like he might actually hit something in anger but instead, he grabbed Nagito's shoulders and pushed him up against a wall. Now, Nagito couldn't ignore him. Couldn't try to push his concerns aside.

"I care dammit! Can't you see that?"

Nagito's heart raced. His face was so close to Hajime's. He felt like something bad was bound to happen with them so close. A part of him, really wanted to just lean in and kiss Hajime while he had the chance. The part that wanted to possible keep some form of a friendship with Hajime, however, knew not to.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have spent days getting you out of that coma. If none of us cared, we wouldn't have spent time, energy and money to help you get better and to give you gifts while you were ill. We all care about you. So please...don't...don't leave me like Chiaki did.." Hajime plead, desperately. He seemed near tears, tightening his grip on Nagito. It's rare to ever see Hajime so scared. It hurt Nagito, since he couldn't honestly promise that. At that moment, he truly did wished he stayed in that coma or..no..further than that, he just wished he was never lucky to begin with. His luck caused so many people pain, include the man that's now pleading for Nagito to live in front of him. Despite Hajime's pleading, Nagito knew what he had to do to make this awful cycle stop.

"I...I promise," Nagito lied, "I'm sorry"

Hajime's grip loosened then he hugged Nagito.

"Thank you..." Hajime's voice was shaky but, genuine. Nagito couldn't say anything to that.

...

It's time. Nagito made sure to spend time with everyone he could. It was the end of the investigation and nearly time for everyone to go home...Nagito wasn't going to make it home. On one of his investigations, he found a very tall skyscraper. The tallest one with the exception of Hope's Peak. He wasn't going to jump from there, not when Makoto is trying his hardest to repair the place.

He stood on the roof of this broken building. The railings that once stood there, probably to prevent what Nagito was about to do, rusted and withered away. He stood at the edge, looking on at the city that he helped destroy.

He was about to step off when he heard someone.

"Nagito?"

Of course, of all people, it had to be him. Nagito turned around to see none other than Hajime standing at the doorway next to Nagito's shoes that he removed to confirm that this wasn't a murder. Nagito turned back to the city. He felt no reason to hide it anymore and repeated a question he asked a long time ago.

"Do you think, when I die, they'll put my statue near her's?"

Hajime answered the same too.

"That depends on who dies first in the group. They'll probably organize it in death order..."

Nagito said nothing. He knew that if that's the case then, he would be right next to her.

"You really aren't going to turn back, are you? You are that afraid of your talent that this is what you think you have to choose?"

Still nothing.

"Can you at least give me an answer?"

Nagito couldn't. He was so focused at looking on at the city, he didn't realize that Hajime had made it next him.

"Just turn back, go on without me," Nagito turned to Hajime and smiled, "You'll forget me eventually,"

Hajime said nothing but eventually turned away and started walking back. Nagito was a little surprised but was also glad that Hajime understood. He went back to looking at the city.

"If I can't convince you. I guess..." Nagito heard Hajime walking back and felt his hug. Nagito turned to face Hajime and maybe question something, before he could say anything, Hajime continued,

"I can at least make sure you don't die alone."

Hajime pushed himself forward off the edge, taking Nagito with him.

Now, they were falling. Falling fast. It didn't feel fast though. It felt like the world slowed down, everything was noisy but, silent. Nagito couldn't believe it. It was really happening. That's when Nagito started to question the things he should have thought about before choosing this way of ending it. What if he didn't die on impact? Would it hurt? Would it burn? Would he just feel numb? How long can you even last after a fall like that? But, those questions are useless to ask now...

He wanted to tell Hajime how he felt. He knew he was going to die so, it wouldn't matter. He might as well. Plus, Hajime would probably not hear him over the pressure threatening to burst their eardrums in its might.

He screamed to the top of his lungs the words he wanted to say since the Neo World Program.

"I Love You, Hajime!"

He didn't expect much. He didn't any response. So he certainly didn't expect what was said next.

"I Love You Too!"

Hajime...loved him? He didn't expect that at all. This, somehow, made Nagito feel better and worse at the same time. He hugged Hajime tighter, they should be close to the ground soon so, Nagito can die without much regret.

"And I told you," Hajime continued, "I'm going to try and save everyone. Including you."

Immediately after that, Nagito felt shift in positions. Now, it was Hajime under Nagito. Nagito realized what Hajime was going to do. He was going to take to brunt of the landing on the chance that Nagito would live. If Nagito was lucky, he could live.

And, of course,

Nagito was lucky.

...

"We're here! Finally!" Akane's voice snapped Nagito back into reality.

"Y-yeah, that walk took a-a lot out of me..." Mikan followed. Wait, when did Mikan get here? She must have joined their walk while Nagito was spaced out.

"A-are you o-okay Nagito-san? You s-seem spaced out.."

Oh right, he probably seems very out of it on their walk, he should say something.

"Yes, I'm okay, I was just...thinking."

He looked up at the cemetery entrance and prepared himself when he entered.

75...76...77. Class 77...

All the way to the left is Chiaki Nanami, the first to go. She was the hope of Class 77 and thus Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair, had her executed. She was a kind girl that did her best to help and protect everyone she could. She will always be remembered. Her plaque says:

"I'm going to get out with all of my friends"

To the right is Nekomaru Nidai. He was a victim of trial four. But he made it out of that world alive. How did he die then? He, unfortunately, had a life-threatening illness and ,unlike Nagito; it wasn't a misdiagnosis. His illness took his life about three weeks ago. His plaque says:

"Keep fighting, the only way to success is to try"

And in the middle, despite the fact that he was not a part of class 77, everyone insisted that he'd be put there. He was family to them all.

Hajime Hinata.

He was the person who saved the class multiple times and never gave up hope. He fought for everyone and, in the end, he died to keep his message. His plaque says.

"I'm going to save everyone, that includes you"

Nagito looks at Akane who was standing there crying but silent. Akane has always had trouble expressing negative emotions so this is a start.

He then looks at Mikan, who was on her knees sobbing at Chiaki's grave. She wholeheartedly blames herself for Chiaki's death, we're trying to convince her that it's not her fault. Maybe one day they can convince her. Then he looks at Hajime. He just stares. It, at first seemed like appropriate weather for this occasion. Rain. Until Nagito realized that sky, though dark, is clear. He wiped his eyes to find that the 'rain' was really tears. He was crying and yet, he wasn't broken. He was sad but, felt weirdly happy.

"Inevitable, huh? At least, I'm glad I got to know you before the inevitable." Nagito said, out loud. "This is such a bittersweet ending."

Allll right! This is finally done. I am literally about to cry. This is the saddest thing I've ever written. 😭 The next chapter is gunna be a lot happier.

Thanks for reading.

[midsummerevening]

Long time no see… I’ve been pretty busy lately and even if I had written some of the analysis, I just wasn’t feeling it. But here it is! Hope y’all are pretty great.

Episode 3: Battle of the Bands

The end of 1x02 leaves us with a confused Victor and at the beginning of 1x03 we find him searching on the internet, discovering that yes, sexuality is a spectrum. What was my first reaction? Probably excitement at seeing that bisexuality was mentioned (along with pansexuality) on the show. I was very glad to see it displayed even if it was brief and, just like Victor, I wondered, is he bisexual?

He confesses to Simon that he likes Mia a lot and feels super connected to her, so what if? As he points out, there is a chance that he might like her more in the future… I can’t deny that he really seems fond of her.

As Victor likes Mia, naturally, he invites her on a date at the Battle of the Bands, and when he tells Felix, he seems genuinely excited. A little apprehensive and nervous, but that’s normal isn’t it? From what we gather later on, Victor’s never been on a date. Doesn’t know what to expect. So his seemingly nervousness is completely understandable.

However there is something in his behaviour (and it might only be him being stressed and all) that makes me wonder if excitement is all there is – I think he also feels relieved in some way, and maybe it’s just me but it comes off as a bit forced? It reminds me of when he had to chat with Mrs Albright in 1x01, his too enthusiastic congrats or yeah, the luckiest in 1x06. Might just be an impression I got, because other than that, he seems really excited to hang out with her!

The Call Me Maybe scene, as I will call it, is important on so many levels. Besides showcasing the obvious chemistry between Victor and Benji, this scene proves one thing and that is that Victor does not want to be distracted from Mia. Past the surprise and enthusiasm at learning that Benji is in a band, Victor slowly realizes how hard it’d for him to focus on Mia if Benji was there.

Accepting to go to the Battle of the Bands for their first date would compromise that indeed. It would remind Victor of his attraction to Benji, how he likes him, and ultimately, that would keep him away from denying this. Can’t really avoid the unavoidable when it’s right in front of you, right?

So Victor decides to change their plans, no matter how gutted he seems to be to to decline Benji’s offer. He sighs in disappointment after having done so.

Mia and Victor go to this museum. They have a fun time. They eventually kiss and Victor feels happy. Relieved that he even got the butterflies in the stomach that everyone talks about. Keep in mind that Victor hasn’t been with anyone, he hasn’t experienced love that way and doesn’t know how it’s supposed to feel like. The butterflies, though? He has heard of it. And he feels them with Mia.

Then comes Simon’s message and that throws him off.

I think this is when Victor realized that what he was feeling for Mia was different from what he felt for Benji. In short, that how he felt wasn’t it. It was less… intense, less passionate. With Mia, it’s great. When it comes to Benji however, Victor lacks words to convey what he feels. When he sees him singing that song to him (can’t convince me of otherwise) all the while looking at him in the eyes, that the crowd suddenly disappears just like the first time he ever saw him in that corridor at Creekwood, it feels surreal.

Fireworks exploding. Jet-fires flying. It’s everything. It’s more than butterflies. It’s nothing Victor had expected. Surprising and overwhelming. He’s speechless as they take each other in.

There. This is the moment. Victor knows what Simon is talking about. Without even kissing Benji he is enraptured and transfixed and the list of adjectives could go on and on but you get what I mean. Victor knows. Then, he’s left crushed, heart-broken, at the sight of Benji and Derek kissing. Benji, who he thought was coming towards him. And Victor was stepping closer too.

That was before Derek stepped in and made Victor aware of the full picture. Benji, the guy he’s crushing on without even admitting so, is taken. As he leaves the coffee shop, he turns back one last time to see him, them, heart-broken. In front of him the picture of what he couldn’t have.

Off to  Episode 4: The Truth Hurts.

Very beginning of this episode, Victor stresses on how great this is that Benji isn’t free. That he is fine. He makes it sound like he’s not upset about it, though his face expressions do not fail to show his real feelings (as they always do).

Remember the reaction Victor got after that phone call? Well I think it’s the same reason that Victor said that it was better that Benji was off the table. That way, he wouldn’t think about it any more. Instead he could go on on pretending. He could push his feelings away, pretend they do not even exist in the first place. Even if he has never felt like this around anyone before.

I relate to Victor a lot on this. I understand why he would push his identity further when he saw that Benji was unavailable. Benji would have push Victor to come out, because he wanted/wants him. But seeing that Benji has a boyfriend… now, it feels… worthless to even say something.  Their relationship would be impossible anyway, and there’s Mia. So it really does not come as a surprise to me that he would say that it’s better in the end. That allows him to delay the inevitable, something he’s not prepared to, not ready to admit to himself and the rest of the world. It’s almost a relief. And I’m saying ‘almost’ because even though he convinces himself it’s for the best, deep down he must be very upset and sad at the news.

A part of me thinks that if Benji had been single, Victor would have tried. Because in that marvellous moment at Brasstown, when that wave of realization hit him, he knew. He knew right then and there, he liked Benji. He may have know that he wanted him. But with Derek… it’s no longer a choice he can make. This choice was ripped from his hands, and forced him into denying that part of himself he tried so hard to hide, deep deep deep.

So from then on, logically, he relies on Mia. “I can focus on Mia.” without thinking that he shouldn’t try this hard to focus on her. He should just do. Like he does with Benji, even unconsciously. His feelings for Benji do not vanish, obviously, but he acts like they did. It’d hurt even more to acknowledge them, because he couldn’t act on it. Whether it is because he’s not ready to be out yet, or because Benji can’t be with him. Which sucks, like Simon says.

That talk around Zayn and Gigi Hadid? Simon used the term ‘crush’. Victor didn’t, but it’s obvious he’s crushing on Benji. Hard. He’s falling for him, undoubtedly.

Knowing Benji has a boyfriend does not disturb their dynamic or their chemistry for that matter, as the opening scene of 1x04 shows. 

With everything going on, it’s needless to say that Victor has a lot on his plate during this episode: he learns that Benji has a boyfriend, that his mom (of all people) cheated on his dad and Mia talks to him about her mom. So seeing that Simon had an amazing week just confronts him to his own bad week. 

[smolkooks]

croissants and pomeranians

pairing: kim taehyung x female reader

genre/s: college!au, dancer!taehyung, dancer!jimin, non-idol!au

word count: 5.5k

warnings: none! :) lots of fluff

summary: you want to adopt a puppy, and come across a pair of pomeranians. they’re absolutely perfect, the only problem is that your apartment building only allows one dog, and the two puppies are brothers that cannot be separated. luckily, kim taehyung has a solution for you, which happens to involve dates at the dog park, froyo and strawberry croissants.

*

You never thought you’d say it (or rather, think it) but the sound of rowdy traffic was oddly nice. Well, not nice, per se, but just—a reminder that the outside world still existed.

That was nice to know, after having stayed at home, doing work for your finals for the past two weeks.

Your friends had called you multiple times, each call more desperate as you refused their offers each time. It’s not that you didn’t want to go with them. It was just that it was your final year of college and you couldn’tfail. You didn’t have anything to fall back on, and this was it, for you.

“Y/N,” Jimin, your best friend and classmate, had whined on his third call to you earlier that day, “Pleaseeeee come with me to Seulgi-noona’s party. I need a friend to go with me!”

“Jimin,” You’d sighed, and he immediately started on his next, pre-prepared spiel, anticipating your rejection:

“Please, please, please! You won’t fail from just one night out, I’ve done all the calculations for you, you’ll be fine! You get good grades, anyway, you’ll be fine, you’re way smarter than me—,”

“Jimin, I really can’t,” You’d cut him off, genuinely upset at having to disappoint your best friend. But you seriously didn’t have a choice. Contrary to what Jimin had said, you got mediocre, passing grades—that wasn’t going to cut it for you to make it into what you wanted to do. “I’m sorry. I’ll go with you after the exams are over!”

“It’s not good for you to be alone up there all the time,” He’d said after a short moment, “I would visit if I could but I lost my train card and I live too far away to walk—,”

“It’s okay,” You’d told him with a laugh, “Seriously, thanks, but don’t worry about it. I’m okay alone, and besides, you call me like seven times a day.”

“I just miss you,” He’d said, his voice suddenly very small, and your heart clenched a bit, “At least get a puppy or something. I don’t want you to come out of your apartment after finals and be completely insane.”

You’d chuckled, “I’ll think about it, Jimin.”

And it was partially Jimin’s speech that spurred you to actually, finally leave and take a short break outside.

Well, you were still going to study—just, at your aunt’s coffee shop instead of cooped up in your apartment—at your aunt’s insistence, of course. So, never one to refuse her, you’d packed up your laptop and books and headed out.

The café was very small, but its quaintness was what made it homely to you. Although you didn’t have much time to visit, this had been your favourite place to go after school as a kid.

Pushing your way through the door with your elbow, bag in hand, you said a quick hello to the cashier—who was just your cousin. She loved working here, as far as you could tell, and she gave you a very excited wave in reply, before returning to the customer who was speaking to her.

You pulled out a chair by the window, on the stools, and sat, spreading out your schoolwork and putting in your earphones. Admittedly, though, you found yourself more than distracted by the cars zooming through the streets outside. Maybe it was a coping mechanism from the stress of exams that felt like they were going to break your back—the want to find some sort of distraction. You hadn’t talked to anybody in weeks.

Come to think of it, that very short exchange with your cousin was the first human interaction you had had in a whole fourteen days. That brought a scoff to your lips, and you sighed, letting yourself sink into your chair, your posture sagging. What were your friends up to? You’d declined their past two invites to parties because there was just too much work to do, and they had seemed to give up after the second…

It was only when somebody put a hand on your shoulder and said, “You’re studying English?” that you were finally shocked out of your daydreaming and whipped around to see a curious face peering at your laptop screen. He didn’t do it rudely, but just in a purely inquisitive way. So, while you might have rushed to shut your laptop in any other situation, his shining eyes and the quirk at the corner of his mouth made you do otherwise.

Instead of panicking, you forced yourself to be calm, and then said with a smile, “Yeah, I’m planning on moving out of Korea once I graduate.”

You took this moment to take a good look at his face—his light-brown hair looked freshly-dyed, curls falling into his eyes. His eyes were pretty; he appeared to have some sort of coloured lense in, and immediately your interest was piqued. By the lense, yes, but also because his face was very handsome.

He made a look that seemed almost…impressed, and then set his things down in the seat next to you, moving to sit, “I wish I was smart enough to do that.”

You flushed, “I’m sure you are! I’m struggling as it is anyway—finals are next week and this is the first time I’ve left my apartment in ages.”

He leant with one elbow against the table, chin on his hand, and replied, “Nah, I gave up on school ages ago,” he grinned mischievously, “Barely made it out of high school in one piece.”

“You know some basic stuff though,” You blurted in your rush to find something to fill the silence, and immediately your face flustered red, “Sorry, that’s not what I meant—I’m sure you—,”

“It’s okay,” He laughed, and when he playfully reached over to lightly push your shoulder, “You’re cute. I doknow some basic stuff, fortunately.”

Cute. Cute.

“Uh—yeah,” You stuttered, tongue-tied, “Um, did you want to get anything to eat?” At this point, your laptop had long since fallen asleep, its screen darkened, and you glanced at your reflection. You were met with your pink flush and suddenly felt very embarrassed so you shut your computer quickly, “I could buy us something—,”

“I already got stuff,” He said, waving you off with a boyish smile, “It’s all good. Thanks, though. I hope you like strawberry croissants.”

You furrowed your brows, tilting your head in confusion, “Yeah, I do, but I didn’t buy anything—,”

Suddenly, your cousin was walking towards you with two plates—sure enough, confirming your suspicions—containing a strawberry croissant on each one. This boy was toosmooth.

“Hey,” You said in an almost scolding tone, “You shouldn’t have gotten me anything.” But as your cousin set down the plates in between you, shooting you a suggestive wink, you couldn’t protest much more. They really did look really good, and you’d skipped breakfast…andlunch…

“I wasn’t going to just eat and let you go hungry,” He said, with a pout in his tone—like a puppy. It was too much for your heart, so you caved—not that you were going to fight against the croissant much anyway, but you took the plate anyway, sliding it over to your side of the table, as he took his one.

“Thank you,” You said graciously, shyly, “You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” He said, cheeks dimpling, “Let’s eat. This is my favourite croissant from here.”

“You’re a regular here?” You said, genuinely surprised, “I hadn’t realised.”

“I’m a dancer and our studio is just around the corner,” He explained, as he took a bite and gestured for you to do the same. He chewed with his mouth closed—which you appreciated very much—and swallowed before continuing, “My friends and I come here a lot. They were going to a party though, and I didn’t feel up to it so I just decided to get something to eat instead.” He shot you a wink, “And you happened to be here. Better than any party could have been.”

“And now we’re here,” You said, doing your best to fight off the blush, even as your heart pounded, “You’re being very smooth for someone I met five minutes ago, you know?”

“Five minutes?” He pretended to look affronted, glancing at his watch, “Excuse me, it’s been a solid eleven minutes, thank you.”

“Eleven minutes,” You said flatly, raising a brow and taking another bite of your croissant, “Same difference.”

“I thought youwere the smart one here,” He said, humouring you, “Seems almost like,” He paused, pretending to count on his fingers, and you interrupted him when he got to his ninth finger.

“You won’t have enough,” You said, in that baby-tone that you would use to speak to a puppy—jokingly, “Trust me. There’s a solid ten fingers and eleven minutes won’t fit on there.” You patted his hand and he scrunched his nose.

“I have toes, too, you know,” He said through his pout and shining, amused eyes, “That makes twenty.”

The conversation was going so well—you would have liked to stay there for hours just talking, because it really was a nice break from all the work you had been doing, but it wasn’t five minutes later that your aunt burst through the back door and offered you to go upstairs for a quiet place to study.

You were going to decline—you really were, but she had apparently called ahead and asked your cousin to make you a coffee already, which was already upstairs, so you couldn’t say no. Your aunt was sweet, really, and she just wanted to help you out. It was well-appreciated, but…you glanced at the brown-haired, pretty boy as you stood to leave.

“Well, since you’re a regular, I’ll see you around, right?” You said, running a hand through your ponytail and giving him a smile.

“Yeah, you will,” He said, grinning softly, “Happy studying.”

It wasn’t until you were already upstairs, and halfway through your introduction paragraph for your essay due in three days that you realised you never asked the guy for his number, or his name, for that matter. But when you rushed downstairs to check if he was still there, his seat was empty—only two empty, strawberry-jam-stained plates remained on the tabletop.

***

The day after your last exam, you decided to take on Jimin’s advice. Your best friend gave plenty of advice, regularly, in his constant rants about all sorts of things, but today you were at the animal shelter to adopt a puppy.

Although you hadn’t thought much of it when Jimin had suggested it to you, after a few days you’d decided it was probably a good idea to adopt a puppy—especially now that you were done with school. Your apartment building allowed a small dog anyway, and you thought it would be very nice to have a companion.

It did get lonely sometimes.

There were a few in a pen on the floor, where a couple of kids were watching the dogs excitedly, reaching into the pen while a few of the volunteer workers frantically stopped them with strained smiles.

It was a weekday, so you’d expected that the shelter wouldn’t be so crowded so that you could stay for longer without feeling claustrophobic, but it was unexpectedly quite filled—that wasn’t going to stop you today, though. You were on a mission.

Unable to restrain the urge to cuddle a puppy, you began to make your way over, and upon glimpsing the cluster of fluff rolling around the pen your heart melted. There were two, in particular, who were particularly close to where you were standing, a bit separated from the other bunch, and you knelt down to get a closer look.

They were little Pomeranian puppies, you noted, as you cooed at the way the two dogs both looked up at you with their (literal) glowing, puppy-dog eyes. One in particular, the slightly bigger one with a less symmetrical face (but equally as cute), got up and sniffed at you, and you ‘awwed’ aloud, unable to hold back. You knelt down by the pen and reached in a hand gently and slowly, for the little puppy to sniff at.

A volunteer worker quickly approached you—a nice-looking woman who gave you a warm smile, “These two are brothers. Do you want to hold them?”

“Oh, yes, please,” You said eagerly, glancing up to meet her eyes even though it was almost impossible to tear your gaze from the little puppies, “Um, can I hold the bigger one first?”

“Of course,” The woman said, picking up the puppy with ease, “He’s really good. Cheerful and very friendly, I think you’d get along with him.”

You hummed as she passed the puppy to you, and the Pomeranian snuggled into your arms as you stroked his black-and-orange fur. Immediately, you were in love—how could you not be? The little dog was too endearing, and he started whining when you stopped petting him to get a better look at his cute little face.

However, it wasn’t long before his brother, the smaller but practically identical Pomeranian, who was left in the pen, started whining—and you couldn’t keep them apart anymore.

Instantly, the problem hit you. This puppy was it for you—he was the one you wanted, but…there was no way you’d be able to take in two dogs with the restrictions that your apartment building had on pets, and also just your budget and time. But…you couldn’t find it in yourself to separate the two.

Especially when you put the puppy back and his brother snuggled right back into his side, nudging him with his button nose.

Heaving a sigh, you forced yourself up to your feet and told the woman, “I don’t think I can adopt them both…”

“Ah, well,” She said, with a comforting smile and patting you on the shoulder, “There are always other puppies!”

And then she was gone, off to help somebody else, but your mind was still consumed by the thought of the Pomeranian puppy and his smaller brother. You knew you had to leave; there was no way you could adopt two dogs—

You didn’t even want to entertain that idea and tempt yourself. It was too much, but…the little puppy was still looking up at you and it was too much for your weak heart to leave him.

So instead of making any sort of decision, you just decided to sit there, thinking, and stroking both of the Pomeranians longingly, trying to figure out a solution.

You were sure you were there for so long that the volunteers started giving you strange looks.

It must’ve been almost an hour later when somebody sat down next to you. Their presence didn’t even register in your mind; you were lost in thought and absently stroking the now-asleep dogs, but then they spoke.

“They’re cute, right?”

For a second you thought it was another volunteer worker, and you prepared yourself to apologise and explain that you couldn’t take both—you didn’t want to look away from the puppies, so instead you glanced at the stranger’s shoes, noting that they weren’t the compulsory boots the volunteers had to wear, and your well-rehearsed (not really) rant was stopped before it escaped your mouth.

“Oh, yeah, they really are,” You said instead, sighing deeply, “But I can’t take both so I’ve been sitting here for ages just trying to decide what to do. They’re too cute but they’re brothers and my apartment building only allows—,” and then you cut yourself off, realising that you were sharing too much information. When you glanced up, finally, though, your eyes widened, “Wait, you’re the strawberry-croissant guy from the café?”

“Strawberry-croissant guy?” He said with an amused gleam in his eyes, “I guess I am. You’re the girl who’s studying English and wants to leave Korea after graduation, huh?”

“Yeah,” You said, suddenly feeling elated at seeing this guy again, “Sorry for rambling to you just then.”

“No, it’s really okay,” He said, his expression genuinely interested, and your heart warmed when he motioned for you to continue.

You cleared your throat, feeling a bit embarrassed but encouraged, “I’m only allowed to have one dog, but I can’t separate them and I’m in love with this guy,” you pointed at the slightly bigger puppy, the one you were in love with, “So I’ve just sat here for an hour.”

“Well,” He said after a brief moment of silence, reaching a hand in to pet the other puppy—the smaller one, “I think I have a solution for you.” The puppy sniffed at his hand and then practically leapt in, fitting perfectly into his palm.

“He likes you,” You cooed, picking up the larger puppy and taking him into your lap, where you sat cross-legged on the floor. The guy did the same, and so you each had a small Pomeranian cuddled up to you.

“I’d say the same about yours,” He said, his eyes creasing into a smile, “I’m Taehyung, by the way. I can’t believe I didn’t get your name the other day.”

“I’m Y/N,” You said eagerly, “And he’s not mine yet.”

“I’ll adopt Tannie if you adopt yours,” Taehyung said, looking down at the little puppy in his lap affectionately, “So they won’t be apart from each other.”

“What do you mean?” You furrowed your brows, looking to your side to meet his eyes, “We don’t live together…um, right?”

“Yeah, I know, I’m pretty sure we don’t—,” He suddenly started sounding a bit flustered as he avoided your gaze, “I mean, like, if we each take one of them then we can let them meet and have little dog dates for them? I mean, if you’d like…” He bit his lip nervously, eyes finally flitting up to gauge your reaction.

You smiled, endeared by his adorableness, “Of course, I’d love that. And, wait—you already named him?”

A smile brightened Taehyung’s face again, and although you couldn’t see his mouth, it was obvious he was happy by the way his eyes lit up, “Yeah, I chose a name on the way here. Yeontan. How about yours?”

“I haven’t actually chosen one,” You said, suddenly feeling sheepish. Were you supposed to name your dog beforehand? “I’ve never owned a dog before so I don’t know how that all works.”

He chortled, bumping you with his shoulder, “Y/N, you just choose a name. There’s nothing special about it.”

“Hey, it’s special for me,” You said defensively, though you felt the heat rise to your cheeks when he scrunched his face jokingly and responded, “It’s like adopting a child, isn’t it?”

You sighed dramatically as you glanced down at your puppy, your new child, “It really is.”

***

y/n: i named my puppy

taehyung: finally! what did you decide on? i was getting all tongue-tied calling him ‘the big one out of the two small pomeranians we decided to adopt together’

y/n: his name is byeol :)

taehyung: ahhhh cute

taehyung: tannie’s been whiney lately :(

y/n: aw, why? byeol’s been good so far

taehyung: he misses his big brother, he wants to go to the dog park with him

y/n: lmao so now you understand dog hm?

taehyung: hey hey you understand english and i understand dog, people are different okay?

y/n: of course of course, there’s no judgement here lol

y/n: dog park by the café tomorrow, noon?

taehyung: how about this afternoon? three?

y/n: okay

y/n: you’re too smooth it’s unfair

taehyung: see you there ;)

Setting your phone on your bedside table, you couldn’t help the smile that crept onto your lips and you let out a little giggle. Even Byeol, curled up in your lap, seemed intrigued by whatever had made you happy, and he lifted his head to nudge your hand.

“We’re gonna go see Tannie,” You cooed to him, scratching his head gently, “Do you miss your little brother?”

In answer, Byeol’s eyes lit up, and you laughed as he started doing excited laps around your bed. Having a companion was definitely worth it.

You didn’t know why but an hour later, at 2:30pm, you found yourself staring at your closet for much longer than you had anticipated. At this point, you wouldn’t make it to the dog park on time to meet Taehyung. You didn’t even know why you felt the need to even entertain the idea of dressing up—you never would have even considered it on any other trip to the park but for somereason your mind was deciding to be stupid—

Frustrated, you let out a groan and Byeol, who had been circling your feet for the past ten minutes you had been standing at your closet, turned his head up at you curiously.

“Byeol-ie,” You grumbled, sitting down on the carpet and tugging your little puppy into a hug, “I can’t find clothes to wear.”

Of course, Byeol didn’t reply—he was focused on cuddling into your arms and you didn’t object. You would never object to cuddles with Byeol. He was super soft and far too cute to be true, and your frustration was immediately forgotten as you nuzzled your face into Byeol’s fur, “I love you, Byeol-ie.”

In the end, you collected yourself, sucked it up and just picked some damn clothes, put Byeol on his leash and then began the walk to the park.

It was just Taehyung. Right? Yeah.

Byeol was a good distraction from your thoughts—what even were these thoughts? No, there were no thoughts. No thoughts. Definitely none about Taehyung. None about his pretty eyes or his curly hair. Or his boxy smile. Or—

sdlkfjskdlfjdkfjlsdfjsdfksjdlfsdfqeejiwofksfdl

No more of that.

You focused on Byeol, who was absolutely giddy with energy. He was bounding around in all directions, although you kept his leash at a safe length so he wouldn’t run onto the road or get lost somewhere. His excitement seriously reflected that of a small child and it was super endearing.

You got to the dog park at five past three, and spotted Taehyung immediately, on his phone, sitting on one of the benches, already in the little dog pen that they had for the small dogs.

He glanced up every few seconds to check on Yeontan, but the little puppy was waiting at his feet, looking around shyly every time he looked up (or rather, down). He kept trying to encourage the little pomeranian to interact with the other dogs, but Yeontan was adamant on waiting, which made you giggle.

You took a quick look at him and noticed that he had on one of those black headbands that athletic people wore, his bangs tucked over it, hair catching the sunlight in just the right way that made it look sparkly.

Almost exactly at that moment, you got a text from him:

taehyung: i’m here, are you close?

y/n: look up, to your left :)

He glanced up and when he caught sight of you, his face immediately lit up with a boxy grin, and you waved at him, a laugh spilling from your lips. Byeol spotted him then, and immediately he started barking excitedly and tugging on the leash to meet Yeontan.

Finally, tugged along by Byeol (who was surprisingly verystrong when he was excited), you approached him and pushed open the gate to the dog pen. Once the gate was securely shut again, you unclipped Byeol from his leash and he was bounding off immediately off to Yeontan. Said puppy had also started barking and running towards Byeol instantly—and when the two dogs met in the middle they excitedly circled each other and seemed to converse with each other very happily.

You went over to Taehyung, and you spoke first, “Hey! Sorry, I got caught up at one of the crossings.”

“It’s okay,” He replied with a smile, putting an arm over your shoulder and squeezing you close for a second, before letting you go, which surprised you—it made your heart spin in a way you weren’t sure how to interpret, “I thought you were going to ditch me for a sec,” He joked lightly.

“I’m sorry,” You said genuinely, meeting his eyes, “I wouldn’t ditch you, Byeol was way too excited for me to not come. The moment I told him we were going to see Tannie he was practically out the door.”

“Tannie was too shy to play with any other dogs,” Taehyung said with a little chuckle, “He really missed his brother. Thank you for coming.”

“It’s okay, I wanted to,” You said with a half-smile, “I like talking to you.”

“I like talking to you, too,” He said sincerely, his eyes gleaming euphorically at your words, “You’re good at talking.” He suddenly did a double-take, “Sorry, that was really strangely-worded lmao I think I—,”

You burst out laughing, “Did you seriously just say ‘lmao’ out loud?”

He flushed, “Sorry, it’s a habit, I talk to Tannie like I’m texting him, so I just um, slipped, I’m sorry that was really weird.”

“It’s okay, it’s kind of cute,” You said, unable to hold back your giggles, “I think it’s weird but in a cute way, you know?”

“Um, I think?” He said, his cheeks still rosy, “I think I get what you mean. You’re weird in a cute way, too—damn, I screwed up again didn’t I—,”

Suddenly feeling brave, you silenced him by taking his face gently in your hands, taking a brief second to admire the way his eyes shone in the golden sunlight, before you leant up and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was soft and nice and more than enough to make your heart skip a beat—or two, or three. He put an arm around your waist gently, and although the kiss was completely innocent, the feeling of his lips on yours made you feel weak in the knees. Suddenly you were thankful that you were sitting, or you would most certainly have lost your balance.

When you pulled away, a few seconds later, you were exhilarated and there was a long silence where you stayed in his arms, breathing soft, until he broke it and murmured, “Your eyes are so pretty in the sun.”  

Before you could respond, a pair of pomeranians called Yeontan and Byeol who ran into your legs, yapping excitedly as they hopped around each other.

Catching your breath, you leant down and picked Byeol up, immediately cooing, “Aww, little Byeol-ie wants to play!” He excitedly licked at your hands, his eyes wide and almost smiling, “I love you Byeol-ie, aww, yeah, I love you—,” you kissed his head and he barked happily. Setting him down carefully, you told Taehyung, meeting his eyes but suddenly feeling a bit shy, “I think they want to play.”

He was looking at you already, a smile in his eyes, and he replied, “How about we take them on a walk on the way to froyo?”

“We’re getting froyo?” You said, eyes widening—you tried not to make it obvious, but based on the way Taehyung’s expression changed to one of pure amusement, you assumed that you weren’t successful in hiding your immediate excitement, “I love froyo! Do they allow puppies though?”

“I know the owners so we can just bring them in,” Taehyung said reassuringly, and you were on your feet in an instant, clasping Byeol’s leash back onto his collar.

“Let’s go, then,” You said, cheeks dimpling into a smile, “Come on, Byeol-ie!”

Too distracted by the thought of frozen yoghurt, you missed Taehyung’s adoring gaze as he watched you skip over to the gate.

***

The froyo shop was very cute—it was small, kind of like your aunt’s café, but it was set up like an icecream shop. After ensuring that Byeol and Yeontan were secure and their leashes were looped onto one of the poles right on the doorstep of the shop, you excitedly rushed to get into the shop. The fruity smell immediately engulfed you. It had been a long time since you’d gotten any sort of dessert, and the thought of eating frozen yoghurt made you more excited than you would have liked to admit.

But when you looked up, your jaw dropped—

“Y/N, what?”

“Jimin?”

Sure enough, your best friend—Park Jimin, the one and only, your classmate and tutor and advice-giver, was standing behind the counter, his eyes wide. And then, his gaze drifted to the figure behind you—Taehyung, and Jimin’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You two know each other?” Jimin said, astonished, “I didn’t realise you’d ever even met.”

“We met a week and a bit ago,” Taehyung said, putting a hand on the small of your back and encouraging you to approach the counter, probably so that you could actually start looking at the flavours, “We adopted dogs together. Are we allowed to bring them in, by the way? Tannie and Byeol are waiting outside.”

“You have dogs? You don’t live together, do you? Wait, Y/N, how could you go to the animal shelter without bringing me?” Jimin said, looking affronted.

“I just took your advice about getting a puppy,” You said, still in shock, “Why are you at a froyo shop? And how do you know Taehyung?”

“I’m a dancer, remember? We dance together, and his dad owns this shop,” Taehyung explained.

“You dance?” You spun to face Jimin, drowned in surprise, and Jimin exclaimed, “Y/N, dude, I’ve told you before, I swear I have.”

“Okay, to be honest you probably have,” You sighed, reminding yourself that you had a terrible memory and it was more likely that you’d forgotten—to be honest. Not only that, but the topic of dancing didn’t come up often with Jimin; since it wasn’t something you had in common. But still—Seoul was a pretty damn big city, how did thishappen?

“Bring the dogs in, I need to meet them immediately. You can put them in the backyard,” Jimin demanded, before motioning for the two of you to come forward, “What flavour of froyo do you want?”

***

The next week, you were sitting with Jimin on campus at school, during break. It had been a pretty lazy week for you, since most of your assessments were finished and these were just conclusion lessons for you. You’d had much more time to take care of Byeol, and also—of course—Yeontan, and by extension also talk to Taehyung.

“So, wait, I don’t see you for like two weeks and you made outwith my dance partner andadopted a dog with him? And you didn’ttellme?” Jimin exclaimed—his tone teasing, as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

“We didn’t make out,” You sighed, even though you knew it was useless—Jimin was very stubborn about teasing you, “And I would have told you when I saw you next. On a much more important note, why didn’t you tell me you owned a froyo shop? You knowI love froyo.”

“I literally did,” He rolled his eyes, tone light, “Your memory just sucks, Y/N. I can’t believe my two best friends betrayedme and got together.”

“Jimin, I didn’t even know you were friends with Taehyung,” You said, shoving his shoulder playfully.

“I swear I’ve told you,” Jimin began, but you rolled your eyes playfully.

“Oh, stop using that excuse, I know my memory doesn’t suck thatmuch,” You said with a scoff, narrowing your eyes jokingly, and Jimin laughed, “You can’t get away with everything, Jimin-ie.”

Before he could respond, your phone lit up, and Jimin was immediately leaning over eagerly, “It’s Taehyung, isn’t it? I swear you two are always texting.” He returned to eating his sandwich as he waited for you to finish texting Taehyung back.

taehyung: i’m at the pet shop, how many cans of dog food do we need

y/n: i need three and you need four so

taehyung: but i can’t use my fingers to add them up :( i’m texting you with my fingers

y/n: use your toes, remember you have twenty in total?

taehyung: dang it i knew you were the smart one

You giggled before switching your phone off and finally opening your bag to pull out the lunch that you had bought for yourself this morning—two strawberry croissants.

The sunlight was soft and nice and pretty; the thought brightened your face with a smile, especially when your phone lit up with a new text:

taehyung: dog park by the café, 3pm?

[treya-barton]

Hello there!! I'm here with a Promptis prompt ❤️ I'd love to see something sweet and fluffy. How about the first time either one of them realizes they are in love with the other?

Sorry this took so long to write!  I had somehow missed the ask at first and then when I noticed it I had other projects going on and then struggled to come up with a good idea.  This idea ended up not being all that fluffy but there are definitely some sweet moments and hopefully you will still enjoy it!

“Hey there, Prince Noctis.”

The words still rang in Noctis’s head.  He lay sprawled on his bed after his first day in high school which had been followed by his typical princely lessons and a training session with Gladio.  Yet, he didn’t feel as tired as he usually did. Instead, while he was physically tired from sparring, he felt more awake and alert than he typically did day to day. And he knew exactly who he could attribute it to.

“I’m Prompto!  Nice to meet you!”

Prompto.  Like Noctis didn’t already know who he was.  As he had immediately called out right afterward. Prompto had been in his class in middle school.  He had always stood out to Noctis because just like him he always seemed like a quiet loner.  He couldn’t remember Prompto hanging out with the other kids in class, and he always seemed to go straight home after school.  The other thing that stood out is unlike the other students in class who either whispered about him behind his back or when they actually approached him it was only to ask questions about being a prince, Prompto always looked like he wanted to speak to him but couldn’t bring himself to.  In retrospect, especially after the experience he had today, Noctis wish he would have.  Or that he had gone out on a limb and approached Prompto instead.  Because unlike all of his other classmates, Prompto seemed to genuinely want to know him – Noctis.  And he had never experienced that before.  

Even with Ignis and Gladio who knew the real him there was always a stopping point.  Ignis was his Chamberlain and Gladio was his Shield so no matter how close they were at certain times there was always that underlying distinction.  But today, even though it was only for a brief moment, he had been able to forget that.  All because Prompto had approached him, slapping him on the back like they were old friends.  Noctis had returned the gesture and somehow knew in that moment things would never be the same.

  “Don’t I know you?”

Prompto flushed as he buried his face in his pillow.  He didn’t know how he had managed to carry on past that embarrassing moment or how he had even found the courage to introduce himself in the first place.  After so many attempts where he had chickened out in middle school, he had surprised himself that morning by finally carrying through with the plan.  After introducing himself, Noctis’s eyes had scanned his body, before recognition had hit and he had bluntly called Prompto out on his half fib.  Half because while they had been classmates, they had only spoken directly one time, the moment where Noctis had told him he was heavy and fully mortified him.

Prompto looked over at his desk drawer that still contained the letter from Lady Lunafreya, the letter that had been his strength to carry through with his plan.  Noctis had always seemed as lonely as he was, even when surrounded by their classmates bombarding him with questions about living in the palace. Even before he had received the letter, with Lady Lunafreya subtly encouraging him to befriend the prince, Prompto had noticed that Noctis seemed to be a kindred spirit.  The prince never seemed to talk to anyone on his own free will and always stayed to himself until getting picked up from school; Prompto remembered finding it sad how the prince could be in the same situation he was.

But now, with an act of courage, he had changed all of that.  Upon getting to know him that day, Prompto realized that Noctis was just as blunt as he had been the first time they spoke, although it was more due to being awkward from his upbringing than due to any malice. He also had the same tastes in videogames that Prompto did and was pretty relaxed which Prompto hadn’t expected. He had just allowed himself to be dragged along by Prompto’s whims the whole day, and he hadn’t seemed to mind the bubbly, nervous energy Prompto had adopted after he had learned to be more friendly and to talk to people.  He wondered if Noctis had been surprised by that change, so different from the person he had been in middle school, but the prince hadn’t mentioned it nor seemed to mind. Prompto looked over at the pictures lined up on his closet door, outlining the changes he had been making since middle school, and he couldn’t help but let out a smile.  His hard work had really paid off.

  Noctis was irritated and he couldn’t quite place his finger on why.  He and Prompto were hanging out at his apartment, Noctis needing to hide away after his engagement with Lunafreya had been publicly announced.  Prompto had come over to keep him company, and usually that was enough to cheer him up but today it only seemed to sour his mood further. Prompto seemed to have noticed and had fallen silent, stealing glances at him while he pretended to be invested in his phone.  “What,” Noctis finally asked.

“Huh?” Prompto asked, eyes darting at him over his phone before quickly looking away as he saw Noctis’s pointed glare.  “I don’t get what you mean, dude.”

“If you want to say something, just say it,” Noctis replied, his normal patience with his best friend completely gone.  He didn’t know why he was so irritated – it wasn’t like it was Prompto’s fault that due to his duty to the Crown he had no say in many of his life’s choices including who he was going to marry.  It’s not that Noctis didn’t like Luna – she was someone he had always relied on for advice and he cared greatly about her.  But something about the treaty just didn’t seem right, and he didn’t like that his father was sending him away when his health was in decline.  Noctis clenched his jaw, then looked back at Prompto and noticed that the blond had his arms crossed over his chest while he was staring down at the ground.  Prompto rarely ever showed this side to himself – he put on a friendly façade even when he was feeling down – so it surprised him to see him openly appearing hurt. Noctis felt some of his patience return along with his guilt.

“Hey, Prom, I’m sorry,” Noctis said, reaching out an placing a hand on Prompto’s shoulder.  “I’m just feeling irritated today.  I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”

Prompto let out a sigh before turning to face him.  “Wanna talk about it?” he finally asked, blue violet eyes boring into his.  Noctis bit his lip.

“What’s there to talk about? Everyone’s ecstatic,” he said.  “Even you…”  Noctis finally cut himself off, blinking in surprise by his bitter words. When he had found out about the engagement, he had told Prompto about it afterward and his best friend had seemed happy for him.  In Prompto’s defense, he had been witness to Noctis’s journal exchange with the oracle and seemed to be convinced Noctis had a crush on her.  That certainly may have been true when Noctis had been a child, but now…  Noctis’s cheeks suddenly flushed with realization, and he let out a groan before covering his face.

“Whoah, Noct, you ok buddy?” Prompto asked.  “Also, even me what?”

“Can we talk about something else,” Noctis asked, suddenly embarrassed.  He understood why he was so annoyed – he was mad that Prompto seemed happy about his engagement to Lunafreya.  It didn’t really matter what the news articles said or even that it was his duty – the only opinion that really mattered was Prompto’s, and Noctis was beginning to realize that maybe he had wanted Prompto to be upset, jealous even.

‘Shit,’ Noctis thought. It wasn’t like even if Prompto was jealous there was anything that could be done, so it made sense for his best friend to show his support and be happy for him.  Noctis glanced out at him from between his fingers as he thought through Prompto’s reaction to the news.  He had seemed happy for him and had immediately started teasing him about his crush, but if Noctis was remembering correctly there had been a tiny, brief moment that had flickered across his face that almost seemed resigned. Pairing that with how Prompto had appeared just a moment ago and maybe, just maybe Prompto wasn’t as excited about the news as he acted.  Noctis’s relief was bittersweet, since he had discovered his feelings for his best friend far too late to do anything about it.  ‘Figures,’ he thought, as Prompto tentatively switched topics to the upcoming event scheduled in king’s knight that would be starting right around the time they started their road trip.

“We should have plenty of time to play in the car!” he said, and Noctis finally felt his mood begin to improve.  That was right, he would have the trip to Altissia with his best friends prior to his whole life changing to look forward to.  It would only be a brief moment, but he would cherish it for the rest of his life.

  Prompto felt thoroughly embarrassed.  Not that it was anything new.  He had asked Noctis to join him so he could secretly snap a photo of Cindy working at the garage in Hammerhead and they had been caught in the act.  Noctis had helped him play it off and had even managed to finagle a picture of the two of them together; it was moments like that which reminded Prompto that hey, Noctis really was king of Insomnia and would do a great job one day.  Once they resolved the current predicament they were in, that is.  “My hero, Noct,” Prompto whispered to himself as he looked at the photo Noctis had taken for him.  It had come out looking really good – Noctis must be paying attention during some of his moments rambling about photography.

Prompto flipped through his camera until he found one of the many selfies he and Noctis had taken together. He stared at it quietly for several long moments before letting out a deep sigh and setting his camera down.  Prompto was in one hell of a dilemma.  On the one hand, Insomnia had fallen and right now – more than ever – Noctis needed him as his best friend.  It was a role Prompto filled willingly – he would always be there for Noctis and knew how much he relied on his support.  But at the same time, deep down, buried in Prompto’s most selfish desires that he would never tell anyone…he couldn’t help but feel just the tiniest bit grateful for his current situation.  Because with the fall of Insomnia, there no longer was a point to Noctis’s engagement to Lunafreya.  The treaty had been a ploy by Niflheim to get Regis to drop his guard and had led to the fall of Insomnia, the death of Noctis’ and Gladio’s fathers, and more than likely the death of Prompto’s own parents who he hadn’t heard from since Insomnia was attacked.

Obviously, Prompto would trade it all back if it meant Insomnia was safe and all the people who had died could be brought back.  He would have definitely preferred watching while his heart broke as his best friend – the person he had fallen in love with at some point in their friendship without being able to remember the exact moment when it had happened – married the person he had looked up to his whole life instead.  Prompto used to think Noctis had feelings for Lady Lunafreya, but little moments like their conversation after the engagement was announced had made him wonder otherwise.  A part of him wanted to know what Noctis would have said after his “Even you” but he had clammed up afterward, and Prompto had helpfully changed the subject to spare his best friend an awkward conversation.

But then things like today would happen where Noctis would support his crush on Cindy, and Prompto would wonder if it was all just wishful thinking.  Cindy was certainly attractive, and Prompto couldn’t help but admire her focus and dedication to her work, but half of his admiration for her had been an act to cover his heartbreak after Noctis’s announced engagement. And even though that was no longer going to happen, it wasn’t like Prompto could suddenly turn it off when it was expected at this point.  Prompto flushed in embarrassment as he thought back to his true intentions that morning.  He had expected to snap the photo and then spend the rest of the morning taking pictures of Noctis, enjoying a quiet morning with his best friend until they had been surprised by Cindy’s interruption.  

‘This isn’t the time to be moping,’ Prompto reminded himself.  They had a mission to save Lucis – that was far more important than Prompto’s conflicted feelings over his best friend and king.  Prompto slapped his cheeks a few times, just as he used to in middle school before his runs, and picked up his camera before heading out from the camp to see what his companions were up to.  They would be leaving soon for the next leg of their trip and he was sure Iggy or Gladio could use some help packing.

  It wasn’t fair.  After all the loss Noctis had experienced on his journey, all the pain he had been through, once he had finally reunited with his friends and once again strengthened their bonds of brotherhood, he had fallen for Ardyn’s trap yet again and had been sucked into the crystal in order to fulfill his destiny as the King of Light.  He had finally been at a place, after everything had happened, after nearly losing the person he cared most about, to be honest with him and bare his feelings to him.  There had been no obstacles left to hold them apart anymore and now the new obstacle was one he could not overcome.  He was destined to die in order to save the world.

As Noctis floated about in the space enclosed in the Crystal, learning about his destiny as his body slowly absorbed the crystal’s power so he would be strong enough to make his last stand, he suddenly wished he could turn back time and do things differently.  He wished he could have been honest to Prompto about his feelings and let him know that he knew Prompto’s crush on Cindy was all for show, that he knew he had been jealous over his engagement but had held his feelings in check for his sake.  Holding back for the sake of the failed engagement, then until he could talk to Lunafreya face to face to let her know his feelings first until her death made it a wasted effort, then feeling hurt and bitter after losing another person he cared about and wasting the opportunity again when he was tricked into pushing Prompto off the train, nearly losing him forever.  What had been the point of it all?  If he had just been honest, they would have been able to spend a few stolen, happy moments together.  It would have been something he would have cherished until the very end.

Once Noctis finally was released from the crystal and made his way back to Hammerhead, reuniting with his friends in a bittersweet moment, he considered using his final moments to confess to his best friend how he had been in love with him, probably from that moment Prompto had first called out his name.  However, he didn’t want to leave Prompto with that burden, not here at the end. Not when he would be leaving him for good this time.  Yet, somehow, just like at that moment in high school all those years ago, Prompto seemed to have the courage he did not have.

“Hey Noct, can I talk to you for a moment?”  Prompto looked like he had something on his mind. This Prompto was more serious than the one Noctis was used to, and not for the first time he wondered what his friends had been through during his 10 year absence.  The dark circles under Prompto’s eyes and the weariness that seemed ingrained in his face, unable to be completely hidden by his warm smile, told him all he needed to know.

“Of course.  What’s up?” Noctis asked.  They moved away to a quiet corner amidst the car parts strewn in the cramped space of the fenced in rest stop; there weren’t very many places where they could truly get a moment to themselves due to how small the safe area was and how many hunters took shelter there between jobs.

Prompto fiddled with one of the pieces of scrap metal for a moment before setting it down.  “This may come as a surprise and honestly it’s probably not the time for me to be saying this but…I figure at this point I’m pretty much out of chances.”  Prompto took a deep breath and then released it.  “I love you, Noct.  Have been in love with you for quite a long time.  I don’t know when it started, but I know I realized it the day you told me you were getting engaged, and I thought my world was crashing down.  This may be selfish of me to do when you don’t have a lot of time left but…”  Before he could finish, Noctis had thrown his arms around him before squeezing tight.

“You are the least selfish person I know,” Noctis assured him. “Shit, Prom.”  Noctis’s voice was trembling, and as Prompto’s shock wore off and he wrapped his arms around Noctis as well, he could feel how the king’s heart was racing where it pressed against his chest.  “I love you too.  I think from the very moment you greeted me like we had been friends forever.  You were the only person who wanted to know me and not the prince or the king or the king of light and for that you will always be precious to me.”

Prompto wrapped one arm around Noctis’s head and gently patted him on the back as he felt his best friend cling to him.  “We should have done this a long time ago, huh?” he asked, and Noctis snorted into his shoulder.

“You think?” he asked, before tilting his head to look at him.  Prompto flashed him an apologetic smile before they leaned forward for what they both assumed was their first – and their last – kiss.

  It really was a gorgeous sunrise.  If Prompto had his camera with him, he would have snapped a picture in order to commemorate the sacrifice the love of his life had made in order to allow it to happen. Instead, he did his best to ingrain it in his memory, taking in the feeling of the warmth on his skin, something he hadn’t felt in ages, the glow of the light as it reflected on the ruins of Insomnia, causing the broken class to glitter in the city like tiny jewels. ‘I wish you could see this,’ Prompto thought, hand clutching the photo Noctis had chosen to take with him to his final moments, that same selfie Prompto had looked back on all those years ago. They had both looked so happy as they had been goofing off together, and now…

The photo had slipped from Noctis’s fingers where he sat sprawled out on what would have been his throne, the citadel a shambled mess from where it had been ransacked during the fall on Insomnia.  After Gladio and Ignis had confirmed the death of their king, Prompto had picked up the photo before stepping outside to mourn.  Gladio and Ignis let him; Gladio had seen what photo Noctis had chosen to take with him and had gauged that something had changed in their relationship. Ignis had guessed just based on the change in inflection in their tone during those final hours together. Suddenly, the early morning quiet was broken by Gladio’s shout.  “Prompto! Hey, Prompto, come and see this!”

Prompto sighed, tearing his eyes away from the sunrise before making his way back to the throne room. “What is it?” he asked, before his eyes fell on the throne.  Noctis was no longer slumped over – in fact he was standing upright while leaning heavily against Ignis.  Ignis, who hardly ever seemed to get flustered, had tears rolling down his face while Gladio was grinning widely at him.  “Noct?” Prompto said, his voice coming out at a whisper.  “Is it really you?”

“I would sure hope so – I feel sore as hell,” Noctis grumbled in response.  “What are you doing standing at the door? And do you know where my photo went?”

Prompto grinned widely; if Noctis was complaining then he really was ok.  “I have it,” he said, before rushing in the room.  “I’ve got you buddy,” he added, moving to Noctis’s other side so he could also help steady him.  If Prompto’s arm around Noctis’s shoulder was a little tight, and if Noctis’s hold on Prompto’s jacket was clinging, no one said anything.  To both of their surprise, Gladio then swooped them all into a group hug, which they gladly joined in on.  They weren’t sure why Noctis had been granted a second chance at life, but they weren’t going to trade it in for the world.

Several days later, it was again early morning.  Noctis woke up to the soft clicking sound that meant Prompto was scrolling through the pictures on his camera.  He slid open one eye and yawned as he turned to face him, smiling at how after only a few days of peace and having Noctis back in his life, Prompto was slowly losing the dark circles under his eyes and regaining some of his old enthusiasm. The weariness was still there, and some of it may always be there, but Noctis would do all he could to lessen it every day.  “What are you looking at?” he asked.

“Some of the old photos of us,” Prompto replied.  “Just reflecting on the past I guess.”  He then lifted up his camera and took a snapshot of Noctis gazing up at him sleepily with his hair sprawled on his pillow.

“No fair,” Noctis grumbled. “I wasn’t ready.”

Prompto let out a chuckle. “Want to take one together?” he asked. Prompto had almost completely stopped taking photos during the 10 years Noctis was gone – there were a few pictures here and there but for the most part that time period was undocumented as people were more focused on survival and holding out for his return.  Thus, seeing him enthusiastically pick up his hobby again warmed Noctis’s heart.  Besides that, it wasn’t like he could ever deny Prompto anything.  Certainly not ever again.

Noctis scooted closer to Prompto, pulling his boyfriend against him so Prompto would be able to get a good close up shot.  Just as Prompto was about to hit the button to take the photo, Noctis turned his head and pressed a kiss to Prompto’s cheek, causing his boyfriend to squawk in surprise.  “Noct!” he whined, and the king chuckled in response.

“This is why you keep getting called a chocobo,” he teased, nuzzling at Prompto’s hair.  Without the hair gel it didn’t look quite as much like chocobo tail feathers, but it was still close enough.

Prompto set down his camera on the side table before pulling Noctis into his arms.  He knew how much he liked to cuddle in the morning; even when their relationship had been platonic Noctis had been clingy in the morning. “You happen to like chocobos,” Prompto replied, and Noctis couldn’t help but let out a snort.  He may like chocobos but it was nothing compared to Prompto’s adoration for them.

“I like you more,” Noctis replied, and Prompto flushed before pulling Noctis even closer to try to hide his face.  Noctis grinned before snuggling closer, appreciating the opportunity.  He had fully given up hope that this day would come, and now that he had Prompto to himself he was going to cherish his time with him every moment he got.  He couldn’t help but feel like it was somehow his father and Lunafreya’s doing, and he wouldn’t let his chance go to waste.  “I love you, Prompto,” Noctis said quietly, and Prompto squeezed his arms around him to show he had heard him.

“I love you too, Noctis,” he replied, voice fond.  Noctis smiled before sliding his eyes closed again, deciding they could stay in bed together just a little bit longer.  Prompto chuckled quietly but didn’t stop him – he always had spoiled Noctis, hadn’t he? Thus, both men stayed thus entwined for most of the morning, reluctant to part and appreciating a quiet morning together.

[et-lesailes]

cleanse

pairing: steve rogers x reader

themes: fluff !!!

word count: approx 1700

summary: being your boyfriend of 3 years, steve knows you take your skincare routine very seriously, and while he loves to tease you for it, he also decides that tonight is the night he’s going to try to attempt to understand it. 

permanent taglist: @thefvcker-tucker 

note: requested by @kaithezaftig // hope you love it! :)

Being Steve Rogers’ girlfriend, or the significant other of any of the Avengers, for that matter, required a lot of understanding and patience. You had to accept early on in the relationship that as a defender of the world, he might be slightly more busy than you, an editor-in-chief for a popular fashion and lifestyle magazine. You did not mind the occasional time apart from each other, though-- you completely understood how important his job and his missions were, and you were rather independent, anyways. As long as he put effort into communication and told you ahead of time when to not expect him home, you were more than happy being in a relationship with the super soldier. You had been together for nearly three years now, and you were positive he was the one you would marry one day.

Tonight was a pleasant surprise; Steve had come home early from his trip to Washington, D.C, and you two finally had a night together to catch up and relax. You loved the apartment the two of you shared in the Upper East Side of New York  City, and it felt even more like home when Steve was there with you. He had offered to take you out to a nice restaurant and a movie, but you had declined; you knew how tired he was after his trip, and even you yourself preferred a night in after the busy day you had at work. And so you had enjoyed a simple spaghetti dinner at the dining table accompanied with a nice red wine, sharing stories of your weeks and making each other laugh what seemed like every five seconds-- it was incredible how much he could boost your mood, whether you were tired, upset or even already happy to begin with.

He was now lounging comfortably in the bed in nothing but sweatpants as you stood before the mirror in the bathroom with the door open, your own clothing having come off long ago to be replaced by a simple black nightie. It had been hot in New York for the past couple of weeks, and being a part of a fashion magazine, you already took great care of your appearance as it was-- but you felt tonight you should give your skin a little extra love considering the humidity and heat it had faced as of late. 

You had just finished applying an oil-based cleanser to your face when Steve lazily strolled into the bathroom, the corner of his lips tugging upwards in amusement as he wrapped his arms around you from behind and rested his head on top of yours, looking at you through the reflection of the mirror. “I was going to tell you to come get in bed already, but then I realized you were doing your skincare routine and I decided I didn’t want to wait three hours until I saw my pretty girl again.” You blinked and laughed, nudging him with your elbow. “Stop being so dramatic, it takes, like, thirty minutes tops, and that’s only when I use a face mask.” He chuckled lowly and pressed his lips to your hair, arching a brow as he murmured, “And are you using a face mask tonight…?” You barely bit your lip somewhat sheepishly before tilting your head up to look at him defensively. “It’s been hot, and sweat isn’t good for your skin, okay? We can’t all have flawless looks like you, Steven.” You referred to him by his more formal name as you did when you were "scolding” him, and he laughed as he hugged you tighter. “Hm. I don’t know about that, baby, because you always look pretty flawless to me.”

You rolled your eyes fondly, playfully wrinkling your nose at the cheesy remark though you genuinely appreciated it, and you knew he knew that. “Okay, okay, let’s make this fun for me too, babe. I’m going to guess which one you use next. God knows how you even remember the order of all of these things,” he shook his head playfully as his blue eyes flickered over the several little containers of products you had on the counter. You blinked before giggling softly, looking up at him again and nodding your head. “Okay. You’re going to fail miserably, though.” He scoffed in playful offense, taking the bottle you had just used and setting it aside before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. 

“Hm.. wait, tell me what you used just now.” 

“An oil-based cleanser. Is that really going to help you?”

“Hey, you never know!” he laughed, biting his lip as he moved to stand next to you to lean in and eye each product closely. “Uh… okay, I think this one is next.” He picked up the toner, looking at you hopefully. Chuckling softly, you shook your head. “Nope. Do you want another guess?” He sighed playfully setting it down, reaching over to pick up your eye cream. “This one?” You shook your head, smiling fondly. “That one’s practically at the very end!” Seeing that this would probably take a while, you reached over yourself to pick up the water-based cleanser, showing it to him. “It’s this one. It’s water based instead of oil based, so it helps clean any residue from the oil,” you explained, then couldn’t help but laugh at his confused expression. “Then why did you put the oil on to begin with?” he asked, and you playfully smacked his arm. “Because it’s good for your skin! Here, you know what-- let’s just do this together.”

Before he could respond, you applied some on your hands before standing up on your tiptoes to rub the product into his face, a giggle escaping your lips upon his expression- he reminded you of the photo of a cat you had seen online frozen in confusion and distress upon having aluminum foil placed on its head. “Come over here and sit down,” you instructed, putting the toilet seat down so he could sit on the soft covered lid. “And stop looking like that. I promise it’ll feel good!” He blinked and chuckled upon being called out, obediently going over and sitting down. “Okay, but the others can’t find out about this,” he said playfully, raising an eyebrow. “Tony would never let me hear the end of it.” You laughed and went back to the mirror, applying the second cleanser to your own face before picking up your exfoliator, spreading it across your hands before coming back over to him and working it over his skin, massaging his temples along the way. “Wow,” he mumbled lowly, closing his eyes, “maybe this does feel kind of nice….” You smiled triumphantly, teasing, “I told you. Don’t worry, babe, I’ll write up instructions for you so you can do this when you’re away, too.”

_________________________________________

“So there’s just, different face masks for different… skin things.”

“Yes.”

“What’s this one for?”

“It hydrates your skin.”

“What’s in it?

“Aloe.”

“Is it--”

“Steve! Enough, already! This is supposed to be relaxing!” You playfully cut him off, looking up at him and lightly pinching his nose to make the mask press more against each side. The two of you were lying on your backs in bed with face masks on, having gone through the other previous steps of your routine. He barely bit on his lip, trying his best not to grin too widely since it would mess up the mask. “Baby girl, how do you still find a way to look so cute even with that on your face? I probably look like that guy from Scream.” He adjusted himself so that he could wrap his arm around you, your head now laying by his chest as a little smile crossed your lips. “You kinda do,” you teased as you glanced up at him, “but you get to look good all the rest of the time, so this is only fair.” He sighed playfully, squeezing your side. “You’re going to inflate my ego way too much, you know that? And then maybe my big head won’t look so good.” You chuckled and shook your head, murmuring softly, “You could never get a big ego, and you know that. You’re too good for that.” Glancing at the time, you sat up and slowly removed your mask before reaching over and taking his off, smiling as your eyes fell over his handsome facial features. Leaning in to give him a soft kiss on the lips, you murmured, “Doesn’t your face just feel clean? Rub the rest of the liquid in.” He immediately grinned against your lips, kissing back before obeying, his large hands reaching up to massage the excess material into his skin. “Okay, it does feel great, I’ll give you that. I can see why you do this.” 

Suddenly, he had you lying back on the bed again, a mischievous smile on his lips as he now hovered over you and murmured, “But now that we’re all done, I want my baby cuddled up to me in bed with some lame movie on the TV that we can drink hot chocolate to and make fun of. Sound like a plan?” He playfully covered your face in kisses, making you squeal as you giggled. “Okay, okay, but--” you bit your lip as you looked up at him, batting your eyelashes innocently, “-- don’t kill me, but we have one more step to go….” He blinked as he looked down at you incredulously, though clearly amused. “What? I swear, we used every single one of those bottles in there. There’s more??” You laughed and playfully pushed him off, jumping out of bed and grabbing his hand to pull him out too. “You can’t go to bed without moisturizing, Steven! That’s absolutely unheard of!”

A dramatic groan escaped his lips, but he was still grinning as he got up, sighing as he wrapped his arms around you from behind to follow you into the bathroom. “Of course, how could I even think to do something so filthy? Okay, okay, but the second we’re back in bed, we’re not getting out until I say so. Got it?”

You giggled and paused to turn around, stepping up on your tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Got it.”

[jalapeno-princess]

Mark Tuan X Reader

Genre: Fluff, a tiny bit of angst, single mom reader

Word Count: 4.7k

Summary: You and Mark meet in a club and end up tangled in the sheets together at the end of the night. However, he wasn’t what you had thought he was. The two of you hit it off or so he thought and he asked you to stay the night. As much as you started to develop feelings for him, you didn’t want to burden him with the fact that you had a child. Therefore, you leave before he can wake. A month later, fate brings the two of you together again and Mark doesn’t let this chance go by and neither do you.

You weren’t one to have one night stands, but you couldn’t help yourself. With the way he was looking you throughout the entire night at the club, the way his hands gripped tightly on your waist as he grinded you on top of his thigh and the way he seductively whispered naughty things in to your ear, you knew you’d end up in bed with him later that night. You weren’t surprised when he asked you if you wanted to get out of there nor were you surprised when you found yourself bouncing on his dick just a few hours after meeting him. You had expected that you would leave right after the two of you finished having sex, however Mark had other plans. The two of you were drunk, but not from the alcohol. The minute he laid his eyes on you, he knew he was fucked. You were a sight for sore eyes. No matter how many pretty girls there were in the club, something about you stood out to him. From the moment he laid his eyes on you, he wanted you and Mark Tuan always got what he wanted. 

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t find him attractive. You were talking story with one of your friends when you saw him and you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. You felt yourself getting wet at the slightest things he did. The way he licked his lips and bit them right afterwards sent shivers down your spine and every time he ran his fingers through his hair, you wanted nothing more than to do it too. However, the cute little person on your lock screen was the reason why you were hesitant on getting in to any relationship whether it be romantic or just sexual. Your two year old son Zachary. 

You had gotten pregnant with Zachary when you were only 18 years old and at the time, you were in a relationship with his father. When you had first found out you were pregnant, you were afraid of the consequences that came with having a baby at such a young age. You weren’t even legal yet and you were afraid of your boyfriend’s reaction when you finally built up the courage to tell him. Even if he was nervous at the thought of parenthood, he promised you that he would be there for you and take care of the both of you. During the duration of your pregnancy, he was very supportive and did his best to give you everything you needed. Once your son was born, he helped you in every way he could. 

Unfortunately, only after a few months, he decided that being a father at only twenty years old was not what he wanted and that he was too young to settle down and have a family leaving you and your son all alone. Being a single mother at only 19 years old made you mature very quickly. Everything you did, you did it with Zachary in mind. That little boy was your entire world and you’d give up anything to make him happy. You haven’t been in a relationship nor did you have any sexual experiences with anyone since giving birth to your son, but you didn’t care. He was all that mattered to you. However, once you met Mark, you knew you were done for. You couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol. It was the lust and the need for him that led you to his bedroom. The main reason why you didn’t want to get in to a relationship was because you knew Zachary would always be your number one priority and you were afraid that whoever you ended up with wouldn’t completely accept the fact that you were a single mom. 

After countless hours of steamy and very passionate sex, you found yourself reaching for your clothes but before you could put on your shirt, you were being pulled back in to bed. “Where are you going?” You looked at him in confusion. Since you weren’t one to normally have one night stands, you had thought that once the two of you were done, you’d leave. But Mark wasn’t like that and your heart fluttered at the thought of him wanting you to stay. You tried telling yourself that maybe he wanted you to stay just so the two of you could have morning sex, but deep down you had hoped he wanted something more. It was dangerous for you to think like that though and you pushed the entire thought to the back of your mind. “Do you have somewhere to be?” You shook your head even though you knew you should’ve said yes. Tonight was your best friend’s 21st birthday and she wanted to go out to the club to celebrate. She had a feeling you would decline, especially because you gave up your entire social life after becoming a mother. However, your mom insisted she would watch Zachary so that you could go have some fun even if it was only for one night. A part of you wished you would’ve just stayed home, only because you knew you were developing feelings for Mark. “Stay. Please? I promise to cook for you tomorrow morning. I make a mean bacon and eggs.” You giggled and he took this time to steal a kiss from you. “God. How can someone be so adorable yet extremely sexy at the same time? What are you doing to me y/n?”

 He got up and grabbed you a pair of his underwear and one of his shirts to wear and there were red flags going off in your head but you ignored them. The two of you stayed up for a couple of hours talking about anything and everything. You couldn’t find it in you to bring up your son, but you didn’t feel the need to. Plus you were afraid of Mark’s reaction if he were to find out. Mark fell asleep before you and as you were closing your eyes, you got a notification. Your mom let you know that Zachary had been asking for you and refused to go to sleep without you. That’s why you found yourself slowly leaving Mark’s embrace to prevent him from waking up. You took a good look at him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips before leaving. As much as you wanted to leave your contact information in the hopes of seeing him again and continuing whatever this was between the two of you, it was best for both you and Mark to keep this as what you thought it was going to be. A one night stand. 

No matter how much you liked him and how he was different from all the guys you’ve dated in the past, you gave up dating for a reason. You didn’t want to fall in love again, nor did you want Zachary to get attached to someone only for them to leave when they decided that dating a single mother isn’t what they wanted. Even if the two of you spent only a few hours together, you learned a lot about him and you couldn’t help but fall for his charm, intelligence and extremely kind heart. You also couldn’t stop thinking about the way he looked at you as if you were the one who set the stars in the sky or the way he held you so close to his chest as if he were afraid to lose you. Your fingers absentmindedly traced your lips and couldn’t stop missing how his felt against yours. You knew you were going to regret leaving him, but you refused to get hurt again. 

When Mark woke up the next morning to a cold and empty bed, to say he was upset was an understatement. He quickly jumped out of bed to look around his apartment for you and his heart sank when he realized you had left without saying anything. He prayed that you had left something, a number, a note, anything. But when he found nothing, he couldn’t stop thinking about what went wrong. He didn’t understand, he thought the two of you hit it off. You weren’t a one night stand in his eyes. Mark Tuan didn’t do one night stands. He was the biggest romantic there was. With that being said, he had only ever been in two relationships and after getting to know you, he wanted nothing more than to be in one with you. Did he do something wrong or say something you didn’t like? Was he rushing things? Or did you only want this to be a one night stand? Over the course of a few weeks, he tried his best to look for you. He searched all over social media, but he realized all he knew was your first name. He even tried asking his friends if they knew you or heard about you, but he got nothing. He even found himself going to that same club multiple times a week in hopes of bumping in to you again. His friends didn’t understand why he was so hung up over you. Mark could get anyone he wanted, so why was he so set on you? He knew it wasn’t only the sex, no matter how amazing it was. Hell, you were the best sex Mark has ever had. And it went beyond your beauty. Sure, you were the prettiest girl he’s ever seen, but it was your passion, your strength and your gentleness that had Mark head over heels for you. He was sure your smile could cure cancer. You made him feel safe. 

You were dreading your decision, no matter how much you kept telling yourself it was for the best. You told your friend about what had happened and she became irritated with you. “How could you let him slip away y/n? If he asked you to stay and offered to make you breakfast, he obviously saw it as something more than just a fuck. He was hot as hell, how could you leave without getting his phone number at least? Do you remember his last name, or did you guys talk about his job?” You shrugged and gave her a knowing look. “You and I both know why I left. I don’t date-“ She was quick to cut you off and released an exasperated sigh. “Y/n, I know how much you love your son and how he means everything to you. But you can’t put your love life on hold or give up on relationships entirely because of him. He would want you to be happy y/n. And don’t give me that shit again about how you think Mark wouldn’t want to date you because you have a kid. From what you’ve told me, he genuinely seems to have liked you and no matter what baggage you carry, if someone genuinely likes you and cares for you, they’ll make an effort to accept your life for what it is. I know you’re afraid, but you can’t keep giving up on your happiness because you think it’s what’s best for your son. You never know, Mark could’ve accepted the fact that you have a son. But it’s too late. Even if he didn’t, then to hell with him. But you didn’t give him a chance and now you’re going to die a single and very grumpy cat lady because of your selfish decisions.” 

A month later, fate had decided to give you one more chance at love. You and Zachary were grocery shopping when the universe had brought you and Mark together again. The two of you were going through each and every aisle and you went to look at milk for a solid minute when you noticed your normally very talkative son was oddly quiet. When you realized he was no longer with you, your heart immediately sank as you started to run around like a mad woman until you heard his laughter coming from a few aisles over. You didn’t have a chance to look at who was making your son laugh so hard because you were immediately on your knees, pulling him in to your embrace. “Oh my God, Zach! You can’t run away from mommy like that! You scared me.” He frowned and brought his hands up to your face. “Sorry mama. I wanted cookies. This man helped me reach.” 

You stood up and were about to thank the stranger until you saw who it was. Your heart both sank and fluttered at the mere sight of him and then you noticed the blank expression on his face. “Y/n..” You released a sigh and picked up your son before quickly bowing and silently thanking Mark for helping Zach out before walking away. “Y/n, wait!” You continued walking away and for the first time, the voice in your head told you to stop. The two of you were here in the grocery store at the same time for a reason. You weren’t going to let this chance pass you by. If he didn’t like the fact that you were a mother, then you would just leave and act as if you didn’t see him. But like your friend said, you wouldn’t know what could happen between the two of you if you kept running away. 

“Hi Mark.” Your son pulled at your shirt to grab your attention. “Mama, who is this?” You smiled weakly before introducing the two of them to each other. “Zachary, this is my friend Mark. Mark, this is my son Zachary. Say hi Zach.” Your son beamed at him and waved his tiny little hands. You couldn’t help but bite your lip in anticipation of Mark’s reaction. “Hey little guy. I like your shirt. You like the avengers?” Your son nodded and motioned for you to put him down. “Well, if your mommy agrees, maybe you guys can come over to my place and we can watch the movie together. How does that sound?” Your son’s smile widened if that was even possible and soon he was begging you to go over to Mark’s place. Before you could say anything, Mark gave you a knowing look. “We need to talk. Give me your phone.” He typed in his number and made sure to call yours right after. He wasn’t letting you go that easily. “I’m pretty much done here, are you guys free tonight? I can come pick you up if you’d like?” You shook your head and he frowned. However, to both his and your surprise, you found yourself cupping his cheek. “We’re free, but I’ll drive to your place. Just text me the address. We’ll see you later.” 

Mark knew the two of you were meant to be once his eyes landed on you. How could you both be at the same grocery store at the same time? It had to mean something right? When he went in to the cookie aisle and saw your adorable son, his heart warmed at the sight of him trying his best to climb the shelf and reach for the Oreos. He was alarmed at the thought of a child being alone, so he walked over to your son with the thought of bringing him to an employee. He wasn’t going to lie, hearing Zachary call you “mom” upset him, but not in the way you thought it would. He realized in that moment, Zachary was the reason why you left him. He hated that you thought about him as the type to not want to be in a relationship with someone who had a child, but he couldn’t blame you. The two of you hardly knew each other, but God he wanted nothing more than to learn everything about you. Mark didn’t care that you had a kid, he wanted you for you. And that meant all of you, including your son. “Mommy, when are we going to Mark’s house?” 

Once you arrived back to your mom’s place, your son wouldn’t stop asking you about Mark. When your mom caught wind of your conversation, she wouldn’t leave you alone about it. “Whose Mark?” You shook your head in attempts to not talk about it but she wouldn’t let you go without telling her, so you did. You explained everything. From meeting him in the club, to ending up in the sheets with him, to developing feelings for him and leaving him. After hearing how Mark invited the two of you over to his house, she knew he was serious about you. If he had a problem with you having a son, he would’ve left you in the grocery store and acted as if nothing happened. But he didn’t and she understood it was because he genuinely liked you. “Y/n, that man obviously doesn’t care that you have a child from a previous relationship. He wouldn’t have invited the both of you to his house if he did. And he said he wants to talk. Don’t let him get away. It’s not easy to find someone who’s willing to date a single mother let alone accept her child. And don’t compare him to Zachary’s father. He was a boy. From what you told me, Mark seems to be a man. You can’t be afraid of getting hurt or you’ll miss out on something amazing. Now go. Have fun and wear something cute.” 

As you were driving over to his apartment, you couldn’t help the nerves that were building up but you tried your best to calm yourself down. Zachary brought along multiple avengers toys to show off to Mark and the idea made your heart warm. As you started approaching his door, a part of you started to chicken out but before you could walk away, Zachary was already knocking on the door. When Mark opened the door, your stomach swarmed with butterflies at the sight of how handsome he was. He smiled widely at you before bending down to your son’s height. “Hey bud! Whatcha got there?” Your son showed him the iron man toy and started going on about how much he loves Robert Downey Jr. He motioned for you to come in and as you followed him in to the apartment, you noticed Zachary’s hand reaching for Mark’s. When he felt your sons tiny fingers graze his wrist, he was quick to grab his hand and held it tightly while bringing the two of you over to the couch. “I have Captain America, Black Panther, all three Iron man dvds, Thor and guardians of the galaxy. What did you wanna watch?” Zachary pointed to the Iron Man dvd without hesitation and once Mark put the dvd in, he walked back over the couch and sat down. All the while picking up your son and placing him on his lap. 

Throughout the entire movie, your son couldn’t stop talking with Mark about anything Marvel. Even if his sentences didn’t make much sense seeing as how he was only 2 years old, hearing Mark laugh at your son sent warmth to your cheeks. When Zach decided he wanted to focus on the movie rather than talk, Mark took this time to talk to you. “You look beautiful.” You blushed as you hid your face in to his neck to prevent him from seeing how red he made you. After the first movie had finished, Mark had let you know that he prepared dinner for the three of you and you couldn’t stop yourself from falling for him even more than you already were. He hesitantly reached for your hand while grabbing Zachary’s and brought you both to the kitchen. “I’m not the best chef, but I’m very confident in this dish.” You couldn’t help but laugh as you saw the bowls of instant ramen. “I love noodles!” After pulling out your chair, he picked up Zachary and propped him on his lap. “Mark, it’s fine. I can hold h-“ he ignored your comment and started to feed Zachary. This man was really going to be the death of you. He was good looking, funny, intelligent, caring and great with kids. What more could you want in a significant other? You needed to put your worries aside and let whatever this was happen. 

Dinner was amazing and even if it was mainly just Zachary talking to Mark about the multiple video games he liked, seeing them interact made your heart swell up. It all seemed so natural and you wouldn’t mind giving up your pride if it meant being able to experience this for the rest of your life. When you returned back to the couch and continued watching the movie, you noticed your son had fallen asleep after only a couple of minutes. You let Mark know that maybe the two of you should start heading out but he shook his head in disagreement. “It’s getting late and I don’t like the thought of you driving at this time of night. Plus we still need to talk. I’ll move him to my room, you stay here.” Before you could object, he was already carrying Zachary to the room and your heart started racing at the thought of talking to him about why you handled things the way you did. When he arrived back, he took a seat next to you and the two of you sat in silence for what felt like forever. Finally, he spoke up. 

“Why?” You looked at him in curiosity and as you were about to ask what he meant, he continued. “Why did you leave? Why didn’t you tell me you had a son? Did you think I would’ve been upset? I missed you y/n. This last month has been a living hell for me. I tried looking for you everywhere and I couldn’t stop thinking about where it went wrong. I like you. A lot. You were the only thing on my mind from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep. I thought I scared you away when I asked you to stay that night and I couldn’t stop beating myself up about it. I can see why you were afraid about me finding out that you had a son, but I wish you would’ve brought it up to me so I could’ve let you know that I want nothing more than to call you my girlfriend and take care of Zachary as if he was my own. When I woke up that morning, I felt like shit. I was looking forward to waking up to you, so when I woke up to an empty bed, I was pretty upset. I haven’t felt this way about anyone before. I don’t know what it is about you, but I know I want to constantly be around you and just the thought of you makes me smile. Zachary is an amazing kid. I can tell you’re raising him to be such a gentle and helpful young man. I’m sorry you had to do this on your own y/n. His father is an ass for making you take care of him by yourself, but you don’t have to anymore. If you’d let me, I’d take care of the both of you. I know it’ll take some time to trust me, but take all the time you need. Just know that I’m willing to give you my all just to make the both of you happy. I’m yours if you’ll have me. Some force brought us together again for a reason. It has to mean something right?” 

You couldn’t stop the tears from falling down and he snickered whilst kissing them away. When Zachary’s father left, he was still too young to understand which you were very thankful for. You don’t know what you would’ve done if he were to get attached to his father only for him to walk out on the two of you. Your son was very picky when it came to other people. But seeing as how quick he was to want to talk to and be around Mark only made you want to see where this relationship would go. Looking at Mark, you could see the sincerity and genuineness in his eyes and you knew this was the man you wanted to be with. You gently brought your hands up to his cheeks and connected your lips together. As soon as things started getting hot and heavy, you pulled away to give yourself a moment to breathe and placed your forehead against his. “I don’t deserve you.” He rolled his eyes before placing a few more kisses on your lips. “Yes you do. You deserve the world y/n and I plan on giving it to you. I’m taking it by that kiss that you’re going to give us a chance?” You slowly nodded but you couldn’t help get insecure for some reason and you hated it. “Mark. You can get anyone you want. Someone with less baggage than me. Someone prettier without this ugly mom body. Why are you wasting your time-“ he groaned all the while running his hands through your hair. He placed kisses all along your face while murmuring sweet things that made your heart combust.

 “I. Like. You. You’re. So. Beautiful. And amazing. And. Wonderful. Stop. Thinking. So. Negatively. Of. Yourself. I. Think. You’re. Perfect.” You smiled while climbing in to his lap and cuddling in to his chest. “Your body is also so fucking amazing and I‘m obsessed with everything about it. Especially these.” He playfully squeezed your breasts earning himself a pillow to the head. “I can tell Zachary really likes you. He doesn’t even let me touch his toys let alone play with him. I’ll give us a chance. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t regret not staying, but he was asking for me and I sat and thought about it for a while. No matter what, my child will always come first. That’s why I left. I was afraid you’d run away like his dad did. I think partial of the reason as to why he left was because I was too focused on my son to give him any attention and I can’t promise you I won’t do the same to you. But please be vocal about it if you do feel like I’m not treating you the way you deserve. I really want us to work out Mark. I like you just as much and if not, more than you like me. I never hated myself more than I did after leaving and not keeping in contact with you. When we bumped in to you today, I know it’s the universe giving us another chance and I’m not going to let this one go. I’d love to be yours Mark.” He grinned widely while pulling you in to a kiss and wrapping his hands around your waist. “Thank you. You won’t regret this y/n.” You gently bit your lip while running your hands through his hair. “No Mark. Thank you. For accepting my situation and for being willing to accept Zachary in order to be with me. I can’t describe how much this means to me or how much you mean to me. I can’t promise you things are going to be easy. But I’m willing to see where this goes because I really do like you Mark. You’re wonderful.” 

He snuggled closer to you and left multiple kisses all along your face. Just a few moments afterwards, you heard your favorite little voice calling out to you. “Mama? Mark? Are you coming to bed soon?” Mark’s grin widened as he went to pick your son up and carried him to the room. “Yes bud. We’re all going to go to bed together. And in the morning, I’ll make us some breakfast.” Zachary sleepily hummed in agreement against Mark’s shoulder. Once he placed him down, he walked over to his drawer to find you something to wear. You walked up behind him and wrapped your arms around him, resting your chin on his back. “This all feels so much like deja vu. I still can’t believe I’m here with you right now. I’ve missed you.” He turned around and helped you out of your clothes. “Mmm, I missed you more. Maybe we’re just meant to be together. Soulmates I think they’re called.” He snickered in to your hair while stealing a kiss from your lips. “The only difference is, you’re not leaving this time. You’re stuck with me y/n. Now I can finally make you the long awaited eggs and bacon I promised.”

[reflectionbound]

three answers. || @fatechosen​

Different & Similar - Momo

      “ Personally, I find this question to be too limiting. I know it’s in reference to physical attraction, but I think there’s more to attraction than appearance. Every one of my classmates is compelling or attractive in different ways, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to pursue a romantic relationship with them. ”

     “ But I’m happy to list what I find attractive about my classmates. ”

    “ Midoriya-san is always there to inspire others. He does his part to ensure everyone’s smiling despite how low someone’s mood might be. He has a way of bringing out the best in  everyone around him, and it will make him a respectable hero one day. ”

     “ Iida-san is very genuine, kind, and earnest. He’s also very intelligent. I know from personal experience that he’s someone dependable and reliable. ” He’s also very handsome. In some ways, he reminds her of a knight from Medieval Times. Noble and true.

     “ Uraraka-san never declines a challenge despite how overwhelming the odds might be against her. She’s also always willing to help those in need or those who ask, which is something I admire about her. ”

     “ Todoroki-san... ” She begins, feeling the subtle flush to her cheeks. It’s a little different when describing someone where her feelings dig a little deeper. “ He’s the most capable student within our class. He takes his role as a student and future hero very seriously, and I know I can count on him to be there in tough situations. He has a very kind heart... ”

     “ Tsuyu-san is also a very kind-hearted person. She cares deeply for each of us. She maintains composure during all stressful and difficult situations; that’s a skill I wish to learn. ”

     “ Aoyama-san has been very respectful towards me and others within our class. He’s also very cultured and knowledgeable in a great deal of foreign subjects. I appreciate him sharing that information with us. ”

     “ Satou-san is a very talented chef and baker. I’ve found myself spending a great amount of time with him before, during, and after Quirk training. His food is always delicious, and his skill in these subjects far exceeds my own. ”

     “ Shouji-san is the most selfless person I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I’ve seen him lay his life down numerous times to protect his friends and complete strangers. There’s no one else I would rather have as an ally. His hair is very nice too. ”

     “ Koda-san is quite shy, but he surpasses everyone’s expectations. I admire how he never allows pressure to limit him during times of crisis. ”

      “ Hagakure-san is always there to bring enthusiasm to even the more dire situations. I know I would have some insecurity with her Quirk, but she always maintains a positive attitude. I hope she recognizes how beautiful she is. ”

     “ Ojiro-san is very adaptable and practical. He’s someone who’s able to devise a plan of action very quickly with limited knowledge. I hope to reach that level of competence as well one day. ”

      “ Mineta-san... ” She taps her chin thoughtfully for the best way to describe this. “ He’s very clever and quick-witted. We may not always see eye-to-eye. ” Especially not when she falls for his schemes. “ But he’s someone who sticks to his principles and goals. ”

     “ Tokoyami-san is a very talented guitarist! ” She wants to make a point of this. “ He’s a very fast-learner. Most importantly, though, is that Tokoyami-san is loyal and will do anything to protect his friends. ” A pause as her lips falter slightly. “ I’m no comparison in close combat to his ability. ”

      “ Jirou! ” Immediately, her eyes lighten with delight. “ Jirou’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and I’m glad I can tell her anything. She’s shy but kind. I don’t know many people as talented or as beautiful as her. It’s nice to know I have someone who will always be there for me.  I think everyone needs someone like that in their life. ”

     “ Kaminari-san has a way of lifting everyone’s spirits and bringing us all together. He’s kind and always willing to extend a hand despite how different someone might be from him. I think he’s the only person in Class A who everyone might consider a friend, since he spends time with everyone. He’s so outgoing! ” 

     “ Kirishima-san, similar to Kaminari-san, has a way of supporting everyone. He always approaches those who seem upset or sad, and he does his best to remind them of their strengths, which goes to show how he pays attention to everyone around him. He also managed to befriend the most disagreeable member of our class, which is quite impressive. ”

     “ Ashido-san is so bold! She always carries an upbeat attitude and knows how to read people very well. It’s remarkable that she knows the best way to approach everyone. ”

      “ Sero-san is a very approachable person. He’s a very easy-going person, but he knows when to be serious. I find that to be a very respectable trait. ” As she recognizes she tends to take things too seriously. “ He has a fun sense of humor as well. ” When she’s not the one subject to his teasing.

     And that brings her to the final name...

      “ Bakugou-san... ” She pauses for a long moment as her brows set. “ He’s conventionally handsome, yes. ” She states the obvious first. “ For a long time, I thought we wouldn’t get along, but he proved otherwise. Bakugou-san is someone who doesn’t often give compliments or reassurances, but you know he means them when he does. He also goes above and beyond for the people important to him. I think the most compelling thing about him is how he presents himself. He doesn’t seem to care what others think of him. ”

[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Episode 18: Scheherazade

This episode is wonderful. Here are my thoughts.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

0:12 - Sooooo did Malcolm convince Gil to let him take the Surgeon case files from the precinct?

0:32 - Malcolm was eating Chinese take out? IDK. That stuff is pretty greasy. Something tells me that Chinese take out is not a good food to eat if you have a sensitive stomach.

1:24 - To be clear - Eve and Malcolm are not dating in this moment correct? They broke up last episode? Am I wrong?

2:04 - So Malcolm did want to go to this thing right? He genuinely likes ballet and his mom decided to make it a mother/son date. Ugh. So freaking adorable. <3

2:10 - Listening to Jessica talk on the phone is really interesting here. You can see that she’s embarrassed that she’s there alone and annoyed that Malcolm stood her up. She’s trying to be quiet and discreet on the phone so none of the nosy rich people notice but - of course - you can see them all looking at/talking about Jessica  in the background. I feel really bad for Jessica here. She doesn’t belong in the average person world because she’s rich and she can’t hang out in the rich people world because they’re all a bunch of overgrown high schoolers with the bullying and cliques to match.

2:24 - Look at how excited Jessica is initially - when this woman b**ch starts talking to her. Jessica looks hopeful that someone is going to actually be nice to her. Her gorgeous face drops when this Cricket woman starts being a b**ch. Props to Jessica for dragging this woman about the admissions scandal though.

2:53 - Ok. I immediately don’t like Endicott. Why? He clearly only saved Jessica because he wants to get in her pants. However, I love the way Jessica looks at him. She’s hopeful, flattered, and grateful. She almost never looks this happy and it’s a damn shame.

3:35 - Quick side note: Jessica looks amazing in that dress. Blue looks good on her….wait. Do you think she wore a blue dress because it would look good with Malcolm’s eyes? Not in a creepy incest way - just in a “I’m matching with my son” because we have a close, non-sexual relationship way.

4:50 - hahaha Cricket got blood spatter on her face. She deserved it.

5:00 - “You know your Mom called this in right?” - I love this. Jessica didn’t call 911. Before anyone could even think of calling 911 - I promise you Jessica was on the phone with Gil. Because Gil has always protected her family. She trusts Gil despite the fact that - like her son - she trusts almost no one since Martin was arrested.

5:02 - Again. I LOVE THIS TEAM. Talk about character/relationship growth. Dani and Malcolm making lighthearted banter. JT being really forward about telling Malcolm to go and check on his mother (who just witnessed a murder). I love that we are now at the point in this team’s relationship that JT and Dani love Malcolm so much that they worry about Malcolm’s Mom. <3

5:16 - Props to Edrisa. She’s a little neurotic and often anxious. BUT check out the way she laid down the law with that dude who was touching evidence. This girl is great.

6:00 - “Welcome to 2020. Can’t rule anything out.” - Can we just appreciate this line. It was probably written in late 2019 or before the whole COVID-19 nonsense in 2020. What a timely, well-delivered line. They probably writers probably did it by accident too. They were probably trying to allude to the craziness that was about to unravel with Endicott for the rest of this season. I love this show.

6:15 - JEALOUS GIL ALERT. Honestly - this was amazing. Gil is so jealous (not hiding it well btw) but he’s trying so hard to be a professional.  ALSO - check out the way that Endicott is looking at Gil. Endicott knows that Jessica and Gil have feelings for each other. He also knows that Gil suspects him as a murderer (for this case and the 1x19 case). Yikes. If Endicott has Gil injured, maimed, or killed in 1x20 I WILL THROW HANDS.

7:07 - This is cool to me. Jessica is mad at Malcolm but she doesn’t call him “Malcolm Whitly”; she calls him “Malcolm Bright”. This implies that Bright might be Malcolm’s legal last name. If it’s not - it means that Jessica respects her son. No matter how angry she might be at him - she would never intentionally harm him. She’s a good mom. (ALSO EDRISA’s REACTION ahahahaha and the way that Malcolm closes his eyes when he hears Jessica’s voice like “Aww shit. I’m in trouble.”)

7:30 - Honestly, I think it was both. From what we learn in this episode - Malcolm likes ballet. He’s probably sorry he missed the murder (because you know he’s Malcolm) but I feel like he was also looking forward to the event. Even if it meant that he would have to schmooze some rich people and listen to his Mom be a little nervous and a lot extra throughout the night.

7:45 - YES. YES. This is the perfect reaction to Eve. One that I’m sure a lot of fans can relate to. Yes - we hate the fact that Eve manipulated her way into Jessica and Malcolm’s lives. We hate that she broke both of their hearts. However, we sympathize with her brutally dark childhood and the loss of her sister. You can hate someone’s actions without hating the person as a whole. AND RIGHT HERE you can see that duality on Jessica’s face.

8:08 - At least Malcolm isn’t lying to Jessica? But dang. He looks so guilty about telling his Mom that he’s planning on visiting Martin. Probably because he knows Jessica will worry about the meeting, Malcolm’s mental health, and all other potential fallouts of Malcolm’s “plan”.

9:15 - Look at Malcolm here. He’s staring at Eve with a mixture of fear and concern. For once - he’s not focused on Martin. Malcolm’s concern for Eve and Eve’s pain is overpowering the discomfort and anxiety that Malcolm experiences when he sees his father.

9:20 - “You’re prettier than I imagined.” Ugh. Go to hell Martin. Malcolm looks so freaking ashamed to be Martin’s son right here. Look at his sad little face. :(

9:38 - What a toxic parent. He’s a serial killer and he’s still trying to make his ex-wife seem like the bad parent. Martin needs therapy.

9:45 - Holy hell. Malcolm looks terrified…..actually Martin looks a little scared too.

9:52 - I love this. Malcolm is so afraid of what Martin might do to Eve that he jumps over that red line. Also - take a second to notice how Malcolm grabs Eve. It’s not intimate. Definitely not the way you’d grab a significant other or a close friend. His hands aren’t touching her. He has his hands clasped around each other and his arms wrapped around Eve’s shoulders. This is a very gentlemanly way to grab a lady - even in a panicked, dangerous situation when he’s probably acting on sheer instinct and fear. Malcolm’s not thinking of where his hands are positioned. This is how he reaches for her instinctively and I respect it.

10:05 - Malcolm looks so scared here. Eve slapping Martin was definitely not part of the plan. Eve is improvising.

10:40 - Again. Check out the way Malcolm grabs Eve’s shoulder. It’s not the way you’d put your hand on a significant other’s shoulder. They are not dating here.

10:43 - Look at Martin’s face. It’s twisting in disgust. Is he actually feeling guilt for being a terrible father? I thought psychopaths couldn’t feel remorse? Maybe he’s just disgusted that his son is in a relationship with a woman who would have the nerve to insult Martin to his face?

10:50 - “I’ve told you all I can.” Martin’s eyes show fear in this moment. After watching 1x19 - I see why.

11:09 - The way that Martin shouts “Malcolm” is haunting. You can see it upsets Malcolm too by the way he grips his head. I wonder if Martin used that tone of voice with Malcolm as a child? Martin supposedly acted like a perfect father but what if Martin was verbally abusive to Malcolm when they were home alone together? Maybe this is how he conditioned Malcolm - like with that “Boy!” in 1x14, right before Malcolm stabs Martin. What if he drugged Malcolm to make him forget then too? Is that why Malcolm looks like he’s having a traumatic response to his name being called in that tone?

11:16 - Malcolm is impressed by Eve but also a little scared of Eve. Her performance was alarming to him. He didn’t expect her to be that angry.

12:04 - Edrisa is a national treasure. “I disagreed” bahahahaha. OMG. Even Gil looks amused at this one.

13:15 - “To maintain a comfortable lifestyle”. Seriously - do the writers want me to suspect Endicott? I seriously pinned it on him the whole time I watched this episode for the first time. Now I know better - but he’s still a sleaze bucket who has killed people.

13:34 - I love how no one on the team is buying Malcolm’s “my rich Mom took me to watch ballet as a kid” act. They know there’s more to it than that. They know Malcolm well enough to know when he’s lying.

13:40 - Gil is like “I’ve known you since you were 10. Jessica did not take you to the ballet for as long as I’ve known you. I would’ve heard about it.”

14:05 - I wish Malcolm always looked that happy when he declines one of Martin’s calls.

14:26 - This is seriously disconcerting. This is the most sincere and serious behaviour that we’ve ever seen from Martin. Martin is scared. Now that I’ve seen 1x19, I understand it. He’s afraid for himself. Of what Endicott may do to him if this gets out. I still can’t quite figure out if Martin actually cares about what happens to Ainsley, Malcolm, and Jessica though. I don’t think he’s capable. I hope I’m wrong.

14:32 - Soooo Mr. David doesn’t know about this. That makes sense. Did Mr. David see Martin get slapped? Are these phone calls recorded? Is that why Mr. David gives Martin that look? To remind Martin to keep quiet about the slap because it could cause Mr. David to lose his job? Are they friends? Ugh. This relationship is so fascinating to me.

15:33 - Look at Gil. He does not like the catty attitude of these ballet dancers.

15:45 - OMG. JT looks like he’s watching reality TV. He’s amused, a little confused, a lot shocked, and he can’t look away.

16:00 - I don’t like this Joesph dude - because he’s a jerk. BUT he has a point. These ballerinas seems very unstable. In the emotional sense.

16:12 - Dang. This is brutal. I didn’t like the way this girl was acting - but no one deserves this.  

16:53 - “I’m right here. I’m right here.” UGH. Gil saying this is so freaking sweet. All I can imagine is Gil saying that to Malcolm as a kid when Mal wakes up from a nightmare. <3 Ugh. The thought is warming my cold, dead heart.

17:15 - It’s a little concerning that Malcolm looks so excited about being in the same building as an active killer. ALTHOUGH - he regularly visits his serial killer father. Maybe he’s so used to being afraid of killers that he doesn’t even register it anymore? He’s so focused on solving the case that his own safety doesn’t even register as a concern?

17:23 - Papa!Gil is angry. I’m picturing him giving Malcolm a lecture in this tone of voice after Malcolm did something stupid when he was a teenager.

18:00 - Malcolm is having the time of his life. Look at this boy go. He has a group of suspects to profile and they’re all standing right in front of him. Life can’t get much better.

19:30 - Yep. This dude is a jerk. Also - Malcolm looks tiny next him. How tall is that dude? I know Tom Payne is short but damn.

19:36 - Question: why wasn’t Fiona in this group that was initially being profiled? Was she not in the building?

19:55 - Look at this. Jessica totally wants to talk to Martin. She is so pleased that she finally has something to rub in Martin’s face to make him jealous/angry. Also - can we all just appreciate how Jessica picks up the phone?!? When she’s addressing Mr. David?!? hahahaha comedic GOLD.

20:12 - Martin is losing his marbles. He really is an attention whore. Dang.

20:18 - “Martin stop being a helicopter parent.” - Yo. Jessica, I love you but you are a hypocrite.

20:30 - And this was the moment that Jessica forgave Eve for betraying her and Malcolm. Hahaha look at how absolutely delighted Jessica looks when she finds out that Eve struck Martin. hahaha

20:35 - Look at the way Martin glances over at Mr. David as he asks Jessica if she’s paying attention to him. It’s as though he’s reigning himself in because he knows Mr. David will hang up the phone and leave the cell if Martin loses it. Martin is so desperate for attention that he’ll take a bad phone call with his ex-wife over being alone in his cell. I almost feel bad for him. Almost.

20:43 - Huh. Do you think Gil saw that photo? How do you think our jealous cop reacted?

21:03 - Ok. So, in this scene Martin is chained to the wall. He’s talking on the phone. Mr. David is in the room. NO one else. WHAT ARE THE PARAMETERS REGARDING WHEN MARTIN GETS CHAINED TO THE WALL?!?!? There have been so many scenes when Martin is not chained to the wall and he’s alone with Mr. David. I have so many questions about how this works.

21:06 - Martin’s toddler-esque hissy fit is freaking hilarious. This dude is unstable.

21:24 - Martin’s flashbacks have to be true. Right? So we can all say with 100% certainty that he took Malcolm to the cabin and held a girl (Sophie) in the cabin.

21:43 - Poor Mr. David. :( He looks so done with Martin’s nonsense. Why doesn’t Mr. David quit? He could easily get a position guarding a less insane prisoner. He’s been with Martin for 20ish years. At this point he’s either a) friends with Martin, b) developed some sort of twisted Stockholm Syndrome, c) working for Endicott, or d) getting paid a lot of money.

22:34 - Fiona is a nasty Queen B and I’m annoyed that Gil can’t arrest her on principle.

23:25 - “He upset some very powerful people. They made his escape from Cuba possible.” ….Soooo Endicott is definitely a shady dude. I still think he had something to do with Javier’s death.

23:40 - “Jessica’s friend?” - Dang. Gil, you’re jealousy is showing. <3 hahaha also he looks so freaking unsurprised. Gil’s like “I knew he was shady. I KNEW IT!!” And I find it really interesting that he refers to Jessica by her first name in front of Malcolm. Usually, he’ll say “your mother” or “your mom”. This indicates that Gil currently feels personally involved in Jessica’s life. This is a situation that is affecting him as opposed to Malcolm so he’s referring to her as “Jessica” instead of “your mother”.

24:02 - OMG. Gil, please stop being so obviously jealous of a woman in front of her son. Her son is a profiler. He can see through you and you’re probably making him uncomfortable (look at the way Malcolm looks down and smirks after Gil does this he knows). Regardless, this is the single funniest thing Gil has ever done on this show.

24:15 - Are Endicott and Gil really having a weird, not-so-subtle “guy-off” over Jessica while talking about the investigation?!? Malcolm looks hella awkward. He’s like “Fake-Dad vs. suspect/Mom’s crush. What do I do?”

24:43 - ENDICOTT DO NOT PRETEND THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW MALCOLM WAS HER SON. Your shady ass has totally been keeping tabs on her whole family for the past 20 years.

24:50 - DANG. Check out that look that Jessica gives Malcolm. It’s like “Do not embarrass me in front of Nicholas. Do not tell your sister what you’ve seen. Do not discuss what you just witnessed with me. Ever. This did not happen.”

24:54 - Gil, buddy, I love you but looking at your watch is super obvious. Please reign it in. Your jealousy, while hilarious, it not attractive to a woman.

25:09 - I feel so bad for Malcolm throughout this whole scene. He’s clearly still interested in solving the case but he has this confused, slightly disturbed look on his face as he watches the whole love triangle fight go down.

26:06 - Once again, the whole “guessing JT’s name” is my favourite running gag on this show. Look. Even JT is into it now. He used to be super annoyed by it. This is how much JT and Malcolm’s friendship has grown. I’m so proud of these losers.

26:20 - OMG. hahaha “Posion.” Is Gil considering poisoning Endicott because he’s really that jealous?!!? I doubt it. More likely - Gil is suspecting Endicott of killing Javier. HOWEVER, I also think that this is a very subtle hint by the writers that Endicott is going to poison Gil in the season finale. I DO NOT WANT TO BE RIGHT - but I have a horrible dread that I will be.

27:00 - Seriously? Martin gets an iPod too? Is he really a prisoner?!? This dude lives better than me.

27:30 - So Martin is mad at Malcolm here. “Kids.” Huh. So did he actually try to kill Malcolm that night? Or did he chicken out when he got up to the cabin?

28:13 - HOW THE HELL DID MARTIN GET EVE’S PHONE NUMBER?!? Magic? Does he get internet access? A phone book? He has Mr. David find it for him?

28:25 - Check out Malcolm’s face. He looks longingly and sad as he stares at the ballerinas. He stares at them with respect too - not lust. He really likes ballet. <3

29:00 - Is Malcolm projecting here. “You took a chance on him when no one else would.” Did he quit dance because of how people treated him after Martin was arrested? Does Malcolm identify with Javier?

29:10 - Listen to how Fiona praises Javier’s work ethic. It almost feels like she’s talking about Malcolm. Of course, she isn’t, she doesn’t know Malcolm. BUT the writers know Malcolm. Is this a subtle hint that Malcolm is not a killer? That he’s incapable of being a killer? I mean - they even go so far as to have Fiona say that something about Javier’s performance was off - not his work performance but his personal performance. Is that a reference to Malcolm’s deteriorating mental health? Maybe I’m reading way to much into this…

31:14 - Does Malcolm even know he’s projecting here?! I don’t think he does. Gil sees it though. Damn. I’m surprised he didn’t challenge Malcolm on it. Or hug him. Ugh. My heart is broken.

33:05 - Is Malcolm so shocked that he doesn’t move? Or is this just Malcolm’s passive suicidality at work here? Watch Gil tackle him to the ground though. <3 I’m in love. This is the father Malcolm deserves.

33:36 - hahaha look at Malcolm’s precious little ballet jump. Gil sees it too. Gil is like “Wtf? This kid totally did ballet at some point. How did I not know about it?”

35:15 - Look at how freaking proud Gil is of Malcolm. Gil - a man who likes classic cars, has sports trophies in his office, and drinks fancy liquor. Gil is, in a lot of ways, stereotypically male. He finds out that his dorky pseudo-son did something as stereotypically feminine as dancing ballet (and enjoyed it) and Gil doesn’t bat an eye. He doesn’t get mad. He doesn’t tease Malcolm. He just looks at him with pride. We need more men like Gil in this world.

37:00 - Anyone else extremely upset by the idea that Martin put his son to bed like a Good Dad before going downstairs with the intent to murder a woman?

38:25 - I feel really bad for Sophie. :(

39:20 - Soooo is Sophie still alive? Or did Endicott have her hunted down and killed?

40:29 - This isn’t the first time in this series that Martin has bashed Jessica’s parenting skills. Or the first time he’s hinted that Jessica did something bad to the children. Given Jessica’s behaviour toward Ainsley and Malcolm - I doubt it. That woman adores her children. However, she does have a drinking problem and I’m starting to wonder what Martin thinks makes Jessica so bad. Is it simply because she divorced him? Or that she kept the children from him? Or is it something more?

40:50 - Well at least Malcolm knows Martin has been gaslighting him. :(

41:06 - Soooo Mr. David totally heard that conversation. Makes you wonder if Mr. David is working for Endicott. The things that Mr. David knows…

41:50 - So Eve definitely broke up with him here. Again? Honestly - I have no idea when these two were actually together.

43:21 - I do not like that monster inside the Whitly house. No no no no.

Well. Thanks for hanging out Prodigies. See you next time.

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 79

Chapter Summary -   Danielle's decision.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously

Right so, a few things, football is referencing Gaelic Football, it is an Irish sport and the season ends in September with the final game being played on the third Sunday of the month and there is huge excitement surrounding it and most Irish country people would go to Flannery's or Coppers in Dublin for it, both are...shall I say, unique places, more like a cattle mart than a pub/night club.

Connemara is a Gaeltacht region in County Galway, the first language is Irish and it is a general farming area.

There are a few airports in Ireland, I had Danielle land in Cork Airport as if she didn't suffer enough (I am from Cork, so I like to joke it is terrible....I'm not joking, it is.)

Siobhan is pronounced Shiv-awn.

We are going to be with Danielle's family for a bit, her aunt will be based on my mother-in-law, spiteful, filled with self-importance and an all-round female genitalia.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe​ @wolfsmom1​

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

Danielle sat on the plane, she was under no false pretences, she knew she looked like hell. If she was not so heartbroken she would have made a joke that she had some sort of superpower. She had a willing, handsome Tom Hiddleston, asking to pleasure her, and she declined him. Tom's face at her pushing him off her told how much she was crushing him, the only consolation she could give was that her own face mirrored his. She kissed him chastely on the cheek as she sat up on the bed, then she apologised and left.

As it moved on the runway, she felt the tears fall down her face. She wanted to be in bed with Tom, kissing and cuddling him but she knew it was for the best. She had said it to him before she left, they needed to take the time to assess themselves, perhaps, after some reflection, they may arrive at the same point once more, when Tom asked her what about if they did not, she could only shrug and say that at least they had tried. The flight was fairly full and the man next to her gave her a confused look as she wiped the tears from her face and looked out the small window.

When she arrived in Ireland, the Welcome sign caused her to feel some pang of joy in her stomach. She was relieved to have gotten the evening flight back, though it was to the wrong part of the country. Rather than driving, she went and got a taxi into the city and from there got on a bus to bring her back to Galway. A text to her cousin telling her she was arriving at midnight to the city was responded to with one that said that she had been drinking, so to stay there until morning. Not wanting to get a cab all the way to her grandmothers, she started to Google hotels in Galway, scoffing to herself about how she was a far cry from a globe-trotting singer, before becoming upset once more about how things had gone with Tom. As if by fate, he sent a text, just asking if she minded if he kept onto Mac until the day before he was going to Milan, he promised to walk and care for him properly. She could only bring herself to text back the word "sure" though several times she felt like texting more, saying that she was sorry, that she still loved him, but she stopped herself, as hard as it was, she was not going to be weak and rush back to him, she was going to look after herself, ensure she was happy before she even considered Tom and a relationship.

*

In London, the one-word reply filled Tom with relief that she had responded at all. As he looked at Mac, who seemed to sense there was a severe upheaval after occurring and was looking at him, he was glad to have the dog for company. In the time since his mother and sister had the dog accidentally brought to them in London before Christmas, he had become incredibly attached to the canine. He remembered the day he had found him on set, underfed and incredibly mangy, he rang Danielle out of instinct. She was not a vet, but she was a paramedic and the daughter of one, and he remembered how she told Emma how she used to tend to the weaklings for her dad, so he assumed immediately she would have some inkling as what to do. Since then, he had thrived as a loved pet and companion, and in truth, Tom was heartbroken at the idea that it was highly plausible that as well as losing Danielle, he could lose Mac too. Mac seemed to know what Tom was thinking and responded by getting up and walking over to him. "Hey, Mac." The dog groaned. "I am sorry for all of this, it is my fault." At that, the dog whined. "I am really going to miss you and our walks." The word 'walks' caused the dog to raise his ears in interest. "Not at this hour. At least I get to have you a few more days." Mac wagged his tail. "Do you think she'll give me access to you?" he half-joked, thinking about how his parents seemed to spend more time arguing after the divorce over where he and his sisters went on particular days and holidays than they ever did talking when they were married.

*

Danielle sat in the car with her cousin, whose only words were "You look as bad as I feel" since seeing her as they drove back to Connemara.

"Just so you know, you are Mam's focus at the moment," Siobhan warned her as they passed a sign telling them there were coming into the Gaeltacht region.

"Dare I ask?"

"'Your parents were married before they were your age, your dad is rolling in his grave that you fecked off to England and what good has it done you,' you know how she is."

"I am sure he wouldn't be too put out by it," Danielle stated, looking out the window again.

"Hey, are you alright, like, you're not going to puke or anything?"

"No, I am just tired, Travelodge is not renowned for its comfy beds."

"No." Her cousin agreed. "So, what's the craic, why are you here today and not on Wednesday like you said?"

"I needed to come home."

"Who do you owe money to?" Her cousin joked.

"I rather owe the money."

"What is worse than that?"

"There are things far worse." Siobhan looked at Danielle as though she was mad, but at only twenty-two, she had little idea of what issues Danielle had. "Has Laura not got someone new for your Mam to scare off?" She decided to get the conversation off her.

"Yes and no. There's a fella from her job, lovely guy and everything, Evan, but Mam doesn’t know about him."

"Good plan."

"Yeah, so you know, if you could not tell her..."

"Call me Jon Snow."

Siobhan laughed, Danielle gave a small smile. "So what about you, any hunky English lads?"

"At present, no." Danielle felt as though her chest hurt saying that.

"Meaning?"

Danielle cursed at her cousin's curiosity. "It's complicated."

"What happened?" There was a genuine tone to Siobhan's voice, one that told Danielle it was not about her making small talk, but intrigue.

"Well, one guy was a bit too full-on, really nice, but was too ready for commitment, we were not really compatible, he is actually engaged, or maybe even married now and has a baby coming."

"Well, as long as they're happy, what else."

"Another, we were not really…it just isn't working."

"How d'you mean?"

"It just went off track," Danielle explained.

"You realise that makes no sense, right?" Siobhan scoffed. "But I think I get it, it stopped being fun."

"There was a thing with him talking about his ex, it made me feel like shit."

"Yikes, fair enough, no one wants the ex pulled out and thrown in their face." Siobhan agreed. "How bad?"

"Effectively how it broke his heart, which is grand, at the time, but he said this over half a year later and after four months with me, in a very public manner."

"Okay, and the asshole of the year award goes to…what was his name?"

"Tom."

"Tom, welcome to the 'Asshole Hall of Fame’."

Feeling her hurt was after being justified but also not wanting to talk about it any longer, Danielle turned the conversation around, "What about you, any lads in college?"

"Maybe."

"So a yes, then."

"We are just having some fun, I mean, we met in Flaherty's last year…"

"Say it was after the All-Ireland, say it, I beg you…" Danielle pleaded.

The football," Siobhan admitted, causing Danielle to erupt in hysterics.

"Where's he from?"

"Waterford."

"Do they even know what a football is?"

"Shut up," Siobhan growled. "He's nice, but…"

"You're twenty-two so it's not like you are looking into a mortgage with him?"

"Exactly. Speaking of houses, Mam is going to try and push to sell Nan's place."

"What?"

"Yeah, she wants to do up hers and dads, but she is stretched with loans for other things, so she wants Nan’s sold so she can use the money from the sale to do it."

"It won't get a hundred grand, divide it up and that is less than twenty each way after solicitors," Siobhan said nothing. "What? What are you trying to say?"

"Right, you have to swear you won't tell Mam or Laura this?"

"Siobhan, I swear on Mam and Dad's graves, I will not tell anyone this." Danielle placed her hand on her heart as she spoke.

"Mam wants you out of the sale."

"What?"

"She thinks that because you are a grandchild, you shouldn't get a say." Siobhan seemed as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders by telling her.

"Fuck that, Dad left me his share of nan's, that house is a quarter mine."

"You never were interested in that stuff."

"I'm not, but I am not being swindled out of it either. I said it before, I didn't give a fuck who used the house for what gathering, but when I came home, I get to use a room, since I am barely around. I pay my share of the property tax, the repairs and the upkeep so I am not getting pushed out so your Mam can get some overpriced kitchen for it, she can fuck the fuck off."

Siobhan laughed. "You are so like your dad."

"Good, he was the only one she couldn't bully, I'll have to visit him before I deal with her to ask him to give me the strength to."

"Want to go now?"

Though she was exhausted, Danielle knew there was a turn not too far away that would bring her to her parents' graves, so she nodded. "Yeah, if you're not busy."

"It's only twenty minutes extra, Mattie was always so good to me, sneaking me a two euro for the shop."

"God you are so young, it was fifty pence for us."

"Well, the rate of inflation," Siobhan laughed, putting on the indicator of the car to go the road to the graveyard.

Danielle looked at the ornate stone in front of her, and the plot that contained her parents remains. Her gaze fell on the carvings that were their names and dates of birth and death. She hadn't realised her mother was older than her father until her mother died. When they celebrated their birthdays, numbers were never used. She'd felt somewhat foolish that she hadn't known that. She thought about her dad and herself, standing at the grave after her mother had passed, she never felt much point about graves, they never meant anything to her, she rather think of her mother down in the library and community centre, going to the active retirement with the other women, or doing knitting, she never really thought of her in some hole in the ground, and her father was someone she thought of going for a walk or turning turf, but it felt right to visit the grave, if just to think about them for a moment.

When she returned to the car, Siobhan gave her a sad smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just weird being back, not having them here."

"Did you leave because they were gone?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Do you like England?"

"It's grand, I think I would rather be here, but it's easier to get work there."

"I think I am going to go to Canada or Australia as soon as I am done."

"England wants nurses too." Danielle pointed out

"Maybe, but the further from Mam, the better."

"Fair enough, it's as easy to get from London as it is Dublin really."

"Too easy for my liking," Siobhan agreed. "You swear you won't tell her?"

"I am not going to tell her you told me, but I am going to prepare for it."

"I sorta guessed you would." There was still a slight doubt in Siobhan's tone.

"Look a secret for a secret, fair?" Danielle suggested. She always liked her younger cousin, they rarely talked growing up because of the age gap and because Matthew and Bernadette Hughes, though siblings, spent as little time together as they could, meaning Danielle, Laura, Siobhan and their brother Richard were seldom in each other's company, but the rise of social media meant that Siobhan and Danielle interacted online often enough. Siobhan nodded, seemingly relieved that Danielle was trusting her too, though she doubted anything Danielle would tell her would be too important, she had already explained to Siobhan about non-disclosure agreements. "I only sort of broke up with my boyfriend yesterday."

"Okay," Siobhan had to assume that that was not the secret, it was something noteworthy, but hardly a secret.

"You don't like comic book movies, sure you don't?"

"No."

"Right, hmm." Danielle had to think for a minute. "You like Taylor Swift, right?"

"Her songs are good, yeah." Siobhan had no idea what Danielle was getting at.

"Do you know anything about her boyfriends?"

"She is with them for about forty seconds, I don't think she knows anything about them. Like, is she even with half of them or just after publicity, honestly?"

"I have no idea," Danielle conceded. "I really don't. Not the point, do you know who Tom Hiddleston is?"

"Oh, the really sexy guy from The Night Manager."

Danielle cursed herself for not thinking of that, to begin with. "Yes, him."

"Yeah, one of the girls in college is in love with him, like fucking obsessed, she has a page to him and everything online, she made us watch a few things with him in it."

"Really, what did you think?"

"He's hot, but not obsessive hot, he has a really sexy ass, I saw him in this ghost movie, the man is…why are we talking about an actor?"

"The Tom I am sort of no longer with, that's him."

"What?"

"I was with Tom Hiddleston."

"And no one knew?"

"Well, his family, our friends in London…"

"But the media?"

"No, we made sure we were never seen together in public."

"So there is no proof you were with him?" Siobhan asked sceptically.

"We have pictures, just not published."

"How the hell did you bag an actor?"

"I just did." Danielle shrugged.

"But it's gone?"

"Yes," Danielle stated sadly.

"Why did you break it off, you look really upset?"

"Because he did an interview about Taylor Swift a month ago and the way he spoke was as though she was the love of his life and he was with me so I feel like it just was too much of a low blow."

"Okay, your boyfriend saying that sort of thing in front of people you know is just mean, saying it in an interview to the world, that is fucking cruel, but no one knows about this?"

"No, and they won't either, will they?" Danielle looked at her cousin.

"Not from me, they won't," Siobhan swore.